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My lap-band will be removed on 4/14 and my sleeve will be done on 5/19. The past couple of months have been quite the whirlwind for me!! My story: I had my band placed in Oct 2008 and lost 45 pounds during the first year . I have been able to maintain the weight loss mainly because the band made me bulimic - unless I ate slider foods. I did not go for a follow-up for almost 2 years because I knew I was not on track or following the program. I also had multiple ankle surgeries over 2011 & 2012 which put my band on the back burner) So in Jan 2014 I decided to go for a follow up just to make sure the band was not slipped etc.I had no issues other than the ability to eat anything of substance. That was on 1/30 and two months later here I am scheduled for band /sleeve revision. I had no intention of doing the sleeve when I went to see my dr ..I really did not even know what it was. But after a lot of research I have decided this is the path for me. I have been lurking on this forum for months, but decided to come forward because I wanted to thank everyone for posting their stories and taking the time to answer everyone's questions. This forum was an incredible resource for me !!

Awesome you look about 5-10 years younger already too and healthier!

I thought I better start writing about this journey now so I don't forget. I had lap band surgery November 3, 2007. I actually lost about 60 pounds with the lapband at one point but gained most of the weight back. For the first four years of the lap band I was in constant flux. I dieted more in that four years than in the rest of my life. In December 2011 I was back up to 255 pounds. At that point I realized the lap band had failed me and I needed to consider other options. Through a long drawn out process I was accepted by my insurance company to get a revision to the Sleeve. On December 27 I decided to make a radical change in my lifestyle and eating. After confirming with my bariatric surgeon that I qualified for the revision I decided to become a raw foodist for the next five months. It was a very positive experience and I learned a great deal about health and nutrition. I have to say I read everything I could get my hands on regarding raw foodism, veganism, and the like. I finally understood what it is to make a very real lifestyle change. Understanding that eating processed, boxed, bagged food was not the answer, it finally dawned on me that what I was missing was the live enzymes of fresh fruits and vegetables that no one seems to think are important, or simply don't know that they're absolutely necessary and needed in the body. I watched quite a few documentaries and I'd like to recommend that you also consider watching these few. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead was the first documentary I watched; that became life-changing. Foodmatters, Food Inc., The Gerson Miracle, Burzynski, Forks over Knives, and The Beautiful Truth. Sorry more than I thought... Anyway I guess what I'm trying to elude to is that we've all had an eating problem to the point where we've had to have surgery once or twice and for some of us it is still escaping us as to how we can actually make a real change that will ultimately save us. So many times I have heard people say I could never give up sugar, coffee, meat, wheat, bacon, soda, etc... When I hear this I think then a lifestyle change for you is probably not something that is going to happen for you. How much do you truly want good health? Maybe it's time to start pushing yourself in new and different directions, maybe there is new and exciting information to be gleaned that will help you to a better and healthier you. For me being a 80-10-10 raw foodist wasn't for me. But I did adopt eating a high fresh fruit and raw vegetable diet into my new lifestyle. I have decided to include cold blooded sea creatures in my diet as well as cooked Beans and rice in moderation, but also to maintain a balanced healthful diet for me. Please understand I am writing this as much to myself for my own remembrance as I am sharing my experience with you. The day of surgery I weighed 204 lbs. Two days after surgery I weighed 213 lbs. that was disappointing but the Water weight gain from th IV was to be expected. Today is 7/1/2012 and I am at 202. So from December 27th 2011 to June 25th 2012 I lost 56 lbs. I am so excited about where I am going... God bless us and keep us! Mardee

4 months out went from a 10 to a 9!!!

Im 19 but haven't gotten it done yet. But I really want to. If you want to talk maybe I could give you a different perspective since I want it done and I 'm close to your age. Also, I know the confusion and fear about deciding whether or not to get banded.

