Jim1967

You're all doing awesome!! Remember its not about winning the marathon. It's about finishing it!!

knee problems are almost as bad as back problems. I have arthritis in both my my knees with my left being the most troublesome of the two. Both feel great since losing the weight and I usually have more better days then bad. Have you been keeping up your Doc visits with your band? How much saline do you have in the band now? Just curious is all. Finding the green zone will make a big difference and if you're making good food choices I would think the weight would still come off slowly. I see you lost 80lbs which is awesome by the way. What is your goal weight?

I suggest you try and look for a Center of Excellence in your area. Center of Excellence has all the tools under one roof. Doctors, Nutritionists, Mental Health Counselor along with support teams all dedicated to bariatric needs.

Actually, I did as well and it was one of the best educational prep classes I had for the Band life.. I took a six session program called Hungry Head: Overcoming Binge Eating. Program is designed to help you distinguish between head hunger and real hunger and develop skills to manage urges to over eat.

My Surgeon requires you to lose at least 5% of your weight to show you are committed to a life change. So he set a goal for me to lose 24lbs. My insurance required me to do a 6 month supervised diet on top of that. I managed to lose 38lbs during that time but I have to admit I probably screwed off about 6 weeks of that time and I did have a couple of "last suppers". I have been banded now for 9 months and have lost an additional 106lbs. While I agree with the others above I do believe the band has made it possible for me to change my eating habits with ease. I am not saying the band is responsible but it sure does keep me accountable. I no longer have cravings or desire for the junk food that I used to live off of. I eat good foods first (Proteins and veggies) and it satisfies me to a point where I don't have room or want for junk. Is that to say I've never had a slice of pizza? No, I have had a slice of pizza since being banded but compare that to a time when I could eat almost an entire large on my own at one meal is saying something. I was on Vacation for 14 days over the holidays and I did not lose or gain a single pound. I ate what I wanted when I needed (that's where the band comes in) and that was without documenting my food intake or doing any real exercise. I actually had a few sweets over the holidays and I felt nauseous afterwards. It's just not worth it to me anymore....my life is not the same as it once was. Whether that is a state of mind or the band. I don't know but I sure do like it!! I was down 4.5 pounds this morning now being back to work and back to logging and exercising. Being banded does not mean restricting what you can eat. It means restricting the amount you can eat. If you restrict what you eat then you are doing nothing but dieting. Dieting....or failed dieting is what lead most us to surgical options. (stepping down off my soapbox now)

Need a little more info. Are you preop or post op? Did you talk with your Doctor and/or Nutritionist about a plan?

Hi there, There have been a few of us on here that have tried carb cycling with some success. Thread is here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/159669-carb-cycling-an-experiment-gone-right/ I do not recommend carb cycling for newly banded folks without consulting your Doctor.

I also heard that Cigna has since changed from a 6 month monitored diet to 3 months. Is that book of requirements recent? If not I would call them and ask for the policy in writing again.

I had Cigna during my journey. It just changed to BCBS this month. Cigna only required a 6 month monitored diet for me. I had to go to the Doc office once a month for a weigh in. After the six months was up my Doc submitted that data to Cigna along with all my test results. Cigna denied me at first because they said the documentation was lacking. My Doc submitted samples of food journals and exercise logs that I had kept during those 6 months. With that they approved me a day later.

Congrats!! I will take all the NSV's I can get. No such thing as silly.

Thank you Floridays. That is very important to remember and often times easy to forget along the way. We focus so much on the journey of reaching a goal but there is a bigger picture to consider.

I watch the Biggest Loser for inspiration only. As others have said they are 24x7 working on their weight issues and they have a lot of help going through the paces. I have days where I cannot find time to get to the gym like I would. I have an hour commute 1 way to work plus parents in poor health, not to mention my wife and household. I am not making excuses at all about not getting to the gym but just pointing out that there is no one handling my responsibilities while I focus on weight loss. Have to find a way to juggle that into every day life. Making good choices along the way is key. In my opinion failure is a state of mind and failure is not an option!!

Hi there, I had to do the 6 month diet as part of insurance requirements. My Doctor had a 5% weight loss goal for me that I had to achieve or he wouldn't do the surgery. He was concerned about the size of my liver and wanted me to shrink it as much as possible. It is for the safety of the surgery. As for the surgery date. I got a call from my Doctors office at the end of month 5 and we discussed a surgery date. In order for them to submit approval request to the insurance company they needed to include a surgery date so they needed my input to make sure the date worked for me. So I knew the date at the end of month 5 and got my approval from insurance half way through month 6. Surgery date obviously hinged on the approval so it was all tentative until the insurance company gave thumbs up.

Six months for me as well from Seminar to Surgery day. Program I was part of said it could be 3 months but when insurance got involved they had a 6 month monitored diet requirement. Oct 2011 with Surgery April 2012.

Patience especially in the beginning is difficult. You spend all the time preparing for surgery and then the actual day comes and goes and instant results do not happen and it's a let down. I spent a good 6 months off and on researching and another 6 months prepping for surgery as insurance required a 6 month monitored diet. So after a year was gone I had the surgery. Two months later down 5 pounds I was pissed at how slow I was progressing and I doubted my decision to go with the band over bypass. Here I am now 9 months post op and I am down 102lbs. I would do this again in a heartbeat because the freedom I inherited from losing the 100lbs is amazing. I will admit even now I have my good days and bad days with my patience....You see I was 488 when I started and I have so much farther to go. I know in time I will get there. Obesity will not rule my life!! You can do this too!! Make good, wise choices now...you will only appreciate those choices later down the road.

Also, keep in mind that just because you have a band now that doesn't mean you have instant restriction. There are some lucky few who get restriction right away without any fills. You're healing right now so you could be getting a false sense of restriction by the swelling. I thought I had restriction until after week 4 then I was able to eat just like before I had the surgery and I was quite bummed out by that. It took quite awhile and a number of fills to get proper restriction. Until that happens it is unfortunately all on you to make the right choices.

That's shorts weather for me It was 10 today in NH and that was without the wind factor.

Congrats to you all and best of luck on your journey!!

NSV's are the best!! Congrats

Congratulations!! Mixed emotions is quite normal. We all go through that. I am not in the beginning stages but I will tell you regardless there is a ton of support on this site from the newbies to the veterans. This place is such a valuable asset to have on your journey. I wish you much success going forward :-) Jim

It's great advice for sure!!! More you move the better as far as the gas goes.