deltagirl93

Hi, There have been a number of great suggestions already. For me personally, I make sure to get at least five days of solid exercise per week. I switch up between the gym and going outside for walks that are anywhere from 3 to 6 miles. Depends on how much time I have in the morning because that's when I like to exercise to make sure it's done. On the occasion where I can't fit exercise in during the morning, I make sure to hit the gym in the evening or at night. Planet Fitness in my area is open 24 hours a day, and I have been there at 11pm and at midnight to nearly 1am to make sure that I get my exercise in. That's how committed I am to this whole process. I understand that this surgery was just a boost to get me going, but would not be the panacea for the life long fight. I have cooked more in the last five months than I have probably in the last five years! I tend to do stir fries so that I can incorporate my proteins and veggies all in one shot. I generally have enough left over for my lunch and dinner the next day. That said, I am not the perfect eater. However, I'm consistent most of the times, and when I do go off the rails, it generally is not too bad. Exercise helps to balance the scale to some degree. I don't think I would have had the success that I've had to date without a strong commitment to exercise. Best of luck!

You look amazing!

I’m not the male that you were looking for, but can attest to esophagus issues. I had acid reflux, just terrible heart burn and waking up with horrible after taste. After I had it yanked out, all my acid reflux issues went away. I went from lap-band to SIPS.

I had the SIPS surgery back on 2/14/2018 (Valentines Day)! I did self-pay to the tune of $17K because I didn't want to deal with all of the insurance hassles. It is the best $17,000 dollars I've ever spent. At nearly 5 months out, I'm down 70lbs. It just never would have happened without a boost from surgery. I exercise faithfully five days a week, I eat "mostly" right daily and I feel like a new person. I am now off of all blood pressure and cholesterol meds, breathing treatments, and no more back pain. The non-scale, health victories have more value to me than the vanity aspect of it. My quality of life has completely changed as I can do more physically for myself and with my family. Before the surgery, walking from my car to the office building was like jogging ten miles. I'm back up on heels, buying more flattering clothing, accessorizing and the whole bit. I'm enjoying what seems to me like a rebirth. I've cooked more in the last few months than I probably have in the last two years. I cook just about every day so that I have food for lunch and dinner. I've cut waaaaaaay back on fast food, restaurants, and takeout. I stay all over the internet looking for recipes that give me another way to make great veggie and protein dishes. I simply feel great. I have about 36 lbs to lose before hitting my first goal of 190. Although I'm not extremely tall at 5'6, I carry weight pretty well. I've always looked lighter than I actually am. Once I get to 190, I'll determine if I need to come down another 10-20 lbs. Sorry, this is long, but I'm just so happy with the decision to punt the LAP-BAND that I had and get this revision!

As others have said, these fears will come in. It certainly did for me as this was the second time around for me going from the band to SIPS. I lost on the band, but eventually gained back every pound and about 30 more lbs on top. You can imagine the fears that I had that this wasn't going to work either, but I had no choice as my daily quality of life was crap with breathing issues, constant back pain, acid reflux, high blood pressure, borderline diabetic and more! Honestly, even after this surgery, I struggle with food every single day. Being just over three months out, I can tolerate everything. I no longer have adverse reactions to anything unless I stuff myself. Since that feeling is soooo uncomfortable, I don't override the full sensation when it hits. While I don't always make perfect food choices, I do make much better choices which I take as a victory, and continuing to get better. I am also committed to exercise. It is helping me to stay on track, and it's the one thing that I have successfully and consistently executed on once I was ok'd by the doctor to ramp things up. There are going to be good days and bad days, but definitely don't beat yourself up about it. Just keep starting over. I also maintain regular therapy visits to talk things out. I never believed in therapy until this process forced the required visit. However, it helped surface some of those things that causes the overeating which helps me to deal with the root cause. Once I got started, I kept going although it wasn't required to do so since I was self pay. I was self pay because I did not want go through 4-months of multiple and various appointments required by AETNA insurance. I think as long as you commit to winning, even with the ups and downs, you will be fine. This journey won't have perfect execution, but you can still win.

For me, it has been a roller coaster. I lose slow some weeks, and fast or a lot in other weeks, and back to slow again. However, one thing I have not had in the entire three months is a stall! I have been losing every single week so far. If I have a stall, I already know that it comes with the territory, but I'm very satisfied with the scale moving in the right direction whether slow or fast. I think we have to have that mindset or we'll drive ourselves nuts. You're progressing nicely.

Hi, Yes, it is normal to have that capability 6 months out. Heck, at three months out, I have the same capability. However, as another has mentioned, that's where we have to be very careful. We can graze the pounds right back on, so we definitely have to stop when full and save to a scheduled snack or meal time. Our stomachs are smaller, but our brains still think big which is the hardest part. It's a daily struggle for me, but I take it one meal, one bite at a time. I don't always get it perfect, but I certainly have gotten much better and down 50lbs since February. Good luck!

I had a lap-band placed in 2006. Lost about 50 lbs, then gained it all back and more. In recent years, had all sorts of problems and just wanted it out. While looking into getting it out, learned that I could do a revision and was told about SIPS. Anyway, the first evening after surgery ( yesterday 2/14/18), I was mostly groggy and didn’t eat or drink much. Other than feeling a little crampy, not experiencing any major pain at all. I’m sure the IV is probably loaded with pain killers. Currently, I’m sitting up and I’ve written out cards for my husband to mail, banged out more work on my dissertation as I’m going to do a virtual meeting with my advisor in about 30 minutes, and I’ve managed to get breakfast and lunch down. I feel really good, although my doctors said it took over 5 hours! He said that I had a ton of adhesions from a prior hysterectomy and the lap-band, so he had to clean that all the up. I will spend another night in the hospital and hope to go home on Friday. Yay! It’s done!

