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So I've been super stoked about my consultation appointment tomorrow. I get a call from the clinic and they were talking about how my insurance wouldn't cover a fill. I had to patiently explain to the lady that I don't even have a band yet. So she fixes the mess up in the computer and then lets me know that they don't have all their contracts in place yet with my insurance. So it will cover my initial consult but nothing further until they get the rest of the contracts in place, which will be a few weeks. In the meantime I'm asking her if the nutritionist and the psychiatrist that they use is a part of the group or if they are independent, hoping that maybe my insurance will cover those appointments and I can keep the momentum going until they get their contract issues worked out. I have no patience, I know this. And when I finally make up my mind to do something I expect it to be done right this minute. My Mother always said that if I could put my single mindedness to good use then I would have had this weight issue taken care of years ago. Well that's what I'm doing now and the powers that be are not cooperating with me!

I am only 10 days out and I think if you focus on doing other things you will not think about weighing yourself so much, I know I have put in the time yet like some of you guys but, I have so much energy. That I don't even thing about weighing myself, and the same week of my surgery I was out at a post op&pre op meeting explaining how good I feel, and a lot of post op people was like WoW! So I only weight myself 1time so far

I paid out of pocket for my surgery and I had requirements to meet. No smoking, which I didn't do anyway. Smoking doesn't allow you to heal as well. I had to stop drinking carbonated soft drinks. I had a pre-op diet of a 2 week liquid diet. I had a psych eval that I had to pass plus nutritional classes and education classes. Then I had pre-op testing for labs and stress test. I went to my educational meeting in November 2009 and had the surgery May 2010 after going through the requirements. Every surgeon is different, that's for sure. Just ask you doctor's office for specifics. Good luck! It is definitely work all the hard work. Kelly is right, there is nothing easy about it. We all struggle in one way or another at one time or another. Well worth it though!

It just because you haven't had your fill yet and don't have the restriction (which is very frustrating). I got my first fill last week and it's a whole different world, when you have some restriction. Don't beat yourself up over it, live and learn, never regret...good luck with your fill tomorrow. It was another new beginning for me and I'm loving it :thumbup:

It's OK!!! I know the feeling though! I have had nachos and pizza. I'm also 4 weeks post and am hoping to get a fill next week. The good thing is even though I don't have restriction, I am some more self control. I only had one and one half slices of pizza and was able to stop. I wasn't full but I was comfortable! NEVER would have done that before!!! Only look forward, you can't change what you did today but you can change what your going to do tomorrow. Keep on keeping on and let me know how your fill goes! I sure hope I can get one soon, still waiting to see if the surgery center here will take me on since I had my surgery out of state!

Good morning guys, I've heard people who swear by it and others who swear against it. I've talked to a couple of personal trainers in the past and both insisted that strengh training is essential in weight loss and that you should do it since you start your weight loss journey, because gaining muscles boosts your metabolism, etc. I also talked to a nutritionist before who told me that I should wait until I have lost a larger amount of weight and then start strengh, otherwise my scale won't move. Losing inches is great, but I love to see my scale go down as well, I guess I can say that I'm addicted to the scale. (I know, I shouldn't) Ultimately, I just want to do what's right, not what I want. I've done my research and from what I've read I think it's a good idea to do strengh exercise along with your cardio since the beginning of our journeys, I tried at the beginning, but I was never consistent, but now, I've been doing it consistenly for 2 weeks, I do 20 minutes weights and then 45 minutes cardio, 3-4 times a week. What has been your experience? Have you done strengh/weights since the beginning and lost weight steadly? or Did your weight loss stop when you started doing strengh exercise? , and if it did, when did you start losing again, a few weeks/months? Or Did you wait to start your strengh training later on, after you lost more weight? I just would like to hear your experiences on this. Thank you guys, and have a great day! Love, Elena

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@@avremy, I wouldn't worry too much about the bathroom if it isn't causing you any pain. Even at 3 months post-op, I only go every 2-3 days. What you're taking in doesn't look problematic to me. I bet you are just in a stall right now. If you're really worried about it, I'd call your nutritionist and have a quick conversation, but I'd bet the weight loss will pick back up before too long.

