dietpeach

I know there's already a post asking about the first year out - but this is anoymous, so more people might share this way. The question is: How much did you lose in one year by your bandiversary, not counting the pre-op diet? I know that before my surgery I was always looking for more information on how much people lost - so let's help the newbies and post our results here.

My PCP called and my recent ultrasound showed that the reason for my debilitating pain is gallstones, and my gallbladder needs to come out soon. My main fear about the lap band was the surgery itself - well, if I have to have surgery anyway for my gallbladder, I might as well get banded at the same time! So I told my PCP that I want to have the lap band done and they can take out the gallbladder at the same time, but there's a three month wait to get into the surgeon. My PCP said I can't wait 3 months, the gallbladder has to come out. So I asked him if he would call the lap band surgeon to try and get me in sooner, so both surgeries can be done at the same time. I think a doctor speaking up for me might get better results than my asking myself, no? I reeeaaally hope they can get me in right away! He's calling right now, and I can't sit still waiting for him to call me back.

I just want to encourage everyone that I know someone who hardly lost anything her first year, but went on to lose almost 150 pounds over 3 years. It can be done, even for slow starters!

Do you guys want to keep track of our weight loss? We can all post our band date and how much we've lost since surgery (not including pre-op, since some people have 6 month pre-ops and others have none at all). If anyone knows how to do a spreadsheet they can post in in a spreadsheet. (Sorry guys, I have no clue how.) We can periodicaly update the list from time to time. I think it would be interesting to see how different people are doing as the year goes by. Or we could just keep a running total and always copy and paste the list into your reply, changing only your own weight loss. What do you think? ETA: Why not, we can also include pre-op weightloss, as a separate category, since so many pre-ops might look to us to see what they can expect on their pre-op diets. (Doesn't hurt to be helpful.)

Based on your surgery day weight, what was your BMI on the day of surgery? If you need a BMI calculator you can find one here: Calculate your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator Also, do you feel the band has been successful for you? Do you think your BMI made a difference - did higher BMI's lose less percentage-wise, did lower BMI's do better?

Don't worry China, I'm also about 9 weeks out and about 22 pounds down. I think it's normal. I had absolutely no restriction until my second fill, and even after that I only feel slightly restricted. I know I need another fill, and probably you do, too. It takes time, and we have to be patient. You said you felt a difference after your last fill, and so did I after mine. That's only the beginning! Each fill will get us closer to that sweet spot. Some people get fills every 2 weeks. My doctor does it every 4 weeks. That means it will take me twice as long to get the same restriction - but it isn't a race, and I don't mind being patient as long as I know I'll get there one day. You'll see, it will be good in the end, and we'll both be big losers. :eek:

When I had my second fill the PA told me that I needed to drink water before going home to make sure all was well, and that one of the warning signs to look out for is pain. I would call the doctor if I were you, just to be safe.

Thanks for the welcome. I guess I've been MIA from this board. That's good - it means I've bneen busy enjoying life with my band. LOL Glad to know there already is a spreadsheet. I looked to see if there was already one going, but I didn't see it. (I didn't think to look in the challenge thread.) Anyway, you can add my data if you want, but a challenge thread demands more of a day-to-day ongoing commitment to a group, and I don't have time for it unfortunately. Would it be okay to pop in one every month or so to update my numbers, even if I can't commit to the challenge?

:biggrin: The way I see it, we have to keep our sense of humor and not take things too seriously. Not that anyone on this board ever does.

Okay, Dan, since you know I love to tease you, I'm game! See the quote from you above? Now I will copy and paste a piece of the above quote where you say it: "I don't get along with women." Okay, okay, it's taken out of context, but you defied and I complied. :thumbup:

Name: Band date: Weight lost pre-op: (on the pre-opdiet) Weight lost since banding: Total weight lost: Name: dietpeach Band date: 12/5/08 Weight lost pre-op: 20 lbs Weight lost to date: 20.5 lbs Total weight lost: 40.5 lbs See, then you can add your own to the list by copying and pasting. I know many December bandsters will have small numbers since it's only February, especially those banded the last week of December. (I was banded the first week, so I've lost a bit more.) But if we start tracking now we can have a nice record through the year.

Now I agree that Dan has the manners of a camel but I also think that he answered this post fine. But we can keep spanking him anyway. Dan's just one of those guys that you love to hate. Right, Dan? LOL :scared2:

No, Dan, no! You didn't get it! My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek. I was gently teasing you. I thought you'd find it funny. *scratching monkeys and hyenas off the list* (The list of animals to compare you to, that is - assuming you're not a camel. Get it? It's a joke!) Oh, wait. Maybe YOU were joking, too. Help!

