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Hi there, I posted on the forums for a while after I got banded almost a year ago. Then, in about July I suppose, I kinda fell off the bandwagon. Losing weight with the band got harder and harder. I could eat way more than I thought I'd be able to eat. Admittedly there were times I used that to my advantage. I rarely felt any real restriction, even with a third fill and my doctor insisting that my band was almost to the point of being "too restrictive." I lost a total of 20 pounds post-op before I plateaued. Now, almost a year later, I am 4 pounds over my surgery weight. Part of my problem is, I have concerns about my doctor's level of post-op attention. He quit working with the fill center he was contracted with and now he does his own fills without barium or xray. To be honest I don't even know what my fill level is (it is higher than the amount listed in my sig). Back in Sept when I saw him last, he wanted me to start writing everything I ate into a journal. Well I finally started doing that about 4 weeks ago. I still feel like I can eat too much in one sitting. Definitely more than the 1 cup I was told would make me feel full. I was hoping the band would make me unable to do this. It hasn't. And now I don't know if I should go back to my doc or if I should try and find another doc.I really liked the fill center before I stopped going there, but I'd have to change doctors to go there. I'm pretty embarrassed, to be quite honest.

Sorry you are feeling down. Fast food was a real dowfall for me too. I was pretty good at not buying junk at the store, but would go out for fast food instead of eating the healthy stuff I bought. I find since I haven't had it in so long, I don't miss it very much. I would just go cold turkey and break the habit. Just tell yourself fast food is not an option for you. That's what I did anyway. Also, are you excersising? It has so many benefits, just one being weight loss. It's tough to start, but it will become a matter of routine. It took me about 4 months post op to hit the gym. Now I go about 5 days a week. Good luck, you can do it!

I have been at my "sweet spot" since Thanksgiving and do not need another fill. I am actually thinking about getting .2cc's taken out. I have been very tight since then...only able to eat about 3 bites of food...afraid I may gain by having any taken out. I have allowed the band to create a false sense of self-control and I am not sure that I will be able to tell myself to "stop". .2 make make the journey just a little bit more comfortable for me. As tight as I am, I don't think I will need another fill for a few months.

I Ihave started this Pilates yoga excercise class. Never imagined I could do it. After a year, I'm ready to jump into this with both feet. Finally can move instead of waddle...yes like a duck. Embrace and take advantage of the weight loss and freedom in movement.

That's amazing weight loss. You'll see about 2 LBS per week being the "norm" as I've observed from viewing all the postings. Remember it took you years to get to your highest number, even with surgery It's not going to disappear overnight. And you still gotta work at it. Healthy diet, Exercise All that good stuff. Kuddos on the progress so far. Pretty awesome!

When I look at the size of the saucer I use now or the fruit bowl as oppossed to the huge overflowing plate I use to use, it's a wonder I haven't lost 3 times as much weight, LOL.

I'm eatin today LOL. Jeff fixed chicken fried steak, cream gravy, hashbrowned potatoes, and three eggs. Lunch, leftover hashbrowned potatoes. Snack, baked ziti. I'm nervous about tomorrow. I saw something on a website that says the average person only loses 47% of their weight with the surgery but that would be 150 pounds roughly and that seems like a darn good start. Hopefully things will go good tomorrow. My appointment is at 3:45. :clap2: I remember Optifast. I remember hairloss. I just want health now. I was diagnosed Friday with Type II Diabetes and I don't see Dr. Joslin for that until Wednesday. Today is Sunday, Mother's Day. I haven't called Mom yet but between what I can't tell her, Diabetes and Surgery, not much to say right now except thanks for being my mom. That's enough I think

Big T, for home, I prefer free weights, they don't take up as much room and I only need three sets to get my workout. The advantage to hydraulic is, yes, the push and pull, you are working both ways, but with the hydraulic, the faster you push and pull, the harder the resisitance. You can vary your intensity very easily. I would definately demo one in person before purchasing, but I do like what they have at Curves...for women only...but I'd let you in after hours if I owned it! Ha. Good luck.

