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Sorry I've been away for so long, I've been enjoying my banded life! I had my surgery 10/1. Went for my esophogram and follow-up on 10/9. Everything went well. I found out that I have the 14 cc band. I started my mushy/pureed diet on 10/12. My God how great it is to eat again!! I've been eating all sorts of things, and I am so surprised at how little it takes to fill me up. I find myself eating 2 times a day, and I'm usually not hungry much before lunchtime. oatmeal, chili, meatballs, Soups, I even ate some cavatelli!! I go back to work on 10/22. The doctor's office was very nice and gave me 3 weeks time off for disability. I begin introducing solid foods into my diet on 10/30 and I go for my first fill on 11/6. My port area is still a little sore, but all of the incisions are healing nicely. The swelling has really gone down now and I can see my weightloss. And my clothes are starting to feel too loose!!

Yay! I have found another!! I've taken to eating all sorts of things - and plenty of carbs. You should see the huge glass of OJ I'm sitting here with at the moment. I don't have a carb monster anymore, as there isn't a food that is off limits or even a food to limit. I just try to meet my nutritional needs and caloric needs. Don't let the saggy skin fool you!! My photos before my plastic surgery made me look as if I was still obese, yet I am only 5-10 lbs less now. 5 lbs when I am exercising heavily and my muscle mass is better, 10 when I have lost muscle. (Which happens quickly!). Point being, looking at the photos I looked obese, but obviously it was just skin. I think I read you are planning plastics - it can be very hard to maintain weight after plastics as you can't exercise. (I expected the opposite problem, but with the high metabolism, and the fact that without exercising the appetite is even less, it was a problem). I lost a lot of muscle, and had to really fight to get the calories in. I didn't find that I needed to triple my calories, but I had a very hard time getting in even the same number of calories as usual.

I'm struggling to loose? Wtf

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

OMG!! My husband does that too! He eats EVERYTHING that is not tacked down!!! He is now looking at me and saying "you're loosing and I'm gaining"...LOL! I just shake my head and say to myself I WONDER WHY?? You are NOT ALONE!!

I cannot eat any pasta/breads. I can have a VERY small amount of crackers rarely (like 2 crackers at the most). Scrambled eggs are also a no-no for me. I never feel restriction from my fills for 1-2 WEEKS, then all of a sudden I can tell I have some restriction in there. Also as your body changes, what was the 'green zone' before can suddenly be either too loose or too tight...just listen to your body, and if it doesnt feel right, it probably isnt

hey there! Okay, I am a bit of a envangelistic anti-real-tanner BUT I am an avid Mystic Tanner. Mystic tanning is a spray tan booth that is in many regular tanning salons. It's a booth that you step into..you don't have to strip down in front of anyone...you are in private and you just turn around as the vocal recorded instructions tell you to do. It's AMazing! And I don't have to worry about aging my skin, getting skin cancer, etc. AND it's a nice dark tan that lasts a week AND it makes me look thin and cool...well in my opinion...lol. It's made from aloe vera and brown sugar and it's awesome. Doesn't wear off on your clothes. AND most importantly...NOBODY guessed it was a spray tan--it's not orange at all...looks completely authentic. Just make sure you follow the simple instructions on putting lotion on your palms and elbows and the bottom of your feet so they don't get tanned. I go get a mystic tan before I go out somewhere when i want to look great and i do it more often in the summer. PLEASE reconsider real tanning and go for mystic tanning. I've seen too many people get melanoma and it's not pretty in any way. (sorry, I know i'm on my soap box). however...I LOVE to look tanned and isn't this a nice compromise? Good luck! hugs, BandedKitten

I cannot and have never felt my band. I can feel my port, more noticeably with my weight loss, but it does not hurt. It just feels like a bump or knot under the skin. I did try to push a grocery cart in with my belly the other day and wow, that hurt, but only for a moment.

Like I stated in my previous post, I did start the liquid diet again this week and much to my surprise I've lost about 4.5 lbs. I am very happy with that, because I haven't seen that type of weight loss in a while. I will continue on this diet for about 12 more days and see what it get's me. I need to figure out a plan for after the 12 days though.... My plan is to work my sleeve as much as I can in order to meet goal before my August 31, 2012. I realize that stalls happen, but that one (which bTW I did loose 7lbs over 8 weeks) was a bit much. I am 5 months out today and after seeing the scale move for me, I am much more motivated then I was before.

