Brinabrina77

Hello Everyone:

I was banded in February 2008. This makes me 4 years post op. (I still can't believe it!)

I think that I am doing pretty well. I am down more than 100lbs and have maintianed that. I still have about 30lbs that I am working on losing.

How are the rest of the 2008(and earlier) bandsters doing? I know that when we all initially were banded, we reported to this forum/website like it was our parole officer. Now that we have been banded for a while, I am seeing less and less of those who have been banded for a year or greater.

This site is still an excellent and frequently used resource for me. Hearing from you guys keeps me going.

So here is my roll call to see how the 2008 and earlier bansters are doing? Share your up, downs, advice given, or lessons learned.

Hello everyone:

At my highest weight I wore a 26/28 in clothes, and a 9.5w -10w (sometimes 11 for the width) shoe. Now I am a 16/18 an I almost fell out when I realized I now wear a 8.5 shoe. People told me that you feet shrink once you lose weight. Of course I did not believe them. I am noping that my hard-headedness will shrink also.

I'm looking for support locally too. Have you been able to find it? How many cc do they give you each time you had a fill? Seems like they are slower at filling the band than other doctors I've seen on the forums here.

Helllo anna2259 and to Bagnato Bandsters in General :

The only support that i routinely get is at the group meetings held at the bariatric institute. I can only go to those if they are held on friday or Saturday becasue of my job.

The number of CCs given varies on where you are with the band. You dont want to be over or under filled. My very frist fill was 2.0 CCs. After that, i think that used increments of 1.0 cc. Then I went down to 0.5 CCs. Now I only get fills in increments of 0.10 CCs. But that a a good way to do it, as you get closer to finding your ideal fill level you will need less and less Fluid. Right now, honestly if I get anything larger than 0.1 cc at a time I get too tight...and being too tight is a MISERABLE place to be. I personally like the fill rate. My fills are generally spaced 4-6 weeks a part and that really works for me too.

Let me know if you find anyone who wants to become band buddies or form some kind of support system.

I have missed you, Brina! You look amazing, btw! I can't get over how different you look since the last time I visited. What an inspiration!

It feels good to be back on track. I was on a high dose steroid for about 2 months a while back and gained 30 lbs. I never recovered. Gained about 20 more since then too. I have been low carbing for the last 2 weeks and lost 14 lbs. The sugar cravings are gone and I feel great!

I will try to post pretty regular....maybe we can be each other's motivation!

Hello Georgia Girl:

Yes, definitely. We should be motivation partners. I need all the motivation that I can get.

I know how it is with the steroids. I am an asthmatic and an allergy sufferer. So anytime I have a flare-up of either, I get some kind of steroids. I am normally only on them for a week or so, and I already experience changes in my eating and Fluid consumption. You need a big superwoman "S" on your chest for being on them for months.

You will get back on track...you *are* already getting back on track. I can't wait to see your progress.

Keep posting. I will do the same.

Hey everyone! I have not checked-in in a long time! I hope everyone is doing well. Things haven't been so great with me, but I have been back on track for a while now and starting to lose weight again. I am low carbing and running again. Although I have back-slid and gained weight back, I feel great now and I'm glad to be back on track!

Hi Georgia Girl!!

Woman, I have not heard from you in ages. I am so happy to see you post on this board. I always wonder what happened to some of the original Bagnato Bandits.

Gaining and losing is all a of our journey. That was something that was difficult for me to accept. Now, I don't use it as an excuse, but it saves me from unnecessarily beating up on myself. I will reach a goal for myself and do the blonde cheerleader dance of joy (and everyone knows that I am neither blonde nor cheerleader). Then its like my body knows when I hit a goal. One of my first goals was to get under 200lbs. I made it without realizing it until an OTC appointment. I saw 198 lbs on the scale. Then it was like as soon as my body realized I'd reached a goal, it started craving EVERYTHING that I was not supposed to have. So then I gained back 5-10 lbs until I was over 200lbs. Then I lost weight until I was I was under 200lbs again. Then I move forward and get back on track. And that is how this has gone for me. I go through phases like that from time to time. Not often, but from time to time. It is frustrating as all hell and great outdoors, but if i had this weight loss thing down perfectly,I would not have gotten banded.

