JaimeSTL

I attend the support group meetings at Des Peres. Those who attend are usually Dr. Minkin's patients but we also get DePaul and St. Alexius patients. You'd definitely be welcome. Most people who come are band people. We meet the 4th Thursday of every month at 7 pm at Des Peres. Here is the schedule: http://www.despereshospital.com/NR/rdonlyres/9862A818-4616-4334-AC91-AD31FD30E4F5/141486/SupportGroupCalendar.pdf

I completely agree with what Georgia girl said. When I joined LBT, I'd already been to OH and didn't like the vibe, the bashing, etc. I definitely don't want to see that kind of thing here. Froggi isn't the only person who has questioned the addition of the forums for other surgeries. I can see a need for a revision forum, but not forums for each WLS on what is supposed to be a lap band specific board.

Hello, Slow and Low. I'm also a patient of Dr. Minkin at Des Peres Hospital. If you are still looking for a doctor, I highly recommend going to one of his seminars and meeting him. I think Dr. Minkin is the greatest. I was banded on 2/28/08, about a week and a half shy of 6 months ago. I've lost 91 lbs, all thanks to my band. I can't help on the insurance thing as I have BCBS. Good luck to you!

Ezma, you look great! It is a very dramatic difference!

Ugh, yes. I have a friend who whines on a daily basis about how fat she is, how she wants to lose weight, that she can't believe she gained back what she lost plus some, etc etc etc. Yet, she won't do anything to try to lose weight. She even found out she has hypothyroid and doesn't take the medicine. How do you help someone like that? My husband is also the same way, except he doesn't need to lose weight, he needs to get healthy. He is average weight, but has high cholesterol, some type of undetermined blood sugar problem, supposedly ADHD (I say supposedly because he hasn't always been this way), memory problems, and more. He needs to be on a low fat, low cholesterol, low sugar diet and he just whines about it everytime the subject comes up. He tells me that he just doesn't have my willpower, he isn't as strong as me, blah blah blah. I have no tolerance for it. Nobody realizes how hard this has been for me and they all seem to think this lifestyle change has come so easily to me. I'm not stronger, more brave, I don't have more willpower...I'm just f'ing determined to stop letting my life be ruled by food. My husband was whining about not being able to find anything good to eat because of his restrictions and I finally said, IT IS JUST FOOD. Why is FOOD so important? I can't believe it was ever so important to me.

Thanks everybody for the congrats! I'm pretty proud of myself. :thumbup:

You look great! Congrats on the halfway point!

That sounds like my kids. They are 5 and 7. Before I lost weight, I just never felt like doing ANYthing, including cleaning. I mean, when my kids saw me cooking recently, they were like, Mommy, can you really cook? LOL I kind of felt badly, but it was also kind of funny. Anyway, they hate cleaning, argue all the time, and just make me nuts. I'm ready to put everything in trash bags and give it all to Goodwill.

Thanks! I'm pretty excited. :tt1:

LOL Can you tell that to the people who tell me I'm losing too fast? :thumbup:

That's awful! Some people are just really nuts. I haven't really dealt with anybody like that here, but there are some that I just want to strangle at my IRL support group. I'm not a big exercise nut, but I've found that doing something everyday (cardio 4-5 times a week, strength training 3 times a week) has REALLY kicked my weight loss up a notch lately. June and July, things had really slowed down, but the pace has picked up a lot. Plus, I feel great. Even better than I had before. I'm not having up and down days anymore like I was before. I hated the thought of exercising before and waited far too long to start.

Every Christmas and birthday for the last, oh 5 years or so, I've had my mother in law pass on to her family that the kids would love a membership at the zoo or the local children's museum. Have they done it? Nope. It would be so much more useful to us than more toys. Our house looks like Toys R Us puked.

Well said! I don't understand WHY people who are trying to lose weight are eating ice cream, fast food, fried foods, etc., on a regular basis anyway. Do they really think that the band is some kind of magic wand that just sucks the fat and calories out? My nutritional instruction before surgery was complete crap (my doctor is great, but the NUT at the hospital was an idiot), but most of it is just common sense.

What about Protein? How many calories do you get in per day for the most part? Even if you "pig out" on veggies, you still aren't getting many calories. If you don't eat enough, that can also slow or stall weight loss. I think those who have had the highest losses would all agree that we eat small sensible meals and get in a decent amount of calories for the most part.

