Vicki J

Why is it we are compelled to add the "yeah but I gained a few pounds" statements? I always do that and I also know that those few pounds will go away and that they can't see them. Ugh! Next time try to say something simple like "fine." Boy is that a do as I say not as I do statement. LOL

Drew - WLS has many different effects on those around us. Most of the time the negative ones come from worry or not understanding. There have been a bunch of great suggestions and another one would be to take him to a support group meeting with you. My family has been pretty supportive but they don't hesitate to tell me that they are worried. My response to that has become "you shouldn't worry I'll loose too much but should have been worried that I had all this weight to loose and I'm still trying to reach a healthy weight." With WLS we tend to get a lot of attention from our family and friends. His statement about loosing 5 lbs may have been a "look at me too" statement. Does your brother have the abiltiy to get WLS? Is he afraid of it? Maybe he would like to join you but feels like he can't for some reason. You also said he mentioned people who have had GBS and maybe he's afraid of some of the health related issues. Who knows. Maybe the inviting him to exercise with you and being extra supportive to him if he comments on his loosing will swing the tables in both directions. He will see that you have to be very careful and that this is not the "easy way" out but he may also be hesitant to mention it if you're doing what he can't by loosing weight. You're going to be a major center of attention while you loose because your friends and family are going to be so proud of you. If it is jealousy, it's going to be worse unless something he does isn't recognized as much. Good luck to you in both this situation and your surgery. Throw some love and understanding his way and this too will pass.

Just be EXTREMELY careful on your workouts. I was not released to go back to Curves for 6 weeks. The reason behind this is because your port needs to get scaring around it to hold it into place. The stitches are not strong enough to do the job without the scaring. Your port will end up flipping and then that's another minor surgery. Walking, treadmill and anything that doesn't involve working that area or lifting over the recommended amount (20 lbs) would probably be ok. Just be careful. I'm glad that the Protein helped. I learned of it when a friend of mine who had WLS found me at my desk the week I returned to work looking like death warmed over. She picked up on the protein deficency right away and gave me some. Let me know if I can help in anyother way. Congratulations on your journey.

Sorry I didn't catch this sooner! I would contact obesitylaw.com and see if they have any suggestions. Otherwise I would contact patient assistance. From what I've read if there is an exclusion it's pretty much a done deal. I have read where people went to their employers and pleaded their case. Some of the people got their employers to delete the exclusion in the policy which gave them the green light to get the surgery. If you are self-pay on the Kaiser plan, contact whoever is your agent and get it changed. Good luck.

Go to your Vitamin store and see if they have New-whey Protein drinks. Get the ones with 0 carbs/sugar. They have about 170 calories. You can drink them like a shot or mix them with your Water. They have 42 grams of protein in them and taste like Kool-aide. I have tried the berry flavors, grape, and orange. They were really great. I mixed them with my water and sipped on them throughout the day. I'm not sure why Richmond has you restricting your intake so much. Kaiser SSF mainly said for us to make sure we got our fluids and protein. Also, you can go on smartbandsters.com and they have a file section that has a whole list of stuff you can have on each phase of your eating program. This has been complied by not only a bariactric nurse who was banded back in 1998 but also by a bunch of people who have had their bands forever. Good luck and PM me if you need me. Vicki

I have had this problem most of my life. I have tried ALL of the stuff suggested and nothing. My MIL gave me a product that is what I consider a miracle. It's called Dual-Action Cleanse and you have to order it online or call them. (www.DualActionCleanse.com or call 1-800-941-0163) I DO NOT SELL THIS PRODUCT OR HAVE ANY REASON TO SOLICITE FOR THIS PRODUCT. I put that in caps because I don't want anyone thinking I have any reason to tell you about this but helping. Most laxatives & stuff like Activia give me horrible gas. :thumbup: I've been gasy after banding anyway and don't need the pain or help. You take this everyday for a month and then a month off. (take everyother month) I just started so I don't know quite what to expect next month. My MIL swears by it and it works so good I can't believe it. I mean 95% of days I have a healthy BM. Sorry if this is TMI.:crying: I plan on continuing with this because I have NEVER had these results. I hope this helps someone else.

