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I knew you would do awesome!! Was watching to see when you would post after surgery! Take care of you!! Loose clothes for now. Found out today that i am having my sleeve on sept 18..... Excited and nervous at the same time! So happy that you are on the other side of this !

Just wondering how everyone is doing 8 months post-op. I had a good 6 month follow up with doc who said I am on track. I got a FitBit for my bday and it is pretty awesome at tracking my fitness, sleep patterns, hydration and caloric intake/burn. I highly recommend it just because it really gives a great visual of what you are doing! Doc says to aim for 25 more lbs by 1st anniversary. I was plateauing every 10 lbs, lose the 10 fast then plateau again. It seems the plateaus are longer now, but my clothes are getting too big for me still, so although the scale doesn't show it, I know my body is still changing and maybe it's turning fat into muscle. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Highest was 261, pre surgery 241, current 173. I was walking 3 miles twice a week and last week walked at least 2 miles each day for 7 days! I was on vacation though. Now that it's back to reality and work, I am going to aim for 3-4 times a week, adding hills for the cardio portion.I have found many nodules, pea sized to marble sized on my outer thighs, neck, and calves which I assume are lipomas, but have an appt with regular MD to look into this. Anyone else have these? The are a little painful with pressure. I still can only eat a few bites...of anything. My doc wants me to just eat 3 meals a day, but I think I'd die. I wouldn't get enough nutrients with as little as I eat. I personally think eating 5 times a day is fine, especially because I am eating healthy. I still have trouble with meat of any kind. I used to love Water, it's all I drank, but post surgery it has a funny taste to me and is not as satisfying as it used to be...weird huh? Anyone else? I know tastes and preferences change post surgery, but water?! I feel like my stomach will never be the same again and I have just gotten used to the new feelings/limits. I love fruits, nuts, vegetables, yogurt. I take Vitamin B12 daily and should take multi-vites daily but I often forget that one. I have a really bad case of reflux...worse since surgery and oh my is it painful sometimes. I would like to hear how everyone is doing, if you are having the same issues, or any info you want to share about how you are managing your activity, diet, etc. Have any of you looked into the skin removal step? I am on the fence as to whether I will do that or not. Any thoughts? Hope all of you July sleevers are doing well. -PZ

Bear Bandit, Glad to hear the firming cream has worked for you. I started using the Jergens at the beginning. To soon to tell, but I figure if it doesn't work, at least I'll have soft skin. lol

Hello! I got banded 7 days ago and I am down from 292 to 272 - 20 pounds in 7 days. I am following a simple food plan right now... typically protien shake blended with Fiber Bran Cereal in the morning, bean Soup for lunch and egg salad with light mayo for dinner...and Water or decaf tea all day. So I am not starving myself, but definitely a drastic reduction from the pre-surgery days. Is a kind of drop (20 lbs in one week after surgery) unheard of?

Thank you for the words of encouragement! It is so hard not seeing the scale move quicker, I feel like I am working harder that ever and am still only loosing at a snails pace, but I also realize I didn't get to this point over night and this is a change for the rest of my life. I just have to remember I am going in the right direction. Thank you all for the continued encouragement! S So the fill went well and I finally have good restriction! I can only get liquids down today, so hopefully I have found my sweet spot for now. Now it will be GYM, GYM and GYM for me.

I like this thread but can honestly say I will need to think more about it. I have noticed I am more willing to share with some than others. I did get annoyed when one person did decide to go "wow, you had to have surgery before you could loose any weight." Which was totaly inaccurate but I was like "whatever". She did this at my Mom's wake - some people, go figure...

I don't need a tummy tuck but do need a thigh lift insurance coverage pending and they won't do a breast lift not big enough for a breast reduction but I was wondering does everyone who gets plastic surgery pay out of pocket or did insurance cover any of the cost really can't afford to pay but need liposuction breast lift and total lower body lift kind of dissapointed lost weight and left with a mess of flabby ugly skin and droooopy boobs go figure.

My insurance is covering it - you must show medical necessity. So if you have rashes or skin irritations, tearing, if it hinders your exercise. I only expected to have the pannectolmy covered but my insurance is also paying for my tt. I talk more about it on my thread - StephC's journey/I'm approved!

