IAmJacksLapBand

Adjustments are like a drug to me. I love the feeling when the needle hits the port. I love getting a chance to see my surgeon and talk. I've only had three thus far and number 3 has been very good to me. I am going to get one in January and hopefully be set for a few more months. It just sucks that I am 6 hours from my surgeon by car. The local surgeon is rude and criticizes my progress and how my surgeon did the procedure. I wish I could tell him off because I love the progress and everything my surgeon has done for me. Sorry to rant off topic.

I searched the forums and only saw threads about constipation. I am guessing my recent vacation had caused me some problems because I replaced Water with soda/alcohol and Fiber with sugar in a splurge. I haven't gained weight but definitely messed up the digestion pipes. Due to the lack of bathroom visits and the strain I have developed a very painful, large, external hemmorhoid. PrepH makes it feel better but I have had it for about 2 weeks and it is not shrinking . I am to the point that I do not want to use the restroom because it hurts. Any other home remedies I can try as I do not want to visit the doctor for this issue if I do not have too? Or is this still within the normal timeframe for the ailment to heal on its own.

This is going to be a psychological question. I had my second fill on 7/16 and am up to 8 CC in a 14 CC band. The restriction is wonderful. For the first few days I was content on my old meal plan... just eating less of it. But now that I am eating even less I am making horrible choices. I ate some french fries, cookie, chinese take out, and TGI Friday's wings. Went out to the bar for the first time and had some bar food and alcohol. Since banding I have not touched any of these things. I ate significantly less that I used to, but it was still alot of calories, fat, and carbs in a very small package. 800 calories in those wings and fries when a same size healthy meal would have been around 400 calories. What tips do those of you in the green zone have to keep your smaller meals satisfying and nutritionally sound? I will not fall victim to slider foods. Too much success to have this happen. I stepped on the scale at was up 4 lbs in the past 2 weeks.

Jack said it best. I much rather PB or get the slimes when I wrong my band than live another day gorging on food and gaining weight. I was back to work in 3 days. Could walk up stairs. Had mild gas in my shoulder but was nothing compared to years of back pain and fractured feet. I love my band and everything we have done together in the past 6 months!

I know we love to talk about man food, bar food, drinks and all the fun that comes with making food highly social. I am looking for ways that you have successfully reduced/removed soda and fried food intake. Or how you work to reduce your manly size meals to bandster size. My soda and fried food intake is increasing and so are portion sizes. I am back to about 1/2 of what I just to throw down and I am three months away from an adjustment. Still not weight gain or loss in the last month.

I started this journey over 400 lbs. My doctors have told me that my skin has lost its elasticity in some areas so I will have lots of excess when I hit my goal weight (next year hopefully). I am very excited about having cosmetic surgery to get it taken care of as well as fix some other minor problems. The cosmetic surgeons I am interested in are very clear that they will only operate on normal weight individuals and if you are a WLS patient that you must be at a stable and healthy weight. So this is just more incentive to get to goal.

I was $10,700 and had no hidden costs at all. Only traveled 6 hours by car as well. Hospital staff and surgeon were amazing. Have nothing but amazing things to say about my all inclusive self-pay. I have not seen anything below $10k as of yet.

I started April 12 at 409 lbs. with my highest at 412 lbs. Today I am 379 lbs. I feel wonderful and have not been at this weight since 2005. I am excited to keep seeing the scale drop. When I was that lower weight I was wearing 3X size shirts and 48 inch waist pants. Today my sizes have not changed at all despite the loss. I am still in 4X to 5X shirts and 54 inch waist pants. I have seen slight changes in my chin and fat around my neck. My shoe size has changed and I am not uncomfortable in a non-wide shoe. When did other men start to see the more apparent physical changes?

Great to see everyone still checking in. I did the 4th of July Challenge and exceeded my goal which was great. My new goal was 350 lbs by vacation and I am not going to make it but I will be close at 355 lbs estimated. I am still ahead of my original plan so that still makes me feel good. I have had 2 fills. I am at about 8 cc in a 14 cc band and think I am ready for another that should bring me to the green zone. Potatoes and bread give me a problem so when I think I may over eat I shovel a bit of that in to instantly fill me up. I love seeing the scale decline but sadly I have seen no difference in my body measurements and clothes sizes. Maybe I am doing something wrong but I will keep treking along riding on everyone's success from LBT. Thanks for sharing!

Well it has been 60 days since I wrote this and 55 lbs total are gone. I took my monthly file photos and broke out the tape measure. Still no change in the measurements at all. I really do not understand why I am lighter than I have been in 6 years but still the same dimensions as I was 9 months ago. Thighs, Belly, and neck are all the same. I don't even think my manboobs are getting any smaller. Should I be concerned at this point? If I am not losing fat, where is the weight going?

I had horrible frequent bowel movements before banding. For the first few weeks things were very slow. Now that I have adjusted to eating better I never realized just how irregular I was. I had fast fast fast food for the first time in 4 months this week and it seemed like the BM was never going to stop. Back to the grains and veggies for me. The flax, metamucil, and fiber gummies all seem like a great way to add a little bit if you don't fit the whole items into your diet regularly. Congrats on the 220... that is my goal in the next 14 months.

It's either toppings only or I get a whole wheat crust. It seems to work better with the band for me. I slice of everything or two if I only eat toppings. I also found these 280 calorie single serving pizzas with whole wheat crust that are great if you want to be sensible when you crave the pizza.

A crown on my molar came loose and I swallowed it. I have good restriction so I am worried the tooth will sit on the stoma and not pass through my digestive system. Any suggestions?

I am losing much faster than my female friends with the band. But we are all different ages, had different starting weights, different fat/muscle compositions. Follow the plan and you will be just as successful if not more. We've all seen the stats from the research but there is no reason why I cannot get to my goal of 80% of excess loss despite the 60% statistic.

Unless you sit down, order from a menu, and they bring it to you after being freshly prepared by a team of cooks then I consider it fast food. But fast food is on a spectrum. We still have to be picky. Neither a wrap or a sub from SUBway helps me. I have to learn towards a salad. If I want lots of veggies and a chicken breast with a low cal/low fat dressing I will hit them up for a $5 meal.

I loved the free app called "Lose It." It let you set loss goals, daily calorie intake, and input your RMR/BMR. Then you add foods and activity from their food and exercise bank which was really really extensive. You could also add custom foods and exercise. I removed it from my phone and now use LapBand.com and Skinnyr.com to track my weight loss as I am not needing to really focus on my activity and calories as much now.

I had feared that I was going to be in the same position as our thread starter. My relationship with food seemed so intense. During my surgeon consult I learned how to eat after being banded. Take that small plate and fill it up. Then start with the Protein, then move to the veggies, and finish up with the whole grain. I quickly learned that all the time I blamed my weight on "emotional eating" was a joke. I was eating out of boredom and availability. I hated to waste food so I found myself trying to clean large plates even when it caused my chest to hurt. 3 Months now after surgery and I fill my trash can very quickly with extra food that I do not need. I will waste $1 in food if it saves me $5 in future medical bills because my feet fractured, back went out, or I need blood pressure and cholestorol meds. The band helped me redefine my relationship with food and we are working together. My band has helped me love exercising because now that some of the weight is gone I can move more. I feel that our poster had not all the information they needed before electing the band. Were they pushed into the band without seeing all the options? Did they not understand everything needed of a bandster before the surgery? I wish them most success but they said they would eat til the cows come home... at which point they could really hurt themselves more if they move to the sleeve and rupture something. Maybe WLS is not the solution for the poster in the long run.

I suppose if I had a training class and that gigantic needle that I could have my partner help me with it. My port was easy to find. My surgeon emailed me what my next fill is going to be for tomorrow. I see how they could take your info and provide you the suggested fill amount and then after taking your training class you can do it yourself. I won't be doing it myself unless this became an option.

While a setback, it has not thrown you off the horse. Do anything you can to stay active. Focus on your upper body instead during the time you would take your walks. You will be back on the walking trail before you know it! I had major ankle and foot problems caused by my exercising and I did anything I could to supplement the hardcore treadmill with something else so that I did not get back into lazy mode.

I have never had this response. While some people felt that I had taken an "easy fix" just by having WLS, they all changed their opinion when they learned just what we have to do to make the band work. Most people agreed that Lap-Band was a smarter choice because it may have less of an impact on the rest of my body in the long run. I wish you the best and hope that others see you for the positive changes you are making and not for the road you chose to get there.

I was not scared after having read all the supportive posts here. But that needle was huge and I just turned my head away. My next adjustment is next Friday with the first surgeon I worked with. My restriction from the first 6 cc has faded. I am going to ask him to start with 3 cc and see how I feel with Water. And then maybe request a little more. I loved the feeling after the fill... and the weight dropped so quickly that first week.

I was afraid this would happen to me. During my consult I asked about the hernia to ensure if it was present that it would be included and that I would not receive additional bills. What did happen was a few bills here and there from providers who were involved in my surgery that I did not know about. Luckily my surgeon's office is helping me get them all cleared up. I am getting bills for a test here, and a pill there, and a blanket over there... but none of it was to be billed to me.

I am a Great Lakes bandster and could not be happier with my experience. Love the staff there! But Dr. Weiner mentioned that a price increase in the self-pay program may be coming. My friend is also working with DMC/Wayne State for her plastic surgery as a self-pay patient and they are trying to get a flat rate program like Great Lakes.

When meeting with my dietician at discharge she held up two small medicine dose cups and put them together. She said the 2 oz pouch was my new stomach. Obviously as I healed I was able to increase my intake from that small 2 oz cup to almost my pre-band portions. After my first adjustment that was significantly reduced and now it is a little more. At this time, my first adjustment, I have some good restriction but I know more would be better. My largest meal is lunch and is from 7-10 oz. by weight. dinner is about 7 oz. and Breakfast between 2-3 oz. since my band seems tighter in the morning. Most meals are fairly solid because I like how long the solid food sits in the band versus Soup or mushies like mashed potatos. I vary my calorie intake and range between 800-1300, shooting at about 1000 average at suggestion of my surgeon. All of these are far larger than the 2 oz. the dietician said I would be living with. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I looking at this incorrectly? Can the stomach really stretch that much to accomodate 10 oz. from its little 2 oz. size? Do you think women have the same capacity as my female bandster friend eats significantly less than me.