10 days of liquids including last day clear liquids only pre op. I made it the whole way w/very little cheating. It was tough sitting w/other officers eating lunch after just drinking a glass of skim milk with carnation instant breakfast, but I did it. Lost 23 lbs. during that time so it proved worth it for a good start on the weight loss.

i am 19 and had it 3 weeks ago i was 71kgs and my height was 4'8 so its much considering my weight im down to 63kgs!! 3 more to be in the 50s finally!

Hi I have been reading through some of these to see if anyone has any of the same issues as me. This is the first time I'm writing anything. I had gastric bypass surgery on 12/2/21. I have had a lot of downs and some ups. I haven't seen anywhere if someone had the same complications as I had. They said that they scratch my liver but there was no bleeding so it was fine. But what actually happened was they punctured it in two places and my abdomen filled with bile and collapsed part of my lung so much pain. Then the bile came through one of the incisions. So gross. Had to go back in to surgery to see what happened that's when they found the punctures and put in a drainage tube also gross but made the pain less. I was down about a month and a half. Went through going through the motions of throwing up with nothing coming up for a month or so. Gas pains for about 2 months now I'm just super burpy which at times can be super embarrassing at times. I'm 5'6" started my journey at 290 and was 286 just before surgery and now I'm at 205 so I'm down 85 lb total and 81 since surgery December so I'm happy about that went from a size 19/20 pants and 3x shirt to a 10 in pants and medium shirt. So I know I'm doing good but there are days I look in the mirror and just can't see the weight loss. Does anyone else have this issue? I also can't stand chicken it makes me physically sick even the smell makes nauseated. Pork chops are also gross. And the crystal light I always liked can't stand. Also the only water I can drink without getting sick is smart water. So has anyone else had any of these things? Did anyone have their liver punctured? I know I asked a lot of questions but if anyone has any info on any or all would love to hear.

You are doing great! Don't forget, most people gain weight during their surgery from all the fluids, anaesthetic, etc. Then after we've lost that and are back at our "surgical weight", we starting losing for real! Most people lose the greatest amount of weight in their first month or two. And it sometimes slows down a bit after that. As you get closer to your goal weight, it will slow down even more and become much more difficult to lose each pound. This is due to simple mathematics. At our high weights, our BMR (basal metabolic rate) is high. We require alot of calories just to maintain our current weight (breathing, heart pumping, organs working, etc.). And that's without any exercise! BMR is based on if you stayed in bed all day! So in the beginning, lets say you're 275 lbs and 5'10" tall and a 40 yr old male (for example). Your BMR is approx. 2400 calories/day. And if you're only eating 600 calories a day, you have a DEFICIT of 1800 calories a day. A pound of fat is approx. 3500 calories of energy, so you would burn a bit more than a 1/2 lb of fat each day your intake is about 600 calories. However, as your weight drops, so does your BMR. You require less energy to survive, day to day. And the difference or deficit of calories narrows. If that same 5'10" 40 yr old man loses 45 lbs (as you have), his new BMR is now approx. 2100 calories. But if he's still eating 600 calories a day (and in a few months your intake usually increases to 800+ calories), the deficit is now only 1300-1500 calories a day. Which is equal to about 0.4 lbs of fat lost. And so on..... That is why weight loss slows down, and it gets harder to lose the lower you go. But don't despair! You can do something to change this equation! There's no room to reduce your food intake (nor should you....in fact you probably need to UP the calories). But there's lots of room to increase your energy expenditure! So exercise! Any form of exercise you like.....work out with weights, do cardio, run, swim, play sports. Just get more active and more intense in your activity. And the deficit will increase again, you'll lose more weight, even as you get smaller and you'll reach your goal (and get a lot healthier too!). I lost over 25 lbs my first month, only 15 my second month and about 12 lbs each month since then. If I can stay at 12 lbs/month, I'll be ECSTATIC! And I've only just reached my 1/2 point to my goal. So I expect it to take much longer to finish the second half. About 6 months to get here, and probably another 10 months to get the next 90 lbs off. At least my skin will have time to adapt and I'll have time to adapt too. As it is, I'm already having to get new clothes (I'm becoming a great used clothing shopper!) every 6-8 weeks! Keep up the great work and don't get discouraged. Especially once you start to really see you body transforming. It will be very motivational, and it takes some time for your head to catch up with everything, believe me!

