Sooverit!

Hi Drew: Yikes what is a "leak"? gulp...haven't heard about this one yet. I am pre-banded and doing research. Would you mind sharing? Thank you so much...glad you are okay now.

What a great attitude you have Kim~ Let's keep this all relative though I a non-banded person, would give my left shoe (my those were the days designer heels) to lose 40 lbs!! Wow...Also since 2004 I've gained that much! So keep up your positive outlook = you are in better health now!

I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about but I too hear that "gargle" sound too lately (I am not banded yet:huytsao ). I think it's after I drink alot of liquids and immediately lay down and it's also due to gas that I've been having more of lately as well.

Hi Josie B from Katy TX! What a cute name! Thank you for the recommendation, I am going to look into Dr. Ren ..thank you! I have a doctor that is only 30 minutes away but I should look into all my options and she will be the first one I look into in the city...thanks so much. BTW, how are you doing? Looks like you are steadily moving along...in the healthy direction. Do you feel better already? I look forward to one day jumping out of bed without this heavy body following me from behind! :-) May I ask if insurance covered you? I am grovelling with the decision now to self pay or wait another year, try my insurance company and possible get turned down. I have a 36 BMI and not on meds ...for now. dr christine Ren in NYC is one of the best doctors for lapband in the country. she was part of the original FDA trials. shes honest and straight forward explaining the good, bad and ugly. i investigated her when i lived in NY. i have a few friends that have been very successful with her. i decided against it because i just wasnt plain ready back then. not sure if you want to travel to the city....but in case you do __________________ 270/249/229/150 Highest/Surgery/Current/Goal Dr. Spivak-Houston Surgery 3/30/07 JosieB from Katy, TX http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/index.html

I agree with you Drews about asking your doc befoe taking anything. So many people are fooled into a false sense of security with otc drugs especially (this is another issue) if it says "all natural" ...tornados and huricanes are natural too. Good advice!

Dear Aubrie: My heart goes out to you as I too gained weight like that after a pregnancy. I am not banded but I am going to a health center recommended by the BAriatric surgeon that runs tests and finds the reason why you are fat for you. I think that is important before doing this proceedure. This is just one more tool added to others to help the obesity problem ...it's not a one shot cure all I think is what I've read, it may be different for everyone tho! I know skipping meals is never good. I read Dr. Oz's book YOU on a diet the other month and I like what he said about eating every two - three hours so you don't go into starvation mode and then eat more at the next meal. Keeping your food heatlhy and anti oxidant helps eveyrthing. My problem isn't takign the weight off and eating right it's keeping it off. Good luck and I know you'll find some of your answers here on this informative site!

Forget to say thank you for all your thoughtful responses!:clap2:

Dear Kat: In reading your response to Mustang my heart just broke thinking of all the stress you must have been under during your husband's problems! Boy was he lucky to have you! Stay strong you are an inspriation. So glad he is better now! Marg

Hi Terry: Congratulations on your recent banding! Good for you! You sound like you are doing great. I see that your BMI is even lower than mine! (36) and your goal weight is 5 lbs less than mine but our ages are the same. How did you get approval for surgery? Was it difficult? Did insurance cover it? I bet you feel great with the 11lbs off. I haven't lost weight in ages..only gaining here since I turn 45 especiallY !

AS they say if we know our history well the chances of repeating it are less. I think if I find out WHY I overeat ...is it compulsive overeating, is it low blood sugar, is it a combination of a hundred things...:help: probably but to know sort of gives you a feeling of control. I am starting a program or doctor supervised diet that will give me reasons (which are mostly lables I know) why I over eat.

Dear Janine: If you don't mind, may I ask what your other Health complications were with your 36 BMI that gave you the green light from your insurance company? I* know it's a matter of time before I get Adult Onset Diabetes as it runs in my family. I wish I could do this on my own but I can't. I came back from a Japanese Restaurant with my family and felt so incredilby stuffed and for good reason we love to eat sushi like there's no tomorrow. My husband runs everyday tho and my son is only 18 and my daughter is 10 but could lose some weight. I fear my eating habits wore off on her. I hope I don't miss being able to eat like this! thanks for reading this far

Monica: I sent you a message and it vanished it was warm and fuzzy but now it's out in the universe some where! :rolleyes Maybe it's not posted yet? I just wanted to ask you as I forget in my last write, but do you exercise daily? I know when I walked with a combination of sprinting even not being banded my appetite for sweets/carbs went right down as soon as I stopped the ice cream cravings came back.

Dear Monica: I wish I knew how to post those cute faces I would give you one huge (as the universe) hug. You are not alone and so many people have eating disorders. I think the lap band is still a good idea because as you are learning to find the cure to your eating diorder at least you won't be gaining weight. When you have tackled this problem and you will tackle and conquer it you will have the band to prevent you from gaining weight after you lose. You know what happens after any weight loss without the band! Please keep us posted on your progress. You did NOT make a mistake. This is just the beginning of your path. Love from the universe!! hugs & XXX Mar

Dear BB: How are you now 4 months post banded? Are you able to eat solids? How much weight have you lost? Have you ever gotten a second fill? Hope you are feeling better. Marg

Hi Boo...I'm with you I have lost a lot of weight but gained more. With each gain I am more heartbroken and frustrated. All the effort I put in only to see it wasted. I love what one of your replyers said about putting in effort at the gym and the band help us to be assured it's not all in vain. I felt like that too so often ...I would work almost daily for months and months then get hurt or just get distracted and gain it all back very quickly. At least with this "aid" you are assured you have some control and will invest more into weight loss and health...at least I think I will ! I have a long road to go tho if I want to be covered by insurance (cigna). I need a 6 mo doctor supervised diet which I'm starting on monday...then which I'm thinking I will gain even more after the 6months and then finally...be qualified!! :faint:

Hi Candle: I have Cigna Insurance and Dr. Geiss' office was nice enough to refer me to HealthBridge in Syosset near the Hospital. I have an appointment with a Dr. Edelman. He has been written up in the media and on new programs for being the first to offer a program for the overweight & obese that tackles the problem from all angles...nutrition, physchological, excercise,etc...it sould be interesting. I would be shocked if they told me something I didn't know as I've been trying to lose weight deligently with diet and exercise for 10 yrs since my last pregnancy...and of course the same old down 20 up 25 down 25 up 30 ...you konw the deal I know. My BMI is on the lower side and I am not on meds but I feel if I have this 6 months under my belt it's like insurance for when I do go on meds...if at all. Best case sceniaro this place works and I don't need the lap band...but I'm not getting my hopes up ....again. Where are you going for your DSD?

Hi there, I live in Huntington, New York and have a consultation with Dr. Geiss in Syosett as well. With my insurance, I will need to be on a 6 month doctor supervised diet before being approved.

Hi Elizabeth are you still on this site? I see you posted last year at this time and your doctor was Dr. Geiss I have an appt. with them next week. Was wondering how your experience was and how are you doing now a year later. thanks so much Marg

Renebean: You are an inspiration. I loved reading about how you walk with an "energetic bouncy gait". I am so happy for you and your lighter body! Thank you!@ Marg

Hello everyone: Technology c a n help people, and this is one example. Not only is this surgery amazing but this site is in that it can help people cope with all the changes that must take place. How about the "lower" BMIers? I would love to know if the decision was more difficult and also more expensive if your insurance doesn't cover it. Has anyone had regrets? Are there any surgeons who will do the proceedure if you have a 35 BMI but NOT on meds yet? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Morgan

That doesn't sound slow to me at all! When you are the non banded your just happy to not gain weight this month!

Sounds like you were on a doctor supervised diet? I think it may mean more money for everyone if it's a structured program. I'm starting one next month!

America the Beautiful Words by Katharine Lee Bates, Melody by Samuel Ward MIDI sequencing provided by Melody Lane O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for halcyon skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the enameled plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till souls wax fair as earth and air And music-hearted sea! O beautiful for pilgrims feet, Whose stem impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought By pilgrim foot and knee! O beautiful for glory-tale Of liberating strife When once and twice, for man's avail Men lavished precious life! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till selfish gain no longer stain The banner of the free! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee Till nobler men keep once again Thy whiter jubilee! O, say can you see by the dawn's early light |ye - through What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? |by Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, |bright stars and broad stripes - O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? clouds of the And the rocket's red glare, The bomb bursting in air, |bombs Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O, say does that star spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, |On Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? |now conceals, now discloses Now it catches the gleam Of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: |on 'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! And where is that band who so vauntingly swore |are the foes / are the hosts - That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, sweepingly A home and a country should leave us no more! Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. |This - his No refuge could save The hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand |And - foemen Between their loved home and the war's desolation! |homes - war's Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, When our cause it is just, And this be our motto - "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave |O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! The following stanza was written by George Spowers around 1824 in an attempt to redress the balance of the anti-British sentiment in Key's third verse. However, it was also considered to drag the National Anthem into unnecessary politics, and is rarely sung. But hush'd be that strain! They our Foes are no longer; Lo Britain the right hand of Friendship extends, And Albion's fair Isle we behold with affection The land of our Fathers - the land of our Friends! Long, long may we flourish, Columbia and Britain, In amity still may your children be found, And the Star-Spangled Banner and Red Cross together Wave free and triumphant the wide world around! Probably the best known additional stanza was written by Oliver-Wendell Holmes during the Civil War, and was intended to decry treasonable acts against the US flag. When our land is illumined with liberty's smile, If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory, Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile The flag of the stars, and the page of her story! By the millions unchained, Who their birthright have gained We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained; And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, While the land of the free is the home of the brave. Last update: 22-Mar-00 ©1996-2004 Mike Todd

Thank you so much Kat for your thoughtful response. I know exactly what you mean by eating to sustain healthy life in contrast to the "other" way. When I am on a great diet and feeling the first 4 weeks of enthusium that is just how I feel, the way you do now all the time! Something happens tho to my mind and I just go off the deep end or "fall off the wagon". I see that the lap band prevents you from falling?

Wow good for you Lianna and great weight loss! Do you feel like a new person? You sound so clear about this and it helps me alot as I have almost the same amount of weight to get ride of as you did. One day I think this is exactly what I should do then the next day I think I'm being nuts. I think that if I had a health issue it would be a no brainer but thanks to your letter...it reaffirmed that it is only a matter of time before I cause as you said "permanant damage to my body" Thanks for the great response. Marg