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Hi all - Chancie asked me to let you all know the following: "I just spent almost 2 hours trying to reply to threads... and only answered probably 4. My computer bit the dust.... and I'm on an old one of my sons ( windows 98 ) and my broad band isn't compatable with it.... I live in the country and all we have is dial up, but I finnally got verizon broad band that was working soooo good!" "Would you let the everyone know that I'm not ignoring the posts... and all the new people.. I'm really amazed at how many there are! Plus working in retail.. the next 2 weeks ( or more ) are gonna be crazy- and I can't spend hours on here tyring to post- ( pisses me off LOL when its soooooo slow ) I FINNALLY found a place that I can relate to, and I love this site- and don't want to feel like I'm ignoring things. Hoping I can find a computer on sale with the holidays coming.... sighhhhhhh when it rains it pours!"

I booked it in Mexico because I figured I'd save the price of the surgery over the next 3 years just by not eating junk food and fast food all the time. Plus I'll have the benefits of the surgery now instead of then. And I didn't have to jump through any hoops, I contacted my coordinator, and I could have had surgery the next week if I wanted to (I had to wait 3 weeks to get affordable flights).

So I'm 235 and my weight seems to always just stay close to the same no matter what I do. Major diet attempts lose me maybe 3 pounds. Tried South Beach 2x and in the first two week "boot camp" they say you can expect to loose 8-13 pounds-- I lost 3. My metabolism is shot from a lifetime of dieting so I just know I will be a frustrated slow loser. I have my surgeon appt. in 3 days, and need to commit lots of $ and get a surgery date. I'm just second guessing my need for the surgery, thinking it will just be a very frustrations experience based on my other attempts to loose weight. I was totally committed, but after reading forums for months, I am starting to waffle. I really am not sure if this surgery will do what I'm hoping, and I have had so many times where I have REALLY tried, only to lose just a few pounds. Any advice? I'm feeling kind of desperate. Thanks.

According to my doctor's office, mush means blended up or pureed before it goes into your mouth. That way you can't accidentally swallow something too big. So yogurt, applesauce, thin oatmeal, are good choices. What I did was to put whatever I made for my family for dinner into a blender with some liquid (chicken broth, mushroom soup- depending on what I was blending up). The beginning of the mushy stage I made it the consistency of applesauce. During the second week, I made it a bit thicker. It's normal not to have any restriction at this point. (or to have very little.) You won't start to get restriction until you start to get fills.

You said it's after your last fill....so maybe it's too tight? As you probably know, for whatever reason it can happen several weeks after the actual fill. Sorry you lost your job, but if you can't keep anything down you need to go to your doctor.

I had my surgery 11/26/19. It’s been 3 weeks and I have only gotten in all my liquids and food in a few days. Heartburn.. OMG Yesterday i wasn’t able to get much down at all. I feel unsteady on my feet! Any suggestions?

How do you find her recipes, everything is all over the place. I see a few, but are they all together somewhere? I am 5 weeks out and can try anything now, but have only stuck to turkey breast and chicken. I need some good recipes please. I am not an exotic cook, need simple recipes since I work long hours. I am not really craving anything either, but know I cannot live on chicken. Please help Thanks

Been of the pain meds since yesterday at 9am. Water sucks and taste like metal. Got some flavoring and it is helping. Tried power aid zero and leaves a bad after taste. Broth is good but strong. Tried chicken noodle soup and strained the broth out and love it! A real treat! Jello is good, milk is good. Walked 3 blocks today and feel good! Going to keep increasing the length. Is it really true you get a runny nose when you are getting full? Two weeks prep weighted 331, day of surgery weight was 314, day after was 320. Said that the IV fluids cause that and some people gain up to 10 lbs. appointment Friday for 1st post op appointment.

