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I was banded on Thursday, 10/11; Friday and Saturday were miserable-nauseous and sore and didn't want to think about food. Today I finally feel good (except for the soreness at the incisions) and I am starving! Full blown, stomach grumbling hungry. broth, popsicles, and Jello are not cutting it. My doc says I can go on full liquids tomorrow and can''t wait for an Atkins shake. Tried ice chips for some crunch, but ...nothing. Hope I can hold out! Sue:hungry:

You've lost 23 pounds or so in 2-3 months?? That's great. In general, most Bandsters lose no more than 1-2 pounds/week. Some weeks more, some weeks none. 8-10 pounds/month is great. Try not to compare yourself with others, although it's hard. Everybody loses differently and at a different rate. As for your doctor, it's actually good to have a doctor that goes slower rather than one who is more aggressive. It's annoying, but it's better in the long run as you'll have less of a risk of slippage, and can make the most of each fill. Are you exercising as well?? I know for me, exercise seemed to make all the difference in terms of weight loss. Weeks that I exercised I lost weight... weeks when I didn't, I may or may not lose weight. I really like Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds Express when I was first starting out. Easy choreography and fun.

I have been having problems with my insurance company. They approved the doc I was going to use 10 min from my house and 1 week out from surgery they decided to turn down using that doctor and instead go 4 hours south to ucla med. The doc there is trying to convince me that the bypass would be better for me because he said that over all you will loose 5% more weight loss over all. I have a final pre op appointment tomarow and then submit to insurance company again. Surgery scheduled for may 6th now if insurance douse not change there mind again

I never had a noisy stomach till I went back to work. Now I gurgle all the time and want to eat at work. Argh! SD: 6/10/13 HW 305/SW 259/CW 231/GW 160 <br />Sent from my SCH-I605 using RNYTalk

Hello, Can anyone help on the process of Virginia Premier /Kaiser Medicaid? Some back story: I was furloughed in March and lost health insurance in June. I was a Kaiser member in 2018 before my employer changed health care option and I stopped my Gastric Sleeve process in 2019. Now after Covid I am on medicaid and saw that Norther Virginia offers Kaiser to medicaid patients. Has any gone through this process with medicaid? Can I just pick up where I left off with Kaiser?

Hi Dave I'm only 7 days post op but this is me so far...... Before surgery I could EAT, and I really loved doing it. I am a true foodie, I love to cook, and would eat out several times a week. There were days that if it didn't run away from me I would eat it, (poor kids, scurrying around the house LOL). I watched my weight go up, up and up, then came the high blood pressure, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, and the 7 month prego belly!!!! I am feeling great! Do I get hungry, I think so, but mostly I will just feel alittle "empty" and right now about 3oz fill me up. I don't plan out my food or measure it out, if it is too much of a project I might not do it, yup, I just admitted that. You KNOW when you are filling the pouch. You can tell when you have had enough, and if you really want that next bite you will probably think twice the next time. I have not thrown up, or had any real pain, it's just a tight almost like an ache. I have not had any heart burn or acid reflux, I know alot of our sleeve family take an anti acid but I have not had the need. The reason I'm having a hard time meeting the liquid and Protein goals is because there are only so many hours in a day LOL. It takes me about an hour to drink 8-10 oz of liquid, it takes me about 45 mins to eat 3-4oz of Soup, and with the whole don't drink and eat at the same time thing there goes my day. Hope this gives you some idea of life at 7 days post-op. Would I do it again, you bet!! Do I see commercials for food and feel a little sad that I would ever eat a "whole" meal, YES but then I remind myself that I will be able to eat those things again and have leftovers!! What a deal. :biggrin0:

Congrats! Mine is 12/10!!!!

Hello all! I was sleeved 12/10 and am down 17lbs since surgery. I'm looking to see if there is anyone that lives near me and would like to become occasional work out buddies or attend support groups together. I live in the East Bay of Oakland-San Francisco area.

hey all, I'm 10 days out. On my 1week post op, my dr removed the steri strips from my incisions. Now, I have sticky gunk and what had stuck to it all over my belly in the outline of where the strips were. I tried alcohol on a swab and oil (very carefully as to not get too close to the actual wound) with no luck, any suggestions?

Mines the 19 and I'm flying in same day. Im looking forward to seeing you there! I'm LeAnn

I'm not complaining about stalling because I would actually rather not lose super quickly so I don't have the issues with excess skin and such. However, I have hit a stall and I am only 10 days post op... Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this? I am getting discouraged because I still get hungry and feel like I can eat more than I should. Please help!!