Hi Everyone, First of all thank you for all who send me msg on the pre-op forum before my surgery. I wanted to share with you my experience, fears and 1 day post-op experience. I was 228 pounds (128 kg) with a BMI of 42.3 pre-op. I am 33 years old male living in the Middle East. I tried everything, all types of diets, health eating, etc. yet when you have around 100 pounds to loose, nothing much helps. You lose 20 pounds but you still look fat. After much of a dilemma i decided to have gastric balloon which was good for 6 months yet when it was removed, all the lost weight came back. So I decided to try the lapband yet I was scared. After reading and orienting a lot on internet and on this forum, I was ready for it. Yet I wanted SILS, which is a bellybutton surgery. Because I am a self-pay patients and no need to go through the insurance struggle, I was free to choose my doctor and procedure. I have chosen Healthier Weight LLC in UK who worked with the best lap-band doctor in the work, Prof. Favretti. (indeed he is the best I believe). I cheated few times during my pre-op liquid and low calorie diet. First advice to all, take it serious and never ever ever cheat on that. My liver was bigger than expected so I had to have 2 smaller incisions. Yet my large scar is invisible in my belly button. Anyways, yesterday was my surgery. I was scared. I was more scared from anesthesia. I came to the hospital, and they gave me some relaxation medicine which didn't help much. Out of entire experience Healthier Weight staff and Prof are top notch. Yet I was not and I am not happy with the anesthesia staff. I had Anesthesia before and I had a pleasant experience. This time, they gave me few injections before hand which made me unstable yet not sleepy, than they put me on sleep. When I woke up, i got to see that I had 3 incision which made me almost cry, I came 7 hours flight to UK for single incision and I had 3. Yet later got to know that my liver was way too big, however contrary to normal surgery, my biggest scar is invisible. Which made me ok. Coming out of anesthesia was not very nice. Again in my previous surgeries I never had that. However I was scared that I will die:)) I know how it sounds or anesthesia awareness, nothing happened:) By the time I slept a bit, and anesthetics left my body, I was ok. I don't have much left shoulder pain, I have left lower belly pain. I have sore throat as expected. I am not feeling hungry, I sip Water and I am now today on liquid diet. As of today I have lost 11 lbs.:confused:) so a good start. I have no feeling of hunger, after few sips of water I feel fool, a bit discomfort on my left belly. Thats it. Those who are scared, try not to. Believe me its very easy. Make sure you find a right doctor. love you all and will update you.

My surgery is in 3 weeks, and I am also a self pay. I know EXACTLY what you are saying about barely being able to pay for the initial surgery, and what do we do about any future problems. I too am fretting. I have heard that if there is a slipage / erosion and if your PCP will admit you into the Emergency Room that you regular Insurance HAS to cover you for repairwork.... This is only what I heard, not for sure if it is true. I am just going into this with as positive of an attitude as possible, I will follow my Bandster rules. If / when a problem arises, I will face that too. One thing for sure, I have made a commitment to myself that I will loose enough weight to be healthy. If I have Band complications and must have it removed, then I will have further WLS. Best of luck to you! Kathi

I big goal it to loose 20 more pds pounds by the end of may my son graduates high school. I bought a treadmill and I go tomorrow nt to a wellness center for a meeting with something like a trainer to get me started was suppose to go last tues. but trainer had the flu.So wish me luck tomorrow :-)

Using an implant during a breast lift after weight loss helps in 2 ways: 1. It helps restore the volume that has been lost during weight loss. Most women's bresats are over 50% fat tissue, so as you lose weight, you will also lose volume in your breasts. 2.It helps adds fullness to the upper portion of the breasts. After weight loss, this upper part, or superior pole, becomes very flat. A breast lift (without implants) often does not add much volume to this upper pole of the breast. There are newer techniques that have been developed specifically for women who have undergone weight loss, desire more volume (particularly in the upper pole) but do not want an implant used. Experience bariatric plastic surgeons can perform this technique and give the appearance of implants...even though there were none used. Here are two examples of women who wanted the look of an implant...without the implant. The technique uses the extra skin from the side ("bra roll, "side roll") and transfers it to the breast to act as an "implant" of your own tissue. Example 1Example 2 I hope this information helps.

