LittleOleMeinFL

Wishing you the best of luck. I had my band removed 1 month ago due to slippage. What matters is your health. Just make a plan to stay healthy. I joined WW, started an appetite suppresant and started working out with a trainer. Let us know how you are!

Thanks for your replies. Sorry I have not responded sooner- I was out of the country for two weeks. I am thankful to say- at one month after surgery I am down 5 lbs! In that time I went on a cruise! I only ate in the dining room (no buffets) and I ordered the low calorie option 90% of the time). I am also on an appetite suppresant and I joined WW (to get weighed weekly). I think this will be an uphill battle, but I do not want to gain back 97 lbs! Young at heart, did you have your band out?

I had my Realize band for 2 years, lost close to 100 lbs and was doing great. A few months ago I started having severe issues with reflux. I had unfill after unfill and remained "tight". It progressed to one weekend I was unable to swallow anything and was vomiting continuously. After a complete UNFILL, several days of IV cortisone and nothing by mouth- the swelling still would not go down and I was forced to have an emergency removal. I NEVER thought I was lose my band. Would like to hear from others- how are you doing since removal? weight? Other surgeries? Or decided not to do surgery?

I just had to have my band out due to the same thing you did... stomach herniating up and out of band. I am only 2 weeks out.

Thanks! It's been slow this last year- but I haven't gained and that's all that matters to me. I still have 50 to lose. If you look for Indiogirl55, you will see the thread we are on now. It's under mentor, "I'm here to help"

Linda, Hope you have a nice bday celebration! The cake sounds yummy. Yes, you guessed correctly- my sister stayed home. They wanted her to take care of the cats and mom had a new dishwasher being delivered. She also started a 6 hr/week job. Yes, you heard me right- 6 hrs. OMW. She is a licensed insurance agent, believe it or not- the guy who hired her is cheap, owns his own agency, and wants to pick and chose WHEN she comes in for those 6 hours! I can't believe she accepted such an offer. But I guess she can say she is "working" now. (doesn't sound as bad to be a free loader at 50, living at home). I really get so frustrated with her. But then a small part of me is glad she is there for my parents- at any capacity. I agree with most- like the new thread. : ) Yes, DH got done in about 1.5 hrs and even took Nels to a movie! I am cooking cabbage stew, doing laundry and cleaning house- so much for my "free time". LOL. I am feeling punky today. TOM surprised me for a visit, a week earlier than expected! TMI I know. Just feeling bloated and PMSy. So glad I didn't get that fill the other day now. There's always next week. Laura

