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Welcome to bandville!! It's a wonderful place to be.

Congratulations Miss Rach!!!, and welcome. Wish you all the best meeting your weight goal. This is a really positive forum and you can find a lot of information for many different issues on fills, restriction, etc. Please share your experiences too.

Wow. Personally every forum that I went to before this one was a white only forum, It just didnt have that label. It ok for me to post in a forum, where I am the minority, that doesn't address some of the cultural issues associated with obesity, or even the physical healing which is drastically different with monirity womenm but as soon as I come to a forum where I can share experiences about keloids, and have someone related. Then were are in so many words racist. I gonna leave this alone because I think april apple responded appropriately, and I may do be so eloquent in the face of ignorance.

[ Oh also I am finally going to use by spa gift certificate that I got for my birthday back in June! I am going today and maybe going to catch a movie. If you see the secret life of bees, let me know how it was. I amd definatley going to take this challenge. I'm gonna join LA Fitness since they are running a special now of $0 down.:biggrin:

Wpmen are such emotional eaters, so we do get down when we don't have the Ben and Jerry support system. Try getting a Victoria Secrets catalog and pick out clothing you will wear with your new body. The gas will go away soon.

Welcome Cedar, There's a lot of great information here. Wow two years. Be sure to share your experiences with others if you can. Many of us are new bandsters

21 pounds in a month is a very great, and a little faster than normal. Weight loss is slower with the band so, don't feel bad if you slow down to 2 pounds a week, which I believe is the average. I'm currently at 3 per week, and thats eating about 1.5cups of food per day. Congrats on the weight loss

Why aren't the ticker showing?

I chose the Lap band because the side effects of the Gastric scared me. I was worried about losing teeth an hair, and worse being unable to control the amount of weight I was losing. I know I would rather had no surgery, if the alternative was to look like Paris Hilton. I personally think that with the GB because the weigh loss is so dramatic in a short amount of time that the head and facial areas stay large, while the body shrinks. So I didnt want to look like a lollipop.

I didn't have a medically suoervised diet. My surgeon did ask me if I had receipt for programs that I have tried, which I did not. On top of that I did not have any weight related medical problems so it was a challenge. My PCP physician was great in writing a detailed history of the prescriptions that I was on, and she also provided my weight going back 3 years, so the insurance co could see it was an onging struggle. It took an entire year, but I eventually got approved. So I would say get as much documentation as possible that you have attempted to lose weight on your own.

I don't know a lot of people who had the gastric, but the few that I do know, lost a lot of weight rapidly and gained it back within 2 years. I think with both surgeries you should learn how to eat better, but with the band, because we are restricted with feels, it's impossible for us to over eat, and also knowing we can only get a cup of food down (1/2 c for med), we don't want to blow it on some crap. To be honest, I know that if i didnt have the restriction, i would start that slope of having this here and there, until it ate certain things regularly, so I'll take my slow consistent loss any day.

Thanks ladies. I'll head to Ross or Target for right now to supplement. Then once I get close to goal I have to find a place to shop, because I'll be don with Lane Bryant. lol.

Yes the band can always be adjusted, but many people who have gastric stretch the pouch out and get big again

Congratulations! That date is soon enought, it gives you plenty of time to make preparations

The first appointement should be all educational. Read over the board, the good and the bad threads and take all your questions with you to your appointment. I joined her 2005, but was not banded until 9/2007. My first appointment was around nov 2006. It was a long process, but for me worth it now Congrats on your first steps!

I just went back last week, so it's been a full year. It just took me that long to get back to the gym. lol. I would say give it a while for your band to heal in place befor you do any exercises that stretch muscles in that area. Maybe 3-4 months. But I would think that you can walk or work the treadmill after a week or two

LOL! That's appropriate since more time than not the band is in control

Chicken is very tough on the band, but if you eat before you really get hungry you wont try to eat as fast. Even now when I am starving, and I call myself throwing down on some "soup" lol it will come back up, and then I no longer want to eat anything.

Too Funny!:thumbdown:

ok I'm done. I found him

Welcome and good luck on your surgery. Just to give you honest expectations, the day after surgery may be painful. I personally was holding my stomach because the band initially is a weird feeling, and for me I thought something was gonna fall out. I was banded 9/11/07, and it took until this June to get to a restriction where I was able to lose weight. At this point I now watch what I eat, not because I particularly want to all the time, but because if it's something that I shouldn't have my band will get rid of it real quick. I can't overeat, or eat fatty foods if I wanted to. This is just my experience, and each person's band can be different. But once you start getting fills, you will get to know your band real quick. I hope this helps, and I hope I didn't scare you, cause I love my band right now.