Jodi_620

I don't eat the processed stuff from a box, a lot of preservatives and sodium...But I have eaten my own stuffing a couple times, I can only handle a small spoonful. It really depends on your restriction level which varies and changes through this process. If you can't handle bread (not everyone has problems with it) then stuffing will probably have the same effect.

I did liquid protein for two weeks and lost around 20 pounds. I was allowed chicken broth, sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles and protein shakes and protein powders. This diet was required by my surgeon and was extremely difficult but in the end well worth it.

I was too and after getting the Lap Band this wasn't as big a struggle as I thought it would be. And I gave up caffeine, soda, cigarettes, carbs and my bad eating habits all at once. Once at restriction, you feel full most of the time and giving in to such eating habits can leave you wishing you hadn't. At the very least you will feel uncomfortably full at worst you could get sick or feel pain. During weight loss phase, I eat three meals a day, Period. If there is a food that I want and it is between meals, I tell myself that if I still want it at my next meal then I can have it. Most of the time, by then the craving has passed but if not I satisfy my craving. Watching white carbs goes a long way to keep your insulin levels even. Spikes and dips can cauase stress and cravings. So watch out for breads, pastas, rice, potatoes and sugar. These are the comfort foods we usually crave but eating them causes the spikes and dips that keep the craving cycle going. Eat healthy carbs and always with a lean protein. Find a new release for your stress...some kind of exercise is best. The first couple weeks are the hardest. Eventually, if you stick with it, you will lose your old habits and as the weight comes off you will have a lot more incentive to stick with it.

Yes, you have not even begun to really use your band. You need to keep chewing well. You are not hungry because you are chewing your food well, you are hungry because you do not have enough restriction yet. After a fill or two the well-chewed food will stay in your pouch longer. Not chewing well and causing yourself to get stuck simply creates swelling so that you can't eat. It is a bad habit to fall into.

If you can't even swallow water then you should call your doctor soon...you can quickly become dehydrated. I wouldn't worry too much but it does need to be addressed. I am often tight in the morning and after being stuck last night you may just need to give it a couple more hours but don't wait too long.

First, are you eating solid food that will stay in your pouch longer than the mushies or liquids and are you making sure you are not drinking with meals? If so, then my doctor tells me that if I am getting hungry between meals, then it is time for a fill...even a tiny fill might put you back on track.

First, I agree that you should be educated before making your decision. I went to seminars and did research prior to scheduling a consultation with my surgeon. There are definitely people who would do better with bypass. While the Lap Band is less invasive and it is a great weight loss tool, it still requires a good deal of discipline in order to have sucessful weight loss.

PB'ing is when your chewed food comes back up in the same form as when it was swallowed. It often comes up in a burp, cough or hiccup and sometimes just comes up on its own. It is a sign that you are not eating properly (for instance: bites are too big, not chewing, eating too fast, eating too much etc.) It is not OK because it means you are not following the eating rules. Vomiting is when your food comes up along with stomach acid. Among the many other general causes for vomiting (flu, bad food etc.) as bandsters, being too tight or band slippage could be the cause. We of course want to avoid being too tight and slippage but we also want to avoid the actual wretching motion of vomiting because it can actually cause slippage.

I went through a couple months of that too. It is a combination of change in diet and the fact that we can no longer turn to food to satisfy our emotions. I highly recommend a supplement called SAM-e...DH calls them my happy pills. I only had to take them for a while but they worked very well to put things in balance.

Medically speaking, the only issue I am aware of is that some people develop rashes and/or infection in the skin folds. I pinch myself alot when getting dressed due to the excess skin, especially in the ab and breast area...I have to do some extra tucking when getting dressed. I have way too much breast skin and it hurts to run. I think that if I removed all the excess skin and left the breast tissue as it is I could easily go from a D cup to a B cup. And if my arm skin is not tucked tight in a fitted top, it actually flaps and makes a clapping sound as it slaps the side of my body. :confused:

At 39 and 100 pounds lost, I didn't bounce back so well. My problem areas: upper arms, thighs, tummy and breasts. The arms and thighs bother me the most now that warm weather has arrived because they are not so easy to hide. I will only wear bermuda shorts and sleeves that cover a good portion of my upper arms. I will say that although there is no possible way that the skin is going to completely bounce back it is improving a bit with exercise and perhaps time. One thing I noticed a few months ago is that the weight of the skin hanging on my thighs was pushing everything down causing my knees to look saggy. I have since built up a considerable amount of muscle in my legs and that and time has lessened the sagging a good bit (I still refuse to let my thighs see the light of day though...same with my arms, but at least I can now let my knees show! ) My surgeon told me to give it a year before considering cosmetic surgery because the skin will shrink back some and that is what I will do along with exercising regularly to build muscle. But if I am still unhappy after a year I fully intend to get some work done.

I took Metformin for five years before WLS. It worked well to control my PCOS for the first three years but the weight came back and the cycle slowed down again after that. I went off the MetforminER on my own right after surgery because I couldn't swallow pills. Within two weeks my cycle came after a three month hiatus. I saw my Endo about a month after surgery and told him I went off the Met. He told me to come back in 4 months and he would do some bloodwork. I did and by then there were no signs of PCOS through bloodwork or symptoms. My cycle has been 28-days ever since surgery and my other symptoms are pretty much gone. I do watch my carbs though and of course that has a lot to do with controlling PCOS. After surgery I completely cut out white carbs.

It really depends on your credit rating. Here in Northern Virginia the cost of the procedure in around $17,500.00, a local surgeon should be able to give you an exact amount for self-pay in your area. There are several companies that offer loans for medical procedures, you can go to their websites and use their calculators to get an idea on monthly payment amounts. Try your bank too and compare the online companies to what your bank can offer. Here are a few links to medical loan companies (the first one is pretty popular): CareCredit MyMedicalLoan.com - Loans for cosmetic, visions, dentistry and other medical procedures. http://www.medicalcapital.com/Home.aspx Healthcare Finance | Bank of America Good Luck!

Your sweet spot is where you can eat a small amount of food and be satisfied until your next meal and you are losing weight. It is individual, there is no exact measurement of time or food that works for everyone, it is what works for you. For me, if I can eat three meals per day around 3/4-1 cup per meal and not be hungry in-between then I am at a sweet spot. I like to go around 4-5 hours between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner. You sound like you are on track but if you are hungry in 2-3 hours, I would say your not quite there yet. Know that the sweet spot rarely comes with one fill and for me, it did not stay around forever. As I lost weight, especially in the first 5-6 months, the sweet spot would go away and I would need another adjustment or two to get back on track. As you go on through this process it will become easier for you to figure out what works best for you.

I agree, my surgeon told me up-front that 70% of his patients who have their gall bladder and have rapid weight loss with the band end up having to have it removed. But the surgeon said that insurance wouldn't pay to have a healthy organ removed. As soon as I found out mine needed to come out, I called my Lap Band doc, I didn't want someone else in there either. Glad to hear you are doing good now.

Nope, never heard of that drug.

I got my gall bladder removed on Friday (the day before my one-year bandiversary). My Lap Band surgeon did this surgery too and was able to remove it through one tiny incision almost inside my belly button. Recovery has been a breeze. I was back to work on Monday. I had more shoulder pain than with my Lap Band surgery but the incision and internal pain has been very minimal. :frown:

Unless you have fatty liver disease from diabetes or alcohol/drug use, your goal for surgery is not so much to "shrink" your liver but to melt the fat off of it. The first place any of us lose fat when we diet is from around the liver. Most any diet that restricts calories and fat will do. Salt may make you retain water weight but it does not generally cause us to build fat.

You are where all of us have been. Everyone has high hopes that one fill will do it but it rarely does, each fill makes things a little better but on average it takes around four fills to get to that sweet spot. It sucks that your doctor makes you wait a full month, but be patient and your restriction will come.

Not sure if your friend is banded but if he/she is not, then what they need would be more than what you will need with the Lap Band. Either way, go by what what your dietician says.

Not sure if BCBS requires a special type of evaulation, my surgeon requires the same evaluation for all his patients. Mine was two visits, the first one to take the psych evaluation test. Mine was something like 900 yes/no questions, it was very boring and had statements like "I love my Mom" "I want to be a fireman". I was told to read each question carefully and answer honestly because the results would show if I did not and I could fail. The second visit was to go over the results of the test, she was able to describe my personality pretty well based on the test results. She also verbally quizzed me on my knowledge of the Lap Band to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. We discussed my schedule and eating habits and what kind of support I would have from those around me. The whole process is in place to make sure that you know what the Lap Band is all about and you are mentally prepared to do what it takes to make it work. Simply being on anti-depressants shouldn't cause you to be denied. Good Luck!

Hope I didn't offend you by mentioning counseling, nothing personal-it is something that many bandsters need and not having a lot of information about your situation it was included in the list of many possibilities. If it is true hunger, then that means your pouch is empty and additional fills will eventually help to fill you up sooner and keep your pouch full longer. Proper bandster eating is a learning process for all of us--with a small child you probably have many distractions too so it will take time.

I agree with the "1 cup of food all day" comment. I don't believe that 1/3-1/4 cup of food per meal is sensible, necessary nor is it something that I could or would want to live with long term. I think that a lot of bandsters would agree. I did not restrict myself so severely and my sucess has been great so don't feel like you need to hold yourself up to the 1/4 cup per meal theory.

The waiting, whether it be a day or a month, is so hard. But unfortunately at this point everything has been submitted and all you can do is wait. It sounds like you are within the general insurance guidelines (BMI of 35-40 with comorbidities---high blood pressure, joint problems). From submittal to actually pulling the approval letter out of my mailbox, it took one week. If you don't hear anything after a full week, you could call your insurance company to verify submission was received and that they have all the information they need.

First thing you need to figure out is why are you PB'ing a lot?...Is it because you are taking large bites, eating too fast, eating wrong foods (does it happen only on certan foods or all types?). If not, maybe you are PB'ing because you are eating too much. You need to stop before you feel uncomfortably full or sick. This is important because not controlling it can cause issues with the band. Before I reached restriction I could eat about 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of food three times a day. At restriction I eat about 3/4 to 1 cup per meal. When you say your appetite is not curbed at all, are you dealing with stomach rumbling hunger or head hunger/cravings? The stomach rumbling hunger will end when you finally reach restriction. The head hunger/cravings will not be controlled by the Lap Band so you need to figure out how to control that yourself. Because you say your weight problem is mainly due to a sweet tooth then for the best success you really should try to control your carbs as much as possible. You don't necessarily have to do low carb but everyone should choose healthy carbs (fruits, veggies, whole grains) and skip the white carbs (white flour, white Pasta, white rice, sugar, potato). When you do eat these starch carbs, go for the brown/whole grain versions. Even though you choose the brown version still keep portions low and always eat them with a Protein. Like I said, the Lap Band will not help keep your sweet cravings away but keeping the bad carbs of your diet will go a long way to stopping the cravings. Whole grain cereals with lowfat milk, whole grain flat bread, sweet fruits, dairy are all good natural choices. If you have eating issues like eating when stressed or bored or uncontrollable food addiction then maybe counseling is needed.