Well Dan, it's true - they're rude. They bite and spit. Do you? If so, you're as rude as a camel. If not, we'll have to think of some other animal. :thumbup: I once rode a camel. True story. ETA: Not to get sidetracked from the main point, however, there is an ignore button somewhere that you can press if you no longer wish to see the posts of a certain person. Dan, I suggest you use it! No, not on me. (You should use it, too, maestrita.)

One more post on this subject from me, to help educate dan and other pre-ops. :thumbup: Remember what the surgeons say is "normal." It is "normal" to gain weight post-op from the mushy stage until 1, 2, 3, or 4 fills have provided restriction. Whatever weight is lost in the 2 week liquid diet is frequently regained (and then some). The first fill is usually 4-6 weeks post-op, with subsequent fills 4 weeks apart. It is also "normal" to lose 1-2 pounds a week with restriction. So here's a scenario I'm making up based on what's perfectly normal, but which dan would label a failure: A LAP BAND STORY by dietpeach "Amanda" was banded on New Year's 2008. In the 2 weeks post-op liquid diet she lost 10 pounds. She regained 6 pounds in the next 4 weeks before her first fill at 6 weeks post-op, making her 4 pounds below her surgery weight. By her second fill at 10 weeks post-op she had gained 4 pounds more, bringing her back to her surgery weight. In the next 4 weeks she didn't gain but didn't lose, and got a 3rd fill (14 weeks post-op). At this point she started losing a half a pound a week for the next 4 weeks. At week 18 she had another fill, and she was 2 pounds below surgery weight. It was too tight, so they slightly unfilled her. She felt pretty good. She started losing 1.5 pounds a week at this point, from weeks 18 - 38, for a total loss of 30 pounds during this time, bringing her to 32 pounds below surgery weight. At this point she starts to lose restriction because she lost some of the fat around her stomach, so that her band was no longer tight on her stomach. Over the next 4 weeks (bringing us to week 42) she regains 3 pounds. She calls to make an appointment for another fill. It takes 2 weeks (week 44) for them to get her in, and in those 2 weeks she gains another pound. she is now only 28 pounds below her surgery weight at week 44. This fill does the trick again and she loses an average of 1.5 pounds a week (1-2 pounds) for the next 8 weeks, bringing us to week 52. Her total loss for the year is 40 pounds. Dan would call her a failure, but he'd be wrong. She continues to lose an average of 1.5 pounds a week, with minor adjustments here and there, and over the next year she loses 78 pounds the second year after surgery, for a total loss of 118 pounds. But she isn't finished. The weight loss slows at this point because she is close to goal. She has changed her life, is exercising and eating right. Over the course of the third year she slowly loses the remaining 32 pounds for a total loss of 150 pounds. Dan meets her in a bar but she's too hot to even notice him. Regretful, Dan goes and gets banded. Having waiting all these 3 years to get the band, and having done so much research fduring those 3 years, he thinks he's sure to succeed. But no! He doesn't stick to the band rules. He keeps eating ice cream, milk shakes, chips, chocolate, and soda. In the first year after surgery he loses only 5 pounds. What a failure! He comes groveling to lapbandtalk and apologizes for being so judgmental. Everyone forgives him and supports him to help him get back on track and stick to the rules. One member in particular (Amanda) helps him the most, only he doesn't realize it's the hot chick from the bar. She supports him as he sheds the 100 pounds he needed to. They get very close online as she helps him, and they decide to meet in real life. When they finally get together it's love at first sight. They get married and have twins, a boy and a girl they name Danny and Mandy. They are careful to raise the children with healthy eating habits. Both twins grow up to become lap band surgeons. The end. :rose:

