Hi everyone! I've been browsing on this forum for a while but I thought it was about time I introduce myself and start posting. I just got banded one week ago. So far so good. Healing is coming along nicely. I am still on the liquid diet, and I am just starting to feel hungry. At first after surgery I felt quite a bit of restriction, but now I don't have too much. I've got quite a lot to lose, and I'm not really sure what I should select as a goal weight. Since I'm starting at 433, to be honest, I would be happy getting below 250. Funny how that as a goal weight would be higher than many people's starting weight... But I would really like to get down to more like 170. For my height (5' 9.5") that would probably get me down to size 14 or even 12. I suppose I don't have to decide right now, my first mini-goal is to get out of the 400s! That shouldn't take too long as I am already down 13 pounds in the last week. Well, I think I will be around here for a long time...!

Congrats. I'm glad to hear you are doing so well. My surgery date is 10-16-08 and I have been reading lots of things here. Some good some not so good. But I am determined to do this. I am knocking on 300 lbs and I'm ready to be skinny too.

Keeip us all updated.

LoneStarLoser

Well, first of all... congrats on having the surgery and doing so well.

Second, I don't want to discourage you, but I want you to understand what MAY happen in the next few weeks....

I was like you and lost quite a bit of weight in the beginning. Once you get to mushy foods, your weight loss might start tapering off.... now this is important to understand... Any weight loss between surgery and first fill is a bonus, but this time is for healing. Your swelling is going down which is allowing the hunger to come. After about 3 weeks I was already getting comments about weight loss at work, yet I didn't lose any weight during the third week, which goes to show you that the swelling was still going down. You are also to use this time to learn to eat properly, 'chew, chew, chew', no water during or after meals etc. Sometimes you will forget to chew, chew, chew on that first bite, going through the phases helps you to adjust. If you forget to chew on the mushy stage it isn't as bad as forgetting to chew on solids.

You're doing so good, I just don't want you to get discouraged if your weight loss pauses for a bit. That is normal. When you get your fill is when the actual weight loss starts kicking in...

Now to answer your question...

My doctor told me since I was willing to pay for this, why wouldn't I want to get the most of my band?

What is your ideal weight? "Don't limit yourself when you have the tool to help you get to where you want to be." that's what my doctor told me.

I'd say go for the gold! :thumbup: