Karen12345

My surgeon was Camille Cash here in Houston. She really is incredible. The total cost with all fees was $10,200. Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

Please let us know how it goes! Good luck! Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

Please let me know how it goes for you. I flew out there and met him and checked out the place. He has great reviews and I was very impressed when I was there. Met post op patients and they were all happy. Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

Wow skinny Jill that's a lot. I ate really healthy before and took lots of Vitamin c. I think it's different for everyone. I did a lot of research and so I expected a lot of pain. Oh, wear the compression garment all of the time. Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

I'm having a breast lift with implants and a neck lift in August (total $7900 with all costs except travel and the recovery boutique) and then a thigh lift at about $3000 probably in October. Then the arms... I was totally shocked at how good my stomach came out! All of my stretch marks are gone and that picture is with swelling. Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

I'm using Dr Quiroz for the rest of my reconstructive surgery. He is great. I had my tt done here in Houston 2 weeks ago.

Hang in there sweetie and just be good and kind to yourself. Keep doing what you are doing and it's going to come off. I went thru all of the things you went thru with the 1 lb down, 2 up, 3 down, 1 up and I tryed to just be patient. I have lost 124 lbs but it's taken over a year and if it takes another year to take off the last of it I'm cool with that. My fill is pretty tight now and so it's much easier to eat less. I have to watch out that I'm not drinking in extra calories. I'm 51 so I have absolutely no metabolism unless I exercise. I keep it pretty simple and walk 3 miles three days a week and do a little band work or stretching on the other days. I certainly don't want my body getting used to some crazy workout routine and have the fat come back on when I stop doing it. Anyway, you are doing great and just be patient! Karen

Hi there! I also live in Houston (Heights) and would love to participate. Let me know what you get set up. Karen

Hi yall! Thanks for checking it. All of you are doing great. I am down 110 lbs (from 322 to 212) so I still have some to go. I also feel great and have great restriction. I am 51 so I have to exercise to keep my metabolism up. I walk 3 miles about 3 times a week and then do the Suzanne Somers thigh master routine (12 different exercises). Thanks for updating... Karen

It's Geneen Roth... Women, Food & God. I gave up weighing myself back in June so I don't know exactly what I weigh. I know that I'm down to an 18 from a 30/32 and it keeps coming off. I am so glad to not have the scale dictate how I'm gonna feel today. I eat healthy and I exercise and I look at my thoughts whenever I feel the urge to binge. I didn't get up to 322 without having some food issues, lol, so there are still times when I just want to gobble up something big and fattening. I knew that just because I got the lapband that if my thinking didn't change, that I would be one of those that didn't lose any weight. I can still get 1/2 gallon of ice cream down and a huge bag of fritos if I want. I didn't want to go thru something like this and gain it all back. It's a really good book. Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh Precious! It's gonna be okay. It was totally like that for me too in the beginning. I had calculated out how I was going to be down 50lbs within 3 months and skinny within a year! You are going to do just fine. Yeah, I felt the same way before my fills. I could eat anything I wanted and did on a lot of days. It took several fills before I had restriction. I'm now at my sweet spot and I'm grateful that I took those first months just getting used to making sure that I was getting all of my protein in and getting all of the nutrients from food that I needed. I also started walking. I was 322 lbs and so it really hurt my feet and one of my knees and I could only walk for about 15 minutes. I have now lost 120-130 lbs and I'm walking 3 miles 3 days a week and feel great. Be good and patient with yourself. Feel good about the times that you are eating just to nourish your body and ignore the old messages in your head and those times that you slip back into old eating habits. Get the book Women, Food and God. That really helped me a bunch. I hope you have a wonderful day!

I used to weigh every morning but after reading this book Women, Food & God I decided that I am not going to spend even one more second of my life feeling bad about my size or my weight. My band is working. I am at my sweet spot and I make sure that I'm getting all of my nutrients. I exercise about 4 times a week and I drink all of the water I'm supposed to. Basically, I'm taking care of my body. All of that to say that I stopped weighing last month. I even gave away my scale. It has been the most freeing thing I have done for myself. Every time I start to freak out or want to know how much I weigh, I do positive affirmations and tell myself that I am beautiful and perfect just where I am right now. I was one of those that had lost my weight many times only to be miserable once I got down to "normal" weight. I thought life would be different. I have figured out that I need to be okay with me now or I won't be okay with me when I get to that desired size. Just me....

kkrc10: yeah, it sounds like you are doing all of the right things. I have been so frustrated so many times in the last whatever 7 months or so and it just keeps coming off. Ive gone thru periods of the scale not moving and wanted to get all crazy. I have been an eater my whole life and in the last 7 months I have over eaten lots of times and still lost 100 lbs. I go to Walgreens and get sugar free ice cream and sit and eat the entire half gallon. That's how I got to be over 300lbs. I have a problem with chips and nuts. But with each fill, it gets more and more uncomfortable to do that. I am learning to not overeat and to do something else. It is a process. It's gonna be okay. I sometimes read the posts of those that have lost all of their weight and it sounds like it was so easy that they didn't have problems with old behaviors, but I bet not. It's gonna be okay.