Encouraging hubby to loose 25 lbs but not working.

So met with a doctor I've been working with for the last year on micronutrient deficiencies, and he showed me a graph of my temperature over the last year. It's been doing what I HOPED my weight was going to do - straight line down and to the left with a significant slope. He seems to think that my super-duper low levels of magnesium are a major part of the problem (since apparently magnesium has a hand in every one of the 17 million mechanisms involved with metabolism.) I've been supplementing with mag for months and months, but my numbers don't seem to be getting any better. He's asked me to double my current dose...will titrate up and see if that has any effect at all. I gotta tell you, it's discouraging. I get that BMI and BF% play into how quickly you can expect to lose, but I log every d@#&ed thing I put in my mouth (I mean, like, I keep a small digital scale in my purse and weigh my food before and after every meal to make sure I know EXACTLY what I'm eating) and I wear not one but two multi-sensor fitness monitors (take an average for calories burned, because their algorithms are different) I log my food, my sleep, my weight, my Water, everything. I'm averaging about a 1700 calorie a day deficit, but I'm losing MAYBE a pound a week. This has been going on since week 3 after surgery - I'm closing in on 9 weeks now. The surgeon and both NUTs have shrugged their shoulders and told me to talk to the doc, which I will, but not until next week because she's a very popular lady. And the one who suggested surgery to me in the first place because I tried every diet known to humanity and could not take the f@(*ing weight off. No one seems to have any explanation. My macros are solid. My micros are solid. My water, sleep, activity levels are solid. So unless my body has figured out a way to photosynthesize without my skin green turning green there's something really, really insane going on. I'm 100% sure that I'm not actually an exception to the laws of thermodynamics. If I walk my 200+ lb body around 22-25 miles a week, eating roughly 800-900 calories a day, that deficit has to come from SOMEWHERE. It just does. But where? At what point do I see it? (Just an aside...I don't keep these kinds of records out of neurosis. I really don't. I don't actually enjoy weighing my food at work or in the occasional restaurant. I need to 1) make sure I know how much I'm REALLY eating, and not just guessing, because I don't want to under-estimate, and 2) keep all the data on the off chance that someone will figure out what's going on.) Rant over. Thanks for your patience, everyone! I'll be under my desk, curled up in the fetal position (at least until the timer on my phone goes off and it's time to walk the loop around my office parking lot.)

I think iam anticipating too much. Had 1st fill last Wed 9/8 (2cc's). Wasnt as bad as i thought it would, the port had shifted some. took nurse a couple of pokes but was successful. Anyway its been a week now and i have had a number of PB's. i truelly believe it was because i wasnt chewing enough or rushing but it was something i could eat before the fill. did anyone else experience this? that you could no longer eat the same?? would someone please tell me what was your feeling after your fill. i have a smaller band and the nurse told be 2cc's was alot but im not really sure how my band should feel. i know im loosing and have been treadmilling everyday. i do feel better but i want to make sure that i continue on the road of sucess. how ofter should i weight myself? i find i dont have any desire to eat. did you go on a strick eating time? can eating 6 times a day be alright? my day starts at 3:30am and stops around 9:30pm. do you have a suggestion on how i should be planning my meals? if i go every 4 hrs i dont think im eating enough and i find myself hungry (? another fill). i really need some enlightenment. Open to any and all ideas, suggestions, etc. Thanks again. Micki Banded 7/27/05 296/292/274/268

I don't own a scale, I was shocked at how much I actually weighed at my "welcome meeting" in the beginning. I started keeping a food journal just to track what and when I was eating. I did this after meeting with my dietitian who pointed out that I was waiting too long between lunch & dinner to eat. She also told me to keep a snack or two (Protein kind) in my purse in case I was somewhere and needed to eat. After doing this, I started to loose some weight, and I stopped over eating at my dinner time. I will say that I was weighed at each of my pre-op appointments, along with being weighed on my surgery date. I went up 3 lbs in between 2 appointment dates, and was told, not to worry, it could be stress related (from the process) so I didn't. I was down 18 lbs on the morning I checked in for surgery. I'm waiting for my first follow up to weigh in at my Dr.'s to see how much I've lost. I'm still keeping the food journal, so I can get in put on what to tweak to make it work better for me. I might get a scale sometime in the future, but for now, it's one less thing to stress about, in a mountain of things that will cause you stress. good luck, and see you on the other side :0)

I feel like I have waited a lifetime. I was given a surgery date of Monday August 1st. I think my mom is more excited about it than I am. I was stressed out and wanting a surgery date so bad I couldn't see straight. Now I am just bouncing back and forth with my emotions. I am discourgaed that the best date they could give me is 28 whole days away. (though in my heart I know time will fly by). I am nervous because as prepared as I thought I was, now that the date is real, I feel like I have failed to do something or research something or buy something in advance. I feel dread at the thought of having to have the talk with my boss. She is 5'1" and all of 98 pounds. One year older than me. We have been short handed at work for the better part of 7 years. Lots of projects going on. She is going to freak out when she finds out I am going to be off work for a week. I worry that she will talk about me to co-workers. I hadn't planned on telling anyone. Yes, I would imagine given a long enough time line- my co-workers will NOTICE. A thousand little worries that have never entered my mind in the past year- suddenly set up camp in the back of my mind. What if I am the only person in the world that Gastric Sleeve will not work for? What if I lose all my hair? What if my face looks like my skin has melted off of it? What if I lose weight but I cant control it and I lose too much too fast? What if I am tired and sick all the time? Who will mow my yard- how will I function at work? I know I want to do this. I just worry a lot more now, than I did before the insurance company approved me- and the doctor gave me a date. Anyone else felt this way?

I think you look awesome!! Tomorrow will be one week since I had my surgery. I have been worrying about how I will look and had thought about starting to save for plastic surgery. My cousin had gastric bypass. She had all the extra skin removed from her stomach, breast implants, and had her thighs done. On the thighs, her surgery scars are on her groin. I noticed that most people that had the sleeve look a lot different from bypass. I asked my Doctor about it and she said it has to do with you skin type. Thanks for the picture, maybe I will be as lucky as you and not need the plastic surgery.

I also went to my first surgeons appointment with the mindset of having the sleeve. Throughout my appointments, we discovered that I had an ulcer as well as esophagitis due to reflux. My surgeon couldn't believe that I didn't have chronic stomach pains however I had been dealing with chronic pelvic pain due to a metabolic disorder, which masked the stomach discomfort. It was determined that my chronic pelvic pain caused me to use NSAIDs like Ibuprofen and Naproxen so often that it caused my ulcer. Due to those discoveries, and my metabolic disorder, my surgeon highly recommended that I have RNY instead of the sleeve. He stated that the RNY would give me a better chance at metabolic changes that I needed to get rid of the pelvic pain (the WHOLE reason for looking into the surgery in the first place), and that the sleeve would only be a riskier option for me because of the history of ulcers and reflux. I was hesitant and it took a few months of prayer and research before I finally made my decision. I will be three months out on Wednesday and I have NO REGRETS. I do feel that it is a personal decision for each person, but i know that the RNY was without a doubt the best option for me. I feel amazing, my pelvic pain is almost non-existent. I am off of ALL medications, including diabetic meds, reflux meds, and hormonal medications related to the metabolic disorder. I sleep 6-7 hours and wake up feeling RESTED!!! That never happened to me before. I am half way to my goal after only three months, and the changes that I have made are positively affecting both family and co-workers! Prior to surgery, I had an insatiable sweet tooth, and I was known for skipping meals to eat sweets with a coffee. No longer! The cravings are no longer an issue for me, and I feel wonderful. I even get comments on how great my skin looks!

Well, as I approach 12 weeks post op I am struggling with my looks. I have lost about 50 lbs since the surgery and certainly my body is changing. I have been swimming and walking all summer but I haven't really hit the gym. Two theories I have about my displeasure with my current body: 1) When I weighted nearly 300 lbs I had totally given up. I didn't look at myself in the mirror at all and I didn't care that I had to wear tents for clothes. Now I look in the mirror a few times a day. I see my breasts deflating and feel like a melting snowman. But it means that I haven't given up on myself anymore. I actually care. It sucks to feel bad, but it is better than just feeling numb. 2) My body isn't shedding lbs evenly. My waist has nicely decreased but my hips haven't moved so it makes my hips look even larger than before b/c the proportions are so far off. So hopefully if I get more general cardio into my life things will even out. It sucks that I can't celebrate loosing this weight. People keep telling me how great I look, and I just beat myself up for still having to squeeze my fat a$$ into a size 18. Well hopefully I'll keep working on these negative feelings and turn them around quickly.

HI Campers! (Hi Crystal!) Well, today is my one year bandivarsary. Not a single expectation I had before my banding has materialzied at least when it comes to weight or size, but perhaps the evaporation of my asthma symptoms (yay me!) makes up in some small measure for not losing weight. (that whole not-dead thing goes a long way I think) I have lost a net of 30 pounds since being banded. I've lost 15 pounds since April 2005, which is hardly impressive. This last year has been quite a ride for me. Right now I'm not even bothering to try to lose weight, I'm just concentrating on maintaining. And I'm doing a very good job of that. Someone on another board told me that they were disapointed that I've given up, that I wasn't even trying, so of course I would fail. But that's just it, I haven't given up and I haven't failed. I don't think the band failed me either. Or maybe I do. I dunno. I know that I was very angry that I wasn't able to lose weight. I was well on my way for a while to developing my first eating disorder -- this summer and fall I was completely obsessed with counting everysingle calorie trying to lose weight. (tooth paste does not have any significiant calories, BTW) I spent a month at 700 +/- 100 (okay, mostly - ) because I couldn't lose weight at 1000 or 1200 or higher. I lost 1.5 pounds that month I was too tight. I thought I had developed a leak, but it was just a case of an interventional radiologist who didn't have enough experinece letting out more fill than he was putting in... It's hard watching everyone pass me by. It's hard to watch folks who started out with similar stats to me loose 10 sizes to my one size lost. It's hard to watch them lose so much more in pounds that I feel like I ever will. But at least I've recorded every one of my NSVs that I've ever noticed, which does help. After all, when I'm invited to go on Oprah when i finally do get things figured out, I'll be able to share more than pounds lost, I'll be able to share the life I've gained. So, since I badger everyone at their bandivarsaries for their favorite NSVs, here are my favorite ones right now. My top ten NSVs in no particular order. I didn't die from resperatory failure. Probably my biggest NSV, that whole not-death thing. Probably my favorite one too. I have wiggle room when I fly, and I don't need an extender anymore either. (is that one or two?) I've run for the bus without even thinking about it I've been able to chase my Spudboy down the stairs and out into the street before having to stop becaue I was laughing so hard I've started bellydancing again, and I'm a professional bellydancer too now. I no longer have a "breathy" quality to my voice, but I'm told it's strong and clear now. (no more asthma!) I am no longer The Great Crystal Dam in the bathtub I can cross my legs. HOLY SH*T! I can cross my legs! donuts no longer have any appeal I have realized that I will never go hungry again. (it's a wolves thing)