I was sleeved on August 15th. My preop diet - I only list 5 lbs, drinking about 709 calories in protein shakes. One week after surgery I was down 10 lbs. Great huh? Since then, I have been on about 700 calories, 70 grams of protein approximately, and the scale hasn't budged. Simple math would tell me I should have lost at least 5 lbs. Has anyone else run into this and if so, was it just temporary? I have been walking but not doing real strenuous exercises yet, til I see the surgeon next week. Help! It's discouraging to think of what I have went through to lose weight, something as drastic as removing 80 percent of my stomach, and yet the weight isn't falling off.

I'm starting to get really nervous my sugery is this coming Monday the 26th. I'm nervous that I don't know enough or have studied enough for life after surgery (although I have read book and read posts and posts) I'm also nervous about the pain after, I have a high pain tolerance (I have read that it less painful then gallbladder removal and I had that done). I'm also extremely nervous because I am leaving my children with grandma for 10 days to have this done. My husband and I are going to TX for this. I have left. Jy children with grandma before but it was not this long. I have wrote her a 6 page book on how to take care of them and the worse part is it is my husband's mom and I so wish my mom was still alive because I would ask her in a heartbeat over MIL. (Last time she watched them she forgot to give my one son his antibiotics and he brook out in hives and had to go to the hospital, she also let them stay up late and sleep on and take naps at dinner time and the cycle went on) I think she is making me the most nervous. (I have four children ages 7, 6, and twin 4 year olds. Thanks for letting me vent I hope the nerves go down a little bit.

So, I have to have the sit down chat with my dad soon. I'll have a date shortly and will need to tell him. I've posted this story before but real quick - I was supposed to have surgery five years ago, when I was 19. I was still on his insurance, and my mom and I thought it would be best to wait until everything was set and ready to go before we told him what was happening, that way we could answer all his questions and could give him a time and date that it was happening, ect. He operates best under those circumstances, but he flew off the handle, and canceled my surgery 48 hours before it was to happen. Needless to say, he probably won't be super thrilled about it this time around. However, a few things are different now: I no longer live at home, have my own insurance, and am financially independent from my dad. I do not want this to be the thing that completely dissolves my relationship with my dad, but would also not be able to go through with it without him having knowledge that it's happening. So please throw your positive stories my way!! I would like to be able to show him all of your successes, if we even get that far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and will do this with or without him in my corner, but having him there would be nice. Also, any advice on how to deal with a stubborn, recovering alcoholic (five years clean and sober, go dad!), I'll take that too! TIA!

Has it really been 4 years? It's hard to believe we've come so far from each of our starting points. Each of us has had setbacks and success in this journey. We've shared our stories and have gotten support and given support to each other. Although we may not come back as often as we would like, but when we do it's as if we didn't miss a beat. I too am 20lbs from goal right now. I still sabortage myself when I get within 5 - 10 lbs of goal. But I have not given up hope that one day I'll get there and so have you. Ms. Husker, go to this website, Eat Right 4 Your Type. com. And if you can get the book, by Peter D'Adamo from the library. This book is about health by your blood type. I started reading it after reading his Geno-Type Diet. I find both were very helpful in relation to some of my health issues. I'm going to get his cookbook although there are a lot, and I mean alot of recipes on his website. My testimony to his book was when I wanted to go vegetarian for the new year. I started eating bean for morning snack and eating the alternative meat products. 2/3 weeks into this and I was having trouble raising my left arm. I had already began cutting out the Beans and meat alternatives. But in reading his book and reviewing my history of foods I've eaten, I saw a pattern I had set for myself. I'll stop here, but try and get the Eat Right 4 Your Type and incorporate some of your blood type into your daily living. By reading his book, I realized I am wheat and gluten intolerant. Not that I can't eat it, but should eliminate, avoid and or limit it in my diet. Along with some foods that has been causing my health problems. It's too early to tell if I see and feel a difference, but I'm going to give it a 30 day trial according to his cookbook. Well, I'll stop here this is a long winded one. Let me know if you decided to get the book. This goes also to others as well.

