MacMadame

I did my research on the docs covered by my insurance and decided to start of with Thinner Future and see how it goes. They have 3 docs who do the bands and I'm wondering who would be the best for me. They have Dr. Wetter, Dr. Foster and Dr. Sanchez. I'm leaning towards Dr. Foster based on feedback on ObesityHelp.com, but I haven't met any of them yet so reserve the right to change my mind. Also, they do them out of Mills-Peninsula and El Camino Hospital. El Camino is right by my work so I'm figuring I'll get it done there. Anyone have any experience with their program? Their web site says their hospital and WLS programs have won all sorts of awards and is a Center of Excellence. I was really hoping to get it done somewhere closer to home, but the only doctor near my house who does WLS has only done 50 bands. I want someone more experienced than that. (Figures the hospital SIX BLOCKS from my house doesn't do WLS. :tea: )

No, I didn't play soccer this weekend. But I did get to a normal BMI. Yeah me! So I'm now at "goal". That is to say, I've made all the weight loss-related goals I started with. I lost over 90 pounds, I have a normal BMI, and I'm in a size smaller than 10, my initial size goal. I really didn't have any goals beyond that. I did develop a few new goals along the way and I've managed to knock off most of them too. But I don't really feel "done." Sure, I look pretty good in my clothes and my shapewear. But I do have fat that I can get rid of and want to get rid of. I'd like to have a resting pulse rate and a body fat percentage that is closer to the "athlete" range instead of the "somewhat fit, old broad" range as well. I also have a lot of new sports-related goals that I didn't have before. So here is my updates list of goals: (completed)Get off my BP meds (completed)Get rid of my plantar fasciitis once and for all (completed)Get rid of my GERD (completed)Go swimming with my daughter and stop making excuses every time she asks because I don't want to deal with appearing in a bathing suit in public (completed)Be at least a size 10, maybe smaller, and to shop in regular stores and not just the fat old lady department at Macys (completed)Get down to 175 (completed)No longer be clinically obese (completed)Get down to 155 (completed)Have a normal BMI Get down to 125 (possible goal weight?) Be in a true size 6 Have a body fat percentage in the 18 - 22% range Get my resting pulse rate into the low 50s (completed)Walk 10,000 steps a day at least 4 days a week (completed)Complete a 5K Complete a Sprint Triathlon Complete a Sprint Triathlon in under 2:30 Complete a Century Ride Complete a 10K Be able to run a marathon Complete an Ironman or at least a HIM Give my inner "skinny bitch" the body she deserves. Live into my 90s as one of those cantakerous little old ladies with 10x as much energy as the youngsters I run circles around (so far so good) Some of these are pretty long-term though. I'm not going to feel "not done" until I'm in my 90s and know how much energy I have, for example. I'm sure I'll feel done much sooner than that. So when will I be done? All I can say is: I'll know when I know. But the body fat % and size goals are probably the two key "done" goals on my current list. Fatty Fights Back: GGGOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!

My feeling is that you should try to avoid another surgery within reason. If you start to get filled again and things go wrong again, then that's the time to "cry Uncle" but right now you've had one problem and haven't tried to refill. So you don't know if it's going to work or not.

I started at 40 g and have gradually gone up. I'm currently doing about 60-90 now.

Tues. is Track Workout. The rain held off. I had to run through the cool down and stretching period to get it all in, but I did it! Yeah, me!

I ran 4.5 miles today! Without stopping. Our track workout had us changing our pace but not doing rest intervals so it was perfect for me.

Plus there are often many sides to every story. A lot of these issues are management problems, IMO. If someone consistently doesn't do their work, but continues to get raises every years as if they did, then that has nothing to do with man or woman, family or not, but with management being too whimpy to do their jobs. Of course, some times it comes down to they see something in the other person that their peers do not that they value. It may not be a tangible thing. It could be loyalty or something else intangible. Exactly.

Yes, but I use My Fitness Pal now so I took it out. :smile: If you go to the Daily Plate, you can look up "Sleevesters United" and join that way.

I'm 6 months out and have a Protein shake every morning and protein hot chocolate every night. When you are on the full liquids, you can make every drink have protein of some sort in it so that can help. Then with mushies, I just considered that practice for real eating and not a big source of protein or calories. Even now it's easy to eat lunch and realize you only got in 10 g of protein. Sometimes I eat my meals in stages so I can get more in. I know that if I ate slower I'd be able to do it in one stage, but sometimes I rush before I think about it and then I feel full on just a few bites. I know I need more sustenance so I wait 15 min and then eat the rest.

I am not a very good girl, I'm afraid. :tongue2: I thought I'd make this thread for people like me to ask the rest of you stupid questions that females are already supposed to know the answer to but we don't. So my first question is: What does it means when someone says their skirt is "cut on the bias"? I read that all the time in chick lit books and it drives me crazy because I can't figure out why someone would know or care about that and why the author thinks it's important to say.

Wow, I *run* at just under 12 mile per hour. How can you walk that fast?! What you should do depends on your goals. If your goal is to maintain fitness, do what you are doing. If you are still actively trying to lose weight, then as you get more fit, you burn less calories and you need to either increase the time of your workouts or their intensity. If you are trying to get more fit, then increasing the intensity is probably better than increasing the time.

The benefits are there to be used and should have nothing to do with the pay. There is an expectation that some employees will use more of the benefits than others because they aren't going to be applicable to everyone. So one person gets an MS degree mostly paid for and another person gets maternity leave and another person gets WLS paid for. Another person is never sick, has no kids and doesn't feel like getting a second degree. Should the dollar values be totted up and subtracted from each pay check or the one who uses no benefits get a bonus? Absolutely not! That's not how benefits work. Pay should be based on performance and the job being done. If they do the same job to the same level of ability, they should get paid the same. Nothing else should be a consideration.

I changed it. But there wasn't a real option for me. I get regular cleanings and I floss irregularly. My teeth are heathy but my gums are just okay. They could be better. I'm sure it's because I don't floss enough.

Yes. :thumbdown: You can suck down milk shakes all day. You can eat every hour. You can eat nuts and candy and other high calories foods.

Dr. Pompas -- who lied about her credentials and has a profile full of obviously fake testimonials on OH -- still works for him. Absolutely. He's been working with crappy doctors for YEARS now. There is nothing to indicate he's changed. He bids out the surgeries and picks the *cheapest* docs. That's a recipe for disaster. Then have a good surgery and I hope you are one of the lucky ones.

Yes, you are in the right forum. :thumbdown:

This is a great site to learn about banded life. In the insurance section there is a link in the "sticky" section which lists Medicare doctors and facilities by state.

I could see myself getting less and less mobile and I was afraid my future would be as someone who had to use one of those scooters to move around. That scared me, so I knew I had to do something about my weight. But I knew I couldn't diet again and I knew that if I dieted, the weight would just come back on. So I bit the bullet and did it. Best decision of my life. My life has totally turned around since my surgery.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! My kids are 17 and 10. That's a big enough spread for me.

My suggestion is to research ALL the surgeries and then pick a surgeon who is a big fan of whichever one you think will work for you. Here's a chart to get you started: Weight-Loss Surgeries Compared

I skipped today too. I'm supposed to be tapering and Sat. was kind of brutal.

I am in lurve.

Protein before and protein & carbs after is the standard recommendation. Also, you should do a mix of cardio (elliptical & treadmill) with strength training. My surgeon recommends 2 days of each at a minimum.

Drink more water while you work out? Make sure to eat something right before too, if it's been a while since your last meal.

Dr. Cirangle is my doc and I love him. I don't have a band, but I don't think that will make a difference in how long it takes. He says with insurance it generally takes around a month. Some of that time is spent submitting and getting approval so it's going to depend on your insurance company though. The pre-op tests are pretty standard. There is variation based on your medical history but at a minimum you should be getting a physical, an EKG, an X-ray or Upper GI, and lab work. Women have to have a pap and mam within the last year. Everyone does a NUT consult where they go over the diet and a psych eval as well, even if your insurance doesn't require it. They have an in-house dietician and counselor you can see, but you can use your own too. The after-care program is awesome and it's why their results are better than published averages. They have support groups all over the Bay Area every month. There is a newsletter too. In addition, you have full access to the on-staff dietician and counselor, pretty much as much as you need them. Fills are included too. Dr. C likes to see his band patients every month -- some docs make you wait 6 weeks in between fills and that can be frustrating and often leads to people getting off track. You get so many months of after-care included in your program fee. I don't know exactly how many. It's a least a year, but more likely two. I was self-pay for a sleeve and my price includes two years of after-care.