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Well did you talk to the Doc about what and when to eat, I was banded April 17.06 and down currently 70lbs. I was on liquids for three weeks after band and then solids as tolerated. Its the portions that I eat and what I dont eat that help me loose the weight. Also welcome, it good to have someone new

Well, sometimes I see a skinny girl with way too much skin and sometimes I still see a size 22/24 woman. It is weird, in pictures I see a happy healthy skinny mom/wife/woman. But the mental picture is still cloudy. ~Mandy

I haven't worn one of those torture chambers in over 30 years but I understand as the tummy skin gets looser, I will have to use one if I want to look nice. I am not looking forward to it.

I think that happens to everyone, but you will start feeling it, more energy loose fitting clothes. The weight will come off!

Yeah you get more fertail and the fact as you loose you tend to get more active, lol

THANK you... I don't have ALOT of loose skin.. Just a little on my arms, stomach and thighs but it's not extreme... My weight stopped where it wanted too... I just finished a 21 day Daniel Fast eith my church so that took me from 142 to 137.. I think my body is comfortable at 140 Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Congrats!!! I have to ask, how did you keep going?? I started at 266 end of May, I am at 186...and the scale has not budged in two months. Last week, I went back to protein shakes and bars and light dinner and still scale has not moved. I am working out 5-6 days a week. I thought maybe muscle gain, because I am at a size 14 and last time I weighed this I was at a size 16. But the doctor seems it should be a piece of cake ( no pun) to loose another 30 pounds. I am soo struggling right now and any advice would be amazing! Keep up the great work!

Hi We re in similar position. I am going to have VSG on Feb 5 in Tijuana. I am going alone and against my husband's "will". He also thinks it is easy to loose the weight with diet and exercise even though I have been strugling with this for the past 10 years. I am in peace with my decision and I am doing this for me and my kids. it was hard to decide to go without his support but I am fine with this decision now. take care

Happy Monday to me! 10.5 months post-op. 146lbs lost since surgery. GW ACHIEVED!! I would like to thank... literally nobody but myself because I am the one who accomplished this! Hollllaaaa!! And this is before the skin removal so who knows what I will end up being. I am also still actively losing so I am not at equilibrium yet. Interested to see where this will go....

I wasn't discouraged I knew it would be ok.. Feels good to be loosing again

I'm sorry too! I think it's ridiculous...if we could loose weight on our own, we wouldn't NEED the surgery!! I'm glad I wasn't required to try! Heck...I couldn't have even survived to liquid diet the week before surgery most sleeves were required to do! Good luck & keep fighting!

So, I have gone shopping thinking this would be fun , but nooo, I have no more butt! And the jeans fit me horribly. I need to know if anyone has any good exercises to lift the bum! (besides just basic squatting) which I have been doing religiously. It's just not helping. And I don't want to have any plastic surgery yet! Please help!

Dallas area. First Off, it took me over a year to get approved. :wub: I was 270 lb. Meanwhile, my husband died from cancer. I lost 30 lb on the widows diet......you dont feel like eating, or doing anything--so you loose weight. Finally, I got approved for the lap band in March, and the group I was working with (AIGB Richardson) finally got me scheduled for surgery in June. I was about 250 lb. pre-surgery. I lost 12 lb the first week, and it was very painful. Then came the 1 x month adjustments. It is now November. The first several adjustments literally made no difference. After the soreness left and I recoverd a little bit -- TWO POUNDS in a month, I lost. The next month, THREE POUNDS. Boy I was getting disgusted. Plus I was having to pay $150 per fill because AIGB Richardson couldnt even give me appointments for fills, which were covered by my insurance because they were wretched incompetent and understaffed -- so I had to go elsewhere. After 3 months post surgery, AIGB Richardson FINALLY pulled it together and got me in for a fill. Since I wasn't experiencing any results, they gave me a pretty significant fill. Thats when the puking began, although I was still having HUNGER issues. Inever felt full at a half cup, or even a cup. :mad: That month, I lost a whopping FOUR Pounds. Then I got a very small fill. 1 cc I think it was. I couldnt eat at all, not even thin soup, and I was spitting up water when I drank it, so 3 days later, I had to get the fluid they added removed. AIGB Richardson agreed to see me, since I couldnt' drink water --- they waived their gastapo one visit per month rule. I guess they didn't want my family to sue them If I got dehydrated and died. :w00t:Then came the month from hell. Everything I ate, unless it was soup, I puked up, no matter how much I chewed. I was chewing bites 60 X apiece (so spare me any chewing lectures, please). Couldnt eat chicken at all. And beef was really hard also. Everything except soup, I puked up the first 20 bites, at least. But hey --- I COULD eat fattening cheese --- and sugar laden protien drinks. And spare me please, low fat cheese taste like crap and if I have a choice of only 2 or 3 foods I can eat, I will not go with low fat cheese -- and it that makes me an undisciplined fatso, well, so be it. After puke puke puke puke puke puke, I'd finally be able to hold a little down. Usually, it was evening time before I was able to hold anything down. But once it started to STAY down, and stopped coming up, I could eat a LOT, way more than 1/2 cup!! I could scarf down a HUGE plate of pasta, no problem, once the first 20 bites puking stopped. And, by then, in the evening, I'd be so ANGRY, and so HUNGRY, and so WEAK, I'd eat the whole thing. I have been totally unable to eat in public. Eating with friends or family became a thing of the past. :mad2: For one, I didn't want all my (thin) (somewhat judgemental) friends knowing I'd done a lap band. So, unless I ate thin soup, I couldn't eat ANYTHING in public -- because when I did, I'd have to flee the table after almost every bite --- to puke. And they started to look at me real weird after leaving the table for my 5th trip to the bathroom. :huh2: It was miserable. And as far as my family, who knew I'd had it done--well- No one wanted to eat in my presence, because I had to keep a "Puke cup" alongside my plate -- cuz fleeing the table 20 times a meal just wasn't an option. It was easier to just eat alone, with my PUKE CUP. After a month of this wretched hell, I'd lost a whopping 4 lbs. My AIGB aftercare won't see me any oftener than 1 x a month, unless it's a dire emergency. So, last time I went, they removed .5 cc -- cuz they said something obviously wasnt working right. WELL DUH. That's almost 2 weeks past. They told me that this was not how it was supposed to work, but they had me do barium swallow and said that it LOOKED fine, and they wanted me to see my dr. Well. Great. My dr. couldnt see me for nearly 3 wk, I see him on the 11th Nov. THANK GOD I AM NOT DYING, OR I'D BE DEAD BEFORE I SAW HIM. So -- since they removed that last bit, I can eat without puking most of the time.....but hungrier than he3ll. :thumbup: I can eat a HUGE plate of whatever. Of course, if there is much texture, I still puke, but there seems to be no limitation on the volume I can eat, and my hunger pains gnaw all the time. I still cannot eat EGGS -- a great source of protien, without puking, but hey......a chocolate brownie goes down just GREAT. Never, ever, ever, at any point, has this WRETCHED MISERABLE USELESS CRAPPING lap band worked like it should, just limiting my food intake to 1/2 cup and allowing me to eat semi normal food like a semi normal person. I wouldn't recommend this useless surgery to my very worst enemy. :wub: It's a hoax and a sham, at least for me. I had such high hopes for it!! And I felt just furious, every time I went in for a fill, and this woman, or that woman "Oh, I was banded t 4 months ago, and I have lost FORTY POUNDS, woo hoo!" OR what about the fella who lost 70 lb in 5 months. Not me, no, no. I mean, when you have to suck down protien drinks, which are packed with sugar, and the only things you can even get down are fattening crap, when meats choke you down, even deli meats, well, that's sure not going to work for anybody. I LOVE steamed brocolli. Under no circumstances can I even have a NIBBLE of steamed broccoli--I puke it out immediately. My food choices are so so so limited.....and I have never found a protien drink that was bearable to drink that wasn't saturated with sugar. I got these little protien shots from my dr., they were expensive as gold, but they tasted so awful, it was all I could do not to throw up in disgust when I drank them. boy, you get to be REAL CRANKY if all you can eat all day is something that resemble snail snot with sacharine. As a result of this surgery -- (eliminating the week of painful hell it took me to recover) I have lost less than 15 lb from this miserable surgery in 5 and a half months. And I have been more miserable than I have EVER been in my life. I don't know what my dr. will say, but this is NOT WORKING. I had a friend whose insurance wouldnt pay, she was ready to shell out 15 grand ---- I told her DONT DO IT. Get diet pills, do atkins, do ANYTHING, cuz ANYTHING is better and EASIER than THIS! If I went on weight watchers at least I could EAT normal food!!!! I used to think WW was hard, but it's nothing like this -- live on cheese sticks, yogurt, BROWNIES. and sickly sweet protien drinks. i CANNOT eat vegetables anymore. :crying: I loved vegetables, and they are healthy for you. I was never successful with diets, thats why I thought this stupid as_ surgery would help me.....but if you can't eat protiens or anything healthy cuz they hang up on the lap band --- and if it does not affect the VOLUME you can eat, what the hec good is it????? If I do not see a major difference by the end of the year with this miserably useless procedure, I am having the wretched thing ripped out, and having a magnetized sign made to go on the side of the car that says LAP BAND IS RIP OFF, DONT DO IT. I am 235 lb. I need to get down to 140 lb. That is 95 pounds. At that rate, it will take me about FOUR YEARS to loose this miserable weight. I need to find a job, I lost my job of 7 yr, due to my husband's terminal illness, and face it, we all know employers discriminate against what they call "FAT UNDISCIPLINED STUPID HOGS". Thats how they view you. I'd like to start dating sometime in the future. But we know how middle aged men view women who are overweight, no matter how intelligent or attractive the woman, and no matter how ugly and bald and fat the man....... "Hey, I don't date FAT CHICKS!"---and anything over a size 12 is a FAT CHICK in their eyes. So, unless I can get some of this weight off somehow, and obviously IT WONT BE THRU THE LAP BAND, I guess I am destined to PUKE forever, live on disgusting yogurt forever, and be FAT and have no dates and no job FOREVER. Do I sound bitter, angry and pissed off! Of course I do. I am not normally an angry person. But, when you puke all the time, and when you are hungry all the time, and you can't even eat anything that you LIKE, and you can't share social meals or social occasions with friends or family, and you are still trapped in a fat body in spite of all this misery, WELL HEY. NEWS FLASH. IT JUST MIGHT MAKE YOU CRANKY AND ANGRY. YES. LAP BAND HAS RUINED MY LIFE. I HATE IT. I WOULDNT EVEN RECOMMEND IT FOR MY WORST ENEMY. :wub: :wub: :eek: :smile:

