SpecialK

NurseNiki -- so wonderful to see your Ticker at Goal and Below!! Congratulations girl! I'm still working on my weight loss journey day by day. My goal is to lose 1 lb a week for 2010 and so far I'm doing okay at that with -2.9 lbs in January so far. My new project at work is so much better, gives me a hopeful outlook to get up each morning instead of dreading work. I believe the work situation I was in was holding me back on losing weight last year so that is a real bummer but things are better.

Congratulations Nancy. I was on a plateau for a few months at the 2nd half of last year but I'm on a losing pace again now with 2.9 lbs in the first 3 weeks of 2010 but that has been with very dedicated food tracking and exercise. I set myself a goal of 1 lb per week average to get the last 52 lbs off this year before going for the tummy tuck next year as my 3rd year bandiversary present! Keep up the good work to all.

My replacement BodyBugg just came Friday and I had it on charging yesterday and plan to get it going today with the help line guy. So I should also have my info by the 13th to share. I have to tell you, while it was not working I have gotten hooked on using the DailyPlate food and exercise tracker so I am not sure which I will keep using for the food tracking for Calories Eaten vs Calories Burned.

Name -Starting Wt .......Goal/End Wt 2010 ..CurrentWeight- SpecialK.............232.2.........155...................230.1 Scrappy_friend....149............135...................145 LadyRoz.............220............190...................216 Okay, I kept thinking how could I have a gain and I weighed this morning and was down all of what yesterday showed I was up and then down some more. So I guess the scale is playing games but I am hanging in. I think I need to call for a fill too as I am finding I get hungry faster than I should and if I let myself sit there, I can eat more than a cup of food so I think a small fill might help but it will likely take me 3 weeks to get in for an appt.

Hi Desdemona. I did get busy and called for an appt for B reduction. The first consult appt is now for Feb 15. They said they would send me a packet of what all insurance requires. I have a feeling this is going to be something where I have to document repeated visits to a doctor saying I am still experiencing neck, chest or shoulder pain and have tried the supportive undergarment route to no avail. I am going to the first consult though just to see what they officially say they think is possible. I chose a woman plastic surgeon as my first consult that my best friend who is an RN recommended. She has seen many post op patients at the hospital she works and done alot of wound care on people and she said she thinks the most highly of this surgeon above all others she has seen so that gave me the confidence to give it a try. My hospital I had my WLS at, has a doctor who does lots of PS also but I thought I'd try to get over my fears of embarrassment with a woman surgeon consult first. Well, I logged a small gain this a.m. on the scale and not sure exactly why but I'm not going to let it get me down. Just keep exercising and making the best food choices. I think I will call for a small fill adjustment in February because I think I am able to eat more at a sitting than I should.

Name -Starting Wt .......Goal/End Wt 2010 ..CurrentWeight- SpecialK.............232.2.........155...................231.5 Scrappy_friend....149............135...................149 LadyRoz.............220............190...................216 Well, this isn't good, went backwards and I'm not quite sure why I had a gain this week so I guess I better step up the exercise and watch even more on the food choices. I am going to log the ups and downs here so I keep track of the long term picture and I am weighing on Friday and putting the weight on a calendar that hangs in my bathroom.

Well I will tell you I think it is true that the stress I was under at work was impacting me more than I wanted to admit. I feel much more in control of my eating, much less tempted to look for easy things to eat. I have started checking into what insurance coverage I have for plastic surgery. Aetna will cover panniculectomy but not abdominoplasty, will Not cover arms or thighs at all, and will cover breast reduction if you meet different "medically necessary" criteria which I think I do. It looks like they have some similar hoops you have to jump through on the breast reduction/lift situation including pain documented for at least One Year. I guess that could mean I have to get it on the record with my doctor now. So I am going to take the plunge and see about making my appointment. I'm pretty scared about this and don't know the cost range for out of pocket costs for that procedure. So many of the other folks who posted on the Plastics and Cosmetic thread were going for breast lift/augmentation with implants and I want to go the other way, down in size! I am going to ask at the appointment what the cost difference is between panniculectomy and abdominoplasty as I definitely have a skin/fat roll above my waist as well as the pannus issue. I will also ask what the cost of doing both arms is, brachioplasty, as I have major bat wings of skin and I am self conscious about that. It would be 100% out of my own pocket. Okay, wish me luck. Others have gotten over the embarrassment of the initial consult and I suppose I will too.

