LessLee

I just want to tell my story ... nobody get my brags like fellow bandsters. It all started January 2012 I stepped on a scale and realized I weighed more than. I ever did pregnant. I had reached 260. I had started hiding from pictures. Nothing fit right... my kids would make comments like "mommy has a big tummy" or commercials would come for weight loss or tummy wraps to make you look smaller and my daughter would say mommy you need that. I had no energy was depressed. I didn't even let my husband touch me. I had enough. So I went to my Dr we tried a life wellness program. And in it didn't work. In march she suggested I look into the lap band. So I agreed to go to the seminar and after a lot of research I agreed. I went for the appointment with the surgeon and pa. My surgery was approved and I got banded may10. I don't know if I was more excited that it was surgery day or if I would soon be off that liquid diet lol Everything has been great I've lost about 90lbs and still counting. I got sick and had to refill all over again lol. I am soo happy that I did it. I now work and do sports and have plenty energy to play with my kids. My kids say mommy has a little tummy my boys tell me how pretty I am. I got called a "little thing" by one of my residents. I am in a size 10 (was busting out of a 22) and weigh 170. Oneder land lol ...I still have about 30 pounds till goal but I feel GREAT!!! Now I must go my kids are waiting to play Water fight in the hot Texas heat

That's great! I am happy for you!
I don't believe I am there yet, but I am still not really sure what it should feel like. I don't notice much difference from before, except I do have to be careful with bite size and chewing more than before...I have heard that when you are there you will know it and I don't. lol

Thanks LessLee! I had my consultation call this afternoon with slimband and will try to see of I can talk to someone at smartshape this weekend. How are you doing after the surgery?

I got a 1cc fill (finally!) on Thursday and I can totally feel it. Things are looking up!

We'll have to bring the gang over and beat you up! Lol. It happens. You can't eat 100% healthy 100% of the time. Just keep trying and hop back up in the saddle and you'll be fine.

I have not always needed you.... and one time in my life.. i was a "normal" person. Size 0-3... weight a whopping 100lbs. Back in my single day... then one day you meet a wonderful guy and you fall in love... ahhh things are great. You get married and have a beautiful son. and life is good.... but then you notice that your not happy as you use to be. some days are worse than others... you find the strength to get up every day and go to work and live a "normal" life. Things are good at home... but something is missing... that spark, that feeling you use to get when you and your spouse were together intimately .. and you notice that those time have gotten further and further apart. and you think, what is going on? and one day the reason is staring you right in the face... the mirror... but in that mirror is someone else... surely it's not me... I don't look like that... that's a ugly fat girl... i'm not ugly and i for damn sure am not fat. Can't be... i told my self years ago i would NEVER like myself look like... those people... but then you look closer... and closer and there.. i know those eyes.... those are my eyes... but why do they look so sad. I have happy eyes. and i see, i see the real me. the one others have been seeing for years.... how did i not see this... how did i let myself get like this ... how did i become that girl that now had to shop at the plus size store... when just yesterday i was a size 3... How did i become the girl the skinny girls are not looking at and saying... i'll never let my self look like HER... and i'm the HER. this feeling takes the very last shred of self-confidence and stomps it into the dirt and spits on it. and you think...i am ugly i am fat i am unworthy of love.... unworthy of feeling good. and you start to eat... more and more and everything keeps getting worse. you stop taking care of your self, stop dressing up stop wearing make up and fixing your hair.... stop putting forth the effort at all... You are now sitting in a deep dark care, alone and no one or nothing can show you the light....
But one day... you open your eyes expecting to see nothing... complete darkness and there it is... a speck of light.... it's tiny, but just right there in front of you. and you squint to see it.... making sur its really thee. that speck was my friend Paula... she had lb surgery and everyday we talked and everyday my light grow brighter.... I went to the doctor and did all the test... did it all and the the news that i was approved... OH ... JOy. I looked in the mirror and saw a glimmer of hope. But as the days grew closer... I started to think... WHAT IF... what if i die on the table, what if i fail at this too, what if i stayed fat forever... Then i saw this site...trolled for a long while. I didn't want to sign because, well what if someone knew me... the horror... Then i saw all the successive people... the beautiful woman and handsome men that in their before pictures looked so sad... sad like me. Then i saw the after pictures.. and all the happy smiling faces... people who were bigger than me... now wearing size 6 jeans (lellow)... and i thought.. i can do this i can get my life back.... I will be happy again. so on November 10, 2009... i awoke.. was re-born. and i did do it... i lost 80lbs... it took me longer than most, but i don't care. I have donated all the 12-14-16 & 18 and moved in to my own size 6... On Feb 15, 2012.... after a long hard fight.... i won and awarded my self a tummy tuck... i deserved it. I earned it....
so to my band... thank you... for sticking with me and always keeping me on track.
and too all you out there thinking about doing this.....search with in your self and be happy again... which ever way you choose.....
blessings.....

