Mariasha

Cold Turkey. Went out for dinner the night before and had some sushi, a massive rib steak, and some drinks to top it all off. Then started my shakes the next morning

It goes by your BMI - Body Mass Index Find out yours here. In order to be approved by insurance you need a BMI of 40, or a BMI of 35 with at least two co-morbiditys.

Most people do a pre-op diet of some kind. For most, its actually a two week liquid diet, so if your doctor is letting you do atkins you will have it a lot easier than most.

Remember that it is normal not to lose weight at this point. The real weight loss will begin once you get your fills and achieve some level of restriction. Hang in there till then, it will get better!

As an Australian still grappling to understand how health insurance does (or doesn't) work in America, all I can say is WTF?

I agree with you that there is no difference between crystal light and Vitamin Water zero. Perhaps your bariatric nurse did not understand that it has zero calories? But is vitamin water healthy? Does it actually have Vitamins in it? Absolutely not. Read this article for more on that scam.

Give yourself some time for the swelling from the surgery to go down. It will most probably work itself out.

If it is an issue once you reach your goal weight, there is always the option to switch the port to a low profile port that will be much less noticeable.

Try mixing into something sweet like apple sauce.

Dr Fielding @ NYU.

They are exactly the same product. And yes, that deal from Costco is probably the best price you are going to get.

Well, I went in for my first fill today. Doctor poked around a whole bunch of times and couldn't get in to my port. He says he thinks it may be flipped. I'm going back in a week and he is going to try to do it under x-ray so he can see better what he's doing. If that fails then I'm will have to have surgery for a port revision. This really sucks for two reasons. 1. My restriction is significantly reduced from what it was right after surgery and I was looking forward to my first fill. 2. I was a self pay - borrowed money for the surgery - and have no idea how the hell I'm going to pay for an additional surgery. Hoping and praying that the Doctor will be able to take care of it under x-ray next week. Thank y'all for hearing me out.

I don't know of any study on this, but I can tell you from my own limited observations. I was a self pay. I know others that were self pay, and also others who have had their bands through insurance. The self payers that I know tend to be much stricter with following the rules. I know myself, when you spend $15,000 on something, you damn well want to make sure it works properly!

Most people here report that restriction kicks in around the third fill. Hang in there!

Good luck with your journey!

I think the answer is that when your not starving hungry all day it is actually possible to focus on making good food choices and eating healthy things. Sure, I lost weight before with out the band. But there's only so long you can walk around feeling famished before you start eating like your old self and it all comes back on. Now that I rarely feel true hunger anymore I actually enjoy eating healthier and trying new foods. I think its one of those things that you can't fully understand until you had. I read hundreds of posts here and spoke to tens of people in real life describing not being hungry anymore. Although I understood this idea in theory, I didn't really understand what it meant till after my surgery. After my surgery I realized that feeling satiated was a feeling I had never experienced in my life.

At this point I would totally ignore any nutritional information that your personal trainer gives you. Most PT have no experience with bariatric patirnts. The numbers your PT is telling you are regular for a person at a regular weight looking to work out, not for someone with the band. Once you get down to a weight you are comfortable with, you can think about increasing your calories in order to increase your muscle gain etc Keep to the numbers your bariatric nutritionist gives you and you should be fine!

I'm a sushi fan myself. I can always find something good on the sushi menu.

You can almost always find something you will be able to eat. Put food on your plate and play with it, move it around, take tiny bites. No one will notice and if they do you can always just say your not feeling well.

Do your own research and come to your own conclusion. There is a ton of information available on these forums and other places online. I have a friend who was in a similar situation to the one you describe. His surgeon did both the band and the sleeve but kept trying to convince him to get the sleeve. My friend is not easily swayed and confronted the surgeon as to why he was pushing the sleeve so hard. Finally the surgeon admits that they make more money of the sleeve procedure than the band. Unfortunately, even surgeons are not totally impartial. You need to do as much research as possible yourself, and then find a surgeon who will do what you want, not what he would like you to want.

Hey OP, Sorry to break the news to you, but there's not a whole lot you can do about your skin. Exersize will tone up your muscles, but if your skin is stretched, it won't help with that. Everybody's skin is different and weather or not you will have loose skin at the end of this process depends on a number of factor including but not limited to, 1. Your age. 2. How much you lose. 3. How fast you lose it. 4. How many times you have gained and lost before. 5. Genetics There are also as of now unknown factors as to why different individuals skin react in different ways. If you do end up with a lot of extra skin plastic surgery is always an option.

As far as I understand the not drinking rule is to prevent throwing up of getting stuck. After the 30 minutes I drink as much as I want as fast as I want without any problems. In the very beginning right after my surgery I was advised to drink slowly but now I just guzzle it down.

It's not going through the whole thing again. Fixing your port is a small procedure that can be performed under local.

I believe this is the article you were trying to link to.

This is why it is important to find a plastic surgeon who specializes with lapband patients. The surgeon should make sure the port is placed properly and re-secure it at the time of the surgery.