I am on a weight watchers high..ya know that euphoric feeling that comes over you when you are still in your first few weeks of ww? I joined last week so that I can at least loose a little bit of weight while I wile away my days waiting for my insurance company to take their thumbs outta their asses and approve me. Anyhow of course I lsot my obligatory 4.5 pounds in my first week, and of course it wasn't even hard...not at all as a matter of fact. There were actually a couple of days that I couldn't even eat the last couple of points. Why is this??? Why can I do so well on ww for the first 4 or 6 weeks, then I just peeter out. Maybe, no probably because I loose those first 20 lbs so easily, then it gets harder. I know your only supposed to set small goals, but I can't fool myself completely, that 140 pounds over all that I have to loose to get to my goal is a HUGE, Ginormous, Gargantuan Monstrous number and it scares the shit outta me. I loose 5 pounds and I think ok, only 135 to go....you're 5/140ths there girlfriend....go, go, go, you CAN DO THIS. Then I start the mental figuring...this is what I always, always, always do when I start a new weight loss effort...I'll be walking on the track, or on the elliptical or on my way home from ww or anywhere and I start doing the calculations in my head..."ok I am 280 now...If I keep loosing at this rate I will be 260 in 4 weeks, then I'll be 240 in 8 weeks, then 220 in 12 weeks, then 200 in 16 weeks, then 180 in 20 weeks, then 160 in 24 weeks, then 140 in 28 weeks, then I shoould make my goal of 137 in 28 and a half weeks...whooo hooooo!! Then reality sets in and I go, Ok theres no way in hell that I will keep up a 5 pound per week weight loss....Ok lets figure it this way. I am sooo fat that I can probably keep up the 5 pound per week loss for like 8 weeks...that'll bring me to 240, then I can probably looses 3 lbs per week til I get to 200...umm lets see, that'll be like 13 weeks, so in 21 weeks I can be at 200. Ok then I'll probably slow to about 2.5 pounds per week til I hit 175, so lets see...that'll be like 10 more weeks so in 31 weeks I can be 175, so then it'll probly slow down to 2 pounds per week till I hit 150, so that outta take another 12 weeks so in 43 weeks I will be 150. So It'll probly slow down to 1.5 lbs per week til I hit 137 so in a total of 51 weeks I will be at goal!!! So I can comfortably say that in 1 year I will be at my goal weight!" This talk has taken up hours and hours of my thought processes over the past 20 years...I can't even estimate how muc time I have wasted on these pathetic calculations...over and over again like an obsession I do this. I should have lost 700,000 pounds by now if all of these strategizing sessions produced the desired results. I estimate that I have given ww somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200.00 over the years...now thats nothing compared to some women friends I have. Some of them just keep paying and paying and paying for years even when they don't go or follow the plan for months and months at a time. I bet I know women who have spent 5000.00 at weight watchers, just for attending not for products and they all loose some weight and put it back plus a few then loose some more...blah blah blah. I do know this. Weight Watchers is the BEST, Healthiest, most effective eating plan known to womankind. I say this as a dietician and as a woman who looses lots of weight on the flex or point plan AS LONG AS I DO IT! AND AS