marnie723

Even when you are a normal HEALTHY size like an 8, people who have known you a long time probably are use to seeing the LARGER version you WERE so even a healthy size looks soooo small to them. You need to let people get use to the new you as well.

I can't eat sugar, just can't. If I drink a glass of OJ in the morning I'm history for the rest of the day. I can't cram enough food in my mouth. If I only eat good carbs and cut out ALL white carbs and sugar I'm good to go. I am not hungry. But if I eat a candy bar, for example, I'm toast for the rest of the day. I spend the afternoon sitting on my couch like a big carb slug eating my way through evening. Here's my question about that.....If you could give up all the carbs with the band why couldn't you do it without the band? I'm asking because I did Atkins & South Beach & lost 40-50 pds on each one. What I COULDN"T do was stick to it. I found eating meat for breaki(Atkins) boring & found South Beach hard to fit into everyday life(things like salad dressings, & no sugar what-so-ever such as in ketchup) I was never hungry doing southbeach but couldn't stick to it. How has the band stopped you from that. ie. Orange juice. If you say "I know it's not good for me" then again I wonder why you needed the band to begin with if you have that sort of self-control where food is concerned ? (my tone isn't meant to be snotty here)

That's my cry for the day. Very sad reminder that children & innocent people are killed EVERYWHERE due to war.

I have read things about this as well and saw the Oprah show on it. I wonder if it's the same for people who had the lapband as it is for those who chose gastric bypass. I've wondered about it, I've have had times where I was exercise obsessed, did 2hrs of aerobics daily but it always would end along with my diet and the scale would go back up. Some addictions aren't necessarily bad & I believe exercise can be a healthy one. What about booze? Does anyone drink more since they have been banded? I'd be really worried about throwing up(hung over) the next day to drink too much with the band. In my 20's I was driving the porcelein bus ALOT on Sunday mornings....luckily I grew out of it with marriage & kids.....but man those were good times!! :bandit

Please, please. please let this thread end........it's like watching a car wreck, I don't want to look but i just can't help myself.

I've tried asking my husband to tell them this. He says it gives his mother pleasure to waste all this money on the kids so he won't say anything to her. I've tried to get that message out in many ways to her but she says at their ages they can't appreciate money. (& they sure as hell don't appreciate all the clothes & endless toys) It's frustrating because my husband also wants to have the fun of buying them gifts at Christmas which just adds to the pile. He usually forgets what he bought them though & I am the RETURN QUEEN! If he leaves a receipt around & I find it,it's going back & that money goes into a savings acct for the kids. I just can't stand excessive consumption! Well unless it's food & I am trying to work on that with this lapband thing.

What do you do about family members who spend too much on your kids at Christmas? My in-laws spend waaaayyyyy too much money on my 2 & 4 year old. 500-700$ for every birthday & Christmas since the 4yr old was born. I hate it because it's such a waste at their ages & to spend that amount of money is alot of toys & clothes they don't appreciate & have no interest in. It's overwhelming & it also leaves nothing for anyone else to buy because it just gets lost in the heap. I would rather they gave ONE gift & then the rest in cash to go into a savings account which I have told her we opened for them but my MIL seems to ignore this. Other than try to return the stuff without her knowledge(hard to do with no receipt) I just keep piling it up in boxes, give some away & even regift it. Doing the math, my 2 kids could have several thousands in a savings account now instead of piles of junk in the toyroom.!

I find this thread pretty bad too. Lots of people do come here for support & maybe some questions seem pretty stupid to experienced bandster but having this thread where they are mocked & made fun of isn't very supportive!!

You should have said, " I don't know, I guess I'm taking after you!" and if your really spiteful make sure to go back after you've lost weight & ask her the same question.HA HA

In Canada we say 'soda crackers' instead of saltines(unless it's just me.lol) & here in Texas I asked a clerk in a grocery store where the soda crackers where & she looked confused then said, "soda is in aisle 4 & the crackers are in aisle 6" I also say chesterfield instead of sofa. Jachut I had a niece who lived in Melbourne nursing for 2years & she said the only difference between Aussie's & Canadians is that Canadians say, "good day, eh" and in Australia they say "eh, good day"

I have 2 retired teachers as in-laws who speak several languages and they constantly correct other people's grammar. I think it is extremely rude when someone is not in a classroom & correcting grammar. For example, while we were at a restaurant my In-laws corrected our waiter on his pronunciation of a french meal. My husband does it often too when he hears "it don't matter" instead of "doesn't" (or seen instead of saw) I think everyone has their own accents & ways of speaking or using expressions that makes us all different. I find correcting someone who isn't asking for your 2 cents only makes them feel awkward & self-conscious or even more likely annoyed. :angry

Marcar35 & Cindy D thanks alot for the websites, I appreciate the info & now I have some reading to do.

Hi Can someone who has been banded with TLBC in Miss. tell me what you get for the 15-16k$ you pay. How many fills, how long of aftercare, what if problems happen such as slips, flipped ports etc. I am in the US right now & trying to qualify for insurance but I don't think it will happen & I am looking at all my options if I self-pay. I can't decide whether to go to Canada(I'm Canadian) & have it done or go to Mexico. I know Mexico is cheaper but I'm afraid if there's any problems I will get huge bills here in the US to fix it. The cost of health care here is scary even with insurance & if I self-pay with the band I'm afraid my insurance will deny other claims saying they are band-related. If I get it done in Canada I might feel a little safer.

No your not nuts. If I had known then what I know now I would definately have added ankle & wrist weights. My BMI goes from 38.5- 39.5 and my PCP said I should have put weights on. They weigh you with your clothes on anyway. Do it, why take the chance you'll be denied.

I looked up the fax from my BCBS Mich provider & they say," a 12 mth period of weight loss that can be WW or Jenny Craig etc but it must be documented by a medically supervised weigh- in with a physician" I thiink you really need to find your employers specific outline of coverage. It seems every employer maybe different. Bottom line seems to be a pcp must sign off every month.

Funnneee, I never would have thought about owning your kids free & clear. Although every once in awhile they could be repossessed just for a day or two & I might not mind. HA! Imagine....Canada is trying to find ways to increase birth rates because they have been declining and having a child there doesns't cost you a dime except the gas in your car to get to the hospital. In the States we still have steady birth rates even though it may be alot of cash out of your pocket. What's up with that?

Funny how the idea of universal health care can be so confusing/scary for the US but yet if we were to look at all the other Countries that use it and successfully it sort of makes the American fears of it seem sort of......well, laughable really.

What I was told is they want a record of a monthly weigh-in, and food journals whether that comes from your doctor or weight watchers but it can't be interrupted meaning you can't miss a month. So I'm not sure WW on line would count. The woman on here who skipped the 12 mths had a form signed by her doctor & the insurance accepted that but I think that was specific to her coverage.

I am in month 8 of my 12mth supervised diet and it requires I keep a food & exercise log, writting down what I've eaten daily & what exercise I've done and SIGNED by my doctor monthly. I get weighed monthly at the doctors office. (this is with BCBS Mich too) You cannot miss a monthly weigh-in but I was told weight watchers would work too. I also had to have one "head" appt which I found was a waste of time because the Dr. I went to see went off on a tangent that had nothing to do with my weight issues.(she was talking about how there was "just more to life than what you see" I left the doctors appt laughing to myself that maybe she needed to get a collegues help herself. Anyway, back to your question, 12mths uninterrupted supervised weightloss, or WW or Jenny Craig, 1 head appt, and either BMI over 40 or over 35 with 2 co-morbidities.

(As for the written word....in a forum like this, who cares how you write?) I agree. I find a little too much nitpicking is going on with some postings over how something was said or what was said. I also find in particular there are a group of about 4 posters who are sort of "patrolling the board" and when one of these people write something you can bet the 3 or 4 people will write something to back him/her up. It's seems somewhat of a highschool clique mentality.It's one thing to share an opinion but another to have a gang attack on someone. I realize you make anonymous friends on these boards but I think as adults if you don't agree on someones opinion about something, you don't need to add "and alot of other posters agree with me" To me that is childish & makes me think of high school where you are trying to ostricize that person. I also agree if you can't understand what someone has written then don't comment on it. I enjoy reading these forums & like to add my 2cents but I don't have nor will I take the time to make sure everything is perfect before I hit "submit reply"

what I've written.....ha ha

Your right & I know pronunciation & grammar are 2 differrent things but in my defence I have to type very quickly on the computer(2 kids climbing in my lap) so sometimes my thoughts are just a jumble or interrupted mid-thought and I don't always re-read what I wrote. In my example of correcting a waiter's pronunciation I should also point out that my MIL then launches into "le & la" this is french and how what the waiter had said was wrong. I was crawling under the table. He didn't look like he was appreciating the lesson. I think when you are correcting kids of course it's ok, they are learning. When an adult corrects another adult I think it's rude. I wouldn't point out that someone at a dinner party was using the wrong fork. I think in the big picture it doesn't really matter & it doesn't make you any less or more of a person. I guess I find my in-laws a little stuffy sometimes & it just irriates me to no end.

When people say, "oops my bad" It's new but irritating me already.

Does anyone have info on the success rates for lapbands in Australia? I was just searching the web & came across some info to say that some Countries who have had the band for 10yrs or more are now finding the long term success rates aren't very good and that lots of people have had to have them out due to problems. I don't want to believe this is true and I'm starting to wonder if this will fail eventually like diets do as well. Does anyone know someone who has had a band for a long time? :omg:

That's the biggest complaint everyone has in Canada about the health system, wait times right now are one of the biggest problems. When people from Canada start to complain I always ask if they have any idea what that surgery would cost & no one ever does because in Canada you NEVER see a medical bill. I have good insurance here in the US & it still costs me 2-3K$ per year just in deductibles & co-pays. For example, people in Canada complain because OHIP(that's the gov't med system) no longer covers prostrate exams which people have to now pay 100$ for out of pocket. !))100$ is nothing to pay in the US system. So I find alot of the complainers in Canada don't appreciate what they have. Not sure if your family (in Canada) has used & had to pay for the American health care & if people want to come to the US for surgery they can pay for it. The US system is "for profit" anyway and I don't think any hospitals will turn down cash from anyone. This is too large a topic to debate here but my point is just that I have lived both sytems, Canadians who complain don't realize what they have & I believe Americans don't realize what they are missing. Another problem in Canada is a doctor shortage because many head down here to States where the big money can be made.