coolcrystal

Oh thanks!! I need to make a better effort to come on here and get involved again!! I love being in the lapband zone, as I call it.

My bandiversary isn't until the 25th, but I can already tell you, I haven't lost crap for over two months. My band reacts to stress in a bad way, to the point of if somebody even tells me something upsetting right before I eat, I can't eat. Due to a big arguement with a friend back in October that lasted a week when I was finally at my sweet spot and doing very well, it caused my band to close up and cause me severe issues. I had to have half my entire fill taken out in November and nothing has been the same since. So, I'm just going to say that my weightloss is between 60-62 lbs. I continue to work out and watch what I eat, and I'm getting fills put back in every month, but only getting .4 each time, so I still have one more to even get to the place I was when I was at my sweet spot before. My body has actually enjoyed this break, simply because my skin has caught up with the weightloss and I feel much firmer now. But, my goal was to be down 80 lbs by my one year mark and I failed at that. But, on the good side, in the past I easily would have gained 10 lbs a month without the restriction, so I feel successful in that aspect. I do know that when I come on here, I get back on track, and that it energizes me to get in the gym. Some happy changes: 1. I can jog on the treadmill now! 2. My hips don't dig into the car door when I'm driving 3. I can fit comfortably into a movie seat 4. I don't feel like I take up the whole bed at night with my husband. 5. I can run up and down stairs 6. My wedding dress practically falls off me 7. I can wear my wedding band WITh my wedding ring now. Before I couldn't put the two together cuz it was too tight. 8. Men actually hold doors open for me now 9. When I take a bath my butt doesn't touch the sides of the tub, lol. 10. There is tons of space between my belly and a booth at a restaurant! So, lots to celebrate! My present is, a cruise in April. LOL.

Girl, you aren't alone! I'm going through the same thing. I haven't lost anything for like two months. Haven't really gained anything either. I had to get that big unfill and have been putting it back in so slowly that its just not making any difference when I get the fills yet. But, I notice when I come on here, I usually get back on track and feel better about what I'm doing. we should do it together!

This is awful! I just saw your blast on myspace and decided to come on here to see if perhaps you had posted what happened. I think this is every mother's biggest fear when they are pregnant; and sadly it happened to you and your family. I can't even imagine the pain you are going through.... but she is in God's hands now.. My prayers are with you and your family. This is absolutely tragic!! I just can't imagine going through this...

I have an office job, so I was fine to go back to work after 5 days. Really, by the 5th day I was going to the movies and playing with my friends dog, but my boss told me just to stay home until that following week.

I told everybody. Sometimes I regret it.. simply because I hate it when people watch me eat.. waiting to see what will happen or how much I can get down. I also have friends who won't eat what they want around me. If I order a salad then they feel they have to order a salad, so I get that a lot and I hate it. I've only had one person tell me I took the easy way out and say they thought I had done it on my own and were disappointed at me and then I chewed him a new a-hole and then he begged for my forgiveness . lol. Especially since I haven't had any restriction for two months. I guess each their own. But, I was too excited about the band not to blurt it out to almost everybody I knew. And I do love talking about it with people.

I'm still around and I notice that when I come to this site I tend to get back into the swing of things and lose weight. I've already dropped 3 of the 4 lbs I gained since my unfill and have put working out back into my life, so I know it helps coming here. I think a lot of people just go on with their life and perhaps forget they are banded or just don't need the support like they use to. But, I know that I just do better having this site in my life.

Yes, stress is a big trigger.. I remember one time I went to have Soup with my husband and he just said something upsetting and suddenly I couldn't eat, soup got stuck and so it's to the point of hearing anything upsetting at all swells me up. My poor friend still blames herself for all my band problems due to the fight, but it's not anybody's fault. The band just becomes like part of your stomach almost and it feels what you feel. I remember in highschool when me and my first true love John broke up I lost 15 lbs in a month because I just couldn't eat. And I had no band then as I was like 130 lbs or so. So, I know this is how my stomach was before getting the band. But, I know I'll get back on track :thumbs_up: and just try to live a stress free life the best that I can. Thanks for the encouragent and St. Louis gal, you are right. In the past I would have gained easily 10 lbs by now, but I haven't. Which really surprises me. There are positives to it all. And, I didn't gouge myself at xmas and thanksgiving either. I thought I would, but I didn't.

I'm in the same situation as Rhapsody. I was doing so awesome with this lapband.. but I had actually found my sweetspot and then me and one of my best friends got into a horrible fight that lasted a week. We had never had something like this happen before and it stressed me out so bad that my band reacted. I couldn't eat, I got week, my band closed up. From then on my band has never been the same again. A week before Thanksgiving I had to have half of my entire fill taken out and they have slowly been adding it back, but I'm still wide open and can eat whatever, whenever. I haven't lost a single pound in two months, but thankfully I've only gained two pounds. It has been very depressing as now I think I'm the lowest losing VV on here. But it's like I've forgotten all the stuff I use to eat or something. I don't eat fast food or anything like that, but like with salads, I've been drenching them with ranch, and when I ate tuna and whole wheat crackers, I'd only eat 4 crackers and now I eat like 10 or more! On the 21st I'm getting another fill and my biggest fear is that I won't be able to reach a good restriction or that my body just doesn't agree with the lapband anymore.

How funny.. I just responded to your other one and then saw this one with the PS. LOL. I'm just curious if your doctor is going to pay for this surgery since he put the wrong size in. lol. Or if you are stuck paying the bill. Are you getting a different doctor? Huggs!

It makes total sense to me. Honestly, with you starting pretty low, I think they should have given you a 10cc band to begin with, I know everybody's stomach is different, but usually people under 300 lbs only need the 10cc, at least, from the research I've seen that is. Heck, I've seen a few folks starting over 300 lbs that still got the 10cc. My friend was about 355 and she got the 14cc band and she's down to 245 now and her 14cc band is completely filled too, but she still needs to lose about 50 more lbs. Her larger band did help her lose over 100 lbs, but now she's sort of stuck in this limbo. I don't think you ever should have gotten the larger band, but we have discussed this. Your band was always too big for you from the very beginning. Congrats on the new surgery and I know it's gonna go well for you sweetie!! :smile2:

Let's see, I had to get half of my entire fill taken out like 3 weeks ago and have had the ability to eat whatever I want. So far I've gained 2 lbs total. Which isn't bad. I got half of the half put back in on Thursday, which puts me up to like 4.8.. I still don't really have any restriction though. lol. And I get another fill the week after xmas. So, my goal is to just maintain what I have right now. And not panic. I didn't get a slip or anything, I just developed some type of sensitivity to the band and kept bringing everything up even when I wasn't tight. So, to be safe, my doctor wanted half out. Originally my Christmas goal had been to be 220 .. lol.. yeah, that aint happening. oh well, I'm still happy :-)

I'm down a little over 60 lbs now. I had to get half of my fill taken out (no big emergency) just had a bad sensitivity to it and my doctor wanted to take caution so he gave me a break for a few weeks. Anyway, here is a before and after headshot so far. Obviously the one on the left is me 2 weeks before my surgery. And the one on the right was taken last week.

I'm curious.. are you too tight? Because, it sounds like the foods you are eating are foods that go down well for most bandsters when they are too tight. like Cookies and chips. Eating doesn't have to be expensive if you look for good deals. Like getting a big bag of chicken breasts from Walmart. or a large thing of salad mix.. cans of Soups. A lot of times I go to Wendy's and get a small chili and a small side salad with Water. it comes to 2 dollars and something. If you are too tight, consider getting a slight unfill so you can eat healthier items. Good luck.

I had to get half of my fill taken out, so I'm gonna eat a normal thanksgiving meal. not too much, but not too little. Turkey, taters, bean casserole, ect..

Yes, my weight does this as well! My weight is up and down ... up and down the same 3 lbs and then BAM, I'll drop 3-4 lbs over night and keep it off permanently. I had to get an unfill yesterday because I hadn't been able to eat correctly for the last 2 weeks. My body was stuck and going into starvation mode. I was able to eat a chicken salad last night and then I weighed this morning and I lost a few lbs... I think because my body finally got nourishment.

I am 8.5 months out and have not lost any hair. I already had rather thin hair, but luckily, did not experience any loss. But who knows, now that I wrote this I might have jinxed myself and will lose a bunch of hair. lol. But, from what I have read, I'm out of the danger zone which is usually 3-6 months after surgery. The good thing is, everybody I know who lost some hair got it back within 3 months, even without the Biotin and gimmicky stuff to stick in there. It just naturally comes back.

Lipstix had some great suggestions.. Just be careful with scrambled eggs later on. Did you know that 50% of bandsters have problems with scrambled eggs? after about my 2nd fill I could no longer get them down and they are really my only problem food. The mushies that I ate the most was: Refried Beans with cheese and light sourcream Tuna with mayo and whole grain crackers (chews up nicely into a very thin mixture) Any type of canned Soup blended with a bullet. Those bullets are totally awesome. You just stick it in the pan and it blends up the soup. Good luck.

That is so awesome!! Men tend to lose rather quickly as well. There have been some that have lost 100 lbs in 6 months! Which is amazing. I'm glad his insurance went through with it and he was able to get this surgery that will change both of your lives for the better!

I can't believe you've only had two fills in 6 months.. Wow.. Unless you just didn't need a fill.. I know there are some rare cases that you just don't need one. My doctor told me to get a fill every 3-4 weeks until I felt perfect restriction. That took 3 or 4 fills for that to happen. And bands can be fickle. All it takes is a stressful day or a happy day to completely throw me off. Sunday I could eat whatever I wanted, today I could barely get a smoothie down and have to go get an unfill today because other than sunday I've been barely eating for about two weeks now. So what was up with Sunday?? just some freak thing I suppose. Bands react to what we feel.

Sorry, I just got this message, but it's a few weeks late unfortunately! I actually had looked into Botox on my stupid crease in the middle of my forehead (I always had it though) even before the weightloss. But, I called about 10 different places and they were between $200 and $350 per section. So for instance, if you had that little crease in the middle of your forehead, that would be a section. At the last minute I chickened out though and didn't go through with it. lol.

I still have almost a full month before I can say "9 months". I got banded at the very end of February... And I'm still stuck at 60 lbs weightloss. I think it will be slow and steady from here on out for me. But, that's fine. I don't ever want another 7 week plateau again, but heck, I'm happy with the 60 lbs so far.

That sounds about right. I was belching and all that for a long time. It will subside soon. You'll be fine!

Trust me, you can't eat whatever. Luckily, my band seems to know when I shouldn't eat naughty things. It won't let me eat breaded fried stuff or french fries.. yep, I tried eating a Mcdonald's fry once.. not a good idea to eat 3 at one time.. nope.. i dont' even attempt bread... but, salads and fish and veggies and all the good stuff always goes down fine for me!

The last time I was this weight my butt was two inches bigger and my waist was an inch smaller. This time it's the opposite. My boobs are flattening out like a pancake and this upper roll I got the last 20 lbs I gained, isn't going away even though I've already lost that 20 plus 40 more! Oh well. There's just too many more positives, so it's hard to complain. lol.