Banded June 2010. Rid of 168 pounds! (sorry if this is a repeat for some of you but thought i should post this in this forum too to help/motivate more people) So the truth is the way I had success was to get real with myself. The first year I completely failed my lapband. I lost a little and then gain 30 pounds back. I didn't exercise at all and tried to tell myself walking the dog counted as good cardio. I also didn't count any calories that first year. I ate crap and tried to blame it on my band not working properly. I was very uniformed and thought the band was magically supposed to work. I didn't understand that I needed to get to that "sweet spot". The second year I decided I had to do it and get informed. I read these bariatric pal boards and searched for the secrets to everyone's success. The answer? No big secret, actual real exercise and counting your calories! I got a little cruiser bike and actually rode it 15 miles a day 7 days a week starting the day I bought it. I had always wanted a bike like that and said if I got one i would use it. That day I also started counting my calories religiously...right down to a stick of gum. I stuck with 1200 calories for the first year and then actually had to up my Protein calories once I started doing even more exercise. When it got too cold I tried zumba and fell in love with it and did it 7 days a week. Then I upgraded to twice a day zumba for several months. Then I did the Insanity program and zumba every day for 3 months. I slowly but surely lost steadily that whole time. The majority of my calories was always protein. 90 grams at least. And when my weight was stuck and I exercised more, i upped it to 120 grams of protein and lost even more. With that amount of protein i felt full, and there was only enough calories left for my veggies, then fruit the sometimes some carb foods. My band is a realize band and if i remember correclty it is at 10.2 in an 11cc band. I almost have to have the darn thing closed shut to feel any real restriction. I havn't had a fill in a year. (acutally i had it to 10.7 for a almost a year until this january when i started randomly having really bad night reflux so decided to just get a tiny bit out). I made little goals as I went along.. If I had a trip planned, I would say, ok I just have to lose 10 more pounds by then. Or I just want to weigh what I was when I graduated college, and the what I weighed when I first got married, and then I just wanted to be smaller than my husband ( that was an awesome day the day the scale said I weighed less than him!). And the it was I wanted to be what i was when I was 21, and then the ultimate was what i was when I was in my teens! As for extra skin, yes i look dang good in tight workout clothes but naked is an entirely different story. I will be very honest here and many people here can relate. I struggle daily with my body image. While I may look tiny and muscle packed with clothes on ( I'm at 19% body fat), without clothes my skin is soooo wrinkled. My upper arms are super bad and I am pretty self conscious about them. I wore tank tops last year but vowed not to this summer as i swear all i thought about was people staring at the saggy skin. My upper and lower stomach and pubic region have a huge amount of extra skin that gets in the way when i exercise. I can actually hear it flapping about when I workout dang it! My chest is completely non existent, just flaps of skin which will require a lift and augmentation. My inner thighs and butt are the least saggy out of everything but will require a lift if I really want the complete packed. The good news about some of this is my legs and butt have actually gotten better with working out once I added weight training. I was so overweight for almost 15 years and so i just don't have time (or age) on my side for my skin to shrink back. My goal is to concentrate on reducing my body fat just a little more and have my arms, chest and tummy done this fall as a reward for keeping my weight off for a significant amount of time. The best advice is to get very informed and have a plan. Don't kid yourself, real exercise and a diet plan is the key to success with the band. Exercise is my best friend now. I actually want to be a personal trainer and nutrition counselor. Many people have asked me how I did it and I have to say I was sick of being what I was. You can do this!!!!!

You will be fine! I am almost 1 yr out and can eat about a cup of food depending on what it is. I sort of long for the days when 2 oz filled me up! I look and feel so much better that I want to sing praises of my surgery from the roof tops so that everyone realizes that they too can be free from the discomforts of obesity!!! My only regret is that I waited until I was nearly 50 to get this done...always thinking that I could loose the weight....I could not loose the weight however and I am soooo glad that I went through with it. The quantity that you eat is of no consequence because the desire to have more disappears with the feeling of satisfaction. It is more wonderful than you could ever imagine with out yet having experienced it!

I am hoping to get ESG at the Mayo Clinic soon. I have completed a 12 week behavior modification program that is required and I am close to getting the BMI to 35 with 10 more pounds to loose. It is not covered by insurance but that is not a problem for me at this time. I am choosing this because it requries no overnight stay in the hospital, no pre surgery diet, no incisions and it can be adjusted and reversed. I hope to loose about 40 pounds. Who here has had it, and how are you doing? Dede

To qualify for this endoscopic procedure I have to loose weight to get the BMI to 35 I am at 35.7 BMI today. So proud I was able to do this. It has been learning to eat healthy and new habits have been formed. I do not expect to resume eating like I had, that made me fat. So very motivate and ready to go. Another benefit. My blood pressure has gone from 156/78 to 123/74.

I do weight training first and cardio afterwards. This is how I was taught at the gym I started going to several years ago. They have had trainers come and go, so I've had sessions with several personal trainers. They have always said to do weight training first, and cardio afterwards. Weight training is a really good way to help the skin issues. I have a lot of muscle on my thighs, so I don't have loose skin there.

This is what I'm hopping will happen to me I'm in a size 12 now, my shoes are feeling loose on me so there might be hope yet.

The first thing you said, before you got sick, was that even though you were successful with the band, you had ALL the Fluid removed? May I ask why? And yes...vomiting with the band is the one thing that always scares me also...since 2011 I have not been sick enough to vomit....but I travel a lot and the risk of food poisoning, etc, concerns me and if that should happen, I am prepared to do a complete un-fill.... But you had all the fluid taken out PRIOR to getting ill..... BTW, people with the band use the term vomiting very loosely, especially in terms of getting stuck, etc...it is not actual vomiting...if the band does make you vomit then you have different problems and should call your Dr. immediately...Just read the OP...