WASaBubbleButt

Fantastic advice. Absolutely a great idea.

It is shocking, it's a huge rip off as well. I can understand charging more to patients that the doc didn't band. I get that and I agree with it. Fills are not much of a money maker in an MD office. But $1100 is a bit silly. There are two docs (in practice together) near me that charge the same BUT if they do your fills you have to join their entire program. The nut, psychologist, monthly meetings, etc. That is a lot of overhead and I can totally understand their fee schedule. But the other guy, just a blind fill and it's $1100.00. I don't know, maybe I take it personally since I am banded but to me that just sounds like it is taking advantage of people desperate to lose weight. My doc is the same, fills for life for free (although the hospital charges for the radiology equipment, etc,) and I'm very lucky because I can quickly drive to Mexico whenever I want. I do feel for people that have to fly.

Not sure, I think it depends. I'm a mega carb addict, if I eat a little I am toast for the rest of the day. I'm hungry and turn into a big fat couch slug. It takes me about three days to get back into the swing of things. If you are like that I would suggest staying away from the potatoes, etc. However, if you are a person that can eat it today and not struggle to stop eating it tomorrow I would say go for it. We aren't on a diet here, we are struggling to eat like normal people. Normal people eat mashed potatoes, dressing, etc. on holidays. If you can eat it for one day and go back to better food choices the next day then have at it. My opinion only.

Be really careful about letting it go on too long. While I don't regret anything I did in the least regarding getting a band, I did let it go on too long. Turns out, he had figured it out. He travels and is only home every other weekend so the post op diet wasn't difficult. First time he was home I was on clears and he asked why. I told him I had a bad taco from Taco Bell. He obviously didn't question that. Two weeks later when he came home I was on full liquids. He asked why, I told him a little stomach virus. Two weeks after that I was on soft foods and just drank shakes around him. He was leaving to go out of the country for about six weeks, a trip I was supposed to go on and couldn't due to band problems. As he was walking out the door he finally made a comment about the weight I had lost. I told him him yes, I finally did as he suggested and started a diet. (Grrrrrr) He asked how I was doing it and I held up a can of Atkins and smiled. He looked at me for the longest time and finally said, "Okay, I guess you aren't ready to tell me yet." I had six MORE weeks to fret over that one. I really don't regret doing what I had to in order to get a band. But I do regret not telling him sooner. You know that window of opportunity to tell him? Well, the window came and left long before I finally told him. That's the only regret, letting it go on too long. I had never lied to him before that incident. Oh, I waited for better times to tell him things but I never lied to him. I've been where you are, please... just don't let it go on too long.

I didn't generalize. Where my husband is from they DO have mud huts, no windows, dirt floors, and very little money. I never claimed this is all of India but people are not typically familiar with the areas of India and if I refer to the southern half of India that means nothing to the average person. Where DH is from, the streets are one in the same with the sewers, the houses are small one room buildings made of adobe, the marriages are arranged by family, and living is quite backwards. I'm sorry but I do mean exactly what I wrote. If you find this offensive I apologize, but it's true.

I realize this isn't directed at me but I'm going to throw in my two cents anyway. *I* was much more aggravated by HIS refusal to hear me out and peacefully allow me to do what was right for me. It came to a point where I decided the hell with what he thought, if I were diabetic and needed insulin would I care about his opinion if he wanted me to do without insulin? There really wasn't a difference. This wasn't being done for vanity reasons, this was a medical decision and just because he didn't understand did not mean I wasn't going to have it done.

Without a doubt, I lost. First 21 days I lost 23lbs. Kept losing from then on.

Spaghetti Squash is GREAT! You slice it in half, bake it, and when you take it out of the oven you use a fork and it comes out in strands just like spaghetti. You prepare it like you would pasta, meat sauce, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, parmesan and butter, anything you like. Good stuff. Much easier to eat for bandsters than pasta.

If that was the only complication of a sleeve or band, I'd be more likely to agree with you but those are not the typical complications for either. Actually, in Mexico it is $1,850-$2,000. While they pay less for the band they also helped to perfect the band and the procedure. While US docs have a huge help from Inamed in advertising, Mexican docs get nothing. They aren't even supposed to use the Inamed logo on their websites. Those TV commercials on at midnight with one doc and Inamed patients and band? Paid for mostly by Inamed. Mexico gets nothing like that. So really, the cost of the band does tend to even out. True, while the better Mexican docs do have medical malpractice people are not nearly as sue happy in Mexico as they are the US. In the US it is considered free money. Not the wisest of attitudes but nonetheless, our attitude. We have created a horrible situation in the US for docs and medical malpractice insurance. (Hubby is a physician, I write out that check and cringe each time I do) Agreed. We disagree. People have surgery all the time and follow up with another doctor. If I have a total knee replacement done by Dr. ABC, I know if I move to another state Dr. DEF will still do my follow up. Not true in the US when it comes to banding. Inamed started that and there are many political games involved, probably too much to go into here. But mark my words, someday the sue-happy banded American is going to be unable to obtain emergency medical care and I assure you, that person is going to go after Inamed and I will support them 100%. As anti-lawsuit as I am, I HOPE someone goes after Inamed. THEY are the reason we can't get medical care in the US if we are banded. Do you agree with a doctor charging $1100 for a non-fluoro fill on a Mexican banded patient? Or a patient banded by another US doc? Don't you think there is a difference in contractual agreements between insurance co's and docs/hospitals vs. what private pay patients fork over? Don't most docs make more from a private pay patient vs. what Medicare pays, for example? Please don't get me wrong, of the docs that post here on LBT, without a doubt you are my favorite. You are easy going, approachable, willing to answer questions, you aren't stuffy, arrogant, or overall a pain in the butt. You are really a very kind man. I don't want to make it sound like you are the anti-doctor or anything similar. But I know both sides of the coin as well and quite frankly, it's not the docs I have a problem with, it's Inamed. Just wanted to make that point clear.

