juliek

That is rough that you don't have your family's support, maybe after they see how well you do, you can let them in on it. I hope it works out well for you. Good luck at the dr tomorrow. I am so happy with my band I would not change it for the world!

Congratulations and welcome to bandland! Good luck with your new journey. I had very terrible gas, too - it is pretty normal and should pass within a couple of days. It is because they pump your abdomin full of air to perform the surgery.

Nice one! Thanks for sharing!

Like Janet said, it is very normal to worry about everything in the beginning, it really should ease up as you get used to living with the band. I for one after the band am very gassy, so yes you probably are feeling gas pressure. My dr recommended taking a gasx (or something similar) tablet every day to help combat that. Also, Besides the amount, the type of food would matter too, as to what will make you feel full faster. For example a cup of Soup would not make you as full as a cup of potatoes - does that make sense. Which would be why sometimes 1 cup is ok and sometimes it seems like too much. I had a kinda hard time figuring out what the "full" feeling was and to stop eating. A few nasty PB's helped get that feeling stuck into my head. Hope this helps ....

Excellent! Good luck as you begin this journey.

Anna, If you are going to be in Manhattan, I can recommend my dr - Dr. Kurian. I am not sure if she does other patients or what she charges, but she is a wonderful dr.

Hi there, I started at 354 lbs on June 3 and am now down to 260ish. I LOVE my band. My dr. recently told me that she is beyond thrilled with my results as the average band loss is about 70 lbs the first year. I would have never considered RNY, so I would suggest looking into another dr. I saw a dr who had only done 3 bands and was pushing the by-pass, so I found another dr. Good Luck!

JMO, but I agree that flat out telling people should stop the gossip. Just say that I had this done and I would really not like to discuss it anymore. My co-workers know that I had the surgery and they are very respectful of my privacy regarding it. Every once in a while someone will mention that I look good, or they can tell I have doing a good job and leave it at that. I work with a bunch of techno-geeks, so they wanted to know about the mechanics of it in the beginning but that was about it. Good luck with whatever you decide. The bottom line is it really is no one's business but your own, and you shouldn't have to share that information if you don't want to.

WOW! that is all I can say! ok, I guess that is not all I can say. I think it is wonderful that you are sharing your success!!! True that what works for some will not work for others, but everyone can benefit in one way or another from someone else's trial and error. I don't consider that you were boasting at all!! You have achieved a wonderful goal and should be very proud of yourself and your accomplishments!!!!!!!! You go!!!!!

Congrats - so far, I have found 3 to be the most challenging age - Hoping we are finally out of the horrific 3's - LOL.

Hey Kell, my twins just turned 4 last Tuesday and they were a huge part of my decision. Do you have boys, girls or one of each? Good luck to you!

Hi, I was fortunate enought that my insurance did cover most of the procedure. However, I would have had it done regardless, and I can't tell you how happy I am that I did. This has been by far the easiest weight loss I have ever had (and yes, I am even talking about with all the side effects - pb's, frothing, sliming, etc). I have 3 little girls and they were a big part of my decision to do this. If I were you, I would appeal the insurance decision, esp if they cover the gastric by-pass. The banding is much more common now so you never know. Good luck!

Don't feel too bad, in my experience, that just makes you eat more. I really didn't start feeling any restriction until after my first fill. Once I got that, there was no stopping the weight loss. My first 6 to 8 weeks, I had a lot of doubts and was very worried it wasn't going to work for me. Starting this journey around the holidays probably didn't help you much, either. Too much junk food around. The important thing is to not look back ... just go forward and start today like it is the first day of your new journey. Good luck!

Congratulations! That is just awesome! You look great!

Kathy, sending hugs, prayers and good thoughts that all is ok. Julie

WOW,. this is an interesting thread. Thanks so much, Vinequeen for posting it - sure giving me a lot to think about - here is my 2 cents. Easy, hmmm - was the decision to have the band easy after trying virtually every diet known to man from WW to Jenny Craig to pills to Nutrisystems to LA Weightloss to going it alone, etc, etc... after being overweight my entire life (I weighted 29 lbs at 9 months old) and morbidily obese the last 20 years? YOU BET! I will use whatever I can to help get and keep the weight off. After reading all the recent posts I can see that I have been very fortunate in my family, friends and support system. No one has ever said to me that I am taking the easy way out (of course, I probably would have slapped them silly, esp after spending a night in agony with severe chest pains because a small piece of bread was stuck in my chest (and believe me it will be a LONG time before I try bread again and it was toasted!!) I have never had this much success losing weight and even with all the side effects (PB's, sliming, frothing, etc) I LOVE my band and if it is considered easy, I will take it!!! It is funny because after going thru the tests for the surgery, it was discovered that part of my problem is that my stomach emptys extremely fast. People would say only eat until you are full, and quite frankly until I had the band, I never had that overstuffed, OMG I can't eat another bite feeling (and it took me several weeks of PBing to figure out what that actually was - LOL). For the stomach emptying test, I was told to expect to be at the hospital for 4 hours, I was completely done in under 30 minutes - everyone was shocked and it was quite a revalation (sp?) to me. Anyway, if this is the easy way out, I will take it. I will do anything to have a healthier, happier me who will be around long enough to see my 2 beautiful daughters grown and happy. Good luck everyone on this incredible journey we are all on. Julie

That is awesome! Exercizing really helps. I have a recumbent bike right in my family room - have to trip over it every day. With it staring me in the face, it is easier to get motivated. Having it right in front of the TV helps, too.

puts me back on liquids only for 24 hours. Hoep she gets relief soon! Julie

Great article, thanks for sharing it!

Hi, I am not sure what the difference between kilos and lbs are, but I have noticed that since my last fill (I believe I have finally achieved the allusive "sweet-spot") I have been averaging 2 lbs every 3 days! Woohoo! and this is around the Holidays when all that tempting food is around!

Even with all the "side-affects" I would definitely do it all over again. This is the most successful I have ever been with weight loss and I am more than on target of meeting my first goal of 100 lbs the first year. Good luck to everyone!

I LOVE that book! It was actually co-written by my surgeon and she is WONDERFUL. I fluxuate all the time, so I did as other suggested and only weigh myself once a week - much happier that way. Good Luck with your journey! Julie

no movement on the scale this week. Oh well, always next week Julie

Wasn't able to post last week - sick child that ended up being hospitalized (she is much better now), However (drum roll please) the scale finally moved! Current weight is 306!!! Yeah! finally back to losing. Julie

Hi, sorry you aren't feeling well. I was banded on June 3rd, and I have the whole hair loss thing going on now, too. Like the others said, it will get better. As far as being possibly pg - there is a test (First Response) that you can take 5 days before your pd is due and is fairly accurate. When I was going thru fertility, I used it alot and it was always accurate. If you can't wait for the weekend, you may want to go and get one of those. If it is neg, wait 5 days and try again. If it is positive, congratulations. Good luck, Julie