khunt719

I don't know about PCOS, but I do know about gaining the weight and not losing a single lb in 6 months. I'm at 8 cc's in a 10 cc band and have some restriction. It took me 7 months to lose 10 lbs, the next month I only lost 5 and this month I think I have lost 2 lbs. Eating is my worse enemy and food is my best friend so I bought some books on eating and weight. I'll let you know if there is anything in there that helps with emotional eating. I was an emotional eater before surgery but since having the Band I don't have the craving anymore. I am on a medication for ADHD that helps curb the appetite and I lost 30 lbs on it right before surgery so maybe that is something you need to try. It gives me extra energy since it speeds up my metabolism and I don't feel like eating unless I am hungry. It's worth a shot. Good luck with everything and use the band as a tool, you have to follow the rules to lose the weight and that is something I wasn't doing in the first 6 months and it showed on the scale.< /span>

After I got the band, I took advantage of it. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and how much I wanted. And I was like why isn't this working for me? I did this for 6 months and only got serious about the band in the past 3 months. I have lost 15 lbs since then but I have tried so hard and think I should have lost faster than this. I go for another fill Tuesday and should be at 9cc's in a 10cc band so hopefully I will fill restriction right away. It seemed like every month I would go for a fill and I wouldn't fill any restriction so who knows if I stretched my pouch to where it won't go back to the size it was when I got the surgery or if I slipped and there is more stomach above the stoma than what should be there but it took me forever to find out this band really does work. Before surgery I couldn't imagine eating just 3 small meals a day and not be hungry in between. Good luck.

The only time I drink with my meal is when we go to PF Changs and I get the hot tea. I take small sips so it doesn't interfere with my meal. I usually order Water when we go out just in case my food doesn't go down right. But when I am at work or at home I don't drink with my meal and wait an hour after before I have something to drink.

I have Aetna POS and it took 1 1/2 years from the first surgeon visit until I got my approval letter. I got denied on the first request and had to do an appeal letter but after it was submitted along with all the nut information that I did for the past 6 months, it went quick. It was like I had my approval letter and was in surgery 3 weeks later. They can screw you with the dietician appts and doctor appts but it is so worth the cost.

I feel you. It took me a year of fighting the insurance and then another 6 months before I got an approval letter. I was denied right away because they didn't have enough information, I had to do all the journaling, being weighed every month, writing down all my feelings, exercise pattern...everything that went on in my day for 6 months. Finally after finishing it, I had to write an appeal letter and got approved within a month but it took 1 1/2 years to get approved. Insurance just yanks your chain and leaves you hanging. Good luck with it.

I've been banded 9 months and food is still the main focus of my day. That is all I can think about...what can I eat and how much Protein is in it. Before surgery I thought the band was the answer so after getting it I had so many challenges of eating the wrong foods, going out to dinner and eating what I wanted. I didn't lose for 6 months. I got some WLS books and read them and finally got serious about the band and have lost 15 lbs. Just do your research on the band, I thought it was the answer for me but it is just a tool, you have to change the way you think. To this day, I will be out with my husband eating breakfast and talk about where we are going for dinner. Food is my addiction and even with the band it still pushes me to the limits of what I can accomplish. I read "Before and After" she says---nothing tastes as good as thin feels---and she is right. I just have to remind myself of this everytime I take a bite. Good luck and let us know when you get the band.

I can handle the muscle milk shakes and they have about 9-11 carbs in them but they taste good and are easy to drink if you are in a hurry. I put my Protein Powder in a snack size ziplock and have a shaker bottle at work and just mix on break. It is only 4 oz's so how hard is that to drink? It really is a challenge for me to drink the Protein but I just suck it up and drink it. I haven't tried the unflavored but putting it in the sugar-free kool aid is a good idea. I will try it.

When I first got my band, I ate what I wanted when I wanted and how much I wanted. My mother lost like crazy with her band and I thought it would just magically work that way for me. Boy was I wrong. I gained and couldn't lose a pound to save my life. It wasn't until 6 months of getting fills and reading books about WLS that I finally came to grips with how serious this is. I hadn't had a soda since 9-20-09 and yesterday I had a bottled soda. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to drink half of it and I thought my stomach was going to explode so I won't ever do that again. What a mistake that was. The rules are there to help you lose the weight the easiest and fastest way possible. I have followed the rules for about 2 months now and have lost 15 lbs so I know they work. I sometimes ask myself...why did I go through 1 1/2 years of fighting the insurance to get approved if I'm not going to try at this, atleast 90% of the time. food is my addiction and I just can't do 100% and stay sane. Good luck and listen to what the other bandsters tell you because they have some really good advice. :frown:

I've had 9 fills no unfills so I don't know what you are going through but best of luck with you and the swelling will go down and it should get easier to drink. Good luck.

