Search the Community

BEST WAY TO BREAK A STALL STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF LOL THROW THE SCALE OUT THE WINDOW IT WILL PASS AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW YOUR PROGRAM

I seriously hope that happens for me. I stay the same for a few days, then drop 2ish lbs... it's been so slow and I'm 3.5 weeks out. I really hope that happens 5 lbs here and there, 1 lb a day... I'll love it!! Sent from my SM-G973U using BariatricPal mobile app

Like Chix said, this is the famous 3 week stall. For me, my weight loss slowed drastically but didn't stop during that period. Soon you'll find you lose 5 pounds in a couple days and then a pound a day until you hit another stall around 8 weeks and then another around 3 months lol. It sucks but we have to get used to it, it's part of the process.

maybe keep a food diary for a week then call the dietician and review with her...

You still can; I did. But that was soon after surgery.....like you. I'm now 5 weeks out, and haven't had a problem. But I will say that if you drink a protein shake or milk.....something other than water soon before you go to sleep, that will cause the stomach acid to backup into your throat. My problem has improved a great deal, but if I eat something too close to bedtime, I'll have reflux. And now with the band, I'll have other unpleasant happenings if I have anything in my stomach too close to bedtime.

Hi Cleo's mom, my name is bob . Im from Greensburg Pa, I am wondering if your Dr. is from Westmoreland hospital? I started my program there and found out the drs. only did 22 lap surgeries(this was back in October) so I decided to quit program and go to Mgee. Im in my sixth month and am very happy with them. When i told my dr.(Corcoulis)about westmoreland's program she said they do at least 22 surgeries in a week, that they have performed thousands. I knew this is where i wanted to have mine done. If your not from Greensburg(Westmoreland hospital) I apologize for this long story but it just sounded familiar. Good luck

It's a long story but familiar to many of you on this site. I was banded in October three years ago. From the first few weeks, my restriction was fickle. Sometimes I couldn't drink Water. Sometimes I'd be a meal related to work and after one or two bites, BAM, I'd need to "productive burp" accompanied by slime. I was often uncomfortable and anxious when I ate. naturally, it was still easy to eat ice cream. During the three years, i had five or six adjustments, but never had more than 4 cc fill. I often would be "stuck". This was not a case of not chewing sufficiently, just a device that did not work for me. At one point I had lost 12 pounds, but it was because i was having very expensive meals delivered. I was self pay for $15,000. The after care was minimal. I finally decided to have it removed and my insurance, Anthem, approved the removal. Oddly, it was less expensive to do self-pay ($3800) than to use my insurance, which would have resulted in a $6,000 copay co insurance. Had the surgery on Monday and am SO GLAD to be free of the lap band. But, it's a bit more complicated. Turns out that scar tissue had formed under the band, restricting the stomach. So the restriction I had was from my body rejecting the foreign object. The doctor had to remove the scar tissue. Now I'm anxious about will it stay restricted (probably not) So, I paid $19,000 to put and remove a device that gave me an eating disorder. If you're thinking about doing this surgery, do more research. UCLA has recently sent out a newsletter article that said that lapbands are only effective for 20% of the people that are banded. I'm done with surgeries. I'd frankly rather be 50 pounds overweight than suffer from a bad intervention.

I went in on 8/4 released 8/7 and my doctor told me I could eat pureed foods not just liquids, told me I would get tired of that quick. Suggested buying real Soups and puree in blender. I have had pureed soups and meats (underwood devil ham and chicken, soft scrambled egg, poached egg, cream of wheat, plain greek yogurt (with juice added for taste), cottage cheese in my first two weeks post op. Check with your doctor, everyone is a little different. Except for occasional overeating I have put down a cup of food at at time for meals and rather large gulps for liquids. I often wonder how much stomach he left in, I seem to take in more than most people.

My husband was just denied additional life insurance through my company's spouse coverage because he had the gastric sleeve. I was denied additional insurance because of morbid obesity, I'm 3 weeks out from having surgery and now, I'm uninsurable because of my surgery???? You just can't win. We have two kids. Life Insurance is pretty important, at least until they are through college. It didn't occur to me that having a surgery like this would affect my ability to get life insurance. . This bites

