btrieger

Day 4 was the only bad day I've had. I think it was the IV fluids leaving my system. But I also lost 4 pounds that day due to this.

Too tight or too loose or no band at all doesn't cause weight loss. Your diet and exercise is what causes weight loss. That being said; not eating enough can throw your body into starvation mode and it will hang onto every calorie it can. It sounds as if you are too tight and not getting enough to eat. If it were me, I'd ask them to remove a half cc and see if that helps.

Hopefully she isn't reading this but it doesn't matter what your wife thinks! All that matters is how you feel. If you don't miss the "normal" people food whatever that means, then don't risk it. I never took any foods out of my diet except fastfood and soda.

Congrats on the 50 pounds you've lost!!! Life is not a race. If it were, do you know anyone in a hurry to get to the finish line? The closer you are to your goal, the more the loss slows. Even if your aren't losing at all, it sure beats gaining. Doesn't it? Keep your chin up and be proud of your accomplishments.

It never was a diet for me. Diets suck and they have end dates. It is a lifestyle change. Make the changes slowly and plan on living with them for the rest of your life. If you take too big of a leap you will resent it and fight it. Try to keep a positive attitude and not think, "I am going to hate this" or "this sucks!" So many set themselves up for failure by having these negative attitudes.

Congrats!!! Your wife's uncle wasn't that far off. You are a new man and don't it feel great?!?!

I get trashed about every 3 weeks. You'll be fine. Just be prepared for the lowered inhibitions that Betsy mentioned and don't let yourself lose control and eat more than you would when sober. Also, be careful: as you lose weight your tolerance drops drastically.

I don't know or care who Sara Rue is. The Lapband does not make us lose weight whether it is filled or unfilled. We lose weight by eating right and exercising. The lapband is only built in portion control. Most of us portion our own food out. This Sara chick has Jenny Craig doing that for her. I'd say that Jenny Craig is helping help just as much if not more than the Lapband.

I don't prefer bad girls. I prefer easy girls.

Thanks folks. I am going to work up the gumption to pose in a gstring for my next pic. I ain't no hunk but I look 1000% times better than I did a year ago.

A year ago today, a pain in my forearms woke me up and it was so bad I couldn't get back to sleep. It felt as if somebody was holding my arms over a campfire and I could not pull them away. I tried running them under cold water and even took a cold shower trying to cool them down. After a few hours, I gave up and decided I should probably go the hospital and maybe they'd give me a pill to make it go away. I'd never been to a hospital in the area. So, I used my GPS to find one. I ended up driving around for about an hour before locating a hospital. At 4 am in the morning you don't pull over and ask directions. I spent 30 minutes or so filling out the paperwork; they brought me into the little room and took my vitals and some of my precious blood (probably 25% gravy back then). Everything seemed normal to me. My blood pressure was a little high and my oxygen was a little low. The blood tests take a while. So, I sat there playing games on my phone, bored out of my skull for the next 90 minutes waiting for them come back with a prescription and send me on my way. Then, the doctor comes in with this serious look on his face and says, "Mr Trieger, the enzymes in your blood indicate that you've had a heart attack. We need to get you up stairs immediately." I called my roommate; told I was at the hospital and asked him to feed the dogs and let them out. He was a little pissed. He was under the impression that when you have a heart attack, you should wake up your roommate for a ride to the hospital. The orderly comes with a gurney and has me crawl up onto it. I was sure my fat ass was going to fall off. He rolled me through the hospital to the elevator for everybody to see. This wasn't as much fun as it looks like on TV. They get me to a room and ask me if I can make it to the bed from the gurney on my own. I should have said, "no" and made them lift me but I was nice about it. It was one of those fancy beds that weighs you. The nurse went to write my weight on the whiteboard on the wall and I asked her not to. We compromised and she wrote it in kilos. 164.8 kilos to be exact. She jammed and IV in my arm and put one of those oxygen things on my face. I could only imagine how silly I looked, so I snapped a quick picture (below) when she stepped away. Yep, pretty silly and where did all of that neck fat come from? An hour later, a couple more orderlies came in and told me I was going for a ride to the tech lab. I had no clue what that was but as long as all I had to do was lay there while they pushed, I didn't mind. They roll me through the hospital on the bed for all to see yet again. It still wasn't as fun as it looks on TV. Into another elevator and down the hall to the tech lab. Once we get there, they help me out of the bed onto some little table that couldn't have been 24" wide. Laying flat on my back, I knew I was going to fall but they belted me in and swung out two flaps for me to put my arms on. It was like being crucified horizontally. The mask went on and the next thing I remember was them unstrapping me from the table and helping me back to the bed. I blacked out again and awoke back in my room. The cardiologist came in and told me that two of my coronary arteries were 100% blocked and had to be stented. I, like my spell-checker here, had no clue what stented meant. I spent the next 2 days watching TV and sleeping. Which isn't such a bad thing if the damn nurses didn't find the most inopportune times to wake you up to take blood. Fast forward 2 days: It's Sunday and I am released. Ah!! I have been waiting for this time so I could get to my car and my beloved cigarettes. I had 3 left and these were going to be the last. As soon as I pulled out of the parking lot, I lit one up and I was in Heaven. I smoked another that day and saved the last for Monday morning, my birthday. I did manage to put them down for 7 months until after my Lapband surgery but am trying once again to kick the habit for my upcoming panniculectomy surgery. It still amazes me, that with my memory is bad as it is, I remember that day a year ago as if it were today.