Wow, I'm not sure how to reply. I guess the first thing I would say is that if you don't have insurance to cover therapy or even if you do, Overeater Anonomous might be a good place to start. This might help you find out why you're binging and how to handle it. The other suggestion is to get the Beck Diet Solution book. It is not a diet but about your thought process. As for the band, I guess the best way to say it is I was a binger and used to drowned my stresses in any food handy. The food of choice was sweets. I could do my stress/depression/anger/boredom justice with ice cream or Cookies. Yeah, like Abby Normal, I could loose weight but keeping it off was the crux of the problem. I truly believe unless you have a medical problem or medication problem we can all loose the weight but how much and maintaining it is the quesiton. The band for me has given me the little added push I needed to be able to keep off the weight. I don't fight my band and try to listen to the signals it gives me. That keeps the amount I consume down. All of us who have dieted know that we should eat good foods and exercise (ick). So I try to do that most of the time. I personally hate working out but I'm doing it and as I get in better shape I'm starting to appreciate it. Having said all of that, let's get real. Calories in and calories out is the whole thing. Yeah, good calories in is the goal but it's still calories in/calories out. So, if you like the sweets and you want to loose the weight, plan them in. If you put your sweets in smaller bags then at least you'll have to make a conscious decision to eat them if you go for the binge. That is unless you grab all of the bags. Most of the time we're just mindlessly eating and when we scratch the bottom of the bag/box we go "OH S**T." Then we spend the next week beating ourselves up because we blew it. Of course, this starts the old cycle and we eat because we were bad, beat ourselves up, eat, beat, eat, beat.... You know the routine. The other thing I have to say is when you do want to eat those forbidden things make a decision to have them and don't let it be an unconscious thing. Last week we had a part for an employee that was leaving. I brought the cheese cake and a white cake. Did I set myself up or what? Well, after battling myself over how I was going to blow it by eating cheese cake I finally decided that I wasn't going to let it be a compulsive eating thing. I decided that if I had some cheese cake it would be because I wanted it and I would count it. So, I had my sliver of cheese cake and counted it. Boy did it take a hunk of calories! But I ate it, enjoyed it and didn't let it have control. I have gotten where I journal all of my foods. If I don't, I forget and then I get into trouble. You can use fitday.com. It's free. It tracks your weight so when you feel like you haven't lost in forever or that you have only lost a minut amount, you'll usually see it isn't that bad. If you are stalled, you can look at what you're eating and doing and can usually find the problem. Remember ABC - all bites count. The band isn't going to stop this from happening. The band will HELP you limit your intake. However, for some strange reason it makes it easier to control it. I can't say if it's because it limits you, you detox, or why but it helps. Maybe it's the success of loosing that does it, I don't know. You won't be perfect, don't try to be. Just try to follow most of the rules most of the time. It will spank you if you eat too much, too fast, or don't chew well enough. I have my international house mochas every morning (burn 200 cal or so there) and I have my sugar free fudgesicles in the evening. Not the best choices but it makes me happy. I will eat a cookie or two now and then and have had some pie. But I do it when I'm in control. What would I do if I felt a major binge coming on....First I would get myself out of the kitchen, then I would try and figure out the cause, if I could figure it out I would try and figure out if eating would really help me cope, if I totally couldn't get rid of the binge feeling I would try and find something that would appease the urge yet not totally upset the apple cart. Lastly, I would forgive myself as soon as possible for my lapse. I would forgive my child within minutes if they endulged, why not myself. I am not perfect. I will always be a work in progress. But I have hope because of my band. Good luck to all of you. If I can be of help, hollar!

Hmmm...I was diagnosed with fatty liver also but they didn't put my on B12 shots. How often do you have them and what's the dosage? Maybe I will have to be more vigilant about taking them.

