To All my fellow Sept 2010 Bandsters -Welcome !

Since we had a pretty big Post in the Pre-Op section with over 23,000 views I thought since it is now October we should switchover here and continue our journey here.

WELCOME ! I hope to see all my fellow Sept. 2010 Bandsters like Cathy, Joanny, Cece, Debbie, Lyla, etc etc all here.

-Brian :smile2:

OK, I put in a call to my surgeon today. I got on the scale and had gone from 255 back up to 261. Evidently this thing just isn't for me. No matter what I do, it isn't working. I can't eat enough to get my calories up to 1000, much less 1200...and yet I'm still not losing. I walk 30-45 minutes a day 3-5 days a week. Frustrated doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now...FAILURE, that's my adjective for today...

Pookey, I hope your surgeon can help, good luck.

Pookey, I second Lisa-- I hope your surgeon can come up with a better plan for you.

Hey everyone, happy holidays!! tomorrow's the bid day. I already had a gaint turkey day feast on Saturday, and one tomorrow- yikes

but I've still lost weight this week, lost 3 lbs since last friday. woo hoo

so does anyone have any favorite recipes they are trying, I was asked to make mashed potatoes- gag

so I am going to do this, cauliflower is way lower carbs then potatoes.

http://newhope360.com/recipes/mashed-potatoes-cauliflower-and-roasted-garlic

last year I also made crustless pumpkin pie, that a slice with the fat free real dairy canned whipped cream was very yummy and only like 140 calories- even with real eggs and real sugar, I'll probably do that again too. it's easy, and it's online if you google crustless pumpkin pie.

Hope you all are doing well.

First Turkey day with completely unfilled. I am terrified to eat and can't wait till my second "first fill" on January 5th! I need to pray to get through the holidays without restriction. Uggghh!

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving.

We have all come a long away from this time last year. Some have lost more than others but I bet we are all impressed with the changes that people are noticing.

To me, I have hit a plateau and have not lost any weight since August but I'm ok with that because I have honestly not tried. I guess I have hit that spot where either I can get more in the band or get myself motivated and watch what I eat. The quantity that I eat is fine, it's just the what I eat. Maybe the daily sunday's have something to do with it.

Anyway, what I am saying is that I am supper pleased with where I am this year compared to last year.

I did not starve myself to lose a few pounds.

I did not exercise my butt off to lose a few pounds.

Once I got smaller closes people started noticing the weight loss.

It feels good to have lose my 60+ pounds fairly effortless compared to past years.

My goal for 2012 is to get the last 25 lbs off by making more healthy choices.

Hope everyone had a Great Holiday.

Cathy

hi all, extraonne, I can't remember - why do you have no fill? and what ever the reason was, how is the thing going that caused the fill.

how many cc's did you have

your picture looks really great! wow.

Cathy, OMG it's been a while, good to hear from you, gald you are happy with your band. My loss isn't where many are either but I am also so glad. its funny my bmi is still squaely in the obese catagory but people are like so impressed and say so are you done, you don't look like you need to lose more- I say oh I'm about half way LOL. but it is such a huge difference. I plateaued for many months and am on a losing streak now, even with thanksgiving. hope it keeps up.

how many ccs do you have

Hope yo all are doing great for the holidays. wearing some new clothes and feeling good about your selves for all your hard work. I can say that I no longer snore, wow, so exciting for my husband. my knees, and ankles and back hurt less, my cardio vascular seems more healthy, and my blood pressure is lower. all very great things. Plus I"m wearing 6 numbers smaller in my clothes.

Love all that.

Hi Lisa,

I think I have around 9cc in my 11 cc band. The last time that I went in, the person that normally does the fills was no longer working for the doctor so I had a new person. I mentioned that I felt that I was too tight for my comfort zone so he took some out. When I asked he said, "you should be down around 9". So I honestly don't know how much is in the band but I like the fit. It allows me to eat normal size bites and still stops me if I eat too much.

I know I would have been thrilled to reach my goal within 1 year but my parents still do not know that I had the surgery, so I wanted the weight loss to look more normal. In fact, it was not until I bought new clothes that they finally mentioned,

"you look like you have lost some weight" which was in August at 60lbs down. Wearing the old baggy clothes may feel good because they are baggy but hide our accomplishments. It was not until I got smaller clothes that people started mentioning something about the weight loss.

I go back to the doctor in February, so my short term goal is to survive the holidays then go on a protein shake diet for a couple of weeks to show some loss before I see the doctor again. Maybe the new year will get me motivated to change my eating habits and make better eating choices this next year. That's my new years resolution.

Cathy

Quoted from Lisa:

hi all, extraonne, I can't remember - why do you have no fill? and what ever the reason was, how is the thing going that caused the fill.

how many cc's did you have

your picture looks really great! wow.

****************************************************

Hi Lisa! Thank you! The Dr completely unfilled me as I was having difficulty keeping any foods down. It was a rushed situation in which he thought it was better to be safe than sorry. My last fill was June 5th and at that time I had 6.8cc. It was too tight, but I thought it was me and how I was eating. So I explained it all to him and he said to be safe we will unfill you and then do the flouro to see if the band slipped. Thankfully it did not slip and all is perfect. So now he said I have to wait a month and we will start all over :-( I think at 6 cc I had great restriction, so now I know. I am trying my butt off to keep the weight off till Jan and then I hope to have some restriction.

HI everyone, I just got a fill, now I have 9ccs- I was thinking about everyone's fill levels and wondering or should I say worrying about how much I have, but then I remembered, because I was banded in Mexico my band has a possible 14ccs in in it- I bet lots of you have smaller bands, at least 12ccs - and some even smaller maybe. interesting.

Hows everyone doing with the holidays- I lost 10lbs since my last fill in August- so that's something-

my doc said something interesting. I thought I'd share,

the doc was saying like statistaclly- people with the band 50% lose 50% or their excess weight- and excess weight is whatever you would be for you bmi to not be over weight- so for me- I"m 5'6 that would be 160. so I started on surgery date at 180, so that is 120 lbs excess weight- 50% of that is 60lbs, which would put me at 220.

He said statistically that is a good goal.

course I still would love to see 160

even 190 which would take me out of the 'obese' bmi. but it was an interesting way of looking at it. Really I haven't been 190 since college. Course I thought I was big as cow then. LOL

Hello my names Christie I was banded 09/21/2010. My experience with the band has been pretty satisfying for me. I had alot of problems following pre-op and post- op diets cuz I was so hungry so I didn't follow them very well. I didn't start losing till April 2011. I am currently at 257 lbs my surgery weight was 329. So I'm happy with my results so far. My last fill was Feb 2011 in April I lost 16lbs but I had alot of personal issues that helped that weight loss after that it's been 7 s each month. I recently had a problem with my band getting extremely tight a week before Thanksgiving I was eating but I was having too much discomfort and coughing at night and my food felt like it was sitting in my throat. We'd 12/7/2011 I had .3cc's removed so I was at 6.8 and now 6.5. I dont know cause the band to adjust but I'm feeling ok and hopefully my weightloss will continue.

(null)

Hello everyone, how are you all! Happy New Year, we are all on the other side of the holidays, yeah. I actually did not gain any weight at all during the holidays, and lost 5 lbs from the beginning of November. Is anyone out there? how did you all cope? I'm dying to know how you guys are doing?

I have had a question on my mind and am wondering if any of you have heard anything or have any thoughts on it. I am wondering - do you all plan to have the band in forever- and is it your impression that it stays filled more or less forever. Or lets say you are to your desired weight, or at least a weight you are willing to accept - at some point to people get an un fill? and or have it removed. I know that odds of once over weight people gaining the weight back is high, I am just wondering. I was reading some stuff on like people with +5-6 year bands develping some sort of esophogus blister/ cancer type thing - although the band is used to treat gerd- which can cause this same type of cancer- the theory is the ascid in the esophogus or to much tightness can cause this type of irritation. I'm just wondering - what people do when they are at their weight- if you have a plan- or have heard anything about this I'm interested.

so this makes me so sad, does this mean no one is left of this group. not one singe person. what a bummer.

Good Evening Everyone! Its been awhile since I was on last. I am glad that most of u are having great success with your weight loss. I am glad that I had it done but have been frustrated lately. I reached 70 lbs lost back in Aug and have been sitting there ever since. I work out everyday, watch what I eat although I have had times where I slipped. I love my cappucino when it is cold out, I would only have a cup in the morning but since then have stopped drinking it and went to peppermint tea. Any of u have suggestions on how to jump start my metabolism again so that I can get past the 70 lb mark. I only have about 25-30 more lbs to go, if u ask my dr I only have about 17lbs to go.

H there South Dakota Girl, I about about with you in terms of lost 70, just getting to that mark. I also have had big periods of plateaue, some if it might be natural. but I think my plateaues go on too long- perhaps due to lazyness. I recently got a jump start by getting a fill- how many cc's do you have? - I have a 14cc band and have 9 in it now.

Also other things you could try is changing things in your diet. Eat at different times, raise your daily calories a couple times a week, and then lower and then have an average- so your system can't weigh lay you. Increase or change the excercise you are doing, or the time of day, change that. really tracking your carbs might reveal something too, try making sure your carbs stay below what they are- well unless they are already below say 40- but like if you are at 70 try to get them below 60, if they are at 60 try to get them below 50 but I wouldn't' go below 40 personally, that is very low indeed. also if you start tracking making sure you are getting like 65+ protein grams a day. your body needs this and will go into self preservation mode. there is also something called a - um band test that involves basically doing a diet regime similar to if you got a fill- like liquid - then full liquid then soft protein etc. google it. that didn't help me but it slowed my hunger. these are just some ideas, but keep the faith, and also congratulate yourself on not gaining which is a big deal.