Hi,

I heard about this site last night at a support meeting. I got a lap band on 11/24/03 at Good Sam Hospital in San Jose, CA. My doctor was McKeen and so far he seems great.

I've lost about 30 lbs so far.

Grant

Hi Grant, welcome! And congratulations on your banding and great progress so far! How have you adapted to life with the band? Any problems over the holidays?

Nice to have you here. Post away!!

Hi Grant

It was nice to meet you last night! No More Macaroons for you! Besides my family this Forum has been my biggest Support , I'v learned alot here.

Welcome to Bandland:cool:

Originally posted by Alexandra

Hi Grant, welcome! And congratulations on your banding and great progress so far! How have you adapted to life with the band? Any problems over the holidays?

Nice to have you here. Post away!!

Thanks Alexandra.

So far so good. The band was getting loose before the holidays and the good doctor had me wait until 1/5 before tightening it. So I fully enjoyed the holidays, but gained a few pounds.

I think it is still a bit loose after the fill on Monday. Seems I can still eat way more than I should be able to. So I guess I will need to go get some more saline.

Did it take you long to find the right snugness for the band?

Grant

Hi Vera,

Thanks for telling me about this site. It was nice to meet you and Carol. See you next month.

Grant

It was great to meet both of you wonderful people at the support group and here about this forum. Looking forward to talking with both of you often to see how you are doing.

Carol (Cadydid)

Hi Carol,

This will be interesting since I never tried a forum before. See you soon.

Originally posted by Grant

Thanks Alexandra.

So far so good. The band was getting loose before the holidays and the good doctor had me wait until 1/5 before tightening it. So I fully enjoyed the holidays, but gained a few pounds.

I think it is still a bit loose after the fill on Monday. Seems I can still eat way more than I should be able to. So I guess I will need to go get some more saline.

Did it take you long to find the right snugness for the band?

Grant

Glad to hear the holidays were good for you! I can't really say I've found the "right" snugness for the band; I've only had one fill altogether. What I did find is that since my fill on October 16 I've experienced several different levels of restriction.

Directly after the fill there were two weeks or so where I had to really be careful. Then sort of suddenly, in the middle of November it loosened up and I thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving . Over the next several weeks I was fine and learning what I couldn't eat, but was sort of getting concerned that it was not snug enough for good weight loss. (My weight was stable for all this time.) But then around Christmas it seemed to tighten up and since then I've lost several more pounds.

All of this is to say that I think fills should be given some time to "take" because people often report changes in restriction over time. My doctor's approach is to go for the "right" restriction the first time, and I realize it will take me time to learn how to work with it. You may find that something similar happens to you, so don't be too quick to get even more saline added. IMO that's the way people get into trouble.

Take it slow--the band will be there for you for a long, long time!

Thanks Alexandra,

That sounds like very sound advice. I'll give it some time and try to get more diligent on how and what I'm eating. I find that I really want to drink with my meals and I know that is the wrong approach.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Nicely said Alexandra

I also think that as you loose fat around your stomach and it shrinks, adjustments may need to be made. I don't know if the "sweet spot" when you feel the optimum restriction, last for very long?

I thought I'd mention NSV(non-scale Victories) whats your latest? my wedding ring fits on my index finger.

Carol

It was nice to meet you! Keep sipping the Water, in a few weeks you'll be gulping it. Did you meet with Marty the nutritionalist? Did she have any good suggestions?

So girl, you own a Harley, cool.

My plumeting cardio numbers during my workout was the latest NSV I guess.

Wow,

To hear from both Grant and Vera again. Hope you all had a good weekend. Rusty and I actually took the Harleys out for about an hour yesterday. I'm still a little tired and don't want to overdo it. If it is nice this weekend we will head out to Monterey for the day.

Vera, yes I did see Marti the nutritionist on Friday and was kind of disappointed. She kept talking about B-12 and I thought with the lapband I didn't have to worry about that. I think she is more used to RNY patients than lapband because as we talked about changing types of food, she kept bringing up the "dumping" issue. I will double check with Dr. Mc Keen today as I have an appointment this afternoon.

Grant, this is really my first forum where I will try to be active also. I "Lurk (look but don't respond)" at the Low-Carb-Friends bulleting board which is more similar to this but very active. Actually, it was one of the members there that admitted she had the lapband done and we starting emailing each other. She has been such a support. I keep looking for her here, so I will email her and tell her to check this board out.

To the rest of this board - my first impressions are wonderful, that you all are supportive and caring of each other. I look forward to knowing each of you better.

Carol

Carol,

My experience with the nutritionist was the same as yours and I came to the same conclusion. I think she needs to understand that we are not having any changes made to our digestive process. This is about portion control and gravity.

Marti seems very smart though, the problem is a need to be educated. I think I will mention this to Bob McKeen.

I hope that by now you are swallowing more easily.

Take care,

My plumeting cardio numbers during my workout was the latest NSV I guess.

Definitely NSV