catfish87

I started "running" in July of 2013, after cycling almost exclusively for my exercise. I read and read from folks on this site and others " go to a running store and get the proper shoes", have an expert evaluate your stride/heel strike, etc and "get the proper shoes" for you! So what did I do, just the opposite.....went to a big name shoe store, and listened to the first salesperson who came by that said "oh, these are really popular shoes, lots of folks buy these to run in". They looked ok, felt ok in the store, the name on the side was very popular, and the reviews were good..... For the first couple hundred miles, all was well. I then began to have knee pain that would NOT go away. It was on the outside of the knee, right knee to be specific. After some reading, I knew what I had was I.T. band pain. Found some stretching exercises that helped somewhat....AND finally went to a running store. Talked with a true expert in running. Multi-marathon runner OWNS the store. Told her my symptoms and she put me on the treadmill, evaluated my "stride", even video taped it. Then we talked and she suggested a different shoe. She warned me to break them ( or really my calf muscles ) slowly. This time I listened. I haven't had even the slightest bit of knee pain since. YMMV, but I think I've found the shoes for me. Newton Sir Isaac's http://www.zappos.com/newton-running-isaac-red-black?ef_id=UtbI6AAAAMkSao5Y:20140115174408:s

Congrats on your loss and being off to what sounds like a great start. It's not uncommon to still hear of people having thier fills done blindly or via the "can Water go thru" method. Unfortunate, but not uncommon. As far as you not having any issues with PB'ing or sliming..., enjoy! You may be eating correctly, nice and slow, chewing well. It's not necessary to have those issues to be successful. Just for some, like me, it's a reminder to take care/eat slower/chew better.

Maybe a new pair of walking/running shoes, new workout clothes, entry fee to a charitable 5k walk/run. These are a couple of suggestions that just further promote your new healthier lifestyle....and what an great alternative to gift cards to resturants....Congrats!

Happy Bandiversary and Congratulations! Wishing you much continued success.

Hi Niki, I'll pass along what works for me... I am a BAND patient, so our ablility to "eat" the same things may vary. That being said, when I ride, if its gonna be 90 minutes or less, I dont need to eat anything more than say a half cup of oatmeal, or a half tube of "New whey liquid protein" prior to riding. If I I'm going longer than that, I'll carry a "Clif" brand bar or "GU energy gel" with me and have one at 60 minutes and about every 45 minutes. If I don't, at about 2 hours, I'm exhausted and it's too late to catch up for me. The difference between 90 minutes and 150 minutes is HUGE for me... I rode a century ( 6 hours riding ) in June with nothing more than Clif bars and G2/Powerade Zero....and felt great at the end. Although I did have some deep fried oreos the night before. And I also do not believe in any "starvation mode" for us with significant body fat reserves. Didn't work that way for me.

WTG B-52! Thanks for continuing to post your positive experience and story. Congratulations on your health and best wishes for continued happiness.

"wine and protein mix"...bandster staples! See you soon my friend!

Congrats and continued success Terry!

Coming from the worlds slowest loser... Bandista, Welcome to your bandster hell, my friend...you have arrived just about as scheduled. You have been on here cheering/encouraging folks since day one. Always supportive with your "yippies"!, etc. Now its your turn to give yourself that same encouragement and support. And you know from reading, bandster hell is REAL for lots of us. Some of us are in it for a long time....too long IMO. For me, that desire and willpower of dieting, following some portion size requirements, only eating when you're truly hungry, etc, only last for so long. ( Hence we needed this surgery in the first place ) At some point, the band has to do something different for us....AND IT WILL. Until then, avoid the discouragment at all costs. Don't skip even one Dr. appt. ( I didn't go for almost a year ) Don't allow yourself to even consider "the band won't work" and you'll be stuck here forever. It will work, you just gotta get there. Unfortunately, I speak from experience when I say....NEVER, EVER give up. I almost did. This little attachment shows the reason. Copied and pasted from my surgeons notes.

TMF, I'm guessing this is the band with plication. It's called iLap in some situations.... http://drsimpson.net/Gastric-Plication-weight-loss-surgery/iLap-surgery/iLap-surgery-new-hope/iLap-surgery-new-hope.html

You aren't alone... I still wanna eat because it's dinner time, because everyone else around is eating, because i'm sitting down watching tv, because, because, because. Even if I know i'm not really hungry. Its more of a social thing I think for me. At least now, it's a lot less volume....a LOT less.

I wouldn't say it's exactly normal...but certainly not unheard of. Lots of posts have discussed it over the years.

Fantastic news!!!! So glad everything went well for you. Another great testimony as to what fluoro can SHOW. Congrats!

Congrats GoWalking! And a very good point about the long term view of this. Much continued success to you, and Happy New Year!

Looking at what you wrote, I say no worries! Your surgeon has quite a bit of experience, several members on here she has done. You say you don't have any symptoms of problems.....don't get worked up over it. LOTS of people on here you'll read or hear about their doctors didn't know which band they were gonna use until they acutally got in there and looked things over. Not that uncommon at all. Should the surgical notes have been better......YES. But the notes aren't whats gonna make you successful with this. As a question...what is a "tilted" band actually? Did you see it on the fluoroscopy? My band is at an angle....as are almost every one I've ever seen....and I don't have any problems either. 4+ years post op. Heres what mine looks like. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/168149-heres-what-my-restriction-level-looks-like/

I don't drink soda's, but carbonation isn't an issue for me. I'm 4+ years post op. I never understood how tiny little carbon dioxide bubbles could cause so much difference of opinion in the lapband expert ( I'm talking expert SURGEONS ) community. But it certainly does! Talk with your surgeon about it, if thats the reason you aren't drinking your cokes. A lot of the "rules" are ever changing and they may not chastise you for it nowadays... As far as what I drink, Powerade Zero, G2, Lemonade, Unsweetened iced tea, coffee, beer, wine, etc.

Heres some food for thought....I copied and pasted from an earlier post. YMMV..... DO THE MATH 164 Studies, 161,756 Patients Over Nearly 10 Years: What Does This Add Up To? BARIATRIC AND METABOLIC SURGERY IS EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED AND GETTING SAFER! A new meta-analysis of studies carried out between 2003 and 2012 shows higher remission rates of diabetes and high blood pressure and a lower mortality rate than previously reported. The study, published online in JAMA Surgery, is an update to a meta-analysis of studies conducted between 1990 and 2003 and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, Buchwald et. al.) back in October 2004. Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reviewed outcomes from nearly 162,000 patients in 164 studies (37 randomized clinical trials and 127 observational studies), over almost 10 years. They discovered 92 percent of patients in randomized clinical trials experienced diabetes remission after surgery, slightly higher than the 86 percent remission rate found in observational studies, but significantly higher than the 76.8 percent remission rate found in the 2004 JAMA study. Remission rates for hypertension were about 75 percent in both the randomized clinical trials and observational studies, while the remission rate in 2004 was 61.7 percent. Body Mass Index (BMI) loss five years after surgery ranged from 12 to 17 in the new study. Before surgery, patients had an average BMI of 45.62. "With the 2004 study, we now have 22 years worth of data from over 180,000 patients and 300 studies," said study co-author J. Esteban Varela, MD, MPH, MBA, Fellow of the ASMBS. "The data continues to prove bariatric surgery is not only safe and effective in providing significant and sustainable weight loss, but is the most effective treatment today for diabetes, hypertension and an array of other diseases and conditions in people with obesity." In the new study, 30-day mortality rate was 0.08 percent, down from the 0.3 percent reported in 2004. Complication rates ranged from 10 to 17 percent and the reoperation rate was about 7 percent. Complication and reoperation rates were not reported in the previous meta-analysis. By procedure, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy resulted in the greatest weight loss, but had a higher rate of complications and mortality than adjustable gastric banding. Gastric banding had the highest reoperation rate (12% in randomized trials), while gastric bypass had the lowest at 3 percent, followed by sleeve gastrectomy, which had a reoperation rate of 9 percent. The new meta-analysis included sleeve gastrectomy, which was not available in the 1990s. Of note, sleeve gastrectomy had comparable weight loss to that of gastric bypass at 5 years. "This is but the latest study to validate the high degree of safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery," said Ninh T. Nguyen, MD, FACS, President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery at UC Irvine School of Medicine. "Today we are performing operations that are as safe or safer than gallbladder and hernia repair surgery." According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 78 million adults were obese in 2011–2012.1 The ASMBS estimates about 24 million people have severe or morbid obesity. Individuals with a BMI greater than 30 have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of premature death compared to healthy weight individuals as well as an increased risk of developing more than 40 obesity-related diseases and conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.2,3

Congrats!! I'll warn you though.....its HIGHLY addictive!! And as a bonus.....you'll probably never need to buy another t-shirt.

Getting giftcards to a running store as a Christmas present.....instead of Applebees, Red Lobster, cookies, etc.

Another reason not to compare your loss to everyone else's is that there is such a wide range of pre-op diets. Some, such as mine, was Clear liquids ( no calories ) for 7 days. Others you'll hear having some sort of shakes, some one MEAL, some just low calorie. Some range from a couple of days....to a few weeks. You say you have not cheated....so you followed your instructions. What else could you possibly do? It'll be fine!

2013 was one of the best ever! Probably most importantly, I finally realized how to allow my band work, for ME. Got it adjusted properly towards the end of 2012 and couldn't be happier with what IT does now. But thats not the only reason for such a great year.... I reached the 100 lb loss club back in March. I rode my first 100 mile bike ride in June. Started running....RUNNING!!!!!!!!! in July. Did my first organized 5K run in Sept. 7th. Did my first sprint level Triathalon on Oct 23rd. Completed my first 10 mile run on Nov 8th.. Logged over 3000 miles on the bike this year. Tracked over 158,000 calories burned on my Garmin since I got it in March. SEVERAL of you will hopefully smile when you read that.....because there are several of you who have encourage/motivated me to accomplish these. From the info on the HRM, to the cycling tips, to the running inspiration, to the Tri suggestions....ALL from friends on here. How can I ever thank you all enough! Its been a great year...and I wish everyone a fantastic 2014! On my list of to do's for 2014. Complete my first Half marathon in on March 23rd. Spend a week riding from Chicago to St. Louis...just because. Spend a week riding with the "Ride 2 Recovery" organization. Complete my first Olympic level Triathalon. Continue to come here and do what I can to help others, because I've been so blessed by the support I have received here. Enjoy this new life to the fullest!!

Great story Jim. Congrats and well wishes on yours and your wife's continued success.