I am sorry you are feeling down. Sounds like Bandster Hell and the fact that you have lost and not gained at this stage is a great accomplishment! I am around 23 lbs lost myself and it has been mostly because of my efforts to count calories and exercise.
Are you also measuring yourself?
Carbs and head hunger are the worst for sure. I too, have had some difficult moments! If I even look at junk food, I seem to stall or gain.
Hang in there! I am here if you want to chat.

Yes, that is true. Must have protein! I am sorry if I asked already (just got back from vacation, so brain fog...) have you had fills?
I am back from vacation last week. We walked a lot! My fitbit said I burned over 2000 cal!
I also went in today for fill #2. I am now at 7.25 cc.

Actually had my first fill this morning. I don't recall seeing anyone actually tell the story of getting a fill or the process of them poking around to find the edges of the port. I started at 4.5 during at the date of surgery and they added another 2 today. Looks like Soup for dinner tonight. Also had my regular doctor visit to review labs and he said to stop taking one of my BP medications. All in all a pretty good day.

Second fill on Saturday. I now have 7cc in my 14cc band (sorry mistyped 12cc band on earlier post) The only time I feel restriction is first thing in the morning. My doc has said it may take another couple of fills to get me in the green. I go back in three weeks for my next fill. Until then I am still in bandster hell. Have lost a total of 52 pounds now with no restriction. I just keep looking to the future. If I can lose this much with no restriction I look forward to seeing what I can do when I finally hit the green zone!!! Good luck to everyone.

I seen my dr yesterday for what i thought would be my 2nd fill. But nope no fill. She was happy i lost 10 pounds since my last fill. I now wait till next month to see if i will get a fill. Im down to 204 hopefully i can be in onederland soon!!!

You can't live on liquids forever. And once you stop liquids, it's VERY difficult if not impossible to not gain the weight back. Why? Because a liquid diet is a crash diet. It completely kills your metabolism. It is a fact that the more you crash diet, the likelihood of you gaining all the weight back and MORE is far higher than if you didn't bother dieting at all.
The band carries a risk of complications, yes. I have never seen statistics that support a 6 in 10 complication rate. But assuming that's true, let's put it into perspective: complications with the band can range from a port flip (easy fixed in day surgery) to erosion or worse (requires band removal). In Australia where the lapband was used routinely long before it was approved for use in the US, the complication rate is about 5% (all complications). Erosion rates are at sub 1%. Of these complications, some are caused by band failure and some by patient non-compliance, so that too is a factor.
Forums are NOT an unbiased representation of a population. Generally speaking, people seek out forums when they wish to discuss a problem and need support. This means that a lapbander who is at goal who isn't experiencing issues would usually have no reason to post, and few of them do (even on this site). Why would they?
So your best bet in terms of getting information regarding complication rates, risks and issues is to seek real studies regarding short, medium and long term prognosis for lapband patients. Paul O'Brien has been placing lapbands in Australian patients since 1994, and my own surgeon has nearly 2 decades of experience and still advocates banding for his wls patients.
Do your research and then make your choices, and don't necessarily accept other's personal experience as the only facts out there. Or else how is that different from me saying I lost over 100% of my excess weight with my band and have kept it off for 5 years with nearly no real imposition on my life?? I don't expect everyone to be like me, so those with complications shouldn't expect everyone to be like them.

