MADE IT 2 MY GOAL..OH YEAH

I was told the same thing. The reason for not drinking right after or while you are eating, is because it the liquid helps to push the food from your pouch faster. so you get hungry sooner than what you would if you didn't drink. It's still hard for me not to drink right after eating. I have found that getting up right after I am finished eating and starting to clean the kitchen helps a lot. By the time I am finished cleaning, it's time for me to drink.

Just wanting to know how my fellow august 08 bandsters are doing? As for myself, just a little update. I was banded on the 18th of august. On the day of surgery: weight: 267 pants size: 26 shirt size: 4XL bra size: 44DDD As of today (June 4th): weight: 185 pants size: 16 shirt size: XL put can squeeze into a large depending on what kind of shirt. bra size: 38D I have had a hard journey but all the tears and pain have been well worth it. I am hoping to be at 175 by my birthday which is 1 month and 13 days. I think I can make it with a little exta work, but if I don't make it, I will be darn close to that mark. I hope everyone else has had as much success as I have or even more success than myself. Reply back and let me know.

OK, I'm GAME SOUND LIKE FUN! My number is 86 86+747 =833

Every morning for breakfast I either have oatmeal or grits. Everyone once in a while, I will have 1 scrambled egg with a side of toast and a couple pieces of bacon. Anyone have any egg reciepes or anything else to suggest I try for breakfast?

Not only was informed by my surgeon that the weight would not fall off in an instant, but I knew it already. I know that I did not gain all this weight overnight so why should I expect it to fall off overnight? I knew it would take a while to come off and I knew it would be hard to get it off and even harder to keep it off. On the 18th I will be 10 months post-op and so far i have lost 85 pounds. I believe everyone reading this will agree with me on saying that gaining weight is a lot easier and faster than losing weight. Of course a lot of us set our expectations way to high, and that (in my opinion) causes depression if they are not met. In my first 2 weeks after post-op, I lost 15 pounds like a lot of others on this site. After that first 2 weeks until like my 4th fill, I lost very slowly. I have my good weeks where I can lose between 5 and 6 pounds, then I have my average weeks that I lose only a couple pounds, then I have those weeks (like 2 or 3 in a roll) where I don't lose anything at all, but I don't gain either. I look at those weeks as like my body is getting caught up with the weight loss. I know I will eventually get to the weight and size I want to be, and if it takes me 3 yrs or just a year and a half, I don't care. I have tunnel vision when it comes to my band and weight loss. I will lose it at the pace I am suppose to lose it, no faster no slower.

I'm right up there with you on being worried about the excess skin. I am only 56 pounds from my goal and only 36 from what my surgeon says he'd like to see me at. I know that I will have excess skin (and although I really really hope that I wont have to) I'll probably have to have some excess skin removed. Right now, I have hi bye arms, you know when you say hi the skin says bye..lol. I have been doing arm exercises but, they aren't seeming to work. Maybe someone out there will have a few tips as of what to do. And as for my belly, well, 9 times out of 10, I'll have to have some removed from there. And my thighs, well, I have been told they are getting smaller, but I don't see a difference in them, maybe I can get some tips on how to make them smaller? All in all, I look at it this way, if I have to have excess skin removed after I am finished losing all this unwanted weight, then so be it. At least I will look good after all the healing.

I can't speak for anyone else, but as for myself, since I have been banded, I don't have diarrhea anymore, I don't have those sudden strong urges to poop but maybe 2 times a month, and I haven't had the pain that I use to have. I'm not actually sure if the band has anything to do with these changes, but maybe it does. All I know is that my IBS is so much more under control since I have had my band. Hopefully your symptoms will improve over time with your band.

I was told right at 4 years ago that I have IBS and was banded in August of 2008. I have noticed that since I got my band, my symptoms have gotten alot better.

WOW! MAN!! Am I the only one that when I eat something spicy I get sick? I can't even eat a taco without it bothering me now. I guess I have to be the black sheep of the banding family huh? OH WELL, I am still loving loving loving my band!!

Everyone is different in how they come out from under. I myself, have never gotten sick (knock on wood).

Wanting to be at 150 to start with, I am only 30 pounds from my goal. I have noticed that while walking past a full lenght mirror I don't tend to shy away anymore. I don't mind looking in the mirror and seeing the person that is standing there staring back at me. I am on vacation right now in Gatlinburg, TN and the first night we were here, we went out to eat. Having to ask for a childs menu I explained to our waitress that i could only eat like a child size portion of food and thats why i was asking for it. After we had ordered our food and she brought us our drinks, she sit down beside me and ask why on earth i had the lapband surgery done that i in no way look like i needed it. With tears in my eyes and a few streaming down my face, I explained to here that only 10 months ago I weighed 267 pounds and sitting in front of here today, she saw a woman that was at 180 pounds. She was flabergasted and just looked at me in AWE!!! All the pain and suffering that i had gone through, I knew at the moment was well worth it!!!

Only thing that i can think of that was funny is when I first went to the seminar for the lapband. This really nice lady was sitting infront of me and my husband. My husband said something (I don't remember what it was now) but apparently it was funny enough to make he laugh so hard she snorted. My hubby thought it was so funny that she did that, that, he kept snorted and everytime he did, shed laugh hard and snort too...it made the whole room including the doctor and his staff laugh really hard.