My insurance requires four months of varying visits to nutritionist, psych, etc. I was too pumped up to wait that long, so I did self pay. I had my initial consult in January 2018. Had my surgery almost a month to the day later on 2/14/18. Down 37 pounds. Good luck on your journey!

Hello All. Stats: HW: 296.5 SW: 291 (2/14/18) CW: 260 Just over six weeks out. Can eat and drink just about anything. I do have a couple of aversions. Almost like being pregnant when the smell of certain food would make me want to vomit. That’s how it’s become with my beloved roasted garlic / red pepper hummus. Can’t do it anymore or at least right now. I don’t measure or count anything. The restriction “trained” me on what small portions look like real fast. Eating past capacity is so incredibly uncomfortable and seems to take hours to feel human again. So I know my portions size pretty well now. I Drink something most of the day and keep it moving. So far, I’m 31 lbs down. Looking to get in the gym next week. After all, I’ve been paying membership fees for the last four years! [emoji30] Best of luck!

You look fantastic!

You’re so young. With a BMI so low, I don’t think it’s worth the scars that this surgery leaves you with to lose so few pounds. You’re still at bikini wearing age. [emoji4] You also mentioned in your note that the weight loss is permanent with the sleeve. That is not true. If you do not eat right after the sleeve, you can regain. There are plenty of stories on this board especially those that have been sleeved for nearly a year where cravings have returned and there has been regain. The procedure basically gives you a few months to get you in the habit of making good food choices. Those that are successful with any of the WLS surgery procedures long term have also developed good control over food. In the end, it’s still a mind game that has to be mastered with food.

I agree with previous posters. Do this for you! Not sure if he’s one of the types that gets off on making you feel bad, but if it were me, I’d snap back with “...and you can kiss my ENTIRE baby fat ASS, MOTHER F—R!” I know it’s not the most wholesome language. However, sometimes you have to JOLT these SOBs out of their comfort zones of saying crap like that. I wish you the best. Focus on you and your daughter for now, and seek others for your emotional support. It’s not coming from him. He truly may not know how to give it. I don’t know how he was raised or what, but that can have a lot to do with it. Good luck!

My program gives the green light to regular coffee six weeks out, but warns that it may trigger hunger.

Had my lap-band removed on 2/14/18 after having it since 2006. Should have gotten it removed sooner. Dealt with so much vomiting, acid reflux and much more. While in there I had another revision surgery. Feeling a thousand percent better. My surgeon tries to steer everyone from getting it, although he still has that as an option.

I agree with the others. I would love to average out over 10-11 lbs per month which you have done. Also, everyone has a different “ normal.” As long as the scale is moving in the right direction, you’re golden.

Sure, I should have still been mostly liquid and introduced grits into my diet.

Hi. Yes, had my surgery with Dr. Taggar. Just had my procedure on Valentines Day! Down 12 pounds so far. I’m back here in the hospital a week later because of my own doing. Tried to fast forward on the food stages. Before that had no pain after surgery, very little nausea post surgery on the same day, none after day one. I had a revision from a lap-band to SIPS.

I was so tired of sweet. Shakes sweet, popsicles sweet, etc. so tried grits, and tolerated well. Hope I’m not screwing up anything, but what a relief. Since the surgery, broth became a top 5 aversion! Also using a straw without issue. Eleven pounds down.

Welp for all my bragging about tolerating grits yesterday and using a straw for my drinks, I type this message from the hospital. Late last night I started throwing up every half hour. I actually started feeling weird about 1:30pm in the day. I didn’t eat or drink anything else. So I get to the point where I’m getting weaker with each hurl, the draining is no longer going through the tube, but coming out directly from the port site. Essentially, I became a grand mess. Once my husband got me to emergency, I couldn’t even walk on my own. They gave me meds for the nausea, but I still managed to pull off one more big vomit spell. They did scans and have found a bowel blockage. I’m waiting for my surgeon to arrive to determine what needs to be done next. I can have no food or drink until he gets here which says to me a possibility of a procedure coming up to correct. Lesson learned. Don’t try to fast forward the process. Stick to the prescribed diet by the doctor for the length of time indicated. I was doing well until I stepped off track yesterday. Ugh!

I can speak to my situation and what others have shared previously. I had my band removed and the revision done in the same surgery. I still didn’t get any bonus points for previous things I had done in the past.

Yes, you have to do everything again. I had the band as well. My insurance, Aetna, required four months of requirements. I didn’t want to wait and did self-pay. Let me add, for the surgeon I still had to get medical clearance, psych clearance and cardio clearance. However, one shot and done.

I had the lap-band (2006) and revised to SIPS just six days ago. I’m down ten lbs and glad to have that awful band out of me. So far, I’m glad that I made the decision to revise. There are others on here that are much further out and have had wonderful success, but they put the work into it.

I’m only six days out, but I don’t have any feeling of it being cut per se. However, when I consumed liquids in the first couple of days, I definitely knew there was a wall as there was a mild discomfort as the liquids were going down. I still have that feeling, but can drink much more. Not sure when it will go away.

Thanks for sharing the article. Very helpful!