Hello,

Before anyone directs me to another thread link, I already know this has been done before. I have researched old threads and can navigate this site well. I would like the most recent information pertaining to this subject please. :help:

I was banded in June in Mexico and had the 10 cc VG band done by Dr. Joya. Great surgery, no complications.

My problem now is that the only weight loss I had was in the first 3 weeks after surgery, none since then and I am gaining that weight loss back at an alarming rate.

My after care doctor in my town is Dr. Helmuth Billy. He is a great, competent Dr. My only concern is that I don't think he has treated many patients with this larger band and he is very conservative with fills. He wants to make sure there are no slips or errosion by doing agressive fills. Wonderful.

Unfortunately, I have had no restriction since the first few weeks of being banded. My research on the board show that those with this band need A LOT more in their fills to reach the sweet spot. I want to take as much data as possible supporting this to my next appointment with him (on Thursday). I need to get a good fill this time. I am in a very deep depression because of my weight issues after spending thousands of dollars on this procedure. I need a jump start to get me going again and give me a shot in the arm. I don't think I'll be able to take a nother small fill and wait another few months to get to a point where I feel any restricion.

I hope you help and support me as this is tearing my psyche apart. Thanks to all of you for your help.:eek:

im not super well known im just a striggling actress whose sort of well known soi want to do things the thin actresses do, and would get to do if i was losing.

iadded upthe calories on my shakes today and realised the isopure was 210 a serving, so i have to have a stop on the number of shakes im having a day.

i think thats the problem, i was comsuming 3400 caloreis in shake a day.

i now know what to do about this problem. i am drinking the equivalamnt of a pound a day and what isaid about the lapband people being ready to start maketingto people with lower fat indexes is totally true.

sorry of t seemed a lala land post but i cant be 178 pounds and i need to be 130 like evryone else. i think ive located the problem thanks to advic eon another thread. but i wanted to post that yeah that was a SERIOUS post, an actress who goes tpo fashion week skinny has a far far far better chAnce of magazine pieces than one whose voluptuos or truthfully fat,

sorry if those things freaked you out.

gonna be.

The band was not made so that you could exist on a liquid diet. If you can barely keep liquids down, why would you want to get another fill so that you could become even more restricted?

Most people who have the band and USE the band the way it was intended to be used do NOT consume 3400 calories a day in shakes. They eat a BALANCED diet and consume 1200-1400 calories a day on average.

The esophagus is a muscle that gets exercised as solid food is moved down the digestive tract. When you consume an all liquid diet, the esophagus does not have to be exercised as much. More importantly, what you describe is called gastroesophageal reflux. Acid regurges into the esophagus and can burn and scar the esophagus. This is a precursor to esophageal cancer.

If you think stardom warrants placing yourself at risk to achieve, perhaps you need some therapy. I am not being nasty here but am truly concerned. I'm a health care professional but I think most of the people who post on this board can see that your need to place getting thin as fast as possible by harming your health is NOT normal.

Good luck to you.

i agree completely, i want to be thin but not at the expenseof my health.

i just did the shale calculations, i was simply in lala land about my caloric intake and after i lose a few mor epounds i think ill get a release in fact so i can eat food , because i can barely eat a tablespoon of anything, without getting qute ill,

until then if somethings too good to be true it probably is, i ewas giuzzling shakes like crazy and lising nothing an dnow i know why- i should be on 5 -6 shakes a day, max if im going to stick to isopure- 210 cals a serving and 90 cals for a serving of skim milk, thats 300 cals for one shake- thats a frappucino. if anyone knows of any LOW CALORIE shakes pleaee let me know and i do appreciat eyour concern, i told my doctor id prefer to stay on .liquids this month an dthats why i got swuch a tight fill, just until i get back to an 8, then i will let the fill looser.

its not stardom per se- its acting opportunities that im after, andnot being typecast as a kooky friend or a villian due to weight.

or the mom of a teenager when im not old enough to be a mom of a teenager- thast what they do with "fat actresses" - so yeah like anyone here i want to lose weght healthily but quickly, but thi swas silly, sily silly to not even think of the caloric intake i couldve been eating pizza and burgers all day - so now i know i must regulate these shakes to what i said 5-6 shakes in A 24 hour period and maybe some fruit, smallamnounts and cottage cheese again smalla mounts.

Thank you for your concern.

gonna be.

Hi,

I had my surgery a week ago and got the VG. My Dr. said that because of my height/weight and I guess size of my organs, this was the best one for me. He started me out with 2cc's and I'm not to consider a fill for 6 weeks and only if I'm not losing weight.

I was a little upset when I heard I had this 10cc band but its what I've got and I'm going to make it work. I will need to work on getting a fill doctor next, so the journey continues.

Sula

Hey thanks for the info. Wonder why there are two types of Lap

Hey thanks for the link to the Inamed site. Wonder why there are TWO different lap bands sold by the same company? Anybody know the answer?

Hi,

I had my surgery a week ago and got the VG. My Dr. said that because of my height/weight and I guess size of my organs, this was the best one for me. He started me out with 2cc's and I'm not to consider a fill for 6 weeks and only if I'm not losing weight.

I was a little upset when I heard I had this 10cc band but its what I've got and I'm going to make it work. I will need to work on getting a fill doctor next, so the journey continues.

Sula

Good luck to you, Sula. I too have the VG band and I know that it is just a matter of time before I hit that sweet spot. It may take us a little longer than most but we'll get there.

I am having my 4th fill since September today - wish me luck!