Without being an expert I would say you are eating way too little! Like you say; your body needs more calories just to sit and blink which means that your body is put into starvation on 600-800 calories per day. This means that your body's natural response will be to in panic hold on to every fat cell there is. What diet advice where you given by your surgeons office? Again, if find it very interesting that advice and requirements differ so widely. Here in Sweden the advice given post-op is that dieting days are over and that after operation you should try as much as you can to loose the calorie counting and diet thoughts, but as regards to calories per day the advice is more like at least 1200 - 1400 per day in the beginning - you will still loose weight. So my advice is to increase the daily intake for a week and see what happens. Best wishes and good luck!

Thank you for the insight and also for sharing your own experiences. It's reassuring to know that I'm not alone in this, and that sometimes there's both internal and external battles we have to face through this journey. I still feel frustrated about this conversation, but it also relates generally to her own issues with food (she used to restrict her eating and now feels anxious and sick when having to eat, so cannot understand why I would choose to have a surgery that "would make me feel sick after eating small amounts" despite repeated statements that this isn't how it works). I have resigned myself to remembering that I have nothing to prove to her. She certainly won't be the first person I go to if I am struggling with anything relating to this. It is difficult for others to understand this, and unless they've been in our position (I know even all our experiences differ to some level anyway!). I'm also pleased that so many of you are overcoming these obstacles and standing strong, it's admirable. I'm slowly developing thicker skin (lol) but I'm sure there's still a way yet to go. If I could turn back time I probably wouldn't have shared, but that's done now. Thank you again, your replies have been invaluable x

No, my mother (who's the same size I was before the surgery) already got dibs on all my fat clothes....lol. Plus all I really wore at my biggest were yoga pants/capris and skirts with stretchy waistbands! I can still wear most of these 40 lbs down, although I think 10 lbs from now, they'll be way too loose.

I'm almost 6 weeks out I started 312 now 270 I eat more than most people on here but I'm happy with my loss no loose skin and feel good

You know the worse thing is that I stick to the damn diet. If I would just eat a bunch a crap............ Yeah right. I just wish that my Dr would listen when I say how bad it is. And don't tell me to drink more Water. Next time I am going to hand him a copy of the Diet the Surgeon gave me. For now, Colace and suppositories will get me by. I am just so afraid to try the fiber therapy. Oh and by the way, I drink 64 ounces of just water a day. Since I can't drink and eat I have given up my Snacks so I can drink the DAMN water. I am just so frustrated :biggrin: But I am loosing so that is the only plus.

Well, I had been loosing more prior to surgery. Granted my body needed to loose more then. I lost 75lbs so far, only 15 of that is post off though. I guess if I continue to loose that over 8-9 months I may hit my goal. Its frustrating seeing ppl who lost 30-45 pounds in a month, or 100 in 3 mo. I just feel as if I am failing, I guess I need to stop comparing my lost to others. Which is the hardest to do right now.

:confused: On my own with Portion Control & exercise had successfully lost from 406 in January 2007 to 346 in August 2008. I was continuing to lose weight but HUNGRY all the time. I had investigated gastric bypass in 1999 & again in 2002 but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take at that time. The complications for someone with Lupus were astoundingly bad.:thumbdown: I had a friend go to a lap band seminar in June of 2007 & told me all the WONDERFUL things they learned.:biggrin: I went to a seminar in July 2007. I scheduled my appointment the night of the seminar but with insurance approval I couldn't have the surgery until August. My rheumatologist warned me about lupus complications but approved me for surgery at my insistence(sp?). My bad! I flew through the surgery without a glitch & only MINIMAL pain. :thumbup: I continued exercising by walking 10,000 steps a day without fail & riding the exercycle for 25 to 30 minutes daily. I had a big adjustment with lap band eating. It was awful not being able to drink with a meal or immediately after meals.:eek: After a few months, my port began to protrude & be extremely painful. :crying: I continued to loose & reached 261 before I couldn't stand to touch my own port area with an elastic waistband. I continued to see the surgeon & he was wonderful. I had a CT scan to determine if my body was rejecting the port & while there was some slight inflammation, he didn't believe it was infected. He thought the port might need to be relocated. I gained back up to 300 pounds just to be able to 'pad' the port & be able to tolerate the slightest touch any where near there. He gave me a cortisone injection in the area surrounding the port. It helped for a few days until the numbing agent wore off. I'd planned to get another in October 2008, by then my weight was up to 320 & quite frankly I was embarrassed :blushing: to go in since the first shot didn't really help. I moved away from the area in November 2008. By January 2009 I gained to 333. Needless to say I was very disappointed in myself. Now I'm unhappy after having pain for 1 1/2 years. I'm looking for surgeon to remove the whole thing but finding it a difficult process. The one I visited wanted $1,600 for 'out of network' expenses & I paid a non-refundable $500 to have him scare me out of my mind with a potential 'disaster'scare story. I had an egd & there were no leaks or erosion but he wanted the full balance before he'd operate. I wrote a personal check but that wouldn't work for their 'office policy'. I cancelled the surgery because it seemed the primary concern was MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!! My wellbeing took second place to the $$$ discussion. To have the lap band surgery initially, my insurance covered EVERYTHING except co-pay. Medicare picked up most of that. Quite frankly, I was doing better on my own with diet & exercise & in retrospect, I realize that hunger was simply 'fat burning' off my body & a good thing, not something to AVOID AT ALL COSTS. By exercising my legs in the hot tub, walking & riding the bike 15 to 20 minutes a day, I'm back down to 318. I hope to find a surgeon nearby that won't be so focussed on the financing. It's not that I don't HAVE the money, it's a matter of principle with me to have my health as a doctor's priority. I have ZERO fill in my band now! Other than when I have the flu & have to vomit, I have no restriction at all for eating. It's painful to throw up because even with only the band in place there's still a minor restriction.:w00t: Anyone out there who has lupus & banded? Any recommendations for surgeons in the Las Vegas, NV or Phoenix, AZ area for having it removed?