*****However, my worst day being banded is still better than my best day being not banded!*****

At least witht he band, I can still see the bandwagon when I occasionally fall of of it and gain a few pounds (my average is 5lbs or so). I just have to hop my heard-headed butt back on. Without the band, The bandwagon was in the next *town* and completely out of site (and I was 30-40lbs heavier) before I realized that I needed to get back on track. Overall, I think I am doing okay. Not perfect, but when I look back at it all, i am shocked...in a good way.

With your low carbing and running...you wil be back where you want to be in no time!!! Keep us posted and help us stay motivated.

You are still an inspiration to me.

Hello emsbugbug:

Congratuations on your success!!! I try to make as many of the meetings as I can, but my problem is that I work a very odd schedule. It limits me to attending only those meeting that happen on Fridays and Saturdays...and I live within 2 miles of Dr. B's office.

I am hoping that this board will really pick back up. I will try to remember to ask the nurses to throw littel reminders at the meetings about this site so that we can get more Bandits here.

Again, Congrats on your success. You will be there before you know it. You keep in touch too!

Hello?

:: taps her mic::

Is this thing on? Is anyone out there?

This is my official APB (All Points Bulletin) for all of my fellow Bandits. This thread used to be very active and I loved coming here. It helped me through a ton of my moments and gave me more encouragement than you know.

This also used to be a great thread to offer one another encouragement, kicks in the butt (when needed), and to share our successes as well as those frustrating plateus and bumps in the roads that we all have had at some point.

Pre-Ops...Newbies..our seasoned Bandits...*Everyone*... has something that they contribute to this thread that may help a fellow bandster.

So if you have got a second to spare, just stop in and say hi and tell everyone how things are going.

Post some pics, too. Show your face. Show your progress. Share recipes. Meet friends. Share those NSV and other highlights!!

Oh yeah...*tell a friend about this site and the Bagnato Bandits section.* I think that we have forgotten to mention this site at some of the group meeting. So spread the word!!

I look forward to hearing from everyone.

Wishing you great success on your weightloss/healthly lifestyle journey and in all that you do.

--Brina

Hello Bandits:

I have not posted on this forum in forever, but things are going well for me. I've thrown my share of the classic :argue: "You are *not* the boss of me and I *will*eat (fill in the blank with what I know my band says I can't have)" tantrums with my band. My band just saucily responds, "Oh, I *am* the boss of you. And if your hard-headed butt wants (fill in the blank) that badly, you can have it. Matter of fact, you can have it TWICE...once going down and then again coming back up."

Sigh. Some people just can't out grow being hard headed.

In spite of the occasional battle of wills, I am still loosing. I was banded in February 2008, by Dr. Bagnato. At that time I was 325 lbs and in a 26/28. I am now 204lbs and in a 16/18. If I could just get out of the holiday drama and get back on track with my exercise, I might even see one-der land some time in the next month or two.

But I am working on that..

I hope to meet some of you at the Christmas party today. If you see me come and say hello!!

To the Bandits (old and new) Happy Holidays and Great success. :welldoneclap:

Me!

:: Does the Price is Right contestant bounce-squeal::

The thing is that I seriously just realized I was able to respond to this post. I was so focused on the fact that I have about 40lbs to got to meet my tentative goal, that it escaped me that I've lost abouot 105lb. That shows that even after two years of being banded, I'm focused on how overweight I still am instead of how much weight I've managed to lose. But I'm slooowly, getting out of my forever-fattie mindset.

Although, I've lost a lot of weight this is all surreal to me. I started at a size 26/28. I am now in a size 18. Each time I pull on a pair of jeans, I still get this moment of brief panic that they will reach my hips and won't go any higher. But they do..every time. And I want to bounce up and down...okay I DO bounce up and down...everytime they fit...

...Not to mention, I hear the "Eye of the Tiger" in my head.

Sometimes.

okay..most times.

I remember my little weight loss ticker being at -15lbs...while it seemed like everyone in the known universe had lost over 80 lbs. I thought I'd never be able to reply to this post. But here I am, 105 lbs down.

Unbelievable.

If I, Miss World's Slowest Loser, can accomplish this much, anyone can.

Thank you guys for every single bit of inspiration that you have provided on this site.

