My name is Celeste, I live in Connecticut, and have battled my weight now for 10 years. I was on a diet and exercise routine prior to becoming pregnant with my son 10 years ago. I was loosing weight slowly thanks to a personal trainer, I was told by my OBGYN though that it would be an up hill battle as I had PCOS. (Poly cystic ovary syndrome) I became pregnant, and gave birth to a beautiful boy I named Brandon. I nursed Brandon and after about four weeks began to put on weight, a pound a week. I became devestated, no matter my best efforts at weight loss, I continued to gain. When I was about 25 I started falling asleep driving. I went and found out I had Hoshimotos, Hypothyroidism. I struggled even further with weight loss even with proper medications. I went to an endocronologist that took me off meds because I was borderline.

This began the downfall and weight gain circuit for me. I went to the gym, followed weight watchers, only to continue to gain and put on weight. Obviously this was because I wasn't on meds but I thought I would just hold out. I got married to a wonderful man and ended up getting pregnant a month after we were married. I went to the OBGYN who flipped a gasket because I was not on anything for my hoshimotos and sent me to the doctors, finally on the right meds, I did not gain but five pounds during pregnancy. I mean really, I shouldn't have because I had so much fat anyway.

After my daughter was born I dealt with my Endocronologist and was still on meds. Now on meds and regulated I went into a diet and exercise fury and only gained muscle mass but kept fat, so the scale kept going up until a year ago I couldn't fit into my size 20 jeans anymore. I had enough!

So six months or so ago I checked my insurance and decided to go this route. My other choice was biggest loser but knew I wouldn't lose all that much and probably get voted off. LOL So here I am, post op now a week and a day, still a little sore but thrilled at my decision. There have already been some challanges but I am sure everything will level off soon. I am excited, and look forward to starting new habits for myself and my family. A ten year old, a two and a half year old, my father whom is disabled from a stroke so I take care of him, three dogs, full time college and a husband, I keep myself busy and just need to remember to eat.

Hi Celeste! I got banded 11-15-10. I have always been a "big girl," despite being very active and eating consciously and healthy. I am 5'5" and was 160 when I started high school, and graduated at 200 lbs. I got my period at 17, but no one thought this was a problem. I tried many diets to no avail. Little did I know I had classic PCOS.

For my wedding, when I was 20, I joined weight watchers for the first time (of which would be many, many times. I could have paid for the lapband myself with all the money they got from me!). I went down to 175 for my wedding, after dieting for over a year, and just got tired of feeling deprived and hungry. And I stopped losing weight. I resigned myself to being fat. Over the years, I went on and off weight watchers, going down to 180 and then going up again to 210. Over and over.

I went on bc very young, so I didn't find out about the PCOS until I tried to get pregnant 8 years later. I did IVF, had twins, had a c-section. After all that, when my husband decided to get the lap band a year later, I was confident that I could go through the process too, and that I finally have some hope for being healthy for my kids. My mother is probably around 300 lbs, practically disabled, and I don't want that to be me. That's my story :blushing:

Hi, I'm Laura. I was banded 11/4. I live on Long Island in a big old house with my husband, teenage son and daughter, two beagles and one foxhound. I'm a freelance writer and antiques expert. I also have chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. My weight started creeping up when I got CFS--I was always skinny up till my mid 20s. Now I'm--sigh--325 pounds. I'm six feet tall.

Hello! I'm Angela. I'm 26 and I've been married for 6 years (today!) and I have a six year old son and twin 3 year old boys. I didn't start putting on weight until I had my children and then could not lose the weight no matter what. I researched the LapBand and eventually decided to do it and quit making excuses. So I was banded yesterday 11/22/10 and I'm so excited about my decision. I'm also very sore as you all know. I'm happy to have a group on these boards that I can talk to and communicate with! It's nice to meet everyone!

Hi, I am Lori. 47yrs old, happily married for 25 yrs to a sweetheart of a man. We have 3 sons. Twins at 22 and our youngest is 18. All 3 are engineering students at the same college. I work part-time as a bank teller. I have been 200+lbs for 18yrs at least. Before that I was always a normal weight. I have no health issues. I call it the"happy stay home mom syndrome." I spent a yr researching lapband and started the journey April 2010. I was banded by Dr Enochs in Raleigh NC on 11/19/10. I am doing very well post op. I was given the ok to advance carefully to mushies. I can hardly believe I am full on about 200 calories daily. I know this will change soon. I hope I have all the mental and physical tools I need to be successful. My first goal is 75 lbs off at 1 yr bandiversary. Good luck to us all!

Hi! I'm Tracy. I had my lap band surgery on 11/19/2010. I live in IL. I have three daughters. My oldest is 10 yrs. old and my twins are 8 yrs. old. I started to put on a little weight after I got married. I was just over weight. I had my first daughter and afterwards lost 54 llbs. at WW. Then I got pg with the twins. I lost 36 lbs. after I had them. For some reason that didn't last long. I started gaining weight rapidly. I think I was spending all my time as a full time mom, and not taking the time out for myself. Anyways, I am still having the gas pains in my left shoulder and just under it. It is really bothersome. I can't wait until it goes away. My upper back is killing me as well. Seems like it is taking over for my tummy muscles that are out of commission right now. I am on a anything through a staw diet right now. Can't wait to get to know you all! I have to go lay down as my back is burning.

With the boards I haven't had a chance to say hello to everyone.

I really do wish everyone the best of luck on this journey.

I think this is a good place to vent, share triumphs and joys.

Looking forward to getting to know you all a lot better.

Hi I'm JaGo,

I was banded on 11/22 in Chicago by Dr. Rami Lutfi. He was great!! Everything went well and he ended up also performing a hiatal hernia repair. I wonder why that's so common with Lapband surgery? I had developed Atrial Fibrillation in recovery and they had to rush me to the cardiac unit. I'm fine, but will have to take meds to control my irregular heart beat (which can also cause clotting to the heart). Between that an the uncontrollable dry heaving (the worst) and severe, nausea the first day was miserable for me. But Tues 11/23 was much, much better and no more nausea. I am walking to loosen up the gas and everything seems fine. Interestingly, I have not been hungry, but I am still going to follow the post-op clear liquid diet because I know that I need nourishment. My first hospital meal wasn't until the next day at about 2:00p. I had chicken broth, sugar-free Jello and 2 sugar-free popsicles. I couldn' finish the other popsicle! They gave me hot Water, I guess for the tea, but I didn't know what to do with the 2 Protein packets, so I put it in the hot water and drank it (yuck). I knew that I needed the protein first, so that's why I did that. I sprinkled just a sample in my broth, but I didn't think it would taste so well, being vanilla flavored with no sweetness. Anyway, I will figure out how to get that Protein powder down. Don't think I can have milk until the 3rd day, so it's no problem to hold out until then.

Blessings to all the November Bandsters!!!

Well we lost our old Introduction posts with the new boards. I hope everyone find their way.

I'm Melissa, 32 married with no children yet. I am from Massachusetts, born and raised, but after I got married in May 07, my husband and I moved to NC. Then this past April moved right over the boarder to SC. I am 5 minutes from the line and 25 to downtown Charlotte.

We tried to have a baby last year. I went through one round of fertilty treatments and no luck. I knew it was going to be hard with my PCOS. It was then I decided that I needed to lose weight once and for all. I hope this will help me with conceiving. I also have sleep apnea, high cholesterol, and board line diabetic.

I work full time and just finished my Associates degree. I will be starting my Bachelor's in January. I am doing it all online.

Good luck to all!

Hi I'm JaGo,

I was banded on 11/22 in Chicago by Dr. Rami Lutfi. He was great!! Everything went well and he ended up also performing a hiatal hernia repair. I wonder why that's so common with Lapband surgery? I had developed Atrial Fibrillation in recovery and they had to rush me to the cardiac unit. I'm fine, but will have to take meds to control my irregular heart beat (which can also cause clotting to the heart). Between that an the uncontrollable dry heaving (the worst) and severe, nausea the first day was miserable for me. But Tues 11/23 was much, much better and no more nausea. I am walking to loosen up the gas and everything seems fine. Interestingly, I have not been hungry, but I am still going to follow the post-op clear liquid diet because I know that I need nourishment. My first hospital meal wasn't until the next day at about 2:00p. I had chicken broth, sugar-free Jello and 2 sugar-free popsicles. I couldn' finish the other popsicle! They gave me hot Water, I guess for the tea, but I didn't know what to do with the 2 Protein packets, so I put it in the hot water and drank it (yuck). I knew that I needed the protein first, so that's why I did that. I sprinkled just a sample in my broth, but I didn't think it would taste so well, being vanilla flavored with no sweetness. Anyway, I will figure out how to get that protein powder down. Don't think I can have milk until the 3rd day, so it's no problem to hold out until then.

Blessings to all the November Bandsters!!!

Good luck with your journey, it gets easier.

Well we lost our old Introduction posts with the new boards. I hope everyone find their way.

I'm Melissa, 32 married with no children yet. I am from Massachusetts, born and raised, but after I got married in May 07, my husband and I moved to NC. Then this past April moved right over the boarder to SC. I am 5 minutes from the line and 25 to downtown Charlotte.

We tried to have a baby last year. I went through one round of fertilty treatments and no luck. I knew it was going to be hard with my PCOS. It was then I decided that I needed to lose weight once and for all. I hope this will help me with conceiving. I also have sleep apnea, high cholesterol, and board line diabetic.

I work full time and just finished my Associates degree. I will be starting my Bachelor's in January. I am doing it all online.

Good luck to all!

Welcome Melissa, I also have PCOS, was told I wouldn't have kids. Started going to the gym regularly and taking Vitamins, I lost some weight and ended up pregnant 10 years ago now. Then I started taking prenatal vitamins and walking and ended up pregnant about 2.5 years ago now. I am 34 and have a 2.5 year old and a ten year old. I hope that PCOS will do a couple of things, lower your cholesterol, help with sleep apnea and get you off the "border" of diabetes. If your body is healthy I would hope that the baby would come next. Good luck with your journey hon.

Welcome Melissa, I also have PCOS, was told I wouldn't have kids. Started going to the gym regularly and taking Vitamins, I lost some weight and ended up pregnant 10 years ago now. Then I started taking prenatal vitamins and walking and ended up pregnant about 2.5 years ago now. I am 34 and have a 2.5 year old and a ten year old. I hope that PCOS will do a couple of things, lower your cholesterol, help with sleep apnea and get you off the "border" of diabetes. If your body is healthy I would hope that the baby would come next. Good luck with your journey hon.

Thanks Cangel! I also hope that it will help

Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays to each of you!

My name is Susan, I'm 41 years old, single with no children. I live in the South Suburbs of Chicago. This journey for me has been a long, but enlightening one. I've been heavy pretty much all my life, with my highest weight coming about 2 years ago after thyroid issues leading to thyroidectomy, discovering thyroid cancer, and being hypothyroid for several months while have treatment. Also going on anti depressant meds didn't help

Anyway, bariatric surgery is not new to me as my mom had RNY bypass back in the early 1980's. She has been successful at keeping about 2/3 of the weight off, but has had anemia and B-12 deficiency since the surgery. I'm not sure how I started reading up on LapBand, for a long time I was kinda anti-gastric bypass. But I researched starting in Sept 2009 and attended my first seminar in Nov 2009. After all the requirements hoops and such I was approved and set for November 8th. I think some of you have heard this in the post op thread but technically I "had" the surgery, minus the band There was a little complication not related to the actual banding and my wonderful surgeon decided to hold off for a few weeks to make sure no infection came up. Sooooo I have been thru the gas pain, abdominal pain, etc, but got to go back on solids for 2 weeks and just have to do 3 days liquid now before Monday So round two the 29th...

