Hello everyone- I am new to this forum but not to lap-band. I had my surgery 3 years ago and I consider myself a lap-band failure. I initially lost about 50 lbs and found when I reached 175 lbs I was satisfied with my weight. I know that was my excuse to fall back into my old habits. I found it very easy to eat my way around my band. I could eat what I wanted, throw it up and eat some more. Sad and disgusting isn't it? I was maintaing around 185 lbs (down from 225) and I was I OK with that (I shouldn't have been). Last summer, June 30th my sister died unexpectantly. She was 48. I have had a very difficult time with this and now I am up to 200lbs. I am miserable. I have not had a fill for 2 years. I decided I have to do something for myself NOW! I am educated and in the health field. I am a RN and a nursing supervisor. I am happily married and have a wonderful 10 year old daughter and I am going to school fulltime working on my master's degree. Sounds like I have everything? I do, except happiness with myself.

I am writing this not to be criticized, but because I am asking for your support. Has anyone else out there had failure? I only hear of people who have lost a lot of weight. Anyone know of anyone out there who had gained and what have they done to get back on track?

BTW- I am schedule for a fill tomorrow and I have ordered my protein supplements. Please wish me luck! Help! LB

:tongue2: I admire you for your honesty. I think the best any of us can do is remember we are human, and even the smallest steps are successes. Be kind to yourself.

Best of health to you,

Thank you Adventure girl. I think you may be right about being kind to ourselves. It is at the least a difficult struggle and almost impossible for some of us. However, it has been done by many as well, and I want to fit into that catagory. I need to at the very least not gain what progress I have made back and I want to lose more so I do not lose my mobility again. I was almost to the point back in 2005 where i hurt to move and then movment kind of stops. I do not want to go back there. I do not understand why when my head knows all this, why do I seem to continue to self destruct? I wish I had all the answers but I do not. I just know I did it before, I CAN and WILL do it again.

Well finally, been waiting for a call back about an appointment for a fill and visit with dietictian. I have an appointment for June 15 8:30 central time for the fill. I have and appointment Friday at 11:00 for the dietictian. Wish me luck and until then I am going to be doing major overhaul of bad attitude.

Some people need a fill adjustment, I need and attitude adjustment as well. But I will get it done!

Thank you for the support I know you will all provide and I will do my best to be there for all of you as well.:thumbup:

Since the beginning of this year, I have very slowly put 8 pounds on. A month (plus) ago, I began working out and I am at the point now with my workouts that I rode my bicycle yesterday for 16.5 miles, which is not a lot for some people but for me, it is quite the accomplishment. I have muscle mass in my legs and that part feels good. I walk on an average of 11,000 plus steps a day. I have cut out fast foods, fried foods, and am following the LB rules and NOTHING!! Absolutely no loss and my pants are feeling tighter and tighter. I am so disgusted and do not know what to do.

Thanks for letting me vent.:devil_smile:

Well Freebird, I can identify with your pain, we all can. Hang in there. I just started writing down all my eating this morning, I can already tell you I was eating more then I thought I was. Have you tried that?

Well Freebird, I can identify with your pain, we all can. Hang in there. I just started writing down all my eating this morning, I can already tell you I was eating more then I thought I was. Have you tried that?

You are sooo right...I need to start doing this again :thumbup: ...I had done this for a while, some time ago, and I actually ate better and lost again! It does work and you will be surprised at what you really are putting in your mouth, or are about to put in until you go to write it down, and decide...nope! Good luck to us all! I'm gonna go get my book out and start now! later, Joanie

I'm so glad to have found this thread. I too had a huge set back and had to have my band deflated. In January, I went to the ER because I was throwing up a black substance. I had a CAT scan and was diagnosed with a "thickend Dilated Esophagus". I had all of the cc's removed from my band. On top of that I was taken off all of my arthritus meds. Walking was painful, so I did alot of sitting around.

I was down from a size 26 to an 18 now back up to a 24. I had my first fill, but still feel very defeated.

I haven't given up and started walking again, can get in about 1 mile a day.

Has anyone every considered doing a lower body lift to aide in their weight loss journey?

Glad you found us too. I am glad for any and all support I can find. I do wish people would respond on this thread more. They are far and few and long in between. :confused:)

I have had lots of stomach issues with reflux etc. too. I am filled to the amount I think I will stay with for awhile. I also am not willing to pay for another fill for now.

I found a product that has helped my reflux. I is called Zegrid. I take it at night with my dinner and it has helped a great deal. I also CAN NOT eat after dinner. I need at least 2 -3 hrs of freedom from eating before I retire. It has helped me tremendously. I think that alone has helped me get back on track. I have always been a night time closet eater. I think this band is my saviour as it does prevent me from grazzing at night. If I do I pay the price. Thank you for your response.

i need to vent and have some support in a major way. there really is no one in my family that can relate to what i feel or am going through. i do get support from them so that kind of helps.

i was banded back in may of '08, had decided on surgery to help with not only my weight but reproductive health issues; my husband and i wanted to start a family. 80lbs later, *poof!* i was pregnant, went from 3.6cc's to 1.5cc's, and DID I EAT!!! before i was unfilled, my doc said as long as i follow my band rules, i shouldnt gain that much weight. while he was saying this, all i can think of in my mind, "i can't wait to eat a big lunch!" needless to say i gained 75lbs during my pregnancy.