Agreed!!! Since you are only 14 days post op, I am asuming you have not had your first fill, so the band will be more "forgiving" in these situations.
As guy touched on, the bigger concern is your mental approach to life and food after the band, I will share with you what others (including my doctor) have shared with me. As always, I include the disclaimer that these are things that have worked for me, they may or may not be helful to you...
1. You are not going to follow your lap band "diet" perfectly every day. NO ONE DOES! But, as my doctor often repeats - If you eat right MOST of the time, you will lose weight.
2. This is not a RACE...it is a journey, not just to lose weight, but to live a healthier, happier, longer life.
3. DON'T Beat yourself up, when you mess up!! Most of us, have spent a lifetime of dieting, then when we mess up, we just say "what's the use" which just leads to more eating and more weight gain, which leads to another diet, and the cycle repeats on and on and on....Just because you mess up, doesn't mean you have to give up!
4. The band helps with the physical issues of our eating, but we still have the mental side to deal with...the head hunger...what are your eating triggers? Stay connected with a support group, such as this forum, or better still, if there is a live support group in your area, check it out.
Finally, take an HONEST look at how you think about food and your decision to have the band...are you thinking, I have made a smart investment in my future health, or do you think of all the things you can "NEVER" eat again....By the way, my doctor does not give a list of foods you can "NEVER" have, but lists foods which commonly give band patients problems - otherwise everything in moderation.
Best of Luck!

I am doing great. I have found that being hungry between meals depends a lot on what I have. Protein Shakes and meat seems to last longer, Cereal for Breakfast makes me want to forage by mid morning. lunch I have gotten a workable standby. I have hummus and use fake crab legs(Transocean snackers 4 in a single serving pack) as a substitute for crackers or bread. That usually holds me until dinner. I have found also that my tastes for foods have changed. Hummus I never cared for and now could eat it five times a week. In the past week I have grilled beets and last night fennel bulbs. Any one else have their tastes change or now venturing out to different foods?

I finally arrived home from surgery. All is well and the clinic was great

Good for you! Your story touched me. You CAN do it!

About 7 years ago I put aside a pair of pants that I loved, proclaiming that I would wear them again someday! They sat buried in a dresser drawer, packed, unpacked, repacked and unpacked through 5 moves! Always in the back of my mind the thought was there, why am I holding onto these? My weight sky rocketed through the years and I finally had lost hope that they would ever fit again.
Today, I wore these pants to work (amazingly enough they are still in style) and bittersweet as it is, this may be the only time that I get to wear them as they are a touch too big. I cried for a few minutes this morning. Tears of accomplishment, tears of pride, tears of letting go. I think the hardest part of this journey is the mental challenge! Today though, the proof was in the pants!

LessLee you are doing great! Just remember how many inches you lost!

Fill #3 has put me in the green zone! I have 5cc's in my 10cc band and it did the trick! I'm staying full for a minimum of 4 hours, able to tolerate solids very well and the pounds are melting faster than ever now. I've lost 4lbs in just 3 days (without exercise) and I am so thrilled!!!! I hope you all experience the same results, it is an unbelievable feeling!!!

Yes as of today its now 53 pounds lost, 24 pounds since being banded. I am very happy with the results even though sometimes i feel like its going so slow....but thats ok.

Well today I finally reached a 30lb weight loss. I've lost 20 since surgery and feeling proud and happy!

Hi. No support group that I know of in sask. but at least I found this great forum. I'm glad to hear u have had a good experience.

Hi everyone. I am to be banded on aug 21 in Toronto. I'm from sask!! Everything was good there? We have our own little support group kind of forming of slimband patients .

For me when I got my third fill (I'm at 7.8 cc's) I all of a sudden had no problem telling that I was not hungry, I have more of a problem with knowing I should eat.. I had been struggling through trying to tell the difference, but since this last fill there is no mistaken it. So that could happen for you. Right now I'd do what Suebee01 suggest. When you get the right fill you'll probably know better.
~~~Stephanie

Proud of my kids, proud of my husband. But never proud of myself. Until I jogged a 5k last weekend.
I was dead last. But I didn't care. I jog/limped. But I didn't care.
The arthritis in my knee ached ever step. But I finished!! I did it.
I haven't been very successful with my band like so many have. Not proud of that. But a wonderful banderentioned couch to 5k app. and I tried it one day, then another then another. I completed the 27
day program and ran a race.
Maybe someday I'll know what slim feels like....