I had my gall bladder out six weeks after my lap band was put in. And I was a couple months recovering from that. Well its been over six months since it came out and I now have no long term difference, thankfully, except for my skin. My complexion has changed. And darn't, I know its from getting my gall bladder out. I've always been prone to milia, those hard tiny hard little white bumps that don't come out like white heads or black heads. Those are caused, at least in large part, from excess cholesterol on the surface of the skin. But this isn't related to blood levels of cholesterol. For a while I'd done at home microdermabrasion and that has helped me not get new ones and with my skin in general. I have combination skin, so I also used 5% benzoyl peroxide gel on my face in the evenings. I also use face wash, whatever is nice, biore or bath and body works, or something. thats followed by Origins united state toner. love that. Then their white tea perfect world serum. Then moisturizer (st. ives) if I was using the benzoyl peroxide. Of course I wear sunscreen everyday, nice light texture stuff, can't really tell its on. I don't wear makeup everyday. Wash face twice a day, etc. So my skin did just fine under this routine. Then after the gallbladder came out, I got a lot more milia. My pores started getting bigger, especially on my cheeks. I now get those cholestrol bumps on my eye lids, but they are very tiny, I think they are called xanthelasma palpebrarum. My blood cholesterol levels are just fine-- it has always been excellent. That runs in my family-- good cholesterol level no matter what we eat. My liver enzymes behave a little oddly, but they always have, and from what I can tell that doesn't seem to have anything to do with these things. And since its the same odd... I have to say that this is really bugging me. I don't have any more acne, and my skin isn't oilier. But its uglier. Bigger pores, milia, and scaley texture under my eyes. I'm not sure what that is. I think it might either be a bunch of little milia or else the skin is sort of scaley. My skin isn't dry though. If I can't come up with something soon, I'm going to see a dermatologist. I use the home microdermabrasion (exfoliation) every other day. I take my vitamins-- including stuff for skin in them. I get Protein. I get enough liquid. I do a face mask (aspirin and honey) once a week. Right now I am trying both moisturizer and benzoyl peroxide twice a day to see if that helps. Any ideas? Anyone else with the same problem or other gall bladder skin woes?

