MacMadame

Tell your family that Dr. Aceves is a better bariatric surgeon than many in the US and that people have chosen to go to him as self-pay rather than have their insurance pay for a lesser surgeon in the US. There is also an article about the "medical tourism" industry in the LapBand in the News section that has links to lots of groups that can give more information that should set their minds at ease.

I would say the majority don't believe in an afterlife. Personally I believe it doesn't matter -- Me as I know Me will be dead either way. I also think it's important to live your life now and be a good person now, just for the sake of doing good in the world, and not do good only because you fear eternal damnation.

Sometimes they are just making conversation too. Or they are excited for you, but don't know how to express it. In the cases where you worry they will be comparing you unfavorably with someone else, I would just say something like "lap band often has slower weight loss, but I prefer that because I don't want to get a tummy tuck later" and leave it at that.

When I had my first -- a picky eater -- I got the Ellyn Satter book "How to get your kids to eat ... but not too much". It was awesome. I recommend anything she writes about kids and eating. The changes you have made in your family's eating habits are fantastic, LindaD. I have been working on my family for years with less success, probably because DH does the grocery shopping and cooking and is not as onboard with eating healthy as I am. It doesn't surprise me that you have a girl who still struggles. It was around that age that I found I was always hungry too. My parents didn't handle it well. They nagged and criticized even when I was within a healthy range of weight and finally nagged me onto a diet when I was 13. Obviously, their approach DID NOT WORK or I wouldn't be here today working on getting a band. Kudos to you for taking a different approach.

Well, that's what my Tanita scale says. I haven't gotten the more expensive and elaborate, but more accurate test. I also haven't measured lately so maybe with my 5 lb. lost, it's gone down a bit. I am only 5'1" and I have a small frame so there is room for lots of fat. Also, I'm betting at least 10% of that is in my boobies.

I had NO IDEA that could happen!

That's not what science says. WLS interferes with the body's hunger signals. Bypass, for example, cuts out a large portion of the stomach that produces a hormone that tells us we are hungry. Without as much of that hormone in your body, you can go for longer between meals on smaller portions. The band gives us all a smaller stomach that is on top where the vagus nerve is. When the pouch expands, it signals to the body that we are full. Thus, it's getting that signal with 1/2 to a cup of food instead of with several cups as it took before. It also short-circuits whatever it is in the brain that decides there is a famine every time you go on a diet. There have been study after study, the first one done during WWII, that showed that once you gain a significant amount of weight, your body thinks that's normal and it tries to maintain it. WLS stops that cycle and allows the body to maintain on a reasonable level of calories -- something that isn't possible for most people through a traditional diet and exercise program. Yes, there is head hunger too and that is why WLS is not a magic pill, but many of us who are looking to be banded are not particularly emotional eaters and do not eat bad diets or don't exercise. We just never feel satisfied and are always hungry. The band fixes that a treat.

I use thedailyplate.com. I don't actually count anything. I just keep track of what I ate, find the closest match in their database and log it. I let it tell me how many calories I ate, how many were of fat, etc. As the day progresses, I adjust my eating based on what it tells me. For example, if my Protein is low, I have a protein-based dinner. If my fat is too high, I make sure not to eat any more high-fat foods for the rest of the day. It's pretty easy and just by tracking my food and Water intake, I lost 5 lb. and I haven't even got my band yet or have made any real attempt to "diet".

The world isn't made up of atheists. Many of the people who contribute to bad in the world claim to be Christians, in fact. Well, you know what happens when you assume...

Wow, that describes me exactly! So you are saying you didn't get that big apron of skin when you lost? I didn't get it the last time but I also was 30 ... it's 20 years later and I'm sure my skin is less elastic.

Consumer Reports doesn't think much of the Magic Bullet yet people seem to love theirs. What's up with that?

I don't agree with this. I hope my dd won't grow up to need a lap band like I have. But if her body lies to her and tells her that she's hungry and needs more food when she doesn't, then no amount of knowledge or control is going to stop the inevitable and I'd rather she get a band earlier than later. The diet and medical industry has done us all a great disservice by promoting the idea that overweight people got that way because of a lack of control or because they don't know how many grams of Protein are in every different type of food. It's not about that for most of us. If it was, going on Weight Watchers and taking the classes that teach us how to estimate food quantities and drink enough Water would be enough for the vast majority of the population. Yet that stuff works for only about 2% of the people who try it. If your kid exercises and eats in a healthy way and is still overweight, then she's got something going on that isn't going to be cured by willpower. If she's one of those people whose brain activity in the part of the brain that registers satiety is low, then she's got a medical problem that needs to be fixed. Too many of us see getting WLS as some sort of failure on our parts. Would you see having to take insulin to treat diabetes as a personal failure? I see the lap band as being my version of insulin. It's going to fix my hunger thermostat that is broken. That's what you do with broken stuff -- you fix it.

What is ridiculous is how many people have NO CLUE about science. The word "theory" in science has a very specific meaning. In order to be a scientific theory, there has to be a lot of rigor and data to support it. It's only called a theory because it can't be directly observed via the scientific method. Creationism is junk science that doesn't rise to the standard of being a scientific theory. It has no place being taught in our schools as if it were equal to a true scientific theory that has undergone a rigorous process of vetting. You know, I can say I have theory ... my theory is that people people who interpret the Bible literally rather than as a serious of metaphors and allegories were dropped on their head as babies. Hey, let's teach my theory in schools! After all, it's a theory just like evolution and the big band theory! Sure... they are exactly equal in how much data there is to support them. After all, they are all "just theories." Except not...

Except you shouldn't have a lump that shows, especially if you go with a low profile port to start with.

Oops. That's what I meant. For example, there aren't any abdominal muscles in your collarbone.

