chicamam1

I'm at my half way mark!! 70 lbs down, 70 to go!!

nice job!! that is amazing and not much longer ull be at goal!! wohooooo for u.. I as well hit my half way mark and its surreal. Let us keep on being motivated. exercise our azzes off and we are gonna be there by summer!!! im proud of u and keep up the good work

Hello,

I had the lap band surgery 11/26/08 and have lost 10 lbs so far. Is that normal? Should I have lost more by now?

Also, what do you think about eating a Weight Watchers Smart Ones meal? It has Pasta in it, but there are very few low cal frozen dinners that do not have Pasta. Should I avoid these?

This is really up to you.. My personal opinion is this

alot of peeps get stuck on pasta as it expands so not the best food choice although once in awhile is ok. Also for frozen dinners I do not eat them just because the carbs in them are almost always over 50 carbs with sugar and real high sodium. Plus you want to find something that will help you reach your protien intake per day. I think good solution to meals on the run would be to make a huge batch then freeze single servings to take with you to eat. But I do know peeps who eat the frozen dinners, I do not just because the carbs scare me and I have edema so the sodium is a killer.

for me. It was my health. I was borderline diabetic, high blood pressure, major edema in my legs, totally out of shape, could barely walk.. joint pain. I feared if i didnt do something I would of been dead in 5 years because the strain on my body was so bad. I wanted to be able to see my kids grow up and raise them. granted you never know when your time is , but if i can eliminate any risk to that im all for it. I want to become the me I know i am on the inside. the one who plays sports and is competitive and kicks butt and to have my body be capable of what i ask it to do. To be able to go to outings with my kids and not get tired but mostly for me. I just want to be healthy.. I havent been skinny since i was 18 and im 33 now and what a liberating feeling that will be to be able to do things I havent done in so long.

please keep us updated on how things progress. I hope whatever is going on, that its fixed soon. Maybe you only need another fill I dont know but I know you can do this. and everything will be ok ( i hate when people tell me that ) lol

the band can be a strong tool yes.. if you eat solid protien and not slider food. the band will tell you when to stop and you will get sick if you overeat. so in that manner yes it will help. Yes you can eat around it. this is what I have found life changing for me. Instead of eating a whole bag of chips at one sitting I only have like 5.. If i get a small kids hamburger I only eat half. Most the time I eat healthy but I admit im a big red meat lover lol. However.. When you got good restriction it is a great tool and powerful. and it will help you. None of us were successful in the long road which is why we all had surgery in the first place. All I can tell you is I lost 64 pounds in three months, No way I could do that on my own and cut down my portion sizes like I have!!

couple things here.. one the question is. if you dont feel full but were you hungry still? There is a difference. Also if only eaten and walked away and still felt hungry that probably allowed time for the food to pass quickly and you didnt possibly eat enough causing you to get hungry again.. only real way to figure out is to sit down uninterrupted for 20 min to eat a meal

some ideas are solid protien such as chicken, steak, turkey, pork, etc. try to think of anything you would have to chew more frequently insted of per se. egg salad. i hope that helps

after my second fill it brought me to 5.5 cc in my 10 cc band. nothing has come up yet but i do feel super tight. when i drink Water it sits there in my chest and can cause some pain, then will go down. My question is. I need to eat and im hungry but i feel so darn tight. is there a way to loosen it up in the morning so im able to get anything down?

Any ideas? Definitely no wontons :rolleyes2: lol...the menu is extensive, what do you all get?

The chinese items i get are bbq, the fat content is a little high but it offers low carb and protien, Also ask to see if there are any sugar free low carb options. I know a chinese place here offers that and I got the chicken cashew. It was pretty good.

i like the 100 calorie mini bags of popcorn. I havent tried any other of the Snacks

Gosh im sorry for that disheartening news.. There are still some options as far as financing goes if you can get a loan and then make monthly payments. i know one is care credit. Other is to get private insurance if you can, and one that would cover the surgery. Gl and please keep us updated.

i am not but I want to congratulate you on your future banding coming up :biggrin:

this was a great article. there are alot of ideas what good restriction is which i can tell you as confused the heck outta me. right now, the most i can eat is 1/2 cup, but I can eat anything I want. I dont really have an issue with anything going down. This article as helped me as Ive been told because I dont pb, dont have slime, can still eat bread sometimes that im not properly restricted. What this doc would call perfect restriction is where im at now. and im losing 1-2 pounds a week it seems now. Ive only had one fill and had a 4cc fill. I go back in on dec 15th. The band as worked in controlling my hunger and portions are definatly small. I feel better now with where i am at thank you :biggrin:

Good luck with your new job and congrats on moving to Bend. I hope everything works out for you :thumbup: I would recommend finding out what insurance u will have and then u can go to their website to see their medical policies on gastric bypass surgery. Also the employer should be able to give u a book of which procedures would be covered.. That is a place to start anyway.. stay in touch and welcome to bend

hi all.. My name is Tia and i was banded on 9/15 through dr Tersigni.. this has been a wonderful process and things are going well. i have lost 56 pounds and went from a size 24 to 18.. I thought this info may be helpful for people who need to travel to see dr Tersigni, but if you go to coos bay for anything medically related, you can get half off your room at the Red Lion Inn. When i go I pay 63 bucks plus tax for a double queen room and the rooms are nice. Just thought if someone out there could use that information. You do need to ask for the hospital rate and let them know its surgically related.. Im excited to talk with others who have been banded in coosbay as well. !!!