Hi Brandi, The only thing I remember about tightening skin was from Weight Watchers that drinking skim milk would keep skin from getting flabby...hope that helps. Betty

I hear ya... When you're fat, you're filled out. Plump. Shiny. Healthy glow. Now, for me, its a bit like looking at a deflated balloon and I haven't even shed that much in comparison to some. I often ask myself; is filled out skin sexier than deflated skin? Irrespective of your size? Who knows... Maybe it's just all in our heads? Thank goodness for Spanx!

I think the doctor sets a weight that is more beneficially to them to show success rates. My doctor said 180. I said 170. I am 165...ON his scale I am probably 162. I believe you should set a goal of 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet tall...so if you are 5'5" then your goal should be 125. That is aggressive, but possible if you work hard in the first year to cut those calories and work out. I am 5'11" and set my goal for 170 because the doctor said 180. If I set my goal based on this I would be 155. I would love to be 155. I am guessing that if I have skin removal surgery I probably would be fairly close to 155

Welcome. This blog is dedicated to all the people out there who didn't take the easy way out. It doesn't matter if you had the bypass, the sleeve, or the lap-band, it's not easy going through all the changes associated with weight loss surgery. This is why I wanted to bring some comedy to the table. I can't really bring anything else as I wouldn't be able to get it down but, laughter makes everything better and I hope this blog makes your experience just a little easier during those tough times. I can't promise everything I type will be funny...hell, I can't even promise a little bit will be funny. All I can promise is that I will be honest, blunt, and sometimes I will look at situations a little differently than most people. My name is Tricia and I have been fat my whole life. Even when I look back at photos of myself where I was "thin", I remember still feeling fat in compassion to my friends. However, I was always active and in shape so I didn't really let being the bigger one in my group bother me. Then when I was 20 years old and in college, I developed really bad back issues. In the past 17 years, I put on over 100lbs, began feeling like a blob, and I felt my self esteem fall drastically. Three years ago, I watched my sister, Cherie, go through gastric bypass surgery and I have to admit, watching her loose the weight made me very happy for her but not so happy with myself. I would watch her sit at family dinners and nibble on very little food and then announce how full she was. I remember thinking that I could never give up enjoying food like she did. But, the more she lost the more I thought about giving everything up just too be thin. Then in December of 2010, my back finally gave out and I had to leave work. This was devastating for me as have always been a worker and the idea of going on disability was heart-wrenching for me. After many doctor's apts, I was told that I needed a new disc in my back but the only way to be able to have one is if I lost a LOT of weight. Apparently, fat people can't get new discs as the disc doesn't seem to set right. Who knew a titanium disc was so picky? So, I began the long process of nutrition classes, Life Skill classes, doctor's apts, and finally surgery. On April 12, 2012 I had Dr. Gail Wynn, from Christiana, De., remove a big portion of my stomach. Since then, I have experienced so many funny, strange, crazy things that I figured it would help if I shares some of them. I don't know if anyone will actually read this Blog, but at least I'm getting my thoughts out there. Hope you all enjoy them.

Two things I had to quit before my surgery were diet coke and candy. Proud to say I have had neither for 2.5 years. I do enjoy drinking flat soda once in a while. I leave the bottle loosely capped on the counter for a few days. Ice helps to minimize the carbonation also. My doctor never said no soda, but carbonation is uncomfortable for me. So I still have a diet rootbeer or gingerale, but always flat. I really don't miss the diet coke at all!