Hi Spartan, What I mean by "hit the wall" is those who get the first 80% of their excess weight off and find it very hard and very slow to finish the last 20% regardless of which type of surgery they had. I have observed that RNY patients in my hospital program say they were told to get as much of their excess weight off in the first year because after that, their pouch would stretch some allowing them more capacity to eat, and also that their new portion of intestines has the capacity to adapt and be better at absorption and so the combination of more capacity and more absorption slows things down for them. I am not saying it is not a good surgery -- I have met many happy people in my support group who chose that. I have not heard much about it being reversible. Not sure of the success rate of trying to reconnect the portion of the stomach back to the small pouch or just reconnecting the intestinal tract back to what it was, but my understanding is that it would be a very difficult reversal surgery compared to the removal of the band in relative terms and potential reversal success rate.

Creamer -- a couple suggestions I'd offer -- please don't be the "diet police" unless your wife asks you to. We know if we are eating something we shouldn't. We have to make this decision 100% for ourselves to eat what is healthy. Second suggestion, if you have a sweet tooth, or she has in the past, try not to keep any sweet stuff or high calorie Snacks in a cupboard or location where she has to see them. I'm not saying you can't have them, but definitely for me, seeing them is temptation so if they were in my husband's reserved drawer or cupboard that might help. Same with eating them frequently in front of her if she is struggling.

I'll try to answer your questions from the 2 yr out perspective about this point. 1. Nobody bothers me about how much I eat - restaurants usually give you such large portions these days that lots of people take half their meal home. Just plan on doing that. 2. I take all my Vitamins whole without a problem. I do try to take them in the morning with a warm drink and or with a pretty good amount of Water. 3. The lapband and port are in there permanently unless there would be some medical reason it has to come out. Not counting on it ever coming out. I committed to a lifetime thing even though I knew it was reversible medically if needed. 4. I think there are many band placements outside the U.S. in the U.K and Austrailia that easily go back to 2003-2005. Hope that helps.

Amy, thanks for that info. I have the AP-L band and have 10cc out of the 14 now and was wondering for a lifetime about whether they would max out the 14. Thanks.

If you don't have a food journaling tool, the www.mydailyplate.com site is free and I think it is very good. I journal my exercise and food and it tells me what my net calories are for the day and I can see a whole week or month of my progress. Look for the big picture. Don't beat yourself up over 1 day off track, get back on the next.

Michelle - hang in there and it will get better. I should tell you that its all in the perspective of how you are looking at things. I would love to be 180 and a tight size 12 right now but I'm still up in 18s mostly and 230 lbs and hoping to get to where you are by the end of 2010. So, first, be thankful for where you are and don't beat yourself up. You are at the right place to get support. Start logging and tracking your food and exercise. The www.mydailyplate.com website is free and is a great tool. Best wishes for a new start in 2010.

Check out www.mydailyplate.com -- its free journaling of your food and exercise and it should help you get some awareness of what you are eating. Hang in there. You can do this. I also had an incredibly difficult stressful year and I am convinced our bodies do not allow us to turn lose of excess fat as a protection mechanism so hopefully if things on that aspect are better, with dedicated eating and tracking, you'll be on a good path again. God Bless.

At the time I chose lapband surgery the doctors were saying this would be a 2-3 year losing process and that I had to commit myself to the right diet and exercise. I said, yeah,yeah, give me the lapband now! and I have been happy but in year 2 it was much harder. I saw others banded the same time as me hit their goal, have plastic surgery and I was envious, the old green eyed monster. I started measuring myself against others. When I got my act together and looked at things, I had lost 80 lbs by Dec 2008 and another 42 lbs by Dec 2009 for a total of -122 and now I am setting myself a practical goal of 40 lbs in 2010 and then I should be close to being where I should be -- 3 years after starting. Who knew that the surgeons really did mean it was a three year process! Now I am totally with the post about see me in 5 years, make me stay committed for a lifetime which is what I signed up for when this was put in. Doesn't it that much more help us be sympathetic to those who had the more drastic WLS of Gastric Bypass and then after the initial thrill of losing the first 100 almost without trying find they hit the wall but they can't go back, still have a permanently changed internal organ structure, etc. Start back 1 day at a time. You are in the right place to get support. Stay in touch on this board daily.

I'm not a sue-happy person at all but this is total malpractice and that ER surgeon who saw what he did and took pictures realized it big time. Get a lawyer and a new WLS doctor.