No amount of research can prepare you for the reality of the surgery. The learning is truly experiential. The band has been described by one surgeon as being a behavior modification tool. That means it punishes bad behavior (with pain or discomfort) and rewards good behavior (with weight loss and feeling better), leading to success in most cases. What this means is that the learning takes place in the process, with experience. No amount of reading and research can accomplish that. While I agree with you that logically there could be a link for some people between impulsive surgery and impulsive eating, and in some cases this could lead to failure, I also see that the band can change that impulsiveness through behavior modification. But we can't sit here as armchair scientists and decide that this is or isn't so. There are no statistics to prove or disprove this theory of yours. Bottom line: While your theory sounds somewhat logical, there are counterexamples on both sides, and we just can't know without statistics which do not exist. I will say this. You can't judge people as "failures" in the first few months after getting banded, and the fact that you did shows how little you know about the reality of life with the band. It can take 4-6 months to achieve restriction. If a person has not yet reached restriction and has the same appetite and stomach capacity as before surgery, they won;t lose weight except through sheer willpower. I have lost 20 pounds in the 2 months since my surgery, plus 20 more pre-op. It was all done through dieting and willpower. Only now after my second fill do I feel the band is starting to help me. I don't have full restriction yet. It's too soon to call my band a success or failure, because until now it's been all me with little to no help from the band. And there were weeks when I gained weight - when I ate several slices of deep dishes without feeling a thing, because I had the hunger and stomach capacity to do so. Now, after my second fill, I couldn;t do that! But until a week ago I could. Don't judge people, really.

With the 14 cc takes band it longer to feel restriction (on average). From what I've heard, it often happens when you get to 6-8 cc of fills.

I think this post gets the "Post of the Year" award. Brilliant!!! :yikes:

A while back I read a post about how a certain yoga pose called "Downward facing Dog" pictured below: helps people get unstuck. THANK YOU to whoever posted about that, because it really worked! I got stuck this afternoon and it was a horrible, tight, painful, panicky feeling. I remembered reading here about the pose, but thought, "I could never get myself into that position!" Well, I didn't do the position perfectly or gracefully, but I did manage it and I held the position for maybe 30 seconds. When I stood up I realized it had been instantly successful. The pain is still gone 15 minutes later, and I feel totally back to normal. Thank you to whoever had posted about it! :tongue2:

I wish you lots and lots of luck tomorrow, and I hope everything goes smoothly for you. I hope your whole wish list comes true for you. Good luck and keep us posted!

When I woke up from surgery after a long several month wait to get my band, one of the first things I thought was, "Get this thing out of me!" LOL Seriously, it's a major life change, and it was frightening to know that the band is in there now like it or not, and only surgery can get it out. That can be a psychological shock, even if you know you need it and chose to get it. For the first few days (weeks) I had to frequently remind myself that down the road I will be glad I did this, just as so many people are. Sometimes I would start to panic a little that it can only come out through surgery and I wouldn't ever want another surgery, but then I'd remind myself that I can always have the band emptied and just live like that. Seriously, it's normal to be frightened by the reality of having a device insde you which potentially could have complications necessitating further surgery. When you're newly banded, the pain of recent surgery doesn't help these feelings either. I didn't post about my feelings because I've gotten to a point in life where I realized that if i'm feeling something, chances are I'm not alone. And neither are you. By the way, I'm about 5 or 6 weeks out and I feel much, much better about having the band. I accept my band now. I feel hopeful that it will give me the strength to succeed.

When you get a fill, your stomach can swell a little, making you feel increased restriction. As the swelling goes down in the days following the fill, the feeling of restriction can diminish. This is normal.

I was responding to your post where you said you should have expressed your frustrations by PM instead of publicly. I was agreeing with you. I commented only on the hamburger incident part of your post because that was the only part relevant to the public/PM thing - I felt that part should not have been written publicly because it would be very hurtful to that person to open a thread and find other people criticizing her not quite behind her back and not quite to her face. I agree that being honest with oneself it critical to being successful with the band and in life. But she was honest. She didn't ask if it was okay, as you said. She asked how badly she messed up. She was also honest enough to say she ate poorly, and she even said that she "sucked." Here's what she wrote: "... I'm so afraid that I've ruined myself before I started. How badly have I messed up by eating so poorly? FYI, I've been really good about eating small portions.... But I know, I still suck. " Anyway, I hope that clears things up.

I think if your complaint had been more general it would have been fine to post it publicly, but by singling out the person who ate the burger two days post-op it became a public criticism of a specific person. In general it is better to not criticize people publicly, so yeah, PM would have been better. (Best of all would be not to criticize people at all, but very few people are that angelic, lol.) As for me, I get very frustrated at myself if I ever do something wrong - and the bigger my mistake, the worse I feel. Worst of all when the mistake was completely my own fault and responsibility - that hurts! Then I feel like a failure on top of my mistake. I guess that's why I tend to sympathize with other people when they make mistakes. I might not make the same mistakes as they do, but I can relate to the feeling of having messed up royally. So, even though I stuck like glue to my pre- and post- op diets, I sympathized that she had made such a big mistake by eating the burger.

Interesting - and one year out I doubt you're still healing. By the way, congratulations on your incredible progress. You lost all that in under a year? Amazing!