Let me know which thread we are sticking to! LOL. Here is my post from the old one... Hey everyone! Sorry I have been remiss in posting. Just so darn busy! Sometimes life gets in the way of LBT. ; ) Well, and sometimes LBT gets in the way of LBT! (Apology accepted by the admin. So much better to hear them admit their faults then try and hide them!) : ) My parents left Friday around noon. It was sooooooooo sad saying goodbye. I stood their watching them take off with tears strolling down my face. One of the airport workers (who has known my dad for 15 years) came and just hugged me. It was really sweet. My Dad has a really positive outlook (even though his dr is cautiously optimistic) My mom is worried but hides it mostly. They really enjoyed the week here- it was warm, pool was heated and we swam almost every day. It was so nice that they came to school with me to Celebrate Nels' birthday with his class. Memories. I can honestly say that growing up I don't think my dad ever came to my school ONCE, ever. He was so busy working (owned his own company which was a textile mill that worked all 3 shifts- so he was always there checking on things). It's just the way it was. Just cherished the whole week. Saturday was baseball game for Nels. Then came home, cooked dinner and then went for a bike ride with Nels. Today DH is on call- had to go in to do a hip replacement. Not sure why that is scheduled as emergency on a Sunday morning! Again, gotta roll with the punches. I am so behind on posts. I will comment to the last couple pages. Sorry if I missed something. Lori~ CONGRATS on becoming a Grandma!!! I saw the pic on FB! What a cutie! I can't believe how big she is! (and how worried we were she would come so early). Hope your DD is doing ok. How is she after the fall? What about GB? How long will you stay there? Enjoy every moment! Soak up those baby smells and grunting sounds! Cheri~ OMG. I am so so sorry to hear about your daughter! Just terrible news. It sounds like she can be a fighter when she wants to be and I am praying she finds all the strength. One thing you have to tell her is that oncologists in general are very cautious about their optimism, even when there is nothing to worry about. Only way I can describe it is they would rather you be prepared for the worst and surprised and thankful if it is good. Everyone in the medical field likes to focus on all the risks, not the benefits. (and I know b/c I have to do it too). I will keep you guys in my prayers. Phyl~ I hope you get the appts lined up with your drs. Sometimes pending the medical clearance, they will hold a surgical date for you. Just really explain the timeline you have (sometimes talking to the office manager helps). Yes, it seems that you have been watching what this knee will do for long enough. That is an a-ha moment when you did the walk last year- and had to ride this year. hugs. Janet~ hey you! How's the 5 day shopping thing working for ya? LMAO. BTW, you can't start a 5 day and say except for...blah blah blah bras. That's like me saying, I will do the 5 day pouch test, except for the ENTIRE cheesecake I will eat for dinner on day 3. LOL. Apples~ Glad you made it home safely. : ) How did the birthday dinner go?! Tell DS happy birthday!!! Have you unpacked and settled back to the cold? If you need anymore sunshine breaks- come to FL!!! Eva~ Did you survive your speech in Spanish? You are one busy gal with work and school and yard and such! Julie~ I missed the low HGB comment. Hope you are ok. What's going on? Mere~ Congrats on the nephew! Saw his photo on FB, what an adorable baby! So you did the 5DPT? You are still unfilled, right? I desperately want to start filling back (I have only like 4cc in). Yesterday I was able to eat a slice of thin crust pizza (from real pizza place made super thin) at lunch time. Even with my unfill, I haven't been able to eat pizza crust. Is ur dr going to repeat the xray- or see how you do? OK guys, gotta get going. This post took longer than I thought. : ) I will CBL.........peasout..Laura

Down 59 lbs since surgery on March 2, 2009! 69 down since Feb 1 when I scheduled the surgery! Feeling soooo much better! Half way to goal! I gave myself a very conservative goal- but I have a feeling I will pass it! Good job everyone!!! Keep up the good work!

Hi guys~ Long time no see. It's great to hear how wonderful some of you guys are doing! Good job! It's been slow and steady for me. This last two weeks in particular were tough for me. I found out that if I do NOT document what I eat, then I definitely eat too many calories. Plain and simple. I am strict with working out. Minimum 3 times a week weights and 4 times a week cardio. I am not someone who ever LOVED exercise. So I guess I need to just learn to live with it. : ) My biggest fear is a port complication. My last fill he had a heck of a time still finding it. My surgeon said it is still firmly in place, but just that it settled closer to my belly button than usual. Peace to everyone! Laura

Hi guys~ Wow, it sounds like everyone is doing great! I know we are all stuck on numbers, I am guilty too. I am also finding out from successful bandsters not to weigh EVERY single day. The other key seems to be keeping a food diary. (I am using the program that came with my Realize band) although you can use dailyplate..etc. The other things is exercise!!!!!! I hired a trainer just to have another reason to be accountable! She weighs me once a week. I KNOW how to work out.. but she is able to push me to do things that I wouldn't do by myself (like lunges and weird core workouts). I don't do "machines" when I work out with her... I can do those on my own. Whenever you get frustrated look at some before and after pics of success stories! That always motivates me! Also, I love the OH magazine. (Obesity Help). Support groups!!! I can't say enough!!! they help. And always remember your doctor and his office work for YOU! Not the other way around. Make them listen to you. 3-11-09 292lb 3-30-09 279 4-7-09 1st fill(3cc): 279lb 4-16-09 2nd fill (1cc): 272lb 4-30-09 3rd fill (1.5cc) 266 5-24-09 259 5-14-09 4th fill (1cc) 260 5-14-09 unfill!!! (0.5cc) 260

