mags2u

Glad you joined us! And lapbandbarbie- love your blog/website!

Glad to see you all are doing well! Keep us posted!

My doc cleared me on my 1 week follow up to exercise. Of course no lifting for 6 weeks. I definitely adjust accordingly when first starting out-like I wouldn't do the knee bends, or belly shaking stuff, but moving is good and feels great! :-)

I'm glad you are ok and losing weight on your own! Congrats to your wife as well. As far as your surgery, yes we all take risks having surgery. It is surgery. Not to take away from what happened to you at all, but all of our anatomy is different. Surgeons literally are moving organs out of the way to get to our stomach. I would say since you are alive today, you had a good surgeon. It is when things go wrong (and they do) that you want a controlled surgeon who can take corrective action for the best outcome. I would say being alive is a GREAT outcome. Surgeons can be flip sometimes (I work with plenty every single day). I think to them, they forget that as patients, we don't go through this everyday. They forget that to them, they might have encountered emergencies and because it was "fixed" it was "no biggie". To them, people get blood in the hospital/surgeries all the time. It doesn't sound like you had a bad surgeon, just not a compassionate one who needs to put himself in YOUR shoes. I'm not for suing, however as a patient, you have a right to request your medical records. You have to be specific though: Peri-operative record, operative report, anesthesia record, post-op or (PACU) record. Again, very glad you are ok!

Not as far as being banded but I heavily relied on this site!

Congrats and welcome! Be sure to join the January 2012 Bandsters group under the Group section at the top of the site! How are you feeling? Im sure youre experiencing the typical gas pains. I think theyre kind of a right of passage or something in the band world. Keep walking! Keep us posted.

Are you getting your proteins in first? Also what type of yogurt are you eating. Alot of yogurts are high in sugar. I know we cant cut out bread all together but maybe try 1 slice instead of two. Also can you replace the pretzels (carbs) with a higher protein snack? Just some suggestions.

I find at work during the day my port side feels like it pulls. Other than that its good. I was on clears with protein shakes week one. It gets better at about day 6-7. Hang in there!

Welcome! I cannot lift over 25lbs for six weeks. As far as your area, if you go to the "group" section at the top of this site, I believe there is a Texas group. They might be able to give you first hand experience living in the area. Best of luck in your journey!

I unfortunately work where there is a fountain pepsi machine in our breakroom. I too was drinking about 5-6 diet Dr. Pepper's in a day. I've actually given it up two weeks before surgery and haven't craved it at all. Funny though because I got conflicting info from my surgeons office. They say NO CARBONATED beverages ever, however one of the nurses who happened to have gastric bypass surgery said "there are no studies indicating that it has an effect on the bands, but the phosphates in soda bind to your calcium on a cellular level so the heart thinks it doesn't have calcium to pump and it pulls it out of your bones- thats why we have a pandemic of osteoparosis." REALLY? I was shocked that she would even indicate that it "might" be ok from a lapband standpoint to drink a soda! I'm staying off of it, because I'm a junkie when it comes to soda. I've given it up and do not want to even start!

I actually wore an abdominal binder at work today because I felt like it was "pulling". I joked that it was because my fat belly is hanging lower since I am losing weight and pulling those muscles down. It actually felt better to have the support.

Hi February Bandsters! I was banded in January and too wanted to bring all the "January" group together. I started the January Bandster 2012 "GROUP" under the group section. I really recommend you all go to the Group tab at the top and join your February group. Our January group is up to 51 people now and we really do have a great bond of people because we all went through it at the same time. I also took the time to invite people to our group as well, so if you see people that are February surgery dates, go to your "group" and click the invite tab! Best of luck to all of you in your journey! Mags

I was on liquids for a week, then mushies for two weeks in which I have altered to one meal a day eating the meat proteins (mainly fish) from my next phase. I couldn't take the mushies anymore. Other than adding the fish I've been faithful. I will progress to the full next phase Monday when I'm supposed to. My diet can include no more than 2c caffeine a day (of course no soda). I've had a cup of caffeine per week not per day. Sometimes you just have to have it.

Oh my goodness Jayeedee! I commend you. Anytime I see someone running, I think, "oh their car must be broken" or "what did they steal". Anytime I tried running I would get a concussion from my butt hitting the back of my head! HAHA. Eventually I would love to be "one of THOSE people", but for now I bought the Wii Just Dance 3 and I do Zumba on Tues. and Thurs. Good for you! Thats exciting. I think we can do anything we put our minds to!

I FINALLY broke my 18lbs today. I was stuck there, up a pound, down a pound,etc. I also do Wii, but I do the Just Dance 3. SUPER FUN. As far as your doctor- I'm assuming he's a male. (sorry guys) and has he had the surgery? If you look at peoples post, I would love to provide him with a study of all of us banders of how many people stahl during 2nd-3rd week! Keep up the good work. I'm sure tomorrow I will be back at 18lbs vs 19lbs down, but just keep on keepin on!

