justplaintired

I don't know everyone's surgery dates but I thought this could be a good place to start a list in one place. Maybe you could copy the one ahead of yours and add onto it so eventually it will be on one list? I'll Start: 2/11/11-Justplaintired

Hi All, Does anyone have experience with this insurance company? Was it a smooth approval process? Surgeon's office said they are super easy to work with so I'm hopeful but who knows for sure... Just wondering if anyone out there has any experience with them? Thanks!

Hi Everyone! I'm back and ready to rock and roll after a few crazy months. It started with a bad tummy virus which made it impossible to keep down any food or even Water. I guess the stomach gets inflamed and what was a nice amt of restriction turned into way tooo much. So they had to remove all the Fluid from the band. I was freefalling baby! Once my tummy was better I went a cruise and really from there the summer was not a great time for me. I ended up gaining about 8lbs back from my loss (boo hiss) but since getting refilled two times I have lost all of that and am now on my way to losing more. I'm a good restriction level which will prevent me from overeating. I'm also making great choices again. I had some gyn surgery 1.5 wks ago so I haven't been able to exercise yet but I plan on starting up just as soon as possible...maybe tomorrow since I'm feeling half way decent. I was doing so well before the summer...on the treadmill for one hour per day RELIGIOUSLY, doing crunches and I even started some universal arm work. But typical of me, once I fell off the wagon....I FELL OFF! lol So, how is everyone else doing? I miss hearing about everyone. I promise not to vanish again. I know we can all have a GREAT 1 yr BANDIVERSARY if we stick together. Hugz to everyone! JPT

Wow!!! You just might be the biggest success story that I have ever read about! I am at around 40 lost and I was banded 5 days before you. That being said, I didn't have green zone the whole time and dealt with having all Fluid removed for two months due to a stomach virus. You are awesome! Did your surgeon fill you from the beginning? You haven't had fills? GOOD FOR YOU! YOU ROCK!!! JPT

Hi All, I have a surgery date of 2/11/11. I have a BMI of 35.9 with several comorbidities. I am hoping to hear soon that I have been approved. I have been medically cleared by everyone except the Pope, himself. Is there anyone out there who is scheduled for February?

Hello my Febbandfriends, I'm still standing...yeah, yeah, yeah... If you don't know what I am talking about, you are younger than me! LOL (old Elton John song). For those who are having trouble moving...that was me. I need to tell you what got me moving my butt about a month ago. I set a short term, but yet substantial exercise goal. I told myself and anyone else who would listen that I was going to commit to doing one hour of the treadmill for 21 days straight without a break. No excuses! I met that goal and surpassed it. It helped me to keep going but knowing there was an end in sight if I wanted it. So, I plugged away...and yes, it helped me lose more and get over the plateau. Now, I had a little set back this week. Last weekend I seemed to have gotten a tummy bug. I couldn't eat and was throwing up even water. The program was that my stomach was inflamed and then was making my band too tight. When I went to get fluid removed, there was a problem getting into the port. Two surgeons tried and couldn't do it so down to xray went. My port flipped sideways for some reason and they had to manipulate it to get the needle in and withdraw fluid. I spent another day on liquids and then yestereday I started back eating. I can eat a decent amt so I am sure I can get myself into some trouble here. LOL I am PMSing so I suspect I will be up on the scale so I won't weigh myself for a few days (I am a scale addict, too). I am also going away on vacation next week so yikes! lol Thanks for reading this far and WTG on everyone's weight loss! We are all winners! I remember when we started this journey I told myself to not expect to reach goal for at least a year. I still have seven months as far as I'm concerned. And remember, even if we don't hit our goals just perfectly, we will STILL all look and feel monumentally better than we did last January! Hugs to you all! JPT (aka Pam)

Elle, You are doing so well! I need to get going on exercise. I'm ashamed that I keep saying it but not doing it!! I hate that digging around feeling, too! EWWWWWW The high Protein definitely helps. I drop so quickly when I am doing the Protein drinks properly and low carbin it. I'm anxious to drop a few extra lbs before my birthday next month so I'm trying to stick to the protein drinks almost exclusively right now. Also, tbh, eating food and only eating a bite or two before getting full is getting annoying!! I can eat a tiny bit more if it is something like macaroni. I can eat a cup of soup. If it is protein, forget it. Two bites and I can puke! Oy! jpt

Korilynn, CONGRATULATIONS on your 40 lb loss! I am very happy for you!! I did the closet purge recently, too. At the same time I replaced all of my hangers with those velvet/thin ones. They are not expensive (I got mine at TJ maxx and also walmart has them) and they make such a difference in my closet! The amt of space it frees up is amazing! Also, nothing falls off the hangers anymore! Yeah! I wish I knew what ccs were in my band. They don't tell me this. I hate when they dig around looking for the port. It was like that the first time I got it done. Now I can even feel my port so they find it easier. I still think the sensation is kinda creepy! lol You should be wayyy proud! WTG on your NSV, too!!! jpt

Texasmama, I agree with Elle; your thyroid has to be majorly malfunctioning or something! You are doing SO WELL. You are working out like a champ, eating very low calories...you should be losing more! I feel badly for you! I am soooo proud of your exercise commitment. I need to get some of that over here!! BUT, you are still losing so don't be too down on yourself. I recall that you do have thyroid issues...any chance of getting meds adjusted? Elle, I get all my Protein powder from a small place in town that athletes AND wls folks go to. ZERO carbs! Do you have a place like that? I also drink ISO 100. Yes, I did have a much better bod in my youth but I didn't appreciate it! I constantly thought I was fat once I exceeded 120...therefore more than half of my life. I will be 47 in a couple of weeks and I spent my 30s and now most of my 40s being overweight or obese. I'm feeling much better now health wise and I know I look better than I did pre-surgery. I need to keep working on myself and my food addiction issues. I am very grateful that I really cant eat too much lately or I would be up to my old tricks. Now to get myself exercising!

i also get that shoulder pain thingie...loverly! lol i went out to dinner tonight with dh...about four mouthfuls of Soup, two bites of salad and about half a seafood canneloni. i went thru the meal without excusing myself and barfing! oy! drank too much red wine though... not good. ive been into isoflex choc/pb flavor lately. they measured me at 5ft 6 inches but i have always thought i was an inch taller. maybe i shrunk? my goal is 145. i'm around 188 right now. so i need to los around 40 lbs. i was 120 in my 20s. i graduated hs at 111! thin all my life until i had my babies in my thirties, to be young and skinny again... sigh... i

I had typed a long post/reply the other day and POOF it went. ARGH! Anyway, I have been having some weird things happening with my band... Anyone find that sometimes they can eat a normal amt and then other times it is three bites and I'm ready to vomit. I know that if a solid Protein is eaten first, I can't eat much. But then I had some couscous and I figured it would go down easily...nope! WTH? Sometimes I feel like it would just be easier to live on the Protein drinks and forget about trying to eat at all! Exercise...NOT. Mad at myself about that. Hey Elle, how tall are you? I'm thiking we are very close to same weight situation. JPT

Congratulations to you! You are doing great AND you are inspirational.

Wow, that is so rough! Congratulations on getting the surgery and taking the first step toward a new lifestyle! I think it is very typical of bandsters going through these things. I got my second fill two days ago and I have had some minor vomitting issues both times I tried to eat normal food. However, tonight I did better. I think there is some swelling initially? Anyway, I guess we just have to be patient and it will eventually all come off. I figured it would take about a year to lose so I know I still have a lot of time to lose the rest of the weight. The surgeon told me that it usually takes about 3 (or even 4) fills for people to get to that good restricted point. I wish I knew what size CC band I had and how many CCs of saline is in it. I get the feeling that they don't really want their patients to focus on that for some reason. But I did see a weight change this week already. I'm feeling confident that I will weigh a decent amt less when I go back for fill 4. JPT

Oh gosh, I had no idea you were having this much trouble! Ugh! I'm glad you have help figuring out ways to make it work for you! My main problems were the lack of restriction and lack of focus on my part due to other things going on. I'm determined now to get myself back on track, I wonder if I should mention to my friend that she should take her thyroid meds at night... she loses like a snail gets very discouraged!

Hi Elle (and everyone else), I miss the feb bandsters, too. I've been MIA mainly because my Mom was in the hospital for so long...and then home for one week and then BACK AGAIN! She ended up with a DVT (deep vein thrombosis...blood clot) and had to be readmitted again for another 8 days. She is doing better now but still it is a long haul for her health. Poor Mom! Anyway, I didn't really get any restriction with my first fill which was six weeks ago. I swear I ended up with less restriction because they put some in and then took some back out... Well, today I went for a fill and so far I think this might be different. I sure hope so. I actually have had some binge moments (hanging head in shame) and I'm just so relieved that I haven't gained back anything in that six weeks. But I definitely wanted to lose but didn't have the willpower and no resriction...bad combo for me!! So, today starts the next chapter for me. I plan on coming back to the site more often. I think it helps me to feel connected and focused. I hope everyone else is doing well. Did anyone ever hear from Smokey again? She was so funny and then she vanished! JPT

If so, please tell us how it went! How do you feel? Are you still hungry? Don't make me go and make a Feb Fill Roll Call!

Mine just happened today... I finally got to exercising and did the treadmill for over and hour today...AND did 100 crunches. Just so psyched that I got myself to do it!

Well, I'm glad to read that you are doing better. Someone posted that they feel more restricted at different times of the day. ITA with that. I have noticed that things that have gotten stuck have been okay at other times. Also, it depends on how juicy things are. Meaning...protein by iteself like chicken is hard for me but if it has some sort of sauce with it or eaten with salad, then I'm okay. I'm jealous of your baked potato and brussel sprouts. Im a big fan of both but I've pretty much eliminated potatoes at this point since they are my trigger food. Carbs in general are crazy for me and can start a major binge like a druggie. I kid you not! :-)

SO JEALOUS!!! I called yesterday and asked to move fill two wks up and they said no because "they wait six weeks" between fills. ARGH! I need a better fill I think, I am eating a little bit more than I should but not bad. Weight loss is sloowww last week. PMS has kicked in though so hopefully that's part of it.

Hi All, Just a quick note to say hello! I've got to read the forum to catch up with everyone. My mom survived her horrible medical ordeal...she is now in rehab and should be home some day next week. I got a fill last week and I am only mildly more restricted than I was pre-fill. Hey, did anyone else get a "novacaine" type needle before the fill needle? For some reason I was expecting that and was pretty surprised when that was not the case. lol It is great to be back! Hugs, JPT

Y'know it wasn't that bad once he got the needle in the port but when he was digging it was kinda creepy. I got a low profile port and he said, "Oh, you got one of those baby ports." LOL So as he dug, I joked and said, "Well, you know I'm expecting a six pack when I lose the weight so I needed the low profile port." For him to find it I had to do a stomach crunch and then he felt around and found it. Again, a little creepy during the digging process...who knows if the anesthetic would help with that anyway. I had a doctor take off a skin tag like that, too! Slash! LOL

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Thanks for the recipe. I will try that for sure. As for what I've been eating... I am also a Mexican food addict and in order to get my itch scratched I've been cutting up zucchini and dipping into fresh salsa. Since the salsa is the main thing you taste anyway it is a decent substitute for the chips. I also like to grill chicken and put salsa and chicken over a salad...yummo! HOWEVER, this past weekend we had real Mexi take out with friends and while I didn't eat as much as pre band I felt a lot of guilt about it. I got the taco salad which was delish but who knows what kind of calories I consumed. Then I did some chip binging late at night because I had consumed some crystal lite with vodka drinks and lost my willpower. Sigh... My dh and I have made some yummy seafood dishes including grilled salmon that we used an Applewood Smoked sea salt rub on. There are all kinds of varieties of this item and it is made by Pepper Creek Farms. Homemade chili using turkey chop meat and about five cans of Beans. This item is great to scratch that mexican urge and also can be put over a salad to make your own taco salad. Campbells french onion Soup. A bander I know in town told me about this. Make the can up and then throw a few croutons in your bowl or cup...add low fat shredded mozzarella and you have a low calorie, yummy meal. I have also given up most carbs which changes things very much for me being a carb addict. Why has this board been soooo quiet lately? JPT

Hi All, I go on Tuesday to be filled, the 22nd. I am looking forward to it although lately I've been losing again. I had about a 10 day or more lull and I was frustrated but then things started moving along again scale wise. I guess it is part of that starvation/holding onto fat mode or something. I dunno. I haven't been on the site too much lately because this past Monday I had to rush my dear Mom to the ER. She had to get surgery the next day for a ruptured intestine due to diverticulitis. She has been on a ventillator since and I'm scared to death that she won't come off. I am not ready to lose my mother yet and I'm so terribly sad. Interestingly enough, my lap band surgeon is the same one who did Mom's surgery this week. Who woulda thought? JPT