Jodi_620

I am not sure whether you are worried you will be turned down by insurance or by the surgeon. Insurance has specific guidelines that you will need to meet. Most surgeons will do the surgery as long as you meet the weight requirements (usually 100 lbs overweight OR a BMI above 35). There may be a rare occasion where the psych evaluation shows that you are a poor candidate but it is rare.

Congratulations mominlv13! Could you please repost with the latest list? (the last few updates were dropped on your list)

*Do you guys ever fear you're going to "mess" it up? I'm not sure what you could mess up, but its a fear of mine. This was a fear of mine in the beginning. I had failed at weight loss so many times that I feared that this would be just another failure to add to the list. But the band is not foolproof. It is a tool that definitely takes works on your part. You still need to choose the right foods, not eat between meals and follow all the bandster rules if you are going to be a success. You need to identify the difference between real hunger and head hunger, the band will deal with your true hunger but you have to deal with the head hunger. *Is the sliming and getting stuff stuck, is that frequent? Does it happen forever? How do you cope with it, especially in public? The sliming and getting stuck for the most part is controlled by you. Unless you are too tight, these problems are the result of you not eating right. If you eat slowly, take small bites and chew well you can avoid the problem. There may still be foods that you can't tolerate well. I tolerate most foods but some take more work than others. When out, order foods that you know are safe. *Speaking of in public, how do you eat with out being noticed when you're out with coworkers or friends? I think most people are going to notice that you are eating less. How you handle that is your choice. Pretty much everyone in my life knows I am banded so that is not an issue for me. If you are keeping your band a secret you can tell people you are on a diet or that you are not very hungry.

Are you taking a calcium plus D supplement. That is something my surgeon said I needed to take along with a daily multi-Vitamin. Are you saying that you can't even get yogurt down at lunch time? If that is the case then you are too tight.

If you are sliming that usually means the food is getting stuck at the band. That typically happens for me due to one of three reasons...I ate something I can't tolerate, I did not chew well enough or I am too tight. If it is happening with all foods and you are taking small bites (about the size of a trimmed fingernail on your index finger) and chewing it very well then I would say you are too tight. Is it like this for all three meals? I know that I am tight in the morning, still a little tight for lunch then fine for dinner.

There is definitely a physiological cause to your cravings. When you eat something sugary your blood sugar spikes suddenly then it drops suddenly. That sudden drop triggers signals to send more sugar to get the levels back up and the cycle begins. Some of us are more prone to this problem than others and with the high sugar, highly processed foods and high fructose corn syrups in our foods, at least here in the US, a lot of us have blood sugar issues even if we are not diabetic. The key is to keep the blood sugar leveled. Protein and high fiber veggies have little effect on your blood sugar. Fruit and sugar free snacks have less effect than starchy and sugary carbs. When you do have carbs, choose a healthy or sugar free version and have it with a little protein to avoid spikes in blood sugar. I avoid sugar and white carbs completely. I do eat carbs in the form of fruit , high fiber veggies and whole grains but I always have them with a protein.

I don't follow any program. For me it was "either-or"...either I use yet another one of these programs or get the Lap Band. To me the Lap Band is the program. I do watch my processed carbs but that is both because they are bad for me and not eating them contributes to my weight loss. But I am not on a "Low Carb Diet".

I think a bigger fear for me was failure. I had failed at successful weight loss so many times and I kept thinking how humiliating it would be to go to such extremes an fail yet again. I would say that not being able to pig out was definitely a concern though.

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How often depends on how aggressive your doctor (and you) want to be. It is also an individual thing as far as how many fills it takes. My doctor wants to see me at least once a month for the first year, he allows me to come back sooner if I need to. To get to my sweet spot... I got my first fill and didn't feel much Went back almost two weeks later and got my second fill, restriction was better and I lost a good amount of weight so within two weeks I lost restriction (the band gets looser if you lose fat around it) So I went back for fill number three, again lost a good amount of weight and lost restriction within two weeks So I went for fill number four. That lasted longer, went back in a month as required and got fill number five and have been doing good on that for a while now. My monthly visit with my doctor is on Tuesday, I am finding that I can eat a little more than I want to so I think I will get a small fill which will hopefully get me through to goal.

You probably have a piece of food stuck either in your esophagus or at the band. Try sipping on something acidic like pineapple juice. That will help break the food down faster. Just take sips or you might cause more pain. A hot drink might help to realax things. Hope this helps.

Yes, at restriction this amount of food keeps me satisfied. Of course there are days that I want more or have head hunger and want a treat between meals but I am not truly hungry.

Unfortunately food tolerance with the band is an individual thing. Some people can handle chicken...some can't, some people can do bread...others can't. The only thing you can do is to take a small bite and see how you do. Personally I can not eat citrus fruits, the juice is good but the "meat" gets stuck.

I had it REALLY bad for the first three or four months but it has gotten a lot better. I still have it more than I did pre-band but it is just a bad day here-and-there.

I do not count calories, weigh or measure. My doctor instructed me to eat high quality nutritious food and listen to my band...eat when I am hungry and stop eating when I am satisfied. I only use shakes after a fill or as a supplement if I am not getting enough solid Protein in my diet. But here are some examples of how much I eat: Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal cooked in milk with fresh fruit or an eggbeater omlet 10AM Mid-Morning (I have this snack because my day starts very early 4-5 AM so I am usually hungry before my noon lunch) Small serving of Fresh fruit with a small serving of protein (Peanut Butter, nuts, cheese, cottage cheese...) Lunch: Small serving of salad greens with lean protein (Beans, lean meat, lowfat cheese...) or left overs from the night before or a small wrap sandwich Dinner: 2-3 ounces of lean protein, 1/2 cup non-starchy veggie and if I have room, a small serving of fresh fruit. I am just guessing but I would say that I get 1000-1200 calories a day (mostly on the lower end of that range).

I think it is the sudden change in diet. I felt the same way for the first few days (around four days I think).

For daily Vitamins I am currently taking Centrum Chewables (they are a little chalky tasting though) when this bottle is gone I will probably go back to 2 Flintstone vitamins a day because they are easier for me to handle (they are childrens vitamins but 2 of these gives you more than the RDA...they were on my doctors approval list. The bottle says one a day for adults but I take two just to be sure I am getting enough of everything) For Calcium I take the Viactive chews (caramel is so yummy, it is like a daily treat. chocolate is good too...tastes almost like tootsy rolls). I have also taken Caltrate plus D, quality is just as good...they are berrry flavor and pretty tasty too.

I worried about failure too, not so much because of lack of support but because I had failed so many times before and I would have been so emabarrassed to go to the extremes of surgery and still fail. I think that a lot of bandsters had that same concern. My DH was supportive, my mom was not to keen on the idea but has since changed her mind. I was not prescribed any appetite suppressants and I have not heard of anyone else getting them. The pre-op is hard but important and well worth it. I bought my own shakes. Your doctor will probably tell you what type he wants you to use, mine wanted me to use products with whey Protein. Your food/liquid items are not included in the price. If you are self-pay your doctor should be able to give you a breakdown of the cost. If you are using insurance it depends on your co-pay.

I have not tried it but thought I would tell you what I know. I recently did some research and decided to start using Stevia Sweetners because Stevia is an all natural product vs the other sweetners that are made from chemicals. But in my research I found that some of these large companies like Coke and Pepsi are bringing out their own versions of Stevia but they are adding ingredients that are not so natural. Truvia and PureVia are apparently two products that have additives. From what I have found, better choices are Sweet Leaf and Stevia In the Raw. I actually had a coupon for Truvia and was looking for it in my local grocery store when I found Stevia in the Raw, they didn't have Truvia so I bought the Stevia in the raw then later read the articles on Truvia not being natural.

My insurance company (United Healthcare) did it that way too. My approval letter came from a third party. There were no issues with it, approval came within a week and the letter came with an approval code to reference when interacting with insurance.

I went through so many emotions too and sorry to say it gets worse as surgery day nears. I went through excitement, guilt, worry, fear and back to excitement. The day of surgery I was in my hospital gown with IV inserted and ready to go and I just wanted to hop off that bed and run out of that hospital! But in the end I have no regrets and I would do it all over again if I had to.

Sounds like you went into carb overload during the holidays. That got your blood sugar levels spiking and dipping which puts you on the craving rollercoaster. The only solution is to get the carbs out of your system for a while. It is hard at first but eventually things will level out and the cravings will be under control. Then you can start adding the healthy carbs back into your diet. I would cut out all sugars and starches: no sugar, bread, pasta, crackers, rice, potato, corn etc. Eat lean meats, beans and high fiber (colorful) veggies with a little high fiber/low sugar fruits (apples, pears etc.). Always have a protein with your fruit and veggie. Drink as much water as you can handle. Do this for a week or if you can handle it two weeks then slowly add back whole grains and a few soft fruits.

In the beginning I would have to lie on my back, lift my legs in the air and really poke around to find it amongst all my stomach fat. Now that I have lost weight I can find it easily in any position. I can not see it but I have heard that in some cases after all of the weight is gone, the port might become visible. It can be relocated or replaced if that happens and it bothers you.

Good Luck to you Tina! Congratulations on your sucess and keep us updated on your progress. I would be both excited and nervous. I am not there yet but I think that I will need to have PS too. My stomach and upper thighs are pretty jiggly and I would also like a breast lift. My upper arms are getting better so maybe they will snap back OK. I was wondering about the cost, it looks like we are both in the DC metro area could you let me know how much your doctor charges for your procedure?

Did they try to steer people more toward Bypass? I went to three different seminars and found that my surgeon tended to steer people more to Lab Band whereas the first one leaned more toward Bypass. The third one had different types of surgeons so they were more "middle-of-the-road". Being to three seminars I was able to be more open minded to both types of surgery. It really is a personal choice. If someone has no control over food or no prior experience or sucess with losing weight and a high BMI then bypass may be the better choice. Lap Band is less invasive and adjustable but it takes a little more work to control what, when and how you eat.