faybie

Awwww. I didn't get to know you very long. Sorry to see you go. Just curious though, can't people post on multiple forums?

Nice Diane, congratulations.... your NSVs gave me the "happy chills" those are some great NSVs!!!!!! I have said this in the before and after post or something similar, you really do look great. Ten years younger! and you look fabulous in those jeans.... You go girl!!!

tee hee! I won't tell..... I will be having a dairy queen vanilla cone soon. It's a bit out of the way or I would have already done so.... =P

I can drink as much water as I want at once. I haven't gulped yet, but I usually take in 96oz + of water a day and have no problems still doing that. I can't have beef yet, but if I can't have steak, I will be a very, very sad bandster.

sure $15,700

I think the wine is a coincidence. I had wine on my birthday on Saturday and no ill effects what so ever.

Here is a thread that has a bit of information on both Doctors. http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21832 I really loved my experience with Dr. Spivak. I did not feel like his seminar and office meetings were like a cattle call at all. They have called and checked on me twice since my surgery. The Surgery Center was very nice and everyone was very friendly. My choice was between Spivak and Spiegel as well. I don't think you could choose a "bad" surgeon between the two. I personally was turned off about the "cash only" policy of Spiegel. I used my credit card to pay for the consult with Dr. Spivak. I had planned to go to both Dr.'s seminars. I liked Spivak and his office staff so much that I decided not to go to the Spiegel seminar.

My Dr. allows us to eat mushies starting day 3, I think I started around day 5. I don't know if I could have survived this long on just liquids, so you are very, very disciplined. Good Job! I still have the same restriction as I did on day 3, so I can only take in about 4oz. at a time. I never have anything to drink with any meal, however my lunch seems to pass through and digest the fastest, breakfast and dinner last a long time. I added a low carb, low sugar, protein supplement (from a previous diet) at about 3pm and it seems to work for me perfectly. It's cappacino flavored so its like my afternoon pick me up. I don't want to suggest you go against your Dr.'s wishes. Try call and telling the nurse that you are getting too hungry and want to eat every hour. I bet she will tell you, you can add a few things.....

Welcome Amy, I think you will find all of those answers here on this board. One neat trick that someone taught me when I was new, was to use the "search". On the blue bar above the posts you will find "search" right in the middle. You can enter the topic you are interested in reading about. I bet you would find a plethora of topics on "insurance". As far as chosing my Dr., I had 2 narrowed down and use the real life experiences of the posters here on LBT to decide between the 2. I was self pay, but you will find people on here who have had insurance pay. I don't think it was too painful, however being a cancer survivor, I have been through my fair share of surgeries and this was by far a simple procedure compared to others I have been through. I was only off for 6 days, including my surgery day. I had my surgery on Wednesday and went to work the following Tuesday. I would not have been able to work on that Monday, however Tuesday was just fine. Good luck,

Well remember that statement was made for a RNY patient. It is an RNY article. I hope I didn't confuse anyone, I just thought it was an interesting test. I found that article in the archives of posts here, btw.

I am still new to the process however I was just reading a post by a member who's bandiversary is today. I thought it might give you a positive side of the band. http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23467 And don't worry EVERYONE gets nervous! That's normal. I am 13 days out and I feel complete restriction still. I can only eat about 4oz. at a time max right now, however I feel full and have no desire for anything else to eat until meal time rolls around. I was only required to stay on liquids for two days. I ended up having liquids for longer because I didn't feel I was ready to move onto mushies. You can also read through the monthly bandsters threads. Mine was August. It is just a thread where people share their experiences leading up to and after their band surgery. http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=20336

I am sorry that you are having this pain however if it does end up being your gall bladder just say you are having complications from the surgery or you developed a hernia from the surgery. Those types of things do happen and they have no reason not to believe you.

Wow you have so many interesting things ahead of you in the near future! Congratulations on your bandiversary!! P.S. I turned icons off so everytime I posted I didn't have this big square of smileys, which was a dead ringer that I was surfing the web. LOL. [lets pretend I put some cool congratulation banana here] O I got it! ~~~~~,~~'~~@ Flower for your bandiversary. he he.

It can. Below is a post that I made on another thread. I edited it a bit but I think it is very interesting and important information to understand about the tool that we have had inserted in our bodies.

This is interesting. My mother was telling me about this. She wanted me to wait and get one of these shots instead of getting my band. LOL. Needless to say, I am very happy with my choice. It would be interesting if it works. I could see how it would be used as a tool to keep you from going into starvation mode when dieting, but I think it would also take effort on the one receiving the shot not to succumb to their head hunger. If I could overcome my head hunger, I wouldn't have needed the band.

