gmccon

Ask not what you're lap-band can do for you rather, what you can do for your lap-band. I try to do an hour plus in the gym every day, and I haven't had sugar (candy), potatoes, bread, rice, or Pasta since surgery. Don't look at my signature for miracle numbers, because weighing myself now only happens at the doctor's office. I'm also learning how to listen to my hunger. Sometimes I just give it a taste of Peanut Butter and it shuts up. So, no obsesseing over a daily scale. No carbs. Do the daily gym. Deal with the voice of hunger, rationally. Voila, the new me. Something has to give, and it will probably be pounds. These are all probably things that 'normal' people do, instinctively. But I'm a hundred pounds over weight because I am not 'normal'. So I'm 60 and fat, but learning. Whats interesting is that I know now that I can live without bread, etc. If I go to McDonalds, for example, I love a double quarter pounder with cheese, I just throw the bun in the trash. The remaining meat, cheese, pickle, and garnishing, tastes wonderful. Finally, I haven't had a fill yet, either. I've put as much as a quart of salad and chilie through me, for example, and haven't felt any restriction. But just the idea that the band is there, and that there is a limit, helps. As long as my clothes are getting looser, I'm going to stick with what I'm doing, because I'm losing, and I feel good. Finally, my stupid body sometimes communicates that it needs more Protein, which I answer with Protein shakes. Just some thoughts. God Bless Us All, greg

amen, i ate potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, etc. for 60 years. no more. and its easy so far to get along without 'em. have a good day. off to the gym. God Bless You, greg

First year since living in Nevada, I finally got off my rear and took out a hunting license and drew a mule dear doe tag for an area just 3 hours from home (Ely, NV). Guaranteed kill, virtually. Road-kill does laying all over the place. Then my PCP rather strongly enourages my 'lardness' get banded- or die younger than I should. Surgery was 9/6, my tag was for 9/22. I was sure I had the energy, but the healing process was just too distracting (getting back in the gym, etc.) So no hunt.:cry Next year (if I get lucky in the draw), I'll be the much skinnier person, effortlessly dragging a deer or something back down to the truck. :eek:

Ask your doctor. Mine said to start walking the very next day for as long and far as you feel comfortable. Then at the 2 week point, do whatever you like in the gym, including free-weights. ask your doctor.

sorry, that may not be a good link. just 'google' "lunge, exercise" and click on Wikipedia's link. greg

if nothing else Lunge (exercise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) do it at home. do what you can. work up. add weights if you want. works everything in the body than an elliptical trainer or stair stepper or tredmill does, at 100% less the cost. :-) i like the gym because the machines are the lazy man's way. how do you think i got this fat!? :-) God Bless Us. greg

i'm banded 9/6. on my first and only post op follow-up (day 10), the nurse was upset when i told her i had gummed some chili to death about day 9, and told me i was on my own if i did that. but she said i could eat anything i wanted after 3 weeks. its a big practice and they've done many hundreds of bands. they are regular contributors to medical journals, etc. there was no pre-op diet. doc did say that sometimes they have to switch to a standard operation once your out (cut you open) if something goes wrong (everything was okay). and that was about it. the PA did 90% of the talking in the days before surgery. like someone said earlier, i was miserable in the hours after surgery. i was also suprised that i was totally sober when they rolled me down the hall to surgery. a little valium or something in the IV would have been nice, but i guess the anesthesiologist has his requirements. my personal doctor gave me xanax (i have a short history of panic) a week before surgery, and that came in handy. actually, what gave me panic this time was my battle with the insurance company, that and the anxiety of being in the mess i had eaten myself into. my doctor knows how being cornered makes some people feel, so when i told her i had panic, she took care of me. I gave up and paid out of pocket ($15K on credit cards, mostly). i started getting pretty darn hungry at day 12 or so. i called doctor at the end of 3 weeks (a few days ago), and asked what my fill date would be. the nurse said, if you feel you need a fill, just come in. anytime. 3 weeks post op, or whenever, just call, and come in, and they'll fill. as someone else said, doctors vary in how they handle these issues. God Bless Us All. greg

Bruce, I guess the fills and restriction are key. That's what Doc said in his initial consultation. He let me tell him how bad I wanted to get up and going (get rid of the weight), then said keeping the restriction at the right level was the whole deal. I'm a month off from the first fill. They said 7 weeks, this is 3. So I'm committing to the gym every morning in the meantime, and watching what I eat. I'm frequently fighting hunger at this point. But for me, this is it. At 60, I'm not going to be putting this off any longer. I remember wearing 32" trousers at 175 lbs for a short while ten years ago. I was doing a lot of excercise at the time. Its hard to believe that 175 was still "over weight", because I had so much energy I was climbing the walls. I eventually settled in at 200 to 210, and although officially 'obese', I was running daily, doing the gym, and some martial arts. Which is what I told Doc. I want that back just one more time, and for as long as it lasts, 1 year or until death, I'll take it. Many years ago, I quit drinking and smoking, but I'll be darned if I can quit eating, nor restrict it, not without help. 'Voila', the band. My last stand. Good health to you Bruce. God Bless Us All. greg

