Katy517

I'm participating in the challenge. Thanks for starting this. Am hoping to drop 16 pounds during the challenge.

That's awesome that you made the milestone Mandy - congratulations! It is exciting.

Thank you both so much. Hang in there Patty. I'm no poster child for the lap band, that's for sure, and don't always work a winning program. What's worked for me is to combine banded life with Weight Watchers. Keeps me honest and less likely to over-indulge in things that the band does little to help control. Everybody's experience is different though and I wish you all good results.

How sweet it is and how good it feels. I'm 11 months out since surgery and hit the 100 lbs. lost mark today. I've got 43 to go to reach my goal. Thanks to all the members here for the solid information and support throughout and wishing you all success on your weight loss and maintenance journeys with the band.

I've always been able to feel my port and it doesn't feel good. I even had port revision surgery to relocate my port slightly as it caused me quite a lot of discomfort immediately after banding. It's a bit better now, but still a problem for me especially when exercising.

The hunger sensation I feel since being banded is completely different than what I used to experience as hunger before. It's now very much a physical sensation and it starts with my stomach rumbling - loudly. When I drink water it doesn't ease the hunger sensation. If I wait too long to eat when I know that I am physically hungry I get light headed. I'm pretty sure that what I called hunger in the old days was just 'head hunger'.

Thanks for organizing the Spring Break challenge. I'm in late and am going to try for a 13 pound total loss. Spring Break Challenge

This is my experience in a nut shell. I definitely cannot intake as much food in one sitting with MOST foods as I could before being banded. As to being full longer with the band - definitely not. My stomach is rumbling within four hours of a meal and I know I need to eat.

Mine was six months with monthly nutritionist visits. I was fortunate to have a great nutritionist who really prepared me well for life after banding and helped a lot with getting myself in the habit of making good dietary choices even before banding. I lost 18 pounds during the pre-op phase.

I came to my goal weight by two different paths. The first was to consider when I've felt my best both physically and emotionally over the past several years. I then tried my best to recall my weight at that time when I felt good in my skin, comfortable in my clothes and positive about myself. That was at a weight of 125-135 pounds. I then went the more scientific route and looked up what my normal weight and BMI should be. For me that is a 115 -154 pound range with a BMI of 21.5 to stay right in the middle of the 'normal' range. My goal weight is 133 pounds as it will result in that 21.5 BMI and is also in the range at which I felt best in the past. P.S. My this is an aged thread. Great subject matter though and delighted that it was bumped.

Hi Dave. I've got a 14 cc band and have had restriction along the way that then ceased as I lost more weight and thus required additional adjustments. I'm at 10.8 cc now and feel really good now, but am fairly certain that I'm not on my last adjustment based on past experience.

Happy New Year one and all. I hope that you all did well and were successful in the End of Year Challenge. I'm three pounds short of my 185 lb goal, but happy with my 19 lb loss. Looks like many of us haven't updated the spreadsheet https://spreadsheets...y=CMr0g1w#gid=0 and we're already over 250 lbs. total lost.

Congratulations on reaching Onederland and also on not only reaching, but surpassing your goal weight and getting to such a healthy BMI. You should be very proud.

Do you have Whole Foods or Trader Joes markets in your area? I know that they both carry good and tasty vegetable broths. You might try that.

My doctor's definition of a clear liquid soup is broth only. Nothing else in the soup at all. That's the type of soup that I was allowed during the clear liquid phase immediately preceding and then following my surgery for about one week each. After that I was migrated to a full liquid diet for another five weeks that included tomato and cream soups, but still with nothing else in them unless I pureed the heck out of them before cooking and eating. I was definitely not allowed any solid foods like shrimp at all unless pureed first. Am guessing that might be the problem, but you should definitely check with your own doctor's definitions and example foods for the various stages. Good luck.