chicamam1

hi 30 grams a day is too low... aim at least for 15 grams per meal and 7 or so for Snacks, u must be exhausted!

Definatly not exhausted, because my body is burning my stores. I have energy and way more than I used to have.

SO i went out to my fill and instead of eating out, wanted to get something for dinner and Breakfast i could eat that is healthy. Looking in the frozen dinner aisles there are alot of things that are good fat and calorie wise but the carbs are over 40!! that is alot for one meal or is it me? Ive never really gotten into them because of this but wanted to know what others opinions are on them. According to my surgeon. limited carbs helps the body burn fat as opposed to burning what we just ate. and once i get to goal ill definatly have more freedom with carbs to maintain my weight such as rice or Pasta with my meat. I try to stay under 30 a day if i can and these seem so high. any comments?

This is a great excerpt. im 5'3 ( almost) and my goal weight is 145. That is above 25 but yet where i was in hs and was happy. i was pretty solid so hoping to have muscle but i will get there and reaccess if i want to lose more or not. Thanks for the article.

its possible u may have to pay especially if medicare didnt preapproved the surgery. u can call and see if you have any appeal rights.

So, I had my surgery 9-25-08 & I have lost about 35 lbs & people are starting to really notice when we go out. We don't go out a lot but the last time my DH & I went out togther he acted very jealous (sp?) I can't stand it!!! He NEVER acts like this! Well, he did when he was 18 yrs old but not at 28!! This is something I can not deal w/. I know I'm going to lose more weight & my confidence will get even better & he is going to have a BIG problem w/ that. We have been married for 9 yrs together for 12 & I we have 3 small children together. We don't have the best relationship & he know's this. So, I think he's feeling threatened that a may leave eventually. I don't know what to do. I told him I will not put up w/ this! Please help. Thanks!

My hubby isnt the super jealous type but now that ive lost 93 pounds its becoming more apparant but more at a normal level now. example last night we were out with work friends and he has one friend that always comments he thinks im so hot ( hes a goof) well lastnight i sat between then and this guy put his arm around me to give a lil squeeze and my hubby knocked his arm off lol. didnt bug me. cuz i knew it was harmless. but yeah he would of never done that before when i was at my heaviest. he never had to worry about it. i think its a hard adjustment for men to see their wives changing and ina very positive way physically. Im hoping in your situation its something he adjusts to. i wish u all the luck

when i first got banded and went to eat i would ask for a small plate like senior menu or kids plate. and get comments. now tho we ask to split and no comments are made. last night we had mexican and i had a lil peice of carne asada and couple bites of Beans. hubby ate the rest lol

Hi everyone! I've been reading these forums in anticipation of my own surgery which is scheduled for March 16th. I apologize if this topic has been mentioned before, but I wonder how many of you drink coffee? I have given it up for my pre op diet and I know I won't be able to have it initially, but I'd love to have it eventually. I drink mine with a teaspoon of non dairy powder and a packet of splenda or sweet and low.

i drink coffee with splenda and a lil flavored Creamer. some times ff sometimes not. i love it and love it and drink alot of ice tea too.

Hello: I was banded on Feb. 19 and am struggling. The pain was more than I anticipated; complicated by pulling an internal stitch. When will the pain from the muscle incision go away? Also, it has been almost 2 weeks and I have not lost a single pound on 600 calories or less a day? Need some encouragement.

Beth hang in there.. U will see the positive results soon enough. First of all you are in healing stage and i would say definatly focus on that right now. Weight loss probably wont be very successful until ur fills and get restriction although that is different for everyone. Just keep in mind you will be healthier you and while the scale isnt moving, you are becoming more healthy and more aware of the choices that you are putting into your body. Gl and stay motivated.

i do question the starvation mode esp with the band. Because like for me, eating 1.2 cup and healthy food choices ( most the time) i only get at most 800 cals a day. but.. from what i understand the band tricks the body. we get the sensation sent to our brain we are full so in essence why would our body think its starving? I truly think its all metabolism that the body gets normalized on a certain amount of calories and learns to adapt.. we are pretty smart after all. and so are our bodies. I only intake that much and have plenty of energy to exercise. if it was not helpful to lose weight why would doctors encourage 3 oz at a meal? I think its more complex than starvation mode but that is just me.. I lost weight really good just up until recently only having 42 pounds to go. now if i dont exercise i dont lose. I dont see how i could eat more than i do and i don see how im too tight either. I think the closer u get to goal the much harder it is to lose weight

Man I know how you feel! I am sorry your going through this and its tough and the girls here are so right. WHen you lose alot of weight in the beginning its hard to notice but closer to goal every pound makes a difference. Do you have any before pics at your heaviest? compare the pictures and see how far you have come! I do get it tho, I still feel very feel fat and ugly sometimes and have lost 87 pounds since 9/15. I promise u will start to see it. It will jump at you. Although our minds seem to play tricks on us and I see myself as the almost 300 pound girl that i was sometimes. The one thing that has helped me was looking at my before pics compared to my most recent. That really put things into perspective for me! That is the best advice I have. the amount of weight u lost is amazing and im sure you can really tell. so dont be so hard on yourself. Soon you will look at your pictures and it will be a whole brand new you.