Irene - It depends upon my mood what I would say. The least I would say is that one of the draws of the bypass is that you get that instant gratification. You also get to deal with malnutrition, suppliments, higher complication/death rates, and dumping syndrome. Then I would educate them on the statistics about the fact that the weight loss between the two are comparible within 2 years. I would also tell her that I wasn't in a race and that I will be enjoying all the foods she can't have and still be loosing weight. I would end all of this by telling her that when her pouch streches and she's regaining all of her weight that your band will still be adjustable and you'll be able to maintain your weight for the rest of your life.:thumbup: You never know, you may see her getting banded over her bypass in the near future.

Lynn - I had the same thing happen with my doctor but I did manage to brow beat him into giving me a small fill. I went home and did some really hard thinking and realized that there was a communication problem here. You see, I'm anal about journaling all of my food, exercising and limiting my food intake to less than 1000 calories most days. Therefore, I will loose weight most months but can still be ravenously hungry. I tend to use veggies when this happens. So the next time (and everytime thereafter) I saw my surgeon I explained this to him. I told him he COULD NOT go by the fact that I was loosing weight because I will not allow anything else to happen. I could see the light bulb go on. :biggrin2: With your doctor I would have added one more thing. I would have told him that considering his statement he was contradicting himself by not giving you a fill. I really get peeved at these doctors who tell their patients that they haven't lost enough and therefore they won't give you a fill. Who do they think they are, our parents? This isn't something to be used as punishment. Talk about head games that will cause one to go back to old habits!:thumbup: I'm happy that my doctor is really concerned about getting me too tight. I live about 3 hours away from the hospital he works at and it would be a terrible trip if I had to go get unfilled. I just have to figure out how to tell him things so he can get the whole picture in his head.

Aw the evil of impatience. We're so susceptible to it. That's why people get the bypass. I personally don't think the payoff is good enough. Anyway, before you guys all lynch me because of my ticker, I've lost 40 lbs since my December banding. The rest was pure blood, sweat and tears pre-op program. But I have to say that you need to remember that the goal with the lap band is 1 - 2 pounds per week. That means that RSG is around 11 pounds ahead of where she should be. I have two suggestions to help you with this frustration. I'm just as susceptible to it. Get the Beck Diet Solution book and start tracking your weight on a calendar or a program like fitday.com. I use fitday.com and when I look at the calendar that tells me when/if I've lost weight, I find out I'm trucking right along with the program. Also, I tend to weigh myself every morning but I had to learn how to not let the scale rule my moods. The Beck Diet Solution is NOT a diet book with a meal plan. It is a way to deal with the thoughts we have. For instance, I can have bread, Pasta, ice cream.... I choose not too. I know it sounds like I'm being cheeky and like I feel like I'm better than everyone else. WRONG!!! Been there, done that. Just last week we had a going away party for a co-worker. Now talk about setting yourself up....I BOUGHT A chocolate cheese CAKE TO THE PARTY. All the way to work I kept telling myself I was totally crazy because I was going to blow it by eating some of the cheese cake. I then decided that if I was going to have a piece it would be because I CHOSE to have that piece and I would count it into my daily calories. Guess what...I had a bandster size portion of the cheese cake and was totally happy with it. I also didn't beat myself up or feel out of control. It was amazing. I have to work at this line of thought EVERYDAY! It's a matter of taking control and giving permissions to our inner children. Once we take control we can control the food we take. So, once in a while give yourself permission to indulge. BUT make sure you weigh/measure that indulgence and count it. The next meal you're back on track and you will not have sabotaged yourself. Keep on trucking those of you who feel like it's taking forever. Next year at this time you'll be amazed where you're at. See ya!

Norcal Girl - I can't speak for the gastric bypass part of this but I went through their lap band procedure and no I didn't have to go to SF every week. I think he's referring to the classes which can be done up here and to my knowledge (I never went to any) are once a month. Call the bariactic department and ask them. You can PM me if you need the number. You'll also find out a lot of these things in orientation. Good luck on your journey!

Diz - I know what you mean about getting it at someone else's expense. I guess what happened when mine came up (it was a cancellation) was that Dr. Alami had some kind of injury and couldn't do surgery. I thought they should have let the other surgeons do the surgeries that were scheduled but that's not what they do. They sure have some weird policies. So, after hearing that I was happy they called me. Well I was happy anyway but it made it easier to be happy. Good job on loosing the weight! Your surgeon will be really happy with you. I met one person when I was at orientation whose mother had recently had the bypass done in SSF. She told my daughter and I that the people who worked the hardest at following the program got fast tracked. I don't know if that's why I got the early appt or not but I was #26 on the list when it happened. Good luck with your surgery. I think you're going to be really happy with the staff now that the hard part of getting through the program is over.

