JENNIFER7375

does anyone else take secret pleasure in being smaller than people who used to talk about how fat you were? i saw my daughters stepmother yesterday for the 1st time in a while. she used to constantly talk bad about me. called me fat to people behind my back all the time always tried to start drama anywhere she could.. well low and behold guess what shes bigger than i am now. she said i looked great only after my daughter pointed out all the weight i'd lost to her. well then to add insult to injury i told her i was cleaning out my closet and that she was more than welcome to my old fat clothes. she looked like she wanted to hit me. now it may have been juvenlle but i dont care. that really made my day. actually it made my week. i know it wasnt nice but damn did it feel good. trust me it was well deserved. just had to share this with my band friends, i know some of you must be able to relate.:blushing:

my stomachs pretty sensitive after a fill as well. if i dont stick to liquids and mushies for several days afterwards i end up PBing everything back up. its different for eveeryone. just depends on how your body reacts. some of us stay swollen for a lot longer than others. i had a fill on monday and im still being pretty careful. the only good thing about it is i usually lose quite a bit that 1st week

if i knew then what i know now, i'd have had my band done a whole lot sooner. i already feel and look so much better. i feel more like the me im supposed to be. corny i know but im already so much happier than i was at 225lbs.

hey ladies! im down to 183. that gives me 4 weeks to get off the last 8 pounds. i think i can do it. not scratch that. i know i can!

The pouch actually can be readjusted after being stretched out. And this comesfrom speaking to people in my local lap band group who have done so with specific diet and fills. And these are people that went completely off plan that I've discussed this with in person. So the adjustability is not simply a marketing farce.

I had the band on 2/24. I chose the band for several reasons. To start off the surgery is a lot less invasive so there's a significantly reduced risk of complications as well as a much shorter recovery time. I also liked the idea of it being adjustable. So if I start to gain back or stretch my pouch it can be adjusted to get me back where I need to be. I personally know of several people who had the sleeve or the bypass that lost dramitcally in the 1st year or so but then gained back significantly. I know of 3 people that gave regained 50+ back after the sleeve or the bypass .I've spoken to a few of them at length and they said that once they started eating poorly they had a really hard time stopping themselves. That once they're stomach started to stretch that eventually they ate like they'd never had surgery. At least with the band you can have your fill level adjusted and get back on track. And I'm not saying that there aren't plenty of people that have failed the band. But at least to me that having the option to go back for adjustments would give me better long term results. But I will also say that anyone that has any of the 3 surgeries without making the mental changes needed to change your relationship with food isn't gonna have much long term success no matter what surgery they have.

Congratulations. I was banded the day before you. I struggled at 1st as well. But what a change it is when you finally get some restriction. You keep thinking WOW am I really that full of that tiny bit of food? Plus for me now that I have restriction I have to stop as soon as I feel full. It's crazy how just 1 or 2 bites too much can take you from being full to being really sorry you didn't stop as soon as your body told you to quit.

I just try to keep my calories around 1000-1200 a day. I don't eat a ton of sweets on a regular basis but if there's something I really want I eat a small amount of it satisfy my craving and let myself be done with it. I thought about doing an atkins type diet with the band. But I didn't for 2 reasons. 1st I have lost pretty well with low carb in the past but have gained it back plus every time. And also one of the main reasons I got the band was to give up the constant dieting. My goal with the band is better food choices and portion control. I've got fairly good restriction so even the times that I have bad carb I can't eat more than a few bites.

I completely feel your pain. I'm a single mother of 3 teenagers. It feels like a fate worse than death some days. My 14 yr old soon is particiularly moody right now. I love them all dearly but there are days I know I must be being punished for whatever terrible things I did to my own mother. LOL. There's nothing like being the lone adult in a house full of raging hormones to make you appreciate your own mom.

I drink wine quite a bit. But I still drink rum & diet coke when I go out. The rum kills a lot of the bubbles. I myself didn't drunk tim I was over a month post op. But being where you are I probably would have done it sooner too.

I'd say let her learn the hard way. When I went for my consult my surgeon made a point of telling me that some people no matter what are just not gonna be successful. They treat WLS as a magic wand that's gonna let them eat whatever they want and become magically skinny. They don't wanna view it as the helpful tool it's supposed to be. One of the reasons I chose the band is because I know of at least 5 people that had bypass lost 100 pounds in the 1st year then put 50 of it back on the 2nd year. The. Funny thing is my best friend had the band 4 months before I did. She and I have similar issues. She's a lot bigger than me but gets mad cuz I'm losing faster than she is. But she also drinks 4-5 nights a week and chips and other slider foods all the time. But every time I try to help her she gets mad. So now unless she asks me about something I just keep my mouth shut. It's hard to watch a friend screw up but sometimes the only way to learn a lesson is the hard way.

I live in Erie and went through Dr. Arreola with hamot barriatrics. I had my surgery 2/24/09. So far I've had 2 fills and lost 40 pounds. I've been very pleased with my doctor and hid staff. My bf friend was banded last October with Dr. Ali in the same practice and she's been happy with them as well. If anyone has any questions just ask .

im planning on going to jamaica in november. i went last year when i weighed 220 and didnt wanna be seen in a bathing suit. i cant wait to go back this year. i feel so much better about myself. thats still close to 6 months away, im at 186 now, i should be really close to goal by then. oh and im getting a tatto in july if i make my birthday goal

julie do not beat yourself up. considering what you've just been through you are doing amazing. considering what you've been through you handled it like a real trooper. stress is gonna cause a lot of us to screw up from time to time. we all do it. now just be done with it. and to be honest when i have a serious craving for something i eat it. i just have a half slice of pizza instead of half the pizza. im in charge of the food now instead of it being in charge of me. and of course my prayers got to you and your family. hopefully your nephew will recover and the monsters responsible get what they deserve!

i've had 2 fills so far. i'm up to 4ccs in a 10cc band. ive got pretty good restriction right now. if im not at my sweet spot im pretty close. i used to throw up and PB alot but that was mainly my own fault. the small bite thing was something im still mastering, but getting a whole lot better at. i've got a fill scheduled on june 1st. just not sure if i should go or not. my doctors office is pretty busy and i've got a vacation coming up that im afraid of being to tight and sick for it. so if i dont' go now im not gonna go until after my vacations over which takes me almost the middle of july before i could go back. so what do i do? do i reschedule? do i go and have them do just .5 or .25 and hope it dosent make me too tight? i dont wanna cancel then feel too lose a week later. any advice would be greatly appreiated.:thumbup:

jacks it sounds like your doing great. from an 22-18 is amazing and even if its not as many pounds as you would like i bet its a whole lot of inches! everyone seems to be doing really well. im close to my sweet spot, but even at my most unrestricted i was never able to get in more than 1200 calories a day on a regular basis. keep up all the good work guys. i cant wit to see how great we all look a year out!

hey all you february 09 banders. hows everone doing so far? how many fills have you guys had? anybody else hit there sweet spot yet? i think i might have gotten lucky and either found or gotten close to it on my last fill. (only my 2nd one!!) hope you guys are all doing great.

I got a response from highmark in a little under 2 weeks. I'd give your doctors office a call tomorrow if you don't here from them by the end of today.

bandana all I can say is I'm here for you. I know that awful feeling well myself. Just know you're not alone and were here for you when you need us. I'm up all night every night so if you need someone to talk to when you feel like bingeing Id be more than happy to help. Send me a private message and we can exchange emails or phone numbers if you want. And you just hit your smallest size in years so you must not be doing too bad. Don't be so hard on yourself that you depress yourself into eating even more.

thanks steph, getting below 200 hundred was a big motivator for me. next is getting to 175 before my birthday in 6 weeks! wish me luck

im pretty curvy, and im happy to report that the curves are staying, just shrinking in relation to the rest of me. i just make sure i do alot of exercise so my curves dont turn into sag as i shrink

you are definitely not alone, i do the same thing, you go up and down by a few pounds til you finally stick to the lower number. then it starts all over i do this with every few pounds i lose. its especially irritating when you know theres no way you've eating anywhere near enough to gain. and jaqui as usual you are right, it dosent really bug me as long as i dont go up a number bracket. now that im in the 180s im gonna stay here. thats of course until i start the same game in the 170's. cant wait for that to start

i made the decision and did all my own research. but the PA in my doctors office was very helpful for me once i made the decision. my insurance paid for most of mine thank goodness. and our guidelines werent as strict for doctor visits. i needed 6 visits to my PCP like most other people but mine were collective visits over the last 2yrs as opposed to 6 consecutive months of visits. so any visit id discussed my weight in the previous 2 yrs counted toward my 6. the PA was very helpful in pulling my old records and filling out all my monthly visit forms

i got sick a few weeks ago and had almost the same thing happen. i was reslly congested same as you are. i tried the mucinex and it helped.but id also thrown up so much i was swollen so i had to do liquids for a day or so to let my stomach rest. between the 2 things got much better for me. make sure you buy plenty of mucinex cuz the congestion from being ssick can last quite a bit longer than the time you actually fewll sick. i got sick amost 2 weeks ago and im still congested . oh and mucinex is pretty expensivw but the generics are alot cheaper than the name brand and they work every bit as well. hope you feel better soon

I eat a fiber one granola bar every day and usually chew 2 of the fiber choice pills every day. the granola bars taste really good. this combinattion seems to work for me. and im someone that very rarely had problems with constipation before my surgery but definitely need a little help now. i dont have tooo many problems wth excess gas, but i generally keep some gas-x in my purse at all times in case i need it.