Wow, so its day 13. I can walk at my normal pace now. I can also wear a bra with no problem, yesterday it still hurt. I still cannot eat over 4oz. at a time. The pressure in my chest definitely tells me that it will send it right back up if I dare. I am still staying full for hours and hours. I wasn't even hungry at lunch today, so I only ate about 2oz. I was at lunch with my SIL. She knows but I would have felt bad not eating anything at all. She ate a whole filafl (sp?), fries and pita bread. My favorite dress is missing and I am majorly bummed. It was a basic black dress that I could throw all kinds of shirts over to give it different looks. I am lost without it. I have easily lost 5 or more outfits from my wardrobe. The last time I had it was on vacation in Maine. I checked the suitcase, not there. So, do I go find another one that fits now or wait until I fit into the smaller identical one that I have? hmmmm. I may not even be able to find such a dress, it was so awesome. =( Morning Scale: 210 Food today: coffee w/ 1 equal Breakfast - 1 scrammbled egg with cheese and 1/2 slice of bacon. Lunch - 1/3 of a spanikopita snack - protein cappacino drink Dinner - snack - Excersize:

Wow, so its day 13. I can walk at my normal pace now. I can also wear a bra with no problem, yesterday it still hurt. I still cannot eat over 4oz. at a time. The pressure in my chest definitely tells me that it will send it right back up if I dare. I am still staying full for hours and hours. I wasn't even hungry at lunch today, so I only ate about 2oz. I was at lunch with my SIL. She knows but I would have felt bad not eating anything at all. She ate a whole filafl (sp?), fries and pita bread. My favorite dress is missing and I am majorly bummed. It was a basic black dress that I could throw all kinds of shirts over to give it different looks. I am lost without it. I have easily lost 5 or more outfits from my wardrobe. The last time I had it was on vacation in Maine. I checked the suitcase, not there. So, do I go find another one that fits now or wait until I fit into the smaller identical one that I have? hmmmm. I may not even be able to find such a dress, it was so awesome. =( Morning Scale: 210 Food today: coffee w/ 1 equal Breakfast - 1 scrammbled egg with cheese and 1/2 slice of bacon. Lunch - 1/3 of a spanikopita snack - protein cappacino drink Dinner - snack - Excersize:

What a great feeling.... I feel slimmer in my body too. It's almost like a I have a spring, I can just bounce all around. I probably knew this at one point, but I can't believe I didn't realize how much the weight was "bogging" me down. And a whole size down too that is awesome!

Hello! =)

Wheetsin, You put up a new pic on your avatar! We can see you now. LOL. I really liked the old one because it was a bit mysterious and comical. I don't know if you intended it that way. It was cute. Susan, I had bunco with the girls last night. This time they decided to have it at a local Mexican restaurant. Everyone was served a single portion of fajitas. I ate a few pieces of chicken, little guacamole, little sour cream, little cheese and a bite or two of the pica de gallo. While I slowly ate my food, I talked and laughed. Everyone but one other person scarfed down their whole meal. Not a single person noticed how little I ate. I asked for a togo box. They started passing down tortillas and offering their unused guacamole etc. to fill up my box. LOL.

Hi Sweetsue, I am 12 days post op. I am not on a strict diet from my Dr. like most. I can have fish or chicken just not beef. I have had no problems what so ever digesting chicken. I am sticking strictly to eating 4 to 6oz per meal. I have been out to lunch and dinner with several friends. I section the portion off that I am going to eat (it is always good to have a visual of how much you intake so you never over do it on accident) and ask for a to-go box for the left overs. My friends 1) never noticed that I divided my meal and 2) didn't ask a single question about why I was taking my food to-go 3) had no idea I was taking small bites and eating slower. We sat and chatted, I would put my fork down, pat my mouth pick my fork back up and continue eating. Goodness I can think of so many excuses you could give people for not eating much: 1. I had an unexpectedly big breakfastlunch so and so brought xyz I couldn't refuse. 2. I haven't been feeling well today and I seemed to have lost my appetite. 3. I have decided that regular diets aren't working for me so I have chosen to cut back on portion size, seems like a happy medium that I can live with. 4. I am going to a big dinner with so and so and I want to eat light at lunch today. I have been eating ridiculously small portions for breakfast where I used to walk into work with a breakfast taco, kolache, bagel or croissant sandwich every morning. No one has even blinked an eye or noticed the change. I have also sat at my desk eating a meal of 2 oz of cottage cheese, 3 oz of fish, etc. No one has noticed that either. It is a lot easier to mask than you think. I don't think you should tell anyone that you don't feel comfortable telling.

As I was getting close to my surgery date, many other dr.'s had people on an all liquid diet for 2 weeks. geeesh! All I had to do was eat low carb, have no red meat 48 hours before surgery and fast 12 hours before surgery. I tried my own self imposed version of the liquid diet and failed miserably. I did manage to have only liquids 24 hours prior even though it wasn't a requirement. I ended up losing 12 pounds in 3 weeks. I was pretty happy with that. Supposedly, nothing in the stomach and bowel tract greatly decreases your discomfort after surgery. I adopted that theory and had minimul complications and minimul gas.

I saw your other thread in Lap Band Discussions and came here to post exactly what leenerbups posted, almost word for word. Except hunger wasn't my problem but my love affair with food and emotional demons related to food that took me back EVERYTIME, but not this one. Best Wishes!

Dr. Spivak did mention this to me and it was 50%. If you reach 50% of your expected weight loss (which honestly, I never saw what he expected me to lose, my number is my own) within the first year, your second year of fills is free. LOL. No joke! It was one of the many, many reasons I chose Spivak over Speigel.

Wow. So, I am in love with La Madeleine's new crepes. I was in search of a website to help me determine JUST HOW BAD they are for me. I stumbled across the most amazing nutrional calculation website. It allows you to add items to your pantry based on your very specific selections. You can then put them in a recipe, it then calculates the nutritional information of your custom recipe if you want it to. This website is incredible. All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW! Check it out....... http://www.nutritiondata.com/index.html