At 2 months out I wouldn't call a spoon of icing cheating. I had surgery in September 2013 and I ate a lot of junk food the December following it, then January I was right back on the wagon. It's ok to sometimes have a taste of something that isn't on your diet plan. The whole point of having surgery was so that you could live a happy and healthy life and sometimes that includes something that isn't Protein or veggie. At 8 weeks out you aren't hurting yourself, so don't beat yourself up over a little taste of something good. The trick is to be able to enjoy the little taste and not feel the need to eat anymore after it. Also yes, the sugar could have made you feel badly. I don't have a very high tolerance for sugar at this point either. As an example of how life can be normal, I had plastic surgery a few weeks ago during which time I ate a lot of sweets the first few days afterward. I am now 7 weeks out and I haven't had anything sweet or really all that bad for me since. Yesterday I was at Starbucks and I bought a blueberry muffin and a cakepop. I had a few bites of the muffin and the cake pop is still somewhere in my kitchen. It's ok to occasionally eat a few bites of something that is sweet as long as you enjoy it and then go right back on your diet. Life is for living...not feeling guilty for enjoying a bite of frosting.

Reaching out here because I'm at my wits end with stomach pain. To make a very long story short, I am having extreme pain in my left side of my abdomen and back every night starting at 5pm and ending in the morning around 6am. This has landed me in urgent care and two ERs and a hospital stay in the past week. I've seen doctor after doctor and no one knows what's wrong. Waiting to see a GI specialist. I was discharged with narcotic pain meds to control it and those don't even work. Totally fine during the day. No problems eating or any other classic lap band complications but my surgeon is not ruling out lap band issues.... Has anyone had this? It's like clock work and I dread every evening. I met with my surgeon today and unfortunately his solution involved going to an ER and hospital that are not on my insurance. Any advice appreciated. The pain is constant, intense and travels throughout my left side. Ruled out OB issues, kidney stones, gallbladder, etc with a CT scan. All bloodwork normal.

weighing yourself so often in a short time doesnt help your positive thoughts. your body will go up and down and up and down and so on all the time on a daily basis. (eating, drinking, peeing, etc). and for a variety of reasons. how about you just weighing (once a week)? i think that would take some ease off your thought processing. (eating like a bird wont make you lose weight. eating lean protein and not over a cup at a time will). and lastly, are your clothes looser? are they? have you bought smaller sizes? are you feeling better? why dont you judge your weight loss success by that instead of scale numbers.... you are doing great. just stop beating yourself up please. all the best my friend.

Hi, all: I know that none of you can give me a medical opinion; I'm not really looking for that, I just wanted to know if there's anyone who has a similar situation. I'm 5'0", currently 202 lbs, and my only medical issues are joint pain, back pain, and asthma. I'm covered under UHC ChoicePlus. When I called the resource line the insurance company gave me, they said 39.1 BMI without any specific comorbidity on their list was not going to deem me eligible. I went ahead and contacted the surgeon who did my best friend's surgery, hoping they may be able to work out something with UHC on my behalf and I'm waiting to hear back. I just was wondering if anyone knew what my chances of approval might be? I am at a point now where I'm pretty sure I will not be able to lose this weight on my own. The kicker is, I'm a professional swing dancer. I dance a minimum of 3 times/week and I travel to dance a minimum of one weekend each month; some times I'm out of town four weekends in a row. I get PLENTY of physical activity, and the scale continues to climb. I don't want to give up dancing because of my weight; I have already had to have one knee surgery to keep me in the game. I just don't want to give up now, esp. when I am just starting to gain some notoriety. Maybe what I'm really looking for is some encouraging words. It's looking pretty hopeless right now...

I was banded on 01-20-2011. I feel I am completely restricted on everything I eat however, I know in a few weeks I will be able to eat once again. I have always craved sweets. I know I will be able to eat some and many other foods I love however; this to me is odd; I have never been able to do this. I know I will need to still monitor what goes into my body. I am really scared that because I have the band I will have the mind set that I can eat what I want. Is there many people out there that have similar issues? Is there many people who have had failure?

I knew going in that I would be a slow loser too. I also have hurt my metabolism with years of dieting, and I am also hypothyroid secondary to a pituitary adenoma. I gained 3 lbs doing the cabbage Soup diet! LOL. You get the idea. I decided on VSG bc even though the GB was tempting due to the malabsorption aspect, in the end, I didn't feel it's good for your body to have malabsorption. I wanted to do this the healthy way. During my 6-month preop diet, I lost about 16 pounds in 6 months. Now I have lost about 35 pounds in 13 weeks. So I have lost twice as much weight twice as quickly. I'll take it. Now if you do this, just don't compare yourself to people who are losing 80 to 100 pounds in 3 months. Or to those who have lost maybe 50 but seem to be eating junk food and not exercising when you are staying true to plan and exercising. It's really difficult to compare but you need to put it in the context of what good progress is for you and for your own body. And eventually, the cumulative effect means that it WILL come off and that you won't regain, as long as you stay true to plan. Good luck!