My other half is from India where they have mud huts and dirt floors for hospitals. He is also a physician and does not see the value in unnecessary surgery. I'm quite sure he thought this was another hair brained diet that wasn't going to work but surgery was taking it a bit far. He was scared, so I took the fear out of it for him. My body, my choice. The first 15 years of our marriage I never dreamed I would do such a thing either but people change, relationships change, everything changes and we do things we never thought we would. I was desperate and would do the same darn thing again if need be.

Well, 20 years ago I would have agreed with you. Sometimes life changes in ways you didn't bank on.

Lettuce, tomato, onions, tuna salad, parmesan/romano cheese, and Cesar (x2) dressing. It's soooo good! Hmmm, they are open for nine more minutes... haven't had one in a few days... Nope, don't need it. Already ate today. I need to keep repeating that for nine more minutes. Eight more minutes....

Whenever anyone steals anything from me, after I'm done being angry I really do try to take on the attitude that they obviously needed it more than I do. It's not that I really believe that, but it makes me feel better about it.

Regarding Rimadyl (I call it RimaKill): The Senior Dogs Project Very deadly drug. That's why I asked.

No way would I ever agree to photos with or without clothing. I don't own any "before" photos of me, I'll be damned if others are going to have photos of me out of my control. It simply would not happen. Some docs use them for research, some want proof that the surgery was necessary. Well, my BMI was proof I needed the surgery. If he needs photos, I need a new doc.

Oh, we are separated now. But that was a long time coming. I decided this was something I had to do for myself and that was all there was to it. He could support me or not but it was going to happen. We did work through the "sneaking off to Mexico" thing but there were other issues so I wanted time away from him. The more time away from him the more time I wanted. So be it.

I don't usually eat Breakfast, never have cared for it. Usually around 1PM I drink a Protein shake. Around 4PM maybe another or a small salad. Around 7PM fruit, veggies, cheese sticks, salad, tuna, whatever I want.

You know, it's weird being fat and hard to explain. If I were to show you a photo of yourself thin and a photo of a cake... which do you want more? You want thin more than you want a piece of cake but for some odd reason, we all seem to reach for the cake even though we want thin more. It makes no sense. food is an obsession and a compulsion. We would rather be thin but we reach for the food that satisfies some weird internal 'thing' instead. No rhyme nor reason. With a band you finally find a little control over the obsession and compulsion. I don't think it ever goes away completely but you finally reach a point where you have control over it vs. it having control over you. You just have to wait it out. This is a ride that you will be on for a long time. You will have your good days and your bad days. For me the key was not justifying the bad days anymore. I have little excuse for sucking down a bag of chocolate anymore. My last Chocolate binge was when I bought a large carton of Whoppers and a mega size Dove Milk Chocolate bar. I ate about 4 or 5 Chocolate whoppers and one cube of the Chocolate bar and got rid of the rest. A year ago I would have eaten the whole thing. Those days are over. Not to say I won't binge again, I probably will. But today if I want to stop it badly enough, I can. I can't say that was true a year ago. When your thinking changes the pounds will follow. If you want it bad enough, it will happen. But you really have to want it and you have to want it bad enough to make the changes. You aren't striving for perfection, you are striving for control over food. It's much more doable than you might realize. Give it time, the pounds will go.

Just because someone has PhD behind their name doesn't mean they are all that bright.

Fully clothed here too. Do ask about one issue up front. There are a handful of doctors that want before photos of you. Some do them fully clothed, some nude, some give you a paper bra and underwear to wear during photos. My doc didn't do that and if he would have, I would have told him to buggar off. That would have been a deal breaker for me. It never hurts to see if your doc is one of the few that wants before/during/after photos nude or semi-nude. If he takes those photos, ask if you refuse to do the photos will he refuse to do your surgery. If so, either deal with it or find a new surgeon. Most do not require photos of any type. But the thing is, find out before surgery so you aren't in for a big surprise.

Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal I prefer the first one.

Maintaining protein levels should do it for you. Cut out white carbs, those are what cause blood sugar spikes and hunger. Stick with adequate protein and it will do what you are looking for.

Probably a couple of months. Your port is the first thing to hurt and the last thing to heal. I'm a year out and I still get port twinges here and there. You really shouldn't be bending from the waist anyway, you should be bending from the knees. What a weird kind of reminder, a port! The lump is likely scar tissue and will probably go away after a few weeks. Then as you lose weight, assuming you carry a lot in your belly, you will be able to feel your actual port.

My husband was absolutely 100% against it, biggest fight we ever had in 20 years. So I did as any rational person would do. I waited for him go to out of town, I went to Mexico, he figured it out later. No, I'm not suggesting anyone do that but I do understand our other half not supporting this decision.

I essentially eat a modified version of Atkins, I have eliminated an entire food group and I'm thrilled I did. Never felt better. Just what do white carbs have to offer you in a nutritional sense? Pasta? Flour? White rice? Sugar? None of those foods are necessary for life, none of them are even good for you. Quite the opposite. The bad press comes from the version of Atkins people are doing. If they are not eating any fruits or veggies, of course, that's not great. If they are diabetic and shooting for ketoacidosis... a little common sense will go a long way. I'm usually in ketosis but that is only because I avoid all white carbs, not all carbs completely. White carbs are what got me fat. I darn sure was not healthy then. Today getting rid of all white carbs means I feel better, I look better, and I'm much healthier than before. For many Atkins means all meat, no veggies, high fat, high calorie, unreasonably high Protein. Of course that isn't healthy. It takes a bit of common sense and a few critical thinking skills.