lellow

Just as another anecdote to this story, I went and saw my 7yo the same weekend I wrote the original blog post, and I was talking to my ex about this subject on the Sunday. I showed the ex the picture above and my son spied it over my shoulder. He then got upset because he wouldn't believe that the person on the left was me and thought we were making fun of him. My older kids remember that photo of course, but obviously my youngest doesn't ever remember mum being heavier...

This band has been a godsend. I won't lie. It helps me maintain my weight easily. I know how hard it was for me to not gain when my old band was leaking, and how super hard it was to lose, so I'm loving that my new band has me back on track. Yes I've had complications, but generally speaking, yes I've been 'lucky' with the band. My band has been SO easy to live with. Or maybe it was that I had realistic expectations, I don't know . But either way, I love that it's there helping me every day. But I also realised that I made my own 'luck' with the band. Even when I wasn't formally exercising in maintenance mode, I paid attention to my portions, I did lots of incidental exercising like using the stairs instead of the escalator (I still do), I didn't resume my bad eating habits. I stayed, for the most part, on program. So I do see this as a partnership between my band and me. I honestly believe that weight loss and maintenance would be VERY difficult, if not impossible, for me without a band. But I also know this little thing around my stomach didn't do it all for me. Far from it. I exercised to lose, I maintained a healthy lifestyle during maintenance, I am exercising today to ensure long term maintenance. I worked with it, and continue to work with it, everyday. The surgery will help you if you're willing to help yourself. And I'm worth investing in myself to be the best I can be. No one is going to want the best for me the way I could possibly want it for myself. I went through surgery to allow myself the best chance of success, so I will not let myself down by not putting in the effort to make it work. So yes I've been lucky to live with a band easily, but I sure as hell made my own luck as well. So stop sitting there waiting for a miracle to happen to you, go out and MAKE it happen.

Lolol this thread keeps popping up and it always makes me laugh. I took my boyfriend to Surfers Paradise for the weekend as his birthday present, and he reckoned he could barely walk afterwards lol. Me relaxed and drinking cocktails all day and walking around in a bikini? Yeah, boy, he didn't stand a chance! But he left smiling! Best vacation ever!

I'd always been self conscious of my 'puffy' mons. I lost weight, got a body lift that tightened that area a little, but to me it was still noticeably puffy, especially since the rest of me had reduced. I cursed my puffy mons!! Then my hubby and I split up and in the year that I was single, not one guy ever mentioned (or noticed, I'm sure) my 'puffy' mons. My boyfriend actually thinks it's sexy! So I'm ok with it now lol.

I am an advocate of slow and steady for that very reason. Even so I've had my own stuck episodes over the years! I do think though that a stuck episode can get SO much worse if you're already a little bit tight, and then getting stuck sends the swelling right over the edge where you can't even hold down your own spit. So you have to get unfilled even though you probably weren't at the green zone yet. Allowing the fill swelling to subside, giving you some 'room' in case you get stuck and learning how to eat between fills is a good way to go, imo.

Straight after surgery I felt it, sure, because I was still swollen, but no, when the swelling dissipated at day 3, I had NO restriction. None. Nothing at all. I didn't get any until I had filled my 10cc band to 6cc. Same thing when I got my band replaced. Hunger returned a few days post surgery, and I had zero restriction until I got to about 5cc this time. So not everyone has restriction straight out of surgery. In fact I think if I were to do an unofficial poll, I'd say over the years I've seen more people couldn't feel anything at all once the swelling went down than people who could.

Can't help you with the insurance question but I can help you with the rest. Yes I had a leak. It's not common but it happens. I gained weight too. I lost all restriction, in fact. They discovered the leak when they withdrew all the Fluid from the band and I had less than 1/2 what was put in. They also sent me for a heap of other tests to ensure that there was nothing else wrong with me or my band. I had barium swallows, CT scans, upper GIs, x-rays. Nothing else was wrong. For most people the leak is easily resolved with a port replacement, which is day surgery. They make one incision (usually where your port incision already is) and replace the port and sometimes the tubing as well. Easy. If that's all it is, you can go back to refilling your band and getting restriction back. Mine was a little more complicated, and where two port/tubing replacements didn't resolve the issue, I eventually had to have my band replaced with a new one. That is VERY rare. But the good news is that 1) I managed to start losing weight on my own (albeit slowly) prior to my replacement, and 2) since getting my new band, I have lost even more. So it's not the end of the world, just a bump in the road.