Diz - Congratulations about getting your date with the surgeon. At that appointment they will put you on the list for surgery providing you have lost the required weight and don't have any medical issues they are still working on. When I went in October '07 to my surgeon's appt (Dr. David Le) they figured it would probably be late Feb. '08 for my surgery. I had them put me on the cancellation list also which turned out to be a good thing since I received a call and had surgery 12/12/07. I personally think that Dr. Le's conservative approach worked well for me since I haven't had any problems with PBing, slimming or getting stuck. He's really concerned about you having problems like that. Yeah, it's really hard to drive all the way down there for a 15 minute appointment but that's all we have for now. I think they are getting buried enough that they will be looking into expanding the program if they aren't already. I have heard that Dr. Alami is also a good surgeon and his patients dearly love him. I haven't talked to too many people about Dr. Li so I can't give you information on him. Good luck on your appointment and hopefully you'll be hearing really soon about your date. I think they contact you about 6 weeks prior to surgery. The time will go by quickly once you get the call. I hated not hearing from them worse than anything. It made it drag on so badly. Again, good luck and soon you'll be in Bandlandia!

Tiffany - First thing is where you are located. I know that the Kaisers in California are doing the lap band and I have heard that a lot of them across the US are doing them. But, the programs are different in different places. I had my surgery through Kaiser in December. I started last June with an orientation. I had my surgery through the So. San Francisco Kaiser even though I live near Sacramento. We have 3 Kaisers in No. CA that do the surgery so we are sent to one of the Bay Area Kaisers. You don't get to choose which one you go to and they are buried. When I was referred I had a BMI of 45.5 and was 54 years old. I don't think the fact that you are younger will be a problem since I know a few younger people who have had the surgery. Unfortunately, a lot of the PCPs don't know what the bariactric people are doing. So, my advice to you is to call patient services and/or the bariactric unit of the hospital that does the surgery. Patient services is the best place to start because they can tell you all about your coverage and if the Kaiser near you has the program. I did this because I found so much conflicting information about the coverage. They cleared it up in a phone call. Second, if you are in Northern California, let me know and I can give you a run down on the proceedures as I know them. You can also PM me if you would like. It's a long process but I'm happy I stuck to it. Good luck.

Oh yeah, and if you must drink, don't do it until you puke. That will bother the band.

Hello Abby - It's always nice to meet other Kaiser patients. I went through So. San Francisco for my surgery. Maybe I can shed some light on this stuff. Before I start, look up Warrior on this board and she went through the Richmond program. She can answer the specifics about their program. Now for the list of stuff they told you: 1. From what I understand (I'm a lightweight smoker) there are tests that will give them results to tell you if you smoke, drink, or use drugs. SSF didn't run any but I imagine they do have them. However, once they do the surgery what are they going to do...take the band back? If Richmond does test for these, then stop until after surgery if you must continue. 2. Yes, there are many people who drink an occassional drink (some drink more but that's another issue) and they do just fine. However, alcohol is loaded with useless calories and doesn't mix well with loosing weight. BUT, you can plan ahead and figure that amount into your daily intake and still loose weight. Constant drinking will slow or prevent you from loosing weight. It is a bypass thing not to be able to drink EVER AGAIN!!! 3. Bread, Pasta, rice and anything else that you can take in your hand and ball up (like when we were kids) CAN give bandsters problems. If it will ball up in your hand it will ball up in your stomach and cause you grief. You can find substitutes like whole grain breads, pastas, and non-sticky types of rice and you may be able to eat these. This falls into that everyone's different stage. These along with potatoes and Peanut Butter are not really condusive to weight loss. BUT, if you want to count them into your day and use them on occassion you can. 4. Kaiser is in it's infancy in Norther California. They just started doing the bands last year. This means that in order to make sure that they have the best results they will be more causious than most places. They also want to make sure you know that there are ways to eat around any WLS and cause yourself not to loose weight or to loose it very slowly. This is a lifestyle change that you need to be comfortable with or wait until you are. There are a lot of people who don't make the change and cause themselves a lot of grief. I guess the thing I'm trying to say is become knowledgeble about what those foods will do and proceed with caution. Do I sound like a know-it-all? :w00t: I'm not. I eat things that I'm sure my surgeon would be shaking a finger at me for. BUT - I accept what I'm doing as my responsibility and I don't blame them if my weight loss is slow one week. I also am VERY cautious about introducing new stuff that might be a problem. I haven't been stuck or PB'd or slimmed and I DON'T WANT TO. But, I do want to enjoy my life. When I decide to do something it's not on a craving or a emotional issue, it's because I wanted to do that and I keep it under control. So, learn to say the right things to the doctor's, if they test for something make sure you come up clean, and become as knowledgeble about this process as you can. If you don't know something, take the responsibility to learn it. And for goodness sake, if you're not ready to make this lifestyle change then don't put yourself through it. You're way too important to do something like this and then put yourself through hell. If I can be of any assistance, please contact me. It's actually a wonderful journey and suprisingly I haven't wanted a lot of those things since I've been banded. It's way more fun to buy clothes, watch myself shrink and get the compliments then it was to eat anything I set eyes on. Good luck!

