duckydoom

I'm going to have this done to and I haven't told to many people either. I only told two family members but I don't know how many the one sister in law told. She has a big mouth. I also told my one friend because she had bypass surgery.

I haven't told either. My husband, daughter, 2 best friends, and another friend who has a band knows. Other than that I didn't tell. I don't want people watching everything I eat and making judgements. I am a teacher, so I am on vacation for the summer now. Everyone knows that I am on a diet. I hope to lose 10 pounds before school beings in August. I didn't even tell my mother because she is 91. I don't want her to worry.
I say it is your business if you don't want to tell.

Sigh. It's not just limited to members of the opposite sex, as I'm sure we all know. Guys just seem to be more macho and jerkish about it. When I told my mother in law I was considering the band when I started my journey, her response was "that'd be awesome! Then you wouldn't be fat anymore!" She's also put out such gems as "I don't understand why you're so upset about being fat - you have a hot husband, a good job, and a great house!" and "Man, at least being fat you've got big boobs. I wish mine were big, but I don't want to get fat."
Errr....
It's frustrating though, because she's cheering me on and being supportive in her own weird, insulting way. Hubby has to keep taking her aside and working on the mechanics of tact with her.
Good luck with your journey - you're a beautiful woman now as I can see from your pic, and from the sounds of it, you've got an awesome hubby

It really depends on you. My doctor told me whenever I feel ready. It was a little over a week.

Thanks for this post. I'm still Pre-op and my intimate life with my boyfriend is no existing these days because I feel so yucky about my body. I used to be into it and then one day it kinda just disappeared - so I'm glad to know that along with everything else I have my sex life to look forward to as well!!!

It's very normal to have an increased sex drive after losing weight. Even though you say you've only lost 20lbs, it's still a lot of weight to lose.
Sex drive is very much related to the way we look and feel. The more confident you are the more likely you are to want to have fun in the bedroom (or anywhere else!).
Let's be honest if you hate the way you look and feel, it isn't going to come across as sexy to your partner and you'll be too inhibited. If you hate getting naked with your partner or always make love in the dark, then you aren't getting the best out of sex.
There's also a slight novelty factor at first, it's almost like getting your body back and feeling feminine again.
Well done so far. It might be a good idea to prepare your husband for whats to come, if you lose weight and feel EVEN better about yourself, you'll never get enough... I'm sure he's not complaining though! Lol

This is an awesome topic.
Firstly, a lot of women enjoy "book porn." We enjoy thinking about sexual situations while being able to picture the people the way we want to picture them, without having society's idea of a beautiful woman shoved down our throats *chuckle*.
Secondly. Not all women "hide their inner freaks." I am incredibly open about all aspects of sexuality and sexual behavior. It just depends on what circle of people you associate with, and how open your friends are comfortable with being. With that said, not many ladies would enjoy you being overtly sexual immediately after meeting them. It comes across as overly aggressive and makes us wonder about the quality of woman you prefer (not many "classy" chicks would be okay with this behavior). All in all, a lot of women have no problem being sexual AS SOON AS WE ARE COMFORTABLE with you. Trust is a huge part too.

One thing I have learned is that the majority of Lap-Band failures aren't band failures at all, but people failure. Not changing their eating habits, not getting adequately filled, or remained over-filled, or drinking carbonation. It's true that once in awhile something does go wrong with the band by no fault of the person, but that is the exception not the rule.
Statistically speaking, only 8.6% of Lap-Band patients have complications that are no fault of their own. That's a very small percentage.
Don't be mislead by anecdotal evidence and people trying to talk you out of it for the wrong reasons. Be it Lap-Band or Gastric Bypass, the choice is yours, just make the choice based on facts.

How is your recovery time? I'm just beginning my journey by researching everything and learning as much as I can. My boyfriend and I have decided to do the surgery at the end of the year because we have a 10 day vacation. Is that enough time to be able to go back to work? We have very physical jobs.

I think the biggest consideration for surgery is your size and/or health risks. I wish I had this surgery when I was 29 because it would have saved me a lot of pain and aggrivation. You really need only a week for recovery. I took an extra 2 days because I also had a hernia repair. I feel like it took about 3 weeks after surgery to feel like myself again. I began light exercise 2 days after surgery as I found it helped with the gas pains. I'm not ready for the hard-core exercise programs yet but I'd like to try them once I get my fitness level increased.
Good luck with the process. It can be challenging.

I love reading posts like these - it gives me hope for my own journey, and gets me excited for the next step. You're doing amazing, ladies, and thank you for sharing!

To those of you who say you don't have time for exercise or you don't like to...I'm sorry but to me all I hear is excuses excuses. Yeah you may have a busy lifestyle but after getting the lapband put into your body to make a "lifestyle change" how can you do that without getting some exercise in? What is an hour out of your entire day? You have 23 hours to do everything else you need to do..and if you know you will tone your body and loose even more weight from it why wouldn't you take advantage of that? I think you guys need to step it up and quit making so many excuses...I have a life too...a job, family, boyfriend, pets, house to take care of, appts to go to in between everything else..and every single night I come home and get my exercise in. I have lymophdema in my legs and as much as it hurts to be on my feet and my ankles are so big it looks unhuman but I do not miss it...because I didn't get this lap band put in me to just sit back and watch the weight fall off...I'm working my ass off and don't understand why you can't either!!!
Do you want to end up like the people on here who are making a post in 1 or 2 years saying they only lost 30 pounds? If not, you need to make the change now...and if you don't want to..then I really don't understand why you got the band in the first place.

Since I have had a lot of trouble finding information about pregnancy with the lap band, I thought I'd share my experience on here . . .
My lap band surgery was on 11/12/10, I found out I was pregnant at the end of June 2011. So, it was only about 7 months after my surgery. At the time I became pregnant, I had lost about 25 pounds and my lap band had 7.5 cc's in it.
Right now, I am 33 weeks pregnant and my total weight gain has been around 8 pounds. This is my 3rd pregnancy and I'm 35 years old . . . my other children were born when I was 27 and 29. Also, I gained around 37 pounds with each pregnancy. With my first pregnancy, I lost all but 5 pounds of my pregnancy weight. But, with my 2nd, I only lost about 10 pounds and unfortunately continued to gain weight . . . hence, the need for my lap band.
I have not had any of the fill taken out but I have had a lot of trouble eating. When I was around 23 weeks pregnant, I did call my lap band doctor to inquire about having some of the flll removed. But, I was told that he would remove all the fill if I came in . . . so I decided to just eat the foods that I knew would not bother me (i.e. make me throw up). Also, I drink a lot of the Muscle Milk light . . . especially if I've had difficulty with a previous meal that day. I eat a lot of Soup, sandwiches wrapped in lettuce (Jimmy John's Un-Wich - yum!!), and salads. Before I became pregnant, bread still was not a big problem for me . . . but I cannot eat it at all now.
I did not want to have all the fill removed because my insurance will no longer cover anything related to my lap band. So, I would have to pay to have it removed and then after the delivery / nursing, he would not put all 7.5 cc's in at one time. Then, I'd have to pay for several visits to get back to the 7.5 cc level.
But, my OB has been watching me VERY carefully, including bloodwork to check all my nutrition levels. So, I definitely have been eating, etc . . .
Both of my current children were born at 37 weeks and I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, so I think that this baby will also be born around 37 weeks.
Anyway, I'd love to hear other people's stories . . . especially how much weight you gained while pregnant and how quickly it came off after delivery.
I think I've lost weight during this pregnancy since I'm at 33 weeks with 8 pounds gained . . . my ultrasound last week came up with a current baby weight of 4 lb 3 oz.
My only fear right now is something happening to my lap band during delivery . . . I really cannot find any information out there regarding what might happen during delivery to your lap band.

Exactly! Eating for two just requires an extra 300 calories per day.....that's a yogurt and an apple

Good Morning,
I am really new to all of this. I have a lot of questions, if anyone out there can assist me with procedure. I have been thinking about this for a very long time. As I have been on just about every diet out there. My problem is the exercising which I know to do it but the problem is my work schedule. I work graveyards and I am trying to make adjustments. I know that is a poor excuse but I need figure out to get this to work for me.
I need some suggestions, if anyone can assist that would be awesome.
My questions are:
1. How many times do you have to get a fill?
2. Does anyone get side effects like Nausea etc?
3. How long does the approval take?
4. How long is the procedure itself?
5. Is this outpatient procedure? Or in patient?
6. Do you have to prove you have sleep disorder?
7. Do most insurances approve the operation?
8. once the operation is done - do you have follow a strict diet? Like shakes? if so what kind?
9. Can you go back to work the next day or in my case Nights? once the procedure is done.
Any suggestions would be awesome

Hi, my name is Veronica and I had my lapband done January 2008. I initially lost 50 pounds the first seven months and got pregnant, had a beautiful baby girl in June 2009, and got pregnant again and had a boy in September 2010. During both pregnancies I gained, lost and eventually kept a total of 34 lbs and have NOT been able to lose them since. I currently weigh 284 at 5'8", which still leaves me in the (gasp) morbidly obese category which I'm dying to get out of.
While I feel very discouraged at this point, I feel hopeful that I will lose the weight again and more motivated than ever to continue losing as I was doing so successfully before having my babies. Did anyone else go through this and if so, what did you do to shock your body to start losing again? Seriously, at this point I'm willing to try anything because I hate feeling like a Lap Band failure story and really, really want to lose weight so that I can be more energetic and be able to run around with my kids and just feel better all around.
I really appreciate any helpful, encouraging tips.

I agree with Eggzy82. It's not a race. Instead of being frustrated that you can't take in more than you can, embrace it and be thankful. I was the same way after my banding 10 months ago. I sipped liquids all day long but felt full after only a couple of ounces. I was on Clear Liquids for 2 weeks after surgery, then full liquids for another week. Even when I started eating real foods, I could only eat about 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup. It was that way for a long time, but, I am down 70 lbs since my initial surgeon visit (including the weight I lost between then and surgery) and am a new person (mentally & physically). Relax, take your time, and embrace every day.

Hey guys! After many months of lurking around on here almost daily, I've decided to finally create an account, lol! I don't know what I was so afraid of I am 25 years old and from Pennsylvania. I am currently on month 4 of the 6 month physician supervised diet. Starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, but I'm sure this feeling will pass...at some point :/

Well I am new to all of this. New to blogging and banding! I am now... 30 days post surgery. I am doing ok... I am at the stage where I have not had a fill but am noticing I am hungry more often. I am not sure if it is just me freaking out or this is the way it is suppose to be... I kind of though you wouldn’t feel the hunger like I did my first 2 weekish after surgery.
I hope this feeling I felt the first two weeks comes back. I like not being hungry. Not that I am eating much when I do eat still mostly puree foods and liquids some soft solids... but I just am want that feeling back.
I am so excited I have gotten the lap-bad and know I am going to do GREAT! I have start exercising even jogging around the park at my house. I weighted in on surgery date May 1, 2012 at 320.3 lbs post surgery at the doctors on May 11, 2012 I was 306.3 lbs... I hope on my first fill I hit the 300lbs mark!
I am young and I knew this was the choice for me... I felt I had to do this. I had too many health problems so young. I was going to die just like my father at 42 years old, I was past the half way mark at 23 years old... I knew I wanted to out live him and that is what made my final choice to take the hard step towards a new me.
I wish everyone the best of luck with their journey! We are already stronger than most becasue we took the FIRST step!
Nice to meet yall,
Danielle

Welcome! Set realistic goals for yourself. I also tend to carry a lot if muscle but it would take an insane amount of working out and diet for me to lose weight. I finally got my band in January of this year and after a month or so I have steadily lost about a pound a week. I'm down 25lbs at this point and because I was on the lighter side of people who normally get the surgery at 232lbs the 25 lbs has made a huge difference. Also, I rarely feel hungry now which is just beyond freaking amazing to me. Just be prepared that if you have less to lose than a lot of the people on this site and you are some what muscular already you might be a slow loser like me. Also when you start to seriously work out again (I work out 5 times a week) the scale may not move for a couple of weeks. Just try to be patient, it will start moving again : ).

My name is Trina I'm 30 years old 5'4 255 lbs. Although some of that weight is muscle because I do weight lifting, I am still not happy with my stomach area.
I have been struggling with my weight for some time now, and after losing 40 lbs on my own by working out twice a day 5 days a week, and then gaining it back after an accident, I decided that not only was my work out routine not realistic, but that I needed a tool! So I decided to go with the band, and am in the program now running tests before my date is scheduled.
Just a little bit on ME

I think that anyone has the right to be on the forum, regardless of their viewpoint. Just like everything in life, people should be able to express their grievances and get help if there's help to be gotten. I also think that people need to know it's not a quick fix and sometimes it's easy to see that by reading these negative Nancy posts.
unfortunately, there are people whose Dr's told them it was easy and did not prepare them for life with the band. I just wish people would thoroughly research the good, the bad, and the ugly before taking the plunge.

As I stated at the very beginning, I fully realize the band doesn't work for some people. This is a fact, there are people who the band doesn't work for by no fault of their own. However, the majority of people who gripe and moan about gaining weight and the band not working it's because of their mistakes. Simple as that.
As for the person who posted about eating bites the size of a grain of rice. If you look at the pic, it's not the size of a grain of rice. However, yes it is small. Call me crazy but I'd rather be able to eat anything I want without PBing or sliming and still lose over 90 pounds than eating bigger bites, not losing, and not being able to eat what I want. If small bites is what it takes for me to achieve those things, I'm more than happy to take the tiny bites.

Per usual, I am seeing a lot of posts that essentially say the Lap-Band has failed the poster. I see them go on and on how awful the band is because it didn't work for them, most often calling it a waste of money as well. I know the band doesn't work for everyone, but I also cases of the actual band failing are pretty rare. More often than not, it's not the band that is failing but the person failing the band.
The most common reasons I see people failing their band are:
-poor food choices
-not following up on fills until they have good restriction
-living over-filled for months and months
-not eating properly (i.e. chewing, speed, bite sizes)
-a lack of education and understanding of the band
Whoever said the band would be easy was nuts. It's not. In fact, it's a lot of work. Life with the Lap-Band is one learning experience after another. Not only do we have to make good food choices for a lifetime, but we must constantly relearn how to eat after every fill. I've been very successful with the band but that has come with a ton of work. I do my very best to make good food choices and I'm patient with my band. For instance, I was filled this past Monday and could barely eat all week. I was getting a bit miserable, but I also fully realized it was my job to figure out how to work with the band. It took some trial and error, a lot of sliming and even one PB, but I finally figured it out. I was eating slow enough and chewing well enough but despite the fact I already thought my bites were small, they weren't small enough. This is the size of the bite I now need to be able to eat without issue:

Yes, it's tiny. I took a pic of my finger next to the bite for comparison. But my point is, I had to change my behavior to accommodate the band it didn't change for me. It's my job to do the work for a lifetime.
We also should be going into this surgery well educated, yet so many go into it completely ignorant. Folks this is your body, your health, it is YOUR responsibility to learn all the facts and empower yourself through education before going into surgery. It constantly blows my mind how people can spend days researching a car, or maybe reading up on facts before buying a new PC, yet they go into surgery completely clueless. If you're reading this, you're obviously online, thus there is no excuse for not learning all you can about the Lap-Band before you have surgery. If you're reading this after surgery and are clueless, then start researching now because it's much better late than never. Even ask questions here on the forum and read past posts, do something to educate yourself. But do not go into this completely ignorant then wail "oh the band sucks and doesn't work". You have no one to blame but yourself.
So the next time you see a post bashing the band, read between the lines a bit. More often than not you'll find out the band did exactly what it was supposed to do and didn't fail- it's the person who failed the band.

I was banded 8 days ago, ive progressed to soft/mushie foods. I am a band over bypass bandster and know how it feels to lose 100 pounds and gain 50 back! So this go round I am determined to work with my tool/lap band and do my part. With that being said im not giving the band an opportunity to fail me, I had the surgery really as a back up plan but knew the battle of the bulge boiled down to me defeating it! Dont get me wrong I am not discounting the band but at the end of the days its up to us to make sure we reach our goals. I will periodically post things that are helping me along my journey. For those of you who have smart phones I HIGHLY RECOMMEND an app I downloaded last night, its called MyFitnessPal it allows you to keep track of what you consume everyday, and automatically gives the calories and nutritional facts. Once you put in your weight, height, age....It will tell you what your daily calories should be. Due to being banded our calorie intake should be lower, it told me by the end of the day I should be consuming 1900 calories, I went ahead and changed it to 1000 and for today I was actually short 90 calories for the day which put me at 910 calories for the day, it also allows you to keep track of exercise and Water intake!