Good luck to you, Sula. I too have the VG band and I know that it is just a matter of time before I hit that sweet spot. It may take us a little longer than most but we'll get there.

I am having my 4th fill since September today - wish me luck!

Good Luck to you as well,

I have a ways to go and am going to use this time to learn to eat properly. The band is just a tool...the bottom line falls to me.

Sula

I was told that the band a person gets is dependent on their anatomy. My friend and I had the surgery at the same time and we have different bands. I'm filled to 5.5 ccs right now and have okay restriction.

Julie- Are you sure you have the 10cc band? How could it only hold 4.2 ccs?

i agree completely, i want to be thin but not at the expenseof my health.

i just did the shale calculations, i was simply in lala land about my caloric intake and after i lose a few mor epounds i think ill get a release in fact so i can eat food , because i can barely eat a tablespoon of anything, without getting qute ill,

until then if somethings too good to be true it probably is, i ewas giuzzling shakes like crazy and lising nothing an dnow i know why- i should be on 5 -6 shakes a day, max if im going to stick to isopure- 210 cals a serving and 90 cals for a serving of skim milk, thats 300 cals for one shake- thats a frappucino. if anyone knows of any LOW CALORIE shakes pleaee let me know and i do appreciat eyour concern, i told my doctor id prefer to stay on .liquids this month an dthats why i got swuch a tight fill, just until i get back to an 8, then i will let the fill looser.

its not stardom per se- its acting opportunities that im after, andnot being typecast as a kooky friend or a villian due to weight.

or the mom of a teenager when im not old enough to be a mom of a teenager- thast what they do with "fat actresses" - so yeah like anyone here i want to lose weght healthily but quickly, but thi swas silly, sily silly to not even think of the caloric intake i couldve been eating pizza and burgers all day - so now i know i must regulate these shakes to what i said 5-6 shakes in A 24 hour period and maybe some fruit, smallamnounts and cottage cheese again smalla mounts.

Thank you for your concern.

gonna be.

You can try revival soy protein drinks. They are at www.revivalsoy.com They are 110 or 120 calories (I don't remember), can be made with water or milk, which increases calories. They are also 20 g of protein each. They taste ok as well. Also, Wal Mart sells a low cal protein drink mix. Abut 10 more calories than the revival, but a lot less money. They only have 2 flavors though where as revival has many. Good luck!

Hello everyone. I had my surgery on September 19 and have the VG band. I was really starting to get worried because I had not lost any weight since my one week checkup. I just had my fourth fill last Wednesday and finally am starting to drop the weight. I have 8.75 cc's now, and it is the first time I have actually not been that hungry. I was starting to get pretty worried that I hadn't lost anything after spending all that money, but hopefully it will work now. I still don't feel full, but I can tell I am eating a lot less since this last one. Has anybody else on here taken such a long time until they started losing? Good luck to everybody!

Scott

VG Band no fill when installed. I felt tight, first fill under flouroscope, filled untill water would not go down. Some of the fill was removed untill the barriun would go down. That fill worked great 4.5cc.

30 days later second fill, flouroscope showed that everything was ok. Again fluid was added untill water was stuck. Then the fluid was removed untill the water goes down. 1cc added for a total of 5.5cc.

I am very happy with the fills and the way they are done. I am on tract with my loss of weight. I must be carefull what I eat. I no longer go to burger king and order 4 whopper and 4 fries.

Well I swear my Dr. is out for my $$$. I've had 8, yes 8, fills and have 9cc in my VG - only just STARTING to feel a little restriction. I couldn't eat steak and salad last night. Can only eat about 1 1/2 cup of food now - which is what I've been waiting for. BUT....I don't stay full for any longer than I did before and nibbling is hard to stop. Should I get another fill and risk having the PB thing or food caught?

Hello everyone. I had my surgery on September 19 and have the VG band. I was really starting to get worried because I had not lost any weight since my one week checkup. I just had my fourth fill last Wednesday and finally am starting to drop the weight. I have 8.75 cc's now, and it is the first time I have actually not been that hungry. I was starting to get pretty worried that I hadn't lost anything after spending all that money, but hopefully it will work now. I still don't feel full, but I can tell I am eating a lot less since this last one. Has anybody else on here taken such a long time until they started losing? Good luck to everybody!

Scott

Hi Scott - I didn't have anything close to good restriction until 3 mos ago, and I never had close to perfect until last month. Just slowing down the eating helped me some - so I have lost a little tiny bit every month - but not nearly what it would be if I had the kind of restriction that I have now for the whole time.

Good luck from here on in. Don't be shy about getting enough fill. Even at 8.75 cc's you might need to get a tiny bit more.

:]

Hope - If you get hungry sooner than 4 hours after eating - you might need another fill. Unfortunately, nibbling is NOT stopped by the band. Only you can stop that non-productive behavior. Sometimes a tiny tweak on your fill can make all the difference. Talk to your doc or your fill center to see what they think. Too tight is bad - but not tight enough makes it harder than it needs to be.

Good luck!

After a while, you really get to understand what this band will or will not do. It is only a tool - not a miracle cure. After two years of losing a paltry amount of weight, and feeling like the whole surgery was a failure, the scale has finally begun to move with 8.8 cc in the VG band. I am attending Weight Watchers meetings every week to keep accountability. The band makes following the Weight Watchers diet doable, whereas before it was impossible. But I could gain the weight back in a flash if I decided to resume the crackers and chocolate, etc. The band does not cure the cravings for those foods. So, its up to us to do with it as we wish. Bye for now.