I am not trying to scare anyone but coincidentally, 1 year ago to this very day I had horrible forearm pain. It felt like I was holding my arms over a fire. It turned out that I had 2 blocked coronary arteries and was having a heart attack. Call your surgeon or a doctor and get their opinion. I don't know how abdomen surgery could possibly cause pain in the forearms. Keep us informed.

The weight never falls off. You have to work it and it really has nothing to do with the band or fills or even restriction. You lose the weight by eating right and exercising. The band just helps in keeping your portion sizes down. Are you drinking at least 64 ounces of Water a day and getting 50 grams of Protein? These are imperative in losing weight. Are you keeping a food log? You may be eating less than you think? Most of us under estimate when we don't log it. Are you eating too little. Eating less than 800 calories a day can make your body go into a starvation mode where it holds onto everything it can? It also may be that you've jut hit a plateau already. They happen. Some of us hit them after 20 pounds, others after 120 pounds but we all hit them. No matter the reason, do NOT let it get you down. Keep a positive attitude and think of a way to beat it. Good luck.

Fight fire with fire. Tell him that he took the easy way out becoming a doctor instead of having a real man's job like construction worker or soldier.

You'll be fine as long as you can drink at least 64 ounces of Water a day and get some nutrients down. My last fill took a few days to get used to but after a week I was back to normal. As 4my4 said, keep it soft or liquids only for a couple of days until any possible swelling goes down. If you still have issues on Monday or are frightened, call your surgeon and get his advice.

Thank you and congratulations on yours as well!

Because they are misinformed dolts with attitudes. Have you read some of the posts on this site? There are still thousands that think the lapband is a quick fix and in denial that they will have to do anything to lose the weight. People should have to read a post like this over and over and over to make them eligible for surgery. I still am curious as Hell as to how the original poster is doing today.

I got to 9cc in my 14cc band about 3 months ago and haven't needed a fill since.

I should have said rethink fills. I was not being sarcastic. If you fear that you won't be able to eat something that makes you happy. Then make sure you aren't adjusted too tightly.

I drink socially and tend to over-socialize all of the time.

I eat out 6 to 7 days a week. That means a lot of fried food. It also means man size portions. I don't think the fried food has hindered my weight loss at all. It is keeping my cholesterol a little on the high side though. As for portions, I sometimes either move what I plan on eating to the bread plate or ask for a to-go box early and put what I am not going to eat in that before I start eating. I haven't had soda in about a year and I don't miss it. I was a Diet Dr. Pepper addict and surprise myself that I don't even crave the crap. I drink socially and tend to oversocialize quite often. On those weekends that I do go on a bender, I usually lose weight because I forget or am not in the mood to eat.

I had no doubt I could lose the weight. I also have no faith in myself keeping it off. I've gained it back every time before. I got banded to keep it off, not to take it off. I lost 95 pounds during the 5 months from my initial consultation until surgery. I questioned my surgeon's office at least once a month to ensure that it was my consultation stats they were forwarding to the insurance company. Even if it weren't; I'd rather lose the weight and jeopardize the insurance company footing the bill than sit around and stuff my face until surgery.

There thousands of varieties of lettuce. Which ones have you tried that don't work for you? Have tried a few? I'm partial to romaine but eat a lot of iceberg (Boston) lettuce.

Tell us about the pain. How much does it hurt on a scale of 1 to 10.