mattie7632

That's a tough one. We all lose weight at different rates. If it were me, I'd just start at assuming you will lose maybe 5-8 lbs a month. That would put your goal at around 10 months. It looks like many people on this site lost their first 75-100 lbs in the first year. That sounds like a big first goal, you might get frustrated if you don't lose fast enough. Personally, as long as the scale is going DOWN I am happy. I'm one of those people that doesn't stick to a "diet" so well so I just make good choices when all possible and weigh myself often. If the scale stops moving then I re-evaluate what I am doing and make diet modifications. Don't worry, you will do great. Also, you are male so you guys lose weight so much quicker than us girls normally

I was approved and had the surgery a week later. But of course, there are a lot of variables in scheduling. Once ALL the requirements are met (ie approval, diets, evals and pre op testing) I think the next step is setting up the actual surgery.

LOL! Funny......oh well, pick our poison, right? !!!

It is criminal and this BS happens ALL the time, regularly. Insurance cuts doctors fees so they don't get paid ENOUGH by many carriers, so the doctor has to have a higher fee for insurance companies that will pay fairly, and cash patients, to carry the business. Also, insurance will cut doctor rates every year if the geographic average fee is not high enough, so doctors fees MUST be high just to avoid insurance from cutting their fees even more!!! No doctor could survive if all carriers cut rates this much, or down to Medicare rates, for example. Twisted, yes. Legal? Apparently. Welcome to National Healthcare. If it continues, you won't be able to find a good doctor working for this kind of pay in 10 years. If insurance would just f'ing pay a percent of a REASONABLE rate these games wouldn't happen. But they won't, profits are more important. However, with that said, $66,000 does sound high. But depending on your state, county, etc. it could be right. I would ask to see the itemization to see if something looks like an error.

I had my 2nd fill yesterday, now I have a total of 2.6 cc. I only had one cc before but I actually did have some restriction. I am anxious to see how much more restricted I will be in the few weeks to come It's awesome to start feeling the band working isn't it?

Now all you have to do is be careful.......because this site is addicting!

Health Care "professional" ?....don't get me started......LOL Ever heard of the 80/20 rule? Something like the 80/20 percentage ratio can apply to almost everything in life. For example: 80% of the papers on my desk are not that important, 20% are. 80% of the stuff in my house is not needed or clutter, 20% is of value or needed. 80% of employees are average or below average, 20% are awesome, and so on and so on. Now, if this principal applies to most areas of life, then it stands to reason that 80% of doctors are idiots, inexperienced, and/or jerks and 20% are awesome. That's my rocket science for the day

I don't usually have a problem. But I eat oatmeal most mornings for breakfast and protein the rest of the day..... (usually)

Wow that's amazing weight loss so far! I'm not really a fast loser, but a lot of my problem also was just over-eating. Since choosing healthy foods wasn't that hard anyway, now that portions are under control it makes for good changes in eating habits

Yep, the EXACT same thing happened to me. Just had my 2nd fill and found out my first fill only had ONE CC, yet it still really gave me results especially after a few weeks it really kicked in or something.

UHHHH.........well I'm not the doctor but.....assuming we're talking the BAND here....I had Cookies the other night.......I have overeaten. It doesn't feel great to overeat I'll tell you that, and it's certainly not recommended to overeat as you could cause band slippage or something.....but sounds kind of exaggerated to me....Let's see what the others think

I burp if I eat too fast or if I'm about to lose it from getting "stuck"!!!

I'm supposed to get my 2nd fill tomorrow morning....and I'm not sure if I should! I'm eating such reasonable portions with little problem right now that I'm almost afraid to. But I'm so curious to know if this fill will be just perfect...or if where I'm at today IS perfect! Guess I'm gonna find out.......

I can't complain. I got the lapband, I make an effort to keep more Protein in the house and eat that as much as possible.....and well, honestly I haven't worked much harder than that. It's really been easy so far. I know I could lose more weight faster if I remembered to drink my Water and exercised more, but I gotta honestly say I'm losing weight without really working too hard at it. What about you guys? Honestly Now, is it pretty easy for most of you, or is it a real struggle still to eat right and less?

Thanks gals for the idea of meatballs! I'm cooking me up some now!

It's not nonsense. Many people on this board talk of their "sweet spot" and it's perfectly reasonable to expect to get there yourself. Afterall that's why we all got the band, right?

The "girls" can weigh a possible excess of 1-2 pounds each, for example, if cup size is around D/DD so use that as a ballpark if trying to guess how much you stand to lose in the chest

If the standard deduction is higher than your medical expenses, you won't get anymore credit for the medical deduction because it works out so you don't get BOTH, but it's certainly worth comparing which deduction is highest when you do your taxes--

Great idea, I donate a lot to them but don't usually shop there, will check it out

Finally, a difference in more than just the scale. My 18W's got too big but I could fit into regular 18's which are now too big also, so I had to go buy a size 16 jeans Yippee. Still not a size to be proud of, but now I don't have to shop in the fat lady section anymore

I eat hamburger a lot. I just buy lean ground beef or ground turkey. BTW, ground turkey is not necessarily any better than lean beef, you have to compare the calories and nutrition. I don't eat the BUN all the time, but burger is no problem

Yeah, I agree. Most of the time just satisfying true hunger is enough. I've passed up cheesecake in the fridge for a week now...and I LOVE cheesecake. I probably need to throw it away now.....Now bandsters tell me...before banded, did your favorite desert EVER sit in the fridge until it was too old, just to be thrown away???

Yeah I know what you mean about the chocolate cake, but really it is easier to make better choices now. While you read a lot of bad stuff on the forums, and you will undoubtedly have bad days or stages, even when I cheat and eat "too much" of bad choices, I still can't eat as much as before

I want whoever is preparing these meals to come to my house!

That is absolutely correct. I won't say it hasn't happen since being banded, but what you explained below is now a rare occurrence. I simply CANNOT eat that much, even with a mere fill of 2 cc's. It's odd, but what they tell you about Protein is exactly right. If I CHOOSE to have a piece of chicken, I will get full pretty quickly and not even think about gorging or wanting that donut. But if I helped myself to a plate of Pasta....well you can forget it, I'd be jonesing for the donut too. Don't get me wrong, I CAN cheat, and I CAN eat too much if I really want to. But stick to protein most of the time and that, at least for me, is the key