Kime-lou

Honestly, I'd pretty scared to do that. My BFF is a nurse and my brother is a medic, but I wouldn't let either one do it. I get my fills with floro and I am more comfortable because of it. The only time I would ever consider allowing this is if I was in desperate need of an unfill and couldn't get to my doctor. Then as soon as I could get to my doctor I would go! However, that is just me. I am not judging anyones else decision.

This is very common during weight loss. It has a lot to do with what you eat, like you said dairy. What helps is using SF hard candy or flavored water. I use crystal light or propel all the time to add flavor to my waters and keep bad taste down. When I head in somewhere like the mall or grocery I pop an altoid.

My husband loves doing that. I was really uncomfortable with it to begin with, but I try to let go and enjoy. The bottom line is if you enjoy it allow it, if not don't. Just tell him you don't really get anything out of it. I find that my man just like for me to tell him what really does it for me and when I do he loves that, so I try to direct him to what gets me and off of what doesn't. Once you loose weight you will be more comfortable with lots of things. I am just at 200 after being 244, and I already feel more free in that area.

Walking for the first 3 weeks, then any cardio until week 6. I was told NO abdominal exercise for 6 weeks. I made the mistake of trying at 4 and really hurt myself- muscle pulls. They didn't recommend jogging until at least week 3-4 depending on soreness. I think to a degree it is dependant on how large you are to begin with, you age, and your fitness level. You can be fat and still fairly fit or you can be fat with no muscle at all. I ask specifically about the total gym because I have one- I was told that I could work my legs starting at week 3, but to wait on anything else until week 6 due to pulling on ab muscles- of course this is after I had already torn one

I use to be addicted to the food shows. After surgery I wouldn't allow myself to watch it for at least a month, now I am watching again. It's amazing how I look at some of the recipes now verse how I would have before surgery. I am finally learning not to cook so much. I get sick of left overs at times.

I had a similar feeling. The doctor started me on softs earlier than most also, instead of eating much at the time, I only ate about a 1/4 of a cup at a time. Now I ate like every 2 hours, but it kept me from having pain. Depending on the thickness you may have to adjust it. When I ate apple sauce I could have a little more, but if I ate thick creamed potatos I ate less. Some times only 3 bites will hold you a long time.

Bottom line- I am a big fraidy cat! I didn't want bypass because of absorption issues while the idea of not aborbing calories is great the idea of not aborbing nutrients is not so great. Plus recovery is a lot longer. The sleeve was interesting, but I didn't want to be cut. My grandmother had to have something similar done when she was in her 50's due to a bleeding ulcer and from that point until she passed away she had horrible stomach issues. I am sure it's not the same thing and medicine has come a long way since then, but I still didn't want to risk it. My husband and I went to the seminar and after listening to the info on all WLS, I felt and he support me, that that going with the least dangerous was best. If I have problems with the band I can have it removed, if I don't then great. In 4 months I have lost 43 lbs and feel great. My doctor says I am doing just as well as many of the sleeve and gastric patients who had surgery around the same time. I am happy with the results, I am glad I did it.

I can to an extent. Sometimes though the out flow doesn't match with the in flow so I can get backed up, so I try not the really chug, but take bug swallows instead. The is especially true after a heavy workout.

This is my new doggie, Molly. She is a Shephard Corgi mix. She joins our 11 year old Greyhound, 11 year old Bengal Cat, and a 4 year old Bengal Cat. All are rescues! Now our fur family is complete- 2 of each.

Could be water weight! However, from what I was told by my nutritionist is that it is not abnormal to gain a bit when you start real food from liquids. Just make sure you are doing what you were told and you are fine.

Awesome!!!! I am so close to Onederland I can taste it!! Only 2 lbs to go and I will join you.

This weekend was a dozy! First off Thursday night we brought home a new addition to our family- Molly a 1 year old Corgi/Shepard mix. She is a little bundle of energy and cute as a button. We already have an 11 year old Greyhound that is the best dog on the planet (perfectly behaved!) and two bengal cats, one 11 and one 4. The Greyhouse has asserted her alpha dog status and as has the older cat. The younger cat has gone into hiding whenever the little terror is out. Saturday morning I got up early and went shopping with my BFF who had gastric bypass 3 years ago. She understand the difficulty of being big and then losing. She help me pick out clothes and I went into the dreaded dressing room. WOW- a pair of 16 pants (not 16 W, but 16 ladies) slid on with not problem and buttoned!! A large sweater fit perfectly in ladies. What a difference wearing clothes that fit make - I felt better and looked better. I went home and put on my new size 16 jeans with my new sweater and by new boots and walked into my hubby's office- he loved it. We went out that night with friends and I felt awesome struting around the mall. Size 16 isn't small, but it's better than the 20's and 18's I was wearing. Sunday we decided to take our new baby, Molly, and Chloe for a walk. Well, it was more Molly walking us. To be just 30 lbs she can pull 200 lbs like it's nothing. My hubs and I had to take turns dealing with her. Our Greyhound was her usual pefect self- walking right be side you being good. We walked 5.5 miles and the little one never stopped pulling. My arms are sore from holding her back. When we got home my husband, myself and Chloe fell out in the floor and Molly went for the toy box to play. I have a feeling she is my new work out plan. On the down side, she had caused me to fall Saturday night, I wasn't in pain then nor Sunday morning, but after the 5.5 mile walk my knee was killing me and today it still hurts bad. May not be going for a long walk today. For the most part it was a great weekend. My weight hit 202.0, so I should see 201 by next weekend. I may just make my goal of 199 by Thanksgiving!!

This last month has been a wild ride. I started off with the goal of working out daily and eating no more than 1200 calories a day no matter what. The first two weeks I did well and stuck to it even though the scales really didn't move much. Then my grandmother passed away. Not only was I faced with lots of emotion (we were extremely close- she was my friend as well as grandma) and tons of food that wasn't the best foods for me. Being that I was away from home for 5 days in the deep country- finding better food options really weren't possible. I attempted to make the best choices of what I had, but still felt like I was going way over my 1200 allowed calories even though I wasn't counting (no access to my apps). When I returned home from the services, I had a sore throat which balloned into a horrible head cold and then broncitis. So 2 weeks of no excercise and not eating the best in the world, but drinking water and SF hot tea like crazy. I thought for sure that when I went in for my fill my weight would be up and they wouldn't give me a fill. Low and behold - I had the best month since month 1. I lost 8 lbs! My weight is at 202, just 3 lbs from my first major goal- onederland! I did get another fill and an agressive one at that. My doctor is super excited and said for where I started most patients don't hit this point until month 6-8, so she is very happy. Maybe I could increase my weight loss more by cutting out carbs and such, but what I am doing now is sustainable. I am still eating the foods I love (pizza and pasta's) just eating far less of it than I did at one point. I use to think my metabolism was really low because I didn't eat that much so it had to be screwed up for me to weight that much- well I was in denial. I was gorging at times. Food consumed my life rather than fueling it. That has changed - I eat what I like, I am just mindful about how much and how bad it is. I choose to make better choices and that has made all the difference!!

Can you find a surgeon will will fix the hernia and then you can start getting fills again and start losing the weight? Many doctors, do hiatal hernia surgery at the same time they do lapband- I had mine repaired at the same time.

Different surgeons put them in different places. Mine is in the center about 3 in from my navel and two finger tips from the bottom of my sternum. A friend of mind who was banded 3 years ago has hers a half in below her belly button. I have been able to feel mine from the get go. Some people say that it is visable once you loose a lot of weight, but I haven't lost that much, yet!

You could be eating to much or it could be Water weight. Things to look at: 1- do you eat more than the recommended 1 cup per meal? 2- if you count calories are you going over 1200? 3- what time of the month is it? If it is close to your monthly then it could be water weight. 4- Are you working out? Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you are working out you could be losing fat and gaining muscle and the weight goes up, but you are healthier. 5- Are you drinking your water? I totally didn't understand the need for all that water in the begining and didn't really believe it, but I figured I would do what the doctor said and see what happens. Well, it's true- the water helps keep your body flushed and hydrates it so the kidneys get rid of all excess- if you don't drink the body holds on to each little bit and water is heavy. 6- Our weight fluctuates hourly, dailey and one day you could be up 3 lbs and the next day down 1, so look at your patterns rather than one crappy day. Try not to stress about it. The other main thing to rememeber is that in the begining it more like the band diet before you have restriction. Once you gain restriction which could be fill 4 or higher for some people it will be easier to follow the rules, until then it's bandster hell.

I believe this is the norm not matter if you had a hernia repaired or not. Like maddy said heat does help ease things off. At the start healing is most important, just make sure you get enough liquid down- you do not want to get dehydrated- you thing you hurt now- dehydration will make you think you are dying. I was told to drink room temp liquids to start with, I ask why and they said it would be easier. I ask what would happen if I drank cold water- they said it might be uncomfortable, but it wouldn't hurt anything. I drank ice cold Water and for me that worked. If you like hot- drink a cup of SF hot tea if you prefer. Just stay hydrated. Once the swelling is down and you are not feeling like crap start trying to make sure you are getting the right amount Protein. (Disclaimer- no I am not a doctor, however, I have questioned both my doctor and nutritionist to the point of exhaustion on their part and this is what I was told)

It's not hard if you use an phone or computer application- it makes it easy. Like Missy I stick to 1200. I hate to admit it, but with a death in the family, me getting sick, and the craziness of this time of year I haven't counted in 2 weeks. I gotta get back to it, thankfully my weight has not gone up.

I don't know if any of you have had this, but I just realized I am scared to go out shopping for new clothes. I had surgery in June and have lost 41 lbs, I feel good and many of my clothes are way to big, but some fit really great now. I have gotten to the point I only have 1 pair of jean that don't fall off and I need to go shopping, but I am scared. I have never had a problem going out in public or shopping before- I love to go out and about. What scares me is trying on clothes. I know some of my clothes I have had to take to good will, but others still fit well. I am scared I will go pick up a pair of jeans and go try them on and they won't fit. I haven't purchased jeans in 2 years. I am scared the ones I had stretched and I will find I am not down as many sizes as I would like to be and that it will discourage me. When I had surgery I had gotten to the point that all the clothes in my closet were getting snug and I refused to go up a size. It's such a mental thing. I want some new things, but I HATE trying on clothes. I know I am smaller, my husband tells me everyday that I am doing great and he is loving my new hour glass shape minus the bumps and lumps. But I still have a long ways to go. 41 lbs down, but 60 plus to go to be at goal. It's not that I am afraid I'm not going to get there, it's just that I don't want to shop yet and see myself in those 360 mirrors. I know I have to, it's getting cold and I must get some long pants that don't sag. Hopefully, I will get the courage this weekend to make the trek.

Low Vit D can make you feel tired- once I got mine up I felt better, as well as getting my Vit. B complex up. I have always been cold natured - freeze all the time, it's just me, the doctors have run every test they can think of and everything is fine.

My weight is still going down, it was up this weekend a bit, but I was taking a lot of cold meds and drinking liquids constantly. This morning I was back down to my 203. I know I am doing well and the weight is still trending down. Up until the last couple weeks I was an avid calorie counter and exercised 3-5 days a week. Since my Grandmother passed away on the 17th and life has been crazy with the services, family from other states visiting and then my catching a killer cold that lead to Bronchitis, I have been in a funk and totally not into counting calories and can't work out because of the bronchits (can barely breath). Being like this scares me. I am afraid that if I become lax now my weight will go back up and I will lose what I have worked so hard for. Yeah, I know my Grandma wouldn't want me to do that. But, it's not just losing her it's everything that has happened in the last 2 weeks. I am exhausted all I want to do is sleep. I don't believe I am depressed (already on Paxil) I think it's just the being sick and not getting enough oxygen from clogged airways. I can't afford to miss work so I am working every day and going home to the couch. I am eating basically whatever is fast and easy to fix because I am to tired to do much else. I gotta get out of this, I want don't want to fail myself or my band.