First you will want to find out how the appeal process for your ins works. most of the time its submitted in writing. What you want to do is a get a list of information you need to submit that caused the denial in the first place. Then you want to work with your doctor to submit very specific documentation chart notes etc. This will have them review the denial and then the documentation showing that it should of been approved. Address every issue leave nothing out. If one thing is missed it can lead to another denial. Be sure to find out what the turn around time is for the appeal. This is what you can do. I wish you the best of luck.

my most embarrassing moment to date. going snowboarding with my hubby when i weighed about 250, um i got 10 feet down teh mountain and had to crawl back up it was awful and i felt like such a fat butt and everyone probably thinking what the heck is she doin this for. I need to go back :tt2:

first thing. contact your doctor like the above person said you probably need a fill now. YOu need between 60-90 g of protien a day staying with the good carbs and eliminating the bad carbs

wow that isnt very much in a 14 cc band! I would say probably so. Im assuming your doc may be one of the ones who fills very slowly? Ive noticed with that, slower weight loss can happen since its taking longer to get a good restriction level. that is based on how u feel tho. If your eating 1/2 cup portions, staying full between meals then u have good restriction but i would definatly call ur doc

I was fat because i was lazy and liked to stuff my face with fast food everyday. I didnt take care of my health or have any concern for it until it came to a serious point where my healthy was terribly becoming inflicted. I am too grossed out by those who over eat. Im much more aware of it now and how i used to be. Omg mindless eating is what i did.. i would sit down and eat a whole bag of chips and dip without blinking and be stuffed but continue to pork it in. sad sad sad. I can never return there again.. EVER.

Hi Everyone,

I had my surgery on November 3rd of 2008 . I have lost 25 pounds since the surgery and I am very pleased but yet,I still think it should be more. Am I being just plain silly. I know everyone is different but I can't help but be greedy with my weight loss lol.

I've had only one fill ,which is on January 8th and so far,I don't feel like I need another one. My weight loss tends to be sporadic,for example i'll go a whole week without losing anything and then i'll be down 2 pounds the following week. I am exercising on average of 4 to 5 times a week which I probably should kick it up a notch but anywhoo,to all you experianced bandsters,does this seem normal? Thanks ! :thumbup:

your weight loss right now is avg 2 pounds per week which is normal. With the band its not as fast as gastric and avg weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week Therefore you are doing great and right on schedule.

So i am told that LB is not covered by my ins then im told that it is covered but there are stringent req. then im told that because my employer has choosen not to cover the procedure that it isnt covered. :cursing:i just got off the phone with uhc and they told me that my employer has choosen not to provide this coverage with their policy. i asked them to send my benefits coverage etc and they tell me that they can i have to get that from my employer that they arent even allowed to tell me what benefits i have:cursing:...yet they just told me that this is not a covered benefit..so i go to our hr person who really does nothing more than payroll and she tells me she doesnt even know who i am supposed to contact regarding our benefits and to go online to the website..myuhc.com which is a joke in case any of you have actually tried to get information from it other than you have the ins but it wont tell you what coverage you have.:cursing:

so now i am done ranting...has anyone else been through this? Is there a way i can actually get an answer? Should i just give up and figure out a way to self pay? HELP! I'm going to loose my mind-but i guess that would be a weight loss right?

groups can specialize their benefits so probably the ins does cover it under req but the group chose a specialized plan for your work that its an exclusion on. The ins was right in telling u to go back to your hr dept. She should have a clue as far as how to get that info. Is there a corporate office this all goes through? Tell the hr manager to either speak to corp or to call the ins and get in touch with the membership and billing rep assigned to their group to get you the booklets. She needs to have a clue about this and so many times I get calls on the same thing. so just have her call If you want to request your work to add wls as a covered item during next renewel, let main hr dept or corp know for them to consider it.

Yes, actually. They gave us this form on surgery day that we filled out with credit card info etc... Actually THEY filled out the "estimate" part, and it said that amount. But again, it was an estimate. So I dunno.

did the ins give you this form or the doctor? if its an estimate its not a guarantee of payment, which means any benefits quoted can be subject to many different factors or based on how the provider is billing for the service. Your best bet to figure out why the estimate went up, is to call the insurance company and speak to them directly. Unless you have a guarantee in payment in writing, nothing you can do because typically you wont know how the ins will pay out until the claim processes otherwise. GL

Girl, someone needs to tell me off.. and I wouldnt blame you. Cause what I did was horrible, and I had no excuse to do it. Only trying to get into bad habits. My little girl is my world and my light. Shes always there to make me happy when Im upset. I have to live for her. For all she has done for me. I have to do this for myself, and her, so that I can live longer. Thanks for your response. Its good to know that there are people out there that can relate. Makes it easier sometimes, to understand that what I have been doing is wrong just by others advice. I thank you and everyone.

This post brought tears in my eyes. I know what its like to want to be healthy for my kids, to be here to raise them and to see my grandchildren grow up eventually. I was so scared of dyin staying on the path i was in gaining weight and not stopping. Very sad situation. However, the band as changed all that and I feel so much better and able to enjoy my kids more although i do have other health issues the weight loss hasnt helped. but im ok with that. My chances are much better now. I dont want to be without them even tho i know i will go to a better home when i die. I want to raise them and teach them right, thank you for your honestly and i wish u the best of luck and will keep u in my prayers.

Hello, My name is Tia. I am happy to share my success story with you. I was banded 9/15 and have lost 80 pounds. I started at 274 and 5'2and now am to 194. I feel so much better and more healthy. I exercise 5 days a week and lift weights. The band is so awesome. Its the best decion I have ever made? Have I had some issues, yes, but the benefits have totally outweighed those situations. Its all a journey and u live and learn. I have no problem with what i eat and i treat myself once in awhile to foods i love. If you follow the rules , follow the lifestyle, and exercise it will work for you. Not all are fast losers and that is ok. Its intended to provide steady weight loss 1-2 pounds a week. Read the boards they are so helpful and so is the chat. Good luck on your journey

My doctor said stop 5 minutes before I eat and 20-30 minutes after eating and I do find that hard. I'm still learning and I do find myself taking tiny sips of Water as I eat still. Its a LOT less than I used to and I'm weaning myself away from it.

best thing to do is not have a drink by you while u eat. Its important not to wash the food out of the pouch. I know its not an easy thing to do but i know u can :thumbup: Its esp hard for me after eating a spicy meal but i get through, i get used to it. It will get easier with time. practice makes perfect.

Boy i know sometimes this journey can be so frustrating! and there have been times, the breaking down crying thinking is this all i will lose? Even fast losers go through all that! I would also be very frustrated in your shoes too but here is the bottom line. U need to call and make an appt. u need a fill and that might help jumpstart your weightloss again. that is how the band is designed. How much can u eat at one sitting? u mentioned what u eat but not really how many oz or cups that equates to. a bowl of oatmeal can be subject to opinion. IMO if your eating more than a cup u probably need a fill. The upping the calorie thing really does work. Ive done it and it didnt even affect my weight loss then when i went back, it did show some movement on the scale. Also, constant exercise. I have found the less I have to lose, I have to exercise everday or the scale wont move period. I wish u the best of luck. please dont give up. U got this band for a reason and like someone else said there are health rewards with that 40 pounds gone, and also your doctor is there to support u. hang in there and call ur doc. trust me, the stop wont be forever, as long as u stay motivated, u will get to goal u can do this!!!

I went in for my third fill, i was already at 5.5 cc with decent restriction, so the doc put in another 1 cc. i took two sips of Water and it gurgled but i thought everything was fine. I get in the car to leave and realize after tryin to drink a sip of water it was just sitting there in my chest. I thought I might be too tight at that time. I tried to eat some Soup later for dinner and got sick. it got stuck off two lil sips and it almost came up. The following morning I called the docs office to let them know what was going on. They told me to wait it out for a day to see if it loosens up. Unfortunatly that day was awful. I threw up at least 10 times. On my own saliva, on a sip of water, on my lunch. nothing will go down. I went to lay down last night and my saliva came back and i breathed it and was choking. scary... anyway i go through the night and now am headed to doc for an unfill and Im a lil aprehensive as far as how much they will take out. Right now im completely closed up and concerned ive had no water or food in over a day but i feel ok physically. i dont want them to take too much out. maybe .25 or .5 but i hope they dont take everything out :cursing: has anyone else gone throught his with a fill and if so. did they take it all out or just a lil to still give u the restriction u needed?

I would suggest ignoring the areas you dont want to have anything to do with .. such as forums for non lap band related issues. Just because this is a lapband site doesnt mean the whole site is dedicated to only talking about lap band. there are plenty of supportive threads u will find.. I for one enjoy chatting with my buds and sometimes not about the band, just having fun. same with posts.. So just dont go to the area u know isnt dedicated to lap band and then you wont get so upset. have a great day

was banded barely below 50 bmi.. now I sit at 37. Still unhealthy but a huge drop im so happy about. I do feel the band has been successful for me in achieving weightloss, healthy eating, and a more healthy me. Some of the medical problems however are not being resolved, which just means they arent related to my weight. But i will be more healthy to deal with them! Ive 67 pounds in almost 4 pounds and feel so much better. This has changed my life and I am forever grateful