AZA

When you go back for fills, do them in very small increments like 0.1 or 0.2 cc's so that you can find your sweet spot without being overfilled and suffering at night.

Hi Cindy, Can you ask Dr. Bishop why he won't fill patients from other surgeons besides Dr. Cobourn?

Hi Agnes, sorry to hear you're not recuperating as fast as you had hoped. I know I felt pretty good on day 2 and 3 but days 4 to 7 I felt really tired and stayed in bed pretty much the whole time. I ended up taking 2 weeks off of work. I didn't feel any pain or anything out-of-the ordinary inside. In fact, I couldn't tell I was banded until my third fill. I even ate a BigMac the week after I was banded (a big no-no). Get well soon!

I paid around $5,000 in Drummondville. There is about a year-long waiting list.

So I just had another fill about 7 hours ago and right now I'm PBing spit because it's not going down. Not only is it gross, I can't fall asleep because I keep having to get up and PB. I was in a hurry to get home and didn't drink my Water before leaving the doctor's office (lesson learned!). Is there anything I can do to prevent a defill? Should I try hot liquids? Will it loosen up in a few days (though I'm not sure I can wait that long). Either way, I'll be calling my doctor first thing in the morning.

I'm not sure if I'm at my sweet spot. I'm satisfied with 800-1000 calories a day but I'm also still able to eat quite a bit at night (though I now have much better control over this).

I've only used Sparkpeople and I'm happy with it. Haven't had a reason to check out fitday yet.

<p><p> Wow! Congrats on reducing your dress size! I can't wait to fit into a 3x again - I find it so much easier to find pretty clothes in the 1x-3x range. The Denny's is at 1378 CLYDE AVE, NEPEAN, ON K2G 3H9 If you're coming from the Queensway, take the Maitland (south) exit. Maitland turns into Clyde and Denny's is just past the Baseline intersection. If you're coming from the Champlain Bridge, continue straight to Merivale, past Baseline, and turn right on Clyde (the CJOH building is at this corner).

The next Ottawa group meeting is this Saturday, January 5th, 10:30 am at Denny's on Merivale. I know a few new people are also interested in joining us. Is everyone still planning to be there? Can we make a reservation at Denny's? Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Woohoo! :whoo: I'm FINALLY under 300 pounds!!! It took a long time to start losing weight but the scale started going down in December. So I've lost around 30 pounds but it doesn't show at all yet. My clothes are a bit looser - I'm looking forward to dropping sizes too. So what are your weight-loss goals for the New Year? I'm going down south in March and would really like to be under 275 by then.

I'm at around 7cc's and I'm still not as tight as I think I should be. I can certainly eat a lot less than before but I think it's still too much, especially at night when I'm a lot looser. I did get up to 8cc's and that was too tight (couldn't swallow my own saliva). My next fill should be around .3 or .5cc.

I find that whenever I start losing weight, my period is really heavy and lasts a couple weeks. My doctor told me it's because of hormones and fat cells. When I started losing weight after surgery, my period stayed around for 4 weeks. Some days were so heavy, a super-plus tampon would only last 20 minutes. Thank goodness it stopped on its own because I was about to start taking the pill to get it to stop.

I gained weight after my surgery until about my 3rd fill. The good news is that once you have proper restriction, the weight will come off! Try following weight watchers or other similar program until you obtain restriction. I also have a 10cc band and wished I had been filled more aggressively. It took nearly 4 months after surgery to start losing weight.

It sounds like you're close to obtaining good restriction. Another small fill or two and you'll be at your "sweet spot".

I felt those same symptoms after my fill last week but I'm definitely coming down with a cold. I've felt miserable all weekend.

My doctor feels that if you can eat a solid breakfast, then you're not properly restricted. He said it's completely normal to loosen up over the day.

I'm either still swollen from the overfill or am just filled a little too tight. I can only keep down liquids right now. I can live with this for now as long as I can still get water and protein shakes in.

I don't think you lose weight faster with the 10cc band. It seems to take a lot longer to reach good restriction with this band - though I think that's in large part to fills that aren't aggressive enough.

I'm free again! Gosh, that was a yucky past 24 hours. When the doctor pulled out some saline, I heard a big gulp, gulp, gulp, and felt liquid move into my stomach. Sweet relief!!! This time we refilled while I drank Water (and kept my eyes away from the needle sticking out of my port!). I feel a little irritated from all the PBing but hopefully I didn't harm my band. Lesson learned: Always drink your water BEFORE leaving the doctor's office.

One thing I noticed was that none of the contestants looked like they would need plastic surgery to deal with loose skin. Why is that? Is exercise that powerful?

I'm trying to stay positive but I'm getting really frustrated with my lack of weight loss. I had surgery nearly 5 months ago and I've only lost about 15 pounds. I had good restriction with my last fill for a couple of weeks - it's loosened up somewhat so I'm going back for another fill this week. I track everything I eat and I average 1200 calories a day. I eat less than a third of what I used to! I've also recently added exercise - walking on a the treadmill for 30 minutes a day. I really don't understand why I'm not losing. My BMI is 50.8 and according to the on-line calculators, I burn 2800 calories a day with a sedentary lifestyle (I am somewhat active but I wanted to be conservative with my numbers). In theory, to lose 3 pounds a week, I should consume (3,500x3) 10,500 calories less than I burn. 2,800x7=19,600 calories burned in a week (this doesn't even take into account the exercise I do) 1,200x7=8,400 calories taken in during the week So per week, I have a deficit of 11,200 calories which should equal a 3.2 pound weight loss per week. In reality, I'm only losing about 0.8 calories per week. What am I doing wrong??? Should I switch to just doing Protein shakes? Should I do low-carb? I thought weight-loss was a matter of burning more calories than consumed. Any advice? :confused: I'm getting discouraged. I'm so glad I didn't tell many people I was getting this surgery because I hate having to explain why I'm not losing weight yet.

What I've discovered so far: sleeping sideways, on your stomach, on your back and sitting up DOESN'T help! Drinking hot tea doesn't help. A very hot shower did feel good but not sure if it's helping yet. I can't wait until my doctor's office opens up!

Yes I do drink lots of Water - I love Lemon-Lime Crystal Light and drink at least 4-5 bottles of water a day. I had another fill today so I'm sticking to liquids tomorrow but after that I'm going to try eating low-carb. My fill doctor also suggested I follow a modified Atkins plan. I'll be sure to follow-up next week and let you all know if it's working. Oh geez - Does this mean no mashed potatoes on Christmas??? I love mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing, and pie, sigh....

I saw a new Crystal Light green tea flavor at Loblaws. Also WalMart carries their own brand which might have different flavors. I'm a big fan of Lemon Lime - I half-freeze my water bottles and drink it like a slushie.

Thanks for the continued feedback! I'm willing to try anything at this point so I'll cut down drastically on carbs for a week and see what my results are. I'll have to plan all my meals because I have no clue what I'll eat. I agree I need another fill and have one scheduled this week.