snowbird

Well, if you look at a chart on how many calories you burn doing a particular exercise, you can see that isn't such an unbelievable thing. I am sure you will probably hear from the exercise gurus to the contrary, but I happen to think your nutritionist is right. You will hear a lot about metabolism rates, but I'm not sure about the scientific accuracy of those claims. I do exercise by riding my bike, but it is less than an hour a day. It makes me feel better, but I question whether it is what has aided my weight loss. I know it is not directly related to times when I lose or periods when I don't lose. Weight loss is dependent upon burning more calories than you take in. If you are a four hour a day fitness fanatic, then yes, that is going to help you lose weight, because it will increase the amount you burn. Plus, that's four hours you probably aren't eating! However, if you exercise and then go eat high calorie foods, chances are the exercise benefit will be cancelled out by the food intake. Exercise makes you feel better and look better. It tones the body and can give you an incredible feeling of well-being. Those are my reasons for doing it.

We're the tag team of LBT.

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be because we and nearly all the patients who went to our surgeons had positive, successful experiences. If we were making them up, maybe we couldn't keep our stories straight and they would change from account to account. But as we are telling our own personal memories of what we experienced, our stories stay the same. What a surprise, indeed. I don't think you and the truth are even remotely acquainted.

I just want to say that no matter how conscientious you are about chewing, taking small bites, eating slowly, avoiding foods that historically give problems, you may still experience this. It is uncomfortable, but I consider it a part of life as a bandster. Some people don't have the problem much or ever, but many do go through it from time to time. C'est la vie of a bandster.

Love Jason's Deli. Went there this week with DH and had their chicken pot pie soup. Yum!

Well, of course the surgeons are doing it to make money. It's their job. Tell me which doctors don't charge for their services and just do their work out of the goodness of their hearts. Probably not his surgeon who is doing all the repairs!

I would think these are questions for your gp or surgeon, as there may be smaller forms of the medication available. I do take some large capsules that go down well, but I didn't take them right after my surgery. I switched to the little chewable chocolate calcium in place of the big pills after my band. They actually have become a bit of a treat for me.

Well, yes, of course if her BMI were 40 I might feel differently. Her health would be threatened much more severely if that were the case. I'm not a big fan of the "emotional eating" theory if obesity. Maybe I am in denial, but I don't think that's what I do. I do start eating and have a very hard time stopping, and like I said, the band doesn't really help me with that. Anyone comtemplating the band should read the threads concerning complications and band removal to get an idea of what is involved in the downside of banding, whether their BMI is 30 or 50. It's just that the health reasons for banding are not as great for the person with a BMI of 30 as the one whose BMI is 50, even though they are still there.

You didn't really mean it when you said you are 6'10" and 240 lb, did you? Because that is not really overweight.

You might try Dr. Ortiz in Tijuana. I know he does fills for other doctors' patients. He charges his patients $100 for fills with fluoroscopy, but I don't know if he has a different rate for nonpatients. Check out his website at obesitycontrolcenter.com. I ran into one of Dr Kuri's patients there the last time I was there, and also met another lapband patient who was there with a friend, and got a fill from Ortiz's clinic even though she had her surgery done elsewhere.

Problem is, sometimes you don't know what the "right" foods are until you find out you just ate the wrong one. Plus, what was the right food yesterday sometimes turns out to be the wrong one today.

Well, no, you aren't being slammed because you are new; you are being slammed because you came on here apparently with an agenda, and went on to accuse anyone not agreeing with you of being at best, misinformed, or at worst, liars. Generally speaking, not the best way to win friends and influence people. Oh, unless you are a politician running for president.

I'm a binge eater at times, and the band helps somewhat but not totally. I'm a snacker/binger who keeps on snacking long after any hunger pangs are gone. The band won't really stop that, because I don't eat that much at one time. If you went to Mexico you might get a doctor to band you, but you really need to sit back and realize the deep changes a band can make in your life on the negative side. Don't get me wrong; I'm very happy with my band and I'm better both health- and vanity-wise for having had it. But it means a lot of maintenance and you still need to control your eating. I can't sit down and eat a large steak and baked potato, but I can eat some popcorn, then some ice cream, then some nuts, then some chips, then . . . The band doesn't stop that. In fact, I can puke up some nuts and then go eat some ice cream and chips and Cookies. If you are thinking the band will control your uncontrollable urges, you may be disappointed after suffering surgery risks, pain, and frequent discomfort. I think you really need to sit down and evaluate your own demons and your own personality to see if this is for you. It is a tool to help you, but it is very far from a quick and easy fix.

Irregardless . . . One of my husband's ex-wife's favorite words. Usually used to talk about anything he wanted in the way of visitation. Thank goodness those days are over. Becca--I had a friend in high school who would go into gales of laughter at the sound of the word "put." You are not alone.

There's nothing you can say to someone like your SIL that is not going to bring you down to her level. A pointed stare and silence, however, should be pretty effective. A pointed stare at her butt might be even more effective. I'm sure everyone thought that she was the one who should be embarrassed, not you.

Well, let's see. My husband was born in Warshington--that's how he says it. My New England relatives think the state to the south of Washington is Awragawn. But my personal cringemaker is people who say "WALLAH!" and have no idea it's the French word "voila" they are after.

My insurance was federal employees' Blue Cross Blue Shield. Website is fepblue.org. I had my check within six weeks of submitting the paperwork.

Maybe we should do a calendar pin up girl/guy of the month from our successful bandsters.

Ohhh, you guys just made me do math. I've lost 79% of my excess weight in six months. I fully expect to lose the rest, but it will be slower as I get closer to goal. I think some people get part of the way to goal and feel well enough about their new weight that they never do the final push. And of course you are always averaging in the folks who just never get with the program to begin with. It certainly isn't automatic, but it is doable.

Darn right that's what I'm telling you. I had to pay the surgeon, but my insurance reimbursed me $7200 out of the $8000 cost of surgery. My husband was banded the same day, and his insurance paid $7900 out of the $8000. I submitted a claim for "overseas medical treatment" and BCBS reimbursed us both. Considering I have a somewhat lengthy history on this board and have met with a number of other bandsters in person, I think it's laughable that you with your seven posts want to accuse me of being a coyote. I think you need to check out your facts before making statements you know nothing about.

Why risk later complications for a moment of "pleasure" now? My doctor is medium conservative for post surgery diet, and I figured that if I had so little willpower I couldn't do a diet for three weeks, I might as well hang it up right now. It's not for that long.

I had a stupid nurse in Massachusetts once. Are all nurses in Massachusetts stupid? My mom had a doctor in Washington whose main source of income seemed to be from drug companies. Does this mean all doctors in Washington are money grubbing insensitive jerks? I'm just saying that all of a sudden we have several people here who have no history on the forum and whose main point of posting is to make blanket statements about how no one should ever go to Mexico. Unless there is more information for them to give us, I would not lend their statements much credence. If they are truly patients who have had bad experiences with their doctors, by all means share those experiences. But generalizations are not helpful. When I ask for specifics, it is because I am trying to figure out what went wrong for them and who or what should be avoided. I believe that US doctors who will not help Mexican patients are refusing to do so not because of any malpractice fears, but because they are upset they just lost the opportunity to charge someone a whole lot of money.

Why did you have it removed? What complications did you have? Did you get any guidance from your surgeon on post op life? There are some Mexican quacks, but there are also Mexican experts. My Mexican doctor will do aftercare for me, and I would trust him with it more than any US doctor.

Some of the worst complications and weirdest advice that I've heard here has come from US surgeons who don't have the experience of some of their Mexican counterparts. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: my insurance covered my surgery, and I went to Dr Ortiz due to his experience and quality of care. I would do it again. I WISH I were getting paid to say this, but it ain't so. There are people on this forum who have met me in person, and I have met others who have said the same thing on this thread: it's the quality of the surgeon, regardless of where he is, that matters.

yeah, when my daughter was banded in 10/06 they recommended jello. When my husband and I were banded last October they had changed their advice and now say to stay away from it. It still gives me kind of a bleah feeling even six months after surgery.