Betsyjane

You'll lose more easily at first and then will need exercise to keep losing. Get in front of the TV and dance or do a tV exercise show! No regrets. You know, if I see one more infomercial or talk show that says all we need to do is exercise and eat right and we'll be fine, and if not, we're lazy...I'm going to slip a band! Or hear one more person say I took the easy way. I didn't tell people at first, and now I'm very cautious who I tell. Fat is the last acceptable prejudice and people are generally uneducated or miseducated. Or they want to help by constantly asking if I've lost weight or if I'm eating too much. I've learned to only tell people when I have the time and inclination to also educate them. That works for me.

I have had bouts with prednisone for my Lupus, and overall, gained 80 pounds. Grrr..... I'm amazed how many people who have been on prednisone end up getting lap bands. Somebody needs to do a study. Following the post op diet takes work. The difference for me before and after banding is that it used to be impossible. Now it's just hard work. Hard work leading to success. Come join us if you can! (We're wandering over to eat Thai food tonight at 5:30....)

I'm a Spivak girl! You go to one of his free seminars and he will do a presentation about it and answer questions. Then, you can also pay $100 to have a private consult with him that same night, and I'd highly recommend it. He'll act like he has nothing better to do in his life than to sit and talk with you and answer questions. You can get the times of the presentations on his website. IF insurnace covers bariatric surgery, then they will probably be looking for a BMI of at least 40, or a BMI of at least 35 with other related medical conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. Dr. Spvak will go over that stuff at the presentation too. Spivak requires practically nothing of you before surgery, compared with many Drs, and he'll prepare the report for your insurance company about your past weight loss attempts. His staff will walk you through it. I'd suggest 1) Go see Spivak and let them deal with insurance and guide you. 2) Read everything you can around here and start learning. It's a journey with a huge learning curve. I'm still figuring it out, and am so pleased I did it. 3) Find a local support group for lap band and start going. (Go to the home page here and look down toward the bottom for USA Support Groups.) Oh, regarding fills. There are a few people who lose weigh and never have to have a fill. But that's unusual. Fills are mostly no big deal, and you'll look forward to them to get just that right amount of restriction to stop your hunger and cravings.

Hey bikergrammy! I spent 3 weeks in Thailand last year, about this time last year! I love the culture, took the cooking classes, went rounding up gems, at the street food and had the street and spa massages. If I didn't have ties here, it would have been tempting to stay for a few years. It's a wonderful culture. Ya gotta love people whose phone book is alphabetical by first name. Welcome Mommyto2. I'm in Huffman. Come have a meal with us when you can! Who's your prospective surgeon?

You're still new with the band. You'll keep adapting to it over time and learning more. And you'll get sick of undoing your week's work on the weekend. Truly living the bandster lifestyle didn't happen to me until after my 3rd fill, and I'm still learning. Just the other day, I realized that whenever I have artificial sweetener, I start craving sweets and carbs! It's a process. One of the peopleat the fill center told me that I need a fill if I find I'm "food-seeking". I think that's part of it, getting the right fill. I think the other part is that it just takes time to build a new lifestyle. You'll probably also find that when you choose your exercise, you might meet other health-conscious friends to hang out with sometimes, so look for something social, like Jazzercise.

It's like an alcoholic binge, isn't it? Like an alcoholic who falls off the wagon, you just hope the binges will get shorter and less frequent. I have read in other posts about people who aren't losing and who are helped tremendously by endochrinologists. I think you're on the right track. You might want to search here for those posts and get the details.

SaWatDi. (That's Hi in Thai) I missed the last get together, so I'm soooo looking forward to seeing everybody!

Don't those infomercials just make you crazy??? We just need to exercise and diet and we'll be fine, and if we don't, we're lazy! Grrr.

My doc didn't have me on ANY pre op diet. So my guess is if you are less than perfect, you'll be OK. I do Slim Fast Low Carb in the can because it has the least of the bad stuff as far as I can tell.

I decided to quit telling people. They always want to know what I weigh now. The other thing I got was that I was taking the easy way out. Bull. The band just helps me succeed at all the hard work.

Pouch Dilation: I thought I needed another fill. I could eat way too much. so I went to the fill person and she just added .2cc. Then I drink the barium and we watched it on the fluoroscope....just sit there and not go through! She compared my last flouro pic with this one, and my pouch was much bigger this time (pouch dilation). I was scared! I thought I had ruined the surgery! She was so calm, like she sees this every day. She said to go back on liquids for 3 days and it would go back to normal, and she was right. I guess if it goes on too long it can become permanent, but the pouch stretching is a fairly common thing. I thought and thought about everything I had eaten...Had I ignored signs I was full and packed that pouch with too much food? Well, it turns out that the last fill that I had was a bit too much, and even Water was sitting too long in the pouch before going down, stretching the pouch. Some people even have their band unfilled and start over to let the pouch shrink. I didn't have to. I had been slugging down a Protein Drink in the mornings (I'm an early riser), and I'm one of those people who have a lot aof restriction in the early morning. So I changed my Breakfast to a few hours later, and just sipped on water before breakfast. I might have done better getting a bit unfilled, but as it turned out, I was losing weight, so the band lossened up a bit on it's own as I lost stomach fat. Anyway, I'm where I need to be....

