lisacaron

@@karbear409 you are 100% right. What is normal? and what is normal for you are very subjective things. When Dr.'s approach the terms of averages, statistics etc. they are using text book definitions. They are using studies done over time that could be from years ago. What is normal for you is what is "right". With the lapband all your learning is up front and through out. It's slow and steady and your right food choices, nutrition and exercise all play a big part in your success with the band. The learning curve is now in this first year of banding. Where with other surgeries the weight loss is right up front and as that slows comes the learning, when the eating habits trickle back in because they can now eat anything and drink anything. If the habits did not change prior to surgery they can really regain their weight as they hit the maintenance phase. I chose the band because it is a slow and steady weight loss. I didn't want to have as much baggy saggy skin as you have with other surgeries from losing too fast and not building up muscle through out the loss. I also knew it was not a mal-absorptive surgery and I would have "normal" digestion of nutrients. I am like you also I want it to be yesterday that was overweight but you know I am OK with the way I am losing and it does take some time to learn your band and to learn to live with your band and find that right "zone" for you. Your analogy of the toddler is accurate. Some get up and start running and some teeter around a bit before they hit their stride. If you really want that 100 pounds you can get it, but you have to work for it. Set mini goals over the course of the months for yourself and see how it goes. For me..I went very slow. I didn't get a good fill until about 6 months in and hit a few bumps along my journey. Never gained a single pound back but lost slowly. Same for hubby who was banded 3 days after me. There are some on here who have lost that amount in a year, so go for it if you want it you can make it happen!

@@RedStorm I'm sorry to hear that you are going through a rough time. I wish the PA had listened to you and taken you for those tests on the first visit. I am a big advocate of knowing my own body. No one lives in here but me and I know better what's happening to me than anyone else does. I had a similar circumstance a few years ago long before I was banded. I was in excruciating pain and Dr.'s could not find a reason for it. I was not able to eat, and I was having difficulty going to the bathroom and I was doubled over in pain. Some days were worse then others and the condition kept getting worse and worse and worse to the point that I was in the ER on morphine drip. From there I begged two technicians to investigate what I felt the problem was. They did their "required" tests that the Dr. ordered and then delved a bit deeper as I had asked. It revealed what could possibly be the fallopian tube intermingled with my intestines, but nothing conclusive. So I went to my GYN and begged to remove the Uterus because I really felt that was the cause of my pain. Nothing I was tested for was definitive, so he agreed check it out (I know him a LONG LONG time and fully trust him) they went in and I had a sub-total hysterectomy. When I went for my follow up, he showed me exactly how right I was. The uterus was swollen the size of a 5 month pregnancy and full of Fluid, and the fallopian tube was ready to burst it was so full and all pressing against my intestines which was stopping up my digestion and causing a blockage and all that pain. My husband always tells me the squeaky wheel gets the grease and I have learned since to squeal loudly when I think there is a problem and force people to listen to mew and address the problems. I really hope you are feeling better soon!! I'll be thinking good thoughts for you, and I know your going to do great and start feeling better soon!

I am a band lova!!! I would get banded again in a heart beat. I have had my ups and downs with my band, but I didn't expect this to be an easy road to travel for me. I went into this whole thing with major digestive issues to begin with, and I have to say that since being banded I have not had those kinds of painful issues, and though I had a minor pouch dilation and I had to have Fluid taken out. I have to be on a liquid diet "again" but you know what..that's old hat now, and I am down an additional 4 pounds as of today. All WLS takes work and commitment not only to having the surgery but to following the rules for your surgery for the rest of your life. Making those good choices, making those life style changes, and replacing some bad habits with better ones. Set backs can happen. I had a car accident I got sick I was out of the gym for over a month, I was on medications that caused all kinds of havoc for me but I don't let that upset me and I don't blame my band it's doing it's job and I am doing mine we work and live together every second of every day My hubby and I are both banded and we both love our bands and would not have chosen any other surgery! We have been successful at losing weight, he has had a total hip replacement and is not only back to work as a Fire Fighter he is back teaching hands on Fire Fighting at our County Fire Academy and is in the gym and working out and feeling amazing! There are so many people here who are banded that have great stories of success and extraordinary successes to share, more people need to hear them! You guys Rock!!

The whole point is that WE as a community of WLS patients should not be tearing each other apart, but building each other up and supporting each other!! That includes Rosie and Gov Christy, you and me alike. We are picked on enough for being obese and we beat ourselves up enough over trying to lose weight we don't need to turn on each other we need to support each other no matter the modality of WLS we have had, revised to or are thinking of having.

@@ivyh are you taking a steroid like prednisone? If you are on something like that it could be the meds that are making you more hungry as well as putting weight on you. Certain anti-depressants and even NSAIDS can cause Water retention etc. Don't give up, keep pressing Dr.'s to find out what's going on with you and see if they can find a medication that works with your weight loss goals but keeps you feeling good. The most important thing is your health so don't stress over the weight gain too much right now, light a fire under the Dr Try to if you can manage it to break up your meals into smaller more frequent portions so you feel like your eating something every few hours but keep your portions in check and that might help. I had to have Fluid removed recently and that is what is getting me through. Having something every few hours, and I have actually lost 4 pounds! Feel good and let us know what your Dr.'s say.

@@zoeiyla congrats!!! I have a very good friend who had her surgery much the way you are not long after the birth of her child and she has had an amazing recover and is doing so well! You will want to do what @@Bandista suggested and baby yourself for a few days. Have someone give you a hand and definitely check with the surgeon for any restrictions and advice. When you are ready to start picking the baby up again just try to use more of your leg and arm muscles then your back and stomach muscles you don't want to pull anything and internal stitching takes a little time to heal. Best of luck to you and let us know how you are doing!! This is a great site with loads of supportive people I'm sure you'll get lots of advice and answers to any questions you might have.

Here I am again today ladies and gents. I have to tell you that yesterday there were some who really tried to push me and make me work to keep those goals I put down! I will say that I did not get out for lunch but I did take a breather. I have decided that for Halloween I am going to be giving out Tricks disguised as treats. There are few guys I work with that I feel just need some baby wipes. #1 because they are full of S**T and do nothing but talk S**T and #2 because they are cry babies. So I am going to go out and buy a couple of soft bags of baby wipes and collect the candy bags from the Halloween candy that people buy to give out and I am going to put the wipes inside, and leave it for them on their desk. They probably won't get it, but I'll be cackling! I met my trainer for the "pain" and boy oh boy...I am just starting to feel those muscles ache today. It's a good sore kind of ache, but with the rainy weather I could use a nap. Yesterday's Goals: Body:Get myself to the gym this evening half hour early for some cardio and then meet with the trainer for the "pain" lol Mind: Not let the nasty b*tches in here bother me today, with their looks and huffs and puffs Soul:Listen to some meditative music, and do some deep breathing after lunch Today’s Goals: Body:Get some much needed rest and recovery today and treat the body to some good nutrition. Mind: Take a nice long break this afternoon and catch up on some reading Soul:Curl up with my puppies and kitty cats and enjoy some mindlless TV tonight

Everyone is entitled to say what ever they want that is the beauty of living in AMERICA! It's your first amendment right Freedom of Speech. That does not make what you say, how you say it or to whom you say it or you right. Of course people are offended. If I a former fatty myself called you fat and stupid for not doing your due diligence when you chose the sleeve, a procedure that has been around and was a failure for years and years and only is back in favor now because it's "easy" for surgeons and doctors to not have to "follow up" or "work" for their patients would you be offended? I think so. No WLS is perfect. How many sleevers or bypass patients have had the lapband added to their surgery because of failure? Are they stupid as well?

Let me just take a moment here to reiterate what some have already stated. WLS no mater the modality of it is all dependent on the patient. With the sleeve or bypass the results are faster and yes they are both restrictive and metabolic in nature and yet our bodies are a miracle of humanity and we can and do overcome and adapt. After that initial weight loss and shock the body can adapt and if eating habits, eating mechanics, attitude and life style changes are not been made the chances of regain in the long term are equal. No one can say that one surgery is better then another. Recently I read a post by a patient who was diagnosed with Lupus. A lupus patient can not have such mal-absorptive surgeries as sleeve or bypass due to their condition which makes the lapband the perfect and only choice for such a patient. No one of us is better or worse then the other. You can't say that people have not done their research, many of us who are banded have done more research then a college student writing a doctorate. I have my reasons for choosing the band and I have no regrets about it. Making broad statements like those made by Rosie O'Donell in public forum only show her own ignorance and lack of empathy for the obese. Maybe she never saw her self as obese, but her health conditions, photo's and doctors tell another story all together don't they? Don't knock those who are trying to make their lives better and become healthy. A smart intelligent woman would use her big mouth, comedic wit, and additional 5 minutes of fame to advocate for her comrades at large and open doors instead of shutting them as she did with her comments. People who might have been thinking about getting help now maybe afraid that their "choice" is not the right one because some TV personality who has nothing better to do with her time but to cause controversy said it wasn't. She just called several Doctors who are banded, Lawyers, PHD's and people much smarter with higher educations then she has stupid. Forest Gump had it right...stupid as stupid does aka Rosie O'Donelle.

Yes....I am here

@ my best advice to you is to follow your Dr.'s orders. If you are compliant and do everything you can to ensure that your band and you are working together with your doc.you will do great!

For me in the mornings I would have a couple of cups of coffee, and then around 10 am I was able to eat something it would be a protein bar. I find they are soft enough to not get stuck and they are thick enough to stimulate the band get you chewing and fill you up.

@@s0utherndivadoll I'm sorry to hear this. I recently went to the Dr. had found that my pouch was dilated and they removed the Fluid from the band. I now have 2.5 cc's in a 10cc band. At good restriction I was at 7.1cc last fill in July. Over the course of those 2 months though I was in a car accident and given meds for whiplash and concussion and then got sick with swollen glands and sinus infection and given antibiotics and all these things upset my stomach so much that it swelled the stoma nearly shut to where Water and saliva was not going down. Now I am on a liquid diet for 3 weeks before I go back in to see if the dilation has recovered. I too have been practicing good eating habits, nutrition, and exercise. I am still doing that and only on day 2 of the liquid diet and I hope that I can be compliant and do what they tell me and that I won't lose the band... Did your Dr. offer any suggestions to you about how to maintain without your tool? Where they not able to repair the slip and keep the band? The only thing I can offer is support and empathy for what your going through. If you need to keep accountable the boards are a good place to start. I keep coming here every day to keep myself accountable. I don't want to screw up and I want to keep losing and not gain back the 70 pounds I have lost so far.

I have odd issues with the scales in my house also. My house does not have the most "level" of floors so at different area's in the house the scale might say something different. I have a couple of scales and the Aria, is fickle with where I place it. One minute I can be 2 pounds lighter and in another minute 2 pounds heavier. So I check it against the analog scale and the one closest wins! I try NOT to weight myself at home too often for this reason and the numbers I use are the ones the Dr. gives me every 5-6 weeks. The scale at my PCP is totally wonky...I think my floors are uneven over there you can feel yourself sitting on a slant. I don't know how they can use those old scales with any degree of accuracy so I just disregard them and tell them my weight

So true the only thing we have control over is ourselves and our reactions to these people. It's not so easy to not let their words hurt us, but if we can remember that their words say more about them they do about us we can lessen the affects of their words. What must people think about the girl that gossips...or the man that makes everyone feel stupid? As someone wrote here people don't like them at all, and are just faking it around them out of courtesy in the work place. Those people are seriously not happy in their lives, and it's not our job to make them happy or be their punching bags. So when I have to, I will let them know that they have crossed a line. Common courtesy is deserved by all, and trust me people in higher positions that know about these consummate naysayers and gossips take those traits into consideration when it comes times for reviews and promotions. Karma my friends...I love it!

I have to tell you that I was starting to obsess again about food recently because I was having a few issues with my tummy and consequently my band from medications I needed to take. Today though even with a major un-fill I am feeling so much better and back to feeling that "normal" that you are all talking about. Where I am not "fixated" on what I am going to eat and how I am going to feel. I love the freedom that it gives me, to focus on things that are important like good nutrition and not just "eating" and doing things that I enjoy and not worrying about what I am going to stuff my face with next. It really is a new lease on life and I am truly loving it.

Thank you my friend! I am totally OK. Honestly I think that this is a good thing for me. Being sick and taking the antibiotics on an empty stomach is what did me in. At least that's what the bariatric Dr. and radiology Dr. think. It irritated my stomach and even though I didn't feel "sick" in my tummy it swelled up and caused the stoma to become too tight to allow foods/liquids to move through. As soon as I felt like something was not right, and it wasn't just my imagination I went right to the Dr. to have them check it out. So if you are on any kind of antibiotic even if they tell you that it's OK to take with out food, the Dr. told me I should always "coat" my stomach first even with a Protein shake. Today I am feeling good....being on a liquid diet is kind of detoxing my system nicely It's also helping me to keep accountable to my what my needs are. Last night I really "really" wanted to eat something as soon as my tummy started to rebel against the liquid diet..and those cheese sticks were looking so yummy but it was late...for me 10 is late these days since I am up at 5 with the puppies! So I just put myself to bed, forgot about the cheese and got some much needed rest. My insides are feeling good, I was up early, took the pups for a walk, they don't go very far just yet...but it's a start! Looking forward to the day when we can walk around the lake and home! I'm looking forward to the day even though it's gonna be a busy one! I hope to get out this afternoon for some fresh air and squash Soup at Panera Yum Yum!! I just love the fall!! Yesterday's Goals: Body: Set a pattern for liquid diet protocol and hydrate in between. Mind: Get outside for some fresh air Soul: Practice some deep breathing Today’s Goals: Body:Get myself to the gym this evening half hour early for some cardio and then meet with the trainer for the "pain" lol Mind: Not let the nasty b*tches in here bother me today, with their looks and huffs and puffs Soul:Listen to some meditative music, and do some deep breathing after lunch

It really is very sad how some people treat you when you are obese. I know there are discriminatory laws but that doesn't stop people and words cut deeper and cause lasting scars that can be difficult to fully heal from. Me...I have a thick skin, I don't give a feck who knows about my surgery and if you have an issue with my weight...I don't give a feck about that either because that is YOUR issue not mine. I remember this shirt I saw once on someone that said I may be fat but I can lose weight, but you will always be ugly. It was raw....and it was offensive but I can see where the person was wearing it as a defense against all the people that I'm sure were talking behind his back. They think we don't know or we can't hear them..but we do and we can, and this loud mouth NYC gal has no problem telling you off. You don't know my journey so take a good long look in the mirror before you judge me, and just remember your issues with me are just that YOUR issues! I had an incident last week at a Wendy's some B**ch cut me off in the drive through lane, I was there to get dinner for my step son. I had a heck of a day at work and just wanted to get through get my chicken nugget meal and go home. They saw me there but they boxed me out. Her Husband boyfriend what ever he was rolled down the window and I said you saw me here, you really needed to do that? So he started cursing me out...I won't repeat most of the words, but one part was your a whale your disgusting....I have to tell you have a low boiling point and if we were in the store I probably would have punched him in the face...but in this case I just simmered...swallowed and when he said I was a whale I asked him if he owned a mirror? He was a fat bald pretty gross dude I would not give the time of day to. When he said your disgusting I told him so was his mother....yeah needless to say that got him! I dared him to get out of the car...but he was more of a chicken then chicken nuggets at Wendy's and besides thanks to Onstar the police were on their way and the conversation of him being a lunatic was recorded. I won't let anyone put me down. No one lives in this body but me and no one knows what I go through every breathing moment but me. If anyone has a problem with it the problem is all theirs and if they try to make it mine I will cram it right back down their throats OK rant over for now. It was good to get that out!

Me too skinny skinny skinny...boy do I need a tan!

I have noticed that more people are self conscious about what they are doing then what I am doing. So i just let them do their thing and I do mine. Occasionally I will get the questions about why I am eating XYZ and it's usually from people who have noticed how much weight I have lost. If I feel like telling them about my band and the songs it plays I will but if not I'll just say because it's healthy, it's good for me and it tastes great! Enjoy the horses! This is a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors! Oh when I am in a pinch and if a cooler is not available for me..I will stick to things like Protein bars, Water, and some nuts.

So today I went to the Dr. b/c I went from just right to too tight. I had about 7cc in a 10cc band since July. I have been doing great, and suddenly after a few extreme things. Car accident, medications and getting sick...my band was too tight. I did what B52 does, went to liquids only in the hope that the swelling would subside and I would be OK. Then yesterday one sip of Water and a hiccup and it went flying out and I nearly choked on it. This morning I couldn't swallow my own saliva and that is just too tight, I knew there was an issue I got myself right to the Dr. at 8 am this morning. After barium swallow it showed the pouch was dilated. They removed 5cc of Fluid and put me on a full liquid diet for 3 weeks. They did this because they want the pouch to rest from all the stress on it shrink back. Think of a ring that's too tight on your finger, the longer you leave it there your finger doesn't shrink, it just continues to swell as the blood pools above the constriction. It's the same for your stomach and your band. Not just from the volume of food or water in the pouch but from your own body fluids, blood, stomach acids, enzymes and blood. Don't mess with it, if you are too tight and it's not right go to the Dr. and if they suggest and un-fill don't fight it. I'd rather have the ring cut off then my finger....just as I'd rather have my band unfilled then have it slip or prolapse and need more surgery.

@@Wallflower7522 sadly asthma is one of those things. If you know what triggers an attack for you, that helps. If it's exercise, that's tricky. You can use the inhaler before you start your work out, this way the medication is there and opens your lungs up as you increase your intensity. I have had asthma my whole life and many things can cause an attack and for me oddly enough the thing that is the worst is the cold winter weather. When I walk outside in the winter even from my office or house to my car, I wear a scarf around my nose and mouth like a bandit. I do this because I know that if I don't the chances are 60/40 that I am going to have an attack. Look for some yoga, and/or meditation breathing exercises you can learn to help control your breathing. This helped me tremendously through out my life. To the point now where I rarely need to use the rescue inhaler. As I have gotten older and even though I have lost weight I am not on Singular since my allergies to just about every thing are another big trigger for me. It's horrible to not be able to breath and the more you panic the worse the attack can become. Running is not all it's cracked up to be, save your knees and trot or walk fast. Unless you want to be in a race...take it easy, you will eventually get there the body is an amazing adaptive mechanism where there is a will there is always a way.

Awesome Goals everyone, and congrats! Love hearing about everyone out there enjoying life! That's what it is all about!!