I usually don't eat early but for breakfast I usually just grab 2 oz of chicken/turkey deli meat. I have Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran (1C - dry) for a mid-morning snack. It's pretty easy and can be eaten on the run. It's also a solid form so it tends to stay with you better than liquids.

Latrice - With Kaiser your PCP has to refer you. I would call the bariactric division at Richmond and get some information from them. It is also helpful to call patient services. There is also a person on here going by the tag Warrior who just had her surgery through Richmond. Look her up and send her a message. She'll tell you all about her journey. I went through the SSF Kaiser and the plans are a little different between SSF, Richmond and Fremont. Basically I went through orientation (06/07) and then met with the director of bariatrics, nutritionist, and psychologist (08/07). Once I passed muster there I met with the surgeon (10/07) and finally had surgery (12/07). I had to attend a pre-op class and meet the anastegologist (sp). That's a summary of the journey. I had a couple of other appointments due to some elevated liver readings but most people don't need those. I think that the programs are basically the same but may be in a different order. SSF does require you to loose weight prior to being approved by the surgeon. It's an average of 10% of your total body weight. They put you on a 1200 calorie pre-op meal plan. If you follow it, it's pretty easy to loose the weight in the amount of time you have. They suggest you start loosing right after orientation but the director of bariatrics was the one who actually said how much you needed to loose. When I finally got in to see her she told me I had met my requirement. I kept loosing weight on the program after that for two reasons. 1) I figured I was in this program to loose weight so I might as well keep going and 2) I thought it would be easier to keep loosing than trying to maintain (and less stressful). I made sure that there was not a problem with me loosing too much weight and therefore disqualifying myself from surgery and proceeded to loose 70 lbs prior to surgery. My surgeon was extremely happy although he kept telling me to not be disappointed if I didn't loose much more. He is wrapped up in the statistics. I told him I would be adjusting his line of thinking and have just kept heading towards my goal. Anyway, enough about me. Check in with Warrior for more specific details on Richmond's program. I hope this helps.

iluvlongnecks - Great to hear that you're being banded...TODAY!!!!!! It's been a long journey for you. You take care of yourself and just know that I'm thinking about you!!! Congratulations and welcome to Bandlandia!!!!:tongue_smilie:

Greetings! The first thing you need to do is to get your PCP to refer you. At that point you will be headed to an orientation. Depending upon which No. Cal facility you go to (SSF, Richmond, or Fremont) will depend on what happens next. Each program is different and you don't get to choose where you will go. S. San Francisco puts you on a 1200 meal plan so that you can loose some weight pre-op. The average amount of weight to loose is 10%. That's 10% of your total weight not excess weight. Last I heard it would be 6 months or so until your next appointment (bariactric director, psych, or nutritionist). I did hear from one person that got her appointments within around 3 months. I don't know why there is a difference. Once you loose your weight & make it through the above mentioned appointments you will be scheduled for an appointment with the surgeon. Upon obtaining his clearance you will be put on the surgery list. It's pretty simple just long and sometimes frustrating. I started my journey through SSF June 5, 2007 and was banded on 12/12/07. You must be pro-active in this progress. That means that you must be loosing your weight and if you want appts sooner, call. They only have a cancellation list for the actual surgery and appts for the rest come up and just sit there. They view this as an elective surgery and expect you to be patient. They told me that as far as the weight loss goes, they have people banging down the doors and they don't have to put up with someone who doesn't want to do the program as it is set up. Where are you located?

ErikMesa - I'm glad that you treated yourself to a night out and remembered to chew the heck out of things and put your fork down in between bites. You should, however, not eat for 2.5 hours. You'll be able to do this even with a fill and that will cause you to overeat. Next time bring the leftovers home for another tastey meal. I don't mean to criticize. I'm just trying to help.

I totally agree with you. I'm hoping that my fill on the 6th will get me to a good spot. I've had 3 fills but my doctor is rather conservative. I have around 4cc in my band which I think holds 10ccs. That includes the 2cc that they put in at surgery. I will love it when I don't have to be the food police.

Abby - Northern California Kaisers are in their infancy in regards to the lap band. I know, I went through the SSF Kaiser program and was banded 12/12/07. They've been at is a little over a year. This is why most of their recommendations and information is spill over from gastric bypass stuff. You need to do your own research so that you can peel the GB stuff away and find out what you need to do. Lap band patients aren't effected by alcohol like GB patients are. Alcohol no matter what form it is consumed in is still empty calories and if used more than occassionally will prevent your weight loss from being good if at all. But one of the nice things is you can plan a nice cool one into your day and enjoy it. I think that the reason your boyfriend might not be on board is because he may be afraid that you won't like/love him when you loose weight. As obese people we tend to have low self-esteme. He might also be afraid that you will try to pressure him into getting the surgery. You have to decide to do this because it's what you want to do and not because someone else approves or disapproves. If your relationship is good, it will survive. If it's not good, this might be the excuse he needs to leave or for you to leave him. Only you can answer that one. My DH was afraid for me because it was surgery and he didn't know how WLS worked. He went with me to my appointments and a seminar and learned what there was to know. He still sweated the surgery but he is so happy I'm finally loosing the weight and active again. He's been so supportive. Sit down and write out why you want to loose weight. Put on the list how it will affect your kids lives as well. Then do a list of why you shouldn't have the surgery. Then compare them. I'm so sorry about your friend. I am so happy that the lapband was an option for me because I think GB should be put in the category of only to be done if nothing else can help. It scares me. PM me if you want. I know how frustrating Kaiser's programs can be from first hand experience. They are so slow because they are so overwhelmed with the number of people wanting WLS. There are only 3 Kaisers in No. Cal doing the surgeries. I think there is less in So. Cal. Until they get more hospitals on board they will be buried. Good luck and whatever you do, do it for you.

I was with the Kaiser program and I got qualified by the weight I started the program with. That weight was my highest. The process takes several months to go through and they require that you loose 10% of your weight. They give you a diet to follow to do this. I asked them if I continued to loose weight if it would affect my ability to have the surgery and they said no. I have always been able to loose the weight but I can't maintain the loss. They were extremely happy with my weight loss prior to surgery because it made the surgery easier and also my recovery. I actually had around 60 more pounds to loose after surgery. I have my goal weight set at 140 but I'm toying with the idea of 135. I want to be far enough into the "healty BMI" range for the natural ups and downs our weight does each month. I would urge anyone who is going for the surgery to check with their insurances and if they have a wait and a requirement for dieting whether or not loosing too much will disqualify them. Kaiser doesn't have a problem with that. The only thing that I get now is my doctor trying to prepare me for the possibilty that I might not loose much more because the statistics say I probably won't. I told him to hold onto his statistics because I'm blowing them out of the Water. Vicki