I have Aetna POS for my insurance and it took 1 1/2 years from my first surgeon visit to getting my approval letter. I actually gave up but I just wanted to test the waters and see if I would get approved. The first time it went to the insurance I was denied, so I pursued it and went to the nut for 6 months and did all they asked. I had a really good one that worked with insurances and weight loss surgeons so she knew what was expected. After going to her for the 6 months and her filing all the paperwork, I had to do an appeal letter. It took about a month for me to get my approval letter and then 2 weeks until I had surgery. It was so worth it. Good Luck.

Your luck sucks...sorry to say it but it does. I had my last fill and had the doctor pull out all the saline because I wasn't feeling the restriction like I thought I should. I was supposed to be at 9 and he pulled out 7. When he went to put 8 back in, the needle broke or came apart and some of the saline went on my arm. So I don't know how much I really have but I haven't lost any weight this month and go for another fill this coming Tuesday. Sometimes he has a hard time finding the port and has me lift my head or the nurse holds my legs up but it seems like when he does finally find it there is no problem usually. You just have really bad luck and I wouldn't wish what you are going through on anyone. Good luck.

While I was doing my pre-surgery appts with my nut she had me go to decaf...well that wasn't working so I stayed on the caffeine and haven't turned back since. I have been banded for 9 months, I have 6-8 cups in the morning with my Protein Shake and then when I get to work for break I have another 20 oz, so coffee is my best friend. I don't sleep very much so at 3:00 in the morning it is something that I crave. Nothing bad has come of this so I don't feel like I have to stop drinking my regular mocha flavored coffee.

I ask myself that question all the time. I was banded 9-28-09 and I have lost 15 lbs. I must admit I am my biggest sabotager and I wasn't using the band as a tool, I was just expecting the weight to come off after I got and that didn't happen. I try to watch my exercise, my Protein intake, my eating routine, my journaling...All of it isn't helping. I know it takes time but how much time???? I would think 9 months would be time enough. My mother had the band done in Mexico and lost 140 lbs in a year and a half without exercising. I can't even lose 20? My gosh what am I doing wrong? If you find the answer, let me know because this is very frustrating. My surgeon said to lose 1-3 lbs a month but there are people on here losing 10-15 lbs a month. I know we aren't supposed to compare but it is hard not to.

I feel like you do. I've only lost 15 lbs since Sept, pre-surgery I lost 30 lbs in 3 months. I know what I am doing wrong. I only exercise on the elliptical and walk, I don't push myself. I have days like you where I have this hole in my stomach and no matter what I eat it isn't enough to even satisfy me. I get down in the dumps all the time since I'm not losing any weight. It took 1 1/2 years from my first appt to getting my approval letter in the mail. You have come so far to just let this go. You have to stay on track and I am not a good example but if I were to tell you anything it would be to stay on track. You just didn't put the weight on overnight and it seems like a constant battle to eat healthy, eat your Protein, exercise...do everything everyone tells you but that is the only way to get through this. You are stronger than you know and you just need some pick-me-ups to help you along this journey. But I think you are doing great...you just have days like I do.

I have a 10 cc band and was supposed to have 9cc's in it but I wasn't feeling the restriction so I had the doctor pull all the saline out and it only came to 7cc's. So he put it back in with another cc for a total of 8. Well the needle came off somehow and saline went all over my arm so I don't know how many cc's I have right now. I go for a fill this coming Tuesday so hopefully it will help. There are days where I am hungry after 3 hours of eating and some days not until 6 hours after eating so it just depends on the day and what I eat I guess. Maybe my "sweet spot" will come somewhere down the line. Good luck to you.

a year and a half from denial to appeal to approved to surgery. I have Aetna

I used to love to eat out but since having surgery there just isn't the fun in it like there was. The waiter brings this heaping plate of yummy food and I can only eat a few bits and then I'm full. My husband loves the leftovers so that is a plus.

