Corridor72

So sorry for all you are going through. I can't even begin to imagine the emotional and mental anguish.

Have you tried taking a daily Fiber supplement? I was surprised when I became constipated because I have never had that problem. In fact, I had the opposite problem since having my gallbladder removed a few years ago. My husband and children used to joke that "when mom eats, she has to go potty too". Well, not anymore. I buy fiber gummies though and take those daily and that has worked like a charm for me.

No, that is not normal. I was sick for a few days post-op but once that settled down, I haven't been sick at all since. Please call your surgeon and let them know what's going on.

Try Quest bars. They're awesome and they're low in carbs. Most of them are 160-170 calories each and 20 grams of protein.

My favorite are the Quest bars. LOVE them! The Double chocolate Chunk is AMAZING! Who needs candy bars when you have these????? They are heavenly! I also like the Chocolate Brownie, White Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cinnamon Roll, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter Supreme, and Coconut Cashew. I didn't like the banana Nut Muffin or the Lemon Cream pie flavors though. The mixed berry is ok but not one of my favorites and the same with the vanilla Almond Crunch. I still haven't tried the Apple Pie, Cookies & Cream, PB&J, or strawberry Cheesecake flavors yet but I have 1 of each of them and will be trying them soon As you can tell, I love my Quest bars!And Double Chocolate Chunk is BY FAR my favorite!

Depends on where you're eating. If you MUST eat fast food, try getting grilled chicken and throw away the bread or order it on a salad. You can also do Wendy's chili. At Subway, you can do the meat and veggies and throw away the bread or have them make your favorite sandwich into a salad. KFC has grilled chicken and I do green Beans with that. LJS has baked cod and baked shrimp and they also have green beans. If we're eating at a mexican place, I like taco salad and just have them put it in a bowl. If I'm eating at a "sit down" type place, most of them have some sort of grilled fish or shrimp so i usually order that with some veggies. You can also do as the others suggested and pack a cooler and bring cold cuts, cheese, chicken, chicken salad, or tuna salad and make lettuce wraps. Also, make sure you find a Protein bar you really like and ALWAYS have 1 or 2 of those on hand. I carry them in my purse and usually have 1 in my vehicle as well. We are also constantly on the go and I eat out a lot too. It takes some planning in the beginning but once you get it all figured out, you will be able to eat anywhere the rest of the family wants to eat. You just have to figure out what they have that is band friendly. One place I try very hard to avoid is McDonald's.

I LOVE this comparison! It really gives you a visual and a "feel" for what that 33 lbs feels like. So no that you put it that way, no wonder I feel so much better these days! Can't wait until I lose a couple more cinder blocks!lol...I should feel like a million bucks by then! Good job, Bandista and thank you for sharing!

I'm beginning to notice that I have more hair loss than usual now and I know I've read on here that lots of people use biotin supplements to help with the hair loss. If you take biotin, what brand do you use? And how much? I was going to buy some but then I noticed it comes in several different doses and formulas so I'm not sure which is best.

Best of luck to you! You'll be on the other side of this before you know it!

Mine is in my right upper abdomen, just a few inches below my ribs on that side.

I can totally relate to what you're saying. Most of the time, I get the "You don't eat enough. You need to eat more." line from my family. My mother even asked me once if I had talked to my surgeon to make sure that I wasn't losing weight too fast. I have seen him every couple of weeks since my surgery. I'm pretty sure he would say something if he felt I was losing too fast not to mention the fact that, if that were the case, he wouldn't dare put anymore fluid in my band. Funny thing is, if I decide to treat myself to something special, I hear "You're not supposed to be eating that, are you?" Ugh.

I was just wondering if anyone knows if there is a way to limit the content that I see on the forum? Like when I do a search or when I log on, I see content from all of the forums and I'd like to limit it to just the lap band forums if that's possible. Anyone know if this can be done? And if so, how do I do it?

Great question! You can limit your content based on the surgery type selected within your profile: Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 3.41.18 AM.png Thanks, Alex!

The surgeons all say that the best prevention is to make sure you get plenty of protein. I've been good about getting my protein in and still am experiencing some hair loss. Personally, I think it's as much the rapid weight loss that causes the hair loss as much as anything. The body is shocked by the rapid loss and isn't sure if it is starving or not so it shuts down everything that isn't neccessary for survival. In doing so, it causes the hair to go into a "resting" phase. I think things usually improve after a few months but I'm not sure about that. I'm sure some of the others have more insight on that than I do.

How long have you been taking it?

1. I don't NEED pop and I no longer crave it. 2. Water actually tastes good. 3. I don't NEED sugar and I no longer crave it either. 4. I can survive on a lot less food than I ever dreamed possible. 5. I don't need a snack in hand when I'm watching tv. 6. Eating healthy does taste good. 7. I don't have to clean my plate. 8. Smaller plates are better than larger ones. 9. Food isn't a good coping mechanism for those times when I'm frustrated, angry, hurt, etc. However, exercise is a great coping mechanism and always makes me feel so much better!

OK, let me just start by saying, this may be TMI for some of you but I really just need to get this off my chest. Anyway, what has caught me by surprise with this surgery is that I’m having some self-image issues. I’ve always had self-image issues as an overweight individual but I assumed that as I lost weight, I would feel better about myself. And I do. In some ways. Maybe it’s not a self-image issue at all. Maybe it’s just anger and resentment? Perhaps it's a mix. I don’t know. The problem is this. DH had reached a point where he was no longer interested in being intimate with me at all prior to my weight loss. Now he’s enjoying my weight loss. He keeps telling me how I look like the person he married and how hot and sexy I am. He’s constantly trying to get me to have sex with him. He's always "grabbing and pawing" at me. He keeps me up at night arguing about whether we're going to have sex or whether I'm going to sleep. He wakes me up in the morning way before I need to be up just because he wants to have sex. Why is that a problem? Because it pisses me off. His disrupting my sleep and I'm not a morning person and I don't like when people screw with my sleep schedule anyway. I am paranoid about having him see me naked. I don't like how I look right now. I'm um, well....I've always been "well endowed" and never had any issues with sagging. Now that I've lost quite a bit of weight, the girls are looking all sad and droopy and deflated and quite honestly, it really bothers me. It makes me mad that he’s all interested in sex now and he wasn’t before I started losing weight. If he loved me so much, he should’ve wanted to be with me then, right? And if he didn’t want me then, why should he have me now? If I wasn’t good enough then, I’m certainly not good enough now. And now he’s acting all jealous all the time. He thinks every man out there is looking at me and makes all sorts of comments about how they better not be looking at his woman, as if I’m property. And I don’t like it. And I’m not even sure how to deal with it. I mean sure, I’m glad he likes what he sees but then, it makes me angry that my appearance seems to be more important to him than who I am on the inside. I don’t know...I suppose it’s just part of the process but I’m not sure how to deal with him right now. And maybe he just doesn’t know how to deal with the new me? Heck, I don’t even know how to deal with the new me.......

Wow! You look great! Thanks for sharing your story with us and I hope things work out for the 2 of you.

Wooohoo! I'm half-way to goal this morning! I started out with 128 lbs to lose and when I weighed this morning, I'm down 64 lbs! I'm so excited! My next small goal is to be in Onederland. Only 20 lbs more and I will be there! What an exciting journey this is!

ROFL...Yes, it is mean but I still got a chuckle out of the idea! Too bad I'm too nice to do that to him

I would but there are no before pics. I always make sure the camera is in MY Hand and I'm taking pictures of everyone else so that I'm not included in any of them. Sad, I know, but it's true.

Haha...the secret is that it includes what I lost on the pre-op diet(and some even before that during the 6 month supervised weight loss required by my insurance) too so it's not really as impressive as you think. I've only lost about 13 lbs since surgery. The rest of it was during the pre-op phase.

I don't have any problems swallowing whole pills so I just take regular tylenol tablets.

Geez, are we married to the same man? Mine is the same way. My husband weighs well over 400 lbs. The weight does make sex difficult so I'm sure that's a big part of why he lost interest in it until now and suddenly, now that I'm losing weight and looking more like my old self, he has been in constant pursuit of sex. I've come to the conclusion that I think a lot of it is jealousy. He tells me he doesn't like it when other men look at me and he's constantly telling me how he noticed some dude checking me out. I'm like "really? Because I didn't notice" and I don't notice it. I also think he's jealous and insecure because we started this whole thing together. The difference is that his efforts stopped at attending the seminar. He didn't go any further through the process and he blames me for that because he says I should've made his appointments when i made my own. So I went through the process and was banded in December and he has the entire process to go through. AND our insurance has changed so it's going to be more difficult for him to do it than it was for me. I did finally talk to him about it and he has backed off a lot BUT, instead of the constant grabbing, pawing, and corny lines, he tries to sabotage me. If we go out to eat, he encourages me to eat more than what I feel comfortable eating. He says "You need to eat more. Those vegetables are good for you. Eat them. Your doctor says you need lots of protein so you should eat the rest of that." I keep telling him that I CAN'T eat that much and besides, those restaurant portion sizes are WAY more than anyone should be eating. So then, like I said, it's "how about dessert? You love their <insert favorite dessert from that restaurant here>" Drives me NUTS. He is talking about having the lap band himself now and I think he may be serious this time.

But ya know what? I have never treated him any different because of his weight. I have always enjoyed sex with him because I am attracted to the person he is on the inside. The attraction doesn't have to be purely physical. That's what upsets me is that, 60+ lbs ago, he never wanted to have sex and didn't pay much attention to me and now, all of a sudden, he won't leave me alone. If he didn't love me enough then, why should I have sex with him now? We've talked about things and things have gotten better but it's because I finally convinced him to back off and give me some time and space to adjust to the new me before he starts pushing so much for what HE wants. Quite frankly, it really bothers me that my weight has made that much of a difference in his attitude toward me. I'm still the same person. Period.