Hang in there Scrappy Friend. It will come. I am using DailyPlate to log my food and I can see a pattern where I am being really good for the day and then 1 stupid thing I do is something that was a huge hunk of calories, like a piece of cake with dinner tonight...ugh... and it was good but not worth 455 calories that DailyPlate made me put down for a single piece of basic chocolate cake, frosted. On to tomorrow.... At least I did exercise enough today to help offset that but I realize it was still empty calories that could go toward weight loss instead. I did something similar on Wednesday eating Spaghetti with Meatballs at Fazoli's as comfort food when I had a really bad work day. I was shocked when Daily Plate told me it was like 900 calories for that. So, for me, accountability comes from writing it all down for now and learning again that what I didn't think was so bad at the time, really was much more calories than I knew.

Had a good week really staying committed to exercise -- it definitely helps with stress and its something I feel I control in my own life when work life seems so out of control. ACTIVITY....................DATE...MINUTES Cardio - Stair Climber...1/15/2010...10 Cardio - Treadmill Walk/Run...1/15/2010...45 Strength - Ab Crunches1.../15/2010...15 Cardio - Other...............1/15/2010...10 Strength - Upper Body...1/14/2010...10 Strength - Ab Crunches...1/13/2010...10 Strength - Upper Body...1/12/2010...25 Strength - Lower Body...1/12/2010...20 Strength - Ab Crunches...1/12/2010...10 Cardio - Elliptical Climber...1/11/2010...30 Cardio - Treadmill Walk/Run...1/10/2010...35 Cardio - Elliptical Climber...1/9/2010...45 Total for 2010 =605 Minutes

Instructions are copy the line from the prior post, add or update your line, and repost back on this thread so we don't drop anyone off that wants to stay in this accountability loop. If you are new to the list, copy a line from another person to help keep the numbers aligned for readability please. Adding LadyRoz line for her. Great job for the New Year!! Name -Starting Wt .......Goal/End Wt 2010 ..CurrentWeight- SpecialK.............232.2.........155...................230.3 Scrappy_friend....149............135...................147 LadyRoz.............220............190...................216

Hi NYSparklegirl -- you've found the March 2008 Bandsters thread and I looked and didn't see a thread started yet for the March 2010 Bandsters which is exciting for you. Maybe hang out with the January 2010 Bandsters or be the first and start the March 2010 Bandsters thread. You're welcome to look at our thread too but we are all at the 2 year out stage and it will really help you to get help step by step at the time the people are going through the same things you are. This thread was a big help 2 years ago for all of us. We were so excited and it is nice to see that newbie excitement again in you. Best wishes.

Instructions are copy the line from the prior post, add or update your line, and repost back on this thread so we don't drop anyone off that wants to stay in this accountability loop. If you are new to the list, copy a line from another person to help keep the numbers aligned for readability please. The scale is going in the right direction even with another very stressful week and a dose of the flu. Name -Starting Wt .......Goal/End Wt 2010 ..CurrentWeight- SpecialK.............232.2.........155...................230.3 Scrappy_friend....149...........135...................147 LadyRoz.............XXX............XXX...................XXX

I wanted to share a link to the local informal support group or get together the various folks in the Central Ohio area have and welcome anyone who was a self-pay with Dr. Curry in Cincinnatti to join us. I have found a few of these folks who wanted a support group but this isn't available to them outside Cincy. So, please join us if you are pre-band or post-surgery and we'll help you out and give you support. There is also a COLUMBUS thread that is active with a mixed group of folks who post into that forum thread. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f56/central-ohio-get-together-february-13-2010-a-108380/

Here is a crosslink over to the next mall get together. Hope to see lots of Columbus folks there. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f56/central-ohio-get-together-february-13-2010-a-108380/

Come on Mt. Carmel bandsters! It has been a little lonely being the only one from our group in the Saturday get togethers and I'd love to see those of you who I've met in the past and meet any new Mt. Carmel bandsters too. Here is the link to the next Feb 13 get together. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f56/central-ohio-get-together-february-13-2010-a-108380/

The invitation is open to all! Whether you are pre-band, newly banded or an old band pro. Friends and family members are also welcome to join us for these meetings. The more the merrier! Everyone is welcome! Where: Polaris Mall food Court When: Saturday February 13, 2010 Time: 2 p.m. Look for us near the entrance to the Great Indoors store in the back corner seating area next to Chik-Fil-A. If we're not there look for a large group of folks sitting at several tables pushed together in the areas on either side of the Great Indoors... that's usually us :-) Hope to see you there!