What nonsense. Atheists aren't "lovers of pleasures" any more than Christians are. Many atheists are people with a strong moral code who strive to do good in the world and live ethically. God doesn't exist and the bible is just a book written by men (and probably a few women who didn't get the credit they deserved. :party: )

My understanding is that the port gets anchored to the wall of your stomach. That's got to limit the places they can put it. They also don't make a separate incision for it so it has to be somewhere that's reachable from the main, longer incision.

You will lose weight if you keep your calorie intake lower than your calorie expenditure, but you can do that just by dieting and exercising. You don't need a band to go on a diet. The reason to get a band is to control your hunger and hunger control is why banded people are more successful at losing weight and keeping it off than those who use diet and exercise alone. But if you drink while eating, the band won't control your hunger because food won't stay in your pouch long enough. It also won't control your portion size, the other thing the band does, because if you flush out what is in your pouch, you can put more in.

I was told to eat all my Protein first, then my veggies, then carbs only if room. But I know I won't be able to do that for the rest of my life. For one thing, I find veggies to be kind of rare in my diet. If I don't eat all the ones that come my way, my Fiber intake is way too low. I like the 3-3-1 plan. It's similar to how I eat now and it's very realistic and doable. Right now I eat veggies first, then some protein to make sure I get some, then some carbs so I know I'll get at least one bite of my favorite. :thumbup: With 3-3-1, I'd just have to switch the protein with the veggies and I'm good. I think most US docs go nuts about protein and I do not approve. I really don't see anything about having a band that makes your protein needs higher than a normal person. If I'm supposed to be having around 50 g of protein now, why would I need 80 g once I got a band? That just doesn't make sense to me. Btw, in looking up what my protein requirements actually are, I found this: "In 1936, the Technical Committee of the League of Nations set up recommended levels of protein intake for adults and children. The proposed daily allowance of 1 g of protein per kg of body weight for adults did have an appealing simplicity, but no scientific evidence was found to support it." I believe the WHO now recommends .6 g of protein per 1 kg of body mass per day, but it's not clear if that's for everyone or just everyone in a certain age group. Lots of US-based nutritional sites recommend 50 g for adult women. 60g if pregnant or lactating.

What we need is the truth. The truth is that if you have complications after your band is placed -- and some people do -- that there is a risk that your insurance company will not pay for them. This has happened to self-payers before and it will happen again. To pretend that it does not simply for the sake of "being positive" is wrong IMO. As for your doctor working with you, some do and some don't. If you have your band put in and have direct complications from the band immediately afterwards, your insurance will not pay for it. There have been self-payers who had to have their band taken out within weeks or months of it being put in and they ended up paying for that too. So they paid twice what they had planned on and ended up with no band. If you have complications that can be indirectly attributed to the band, then some insurance companies will use the band as an excuse not to pay for them as well. Others will not and will treat you fairly. But the risk is always there and it's something you have to be prepared to deal with if you self-pay. Sometimes it depends on the doctors office. Some offices are really savvy about the insurance codes and will really work the insurance to get as much paid for as possible and others just do what they do and, if insurance doesn't cover it, too bad. I've been lucky so far... I've had all my pre-op tests paid for by insurance even though the band isn't covered. But I make sure the people I deal with know how to work the system and I work the system as well. For example, my psych consult was covered under our EAP plan and not our medical plan. The EAP plan is generous and doesn't care what your psych consult is for. For my nutritional appointment, the dietician coded it as being about my hypertension and not about getting a band. My original surgeon codes fills as office visits. Office visits are covered. :thumbup: I have seen people who could barely afford the band taking out loans to self-pay and then not been able to afford follow-up care or having disaster strike and have to take the band out and have to come up with the thousands to pay for that. That's a really horrible place to be in and it's why I'm waiting until I can change insurance to actually get the band. OTOH, if I can't get insurance to cover it, I will self-pay. But I'm prepared for the additional costs. I haven't got my head in the sand about them.

Studies show that the overall weight loss between gastric bypass and lap band is the same. Gastric bypass patients tend to lose faster in the beginning but don't lose more weight overall.

It depends on what article you read, Jachut. I check before I posted and found 18-22 on 3 articles and 22-25 on one article. So I went with the majority. :tongue: My goal right now is to get down to 50% so it's all moot to me. Once I get to 50%, I'll worry about whether it should be 25 or 22. :cool2: Actually, my current goal is to get under 200. Then to get to 50% body fat. I like to take it in small steps.

Yes, it's happened to other people. :cool2: For insurance purposes, your surgeon should report the weight that will get you covered. A lot of them require a weight loss prior to surgery and then they report the weight when you started and not when the weight loss is over, for example.

I have found you have to take a lot of those posts with a grain of salt. Don't look at "I'm not losing" but look at the details. Many of the people who post this have lost TONS of weight. But they are down near their goal and the weight loss has slowed down. They are rightly frustrated and looking for some ideas of how to lose the last bit now that weight isn't just falling off. It's good to know that happens, but if someone loses 100 lb. is the band a failure because they didn't lose 125? Not in my book. Others have unrealistic expectations. Like the poster above who "only" lost 30 lb. in 3 months ... that is about 2 lb. a week! And she only has one fill. I'd love to have a "failure" like that when I get my band. The rest of the people really haven't lost anything or much of anything. But most of the time if you look at their full story, they have had personal crises that have caused them not to work on themselves, they haven't had a fill in a while (maybe they don't have a fill doctor handy or money is an issue), they are eating around the band, they aren't exercising, etc. We can learn from their experiences. It's really important to me to know what can happen and how to prevent it. It's also good to know upfront if what the band requires is something I am not willing to give.

You need someone to drive you home. They don't have to be there for the entire surgery though. Heck, you could use a taxi service if you really wanted to. But having a friend or family member drive you home may be cheaper. :smile: