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first iwould like to thank all of you for being a inspiration to me. Ok so my whole lapband process started in may 2009 iweighed 296.50 49.03 only 20 years old idecided I no longer wanted to be obese well morbid obese its weird iknew iwas big but almost 300 pds was a deal breaker for me ineeded a change. So iwent to my dr she's the type to not want young patients to have surgery if they're not up in age so she said how about you come back in a month do some blood work if you lose weight on your own then I'll put you on Phentermine so isaid ok well a month later I only lost a pound but she was happy so from june 2009 till april 2011 iwas taking diet pills which to be completely honest ifelt like iwas going semi crazy im in college so its hard for me to study && focus my entire sleep pattern is off istopped taking the meds by choice because they were no longer aiding me but hurting me im sorry im still rambling idont mean to confuse anyone but in September 2010 me and my dr finally decided lapband is whats best for me through that 6 month monitored weigh ins I've done the psych eval nutritionist class heart test all of them said lapband would be great for me my bmi was my lowest bmi was 36.61 when my papers were submitted my bmi 37.44 iwas denied twice by my medical group I submitted it to my insurance June 1st 2011 that process was horrible iwas denied they said there was nothing special about my case because I dont have any co morbidities although my family has a a strong history of diabetis on both sides so iwas so defeated so iguess you can say igot kinda desperate because in June iweighed 231 im 5'5 soooo idecided to break all my good judgement && eat everything in sight iknow iknow iknow thats insane but ifeel like I've been doing everything my dr wanted me to do now ifinally want my surgery only to be told no your moderately obese wtf is that obese is obese so ihave a weigh in this week ihope I've gained weight just to be at bmi 40 my question is will I be approved no questions asked or will there be more hoops for me to leap through thanx for your time sorry ican never make a story short

Thanks! I'm actually attending my first Zumba class tonight, rather than just my normal work-out. Hopefully this will be one of the nudges I need to get myself back on track.

My thoughts on this are this..we spend so much time avoiding pictures, looking in the mirror, etc. because of our distain of what we see, that we never really get a good image of where we are size wise. So as we begin to lose weight we start to pay attention to our body in the mirror and because we did not really have a good idea of what we looked like before losing our initial weight we mentally cannot compare. We see ourselves after we have lost 50 pounds as looking the same because it was after the 50 pounds we really started to look at ourselves so that is really our starting point. I hope this makes sense.

I'm sometimes shocked when I turn around in a dressing room and see my body in the mirror. I expect to turn around and see someone a lot bigger. When I'm not looking at myself I think of myself as bigger than I am. I still grab XL and size 16 when I actually fit into a M and size 10 pants. It's an adjustment for sure. I found it helped me a lot to take a photo on the 15th of every month. Now that I am down 85 pounds seeing the difference helps my brain adjust and sometimes elevates my mood when the scale hasn't changed.

I'm confused, u say that you are doing everything that ur Dr tells u to do, yet u can eat "same size portions pre-band" ???? If u r measuring out your protein and veggie portions then how would u know that u can eat the larger volumes of food?? If you are still hungry 30 mins after u eat, then drink some water. And I would call the Dr and discuss this with him. Also if your office has a nutritionist on hand may discuss with her exactly what you are eating and go from there. Also you can have a sf popsicle if you are still hungry. Good Luck.

Or you can do what I did after my Manager announced to the entire department in a group meeting (40+ people who LOVE to gossip) that I'd be away from work for a few weeks "because Dave is having bariatric surgery." So much for keeping it to myself! I said, "Gosh, thanks, boss! Now the pressure is really on!" And I laughed about it. At that point there was no point in hiding anything. I've since told anyone who asked what I've done to lose so much weight. Being open and honest about the surgery has done the most to dispel the rumors and questions. I work at a hospital, so it's really bad sometimes. "No, I do NOT have cancer. I'm fine! In fact, I've lost..." and I give them the whole messy story. i figure nobody should be able to gossip about me more than I can gossip about myself. By being proactive, I can head off the rumor-gossip before it starts. And if they do gossip, at least they'll have the facts. People tend to make up stuff if they don't know the real story. And it truly helps some others. Just yesterday a new-hire nursing assistant asked me about my surgery. She is obese, and is desperately trying to lose weight. By the time we were done talking she was convinced to look further into banding. I think she'll do well with it, now that she knows someone who has had a good experience with it. I offered to share anything with her that she wanted to know about things. The only other person she knows who was banded has lost nothing to speak of, but as she said, "The woman LIVES on junk food." So there you go... My personal philosophy about gossip, work attitudes, and such is like a sign I once saw on an office wall. It read, "When they're running you out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade." Dave

I had the same problem about a month and a half post op. I was terrified, because of course first thought was something was wrong with my band. Are you having regular bowel movements? I ended upnbeing constipated, which made my port stick out, thus irritating my abdomen and causing the pain. Did a couple days of laxatives, and it hasn't happened since. Hope this helps?

Missyt.....I feel like some of these people are being a little hard on you. If you have had your band for 4 years as you say, then it is likely it has become less effective over time, studies show this. So those of you who are being a little insensitive toward Missyt, I sure hope you never experience what she is going through. Also, it is true that the band works differently for everyone, or perhaps not at all for some. As for myself, I have been banded for almost 6 years. My first year banded I lost 140lbs, and the next year I my band slipped and I had to have revision surgery to have it repaired. I was lucky that the slip was not terrible and did not lose my band. However, the second part of my story is not so successful. After having my band slip and seriously starving for two weeks without being able to keep down even one bite of food, and then having to have surgery again....I was scared to utilize my band properly for several more years. I didn't even get another fill until three years later because I was terrified this would happen to me again. Long story short, I gained all but 20lbs back of the weight I had lost. Those of you who say the band is a "tool", maybe that is true for you, but not for everyone. Looking back I feel like I could have lost the weight without the band. At the time, I gave the band a lot of credit, but hindsight is 20/20. I see now that I was working out at least 6 days a week, and I was eating low carb, low calorie, and so on. There were very few times I felt that "full" feeling that everyone describes with the band. The only time my band became that "tool" for me was when it slipped and I was unable to keep food down, but at this point it was too late, and not healthy. Now I have recently gotten a fill, and under flouro, my doctor says I have very good restriction, however when I eat the recommended amount of food, I still do not feel full. I feel no different than I did when I had the band. I do not drink liquids for a period of time before and after eating, yet I still do not stay full for very long. My fills are almost maxed out at this point. I will be able to have one more, and my band will be completely full. I am not saying the band does not work, but for some people it's not the "tool" that they were expecting. I think some people(such as myself) get carried away with the fact that they had SURGERY, and therefor, they MUST not fail....I paid for my surgery out of pocket, so failure was not an option...which is what somewhat motivated me(among other things) So for those of you who the band works perfectly, congrats...I am so happy for you ....But please please be sensitive to those whose bands aren't working quite as well for them. Of course there are people who totally sabotage their own weight loss efforts by not following "band rules", but in our own arrogance, let's try not to accuse everyone of this.....Thanks

OK I am about 7 months out and 70 pounds down, I have been pretty happy with my weightloss, of course I wouldve loved to have lost more... anywho, Im def. not the perfect bandster, but I try to follow the rules, one rule that I have never followed was the "no drinking while eating". frankly, i thought it was stupid and couldnt imagine eating food without drinking. Im one of those people who sip after every bite so I didnt even want to try and stop. Oddly enough I never realized why this rule was set in place, so i did my research a little over a month ago. When you drink while eating the liquids push the foods through the band and you upper pouch, making it harder for the band to do it's job and allowing you to eat more food. While researching I found an article (ill try to find for you) that said one of the main reasons Lap Band patients are unable to use to tool in its entirety is bc of drinking while eating. I decided to try and stop and Lord have mercy I feel like slapping myself! I get full so quick now and although its a little weird not drinking, Im getting used to it. Ive dropped a whopping EIGHT pounds in one week since I started doing this. im truly amazed and I feel that If i wouldve done this sooner Id already have lost 100 pounds. The thing is, the band will still help you if you drink with your meals, you will still get fuller quicker than you did preband, but I personally can say it has made the world of a difference for me! Ive only had two small fills so far and I go in for another next week, but atleast just try not the no drinking rule. I learned a tip from someone on here to fix a glass of ice when Im eating and allow myself to drink whatever has melted throughout my meal, which isnt alot but it helps to trick my mind lol

I think you are hopeless and should give up. Mimi