karen_karen

hi my name is karen and i live in keller too like ksill. i was banded in july 08 and lost 87lbs so far.

i had a flipped port had surgery in march and it wasnt that bad. im dont understand what vomiting has to do with a flipped port though? i couldnt get any fills tried about three times with x rays and ultrasounds but no luck so my doctor suggested of surgery to fix the port. pretty much i excerise alot so my muscles popped my stitches that were holding the port in place. so he went in and use some mesh and connected to my muscles so that my muscles can grow around and through it so i shouldnt ever have a problem with that ever again hopefully.... surgery wasnt bad at all and recovery time was pretty quick i dont remember feeling any pain the first day just really tired. and it took about a week to be able to do bend over and such. i wasnt suppose to do excerise for 4 weeks but i was back in the gym in less then a week. im fine now and havent had any problems whatsoever and actually got a fill for the first time in like 5 months last month.

i think if you want to get banded then go for it. but you also got to realize that its a life changing procedure you still have to eat the right way and you also have to excerise. one thing i noticed that has been helping me is maybe try the bodybugg. with the amount you have to lose it might just be worth it. its like 250 bucks on ebay and it helps you find out how many calories you burn throughout the day and also you can input your food intake to see how many calories you are actually burning. you can go to www.bodybugg.com to read more about it. i know 18 grand or even 16 grand is alot so maybe try that first another idea is maybe you want to look into Mexico since alot are self pay there and they will prob band you with your bmi being 30.

i know it can be hard those last 30 lbs will always be the hardest to lose and it will be important to lose it with excerise and the right foods. so when you or if you do get banded remember dont get discourage and just think about how you are going to get there with a game plan.

my port flipped my stitches came out and i went and researched it and its a 2 percent chance. so i wouldnt see it common for people with a flipped port all i can say is its not a hard procedure to fix the port and truly there wasnt any pain afterwards. the reason why it flipped was because i was doing alot of excerising and the muscles i built up in my stomach popped the stitches out. which is good i guess i have a 6 pack under all that fat lol........ but i know most people dont excerise like me so that is why there is a 2% chance. just to give you a heads up they put mesh and bonded it to my muscles so now i can do all the excerise i want and the doctor says i shouldnt have a problem because my muscles will grow around the mesh and i shouldnt ever have a problem with a flipped port again.... hopefully

GIRL!!!!!!!!! you worry to much about what others think of you... you have to let it go. think about what you accomplished and how far you gotten. no one helped you you did this all on your own. its better that you excerise instead of sitting at home eating your life away and watching people get thin on tv. people that dont excerise sometimes dont understand the benefits of it. i had to get a port revision because i was excerising and my ab muscles popped out the stitches for my port. i remember asking the doctor so i wouldnt have to have surgery if i didnt excerise? and am i doing to much. and he said no way. your doing great and to much excerise is never to much. they had a dietian there that i spoke with since my journey began and he said i look way better then the ones that lost 100lbs and look sick because they didnt excerise.

so my advice to you is stop stressing about the negative feedback and start looking to your goals your almost there and you would be surprised how much better you look then the ones that are knocking you.

REMEMBER POSTIVE PEOPLE MAKE POSTIVE OUTCOMES!!!!!

everyones body is different and it all matters about alot of issues are you eating the right way? are you excerising? have you had kids? there are alot of reasons why people sag it will happen but you can make it less and i can tell you if you eat the right way and excerise through the process you will be much healthier and you can tone some of it up through the journey. i would rather be saggy a bit then be big again. ill prob have to get a Tummy Tuck but for right now im satisfied with what i have and in a year or two if i am not then i will have a tummy tuck.

i dont know about the cheating part but i would like to suggest a bodybugg www.bodybugg.com this will help you keep track of your food and also help you keep track of the calories you burn. its a great device i have one and it helped me alot. umm... if you have a 24 hour fitness then i would suggest you go there to buy one if not try ebay they are pretty close to the price at 24 hour fitness. its a great device because you input your food intake and wear it through the day it will tell you how much you are actually burning compared to how much you are taking in. also not saying you arent but you have to eat certain foods. not just push the calories back. alot of stuff you wouldnt imagine actually hurts you and you dont even realize it. nutrition is a big part of this process and it seems to me you are doing well on the excerise part so maybe reevaluate your food to see how much Protein you take in how much fat and how much carbs things like that to see where it all is going. i know its a bit hard but with that education i can pretty much say you can lose it with ever plateauing.

Awesome!!!!!! Gratz!!!!!!!!!!!

im sorry you had a bad experience with everything i know things can get freaked if you never had surgery. its really your choice if this is good for you but truthfully if you are a "comfort food eater" lapband might not be for you. im not saying this to discourage you or to say this to be mean. but there is so many ways you can eat around a band and you can eat so much food. you have to have the mind set when you get banded that you will be strong and take control of your lifestyle. instead of going to food for comfort try other things like excerise. it will make you happier and way healthier. i think excerise is the best remedy for situations like this. it will make you happier as well. for the band to be successful for you you have to take on your issues and not hide from them through food. because you will be able to eat around the band. best advice i can give you is try excerise for a month and see if that is something you can do i know its hard but seriously you have to just suck it up and get out of bed and say i will excerise today and i will eat something good for my body and less. and do it. alot of times if you eat like crap you will feel like crap excerising so eat something healthy and that has some good nutrition values so you will enjoy your work out.

i know this is not the answer you wanted but i believe it needed to be said.... i wish you the best of luck through your journey and hope you find the right combo for your weightloss

girl congratulations!!!!!!!!!! dont listen to the negative crap people send to you!!!!!! that is crap people just make up because they thought the band was going to be a miracle band and you wont have to excerise or eat right...... no matter what diet you get on or what wls you have you have to learn how to maintain and also have to make a lifestyle change. i see so many post about not losing and not excerising what do people expect? the band to lose it for them? i think you did a wonderful job and im happy for ya. im glad you got your mental mind set of learning to eat right and excerising alot of people dont put all of it together and complain. and truthfully people like that i have no compassion for them. im not knocking anyone but seriously if someone does something good and loses weight its alot better thing when they do it with excerise and the right foods. the right foods and excerise combo with the band makes life less stressful, happier, healthier, and so much more fun........ complaining dont do anything for anyones weightloss instead go vent and complain while walking a few miles or going to the gym or anything if you can run then run. i guaranntee with the excerise and the right foods you will lose weight and you will be happier for doing so.

girl congratulations and also remember POSITIVE PEOPLE MAKE POSITIVE OUTCOMES!!!!!!!!!!

and just for you guys that do that and being so negative.... i too did that. i learned the hard way i vented at the beginning and my best friend said to me WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT GET YOUR LAZY ASS OFF THE COUCH AND GO EXCERISE!!! at first i was hurt about the comment but then i saw what she meant she pretty much said if you dont do anything about it then nothing will change. it got me seriously thinking why i got banded and that was to lose weight and become healthier. even if i lose the weight without excerising will i be happy and healthier? the answer is i wouldnt be as healthy and for the happy part i dont think i would be as happy as i am now. remember you control your life you control your eating habits. you control what you burn throughout the day.

i know this is bad but a birdie didnt have any co morbidities either but she dont know if this will work for you but she complained about joint problems in her knees stating that they hurt alot to her pcm also her bmi was low a bit so she gained some weight and she also went ahead and smoked alot right before she got to the pcm and complain about her hands shaking if she didnt eat and with her smoking so much it pushed her blood pressure up alittle enough for her doc to prescribe blood pressure meds and documented she had high blood pressure and hypertension and she did this after she got denied and she got approved..... granted she didnt take any of the blood pressure meds they put her on.

hi i had a port revision about a month and half maybe two months ago. all my 3 or 4 stitches popped out do to excerise. i was trying to get a fill for like months and the doctor wasnt able to get to it. did xrays and ultrasounds and everything seemed like and no luck so finally he suggested to revision my port. which wasnt bad at all. it only takes about 30 minutes or so maybe less depending on your surgeon but i was in and out in half a day. i forgot to talk to the surgeon about getting a fill which really frustrated me when i woke up and found out that he had only given me a .2cc fill which is nothing. i was so mad that i got out of the bed and right into the bathroom changed clothes and signed the papers and walked out lol. so needless to say i wasnt in any pain. i really wasnt in any pain at all actually that first day. but i went home with some pain killers and antibotics and really didnt need the pain killers. he only made a small incision using the same one from the first surgery about 2 inches i would say. he didnt stitch it up this time he actually used mesh to hold it in place he said that nothing should happen to it. it is meshed into my muscles.

so actually what im trying to say is it really didnt hurt. cant bend down or around to much at the beginning but in a few days your pretty much back to normal.i think the only pain i felt was getting into bed a particular way and it was sooooo painful like i ripped something and that was once. now no big deal.

ok i totally understand where you are coming from i had the same issue at the beginning of me getting banded i know alot of people dropped weight so fast early but not me. you know i did the same thing vent and was a bit frustrated with not losing and when i vented to my best friend she said the best thing to me "what are you doing about it? are you doing everything you should be doing?" and yes food wise i was ok but i didnt realize how bad my food was until i learned more about food and what kind of food is good and what is actually bad for you and also i realized that excerise is the key. i know you heard this a million times but i really do believe with the band, excerise, and right foods you will see the lbs coming off. i always thought that i was never going to excerise or not do much because i was also tired. then with the advice of my friend i went and got a gym membership and started working out everyday and made the commitment of going everyday. i worked on building muscle and also doing cardio and i sucked at cardio and i hated going but now i can say i can run for 45 minutes non stop and its not so exhausting. i know im alot healthier then what i was when i started not just losing weight but my whole mental attitude and my body. im waking up earlier now and sleeping better at nite. i really do suggest you to excerise and make that commitment it will so pay off more then you would ever know. your body reacts so much better to stress and life in general. another thing i thought is a great book is get one of the "eat this not that" book its a great book and shows you general foods that are bad and you wouldnt even know it. i always thought that kelloggs special k was good and ate that almost everyday but realized that kashi go lean was a better Cereal to eat it has more calories but it is good calories and with a bananna it gets me through a workout each morning.

im totally there with you on that one. i am between a size 10-12 and i want to be a size 8 i really didnt want to go under the size 8 and i even have a pair of capris that are size 8 that fit me nicely. i currently weigh around 180 and my original goal was 140 but seeing that im in a 10 12 now i would be in like a 4 or 6 and i dont want that i want to have some meat on my bones lol.... so now i thinking about being around 160 or maybe 155. not sure but that should get me into some baggy size 8 and i that is what i really want to be under size 10.

i believe in what mlfull says i too am happy with the band because with the gastric who is to say where i will be in 5 years. i wouldnt have learned to eat any better just stopped my eating for a few years i wouldnt have excerised because i would have dropped weight so fast. and i keep thinking what would i have gained in 5 years no knowledge on controling my own food issues and no knowledge on how to be healthier. i do believe that everyone is different and that its all a mind set on what they can achieve. everyone can lose weight its just how you lose the weight and how you change your life and how you control and maintain the weight you want to be. in my personal belief (and im not knocking the the gastric or any other wls so please dont get me wrong and its just my opinion) people that take the gastric bypass or gastric sleeve is not learning to better there life they are just stalling the fact and going the easy quick fix way. i understand being 500lbs or 400lbs that mind sets are stressed and they dont believe they can control there weight loss or maintain it but i do believe that anyone out there that puts there mind and thinks positive in any situation will come out understanding it better and succeeding.

congratulations on you going to get banded. the one main advise i can give you is you need to excerise and eat right. because you dont have as much weight to lose as others who get banded it will be alot harder for you to lose the weight being banded. its like this if you get banded 100 lbs over weight the first 50 is pretty much cake its the last 50 or 40 that is the hardest to lose so eating right and excerising will really help alot. (now im not saying your not doing this already) but this is my advice and i know you prob hear this a million times over but the band is not a miracle and the pounds wont come off on its own. i do think that this is a good decision at your weight i wish i could have done it when i was only at 30 bmi. the band is a life changing procedure not only for your body but for your mind. and if you find yourself getting stuck and plateaud. ask yourself "what are you doing about it?" when i started my journey my friend told me that because i know its not a miracle but i thought the lbs will just come flying off over the months and that was not the case. and those words got me thinking about why i really got banded and what am i going to do with my life and how im going to change. so i got my lazy ass up and got a gym membership and a trainer and started to work out alot. ive lost over 80lbs so far and over 30inches in my body. so with that being said good luck on your journey and i wish you much success.

just a thought just wear some heavier clothes and those some heavy keys in your pockets and some coins that will get you 5 lbs if you do it right

hi i had to get my port put back in place due to excerise my stitches actually popped out. so my doctor had to go back in and what he did was take mesh and somehow made it stick in place its not suppose to happen again. he attached the port to my muscle and yes it hurt alittle bit but for the most part wasnt to bad. i took pain meds because my friend came for a week and stayed with me and she thought i was in so much pain made me take the meds and sleep. i remember waking up in the hospital and not feeling any pain or anything just a bit dizzy. i got out of the bed got dressed and left because i was so pissed off the doctor only gave me .2 cc for a fill(LOL) i did all this and still didnt get a fill. since my port flipped i havent had a fill since october. (but no worried i finally got a fill last week)

but you shouldnt have anything to worry about it doesnt hurt as bad as i thought it was going to and i was scared as well i went and got my friend to fly out here to take care of me for a week and my kids since my husband is in iraq. and truthfully after the second or third day i was pretty back to my old self besides me not being able to bend down as well as i was use too. its a simple procedure and it really doesnt hurt

gratz on taking your first step.... its a hard journey but its such a rewarding one. i got banded in austin texas by dr. mark sherrod. i have never heard anything negative about him and everyone speaks highly of him and he has been a great supporter for me as a doctor. he is supposely the "go to guy" for surgeries. i really dont know anything about any of the other doctors out there but i would highly recommend dr. sherrod he does truely care about his patients well being and never gotten upset with all the questions i ask him or any concerns i have. if you liike to know more info jut hit me up and ill be more then happy to give you any info.

one other thing what worked for me was i worked my ass of for like 10 days straight i mean crazy cardio and reistance i was at the gym for about one and half hours to two hours a day straight and then i would go and take a 3 day or maybe 4 day break depending on what day of the week i started to break at and my body would catch up to all the excerise and i would lose about 5 lbs like that which really sucks those ten days. and on the break days i ate a good but reduced calories maybe about 1000 calories or so but when i work out i can eat all the way up to 1500 to 2000 calories a day.

you know i was right where you are i can can tell you its frustrating. sadly the only thing i figured or can figure out is when you start losing weight you have to do more excerise to burn the same amount you did when you were bigger i know that sounds stupid but when i weighed 230 lbs i was doing about 45 minutes of cardio a day and a personal trainer and i lost good about 10 lbs a month then i keep doing the same and when i got down to about 199 or so i realized in order for me to burn 3000 calories i had to do about and hour and 5 minutes of cardio five days a week in addition to what i did with my trainer which is insane. one thing i did get that helped me when i started with my excerise routine was i got the body bugg and its an awesome tool through 24 hour fitness and it tells you how many calories you burn throughout the day and you can log your food and see the deficit and so forth. yes its very frustrating and truthfully i dont understand why its like that i know your feeling and i do want to give up but doing cardio and resistance is in my life now and i dont think i could do without it anymore. i know this sounds insane and you prob wont want to do this buy try to up your cardio by like 15 minutes another idea maybe you want to try if you havent already is when you do any cardio go for about 4 or 5 minutes and a average speed your use too and then go has fast as you can for one minute. then back to what you normally do. it will kick your ass but it seems like it does help and those calories burn keep adding up so much faster that way. good luck and dont give up.

ironic but i just had surgery for my port flipping this last week. i have the regular band.

i found out that this is not a common problem and most people dont ever see this issue come up.

it really is more of a choice you make then your doctor.

seriously you have to understand both ways the reason why gastric is better in that way is because you cant eat sugar. and you really will lose weight way way quicker. so its a quick fix in my opinion. lapband is more of a lifestyle change well both are changes but gastric gives you no choice you will lose the weight. lap band you have to be mentally ready for it. because you have to make good food choices and change your eating habits all it will control is how much you eat. also you have to be ready to excerise. gastric you will lose no matter what the first year but what happens afterwards? you lose the weight but you havent actually learned to eat the correct way and in like 5 years are you going to be back to the same weight you were when you first started? lap band is alittle more of a hassle but to me its a good hassle. yes you have to get fills and yes you have to work on losing as in eating the right way and also excerising. the band is not a miracle its a choice and will help you along the way to making a better lifestyle change. also think about in 4 or 5 years with the gastric you gain weight what can you do about it? if you are banded you can get a fill and work on it again. its like having a diet there anytime you need it and you can just go get a fill.

i didnt tell many people only the few that are close and understand why i want to do this . and i can tell you im happier this way. most people (skinny people) dont understand and always think that its the easy way out. and even on tuesday when i went in for surgery to get my port fixed i can see in the nurses and techs that had to ask me questions about my lapband that they really truely didnt understand it and i know they were judging me. first question out of there mouth is always how is it working out for you? basically trying to find out if i did lose any weight or not. and when i tell them im 75 lbs down they say oh wow you did lose weight from it and blah blah blah. i know they look at me differently and i understand that they dont understand what the band is and not very educated with the whole idea. so for me i feel better that people dont know i am banded.

you have to put everything in consideration when you see a 30 lb weightloss in one week. think about how they are eating lot better and they are kinda detoxing there bodies of all the crap foods and sodas in there body. they basically poop all the crap they had stored in there and make there liver healthier. also when they are sweating they are pretty much detoxing their bodies of all the harmful crap in there. to me it makes me wonder how much crap and how unhealthy could they have been to be able to drop that much weight in one week.