Heres 3 things for those that dont know. For the women: Rasberry leaves make a great tea that can help relieve Monthly BLOATING. I made some for my wife and it helped with in 30 minutes) Pepermint tea: Not the tea bags but fresh or dried leaves not only taste good but work for: relaxing you at night to help get a better nights sleep. helps with digestion. And for those who get alot of headaches, drink pepermint OR spearmint tea daily. It really does help. Red Clover: (MY Favorite) This tea puts your immune system on the roof : I have woke up feeling like the dog used me for a chew thing and drank this stuff all day and never let the cold / flu get me. I hav'nt been sick Since i started this. When my wife brings something home from work we start slamming thins stuff and feel better with in 24 hours OR LESS. SOME OTHER FACTS ABOUT RED CLOVER. Blood purifier and detoxifier, with known anti-cancer properties. Free radical fighter. Benefits prostate health. Helps with loss of sexual desire, mood changes and depression. Protects against pesticides (The British have extended peoples lives who have cancer by giving them high doeses of red clover) One of the most useful anti-cancer herbs. The positive effects of drinking the tea of dried blossoms accrue over time, characterized by a thinning of the blood and complete cleansing of deadly toxins from the system. Research suggests it is an anticoagulant, helpful in treating thrombosis, and confirms the presence of compounds that inhibit some laboratory tumors. The whole plant is being included in experimental treatments for diverse cancers. Used to treat colds, bronchitis and sore throats. Useful for skin ailments. Acne , Skin Rashes. Add the flower blossoms to your salad for a colorful treat. Make your own sprouts.

I did this for several months also at the 3 month point...lasted about 5 months. I lost almost 160 in about a year. I just had a very hard time eating calories. I also ate almost all Protein diet with supplements. FYI I never got sick or had any issues with my sleeve, other than my skin sagging all over and on my face. That now is gone. Oh drink lots of Water, it helps with the skin elasticity!!!!!!!!!!

My doctor was crystal clear that drinking alcohol before 6 months post op can have very serious consequences (he would prefer 12 months). He said alcohol acts as an abrasive in the stomach and can wreak havoc on the skin around the staples. I wouldn't risk it. My anniversary is October 11th and I plan on going out, having something simple to eat (soup), but definitely NOT having any drinks.

Can any one tell me how many calories should I be eating and still loose weight also I have a question about :/ pee is anyones pee smell? Like bad really bad???

Can some people share with me the pre op diet that they are on because i am loosing no weight.....AT ALLLLLL

Wife and I were talking about the possibility of donating our excess folds of skin in exchange for cosmetic surgery. A little research this morning put that idea to rest. http://www.traumaburn.org/who/skinbank/faq.shtml Skin harvesting is only done on deceased folks, primarily because of the FDA requiring a quarantine period of 6 months. Also, expensive specialists must do the work, you get a lot more skin from a whole body, etc. We are back to our defense mechanism mindset that loose is lovely.