flowers

As far as the walking, the walking tapes I suggested, you just stand in place and pick up your feet and step to the side and two other steps, you are not actually walking anywhere, and she suggests that you hand onto a chair if you are unstable. I just came from a weight loss seminar and they said they dont think the lap band is for me. Not if Im not eating large portions, I snack and graze all day. The band wouldnt really provide any help for that. They suggested the gastic sleeve, which is more expensive and more drastic surgery. I told them what Iv been saying on here, that I dont eat large meals and unlike the folks here who think just writing down what I eat is going to help, they dont see the lapband as helping in my case. The lady I sat next to has had her lapband for 3 years and getting it removed and doing gastric bypass. The person running the seminar had her lapband removed 3 months ago because of reflux, severe enough that the doctor had to remove her lapband and she said well she needs something so they did the gastic sleeve. On top of that good news, the fill doctor mentioned in a post "I think my fill doctor damaged my port" on here I had been thinking of using, they confirmed "multiple" cases where he has pulled out ports they had to do surgery on again. If I was having second thoughts before, now Im really discouraged. Third thoughts anyone?? I bought diet food and ready to start on my own. Will consider the gastric sleeve, not sure if I want to do that or not, pretty radical.

Thats been my experience. I dont have any of the medical problems some have, so many thats why I was approved. Then it took another 3 days to get a date approved. The doctor was attending a seminar the first date I picked. I still dont have a surgery time or a pre-opt diet and Im scheduled July 8th. I only have the post opt diet.

Im glad someone else can admit carbs are their weakness, unlike a few prior posters who seem to think its a cop out answer. I know they are my weakness. I hope all of us have the strength to really stick to our diets and lose this weight at a good steady pace. I dont want to be like this for the rest of my life either. Lets all just link arms and be strong and hopefully that thread about the failure rate on lapbands wouldnt apply to us.

I actually started trying to walk more than a month ago, and had to use band aides and such double on my heels and lay off a day and work back up to where I am now for outside walking. My heels arent up to walking twice a day yet, even though physically I could do it. I also have about 15 of Leslie Sansone's Walk Away The Pounds (WATP) tapes and DVDs. She has some very beginner walking tapes and only 4 basic moves but she keeps you interested. I started with her 2 mile tapes and if I get tired, can stop the tape and finish it later. She has some easier 1 mile tapes where the pace is a little too slow to suit me, but if you can walk at all, she is a good place to start. Just do 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Or maybe when you are able, just start like I did walking around your building, then around a few, and just keep expanding. You are ahead of me dieting and Im further along getting in shape?? Maybe we can pull each other along.

Once I start cutting back on food, I know Im going to be obsessed too. I sure can relate. Actually, the way I found this forum site was I did a search on long term and this thread popped up on google. Kinda scared me. Maybe if you read the thread where I started on this forum, someone can better understand my long term fears. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f79/lap-band-failure-rates-40704/

Richardson is right below Plano, so if you need any help, give me a call, I can go up and help you out. Im hearing it might be hard to do it alone like Im doing for things like tying your shoes afterwards and just putting your suitcase into the trunk of your car. I could pm you my phone number if you think you might want a little help. Im thinking it seems like some folks breeze thru this and some say they didnt expect it to hurt so much. Ill try and think of you while Im having my surgery and aftermath. I called up someone who advertises on this site a cheaper summer price, but think Ill stick with what I have already scheduled. I think Im supposed to give them a deposit later this week. smarquezrn you are coming to where I live and Im planning on hopping SW airlines to El Paso to have my surgery there. They will meet me at the airport and Ill spend 2 nights there with the surgery and nutrionist and whatever. All I have to do is manage to sit on the plane and drive myself home from Love Field. People say sitting is hard, laying or standing is much easier at first. I cant take a pain pill either and drive myself home across Dallas. Im already worrying about every little detail like that lol. Hopefully, we will both swim right thru our surgery easy.

I think you and I are in the same place. Thats exactly how I feel, one baby step at a time, one day at a time. Im a big coffee drinker, so just giving up caffeine for the week after surgery, I know I will have withdrawals is why Im starting it a week ahead of time (trying to make that week after surgery as easy as possible). I have two 6 packs of high Protein Vitamin shakes here to get me going on the liquid diet phase. Congrats on losing 40 lbs already. I might be down a couple of pounds and Im walking a mile and a half every night, as hot as it is here in Texas, I have to wait until after 10 pm or so. Im going to have to diet on my own after the band is in along with you. 3 months before that doctor will do a fill is probably going to feel like a eternity. I just needed one person to say its going to be worth going thru this, thank you again. I hope to be down a couple more lbs by the time of the surgery. Im just cutting back right now, havent started to seriously diet. Working on upping the walking to twice a day, which means waking up at the crack of dawn in this heat. If you ever want a buddy to talk to, PM me, maybe we can help each other along. thanks again.

Arent you a sweet heart??!!! If someone says they know journalling wouldnt help them, why not take their word for it instead of telling them they are wrong and immature and lazy?? Of course Ill do whatever my doctor requires, thanks for your reply.

Good deal!!! I have the seminar I signed up for about a month ago, finally tomorrow. Im not sure there is that much else I can learn from it after reading online, but its finally here. I havent gotten pre opt instructions yet, only post opt, so you can open my eyes. Are you doing a liquid diet pre opt? How long do you have to do your pre opt instructions? I wish you all the success in the world. I bet you have mixed feelings too, cant wait to lose the weight, but cant say you are looking forward to getting started with the liquids. Are you getting excited about starting?

Im in Texas too, so not only are we having surgery close together, but we are both Texans. Im up a little north of Dallas in Richardson TX.

Im not a big soda drinker, so that isnt going to bother me either, never missed it, rarely had a diet soda anyway. I just found out the fill doctor in Dallas wouldnt take me that I was going to go to for 3 months. I have a cruise that I come back from less than 3 weeks from the 3 month date, so I might be on my own without any fills an extra 2 - 3 weeks. If I can do the rest, I figure I probably can do an extra 2 - 3 weeks without a fill. The surgery doctor doesnt like to do any fill during surgery, not even a little bit, says it could leak? So, things are kinda coming together instruction wise. Orea15, thanks for the words that the lap band will help keep it off if I hit another bad time, thats what I needed before I could go thru this losing again. Looking like I cant get my first fill until Oct 6th or 8th, depending on if he uses 90 days or 3 months exactly. Quite a few on this forum are using this fill doctor, most love him, one said he was abrupt with them. I got some Vitamin Water and some decaf coffee today, starting to set up for the post op liquid phase. No caffeine coffee for a week. Iv got 11 pages of diet typed out to get me thru the 3 months. I know they still make you meet the nutrionist to go over it at the hospital. Transferred the money to my checking account last Friday, so whatever my reservations, things are still a go.

Well, Im glad journaling helped so many of you. Iv tried to explain why I know it wouldnt help me and if I have to face bad choices like Taco Bell and Fried chicken all day long and that Im aware of what I eat. The same thing doesnt work for everyone, thanks for your input. btw when I was losing the weight last time and lost the 80 lbs I told myself that this for sure was the last time, I would never put the weight back on and go thru it again. So, Im sure part of that is beating myself up for being here again. All that went out the window when my Dad almost died twice and his mind wasnt all there etc. To those who say its better to lose the weight, I say again, my concern that it isnt better to lose if you regain it. That is even harder on your body, thats my fear, gaining it all back and more yet once again. Obviously, my promise to myself to keep it off didnt hold. Im pretty upset with myself for regaining this weight. Im hoping that if things got bad the lapband would stop the regain, but it doesnt sound like it will from what you all are telling me. Studies have proven that for those who are insulin resistant, you can gain 300% more than the actual calories in something like a candy bar. On the low gi diet I was eating 1200 to 1800 calories a day and losing 12 lbs or more a month. The only days I went over 1200 were my hungry days so I would bake fish. I can eat baked fish and the weight falls off me. I ate baked salmon until I cant stand it lol. I feel like Im having to defend why journaling wouldnt work for me and not getting any real support here. Evidently, Im the only one here with an insulin issue and certain foods are going to trigger it that are so hard to say no to. Perhaps some here could benefit by reading one of the low gi diet books and learning how to lose weight without having to starve yourself. Its been proven you can lose more, even eating more calories per day with low gi than either low fat or a low calorie diet btw. No matter who you are. What I want to do is combine what I know about how to eat for myself and the lap band for when Im faced with bad choices. The only big difference I see here, is that you are supposed to eat your Protein first at meals. Iv been thinking probably the diets are similar otherwise. low gi and what folks are eating here that are talking on this forum. For me its NO candy or high gi carbs or Im thrown in a loop and dont stop and then my insulin is all out of whack and the weight loss stalls out and I start regaining. There are people who weight watchers works for, and some who need low gi like me. Im a proponete of low gi eating and you dont have to count calories if you eat the foods you are supposed to. If you eat carbs, a small boiled not baked red potato, whole grain Pasta or rice and its how you cook it too, how much starch is in it. I give up. I dont seem to feel like what I know works for me is what anyone else here even agrees with, you are counting things in a different way and the diet you all are on. Maybe I will be on my own even if I get the lap band, because Im going back on a low gi diet and not counting calories or journaling, but I need to stay away from high gi carbs to keep it off. south beach diet is another example of low gi, or nutrisystem. I cooked on my own, and made Protein shakes for lunch, but we had protein Snacks in between meals, it wasnt what is being described here. a piece of laughing cow cheese and a small piece of lite meat, or a egg fried in pam with a piece or turkey bacon. or no sugar yogurt or foods like that for a snack were allowed, we didnt cut calories as much as other diets, but lost the weight if you can eat like that. good luck to the rest of you, Im glad what you are doing is working great for you. Hopefully the lap band will work for me when I need a little extra support down the line .... and I know the time will come. Maybe instead of a lap band board, after I get my lap band I would be better off to go back to a low gi type forum where at least I would get support on my diet and everyone wouldnt say all I need to do is journal.

