mags2u

Hi everyone! I'm having surgery on January 10th and created a group in the groups section "January 2012 bandsters". Would love to get some discussions, support going.

10. Going up in the Arch in the pod-a fat chick is a funny site in one of those! 9. I dont want to be an exhibit at the Science Center on how obese Americans are. 8. Forest Park. THREE words- sinking a paddleboat! 7. West County, Chesterfield, Midrivers, The Mills. Shopping in "Non-big girl stores! 6. Six Flags. NEVER again will I have to get off the Screaming Eagle because I dont fit. 5. Busch Stadium- I'll be able to sit in the seats without the sidearms digging into my hips. 4. June - September in St. Louis. I will be able to go to pools in a swimsuit! 3. December-February in the STL. Sledding Art Hill without having a heart attack. 2. Susan G. I will not be out of breat walking in the Susan G. Walk. and the number one reason to be skinny in St. Louis is..........drumroll................. 1. When I go to my highschool reunion ( c' mon you knew there would be a highschool reference right?) All my classmates will say " You look the Same as you did in highschool!

I was driving home the other day from an event (I own a photobooth company) and was listening to my Grease Soundtrack and Olivia sang it out ........."Sandy, you must start a new, don't you know what you must do". "Hold your head high, take a deep breath insiiiiiiiide"....."Goodbye to Sandraaaaa Deeee". I thought how fitting and think that will be my new montage. Although I've lost 59lbs, I'm still not to ONEDERLAND, I'm still living in TWOterville (and my hubby can attest to that in more ways than one!) When I got home and started uploading my pictures from the event, I flashed by this picture and realized it was me! I fully understand most people who see this picture would say I have a lot more to lose. Indeed I do, however sometimes I actually forget that I've lost almost SIXTY freakin pounds! That's a lot of double chins that are gone, let me tell ya. As with so many diets I've put myself through, I've always taken monthly pictures. I chose not to do that this time. My plastic surgeon yelled at me and said I should keep progress. Progress to me is looking six months from the time I had surgery and flashing by a picture and seeing, "wow, I'm really doing this!" I know I have a long road, but I can say with confidence, I look good!

We have a few great re-sale shops too in the area. I have my 20th reunion coming up July 14th. I've never been more excited to go buy a sexy outfit. Well not too sexy, but maybe just a little!

I personally did not. I have had nothing but great love for my band so far. Even having a month of painful eating (stupid me for waiting to report to my dr. for a month AND I'm a nurse and should know better), needing to have 1/2cc taken out, I'm down 59lbs since January 10th. Theres up's and downs, both emotionally and on the scale, but even if all my hair would have fallen out I would do it again in a heart beat!

Heeelllooo! Wow it's great to catch up on everyone's lives. I've been away too long! Glad to see everyone is still kicking butt at this! I'm down 59lbs since Jan. 10th. I had to get a 0.5cc "unfill" but then the next month she put in 0.25cc and I'm feeling pretty good. Before I got my unfil, I went an entire month hurting everytime I ate. My back has been reaaally bad lately which has kept me from exercising. It's very frustrating to have lost so much weight only to have my back still hurting. I know it will take time though. So glad everyone is doing well.

Hey Girls! Long time no post! Haven't been on in a while. OMG Kymie- GREAT job on reaching >50lbs! So excited for you. I had only lost 2lbs up and down up and down in the last month and was having difficulty eating in respects to painful eating except for soft foods. I'm pissed at myself for waiting until my month follow up appt but I kept thinking, "oh maybe I'm not chewing enough. Oh maybe I'm eating too much". Note to self: If it hurts to eat, call your doctor! So needless to say I was at 4cc and she took out 0.5cc. AMAZING that I could immediately eat without pain! Welcome 126dee! Glad you are with us. I love having to buy new clothes too, but amen to Goodwill and clearance racks! N2animals- I too have issues with exercise. My NP just lovingly nudged me at my unfill to "get on it". We are our own worst critic, but I feel we have a sisterhood (and brotherhood) here that we can express our feelings. You know we are all here for eachother, even if you PM people. Stay on track, you are doing great! And regarding onederland........does that mean I'm in twoterland? My husband would say yes. badumdum!

Hello! I love that there are so many nurses out here making the committment to better our lives! I'm an RN in MO. I was banded 1/10/12 and have lost 48lbs as of today. Fortunately, I also am a surgery nurse, so I REALLY knew too much for my own good, but fortunately I knew my CRNA and she gave me a great cocktail of versed and made sure I was comfortable. Surgery was a breeze. Week after crappy,but its kind of like having children, you forget about the pain. I've had my 3rd fill (4cc total) and THINK I've hit the sweet spot. With each fill you hae to really adjust your attitude about food. Glad to be here on the thread!

Congrats on your decision to change your life! I'm 3 months out and have lost 48lbs. I started at 316lb. My surgeon didn't require a pre-0p diet but I put myself on one anyway. I was 311lb going into surgery. Just remember, the band is a TOOL. You WILL be able to still eat things. Like the brownie I just had a little bit ago. The old me would have beat myself up about eating it, but now, after my 3rd fill (4cc total), I'm doing well with food choices and the portion I can eat. Do I treat myself everyonce in a while? YES! This has slowly become a lifestyle change for me which is what I needed help with to begin with. You will do fine. Just know you have to do the work. It won't do it for you. Funny, the cravings for me stopped when I started feeding my body the right things. Best of luck for you all! Keep us posted.

Congrats! What an exciting thing to accomplish!

Dulci- I am think I'm in the green zone after my last fill, but I too can eat for the most part what I used to eat. Just not the same amount. Great article Jean!

I had BCBS of TX. I had to do 6months of pre=op medically managed weight loss. My surgeons office gives forms for you to take to the doctor for him to fill out and then they submit everything at the end for you. They also checked 5 year weight history. I had to do a psych eval, they did approve me on the first submit. I did not lose much in the 6months pre-submission. I would see if your surgeon has a patient advocate/liason that handles any of the insurance and ask questions. If they don't contact your insurance company and have them fax you the bariatric weight loss surgery requirements. Hope that helps.

They say weight loss is much faster and they are seeing better results than band? But I do think it is newer.

Heeeey! How are you feeling? Were you outpatient or overnight? I absolutely had a great experience there. Congrats. I thought you weren't having surgery until May? So excited for ya! Let me know how you are doing. !!!

I'm in St. Louis. And are you ok? Proud of you for resisting the temptation to feed any emotions. I fed my stress with a diet dr. pepper the other day and thought I was going to die! Won't do THAT again.! Let me know if you need anything.

Congrats to you all! @magalis- walk walk and more walking will help with the gas. it usually will resolve after 5 or so days, but until then gas-x strips help too. Hope you are all feeling well. Feel free to PM for anything. Best of luck!

HaPpY~BirThdAy and congrats on making one of the best decisions of your life. My final "fat straw" that broke the camel's back WAS my back. I have a herniated disc in my back and was tired of hurting. Kind of like when Dr. Phil says, "how is fat working out for you?" Well it wasn't working out too well for me. I was banded 1/10/12 and have lost 46lbs. Definitely know this is a process and takes time. Hope you get your call soon for your date. Best of luck to you and keep us posted!~

@n2animals-WOW, I would be so nervous with that agressive of a fill, but I think ifyou are tolerating foods then awesome for you! What types of foods are you tolerting/eating? @amica813-I notice the exact same thing about the chewing aspect. I notice things not so much getting "stuck" as it is irritatingly painful to eat but I don't feel like I get stuck. If that makes any sense? I need to jump on the exercise bandwagon. My husband who is also overweight talked about joining a gym because my step son has been begging to join a gym with him for a while. I think we are going to join as a family. I will do real good for a couple of days then I poop out. I'm definitely a person who needs to be accountable to someone, so maybe switching it up to a gym with my fam will help? So proud of everyone and agree that January Bandsters kick butt! I think in a year we should plan a lapband get-together?

I'm at 4cc's too. Definitely notice a difference. I haven't been hungry hardly at all. I went to eat some raw mushrooms yesterday though. I got two down and then a bite of the 3rd one was tooooo much. So those came up. I'm noticing for sure the different in the amount I can eat, which is a good thing because I haven't really had much restriction (enough in my own mind) up until now. We'll see how it goes in a few weeks?

Frustrated for you! Increase water and increase your protein. If you decrease your caloric or protein intake, you WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT! Best of luck. You can do it! Keep us posted.

I agree- Back to basics. I went to a support group meeting the other day and one of the people said that once a month they go back to basics, starting out with Phase 1 of the post-op diet (liquids) for two days, then Phase 2- soft mushies and then so on. Worth a shot? You can do it!

Its so crazy to see how very different surgeons are with fill schedules and amounts. My 3 month bandiversary was yesterday and today I got my 3rd fill (1cc) so I'm at a total of 4cc. I must say, I'm super proud of each and every one of us. The band is a tool, WE are doing the work. We just have to remember that sometimes and give ourselves credit where credit is due. My nurse practitioner was thrilled with 43lbs loss in 3 months and said that is WAY more than expected for the band in this time frame. So with that said, we are all pretty much right on track with weight loss amounts, so cheers cheers to us! So glad I have all of you to turn to and get support from!

So do any of you miss just being able to go out to a restaurant and pig out? I've had this "sadness" just a few times since my surgery. I do really great during the week because I'm so anal about planning things out and being prepared. However, on the weekends, my husband and I like to go out to different restaurants. As a bandster, I still can eat out, I just choose much healthier options and when my entree arrives, I have the waitress bring out a box with the meal so I can portion out my food I will eat and the rest I save for leftovers. My husband is not the most romantic, but he suprised me with a date Friday and took me to the Hawthorne Inn in this little out of the way town called Labadie. Apparently the whole town of Labadie decided to go too, because we waited for 45 minutes. I chose the salmon with baked potato and it came with a salad. So the salad came and although I enjoyed a few bites, I stopped because I want to save room for the $21.95 salmon. I LOVE salad. I know its not a protein though and I have to get that in. Which brings me to the point of why I got the band to begin with- SO THAT I WOULDN'T EAT LIKE A PIG. But, every once in a while I get mixed emotions about my band. I thank God everyday for my band, because I was really becoming unhealthy. On the other hand, I sometimes have a pitty party for about 2.5 seconds and just wish I could finish my WHOLE salad, my WHOLE potato and MY WHOLE salmon. Funny how my band, Prudence brings me back to sanity though. Once I'm "full" then I think, Maggie you're a weirdo. What a strange thing to miss. You feel great, you are full off of a fraction of what you used to eat and you've lost 32lbs! Like I said, I don't get bummed out a lot, and realize that I had a very unhealthy affair with food. Glad my relationship with food is changing, but it is an ongoing struggle everyday to change.

I recently saw a new station talking about a new clinical study out showing the effects of WLS on diabetes Type II. I found this article taken from Seattle PI.com Weight Loss Surgery for Diabetes Patients – A Problematic Choice Share4 With obesity rates in the United States and around the world continuously rising, surgery for weight loss is becoming an ever more acceptable option. Now, two clinical studies suggest that diabetics can benefit from operations as well. Type 2 (or adult-onset) diabetes is mostly linked to weight problems and has reached similarly epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of diabetes cases has nearly tripled over the last three decades and affects today more than 20 million Americans. Both study reports – one from Italy, the other from the United States – concluded that surgical procedures, a.k.a. bariatric surgery, by which the size of the stomach is considerably reduced, enabled patients not only to lose weight but also manage their blood sugar levels more effectively than traditional measures like dieting and medication. Bariatric Surgery Can Carry Great Risks, Including Malnutrition The findings, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, may change how many diabetes cases will be treated in the future. Proponents of bariatric surgery say the studies confirmed that stomach size reduction should no longer be seen as a last resort but should be considered earlier in the treatment of obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Others warned that more studies are needed and that the risks in connection with the procedures available today remain high. According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), about 200,000 surgical procedures for weight loss are performed annually in the U.S. The National Institute of Health (NIH) says that surgery should only be recommended for people with a body mass index (B.M.I.) of over 40, or over 35 for those with diabetes and other serious illnesses related to weight problems. For the studies, the researchers limited themselves to three types of weight loss surgery: Roux-en-Y, biliopancreatic diversion and sleeve gastrectomy. Roux-en-Y is the most commonly applied method of gastric bypass surgery, by which a small part of the stomach is sealed off and then directly connected to the small intestine. Biliopancreatic diversion removes large parts of the stomach and bypasses the majority of the small intestine as well, which limits both food intake and absorption of nutrients. Sleeve gastrectomy reshapes the stomach into a smaller tube but does not alter the way food enters or leaves it. Needless to say, these are all very drastic steps to prevent weight gain and a host of diseases that often go with it, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and so forth. As a dietitian, my greatest concern is how the anatomical changes affect the metabolism of patients. Because bariatric surgery limits food intake so dramatically and also diminishes the absorption of nutrients, there is a great risk of malnutrition. Especially a sufficient supply of protein, which is extremely important during rapid weight loss for overall health and to allow for proper healing from the surgery, can become hard to obtain. Part of the reason for this is that the initial digestion of proteins takes place in the stomach, which after surgery is not only reduced in size but also in capacity. Even more problematic is the hindered absorption of essential nutrients in the small intestine because some or much of it is bypassed. This affects the absorption of carbohydrates, proteins and fats but also vitamins and minerals. Potential complications, not only from the surgical procedure itself but also from the nutritional deficiencies, are multiple. Bariatric surgery should never be considered as a quick fix, on par with cosmetic surgery. It is a profound alteration of the digestive system that is risky and requires permanent changes in diet and lifestyle choices. Intensive post-operational counseling and strict observation of nutritional guidelines are an absolute must. Timi Gustafson R.D. is a clinical dietitian and author of the book “The Healthy Diner – How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun”®, which is available on her blog, “Food and Health with Timi Gustafson R.D.” (http://www.timigustafson.com), and at amazon.com. You can follow Timi on Twitter and on Facebook.