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I have not been around as much lately and several LBT friends have asked why…… I was banded in February of 2012, lost 80 pounds in 10 months and have maintained that weight until I had a tummy tuck on Halloween… After the surgery I had 2 drains, they were removed after 2 weeks. Within 5 days, my tummy filled up with fluid and my doctor drained it (this is like drilling for oil with a really BIG needle….. not fun!). Within about 5 days my tummy was full again so my doctor put a drain back in. The next week the area above my belly button filled up with fluid and I had another drain put in just below my bra line. About a week later I had the upper drain removed & that issue was resolved, BUT…. I was still accumulating over 50cc of fluid a day from my lower drain. Doc said the magic number was less than 20cc a day for 2 days in a row, well that wasn’t happening. So on Monday doc flushed Ethanol thru the tubing of my drain into the pocket in my tummy (100cc total). This is supposed to irritate the area between my skin & abdomen wall and cause it to stick together. Today (Thursday) I am still getting 30cc of fluid a day from my drain…… I go back to the doctor Monday. My options are, do the flush again and if that doesn’t work…..another surgery. Ugh Complications happen, I know that. But, how has this affected me mentally? Well, I can’t exercise (every time I do the amount of fluid goes up), I can’t go in my hot tub with my husband (open incision), Have this glamorous drain to carry around in my pocket….. IT SUCKS! And I have gotten very depressed over it. I have disconnected from my life lines (Local support group, LBT wait I mean Bariatric Pal, and my family) Yes I looked to food for comfort. (We won’t even add the holidays on top of all this….) So you wonder….how is my weight? I am about 10 pound over my original goal weight (I weigh between 177-180, depends on the day). But even more important is how I am mentally? I will be honest, I am struggling. I am pissed, why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? WHY? Oh WHY? OH WHY????? Full on pitty me party here!!!! This is my confession, I am not the perfect role model. I struggle, I have pitty me parties, I ask why me…… and so I stayed away from my support. Too many people saw me as inspiration. How can I be inspiration when I am like this???? I am taking my complications day by day. I am not giving up (& yes the tummy tuck was worth it). I just don’t think I can motivate anyone right now.

I had a 12 lb loss last month! I had a Dr appointment with my PCP due to my continued back problems this week. I wont bore you will All of those. Anyway- my blood pressure was 120/70. Unbelievable considering it was 160/111 the last time I went to my PCP. I've lost about 89 lbs. I watch very closely what I'm eating and the quantities. Having the LapBand has been the best decision of my life. OHHH. Plus. My mom bought me an outfit 4 sizes smaller than what I was wearing prior to surgery( as incentive) and guess what? IT FIT ME! My Mom and my two daughters where jumping up and down and screaming with me!! Best Christmas present ever! Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the New Year!

Hello everyone. I haven't been writing lately but I have been reading. Sorry, just been busy with life. Today I go for a 3 month check up and I failed. How did I fail? I didn't lose any weight but stayed within 3-5 pounds of my last visit. When I go and get a fill it is very tiny under .4cc. My doctor goes slow. I have not been to the gym since November but I pay every month. Joke of the day: What do gyms call people like me, who pay and don't go? Profit!! I had an ugly thing on my forehead and had it removed the other day and have 2 blue stitches. So right now bending over makes me a little dizzy. But I have gym clothes on. I bought a new 'outfit' yesterday. The real Arlene likes outfits not separates. I am nuts. When I skied many moons ago (I learned at 40) my skis, boots, poles and my ski outfits all matched and had the same colors. I am nuts. I am so nutty that I have sox to match sweaters. Orange stripes. I buy men's sox because I wear a size 12 shoe. So soon I will be at the doctor's and he won't be pleased with my weight not being down. Everyone have a great weekend. Please cheer for the NE Patriots!!!! We need a super bowl, because we are Boston Strong. Speaking of Boston Strong, that came after the marathon bombings, the RMV just approved a new license plate with Boston Strong on it! Some of the money will go to the marathon survivors. Enjoy your weekend. Arlene

So, surgery went well. The nurses were great with pain management. I had to self medicate myself & unfortunately that meant I was awake every hour on the hour. Needless to say, I was exhausted this morning. I did a lot of walking last night because I knew how important it was. I started 2 hours after surgery & every 4 hours thereafter. I wasn't in pain or anything, just uncomfortable. They moved me to liquid vicodin this morning. I'd been having ice chips all night & it felt good. No issues with it at all. It's 10:30am & they just brought me lemonade crystal lite powder, an ounce of SF jello & what looks like an ounce of broth. Just finished up the jello. I think I can actually feel it going down. Took me about 15 minutes, doing it it slowly to make sure it goes down ok. They said the broth can take up to 30 minutes to eat, so will do that slowly. They gave me little measuring cups so I know how much an ounce is. I just took a quick shower. Didn't wash my hair since I did that yesterday before coming here. But I did put on a little makeup since I looked like a zombie, LOL. Felt good to just wash up a little. Overall, I feel like my side hurts, but I understand that's where my lap band was & that's going to be sore. I was told that they will try to get me out by 2pm. It's almost 11am now. I may blog again later, depends how I feel. I'm definitely a little achy but more tired than anything right now. They just gave me my 2nd dose of liquid vicodin. I imagine my next does will be around 2pm, perhaps right before I leave

I am 8 months post-op and 92 lbs down! I am loving my self more and more and enjoy the new life I have been given. The best part is that my back doesn't hurt like it did before and my knees sing praises of joy instead of screaming in pain. I am currently off all my medication and feel much younger then I used to! It is also nice how my husband finds me very sexy! Well my journey so far has not been easy. I am trying to find new ways of getting my protien down (sorry but those protien shakes are not always the best) and figuring out how to get my water in (64 oz is really not that much, yet I struggle with it a lot). With my last visit to the doctor, I told her that my goal weight was 130 and she looked at me and said, that would not be a healthy weight for you. So we have made my new goal of 150. This means I only have 18 more lbs to go!!! I can't wait!!!! I have found more confidence it the things I do and have even joined our church Priase Team! I love music and being able to worship God is even better!!!! I have been asked the same question over and over again, and the answer has always been the same - Do you regret having the surgery? My Answer: Only that I didn't do it sooner!!!

Helllooo! Twice, I spent at least 20 minutes swiping out a blog entry on my phone and then I couldn't get it to publish. So here I am to try again on my computer. The other entry was about a couple of embarrassing situations that helped lead me WLS. I think though, that I'd like to give a little introduction about me and how I got to this point. My name is Leigh (rhymes with eeeee) (One time I had a guy ask me if my name was pronounced Lay because if you put an "S" on the front of my name it'd spell sleigh.) I am 40 years old. I live in Louisville, KY. (Yes, I wear shoes. No, I don't own a horse.) Louisville is a mid-size city. They like to boast that it's the 16th largest city in the nation. Whatever. I have been married for 8 years. I have been an RN for about 5 years. Before marriage and my nursing career, I was a diligent party girl. But, I've settled down in to a cozy little, mostly drama free, life with my husband and our two fur babies. I had various times growing up where I was chubby, but I don't remember ever being made fun of. In high school, I ran around with the popular party crowd and I generally had a good experience. The only thing was I always felt like I was different on the inside than those people I ran around with. By the time I graduated high school, I was in a size 14 and I thought I was fat. Man, lookin back on pictures of me, I was perfect! But I was 5'9" and all my friends were 5'4" and a size 4. Plus, for reasons I can't fathom now, my mother was always trying to bribe me to lose weight. I'm sure some of it was out of concern, maybe some was to try to help me when I complained I was fat. I don't know. I always felt like she was so concerned about appearances (still is) and that somehow she was ashamed of me. I started gaining weight as soon as I got out of high school and over the years I went from a 14 to a 22 by the time I was 30. I probably weighed about 250. I had pretty much always embraced my curves and didn't worry, but when I reached 250, I decided to lose weight. (I had done various other diets over the years.) That time, I lost about 70-80 pounds. I got back into a 14 and I felt great! That time, I just started walking one day. I didn't walk fast, I just took a stroll. Eventually, I worked myself up to where I could run 3 miles. It took me about a year. After a few months, I watched what I ate. It was a great time. I felt empowered. I felt beautiful. But then, life happened. I got a job with a different schedule that wasn't conducive to exercise and I also got into a long term relationship (hubby) and got lazy. And then, over the next ten years, I blew up to a whopping 295 pounds. (Side note, I have known the hubby for many years, so he knew me before I lost weight. He has always loved me, no matter what size I am). Over the last few years, my size really started to affect my life. I didn't want to go out, because I hated my clothes and I hated the way I looked in them. When I was in nursing school, I was also going through a big depression and went on antidepressants which helped me gain the weight. This last year, though, I spent a lot of time mortified by my size. It really affected my self esteem. I knew I had to do something about it. I'm an RN at a big hospital in the city. I have always worked in cardiac areas and I see, every day, the effects of weight on humans. It is bad. Every time a 300 or 400 pound person came in and we put them on the table for a procedure, I would see myself on that table. I have a very strong history of heart attacks and diabetes in my family. Every day, in front, of me was a reminder of what I was doing to myself. I had thought about Lap Band surgery for a couple of years, but could never get myself to ride across town to our sister hospital and go to the seminar. This last May, I had a couple of very embarassing experiences when I went on a convention trip with a few of my coworkers. One involving the seatbelt on the plane and the other being talked into hiking up the side of a mountain. It truely mortified me. Something. Had. To. Happen. One day, this past September, I got on the website for the Bariatric program and lo and behold! You could watch a video of the seminar instead of having to go in. So I did. And I filled out the info below. Two days later, they called me. I was lucky to have it so easy from there. They sent me a packet, which I filled out and returned. They called me a week later, said my insurance was approved. I had a 10 minute appt with the surgeon on October 15th. About 2 weeks later, I had a 5 minute appt with a psychiatrist. They made an appt for me to come in for labs, a barium swallow, and education on Dec 6th. I had one more 10 minute appt with the surgeon on Dec 11th. Then, on December 18th, I was banded! I had quite a bit of discomfort after the surgery and it took me a good couple of weeks to feel normal again. But now, about 4 weeks later, I feel great. I do feel that I have some restriction right off the bat from the surgery. But, is it really restriction? Or can I just not eat as much because I kept to the prescribed diets, watch my protions and calories, and have been practicing getting to know the difference between hungry, not hungry, and full? Maybe a little of all. My husband has been at my side this whole time and we have completely turned around our eating habits. We threw out all of the junk and most of the carbs and have been eating a mainly high protein diet. He has been exercising a lot and I have started walking on the treadmill 4 days a week for 30 minutes. Most of all, we are staying away from sweets and NOT EATING FAST FOOD. We were really bad fast food junkies. I've lost 20 pounds since I started the preop diet. I'm feeling really good. Today was a small setback because I have a really bad head cold and I don't know if I have the energy to walk. But I'm not going to let it bother me. If I feel good tomorrow, I will walk tomorrow. People get to down on themselves when they "slip up" and have something sweet or high calorie. I say, don't let this get you down. You have to "treat" yourself every now and then. Just don't let it become a habit. Make your new habit to be eating healthy and feeling good about yourself. Plan the times you get to eat what you want. For instance, I love to go out to restaurants. We are going to go out every other Friday. When I'm there, am I going to eat fried foods and carbs and desserts? No. I will make a sensible choices. But it will still be fun and nice not to cook. It will be a reward for staying on track for two weeks. I can't believe that I didn't do this sooner. Why did I spend all those years miserable and overweight? Well, I guess we all have to reach that point where we are ready to take control. If you're not ready and not truely comitted, success will be much harder. I have also accepted that my band, Brunhilde (that's her name), is only a tool. I have to make choices that are good for me. I have to committ to change. And things like this website and forum. Visiting and reading other people's stories and advice. I know it will lead to my success and help me keep on track. Do your research. Know what you're getting into. And when you're ready, make the step toward taking control of your life. It's the best thing I have ever done, and it will be for you, too. And to all of the veterans, thank you! Your success and advice make this a place worth visiting.

The title is from an old nursery rhyme by Andrew Dice Clay. Little Miss Muffet Sat on her tuffet Eating her curds and whey Along came a spider Sat down beside her And said, "Hey, what's in the bowl b-i-t-c-h?" I see quite a few questions regarding whey protein and I'd like to share a few things I learned pre-surgery in preparation for my pre-op and post-op diet. Whey is one of the fastest digesting proteins and the quickest way :-) to get protein shuttled to your muscles. Whey comes from milk protein and contains the full spectrum of amino acids needed to build muscle. Whey comes in several forms - hydrolyzed, isolate, and concentrate, isolate being digested faster and more completely than protein concentrate. The Differences Protein Concentrate: 70-80% pure protein and up to 5% lactose Protein Isolate: Almost pure protein (90-94%) and near zero lactose and carbs, many people that are lactose intolerant have no problems digesting protein isolate. Hydrolyzed Protein: Protein isolate that is broken down even more and is more easily absorbed by the muscles. All three are good sources of protein and taking one over the other will not make a difference in how much muscle mass your body builds. It is only a matter of purity and the speed your body digests and transports the protein to the muscles. Whey concentrate has less pure protein than hydrolyzed or isolate, meaning you'll have to take more whey concentrate to get the same protein in grams vs. isolate. And speed of digestion and transport. Again, whey concentrate is the slowest, it is not broken down in the manufacturing process as much as hydrolyzed and isolate. Hydrolyzed=fastest, isolate=fast, concentrate=slowest. Is speed any great issue? I wouldn't think so. It's like the kids playing basketball, buying a pair of Jordans to improve their game. The difference a pair of Jordans makes for a nonprofessional athlete is so insignificant it's almost zero.