moonchild1968

I know I sound like a broken record - but nearly everyone stalls at 2-3 weeks out and this link explains why.
http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html
Keep up the faith, it takes awhile but one day you realize that you have really lost some weight!!!!!

Who is your doc? I'm waiting to board the plane now! Surgery dr Garcia on Tomorrow 4/2!

That's pretty much my position, except I am a bit afraid of surgery, but I'm more afraid of failing again. Regaining all the weight from the lapband kicked my emotional butt so badly that I don't want to go through it again and I certainly don't want to go through it publicly. I'm already hiding out socially, hoping that I don't run into people who last saw me at the height of my lapband success. I'm ashamed. I hate that I have to do this again, but I know that I have to do this again to give myself a fighting chance at ridding myself of all this weight and all these aches and pains. My feet and legs hurt. I walk like a fat lady...heck, that's what I am. Anyway, I thought about just getting the lapband out and going it on my own and then I really thought about it and said hell no. I've still got some fight left in me. Consider this" We have a lot of experience under our belt with band. We can use it to be better with the sleeve and take this second chance to take the bull by the horns and let our tool work for us. It's just a better tool. The band is not the right tool for everybody. The sleeve seems less forgiving and more cooperative, but not a magic bullet. Good luck (to both of us)!

Hi. Wishing you a safe surgery and easy recovery. I'll be sleeved on April 18. I'm so ready to get this nervousness behind me and start my new journey. Congrats and good luck.

So tomorrow I start on all liquids and then tuesday is my surgery. Alittle nervous but actually more excited to get it over with and then onto my new journey. Wish me well. Thanks.

Hi. I can't answer your question because I am band-to-sleeve pre-op, too, with a surgery date of April 18. I'm nervous and excited for the new start, too. I hope you get more feedback on this post. Congratulations on your surgery date! Feels good to know that the lapband is coming out and a fresh start is on the horizon, doesn't it?

SHe is home!!! Thank you for the prayers and kind words!!!!!!

So tomorrow is the big day. My stomach has been doing flips all day just thinking about it but I'm so ready!! I cannot wait to get this band out and start seeing positive results. I can't even imagine what I'll look like in a few months. All of my childhood/teenage pictures burned in a house fire and I don't remember how I looked when I was thin...ALL those years ago! I will 'talk' to you tomorrow!! Prayers and well wishes to all.

Hi. I can't answer your question because I am band-to-sleeve pre-op, too, with a surgery date of April 18. I'm nervous and excited for the new start, too. I hope you get more feedback on this post. Congratulations on your surgery date! Feels good to know that the lapband is coming out and a fresh start is on the horizon, doesn't it?

I was banded in 2008. Never felt full. Never reached a sweet spot. Random foods would get stuck. Sometimes the same food I'd eaten earlier without a problem. I never told anyone about my band either...and I'm glad because you can't tell I had WLS. I'm grateful that I never had a slip or erosion. However, the little weight I lost has all returned. Throwing up every day since 2008 got old...excusing yourself from the dinner table, etc. Even at 260 lbs people are thinking I have an eating disorder since I leave the table so often. 12/2012, I had all of the Fluid removed from my band. I was hopeful for a revision, but the main goal was to get this band removed!! I am fortunate and have been approved for a revision on 4/25. I don't want to fail again. I'm going to give it all I got and not look back. I've decided to put the lap band behind me. I don't want to compare recovery, eating, digestion....anything. As of 4/25 (for me) the band never existed. I MUST do this. This band has been worse emotionally than any bad relationship I've encountered. Best to you all. I haven't even been revised yet and I know that it is a better decision.

Ms antiband says it well!
I was afraid of the surgery and more afraid of failure. I kept my band secret but felt shame about the lousy weight loss AND all the vomiting for 10 bad years.
I wrestled with the revision decision for a long time. Reading this forum helped me build confidence. A doctor told me that I was one that could make it work because "I never gave up". That was empowering and has influenced how public I have been about my sleeve too.
I have so much empathy for those standing on the edge..trying to believe that it might work this time.
A key difference is I am just so DONE with food being what pleases me!!

Awww thanks I sure hope so. Good luck on the 18th make sure you bring a pillow and Chapstick.

I've been having band-to-sleeve pre-op thoughts thinking that the surgery won't work for me like it has for so many others...worrying about surgery...worrying about if I will/can comply to the sleeve adjustment....just worrying. I caught myself today and stopped long enough to pause this stinking thinking that I've been going through. I want to succeed at weight loss once and for all and yet a part of me can't even imagine what a life without the excess weight will really feel like. What will I do without my fat suit that made me and others so comfortable? I imagine that I will feel exposed. The other part of me is terribly afraid that I might not lose the weight again. There's so much emotional stuff to work through. Mind, body, soul connection. That's why I visit WLS websites and go to WLS support groups to sort through some of it.
Congratulations on reaching goal!

So I have confession: I went shopping over the weekend and found some pretty summer dresses and and bathing suit. The thing is it was all located in the juniors dept!! I felt guilty for even looking in the dept but Hubby and my Sis kept trying to reassure me that it was ok. All I kept thinking was, "what gives me the right to be In This section that I have NEVER been in in all of my life!!! (Tearing up)
I'm 8 months out, 115 pounds gone. I'm at below my goal. I made it to 100lbs gone six months out!! I'm in a size 8 pants and dresses, small shirts, and I've been shopping a lot in Victoria secrets! I'm happy until I go out to go shopping then I get sad because I don't feel like I'm worthy!!! This mind game is something else. The size 8 jeans I had them for 3 weeks still wearing my size 2xl and size 12 because I couldn't believe I was actually in a size 8. I probably would still be wearing my bigger drawers if I wasn't losing them so much while at work. Just want to put my thoughts out there!!!

My doctor does a cholangiogram during surgery and if any stones are found he removes the gb. He also told me he will fix anything he finds, whether its a mass on an ovary or a hiatal hernia, whatever he sees and is able to fix he will fix. Now I have these thoughts of him inspecting every organ inside me one by one while I'm under. I don't know. It seems odd he would venture into other areas. I understand gb or hernia. Anything else? Not so much.

I am not an expert on this - but from what you describe I have a very hard time seeing how the sleeve would cause you to lose weight. ALL the sleeve procedure does is reduce your appetite and reduce your capacity for food. Then, combined with the structure of how you are supposed to eat, gives you a shot in the arm to get weight off - the rest is up to the person. For me, i was hungry alot presleeve so the reduction in appetite and quantity "helped" me make better decisions. I went from eating probably in the 2000-3000 calorie a day range to under 1000. As the weight came off, it became easier to be active too - so that also helped.
I personally would want the surgeon to explain how it would work if you are already under 1000 cal a day, eating mostly Protein and doing high intensity exercise. There is nothing about the sleeve that would cause that same regimen to work if it is not working now.

That's pretty much my position, except I am a bit afraid of surgery, but I'm more afraid of failing again. Regaining all the weight from the lapband kicked my emotional butt so badly that I don't want to go through it again and I certainly don't want to go through it publicly. I'm already hiding out socially, hoping that I don't run into people who last saw me at the height of my lapband success. I'm ashamed. I hate that I have to do this again, but I know that I have to do this again to give myself a fighting chance at ridding myself of all this weight and all these aches and pains. My feet and legs hurt. I walk like a fat lady...heck, that's what I am. Anyway, I thought about just getting the lapband out and going it on my own and then I really thought about it and said hell no. I've still got some fight left in me. Consider this" We have a lot of experience under our belt with band. We can use it to be better with the sleeve and take this second chance to take the bull by the horns and let our tool work for us. It's just a better tool. The band is not the right tool for everybody. The sleeve seems less forgiving and more cooperative, but not a magic bullet. Good luck (to both of us)!

well for one I think the band was too easy to cheat on.. and the sleeve.. well you can only take in so much... if you go over that amt.. you will get sick.. and thats not a fun thing throwing up.. ive read enough on here for that alone to freak me out.. I dont do the throw up thing at all..I too work in a hospital that I had my surgery in..so it was ok.. just wanted to wake up was my only request... thats what I told them.. make sure I wake up lol. the thing about the sleeve is it too is a tool..and like any tool you need to help make it work.. follow the rules.. follow the game plan..follow the doctors orders... its harder to cheat on.. follow your nuts advise on foods to eat.. choose your foods wisely.. walk often... sip sip sip.. and the weight will fall off.. Im post op dec 20th and Ive lost 68lbs..and just started at the gym doing cardio.. and I was never a gym sort of person.. but now I see how important things are..and how food does not rule my life at all.. I work 2 full time jobs and go to the gym.. I figure if I can do it..anyone can..and im not easily motivated at times.. but I do it cuz Im beginning to see a new me.. still cant see what others see and that is hard for me.. I still see the old me.. but I guess one day I will see what they see.. so Im trusting them that I look good.. my labs came back today after a 3 mo check up and they were great.. no loss in any vitamins.. cuz I take them every day faithfully.. so .. get on the band wagon here.. join us in our journeys..share your story and we will help you along the way.. thats what we are here for.. advice and to help each other and be a positive support system.. thats what you need.. positive support.. we are here for you.. good luck

Hi, I am a 45 year old male and i just recently had a Lapband to sleeve revision done on 12/13 and I am doing great so far. I am down 31lbs in a little more than 3 weeks and the only regrets I can tell you that I have had so far is my inability to drink fluids at a faster rate. Just like the person who posted before me I can only drink 3 or 4 ounces at a time and then have to wait about ten minutes in between. I have also experienced some mild accid reflux but i have pretty much kept that at bay with a daily regimen of Zantax 150 / store brand, not name brand.
I can also tell you that I was like you debating and debating if I wanted to do the revision but I also have had the pleasure of knowing someone who had her sleeve surgery the same time I had my lapband surgery over 7 years ago and she has lost over 125lbs and MAINTAINED THE WEIGHT LOSS within 20lbs up and down all of this time now. She told me that she still has her good and BAD days with the foods she eats but the one thing about the sleeve is no matter what your stomach will never stretch back anywhere to the size it was before.

I wish I had done sleeve first time instead of band !!! The ONLY negative I've had w my sleeve is reflux. I'm 20 weeks out and below goal weight, had reflux before band, none w band, and its back. That's the only negative. I reached goal before my sleeve--- I had sleeve so I never go back to fat land. I had all the negatives all banders do-- just life w a band !! No WLS is perfect--- its still work, you CAN stretch and mess up your sleeve !! Break your bad habits now-- the sleeve is more forgiving than the band !! I WAY older than Taylor SWIFT generation--- but "we will never ever ever get back together"--- my band and I !!! Good luck !

I've had the same band experience as you. Reflux, pouch dilation, vomiting in my sleep. I also had periodic fevers and flu-like symptoms for years that they couldn't explain (which my doc thinks my body was rejecting the band...). I had my band out in April 2012 and have gained nearly all my weight back. Started gaining as soon as I started having problems. I'm getting my sleeve on Jan. 14. I think all of us revisionists have the same feeling of hoping this is not the band all over again. I had my band placed in 2008 and you rarely heard anything negative. I regularly review the complications forum. I'm scared of leaks and being able to not eat anything...I threw up a lot with the band so I know what that's like, but I also knew I could remove the band. The sleeve is irreversible and I think that's my biggest fear. But I'm doing it...

I honestly cant think of a single negative! I have never thrown up, had the slimes, or any other problems. I am 4 months out and down 70 pounds! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would feel this good this fast!
The holidays were awesome. I ate a small bite of all my faves . I was completely satisfied and still lost weight. I love my sleeve!
I approached this with a positive attitude about changing my life and it certainly has!

Your lapband experience is amost identical to mine. I am getting a sleeve this month. I am more scared than most, and certainly less excited but its because I've been there before, I know what
challenges likely face me, and I'm wiser for it.
Obviously I have not HAD the sleeve yet so I can only say what I know now, but here is the way I look at it, not being head over heals about surgery is probably better than people who are so giddy they are calling their surgeons office every day. We are more realistic. I PURPOSELY search out people who have had terrible experiences with all types of weight loss surgeries, where as before I would have TOLD you that I did that, but in reality I glossed over it, feeling that tons of it was all self inflicted and like that wasn't going to happen to me.
Here is what I can tell you - lapband has about the same success rate as Weight Watchers, had I known that I would have never done it. The sleeve has ABOUT the same weight loss as RNY patients, and better long term outcomes as far as complications go.

I haven't been sleeved yet-still have the band. Wow! You know I NEVER thought about the band being a contributing factor...I wonder if there's some truth to that. The band hasn't worked out for me. I'm going on 5 yrs. Ever since I've been banded my upper stomach is big. I don't have any hernias or tumors. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't have washboard abs prior to banding (clearly...lol), but now I almost look pregnant. That's a thought...