karen_karen

justpeachy gratz on you starting on your journey. i really believe that its up to your insurance company how long it will take you to be banded. i got banded in austin because alot of the doctors here did not take tricare care since hubby is military. they wanted to charge me like 1500 to 5000 in patients fees which is insane and crazy so i went to austin but once i got approved i got banded withing two weeks. with recipes go i dont cook much. i lost my chef two months ago(hubby got deployed for iraq) so i usually eat a Cereal bar or special k cereal in the morning and for lunch i either eat a sandwich or a lean cuisine. dinner i usually either skip it or eat what i cooked for the kids. best thing i can say is just eat smaller portions. i have had two fills already and i can still eat anything. so its pretty much me that has to limit my intake. as for the excerise motivation is so hard......... which you prob already know that. what i ended up doing was getting a personal trainer for 2 months three times a week and it keeps me going. i have a gym membership at 24 hour fitness and i usually go to either the gym at forth worth off i35 or the one in southlake. i like the southlake one because the kids club. my kids like that one better so i usually go on my off days when i dont have the pt. i have a hard time going to the gym as well but i go because i want to get the weight off. im always looking for a gym partner so much easier to go to the gym when i know i have to meet somewhere there. so if you are ever up for it ill me more then happy to go to the gym with you i usually just do cardio mostly the eliptical machine and hit the sauna for a bit.

i got a pair of spanx the undershirt and what i did was try it on at nordstrom before i bought it. im 213 im 5'8 and i was able to wear an xl at 265 i can still wear it til this day but i dont think it holds anything since i lost some weight lol. so you might want to go to nordstrom and try a few on there and pick one you like then find it cheaper online or somewhere else.

i had the same problem and my doctor told me my body is in shock with the band and the different eating habits i noticed it going away about a month to a month in a half. just takes time for your body to catch up and realized its not going away (the band) and you are just adjusting. but for sure call your doctor and see what he says.

i have the same issue but i tell ya when its time to go i really go and seems like lose like 5 lbs going to the bathroom. and its usually like once a week or longer. sometimes i take exlax to help along the process. i think its because instead of us overeating like we use to our body is actually using the food that we eat and it prob take about a week to build up i know that might not be the reason but that is all i can think of

Congratulations!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work

i have to agree with the last post from howluckyiam. i got banded on july 3rd and the second month i found myself not losing anything that month i was discourage but i found myself reevaluating myself and trying to understand why i wasnt losing weight. number one i was not excerising and number two i did not change my eating habits. i really wanted a motivation to go to the gym but with a 2 year old and a 4 year old 24 hours a day i found myself discourage to even go to the gym. plus i dont have my husband with me on this journey he is deployed for iraq for 15 months. he just left at the end of july few weeks after i got banded. what i realized was that the band is a tool its not a miracle and you just cant sit around and think it will do all the work for you. aint going to happen. so i got myself a personal trainer and signed up for the gym at the same time figured if i do 3 times a week with a pt and spend the money on him i will get off my ass and work. plus it will be a started for me. well its been 7 weeks and i tell you its one of the hardest roads i took. getting up early and going to the gym everyday i try to do about and hour a day at the gym sometimes more sometimes less. i also got a bodybugg to let me know how many calories i burn throughout the day. everyday is a struggle everyday i find excuses not to go but i go because i know that i will not lose anything sitting around. i can still eat a 6 inch sub at subway with no problem and i know that is alot for what i should be eating so i am also hungry but i been watching what i eat and how much i eat the band is there to remind me not to overeat. in this journey one thing i did learn its not a miracle its there to help you but not a miracle you still have to work hard and you will struggle but you just have to get back on track and make the days you do good count. you got to remember you want this band because you want to change your life. but if you lose weight and not change your lifestyle then its worthless. you have to understand that you did the easy change "getting the band" now its time for you to do the hard part and that is excerising and eating right. you didnt get fat overnite so it will take time to lose the weight pat yourself on the back for losing 25 lbs and work towards the future and change your life for good and get back on track use those machines if you cant then try getting a personal trainer to start you off yes its expensive but you have to think about the outcome you will be happier and you will have a whole new life. what do you got to lose? nothing if you work out it wont hurt you it wont make you fatter all it can do is move you forward. hopefully this gives you alittle motivation 7 weeks ago when i started with my trainer i had a 49 inch waist(yuck i couldnt believe it my jaw dropped) i never thought i was that big. i weighed 229 at the time too. on my 3 week weigh in and measurement i lost 8lbs and 10 and a 1/2 inches of my body. (4 inches of that was my waist) i was so discourage that i didnt lose more but then again i gained 5lbs of muscle. well here i am today and i havent had any measurments done again yet but i weighed myself today and i was at 212 i lost 9 lbs the last 3 and half weeks or 4 i checked my waist as well and its down another 5 inches. i got 2 more sessions with my trainer and then im on my own and i know it will be a struggle but i want those results to keep coming so i know i will have to work out and eat right. i hope everything works out for you just dont get discourage and find a plan that will work for you. my starting weight was 265 and now im down to 212...

first i would like to comment on the comments that were put on that website. i felt very sad about the way people have one sided minds. like just quit eating and other things. secondly, i think that i would have totally done the same thing if my 13 year old was in that position. but i would have exhausted all means before doing so. i would have gave him an opportunity. plus i would have educated him. i would have told him one year and if i couldnt help him lose the weight then i am all for the band. but i just wont put him out there and say go try to lose weight i would have got on an excerise program for both of us to show that i can do it as well. and i would have also try to teach him portion control and what healthy foods are and what healthy foods weren't. i wouldnt expect him to lose weight without the support and means of me. and by that i mean i would have stuck right there with him and excerised and ate the same foods to show him it can be done. even with the band you still have to learn to eat right and excerise. and if i could see that he is mature enough to try his hardest and it still didnt work then i would be all for the band but i will give him the choice to make that decision. his mother even said that she didnt make the right choices for him when he was younger i dont believe it was the boys fault i believe that it was the mothers for not educating and teaching her son to eat right but then again she didnt know how to take care of herself so how can we expect her to do the right thing with him? im happy that he did lose alot of weight already and i pray that he will continue to learn how to eat right and put some excerise in his life.

whats done is done dont think about how awlful you feel just make sure you learn and move on from it. and make it a better day tomorrow. its a struggle everyday you are going to want to "blow it" but you just have to take it day by day.

its an armband that tracks how many calories you burn throughout the day. www.bodybugg.com

truthfully alot of people think getting banded that the weight just start falling off i dont think this is the case its alot harder then that. you really have to change your lifestyle as in excerise and eating habits. it will be a hard journey but at the same time it will be satisfying because when you start to do all the right things the weight will come off and you will feel so much better about yourself you wont know what to do. but dont get discourage about the weight not falling off so fast just take it nice and slow and it will come

not sure why i had sex the first week and i didnt have any issues just went nice and slow no crazy stuff

have you been excerising? the reason why you lost the 4 and half pounds was prob because you were walking around everywhere and staying active i cant stress enough how much excerise is important. its about how you eat but at the same time its about you taking an active role in excerising. you dont have to do much just enough to get those muscles working a bit and burning fat.

glad to hear that you found your sweet spot but i have a question sorry i guess im out of it but what does pb stand for?

i have tricare prime and i live in dallas since i dont live in a miltary town things got alittle more complicated. alot of non military towns dont take tricare because they dont pay out like other insurance companies do. i called around dallas and the doctors wanted to charge me 1500 to 5k even with tricare. i ended up going to austin for surgery and i didnt cost me a thing. technically they cant charge you anything over because of tricare but they still try. all i can say is keep looking for a doctor that will do it without trying to make some money from you. there are doctors out there that wont charge you extra just have to find them. dont give up.

first of all penny i have to give you probs i have a 2 year old and a 4 year old and my hubby just left for training like 2 months ago and will be leaving for iraq at the being of november and i wished i could go back to my parents house i could save so much money and have help with the kids but i cant seem to get myself to do it. i live in dallas and my parents are in killeen and i know if i go live with my mom i would prob go insane and so would my mom and we just have a huge fall out and ill be homeless looking to move somewhere in like 2 months lol. your mom is prob just adjusting to the idea for you plus its hard i think on grandparents to have little ones around when they have already finished doing the kid thing years ago. my mom did sorta the same thing she would say she would watch my daughter while i went to the gym the first time my hubby was deployed and i realized it was never going to happen cuz she would call me like every 15 minutes saying when are you coming home? all i can really say is just keep it up and dont let that discourage you. sometimes it seems like parents want you there but at the same time they like there space. maybe send her off for a bit to reenergize herself of send yourself off with your little one to reenergize you and your little one.

this is what i do along with the band i go excerise about 45 minutes to and hour and half a day the longer days i do strength i also got a bodybugg which helps me by showing me how much calories i burn throughout the day. i eat about 1000 calories a day so i can have a 2500 deficit its pretty simply the trick is always the same you have to eat less and move around more to burn those calories to lose the weight. i learned its not about doing hard core excerise just moving throughout the day helps out alot. maybe more then just excerising everyday. also when you do cardio dont worry about having a heart rate around 150 your not trying to run a marathon just trying to burn fat so stay around 135 to 140 on the heart rate which is not hard at all and not at all tiring. i even went further and got a mini eliptical machine from amazon that cost me like 100 bucks and use it when i watch tv or even play rockband and when i type on my laptop(i put my laptop on a high counter and just move and surf the web or whatever). by doing all this i can burn about 3000 calories a day. well hope this helps i know its not an easy answer but i know i didnt get fat overnite and its going to take more then a few weeks to get back to a normal weight. just to let you know on my progress i lost almost 11 inches off in three weeks but only lost about 8 lbs but my fat went down 5 percent. so i gained some muscle. sometimes i wonder if i could have done all this without being banded and i believe i could have i was just one of those people that never likes the gym and never wanted to excerise but getting banded showed me a new me. its not about getting banded and you just start losing weight its about changing your lifestyle. as in excerising and eating right. and its a simply equation eat less and burn more fat. it took me getting banded to see that there is no simple solution. its really just about changing your lifestyle.

i started to workout about 5 weeks ago i joined 24 hour fitness and got a personal trainer to set me on track the first two months. i also got a bodybugg to see how many calories i burn daily i been trying to keep up about 2700 to 3000 calories a day. been doing pretty good if i dont excerise i been burning about 2400 which is still not that bad but so much better if i excerise daily i also got a mini eliptical machine for the house so when im on my laptop or if im just sitting around watching tv i get on it and go slow just to burn alittle here and there. only thing i can really say is just stay active throughout the day. its not as important to work your butt off but to just stay active all day and the calories burn just start adding up.

hey mljones welcome to the thread i to was banded in july i didnt see good results the second month so i started to excerise and i also got the bodybugg from 24 hour fitness. which has been great i excerise about and hour a day and i usually try to burn about 3000 calories a day with a 1000 calorie intake. usally i found that if i just stay active and move around i tend to burn more calories. especially if i work out in the mornings its pretty quick to burn calories the rest of the day.

you will be fine no matter what you do it will not move they set it in place so you do alot of normal things

ok im not trying to be rude or mean please dont take this the wrong way. the band is not there for it to be miracle band its there to keep you in check and remind you not to over eat. you still have to eat the right foods and EXCERISE. you have to remember this is a life changing event not just a weight losing event. i got banded on july 3rd and i have lost about 48lbs and yes im always hungry and i can eat alot too i dont feel the restriction as i should but i take it day by day and i exercise i go to the gym 6 times a week for an hour and half and sometimes 7 times a week. it hasnt be easy for me i had two babies one a 2 year old and one that is 4 and my metabolism is not there i can assure you that so i have to bring it back up. you can't expect this band you have to do all the work for you its there to help but if you dont change your life as in put some effort into it then it will not get any better. you went through the surgery now use it as a tool not as a miracle. always remember its not a race. if you wanted this to go quick you could have went for the gastric bypass but then in a year or two what would happen? there is a chance for you to go back to your old eating habits. so think of it as a life changing band and not just as a miracle band.

i saw them on 20/20 or something like that and people liked them but i dont think they really worked.

i never told my dh he only thought what i was but never really asked but when we got home from my surgery i showed him how much i weighed on the scale i wanted to show him since he is going to iraq for the next year and when he comes back he can see how much progress i really did this year while he was gone. i didnt think he would understand if i didnt show him. his reaction was wow i never thought you were that big. but he is very supportive.

ok im not suggesting this but i will tell you a story not saying it true or anthing. there is a girl that was about 100 lbs overweight without any co-morbidities and had tricare for insurance. for a month she went into her pcm weekly to get her blood pressure check right after she smoke a few cigarettes. she ended up with high blood pressure and hypertension since she "shakes" alot when she dont eat. well since her doctor diagnose her for hypertension and high blood pressure she got approved for the lapband. now she was first denied because she didnt have any co-morbitdities. so for her second try she wrote a letter explaining her co-morbidities and also how her life was effected with obesity. and wouldnt you know it after two to three weeks sending in that letter to tricare and doctors notes and letters and referrals from the pcm. she got approved. she was banded less then a month after that. no you can take this story the way you would like.

only suggestion i can say is in the morning try to get up and do some light excerise i use to be tired and weak all the time even before the banding and now since i have been excerising i have been feeling good throughout the day and i actually wake up early in the morning and trust me i dont usually wake up before 10 and here i am i can get up at 7 in the morning or earlier to start my day.