Congrats to everyone on their scale and NSVs.

For all of you thinking you will never post here...you will.

Laurenmcarter,

You post just sent my hurdling at light speed back to the week before my surgery. We both had the same worries and everything.

A coworker dropped me off the day of the surgery. I felt like a kindergartener being dropped off at school for the first day. I stood outside of the entrance to the hospital with the whole weepy-eyed trembly lip thingy going on. I sucked it up, went in, and did well until they put the IV in and I started with the Emmy winning tear flow. Dr. Baganto happened to be passing by and patted me on the knee and told me it would be okay. Of course, him being so sweet only made me cry more. I tell everyone that the reason they put the IV in was becasue of all of the Fluid loss I suffered from crying.

I am in the medical field (veterinarian). I have done surgeries, but never had one performed on me. So in addition to being nervous, every worse case scenario is running through my head in living technicolor while I am laying on the table. Then they gave me some happy drugs and yup...no more worries for the crying big girl. The last thing I remember was the anesthesia tech putting a mask over my face and tell me to breathe normally. Next thing you know I was in my recovery room.

Did I have any pain? Not really. Dr. B gave me this big amber bottle of liquid pain meds. I did not use even half of that bottle. I used a little here and there, and that was at a reduced dose becasue it made me sleepy. I got that discomfort in my abdomen and shoulder from the gas that they use to fill up your abdomen you will hear about but that was it. I occasionally got these extremely mild pinches of discomfort near my belly button when i would lay a certain way...then I foudn out I had a stitch there. The rest is history.

You will be fine. You'll start dropping pounds before you know it.

Hello Everyone:

I'm checking in for the week.

Things are okay. I fell off the exercise wagon due to a bad combination of being consumed by work and being too tired to do anythign but sleep after being too consumed by work. I hate that cycle.

However, Leslie Sansone and I will be back at it this coming week.

I actually left the house this weeking and attended this amazingly fun class about Gourds. I had no clue that gourd making was such a big thing until I attended the class. I know I'll be going back.

I went to that class with no sleep. And I am not exaggerating. At 6 pm Friday i realized I had been up 24 hours with no sleep. Seriously. But in that time, i made a discovery. When i am up and doing something I like to do, I dont get hungry. Before I went to the class i got a large popcorn chicken, tater tots, and a large cranberry slush from Sonics. Yes, terrible choices, but it was quick, I dont do that often, and I was starved. It took me about 8 hours to eat the popcorn chicken. Not because they got stuck or anything, i was just so into gourding and laughing with the fun people I was with that I was not really into eating. When I did get a littel hungry, I'd eat 2-3 pieces then go back to gourding, and repeat. When I got home, I threw out the tater tots because I had not touched them, put the remainign half of the drink the fridge. I wandered around the house for a lil bit, took a shower then went to bed.

Friday, i had nothing to do. I sat around the house and ate crap. Then I realized there were a few more things I wanted to do to my gourd. I worked on that for about an hour. I looked up and realized that I had actually put my food to the side while I was working on the gourd.

Summary of self discovery: Not only am I an emotional eater (which I knew), I am also a boredom eater. My goal is to now find things that I like to do. I know that is part of the reason i have been so depressed lately. I have been here for 3 years and I practically don't know anyone. Id ont have any close friends here, no husband, no boyfriend, no family....nothing. So all I do is work, sleep, sit around the house and eat, and wallow in the misery of being bored and lonely. If I was not banded i know I would have gained 30-40 lbs in these last three years. If I had not been exercising (which I just started doing in NOV after being banded for 1 year), I would have plateaued out and stop losing weight.

That was my check in. How is everyone else doing? Any interesting insights to share?

Hello everyone:

I had my surgery in February 2008 with Dr. Bagnato. I am just a few pounds short of reaching my first goal of losing 100lbs. I'm a slow loser, but I'm still losing. And for that, I can't complain.

I am looking for any good humored, good natured lap band buddies in the area. I'm doing alright with my band, but I just don't have much of a support system. I would love to meet some people who understand what I we are going through. I know about the Support Meetings held at the bariatric center, but due to my job I end up not being able to attend many of those. :thumbup:

I used to go to the Bagnato Bandit boards alot, and you have no idea how motivating that board was. Sadly, it just kinda fizzled out and peopel stopped posting.