I am very anxious to get started with getting healthier. I have a few comorbidities such as hypertension and prediabetes that I trust will get better by losing weight. Also there are so many things I want to still do while I'm "young" lol most of them involve being ACTIVE. But in my head and what my body can do now and two different things. I thank God often for this gift and opportunity.

Best wishes to you all and I appreciate your posts and updates! I think that support by others who are going thru it is important for all of us!!!

God bless and see you around!

Hey, Fellow Chicagoan (well, pert-near)!

Sounds like you've had a tough road and been through a lot. Looks like you're all set for Monday!! Thank God!! Keep us posted as to the outcome and your experience with recovery. May God bless you much!

JaGo

Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays to each of you!

My name is Susan, I'm 41 years old, single with no children. I live in the South Suburbs of Chicago. This journey for me has been a long, but enlightening one. I've been heavy pretty much all my life, with my highest weight coming about 2 years ago after thyroid issues leading to thyroidectomy, discovering thyroid cancer, and being hypothyroid for several months while have treatment. Also going on anti depressant meds didn't help

Anyway, bariatric surgery is not new to me as my mom had RNY bypass back in the early 1980's. She has been successful at keeping about 2/3 of the weight off, but has had anemia and B-12 deficiency since the surgery. I'm not sure how I started reading up on LapBand, for a long time I was kinda anti-gastric bypass. But I researched starting in Sept 2009 and attended my first seminar in Nov 2009. After all the requirements hoops and such I was approved and set for November 8th. I think some of you have heard this in the post op thread but technically I "had" the surgery, minus the band There was a little complication not related to the actual banding and my wonderful surgeon decided to hold off for a few weeks to make sure no infection came up. Sooooo I have been thru the gas pain, abdominal pain, etc, but got to go back on solids for 2 weeks and just have to do 3 days liquid now before Monday So round two the 29th...

I am very anxious to get started with getting healthier. I have a few comorbidities such as hypertension and prediabetes that I trust will get better by losing weight. Also there are so many things I want to still do while I'm "young" lol most of them involve being ACTIVE. But in my head and what my body can do now and two different things. I thank God often for this gift and opportunity.

Best wishes to you all and I appreciate your posts and updates! I think that support by others who are going thru it is important for all of us!!!

God bless and see you around!

Hello everyone and welcome. Sorry I have been MIA, I hope everyone is doing well~

Hi ! My name is Samaura and I was banded on 11.8.10. This was a decision I never thought I'd make even though I've battled with my weight for most of my life. I've always been tall as a child and into adulthood now at 5' 11", I carried the weight differently but it also seemed like there was more room to pack on weight too! I was the baby in the family so my parents doted on me with food and other distractions and I never learned the right relationship with food. It was always my friend, never wrong and always there--killer combination; especially when I got to my teens. Once I got to college at around 235lbs I got down to 175 on Metabolife, a beer and pizza diet and walking everywhere I went. After school I had my first child at 24 and ballooned back and forth--up to as high as 316 lbs and as low as 250. Then I had my son 5 years later in 2009 and had reached a desperate 300lbs. I was an expert on how to lose weight but I couldn't keep it off. I was 30 years old with 2 kids and on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression. I went to a seminar in June 2010 and discovered that my insurance covered the band for me and literally I saw this as my chance and took it. I saw my surgeon in July, starting losing weight in September, was approved for surgery in October and was banded in November. So far I'm down to 254....I started eating solids a week ago and haven't lost a thing since then but I'm going in for an adjustment in a week hoping to get back in the zone. I'm happy you all are here, I'm new at this and trying to find my place but I have a feeling I'm not too far off..just a normal, full time working mother of 2 little ones trying to give myself the best chance I can so I can be here for them. It's awesome to see so many of us taking it one day at a time and doing the best we can!

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