newday6

Best of luck to you on your journey. I didn't have an exact amount that I needed to lose, but I know losing 200 pounds would still leave me overweight according to BMI charts. I had my band done in January 2007 and have lost 172 pounds so far. I think I'm within about 25 pounds of being in a place to have excess skin removed....ugh. another surgery. but can't wait! ...take your journey seriously. It's not a race. You don't have to lose it in a year. Just like the story says, slow and steady wins the race. My first year I had some health problems unrelated to the band, so I only lost about 50 pounds. I god discouraged, but picked up my big girl pants and started again when I was healthy. Honestly, I had to lose almost 100 pounds before I felt like exercising. Now I feel great. There are challenges, daily, but it's so worth it. My kids have a mom that can keep up with them when we're playing outside. How awesome it feels to fit down the slide!

You should never be scared to see you own doctor. GO NOW. Infections do not clear up on their own, and will only worsen. A doctor who had this done herself should be the most understanding person you could see. Good luck.

I had my band last January, and was self-pay. Luckily, I haven't had any complications, because my insurance company has a specific exclusion for non-covered services. The language they use is "will not pay for non-covered services or complications that are a related to non-covered services". I work for them, and I know for a fact that they would request money back if they 'accidentally' paid for anything related to my surgery. Let's hope for the best, though....maybe you won't have any problems to worry about. And, if you have enough weight to lose, isn't the risk worth it? It was to me, and so far I've lost almost 90 pounds. :biggrin:

Hey banders out there, I need your support. I got banded 1/12/07, and in the 14 months since I've lost 86 lbs. I know it doesn't seem like I'm on track with where I should be after over a year, but I'm ok with it most days. There was a 3 month span where I wasn't tight, and wasn't exercising at all, because I was recovering from a car crash. And, it took me a while to get back on track. I'm struggling a bit now, because I just had to go in for my first unfill. The week I suffered with not being able to keep even water down was the worst since my surgery. When they took fluid out, I think we were too cautious and now I am not tight enough. :biggrin: It's hard to convince yourself it's ok to "use will power" when I've spent so much time and effort and $$ for this procedure. To top it off, my normally supportive husband is not enjoying my new lifestyle as much as I hoped he would. Just pray for me, everybody...I go back for a fill in 4 weeks!

:biggrin: Hi JenJen! I'm in Arkansas, too! Would love to be support for you if/when you need it. I've had struggles and successes. I hope you have great luck with the pre-band diet. Just being on a supervised diet helped me to get in the frame of mind that the Lab-band is a committment. My surgeon put me on liquids for 3 weeks prior to my surgery before he would even agree to do it. I lost 15 pounds before surgery. My starting weight was 373 lbs - by far the heaviest I'd ever been in my life. I had my surgery 1/12/07, and have lost 86lbs since then. Good luck with the insurance company. They can be tough. None of mine was covered, but I still think it was worth it. ~D