Oh yeah. About that ice cream thing. I'm experienced enough with the band now that I love it when my husband gets a bowl of ice cream or any dessert. He gives me the first bite and I'm satisfied and really enjoy it. (But I couldn't have done that at first....)

Hi! I used to be up there in the Metroplex...now in Houston and loving being banded.

Now that's about the sweetest post I've ever seen. Good for you for writing. 1. Listen to her to find out what she'd like from you. It will change over time and range from food coaching to exercise encouragement to just hush up! 2. Ask her to teach you about it and to let you know what she's learning. It's a long steep learning curve for months. 3. Congratulate her for taking such a big step to improve her health. Weight loss is practically impossible to do or to maintain once you become morbidly obese, and the TV just says we all can do it with diet and exercise, or we're just lazy. Fat is the last great acceptable form of prejudice. You can say whatever you want about fat and people will laugh. You can discriminate against fat people, and no one cares. Let her know that YOU know that once you've crossed over that line to so many years of yo yo dieting and failures, that you change physically, biochemically, and in your brain, and it is NOT true that exercise and diet work or your lazy. She had the courage to do what she needed to do, and you need to be the one who knows that the best. 4. Help gently. My husband will touch me gently at dinner and then almost whisper "slow down" if I'm eating too quickly. And if it got on my nerves, I'd feel comfortable telling him not to pay attention to that anymore, and that instead, I need him to ask me every day if I've been to the gym! 5. In a sense, she's losing her best friend. for me, food was always there to handle my boredom or stress. Taking it away left some holes temporarily and I had to grieve. Then I started replacing my food with healthy habits...exercise and the like. Anyway, if your wife goes through emotional changes, just know that it's normal. 6. I guess my best advice to you is to ask her to read this post and ask her what she thinks. What she thinks will change week by week as she learns to live as a bandster, but this post might give you a common ground to start some conversations. My best to you both.

Congrats to both of you! It's an amazing journey. I was really nervous too! The biggest thing for me is that I've never succeeded at weight loss, so I figured I'd screw this up too. But it turns out if you screw this up, you can make it right without much sweat. It's a learning curve, and we aren't perfect...but look! I'm down almost 2 pounds a week on average since I was banded! Who's your doc in Houston?

lrw26...Look at you go! Nice weight loss!

Mannamay: I'm glad you are nervous. This is a big step, and there's a lot to learn both before and after banding. Even if you keep your guard up and don't show it, you can always write it here! We done bin there. Congratualtions on starting this journey. To your health.......

I'd rather drink water than all that artificial stuff. Here's how I get it in, but everybody's different. I drink around a glass of water and a half first thing in the morning. Then I have breakfast and don't drink anything for an hour. Then I drink a glass or two right up until lunch. Sometimes I sip and sometimes I just drink regularly. Then I have lunch and nothing to drink for an hour. Sometimes I forget my water in the afternoon, and then hurry up and have a glass and a half before dinner. I keep rubbermaid bottles of water in the fridge equalling 64 ounces so as I grab them during the day, I know how much I still need to drink. After dinner, I wait an hour and then drink whatever I have left to drink for the day. I just usually have one of those bottles with me wherever I go. But I'm not a sipper.....

Hey Krystal. You go girl! How are you doing with stuff like not grazing? That was a tough one for me. CJ Angel....They told me that insurance usually pays if you are BMI 40 or above...or BMI 35 and above with other medical problems. (My insurance didn't cover it at all, however.... jerks.)

Oh...I thought you were up here since you're in the Humble Kingwood group! I've only been to one Spivak meeting, and it was crowded...a full house. Lana and I went and I think we both got a lot out of it. But it's a long way for us too, so we'll go infrequently. If you're ever up our way, come join us!

Ha! I read some scathing reviews of the book and found out the scoop. Lots of predictable advice on weight loss. Then lots of high colonics, massages, exercise. AND the biggie....steriods! Or sort of steroids...a concoction that is illegal in this country, but he tells you how to get it so you can inject it in your self every day (!)...or a bunch of herbs that he says works a lot like the real thing, that you can buy through his website.

Better Than Boullion saved me. I could drink it during liquids stage and it tasted so hearty! Then when you can, try those boxes soups, like the ones by Imagine. Also hearty!

Woo hoo! You're on your way!

I get constipated if I drink a protein shake and then don't drink LOTS of water during the day. It just sits in there...too big...too hard.

Best wishes to you! Going of anti depressants and the band and going for it is great! I can eat salads just fine with the band......just shows how different we all are.