My gas pains lasted for two weeks. I had the SHARPEST pain inside my left shoulder. It felt like i was being stabbed with a knife. I used gas-x and it helped a little, but mostly I was told to MOVE. The more you walk, the better. WALK WALK WALK ,, the more you move, the better. Even little frequent trips around your home. Hope it goes away fast for you!!! 278/232/180

My best guess would be gas. My nurse in the hospital told me that they have to fill u with co2 when doing the surgery. So you will have excess gas. I had my gas under my ribs and in my shoulder. I am 2 1/2 weeks out and still have shoulder pain from gas. But my nurse also said, Gas-x wont do a thing, its like taking gas-x for a headache. Hope i could help and good luck!!

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.

I'm down to my last 21 pounds and they don't want to give up the ghost. I too am really watching what I eat but have decided that I need to amp up the exercise. I've lost 4 pounds in the last 3 weeks so I think the increased exercise might be doing it. Good luck and hope this might help you.

I hate plain bottled water, PRE-op I was crazy about those little diet Snapple packets, now I can't stand them! I love, love sugar free Kool Aid packets in my water. Since I started drinking them this last week, I've been easily drinking a 32 oz sports bottle of water, the most I've had since surgery and I do feel better. No comment on the protein supplements-I had to pause on the shakes, I'm eating my protein these days!

I lost my first son at 20 weeks....I just kept repeating to myself "we were going to have a baby but we had an angel instead" ... The pain hurts ... Allow yourself up grieve.... Hug your little girl and go through the grieving process...

Glad you are feeling better. The 6 week mark is key, especially for abs. You have stiches which hold the port in place so please be careful.

I did my first abdominals 4.5-5 weeks out and I had soreness for several days. I was uncomfortable and worried. It is definitely too early for abdominals. I am definitely interested in hearing what the doctor says. Hopefully you feel much better tomorrow.

WOW, I think it is way too soon for that. My doctor said I can't do anything but walk until I hit my 6 week mark. If you keepfeeling like this you may want to get it checked out. Take Care.

Walk as much as you can now. When your doctor clears you for full exercise, try to do "something" everyday. Steadily build your cardiovascular ability. What is hard today will be easy soon enough, and then it's time to increase the intensity to keep your body challenged. Moderate to intense cardio 3-5+ times per week will burn the fat off and 2 or 3 strength training sessions per week will keep your muscles toned and efficient in the process. At six weeks post op my surgeon turned me loose to do any exercise that doesn't induce pain. I have not found the band the interfere with any of my exercises. Good luck! Brad

I was a horrible mess from day 5 through day 12. Crying, irritable, angry and had a case of buyers remorse at the decision I'd made. I was convinced I'd made a mistake and ruined my life! Now I'm 8 weeks out tomorrow and loving life. The weight is coming off, I'm feeling better mentally and physically than I have in years and I'm SO excited about life in general now! The 1st two weeks are a b***h, no way around it. You've just gotta go through it to be through it. Hang in there and stick to your doc's plan. I PROMISE it'll be worth it and you'll get your mojo back in just a few weeks. {{hugs}}

I just had the surgery last Friday and I'm considering going back to my desk job tomorrow (Thurs) for at least a half day. Not trying to brag, but the facts are I'm feeling great. I just flew half the day today and walked the airport terminal changes and drove around when I got home. I'll be back to work full time next Monday for sure. I had cleared working from home for two weeks but no way I'll need it. Everyone's different and your milage may vary.

I found the same thing and it holds just the perfect amount for one serving. I bought one for chocolate and one for vanilla. It' gets me through the entire work week. Isn't it great how excited we get over the littlest things. When do you get back to FL so we can meet up?

I am getting cleared by my doctor to start excercising with weights in a couple of weeks. What are some good excercises to help tighten up those saggy areas from losing weight quickly??? I am already noticing arm flab and around the belly area! Thanks!

Thank you so much for your thoughts. It's a delicate balance - doing what I need to do for me, while still supporting my family. Good and bad news: Today, called and scheduled my surgery date for April 20th with Dr Aceves - yay! Bad news - work says they can't spare me for that long without paperwork from the doctor indicating length off work, restrictions, etc. And my boss is so snoopy that she'd look up the surgeon's name and it would be allll over. I didn't even try the 'Vacation' excuse. NO ONE is getting vacations where I work right now, unless you're management (who seems to always be gone!). I will try asking again later in the week maybe. As I said, being irresponsible and quitting is not an option, so I have to make this work somehow. So I only have told my husband and my two closest friends, which is fine but stressful. I wish I had more support. Sigh.