Hi, It always helps to have someone like you to see what could be. My original goal was 120 but my NUT suggested that 130-135 might be better. She suggested I may not like how I look at that weight. I'll get to the 130 and see how I feel. Honestly, I I feel great at 140, I would be thrilled there too. My usual day starts out with a Protein shake. I have actually been having these for a long time. I take half of a small banana, 3 frozen strawberries or small hand full of frozen blueberries and 6 oz of skim milk with a scoop of vanilla protien powder. Its about 200 calories and takes me about an hour to sip through. If I don't do fruit I throw my leftover coffee and a scoop of chocolate Protein Powder with a few ice cubes and nice little mocha is the result. lunch is usually about 2-3 oz of protein. Fish, deli meat or chicken with a side of green Beans or a couple of strawberries or canned spinach. Some days I can eat most of the protein and sometimes I get full before. That is about 150 or so calories. Sometimes I have an afternoon snack of string cheese, cottage cheese or dry roasted edamame for about 100 calories give or take. dinner is a similar offering as lunch. If I want something at night It is usually a premier Protein Shake (all or part) or some protein spiked pudding, if I need or want some more protein. Try for about 800 per day, and at least 70 grams of protein. Weekends are a bit different. My hubby travels every week so when he is home, I eat a few more things with him. Weekends might be a burger on the grill, beef or turkey, I eat it of course without the bun but I do put the "fixins on it with some grilled veggies. Squash and zuccuni. Sunday is our usual steak on the grill day but have not had that yet. Will wait another month or so for that. I drink wine every Friday and Saturday. 1-2 glasses. Red only and the best we can get. We love to sit on our patio and share a nice bottle. I account for it though. I have been off all dietary restrictions since the end of 6 weeks. Was on liquids for the first 3, not even pudding or Jello. That was rough but followed it to the T. I have not had any adverse reactions to anything thus far. I have tried about everything except any type of bread, Pasta or crackers, chips and sweets. I guess the pre op diet got rid of all the carb cravings so I just have not had a desire for them. I did have a few fries last week but they were good but it wasn't anything special. I feel normal again. Not the pre surgery normal but a new "in control normal." I feel like I eat to live, not live to eat. I enjoy my food and do creative things with it Last week I roasted a whole chicken in the crockpot and cooked i overnight. OMG! It was so tender. Fell apart. I let it cool and deboned it and have so much meat. It can be used all week. I actually made an awesome chicken chilli. It was so good, made a big batch so put it in small containers and froze it. My family loves it and its so stinking healthy too! How far post op are you?

Oh, my gosh. How highly, I don't know unprofessional, unethical, SOMETHING, that he did not mention any of the problems he had to you. Please call back his office and let the nurse know what you overheard. It is your body and you have every right to know what is going on. If you want to wait the 3 weeks to talk to him, that's fine. But please discuss this incident with him at your next appointment. You've got to be able to trust your doctor 100% in this weight loss journey. Let us know what he says. He owes you an apology. I hope you get it.

I had vsg on June 15, 2010. My starting weight was 167 lbs. My goal weight is at least 115. And I have only lost 25 lbs since then. I've been at a stall for a few weeks and I was wondering if there is something I'm doing wrong. I would have expected to have lost more weight than this, but the scale doesn't seem to move! Ughhhhh! Will this ever end? Help!!!!

I'm going to be completely honest with you! After surgery , It is a little easier.. right now i'm having what is called head hunger pain? I think that is what it is called. I dont feel hungry , thirsty , but i think i am. I'm 7 days post up now and i couldnt help but **this is gross , sorry** but chew up pickles and spit them out.. I just wanted them.. i'm craving sour stuff... I had lentil soup broth and added some vinegar in it for dinner yesterday .. didnt hurt me... The problem about the post op diet is that i had to be on liquid diet again for another 2 weeks.. so yes it's easier cause your not hungry , but at the same time I'm llike.. if i eat one more freaking posicle or sf jello i'm gonna freak!! lol.. BUT.. i put on my jeans today and they feel a ittle looser than usual!! So , i'm doing something right!! lol... it'll get better when i'm able to eat mush food.. all i can think about is crabs!! oh.. and of course the inside of a pickle!! lol... again .. dont stress so much... I also did a bowel prep 2 days before my surgery . I did 30cc's of miralax at 2 seperate times.. are you asked to do that??