I think there is a PM system here to if you dont want to talk about it. I admit to feeling frustrated and worried. As far as everyone's answer that all I need to do is journal and its going to show me the way. We were at the Rehab Center 24 hours a day for months. The ONLY food within a mile was Taco Bell and Golden chicken, neither my idea of healthy food. I was sitting with my dad and doing 12 hour stretches sat and sun and letting my mom have the weekend off. She was sleeping on the tile floor at her age of 82. I never would have thought I could get back up over 200 lbs again, but Iv been thru a lot. If journaling was all I needed to set my diet for life, then Im thinking these folks probably havent been thru what I have to say its so simple to them. When all you had was those two fast food places to eat at, no diet is going to work. We were mentally and physically exhausted. So, here I am for the second time in my life, not only over 200, but over 240. I can only go forward and not beat myself up for the past and hope I can stay on a diet, but after what Iv been thru I know its not nearly as easy as losing a bit of weight near term. Call me a worrier.

yes, of course. I think I mentioned doing low gi diet and losing 80 lbs which Iv just put all I lost back on over the last year. So, yes, I know I can lose weight NOW. I was at 157 lbs only Jan 2007, not much over a year ago. Then my Dad has been thru one emegency after another and I was at Rehab daily and the only one of the 4 of us driving, the final straw was breaking my own shoulder last Christmas. Its been a very bad year and my diet slipped. I just dont want to yo yo again. Seems like everyone is concentrating on short term, can I lose weight again now, YES. Of course I can. Anyone can lose some weight. Im worried about long term. How many put the weight back on within 5 years?? Most of us who have lost over and over again know its easier to lose it than to keep it off. If this will be just one more time to lose it and then it comes right back and the lapband doesnt help to keep it off, then maybe its not for me. Im not really hearing anything long term here to make this decision any easier. I guess Ill keep trying to muddle thru it. To me the decision isnt about if Im ready NOW to make a commitment, its about can I keep it off and that is much harder to know. Maybe the rest of you dont know if you can keep it off or if the lapband is helping you do that. Its the keeping it off I need help with, not the NOW. I keep saying I dont want to yo yo again, which to me is talking long term. I guess whatever Im asking Im not clear enough about that its coming across. Didnt any of you worry if it would work for you a year from now?? 5 or 10 years from now? thanks for all your comments.

I know I have a insulin problem and my insulin spikes when I eat carbs, even though I can see some are skeptical. I recognize when Im getting to that pre-diabetic stage where I cant even sleep thru the night without getting something during the night. I was serious about the carbs when I mentioned them above, they are like poison to someone with a insulin problem. They more carbs the more I am driven to eat. I just found my Healthy Choice frozen dinner in the oven ..... from YESTERDAY's dinner. I forgot about it completely. I dont like meat much or main meals, those arent my downfall, its truly the snacking and carbs and the after dinner time. I dont even care for steak and meat others love. Baked potatoes and corn on the cob though... Im just using the lapband as a date to start the diet to force myself to eat right. I admit that. Im so torn. I feel I have to do something to draw the line in the sand and force myself to start, and this is what I hit upon. I just dont really know if its going to help me keep it off if I fall off the bandwagon. I dont want to keep losing and gaining. If I knew I could do it and keep it off, thats all everyone here wants, me too. If I back away from this, I know I wouldnt come back and do it later. Scary to know that no one here thinks this is going to work for me either.

I read here on another thread that it actually takes 6 weeks to shrink your liver. The point of the liquid diet is to make your fatty liver less slimy so it can be pushed aside easier. Thats why for higher BMIs you do the pre opt, but for BMIs below 40, they dont require it. The poster is the one who wrote the thread about how to shop for a Mexican doctor and seemed to know her stuff.

