Joyce Ellis

That's why we all call it the crap band, now. :-)

My lap band slipped and life was miserable. Once they took the Fluid out, I started to gain weight. I had it removed last June and was told I would gain 50 lbs. My surgeon refused to do the revision for one year. When the band came off I became very down. I cried and cried for fear that I would gain weight. Also I was grieving for the tool that I had, because I thought it was a lifelong choice and tool. Initially, I got down to 134 lbs. I gained to 142 when food was getting stuck all the time and it seemed what I could tolerate was higher in calories. Plus, I wasn't vomiting any longer, so more cals were retained and stored. I spent a few days at the beach and that helped. Then, I became empowered and thought I could follow a 1200 calorie diet and not gain a lot of weight. I tried that very faithfully for four months. I actually thought I could lose some weight but that didn't happen. Then, I guess I said, screw it and ate what I wanted. The portions were still smaller than most peoples. Also, I didn't resume foods I couldn't have with the band like rice, Pasta, red meat, etc. At my 6 mo post op I was about 155 lbs. I saw the bariatrician 5 or 6 weeks ago and was asked if I could lose 5-10 lbs before surgery- June 27. I said yes and immediately started a 1200 cal diet. My weight was 173. I followed it faithfully. I wasn't losing. I am only 4ft 10, so my dietician told me to begin a no carb,1000 cal diet. I am shooting for less than 900. I see the surgeon one week from today. I had to buy larger clothes. I hate to shop now. I hate the way I look. I know hate is a strong word, but that is how I feel. I know I can stick with this plan till next Thursday. Thursday night, we are going out for my final meal of choice and a drink. Then, I will do whatever pre op diet he wants until surgery. Sorry to shed a negative light on this journey, but it has been very hard. Feel free to keep in touch with me. My name is Joyce and my e-mail is joy686@aol.com. I wish I had someone to talk to that had been thru what I had. I can say that my surgeon truly had my best interest at heart. He didn't want me to have a revision and be a statistic- not good for him or me. I always said I didn't want to die to be thin. I still have a lot of life to live, but when I was thinner I felt better about life and had a lot more self esteem. I chose to redo the bariatric classes. I felt it could only help. I am so sorry that this happened to you. One girl on obesity help told me right after I had it removed to cry until I couldn't cry any more. I will tell you to do the same. I am so sorry!

Kaiser seems to preach similar information from site to site, but in the long run, I believe each surgeon does what he feels is best. I had a lot of inflammation in my esophagus due to the band slipping one year ago. I was told I would have to wait one full year before a revision could be performed. Outside of a divorce, this has been the toughest year of my life. I have gained weight, and now that I have been on a 1200 cal diet for 5 weeks, I am not losing. I definitely know how to count cals and use MyFitnessPal to log, so I am doing 1000-1200/day. I wish you the best. He didn't make me do the Options class, but I work where there is a large bariatric program, so I took their six months of classes. I figured it could only help. I did all the pre-op labs, EKG, chest x-ray and psych eval. My surgery is June 27 in South Bay. That is 30 miles from my house in the San Fernando Valley. Good luck. I wish they could have removed the band and done the revision at the same time, but it is what it is.

Joyce

A lot of SF products use sugar alcohols to sweeten them. They have 2 cals/gram instead of 4. They all end in OL, i.e.: mannitol, maltitol, sorbitol, etc. It is what is in ex-lax. It causes you to retain a lot of Water in the gut and can cause terrible gas and diarrhea. SF Jello is usually OK as are popsicles. Discuss this with your dietician or MD.