Well, tomorrow is the big day, back to the grind. I had enough sick time I should have had the doctor say I had to be off for three months? Actually I'm looking forward to going back to work. Its more of a routine. I'm super busy from start to finish at work, so this will be good. PLUS, all my co-workers are so supportive! I already have a work out buddy at work- we plan on getting there 1/2 hour early (0530-yuk!) to walk. Plus I'm suuuuuuper excited because I just bought the WII Just Dance 3, in addition to committing to Zumba Tuesday and Thursdays. I've been "stuck" at 18lbs lost and I have to remind myself to just keep on keeping on with what I'm doing: measuring my 1/2 c meals, getting my 60g protein in, getting >64oz water in. I haven't waivered from my diet and don't plan on it. I've been given this gift (Prudence is her name) and I'm going to use that band gift to finally do it right. So I've got my meal planned and packed for tomorrow. I'm excited for what this week will bring with me moving more at work and starting to really get in to exercise! Have a great week! Mags

Hi all! Ive seen people posting about non-scale victories, and just wanted to have a post where people can shout out about their NSV's! My Top 5 NSV's so far are............drumroll please 5. Being able to bend over to tie my shoe to walk. (Me and walking USED to be an oxymoron!) 4. Being motivated to walk at the mall. 3. Having more energy in general. 2. Not having my wedding ring cut off my circulation, it actually spins around on my finger now! and my number 1 NSV so far to date...... 1. Sitting down to go potty and realizing I just pulled my scrub pants down AND THEY WERE TIED!!!!!!!!

Well, I'm supposed to be on mushies one more week and was doing fine, faithfully measuring and recording, getting all my Protein in, mostly getting my Water in plus some. My scale has not moved past 298lb all week. WTH? I know I know, 1-2lbs per week is expected, I would just think I'm hardly eating a darn thing so it should be going down further right? I need to be patient. One good thing I have done though is ONLY allow myself to weigh in the morning vs. 5-6 x a day! We were going to pick up our deer meat and the boys all wanted Chinese. I though, no problem ( I always pack my blender ball shaker with a scoop of Protein Powder ready to go in my purse). Unfortunately I had already had that on the ride up.......so instead of having the buffet, I opted for steam broccoli with steamed shrimp. I am not suppost to be on "meats" until next week, but I thought it was a better option and holy big plate bat man! I laughed when she brought it out because I would have eaten three times that normally. I could only eat three shrimp and two very small pieces of broccoli and I was stuffed! I love Prudence. (I named my band ) That was a 1:00pm and I'm just now at 6:00pm feeling "slightly" hungry! I have to keep reminding myself that although my scale might not be moving as fast as I want, I'm making LIFELONG changes. I didn't get fat over night, so I'm not going to be thin overnight either.

Wow, I can't believe I'm seven days post-op! For a few days there I didn't think I would ever start feeling better. Started this morning off with 2 lightly scrambled eggs (1/2 c.) giving me 14g of protein off the bat. Then I met my mom & dad at a local mall to walk. It was GREAT. The Mills Mall in St. Louis was all the rage when it opened and now its a glorified walking track. Found it hilarious that my parents were waving at everyone, saying hi to new friends they've made as if they were local celebrities. Of course we had to stop twice for my mom to poop- guess thats where I get my obsession with poop from? Its all coming to me now.....hahaha. Then I thought I would spice it up acting like a crazy excersise lady raising my arms to and fro as if I was holding weights, clapping, saying loudly, "yeah, feel the burn, whoooo!~" So proud of my parents- although I must be adopted because I certainly didn't get any fat genes from them (they are both relatively normal size), but my dad was recently diagnosed with diabetes. It was definitely a wake up call for everyone in the family. They still party it up drinking at the local "tavern" with their friends, but their diet has COMPLETELY changed. They walk everyday with two of my aunts at the mall. If they can do it, so can I. No excuses. My find of the day were a set of 8 really cute baby spoons! I know the things that excite me in life, right? My husband commented on the fact that he thought I was eating too fast. Listen here buddy, you try eating liquids for a week and then when you are blessed with a 1/2 c of ANYTHING tell me YOU wouldn't eat it fast. Funny though, contrary to him thinking I DON"T listen, I took his words and purchased baby spoons. Let me tell you- that was a fun shopping experience.....do I go with the Transformer spoon, Cinderella, or the Dora. Choices, choices........then I spotted a package of 8 various colors NO CARTOON spoons and the handle is long! PERFECT. Enjoying my greek yogurt with my new blue spoon. Life is good.

In trying to get my Protein in, I've been looking over my information again, and thought this would be helpful to share. Once you click on them, click again and it will make the image bigger to actually see it. Taken from SSM Weightloss Institute, Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery.