Hey 50 & over gang We have a new spot

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

The thing with eggs is for some people they work just fine and other people can't eat them. It also depends on how much fill you have.

The tighter you are, the more foods you start to have problems with.

It's kind of a toss up. If you're not losing, it's tempting to get another fill. I would rather be looser, and lose slower, than be so tight I am completely limited as to what I can eat.

I know several people who are so tight they can't eat anything until

3pm and they like it that way. Not me.

[bonniep 0]

Hi Everyone,

I"m bonnie and I'm getting banded in less than 2 weeks (2/4/08). I'm self pay (don't get me started!), so I didn't have to go thru the nightmare of insurance approval. I'm getting banded at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA. I'm not on a pre-op diet, but I had to lose 10 lbs. before they'd approve me for the surgery. I somehow did it -- don't know how because I've never been able to do it before.

I had knee surgery 6-weeks ago, which makes exercise hard. I am exercising though. Today I did 5-miles of hills and dales on a stationary bike, for 35-minutes. I then did about 15-minutes of Yoga, to stretch.

I have to be on one week of liquids after the surgery and then, 2 weeks of mushies. Is that part hard? I've never been able to do a liquid diet before -- never had the stamina for it. I hope I do this time!

I go back and forth from being really positive and upbeat, to being pessimistic and down. The nurse at Lahey told me that most bandsters aren't successful. I was outraged that she said this, but then again, she was just being honest and honesty really is the best policy.

Nice to meet everyone here and I look forward to a long and productive relationship with all you guys.

bonnie

[Mammysm 10]

Thanks for answering my post, I am doing better lately. I went to the doctor the other day. I had a .5 cc. saline put in. so have 1.5cc's in total. I have the small band so cannot tolerate much more I don't think. the total to hold is 4cc's. The doctor didn't want to give me anymore this time. I am doing good with the eating, have gotten sick a couple times. SO I have to be do Protein Drinks mostly. I do exercise, I work at Curves and do exercise there so that part I have down good, just get the eating under control which I am following a Curves 6 week challenge at work, it is going ok but I am limited on some of the choices so have to make alot of substitutes. I appreiciate everyone writing back to me. Please keep the messages coming. I need all the support I can get..Donna

[FinallyFree 1]

Waving at Bonnie! HI, welcome!

Starting wgt. 225 1*07

Current wgt. 148 1-08

[southerngal_07 0]

Hey Indigo and anyone else wanting to answer me.

I got my second fill on Tuesday of this week. Everything seems to go down ok but most of the liquids I drink are cold or at least cool. When I drink Its as if my band wants to close more and it takes a little bit for the cool liquids to go down. When I drink warm liquids they go down faster. I am now on mushies since my fill and they go down great. I had Wendy's chili for supper and had no problems with it. I just got a drink of Water and it seemed like the stoma just wants to get tighter when I drink the cold drinks. Am I nuts are is it possible that my stoma could be having a spasm with the cold drinks? They do go down but not as fast as everything else. Any ideas or comments? Brenda

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

I always get Water with no ice if I go anywhere to eat. At home I drink everything warm.

Yes, warm things open the band. I try not to ever drink anything cold.

[C.N. 0]

Hi Bonnie and welcome. Congratulations about your upcoming surgery.

Wanted to respond about several things in your post.

-Liquids after preop did for me become a little difficult toward the end of the week. But, what gave me strength was knowing I was doing the right thing to let my band heal. I didn't want anything in my power to hurt recovery.

-Secondly, the band is a tool. For me I was always fooling myself with "I am going to start my diet tomorrow" or "this one time won't hurt".

With the band placed it is "now" and the one time might hurt.

So, for me - it has been great. I am now 6 weeks out - 34 lbs. off.

Can't imagine carrying 34 lbs. of fat with me. So I am grateful.

Look forward to your posts.

[IndioGirl55 32]

Hi Everyone,

I"m bonnie and I'm getting banded in less than 2 weeks (2/4/08). I'm self pay (don't get me started!), so I didn't have to go thru the nightmare of insurance approval. I'm getting banded at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA. I'm not on a pre-op diet, but I had to lose 10 lbs. before they'd approve me for the surgery. I somehow did it -- don't know how because I've never been able to do it before.

I had knee surgery 6-weeks ago, which makes exercise hard. I am exercising though. Today I did 5-miles of hills and dales on a stationary bike, for 35-minutes. I then did about 15-minutes of Yoga, to stretch.

I have to be on one week of liquids after the surgery and then, 2 weeks of mushies. Is that part hard? I've never been able to do a liquid diet before -- never had the stamina for it. I hope I do this time!

I go back and forth from being really positive and upbeat, to being pessimistic and down. The nurse at Lahey told me that most bandsters aren't successful. I was outraged that she said this, but then again, she was just being honest and honesty really is the best policy.

Nice to meet everyone here and I look forward to a long and productive relationship with all you guys.

bonnie

Hi Bonnie - Welcome

Your nurse should be shot imho - I am into positive affirmations - if she tells you that banders fail - tell her to come to this site and see ALL the people who do lose 100% of their excess weight - that's BS - It's the person who fails not the band - If you do the work and the band does it's job you will win this battle of being fat - for me this is the 1st time I have ever lost this much weight - ususally 30 -40 lbs and up down - up down - you know the drill..

I was happy when I moved to mushies after surgery - I had 10 days liquids - I found that homemade Soups where alot more statisfing that the canned stuff and potatoe Soup was great - I like savoy more that the sweet stuff.

It can be hard - but it's doable since its only for a short time.

Thanks for answering my post, I am doing better lately. I went to the doctor the other day. I had a .5 cc. saline put in. so have 1.5cc's in total. I have the small band so cannot tolerate much more I don't think. the total to hold is 4cc's. The doctor didn't want to give me anymore this time. I am doing good with the eating, have gotten sick a couple times. SO I have to be do Protein drinks mostly. I do exercise, I work at Curves and do exercise there so that part I have down good, just get the eating under control which I am following a Curves 6 week challenge at work, it is going ok but I am limited on some of the choices so have to make alot of substitutes. I appreiciate everyone writing back to me. Please keep the messages coming. I need all the support I can get..Donna

Donna - Sound like you have good restriction and being thoughful on what you are putting in your mouth and exercising - this is a lifetime lifestyle change and sometimes it takes a while to get that mindset going - just keep plugging along - coming here with your questions and for support - we will help you get through the tough times.

Hey Indigo and anyone else wanting to answer me.

I got my second fill on Tuesday of this week. Everything seems to go down ok but most of the liquids I drink are cold or at least cool. When I drink Its as if my band wants to close more and it takes a little bit for the cool liquids to go down. When I drink warm liquids they go down faster. I am now on mushies since my fill and they go down great. I had Wendy's chili for supper and had no problems with it. I just got a drink of Water and it seemed like the stoma just wants to get tighter when I drink the cold drinks. Am I nuts are is it possible that my stoma could be having a spasm with the cold drinks? They do go down but not as fast as everything else. Any ideas or comments? Brenda

Brenda - I agree with Denise - I just got a fill Wed and I may be too tight - am going to give it the weekend and see how I am doing on Monday - I got about 8 oz of coffee down slowly this morning - I have read that warm opens the band up and cold can tighten it.. You are tight and this takes a while to get use to - we can't guzzle like we use to and this is hard to adjust to..

C.N. Isn't if funny when you think about the weight we have lost - just think you are no longer carrying around 3 - 10 lbs bags of potatoes - when you think of our fat like that it's so understandable why we feel so much better with 30 lbs gone - I can't believe I was carrying around 65 lbs of potatoes on my back every day - heck no wonder i was exhausted all the time...

[shortgal 5]

I cannot even believe a nurse that works at a WLS clinic that performs band surgery would say that.

I suggest you tell the Dr she said it. He needs people working with him that believe in what he does and that will encourage their patients.

And maybe if the clinic banders are NOT doing well, then maybe the office is doing something wrong... maybe not enough fills etc.

There will always be successes and failures in anything, but the reason for each should be explored.

[C.N. 0]

Like the imagery of the sacks of potatoes.

Think I will use it from now on.

C.N.

[bonniep 0]

WOW! I hope I'm in the same place you are a year from now. You are what is called a major success story!

bonnie

[bonniep 0]

The nurse shouldn't be shot. She seems like a very positive person -- full of energy and encouragement. At the "Lapband Training," session that I had to attend, there were only 4 of us in the group. I'm the type of person who asks a lot of questions and I asked her, point blank, whether people fail with the lapband. She said "Yes, they do. In fact, more people fail than are successful. We are starting to see that the preliminary statistics on the lapband were wrong and the majority of people who get the lapband do not meet their goal."

What did I expect her to say, given that I asked the question. Do I want her to lie?

So, I am scared. I cannot fail at this -- I simply cannot. I've had too many weight failures in my life to fail once again.

Unlike most of you on this board, I've never lost 30 or 40 lbs. before. In fact, I've never really lost any weight at all. Every time I've gone on a "diet," I've failed. I can't stick to an eating program for more than a day or two or three. So you can see why I'm scared.

bonnie

[IndioGirl55 32]

So, I am scared. I cannot fail at this -- I simply cannot. I've had too many weight failures in my life to fail once again.

Unlike most of you on this board, I've never lost 30 or 40 lbs. before. In fact, I've never really lost any weight at all. Every time I've gone on a "diet," I've failed. I can't stick to an eating program for more than a day or two or three. So you can see why I'm scared.

bonnie

Bonnie

Ok here I go with my tough band love (the operative word is love)

That the word "can't" out of your vocabulary - insert the word CAN

IMHO a lot of people go into this surgery thinking that it will do all the work and they won't have to do any. The band is only a tool - they banding your tummy and not your brain and most of our problems lay within our brains not our tummies. This is truly a LIFETIME LIFESTYLE CHANGE

75% of the work is up to you and 25% is the band once you have proper restriction.

The 75% - by changing your eating habits - low fat sugar free and exercising. Since you haven't ever stay on a diet for more than a day or two I would suggest that you join a group like weight watchers where you learn to eat a healthy diet - or tops - you are going to need support and you need to learn about a healthy eating plan - you may even want to see a counselor.

I have lost this weight cuz I HAVE CHOOSEN to eat healthier - I am not frying food - I am not eating tons of butter - I do allow myself some starches but I limit them. When I didn't have restriction I ate low calorie low fat and 98% sugar free - I exercise 4-5 times a week - started out slow and easy - but have worked up to 16.5 minute mile and I do 3 miles each day minimum. I keep a food diary - I eat 1000 - 1200 calorie a day and track calories and Protein grams.

You gotta find out why you eat - I ate cuz I could - I didn't have anyone telling me I couldn’t (my mom use to control my food - so I learned to sneak food) I ate cuz I was bored. I was fat - I had just given up - it was too hard to lose the weight - I'm 52 - I have less years ahead of me than behind me - and staying fat was going to kill me (family history of heart problems) I want to live to see my grandkids grow up and get married and maybe even see a great grandchild - I want to live the years that I have left - I didn't want to be locked in the house - eating and sleeping my weekends away - couldn't do a lot of walking cuz it just wore me out - I chose the band cuz I needed help with my Portion Control - I chose to eat healthy & exercise cuz I want to LIVE - I am tired of being ashamed of who I had become - a big slug bug- I was tired of food controlling my life - I have taken my life back and now I control the food - I am always throwing stuff out - my friend said oh you are throwing that out (too much left overs) I said ya - better in thee than in me (the trash instead of my tummy)

You gotta take control of your life - you have to take responsibility for what you put in your mouth - the band isn't going to make your food choices and if you drink milkshakes - eat ice cream & candy - then band isn't going to work.

I really think a weight loss group or counselor would be a good choice to help you learn the tools that you need to be successful in your Quest for weight loss –

I have years of knowledge to pull from – I knew what to do – but didn’t practice it – but with the band – I have my interior motivator – to help me – truly my success so far has been due to my good choices – I am doing my job and the band is doing its job – it seems to be a good working partnership - I have made the commit to ME live a healthier lifestyle – I am far from perfect – but 98% of the time I eat healthy but do allow myself 2% wiggle room.

[shortgal 5]

Well,before banding, the most I have lost is 30 pounds. It took me ten months and I gained half of it back quickly. I then fought my hunger like crazy to avoid gaining the rest of it back.

I felt the same way. I always failed and was (am) still worried now that I have the band. But I have lost over 20 pounds in two months and that is without good restriction yet.

The "dieting" I did in years past taught me what normal portions are, how to weigh and measure and count calories etc. If you haven't learned how to do that, a place like weight watchers could help.

You will need those skills to help you be successful with your band.

And really GBP patients have failed as well. But is failure, keeping all of the weight off or half of the weight off? We all want to lose ALL the weight we need to lose, but the fact is for many of us, we might not keep it all off as it's not easy to maintain 130-150 pound weight. Even if I can keep off half the weight I need to lose, I'll end up healthier!

Bottom line is we have to work at it, the band just helps us do our job.

[mistymoon 0]

Janet Thank You for the pep talk. I know it was adddressed to Bonnie but I am sure more of us took it to heart. I have been very discouraged lately, wondering if I have made a mistake etc... I have had two fills with no restriction and I have fibromyalgia. Fibro ='s pain Pain ='s need for comfort Comfort ='s food. I find when I am in pain I don't have the energy for anything let alone eating correctly and all that entails. This isn't a pity party (well maybe a little) but I am writing because you gave me motivation to continue. Thanks

Nance