Marimaru

There are people who say that if you don't eat enough protein you can lose your hair too. Are you getting enough protien?

If you have insurance, even if you don't have your member number you should be able to either, go to the doctor and have them call blue cross and verify your insurance based on your social security number, or pay for the doctors visit and bill it to insurance as soon as you have your information. They can't deny you insurance server because they don't have their @#$% together if your effective date is 1/1/06 (I'm the 'hr chick' where I work). I like "irregularly regular", it describes me well too. I think you need to go get checked out though. It could be something as simple as an infection that just needs some antibiotics. Feel better!

I don't think that being overweight has made me a stronger person. In high school my friends were afraid to make me mad, because they'd never really seen me mad and had no idea what I'd do. If you got person A mad, you knew they'd slap you, person B would pout, but no one knew what Sarah would do. That's mostly because I was a doormat type back then and just took whatever was dished out. I would defend my friends, but not so much myself. I think that being over weight has made me a more compassionate person. I think I'm more understanding of people's struggles to a point because I've had my own. While I don't think being overweight has made me strong, I do think that being overweight, and then taking charge and doing something about it has made me stronger.

I'm so sorry to hear about your news. I know my parents had a lot of trouble having me and I'm worried about having trouble down the line. I can't imagine being told that. I would talk to your doctor about the way the nurses acted when you arrived to the office. No one needs to be treated like that. Especially since you are supposed to have some sense of privacy there. I'm sure things will work out one way or another, but for now just take care of yourself and your husband. (((Hugs)))

Hey Zoe!! Sorry your recovery was so slow and that your back was bothering you. Glad you are feeling better now though! Being a turtle I very much doubt I could lose 20 lbs in 26 weeks, but I'm very interested in what you are going to do to try and get that done. Maybe I could lose 10 lbs? I'd settle for breaking my 225 by even 5 lbs! Do tell! (hugs)

20 lbs in 15 weeks is great!! If you were a turtle before, you've definately graduated!

It's a complication, I just don't think it's a lap band specific complication. I'll be VERY interested to find out whatever it is they find out that helps you.

1. My surgery was on a Friday morning. Saturday I got up and walked around for an hour or so at the mall near the hotel I was staying in. I flew up (from Mexico) Monday, and was back to work on Tuesday (desk job). I ran a bunch of errands on Wednesday and wore myself out, but I just took a nap after work and was fine. 2. The key for ME is that I still have to do a large portion of the work to lose weight. I lost 25 lbs right off the bat and then nothing until I was working really hard. When I don't work really hard, I don't gain, or I just start to creep up a little bit before I can stop it, but I wont lose without a good amount of work put into it. The band works differently for different people, but this is how it works for me. Good luck!

I'm in, sounds like a good time. My NSV is kind of an SV; Over the last few months I crept from 225 to 230, and somehow between about the 15th of December to today I managed to get back down to 225. So, I'm 225 and I Lost weight during the holidays!

Congrats! What a wonderful goal!

Okay, much past due for an update, but I've been busy! Alright, well, in the last 2 weeks of November I was moving to a new place. There are a decent amount of NSV's associated with this. My old place was a one bedroom apartment on the 2nd floor. I did tons of moving and packing and running up and down those stairs, and hauling stuff onto trucks. My muscles were generally sore afterwards but my lungs didn't hurt because I wasn't huffing and puffing! I now have a 2 bedroom place with stairs in it, and i'm up and down those stairs all the time. And more often than not, I'm running up and down the stairs, not walking. Walking up and down stairs takes to long, you know? When I first started this thread I had an NSV that my class ring fits. Well, now I need to get it resized. It still 'fits' but when I wear it it never stays straight and I'm afraid it will fall off. Fortunately my engagement ring was snug when I got it, so it still fits nicely. I haven't lost weight in a while, and even gained a few lbs (but fortunately I finally got that gained few lbs off), but I swear the other day when I put my jeans on they fit different than normal and they were right out of the dryer. Usually I have to squeeze into them (not lay down on the bet to zip, but still squeeze), and I didn't the other day. It might be the gained few that caused the squeezing, but I'll list it anyway. I LOST WEIGHT OVER THE HOLIDAYS. Granted, it's weight I'd lost, then gained (5lbs), but still. That's more of an SV, but the NSV comes in the form of all the snacking I DIDN'T do. Mom made 2 batches of fudge, a half batch of truffles (just for me), a batch of sugar cookies, a batch of gingerbread cookies, and I made 2 pumkin pies. In the course of 2 weeks, I maybe had 5 cookies, and 2 pieces of pie. I did eat most of the truffles over time, and a few pieces of fudge, but that was over the course of 2 weeks! I remember before coming in, grabbing a couple of cookies, grabbing a couple more a little later, and a little later after that, etc etc.

http://www.myspace.com/marimaru I did my graphics on there too. It matches my website for now, but I'll be changing my website soon, lol.

Losing what I've lost, and having hope that I'll lose what I want to lose has given me the power to be me again. When I graduated high school and joined the 'corporate world' I was determined that my fat was not going to get in my way, and so I was going to conform to whatever I needed to conform to so that I wouldn't get discounted or dismissed for any reason. In high school my hair was blue and green and so were my fingernails, and I would design all sorts of outfits to wear and as my mom says I would 'leave the house looking exactly the way I wanted to look'. Now my hair will probably not go wacky like that again unless I can start making oodles of money outside the corporate world, but my fingernails have, and I've started looking for cute clothes again and designing outfits again. I had locked away "myself" to become what I thought the world wanted me to be, and now it's time to unlock all those doors.

I'm not sure anyone needs a pelting for mentioning that a solution to some problems is removal of the band. Sometimes, that's just the way it is. With that said, I didn't get from your post that you've been filled... if you have been filled then getting an unfill is an easy solution but if you don't have anything in your band, there's no emptying it. I know that Dr. Kuri (who does my fills) tells people to eat very lightly at night so that they don't sleep on a full stomach. Having food in the pouch or even the lower stomach when you are sleeping can irritate the stoma. When people have issues with being super tight in the morning and super loose at night, he tells them to go on liquid diet for a few days to give the stomach a rest, then to eat a normal Breakfast (whatever you can), a bigger lunch, and then a smaller dinner, even Soup, to make sure that your stomach isn't full before bed. I hope you can get some relief!

I have a friend who went through almost this same thing, but it was a fill, not an unfill that did it to her. Basically, the poking and prodding from one of her fills pierced the tubing, giving her a big fat leak. She has to have her tubing replaced now.

Beyond the information being invaluable, we just love you guys!

I hope that you feel better soon. Even if you aren't too tight when the infection or whatever it is goes away, you'd do better to get a little unfill now so that you can get in good nutritious food while you are trying to get your body to heal. (hugs)

My feet are shrinking as well. I've always been able to wear the same size as my mom, but that's because her feet are longer than mine, and I needed the bigger shoes to go around the width of my feet. Some of my shoes are too big, and I've got new ones in a size I haven't seen since I was a young teenager.

Woo! Congrats!

That's so funny. If it burned that many calories I'd be a skinny mini by now!! I'm glad you are feeling better.

A few months ago I would have said "I'm having everything done!" but now I'll take the one below it "I'm definitely going to have a tummy tuck or something lifted/tightened." I know I want a breast lift, and I'm pretty sure I'll want my arms done. I'm undecided on the tummy and the thighs. I haven't lost enough weight to be able to really tell what's going to happen with the skin in those places. If I have a little 'squishyness' on my tummy, I think I can live with that, but if I have skin that overhangs my waist, I'll definitely want it removed.

Teresa, It looks like you've only been banded for a couple of weeks right? In that case, it's normal to quit losing for a few weeks here. Protien shake or not. Your body is kind of freaked out right now, you went through surgery, probably dropped a few lbs right after that, and your body is saying "whoa, what the heck is going on here". I would say to watch your calories and your protien, and if they are on track, to keep the morning shake in.

I can feel mine very easily, but you can't see it. I'm no where near goal yet tho. They can move it (they have it close to the surface to begin with so it's easy to reach for fills), and they can also install a smaller 'low profile' port.

Clementine, it's common to gain weight after you heal up and start eating real foods again, holidays or not. You are already scheduled to go in for a fill, and I'm sure they've seen this happen a whole bunch! You are doing great, and you'll be on the downward side again before you know it.

LIsa, I've missed your whole erosion saga, but I'm glad you got checked out, and I'm glad you got things taken care of so fast. I know you'd been toying with the idea to have the band out, and it may be good for your peace of mind to have the thing out one way or another. I hope your recovery is going well, and I hope your fur babies are taking care of you!! Happy New year!