FLORIDAYS

I dont know your specifics...like weight and height but I do not understand about the body fat percentage. Do you mean BMI? I heard that they dropped the requirment for BMI to 30 so it may be your insurance company's standard. You may want to check with them... and if its not them I would go speak with another surgeon.

I felt good restiction at about 4-5ccs.... but everyone is different do you cannot go by others on this one. SInce you are averaging 2 lbs each week thats pretty on par. If you are monitoring your portions, satisfied not to eat more than 4 hrs apart and keeping your calories down... you are doing everything right. Just keep at it. The weight will continue to fall off. If you arent tracking your calories or portions... start. You will lose more.

I think they key to to weigh every morsal of food and track every calorie you put in you mouth. You might be surprised how much you are eating over the course of a day. I allowed myself 1000 calories for 23 months and lost 215 bs. They have handy aps which will let you track it so easy on your phone. I use caloriecounter from Fatsecret on my Droid phone and Ipad. It was a life saver especially when eating out. As for the mind set.... surgery was a last ditch effort for me. I was 50 yrs old.. had tried every diet which would work until I got bored and gave up and gained it all back plus 10. When I decided on the band I promised myself to follow the dr's orders, track my calories and make it work. I just set my mind to it. And when temptation comes... I just walk away from it knowing I am stronger and thinner than that piece of whatever. During the losing stage It is shear willpower in my opinion. Then when you reach your goals you can induldge every once in a while and the band will govern you to a point.

Not just no.... but hell no. Even if I had someone in the business close to me unless they were a trained bariatric nurse I wouldnt let them near me. And I am not sure I would then either. I dont eat where I work if you know what I mean. In addition to the fill... my Dr visits give me the opportunity to ask questions, discuss my challenges and get the support I need. Also the Dr who put my band in holds a pretty high rank on my people I trust list.... I wouldnt dare compromise a lay person with that responsibility.

Weight can be a security blanket. Its not uncommon to be concerned about change. Its the unknown and no one is usually comfortable with it. You may want to seek counseling to help you deal with the pending changes to your body. It wouldnt be a crime to talk to a professional and might do you a world of good. It you want to see what losing 215 lbs looks like.. check out my gallery on my profile. Granted it doesnt show the wrinkly thighs I have, the saggy butt or the frowning belly button... but I look pretty decent in clothes and according to my husband the rest of it is better than the hard fat was... even tho he loved me then as well.

As CHEZ said.... keep being a good bandster and I bet your mind will change as you get thinner... Believe me being naked in bed at 162 lbs is a FAR cry from what it was like at 377!!!

Great news! But please stop thinking about cheating or ways around doing what works. If you cheat on your post op liquids and mushies you can cause harm to your stomach, band and overall health. Then once you go on regular foods if you cheat you will not have the success I am sure you desire. Just some words of wisdom from someone who has been there Best wishes for a succesful surgery.

I work in HR in the medical field. 2 years ago When I was doing my research and making my decision I asked every one I knew who worked in patient care and also in medical records to get an informal opinion poll on band vs bypass. I am not a Dr and have no medical training and have no scientific proof but .... it was overwhelming in support of the band. The sleeve wasnt in the discussion as I believe it was too new then but the bypass apsorption problems seemed to be the most common... lots of follow up and treatment and a lifetime of medications for many. Just wanted to share....

I bet you are so proud of yourself. Best wishes for your continues success!

Depending on what type of diet your Dr has you on post up.... I would bring those supplies. Its usually clear liquid for the first week but check with his staff. I would also bring Maalox for gas after surgery, pain meds which your Dr prescribed and any other personal items you would normally pack for a trip... make sure you bring comfortable clothes and shoes. As for the hospital... I brought my husband and he carried my identification. The hospital had everything else I needed... water, socks etc.

I didnt know about the sleeve 2 years ago but I would not have done anything where my insides were rerouted, moved or altered in any way. The band is completely removable. I felt a strong comfirt level with that.

I was told I could walk only for the first month. Because I healed really well I was cleared for all other activity following that first month. If you do not uinderstand what the Dr is telling you ask him again until you get the information you need.

I agree to eat very slowly. try using a baby spoon to make sure you are taking small bites. It should take you 20 minutes to eat less then a cup of food

Yeah it was no fun. I need to call the passport office to see what I can do as this current passport doesn't expire until 2019.

Many factors dictate if you will have flabby skin. The amount you need to lose, our age, the speed in which you lose are the big factors. Some younger gals say exercise will help. For older ones it may or may not. No one knows what condition their skin will be in once you lose... It's just a chance we take.

I never heard of the reasoning to do liquid before a fill.... I would be curious to know why. My dr requires liquids after a fill for 24 hrs then mushies for the next 24 hrs.

in some cases it won't cover any of it.... I am not 20 and I weighed 377 lbs and my insurance denied me because I had no medical issues except borderline high blood pressure. So I had to pay for it myself. It was worth every penny. I ha e lost 215 lbs. Best wishes to you as you make your decisions.

I did that...watched all the darn cooking shows when I couldn't eat anything... But then I found during the first few months I was cooking up a storm when I wanted to eat.... But I never even tasted stuff I shouldnt have had. My husband finally asked me to quit cooking all the time. I told him it was therapy. Lol. If I wanted a cookie I would make a batch... lok at them.... Smell them and then not eat them. How warped is that?

My first pic on this site 2 years ago was a pic of jimmy buffett because he wrote the song floridays which i use as my onlline name. It wasn't until I was down 100 lbs that I posted a real pic of me. Now I have lots of pics taken before during and current on my avatar and profile. I prefer looking at the latest one but I cannot get it to resize properly to do it on my avatar.. The one in the black dress was taken at 205 lbs. the one in the green stripe shirt was at 352 on surgery day. I just put a recent one taken on vacation last week... I am at 162. Have a look... I am the real deal. I even cut my hair...huge step folks!! And for comparison check out my before pic in the red shirt... A was a fluffy 377 lbs.

You look amazing Mis! What a difference! I had to renew my license this year so that pic is more like me... But I forgot about my passport and last week in the Caribbean I was stopped leaving the country.... The Jamaican immigration didn't think it was me. They hauled me off to a special room and after an hour I finally convinced them It was really me... Luckily I had my fairly new drivers license to back it up but My husband spent an hour worried to death....since he had to wait outside.

To add my comment to the wonderful posts... You are not going to die. Explain to your son that is is very routine surgery and nothing for him to worry about. My then 26 y/o daughter had similar feelings and I told her that I was a walking timebomb in my current state of a 55 BMI and that if I didn't have the surgery I would die sooner then later. I also showed her a YouTube video of the surgery the dr gave me. It was minus the gory details. Once she understood what they were doi g she was ok...for the most part. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

The band will require you to do a complete reassesment of what you have been eating. Granted you can continue to eat sugary, fried and high calorie foods just a smaller portion of them but you will not lose weight without keeping your calories down. I ate 1000 calories per day for 23 months and lost 215 lbs. I now eat 1200 or so and am doing well to keep it off. The liquid diet is hell the first few days... But by day 4 I had found my groove and was able to complete the 2 weeks without cheating because I was scared to death I would have complications in surgery if I didn't stick to it. After surgery I had 2 more weeks of liquid then a week of mushies... So it was 5 weeks before I could eat real food again. It was just about the hardest thing I have ever done and that includes childbirth. Lol But when it all said and done...it was a great kick start to my loss and I learned I do not need to eat to survive. I just need to get the proper nutrition.

You might be able to but I find chugging leaves me feeling burpy I can take big sips without an trouble. It just depends on the person

I ate 1000 calories a day for 23 months and lost 215 lbs. I am 2 lbs from goal and 12 lbs from what may be an unrealistic goal but I am more in maintaining mode now...so my calories are about 1200.... It's really hard for me to eat much more than that