This group is for weight loss support for lower bmi bandsters (of course anyone is welcome!).

For encouragement, tips, accountability.... Give stats, helpful advice, etc.

How much weight you have lost, how long it took. etc.

In some case I have found it takes a lower BMI patient a lot longer to lose the weight.

Introduce yourself and jump on in!!!:welcomeB: :welcome2:

Audree

Missed you a lot Audree. Thought maybe you'd fallin' off the earth!

Went to yoga, but couldn't do a lot of the moves cause of my stupid knee. I'm icing it right now. Went and got my brace. Hubby wants me to go for a walk later. Don't know if I'll be able to go very far, but I'll probably go. wish me luck swimming tomorrow. I might end up spending a lot of time in the spa.

I missed you too!!!!

I need to exercise!!!!

I haven't started again yet!!

I go for my fill tomorrow!!!

Audree

Congrats on your weight loss!!!

You are absolutely right on what it takes to lose the weight. We all get off track, but the we need to renew our commitment to our band and do the things we did in the beginning, get a new goal and be accountable to someone.

How did your pouch dialate and what were the symptoms?

That is a good question regarding the pouch dilation. It may be different for everyone but this is how I believe it happened. I ATE TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN. Bottom line, I look back over the past year and I can put it all together now. I had become very comfortable with my "new" self. My husband and I were going out more, taking more vacations with the kids and I was very active with the Moms from my kids schools. Meeting for breakfast, lunch....very fun but not really realizing how much you eat while talking and each time I over ate, I stretched my pouch. I also ate very band like most of the time but began to notice that I had less restriction. Ha, I could eat chinese food again without PBing. That was my favorite. Long story short, I knew I had slipped into a bad place when I started getting reflux at night. So badly that I would almost choke on my own vomit. At the beginning, I didn't want to think it was band related cause then I might lose my band so I went to a GI and went on every reflux medication under the sun. Nothing helped. I finally found a DR. that took my insurance and went for a check up. An upper GI showed that my pouch was dilated and I had 2cc's in my band that it wasn't allowing food to go down so it would sit in the pouch for hours and not move. That was it. Being able to eat more and more, less restriction, very bad reflux that wasn't fixed by medication. It's been 5 days since my doctors visit and I have been on liquids. From the time she unfilled my band on Friday, POOF, reflux gone. I am hoping that a couple of weeks on liquids will correct the problem. I am willing to be on liquids for as long as it takes to save my band. I hope it will help. I feel soreness and tenderness and I am not as hungry as I was last Friday. Perhaps I am being overly optomistic but I don't want to lose my band. I learned my lesson and heed my advise....if you can over eat, it isn't a good thing.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Thanks for the advice! It is helpful to have bandsters who have experience here!!!

:clap2:

Audree, Hi! I have been following this thread since you started, and you actually replied to my introduction to LBT. I feel like we are old friends. Your research and advice have been so helpful both in making my decision to have the band, and being more comfortable in what to expect. To all of the ladies in this thread, thank you for your honesty in discussing your journey into your new lives. No one's experience is exactly the same and it is by this complete letting it all out there that we are able to help each other. This web site has been a God send. It is great to read, and share, and know that the other person really gets it. I look forward to your posts, and will be joining you in band land March 2nd. Well, just wanted to introduce myself. Thanks, Teresa

Hi all,

I am at my dad's in Arizona so I am at the library using the computer. I have missed all of you! This computer here is horrible, but better than nothing. I only get an hour on here though.

I have been having trouble with food getting stuck. I don't understand why that happens. I hardly have any saline in there. I haven't pbed or slimed but it really hurts when it happens.

Does anyone know why that happens? I have been chewing like crazy and taking small bites. I thought that the food goes into the smaller stomach created by the band so I don't get why it happens. Isn't it not supposed to pass through the band until it starts digesting? It feels like it's stuck in my chest.

Now that I am off my liquid diet my sugar cravings seemed to have returned. It's because my dad has chocolate all over the house. I wish chocolate would get stuck because then I would look at it and not want to eat it. It hurts when food gets stuck. I wish I had enough time to go back and read all the posts I missed. I will do that when I get home and back to my own computer.

If anyone can shed any light on why this food gets stuck, I would really appreciate it.

thanks everyone, Denise

Audree, Hi! I have been following this thread since you started, and you actually replied to my introduction to LBT. I feel like we are old friends. Your research and advice have been so helpful both in making my decision to have the band, and being more comfortable in what to expect. To all of the ladies in this thread, thank you for your honesty in discussing your journey into your new lives. No one's experience is exactly the same and it is by this complete letting it all out there that we are able to help each other. This web site has been a God send. It is great to read, and share, and know that the other person really gets it. I look forward to your posts, and will be joining you in band land March 2nd. Well, just wanted to introduce myself. Thanks, Teresa

Welcome Teresa!!!

I am glad to have been able to help!!! The ladies here are awesome!!! You are almost in bandland, it will be here before you know it!!!:clap2:

I haven't had my fill yet so I am not sure. I only felt like you describe if I ate a little too much.

Hey guys,

Welcome all newbies! Prebanding is so exciting... oh the anticipation! Enjoy the anticipation I say.

Qwinner thank you so much for the dilation story. I think I need to be pretty careful since I like to eat a lot. I am cutting and pasting your story so I can read it every day until it is ingrained.