BMIS~ What is your first name? I keep wanting to call you a shorter name but don't want to call you "Big Momma". : ) It sounds like you DO have some restriction! See, I was the opposite, although I ate what I was supposed to (choices/quantity and calories) I was constantly hungry before my fills. I existed on will power alone. Now that I have had two fills, I CAN tell some difference. It is not where it needs to be and I hope this next one is THE ONE. I have such fear of screwing my band up that it keeps me from overdoing it. I wonder how much he will put in Thurs? I have 4cc so far. Will let all of you know. My son has strep throat... fever 103-104 x 2 days... and wants NOTHING to eat. I am having to try and force fluids. He didn't even want his usual applejuice. Refuses gatorade and will only have water or sprite. He even refused Häagen-Dazs vanilla icecream! That is always my tester to see if he is really sick. What kid refuses that?! I haven't had a good night sleep in 5 days. (Hubby was on call fri/sat/sun) and then a sickie with fever. I haven't been able to exercise either. He can't go to school tom. either... so one more day. He HAS to go Thurs, because I don't think I can take him to my fill!!! I have no family in this state. It's tough. I just heard from my older sister, who is 48 and lives in NC. She just got approval for her roux-en-y! They have scheduled her for June 2. I am so happy for her. Although this whole WLS thing was originally HER idea, because I had an exemption with my insurance and had to pay cash... mine went VERY easy and fast. Meanwhile she was jumping through hoops and doing the waiting game. I think I added insult to injury as I was losing and she wasn't. It didn't matter that I told her she will FLY past me with weight loss. I mentioned it before, but I also have a lot of guilt. Because of my "band hell" the first 6 weeks, it really convinced her that the band was NOT for her. She does not have the support system I have. She is single, just got laid off and is living with my folks, had to foreclose on her house & unsure of the future. Thank God she was able to Cobra her insurance and give them one last jab with getting the surgery after they laid her off after YEARS of loyalty! I just pray that she does ok. The complications of roux-en-y scare me to death. But, I agree with her, that I don't know if she could handle the amount of work the band requires. I think she has had so much in her life that didn't work out... that the thought of failing at just one more thing was just too much. LOL... I went to the grocery store this afternoon and the manager said "we don't see you much anymore"! That's pretty funny when the grocery store misses you! I've been mainly using fresh produce stands and my own vegetable garden and then stocking up on protein stuff every two weeks. No need for fresh bread and baked goods! I fired my internist today. Since my surgery on March 2, I have been calling to get an appointment to see him. They keep telling me no openings for 3 weeks! My surgeon told me I could probably go off my BP med and to see my dr. My internist told his nurse to tell me to stop it on my own and then come in for BP check in a month! I have been feeling a bit dizzy some days and just wanted to have him see me and check some labs. They said they were too booked! My surgeon referred me to an internist that sees a lot of bariatric and WLS patients, and they got me in immediately! It's the next town south... in Jupiter Beach. But it's ok.. that's where I go for fills and f/u. The doc here is such an A$$! I am a nurse practitioner and worked for the same hospital he does, and my husband works there was well as an MD. Forget professional courtesy! No courtesy whatsoever! Good riddance! Ok guys... more soon! Keep on keeping on... and being strong! : ) peas out~ Laura

