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First up I finally was approved for surgery! I got a call Wednesday that it was denied. My doctor must of given em hell as I got the call this morning that they reversed the decision and my surgery is indeed on March 14th! Whoa! Also wanted to share a sale on premier protein shakes at Sam's Club. They are 12.66 for a 12 pack. There is a limit of three per member which sucks but still worthy if you use them. They have a lot of protein type products on sale too. It started on the 28th and I do believe runs until the 25th of March.

ok, as some of u know i had the h.pylori virus 2 1/2 weeks ago and was to take helidac therapy antibiotics for 14 days but on day 7 it caused me to have a seizure..off the meds i came ...surgery was supposed to be tomorrow but obviosly got cancelled......got re checked a few days ago and even though i wasnt on any meds other than the topomax for seizures ----- YES------ it is gone now.........poof......surgery re scheduled for August 2, which happens to also be my birthday.....double YAY....i start my pre- op diet in the morning...thank god its only a week........7 days to go.....im sooo psyched.....so i will join u ladies and gents soon on the looser's bench......

And I am so thankful! I have lost 75 lbs so far and I would like to lose another 30 but I'm not pressuring myself.... I went from a 22/24 to a 14/16. I never thought I would get down to this size and there are some 16 jeans that are already too big! I workout 2-3 times per week and I mix my workouts up between kickboxing and the elliptical. The support between family and friends is unbelievable. My favorite is when people Who I've known for a long time walk by me and don't know who I am.... dde00 My biggest piece of advice is don't pressure yourself... If you've been cleared to eat regular food and you're craving something... Like pizza or ice cream or chocolate, Have some but a very small piece... It will curb the craving And then you can eat something high in Protein And not obsess over that food that you wanted so bad. Here is a pic of me the day of surgery and one taken about a month ago... I

I'm now 6+ weeks since surgery and don't seem to have any problem swallowing pills (and I've got some horse pills).

I have been battling synovitis of my knee since one week post op. Normal course of treatment is oral steroids and NSAIDS. My surgeon said no to every anti inflammatory med. I waited until week 6, when he was finally ok with a cortisone injection. He felt very strongly about the increased risk of a GI bleed with the new sleeve. I'm now 10 weeks out and still have swelling, just doing PT now. I've really missed my Motrin!

"A great offer near to the low-hanging fruit greater compared to last many different many years is becoming picked away the tree," but "it doesn't necessarily mean traders can't do nicely using the industry greater compared to lengthy term," says Joe Rodriguez, a coach outlet store manager for the roughly $2 billion purpose specific Estate Fund. Still, managers like Mr. Rodriguez say 7% to 10% standard yearly returns greater compared to following 5 many years are much more realistic for the category. Spotting a great combination of real-estate plays may be difficult sometimes, as well as best managers have struggled to positioned adequate into REITs. CGM Realty Fund is among the the best-performing real-estate cash greater compared to previous three and 5 years, but has fallen at the rear of the majority of its peers for the year. The reason: The fund held a 25% stake in mining shares in the complete of June, which has offered that been eliminated. "In retrospect, I need I hadn't been so invested" in all those shares offered which they weren't "as powerful performers as REITs," says the fund's manager Ken Heebner. Alpine U.S. specific Estate Equity Fund also experienced among the the extremely biggest three-year keep track of documents for real-estate cash at just one place last year, but is now lifeless last among the peers with harmful 2.6% returnscoach factory outlet for the yr to date. The fund was among the the quantity of real-estate cash invested in residence builders, with much greater than 50% there last yr past to trimming to 30%. "Home builders obtained whacked, and accommodations have been completely executing relatively nicely but not as well as we'd want to see," says Sam Lieber, manager near to the fund.

I feel my most restriction a week to 2weeks after a fill. 3rd week it subsides and my hunger returns with a vengeance. Hopefully some day soon my restriction wont decide to abandon me! And will wanna stick arnd longer. Sometimes i wonder if ive sprung a leak somewhere along the way! LMBO!!

:rolleyes2:My doctor told me to use Flinstones chewables. No Gummies. And Viactiv calcium chewables. I also have to take vitamin b12 pills, but only cause my b12 is low. I had to crush pills for a week. I swallow them now no problem. Just one at a time. I haven't had a fill yet though. It may be more difficult then .

Hello everyone.. I hope what I am writing is correct for this forum. Im Brand New and just spoke to my Doctor last week about having Lap Band surgery done.. She said sure did I want to start the process.. I didnt expect that quick of an answer from her... Yes I do want to start the process.. My only concern is that I am 60 years old.. I dont have any major medical problems except that my Chol has gone up in the last 6 months. I do take Blood Pressure meds.. But my blood pressure is perfect.. Is there anyone in my age bracket that can give me any information. I have never had any Surgery and Im a little scared. I sure would like to hear the good and bad about the Lap Band... I am also seeing that there may be different styles of this Lap Band, if that is the case can someone give me that info also.. I hope I have asked to much of anyone.. I still have some years left and would like to enjoy it with my Grand-kids.. If i dont do something soon I will not fit in a seat on the plane...lol... Can anyone help me out.. Thank you

Hello Everyone! I've been on the sidelines reading this forum for a few weeks now but didn't want to participate until I had my insurance approval. I got the good news yesterday and it's finally begining to set in. I'm so nervous and excited. I have battled with my weight for most of my life and I am finally in a position to win this battle. Thank you to all who have posted your stories and inspired and motivated me to get this done. I hope one day my story will be able to inspire someone to take the steps to winning the fight of their life!!!

Good Luck! You got this! I am just starting out but consider going back to basics and starting over with the liquid phases then progress through the different stages to get yourself back on track. I am only 2 weeks and 2 days post op so I do speak from experience, but from what I see others suggest in here.

So, this is my first post. Allow me to introduce myself. Hi! I'm Holley from Southern California! I'm 23 (will be 24 in 6 days =]) and want to have Lap Band surgery. As of today, I am 5'5" and weigh 315lbs. I have been to two surgeons so far and think I found "the one" - Dr. Douglas Krahn in Rancho Cucamonga. I went to his seminar on Saturday and was VERY impressed. Even though he also does RNY, I really want the LB. I envision myself being a cute lil' pin-up gal SOON! Oh yeah, I'm totally into the rockabilly lifestyle. Anywho-ha. I hope to hear from them soon about getting a one-on-one appointment with Dr. Krahn. Maybe today they will call! My insurance is great and approval should only take about a week. Dr. Krahn said I may need to be on a 1-2 week liquid diet. Sounds hard, but not undoable! I'm ready to change my life =]

Hello to everyone & happy New Years. I'm wondering if everyone that has Aetna insurance has to go through 4 months of nutrition, gym 3x a week, psych clearance, & upper GI before even getting a surgery date? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Tomorrow will be two weeks of waiting to hear if I'm approved, feeling anxious...

I have told everyone what I am doing up front. I am not keeping this decision a secret. Of course everyone is concerned that it is in Mexico. I have purchased everything I need for after teh surgery and started on my pre-op diet today. So things are going well. But I am scared and excited all at once!! Sure hope this turns out like I have it envisioned in my head!!

After weeks and weeks of waiting I was finally approved this morning for my surgery!!!! Literally have tears in my eyes I'm so excited! I'm so ready for this life style change! January 13th is the beginning of my life.

i dont see how i can though. food isnt sitting well and neither are protein shakes and i get so tired at work which slows me down. Honestly, i would be surprised if i dropped alot this week because of how i feel. i guess i thought i would feel more energy but i am feeling less.

Hello New Friends! I need some support and hope to make some new friends here. I had a Lapband down in Mexico in 2004 by Dr Kuri and lost 150 lbs then maintained that for about a decade. I started at 536lbs and got down to just under 400lbs which my surgeon said was a success. I never hit my goal weight of 300lbs but I was happy. After several gallstones and trips to the ER my doctor in Portland said I needed to have my gallbladder removed. The gallbladder surgeon in Portland offered to remove the 10 year old Lapband which was causing me trouble so I did it without even considering other options. At that point it was taking me 1.5 hours to eat half of a small meal and I had zero restriction. So his offer was a welcome relief. I thought I was doing fine. I knew I had gained a little but not 80 pounds. That scared me because it had only been a few months. I was getting to the point of having a hard time walking, and I had developed neuropathy in my feet. I also had a couple weight related injuries and then my knee got real bad. This was a real low point in my life. I visited a friend in Texas who had the sleeve and I didnt even recognize him! I was shocked at how much he had lost. So that was the start of my sleeve journey. When I got back to Portland I started off talking to Puget Sound Bariatrics in Washington and Legacy Emanual in Portland but both surgeons needed me to lose 30-40 pounds before they said they could operate on me for the sleeve. They said I had to be under 500lbs. One surgeon suggested I try a low carb diet. I didnt know what he was talking about! Thus I began learning about low carb eating. During the last 2 years I have been learning about the weight loss industry. Ive read The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung who is a doctor that helps cure diabetes, a supposedly incurable disease. Reading his book educated me on all the "great advice" weve been getting all these years about how to lose weight, advice that was pretty much worthless to people with obesity. Dr Jung examines all the recommendations passed down thru the years and then explains why they dont work, its a real education that answers a lot of questions. He also explains how foods we eat turn to glucose that is stored in our liver for the first few hours after we eat a meal. Then as our bodies use up the glucose and our insulin levels drop our bodies are able to access the stored body fat for the energy our bodies need. This is what causes weigh loss. Thats why intermittent fasting works so well. I learned about intermittent fasting and have found that to be fairly easy to implement into my lifestyle. I hired a personal trainer and spent a year in the gym doing water aerobics - inbetween injuries and weightloss restarts. I bought a few weeks worth of Adkins meals and then figured out how to use those concepts with regular food and even some fast foods. Ive learned about portion control and how important that is. Ive learned about carbs in food including veggies. I had no idea there were carbs in lettuce! Or that a banana contains 55 grams of carbs! I spent 2 weeks getting my body into ketosis which required frequent emergency trips to the bathroom for explosive diareah....no fun. Ive tracked all my meals and had to get honest with myself about late night snacking, the scale doesnt lie. But overall I havent maintained much weight loss. I admit Ive had some depression these last few months since my dad died, but Im moving forward now... A few months ago I was surfing the web and started hearing about guys bigger, older, and taller than me having the sleeve surgery with great success. Yet the 3 surgeons I dealt with in the Pacific Northwest all said I had to be under 500 lbs...BUT WHY??? I soon discovered it was because they dont have the equipment to handle patients over 500 pounds and they didnt want to lose me as a patient so they told me to lose weight instead. Seems crooked to me. Ive needlessly suffered for years now. If I had known better I could have had this surgery 3 years ago. Im now scheduled for January 26 with Dr Rodriguez down in Juarez. Im a snowbird this year so Im moving down to El Paso for the winter, surgery and recovery. The one mistake I made when I first got my lapband was I didnt make it the sole priortiy of my life. This time around my sole focus for the next two years will be losing weight and getting my health back. Im now looking forward to leaving Oregon for a few months and getting really focused on my health. Being in a sunny location will help me feel better and keep me motivated as I begin losing weight again. Today I discovered this forum and read some good stuff. I need your support and hope I can provide you some too! Thanks for reading, Free Stanley

So this is just my 2 cents, but this happens -- the brain is an amazing and irritating thing! My personal name for this is "eating my fears before my fears eat me" - mainly the brain's auto-response that by having surgery, I'd never enjoy my favorites again, etc. Plus my fear of failure in losing the required weight (I had to lose a certain % of weight so that my insurance would pay). The good news was that after I freaked out for a week or so, I realized I was more motivated to lose weight and have the surgery than I was to have all that food - but this took some deep thinking and bargaining with myself. You might also be having "food funerals" which a lot of people do, thinking they'll never be able to eat a certain favorite again. Turns out that after surgery you can eat most anything once you're released for regular food, it just becomes a choice of whether you should have those things. Anyway, you're going through what I would call a natural process of realization and it's what you do next that matters. The way I got through was a very stringent daytime eating plan, and then a dinner of something slightly off my plan - that way I was bargaining for what I wanted but the majority of the day I was on plan. It worked, I made my required weight and surgery happened! You can do it!

I think it's normal. I am preop and have felt similarly at times. It waxes and wanes for me. I have moments where I'm so "into" prepping for this and then I'll start thinking how much I'd love some bread.. I'm finding out just how much of a trigger pizza is by trying to have just one piece. I truly have an addiction to pizza. It triggers all sorts of things in my brain. I do plan some funerals here in the next few weeks. Seems like the right thing to do but overall I'm ready. I've lost 18 doing low carb high protein but I'm stuck. I'm also on day 12 of a heavy period after not having one in 3 months. Sigh.... I'm really wondering what will happen with my periods. So screwed up already.

Yeah. Be nicotine free 4-6 weeks before surgery.

You get used to not drinking with meals. Occasionally I will have a small sip if I am eating something really dry, like chicken, which still does not go down well (7 weeks post op). You obviously can't gulp down like you used to, and that you become accustomed to as well. I've never really been a soda/pop drinker, but I imagine you could eventually try a small amount and let it go flat (I've heard). Now, if I had to give up Crystal Light, they'd have to take me out in a straightjacket... that, Vitamin Water Zero and Atkins protein shakes (milk choc) are my daily go-to's.

Anyone currently on or recently finished with their two weeks meal plan that is given for blossom surgery patients ? Any recommendations on what to fix for dinner what was your favs

I have 5 and one is next to the belly button and I am 3 weeks out tomorrow and it it so uncomfortable when i sit wearing pants - the buckle and button dig into it! I wish I didn't have that one!!! Good Luck

We are on the same path: SW:267 VSG date:7/10/17 Surgery weight: 252 Now:209 After losing so rapidly in months one and two it's hard to accept the slow, but consistent loss on month three. Still following my plan to a "T". Most days my breakfast consists of a Premier Protein shake mixed with decaf coffee. I actually love it. It satisfies my sweet tooth. Congrats on your weight loss! You are doing great! Don't let the stalls get you down.