my son was born just this last november, and had gotten my first fill in march, i was filled to 2.8cc's. i thought that was kind of aggressive, but thought what the hell, i need to hurry back to where i was, afterall, when i lost those 80lbs, i was about 20-30lbs away from goal. I WANTED TO BE BACK TO WHERE I WAS NOW!!! the first week was easy. lost a bit of weight the first month. but then i was stuck, on a plateau, and i don't know why but i started thinking as long as my weight doesnt go past 240lbs i'll eat what i want, when i want. big mistake...

i noticed within the comming months i could eat more and i would PB, but after that, i kept on eating. i knew in the back of my mind there was something wrong. so, i just now tried to go back last thursday for my second fill. and no surprise, my pouch has stretched. talk about F A I L U R E. i was super depressed, i can't believe i let this happen, instead of moving forward, im going back, defilled down to 1.8cc's. I AM TERRIFIED of gaining weight, and even more of eating. i have to let 2months go by and to let my esophagus rest, and then see if i can get a tiny fill.

like i said im scared of eating while not having the proper restriction i need. so for the time being im taking it one day at a time, and doing the Protein shake thing twice a day, drinking lots of Water, and eating a healthy small dinner. i hit me hard when i realized i depended way too much on my band the second time around. its just difficult going back to my healthy ways. i know it took baby steps to get to where i was, i think i was in denial this time around and fooled myself into thinking i can go back overnight.

i feel better now, but without support from the banded community, or at least interacting whith this site, i can't succeed. i used to be on here all the time... that's another thing, squeezing in something i don't have: TIME! im just now figuring out how to put in my 30mins of walking...with an 8month old, geez everything is different.

any thoughts, words of motivation would be grat right about now:blushing:

thanks for reading.

Hey guys, Slimsly here not raising any hell, but maintaining my weight. I would like to say I was doing better but I'm just holding on. I did get a fill and I'm at 8cc's in a 10cc band, I can't eat a lot of things but as you all know we can find away around it, if we put our minds to it. I which I could put that much effort into exercising. I hate to exercise and since I've been home on sick leave I have just been sitting around doing nothing. I will be going back to work soon and I will not have as much time to sit around and figure out how to manipulate my band. I only want to lose 10 more pounds but that's a hard 10 when you are not motivated. Okay guys I'm just ranting, I have no one to blame here but myself, so I just need to woman up and do what I know I should be doing, but it's hard home everyday.

One of the hardest things I have to face is getting the food I like to eat too much of out of the house; ice cream, crackers, and chips. I won't bring that stuff in the house anymore because I eat it. I've substitued fresh fruit, and frozen ices.

I've just cancelled my appt. with my lap band dr. because i couldn't get off of work for my fill. So now I have to wait until Oct. So I am going to have to shrink my stomach on my own for now. I've been reading the nutrition thread. What I have gathered now is Protein is first and foremost. so I am going to cut my portion size (like if I had my fill) and eat more often. I have prepared for this week.

My one big problem is I am allergic to whey, so any kind of soft cheese is out for me. I have to find sources of protein in other places mostly soy. Let me tell you, that gets old after awhile.

So glad that there are others like me out there!:confused:

I am so glad to have found this blog (thanks to angryteacher!). I too feel like a failure at my lapband. I was "banded" about five years ago at the ripe age of 18. At my highest I was 234, lost enough to get down to 171, but am now like 2 pounds away from my highest weight! Help!!!!

I really want to get back on track, but don't know how. I do eat around my band by overeating (slowly-as I choke if I eat too fast b/c of the band), and drink a lot of water/liquid while eating so I can continue stuffing. I am miserable and so upset with myself.

My fiance is deployed this year, and I plan to graduate next year with my bachelors-and I would like to be healthy and fit for both events (my grad. and his homecoming). Any tips? I am pretty sure I need to get my band filled some more, but don't know about what supplements to take, or anything else.

I look forward to everyone's inspiring stories, and hope to form good friendships on here! Thanks in advance!

Welcome!!!!

So glad you found us!!

So far my solution is walking and eating small portions more often. Also, keeping the bad stuff out of the house. Not losing crazy amount of weight either. My clothes are getting bigger but the scale doesn't show alot of weight loss. If I don't eat, I can't think. I look at the people who can starve themselves and still work and feel light headed and wonder how they can do it.

Hey mscpotts, don't get down on yourself. Just mark this as a new beginning and start over again from day one. What was is just that in the past, I know how you feel. This is from a person that lost 100 lbs pre-band and put it all back on. So my suggestion is not to worry about where you've been but where you're going. Start by consuming the proper amount of protein, drinking 60-100 grams of protein per day. When I drink the proper amount of protein shakes each day I tend to eat less because it takes a lot of effort to drink that amount of protein. Start back with not eating and drinking within 45 minutes. Go online and research the lap band diet and start following it as best you can, make an appointment with your physician and nutritionist. You can do this, it's not easy but what worth having is you know that you're about to graduate (I'm sure that wasn't easy). I'm rooting for you. :-)

Hey can someone come chase me with a stick so I can get some exercise. LOL :-)