Hi Friends!!! The next meeting of the NYC/Long Island Bariatric Pal Support Group will be held on November 1st from 2PM till 4 PM at The Atrium at 805 Third Avenue. The building is on Third Ave between 49th and 50th Streets. The Atrium is at the back of the space on the lower level. Looking forward to seeing all of you next weekend!!! If your stressing over Halloween...Here is a little reminder and some low calorie fun alternatives!! 5 Ways To Scare Off Halloween Candy It’s getting cold outside, the leaves are falling, October is drawing to a close — sounds like a good time to chow down on a heap o’ Halloween candy! Not! While Halloween can be a fun time of the year, it can wreak havoc if you’re trying to lose weight. Just a few wrong choices or one too many of the good, old “But they’re so tiny. One more won’t hurt!”excuse will be enough to send you screaming off the bathroom scale on November 1st. Here are 5 tips to help get you through Halloween with your waistline intact. (I did have “don’t eat any candy at all” as a first tip, but figured I’d be run out of town by an angry mob with pitchforks!) Read The Label If you’re going to indulge, at least know what you’re getting yourself into. Read the label on the bag of candy to find the serving size and the amount of calories. The amount of calories alone may be enough for you to stop overindulging. If not, you could trying cutting back on that amount of calories with your other meals. Granted, you’ll end up replacing good nutritious food with pure sugar — definitely not something you want to do on a regular basis! But if you’re otherwise healthy, it shouldn’t hurt just this one time – within reason, of course… Out of Sight, Out of Mind If you’re giving out candy, buy it as close to October 31st as possible and store it in a hard to reach place (or have somebody hide it). Having all that candy in the house is just too tempting. And you definitely need to follow this rule if you’ve ever had to go out and buy more candy because you ate most of your giving-away candy before Halloween. When it comes to the workplace, avoid people who put out candy or look away when you pass by that overflowing bowl of candy the well-intentioned receptionist has put out. And if YOU are that well-intentioned receptionist, take pity on people and move the bowl out of sight. Keep the Wrappers in front of you! Because it’s so easy to mindlessly pop Halloween candy into your mouth with no end in sight, keep every single wrapper so you know how much you’ve had. Your mind may say you’ve only had three mini-bags of M&Ms, but a big pile of wrappers won’t lie. Eat Only Your Favorites To me, there’s no point in taking on the extra calories of something you don’t like or only like a little bit. If you’re going to have Halloween candy, then you may as well enjoy yourself by eating only your favorites. Save calories by turning your nose up to anything else. Eat Protein This tip is a bit tricky. Eating protein will help counter-effect the rapid rise in blood sugar from all that candy. But you have to keep in mind all the extra calories you’re eating. Try to eat a piece of candy with a meal or a healthy snack. (I can hear a chorus of “Yeah, riii-iiight” just about now, as mini-chocolate bars are gobbled down across the country with nary a healthy food in sight… Well, don’t say I didn’t try to make you eat healthy!) If you decide to go all out with the Halloween candy, watch out for cravings after overindulging. You may come crashing down hard after the sugar rush and experience intense cravings. Whatever you do, don’t reach for more candy! Instead curb cravings with these 5 little words: Distraction Get your mind off of the doughnut and onto to other subjects. Leave the room if you have to. You can’t distract yourself if the doughnut is staring you in the face. Out of sight means you won’t be thinking about it. Take a short break. Start reading a book or working on a difficult project. The odds are you’ll completely forget about the doughnut, candy bar, or whatever food siren is calling to you, and the craving will disappear. Distraction is a great tool for your weight loss program. Delay Delay the gratification. Give yourself permission to have some candy in 20 minutes. 20 minutes is long enough that the craving for the candy will pass but not so long, an hour say, that waiting seems pretty much impossible. If 20 minutes passes go ahead and eat a few bites of the candy, then wait another 20 minutes before you finish it. Drink Substitute a long cold glass of Water. The water gives your mouth something to do besides eat — plus the water will fill you up. Even though it’s only temporary, the feeling of fullness is satisfying. If you’re craving sweetness, add a splash of fruit juice to the water. Vary your beverage choice if you like, just be aware of sugary drinks like sodas and juice. Don’t add extra calories! Disgust Another way to curb your craving is to picture the candy for what it really is: fat. Ugly wobbly, slimy, disgusting fat. Fat that plans on sticking to you for awhile… a long while. Go to the grocers and ask them for a pound of fat trimmings from beef. That’s what the candy will turn into once you give in to the craving. A pound of fat takes up more space than you might realize. Freeze that pound of fat. Whenever a craving hits get it out of the freezer so it reminds you of what you’re really eating. Dance Dance instead of eating the candy. If you’re too embarrassed to dance that’s okay. The point is to exercise for a bit instead of eating. Take a walk, climb the stairs, or break out in a set of jumping jacks. The results are two fold, you’ve added a bit of calorie burning to your day and you’ve avoided the candy! Get out there and do the Monster Mash!!! Can't wait to hear your scary tales next Saturday!!! Happy Halloween!

Vacation is over and i had a BLAST. But the house i rented was great except no internet. Not that i really missed it as i was to busy to be on much. We ran from daylight to Dark. I did 7 amusement parks as well as the beach WOw talk bout sore. But i rode every ride I wanted to but 2. One i wouldnt fit in the seat the other the line was way to long and i was way to tired to stand in another line. I had great family time and enjoyed everything. Figured i would have lost a ton of weight. I didnt eat alot and walked my buns off but hmmm didnt lose much. Oh well This thur is my preop then next wen is my dr appt then May 2 wow just 2 1/2 weeks is my surgery. I am so far behind on what has been happening here on the board. I only have 65 notifications to try to read... LOL

I asked my surgeon that at my 2 week post op appointment as well and he said not to worry too much about calories at that point, that the main things to concentrate on were Protein and fluids. Every surgeon is different though in their instructions. He said long-term when I am fully healed I would be somewhere around 1000. For now, I'm almost 8 weeks and averaging about 500/day, which I know is on the low side....