LONG AS I JOURNALIZE. You loose the battle when you stop writing I do know this. Anyhow, my current dilemma is that i wonder what I will do when I loose 35 pounds, I worry that if I loose more that I will not be eligible for the surgery even if med mutual ever coughs up the cash. So I ask myself....what will I do then? Should I loose as much as I am allowed and then try to maintain at 245? I keep thinking in my head about statistics...the statistic that only 7% of women who loose a significant amount of weight kepp it off for more than 2 years. I then wonder what percentage of ww women have lost 140 pounds. Then I try to apply that 7% number to the number of ww women and I come out to like 2....No just joking...I really don't know what the actual statistic is for ww over time. I drive myself crazy with thse number things. I can use numebrs to justify anything and I do it all the time. My quest for weight loss started this craziness and it has never stopped, not since after the birth of my daughter when I had gained 20 lbs...from 131 to 151 after birth when she was about 3 months old and I hit my first plateau...at 151....God what a gift and I thought it was such a curse! I remember my frustration at not being able to get that weight off...If I had a crystal ball then I would have only needed one bullet. Anyway, I was proud of my 4.4 lb weight loss at my weekly ww meeting yesterday, but I was even more proud of the man who was sitting behind me. He probably weighs about 350 or 375 and is about 5'10" and I would guess he's about 35 years old. He's a black man and I can tell he is a successful classy business man...he doesn't have spinners on the wheels of his late model beige colored Chrysler 300 nor does it have curb finders or any of the other paraphanelia that many black guys feel that they need to show how proud they are of their blackness. These men always come off as so pathetic to me...aspiring to be a pimp...anyway, this man is comfortable with his success and does not feel the need to prove any thing to any one. He is real. I know it sounds like I am attracted to him but I am not. I am proud of him because last week ( he joined the same day I did) he was talking about how he was looking into weight loss surgery and that he heard about someones great success at ww and he thought he should give it one last ditch effort. He came in yesterday and beat my 4.4 pound loss into the dirt with his 9.6 pound loss in one week. He was so happy and amazed that I was happy with him and for him. It was as though he got a new lease on HOPE. That's when I realized it...I had lost all HOPE of ever loosing this weight and this lapband procedure has given it back to me. I know that I will not be 280 pounds a year from now. I know that I will have lost a great majority, if not all of this burden of carrying around a whole extra person. This gives me such happiness, it's like a drug...a really good drug. I am not touting wls to this black man in my ww class. I am a dietician, I am supposed to believe that if you eat right and eat less nd move more you will loose weight. I will continue to g to ww even after I have had the surgery, and I will try to keep tabs on this man and I will tell him someday if he is struggling about this wls. But not yet. He might be one of the ones who makes it on his own...I wish I was because I feel like somewhat of a fraud doing this, but I don't care enough to continue to live fat. Well that's enough of that! Love, Me:kiss2:

I first had my band done in november of 2000 to start with i had a few problems my body rejected the port and then took 3 more ops to fix but since then i have no trouble what so ever lost weight quite easily over time and have kept if of. I have just moved and had to find a new dr regarding the band who has been very supportive. I have no regrets doing the banding and only have to look a old photos to go wow was that me. I will go and see a gp but since moving havent found one who im comfortable with just my banding dr who is 2hrs away and very busy. thankyou for your imput and will go to a gp and rule out anything else

I am not a man, but I am post-op AND previously a volume eater. After banding full feels different. Very different. But hunger feels different too. When I get hungry now, it is without the pain and nausea I used to experience. I think that pre-op hunger was withdrawal... Now when I get hungry, it is without the urgency or cravings and I can make healthier choices for myself. The highs from being FULL will be gone, but I don't miss them, yet. I am hoping that when I lose some more weight, my quality of life will give me my highs.

Babs: Exactly1 See, I wondered about this too. As you may remember, I had a TT about 13 wks ago and my access port was moved, of course. I didn't choose to get an unfill before the TT (some patients I know did, some didn't and they both seemed to do fine but it took the unfilled ones longer to get back to their restriction level and I couldn't chance it). However the PS (Dr. Big Needle ) I picked is both LapBand-knowledgeable and a colleague of my original surgeon, Dr. No. In fact, Dr No got to poke his head in during my surgery (long story) and Dr Big Needle was kind enough to let Dr No sort of determine to what location the port was moved. But just after surgery I felt more restricted and had less appetite. Now, this could have just been a normal post-op swelling thing but unfortunately the restriction went away. But I did wonder about this very thing. Yep, it's like you're reading my diary. Exactly where I am - after 5 years I hate that it came to that, but as I posted before - once we started disagreeing about my fill and restriction level - my original surgeon dropped me like First Period Calculus class. This last time, in January, I went in for the fill under flouro. That's when Dr No refused to give me a fill (though I'd been complaining of lack of restriction) and he tested it then, under flouro, and proclaimed me to have just about 2.8 or so. Yes, Babs, and what's so sad is that I've been walking around thinking that this so-called 2.8 fill wasn't enough restriction and that if I couldn't ever get any more fill that it was time to look at other surgeries or procedures. I can't call him a DUMBO (although you are more than welcome to, believe me) but for sure, he RATIONS fills. Up until this fall, however, I'd been getting them only when I needed it - and it was working. But I couldn't convince him to give me one for more than 6 months and since then I've been struggling hard to keep weight off. Right. I think his office fill back to 2.0 was a good start but I agree that I should get back ASAP and see if I can at least get back to 2.5 From your lips, Babs...my fingers are crossed. I'm trying to stay positive and not drag all my emotional LapBand baggage over to my new surgeon - I deserve a fresh start ! FYI: Dr. Adam Smith in Fort Worth is also banded and he is a lapband surgeon as well! THANK YOU - you are so right! Dang it - THAT'S the name I couldn't remember. I mentally ran down every surgeon's name in the Metroplex, but couldn't remember Dr. Smith...in fact, I think he's the one whose wife is banded also: they are a banded couple, right? My friend who went to TCU went to him, I'm almost positive. He's near the school, I think. We should really compile a comprehensive list of banded surgeons one day - I think it's valuable. So far having a teensy bit more fill is going OK but I really need to get back to my 'normal' fill level. Fingers crossed!

I am so Thankful to hear from you and to know that you are doing well. I am also so sorry that your scar tissue kept the doctors from being able to band you. Just remember what an AMAZING person you are and BEAUTIFUL on the inside and outside. Keep up what you were doing before and the weight will come off, just a bit slower. I am here for you if you need me and will continue to keep you in my prayers . Here's a gentle hug my dear friend and hope you have sweet dreams while you nap! Patricia

I had salad today and some quesadilla(sp). I didn't have a problem should I be worried? Maybe I should get a fill early? I'm feeling hungry again and very thirsty. Does the band have to have a fill for weight loss to start? I'm still at 200lbs and it's not budging! I'm gonna "budge" that scale right out the window!

I am having the Vertical Sleeve surgery done on July 11. Am I scared? Yes definately ... but the final results are worth it. I have fought this 2 week liquid diet for only one week now and there are days i think I'm going to go nuts, is it really the food or the fact that I can't have it? Actually, sacrificies will have to become a main part of My "new Skinny life". I too have young children and I fear the typical questions of a general antisetic. But everything will be worth it in the end. I have struggled with weight, now diabetes, for far too long. I am ready to make change and will keep all you others in my prayers as well. I am seeing Dr. Fearing with Malley Weight Loss Center in Overland Park, KS So far so good!

It is funny but I never use the word stall...I use the word rest!..body at rest.... I never experienced one stall so far or gain either...2 reasons. I don't weigh myself that much only every 1 or 2 months...As I hit goal I will have to switch it up to once a week to keep track better. But for now...nope! I believe that the body is a magnificent machine and will protect itself from invaders and extreme circumstances.. like illness. it goes into shut down when something drastic happens to it out of the ordinary...Reserves its strength and restarts the regular flow of life when it feels safe... Our body's are like a huge city. Everything works because it is in unison. One thing is connected to the other..When something changes that, it takes defensive action and grinds to a halt.... Once it realizes that things are okay and it is being fed and all is well it starts up again...And lets that change happen until next time it is threatened.... Isn't the body amazing!!!!!!!!!!! I think so... First it made do with the extra weight that we constantly put on it and adjusted so we could carry it and live with it and keep moving..Mind you not at full capacity but it held its own... Not until it could not take it anymore did it do the same thing... Shut down our metabolism and went into protecting itself.... Don't worry about these rest periods..once your body feels safe it will start the engines again and travel forward with weight loss until it feels threatened again... Incredible isn't it that we are made this way!!!!

