NJDad

I went from a 12 to an 11 after 120 pounds of weight loss.

This site has fallen very far, very fast.mmi think it is since they merged all the different types of,surgery under one banner. Combine that with a website more interested in showing advertising than letting us communicate and you get this.....a site that I used to visit daily, now visit once a week. As for progress......what type of progress are you looking for? I don't think it'll grow any more, if that is what you mean.????

Thanks for the advice Leepers. I'll keep it all in mind. I am looking to finish, not finish first......so if my friend takes up a quicker pace, I'll meet him at the finish line.

OK, I am not quite sure if I am ready for this, but a friend has talked me into running a 5K with him next Sunday. We are both Jets season ticket holders, and the NY Jets are having their annual Turkey Trot next Sunday morning at the team's training facilty. He and I were at a game last month and he was asking me how my weight loss was going. I explained how I have been biking and running for my excercise. He told me about the Turkey Trot and how he was going to run it. My buddy runs the NYC marathon, so a 5K is like a walk to the corner for him. He said it would be good for me. I'm not so sure, since my usual runs are about 1-1.5 miles. 5 kilometers is 3 miles. The Jets coach, Rex Ryan had Lapband surgery and looks great. Mike told me that maybe I'd get a chance to see him and we could share tips on our weight loss We all need goals, right? Well, I am amping up my running the last two weeks. My legs are like rubber today, so I took the day off. I realized that the one thing I have to make sure I have for that run are good sneakers, and tight shorts.......Things are bouncing around far more than they used to. Does anyone else have any suggestions for me? If I don't pass out or have a heart attack, I'll post pictures next week. Ron

I had my band done in NJ in April of 2013. If you have any questions you think that I can answer, feel free to ask. Ron

My daughter just graduated high school last June. In my opinion, too many teachers teach class so the kids pass whatever testing the state has put out to judge how well the teachers are doing.......and forgetting that the primary reason kids go to schol is to learn how to be fully functional members of society. I don't think the teachers gave up, so much as it is survival for them. We need kids to know how to write and read. They also need to function without spellcheck, a calculator or Google. I amaze my daughter and her friends sometimes with my mastery of math (I can figure out the proper 15% without a calculator), my dictonary like ability to spell any word they throw at me (I read a lot and was a spelling bee champ in high school) and my knowledge of history or politics (I can tell them that Saddam Hussein was once a strong allie of the US before he invaded Kuwait). I learned all those things in school. I'm not so sure my daughter and her friends learned all that. However, my daughter was regualrly told how horrible our current governor is (I live in NJ, Google it to find out who I am speaking of and why teachers might not like him) She has the ability to pass any college entry exam and get into the best schools......but I am not so sure she knows what the USSR was. OK, I am done with my rant now. Sorry to hijack this thread, it just troubles me how uneducated our society has become, and what it means for our futre.

I had lapband surgery over 18 months ago. I come here about once a week or so.....far less than right after my surgery. But, to be honest, it seems that since they grouped all the different surgery type websites under one website, many of the regulars have gone away......in my opinion, this site is not as good as it used to be....but it is still the best one for people to discuss the various surgeries.

When I went to college way back in the dark ages, I had a priest as my Engineering 101 teacher. After our first test, a fellow student complained about his grade....it seemed the Teacher had taken off for spelling and lowered many students grades. "I am going to be an engineer, what does it matter if I misspell a word or two? As long as the numbers work, that's all that matters" Father John Staudenmeyer was his name. He stopped, looked up at all of us, and said something I won't ever forget. "I'll be damned if someone leaves this college thinking that we graduated someone that can't spell or write a complete sentence." Being an engineer, when I read my colleagues letters, reports and emails, I wish they all had Father Staudenmeyer as their teacher. Boy! Engineers don't seem to even know how to use spellcheck.

I just had to buy a bunch of new clothes. The 40 and 38 waist sizes no longer fit. I am down to 36 after 18 months...... I started at 46 or 44, depending on how tight I wanted the pants to be. I still want to get to 34, where I was in college.

I found a picture in my office taken about 6 years ago. I had a chance to meet someone famous, so I had to have my picture taken with him. Well, I showed my wife the picture tonight, and she asked, "Who is that?" Thinking she meant who I was pictured with, I answered, "That's Brian Cashman, the GM of the Yankees" "No, silly, who is in the picture with him?" "That's me" "No way" So, my wife of 25 years has gotten used to my new look, to the point that she doesn't recognize me in old pictures.......

I'm an engineer.....by definition, an engineer likes to be able to return to the previous version if things don't work out. The Lapband was the only procedure that gave me that option.

Great progress........I wish I took such detailed pics to compare my progress. I love in North Jersey too.......where did you do your surgery? I went to Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge.

I travel often for my job, and now I am starting to visit clients that I met before, but haven't seen me since the surgery. I visited one of those last week. When I entered the guy's office, he looked at me kind of surprised, then his face turned a little sad. He looked me in the eye and quietly said, "Death or divorce?" Confused, I asked him what was he talking about. He said the only time any male friends of his lost this much weight, it was because they were "trolling for new fish". Therefore, his assumption is was I was baiting the hook with some new meat. I hadn't laughed so hard in a while......

I was 6'4" tall and 359 pounds at my heaviest. I have been flying for over 25 years on business, and never had an issue buying one seat. I guess it depends on how wide you are, and I always fit in between the armrests. In all my hundreds of thousands of miles flying I never saw an incident where someone either purchased a second seat, or was asked to do so. It might have happened, but I am usually quite aware of what is going on in the plane......I think the media makes more of this issue than it really is. Since I lost all the weight, I do have to say that airline seats fit a lot better at 245 pounds than 359.

I was up to 44 or 46 depending on the pants. My ideal size would be back at 34", what I wore in college.

I filled out your surgery LouLou. I am a year in, so hopefully it gives you some decent data.

I travel often. In fact, I am writing this on my ipad in an airline club lounge in Minneapolis. I spent a little over a week in Poland and Germany last month. I actually found it easier to not overeat in Europe compared to over here. In Europe, the portion sizes in most restaurants are smaller than American restaurants. I found that if I stuck with the basics, I did just fine. I always carry my unjury Protein in the single serving packs, so I was set with my daily Protein shakes. Drink lots of bottled Water, every chance you can.......water is always good for you anyway. The individual packets are bit more expensive than the big canister....but much easier to travel with. Breakfast in my hotels were buffet style. Lots of breads and cold cuts.....I would avoid those. I stuck to the "American breakfast" of scrambled eggs and a little bacon every morning. I also found that most European cities are centered around the town center. My hotels were not far from these centers. In my past visits to these cities, I would have driven downtown to find a restaurant for dinner. I found myself walking each night. The cities are just made for pedestrians. The walking was good exercise, and I got to see parts of town that I normally missed from the cars. As for the flights.....I was lucky, I fly business class, so the food wasn't that bad. I picked the chicken dish on all the flights, scraped off whatever fancy coating they put on it and cut it into my normal tiny bites. I bought a bottle of water before each flight and drank that plus whatever water I got from the airline too. I was never hungry on the plane. I never felt uncomfortable with my band either. If imam answer any other specific questions, feel free to ask away. I was banded just short of a year ago and have over 100,000 miles on this sucker.......so I can probably address most of your concerns.

I was banded by Dr. Strom on 4/24/13. I am down over 90 lbs from that day. Over 100 lost since I started seeing Dr. Strom's team in October of 2012. The entire team in his office has been nothing but wonderful. I am amazed at how well this has gone for me so far. I think a good part of my success streams from all the support and training I received before and after my surgery. They also guided me through the insurance company minefield with few issues. They simply knew what had to be done to get the insurance company to approve the procedure. If I had to do it all over again, I would choose no one except for Dr. Strom.

For what it is worth, I had my normal every 6 week visit to my surgeon today. After seeing her, I saw the nutritionist. We talked about a few items I had questions about....and one was popcorn. I remembered from my earliest nutirionist meetings that popcorn was Verbotten. It was, but now that I am 11 months after surgery she said that it is safe to try it again. She recommended that I try it at home the first time, not in the movies......this way, if there are problems, you don't miss a movie you paid for. As with everything else here on the site....your mileage may vary and your doctor may feel differently.

My daughter is active in the music and theater departments, which also means that my bride and I are also busy as volunteers. The show started this past Thursday (Shrek, the Musical if you are curious). As the president of the Booster Club, I have been at the school every night the last two weeks doing everything from repairing puppets, shoring up sets and delivering Water bottles to the actors backstage. I run into many parents that I don't see too often. If you want to have a happy day, meet up with a lot of people that haven't seen you in a year after you had WLS.....it is great. Many people comment, but the ones that really don't know you are the best. Not once, but five separate times (Yes, I have been counting) I have had this type of conversation. After a few moments of talking to one parent or another, the person gets "that" look in their eye....you know it. The one where they are trying to figure out who you are. They pause a bit, they look at you a bit more intently than normal, all the while carrying on the conversation. At first, I was puzzled, I know these people. I have known they and their kids for years. Some, I coached their kids in softball. Some go to the same church. Finally, they ask the question.....You sound familliar, do I know you? When I explain that i am Sara's dad, they are relieved.....but confused. One asked me if I got a haircut, another asked me if I shaved my beard (Never had one). I think they are too polite to ask if I lost some weight. I explain I am a little smaller than I was last year. I explain how I had the surgery and how it has worked for me. The best thing was when one woman asked a lot of questions about thesurgery; insurance, recovery times, etc....up to the point of asking for my doc's number, she was considering doing it herself and had never met someone willing to talk about it. A good week overall......

I don't know if asking in raw numbers how much a person lost and how long it took them is a fair comparison. I, myself, have lost a total of 112 pounds since I had the surgery on 4/24/13. However, I started at over 350 pounds. A person that starts at 250 pounds could not really expect to lose that much that quick, and person that starts at 600 might be disappointed with my current weight loss. So, where are you starting from? So, I guess I answered your question with a question.......Don't you hate that? Seriously, I took about 11 months to get this far, but from what I have been told, I am unusal in my loss. Some take longer, some take less time. Tt all depends on who you talk to.

Our food budget went down a few bucks per week. Buying less, but higher quality foods, so they cost more. However, all the food savings are now being countered by the extra costs of buying new clothes. That's a trade off I don't mind making........

I had an umbilical hernia a decade ago. When I had mine, I actually had something about the size of an eraser that would stick out......I could push it back in. Pardon the reference, but it was like a nipple. As time went on and I ignored it, it got bigger. My doctor finally operated on it when it got the size of my pinkie. If you think that is what it is, have your doctor check it out.

Hey there Sparta......I'm Ron, from West Essex, Nj. I had my band done at Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge, NJ by Dr. Strom in April 2013. How are you doing?

I'm a guy, so my experiences may differ....but I feel I look older when I look in the mirror. Before, I had that baby face, pudgy and always smiling. Now, I still smile, but I see lines where before there were none. However, everyone around me says I look younger. I don't get it. I guess it matters what others think too, but I can't shake the feeling I look a decade older.