I'm 5'6" and my goal weight is 175 lbs. I figured that was a good number since that is what I weighed in the 7th grade. That was a terrible day, in gym class the nurse weighed you and announced your weight so everyone could here. I'll never forget that day. I've only reached that goal once before since that day and that is what I hope to reach again.

For about 3 weeks I would have 8 pieces of shrimp cocktail for breakfast and had no problems, I had a fill and got so stuck on those 8 shrimp I thought I would rather be dead. I was like I would never do that again, it took a day and a half before I could eat again. All was going good, back to having Protein Shake for breakfast and cottage cheese for lunch. I had about a cup and 1/2 for lunch yesterday and got stuck again. It was that terrible pain in my stomach where all I wanted to do was lay down and stretch out. So I won't ever do that again. It just goes one day at a time. Since my last fill I can definately tell the difference from what I ate before to what I can eat now. I think I will stay at a cup of food or 4 oz's and that is all.

The waiting was the worst part of it all. The insurance company took it's time but once I was approved it went by so fast from my 2 pre-op visits to my surgery day. I didn't feel weak or anything like that but I ate too soon and all the wrong foods. So I suggest getting a few books about the weight loss surgery and read those because after going 6 months without losing any weight I did that and now the weight is coming off...slowly but surely every week I lose. The books give you so much information on what would should do before surgery, the day of surgery, and after. I wished I would have done that before I had surgery because I would have a success story to tell by now.

I was having a hard time at night after work and the stress of the day would catch up with me and I would eat like a pig and then I got a few books on weight loss surgery and just started to read them and that gave my mind something to distract it away from food. You need to stop throwing up though because my mother did that and her band slipped and she almost died and had to have her band removed by emergency surgery. It was terrible. I haven't thrown up yet and I was banded Sept. 28th, so I guess I am just lucky. Hope this helps. Good luck.

I take 8 in the morning (4 prescription and 4 otc) and have the feeling like I am going to puke them up and have to force them down. I take 5 prescription at night and they go down fine. The percocet is my biggest and I don't seem to have trouble with it, all the pills go down the stoma without any trouble. It's just in the morning that I want to choke them back up, ever since surgery it has been like this.

The people who know are...my husband, daughter, mother and her boyfriend, and my father. That is all because I don't want to hear how I took the easy way out or you don't have to try because you had the surgery or you aren't losing like some people I know that have had surgery. It is personal preference and who you can trust. I trust my family not to tell anyone because it is no one else's business unless you want them to know. I would want to tell people at work because they are always nagging me to eat more and that I'm not losing the weight in a healthy way. If they only knew but I don't trust them not to judge me. So I eat and exercise and they see the weight slowly, very slowly come off and they are like good job. They think I go see a nutritionist every month but that is when I go for my fills. So when I miss work for that hour they don't say anything but ask "how did it go?" I think it is up to you to tell who you want because it was such a big decision and a major surgery that you should be the one to say something.

At the doctor's, when I go for my fill. He has me bend at the knees and hold my head up like I am going to do a sit up. Then he moves his hands around and pushes down hard, when he finally locates the port there is a great amount of pain and the pressure kills me sometimes. I hate going for fills because of this. There is so much discomfort I don't try to find it myself but I can feel a hard knot in my upper right side where it is.

I am so with you on this one. I was banded on 9-28-09, gained weight for the first 6 months and then finally I think the fills started to work and I lost 10 lbs and another 5 last month. I was supposed to be at 9cc's in a 10cc band. The doctor pulled out 7cc's. He decided to put 8cc's back in and while doing the fill the needle broke and saline went all over my arm. So I don't know how much I really have but I have to wait another month before getting another fill. I don't know if the "sweet spot" exists. I don't have the gurgling, the noise, or the feeling of food and/or liquids passing through the stoma like I read people on here having. I exercise as much as my knee's will let me and walk everyday. I just can't get to 220 lbs, boy if I could that would be an "it" moment for me. I have made a goal of getting to 200 lbs by Aug 29th. That is when we leave for vacation and I have bought clothes for it and want them to fit. So I don't think my goal is unrealistic because that is 26 lbs in 3 months but to reach it is another story. It seems like no matter what I do the weight just doesn't come off. So I feel for you. I, too, am frustrated about all this and the waiting for the scale to move is unforgiving at times. Just hang in there and you will get past this.