30 lbs in the last couple of months is pretty good. I'm not sure how long you have been stuck (can't really be that long) but I think that if you are exercising and truly limiting your food, that your body is just resting. I've lost like 100 lbs and I have noticed a pattern where I lose a good chunk and then it stops but I notice that my body kind of tightens up in some areas. I have given up stressing it and actually have given away my scale. I was weighing every morning and making myself totally nuts. I figure if I'm truly eating what is healthy and only what my body needs and getting a nice amount of exercise, that its gonna come off. It seems that the ones that do that, lose the weight. My choice is how happy or miserable I want to be on that journey. Be nice to yourself.

Nope, I think you should have lost about twice that. Just kidding. It's Friday and I'm fixing to leave and just couldn't resist being silly. I think you are doing very well. Have a great weekend.

I am at my sweet spot and so I can eat about 1/2 cup of food (chewed very well and small bites). I do notice that if I eat and not chew as well as I should and try to eat more than 1/2 cup (like when eating out or something) that I am especially tight the next day and for a couple of days after. I think that it's that I have irritated the "stomach" where band is at and that it is swollen. I am careful to eat only soft foods and to chew very well for a couple of days and the swelling or super-tightness goes away. Hope this helps!

I totally agree with all that has been said. I started at 322 and now I'm down to about 220 but it's been difficult getting my head right. I have always been a compulsive eater like I was possessed or something just shoveling in the food to numb out. This was not about not knowing about calories or nutrition, this was something else. I now have good restriction so it's much easier but I found myself wanting to eat like a half gallon of ice cream which goes right thru. Obviously I have to do something to fix my thinking. I've posted this before, but I have lost my weight 3 or 4 times before to be just as miserable when I got down to a normal weight. I have recently read Women, Food & God and it talks about all of this and has been very helpful. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone in your fears. Hang in there, it will get better.

Yall it's all gonna be okay. Like they all said, it's gonna take time before you get to your sweet spot and then you will be eating a lot less. I have been conditioned over time to eat less and less because it gets really uncomfortable to eat more than I should. I am learning to do other things besides eat. Take the time to start loving yourself and your body. Learn how to eat the foods your body needs and how to get all of the water you need to take care of your health and skin. It's all gonna be alright... I went through all of your same frustrations the first months. Had I known then what I know now, I would have given myself a break and learned how to practice patience.

I know that had I been self pay (cash pay) that my total cost including hospital would have been $10,000 and that I would have gotten that total in writing. I ended up going with my insurance and so the hospital really went wild and ended up billing BCBS about $39,000 (not including the doctors fee). When I called them and asked how it could have possibly been a total of $10,000 cash pay and then $39,000 with insurance. I had zero complications and was there less than 1 day. The hospital told me that they would have given me something in advance on agreeing to the total payment if I was cash pay. So, please, please, please get something in writing. Sometimes I think I should have gone the cash pay route because with all of my costs even with insurance ended up being about $10,000. Good luck!

Hi Jen. I am not sure about the number of calories I burn. I work out about 4 times a week. I do 30 minutes on the treadmill alternating the incline so that I keep my heart rate up in the fat burning/cardio range for my age and then I do a little bit on the machines (stomach crunches really). I have people that say I need to be going every day or going for at least an hour and I just politely ignore them. I think the most important thing is consistency and moderation. I have come to the realization that exercise is now going to be a part of my life and so I just keep it reasonable and something that I can keep doing.

I have lost all of my weight 4 times and every time I was still miserable and then gained the weight back. I have now lost about 95 lbs and I'm taking steps to make sure that what happened before doesn't happen again. I am fixing my thinking, not my weight. I just read "Women, Food, and God" and that really has changed my life. I gave up the scale and now I know that it isn't about the weight but how I feel about me. I am happy today with me and my body (even at 225 lbs). I am eating healthy (and that's so much easier now with the lapband) I am enjoying every bite and giving my body the nutrition it needs. It took 50 years to get to this point but I have finally learned the big lesson.

I'm not sure. I have decided that what you are talking about is why we got the lapband. You are just at your second fill and I know exactly what you are talking about. At that time I was still eating things that I should not have like potato chips. Now I am at the sweet spot and I have to really watch what I eat, how I eat it and when I eat it. The amount I can eat has been very limited and so I now make sure that what I'm eating has the most bang for it's buck (yogurt and berries for Breakfast, fish and spinach or greens for lunch, etc). I have to take 30 minutes to eat and chew every bite completely before swallowing. I take little breaks between bites to make sure that I am not too full or that I'm not getting stuck. If I had not gone thru what you are talking about after the 2nd or 3rd fill, I would have been very unprepared for the care that I have to take now. It is a process and it works great.

Thanks Bam Bam for all of your good advice and wisdom. I have only been stuck once in 6 months. I have had a couple times where it really hurts but I'm over it in less than a minute. One time I ate chips at a mexican restaurant (yay cinco de mayo) and it was a nightmare for about 20 minutes. I have never pb'd. Now that I have really good restriction, I take small bites and make sure everything is completely chewed before swallowing. I then wait about 2 to 3 minutes before taking another bite to make sure that it's going thru okay. I do not want another one of those 20 minute episodes. I am now losing about 5 lbs a week with this restriction and the exercise....