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I'm on the southern Oregon coast. I'm not a success, though still working on it. I've gained weight back. I need to update my profile, but that's admitting that I've made a mistake, and didn't catch it, and deal with the weight gain. I have never had restriction with my band. I have never noticed that I have one. If I eat ground meat, I will fill up rapidly, and may slime. Mostly, I don't eat meat. I went to a TOPS meeting a week ago. I feel that going to the meetings will help. I am back on a mostly liquid protein diet to get the weight off. High protein has me going to the bathroom way too frequently! It looks like you just had surgery. How far away is your Doctor and support group? How have you been feeling since the surgery? Anita

It's so good to see some posts on this site! Good to read how you are doing. I'm going along okay. Need to get down 5 pounds, and as you know, that might not seem like much, but it may be impossible to get them off again! Shouldn't have gotten them in the first place.... I have a TOPS goal weight, though, so I want to keep my status there. Anita

Hi, Well, I am trying to figure this out. I keep telling myself change is good! I do miss my 2009 band group, hopefully they will post again. I am working on getting my weight closer to 140 rather than 145. I belong to TOPS, and just hit my goal weight of 145 in October. !00 pounds down in a year. I'm in Cranberry territory, on the Southern Oregon coast. I'm just starting to make a bunch of compote to freeze, with cranberries, apples, oranges, pears, spices, and stevia. No peeling! I'm eating a lot of it before it gets to the freezer! Without sugar, it's low in calories, and high in fiber. Whatever organic I can get at the local store. I haven't had a fill since March 2010. Anita

I've lost 100 pounds, 70+ since the band. I've revised my goal weight to 140. My last fill was in March! I just went in to get another fill, but we decided to not do a fill. I'm at 4cc. I have hunger problems 3-7 PM... My vitamin D was still low, so I need to supplement it. My other blood test results were normal. I joined TOPS in June to add to my support group network. Anita

I'm at my goal weight of 148, losing 100 pounds from the start of my bariatric center journey in July 2009. I lost 30 pounds before surgery on 9/9/09 practicing my post surgery lifestyle. I have also met the BMI set by my Dr. of 22.0. I never thought I would get down this far in a year. My new goal is 140. I hope to spend this next year settling into whatever weight works for me, within the 140-145 range. So far, no gains since starting. I belong to T.O.P.S, and the weight recordings show various gains, but that's just clothing or water weight of a quarter pound or so. I still weigh myself at least once a day, and if I weigh several times a day, I see my weight fluctuate 5 pounds.

I'm thinking a lot about this September. I'm finding it motivating to get to goal weight. An online program says that I will get to my goal weight on October 19th, which would be fine, too. I wish some of us could get together. I can't afford to travel far from the west coast. I belong to TOPS, and I noticed they are having a retreat in Arizona in March, 2011. I'd sure like to be there. I've been reading a lot about rebound weight gain. I am unable to exercise much because of a spinal disease, etc. But it sounds like I really need to work on the lean muscle, so I'm going to pick up some exercise bands my next trip in town. I do a lot of little walks, and I'm going in next week for an injection that will hopefully make it easier for me to take more aerobically based walks. I hope to hear how all of you are doing. Especially if you are having difficulties! This year hasn't been easy, and I keep working on the rules. I have to log to know that I'm getting enough protein and water. And fiber....

Hi, it's good to read from all of you how you are doing. I was hoping for my weight to be down below 200 by a year, but now I think I may get to a 100 lb. weight loss by a year! I think the big help was losing 30 lbs before surgery, practicing my post surgery lifestyle. I am hungry in the afternoons, even though I have tried various foods, like a 30g protein shake mid-afternoon, lots of zero calorie beverages to fill up on, and doing something to get my mind off of food. It seems like I need over 1200 calories, and then the hunger is taken care of, mostly. I've been aqua exercising twice a week, which has been wonderful. Happy July 4th. Anita

I'm in Oregon for the summer, and the closest support group is a TOPS group. I'll check it out tomorrow. I've never done TOPS, Take Off Pounds Sensibly. I've had severe fatigue since the mid 1990's. I've been through so many changes since then, but the fatigue persists. I'm convinced the toxic liver I've had with the gall stones gave me a headache, but the Dr.'s say there is no connection. I'm still not feeling real well from my endoscopic procedure. I make sure and take my bariatric vitamins. My weight is a constant challenge, but I expected it to be a challenge and a lot of hard work, even with the band. My understanding is that we take it off slower at first, compared to the gastric bypass, but after 3 years, we are all in the same place with weight. I have the same fears about keeping the weight I have lost off permanently.

Gall Stones- I just did another ambulance trip. I thought with my gall bladder removed in April that I would have no more gall stones, but my bile duct was blocked with stones! I had the endoscopic procedure done last Tuesday to clear the bile duct. My liver numbers were way up again with the blockage. When I went to the hospital, I thought maybe my pouch was blocked from eating steak the day before, and that was creating the pain, but no- I would never have thought I could still have stones! The hospital did remove 1cc from my port, a procedure they hadn't done before, and they didn't have a long enough Heuber needle. The endoscopic Dr. didn't know if the lap-band® would be too tight to get the instruments down, but there was no problem with the band. So now I need to get my band tightened again, but there is no Center of Excellence nearby....

Gall Bladder- I've recovered fine from having my gall bladder removed. It took 4 incisions, and with 5 incisions from the Lap Band, that gives me 9 incisions in a year. Prior to the pain, nausea, vomiting, chills episode, which lasted 24 hours, my only predictable symptom was a feeling of fullness for a week or so before. I did have a 24/7 migraine for a week and a half before, and the migraine only went away after a stone passed during my pain episode, and my toxic liver was able to get cleaned out. A headache is not listed in any of the symptoms I have seen...My diagnosis was determined by ultrasound and seeing the stones in the gall bladder, and the liver function tests being 100's of times of what they should have been. The feeling of fullness, or just not hungry, helped me get out of the 180's.

Gall bladder surgery- I was traveling and had some pain that was too much for me. It felt like chest pain, not abdominal. To make a long story short, in to the ER, morphine didn't take care of the pain, but I finally had a stone go through and then the pain decreased. I was full of toxins from a blocked gall bladder, with the blockage gone, the toxins were able to clear out. The surgery I was scheduled for was rescheduled. The rescheduling put the surgery out of the insurance window. So I am going back down south 3 hours away to have the surgery. The Dr. wouldn't let me drive to the first surgery, so the first 3 hour ride was in an ambulance. My symptoms prior to this pain episode were a major headache for a week and a half, and feeling full. Then during the episode, nausea, vomiting, and pain. I haven't eaten much the last two weeks, since I haven't been hungry.

A meet and greet would be great. Another idea is a retreat type get together. Like where Vitalady is, or isn't there a yearly bariatric meeting?