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I hear you but this can't be just another diet. Hopefully, after we get our fills it will be easier to control the appetite and we will start to lose at a steady clip. I too am feeling better in my clothes and my stomach has gone down a lot. My neighbor knows that I was banded and she asked me tonight how I was doing with it and I told her I'm plateauing right now but she says she can totally see that I lost. I was hoping to be down a total of over 25lbs when I went back to my Dr . I hope he doesn't withhold the fill because he thinks I'm not really trying. Can that happen? Dee

Yes that happens when your eating mostly yogurt and protein shakes, for me. I realized yesterday that I have not had a bowel movement in at least a couple of days probably 3. Maybe that's why I'm bloated. When you're not taking in much substance like meat, fruit,veggies and bread there really is not much to come out. Not going to the bathroom keeps you from losing too. I drank some Super Dieters tea last week but then someone said that taking laxatives is not good for the pouch. Has anyone heard that? What to do ? what to do? Dee

My weight has gone up about 5lbs too. Last night I was out and my feet and legs were visibly swollen so I think I am retaining a lot of water for some reason. At this point I'm just waiting for my fill and I'll see what happens then. Right now, I'm very afraid that I am on just another diet and it's not going well. I'm eating much less than I used to eat plus I'm not drinking any alcohol or diet soda or chips or any of that other stuff so I think I should be dropping a ton just from that. I'm gonna chill for now but after next month if this mess keeps going on I'm officially pissed.

Wow, congrats!! You've lost 95lbs in a year with all that you've had to deal with???!!! Girl, you give me hope. I just may be able to do this with a couple of cheat days and all. I hope your load lightens soon but I think you have this on lock. You go!!

What did you eat in the morning that kept you that full? I just got some protein powder from Bariatriceating.com today but I have a coupon for the Isopure and I have seen some 0 carb powders so I'll check those out. Every time I come on these sites I wind up buying something. Oh well, anything to be at a normal weight. Dee

My experience was that my Dr. had me stay in the hospital overnight the day of surgery. I was up walking and feeling great. I didn't want to do it but now that it's over I'm glad I did. In his words I had a perfect surgery and I had really no pain and not even the horrible gas pains that some have. I only took the pain meds the first couple of days more so to make me sleep than for pain. My Husband went to work but he put the dog out in the am when he left so I wouldn't have to do much. I just wanted to be home alone to sleep Many bandsters go home the same day and have no problems at all. If you want a friend to stay with you the first day you should be alright but to pay a nurse ...unless you have a complication which you will not ,will be a waste of good money. This is just my humble opinion.

Her biography explains why she was not successful. She thought it was a miracle cure and she has bad habits that she was afraid she was passing on to her Son. She is probably very busy working with Bey , traveling on the road and does not have time to plan and eat proper meals among other factors. I hope that she or the show does not go on about how WLS is not a viable option. I like the Biggest Loser though I know it is very unrealistic. Who the heck can work out 7-8 hours a day to keep their weight in check?

Oh thank you..I tried every variation of that and I couldn't get it to work. As you can see. I went to Myfitnesspal and did their ticker . To me it was much easier to do and update. Easy, peasy that's the way I like it!! Dee

That sounds great Kelly. I would love to join you on the low carb bandwagon as that was always my plan. Right now, I'm back to my protein shakes which include the greek yogurt and fruit and I will be eating a reg. meal for lunch. I've already strayed so far from what I'm supposed to be eating. I want to at least be down a good solid 20-25lbs when I go for my 1st fill so my surgeon can see I am trying. What do you plan to do when you have a fill and have to go back to protein shakes and yogurt for a couple of days? You don't sound vain for wanting to be down by next Sept. as I said before I wanted to reach goal by my year surgiversary too that would bring me to next August. I'm beginning to doubt that the way I feel now but I'm hoping it gets better after my fill. I just did my Leslie Sansone 2 mile walk so I feel good about that. I'm hoping to build on that every day and eventually work up to doing something 2x a day to get me to my goal. Dee

Kelly...I believe in the low carb lifestyle too and I plan to do it once I'm cleared to be on regular food. I'm eating all kinds of things I shouldn't be eating right now (a lot less too) as it is but I'm gonna cut back on that until I go for my fill on the 22nd and then after my liquid days I'm gonna be full on low carb. I was hoping to lose my weight in less than a year and to do that I have to really step it up. timandmich ...Please give us the low down on the fill this afternoon. tylee...I need to get back in the right frame of mind also and I'm hoping that today will be a better day for all of us. I'm really discouraged now but you're right Laurie, we have come too far for this crap. This can't be just another diet. I'm praying my Dr. gives me an aggressive fill. I'm going to tell him just how I feel and beg . Dee

I am in the same boat as most of you. I am very hungry now and eating things I know I shouldn't. I'm beginning to get discouraged and feel like I am on yet another diet. I have picked up about 4lbs and am very depressed about it. I plan on meditating about it and will be up tonight remembering all I went through to get here and I plan to get up tomorrow and stick to my plan and exercise and try to get the ball rolling again. Hopefully...this too shall pass. Dee

This is so true. Also that is not a question that I would ask any Dr. unless I knew they were behind the lapband. You are going to get from them many and varied personal opinions just like you would get from any other assortment of people . If you ask a bunch of construction workers some will say I have a friend that did it and was successful. Some will say "I don't believe in that" and some will say "go for it!!" Make up your mind to work this tool the best you can . Work towards changing your lifestyle and mind set as far as food and exercise and you have a great chance of losing and keeping your weight off. That's what I'm gonna do.

I say this in almost every thread about this "friend" thing. It's unfortunate but people like to put others in categories in relation to themselves. You may have been the good and faithful but "fat" friend so it made those who were smaller than you very comfortable with you as in you were no threat to them . When we start to take charge of our health and lose the weight they are no longer comfy with how they feel about themselves and see you as a threat. I'm only down a few lbs from before surgery and I have a long way to go but some so called "friends " have already told me "OMG, I have to lose weight !!! I can't let you get to be smaller than me" One I thought close friend that I confided in told her DH and he told someone else that I really didn't want to share the info with and it's already caused a rift between us. So I see that I will be doing this basically on my own with only the support of a couple of people . There will also be some "friends" that will set themselves up in competition with me which will be totally 1 sided. It's really a shame but keep on doing what you're doing. If someone stops associating with you because your getting healthier are they really your friend? I'm going to make myself so busy with planning my meals and exercising that I will not have much time for fake friends and their issues anyway.

We already have 2 other August threads going but let's all try to consolidate all of our thoughts and encouragement into one thread so that we can all support each other and face our fears and struggles together. I was originally to be banded last March 2010 so I started posting there and I love how that thread is still going with many of them having great success and encouraging each other. My name is Dee and after much hassle with my surgeons office staff I have a surgery date of 8/16. I have an appointment with him on 8/3 and there I will discuss my concerns about aftercare and dealing with his staff. Hopefully, all will go well and I won't have to cancel my surgery and find another surgeon. I have been going through this process now for over a year. I started out with NYU but found after I paid them $750.00 out of pocket that my insurance is out of network for them. They made promises but I didn't want to risk getting stuck with a humongous bill. I want to be thin and healthy not bankrupt. I found another surgeon that accepts my ins. and he seems nice enough and is the Director of the bariactric program at his hospital but his staff has treated me like I'm begging for a free surgery. Well anyway, I'm planning to start my pre-op liquid diet on 8/2 anyway on my own advice. I'm looking for much support and encouragement and am willing to do the same for all of you August rush people. Kellyodoran came up with the name August rush!!

WTH!!! What a bummer. He just did the band on you and now he says that!!! Did he just come to that conclusion? I would feel down too if my Dr dropped that bomb on me. I think you should ask him for a referral or hunt up a Dr yourself that is going to stand by the band. I wonder what made him come to that conclusion? I have been struggling lately with hunger and its been throwing me off so yesterday I made a nice pot of white chicken chili. I got the recipe from bariatriceating.com. I had a protein shake w/ a greek yogurt in it thins morning so I'm hoping that and the soupy chili will get me back on track. MOO...I love the encouraging vids on YT. I'll check you out later. I wish I had the nerve and the technical savvy to do a VLOG. I have seen that there is a need for more mature ladies to show that they can be successful with the band on YT. Tylee...congrats on being 50lbs down :smile: can't wait to be there.

Congrats to you!! 50 lbs in 7 weeks...I'm uber jealous but guys do lose faster than women . NO fair!! Dee

Glad your feeling better Jen. Sorry about that gas thing but I have learned to keep a big supply of Gas-X chewables and I keep them in my purses too. Since I've been banded I have had more gas than I've had my whole life. I hope eventually that settles down. :thumbup: As for that not feeling hungry I am longing for that day and I hope it comes soon . Last night for the first time I was really struggling . I had 1/2 a protein bar a granola thin a couple of wings and even some ice cream which I'm not really fond of. Trying to get back on track. Failure is not an option with this band. Dee

Can you please explain to me how to update the ticker ...like I'm a 2 year old. It took me forever to get it now I can't update it. Dee

Hey Amanda, Different Dr's place the port in different places but in my experience a lot of folks have theirs where mine is. My port is towards the middle of my chest closer to my right breast. I was just banded 8/16 but my port protrudes so I can visibly see where mine is already it doesn't bother me for now. I'm hoping it will be easier to get fills. I've heard of some being placed around the waist area too. If you gently poke around and feel for an object about the size of a quarter you might feel it. I hope this helps. To get a ticker just click on someone elses like mine and that will take you to the site. If you find out how to change the ticker PM me and let me know.:blushing: Dee

Back to regularly scheduled programming. I am having a bit of trouble too. I am on stage 2 now and according to the handout my Dr gives out I can have soft canned fruit, berries, fish, veggies, mashed potatoes, toast & crackers. soft cooked pasta. In my mind that leaves a lot of room. I have not lost or gained anything in the last week. I am maintaining at being down 19lbs. I eat very small portions except for in the morning when I usually have chobani greek yogurt mixed w/ a Yoplait light to cut the taste and less than a 1/4 cup of Spec K lowfat granola. this leaves me pretty full until the afternoon . Lately I have been having a couple of spoonfuls of a seafood salad that I made w/ 5 red. fat crackers and some lettuce and then at night I will have a sf popsicle and a bite of something else I can find that will go down. No sweets or anything but a couple of time sI had one of those new granola thins w/ PB or on the weekend I had a couple of honey garlic wing drummettes. I even had a lean cuisine 1 night. I just find that my list gives me too much room in some cases and not enough room in others and I don't want to do anything to hurt my band. I feel I will be better off after my fill when I'm on full foods and I can experiment with reg. foods and see what I can eat that's low carb and keeps me full. One night I did have a bad stuck episode with a piece of salmon filet. I'm not feeling comfy with doing a lot of exercise now. I feel like I already need a readjustment in my head and failure is not an option with my band. Dee

I understand what your saying and I think that's a good thing to teach your children...but in our case I don't think it's that serious. I have been overweight for years and even though I have a lot going for me I know that many have talked about me behind my back and even have made snide remarks to my face. I would never now or ever have said a mean thing to a persons face or made anyone feel uncomfy. In the past because of my own experience I have gone out of my way to make someone feel comfortable if I perceive they may be shy because of a handicap outwardly or inward. I am a very generous person almost to a fault. I would never knowingly hurt anyone. Dee

Me too, I got the Zumba DVDs also. I will alternate that between Walk away the pounds and my treadmill to start out with. I have to make a confession...I'm getting really obnoxious since being banded. Every time I see a heavy person now I say to my DH or to myself "they need a lapband!!" I have 90 more lbs. to lose myself. I have a lot of nerve!! Dee

Monica it sounds great to me that you are losing 1-4lbs per week. That's all my Dr told me to expect. I know what you mean though about wanting to lose more. I do too so it won't be easy but I know the only way to speed it up is to exercise consistently and that's what I plan to do. My ultimate plan is to exercise 1-2x per day while actively losing. Are you exercising? Jen sorry about your episode. I had my first "stuck" episode already too. If you were able to eat and not bring the food back up it seems like your fill was alright but maybe you ate too fast or too much. With our bands 1 extra spoonful can be too much. I learned that the hard way. I had a pc of salmon it was a small pc. of filet but when I got to the last bite I felt full but I said "I can eat this last bite" BIG mistake as it went down my throat it felt like a knife in my spine it stuck in my throat. I guess I could have PB'd but I fought it because I hate to throw up but in hindsight that would have been better. I was uncomfy all night into the next day . I developed a bad headache and just felt miserable for parts of 2 days. Never again! Dee

I don't know ladies this is a touchy thing to me. One of the things that always got me before being banded was I would lose weight and at 5'2" I would get to about 190 or so from being btwn about 230-240 lbs and then I would start to hear "oh, you can stop now, or you're getting to skinny. At 5'2" I was surely not too skinny at 190lb . Then I would start to get comfy and feel good and start to re-gain all the weight. I feel that people get comfy with us being the fat one and when you are no longer the fat one they don't feel comfy with themselves in relation to you . When the fat friend gets skinny it makes them question themselves. Don't let random people sway you from your goal. If you want to lose more do that . We all know you can gain it back if you need to.

Very good advice here. I think everyone has to find what works best for them and it seems that most posters here have figured out what works best for them. I was looking at a vid on Youtube yesterday where a Vlogger was saying that she didn't regret her band but in actuality it seemed she did because she was saying that you have to think very hard before doing it because you can never have a drink again, you can never have sweets again, you can never chew gum again, you can never drink from a straw again and on and on. I chose the band because I did not want to be severely restricted for the rest of my life. I do plan on doing all of those things again within reason and with restriction. I'm not much of a sweet eater but I know one day I will crave a warm cookie or a good piece of cake or a nice cocktail and I will have them and enjoy them.