Wheetsin

I've never understood the concern for saggy skin outweighing the concern for health, longevity, etc. If you're significantly overweight, and you've been overweight for... let's say a year (even though there's no set timeline)... and you're not like 12... chances are you skin will sag. I pretty mucht hink it's BS that anything other than than a healthy lifestyle (not smoking, keeping hydrated, etc.), good genetics, age, how long/much the skin was stretched, etc. can do crap for it. People say that exercising helps shrink the skin. I think this is a misnomer. Usually it's some small amount of muscle bulk building that occupies some of the space, maybe making the skin look tighter. Do you have stretchmarks? If you have strecthmarks, you're probably going to have saggy skin. If you're one of the lucky ones that doesn't, you may get off better than the rest of us.

Fish is one of the protein sources they're likely to recommend above others. A full tilapia filet will have ~20gm, depending on the size, will be lean, will have lots of other goodies in it, etc. That's pretty unbeatable. I don't eat red meat and it never even came up with my surgeon. we do have banded vegans, and if they can do it without fish, there's no reason you can't with. best of luck.

Suggestion - call your surgeon. S/he may be able to offer some insight, and/or recommend a course of action.

There aren't really any set things you need, we've all needed slightly different things. There's a list, perhaps in our FAQ area. I don't remember where exactly, but I'm sure if you use the search function you'll be able to find it. BTW, one of the things on that list is Gas-X (allegedly it helps with the surgical gas) but this is a misnomer. Gas-X is swallowed and would only work (if it works at all) on the digestive gas, it won't do anything for gas trapped between tissues in - say - your neck. The things I was most grateful to have included a recliner - no way I could have gotten in/out of bed the first few days. My laptop and wireless phone. A dogsitter for the first few days. Extra pillows & blankets. Other than some additional basics like bottles of Water and liquid Rx, I didn't really need anything. Magic Bullet - I doubt you'd even really think about using that before you were to a point that you could go to the store and get it. If you're supposed to focus on Protein drinks immediately pre-op, you'll probably want to go with the pre-made ones, e.g. the EAS carbadvantages or something.

Siemers17, I'm not sure I understaqnd what you're saying, but you're having vaginal bleeding after your period has stopped? If it concerns you, why are you asking about that in a lap-band post-op area, instead of calling your doctor or GYN? Because you're banded doesn't mean that everything that happens to your body from here on out will be a product of your band. If this is atypical for you, concerning you in any way, or causing you any pain -- heck, even if you're just curious, you'd really be better served by calling your GYN. Best of luck.

It is good advice. People soak things up on the internet like sponges, and somehow that processing of soaking it up translates it to hard medical fact. And then the sponges squeeze themselves out to others and pretty soon you have a wildfire of misinformation that's potentially harming people. Another good rule of thumb -- if it worries you enough to ask it here, and could immediately effect your health, livelihood, etc., then -- why are you asking us? Just go call doc/surg/whatever.

You will need a complete physical (usually) to submit, and if you have any your doctor should note them then. It's entirely possible to have co-morbidities while thinking you're perfectly healthy. I didn't have any known ones at the time, but come to find out there were some things going on that could have been documented (fortunately I didn't need to have any anyway). Schedule a physical and mention any pain, no matter how insignificant you think it is, any sensations, etc.

Do you guys know how addictive this stuff is to someone who doesn't go to OH? Reading threads there is like watching the Anna Nicole show.

Ok you guys made me go and google. I used "duodenal" and "stinky" and guess what site loads -- OH. In particular, a post about anal fissures. Oh my. I'm reading through the thread that google hit, and you're right. There seems to be a lot of hostility over the band, and other procedures. Here's one person's "signature" (part of it anyway): With the DS: there is no stoma, so no stoma strictures; there are no limitations (other than volume) against drinking before, during or after meals; 80% of ingested fat is malabsorbed, allowing liberal use of eggs, butter, mayonaisse, healthy oils, marbled meats, cheese, etc., in the diet; 98.9% of type II diabetics are CURED of this devastating disease, with data showing stable cure over 10 years out; there is the best average weight loss and most durable (average 76%... Like -- it's so weird that someone would make that their signature. What I really don't get -- why would some give a flying fazooie what kind of surgery I or any of you have? You'd think we were debating religion. So this surgery was right for me, and yours was right for you. Wtf is there in that to get mad about??

Hehe, funny, I'd actually replied to that thread. I don't think it's a healthy mental state to ignore very obvious signs of band trouble because it means you lose weight. I hadn't even read the start of the thread when I posted that tho. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/774869-post18.html

I didn't know LB had maternity. I don't know if I'll need them or not. Pants -- yes. Tops I can probably just pull out the next size up from my crates and crates... except I wasn't smart enough to sort them by size. Since my obvious preggo will be during summer, I may be able to get away with something like knit/stretchy capris, a knit skirt or two, etc. During summer at work we're capri casual, or I can work from home. Women in my family tend to get really big, almost overnight, around month 6. I picked up a few maternity things from Target the other day because they were cute, summery, and I know that come summer all you'll be able to find are blazers and wool pants. Their size 18 (largest in-store) maternity pants fit me, but were way too low rise for my taste. I like mom jeans because they help hold in my stomach skin. Low rise does nothing for me. And I don't like the maternity wear that just has the big elastic band, I prefer the ones where they're regular pants with stretchy knit stomach inserts... "over the belly" I think they're called. Those seem harder to find. I saw JCP had some decent looking pants online, but in store all I could find was 14. (I'm normally an 18 in pants, 16ish in tops).

I don't normally follow threads like this. Hell, I'm not really following this one, I just popped in yesterday because something struck my funny bone. I had no idea what/who you guys were talking about until after seeing something like "I had to reply" I looked at the person's posts and saw the only recent reply that seemed to fit what was going on. There is some scary shite in the world. And too few people able to distinguish between sound advice and internet hoobaloo.

Oh ah I gotcha. Yeah, the "advice" posted is not really what I would consider sound advice. I thought you were referring more to -- now that you've read that, you're scared to get banded because you might end up too tight at some point. My approach was always - I'd rather be a little too loose, and let my willpower fill the gap, than be too tight and risk everything that can bring. I was too tight once, bit too much of a fill, and it's not a good place to be. And something's not right upstairs if you live like that and don't seek medical help for it. A friend of mine is several years out with her band, and on a good day she can get Water down. She's gone from a soze 34+ to a baggy size 0. I am not exaggerating. We keep telling her -- go to your surgeon... and she keeps saying "No, he'll want to take it out or open it up and I'll get fat again." She's having the signs that I most strongly associate with unfortunate RNYers - losing hair, teeth... nails are like straw, sallow complexion... I can't think of anyone who would convince me that's not a serious disorder.

It varies so much from person to person. For me it was about 5 or 6 days until I felt "normal" but a good 5 or 6 weeks before I felt ready to transition into normal things (which was also the timing of my first fill). I lost weight before my fill, and I took it as a bonus. I didn't worry about extra dieting before then. I was probably actually recovering for months.

To shrink the liver, making the band procedure easier to do.

Apples - relax. Sometimes we get too tight, it's a product of the experimental nature on the road to the sweet spot. I've had to seek an emergencyish unfill one, and it wasn't pretty. But you learn, and go on. Trust me, it's better to have the information of what can happen if you don't treat your band and body right, than to go in assuming it doesn't happen.

I dated a guy who was a vegan - man, I had no idea how many things we sort of take for granted that they don't touch. E.g. I tried to put Skittles in his easter basket one year. (BTW to no one in particular, eggs are considered "modern" vegetarian, fish is not). But anyway -- since you eat fish, which is very high in Protein and lean, I don't think you'll have much troubles. Nori is fairly high in protein, legumes, etc. Why not just tell your surgeon you don't eat some meats including chicken, and ask him to replace it with vegetable broth or something?

Holy crap, I'd so totally give up Mickey D's over wearing charcoal underwear. That's such a no-brainer to me.

Yeah it bites. Things I've bought recently, all with comparable fits, have been anywhere from 14 - 22, xxl juniors, 3x women's. It sucks because I hate trying clothes on, and I'm getting tired of having to make refund trips.

This is why you don't worry about weightloss during recovery. Weightloss-friendly foods are not really recovery-friendly foods. Many recovery foods are low carb, which is almost always high fat/calorie. Likewise, low calorie is almost always high carb. Someone already posted this, but it's right. Any weight lost between surgery and restriction should be seen as "bonus" -- not something you go into the surgery expecting. Increasing complex carbs -- I pretty much mean just what I said, so I'm not sure I understand what you're wanting to know. If you were eating those foods in weightloss modes, I'd say you have way too many simple carbs and need to replace them with complex.

I don't go by sizes because yesterday I bought a 14 at Kohl's and then had to buy a 3x at TJ Maxx.

The docs can do a urine test. It takes about 4 minutes, much less than the lab results from bloodwork. I knew I wasn't pregnant. My mom kept telling me I was, my husband had no opinion. I did the test to shut people up, set it down, started to vacuum... then looked at it just to look at it and ... wtf??? It was a happy surprise for us, but we hadn't been trying that month or the month before. We had been trying hard off & on for about a year with no luck, and hadn't used BC in about 5 years, so I had really just started to think that we might need to seek fertility treatments in the summer.

Oh I will add that while I don't have the "no warning" PBs I read about on here, I guess the up side is that I do have some control over when I PB. I've been able to make it to a different bathroom when someone walks into the one I'm in, or endure a car drive home from a restaurant. I've had to ask a driver to pull of to the side of the interstate, but I think I could've held it until my destination if we weren't caught in gridlock. So -- while it would be nice to have spontaneous PBs in the sense that you forego the intense pain that precedes mine... I think I'll keep it this way for now.

If we officially go the route of gross PB stories, I'll tell you about the nose PB.

Carb, carb, carb, carb, carb. Artificial sweetner. Some protein. Try cutting the carbs, or at least try to get some complex carbs instead. Unless you're power walking, or walking with weights, etc. this is probably not going to do much for weightloss. Yes, it's good for you and you should do it, but walking for 30 mins is not above-and-beyond movement, it's more like a bare minimum, and unless you have the "power" there you're heart rate is likely not elevating significantly. Full schmull. Take "feel full" and flush it down the toilet. Then try to focus on "no longer hungry." There's a lot of food between "not hungry" and "full" - and most of us don't have normal concepts of "full" anyway. Crystal Light is loaded with artifical sweetners and all kinds of other chemicals. Among other things, they're known weightloss stallers. Try Water and see if you feel any better. But all of that is to answer your questions. The real issue is that you shouldn't be worried about losing weight now, and especially losing to whatever degree you thought you would. You should be worried about nothing, and just healing.