abeaher

I don't know.....It seems to me that with belly stretch marks especially REALLY bad ones from babies (like freddy Kruger got a hold of you) your skin is stretched sooooo thin that it would seem to stitch it back together and make it look realitively seemless would be near impossible. I beg to differ on the stretch marks not making any difference I think it would make the art of suturing a clean incision difficult. Just my opinion.

I have not posted since my initial challenge goal. My goal was 15 min 4x a week and that was Friday???I think. So here it is: Friday 25 min Saturday 45 min to and from the park (plus played with kids at park) Sunday 1 hour of yard work Monday nothing...well cleaned....does that count?? Tuesday 20 min walk BTW when I walk I push a 20 lb stroller with 2 BIG babies in it (30 lbs each) I feel GREAT !!! I am down 10.6 lbs since my initial consult and 7.4 lbs since surgery almost 2 weeks ago. I can't wait to get into pilates, yoga and kickboxing!! Lets keep it up victorious valentines!!!! CAN"T FIGURE OUT THE TICKER THING!!!! I can create it but when I cut and paste the link it does not work....any ideas?

How do you do this!!! Even with no fill I cannot eat anything other that soft foods!

WOW! That's some incentive!!

I think that might be my weakness, I am thirsty ALL the time. I can;t imagine eating without a drink, I feel like I need to wash it down. I am really stuggling with it now.

I am only a week and a half out, but I am cleared to eat regular food as long as I go slow and chew excessively. I cannot eat breads or doughs of any kind or anything that is not well cooked. It gets stuck, it feel like it is in my espohagus and it causing AWFUL pain in my chest and even swallowing my own saliva makes it worse. It goes away in about a minute once it passes, but it hurts enough to make me push it away and go find some soup!!

This is SOOO AWESOME!! All of you guys are incredible!! I am so EXCITED for all of us!!! THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!! Since my initial post I have lost more. I can;t wait to get a fill, but in the mean time I can hardly get down ANY solid food. It took my 45 min to eat 1/2 cup of brussel spouts (very well cooked) last night. I am trying to eat well, but it seems that the only food that goes down without a fight is mashed pot, cream of wheat, Soup, etc...all of which are carbs and I am hungry an hour later! I am really trying to count cals, staying about 1100 a day. Difficult with a mainly carb diet!! BTW ate some canned Beans on Saturday....BIG MISTAKE.....I was on the toilet for24 hours straight!!! Beware!! I am down 10.6lbs total... and 7.4 lbs since surgery. Lets keep on truckin!!!

My DMIL told my husband that I should try a good colon cleansing..........Oh my, have I been missing the boat! All this time I thought diet and excercise was the answer when all I needed was to take a really big sh**t!! That would certainly help me loose the extra 80lbs that I have been carrying around for 10 years!!! Some people are just SO CLUELESS!! Walk a mile in my shoes Mrs. 100lbs soaking wet and then talk to me!!

I am 7 days out and almost out of pain medication, I see my doc today. I feel like I still need it, the pain is definately better but like at the end of the day (I have already returned to work) I am dying! I take tylenol during the day, so I am not a complete zombie at work, and that is just a joke. Am I being a weinie? How long did you take your perscription pain medication?

PUGMOM I LOVE pugs! Your pugs are precious!! I used to have one, Buster, I gave him to a pug rescue when I left for college bc I had no one to keep him. He went to a wonderful family, but I cried for months. I am now a proud weinie dog mom, I would have gotten another pug but Buster was SOOOO stubborn and aunry. He would look you straight in the face and pee on your foot! Anyways, just wanted show some fellow pug love.

I was banded 2-22 and thought I was going to die for 3 days. I felt MUCH better on the 4th, Hang in there!!

You will LOVE this. Go to inthemotherhood.msn.com It is Chelsi Handler, Leah Remini, and Jenny McCarthy. IT IS HYSTERICAL!!!! Check out the one about the display toilet and potty training, careful...you might pee in your pants!! Real Mothers write in about funny or embarassing stories with their kids and the winners get their stories acted out on a webisode.

I used Dexter Turnquest, his office at Houston Northwest off of 45 but I refused to go to that hospital. Luckily he also does them at Memorial Hermann the Woodlands so I was banded there on 2-22. If you are self pay a sugery center would be your best bet though, typically they are about 1/3 the cost of a hospital.

I would be interested! I live in Magnolia but work in the woodlands. I will send you a private message so you have my email and you can shoot me an email to confirm next week. Glad to meet you!! Your weight loss is sooo encouraging, I was banded last Friday.

Just a thought: someone mentioned mental illness.....it is possible that she thought weight loss would fix all of her problems (social, emotional, familial, etc) and when it didn;t she was looking for someone to blame. Given her info about her un girly figure and a childhood filled with being told she was fat, there is probably a LOT of underlying damage emotionally that did not go away when the weight was gone. She is still awfully young and it seems a bit immature with MAJOR self esteem issues. JAT

AWESOME!!! Keep'm comin!! PS there is a thread under 2008 bansters for an exercise challenge for Feb bandsters. We are committing to walking since that is mostly all we can do right now. Come join us. I am starting out slow....15 min ....4xwk. Come join us!!

I'm in, I have been putting it off (banded 1 week ago today) but I have GOT to get up and start moving. I am starting off small, if I feel like going longer I will but this is my min. User name.....................# of minutes...................# of days per week 4jin....................................30............................ .......5...................... patticNJ..............................20.............................. ......5.................... becca.................................20.............................. .......3.................... abeaher..............................15.............................. ......4.................... We should keep in touch! Is there like a buddy list on our profiles, I'm going to check it out.

I was banded Friday as well. I had tomatoe soup on Sunday. Every doc is different, mine says I told me yesterday (Thursday) that I could start mushies, mashed pot, cream of wheat etc. I actually had a little cream of wheat on Wed night and was FINE. I think as long as you go SLOW and use your best judgement you will be fine. I have lost 4 lbs! have you lost anything yet? I don;t get a fill for 3 weeks so since I can eat food again I am on a mission to count calories so that I continue to loose until I get some restriction help. I am staying at about 1000 cal a day. I get hungry during the day but at night I am ok, I just want to eat out of habit. I do love my wine though and am totally missing that!

Wow, I can;t believe you guys did not need your pain meds, I was in agony for 3 days. My belly is also every color of the rainbow which I don;t think is the norm, apparently the stitcher upper was pretty rough with me. I feel 100% better today and my doc said I can take motrin so that should help. Thanks Everyone!! PS 6 days post op and lost 5 lbs!!!

Banded friday feb 22. I went back to work today(teacher) and should have stayed home. I am really sore still and the gas OMG. I ate a whole can of tomato soup for lunch and am totally paying for it, it was way too much but it did not hit me until like 45 min later, it was not immediately apparent when I was finished. I am SOOOOO hungry!! It is a very odd feeling, like my tummy is hungry but my upper abd is SO full that I could not even think about eating. I saw one of my coworkers this morning who did this a little over a year ago she started at like 260ish and has lost 133lbs, size 6 she looks AMAZING! She said she had a hard time with the full liquid diet and began trying soups with VERY SMALL MUSHY peices after about 5 days. When broth started making her nauseated ( I can relate!!) She attributes her success to soup for lunch everyday and a daily rigorous exercise routine (Taebo and pilates EVERY DAY).

Wow! you type marijuana on the thread title and EVERYONE joins in...lol. JUANGRANDE....props to the CRACK smoking and pawning the kitchen utensils TOO FUNNY!!!!!

I don;t know for sure but from reading about other people's fills, 5 cc on 1st fill in a 10cc band seems REALLY aggressive!

I don;t have my band yet, but in my research and talking ot friends and family with the band the cravings do not go away, in fact in some cases it was worse. My cousin for example had about 150 lbs to loose she lost about 40 and gave up, she continued to eat her junk food..hot dogs, shakes, burgers, she did say she would get sick of chewing but if she wanted it bad enough she would get it down. Also, a friend of mine (who has lost over 100lbs with the band) said that many junkie type food unfortunately will go straight through like little debbie cakes, milk shakes, ice cream, soft pastries etc. I was told by my doc that people who have a serious sweet tooth don;t typically do well. My cousin thought the band would be "forced willpower" and she was sorely mistaken. Another doc said in a seminar I went to that emotional eaters tend to not do well also because you can totally cheat if you want to bad enough. Don;t mean to discourage, I just see how devastated my cousin was and want to pass on the knowledge. Good Luck

I ate a sirloin burger from Jack in the box with large curly fries and a giant tea on the way to my consult. That burger is guaranteed to put on 7 lbs instantly. It worked!! BMI of 40.2

Houston Native here, Magnolia to be exact..Northwestish outside Conroe. I am using Dr. Turnquest at Memorail Herman-The Woodlands. REALLY like him. I am trying to get scheduled for Feb 22. My ins approval only took 4 days, I prayed my A** off. I pray everyday but I really kicked it into overdrive for this. I truley feel that God has a plan for me, when I tried to have this done 2 years ago it did not work out and voila the next month I was unexpectedly prego with my 3rd baby so obviously it was not the right time. This time it's right and it feels so right.