I went thru same struggle this past week on whether to get a full or not. I was banded July 2 and have I think 5.5 in my band? How much u have in the band doesn't really matter...everyone is different. I was getting full with about 8 ounces of food and staying full for a good 4-5 hours. I'm also losing about 2 pounds a week. So when I went in for my full appt this past Thursday, the doctor said he normally doesn't fill if I'm not getting hungry and if I'm losing at least 5 a month. Both of which I was doing. He said sometimes we have this like thought that maybe I need more fill so I can lose more, but of u r over filled, u actually GAIN ause u eat slider foods that make u gain weight. I would have the talk with ur dr when u get there and see what they think. Don't be afraid to accept ur in green. I think that's my problem...I didn't want to accept that I was already in green. My dr agreed to give me a very small fill to try and if it feels too tight, I'll go take that last fill out and I'll know I'm in green for sure. So far I'm ok...I think this might be a good fit for me. So yea...u sound like u might be around green. If ur losing, that's the important part!

Breathe. It will come off. I would try to get away from the sweets. Don't cause ur self to think ur not doing well and ruin this for u. Could u have lost this much weight on ur own? Do u remember why u did this? Just know there will b stalls, get back on track with ur diet. U can do this!!!

I'm 31, I had a BMI of 40 when I had surgery. My surgery weight was 238 and I am 162 right now still losing around 2lbs a week at a little over 6 months out. My high weight was 252. I thought by now the loose skin would be horrible, but it's really not. I have a little bit of loose skin on my arms and my stomach. But my stomach was bad before from pregnancies so I'm really not attributing it to the weight loss. I have like 17 more pounds to loose to a normal BMI and I don't think things will get much worse. My breast didn't even drop, sag, or deflate just got smaller. I honestly have been pleasantly surprised by my body. I thought I would need lots of plastic surgery, but now I wouldn't waste the money on it.

Mine took about 3 weeks from submission to approval. i have BCBS PPO

Everyone is different. I was able to get to my goal weight eating rice. I ate it 3-4 times a week for dinner. I did not eat it alone, always as a side along with a protein (steak or chicken) and mushrooms, and peppers or veggies. It worked for me.

It seems like alot of people don't do rice. Why is that? Also, I'm 3 weeks and 2 days out and I'm supposed to be in the purreed stage for another 10 days but I cannot stomach one more yogurt or cottage cheese! I had sushi for lunch...2 of them, so far so good.

I am a stomach sleeper. It took me 4 weeks to sleep on my stomach with out any discomfort

I am two months post-surgery (March 30) and had almost constant problems with nausea. Most food made me feel bad (some more than others) and I felt bad even some of the time between meals. I found the answer this week: a CBD vape device. My offspring uses one for social anxiety, I gave it a try and it was like magic. The nausea is completely gone. Yet it does not negate the restrictive benefits of the surgery. I still feel full on very small amounts of food and it is still uncomfortable if I eat too much. It is not AS acutely uncomfortable but uncomfortable enough to be an effective deterrent without incapacitating me. CBD vape fluid does not have THC in it (or only trace amounts) and does not produce the powerful high you get from smoking marijuana. I get a mild feeling of relaxation and that is all. I cannot write (which is what I do for a living) if I smoke marijuana but the CBD does not inhibit me from working at all. I had lurked here before my surgery quite a bit and joined specifically to share this, because I know it will help other people the way it helped me.

Usually at 6 weeks out your doctor will give you a free pass on all exercises....

There are some good points made so far about misunderstanding what your body is telling you. You really do have to relearn some things. Two things that I had to work through were head hunger and then the actual feeling of hunger. I had to define head hunger for me and what the triggers were, then be very aware when that happened. Then those times that I did actually feel hunger, I practiced not feeding it and desensitizing myself to it. Today I actually gave myself a green light to eat a lot more than I usually do, and even add in a few treats. The last week or two I have just not wanted to eat at all and I felt like my body might need to be shocked.

I had a hernia repair the same day (May 24) as I was banded. I don't know what "normal" is for recovery but I was feeling back to 100% a week after surgery.

So I'm about 6 weeks since surgery, and I'm sick hungry all the time! When will the evil gremlin go away? I thought that getting the surgery would help me with my hunger but so far it hasn't changed. Any words of advice or experience?

My understanding is that it takes a while to work out of your system. Also, it is not completely gone, just the major producer of that hormone. Your body will stil produce some ghrelin. And....depending on how the surgeon goes about his process and taking into consideration that we are each different, the outcome for each of us may be a bit different from one another. My hunger was up and down for about two months. It is always extremely high a few ays before my period. It is higher when I eat way too many simple carbs. But most of the time now (at 14 weeks) I'm more often not hungry at all or just feel a moderate desire to eat.