SkinnyMiniMe

So what do you take as an anti-flammatory after the surgery??? I had my back go out last year and muscle relaxers and anti-flammatory is what helped.

So what is the deal with pills? Can they be swallowed easily? Also did I understand right, no more Advil?

Like my surgeon said in tonight's seminar...people walk around with lapbands in their bodies and never follow-up or get fills. You need to use your tool, get to your sweet spot and manage your food.

It is great to hear from so many December Bandsters. I am very excited but a bit nervous too. My docter only requires you to go on the Atkins diet which is good because a liqued diet scared me. My surgery is December 21st. I am getting sick of people telling me I am not fat enough. I am 208 pounds and only 5'3 I am having the surgery because I have diabetes and have tried by myself to loose the weight for years and years. Anyone else having the same issue?

Honestly I haven't told many people. Just my parents, husband and 2 close friends and my husband told his mother and 1 close friend. I don't need negativity from anyone. This a personal decision since I am the one that has been battling with it for 16 years, only I can understand why I came to this conclusion!!! You at 208 with diabetes is what led you to make this serious decision. No one should judge you. In fact a good surgeon would not do the procedure if you were too thin. We all need support not judgement. Unfortunately if you are heavy, you get judged and if you get the lapband you get judge for "taking the easy route". Its not an easy route but hopefully one that will keep us healthy and happy for many years to come. Your life, your choice, just "do you" and stay away from negative energy. (just my opinion) Good Luck!!!

I may be pushing my surgery to January My surgeon is out of network...If I keep my December surgery date I will have to pay $400 deductible for my husband and I in December. In January will be a new year which means deductibe will start all over!!! So with follow ups and fills I would have to pay most likely pay another $400 deductble in January for the new year. Now I am thinking maybe I should push my surgery to January and save the money. Of course I know that they are tentative dates so the December dates were never guaranteed. Decisions...decisions....

Good Luck & Keep us posted!!!

I am going to take it one day at a time and i am going to tell my husband to hide the scale, because if he doesn't i would probably weigh myself everyday and i do not want to do that. This is forever now. this is not me going on weight watchers or Atkins and starting a diet for a wedding that is upcoming or a vacation, this is for my life and i am not going to think of this as a diet anymore. this is going to be the new me that learns to love herself, love her body and eat only good choices. i am going to say, how many Cookies have i already had to eat in my life, i know what that tastes like and after i swallow it i forget what it tasted like anyway. I am going to do this for life now. December 1st is fast approaching and Lap Band, i look forward to spending the rest of LONG life with you and i hope we can learn to live together in harmony and give eachother exactly what we need. my motto is ONE DAY AT A TIME. thank you all for your support. Skinnyminime, i read alot of your posts and you give me encouragement. thank you very much.

As I do yours! You and others on the forum have LIFTED me up everytime I second guessed myself! It was because of others that I was aware that it is normal to have "second" thoughts. Because of them I know that my feelings are normal. I intend on returning that favor to the newbies :-)

have you guys read all the negative posts lately. anyone second guessing this. i spoke to my gastro doctor about all the negative posts lately and he said that if i stay away from creamed Soups, ice cream shakes and high calorie liquid food that will just pass through the band, i will be fine. lately i was thinking about not coming on the forum anymore because so many posts are about the negative and people saying they are planning to take out the band, but i only try to read the positive posts. anyone noticed all the negatives and is it affecting you?

YES! I have started threads on this "negativity" issue. I was told many come to the forums for support. So that is why is seems to be negative. My surgeon told me if I follow what he says to do then I WILL lose the weight. I considered not coming to the forum too but now I carefully choose what to read. I am looking for INSPIRATION!!! I know there will be work involved on our part BUT we (can) WILL do it! Just follow your doctors orders. I find many negative posts are with people that did not do so and some never even followed up with their fills. I am very fearful of failure but I am NOT failing this time and that is why I am going through this surgery. Big step but one than in a year I will be very happy I made. I plan to share that with newbies in a year too :-) Since they will need support too.

anything beats clear broth, Protein shakes and sugar free Jello. lol.

You are lucky that you and your husband are banded at the same time, you can go through it together and support eachother in your daily food intake. that seems like a great success story there. good luck to you both .

THANKS!!! I am hoping so. My huband started this lapband journey in 2008! I talked him out of it. We both hit the gym and lost a lot of weight. He lost the most of course. It all crept up slowly and here we are. Last year I said if I can't lose it, I am getting the surgery. This September I rejoined the gym and realized I need the lapband. I do not want to lose another year. Once I made my mind up, I asked him and he was on board. We already went to our consult. He is off on Wednesdays so while the kids are in school we have every Wednesday booked with doctor appointments until 11/16. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we will be able to get banded in December. I realize that he will probably lose quicker than me but the journey should be easier because we will both understand what we are going through.

My tentative date is 12/19. I think it may change but I am hoping it will still be in the month of December. Seems like it will not come quick enough. My husband is also getting banded in December (12/5). His birthday is in January and he already mentioned going out for his Birthday dinner in November. LOL Funny thing is I have no place that I want to go before the surgery HMMMMM except my couch with a pint of Haagen Daz

I drink two lattes a day and eat sushi all the time. I mean, I CAN eat sushi, but I try and keep it to sashimi when I can, just to be "good". Depends on my weight and my mood. The things I can't or just don't eat anymore are:

Steak

Lobster tail

pineapple

Melon

Shrimp

White bread

Lobster I guess I should have some before the surgery then

I'm almost 11 months post op and I can eat about 2 pieces of sushi. I can no longer eat more than a couple bites of rice, bread, and red meat. I sometimes have problems with lean pork chops as well. Also no reheated foods, at all. I think I am either very close, or at the green zone and have met my goal weight. Good luck to you on your journey!!!

You mean frozen meals or leftovers? Why is that? too dry?

BTW your weight loss is really inspiring!

So I am aware that I must cut my caffeine to one cup of coffee a day. Carbonated drinks are not allowed. Then the surgeon told me certain foods are not tolerable after the Lap-Band, such as rice. The first food addict thought that came to my mind at that moment was, "No Sushi ever again?" He told me not everyone has that problem with rice. I have been reading the forums and it seems some people don't have any food problems but then last night I am eating corn and I start thinking, "will I be able to eat this after the surgery?"

So, I started this forum because I want to know, what food or foods (if any) have you had to give up because of the Lap-band?

Dirty Lap-Band & Needles??? HMMMM sounds like a malpratice to me!

Also my surgeon did mention to me that some insurances only cover 1 of these weight loss surgeries in a lifetime. So check with your insurance because if you want something more premanent then you may want to go with the sleeve. For me the lapband is what I am comfortable with, IF it doesn't work and my insurance doesn't cover another procedure I am OK with that. I picked a surgeon from a Center of Excellence and head of the Bariatric department at the hospital. He also told me that there are a lot of clinics that perform these surgeries and then surgeons like himself have to fix their problems. So if you are getting the sleeve and cutting out your stomach make sure its with a great surgeon. Hard to fix something that has been cut out of you.

Go with the sleeve it is totally safer. Less chances of infections due to you won't have to have a needle stuck into your port and increase the chances of infection or perferation. I did the band and the doctor put in a dirty band and I had to fight for my life 6 weeks later he contaminated it and then every needle that went in the port put bacteria inside the port and I had to have emergency surgery to save my life and spent a week in the hospital trying to live. Not fun, not happy and still without a band. Sucks when you qualify and the doctor screws up and you are blamed for some how causing my own internal infection and the hospital never correcting what happened and pleasing the patient. No they say hey doctor good job on getting the insurance to pay once and then paying again for the removal and the stay even when we caused the entire problem. All I am left with is trauma and a crap load of scars all over my stomach area that I have to see for the rest of my life and know I was the victum of a careless, heartless, doctor in NH

Wayne, really??? My doctor said no more carbonated drinks Diet soda is my favorite and beer I enjoy socially. In fact I am in the process of weining off of it. Not sure if I could do it but Tuesday or Wednesday, I should have all the Diet Soda out of my house. Did you doctor tell you only to enjoy once in a while? Or any rules with drinking it?

Hey BANANA!

