cwm812

Amanda, First...that little pain your felling is well-reported on this site and I get it, too. It's not an everyday thing for me, but it usually happens after I eat. I find it goes away if I get up and move around. I have no idea what causes it, although I think it has something to do with the positioning of the tubing that leads to the port. I feel like there's a kink (or something) and it's poking me. I know the pain you're feeling is not acid reflux because I am very familiar with that. As for the weight loss...I think you are doing great. You did well only gaining 35 lbs with the baby and you've gotten most of that off. That's a lot more than most women can do on their own. When you're ready, I would go back the the surgeon and get a fill. You haven't failed at anything. You just had life happen and now you want to use the tool you've got. There's nothing wrong with that. That's why you had surgery in the first place. Cindy

I thought I was the only one who did this! Last year, I had quite the surprise. At back-to-school night, I was the smallest person in most of the classes. Now this says a lot more about the obesity rate in my area of the country than it does about my weight loss, but still...it felt good. You will get there and soon!

You can lose weight with the lapband and without exercising. I know because I did it. I dropped my 100 lbs in my first year without doing any exercise at all. But here's the bad part, it will only get you so far. I could tell that my weight loss was slowing and if I didn't do something more I was going to remain at 250 lbs. I started going to the gym and I kept losing. I think it really depends what you want to accomplish. When you don't eat much, you lose pounds...for a while. Then it stops. That's because without any activity, your body can run on next to nothing. Then the exercise becomes really important. Honestly, I kind of like it now. I love the fact that I can work out for an hour and not need a whole day to recuperate. Exercise when you're morbidly obese is hell. As you lose weight, everything becomes much easier. Cindy

My stomach is not too crazy about fills either. I learned early on in the process that I needed to get very small fills(0.3-0.4 cc) and then baby my stomach for a few days afterward. When I hear the size of the fills some people get, I know that I would sick as a dog for 2 weeks. As far as the reflux goes, if you aren't too tight, you should be OK in a week. If you aren't, you need to see your doctor and have some of the fill removed. To get through the first few days, I take prevacid and never eat anything after dinner. Cindy

I am always so angry when people are told that the band won't work because they have a high BMI. Why wouldn't it work? If you restrict what you consume, you're going to lose weight. In fact,most people with a high BMI lose weight faster than lose with less to lose. I keep wondering how many obese people get discouraged and give up the fight. As for my story....I was 47 when I was banded. I started with a 56 BMI. The first year I lost 105 lbs and in 2 1/2 years, I lost 175. For the record, I didn't eat perfectly or exercise all day every day. I just ate normally and exercised 3 times a week. Cindy

I've been going there for 3 years and I've been very pleased. There are the usual problems of not being able to get an appointment the minute you want it, but other than that, I've been extremely happy. Dr. Weiger provides the aftercare and quite frankly, he been doing it a long time and he's good at it. You really don't see your surgeon much after the operation, but I think that's a good thing. I'm in the medical field and I work for another local hospital. Most surgeons aren't the best at long-term care. They tend to like to fix a problem and move on. The combination of good surgeons and Dr. Weiger really worked well for me. If you have any specific questions, you can send me a private message. I have an appointment today....I let you know if anything has changed. Cindy

I'm not sure where you found your list but there's about 20 Centers of Excellence in PA. Here's the link , I used. http://www.surgicalreview.org/locate/asmbs/. I'm not sure where you're located, but there may be some closer to you on the list. As far as Geisinger goes, they have an excellent reputation as a hospital, but I know little of their weight loss programs. Full disclaimer here....I used to work for them. If you are anywhere near the Harrisburg area, I can definitely recommend the program at Pinnacle.

I did it and you can, too. My story is alot like Klariade's. And I totally agree with her about the height/weight charts. Although, I am still "overweight", I really don't think I should lose more than another 10 lbs or so. I'm in my fifties and wearing a size 10, that's alright by me. I do harbor this dream of someday wearing a single-digit size, but I'm not sure I really care about it that much anymore. As far as the key to success, figure out what works for you and keep doing it, no matter what. For me, I don't count or track anything. I eat moderately and exercise moderately. I routinely overeat at holidays and vacations, just like skinny people do! For me the key was to NOT be on a diet! I've always been a good dieter, but at some point I would get fed up with all the rules and I'd go crazy and gain back all my weight. When you aren't DIETING, that doesn't happen. I know this may not work for everyone, but it was definitely the key for me. Cindy

One more bit of positivity....the band is adjustable. After losing 50% of my body weight, I've been maintaining for the past year. Over the summer, I began getting hungrier and eating more, and I gained 5 lbs. So....I made an appointment for a fill next week. Try doing that with a sleeve or a bypass. I'm sure my little gain will be stopped in its tracks. The band is just what I needed. Cindy

This happened to me when I was too tight. I had to drink all my liquids very slowly, a sip at a time. I don't really think the liquids are sitting on top of the band, but I always had the feeling that there was an air bubble (or something) in the way. Once I had a small unfill, the problem went away. Also, warm liquids were better than cold ones, for me. Cindy

I can't believe anyone would think of asking you to sign that. You are getting a lap band, not moving to Mars! Of course, we all recognize that alcohol is just empty calories, but really, as adults can't we decide what we choose to consume? Alcohol will not hurt your band. It will merely impede your weight loss, as do lots of other poor choices. Maybe I should sign something to indicate that I won't eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. As for drinking with the band, I'm not a big drinker, but I do have a glass of wine every now and then. I've tried beer, but the carbonation makes me sick. Since, I lost half my body size, alcohol does effect me much quicker. You do need to be cautious, but you don't need to avoid it for the rest of your life. I really think that the secret to success with the band is to live as normally as possible. Crazy rules like this, just make it harder to think for yourself and make good choices. Information is useful, arbitrary rules are not. Cindy

Rozie.... You always strike me as an intelligent and interesting person on your posts....this is one lucky baby! Congratulations! Cindy