I was sleeved on 9/10 and have lost 25lbs. I thought I was doing great...you are doing amazingly!! Keep it up!

hi Daqui26 how long have u been banded? what did u eat after 10 days..

Im a teacher and didnt take any time off. My co teacher (controller of students in my class at the time) knew of my surgery and I went back to work on Monday (surg was sat left hos on sunday) and "took it easy". I taught at the front of the class so on my feet all day but she got the students to help ie handing out papers so I wasnt running around. I spent 4 hours on my feet 4 hours at my desk so it wasnt that bad. Post op my biggest challenge was stairs and the 10 walk up and down the hill to my house to and from work. My doc said I should take a few days off ( actually I had so much gas in my lungs he wanted to keep me a few days but I went home against his wishes, since im still here 3 years later things worked out ok) but turned out ok. Now most of his patients follow my lead and go back to work asap helping with recovery because moving = gas going faster I would suggest 1-2 days off work and then when back at work walk 5 mintues every hour and 10 deep breathes every hour

Hi...my name is Becky and I have been banded since 10/7/2010. Looking for some support along this journey.

I feel hungry sometimes but can usually fix that with a drink of milk. But I never have hunger pain. You're body is still adjusting give it some time. START WEIGHT: 467 <br />SURGERY WEIGHT/DATE: 420 / 4-10-13<br />NOW: 345 6-06<br />75 AFTER VGS 122 TOTAL

I was sleeved 5/10 with hernia repair. The pain was way worse than I expected. I even needed morphine in the hospital. The gas pains are terrible. The surgeon told me that the incision should start to hurt Friday as that is when the local anthestsia wears off. I have been using the liquid hydrocodone/Tylenol and it helps immensely. Everyone is different but I know you can't use any NSAIDS. Sent from my SM-N910T using the BariatricPal App

I’m TRYING to not get down. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s experienced this. But I’ve hardly eaten in a month!!! And since surgery only TEN pounds?! I don’t freakin get it. Yes I can tell in my clothes etc. but I’m following all the rules and not starving on purpose, sometimes it’s tough to eat but I’m doing ok overall but 10lbs is a joke I lost more than that pre op??? :/ upper left 4 days post op. Bottom right most recent.

Awwwh so hapoy to hear your starting off well .. Lol i heard that people miss chewing crazy hub? And totally not warm and fuzzy he is def not a hand holder but ill take expertise over bedside mannor anyday! Cant wait to join you july seems like 10 years from now!!! Good luck to the new you and enjoy your apple sauce

If you are hungry every 30 mins, you need fill. If your doctor won't do it, you need to find someone who will. The band is supposed to help you lose weight, and you should NOT be relying on 'self-control' to get you there. I have 6.5 ccs in a 10 cc band. And let me just tell you, even 1/2 a cc can make a huge difference. Every single person is different. Some people need a max fill level to get that proper restriction. To be honest with you, I think your doctor and his staff are not being supportive in making you successful with your band. You need to have a heart to heart with them, or try to find somewhere else to go for that support. Working out is a VERY SMALL part of your success. Your eating is a large part of it, and right now, your tool is not helping you like it should because your doctor is being unsupportive.

I have no idea, I have harvard pilgram and they paid 100% of my surgery - the only our of pocket i had was 500 for the education class i had to take and copays at 10 bucks.. and even then the first 3 months the fill and follow up visits had no copay just had the first one yesterday.

