Hi All, I am new to the board and very excited to here everyone's trial and tribulations of the lap band. A little background; I have always had an athletic build, but once i graduated from college, my weight yo-yo'd about 40 pounds + or -. I have tried every diet known to man, the only one that has typically worked is low carb/atkins. I have 2 beautiful children and a very supportive husband. I had a hysterectomy when I was 32 due to severe bleeding, but left my ovaries for hormones. Unfortunately, the past 2 years the pounds have packed on and I can't lose, regardless of working out and counting calories. I went to a bioidentical hormone Dr. and they did blood work and it ends up I have almost no testosterone in my system. So for those of you that are having trouble losing weight, you might want to get your hormone levels checked and not by your regular Dr but one that specializes in hormone therapy. Anyways, I am receiving pellets injections to try and get my testosterone levels up and will have blood work next week to see if it is working. low to no testosterone explains why I can't lose (Cant burn carbs, can't build muscle, I don't sleep well and have been super cranky-everyone gets on my nerves exponentially;). So I am working on the hormone side....my boss had lap band and told me to look into it. I have always been conscience of my weight, my dad has always ridden me about my weight wondering why i have gotten so fat-yes he says it like that. Of course in his mind he thinks this will cause me not to eat, but it is the opposite, I eat like I am a bottomless pit. Never feeling satisfied or full. So, I met w/ the lap band Dr and I am a great candidate (I think any self pay is;) the good news is that I have a heital hernia too (didn't know I had), so this significantly decreased the amount out of pocket. So my band was $5500, not the $9700 I was originally quoted. I have been reading and absorbing as much as possible. I had my surgery this last Thursday, came home, drank my liquids with no issues. Sleeping was a pain since I am a tummy/side sleeper, but last night I was finally able to sleep on my back. It is weird, I am so condition to satisfy myself with food. I am not hungry but my stomach growls. Like it is saying eat, even though i am not hungry. I have not thrown up or had reflux, but I do get a tightness in my chest-I am not sure why and it is sporadic, not all the time. Today I had 2 protein shakes, 1 for lunch and one for dinner. The first one upset my stomach and I had a quick bought of diarrhea, but that stopped as soon as it started. My afternoon protein shake I couldn't finish, so I had half and the other half later. I have also had 2 Greek Dannon Light and fit yogurt (this is the only Greek yogurt that taste good to me). The yogurt went down fine and filled me up. It is so weird since I NEVER get a full feeling. I really think a lot of this in our head, I know it is in mine and I am praying this tool is my saving grace! I am excited for this journey and can't wait to start exercising. I was able to drive today for a little while then one of my incisions bled a little, so I went home in rested. Here is to the start of the rest of our lives....we will be successful and we need to understand that the weight is not just going to drop off at once that is a gradual process ( I need to keep telling myself this, lol)...

Welcome.... How you doing since you are two plus weeks post banding?

I am doing good. I stopped losing once I was able to add back mushy food and I dont fill up like I was hoping. I go next week for a fill so I am praying that does the trick and the pounds start coming off!! How are you doing with your band? It looks like you are losing consistently, which is great!

Right before surgery the loss slowed down and right afterwards it went up 4 pounds. I was starting to think they threw in a few pounds of lead ballast for laughs but a few days ago it started dropping off again. I know it has been mentioned before on here, but are you using anything to track your calories or measure your servings? I got both a food scale and restarted using My Fitness Pal app for my various devices to track what I was doing. I treat it as almost a game in the tracking which keeps it fun for me. I am guessing you are in Arizona from your profile name. Who did you use for your banding?

I went to dr normal in Scottsdale at true results. I just downloaded a calorie app that is nice since it allows you to chose quantities. I go Wednesday for a full, which I am looking forward too. One thing I do that I need to stop doing is drinking when I eat. I am so conditioned to wash everything down that I continued-unintentionally! Today I didn't do that and I felt much fuller. I am still hungry but not as bad and the feeling of fullness last-amazing, wasn't at the instructions lol!

Congrats on passing the first month with the band.