HappyCamper

Are you losing weight with what you are doing? If not, you may want to switch to just drinking your protein shakes for at least a week before you surgery. If you are losing weight then you should be fine.

I take Centrum Silver Chewables Citrus Berry Flavored for adults 50+. They're not bad tasting at all.

I'm from Palmdale (north Los Angeles county). How about you?

Most people don't feel restriction with the first fill. It took 3 fills for me to feel even a little restriction. Be patient. It will come.

I have a Protein Drink every day for Breakfast, because my band is much tighter in the mornings and a Protein drink goes down a lot easier than solid food . I have Premeir Protein ready to drink, 30g protein. from costco

I take Benefiber every day, not really to help with hunger, but to keep me regular. I heard it's better to take than Metamucil for band patients, because it doesn't bulk up and get thick and won't stretch your pouch. You can put Benefiber in anything (I put it in my decaf coffee) and you won't taste it.

I have a 14cc AP band and I didn't feel much restriction until I had 8cc's in my band. Even with good restriction you still have to do your job making sure you're eating the right kinds of foods and exercising. I hate exercise, and resisted doing anything for a long time. My weight was stuck in the same place for months. Then I started tracking everything I ate, wore my pedometer and walked at least 10,000 steps every day. Now I finally broke my plateau and am losing again. I think you need a fill and if you eat right and exercise, I think you'll find that you too will start losing. Good Luck.

Tummy Tuck

I had Kaiser, then switched to UHC. My surgeons office told me I needed the 5 year history, but Kaiser lost my records. While I was trying to deal with Kaiser, I got a letter from UHC saying I was approved. Turns out I didn't need anything but a BMI over 40 or BMI over 35 with co-morbidities.

I had my lapband surgery at West Hills Hospital by Dr. Mark Paya. It's a bariatric center of excellence, and Dr. Paya is a very skilled surgeon and is easy to talk to. Here is his website www.surgithin.com Good Luck.