So I guess this works as double duty - an introduction and a (kinda) question. I am a Registered Nurse...a very fat nurse! And I've been that was (fat, not a nurse ) for almost 13 years. I've done diet after diet. Acupuncture, moxibustion, hypnosis. HCG to the point I got gallstones. And each year, my weight just keeps climbing. I'm ashamed to say that the only significant weight loss I had was after I had met the love of my life, and then lost him...(but later found him...and my lost weight, grrrr!). I have stereotypical PCOS and Metabolic Syndrome (hello, black hairs on chin - I grow an impressive beard!), so that has exacerbated my weight issues. I started seriously looking into bariatric surgery 6 years ago, but didn't like the available choices of RNY, DS and then LapBand. Over the intervening years, I decided to try to get a LapBand anyways. I had one of those insurance companies that required a 6 month supervised diet, consults, etc...I jumped through all the hoops, found a surgeon I liked...and then he quit! Left private practice to accept a teaching fellowship. I was very bummed. So I figured this was my clue to try dieting again. So I went back to more failed, frustrating dieting. About this time, I was diagnosed with diabetes, which complicated matters even more. After nearly a year, I decided to go the LapBand route (again!). All my previous tests had expired, so I had to do the 6 months supervised diet and consults again...then got turned down by insurance due to an exclusion...the appealed and won!...set a surgery date and then got very, very ill. The chest xray that was done the week before my surgery showed a shadow in my lungs, so I had to see pulmonary, etc. Turned out to be nothing, but by then my precious "vacation" days from work were wasted and I had to go back. I felt ashamed and defeated, and just gave up on trying to lose weight altogether. Here it is, 2012, and I can now add hypertension, high cholesterol and tryglycerides and hypothyroid to my medical litany. And finally in January, I said....enough is enough. I'm going to make this happen! I'm 5'8, 310lbs....what would I advise a patient to do in my situation? So I called my insurance and found out that they do not cover bariatric surgery for any reason. ANY. I'm trying to not make any rough comments here, but it's terrible that I am an RN, I devote my life to the health of others, and my company has specifically excluded dietician visits for weight loss, weight loss plans and bariatrics....wtf?? But I digress. After realizing that I would get no help from insurance, deciding to self-pay was the least difficult choice. My darling husband (the aforementioned lost love who was later found ) had a RNY over 2 years ago with wonderful results, and has been very supportive. I've spent the last month researching my options, and have decided that Dr Aceves is worth my time and money. His track record and reviews have convinced me that Dr Aceves is the best choice for my new sleeve and new life. And here is where I come to the crossroads. My family is totally unsupportive of bariatrics in general, and Mexico as a whole, so I will not be telling them. The can comment ad-nauseum. I'm still pondering what to tell work - I work in a very tight-knit facility with only a handful of nurses, and my role is such that my absence for even 10 days will be sorely missed (when I fractured my foot in December and I was gone for 2 days, it was mass chaos!). I really, really don't want to tell my boss WHY I need a week and a half off, so I'm trying to figure out how to be creative. The problem I was NOT anticipating, was needing to find a new primary care physician. When I told my MD what my plans were, she began to tell me how I just needed some willpower, and that she could not support me going to some "back alley hack" in Mexico. She then implied that she would refuse to assist with my follow through care, and that if I did indeed go to Dr Aceves for a sleeve, I would need to find a new PCP. So I'm stuck on these two things - work and finding a PCP who will be ok with my having weight loss surgery out of country. Argh. I have not set a date for surgery yet...I keep thinking I need to try to get time off first and then try to make a date, but what if one's not open....? I can't afford to lose my job, too many bills! But I need to regain my health. Getting through every day at work is like running the gauntlet, in more ways than one. Anyways, sorry to ramble. I just want to add what an inspiration it has been to follow along with everyone's progress with their sleeves - I've been reading this forum for quite a while! Thank you so much for your help on my own journey -Asche, The Crazy Cat Lady

My goal was walking 150 mins a week. They said I could break it up any way I needed to