So if you are interested, let me know.

Hey Miss Brina your pics are great. You have done a wonderful job. Do you have any up to date pics?:sad:

Recently anytime I try to insert pics, something goes wrong. Either they turn out gigantic or they show up as little X's. If you go to my profile you can see the progress pics that I have been brave enough to post here.

Thanks for the compliment. I am still far away from my goal, but I am trying to focus on the fact that I am closer than I was.

First - Brina glad to see you're still doing so great!

Now for Happy Trucker - I was banded 2 1/2 years ago and am still glad I did it. I'm having some trouble maintaining my weight though. Part of that is I appear to have a small leak in my band and can't keep restriction and the other part is that I've become a little too lax in following the band rules. But even with that, I'd do it again. I'd like to have my potential leak checked out and taken care of but I was self-pay and there's no way I can afford to put money out for this now.

Good luck on your band.

Hello Nip50:

I am sorry to hear about the leak, but look at what you have acheived prior to the leak!! You are still one of my Lapband heroes.

I wish i knew how everyone else was doing. This booard used to be so active with Bagnato Bandits, then it kinda fizzled. Maybe some of the newbies will pick it up and refresh the board. Just talking to people who were going through the same things as I was was so helpful.

Wow, thanks for responding Brinabrina77...Do you attend the support group meetings? My surg is scheduled for April 1st. And of course I am full of butterflies.

Did you get the left shoulder pain that I have read about? How was the SugarBuster diet? Sorry for so many q's.

Hello happytrucker280:

I attend as many of the support meetigns as I can. Unfortunately, I work 3rd shift, so I am mainly able to attend only those that are on Fridays and Saturdays.

I was nervous as all get out about having my Lapband surgery. Matter of fact, I was a soldier until they put my IV in. Once that was done, it suddenly hit me that I was having surgery and the tears started rolling. Not normal tears either..I'm talking ones that would rival Oprah Winfrey or Oscar winning tears. Dr. B was walking through the surgery prep room at that time, kinda patted my thigh and told me it would me okay. After that, all I remember is them putting a mask over my face and telling me to breath normally. Next thing you know I was waking up in my room.

Yes, I got the shoulder pain and the gas pain like many of the Lapbanders talk about. It is because they have to blow up your abdominal cavity with air. Anti- gas pills dont work cuz its not intestinal gas. The only thing that works is walking around so your body naturally gets rid of the gas. Overall, the gas or the shoulder pain was more annoying thanpainful. After the surgery I was in virtually no pain. The only time I really ever hurt was when I did something stup that tigged on my incisions or something.

The Sugar Buster's diet was a PIA. Only because I was a cherry coke, and sugar junkie. But I survived it. And you will too.

No problems with the questions. That is what we are here for. You'll have plenty more and that is fine. April 1st will be here befoer you know it. You'll start dropping pounds like nobody's buisness. Hopefully, you will love your band as much as I love mine.

If you see me at one of the meeting, don't be scared to say hi.

Calling all Bagnato Bandits....Are you still happy with your band? Are you still losing? Do you have before and after pics? Are you regretting being a Bagnato Bandit? Come on out people, us newbies need your input....Are you all blogging somewhere else?.....Please come out and share.:thumbdown:

Hello happytrucker280:

I am still very happy with my band. I am one of the "slow losers", but I am still losing. 2/25/10 will be my 2 year bandiversay.

The worse complication I had, was being filled too tightly once. I was folled to tight and the food was not going down. It would just sit there. Not much, PBing but a lot of acid reflux especially after laying down. I ended up getting all my Fluid taken out and of course gained back 20 lbs. However, the Fluid was gradually put back in and i lost it all back. I am now about 5 lbs away from reaching my first goal of losing 100lbs.

I have (yes, after 2 years) realized that I have to exercise. I have been doing Leslie Sansone "Walkaway the Pounds" videos since Nov 2009. I try to do at LEAST 2 miles at least 4 times a week. Right now I am up to the 5 mile one that I do 4 times a week. Nope, I am not an exercise fanatic, but I know it needs to be done. When people used to even say they walked ONE mile..on purpose..and not cuz their car broke down or they were being chased by something, I used to give them that crazy look. :thumbup: <--that Crazy look, right there. Now, I can do a five mile exercise video. That shows just how much my band has changed me. I still can eat almost anything, but I know my "trouble foods" and try to avoid them. The only thing I have omitted from my diet are carbonated drinks. I have not had a soda or carbonated drink sinc feb 2008.

I still don't regret getting banded. I still recommend it to anyone who is really overweight and has been struggling with their weight for years.

Ingredients:

I normally buy everything at our Super Walmart due to the price and convenienc.

-1 box of Gordon Fisherman's Garlic Shrimp Scampi (NOT the lemon shrimp scampi)

-1 bag of cooked, SMALL, peeled, deveined shrimp, with tail off (the small shrimp have about 100-150 per bag, but you can use whatever size you want or use fresh, raw, shrimp. Just ensure that you cook all seafood until it is done!!! We are bansters, and we shouldn't be puking..especially from any seafood related illness)

-2-3 cups cooked rice. Ladies, if you do not own a rice cooker...go and get one. I usually use my rice cooker and make this with jasmine (NOT jasmati) rice. Jasmine is a fragrant rice and smells soooo good cooking.

-Garlic powder (optional)

Directions:

Lightly grease a skillet. Saute Gordon's shrimp in a skillet until done. Add rinsed shrimp to Sauted gordon's shrimp. (Shrimp is frozen when I buy it from walmart. So I rinse the shrimp under warm Water to thaw them. They are already cooked). Stir well so that scampi sauce covers all shrimp. You can add garlic powder if you wish.

Add the cooked/sauteed shrimp to your cooked rice. Mix well. Enjoy.

*Poof* You are done.

Note: I will cook like Paula Deen for everyone else, but when i cook for myself the meals are quick and simple as demonstrated by this recipe. The reason I mix plain shrimp with the Gordon's shrimp scampi is becasue the Gordon's shrimp has only about 10-12 shrimp. I add the small shrimp becasue it gives me a ton of shrimp. They may be tiny shrimp, but they are Protein. And since they are tiny, that is even less chewing for me. Once you cook the Gordon's shrimp, it sauces very well and seasons both the rice and added shrimp. When I reheat, I normally put a small portion in a bowl, add butter, and microwave.

If you are okay with shrimp, then I can give you a simple three step less than 30 minute shrimp and rice recipe. Let me know how you are with shrimp, so I'll know if I need to post it or not.

I have had the same problem. I banded 2/25/08 and now on occasion I get dizzy. Most of the time I notice it if I get up really fast from sitting. The other day I was standing and I had my head resting on the arm of the couch which meant my head was lowered. The phone rang or something and I lifted my head quickly...and whoosh...helloooo Mr. Dizziness. I get this warm-and prickly-all-over sensation, I feel like I am walking under wwater, and sometimes (but very rarely) I may feel kinda nauseated. Then I sit down for a minute or two, and it passes.

The thing is I don't recall having this before being banded. I mean it is not something so horrible that I wish i was never banded. But it is just aggrivating.

I told my general physisican about it and she told me that I may have positional (orthostatic) hypotension. This means that my blood pressure changes with my body posture. I do routine blood work all the time and it was all normal except for my low Iron and low B12, so I take tablets to correct those. I was worried that I may be hypoglycemic (which made me giggle at the thought for once in my life I could not be eating enough :tongue2:). My doctor also told me to drink more Water as this will sometimes help.

I have lost close to 80lbs in a year. Overweight people are known to have high blood pressure. I luckily have never had high blood pressure. However, I sometimes wonder if my weight was keeping my blood pressure steady and high enough that I my blood pressure never fluctuated. I wonder if now that I have lost weight, my blood pressure has gotten lower (last check at my last fill appt it was 129/73) or flutuates as my body is trying to adjust to the ongoing weight loss.

My advice, talk to your doctor. Especially if it is a cause for concern for you. When I first started getting dizzy, I looked at a lot of old posts on this site. A few..not a ton..but a number of people state that they have been getting dizzy sometimes since being banded as well. Again, I highly suggest you talk to your lapband doc and/or your regular doc for assurance and guidance.

