Shackwacky

I weighed myself this morning and I am down to 163, that is 27 pounds gone and 28 to go! Am feeling better better better! I exercise every day now, (because I can). Yesterday I went to buy a dress for a special occasion and the one I chose hung on me, who knew that 27 pounds is almost three sizes! To anyone still struggling, hang in there!

I remember this feeling. Wondering how I could have invested the price of a small car in something that obviously didn't work..... Hang in there. I was banded November 2012, and three months and three fills later I am finally getting that "aha" moment, and I can feel now what I was expecting for some crazy reason to feel right off the bat. It does get better.

Oh, yes...carrots too. Cooked are fine, raw are sticky. I am a vegetarian, so I don't have to worry about meat, and so far all the beans and legumes go down just fine.

Well I am definitely doing this! Just trying to sort out logistics, and this is a biggy. I have to fly from Alberta to Toronto for the procedure. I will need to fly in the night before, stay the night directly after, and fly back home the following day. From reading the surgery-day stories, it would seem that some of you had a tough day (or days) immediately following the procedure. Is this a problem maybe? I will be travelling alone, so it will be a couple airports, one piece of luggage, and approximately five hours all told. Should I be giving it an extra day? And on that topic, I am using airmiles for most of my flight. But for you out of towners contemplating doing this, there are a few things you need to add to that budget Flights from out of province are not cheap. You will need a hotel for two nights for sure, more likely three or four. If you are not travelling with someone, you will need to either pay extra to stay the night at the clinic (Slimband) or pay a nurse $20 per hour to go back to the hotel with you and stay the first night (SWLC). Cabs to and from airport, centre, hotel etc. So I am thinking I have to budget an extra $1500 at least, it would be more if I was paying cash for flight The other concern I am trying to get addressed is what happens if for whatever reason I have to return to the surgeon (repairs or problems). I have been assured that the procedure itself is warrantied, but so far I can't get a definitive answer on whether or not I will be reimbursed at all for travel costs. If (and I don't expect it to, but I like to cover my bases when I am running up debt) something were to happen that required me to be back in TO for repairs, I am looking at all the travelling costs again plus down time at work. Anyone else dealt with this yet? Input much appreciated! I think there is such thing as Too Much Information. I am obsessively reading everything I can find on the net, and there are some amazing success stories as well as some crushing defeats. I should learn to stay away from the posts that detail complete train wrecks and warn any and all to stay away from ************** etc. I am overthinking, I know. I am confident in my choice of centre and surgeon, now the devil is in the details and I am keeping myself up nights Thanks in advance.

Grapes, of all things. I just can't seem to chew them enough. And peeling the apple is imperative, apple peels get stuck on me every time. But I am fine with rice, and pasta, and even asparagus.

Just had my third fill and am getting a taste of what the green zone will be like I lost two pounds last week and while I haven't weighed this week I can feel theres another pound or two gone. Being not hungry for hours and hours is marvellous.

It's happened to me a couple of times, both when I was eating and distracted and forgot the golden rules. The first time I sat there trying to tough it out, it hurt, it filled my mouth over and over with slime, my nose run and my eyes watered. And I hiccuped. It was awful, but it eventually went down. The second time, I went into the bathroom, leaned way over the toilet and just kinda gacked it up (think cat with a hairball). Yes, food-jellyfish. That time I felt better almost immediately, and could actually go back and eventually finish my food --- carefully of course. I am not sure why anyone would leave something stuck when there is a simple solution right there?

I LOVE reading your posts! I am in that long still-not-there stage, and have had my sleepless nights (hungry grumpy sad) wondering what the hell I was thinking putting the price of a new car into my stomach only to have it not do a damn thing for me. Going for another fill tomorrow, will be my third. I think I am getting close, and I hope to soon come back here and post "hey, you're right!" Thanks.

I had surgery with Dr. C in November, the next day I went to the falls and wandered around for a few hours. Had to go slow and rest a lot, but it was a nice way to keep that "walk around" thing going. Did wipe me out though, so keep it slow if you do go.

Yes, sat on a coworkers office chair to fix the spreadsheet she was working on, and it collapsed. I hear you.

I told only my husband. I am a very private person and it's no one else's business, I don't tell my coworkers or friends any of my other medical information, why should this be different?

I eat egg beaters scrambled eggs almost every morning, 3/4 of a cup of egg beaters in a bowl, microwave and serve with fresh salsa. Prep time about 2 minutes 100 calories and 16 g protein.

I run into the same thing at work, I eat at my desk. I have found if I take things that are already in tiny pieces (veggie chili has been my most recent go-to), it makes it easy to eat slow. I just have one little portion every so often, and the food stays on my desk for twenty minutes. It does not work with sandwiches since I tend to forget and take a preband size bite. I also bring things like veggie lasagna, but I cut it into little pieces ahead of time so that I just heat it up and eat the little bites. Honestly, we shouldn't be eating at our desks!!! Someone needs to complain to management

Sorry, I don't think you did mean this to sound lecturing, but maybe you need to look at the fact that to others, it just may? Especially since you are relatively new to this as well, and you seem to be intimating that you have a lot of experience and that we need to listen to you and stop asking the same damn questions over and over. When I was young, my older sister was a skinny person. A naturally slender, blonde, fit, skinny person. Who ate more than me. Not sure why we metabolized food differently, but she was built like the women on my Dads side of the family -- I hit the genetic jackpot and followed the big aunties. So aside from calories in, calories out, there are many many reasons people gain or lose at different rates. This has been explained to me over and over again, by doctors, by dietiticians, by nutritionists, by my WL surgeon. We are all different, and no one size fits all approach will work for everyone. When I was at my fattest, the skinny girls (my "friends") would say things like: "oh you have such a pretty face, you would be GORGEOUS if you lost some weight". Ouch. They would tell me this while sucking on a milkshake or nibbling on fries, while I mentally counted calories and decided whether or not I should sneak off and try to puke up my half a sandwich. Then they would, very nicely, explain to me that all I have to do is eat less. That if I really tried, I could stick to a diet and become pretty and thin like them. That if I really wanted it, it would be easy and SO rewarding. They meant well (maybe), but every word felt like an arrow piercing my too fat body. Sometimes, when I am here I feel like I am back in grade nine. Like I am being told I am fat and stupid, and if I would just listen to the skinny people, the ones who have it all figured out, I could make proper use of my lap band and be skinny just like them! I feel like I am being told that I must not want it bad enough. Same arrows, different table. I joined here thinking it would be a nice place to come and chat, get support, ask questions. But after a good start, I stopped doing much more than lurking, because I don't feel it's a very welcoming place for a newby. I am an adult, I don't need all caps lectures, or information repeated ad nauseum like I am too dense to hear it the first time. Sometimes, I just wanted to chat. My two cents.

From the Forum Guidelines: "Please note that this is NOT a guideline against inadvertently posting a question another member has asked before. We explicitly allow members to post questions that have been asked previously by other members. If you see a member post a topic that you think has been asked before by another member, please respond politely or simply move on.

Roscoe, I was banded the week before you and I am still learning and finding my way with my band. I wish I had it all figured out already like you seem to, if that was the case I think I too would be jumping in telling everyone else how to get there. But I think I am going to hold off on that until I actually get there, or at least till I have a few more notches in my belt.

I think a huge part of the problem is that WLS is a commercially promoted and sold item, just like shoes and cake and beer. Watch the commercials, phone up the first contact (sales!) number, spend a few minutes with the glossy brochure or the soft lighting music in the background success story videos. It would seem some of you did not experience this, but I can guarantee you that a lot of bandsters WERE promised that it would be, if not "easy", then certainly "easier" than losing weight by diet alone. There were only two clinics available to me, so I contacted them both. At the first one I received the sales pitch extraordinaire, at the second I received a call from the surgeon. Of course, I chose the second one. But had I not been doing my research, or had I reacted to the offer from the first clinic (we can probably drop the price a bit!!)...I think I would have gone into this considerably less informed than I did. Yes, you can do your own research, but people tend to rely on their surgeons advice, and the advice of the medical team, and if that advice is slanted to promote sales you will have a lot of people out here who DON"T know that this was going to be really effing hard at times. As for starting multiple threads ---- most days I come on here and I have absolutely no idea from the thread title what the thread might be about. A quick glance today shows me titles like "wondering", and "you can't make demands unless", and "frustrated" etc. If I was new and had a question, I am not sure I would want to click into each and every one of those threads to see if they are about what I want to talk about. Also, if I have a question, I am not sure I want to "hijack" someone else's thread -- perhaps they are frustrated or looking for support and my jumping in with my needs might derail that.

Got my second fill yesterday, so back to liquids today. Weight myself in the dotors office and it would seem I LOST two pounds over Christmas, so that was a nice surprise.

Not sure if that works, but last week it was -40 here (literally, the second coldest place on the planet that day) and my husband took a cup of water outside, threw it into the air, and it froze/evaporated before coming back down. Very very very cold that week.

Alicelopes, your surgery is coming up soon,yes?

Hi! Hanging in, not losing any weight since the initial loss, but didn't gain over Christmas and that's a first. I am 3.5 in a 10cc band and get my next fill sometime in the next couple weeks. I TOTALLY understand the chocolates, cheese and brandy thing. Man, it seemed like every time I looked up this year someone was setting out another plate of goodies. How's everyone else doing?

Love hummus! My favorite is plain old roasted garlic, but I also enjoy the roasted red peppers, the edamama, the black bean......mmmm mmm mmm.

Alberta Canada, self pay. 16K for the surgery, another $3,000 in flights and travel expenses. Will get some back from the province, and some more back when I do my taxes.

I get them if I don't chew well enough. They are a (very effective) reminder that talking and eating is multitasking and I had better remember what I am doing

If you are planning to go to SWLC (or anywhere I suppose) as an out of town patient, there are some things you might want to look at. First, when you initially ask for information, call or email or whatever, please keep in mind that although it's a medical procedure, the people you are talking to are still trying to sell you a product. So you will hear "we have LOTS of patients just like you," "don't worry about support we keep in touch by phone, by email, etc", "you will do just great!!!", "we have vegetarians who have great success with this!" etc etc. Honestly, it has to be a sales pitch because really how can they know how you will do without every having met you? So you fly in ($$), get a hotel ($$), and unless you can bring a second person with you ($$), you are hiring a stranger to stay in your hotel room for 24 hours ($$). You also need to factor in cabs to and from the airport, and to and from the clinic....(more $$). Meals, Protein drinks....($$). For me, my surgery was pretty uneventful. I arrived at the clinic ten minutes prior to my surgery, and waited in the waiting room for ages because the woman at the front desk forgot to check me in, or call up, or whatever she was supposed to do. So I was discovered, rushed upstairs, and was given the condensed version of the pre-surgery speech while the nurses struggled to get their computer program running. Then it was into surgery, wake up, drink some Water, walk to the door and out you go. Back to the hotel. I hung out at the hotel for a day then flew home (Alberta). There is no SWLC where I live, so the set up is that I see my local doctor for fills. But fills only, not advice or treatment...he is told by the SWLC team that I need a fill and how much, and I need to make an appointment at that time. When I had my first consult, it sounded like I was going to have all this other support somewhere, and it didn't occur to me to ask how I was supposed to do this without access to my surgeon or to any of the WLC team. I am pretty sure I was hearing what I wanted to hear too, I had researched the heck out of the procedure and I was very carefully avoiding those nagging questions in the back of my head. It seems the people here who are very successful have strong support systems in place. Visits to their doctor, contact with their surgical team, support groups, coffee meetings....weigh ins, fills, post op check ups, and so on. This didn't seem nearly as important as it is now proving to be. I have been in contact with my "nurses" about a half dozen times since my surgery. Each time the contact was initiated by me, each time by email. I get (at best) a quick paragraph back. When I first spoke to them about fills and hunger, I got a pdf on satiety that I had already been given, and a note to hang in there and talk to them in a couple of weeks. So I waited a couple of weeks, and contacted them again, and again mentioned that I am experiencing a lot of hunger. I gave them a detailed update including calorie intake, exercise, meals.....and mentioned that felt the lack of support was a problem. I had a specific question for them about protein sources for a vegetarian. I got another one liner back -- "hang in there, you are in bandster hell......next fill in two weeks we will contact your doctor". So fills are four weeks apart apparently, I would assume this is an across the board thing not geared individually to each patient. Which is a bit different than the sales pitch "tailored to individual needs" would have a person believe. Also as an out of towner, you need to know that fills cost you money each time you visit a doctor (only SWLC fills are part of the package). So if your surgeon decides to do a lot of small fills over time, this is going to add up. So when you go see your doctor locally for fills, it will cost you at the time and he (or she) will not be able to give you advice or answer your questions. Something else I glossed over in my head. All in all, I am not sorry that I had this procedure. I just wish I had paid more attention to the emotional consequences of being so far away from the Dr and clinic. I was pretty sure I could tough it out and that I wasn't the type to need my hand held -- it's a bit surprising to me that I am indeed that type So be aware, SWLC is a professional caring organization, but if you are travelling from another town or province they will just be that clinic somewhere else, they won't be "your" clinic, or "your" doctor. And if that is going to matter to you, make sure you think that part through very carefully.