and she is winning! I had my last fill 6 weeks ago and have been doing fine. A little tight ever so often, but this weekend it has been war! 2 days ago I was a tight. Today I have been so tight I cannot even eat. Drinking is even hard. Hopefully tomorrow brings peace in my banded world. If not I will call the doc to get advice.

I had my surgery Monday the 15th, I feel fine other than soreness at the incision sites. I have been following the food plan, eating soft, mushy proteins and liquids yet I have only lost 1 pound this week which is sort of discouraging. I have not had a bowel movement since the morning before surgery and that's also making me nervous. Anyone else have these issues?

Best of luck to you next week. You will do fine. I had my band put in on the 1st this past week and I am doing very well. It is really not bad, not near what I thought it would be. I know your nerves are bad as mine were the same, but looking back on it now 4 days out, it was a piece of cake. Good luck and keep us posted!!

I called my surgeon because I have been EXTREMELY sleepy, needing 10 hours of sleep or I'm a zombie all day and I feel frustrated that I've only lost 2 pounds that past 3 weeks and it's only been 11 weeks since my surgery. I lost 15 pounds the 1st month, 10 pounds the 2nd month and as of this morning it looks like a total of 3 pounds so far this 3rd month, but it keeps bouncing up and down. My surgeons office said that since I was a self pay, that I should go to my pcp and ask them to do blood work. So instead of calling my PCP, I called my Endocronologist (thyroid doc). Had my apt. yesterday with my thyroid doc. 1. my lab work showed that my TSH was low, it was 0.032 and it should be between .358 and 3.74. 2. Also my WBC (white blood cell) was low, 4.3 and should be 5.0-10.0. 3. And my RDWSD was high at 52.2 and should be between 36.4-46.3. And my RDWCV (red blood) was high, 16.4 and should be 11.5-14.5. 4. He also said my Vitamin D was a little low for a thyroid patient, but my B12 was high (probably because I take the 5000mcg every day) 5. And he said my Iron was low, but didn't say what I should do about that. I'm wondering if it could be because I have not been getting hardly any veggies or fruits, i've been focusing on Protein. Any suggestions? I take my 2 Multivitamins and B12 every day. 6. I told him I have to take Unisom or Benadryl every night to sleep and he said that consistent use of Benadryl (antihistamines) can cause weight gain and that because I grind my teeth (badly) I'm not getting through all the sleep cycles. He prescribed Klonopin .5mg for me to try instead. He raised my synthroid from .088mcg to .112mcg. I'm wondering if this will help my weight loss and my energy???? He also prescribed weekly shots of Bydureon. I'm a little nervous about starting these. Is anyone else on this medicine? I tried Byetta several years ago, but they made me very nauseous when I started the higher dose and couldn't take them. He said this newer drug has less side effects. Sorry this is soooooo long, but I know I can count on all the wonderful friends from this forum to share their experience or their expertise if they are a nurse or doctor. I hope this may help some others on here as well. Thanks so much!

Any body else have a bout with your roids in your first fews weeks? I think mine was cause from having severe Diarrhea caused from the liquid diet and not having a gall bladder... But they got reved up and it took 3 weeks to get them under control. I really hate the sitting on a golfball feeling and the throbbing and itching... I finally broke out the Apple cider vinegar and put them out of my misery... WHew! thank you lord for giving us the brains to figure out home remedy's...

I am 9 months post OP, and have lost almost 90lbs. In the last week I have GAINED 10lbs!!! I know I haven't been on top of the food choices but they haven't been horrible. I am just finishing TOM so idk if that has any impact. Do u think stress would play a part? I'm going thru a messy divorce and stress is constant. Do u think I should go back to protein shakes for a few days?? Just looking for advice, I am freaking out. Has anyone else had this happen? I'm so scared that I will put the weight back on.

I am dying from the last 2.5 week stall I'm in. No measurement changes either and I was sleeved 7/5 Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App