xavier

Good for you! I dont think anyone gives a fill to someone who is not eating regular food yet...

Thats a good weight loss...more than that is just not realistic! This is for the rest of your life! Not a race...

There are a lot of different preop diets and many involve real food. The thing is you may be hungry but you arent starving! The better you can stick to what is recommended is the better you can do with the band...I hope no one ever told you it would be easy!

Well I 'only' had to lose 70 to get to normal BMI so of course I had to self pay. I consider myself a low BMIer. I can eat anything or drink anything and I dont chew obsessively...BUT...I can only eat about a half a cup of anything at a time. My husband teases me that I eat so little I am a very cheap date! I can order a regular meal in a restaurant (come'on, girls we all know those portions are for an NFL linebacker, but we know we have eaten them!) and take the rest home and live on it for days!
I LOVE my band because at the right fill level it absolutely prevents me from overeating. I have never dieted, counted calories, eaten diet food or low fat food, or exercised since I had the band, Hell, I had done all that many times before and failed or should I say succeeded in getting fatter everytime i lost then regained the weight?!
I definitely eat and am more than happy with tiny portions but people do notice it when I eat with other people and I just had to get over that feeling of being judged. I didnt tell anyone except immediate fam that I am banded so I think my friends who see how little I eat think I am starving myself and maybe they even think I am judging them for eating the whole restaurant meal. I used to feel bad about that and would even overeat to the point of having to yak to try to cover how little I would eat...I dont do that any more I just dont care what people think! Getting to that point was probably the hardest thing about having the band. I went from a size 16 jeans to a size 6...nuff said!
Juicy, good luck...thanks for friending me and dont listen to people who say its about following the rules and living at the gym (if we could do that...) its all about restriction...fight till you get your RIGHT level of restriction!! After that, its a (tiny) piece of cake!

Getting there depends on your docs fill schedule. Some give as little as a half a cc every 4-6 weeks in which case you have many months of wondering what your band is doing in there, if anything. This time is called Bandster Hell. If you have time I recommend reading this blog from start to at least the point where you are in your journey...shes a wonderful person who lost 100 pounds in a year and never dieted or exercised. She will answer questions you havent even thought of yet!
http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/
For me I had three fills which put me at 6cc in a 10cc band and that was my first green zone. I lost weight pretty easily there but the band loosens up as you lose the fat that is actually on your stomach. My second green was at 7.7cc and that landed me at 155 pounds. I really wanted to get to normal BMI (145) so I got a tiny fill of 0.3cc and I got to 140 in about 3 months...My weight doesnt fluctuate at all now and I am crazy happy!
Please ask us anything! This is a great site!!!

You can do it, friend! I had all the same wishes and I still cant believe how my life has changed! Since you are new and if you have time take a look at the blog The sweet Spot
http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/2008/11/11708-secret-word-knows.html
I recommend reading it from the first day. This lady is a normal Mom who lost 100 pounds in a year and never dieted or exercised...she will have you laughing to tears and prepare you for every little thing you are going to experience....best of luck, you will get lots of support here (try to disregard the unhappy few)...Diane

My story is I eat less and exercise more...its the truth! The rest is seriously no ones business.

Wow! if you do this to please others I think you are guaranteed to fail. If you dont do it because others prefer you to stay fat or think you will be seen as having cheated by having weight loss surgery I think you are guaranteed to fail!
This is something you do for you, your family, your children...get your head in the game!

I think you are fine! I lost at about a rate of 6 pounds a month and I am now a steady size six whose weight does not fluctuate at all...others lost faster but from where I am sitting now I dont care and also I feel I adjusted really well to a lifestyle I can live with forever! Good Luck!

Well good luck with all your tests but please dont hate on the cheaters...we all got to the point of needing weight loss surgery for the same reason...we cheat on diets! Also wait to pass judgement until you have walked a mile (a year?!) in our (banded) moccasins!

I have never had fluoro and apparently dont need it. I would just ask for the nurse who did access your port by name and bring her a treat as a thank you (this works amazingly well and much better than complaining). I did this when I was having to get blood drawn routinely and there was only one nurse who could do it in a couple of sticks instead of ten! A tray of caramel apples for the whole staff assured me I would always get her! Nurses are often very underappreciated and a small gesture can get you what you want!

Oh and slippers you slip into or flip flops...you wont ant to bend over to put on or tie shoes!

Its the last diet of your life! keep thinking that and you will get though!!!

Is your boyfriend trying to help you and maybe even make some healthier choices himself? Or is he just a cheeseburger type of guy and you are on your own? I am assuming you have kids together and that you would both want to have a healthier lifestyle for your kids...

Worth every penny and yes, I also self paid!

I seriously could not make myself push the order button on a bunch of size 6 pants from the Gap...I know thats my size but I just thought they would arrive and never fit! So I went to the Gap and took every pair of size 6s (each type of cut or fit or style) in the dressing room and of course they all fit. I hurried home to order the petites I needed before my belief in the 6 evaporated...weird!
Today I tried on a size small blazer at Bass and it fit perfect. I decided to get another one in a different color and it almost killed me to buy the small without trying it on! I tried it on as soon as I got home!

Fantastic...that is a huge accomplishment!!! What will be your reward other than the high school jeans?? A lot of us have bought Pandora type bracelets (mine is actually Chamilia, check out their website!) with each bead representing 10 pounds...there are much less expensive ones everywhere these days Kohls, the craft stores etc! Keep on!

I did the Chamilia Bracelet which is similar to pandora. Each of the big beads is 10 pounds and there are 7 on there. I wear it and am reminded of what i have done and what I continue to do. I think the rewards are very important because we are trying to change our behavior.
I have also see a cute set of two decorated glass jars labelled "lost pounds" and "pounds to go" with beautful colored beads of glass in them that you transfer over. It was a really cute craft project..I think its important to have a reward or rewards that will last forever.

Just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and let your doc make his or her recommendation...

Just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and let your doc make his or her recommendation...

This is the best thing I ever did for myself...good luck!

Just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and let your doc make his or her recommendation...

Generally this site just sucks and is unbelievably not user friendly! It has gotten worse with every 'improvement"! I have had about two/thirds of my friends deleted and now recently I have noticed my before and after pics have disappeared!
On the other hand, the people on here are generally great, supportive, honest, and wise so its still sort of worth it!
Alex is the main moderator but I suspect he isnt real!

well we women can always dig something up to feel guilty about! Seriously, you are eating less and moving more and the rest is personal medical information...I just watched the Star Jones interview and it made me sad that she was so viciously attacked for not telling about her WLS! She was very vulnerable and just trying to protect and take care of herself! Its a great interview I recommend it...I really never told anyone but huz and daughter and I am glad for it...

well we women can always dig something up to feel guilty about! Seriously, you are eating less and moving more and the rest is personal medical information...I just watched the Star Jones interview and it made me sad that she was so viciously attacked for not telling about her WLS! She was very vulnerable and just trying to protect and take care of herself! Its a great interview I recommend it...I really never told anyone but huz and daughter and I am glad for it...