Big Momma Shrinking~ You are so motivating. I love your posts to other. You are doing awesome, IMHO. I think everyone has been busy exercising this weekend! haha. It's been very quiet on all the threads I read. I had an ok weekend hanging out with my 5 year old son. Went to a school picnic with LOADS of no no foods. I had 2 chips, an ounce of hummus (which I made), some fruit salad and one bite of hamburger. I was super proud of myself. Today I took my son to the movies. The new rated G, EARTH movie scared the Shi! out of him. It's all about the "cycle of life". I realized that although I was in the Peace Corps and saw animals eating animals... that he has never seen or understood it all. They showed a baby elephant getting attacked by a lion. We had to leave. He was in tears. (and he's a pretty tough kid). I didn't touch the popcorn (scared to death to get that stuck). I ate a protein bar and a water. I am so hungry now though. This is my first weekend since my surgery that my husband was on call for 3 days straight (he's a physician) and I had my son alone. It wasn't as bad as I imagined. Last night I even ordered him pizza, as we were exhausted... ordered a small cheese. But still tipped my old pizza guy $5, who knew me well for many years, LOL! He said, we've missed you... and then he noticed that I had lost weight. That's pretty funny when your pizza man notices your weight loss! Confession: I ate half a piece of pizza. My next fill (#3) is Thursday. I can't wait! I am hoping to be closer to my sweet spot. I feel my will power slipping. Didn't exercise since Friday either. Tomorrow is a new day! Hope everyone is ok. peas out~ Laura

Hi everyone~ Thanks mommashrink for the link. : ) Welcome to some new faces. I haven't been online much lately. Too busy finally putting myself on the list! And then being a mom and a wife.... I swear, eating healthy (shopping for everything, cooking healthy, etc...) and exercising is a FULL TIME job! I sometimes find myself slumping back into my old habit of being too tired too exercise, etc... and so I hired a really MEAN trainer at the YMCA! (She's not really mean... just makes me do things that my body doesn't like doing.. like lunges and squats). She is weighing me weekly, just to have one more check and balance in place. The first week we scheduled 3 x and this week, 2x. I might stick to that. The other days I can do something. This week again was really frustrating to me. Although I ate no more than 900 calories a day and exercised 5 times in 7 days... I only lost one pound! It just makes me so mad that the weight isn't MELTING off like on the Biggest Loser! There have been some dangerous stuff in the house that my 5 year old begged me for at the grocery store the other day. (note to self... do not bring Nelson shopping again). I have yogurt covered pretzels (190 cal for 7 tiny pretzels!) and Entemann's Chocolate Covered donuts (300 whopping cal/each). I did have 3 pretzels... then looked at the calories and closed the box. (these are sold in the PRODUCE section!!!) IT should be outlawed. I sometimes have Mom guilt though. My son is adopted and does NOT have our genetics and is tall and thin and a VERY picky eater. He will skip breakfast and lunch altogether if I don't insist on him eating something before school. I don't want to make him a member of the clean plate club like I was as a kid... but then he has to eat. And I prefer he eat his lean meat and veggies and THEN if he wants a treat he can have one. I have started just letting him not eat when he is obviously not hungry (especially on weekends). I think that is one of my biggest problems is that I never knew when I was truly hungry because we always ate on a schedule and because there were starving children in Africa! Yet, the nurse in me wants him to have enough nutrition for his brain to grow, etc. So many people say, he will eat when he is hungry. The thing is, he rarely wants to eat and then he wants goldfish only! I am sure the flip side to the coin would break my heart to have a chubby kid who I couldn't get to stop eating (like my mom had with me). I will tell you guys this... at night... when I get hungry and find myself in the pantry, the first thing I do is feed the cat a treat or two! Then go back to doing whatever I was doing. LOL. He is getting bigger, but I stopped snacking. ; ) Fill #3 is next Thursday! I wonder how much he will put in. I still don't feel any restriction really. However, twice while I was eating fast and didn't chew, I got the "iron fist" feeling. I stopped.. took some deep breaths and it passed after a minute or so. I have not had any of the saliva pouring or hiccups or anything like that. Each of those times I had taken a big bite and didn't chew enough. I know this sounds nuts, but I almost don't want to tell my dr (even though I will) for fear it will make him put less of a fill in! I of course don't want TOO MUCH! But I am tired of going in for a fill and not having ENOUGH! Hope everyone is hanging in there! peasout~ Laura