I went to my consult on Wednesday too. I was there for 4 hours! I was going to do with Dr. Holover too but instead went with Dr. Vohra. I loved him and his staff. My only complaint so far is that I didn't feel that the nutrionist really cared about giving any pointers but she is included with the office visit so I am not complaining. They also told me that I could have the surgery as fast as 10 weeks or less. I already made all my appointments yesterday and the last appointment I have is on 11/22. Hopefully everything goes well. I may even move that appointment up sooner. My tentative date is 12/19 we will see. I called the office manager and she was able to tell me that my insurance would cover my procedure. You can call them yourself too to find out. There is a require if you are under 40 bmi you need to have another condition like sleep apnea but if your bmi is 40 or over you don't need anything else. They will tell you what you need. Also I am pretty sure that Dr. Holover will make you stay overnight at the hospital as does my doctor. Its called a 23 hour its not consider a full day to your insurance company. I don't mind having the extra support at night and the pain meds and also the observation to make sure everything is right. FYI I like to work out too and my doctor said that with working out and the band its a great combination for me. Lastly from what I see on the forums, some people don't even need fills, so it goes according to how restricted you are and how much weight you are losing if they decide to add fill or not. GOOD LUCK & keep us posted on your progress!

Yes-- Diet Soda & Haagen Daz & I, need to break up and go our separate ways. As far as food we have to have an amicable divorce. LOL

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone...keep it coming because I still have 2 months of this back and forth.

ROSE--Let us know how you do & GOOD LUCK!!!

I feel the same way, I am going to be banded next week on the 20th, I am very nervous about it but I have tried all kinds of dieting and they have not worked, I know this weight has to come off or I am going to die. Good luck with yours, Keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I have mine done

So went to consult and my tentative surgery date is 12/19 and I have all my pre-op required appointments made. I should be done with everything by the middle of next month. I decided the band is the way to go because the sleeve seems too drastic for me. In the past I would work out, lose some of the weight but could never keep it off. Also a bit of a Yo-Yo dieter. I have been having anxiety about failing because a lot of posts on this forum is about not losing weight or gaining weight back. But last night I was wrapping my head around the fact that, I am actually going to have a band put around my stomach because I can not control my eating. I am struggling with myself. I keep thinking "I can do it on my own, this is crazy" and then I think "you haven't been able to do this, do want to live like this forever"....OMG all I want is to wake up next year and say it was the best thing I ever did. I have recently seen posts of people who have lost 100lbs in the year and love it too. I need encouraging thoughts, words, stories. Of those who lost the weight and are loving it, was it with diet alone, band and exercise? Did you find it to be extremely hard to do? I could use some "this was the best thing I ever did" stories.

THANKS!

PS I will return the favor in a year to the newbies when I wake up and say "this is the best thing I ever did" (trying to stay positive)

Well I was at my consult yesterday. It seemed the staff really liked the promise of the sleeve. You lose quicker. My surgeon (who I LOVED) saw it in me that I was hesitant about getting rid (or as he said "it in the bucket") of my stomach. I am pretty confident that the LAPBAND it will be for me. I am willing to put in the work with the eating and gym. It may take longer but I just want to get to my goal and keep it off once and for all and that is most important to me. If you are not sure don't do it.

I am not expert but maybe you should add some Protein shakes to your daily diet and continue to workout maybe even add weights. You may not be getting enough in order to sustain your working out and muscle recovery etc., If you build more muscle your will burn more fat.

I wish that eating 800 calories a day and feeling weak and tired was the simple formula it's not. I asked time and time again what about starvation mode??? I was told by several people even on here that some believed it was a myth. My own surgeon said starvation mode doesn't effect lapband patients! Well here I am burning 300-400 calories a day working out and another 2400 just by breathing and living. Then eating 800 calories a day!! U do the math.

Now we are being told to eat more??? Confused? Umm hello??? Yeah!!!

LMAO --thanks for the laugh!

Congrats on the weight loss AND that you aren't wearing Lane Giant jeans in the last picture (Those at least look like the back pockets of my Lane Giant jeans)

I know there will be ups and downs but I don't want to regain all my weight as though I never had the surgery. Also I am looking for positive reinforcement instead of being chastised. That must be so frustrating and upsetting. Hopefully I will get a positive vibe from the surgeon and his staff.

I can not edit my patient information. I want to add my surgeon. I get to my profile and I click on edit and it doesn't do anything.

CONGRATS!!!! Only better to come...I am so excited to see good outcomes. Can't wait to be doing the happy dance in the dressing rooms of the malls too