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As you know I reached my goal a couple of months ago and am now in the maintenance stage of my journey. Simple, all I have to do is maintain my weight. I still check in with my doctor every four weeks (my choice not his). This last month has been full of ups and downs with a lot of changes, basically life has been happening. I had to battle the head hunger on more than one occasion. Then about a week and a half ago I started noticing that my daily calorie intake was creeping up. 10 calories more, then 20, then 30, etc… I was starting to get hungry (physical hunger) in between breakfast and lunch, this hasn't happened since bandster hell. That was the deciding factor for me, I needed a fill. I went for my four week checkup today and to no surprise I was up two pounds. After discussing things with my doctor I got the fill I wanted (just a small one .2cc). My point here is that once you reach your goal you’re not done. In fact, It’s harder to maintain your weight that to loose, in my opinion. Guess I need to change my ticker now.

I thought I should write a follow-up not only for those who are reading this but for continuity when I reflect back on this journey. Today I walked into a meeting with a physician who knew nothing about me, nothing about my choices and why I have made the choices I have and why this is the road I am taking. It was not a meeting I was looking forward to. But I took the position that I have a strong belief in which is, "Knowledge is Power". I had the knowledge so I had all the power. The dr. walked in and I made sure I was open pleasant and not defensive and open to what he had to say. He started off trying to talk to me about the bad choices I had made in my life (and yes those were his words). I didn't flinch I let him finish and then I went to town. I basically took this man to school (in a good way lol). My first question was if he was aware of the procedure I was wanting and if he had any experience with patient who wanted them. He said he knew of this "experimental" procedure and its risks. Well I knew right there by his answer he had no idea. So we talked for the better part of an hour and you know what, he had no idea what the sleeve was he thought it was a the DS Switch. After we talked he took my hand and told me that he wished that every patient he saw was as sure of what they wanted and needed in their life, and he said he would do whatever he could to help me succeed. WOW, I was blown away. From frenemy to friends just like that! Yet again another example that most of those opposed to us are just lacking the information that we already have. One step closer and I ready for every one of them, bring 'em on.

As long of a journey I was expecting this to be....I'm on the way to the hospital right now for surgery. I'm excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time....and I'd kill for some breakfast lol. Yesterday was hard, only clear liquids. My Dr didn't provide me with any other preop diet...just to try and lose something and keep walking. I'm not sure how those folks on clear liquids for weeks on end do it! Surgery is scheduled for 9:30, I need to be there at 7:30...of course Michigan is dumping a nasty winter mix on us...so now I get to add worrying about being late to everything else...oh well, it's something else to focus on, right?! See ya on the flip side

I'm so excited. I've lost 4 pants sizes. I'm fitting into jeans in my closet that i haven't warn in years! Spring break is in a few weeks and we are going to Disneyland can't wait to spend some time in sunny Southern California

My name is Katie, currently 24 y.o. I am 3 months post op have lost 32lbs as of right now. I am mostly doing this blog to record my journey for future reference in life. My lap band journey begins when I was pre-diabetic, had HTN and hyperlipidemia and very much obese. I had looked into getting lap band at the begining of 2012 since my insurance would cover 90%. It spaked my interest instantly. I went to all the classes required by my insurance at first didnt take it to serious, but now i realize what it prepares you for. I always felt like an outcast when i was with my friends. I was always the biggest and felt like my guy friends always saw me as a "Dude". I hated going shopping for clothes because of my size. I was always tired and cheeks red and had headaches everyday. I had a previous medical dx, that would lead me to have CHF in the future if i didnt change my ways. I work with patients who have CHF everyday and i saw how they struggled and that lead me to want to CHANGE. I am only 24 and this was a big descion. When i metioned the idea to my husband and family, they were shocked because I wasnt that big as they said. I needed their support before I started the program and I got everyone on board and started my process. Surgery day arrives, my husband was a nevous wreck. He was sick to his stomach worried until he got the news I was out of surgery and doing okay. My first question to the nurse in PACU was " did he say how my liver looked". You do the 10 day pre surgery liquid diet to shrink your liver and lose some weight before surgery, and what do you know my liver was small and he was pleased with the results. Since surgery I have had 2 fills and have a total of .4 in my band and right now i am very happy. Im going to keep up my good work of dieting and exercising. And in the near future i hope to run in the color run and tough mudder.

Today I finished the last of my pre-op stuff...Last of the labs, my EKG, an anesthesiologist, paperwork completed and now I only need a time which I will find out on Friday! So excited! I have been doing really well on my 1000 cal diet which is second nature now...and have lost about 10 pounds so far! 4 days and a wake! Let the journey truly begin...so excited did I say that already! Good luck everyone!

So, this morning I started my pre-op diet. I had an 8 oz. chocolate protein shake this morning, and mixed 16 oz. of a strawberry one to bring to work with me. I am trying all of the brands to see which ones I like best. So far, I've tried the vanilla from Costco, and the chocolate and strawberry are 2 different brands my wife picked up at Walgreens, I believe. I am doing the powdered protein, following the nutritionist's recommendations that it be made from whey isolate protein, and 3g or less of carbs. I liked the vanilla, and the chocolate this morning was pretty good too. I will be drinking the strawberry throughout the day today, but have yet to start that. My wife went out to the grocery store to pick up some other things for the diet (not that there are a lot of things to choose from!). I also brought a dannon light yogurt and a V8 juice with me to work. My wife said she picked me up some other 'surprises' at the grocery store for the start of my journey, but I've yet to see what those are. This afternoon, I have to go to my final nutritionist appointment, and to my primary/pulmonary doctor for my final pre-op test - a pulmonary stress test. Then that should be it for my pre-op clearances! Thank God my job is understanding about me leaving early or coming in late, and taking days off. I only plan on being out for 6 days (my surgery is on a Friday, plus the entire next week). Hopefully that will be enough. I do have the option of working from home if I'm still having issues when I'm due to go back.

This is my first blog entry, so I will give a brief synopsis of what has happened so far. I am 9 days from my surgery, on March 8, and will be starting my pre-op diet tomorrow. It's getting very real for me now, and I'm FINALLY starting to feel a bit nervous (and excited of course). Dr. Karl Strom will doing the procedure at Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel NJ. My wife and I are taking this journey together, although I will have a month and a half head start on her, due to her not being able to get out of work until the end of April. We had originally decided on getting the lap band surgery, but after doing lots of reading and research decided that the sleeve was the better option for us. I've gone for all of my pre-op testing, except for one last thing tomorrow. My surgery was scheduled so quickly, that some of the doctors were booked up and I had to wait for dates for pre-op stuff. I went for my bloodwork and chest X-ray on President's day, did an EGD 2 days ago on Monday, and a cardiac stress test yesterday. This morning I had the final consultation with the surgeon. Tomorrow I have my second and final Nutritionist visit, and a Pulmonary stress test. Then I should be done with all of my pre-op stuff, yay! That about sums up where I'm at now, I'm sure I've left out a lot of details, but now that I've started to blog I hope to keep up with it.

So...my insurance requires 6 months medically supervised blah blah blah. And I've been gathering all my medical records from the various doctors I've seen over the past couple of years and getting them sent to the coordinator at my surgeon's office. She just called to say she's found enough info to count for 4 of those 6 months! And I have one other doctor I saw who, when I get that chart, will push that up to 5 of the 6 ....and I have an appt with my NUT in March so that will make 6! Yay! Once I get rolling in that part of the program I'll find out what all I have to do as far as preop, like chest xray, ekg, etc., those kine things. Oh and I'll need to do the psych thing. So all that jazz takes approximately 2 months and that brings me to May, ta DA! That's exactly when I was hoping for, and it seems to be working out! woo HOO I love the team at my surgeons office theyaresoincrediblyCOOL! :tongue2:

After spending a lot of time on LBT and now having some experiences under my belt, I have come to the conclussion that the LB is like a game of Chutes & Ladders. We start our surgery and we're going along and climb a few LADDERS by losing weight and then we might do something not so smart, get stuck, not enough protein or water, injuries, sickness etc... and we hit the CHUTES, back to shakes, rethink how and what we're eating. The best part is there is always a winner, as long as you don't give up the game. Just my thoughts