I agree with everything Melissa said. My diet is about 95% healthy, low cal, etc. and about 5% (if that) not so good. Every once in a while, I'll have a bite of something not so great, like mac n cheese or french fries. I've even indulged in a candy bar a couple of times and one night a couple of weeks ago, I had a whole small blizzard from DQ. When I think back over the last five and a half months, the "bad" things I've had are so rare compared to say, the five and a half months prior to surgery. I think not letting myself feel deprived of anything has helped so much. I don't completely pig out when I do have those things. I would talk to your doctor about the extremes of restriction you seem to go through. That doesn't sound normal. Have you had fills under fluoro? If not, maybe your doctor can do one that way and check on band position, size of your pouch, etc. Either way, you are down over 30 lbs. Where would you have been after 6 months without the band? I know that I probably would've been even higher than I was.

Whether Froggi was really there to get information or not, she didn't start off attacking them. I also find it amazing that people would actually choose a surgery with such, IMO, horrific side effects when there are other successful surgeries available. It isn't something that was made up on this thread--awful smelling gas and poop is a documented side effect. It really amazes me the lengths people will go to in order to continue eating like crap.

This isn't a DS board, though. And nobody is going to the DS board and baiting them there or trying to convince them that they should have a Lap Band instead of DS. I saw the thread that Froggi posted on and she wasn't baiting them. She was seeking information, and as soon as she said she was getting a lap band, they sunk their teeth in and tore her apart. They do the same thing on their own boards for other procedures. Yesterday, someone over there started a thread specifically about this thread and many of them were saying they should invade LBT over it. Why do they care if we chose the Lap Band? Why do they care what anybody else chooses? You know what they say...misery loves company. IMO, that's why they like to "recruit" for the DS.

You need more calories, period. How much Protein do you get in each day with only 400-700 calories? My doctor recommends about 1/2 cup of food per meal, but I think my meals are probably closer to about 3/4 cup or 1 cup per meal. I also like a looser fill than many, so I think that helps me to eat more. I am anywhere between 1000-1500 calories a day, usually between 1100-1200. I have at least 60 grams of protein per day, but lately with some changes to my typical meals, it has been more like 80+ grams. I get typically 80-100 grams of carbs per day, but it isn't something I pay too much attention to. However, if it is over 100, I'm usually not making great choices so I tend to limit that without even thinking specifically about carbs. I also drink a minimum of 64 ozs of Water each day, since it has been really hot more like 80-100 ozs a day. I do cardio 4-5 times a week and strength training 3 days a week--I do something active everyday. During my latest plateau (only my second so far, and each lasted about 2 weeks), I broke it by a) began exercising regularly, :Banane37: increasing my water intake, c) changing my food choices, d) increasing my protein (which was helped my changing my food choices), and e) increasing my average calorie intake just a bit (I had been closer to the 1000 calorie mark, but now I'm consistently closer to 1200). I didn't really consciously increase my calories--it just sort of happened because I was more hungry after working out. I've built more muscle and I'm burning fat more efficiently. After my plateau, I dropped two pounds one week then the next FIVE pounds. This is the third week following my plateau and I'm down about 8-9 lbs from the plateau weight. If you physically can't eat more than 400-700 calories, I'd definitely not get another fill and even ask for a slight unfill. The band isn't a starvation diet. You need calories and nutrients.

My rant is that I find school supply lists to be completely ridiculous sometimes. I have one going into 2nd grade and one going into kindergarten. They only "allow" certain brands of crayons (Crayola) and scissors. My kindergartner's list asked for packs of 16 crayons, which are about $2, while 24 packs are 22 cents. Hmm, I wonder which I bought. I stock the kids up in August so I'm not paying 3-4 times as much in January for the same stuff. WHY are these things so important? Doesn't a 24 pack of crayons have the same colors, plus some, as the 16 count? Yes, I'm a complete cheapskate and I LOVE getting stuff on sale. Right now, I am sitting here labeling every individual crayon, pencil, and marker that my kindergartner needs for school because it was on the list. What the heck?! Does it matter whose blue crayon or yellow pencil it is, as long as everybody has a blue crayon and yellow pencil?

When I first started the process of having surgery, I signed up over at OH. I didn't start posting until I had insurance approval. I started posting right in the midst of HUGE drama between the band people and the DS people and said the hell with it and came here. They seem to move from board to board preaching their method and their R&R is full of DS vs. ____ posts. It's crazy.

I'm sure glad there is!!

My cat could totally use a band.

I have your address. I'm sending you some Depends.

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