Hi Bruce, Do you mind sharing your daily exercise routine? I started pretty much where you were, and intend on going down to about the same as your goal. I see you're below 200. Congrats on that. I remember being less than 200 some years ago, and I felt awfully good. Probably the strongest I ever was, just not able to run faster than a 10 minutes pace. greg

i'm 60. i was banded Sept 6. this is as good as i've felt in several years. the surgery was the worst day of my life. trying to figure out how i got myself into the ugly mess i found myself in. but 12 hours after surgery, most of the pain was gone. i went back to work 4 days later. i go to the gym every day. i sweat out 700 calories or so on the elliptical trainer, and do some light free-weights. every day. if you're gonna change your body, you absolutely have to exercise. they say without it, you'll only lose half of your excessive weight. i'm very hungry a lot of the time, but i guess it'll get easier when i get my first fill. doc says the fills are the whole secret to success. he's done 3,500 WL surgeries, including 600 bands, and he's very casual about the whole thing. the band is not major surgery. most folks i know went home in 5 hours. 60 means nothing. God Bless You, and all the rest of us. greg

Chris, I didn't want to spend 3 months fighting my insurance company. More important, I just wanted this done! So I paid out of pocket. My hospital was $8,000.00, up front (assuming I don't get a follow-up bill for some additions). Doc was $5,800, up-front. Anestisialogist was $1,000, up front. (All on credit cards, of course.) I wonder how your hospital found its way up to almost $13K? Congrats on your good health. God Bless Us, greg

Bruce, Doc was very clear. Go to the gym and do what you want at 2 weeks. I get a little vertigo sometimes and have to rest a little more between sets, but I really enjoy it. I spend an hour on the elliptical trainer every day, too, so I think I'm losing more inches than pounds for the moment. But I don't do many calories a day, maybe 800 or 900, and I feel good, so I'm just going to keep doing this. Doc also said 'eat anything you want' at 3 weeks. This is day 20 post-op, so things are okay. Doc has done 3,500 barriatric surgeries, including 600 lap bands, and his practice is very casual about the whole thing. God Bless Us, greg

that's a great report chris. glad everything is going well. down 18 plus pounds already must feel very good. like me, you may have some surgical swelling still, but at your new weight you probably already brought your belt in a notch, eh? i've only lost 13 lbs, but one more moves me down to 'obese' from 'morbid'. its hard to believe i'm feeling good about that. my surgery was 17 days ago. what's odd is how varying this procedure is from doctor to doctor. mine has done 3,500 WLS, including 600 bands, and does not require a pre-op diet. also, i think i only have 5 surgical scars. and he didn't do the barrium swallow. there are still those days when i feel like i've had surgery, recently (tired and dragging), but at 60, its probably to be expected. my near term goal is to feel stronger in the gym. earlier this year, i was benching sets of 200 lbs. today, 8 reps of 150 lbs was a struggle. another lesson in patience. regarding hunger, day 17 is my worst. i was so starved, i ate soft food today but chewed real well, and didn't have a problem. but i was absolutely miserable. Continued good health and success. God Bless us All, greg

the gym is disgusting. everyone there has ipods, be-bopping to their favorite music, while they ride different machines, chatting with their neighbors, lusting for innocent health freaks as they walk back and forth. sweating. news and sports shows on the monitors. more sweaty, sex-starved people walking past you. it's absolutely horrible. do not go to the gym, and certainly do not make a habit of it :waytogo:

as a 'guy' who has gone up and down between the range of 175 to 275, i can tell you that our fellow man (women, for me), become much more flurtatious in the lower weight range. at the lower end of my weight range, women strike up friendly conversations in the grocery store line, etc. i also have noticed that once a woman has 'screened' your face, their eyes go right for your belt line. if you are 'in the zone', their eyes go back to your face for one more look, and sometimes you share 'a moment', or exchange a special smile. so for me, thinner is better. i find the 'you can do me' moments to be important, and rewarding social behavior. the exchange of smiles is very nice. now, my wife. she once made a 'freuding' slip: "keeping your man fat means no one can steal him away". "whoops", i thought. you are busted!