I totally understand about being nervous right before surgery. I was prepped and about to be wheeled away and almost said no. I am so glad I had it. I feel better, look better and my clothes are smaller! I think it is sad your mother is not behind you. Is she scared or is she over weight and doesn't like others around her to be thinner? Many people can not handle thinner people in "their circle". I once had a friend like that. I had lost about 60 pounds and when I finally gained it back she told me I wasn;t a nice person thinner and she liked me fat. I wish you a lot of luck with your new life thinner and healthier. We are all here to support you.

Your feelings are quite normal. Many of us worry about failing yet again after failing so many diets before. The good thing about this, it's not really a diet. It's a lifestyle change and if used properly can become your new bff. It sounds like you are your own worst enemy and probably afraid of being judged. One thing I struggled with is people that knew I had it, didn't understand the difference between this and GB so they expected the weight to be "falling off" me. You are expected to lose about 1-2 lbs per week. Initially, I exceeded that and now seem to be right at that amount. If you are willing to make lifestyle changes and believe in yourself, you can and WILL do this! You are spot on with setting smaller goals along the way. It helps to feel you are accomplishing something when you have those instead of focusing on the whole picture. Best wishes to you on your upcoming surgery!

Hey all. I was banded on April 17th with the new iBand. The only difference in the iBand is that they also stictch your stomach into a pleat as to help with the progression of weight loss. This procedure was done along with Heital hernia repair and weeks later, I am just not starting to feel back to normal. I was off work for 2 weeks and I was not expecting this long of a recovery time. It's May 23rd now and I'm down 18 lbs. I've had my first adjustment on May 16th and I have to say I was expecting a much easier ride. I'm steady at the same weight for the past week. I'm hungry all the time and now that all the swelling has dissapated, I'm anxious and questioning why I only received a 1.5cc adjustment in a 10cc band. However, reading this forum has helped me to understand that there are a lot of people that feel the same way I do and the only answer is patience... ahhh... the p-word (never has been a strong quality for me). Anyways, I hope that through this forum, I can manage through the emotional rollercoaster of weight loss and continue to put my best foot forward.

Prior to WLS, I did not have friends outside of family and work. Honestly, I think it was because I was such an introvert before with antisocial tendencies. My self esteem was in the dumps after years of being rejected as an obese person. Now that I have gotten to goal weight and have made many lifestyle changes for the better I am finding myself to be a much more social individual. I am seeking friendships. The question is how do you guys go about making new friends now that you are at or near goal weight? I know it is about finding like minded people in shared activities, but it seems a bit foreign to me. I joined cross fit partly last week in an attempt to meet new folks and widen my social circle, not just for the physical training. Is getting involved in shared group events the only way or should I swing into bars? Any advice?

Hi Izzy, I have not been sleeved yet, but if you do not mind, I will follow your progress. My starting weight is within a few pounds of yours, and I also have PCOS and Type 2. I will be sleeved in July.

Sounds like amazing weight loss to me. Almost a pound a day is amazing. Without the sleeve most Dr's and diet plans would tell you to shoot for 1 - 2 lbs a week. Everyone will lose at different rates but it seems you are doing fine.

yes ! Very slow but will start the gym on 3/13 for sure to give the weight loss a kick LOL hopefully with the running i can loose a little more than just the 50 lbs.

No, That would be way too much to lose in a month. Since the surgery on Jan 30th I lost 23 pounds. I had been yoyoing for decades, always creeping up in the pounds. I started dieting at my highest weight which was at 320 lbs last spring. I plateaued at 271 lbs for 3 months and was starting to creep up. That is when I finally decided to have this tool placed into my body.

Normally you would do weights 3 days a week, with rest day between workouts. My doctor wants at least 30 minutes cardio 7 days a week.