Msbandtastic

Also, who says you have to sip your water. I drink pretty healthy drinks of water and am downing a 16 ounce glass in about 10 - 15 minutes. This will probably change once I have restriction but for now, I drink at whatever rate I am comfortable with.

Why can't you have alcohol. I am only 12 weeks banded but I have had alcohol twice (a friend's birthday party and New Years Eve) with no problems. You just have to be accountable for the calories and make choices about what you are willing to do (either accept the weight gain or work it off). No whining if you don't lose weight the week you chose to drink alcohol.

I've never heard of the naked dance but it sounds fun. Congratulations on your success and thank you for the words of encouragement. I know what you mean about sometimes the scale going up or down for no reason. One time I lost .4 pounds in two minutes.

I have heard it will grow back in about six months. I hope that is true because mine is falling out in clumps in the shower.

von5889 has already posted that he was banded on 12/09 so it is 13 months. I also would be feeling concerned if I had only lost 30 pounds in 13 months.

I have only been banded 11 weeks. I have already lost 41 pounds and am thrilled with the results. I have had no negative side effects and do not feel any restriction yet. I have had to work very hard to get these results and basically am doing it on my own at this point but I have the psychological benefit of knowing that if I just stick with it, I will get restriction in the future and will have the assistance I need to maintain the weight loss. The decision on what type of surgery to get is a very personal one and I believe there are advantages and disadvantages to both. What it came down to for me was the risks. I had a surgeon tell me that the gastric bypass surgery was no more dangerous than an appendectomy. My response to him was that I did not know anyone who had died from an appendectomy, but I personally know or know of five different people who have died post gastric bypass. I thought about the gastric bypass for five years before I finally told my surgeon, I could not get past the fear. I wish I would have known about lapband five years ago and would not have wasted those five years. Good luck to you with your decision. Whichever you choose, give it your all.

That is a great victory.

Sorry, I guess I had two weeks liquid diet, too. The first was just harder because it was clear liquids. The second week was full liquids which included real soups and pudding so I thought I was really getting some great food by that point. Then mushies was great. As a matter of fact, I still finding myself going back to some of the mushies because they were so good.

Right now I am choosing to not "want" foods that are bad for me. I know I could eat them if I wanted and hope that one day I will do so again but in moderation. Right now I feel that I need to train myself to adopt new eating habits. My pre-lapband foods were incredibly unhealthy. With the band, I need to focus on getting nutrient-rich foods into my body as I am not eating very much.

I am a self pay patient and spent my family's life savings so I could get the lapband. I choose not to take any chances and follow my surgeons orders to the letter. I know how hard the liquid diet is (I actually gagged on the broth) but it is only one week and I lost the most weight of all that week; 14 pounds! Good luck to you on your journey.

I am new to this site. I have only been using it for about a month so I don't really now how great the old site was. I will admit, I am finding this one hard to navigate. I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to follow a specific persons blogs. All I can figure out how to do is click on the blog box and look at whichever ones happened to post for the day.

I am so happy to hear about your success in beating cancer. I love this lapband journey but beating cancer is ten times better! I am sure now that you have done that, the rest of your lapband journey will be a piece of cake.

I am so happy for you. I am looking forward to the day I can say the same. You have obviously been working your butt off and now the work has paid off. Congratulations!

Wow. I am just glad you don't live near them or they would eat you alive. It sounds like you have a wonderful husband and you just need to make him your number one family support and try to ignore the others.

I love to go to youtube and type in Lap Band Journey or Lap Band Vlogs.

Beautiful words!

I had my first fill 8 days ago and my surgeon put in 6 cc's in my 10 cc band. I do not feel restriction in that I can eat as big of bites as I want and am not chewing great and everything seems to go down fine. I do feel restriction in that I am only eating a cup of food and feel completely full and do not feel hungry again for four or more hours. I continue to lose weight steadily. 37 pounds in seven weeks. I am scheduled for another fill in January but don't think I am going to take one because I am feeling satisfied right now.

I am so sorry for your stuggles. I have no advice for you because I am only 7 weeks post op. I am glad you posted your experience because it is important for people to know that the band does not always work. I am hoping you can get it figured out.

My doctor also had me on clear liquids for seven days and I did the same thing as you and added protein shakes one day early because I was starving. Then I was on full liquids for fourteen days and then mushies for two weeks and then onto regular food. I sometimes struggle with the differences between my doctor and some of the other doctors on the site. Two things in particular. My doctor said no caffeine at all and so many people on here post that they have coffee. I really miss my coffee. Second, my doctor says absolutely no grains until I have lost 75% of my excess body weight. I struggle with this because I have already tried the Atkins and Protein diets and do not want to go down that road again. Even with these frustrations, I have decided to follow my doctor's advice as much as possible because if anything goes wrong, he is the one I am calling and going to be looking to get me through this journey.

Breakfast: two scrambled eggs, 1 wedge Laughing Cow Cheese Lite, 2 turkey sausage links Lunch: 1/2 cup Bean with Bacon Soup, Salmon Salad (2 ounces canned salmon, 1 T miracle whip Lite, 1 T bacon bits) Snack: 1 string cheese Dinner: 1 cup chilli, 1 ounce shredded cheddar, 1 T lite sour cream

I wonder if you could get in touch with the doctor that retired. You would think he would be referring his patients to a new doctor. I think this situation with doctors accepting other doctors patients is something similar to the "Blue Wall" that cops have. Maybe if they know that you had your surgeons blessing, they would be wiling to take you on.

I am so sorry to hear about this. I get so caught up in all the success stories, I have to remember that it is not always good and that bad things can happen. I hope you can get back to where you want to be.

I am so sorry to hear about this. I get so caught up in all the success stories, I have to remember that it is not always good and that bad things can happen. I hope you can get back to where you want to be.