gentylwind

Small portions. Protein first. Avoiding slider foods. Weigh often. Shop often (watch the sizes slip downward). GET YOUR FILLS. Enjoy life, keep the faith but recognize this is largely up to YOU.

One year as of this past Saturday. Down 62 pounds, wearing a size 14 petite in pants, a size 10 or 12 in dresses, look and feel fantastic and no regrets. It wasn't easy and still isn't. Girl loves to eat. :biggrin: But the band helps me keep it in perspective. Its been a slow loss, my skin is recovering nicely and I feel great. Getting married next month in a street size 12 wedding dress. My all time highest I was a size 28, so it feels pretty svelt to me. I am thankful I had my surgery. If I ever have complications from the band I will revise to a sleeve or RYGB, no question about it.

I have had a beer or two. Didn't hurt, didn't have any bad effects, but yes, I did have to drink it s-l-o-w.

Took me 7 fills to get good restriction. Its a whole different ballgame now both in terms of my satisfaction with my food and in terms of the change in my body. Its too too early for you to be ready to throw in the towel. The most important thing you can do now is continue your follow ups!

I do these approvals for a living for a local bariatric surgeon. From the time of submission of all of your data the insurance company is allowed 30 days to respond. The type of insurance you have may or may not have anything to do with how long it takes to get the approval back. Whether or not they are short handed, whether or not they got enough info, the qualify of the info they got and many other factors play in to how long it takes. If you are submitting in May you will likely have surgery in June. You will still need pre-op work up and your two week pre-surgery diet and of course the doctor's own surgery schedule will play a part as well in how soon you can get it done. Congratulations on coming so far!

Average rate of loss is 10% of your total body weight at the six month mark. Most of you are on target. I have had moments of struggling too since being banded. It was in my case completely due to my own poor choices. Are you drinking alcohol? Tracking what you eat? Cutting out refined foods? Exercising? If you can't honestly answer the above questions as they ought to be answered, then you have some work to do still. There ARE, however, people for whom the band is not effective. Everyone who feels discouraged by lack of loss needs to be talking to their surgeon.

I tell them I bought a tape worm on the Internet. That tends to shut them up.

Once you reach good restriction it all gets very different. I have trouble with stress eating too. My most recent fill last week (my sixth) finally put me to that point they talk about when I can only eat 4-6 oz of food at a sitting and that it keeps me satisfied for four or more hours if I don't drink for an hour afterward. I had started to doubt that would ever really happen for me, bouncing up and down the same five pounds. Keep going on your follow ups and pursuing support through group meetings, here if it helps and make sure to get in some exercise. Even a 20 minute walk per day will elevate your ability to deal with the stress and sorrow of your spouse being gone. You can do this. Follow ups and support are vital for you right now.

You so very rock! You should feel very proud of yourself. You have done so much in such a short amount of time. Good for you!

Are you drinking any alcohol at all around the times you get this pain, within a half hour to an hour before?

It would depend on the surgeon's reputation with the surgeries he did in the 10+ years prior to being trained on the Lap Band and on who did his training and what his record has been thus far. I would not rule him out, as he is not new to surgery, but I would look at him with a great deal of scrutiny prior to making my choice.

If it is pure liquid and your doctor said it is okay, then it is. Drinking from a straw, however, is not. I was on full liquids at your point postop and was not permitted to blend fruits or anything else. Those counted as mushies due to the fibrous nature of them. Even blended they make your belly work harder, which is what you want to avoid right now. You need your stomach to stay quiet so the sutures can heal and the band settle into place anchored by scar tissue.

I get full sooner. MUCH sooner. To the point that my perception of a serving size is beginning to change. What used to be a normal portion for me now looks like an unbelievably huge amount of food....three meals worth at least. It also feels tight...I have to take tiny bites if I want to enjoy my meal and not feel things going down "hard".

Just stay away from carbonated beverages and recognize that any alcohol you drink is going to slow down your loss for that period of time.

I waited three to four weeks before my first little glass of red wine I think.