CPCarol

I am in. 2006 is the year of Carol...I am committing to better heath, better eating and getting to my goal weight by the end of the year. I have done for everyone else for so long I am now committing to spend the next year doing for myself. Thanks for setting this up. I commit to entering boot camp LBT style! Signed, Carol

This is just what I need... I am in. I have not lost any since early October and I am having a hard time admitting that I am the one making poor choices. I am the only one that is saboutaging my own efforts. Now I am blaming it on the holidays and my body just catching up with the weight that I have already lost. I have signed up for a new fitness club that is suppose to open the end of the week. When I signed up (2 weeks ago) I quit getting on the tread mill at home. It is like I have given myself the past few months off....WHY? I am not near the personal goal that I set for myself and I started out so well. How do we start over? Please help! -Carol

The non adjustable band it just that. A band placed around your stomach with no way of altering the size of the band around the stomach. Personally I have had 6 fills and if I had the non adjustable band I would just be trying to diet to keep the band working. To me that defeats the purpose of the band. There was one women in my support group that had the non adjustable band and her weight loss had stalled just a few months after her surgery. Her doctor was telling her to cut the amount of food that she was eating. If you are going to do that then you might as well do it on your own. You only have one shot at the band being placed and work for you. Some people loose fat around their stomach and when it begins to shrink then you have a loose band around your stomach. Each person is different and I know some people that have lost 100 lbs with just 1 fill. But why take the chance if you do not have too?? I would re-consider the adjustable band so that you have the ability to keep the band working for you for years to come. As for the water. If the water goes thru the band easily then why would you have to limit it to 4 oz? Chugging may cause difficulty and that may be the reason to limit water intake at one sitting but if you take it easy you should be able to drink 64+ ozs a day easy. Water is the best way to flush your system and all of those unwanted pounds. Good luck in your decision!

Wow, I am so sorry. Slips and now erosion. These are the risks that we all signed up for when we were banded. You were the model bandster that so many of us followed and took comfort in when times were tough. I am glad to see that you are moving forward and have the same attitude about your weight after the band that you had during your band. I know that you will do well. You are such a strong person. Thanks for being there for all of us. It is now time for us to be there for you.

Jonathan - I am very sorry to hear about the slip. In that back of my mind that has always been my biggest fear. At my appointment today my Dr. kept talking about erosion and slippage. Since there are no specific signs everyone has to be aware of small changes that happen and act upon it. You did the right thing in going in for a fill under fluro. Now you have to pray for the best. Thanks for sharing the good times as well as the bad times that you have gone thru. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I will be one of the ones out there early Friday morning. I love flipping thru all of the ads trying to figure out who has the best deal on what I need. I usually split the shopping with my parents and we go to seperate stores so that we cover all of the stores in the shortest amount of time. I am out of the house by 4:30 and home by 8 am finished!! Thanks Mandy for the heads up on the great sales.

I have to admit that I love the Food Network and had it on all day Saturday. I love all of those shows and Paula Dean is also my favorite. She is very funny. The TurDucken that she made was very interesting. That is a lot of work cutting out all of the bones of 3 meats. She makes everything look so easy. We will be having Fried Turkey this year. Frying the Turkey gives my husband something to do instead of just waiting for all of the food to finish. We inject the Turkey with a Mesquite marinade, slather it with Mayo and cover it with Tony Chacherones (sp?) cajun seasoning. Once you drop it into the hot oil the seasoning sticks to the skin and everyone fights over the skin. It is great. My husband can not understand how I can sit and watch the food shows when I am working on getting this weight off. I just love all of the ideas that I get from the shows. I know that I can not eat as much as I use too and I am happy with a small amount of good tasting food. I guess I am always going to be on the lookout for the next great tasting recipie. I just had a fill today so I will be taking it easy on the food come Thursday.

I would love to have a fill under fluro. I think it is neat to see the band at work. The only time I got to see it was my barium swallow just after surgery. I was a little out of it and not sure what I was even looking at. I also had my surgery at SCOR but my aftercare is with SWBariatrics in Austin. I am going in for a fill on Tuesday also. It was tough to make that call knowing that Thanksgiving was just a few days away. I want the weight off more than I want all of the food associated with the holiday. My weight loss has stalled and I have made changes to everything else so a fill is the next logically step. Good luck with you fill and I hope it kick starts your weightloss.

My band is great and has changed my life because...... I received the best compliment from my husband when he told me how proud he was of me and how good I looked !!! It made me melt and made me feel that it was the best decision I have ever made for MYSELF. The last year has not always been easy but it made me realize that it is about me and no one else. I have taken control and I am not letting food control me. -Carol

I am a 38 and the description sounds just like me....WOW

That is Ms. Dorfus Feathersprinkles to you....nice to meet all the rest of ya'll!

It is odd that you ask this question. I have bad varicose veins, bad enough that I had an appointment with a vascular sugeon yesterday to get them taken care of. I will have to have them surgically stripped. I have lost 70 pounds and my legs actually hurt more since I have lost the weight. Varicose veins do not go away they typically get worse. My mom suffered with varicose veins all the time I was growing up so I was destined to get them. Gaining all of the weight and a couple of pregnancies did not help either! I just have to wait for the insurance company to approve me now that it is considered medically necessary.

I am very happy with my band. I was not always as happy as I am now. The first few months I had to work really hard at not over eating. I did not wake up with restriction and it took 5 fills to work up to the restriction that I currently have. My Dr. is very conservative with fills and I had to learn to be patient with him. Once I obtained restriction I went from loosing 1-1.5 lbs a week to 3+ lbs a week for the last month. Now I am dealing with the amazing small amount of food that I actually eat and feel full. I am still shocked that a 1/2 cup to a cup of food is all that I need. I still struggle with taking smaller portions because I am so use to filling my plate and eating all that is on my plate. I have made a few trips to the bathroom during a meal because I did not chew, chew, chew or eat slow enough. It is a learning curve that I am still working on but I know that I would still be gaining weight right now without the band instead of loosing the 55 pounds that I have lost over the past 7 months. I would do it again in a hearbeat! Did I mention that I love my band? Good luck in you research! -Carol

Yes, it is time to get moving. This is just what I needed to become accountable. Here is the breakdown of my week: Monday - 7651 Tuesday - 8802 Wednesday - 7882 Thursday - 7855 Friday - 7690 I will do better next week, I will do better next week, I will do better next week! Good Luck to everyone else that is part of the walking challenge.

I'm also a Inamed 10!

I work in Austin but actually live in Cedar Park.

I went to the seminar with Southwest Bariatrics and at the time they were offering self pay patients $15,000. This included surgery at the Surgery Center of Richardson. They are in the process of setting up a surgical center in Austin and the Surgery Center of Richardson (SCOR) was allowing them the use of their facility. My surgeon flew to Richardson and did my surgery and assisted on another one and then flew home the same day. I have all my follow up care in Austin and so far I have yet to pay for a fill and I have had 3. My surgeon was Dr. Dillawn and I had my surgery Dec 8th, 2004. Good Luck with your research.

Hello, I have been reading posts on the site for months now. My surgery was exactly 1 week ago. I did not think it was too bad. Pretty sore until a few days ago. Things have been going well except now I have put on a few pounds. I have been hungry since the surgery and I have been trying to add things to give me a few extra calories and to stop the hunger pains. I did Clear liquids for the first few days and now have added creamy liquids to my diet. I did add 1 milk shake the last 2 days and each day I have put on a pound. I was happy to weigh myself the first few days because the scale was going down each day. I know that I should not be weighting myself each day but it was the only way to see how I was doing . I do not plan to do that after I get to solids. Weekly weight-ins will be fine for me. But......why am I now putting on weight instead of it dropping off? I am eating much less than before and feel that the scale should be moving down instead of up.....WHY?