Windus

I had that same pain when I woke up from the surgery - I thought I was having a heart attack. But they sat me up partway and gave me something and it went away pretty quickly. Thank goodness it did not come back as that was pretty intense.

I have only told 3 people, my daughter - and that is only since she lives with me - my best friend and one other friend. I don't have any intentions on telling anyone else. I did this for me and for me only and it is no one's business. When anyone asks how I am losing weight - I laugh and tell them I found this new fad diet - you eat less and exercise more - which is exactly what I am doing. People just laugh and that is the end of it. A funny little story - a work friend challenged me to a 6 month weight loss contest a few days before I was banded. Maybe it is cheating on my part not to tell her but it sure is keeping her motivated to keep going and keep up with me. She does not have as much to lose so I figure there is no harm in not telling her if it is helping her too. I may tell her in the end. :scared2:

That when I feel that first tell-tell niggle of getting stuck that I have to stop eating!

Has anyone else noticed a change in their skin - especially acne? I have not had a problem with it since I was a teenager and now all of a sudden my face is breaking out and I have even gotten them on my chest, my ear and a really bad pimple on my upper arm. I would sure like to turn back the hands of time but not with the pimples! The only thing that has really changed in my life is the band and I am eating better foods now - can't figure out where this is coming from!

I haven't gotten to the point of having fat clothes to get rid of but when I do they are going straight into the garbage so I never see them again. I will probably keep 1 pair of jeans as a reminder but other than that they are outta here!

I thought it might be nice to have a group of friends on Twitter where we can Tweet back and forth about how are days are going, exercise accomplishments, maybe some little goal challenges, etc. The boards are nice but I thought this might be fun too and a little more one on one. If you are interested post your Twitter name here or follow me - mine is LovinMyLapband :smile:

Tried to add you but it says you don't exist!

LOL @btrieger! :smile:

Thanks but I don't want to do Facebook. Only 3 people on this planet know I had the surgery and I want to keep it that way!

Yep, those are just your internal stitches that dissolve - sometimes they work their way outside the body but nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the tip on not holding it in your hand while walking. Another valuable tip - LOL - don't stick your phone into the front of your swimming suit and forget it is there - they don't swim well! LOL - I put my suit on under my walking clothes so I can jump in the pool and do my Water exercises after I get home - learned my valuable lesson the hard way!

After an unfortunate incident with my Blackberry and the swimming pool :thumbup: I had to buy a new phone. I got a Droid Incredible and found a very cool app. It is called MyTracks and it is put out by Google. When I go out to walk every night I turn it on and it uses the GPS in the phone and it tracks me as I walk. Every 5 minutes (you can set whatever time you like) it tells me how far I have gone, how long I have been walking and my average speed. Then it uploads it all into Google Docs so I have a record of exactly what I did every night. It is nice to have a exact record and then you can challenge yourself with longer distances and faster speed, etc. I would not be surprised if there is a version for IPhone as well but I did not look.

I personally don't weigh or measure my food. I eat what I want and stop when I am full. I don't intend on spending my life obsessing about the amount of food I eat and the point in this to me is to learn new life-long habits so that is what I am trying to do. I am letting the band guide me, when I stop losing, I get a fill. As to fills, if your doctor is using a floroscope (sp) to do them they are putting in as much as they can according to what your body is telling them. Everyone is different. I would be leery of anyone who puts in a set amount for every person. I personally would not use anyone who is doing fills without it.

Yes, I was ungodly hungry on the pre-op diet. I could not do liquids only for 2 weeks. I did a lot of research on the reason for the diet which I was told was to shrink your liver to make it easier for the surgery. I also found that you can do this by cutting out all sugars and carbs. So, I did liquid for 2 meals and for dinner I had a meal that was pure protein, just meats. It worked great for me. I am not telling you to go against your doctors orders, I just found it confusing that the instructions were so different from Dr to Dr and made the decisions that I felt worked best for me and that made the two weeks bearable. I did do all liquids for 24 hours prior to the surgery however to make sure there was nothing in my stomach on surgery day.

Today is a very good day for 2 reasons. I hit the 30 lbs lost mark and now have less than 100 lbs to lose. Woohoo! :thumbup:

I am excited today. I hit two milestones - 30 lbs gone and now under 100 left to lose. Woohoo! :thumbup:

Try pork cutlets - they are pre-tenderized for you and easy to chew - I have never gotten stuck eating cutlets.

OK, I will admit it. I am a electronics junkie and I love to have all the new toys! But - have any of you seen or possibly have the Withing WiFi scale? If so tell me how you like it. This scale is very cool - it takes your weight, BMI, fat content and other things and sends them to you computer where it creates graphs for you so you can see your progress without having to hand enter everything. It will even twitter your weight loss for you if you want! It hooks right into your existing WiFi system at home. A little pricey at 159 but still really cool. You can see it at Withings - The WiFi Scale (weight, BMI, fat mass & lean mass) - Home[/url]

oldoneyoungagain - Thanks for the support :thumbup:. I have had a great week this week - very steady loss every day but I can still eat too much so I will go in for another fill. If the weight loss continues steady I may wait for that 4 wk appt. I already made. My dog is very happy with this whole banding business - he is loving getting to go out on a walk every night. As to being a tightwad - have you tried joining one of the Freecycle lists in the area? I have gotten bags of clothes off the local ones - you can can them at The Freecycle Network dm5201 - We are neighbors - I live over near Ameristar Casino and the caves!

If you don't mind used try joining a Freecycle Group in your area and posting what size you are looking for - people can be very generous and often you get new things that people bought and then did not wear. You can search for Freecycle groups at The Freecycle Network

I was told the same thing - no guzzling. I drink alot of green and white tea and I just take a mouthful and usually swallow it in a couple of swallows. I drink a gallon of the diet green tea a day easily. Wendy

I have a 4cc band and so far am happy with it. I am hopeful I will get good restriction with my next fill which will be fill #3.

I am a burping fool as well - and I get the hiccups a lot more often too.

Just like everything else in Bandland - different doctors and dietitians say different things - often completely contradicting one another. Who knows who is correct or if any of them are!

No, I think that in the US there are far too many useless and redundant tests done. Frankly I think it is more for cover your ass insurance for the doctor then for a real need for the patient. I had an EKG, blood work, x-rays, physical and all that in MX prior to the surgery. The only difference was they did all of it on the day of the surgery. I didn't need a "emotional" or psychological workup in order to know what I can handle. I am all grown up and know myself pretty well.