I just feel like this conversation, which btw Im also having with my mom who is against this, goes in circles. If I could just change my eating, then I would already be on the diet. I know journaling wouldnt help me except maybe the nuisance of doing it, I know Im eating too much junk without journaling. We just had one of those $5 subs from subway which we share 4 ways, my parents eat very little of it though. I know I rarely eat what fast food considers one serving, its the nuts and bad food which seems to me to have nothing to do with what the band will help with. My skin is now saggy from yo yo dieting, I eat right for a while and lose and then I start craving popcorn or something else carbs that I shouldnt have. I know with nutrisystem, their Desserts all had soy powder added, but you could still have a dessert is why I did well on that .... until I quit, dont really like the taste of their food, but it worked well for me because my insulin goes out of control with carbs and I gain more than the average person from the same amount of bad carbs. The fact that no one here thinks the lap band is going to help me is kinda scary. Everyone agrees with my mom that you just have to diet, and the band isnt going to help that. ok guys.... Ill think about if I should back out and cancel the surgery.

I will be travelling by myself. I hope I can either put on my tennis shoes or get some help as no other shoes are comfortable any more. Iv put on this last 20 lbs recently and dont work, so dont have other clothes that fit, other than tee shirts and jeans with a elastic waist. I hope I can manage this by myself.

Thanks, I guess thats what worries me. I could do that now without the lapband? Eat Protein first and not graze if it was that easy. I had a plate of french fries yesterday instead of dinner last night and never ate dinner. I lost 80 lbs eating right on Nutri System and have put it all back on plus a few more lbs to a new record high right now. I guess I dont see how the lap band would help me eat better, not trying to be contrary, but as my mom points out, I could do this now, go back to eating my protein and fish and lose the weight again, and save all the money self paying the lap band costs. Other than ok you change your diet and now eat more protein and have a starting date to make you buckle down and start the diet, does anyone think that actually having the lap band will help someone like me. Other than the pressure of having paid all that money so you feel the need to make it worthwhile, Im not sure Im seeing the benefit of the lap band. Am I missing something here??

Im not one who overeats at meals. Im at home most of the time and eating constantly small bites. A handfull of nuts, a little piece of candy, ok two, fruit bites, and on and on. If all the lap band is going to do is keep me from overeating, when I dont overeat now at one time, will this really help me lose weight?? My mom's argument is you still have to diet, why do this to your body? I snack constantly, carb addict. All these folks saying to journal etc, that wouldnt stop it. Im bored and so I eat. Even when I take my sister out to eat at fast foods, we share one meal. I really dont eat much at once. Its the continuous eating with me. Will a lap band help me at all to lose weight? Im scheduled for July 8th.

Im wondering about just getting home from surgery. All I have that still fits are some blue and black jeans with a stretch waistline. Iv gotta get on a plane like that by myself. Im packing light as Im guessing it might hurt to pick up a heavy suitcase.

Im the one who said unsweetened applesauce and smashed banana, those are fruit :confused2: It also says pureed peaches or canned fruit, no juice added, the lite or splenda kind. unsweetened. Im buying a jar of unsweetened applesauce to see how I like it. PS I believe it specifies canned instead of real fruit because canned fruit is softer. I also have all kinds of splenda sweetened fruit flavors from world market that I can add to my Protein drinks. cherry, raspberry etc and then carmel and those kind of flavors. vegetables overcooked until soft and blended with a fork, except corn. I can have any meat that are pulverized in my blender with liquid added. Make sure you add Water to them (he calls them liquidized meats). then I can have tuna, salmon all those canned meats. then as mentioned above, sf yogurt, puddings.

The lady that is my patient consultant or whatever the term is says she is age 67. She has lost 65 lbs in 10 months, not as huge of a loss as some, but she is doing well.

Hi and welcome from another newbie. Im not scheduled until July 8th, so you are ahead of me. Im also a tad heavier than you, so have more to lose. Hope this will be the tool for both of us to not only lose the weight, but keep it off. Im to the point I cant stand the thought of one more yo yo diet.

Hi, Queen Jane, I love your name. Im Jane too. Im not scheduled for surgery until July 8th, so Im a newbie too, so I can offer to mentor anyone, but I can be a buddy to talk to since we are both having our surgerys close together. I havent tolk my parents yet, Im going to Mexico and plan on never telling them, though it will be hard. Like everyone else Im paying for it myself. PM me if you want to ever talk to a friend anytime. If nothing else we can talk each other down off the roof when we are hungry before our first fill.