What you COULD be experiencing is called tissue turn-over. When you bump/irritate it, the area has a memory of being injured. Your scars are made up of a different cellular structure than untouched skin. Collagen, in untouched skin, has a basket weave structure, whereas in scar tissue, the tissue is more fibrous, and one directional. Without knowing what the scar looks like, it's hard to tell. Did it form a keloid? Meaning is it raised, painful? Could possibly be hypertrophic- where the collagen formation was incomplete. You said it was infected at one point and you were given an antibiotic salve- something could be said here, as well. If you had a fistula, think of a well spring coming to the surface, with the infection at the bottom, your skin surface the top of the well, again, incomplete collagen formation after it healed. So my theory - without seeing it or looking at cytology slides, would be that the cellular structure may keep trying to "turn over" to complete the healing process. Yep. Microbiology major in undergrad lol. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Oh, and for what it's worth- my c-section scar- 16 years later, still drives me batty! Itchy too! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I really don't understand the low fat emphasis except the higher calories content. Reasonable amount of fat is necessary to absorb fat soluble Vitamins, help with dry skin and deal with constipation. Even saturated fat isn't bad (hangover from decades of misinformation about cholesterol). Many people are successfully losing weight on ketogenic diet which is very high fat, low carb. Most of us are high Protein, low carb with limited fat. I suspect high protein, medium fat, limited carb would be best post WLS diet from my own research. I have been high protein (at least 80g), limited fat, limited carb (less than 50g total carbs which includes fiber). In the beginning, no caffiene, no carbonated beverages, no raw fruit, avoid fruit with seeds. Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211.

Hey All, I am entering Day 1 of my Pre-op and I am sooooo excited. I think I am almost too excited to be hungry! It's been an okay starts. My husband and I have been up since 7 with our DD. He keeps slipping up. He brought me some French Vin coffee in bed. But then I had to remind him that start my pre-op today. So only Water. I think I am going to try to plan each day out the day before. While there aren;t any calorie restrictions, I still want to make sure I look at my carbs (no more than 40 a day) sat fats (no more than 5/serving). So here is what I had and what I plan on for the day Goal: Shrink the Liver not Loose weight 9:00 am 16 oz of water and a plain hard-boiled egg 10:15- 16 oz of water a a half of banana (other half is my daughter's :-) 11:30- 16 oz of water and a apple 1:30- Protein shake (150 cal/ 1 gr of sat fat/ 6 g of carbs/ 26gr Protein) and 8 oz of water 4ish -Some snack within guidelines (I was thinking Greek yogurt with frozen strawberries) with 16 oz of water Dinner- Plain chix breast w/ sweet pea with 16 oz of water Late night snack if needed- Protein Shake (280 cal/ 2 sat fats/8 gr carb/ 56 gms of protein) Wish me luck!

I don't think there is a difference, having met several PS's over the years they are all perfectionists. They don't care where they do the surgery they just want it to look right. Sometimes it is a little frustrating when they are evaluating your body pre and post op with some of the comments they make and don't think about. I have a friend who had a panni with a non plastic surgeon just two general surgeons did it, they were thinking of doing more panni's and simple things like that and she was their first one and her scar looks pretty good. A little thicker than mine but if I had hers I wouldn't be unhappy. My key is like your PS, make sure they have experience in dealing with patients who have lost a lot of weight since our skin reacts very differntly and you want someone who is familar with the band.

Hi eveyrone. I'm pretty new to this forum and am mainly just a lurker. I had my first post-op appt today and was cleared to eat pureed food. Just pureed some rotisserie chicken (w/o skin of course) with some broth. This stuff looks nasty. I have issues w/ texture so I'm not sure how this will go. My mom made a ton of stuff when I got home from the hospital, but it seems it either is high on the carbs or low on the Protein and my nut kind of said don't eat it for a few months and to focus on protein, protein protein. What are some of the things you did to get thru this stage. I'm almost wishing I could still just do liquids. I don't like cottage cheese or riccotta, so that doesn't help either. Would love to hear any thoughts you might have. Thanks! robin

On here I set my goal weight. I think for my height and BMI number, the weight I want to reach is a good milestone for me both physically and especially emotionally. By surgeon however has this expectation that I should be about 40lbs lighter than my goal. I think it could be doable, with additional factors into play such as skin removal surgery. The problem is that I honestly don't know if I'll ever want to go through that surgery. This last surgery was very rough for me, and I did have some complications. I was under in that surgery for almost 4 hours. From what I've read and seen online, the skin removal surgery is an almost 8 to 10 hour procedure, and the recovery is long and very painful. Mentally I know right now I am not ready for that. And therefore I kinda have already known in my head that 180lbs might be only realistic to me if another surgery is involved. Do I want the other surgery??????