I was banded 08-30-07. I initially lost alot of weight. I started at 282 and now currently am down to 232. So I have lost 50lbs. I believe that I have a 4cc band. I am pretty sure that I am at 3.2cc currently. My doctor has a hard time accessing my port everytime, he says that there is too much scar tissue on top of the port. Just about everytime I go in he can't find it, so I have to go to the surgery center and get it filled under fluro. I have gotten frusterated the last couple of times because I am self pay. A office visit with my doctor whether he fills or not plus the hospital fee is $220 each time. I have gotten to where I dread going in for a fill because I know that it is going to be so expensive. If I could get to a point that I would start losing again then maybe I would be ok spending that much for a fill, but I just can't make myself do it.

Does anyone have any suggestions to get me jump started losing again??

hey there.. well my advice is a pretty easy one, every time I hit a plateau I excercized as much as I could. I did it every day until the scale started moving and tried to bump up my metabolism. Keep your body moving. Maybe also keep track of how many calories are you eating a day. Something is off. You must be eating enough to maintain but not lose. Sounds like possibly you could be eating to many calories. I since being banded eat between 400-900 calories per day. I have been a super fast loser, never hungry, I always eat protein protein protein. I stay away from rice and pasta since it swells in the pouch and can stretch it. I hope this helps boost you. I think you probably already knew all these things but sometimes seeing them in front of you is the kick you need. Good luck and keep posting how you are doing. there is a thread on here share what you ate today and it's great for ideas and to keep you accountable for what you ate. It's like money, you spend it and can't figure out where your money went. Calories are like that you could be eating thousands of calories and don't realize it. I hope I helped.

I don't know what I would do if I was self pay, so I am very lucky that I'm not. I feel for you.

Alliemorris gave you some good advice. I find that if I journal everything I have better success. So, start over as if you have just been banded. I don't mean a long liquid diet but a day or two. Journal all your intake, pick up some extra exercise, drink a little more Water. This may jump-start you into weight loss again.

You can do it! Just try. Don't be discouraged. Hang in there.

Like the others said exercising more should help. Analyzing your food/calories is a good idea too.

What you didn't mention is whether you feel restriction on how much you can eat. From all the posts here you can't really go by the numbers of the fills. If you follow the rules of eating Protein first then other proper foods, about how much can you eat? Do you have any stuck problems? Those are the things that will tell you if you need a fill.

I feel for you with your problems with a fill, I haven't had one under fluro, and my fills were included with the surgery fee (which was self-pay too), and I'm lucky they don't seem to had issues with scar tissue either.

Thanks for all the support. I am going to start a liquid diet again. I like to drink the slim fast low carb and it has 32 grams of Protein ( I think). So maybe that will jump start things. I really can't double up on my cardio because I have a torn tendon in my ankle that I am trying to nurse back to health before I have a hysterectomy in Feb.

I do feel restriction all the time when I eat. I always eat my protein first. And then go to the other items on my plate.

I think that my problem is that I don't eat enough. So I think that it is slowing my metabolism down. So I am going to go back to square one and start over. I am going to the store this weekend and am going to buy all the good stuff with protein.

Thanks for all the support.

I don't know what I would do if I was self pay, so I am very lucky that I'm not. I feel for you.

Alliemorris gave you some good advice. I find that if I journal everything I have better success. So, start over as if you have just been banded. I don't mean a long liquid diet but a day or two. Journal all your intake, pick up some extra exercise, drink a little more Water. This may jump-start you into weight loss again.

You can do it! Just try. Don't be discouraged. Hang in there.

LollyMoe,

:confused:Speaking of Journaling, is there a place to Journal on this website? Or is the only option we have is to Blog?

Thanks.