SuzanneG

I went to my first consult in August 07 and had my surgery in Jan 08 due to the fact that I had to appeal my insurance company. I started out with a BMI of 35.1 and by the time I started my preop diet, I had gained up to 36.7. I had more last suppers than you can shake a stick at and I can honestly say I don't regret it. Yeah, it sucked actually going up a size while waiting, but I was so out of control by that point, I just rode the wave. Having said that, I was 100% good on my 2 week pre-op diet and I was so ready to jump in and get into the lapband zone by surgery time. I wouldn't sweat it too much one way or the other. The band will do it's job as long as you do yours and you'll be ready.

I was 209 the day of my consult. I had plenty of folks try to discourage me too, my sister being the worst one. Well, after 2 1/2 months, she's now telling her overweight friends that they should do what I did and get the band! Those same people, by the way, are now telling me I should stop losing weight because I look great now. Well, I just graduated from Plus size dept to Misses, I'm not stopping now. My conclusion is that people are people and for the most part, the sad truth is that they don't want you to lose. Some won't want you to look better than them, some will be afraid that you won't want them around anymore if you are thin, some just love to comiserate. Even those who love you may not always want what's best for you. Personally, I think it's the single greatest thing I've ever done for myself. DH has been supportive from the start, like yours, so I say go for it! You'll be so glad you did.

First of all, congratulations on the pregnancy. I wasn't banded way back when I had my kids so I have no first hand experience. How do you think you would do if you added protien drinks in between meals?

Thanks HarleyGirl and congrats on your band. I had a love/hate relationship with mine that first week, but boy do I love the little guy now!

Hi, I can't seem to turn off underline in my signature text. I see the U button is "pushed", but when I click on it, it doesn't toggle it off. Any suggestions?

For me, the full feeling is totally different than it was before. Now that I have restriction, I feel full when I get a little pressure in my chest. I have just recently experienced the "stuck" feeling so I am more than happy to stop at the first sign that I've had enough. Do I feel that warm and fuzzy I'm so full feeling? Not really.

It really does. I almost felt like someone was going to come up and tell me I am in the wrong department. Every time I walked by someone, I thought they were probably wondering what I was doing in their section. It feels great and a couple of people at work have noticed - finally. Thanks guys!

:biggrin: Congratulations! I see you also recently celebrated your bandiversary. Way to go!!!!!!

Hi everybody, I just wanted to share that I am officially not plus sized. This was a milestone for me and I'm very excited about it. I bought new clothes last night in the Misses section and it felt so strange. But in a good way! I've discovered that no one wants to hear about my weight loss, it makes my overweight brother upset because he's still waiting for his band and even skinny people who I thought cared, don't seem interested, so I just tell my lapband friends. Thanks for listening!

You might laugh at me, but Richard Simmons has some good low impact videos. He's a little annoying, but I do love his sweatin' to the oldies. They are done by people of all degrees of weight, so you don't have to be skinny to do them.

Unjury also has a chicken soup flavor. I found it to taste OK. A nice change from all the sweet stuff and 20g of protien per scoop.

Hi Serenity, I find your post very interesting. Thank you for all the information. Your comment about your hearing is particularly interesting to me. And your example of closing your eyes and listening is a good one. I often get teased by my family because I can hear TV better in a dark room, the darker the room, the better I can hear. I have trouble hearing where there is background noise, but have no idea why I hear better in the dark but I swear that I do. I can turn my TV volume much lower if the room is dark. My doctor said he's never heard of such a thing. I know, I'm strange. I was wondering what JAWS tells you about the tickers in the signatures on this site. When I mouse over them, I don't see any alternative text, so was wondering what you hear when there is a ticker (like in my signature). Thanks for being so forthcoming. It's enlightening and will likely help us sighted folks learn better manners when meeting a blind person. I always hate it when people shout at my mom because she is older. She has excellent hearing and when she's in the hospital, I sometimes remind her nurse not to shout at her. LOL

It sounds like that may be where you port is. Mine lasted about a week, but the waist band on my pants bothered it for about a month. Sometimes now, it still gets tender from time to time, not sure why.

Yeah! I'm so glad to hear that things are looking up for you. The liquid faze of this diet is murder. I get so grumpy when I'm on it that now, when I get a fill, I warn my family that they won't want to be around me for the 2 days of liquids that follow. LOL Hang in there Yaz, I think you'll grow to love your little friend.

Are you measuring your food? My doc is a stickler about it and he said if you don't measure you'll slowly start to eat more and more without realizing it. Another important thing is to drink lots of Water. I have to be honest and say that I don't track my food, but many on here do and swear by it. Maybe that will help you give you a fresh persepective on what your eating. Meanwhile, call your nutritionist. They should have some really good suggestions for you. Don't get discouraged. This is a long journey with many ups and downs, but you'll get there.

Hi Yaz, I've been following your thread and wanted to know how you're doing now. Did you grow to love your band or are you still hoping to get it out? I hope all is well.

My doctor is very strict about measuring. He says if you don't continue to measure your food, you will increase the amount you are eating without realizing it. You may try to measure and track. I've seen where many on here go to Weight Watchers, maybe trying that would give you a fresh start and kick start your weight loss again.

That's a tough pre-op diet to follow. Mine was similar, but I had a shake for Breakfast and lunch and 4oz meat and 1 cup veggies for dinner. The dinner was the highlight of my day and it was a saving grace for the diet. Maybe if you're really going crazy ask the doc if you can have something like that. For me, the liquid diet is the hardest part. I've had to do it post-op for 1 week and 2 days after each fill. It makes me so cranky I have to warn the family when I'm on liquids to steer clear of me! But the minute I get food again, I'm fine. :shades_smile: Hang in there, it does get better.

I go to Ross. Dress code at my work is business and I can get suits there for $20 - $40. I also saw a thread a while back on this forum about doing a clothes swap. You might try looking it up.

Alexsmom34, Congrats on the fill. I just got my second fill and it's WORKING! It does feel good.

Wow, glad you came out of it OK. My heart rate was also in the 40's during my hospital stay and it kind of freaked me out. My daughter is a nurse and I asked her to keep an eye on me when I got home. I watched my mom go through a major heart attack and open heart surgery, so I'm sensitive to any danger signs of heart trouble. That's the main reason I got the band. I'm hoping to NOT walk in her footsteps. She had gastric bypass after her first heart attack, but I think by then the damage was done.

Gloucester, you took the words right out of my mouth. Seems to me that the messy folks are obviously not doing enough or they'd put their stuff away. How do they even find anything? My cube neighbor has papers stacked EVERYWHERE you can barely see her chair and one tiny spekc of desk. How does she get anything done?:confused2:

I'd say I lean in that direction. As you can see, I found your unanswered post! :-D You should see my desk! Everyone at work teases me about my neat desk. Some folks think a neat desk means no work, but I believe the opposite is true. LOL

I thought about getting a tattoo as a reward for reaching goal also, but never thought about tattooing a scar. I did consider tatooing my mastectomy scars, but they're huge and really ugly, so I've abandond that idea. You guys have some great ideas. I especially like putting the date on the wrist. I saw where Lindsy Lohan had BREATH tattooed on the inside of her wrist in white. You can barely see, but I thought that was kind of neat and different. I just may put my date inside my wrist in white and then get a decorative tattoo later when I reach goal. Glad to see I'm not the only one. I already have two, but one was on my chest and is now screwed up looking (just a tiny heart) and so I really only have one normal looking tattoo.

I've only had one, under fluro, but here's how it went. No solid food 2 hours before the fill, I chose to do liquid that entire day just in case. My doc brings you in and stands you in position so that the xray is pointing at your port. I had the entire thing done standing up (for some reason this freaked me out) and its very quick. He put the needle in (feels like a shot - not bad at all) and pushed the Fluid in (I couldn't even feel this part) and then tells me to take a gulp of barrium (didn't taste near as bad as hospital kind). Then the doc said, I'm done and out I go. They have apple juice in the waiting area and ask you drink the entire cup (slowly) before you leave to make sure you can swallow liquid without trouble. After the fill, it's 2 days liquid, 2 days soft food then back to normal. My first was a breeze, but I was so nervous I actually felt a little unsteady standing in there. I though for one quick second that my knees might buckle, but they didn't and all that anxiety was for nothing, it was a breeze. Going for my second fill on Friday. I'm looking forward to getting more restriction, although I still feel nervous. Silly me. Good luck to you.