That's crazy! Few people have restriction straight out of surgery! Way to inflate someone's expectations!! No wonder so many people are confused by what's happening to them!

Scorpio Girl, that is truly bad news, and I'm so sorry. I am reading more and more about eosophagus issues with the band on this site, and it does make me wonder why, as a possible complication, this is not being mentioned more. I also have to admit, I have not seen a lot of these issues among the Australian banders I know though, and despite my research, there doesn't seem to be a lot of Australian banders who have reported the issue. I am ever vigilant regarding complications so this type of complication, and the occurence rates, is of particular interest. I think there needs to be more research into the cause. Scarring must occur under a certain set of circumstances, whether it be something some are more prone to, or the placement of the band etc, or SOMETHING that causes it to occur in some but not others. I think trying to determine what those circumstances are might be would be highly beneficial in trying to prevent these problems, especially for someone like you, where this has literally affected your quality of life. I think more answers are needed than 'we'll just remove it and send you on your way'. I personally have had the band 5 years, one replacement placed just recently and have no eosophagus issues. Two bands, great weight loss and no real issues. So I guess for me, that's proof that living with a band without damage is possible. But something, somewhere isn't going right for a complication like this to keep arising in some banders. I think the bandster community deserves to know what that is.

That's really interesting tmf. I think I would have been mighty pee'd off too if I came out of surgery not knowing that it was going to take time to get to the green zone, and therefore felt cheated when the hunger returned (for me, just 3 days post surgery). My doctor wasn't much of a talker, and he never sent me to any classes or to see any nutritionists, and I never have, but to his credit, he did explain bandster hell and how it would be for me in the those first few months at my very first consult. And he was in fact the best support I had throughout. Gotta love great aftercare!

I agree with you regarding the benefits of weight training. I do nearly no formal cardio exercises anymore, aside from incidental exercising, because I'm in maintenance and am no longer trying to lose weight. I am active, I swim and walk and cycle recreationally but I don't have a cardio 'routine' as such anymore. I am, however, doing weight training so that I build muscle (not seeking to be muscular, but strong), lower my body fat percentage, increase my metabolism and strengthen my core (which is helpful as we get older and lose our balance more easily). The side effect of that is that I expect to gain a little as I get stronger. And yet at a BMI of 24 and a BFP of 19% now, I'm actually only one clothing size bigger than I was at a BMI of 21 (with a BFP of 22%). So yes I think a holistic view of all of your body composition is important in the long run.

I see a lot of posts like this and I don't understand - was it never explained to you that until you have had a few fills the likelihood is that you won't feel any differently once the swelling from your surgery has gone down? I walked into surgery KNOWING that I would experience hunger until I got to the green zone, and getting that sort of 'help' from the band could take months. I knew that I would have to wait until then, but that it didn't stop me from working towards weight loss while I was waiting for the band to 'kick in'. At no point did I feel like I'd done it all 'for nothing' because I knew it would take time. And that time, I tried to use wisely to learn new eating habits, start exercising, and lose the weight. That's the difference between the band and, say, the sleeve or bypass. The band is reversible but it also needs to be 'tweaked' over time to get the benefit from it. And it's not just you OP but LOTS of newly banded people I see on the boards who don't seem to realise that that is the way the band works, and who seem to have the expectation that it will erase all hunger the minute surgery is over. It very very rarely works that way.

From your post it sounds like you are at the same spot - no hunger? Feeling satisfied on little food etc? That's actually the green zone! And where every bander should eventually be.

I actually know that the green zone exists. It definitely does for me. No hunger, easy maintenance, no need to calorie count. And no real problems either, no reflux, no pain, nothing. I do however accept that not everyone gets to feel the same way I do and many keep filling their bands too tightly, too aggressively and too frequently sometimes trying to get to the green zone and actually end up doing themselves damage instead. However, after 5 years and no complications bar a leak that had nothing to do with my compliance, I know that there is a spot in my band(s) where the right amount of fill makes weight loss and maintenance easy. And that has been my experience.

B-52, you are definitely someone on the forum who seems to live with the band in the same way I do! I know other Australian banders like Jachut and elcee who do as well, but you're probably the most vocal about how, if you're at the right restriction, living with the band can be easy, and effortless!

I have always done crunches. Sit ups are not good for your neck and back. I now do crunches on a weight machine. My doctor had never had an issue with me doing ab exercises. He says I can't possibly damage my port.

I'm sitting at the bar on vacation right now having a cocktail. 3 days of sun, drinks and more food available than I thought possible and I've not gained one pound. No calorie counting, just living life and enjoying it, and letting the band do it's work. So yes when I have a working band at the right fill level, it is set and forget.

Anna how exciting! I always said I'd get a tattoo over my scars and it was honestly a life changer for me. I went from being self conscious to happily rocking a bikini! I can't wait to see yours!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/132729-finding-the-lap-band-green-zone/ Read this thread. The first thing any bander should learn imo is what the green zone is.

I drink. I never stopped drinking. I've drunk alcohol all my banded life. But I'm also aware that alcohol are empty calories and breaks my doctor's first rule of 'don't drink your calories' but as long as I either burn it off with exercise or realise it is going to make it harder to lose (or even gain if I drink enough) then I'm happy to own that decision.

If you're not hungry don't eat. Make sure you have adequate fluids and don't force yourself to eat food if you're not hungry. Having no appetite is pretty common right after surgery. Don't fret about it too much, your appetite will be back before you know it.

About 80 cals a shot. And completely worth having to burn it off later!

I came looking for this thread because it's been a while since I posted it. I had a good run with my old band, it helped me keep the weight off for many years quite easily. But in Jan 2012, it sprung a leak, and in the course of the next 10 months, despite my good habits, I regularly lost the fight with my returned hunger and, as a result, gained almost 35lbs. My doctor tried to fix the leak unsuccessfully for 15 months, before finally giving me a full band replacement in April this year. In that last 5 months that my band was leaking, I decided to get really strict on myself so as to NOT gain anymore, and with calorie counting for the first time, and cardio exercises, I lost 15 of the 35lbs I had gained. Since getting my new band, I've lost another 12lbs without really even trying and have decided I don't want to lose anymore. I'm 7lbs from what was my previous 'stable' weight but this time because I'm trying to build muscle, not lose fat, I'm happy to be at a slightly higher BMI because my Body Fat Percentage is lower than it's ever been (under 20%). So to me, it kinda feels like I fought the battle twice, with two different bands by my side. I know now how much the band helps me help myself get healthy and stay healthy, and for its presence in my life, I am very grateful indeed.

I drink vodka and dry ginger ale and it works out to be about 160 cals for one standard drink, and in some cases the cals are less than vodka and tonic Water with a slice of lemon. It's crazy that I even know that considering I don't count calories at all.

Bayou, we all have bad days. I have some really awful days where I couldn't eat healthily if you paid me to. Sometimes this lasts for a week or more. I think banders do each other a disservice if we pretend none of us have days where we fall off the wagon. Hell, even the thinnest people eat crap sometimes - you read my FB, you KNOW I eat chocolate, drink wine, eat badly sometimes if I have a stressful day. The difference though is not letting your bad day defeat you, so that one day becomes a bad week, and then that bad week becomes a bad year, and that bad year becomes your new lifestyle. It's ok to fall off the program sometimes, we're all human after all. As long as you don't give up trying to get back on program. So instead of being ashamed that you stopped, be proud that you're starting again!