this is a interesting discussion ! I am like Thee-O and that is how I work my band. I had my surgery on 11/22/10 and I have lost 64 pounds and a little over 30 inch's since then and I have done this without a fill in my band . I just needed that mental image to let me know that I didn't need to overeat at meal times, that I didn't need to inhale my food down while I ate and that is what the band does for me . I always ate way to much at meal times. I was never really a snacker or a sweets eater , I just didn't know how to control my portions at meal times. I would sit down and eat six slices of pizza and a large sub and not think about it . Now, I can sit down and eat two slices of pizza and I'm very happy with that . I wanted to learn how to sit down and eat a healthy meal. Proteins, carbs and veggies and be happy with that , knowing I didn't need to go back and eat seconds , thirds or even fourths . I have really struggled the last several months and have not lost a single pound. I was just about ready to go in for a fill , but when I sat down and thought about it and was very honest with myself it has been my fault that I haven't lost no weight. I got extremely lazy in my exercise, and I am eating foods that I never touched the first six months after my surgery. Getting a fill wont take my butt to the gym, and getting a fill wont stop me from eating the foods that I am eating , that is something I need to change within myself. And part of me is worried about getting a fill , it wouldn't stop me from getting one but it does make me think twice. A friend of mine relied way to much on fills, my doc calls people like that fillaholics. She abused the fills and she lost her band. She has gained all her weight back because she didn't learn nothing from her band, she didn't learn how to eat healthy, she didn't learn portion control because she relied on the band to do it all for her . I didnt want to do that , I need to know if I lost my band tomorrow I can continue on with my journey of losing weight if that makes any sense . Also , we know there is band problems out there, its not secret and the less I mess with my band ie getting fills, unfills it might save me from having problems in the future. I do have some restriction, maybe not the best like some of you on here but I'm happy with it. In fact I got reminded just yesterday that I have the band in me. I skipped Breakfast I wasn't hungry and by the time lunch came around I was starving. I went to Kroger's got me a deli chicken and ate way to fast and to big of bite and I got stuck. It went down but dang did it hurt and I got reminded that hey you I'm around your stomach you dont need to eat like that lol. Lesson learned . Right now I'm happy with no fills, I probably could lose weight faster if I went and got one but I didn't put this weight on overnight and dont expect it to come off overnight either. My doc has always told me he didn't put the band in me to restrict me from my foods, (I still eat everything that I did before surgery), he put the band in me to enjoy my favorite foods but learn how to eat them foods in proper portion control and how often to eat t hem favorite foods . A vet told me on another site long time ago Moderation not deprivation .I live by that rule 100% . Food will always be part of our lives, I want to learn how to control the food, not to let the food control me Thanks again for the very intersting discussion. I like to read how others do things

WELCOME~~~~~~ I just want to say I am the resident dirty ole man, I am attached at the hip to Vegas-Angel, she and I are to be married on 10/10/10. That said, I am always a bit of a smart alick so take no offense. I was sleeved on 07/11/09 giving myself the gift of life, I was tired of yo yoing all my life up to 310 down to 178 up to 275 down to 200 up to 255. I decided to do this for a number of reasons, one my lovely lady had it done two I wanted to be thin, and three I wanted to be healthy. This to me was drastic, to me I had to admit I had a problem with food.....That being done at that point it was easy to do. Again welcome and we will all be here for you as you continue down your healthy path of life.

I can totally identify with what your saying. I have several friends who have been what I thought were good friends for a long time 10 years plus. Not once has either of them said, you really look good since you have lost weight. They just look right past it and never even mention it. One I work with now and see everyday and the other I worked with several years ago but we have stayed in very close contact. We are still FB friends and she sees the pictures I post and there is no way you can not see how different I look. So, your right it is not my fault I took my life in a positive direction, it is their fault they have chosen to stay obese. There are a lot of idiots in the world and unfortunately we seem to have been friends or aquintance with several of them. Keep doing what your doing.

i am in no way trying to tell you how to respond to those people as ive only been banded 3 months. However , i would of loved to have heard of the band 10 yrs ago ! i have been struggling with a weight prob for many years, tried weight watchers with no success, and wasnt quite sure what to do. then 2 relatives had the band last june and a light bulb just went off ! i vaguely remember seeing the ads in magazines, but it wasnt until i heard from my 2 relatives that i took a closer look. well, i was banded dec 2011, down 25 lbs as of today, and wish i had known about it sooner ! i wish i had known you before , if you had let me in on the band , think what a role model you would of been to me !! for all those people who are'nt talking smack about you, but are struggling with their weight, hey, just casually mentioned that you had Lap Band and are taking control your weight and your life. I've been open and honest about being banded and have gotten 100% support, and even had 3 people consider getting banded to deal with their weight probs ! think of yourself as a great role model ! good luck !

