DavidK

Thanks for the info everyone, glad to know that its normal. I tried going off the meds earlier in my journey, but my blood pressure kept creeping up, once it hit about 150/100 I went back on them but in a lower dose. I have a pretty bad family history of hypertension which was the primary reason I had WLS.

Depends on my strategy. For a while I was just limiting my calories and ignoring everything else(other than making sure I was getting enough protein). This took a lot of tracking work and diligence though. In the last month or so I have stopped tracking calories and just started avoid carbs. I would estimate that I am below 40 grams of carbs per day as I avoiding all the obvious sources like Pasta, bread, rice, fruit etc. I know I still get some carbs from sauces on the things I eat though.

About a week ago I fainted. As I have been loosing weight I have been adjusting my blood pressure medication, taking half of my prescribed amount, or a quarter. When I am taking too much, I feel dizzy and start to and feel like I might pass out, though this was the first time I have actually passed out. I decided to not take my blood pressure medication the following day, and on day 2 after not taking it I was at 103/70. This was really low for me, I have generally been around 130/90 while on my medication. I decided to monitor my blood pressure and just stay off the medication. Now I am about a week out, off my meds, and my blood pressure is very stable around 115/70, sometimes a little more right after eating, but never at my old numbers. In my head I'm thinking "this is too good to be true". At about 230lbs I was still seeing high numbers while taking half of my medication, at 220lbs just a few weeks later it seems like my hypertension has pretty much resolved. I feel fine, and I am continuing to check my blood pressure every few hours both at home and at work. I am a little concerned about how sudden it was though. Has anyone else had a sudden resolution of their hypertension like this? Also before anyone suggests it, I know I should go visit my doctor and talk to him about this. I will likely set up an appointment next week, and in the past he has said that I can adjust my own dosage as long as I am regularly checking my blood pressure.

Considering you mentioned carbs twice in your post I'm guessing your doing low carb. If you are on a low carb diet, and then one day you eat a lot of carbs, your body will retain Water. I personally swing about 5-8 lbs when I switch up what I'm eating. For you to have gained 4 lbs of fat in a day, you would have had to exceed your daily caloric burn rate by 14,000 calories. If you drop your carbs, or reduce your calories to a low enough amount, your body will shed the water you absorbed in less than a week most likely. For me the best way to deal with going food crazy is to just try to limit the damage. When I get the feeling that nothing will be right in the world until I eat a doughnut, I will try to eat some fruit, meat and or cheese first, and tell myself that afterwards I can eat a doughnut. Half of the time I end up not even wanting the food I'm craving, but even if I eat the doughnut it will at least only be one, instead of 3 or 4. On days where everything breaks down and I just plain overeat, I just do my best to not beat myself up about it, recognize that one day is insignificant in the bigger picture, and try to do better the next day.

I have had many times where something gets semi stuck, where I don't chew enough or eat too fast. It generally goes down slow and hurts or feels uncomfortable, just the band reminding me to eat properly. It happens less and less as I have adjusted to eating properly. One time though I had a piece of bread I was slowly eating on my desk. I was distracted by a game I was playing and took a big bite and swallowed it without chewing it much at all. After about 45 minutes of total misery it finally came back up, at about an hour and a half I was finally able to sip some Water. That was the only time I have been truly stuck so far and it was totally avoidable.

I went with the lapband because I didn't want to permanently change my insides, and I am very glad I did. In my opinion, which one you choose should depend on how successful you are with dieting on your own. The lapband really should be looked at as a tool which will help you stick to a lower calorie diet. Its adjustable to get more or less help. The issue is that the more you get the band filled, the more difficult your life becomes. So if you just need a small to moderate amount of help to keep you on track and stick to a diet, I think that the lapband is a great choice. If you need a lot of help then the sleeve might be a better option. I currently have a very low fill on my band, and after 4 months I am about 18 lbs from being in the normal bmi range. I had high blood pressure when I had the surgery, now my blood pressure is normal and I have cut the amount of medication I am taking in half. The lap band has helped me rapidly loose weight when I eat properly, and significantly reduced the damage during my moments of weakness. I tolerate all foods, and have had very few issues so far, unless I do something stupid like swallow food without chewing it. While my experience has been great, I feel like that is because the band has such a low fill. If I had to keep my band significantly tighter to achieve weight loss, my experience would probably be totally different. From the studies I have read, the complication rates of lap band were really high for the first few years that they were implanted. Though as technique and understanding have improved, the complication rates seem to have gone down quite a bit. I think a lot of doctors have soured on it because so many of the first wave of bandsters had issues with them.

3500 calories per pound of weight loss might not be exact, but for me its very close. I have tracked all of my calories for the last 3 months, and estimated my daily burn rate based on my age, height, weight, and activity level. Adding my calorie deficits over 3 week intervals comes very close to 3500 multiplied by the amount of pounds I have lost over those intervals.

First, eating solid food that soon after surgery can cause complications. I was on 2 weeks of liquids, 2 weeks puree, and then 4 weeks of soft food. Different doctors have different rules, but be careful with what you eat early on while you are healing. Right before I had my first fill at 6 weeks, I was pretty much in the same boat, where I totally felt like I could eat the same as I could before. After my first fill it got significantly easier, and I was less hungry. I am still dealing with hunger issues, but I also have a pretty small amount in my band. I have been able to consistently hit my calorie goals, but if that changes I will be going in for another fill.

Nothing. Eating breakfast seems to make me feel hungrier throughout the day. I generally drink a cup of coffee and wait until lunch to eat. I've always been this way though. I am also a night owl, so I usually wake up at 9 - 10 so the wait isn't too long. I do take in about 50 calories from my Vitamins, but thats pretty much it.

For me it just works itself out if I stick to my calorie goals. The first night that I was "allowed" to drink according to my nutritional guide, I had two drinks (which worked out to about 200 cal). I got a buzz but then I was hungry with no calories left for the day, which made for a miserable evening. Worse yet the alcohol definitely seemed to make my hunger worse. To avoid being hungry I need to plan my entire days intake around those two drinks in the evening, and its just not worth the hassle, so I rarely drink at all anymore.

For me its scotch, or other sorts of whiskey on the rocks. I also have done some other mixed drinks like vodka cran. Though I have almost totally given up drinking much because its not worth the calories it takes up in my budget, until I hit my weight goal at least.

I had all sorts of pains when I started walking every day. Ankle pain, shin pain, hip pain, back pain. Definitely make sure you have good shoes, but a big thing will be that your body is adjusting to doing more activity. My pains stopped occurring about 6 weeks in, the trick seemed to be to take a couple days off when something started hurting. It sucks because you are trying to get into a rhythm but it is important to let your body heal.

My nutritionist was in to the whole low carb approach. That wasn't the plan I wanted to go with so I've just been doing my own thing. I just make sure I get enough Protein, take my Vitamins, and then try to focus on things that make me full. My weight loss has been steady so far.

Sounds like your circulation is improving. Also loosing fat and exercising more tend to increase testosterone levels (in men at least), which usually leads to more body hair.

Another option is to just go out for a walk rather than going to the gym. I can't stand being on a treadmill or any cardio machine for that matter, I just find myself staring at the timer waiting for it to be over. But I really enjoy going out for a walk every day and occasionally hiking.