Carlene

I am 18 months post-op and have lost almost 100 pounds. I have had no complications, other than getting too tight a couple of times and having to have a little bit of the saline taken out. It hasn't been as easy as I feel like I was led to believe it would be, but maybe I just had unrealistic expectations. It takes some work on your part. Calories still count. Exercise still counts. If you take in more calories than you burn, you will gain - not lose. It's still as simple as that. I sometimes miss some of the foods I can no longer eat, but not often and not terribly. I can have a bite or two of almost anything, but if I over-indulge, it will come back to haunt me (literally). On the day of my surgery, I wore a very tight size 18/20. Now I am a size 4. It's hard to regret that.

If your band is too tight it may definitely slow or stop your weight loss because you tend to fall into "soft food syndrome". That means that you will eat the things that will go down easily (such as ice cream, pudding, chips, cream-based soups, etc) and avoid hard protein, which is a bandster's best friend.

Absolutely NOT

I don't believe that money means anything to God. I don't believe he uses it to reward us, or takes it away to punish us. In Biblical times God reward people in many ways, but I don't recall that money was ever one of them. In fact, Jesus preached don't build up your treasures on earth, but build them in heaven. This is a short and fleeting life, compared to the eternity we will spend in heaven (or elsewhere). It's like riding in coach class - a bit uncomfortable sometimes, but not a big deal.

Actually, the stoma is the opening between your surgically created pouch and your natural stomach. Stoma is the Greek word for "mouth" or "opening". My doctor says caffeine is okay, but he is very anti-carbonation.

Ditto everybody else. Absolutely get her to a gyno ASAP - preferably a female one. A lot of doctors are reluctant to prescribe HRT but sometimes it can be a life-saver - literally.

No tattoos here. Wrong generation....but I have a funny story. My daughter had mentioned that she wanted a tattoo and I had a serious meltdown. Flash forward a couple of years....she was in labor with her third child (hard labor) and the nurse decided that she needed a sonogram. So they bring in the machine and my daughter holds up her hand in the "stop" signal and says, "Wait....first I have to tell my mother something". Seems she had a tattoo on her stomach (of all places) and had successfully hidden it from me for over a year.

<CENTER><!-- VC active --><!-- FASTCLICK.COM 468x60 Banner v1.4 for wilstar.com --><SCRIPT language=Javascript><!--var i=j=p=t=u=x=z=dc='';var id=f=0;var f=Math.floor(Math.random()*7777);id=24869; dc=document;u='ht'+'tp://media.fastclick.net/w'; x='/get.media?t=s';z=' width=468 height=60 border=0 ';t=z+'marginheight=0 marginwidth=';i=u+x+'&sid='+id+'&m=1&tp=1&f=b&v=1.4&c='+f+'&r='+escape(dc.referrer);u='';dc.writeln('<ifr'+'ame src="'+i+'&d=f"'+t+'0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no>');if(navigator.appName.indexOf('Mic')<=0){dc.writeln(u+'');}dc.writeln('</iframe>'); // --></SCRIPT><IFRAME style="WIDTH: 59px; HEIGHT: 5px" border=0 marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://media.fastclick.net/w/get.media?t=s&sid=24869&m=1&tp=1&f=b&v=1.4&c=7207&r=http%3A//www.ask.com/web%3Fq%3Dwhich+has+more+caffeine+coffee+or+tea%26qsrc%3D0%26o%3D312&d=f" frameBorder=0 width=468 scrolling=no height=60></IFRAME><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- FASTCLICK.COM 468x60 Banner v1.4 for wilstar.com --><!-- vc active --> </CENTER>Caffeine Content Of Popular drinks Soft Drinks <CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=450 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD>12-ounce beverage</TD><TD>milligrams</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>Red Bull (8.2 oz) </TD><TD>80.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Jolt </TD><TD>71.2</TD></TR><TR><TD>Pepsi One</TD><TD>55.5</TD></TR><TR><TD>Mountain Dew </TD><TD>55.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Mountain Dew Code Red </TD><TD>55.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Mountain Dew </TD><TD>55.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Kick Citrus </TD><TD>54.0 </TD></TR><TR><TD>Mellow Yellow </TD><TD>52.8</TD></TR><TR><TD>Surge </TD><TD>51.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Tab </TD><TD>46.8</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Coke </TD><TD>45.6</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Coke with Lemon </TD><TD>45.6</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Coke with Lime </TD><TD>45.6</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet vanilla Coke </TD><TD>45.6</TD></TR><TR><TD>Shasta Cola </TD><TD>44.4</TD></TR><TR><TD>Shasta Cherry Cola </TD><TD>44.4</TD></TR><TR><TD>Shasta Diet Cola </TD><TD>44.4</TD></TR><TR><TD>RC Cola </TD><TD>43.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet RC </TD><TD>43.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Dr. Pepper </TD><TD>41.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Dr. Pepper </TD><TD>41.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Sunkist Orange </TD><TD>41.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Mr. Pibb </TD><TD>40.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>sugar-free Mr. Pibb </TD><TD>40.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Red Flash </TD><TD>40.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Sunkist Orange</TD><TD>40.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Slim-Fast Cappuccino Delight shake </TD><TD>40.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Ruby Red </TD><TD>39.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Storm</TD><TD>38.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Big Red</TD><TD>38.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Pepsi-Cola </TD><TD>37.5</TD></TR><TR><TD>Pepsi Twist </TD><TD>37.5</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Pepsi </TD><TD>36.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Wild Cherry Pepsi </TD><TD>38.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi </TD><TD>36.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Pepsi Twist </TD><TD>36.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Aspen </TD><TD>36.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Coca-Cola Classic </TD><TD>34.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Coke C2 </TD><TD>34.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Cherry Coke </TD><TD>34.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Lemon Coke </TD><TD>34.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Vanilla Coke </TD><TD>34.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Cherry Coke </TD><TD>34.0 </TD></TR><TR><TD>Snapple Flavored Teas (Reg. or Diet) </TD><TD>31.5</TD></TR><TR><TD>Canada Dry Cola </TD><TD>30.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>A&W Creme Soda </TD><TD>29.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Nestea Sweet Iced Tea</TD><TD>26.5</TD></TR><TR><TD>Nestea Unsweetened Iced Tea</TD><TD>26.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Barq's Root Beer </TD><TD>23.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>A&W Diet Creme Soda</TD><TD>22.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Slim-Fast chocolate Flavors </TD><TD>20.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Snapple Sweet Tea</TD><TD>12.0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Lipton Brisk, All Varieties</TD><TD>9</TD></TR><TR><TD>Canada Dry Diet Cola </TD><TD>1.2</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Rite Cola</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Sprite</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>7-Up </TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Mug Root Beer</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Diet Barq's Root Beer</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Sundrop Orange</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Minute Maid Orange</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>A&W Root Beer</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Slice</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Sierra Mist</TD><TD>0</TD></TR><TR><TD>Fresca</TD><TD>0</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER> Other beverages <CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=450 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD>8-ounce Beverage</TD><TD>milligrams</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>coffee, Drip </TD><TD>115-175 </TD></TR><TR><TD>Coffee, Brewed </TD><TD>80-135</TD></TR><TR><TD>Coffee, Espresso (2 ounces)</TD><TD>100</TD></TR><TR><TD>Coffee, Instant </TD><TD>65-100</TD></TR><TR><TD>Tea, iced </TD><TD>47</TD></TR><TR><TD>Tea, brewed, imported brands (avg.)</TD><TD>60</TD></TR><TR><TD>Tea, brewed, U.S. brands (avg.)</TD><TD>40</TD></TR><TR><TD>Tea, instant </TD><TD>30</TD></TR><TR><TD>Tea, green </TD><TD>15</TD></TR><TR><TD>Hot cocoa</TD><TD>14</TD></TR><TR><TD>Coffee, Decaf, brewed </TD><TD>3-4</TD></TR><TR><TD>Coffee, Decaf, instant </TD><TD>2-3</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER><CENTER>SOURCES: National Soft Drink Association, US food and Drug Administration, Bunker and McWilliams, Pepsi, Slim-Fast. </CENTER> <HR align=center width="75%" SIZE=3> <CENTER> </CENTER> <CENTER> </CENTER>

Are you kidding? I go back and finish my dinner. After that, I might have a hot cup of coffee, but it's basically back to business as usual.

Don't do that! Pot gives you terminal munchies. As George Carlin says, have you ever seen the cookie aisle in a really band neighborhood?

I love Coke Zero, but unless it's almost flat, it feels like a fizzy little bomb going off in my pouch. Instead, I discovered Wal Mart's store brand of peach flavored tea mix. It comes in little tubes and you just add one to a bottle of cold water. YUM!

I would love to help you, but I'm not all that regimented when it comes to meals. I drink Slim Fast powder with skim milk for breakfast. Other than that, I have whatever strikes my fancy. I usually eat leftovers for lunch, or a little foil packet of tuna. Sometimes I will have a package of PB crackers and a piece of string cheese. For dinner I eat a little bit of protein - maybe one chicken leg. If I have a snack at night, it's usually 4 oz of low fat yogurt.

I love Cheetos, too. I can't even have them in the house. They go down waaaaaaaaaay too easy.

Some doctors use the large band exclusively now. I, however, have the smallest one. I think it's harder to achieve proper restriction with the bigger band, or so I've been told.

My doctor had me do 3 days clear liquids, one week full liquids, and one week of soft food. I think 3 months with no solid food would be awful!

Joyce... If you can't eat solid food, you are too tight. Eating is not supposed to be that difficult with the band.

I read mostly non-fiction. Right now I am reading a biography of William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon.

I am trolling for money, too. Please PM me if you have some extra money and I will send you my address.

I hate shoes and shed mine as soon as I walk in the door. I also hate carpet and would love to replace mine with tile/wood floors. I wish it was customary here to take off one's shoes when entering a home, but it isn't. So I don't expect it of other people, don't suggest it, and certainly don't demand it.

My experience has been that eating out causes more problems than eating at home. Once you achieve good restriction, there will be days when almost nothing goes down and you end up in the ladies' room three times during one meal. That may be difficult to explain.

I love them too. Thank God I can't eat them. My band does not like Krispy Kremes, cake, or bread.

My doctor was trained in Mexico to do the Lap Band procedure. But if I were you, I would use my insurance. After care is EVERYTHING with the band. Sometimes it's hard to find a local doctor who will fill patients who were banded in Mexico. They also tend to blame anything that goes wrong on "the other guy". It's always best to have the same doctor do your fills etc that did the band surgery.

Here is what I have learned during my 18 month love/hate relationship with the band... 1. Don't fight with the band...you will not win. By this I mean don't continue to eat things that get stuck and/or cause you discomfort. 2. Too tight is not a good thing. Get an unfill if you cannot eat solid food, or if you develop reflux. 3. Be patient. The weight loss is slow with the band - between one and two pounds per week. 4. Make good food choices. No one has ever lost weight on a milkshake diet and you won't either. 5. Maintain the band. Fills are everything. If you aren't losing weight, you either need a fill or you are eating the wrong foods.

I would not fly SW if THEY paid ME, even though I have never needed a second seat or a seatbelt extender. They literally call ahead to the gate attendant and say stuff like, "POS waddling your way." (POS is their acronym for "person of size".) I realize that these little "inside jokes" aren't meant to be heard by the general public, but that doesn't make them any less offensive.

Southwest doesn't have first class, and they are the biggest "offenders" of the POS/2 seat rule.