Northwest_Nance

At last, this morning..... hard work, patience, and determination paid off...... Onederland! I haven't been posting around here much lately, because I just needed to back away..... was getting too obsessed with this board and the scale, and I just wanted to step back and kinda forget about the band (as if I could), make my healthy choices, and live my life. The break was good for me. But I just wanted to share with those who get discouraged, as others shared when I was discouraged..... you can do it!! I have lost 56 pounds since March 15th. Here's how it went down (no pun intended): Lost 10 pounds on my own from March 15th to May 1st when I first met with the surgeon Lost 10 pounds on the pre-op diet Lost 36 pounds in the 15 weeks since surgery on May 15th. For most of that time after surgery, I did not have restriction. I got some very very mild restriction around August 1st and better restriction in mid-August. It isn't easy to lose before you get restriction but I believe if you want it badly enough, you can do it! I need hip replacement surgery and am pretty limited in what kind of exercise I can do..... so if I could do it, anyone can! And then when you do finally get restriction, it's all worth it.... finally you know what the band is all about. I eat 900-1200 calories a day, enjoy several glasses of wine a week, can eat just about anything I want (but have to chew extra slow and carefully on some things). My exercise is pretty much limited to the treadmill and walking, but I'm about to also start swimming. I will have to have hip replacement surgery at some point in the coming months and I'm worried about how that will affect my progress, but all we can do is take one day at a time. Now my challenge is to STAY in Onederland.... and then keep on moving down!

For my pre-surgery psych consult I met with a wonderful psychiatrist who was around 65 years old. She has been banded for 7 years. While we were chatting she asked me if I smoked pot. I told her I used to smoke it alot, now only on occasion. She said "Well there's a lot of us ageing hippies around!" and she said "There's nothing wrong with smoking it after surgery, but just keep in mind that it doesn't really go hand in hand with the lapband, because of the munchies. You just need to be really aware of that if you choose to smoke."

Hi Trina! Well, I am one of those who wants my band at a level that helps me control my portions but still lets me eat pretty much anything I want, in the proper portions. But I am still noticing a big difference, especially because I'm usually not finishing everything on my plate. For example the other day I grilled a salmon fillet and when it was done I thought "I don't really need all of that". I think it was about a 7 oz. fillet. Until recently I probably would have eaten the whole thing without thinking twice. I cut it in half and I ate that, and a small mound of mashed cauliflower (like mashed potatoes) and I was absolutely satisfied. Maybe I could have eaten the rest of the salmon (I'm not sure) but I just didn't want it or need it. This is totally new for me. Everything they say about learning how to listen to your stomach and your head and the band, is so true, because it's not eating until you are "full" like we used to do. For Breakfast today, I had 2 hard boiled eggs, 3 slices of tomato, and a piece of fat free cheese. I didn't quite finish the 2nd egg. I left half a slice of tomato and 1/4 of the slice of cheese. I COULD have eaten it all, if I wasn't thinking about it. But I just knew I was done. This is all so new and it's wonderful. I'm afraid to hope it lasts, lol. I would say I'm not getting in the 1200 calories a day I try for. It's probably closer to 850 or 950 right now but I'm sure that will change in time. Good luck with your next fill!

What a happy day! You should be proud of yourself. Congratulations!

It took me 6 fills and 8.2 cc's in a 9 cc Realize band to get restriction (thank God my doctor will let us have our first fill 4 weeks post-op and then every week after that if necessary, I would be going crazy if I had to wait months and months to have gotten to my sweet spot). On my last fill I went from 8 cc's to 8.2 cc's and that little .2 cc's made all the difference. I was also told not to be concerned about the fact that it's still early in the game for me and I only have room for .8 cc's left in my band.... they said most bands can hold more than what we're told, as long as they're filled carefully using fleuroscopy.... and once you hit that sweet spot, the next time you need a fill it probably will only take a tiny little bit to get you back to the restriction you had before.

Best of luck to you, Frazzled! I'm so glad you researched both procedures. I know when I finally got through that process and made my decision (for lapband) it was such a huge relief to finally be done with the decision making process. I'm sure you're feeling the same. I wish you all the best!

Please do intense research. With lap band they place a band around your stomach. With bypass they cut your intestines and re-route them. There are foods you will never be able to eat again. You will have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of your life because your stomach will no longer absorb vital nutrients from the food you eat. I'm not trying to be dramatic. I seriously considered bypass surgery and I know of many people who got through it just fine with no complications and they did lose a lot of weight. I also know of several who had very serious complications. And I know of several who lost lots of weight and then gained it back. There are lots of pros and cons with lap band too. I just wouldn't want anyone to go into bypass surgery without really understanding the short term and long term differences between the two procedures. I don't think any responsible doctor would let you go through it without understanding that, either. It is far too important of a decision to make just from our comments on a message board (although it is very helpful to hear everyone's experiences and thoughts too, don't get me wrong!)

You should do more than just check out a bypass forum, you should do lots of research. Deciding between bypass and lapband is a huge decision that took me about 6 weeks of intense research and changing my mind every half hour before I finally decided. There is a LOT to consider with bypass. With lapband too, of course... but bypass (in my opinion) is a much more serious surgery and you should really know what you're getting into no matter which way you go. Best of luck to you, either way! P.S. Frazzled, I met my (ex) husband in Old Bridge way back in 1971!

That's a great tool! I have been using that website since my surgery, also. Just keep in mind that it also depends on how many calories you use up each day. I use the BodyBugg which is similar -- you tell it how much you want to lose each week, and it tells you how many calories a day you can eat.... and how many calories a day you have to use (and it calculates how many calories you have burned throughout the day). I was pretty shocked how much effort it takes to use up the amount of calories I have to use each day in order to meet my 2 pound a week goal! I'll tell you one thing I have learned from the BodyBugg.... the best thing you can do to burn more calories is just move, every opportunity you have. Get up and walk throughout the day. Take the long way around. Take the stairs. It has made a much bigger difference than I realized, in how many calories a day I burn. Good luck, guys!

I do reward myself but I usually don't figure out what the reward will be until I am pretty close to achieving the goal. Being divorced with a grown daughter, I don't have anyone else to spend my money on, so I tend to reward myself pretty well most of the time..... I used to do it with food, now I've found other ways (my every-other-week pedicures are a favorite little treat). But one thing I've definitely decided I'm going to do when I am at goal or near goal, is get a professional bra fitting! I've probably never worn the right size bra in my life and I am tired of trying to hoist the girls up to where they should be, usually without success. Once I get to goal there won't be as much to hoist but unfortunately, whatever is left is still going to need some good support! LOL.

I had a couple glasses of white wine a few weeks after surgery. My drink was White Russians, in fact I'd say they were my downfall. I absolutely loved them and I could drink them down like water. Now when I look at the calories just one has, it's no wonder I got so fat. I have had a few White Russians since my surgery but they really made me feel full, which they never used to do, so I only drank a couple. And I've found I don't enjoy them as much as I used to, and I am so happy about that. I've pretty much eliminated them from my diet now. I do drink white wine and like some of the other posters have said, I get much more of a buzz on much less wine than it used to take. I don't know if it's because of the band, because I'm drinking less often, and/or because I'm not eating as much as I used to. Whatever.... I've learned to sip slowly, and make one glass last awhile.

It sounds like you don't need a fill. You wouldn't want to eat any less than you're eating now, and you're not hungry between meals.... assuming you're satisfied at the end of each meal, I'd say that's pretty much right on target! And if so, you're very fortunate. It took me 5 fills to get to that point. I would say just make sure you keep getting in that many calories. I've stayed at 1200 calories a day all along, I felt like things were moving kind of slowly for awhile but every time I'd go for a fill, my nutritionist would point out that I was actually doing pretty well. And now suddenly in the last 10 days, the weight is falling off of me. (I also increased how much I'm moving, walking, going upstairs, etc. each day since I got a BodyBugg and am able to track how many calories I day I'm using up).

My out-patient surgery went great! And I'm an old lady of 55! Everyone is different so I can only speak of my experience. I got there at 11:30, surgery began at 12:45. I walked myself to the operating room and got up on the table. The next thing I remember is being in the recovery room. I wasn't in pain, but I did feel as though I had a tight binding around my stomach (which I didn't). An hour later I was up and walking to a lounge chair and the nurses were laughing about how fast I was able to walk. By 4:30 or so, I was walking out to the car and by 5:00 I was at home. At 5:30 my friend left and I was perfectly comfortable being alone. However, I did keep my cell phone handy, and my best friend called me in the evening and also first thing in the morning to check on me. I felt really good that first day when I got home. I did a lot of walking, on doctor's orders. I watched TV, played on the computer. I had a lot of energy which I think might have been a reaction to whatever they gave me to wake me up from the anesthesia. I stayed up until 11:00 p.m. I did wake up in the middle of the night in pain. Not bad bad pain, but definitely uncomfortable. I should have taken my pain meds before I went to sleep. Pain meds work much better if you take them before the pain is bad. After that I slept the rest of the night. When I woke up the next morning, I felt a little dragged out and again, my stomach felt like I had a tight binding around it. I took several pretty good walks. Then at around 1:00, just about exactly 24 hours after my surgery, it's like it all caught up with me and suddenly I was so tired, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I went to lay down for a nap and I slept all afternoon, got up for a little while in the early evening, then went back to bed for the night. By the third day I was feeling really good and by the 4th day I woke up and realized I felt absolutely wonderful. You're going to be fine.... good luck and congratulations!

I paid $206 (including tax and shipping) for the BodyBugg, which includes a telephone consult with a counselor to help you go through the website after you've used it for a week, and it includes 3 months of the website. (The BodyBugg is useless without the website). After your 3 months are up, you need to keep subscribing to the website if you want to keep using the BodyBugg. The cheapest route for that is a year for $99. $206 is the cheapest I found it, at bodybugg armband device The EatSmart Nutrition scale can be found here: Welcome to EatSmart Products - Home of the EatSmart Nutrition Scale There's a pretty good little video that shows you how it works. I think it is the coolesthing! I really hesitated to spend any more money on weight loss products. One thing I told myself when I had to pay for my own surgery was "I won't be spending money on weight loss products anymore". But I have to say, the BodyBugg has super motivated me, and the scale has been great. I really don't regret spending the money.

I recently bought the EatSmart Nutrition scale. It is pricey ($75.00) but what a great tool. I will use wine as an example. Once or twice a week I treat myself to a glass of wine if I have room in my daily calorie count. I always measured out either 4 of 8 ounces. With my new scale, I enter the code for wine, place my glass on the scale, press "tare" so it doesn't weigh the glass, then I start pouring wine into the glass and as I pour, it tells me how many calories are in the glass, and I stop pouring when it reaches the number of calories I've allowed myself to have. I definitely noticed the calorie count was higher than I thought. I love the scale because it's taken the guesswork out of everything. I toss a chicken breast on there and it tells me how many calories in that chicken breast. And on and on. I started using the BodyBugg (calculates how many calories a day you put out, versus how many you take in) at the same time I got my new scale. And guess what? The weight has been falling off of me, so much so that now I'm having to work to make sure I don't lose too fast. So anyway I do think Ms. Peele is on to something.

I'm glad you found the problem and got it fixed! I haven't heard of that as a chronic or common problem though.... but I guess most of us would go get it checked out if we found we didn't have the level of restriction we had before. I was self-pay and all fills for the first 13 months after surgery are included in the price I paid for the surgery. I've had 5 fills so far and I think I'm set for awhile. After the 13 months is up, fills are $150 each. My doctor will let us have fills once a week if necessary. Guess that sums all that up!

As you've probably read quite often on this forum, it is very rare to get restriction on your first fill. Most people need at least 2-3 fills before they get where they want to be. It took 5 fills for me, until I had 8 cc's in a 9 cc Realize band. Patience is the key, that's why they call it Bandster Hell. Until then you have to be strong and keep your goal in sight, and try to control your eating! Hang in there, it will all come.... it really will!

Ten pounds in 16 days is awesome! You should be thrilled. My doctor said the time after surgery is not for losing weight, it is for healing. Any weight lost between surgery and when you get restriction, is just bonus weight loss. Of course... that didn't stop me from wanting to lose weight during that period (and I did lose) but... don't start obsessing about it or you'll drive yourself crazy. I know, because I just went through that! Our body has normal weight fluctuations that don't mean a thing in the big picture of losing fat. If you weigh yourself every day you're going to see the scale go up and down from now until you reach your goal, and forever! That's just how it works. As long as you stick to your program, the weight WILL come off.

My doctor let's us get a fill once a week until we have restriction. If you're food is getting stuck though, you might want to give it a little while and be sure you need another fill. After my most recent fill my food started taking a long time to go down and I decided that is enough for now. I don't want another fill and risk having it get stuck even worse or not go down at all. I just had to pay closer attention to whether I was feeling satisfied after my healthy meal (rather than feeling stuffed) and I decided I'm doing really well and I'll stay where I am for now.

I would let your doctor know right away that you're vomiting up the meds. They can give you Phenergen in a suppository form so you won't vomit it up. Vomiting should be avoided at all costs (not that it's something you're happy to be doing, I know). My doctor gives his patients a standing prescription for anti-nausea meds to take if we get a stomach virus or anything like that. Good luck!

I was allowed to have cream Soups my first week post-op. My doctor told me the stomach growling doesn't mean hunger, it is the stomach adjusting to the band. I also always have a lot of stomach growling during the first 8 hours or so after a fill.... same thing. If anything you eat is bothering you though, you should back off and go to something lighter.

I can't believe a doctor would promote such a wildly unhealthy approach. He doesn't have your best interest at heart and it sounds like he doesn't know what the heck the band is all about. I would definitely find a new doctor and I would report him. Think of the harm he is doing to patients who follow that advice.

I count every pound lost, including the ten pounds I lost on my own because I was so disgusted with myself, during the month before I ever saw my surgeon. Why wouldn't it count? So count those pre-op pounds!

I'm just curious. I'm reading quite a few posts where people say they were instructed not to eat more than half a cup of food at a time (I'm not talking about the post-op period, I'm talking about after you are on full solids). My doctor never told me that, and even though I now have restriction, I need more than half a cup of food at each meal. I don't know how I could get all my nutrients in for the day with a total of 1-1/2 cups of food. My doctor's instructions once I got onto solid food were to eat until I felt satisfied (not full), whatever that amount was. The goal was to eat about 4-6 oz. of Protein and 1/2 - 3/4 cup of vegetables per meal. When I go in for a fill, they show me these plastic plates with plastic food on them and ask me whether my portions look like that. Those plastic plates have more than half a cup of plastic food on them! I've got the level of restriction I want now.... so far I can eat anything I want with no problems, but I'm satisfied after what I consider a healthy portion. I try to eat 1200 calories a day but usually it ends up being closer to 1,000 - 1,100. Here is a typical day's menu for me: Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with 1 egg and 1/4 cup Egg Beaters. I'll add a little bit of cheese or tomato to that 2 turkey bacon slices or 2 low fat waffles with 1/4 cup sugar free syrup 2 small Jennie-O turkey sausage links Lunch: Low carb wrap with 3 oz. of deli lunchmeat, a piece of low fat cheese, and low fat mayo or gaucamole. Sometimes add lettuce, diced cucumber, etc. Dinner: 6 oz. salmon or a grilled chicken breast 1/2 - 3/4 cup veggies I am usually able to eat everything on my plate and it seems to be a perfect amount -- I'm satisfied, but not "full". I don't get hungry for another 4-5 hours. No between-meal Snacks, nothing to drink except a cup of coffee in the morning, and Water. I'm losing about 2 pounds a week and feeling great. But it sounds like I'm eating a lot more than some people. I'm just really curious now how this compares to the diet that some other doctors have their patients on? Will I maybe need a little more restriction to help me eat even less once I've lost more weight and it starts being more difficult to lose? But still, that doesn't seem healthy....