Hi all!~ Thanks to everyone for the congrats... Big Momma Shrinking, teachergirl,texasgal09, etc.. I am also so proud of everyone! Candice1205~ way to go girl! That is so great! Mom2six~ (I can't believe you have 6 kids... that alone is an amazing accomplishment! Hang in there!) Snereb27~ yes, it is tough. I have had two fills and I still fight hunger every day. It's worse at some times of the day (like night). I have some really dense protein bars from my dr's office that I cut into little pieces 1 bar/ 10 pieces. They require me to either really chew the heck out of them or suck on them. I usually find that I will do 3-4 pieces and then I am ok. At least they have protein in them and I don't feel bad. My new stand by is the OIKOS brand of greek fat free yogurt. They have the individual ones. They are 5.3 oz... 90 cal and 15 g of protein. I like to put splenda and cinnamon on it and they are really creamy and satisfying. They have coupons too. Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt: Coupons From what I have read it seems the average # of fills before people feel real restriction is 3 (at least for the Realize band). After each fill, I find if I eat something really solid, like filet mignon steak... and sweet potato or butternut squash, that I do feel somewhat "full" for a few hours. If I eat any slider type food, then I don't feel any fullness. In the afternoon I make my protein supplement... I use the light soy milk (50cal/cup), a 20g protein powder/scoop (like unjury), 1/2 banana, 4 frozen peach slices, and 1/4 cup of blueberries, and I add some SF Divinci syrup and throw it in the magic bullet. This is what carries me from lunch to dinner. Either that shake or a Muscle Milk Light in the bottle pre-mixed. (160 cal, 20g of protein) They sell those at Publix (my local grocery store) and I love them. This week my parents flew down from NC to visit us. (me, hubby and my 5 year old son, Nelson). They are so supportive of my band and new healthy lifestyle. They actually ate exactly what I ate tonight, just a bit more. My mom is a retired nurse and is so helpful with all this. She went with me to my fill and to my support group. I am so blessed! BTW, do you guys have support groups through your surgeon's office/hospital? I have found the two meetings I have gone to SOOOOOOOOOO helpful. It's so motivating to see those that have gone before you. There was a gal there that had her band a year and a half ago and has lost 150lbs! I stared at her almost the whole meeting! She looked awesome. There were also bypass patients there. I highly recommend a group meeting though. ok guys. Keep strong this weekend! peas out~ Laura

Hi Y'all~ Wheewwwwwwwwww! OK... I survived Fill #2! I was able to bump up my fill by 4 days because I was convinced my seroma had gotten bigger & I was having pain and couldn't lie on my stomach. In reality it was more an illusion... my abdomen had gotten smaller and thus the seroma SEEMED bigger, but in fact it was smaller. This time he only was able to drain 35cc of serous fluid (it was a bit blood tinged but ZERO signs of infection). I immediately felt better. Then he put only 1cc more in my band. I was praying for some restriction or a trickle feeling with the H20. Nothing. But that's ok. He said that usually it is fill #3 before we feel much. But he says tomorrow when I can eat solids I should feel some. So now the two week wait for fill #3. I am down 30 lbs in 44 days! He reminded me AGAIN... NOT to expect this every week or month. And that the plateau I had two weeks ago, where I actually gained 2 and then took two weeks to get back down, might happen again. Mon I was 276 and today 272. I am just about to PMS... so I am bracing myself. He also told me to not concentrate too much on calories.... but to limit myself to the 1/2c each meal with a protein supplement in betweeen. He said if I make "healthy choices" I should be ok. The thing is... If I don't keep track of calories and protein and fat... then I do go over. I guess that is the ultimate goal... once we get to our "sweet spot" then we won't have to fret as much because our bodies will tell us when we have had enough. :sneaky: I wore a pair of pants today that I haven't worn in over a year and a half! I remember the day I bought these over priced designer things. I remember even more clear the day these pants didn't fit... and how shitty I felt. Today was a good day. peas out~ Laura