Audree, I am very glad to be getting my fill on Friday. I haven't been doing so hot and am eating about 2500 calories every day and have eaten more. So I hope my fill helps.

I haven't PBd in a while so that is good. I am very glad I got it under control before my fill. I probably wouldn't have gotten my fill if I was still PB'ing. I almost had a problem today at lunch.

Guess what I was doing? Driving in the car and talking on the phone and eating. The same thing I am usually doing when I PB. If I don't pay attention I definitely eat waaaaaaaaaaaay too fast and too big of bites.

Hey Deckedout how has your knee been?

Toqu I have the same band as you.

I am not filled yet but I have some restriction (not a lot but some). I think the amount of fill you get depends on the size of your band.

Audree and I are both getting fills this week so we will see how much she gets and how much I get since we have different bands...

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this but I am a low BMI bandster. My BMI was at 36. My pre surgery weight was 183 and my height is 5'1. My post op weight loss is 8 lbs in the first two weeks because of the liquids. But I haven't lost a pound since! I was banded in November 2006 and I have been exercising since December 2006. I am to the point that I am beginning to exercise sometimes twice a day. I am more consistent with exercising at least three to four times a week. I believe that the problem with me is my water intake so I have currently starting to increase my intake per day. I have also started eating the South Beach Diet foods that you can purchase from Walmart. Hopefully this will give me some results!! I am getting married in four months and I am getting desparate here!!:paranoid I have had three fills already and will be going to the doctor on Thursday, hopefully I will get another. Any suggestions for an immediate boost of weight loss.

Thanks

Susan, as you can see the doctor hasn't actually been stingy with the fills...he does request for me to come back every six weeks and I have been scheduling them approx. every four. This time I am going to wait the six weeks just cause I need it to play catch up since I have gained a teeter tottering 3-5lbs since my last fill (depending on if I weigh in the a.m. or p.m.) I have been eating more starch and sweets and I need to get that under control so the six weeks should give me enough time to get back on track.

Toqu,

How do you feel like the fills go for you? Do you feel restricted? Do you feel unrestricted by the time four weeks pass? I saw a thread think that said the average person in a VG band is around 8 ccs full.

Thank you for replying Denise. I need to lose 30 kilos - I think that is about 66 pounds. I now weigh right on 100 kilos and want to be 70 kilos.

I am hoping that excercise will help ... especially weights. Anyone think this has helped them with loose skin?

ps: Please pass on my congratulations to your daughter, her weight loss is fantastic and an inspiration. May I ask you how long this has taken her?

HI there Lily,

My daughter had the gastric bypass not the lap band. It took her a year to lose all that weight. I found out about lap band from going to her support groups with her. I knew I didn't want to do the gastric bypass. For one thing, my insurance doesn't cover weight loss surgery. But mainly I wouldn't want to have my insides completely rerouted.

I'm sorry it took me so long to answer you. I have to use the comptuer at the library while I am visiting my dad in Arizona.

I don't know what to tell you about the loose skin. Building muscle does help, but I think a lot of it depends on where the loose skin is. I have seen an awful lot of pictures of people who had surgery to remove it though, on other boards. Being younger definitely makes a big difference.

Today is Wednesday so that means Audree is off getting her fill. Getting my first fill was really simple and painless, but I have been having problems with food getting stuck since then.

I wish everyone the best in their eating in the coming days. It's really been hard for me to only have an hour a day to use the computer. I find it so helpful at home to be able to come here and read the board whenever I need to.

What is pouch dialation? I am at the library and I only get an hour a day to use the computer. I couldn't find it in the section of complications where it said to go to read about it. What is it and what causes it? Or can someone direct me to where I can read this post about it? Thanks a lot, Denise

Susan,

Thank for asking about the knee, it is slowly coming along. I did yoga, but couldn't do all the moves. I swam the last 2 mornings, yesterday for 30 minutes and today for 40 or so, it starts hurting after a while and I keep the brace on all day pretty much, and ice it after working out and after lunch. Luckily, I can put the ice pack inside the brace and still walk around the classroom!

I'm a little frustrated with the whole leg thing right now, plus I'm really tight because of TOM coming, due Friday, so I've been pretty grumpy and probably babying it more than it needs.

Still Sexy: Welcome to the lower BMI group. I don't know what to tell you about your weightloss stuggle, except be careful about liquid calories. I'm working on giving those up right now. I have, for the most part, given up my mochas that had like 320 calories and replaced it with more Water and oatmeal at Breakfast at 120 calories.

The next thing I think I'm gonna have to give up is my after dinner drink

I only have one a couple nights a week, but it is like 300 calories (maybe more it is hard to figure) I like my Bahama Mamas after a hard days work, but I think that they could be contributing to my stall. Hard to tell anything right now cause I'm so bloated. Maybe I'll wait til next week, then give them up for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

Anyway, back to you, Still Sexy, Have you tracked your calories and exercise? I use Sparkpeople.com to track mine. If I'm very honest, which many times I'm not, it helps me to see what I'm doing wrong. Maybe that will help you.

Hubby is home so I'm off. I'm sure I'll check back in.

I hope Audree is having fun in Mexico. I'm sure we'll hear from her tomorrow.