Sleeve surgery was a piece of cake. Recovery was not nearly as bad as I expected. My pain level was noticeable and more than with previous surgeries, but I did not have any significant issues with nausea or gas. I was on morphine rather than dilaudid. Had someone not made that decision, I think my pain level would have been a lot less. Morphine is never my first choice (I was rating myself a 6 - 7 on the paint scale as I came out of anesthesia, wanting to manage it to around a 4). It was definitely more painful than band insert or removal, but nothing at all like what I expected. Surgery was at 9am and by 3ish my pain was completely managed. I was told to expect some extra soreness because I had a large degree of scar tissue/adhesions that had to be dealt with, so both surgery time and invasion were more than expected. I was fine to walk around by 6 or 7 that evening, so I went for about 10 walks during the night. Felt so nice. I felt great the next morning (Wed) & was eager to get home. Discharge took until about 2pm. Then came the complication. I had an aytpical presentation of allergic reaction to one of the medicines - we still don't know which, because it's not a documented side effect. Within a few hours of getting home, from my neck to both wrists the skin was beet red and purple, think horrid sunburn,radiating extreme amounts of heat, and with seriously intense muscular aching that was truly close to agonizing - and I have a high pain tolerance. We tried to draw the heat out with ice bags but the temperature of my skin would melt all the ice within a minute or two. My skin was so hot to the touch that it was uncomfortable for other people to touch me. I called my surgeon's PA and was told to take Benadryl and wait it out. That was about 5pm. By about 2am I truly could not stand it any longer so I went to the ER. My radiant skin temperature in the affected areas was nearly 22 degrees higher than the rest of me by that time and ambient air temperature was unbearable and would cause instant muscle seizure. 5 hours in the ER with IV predisone, pepcid and dilaudid had me feeling much better. It's now almost completely cleared up. Just a few sore spots left. Definitely manageable. I'm now at home, very comfortable, with an addl Rx for prednisone and something to coat my stomach so that it doesn't overly irritate the sensitive staple line. I've beent old to postpone the Arixtra shots (I don't mind that one bit). Omeprazole and Lortab as needed, but my pain level isn't bad enough to need the Lortab. I just feel slightly achy/tight except for the spot where my drain was. That's the only spot that's actually painful. I should've done this the first time around!

Becky, I'm 44 as of July of this year. I think as long as you do some sort of walking or exercise most days, you wont have a big problem. I walked mostly and did some zumba, elyptical, etc. I was not consistent with it but for the most part, I exercised about three days a week or so. This summer I didnt do anything really. It was hot and I just wasnt motivated. I did start jogging/walking in early october and finished my first 5k in 36:10! I was very pleased with myself for that. I am only three weeks out from my plastics so I cant exercise for a few more weeks but I plan to train for another 5k or maybe even a half marathon. I enjoyed it, if you can believe that. Just follow the rules the best you can and get some exercise in. You are young. Believe in yourself!

Understandable. I lost 60 pounds pre-approval and only 10 pounds during the 14 day preop and was allowed only 3 shakes a day. I didn't cheat. I had surgery June 4th also and I was 229. I came home on Friday June 8th and when I weighed myself Saturday June 9th, I weighed 235! Six pound gain there I didn't eat at the hospital and only drank Clear liquids. I've lost 20 since, so yeah, that's 30 pounds since the pre-op shake diet, I think it sounds about right, I would love for this to just pour off me too. Good luck and be proud of those 32 pounds.

So tomorrow it is my one week anniversary since being banded and I get to start puréed food. I'm pretty sure this means I have to start the one bite per 10 minutes and seperating my drinking from eating but just wanted to make sure. Haven't been hungry at all but I'm looking forward to some yogurt and cottage cheese, god I sound like such a girl.

Hi Newmom and Kris! I will be getting sleeved on November 10. With Dr. Aceves as well. I wish you both the best!

I was sleeved last Monday 2/1/10 and went for my one week post op yesterday and had lost 22lbs.:biggrin0: Im a little concerned because I dont want to lose too fast and I am only on full liquids this week. DOes the weight loss slow down? and when?:001_unsure: Also today I am extremely nausous and wnat to know if anyone has any suggestions for improving that?? THanks, Lou:001_smile: