xavier

SIMPLY PUT: The major procedures (VBG, RNY, bypass, sleeve)compared to the band have TEN times the morbidity/mortality. They require less modification of your own behavior and without that many gain the weight back. Those are fine if your health is so bad it balances the risk. If not and you have a little willpower, the band is much less risk. At this point I say its around 50/50...meaning 50% the band does for me and the rest I have to do!

Keep reminding yourself of why you are doing this. This week is only a shhort part of the bg picture...but on the other hand this should be your last diet EVER! After that its just a lifestyle other than a couple of days of modified eating after a fill. NO MORE DIETS! For inspiration, if you havent already, I recommmend reading the whole blog of band_groupie from the very beginning...its very inspiring. A lot of us have done that and even gone back to it when we need to...she really keeps it real! Good luck and hang in there!

Good for you...you are doing great! Just FYI...I LOVE Panda but these days I can eat about a half a cup of whatever from there and then I am full and in a little band pain...which is good!Its a great feeling to be where I really cant overeat and just need my willpower to stay away from the slider foods like ice cream which I guess I could eat all day!Keep on!!!

Great blog!!! LOL! Eat one raw carrot a day and call me in the morning!! D

Please find a doc that favors the band over the bypass...it makes a world of difference!

Why not empty the band? And why, if you do, would it be weeks to get it filled again? Please think of your health first.

I was lucky to have perfect restriction on an empty band for almost two months after the procedure, but it does loosen up as you lose wieght and since I have had a couple of fills. I know I am at my sweet spot because with the right foods (non sliders!)I simply CANT overeat more than a half or three quarters of a cup of food. Its weird to keep discovering what the sliders are and its hard to give them up.Nuts are a good test for me and a good way to fill up to nearly painfully full and get protein. I can only eat about quartercup of those! Hang in there, you'll know when you're there!

On the one hand you are prob a lucky person who didnt get much swelling at the site of the band...but that probably means its wide open so its like you dont have it at all and you wont untill you get the right amount of fill!!! Dont worry about two eggs...this phase is called bandster hell because until you get to the right fill you feel like you went thru all this for nothing...hang in there!

oh, And I declare you normal too!!!

Best thing for sleep...(and for stress, and water intake, and constipation, and everything else)...exercise! But you already knew that. But for sleep dont exercise close to bedtime..and if you DO exercise let me know cuz I need the shame! Hang in there...D

Congrats!!!!!!! If you do buy those pants ( I think its a great idea!) we ALL want to see a picture of you in them!Your waist looks so small in that picture!!! A half pound from normal...how about a haircut and a brutal exfoliation?!?

I used to eat so much dough..I was feeling sick by the time the cookies were baked and wouldnt want any! I cant do that anymore but also I dont really have the urge for it!

This was one of the best blogs ever! I am going back to read it again and hopefully apply it to myself...D

OK, I am LOVING the 'Shaper Monologues' !!! I really dont see that much difference...size is hard to tell in the photo but the jeans look like they fit the same to me. Now under a slinky dress it may make a real difference but jeans (for me) ARE a shaper!! PS I think you look great either way!!

Not sure what the price range is but maybe we could cut the crotch out? I would hate to ruin one if its expensive and of course you'd have to live in fear of a car accident!! The good thing about the wetsuit idea is you would probably sweat off ten more pounds but you would look a little funny lying in your chaise! At least put a surfboard next to you!

The worst thing about those pants was that they didnt fit her...they should have been tailored to drape the normal way instead of bunching up towards the crotch! I would have wanted to cry if I saw myself in those on TV...isnt there a style consultant?

Nexium is encapsulated to make it a sustained release medication so it's effect should last the 24 hours until you take another one. If you cut or open it...you are getting all the med at once or half the med (if you are taking half a capsule) at once which is meant to be slowly released over 12 hours...probably better to just taper off with something else that is not sustained release like some over the counter Zantac or equivalent...something that requires more frequent dosing. Pepcid or even Tums or the mixture of same ...keep at the bedside. I do however admire your inventive spirit on the pill cutting!

I bought two outdoor light up penguins last year and I havent even put them out yet...last year, as you saw, we just put lights on the Christmas cactus but thats gone now...those pix are beautiful and might motivate (shame) me into getting started!!

Diva, I agree with Everything you said. But I'm still thinking about Danny's home weight loss...yes, I see how the numbers for calorie burning make sense but I still find it kind of unreal I (like most of us) have been on MANY diets and I never lost weight by the math! Still how much more can you really lose by dehydrating yourself?? Or what other things could he do to make such a big number besides cut off a leg!?!

Let yourself off the hook! Think of what you would say to a friend who gained three pounds! A year from now none of this will matter...plus you got a fill so its a whole new world now for you!

You'll be laughing about this in a year...really! It sucks right now but how fast or slow you lose weight and even the times you make mistakes will seem trivial when your weight is where you want it and your thoughts are on something more important that all the details of your intake! Good luck!

Glad to hear all your thoughts...I also agree that for me theres more room in my head without so much thoughts of food and subsequent guilt. I'm still crazy, and some of it is food issues but now I think Im getting to be a more normal degree of crazy!

Its the beginning of a great adventure. We are all here for you.Its the best thing I have ever done. Good luck!

I feel really bad for you. That really just sucks and it it sooo disappointing. BUT...the revision will be a pretty easy procedure because there is no intrusion into your abdomen. It all takes place just in the superficial layers. Good luck..tell them to give you a fill while youre under anesthesia!! Let us know how it goes.

Fantastic!!! Wow I am soooo happy for you. I liked how you went through the changes in how you have lost the weight through the months of having the band. But,...think of how different it all is from a year or even many years ago!!! You are really living the band!! PS LOVE the new and improved ticker! D