HeatherA

Ok! I am willing to try to arrange the next meeting. Special K... is that ok with you? How does February 9th sound? It's a Saturday and we could try for Polaris again since it's pretty easy to get to and would be less crowded than Easton. However, I'm open to suggestions on meeting places. If you're interested let me know what time you'd like to meet... we could do morning... afternoon... or evening. I'm up for most anything!

Wow! I could have written that post! I was banded on the 18th and haven't lost a thing since the 26th. Well, I've lost and gained the same 2 pounds about 10 times... but that doesn't count. :-) It's helpful reading all of these posts... but I still want that dang scale to move! I refuse to gain my current loss back, so I'm counting calories, watching my Protein and striving for all of my Fluid. I figure my body will eventually catch up with itself... but it still doesn't keep me from being a bit bummed. Hang in there and I'll hang with you!

Hi everyone! I was banded on Dec 18 in Ohio. I am anxiously awaiting the 16th when I can move onto soft (non-pureed) foods. Truthfully, I've kinda dabbled a bit with some very soft foods that have not been pureed. I lost 12 pounds from the 19-26th of Dec. and since then I've been going up and down 2 pounds. I've been eating less than 1000 calories a day and have not been exercising yet. As of last weekend I did start getting back to my normal level of activities and have had several very active days. My goal now is to up my calorie intake to 1200 and see what happens. I'm getting enough Protein and Fluid in since moving to mushies... so I hope at some point the scale starts moving again. My next Dr.'s appt. is the 23rd and I'm not sure if I will be getting a fill that day or not. I hope so!

I am so sad to hear that! How traumatic that must be for you, and being self-pay is just another blow. I do hope your doctor will do something for you pro-bono once you heal. Please keep us informed! {{{HUGS}}}

Hi Angie... there's a few rundowns of our meeting over in the Columbus thread. It went really well... just me, Special K and Debbie were there. I was a bit surprised considering how nice it was last night. We had a nice time and it was great meeting the other gals. They are just terrific! We're going to have to plan another one. I was so invigorating to put faces with screennames and to meet other terrific bandsters outside of a support group meeting.

Welcome! With the lapband you can look at about 1-2 pounds per week. You have to do some of the work yourself. It's not a magic surgery by any means, but it seems to have a way of helping people truly keep the weight off after they lose it and it's something that can be adjusted whenever you need it to be... even 5 years out... unlike the RNY procedure. Plus it's relatively safe and completely reversible. Slow and steady wins the race... that's my motto!

Sunrise, that's great news! You're going through Fresh Start right? Will you join us at the support group meeting next week?

Juli, we talked about you a bit last night. I was so hoping to meet you. We'll have to reschedule again soon. We were talking about maybe a Friday or Saturday if that works better for people's schedules.

Last night was a lot of fun! Hi Debbie and Special K! It was quite interesting having the three of us at three different points in our journey sitting around the table sharing our stories and our thoughts on the whole process. Debbie looked amazing! To see her now, 6 months after her surgery you'd never think she'd even need to be banded... I hope I can say the same in 6 months!!!! We definitely need to do it again... and soon. It's amazing how much my mentality shifted after our meeting. I've been struggling a bit with the band and still being on post-op food restrictions... but today I feel worlds better and I'm energized to get my negative thoughts removed from my head! Thanks for arranging this Special K! When's our next meeting? Can we do it before you have surgery? :-)

I haven't lost a pound since December 26th. I've actually fluctuated up and down 2 pounds. I've only been on mushies since Jan 1. It's so frustrating... but truthfully it helps when I read over and over again on here that others are experiencing the same thing. I have faith, and so should you, that the scale will start moving downward once again. I think I was just spoiled with my rapid 12 pound post-surgery loss (week 1) that this standstill is getting to me. I'm staying the course and I'm sure that the weight will start dropping off again... even before my first fill!

This is a great question! I hope you get some good responses. I've yet to have a fill and I'm luckily not too ravenous at this point with what I'm eating, but I've often wondered this myself.

Columbus Support Group 1/15 - Riverside Just a heads up for you Columbus bandsters there is a support group meeting next Tuesday at 6:30 at Riverside. It's located at the building at 500 Thomas Rooms H&I (Next to Riverside). There is also a meeting for Gastric Bypass patients just prior to the bandsters meeting. It starts at 5:30 in the same rooms. Hope to see you there! This will be my first post-band meeting! Whoo Hoo!

Is everyone still planning on getting together tonight? I'm planning on joining everyone if so. I've been really looking forward to it.

I got my period 2 days after surgery. It was a fairly normal period. Not much additional cramping or anything... it just lasted a bit longer than normal.

I've mentioned this several times. My mother got one when she had her hysterectomy and she offered hers to me, but since she's me at my goal weight I didn't think it'd fit :-) That would have made recovery so much easier!

Hang in there Justin! You'll get through this. I'm now 18 days out and am feeling much better. By day 10/11 I was back up and ready to get moving at a more normal pace. I went to work at day 14 and every day has been much better than the last.

I've had the band for two weeks... I'm no more gassy than I was before the band... and I've had NO constipation. The only things I've noticed so far are that I tend to have random single hiccups throughout the day that I never had before, and my tummy rumbles quite a bit. Since I'm just now moving onto mushy stage food the rumbling has slowed to just a few times a day. It's definitely not anything that bothers me.

Hi! Congrats on your recent banding! I was going to go through the program at Mt. Carmel also and I loved Dr. Choban after meeting her at the seminar, but I chose to go with the Fresh Start program and Riverside due to their excellent after care program. It's a bit more expensive than Mt. Carmel, but Dr. Myers is amazing and my surgery on December 18 went without a hitch! Good luck with your journey!

Today is my first official day on mushies. Yesterday as a treat I had a mushie dinner (I took the idea above and had a pureed Thanksgiving meal of turkey/gravy and mashed potatoes.) Total serving size was 1 cup and after eating it I was so delightfully full for about 5 hours. It saw me through my son's birthday party/New Years Eve party and I had no interest in any of the food sitting out on my counters... including the ginormous cupcakes I bought him from costco. Today I'm easing into mushies with a half liquid/mushie diet. I just had a bowl of Weight Control oatmeal made with milk and will have another Thanksgiving special for dinner. My biggest hurdle will be getting through the final family Christmas dinner I'm going to in an hour... I am not looking forward to it at all... it's so much easier to do this when I don't have to sit and watch everyone else eat things I wish I could be eating...

I lost 12 pounds in my first week. However, in my second week I've gained almost 2 pounds of that back... and I just truly start mushies today. Needless to say I'm not very happy.

I dropped 12 pounds in the first week after my surgery. I'm still on liquids until tomorrow... however I've noticed the scale is fluctuating up a few ounces every day. I'm terrified what will happen as soon as I add mushies tomorrow... I don't want to gain back what I've lost.

That is a great idea! I might just have to try that myself. I think I can handle pureed meat if I think it's just gravy on my potatoes! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

I was planning on going back to work at about 9 days and I just wasn't ready. I'm now planning on going back at day 15 and even though I'm feeling much better I wish I had another week off. I work at a desk job and sitting straight up and down is still not comfortable for me thanks to port pain.

Ohhhhh, keep the ideas coming... I start mushies on Tuesday and I can hardly wait. I go back to work on Wednesday and I'm trying to figure out what I should take with me for lunches. I'm dreaming about an omelet! It sounds sooooo good.

I wasn't up to driving until yesterday... 10 days out.