kbinaz

Haven't been on this forum for about two months, and am glad to be back! I have currently lost 54 pounds. (started at 233, am currently 179) Even more exciting was that my personal trainer redid my body composition test. My body fat percentage went from 47% (OMG It's hard to even write that - darn near half fat!!!) to....drumroll...26%!!!!! Yeah!!! My trainer says I should try to get to about 21%. Not too far to go! It also showed that I gained 20 pounds of muscle! So it's basically like I have lost 73 pounds- because muscle weighs more than fat. Working out has really made a difference for me (even though I hate it with everything that is in me!) I am very firm and have little sagging. I'm enjoying reading all the posts of other October '07 bandsters! Keep up the good work, ladies!

Yeah for you! That sounds like an awful experience! I can't imagine PB'ing just with your own spit - yuk~

Happy Birthday! I feel exactly the same way you do ~ My surgery date is when I was really born!

I needed 5 fills to get the restriction I needed. Once I got that restriction I could only eat small amounts of food, and started losing weight. Remember that this is normal for the lap band. It can take a while to get it working right. You are doing just fine and I promise you, if you are diligent about getting the fills you need, you will start losing soon!

It concerns me that you can't eat until that late in the day. That is what doesn't sound normal to me. Are you feeling okay? Are you losing weight? I don't know how you could be getting enough nutrients in to be healthy if you can't eat until 7 pm. and only after drinking a hot drink.

You should never get a fill if you are losing weight steadily. My point in my post was that if you need one to lose weight, you should get one! It would be just plain silly to get a fill if you didn't need one.

Just after surgery and before any fills I could eat just about as much as I could have before surgery. It wasn't until my 5th fill that I had enough restriction to limit my intake. Now I am lucky if I can eat a cup of food, it varies from day to day and really from hour to hour. Remember, the band isn't really the band until it is giving you restriction. It was designed to be filled. I have heard the analogy that it is like tires. If you don't put air in your tires, you can't drive with them. If you don't fill your band, you aren't really getting the benefit of it.

I have the same problem - I get really loose just before my period, then once my period hits I get really tight, so it kind of makes up for it! There are certain times of day and certain times of the month that our tightness varies, this is a normal part of being banded. It is kind of frustrating, because it makes it hard to know what to eat! But it is totally normal.

Jorge, you are NOT a failure! Go get your fill!!! The band is designed to work when filled enough to give you restriction. If you haven't even had a fill you are basically struggling with exactly the same issues as you were before you had the band. You can't expect weight loss success if the band isn't even doing it's job!! I promise you, if you get the right level of restriction you will have a much easier time controlling what you put in your mouth. It isn't going to miraculously just happen, you are going to need to cooperate, but it will be waaaaay easier. GET AS MANY FILLS AS YOU NEED TO GET THE RESTRICTION YOU NEED. Don't be afraid to go to your doctor for your fill. They will work with you. Get on track ASAP - don't waste another day feeling like a failure. Get on the stick and fix this!!! If you ever need to talk you can send me a private message and I will answer. I live in Chandler, so we are kind of neighbors! Feel free to send a message if you need to vent. I am happy to available for a pep talk any time. Where did you have your surgery??? I used Scottsdale Bariatric with Dr. Robin Blackstone.

OOPS! Sorry, I posted above and just reread your post and realized I messed up. I was thinking your surgery was in '08! Now your post makes more sense...You, like me, are also a kind of slow loser. Sorry I made it sound like you weren't!!! Like I said in my post, where would you be if you hadn't had surgery? That is what really keeps me going. I just know that without the band I would have gained weight. The other thing I am relieved about is that I don't have to constantly worry about gaining weight back. I may be losing slowly, but I also don't get on the scale and have huge gains, either. There are a lot of "slow losers" out here - and to be honest with you I think we are more the norm than the fast losers! Don't forget there are a lot of factors in play - age, size, body type - lets celebrate our successes and not worry so much about how long it is taking us. (I am talking to myself when I say that too, because I have as much trouble being impatient as anyone!) I have been overweight for 30 years. I can't expect instant results in fixing it!

My weight loss has averaged 5 pounds a month in the 9 months since my surgery. You are losing way more than average so it is hard to feel too sorry for you! Enjoy it and try to think about where you would be today if you hadn't had surgery. You are doing great.

There are people who report losing great amounts of weight without any fills but they are few and far between. The band is designed to work when filled, so anyone who can lose weight without fills is unusual. As far as wanting to be one of the people who don't need fills - why? Are you afraid of them hurting? They really aren't that bad. If you can make it through surgery you can certainly make it through a fill! It basically feels just like any other injection. There seems to be a mentality that the fewer fills you need the better person you are and that is simply not the case. Fills are not evil! They are what makes the band work the way it was designed to work. If I could have lost weight without the band I would not have had major surgery. I know there are people who think I copped out and did the 'easy' thing, but I know that I had to do what was necessary to lose weight and that I could not succeed without this drastic step. The same thing goes for fills. We have to do what it takes to get the job done. I started feeling hungry five days after surgery and continued to feel hungry until my 4th or 5th fill. Once I got the restriction I needed, I was able to lose weight. Remember we are all different. There is no right or wrong. We all require different fill levels to get restriction and we all lose weight at different rates. The point is, we have this awesome tool and we need to use it correctly. If it means we need five, six or more fills to get there, it would be kind of silly to go without them.

Has anyone needed to have surgery (not related to the band) after being banded? I was just told I am going to need a hysterectomy (laparoscopic) and am wondering how having the band will effect this surgery. I am 10 months post-op. Anyone have any input? I will be asking my lap band surgeon too, of course.

I FINALLY weigh less than my husband!!!

Don't give up! Take a deep breath! It's going to be okay. I could have written that post right after my surgery - I went through the exact same thing. But you are NOT a failure. As you said, you haven't had a fill yet. You are exactly the same person you were before your surgery, except for this bizarre piece of hardware that was installed. It isn't working yet! So don't worry. Yes, you can eat a lot, just like you could before surgery. Why would you expect to be miraculously healed from overeating when you don't have restriction yet???!!! This takes time. There is a learning curve. Do what the doctor tells you to do and schedule your fills as often as you can get them. I assure you, when you get the proper restriction you will eat a lot less. Hang in there!!