stargate713

@MaryAlice66 if you can not eat and keep down solid proteins then perhaps your band is too tight. Think about making an appointment with your surgeon to discuss the issues. I have read many banster blogs where people who were too tight to eat what they "should" began losing again after a small unfill. I myself am a healthcare professional, and i believe that the surgeons need to know what difficulties patients are facing 2-3 years out in the Maintence phase, so they can continue to learn and educate the new patients better. Don't give up.....you have come to far to throw in the towel!

as the other posters said, be thorough, and make sure you meet all of your insurance requirements, but no need to do more.....it's already a lot to begin with. Even if your insurance or doctor does not require it, join a program or support group BEFORE your surgery to help prepare yourself mentally and physically. And again along the lines of hunger, everyone is different, but until you get to the proper restriction you will still have hunger. For me it took 5 months to get there. Don't get caught up in the amount of time things take, you will make yourself crazy. it's a process, and it takes as long as it takes....but it will change your life forever!

You can "do the math" all day long...but the human body is a remarkable machine which is always striving for balance and homeostasis. It's a symphony of systems that must work in tandem....and if something is out of balance, one area will take over until it's reestablished

I have Aetna, they required documentation of all my failed weight loss attempts, and had to be in at least 3 months of supervised program, but i do not recall then having a specific weight loss amount. My surgeon required a 10 ib weight loss prior to surgery.

The pain of swallowing maybe from the ET tube put in your throat for anesthesia, but you should NOT be vomiting post-op. Call your surgeon

from Seminar to surgery was 6 months for me. Some insurances require a 3-6 month pre-op program. The end of october was one year from my Seminar!

My Insurance made it sound like weight loss surgery wasnt covered, but it was. You need to call and ask if your employer has an "exclusion" for WLS. Sometimes you employer will have the exclusion on your particular policy.

You dont start seeing the real weight loss with the band untill you are out of "banster hell" and have adequate restriction

Yes! go to a bike shop....They will not only help you find a good bike for your needs, but also make sure you are on the right size bike (which can be dangerous if your not). If you really aren't sure about investing the money, because you might not like it, borrow a bike from someone for a few weeks to see how it goes. I love my bike and it's my primary cardio when weather is good (which is from April-Nov here in Jersey) I also love my little odometer...it gives me incentive, and helps me track my progress.

Too funny! Get your new, smaller, cute a** out and buy some new jeans!!!

I remember your posts from the beginning Bob (we were banded around the same time) and i have to admit they were a bit hard to take sometimes......but what a dramatic change! It's so great to see that you are emerging out of that dark place you were in. Keep moving towards the light!

I got a stick blender and it was great! You can puree just about anything...even hard boiled eggs. But it also includes things like yogurt, cottage cheese sugar free pudding, ricotta cheese etc

Everything everyone else said is a possibility, but I just am apalled that Your surgeon dosn't do blood work. My surgeon puts all his patients on mult vitamin WITH iron, and in divided doses (1 chewable twice a day) as well as 1200-1500 mg of calcium twice a day. The other thing is that with any antidepressant it takes 2-4 weeks to reach a theraputic level in your blood and to start relieving symptoms, and sometimes the dose needs to be gradually increased untill it gets to the dose you need. often times family MD's don't have enough experience with psych meds, and it can be helpful to consult a mental health professional for medication management. But, please, have all of these things addressed, definately get blood work, give the antidepressants more time, and request a sleep study to see if your sleep apnea has returned (or if it ever really resolved)

Lorraine, you wrote: "I have had horrible eating habits, which did not change when I got the band. The band only changes your stomach, but it does not change how you think about food, you have to do that on your own and that is the hard part. I often 'forget' I even have the band... Im being honest, i really thought everything was going to be different then it wasnt..." Please don't get discouraged....you are only 3 months post-op.....I am 7 months out, and it took this long for me to get to enough restriction to lose....and believe me, if you are at the proper restriction it's pretty hard to "forget" you have the band. And someone else mentioned knowing someone who failed because she didn't go back for her fills....well of course it won't work if you don't follow up with your surgeon and get your fills! I can see how it could happen though, all through "banster hell" I COULD eat anything that I ate before, but when I finally reached restriction that changed, and I remember feeling a little panic set in, and thoughts like "wow, this is it.....now I can't eat like i did before".( For some people i think when they realize that they can't eat like they did before they choose not to have fills so that they can continue to eat what they want.) That was about a month ago, but now the weight is coming off and and I feel wonderful. It's a process, and it takes more time for some of us to get going, but all you have to do is read the sucess stories on here to know it CAN and DOES work!

Some people will say they felt well enough for that in a few days. Personally for me it would have been about 7-10 days. PS I'd find a new hair-dresser...you should surround yourself with positive, supportive people weather they know about the band or not.