MacMadame

Protein before and protein & carbs after is the standard recommendation. Also, you should do a mix of cardio (elliptical & treadmill) with strength training. My surgeon recommends 2 days of each at a minimum.

Drink more water while you work out? Make sure to eat something right before too, if it's been a while since your last meal.

Dr. Cirangle is my doc and I love him. I don't have a band, but I don't think that will make a difference in how long it takes. He says with insurance it generally takes around a month. Some of that time is spent submitting and getting approval so it's going to depend on your insurance company though. The pre-op tests are pretty standard. There is variation based on your medical history but at a minimum you should be getting a physical, an EKG, an X-ray or Upper GI, and lab work. Women have to have a pap and mam within the last year. Everyone does a NUT consult where they go over the diet and a psych eval as well, even if your insurance doesn't require it. They have an in-house dietician and counselor you can see, but you can use your own too. The after-care program is awesome and it's why their results are better than published averages. They have support groups all over the Bay Area every month. There is a newsletter too. In addition, you have full access to the on-staff dietician and counselor, pretty much as much as you need them. Fills are included too. Dr. C likes to see his band patients every month -- some docs make you wait 6 weeks in between fills and that can be frustrating and often leads to people getting off track. You get so many months of after-care included in your program fee. I don't know exactly how many. It's a least a year, but more likely two. I was self-pay for a sleeve and my price includes two years of after-care.

My surgeon calls it "right-sizing" the stomach.

Well, they can be if you both agree. But you have to agree. For the taking pictures, I have two collages on my OH profile page of my month-by-month pictures. It's interesting that the months with the bigger weight loss don't have the most dramatic difference in the pictures. That's because I wasn't exercising then like I am now. Default Login (I don't know why the link is called Default Login and not "Before and After Pictures". :eek:

Mine's only gotten stronger. I used to drink "Fuze" as a treat about once a week. It's got about 10 calories per 18 oz bottle and claims it has a "trivial" amount of sugar from the fruit juice it's made from. Well, the last two I had were SO SWEET that I don't think I'll be drinking them any more. I think it's true that "you are what you eat" and the more I eat like a health nut, the less the unhealthy stuff appeals to me. I loved tomato soup when I was immediately post-op. I got the "protein" soup from Wonderslim (or maybe it was ProtiDiet) and had it almost every day.

I find that difficult to believe. We hear this all the time from the characters who the public doesn't like. They manipulated the footage! Other people were bad too! First of all, who cares if other people were manipulative too? Two wrongs don't make a right. Secondly, it's not Pixar. They can only work with what you show them. If you didn't do it, it's not on film. Btw, that "it's not Pixar" quote comes from a reality star I've met who was on The Amazing Race. :eek:

No, I didn't play soccer this weekend. But I did get to a normal BMI. Yeah me! So I'm now at "goal". That is to say, I've made all the weight loss-related goals I started with. I lost over 90 pounds, I have a normal BMI, and I'm in a size smaller than 10, my initial size goal. I really didn't have any goals beyond that. I did develop a few new goals along the way and I've managed to knock off most of them too. But I don't really feel "done." Sure, I look pretty good in my clothes and my shapewear. But I do have fat that I can get rid of and want to get rid of. I'd like to have a resting pulse rate and a body fat percentage that is closer to the "athlete" range instead of the "somewhat fit, old broad" range as well. I also have a lot of new sports-related goals that I didn't have before. So here is my updates list of goals: (completed)Get off my BP meds (completed)Get rid of my plantar fasciitis once and for all (completed)Get rid of my GERD (completed)Go swimming with my daughter and stop making excuses every time she asks because I don't want to deal with appearing in a bathing suit in public (completed)Be at least a size 10, maybe smaller, and to shop in regular stores and not just the fat old lady department at Macys (completed)Get down to 175 (completed)No longer be clinically obese (completed)Get down to 155 (completed)Have a normal BMI Get down to 125 (possible goal weight?) Be in a true size 6 Have a body fat percentage in the 18 - 22% range Get my resting pulse rate into the low 50s (completed)Walk 10,000 steps a day at least 4 days a week (completed)Complete a 5K Complete a Sprint Triathlon Complete a Sprint Triathlon in under 2:30 Complete a Century Ride Complete a 10K Be able to run a marathon Complete an Ironman or at least a HIM Give my inner "skinny bitch" the body she deserves. Live into my 90s as one of those cantakerous little old ladies with 10x as much energy as the youngsters I run circles around (so far so good) Some of these are pretty long-term though. I'm not going to feel "not done" until I'm in my 90s and know how much energy I have, for example. I'm sure I'll feel done much sooner than that. So when will I be done? All I can say is: I'll know when I know. But the body fat % and size goals are probably the two key "done" goals on my current list. Fatty Fights Back: GGGOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!

They are also largely made up.

Went for a bike ride with Mini-Mac.

I got clipless pedals! So to try them out, Mini-Mac and I went for a bike ride.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! Sounds like you are close to getting a date. Congrats!

Congrats! :thumbup:

Be sure to check out the sleeve section: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f281/

I'm jealous! Yike! Don't run when it's that hot. You could get heat stroke!

Sigh. Nobody flamed you. You asked for links to posts about problems with Betancourt doctors and I provided them. Now it's up to you to decide what to do with them.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! I mostly had problems with the liquid diet when my family ate dinner. I had to go hid in my bedroom until they were done. :welldoneclap:

Most are put on a PPI. It can be Nexum, but Prilosec is really popular because it's OTC. My surgeon puts everyone on for a month and then different people come off at different times. I came off it around 4 months out but then I ended up going back on it. Eventually your stomach learns to only make enough acid for its new size and you don't need an acid-reducer.

I use a messenger bag for a purse.

Congrats on getting a date. I think this is a great site to learn what life with a band is like.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! Congrats on making the decision to get WLS. My advice to research everything, including all the surgeries, and then once you are sure about everything, don't look back!

Welcome to LapBandTalk! We have a section for Alabama so you should be able to find plenty of people who used Dr. Crawford around here.

We did a bike-run transition but then we had to bike back to our cars so it was more like bike-run-bike! 90 min. bike 30 min run (though I got lost and only did 25 min) 30 min. bike I am still the slowest on the bike but apparently I have the fastest transition time!

My personal advice is to not get another band. Once they slip, you are prone to it. Here's a chart that compares the different surgeries as a starting point: Weight-Loss Surgeries Compared

Sorry about the nausea. I hope your liver is fine!