Wheelchair

I guess it's all relative... some of have fattier livers than others... it just depends on each patient.. but i don't think one burrito will make much difference... as long as it stops there Good luck!!

Thank you for your post. I'm glad that my post has gotten some to start discussing this topic more thoroughly. I do, however, have a rebuttal to make on some of your points, as I think it may not be beneficial to all. Before shutting me out from your life completely, just give me a second to explain. If you've lost 30 pounds during your pre-op diet and the first couple weeks after surgery...most of that 30 pounds is Water. I'm really sorry to disappoint you there. My response to that is so what? 30 lbs is 30 lbs. I lost 22 lbs duing the pre op liquid stage of this journey and I felt like I could do anything. It was so motivating and I could care less if it was fat, water or muscle. It made the scale move, got me well prepared for surgery and motivated me for a lifetime of healthy eating. Statements like these lay the foundations of unhealthy dieting. From reading your post, I get a sense that you're doing this for your looks.... not for your health. This is 100% your prerogative and I am in no position to argue with or criticize you. However, because this is a public site for others to read and educate themselves, I feel that this type of discussion may not be well suited, as it points the purpose of the LAGB to physical appearance, not health. I'm happy you lost pre-op weight. In my post, I've made NO judgment on pre-op weight loss because at that stage, you're still losing a lot of water weight and your body is not yet at a critical catabolic state. I'm glad it motivated you to a lifetime of healthy eating. However, your next statement confused me further... As of today I have lost 92 lbs in 6 months. For the past month I am averaging 2-3 lbs per week. Is it fat? I dont know. Its weight.... Its size... its healthy and its wonderful. It's weight...it's size...it's healthy?? I don't agree with this 100%. You've made great strides and your results encourage a lot of people...myself included. However, my point wasn't that fast weight loss wasn't impossible. My point was that we should be careful that fast weight loss may cause problems for us further down the road. If you wanted fast results... you could have opted for a malabsorptive procedure. You would have lost super fast.... but you do realize that the nature of the operation renders you vulnerable to malnutrition. It's ALWAYS easier to maintain than to recoup what you have lost (in terms of nutrients and lean body tissue). All of us have different reasons for choosing the band but we chose it knowing that weight loss will be SLOWER than that of RNY or sleeve gastrectomy. But fortunately, the 5 year prognosis is similar for all of these methods. Now.... I'm going to put you on the spot FLORIDAYS. Who is healthier? Ashley Olsen. Height: 5'3" Weight: 98lb BMI: 17.4 (tad underweight) OR Layne Norton. Height: 5'10" Weight: 226 lb. BMI: 32.4 (OBESE) Well... I guess only their respective physicians can tell you how healthy they are... but my point is that ALL BODY WEIGHT IS NOT CREATED EQUAL!!! By the way... Layne Norton is a steroid-free bodybuilder...so he's much healthier than MOST bodybuilders. Most of us are here to lose HEALTHY weight. Looking good...fitting into skinny jeans (if you're into all that)...getting cat-called at... all of these are bonuses of healthy weight loss...and shouldn't be mistaken as the goal.

Do you honestly believe this? I'm not calling anyone a liar outright, but I'd just like to ask if you REALLY TRULY believe it. They follow ALL the guidelines? They limit their intake and increase the daily activity (remember...part of the 'guidelines' for after LAGB include daily 30 minute exercise sessions) and they STILL don't lose weight? I'm just asking... because if you believe that this is possible.... why would you get the surgery? Why would ANY of us? This is a support group. This entails helping people currently on the band...but also providing first hand information for those wanting to get the band and change their life. If more people come to the site and start posting threads about following ALL THE DOCTOR'S GUIDELINES TO A T, AND YET THEY DON'T LOSE WEIGHT... it'll just feel so hopeless for everyone. And personally... I don't think it's possible. I've read some of the threads that you are referring to... members who are concerned that they are not seeing the weight loss even after trying to follow most of the guidelines. But in ALL of those situations...I see various holes. One member would suggest that he/she cannot stomach solid food and so have put themselves on a 'liquid' diet. Did you know that McDonald's large shake has 582 Calories...of which 150 are mostly saturated fat...and 85 grams of it is sugar? Or...another member may say... I have salads all the time..and I STILL DON'T LOSE WEIGHT!!! Well...a grilled chicken salad with light Italian dressing at McAlister's Deli ends up at a whopping 850 calories. Look. I'm not trying to bore you with numbers. I'm saying... a lot of the posts made by member who claim not to be losing weight have SERIOUS holes. As a support group...we need to look for these holes that the OP misses... and kindly inform them. I implore you....actually....i CHALLENGE you.... if you are one of those who are following ALL OF THE GUIDELINES TO THE T.... count your calories. Write a journal of EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth. In that journal..I also want you to write down how much you're exercising in your day. Can't find time?? Park farther from the store... take an extra trip or two up and down the stairs. Walk during your lunch hour. Remember...it takes me a lot longer to put my pants on in the morning...but i STILL find time to exercise. Don't do this for just a week or two... I want you to do this for at least a month. Good dieting and exercising habits become actual 'habits' in about three weeks and it'll be easier to do these things. Remember...no one said this was easy. All complaints of "i can't find time...who has the time and energy to jot everything they eat..." will be thoroughly ignored. NOW TO THE 0.53% OF US! I asked my surgeon yesterday what types of signs I should be looking for to sniff out a band erosion. He told me... if you're adjusted right... and you're following the guidelines... and you're STILL NOT losing weight. Then we do an endoscopy to see if your band has eroded. So other serious medical conditions aside... the ONLY reason I can see that a person won't lose weight on the band... is if the band has eroded. This is 1 out of 200 LAGB patients. Unless we have a concentrated group of EXTREMELY unlucky and unfortunate people... I don't see the ratio working out on the forum. Then, if you do suspect you have a band erosion... don't waste your time complaining on the forum.... go see your surgeon immediately. My whole post was to be realistic and HONEST. Not anyone else...but to ourselves.

AHHH!!! I actually had to put on some weight before getting my surgery.... guess I wasn't FAT enough It was actually very tough for me to gain weight because each pound wreaked havoc on my mobility... ... but how I miss the Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers at Wendys....

OP... are you an RN?

more weight loss?

HAHAHAHA I just saw your title and laughed. HANGRY. I'm so guilty of HANGER. I think it's the emotion that binds us bandsters together far and wide.

Maybe it shouldn't be a contest with OTHERS. You're not losing weight for others, right? Right? Keep up the good work!!!

that's interesting... i'd like to see some peer reviewed studies on that... pretty nifty

From what I was told... many people are expected to get hair loss in the beginning stages of WLS and then most of them retrieve what they have lost. It's never a fun thing to have hair loss... I have bad genes when it comes to that... I still have a full head... but TIME IS TICKING!

Gas pains are all gone. I'm still a bit weak and feel tightness in my stomach but otherwise pretty swell. Last night was much better than the nights previous... nausea has subsided a fair amount. Problem now... after 5 days of liquids...I'm getting hungry. Yesterday was fine..but today I'm getting really hungry. I constantly think about food and it feels like this liquid diet will be the end of me. My next doctor's appointment is in two days...(on Wednesday, 6.8) and I can start mushy foods at that time. Just two more days...two more nights. Today is almost done...so that's good...but I fear how it'll be tomorrow... I'm going to be starving. Oh gosh...

Well, my surgeon does not progress his patients to full liquids I don't think. The discharge instructions state that I need to be a clear liquids until my next appointment....at which time I can start mushies... Mickp24.... I dunno what you're referring to about waiting before and after meals... my meals consist of drinks anyhow. Currently I'm surviving on apple juice 'laced' with water and that's pretty much it. I've had some chicken broth... but I feel it nauseates me a bit

Got up about an hour ago. I feel very refreshed from sleep and hadn't had trouble waking up in the middle of the night due to nausea. Thank God! It feels real good outside so I think I'm going to do some yard work...taking it easy.... I'm sipping on my feast of grape juice and water cocktail.... it's not so bad. I just hope the hunger won't bother me as it did yesterday.

I actually agree with Petunia 100%. Life is tough and those that want to be babied along the way usually are left behind in the sidelines and wind up feeling like the OP. Many of you are saying that Petunia doesn't have a say because she is not yet banded... but a lap band is not the cosmic end-all of life experience and hardship. Some say that having a weight loss surgery is one of the greatest physical changed you've gone through... but for me.... it ranks near the bottom of the heap. No matter what we look like, no matter how we got here or there.... there are several ground rules that all must abide by in order to be "successful". You say these ground rules are objective but then again, if you thought so, you wouldn't have had the surgery in the first place. Even before the surgery, EVERYONE involved in the process informs you that this is merely a tool, a device that only catalyzes the results of the lifestyle and behavioral changes that WE dictate and execute. EVERYONE tells you this. From day 1, we've all been told the SAME THINGS: this is just a tool you need to make behavioral changes don't drink before or after meals don't snack eat nutritious foods MOVE YOUR ASS Just the fact that the OP has neglected even ONE of these ground rules sets a basis for our so-called 'tough love'. Your self-esteem cannot be increased by what frosting others put on top of their words. Your self-esteem is not created by the decreasing numbers on your digital scale or the lack of fabric required to make your undergarments. If you depended on your lap-band to boost your self-esteem...then I believe you failed before you started. That's the harsh truth. The doctors, the Allergan PR, the bariatric coordinator at your hospital have all said the same thing. The LAGB may help increase your weight loss so that you become healthier and you eliminate or reduce the existence or at least the symptoms of your ailing co-morbidities. Nothing in the PR says that the lap band will increase your self-esteem. Please wake up. I'm deliberately trying to be ruthless because that's how we all learn. The hard way. That's how I learned. But in the end, the point is that we follow the rules, we get our priorities in order, we become healthy, and we become happy. Electing to the do the surgery was a big step for you, no doubt. It took courage and determination. You've already made your decision... now you just have to follow along with the consequences of that decision. God-speed and good luck to you.

+11111 I consider myself VERY active...can't-sit-still kind of guy. I'm in a wheelchair but I still do all my yardwork and even do minor repairs on my cars. I wanted to get back on my feet (proverbially) and get moving...but the first couple days were very hard I got banded last friday (6.3) and I'm still in recovery~ I feel real great today (post-op day 4) and I hope to take my dog to the dog park and see if I can do some yardwork today. Still, I'll need to pace myself and make sure to be hydrated. No matter how resilient you are....remember that you're still going to be pumping on ~300 Cal per day....

Definitely donate. Only thing to do.

for me, the gas pains lasted maybe 3~4 hours (if that). I was told that you need to move around for those gases to be reabsorbed and released. Ambulation is good but since I can't walk, I did a lot of upper body exercises while I was in the hospital bed and that seemed to alleviate the gas pains. For me, the pains were focused a bit above my heart...I thought I was having a heart attack....

Ahhh... I'm hurting now... Seems like it's worse today than it was yesterday. I just have to survive the first week and I think I'll be fine.... Stomach is pretty sore and I have NO energy... didn't sleep too well...

thanks for your support and kind words... i feel a bit better now... i was feeling extremely nauseated about two hours ago... i spent about an hour in the bathroom I think i experienced my first slime episode...

So how are you feeling now?? Are things getting better for ya?

I'm also 1 day post op... not feeling 100%... want to function normally again

Motorcycle wreck. Paralyzed me chest down. I can no longer do any cardio exercises.... running, biking, swimming. And I love food.

Ahhh... I'm hurting now... Seems like it's worse today than it was yesterday. I just have to survive the first week and I think I'll be fine.... Stomach is pretty sore and I have NO energy... didn't sleep too well....oh gosh... i just need to stop complaining