i dont understand that food has to be stuck to be working. I havent really ever got food stuck cept once chicken nugget went down kinda rough. Right now there is no food I have found that gets me stuck. yet I can only eat about 4 oz at a meal to get full, and cept the last two weeks which have slowed down, I have been losin weight pretty consistently. I can eat bread, which i do rarely, but when i do it goes down fine. Some people would tell me Im not at proper restriction but I cant fathom eating less than I am now. Only reason i want another fill is to jumpstart my weight loss again. Maybe im the rare case who is restricted but doesnt get stuck. who knows.. anyway. I see both sides here I really do. Tom, hang in there, Is there a fill center by you? You obviously have done a great job losing 79 pounds. Fantastic. U definatly need a fill, Yes we need to learn to work the band I agree and I think measuring portions is great and a wonderful tool. None of us are in your exact shoes and obviously you dont like the fact u can eat so much and you want restriction. I really think u need a fill. If you are not restricted at all, that makes it tough and IM sorry your doc is not giving u a fill. This is your band that is in your body, and I feel if you need a fill, that is your choice not your surgeons. I would definatly try to eat more fresh foods even if that means cooking on the weekends and freezing and storing. Protien first as you already know. ( ps i eat black pinto Beans i love them ) they break down more slowly since they are complex unlike empty cards. I feel for u Tom, and obviously u want things to change and I hope you get your fill soon and gl with everything.

i did pretty well. I did decide to cook and made a jenni o turkey the ones that can be frozen straight to oven. that was the best bird i ever had, very nice and juicy. I had about 2 oz of turkey. a couple tablespoons of stuffing, and a little bit of mashed taters with a whole wheat roll. after lettin that settle for about two hours. I had a couple bites of banana cream pie. ( that was lunch) for din i had some more turkey and some canned spinach. I feel I did really well as i stopped when i was full I love all the left over turkey i have. love the stuff and its really moist so easy to eat

Ok in the past I have studied the VSG procedure which was my surgery of choice but I am trying to use my insurance and they dont cover the VSG. I am stuck between the lapband and the RNY..I am sooo scared of the lapband...It is because I have heard sooo many stories about slippage, erosion, revisions, failures etc..that I am not sure that I want to go thru all that. My husband doesn't want me to have any WLS but stated that if I just had to have one then he would rather me go thru with the lapband because the RNY is too complicated...I am so terrified about foods getting stuck, terrified of PB-ing and vomiting....Is this normal??:wub:

of course its normal to be scared. I would just do research. There are stories like that yes but same with any surgery one may have. What about all the success stories? I have been banded and chose it because it was less invasive than the other surgeries with still awesome results. but you have to do what you think is best. My husband didnt support nany other surgery besides the lap band because it was fewer risks involved. It definatly has alot of pros. I think anytime you have sucha big decision to make, yes you are going to be scared and concerned. All those things above would happen with rny too. not just lapband. Gl with your decision. and congrats on taking time to care for you.

Hello If anyone has any size 18 clothes, i would be very interested in them and would much appreciated!!! I will be goin back to wrk shortly and all my clothes dont fit me anymore!!!

i have some size 24 and 26 jeans and some dress slacks, along with some nice size 26-28 shirts. Some are very dressy as i wore them to work but very adorable. Most of the shirts are from Lane Bryant. If you are interested please let me know and if you need pics i can sen dthose too. Those clothes are in excellent shape and most of them are almost brand new bought less than 6 months ago.

I was wondering what peoples exeriences have been with spicy foods. I will be having lapband suregery in January. Being Mexican and East Indian, I was raised on spicy foods. I eat everyday soming with either curry or chiles in my food everyday. Am I to give this up for the rest of my life? I already have to give up coffee and my daily ration of diet pepsi......

Thank you.

I have been craving super spicy items. I do think its my bodies way of replacing sweets and bad carbs. anyway. i havent had any issues eating even plain jalepenos. the spicier the better. I have had no band issues because of it. Some docs do have it on the no no list although im not completely sure why as long as its tolerated, it should be fine.

i am self pay to the tune of 12.5k.. i am not willing to screw that kind of money up by performin surgery on myself. ( yes it is considered surgery when something enters the body) i would refuse. i would be too scared to miss my port and not get the fill, screw up my port, tubing and risk havin to pay that much money again. Yes my dr fills are expensive after the third free one but that is why i intend to go to a fill center where the fills are only 165 instead of 300.. ill leave it to the professionals.

i would for sure call your doc and see what they recommend. you should be able to eat high quality protien foods. Maybe an unfill would do the trick for you

i love popcorn. it goes down ok. its a low fat low calorie snack and I love it therefore i do eat it!! its a great snack and somethin i have been craving. i either air pop it or buy the 100 cal snack bags.

Ive been having alot of pain as i said in a previous post regarding my flipped port. lots of pulling, and burning pain. I did everything the nurses told me to the last two weeks and yesterday called to let them know the pain is still there. So they told me, well you need to come in today to see the doc or you wont be able to see him. ( im 5 hours away) sooo my whole family packed up and drove 5 hours to get there for my appt. however. I wasnt seen until 5 minutes before 5. the doc comes in and was very short with me. He felt my port and said yes it is moving everywhere however that is all he offered me. I said well? what are my options? he said take some ibuprofen. which made me so mad because ive been doing that the last two weeks to no avail, ice, heat just like all the nurses told me. I said doc ive been doin all that and nothing is working. SO he sent me over to a diff doc in a diff part of the building who saw me for like 5 minutes and at least wrote me a pain prescription. I am so mad. I drove all that way wait hour and half to see the doc and he treats me like he needs to get me out the door! im seriously considering finding a new surgeon if i can who can help me. Ive heard of so many who had to have revision due to the same problem and Im wonderin why he is not offerin if its causing me so much pain??? I dont think I should have to be in pain and i dont want to revise it unless it has to be but i felt the level of care I recieved yesterday was below par and it really hurt my feelings because i feel like they got their money so now the jokes on me. Oh well. but i just needed to vent.