I was sick for about 10 days. I did end up in the ER due to dehydration. I had zero strength and at the worst point needed help getting out of bed. It was pretty scary. There were several days I was on the toilet literally 20 times. The docs figured it was food poisoning in my case as no one else in the house got sick.

It has been a VERY LONG time since i posted!! I had gastric sleeve on Dec 9th 2013. I have lost 115 pounds and still steadily losing. I have about 40 more to go. I did have a stall there for about 6 months but I am back at losing a little at a time. Lets see what has changed......Lets do the positive first: My lupus is basically in "remission" if you will. i have had minimal flares since surgery. I am not with out pain and run down but no where near what I was. I have completed over 10 5K races, 5 10K's and one half marathon! i am training for my first full Oct of 2016. I have been kayaking, fit in an airplane seat, and all those great little things that come with weight loss. Like being able to use a regular bathroom stall instead of the handicap stall because they are bigger! I became an EMT-A and now a paramedic and just starting working towards my RN. I would have NEVER been able to do what I do on the ambulance pre-surgery! i now live in Indiana (Indy) and LOVE it!!! The bad???? I did so well at surgery that my husband had surgery as well 6 months after me. The bad part about that? He left me for a 23 yr old (he is 43) at about his 1 yr anniversary. We were married 19 yrs and he bailed. Left me high and dry. i am now a single mom to an amazing 15 yr old daughter. But he needs an A-hole who bails on his family right?? I do have a new man. Only been dating a few months but he is really nice and I really like him. Will it go anywhere? Who knows! But if there is one thing this surgery taught me- I AM STRONG AND I WILL SURVIVE I have added some pics. 2 pre surgery. Taken July 2013 (the one with my now ex)and Dec 2013. And some very recent ones. Dec 2015 (with my daughter. She is 5'10" and I'm only 5'4") and Jan 2016

Hm. You probably don't need to hear from me then. But I will respond.....I get stuck a LOT. I was just stuck previous to coming on here about 10 minutes ago (thankfully it has passed, and you can definitely feel it has passed). I kind of consider myself a pro at it now (not something to be proud of I'm sure.....) I felt the same way; it was the major issue before having the surgery. It sounded horrible. And the first time I got stuck I felt like I was dying (mostly I think because I had never been before, and was so nervous). I couldn't get it up for a bit (I think it was toast and tomato) and I was in such pain. Above, I do NOT take any Water if I'm stuck, because it's just piling on top of a stuck pile. I do find the papaya enzyme pills help (in the Vitamin section); they are chewables and taste sweet. They helped me a lot when I was first banded, and I do carry some everywhere with me now. HOWEVER - don't let it scare you too much. As you said, yes it is because I often still eat too fast/too big bites after 1.5 years. And now it is nothing, just lean over the sink and cough. The pros of the surgery outweigh this con, I think!

Great advice and thank you again for your input. I'll try to check in more often...as I know it does help. P.S. Does weight loss come in spurts? The reason being...as I've studied the topic of "SET POINTS" and once you break your set point barrier....all of a sudden you can lose like 10-15lbs in a week. I noticed that when my brother lost....he could lose it in spurts...and was wondering if if I'm hitting a wall because I haven't busted through my current "set point" Thoughts?

Week one at Curves = Fantastic! I feel so much better about what I'm doing now to help myself get to my goal! YAY me! It seems that the girls at my Curves have learned a lot about how to make the machines work their best magic on me! I remember the last time I joined Curves I would leave there feeling like I hadn't even worked out. I remember thinking.. "weird... I'm not even sore" every time! There was good reason for that.. I wasn't doing any of it right! But I'm here to tell you.. I'm sore! (Not heinously so though) and when I'm done every day, I feel like I've done something for ME!! Something fabulous! I went on a short trip last weekend to see my Grandmas! I was a little nervous about how it all would play out for me.. seems like in the past my "little trips" always turned into diet sabotage! I don't know what it is about traveling that makes one want to eat, but it happens for me every time! So, knowing that about myself, coupled with the fact that I would have zero access to a scale for four days (gasp!) I spent a few moments in a state of curiosity about what might happen! I shouldn't have worried for a moment! Turns out when you have a lap band you don't really get any hungrier just because you're in a car driving across the sandhills! And having no scale access was a bonus! When I got home I had lost 3 pounds (and a few ounces) and that felt pretty amazing. It seems like I had more than my share of "stuck" episodes while I was gone though, and I'm not really sure why. Possibly because of the different foods I was eating.. fish, chicken and hamburger (unless they all have lots of sauce or marinade of some sort) all get stuck now since last week.... which brings me to my "fill" story. So yes, last week the day before I left for my weekend journey I got my first fill. Okay.. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I didn't think there would be any pain. I"m here to tell you.. (please excuse my brief moment of oncoming sailor speak) THAT SHIT HURT!! I'm a pretty tough girl with a very high pain tolerance. Self proclaimed of course, but just ask my mom, she'll tell you! Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting any more pain than a blood draw type stick, I don't know, but it hurt a LOT! Before she injected into the port she pushed and prodded (I assume to be sure she was going to inject in the right spot, and to be sure the port was where it was supposed to be) and that may have been the worst part.. I had no idea I was still so sore internally from surgery... but how could I have known that since I don't go around pushing on the port site that way? At any rate, once she found it I felt some relief but the stick hurt too, and then she had to "tapdance" on top of the port for a bit before the needle would go where it was supposed to. The digging around, the pushing around and the stick itself made for some pretty unpleasant moments for me, but the good news it was all over within ten minutes and I now am the happy owner of 3cc of fluid in my lap band! Dot told me to come back for one more in two weeks. That was another surprise.. I didn't expect to go back for a month or so (based on other's stories) but I scheduled my next fill for June 1, and out the door I went, none the worse except for a little emotional scarring from the surprise of the pain you know?! Hahah! What a whiner I can be! I was assured that the next one wouldn't hurt as bad and I chose to believe that... I've definitely got a little restriction with this fill. My new and improved slow eating habits need to be newer and a little more improved. I can only imagine what it will be like after another fill in 2 week... Dot told me that they have found for "most" of their lap band patients, the *sweet spot* is between 5 1/2 cc to 7 cc. How awesome would it be to find that sweet spot in 2 fills? Hey, a girl can hope! So, six weeks out I am 30 pounds lighter, and I will be able to give you some inch calculations by the middle of next month when I get re-measured at Curves! My beach goal was to lose 10 more pounds by June 23rd, and enough inches that I'll be needing a new swim suit! My first 'goal jeans' are still fitting just fine at a size 16, and will hold me over for a few more inches, even if the butt does sag quite a bit by the end of the day. My son is getting married on August 5th and I'm kind of hoping for a dress that will look adorable and be a few sizes smaller.. again, a girl can hope! Time will tell... 30 days til beach time!! Thanks for stopping by! http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

First thank you for reading my blog. I hope to help others with information that I am digging up on the Gastric sleeve. A few months ago, I decided to go back to the bariatric surgeon because I am not loosing weight. I suspect its because of my Thyroid, the fact that I live with my ex, something deep in my brain and that I hate to exercise. Not to mention I am in Arizona where it so freakin hot. I have already gone through the 6 months of Dr supervised weight loss. So when I went in today, I was told that I just needed another psych eval and pre- op labs. Good! The doctor suggested the sleeve as the gastic band's failure rate is 50% and going higher. I agreed to the sleeve. The thing I am concerned about is long term effects of the sleeve. Not 5 or even 10 years from now but 25 to 30 years. So, I started digging into what could possibly happen. I am doing this to make my life better. I just want to be sure that I am making the right decision. You know, all of those women who silicone breast implants thought they were safe. Now they are having chronic problems. I dont want chronic problems. So, here we go. What I already know. The stomach will be reduced by 80%. The spincter ( tho opening to the stomach) will still be intact. The stomach will still have the ability to digest food, move and absorb vitamins. Although, It will produce less acid and absorb less vitamins and can form ulsers easily. Hense, the no anti-inflamatories. The surgeon will not do the sleeve on anyone who is already being treated for gastric reflux as rhe procedure will make it so much worse. In addition, even if you haven't had reflux you may develop it around the 5-6 year. The surgeons believe this is due to the internal pressure of the stomach and the weakened fibers of the stomach walls. So... if you are worried look up GERD. If it gets too bad, the doctor will ask you to get a RNY or bypass, as they will releave the pain. Which leads to... looking up everything about these procedures. Well, this is enough tonight. I will be back with more concrete info and websites.