45..2 pounds is really good. We all loose at different rates, theres ppl out there that has had it done after me, and have lost more than I have. Loosing at different rates is the reason I don't compare my weight loss to the weight loss of others. I have before and the only place it got me was depressed. Keep up the good work girl!!!

Question: sometimes when i eat, I end up with thick, I mean REALLY THCK slimy looking stuff...is this PBing? If not, what is it? I know it is nasty but that about all i know.

UM what is lovenox?

My surgeon said only 3 small meals a day. I have started eating my breakfast and luch together (brunch) around noon. I eat my dinner around 4:30 or 5. Then I eat my last meal around 8 or 8:30. I was told NO Snacks between meals but to be honest, sometimes I feel hunger between my 1st and 2nd meal and at times, I will eat something like a Protein Bar and that helps satisfy me until dinner time rolls around.

What questions have you ask him so far?

My question for today is a pretty simple one so here goes. I was wondering is anyone out there in bandland is having the same problem I am having. My problem: I am barely able to eat anything during the day. I try to eat a really late breakfast at noon. 8 out of 10 times, I can't eat. I can get down a few bites of something like oatmeal or grits but that is all. I start feeling like my food is getting stuck and it makes me feel as if I am about to throw up. So, I stop eating. About half an hour after I stop, I end up hungry again. I hold off until dinner time which is usually around 4 and again, I can take a few bites of food and it feels like it is getting stuck and I am going to throw up so I stop eating. Around half an hour later, I feel hungry again. Most of the time I hold out until around 7 or 8 and try eating either something like cream of chicken or a pack of my 100 calorie cookies or chips. I have noticed that around 8 my band is finally loose enough that I can eat without getting stuck. After I finish my bag of cookies or crackers or cream of chicken, I stay hungry until I go to sleep but I don't act on the hungry. I would love to be able to eat during the day and not have to wait until 8 at night to be able to do so without having the stuck feeling. Anyone else out there have the same problem? If so, what do you do about it?

I am now 9 months and 7 days post-op. I have went from 267 pounds to 191 pounds (as of today), making a total of 76 pounds lost so far. I have went from a size 26 in pants to a size 16 in pants and from a 3X shirt size to a Large or XL (depending on the make of the shirt). I'm just wondering (since I have lost my booklet), how long am I suppose to wait to drink after I have eaten?

Hey there all you fellow banders. My name is Stacy and I'm from Tennessee. My surgeon was Dr. Stephen Boyce out of Knoxville, Tn. I had a wonderful surgeon and all of his staff is amazing. I had my surgery on August 18, 2008. To date I have only lost 13 pounds, but I plan on losing 100 more pounds to get to my first goal of 150 pounds. After I reach that goal, I am hoping to reach my second goal of another 20 pounds to be at 130. :tongue2: I have not always been overweight. As a matter of fact I was under weight until I was 20 yrs. old and had my first child. My OBGYN never once told me I was gaining to much weight and by the time I had her, I had gained 100 pounds. I lost a little bit of weight and become pregnant with my 2nd child. With him, I only gained 40 pounds. I was at my highest weight in 2005 at 300 pounds, my lowest weight since I have become overweight was in 2006 at 218 pounds. I met my 2nd husband in March of 06, got a little to comfy and gained to what my weight on my surgery day was which was 264. I am hoping that with the procedure not only to lose all this additional weight. But to get rid of my back pain and hip pain. To be able to be more active in my kids lives and to have a better marriage and not be so ashamed of my body. Date of Surgery: August 18, 2008 First Fill: September 15, 2008

Well, I guess that leaves me out. I have the realize band. I'm still going to join curves again though.

brand name lap band lap band? What is the brand name lapband? :biggrin:

A LONG LONG time ago, I tried curves. I actually liked it, but the man I was married to didn't like me going, so, I stopped going. I had my sugery August of last year and up until about a month ago, I had been going to a place called Main Street Fittness. I have finally realized that this place is basically just for men who want to work out to get big muscles and for women who want to use a tanning bed. So, I gave up my membership to this place. I just got off the phone with Curves down where I live and I am going to start going there. They are open 6 days a week and for a 3 month membership it is only $100.00. I was paying $35.00 a month where I was going and found myself going less and less cause I didn't like going in when it was filled with nothing but men working out. 3 months at curves, $100.00 vs 3 months at mainstreet at $35.00 a month times 3 months is $105.00. Curves seems like a better choice for me. Not only is it all women but they actually have someone there to help you with the equipment which the other place had only 1 person there and I could never seem to get there while he was there. So, who knows if I was actually ever using the equipment right or not. Curves is a good place to go, so if you are thinking of getting a membership there, go head and do it.

The last thread I posted was titled "How many do you have"? Referring to how many goals you may have with your weight. I said that my first goal was to get down to 200lbs even, no ounces. Well, I have hit that goal. I weight 200lbs and I am so excited. I hope that all of you reach your goals! The chart below starts for my 2nd goal of 150. I have currently lost 67 UNWANTED pounds url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/w678TMh/] [/url]

My birthday is July 17 and I will be more than happy to join you in being 175 by then. I am currently weighing in at 200 pounds and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be 175 by my birthday. Send me a private message if you want.