coolcrystal

It's weird, after each fill I always lose a pound a day for like 4 days and then I don't lose anything for like a week or two.. then I'll lose a few more pounds... and then nothing. But, the biggest change was after my third fill. It's lasted for almost 3 weeks but I go in for another fill next week as I'm starting to get more hungry again. I don't mind when my weightloss plateau's because to me that just means that its more permanent weight loss. I don't gain or lose.. it just stays there. I change my eating up a bit and bam I'll start losing again.

How did you know that was my theme song??! HA HA.. oddly, everytime that song comes on, everybody stares at me to see my reaction... I, of course start dancing and shaking my butt..

I work out hard almost every day and I've never had dehydration problems. I drink water all day at work and at night too.. you shouldn't have any issues.

Before my hubby got on the south beach diet he said his fantasy was to walk through the door and for me to be standing there naked with a pizza in one hand a guiness in the other... my dream was to lose all this weight and do it but now he won't eat or drink either... humm.. maybe I could have squash in one hand and grilled chicken in the other?? LOL

WOOHOOOOOOOO, that's awesome sweetie. My hubby didn't get the band, but he did the SB diet with me and has continued to go from 248 to 214 .. but it has been so hard.. but it has helped because we pretty much eat the same things... so it is nice having somebody do the journey with you.

Gotcha.. I'm a total dolt.. didn't even think about that.

Man.. just throw him down on the bed and straddle him and hold his arms above his head and start kissing him.. my husband loves it when I do that.. he gets a big grin on his face... I also start talking dirty to him right before I drop him off in the morning for work and get him all worked up.. it's quite hilarious.. then by the time I pick him up I tease him a little more and then do that whole throwing him on the bed thing when we get home.. that's one nice thing about car pooling :-)

Bea Arthur is so cool!!!!!!!:thumbup:

Okay, I did read "A Child Called It".. but that's because he had something important to say. HA HA. I didn't read the book after that, but I did read that first book. Autobiographical's like that, I don't mind.. but dang when I went to Barnes and Nobel yesterday to get my Twilight book and I saw Dr. Phil's wife with a "self help/about me" book I just laughed! I don't care what famous people in Hollywood want to say. "A Child Called It" was about abuse and it was a very powerful book. Oh yes, I love Anne Rice.. have all her novels.. even the ones she wrote as another author.. you know the kinky/naughty ones?? HA HA... I love time travel books and vampire books the most though.. vampires are just so danged sexy.. don't know why.

I'm big time into sci-fi, fantasy and vampire novels.. lol. I'm reading Twilight right now.. it's SO good... I think the writer is Stephanie Myer or Grier or something like that.. I also love Neil Gaiman! I have read Stardust, Neverwhere and American Gods. And of course Anne Rice novels..I like the classics too like Oliver, Pride and Prejudice and stuff like that. I pretty much like everything.. I don't like reading self help and "how to do it" books... I also don't like autobiographical books... Like that Hilary Clinton book.. didn't she write some book about herself? I don't care what famous poeple have to write about themselves.

Yeah, is that like the sleeve?? I think that and the sleeve are the same thing. I had looked into getting the sleeve, but my insurance didn't cover it because its too new of a procedure. But, it looked pretty cool.

Personally I'm glad my doc put me on the south beach diet before banding. It taught me better eating habits and I still lost a good amount of weight pre-op... it got me off the bread/sweets addictions. And, I didn't have any major weight gain when I started eating solids again after banding. I think I gained 1-2 pounds, whereas many people who do liquids pre-op will gain a good amount of weight back when they start to eat regular foods again.. and didn't learn how to eat properly before being banded... that's just my opinion though. (And my doctor's. LOL)

Okay, great. Well from the sound of your post you seemed excited and even said you found your sweet spot... so to me it seemed like you were happy with that. It sucks there aren't more fill centers around... i see lots of folks having to drive hours away for fills/unfills.. very sad :-(

I have 6.6cc in a 10cc band. Here's how it went: Surgery - 3cc's added for primer 1st fill - 2cc's added - felt restriction for a week 2nd fill - 1cc added - felt no restriction 3rd fill - 1cc added - felt great restriction, but is starting to wear off 4th fill - on tuesday I prefer to not be too tight to where I can't eat a healthy small meal. Some poeple like being super tight to where they can only drink shakes; to me, that's not what the band is about. When I get my fill on tuesday I probably won't get much because I just need a little tweaking. I've been feeling a little more hungry and I can eat a little more than what I consider to be a small healthy meal.

Thanks you guys! you have truly made me feel wonderful and have given me that strength to continue on.. sometimes I get so sick of working out.. ya know?? But hearing all this makes me want to just keep on going... is it just me or does that t-shirt flap in the back of the after pic look stupid? I hope it doesn't look like a flap of fat or something. lol.

Thanks!! No pillow that was all belly, ha ha!! I have been doing a LOT of crunches and leg lifts and working out almost every day. The only thing I hate about the after pic is my t-shirt in the back like hangs and then goes in because I use to have butt there. HA HA. But thank you so much!

I'm going to attempt to post some updated sideways pics of me. For some reason I carry my weight from front to back.. pictures from the front I don't look much different because I'm not wide sideways. (Does this make sense?) anyway, I see a little bit of difference here. According to the inches, my butt is what has shrunk the most but my sister says my stomach looks like it has shrunk the most.. I had to change the t-shirts because the tshirt in the first one was just swamping me and you couldn't tell anything in the after pic. I wish I would have taken my pics in one of those tight work out outfits like others did that way you could really tell. Oh well. Ick, this is so embarrassing, hence the reason I'm not putting these on the main before/after picture page. LOL.

Yes, you are doing great! Most february bandsters have lost between 15-45 pounds at this time. Several people include weight they lost a few months before banding on their tickers, so it's kind of hard to tell when looking. But, you are right on track!!

My doctor doesn't believe in the liquid pre-op diet. He put me on the south beach diet and it was great. I ate chicken, tuna, veggies, cheese... nuts... eggs.. turkey bacon.. just no sugar, fruit or bread and potatoes.. it shrank my liver and I lost a pretty decent amount of weight. the south beach diet does the same thing as the liquid diet and it also teaches you how to correctly eat.

Jacole, it will probably take you one or two more fills to feel that restriction, but it will come and then this frustration you are feeling will be a thing of the past.. TKingston, you are clearly too tight. If you can't eat anything and can only have clear liquids you are doing this wrong... the purpose of the band is to be able to eat small healthy meals, not live on liquids. I see this a lot on this forum and I don't see why people bother with this surgery if they aren't going to do it right or think it's "cool" to not be able to eat. If you told your doctor or fill center you can't eat, they would take some out. Hopefully you'll see the light and get a slight unfill.

Yeah, we got a brand new ritzy scale when me and my hubby started this process. It's right on par with my dr's office scale, minus the clothes weight of course. I kept my old scale and its like 6 pounds off...

I have this insurance and I didn't have to provide anything for the insurance, but my doctor's office had me fill out a form listing all the previous things I had tried. And I believe they submit that form with the rest of your forms to insurance. I didn't have to be exact either. It was something like this: Atkins diet - June 2000 - December 2000 - lost 40 pounds Weight Watchers - March 2003 - January 2004 - lost 50 pounds Phen Phen - September 1997-November 1997 - lost 25 pounds So, it was a form with this type information and I totally guessed on the the exact months. I knew around about, but nothing written in stone. I was approved in 8 days...

I had all the same fears.. I wasn't a junk food attic, but I ate LOTS of breads and pastas and chips and potatoes.. all the time.. LIke, I could totally sit down and eat a loaf of french bread. Even when I was stuffed I would continue eating until I was belching up food.. that's how bad I use to be. I had the same fears as you.. I thought it was going to work for everybody but me.. heck, I even read somewhere that Virgo's don't heal very well and wrote this thread on here worried that I wouldn't lose because I was a virgo.. I know, I was so silly!! But, I'm right on track.. The band basically cut all those cravings out for me.. i don't crave bread and chips and pasta's.. I have had whole wheat Pasta one time, but it just didn't do anything for me. I am satisfied with a cup of food.. and it's great. I know it has to be hard dropping that type of money down on a surgery, but I was totally the one going "this won't work for me" right before the surgery.. I haven't lost 100 pounds yet, but the weightloss I've had so far since 2/25 has already made the biggest difference in my life.. I can walk without so much pain.. get around better.. sleep better.. Unrelated - find a doctor who has one price that also includes fills for at least a year. My doctor offers one big package for 15k and it includes office visits and fills for a year.. otherwise, since you are cash pay you'd have to drop like 150-300 bucks per fill. And some folks can take up to 12 fills a year to lose their weight..

I'm wondering if like our bodies are protecting the band area like our bodies would protect a baby. HA HA. I've lost like an inch from that area, whereas the rest of my body I have lost a few inches... And, I never got the upper pooch until the last 30 pounds I gained, and I've already lost that, but that upper pooch just isn't going away.. I'm going to ask my doc about it when I see him next.

I've never had any of those, but similiar just at other places... I use to get the 7 piece chicken tender meal from Chicken Express with mashed potatoes, biscuit and gravy... YUMMM.. I think that was like 2000 calories or so. Never got the cheesefries from Outback, but I did get the awesome blossom there sometimes. I'm scared to even know all the crap I use to put in my body. lol. lots of grease for sure.