The one in the green is me right before surgery in 2/2008 weighing about 322lbs. The other one is current of me at about 230lbs. I am now an iPhone junkie. The photo of me in the b&W shirt was edited with ColorSplash. I did not change my photo, but it allows me to decide what I want in color and what I want in B&W. In this case, I put me in color and the background in B&W.

I think I have about 50-60 lbs left until I reach my goal.

Thanks to everyone for being such a source of inspiration. Congrats on everyone's successes.

Hello Everyone:

I recently flew and I had no trouble with my band. The only thing that I was nervous about was me forgetting to chew something well enough or eating to quickly and then having the urge to PB on a flight full of people. Its bad enough waiting in line to pee, let alone when you are doing the anti-PB chant and trying to convince your food to stay down. Luckily that did not happen. I agree with everyone else though about dressing for comfort and not for style.

PS. I love my band. It has allowed me to avoid having to use the dreaded seatbelt extender. :thumbup:

Happy Flying everyone.

Ya'll are all my sheroes/heroes. As soon as I get into one of my "pitty parties" and "can't-do conventions", i come to this thread. I still have a ways to go, but i can't believe how far I have come.

The first pic is me at about 322lb and the second pic is me at about 230lbs. Again, I still have quite a ways to go, but I am slowly geting there.

Thanks again, everyone.

Hello everyone:

I finally got around to cleaning out my closet. I have about 30 pairs of pants in either a size 26 or a 28 that I would like to give to someone who wants them. I know that the Goodwill takes clothes, but I would prefer to give them to someone who I know or a friend of someone I know. Also, not many people go shopping at goodwill for plus sized clothes. I would rather give them to someoen who needs them than to let them hang on a rack.

Jeans:

The pants are mostly denim. They are the Lane Bryant venezia brand. Some of the kjeans come from Catos. Most of the jeans are mostly boot cut and of the dark blue denim. Some of them have that slight faded thing going on the leg (they were intentionally made like that). Some of the jeans are petite some are regular in length. None of the jeans are more than 2 years old.

Khakis and Slacks:

I also have about 6 pairs of slacks or khakis in the 26 or 28 size also. A pair or two of capris may be thrown in the mix also. One or two of them have never been worn. Although they are not new, most are only 1 or 2 years old. I consider them in good condition. The only real noticeble defect on them is that a few of them have those little stringies at the bottom of them as a result of me being short and the bottom of my pants dragging on the ground.

Jogging pants:

I have 1 pair of 3X cotton sweat pants. The other 2 pair are the "swishy-swish" kind. You know..the kind that make that swishing sound when anyone walks in them. They are also the kind that have the buttons on the side that you can roll up and make shorter pants if needed.

If anyone is interested, please drop me an email or a provate messge. If anyone knows of a church group or a charity who wants them, I would appreciate that also. The clothes come from a smoke free home. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

Also, I think someone at one time told me that the obesity Treatment center or Palmyra had a clothing exchange. If anyone has any information about that, please let me know.

Bagweaver I has a similar kind of thing going on a month or two ago. I called Dr. Bagnato's office about to talk to him about it. Just like you, I could not even call it pain. It was just a discomfort. Sometimes after I ate, sometimes just out of the blue. When it was out the blue, I just kinda rearranged how I was sitting or kinda shifted myself to releive the discomfort and it was gone. Dr. B told me to come in for a check. When he got there he palpated my abdomen mainly to make sure one of my incisions had not herniated. It was fine. There have been other people on the board who I felt like they were describing a similar thing. One lady siad her Dr. said it was that her incisions were scarring (a natural and process after any surgery), another said her dr. said it was her band or band tubing occasionally irritating her diaphram, there were alllll kinds of answers given.

Being the big science nerd that I am, i went online and googled the mess outta it. I joked with Dr. B's office that they better hurry up and see me, cuz they know that i was going to google it and by the time i came it i would have convinced myself that I had everything from band erosion to Monkey Pox. ::thumbup::

I still don't know exactly what it it/was. I still get it sometimes, but like you said, it was more like discomfort. I think Terry (the one who works in Dr. B's office) said she had the same thing also.

All in all, no matter what I say in this post, remember that I am not Dr. B. If it concerns you, give him a call and see what he says. It may be soemthing, it may be nothing, but at least by discussing it with him you will get peace of mind.

How are things otherwise?? :eek: