KateP

First of all, don't worry about weight loss at the moment. You have had a major op, and are eating in a peculiar manner! Loss will happen! It is hard for anyone to tell you how to eat at three weeks as you are still in the early post-op stage and how you eat must be according to your own doctor's plan. But, once again, don't worry yet about eating every two hours. You are still not on real, solid foods and so the band is not working properly yet.

@@B-52 Good for you! I haven't your strength - I managed without too much difficulty as you do for about six years post-op but since then it has got ever harder. I am still in control. But as many find, it gets harder every year! I really thought I had cracked it! But I guess the old food-addict still lurks inside me.

Actually just to add, are you certain that is the port? Sounds like a daft question but if you have several incisions, it may not be that one! It is very common to get a seroma- a very hard lump formed by fluids secreted by the body during the operation. After a couple of days these solidify and then are eventually (weeks or months later) re-absorbed into the body. I was sure I knew where my port was - a hard egg-sized lump - and was very surprised to discover one day, about a month post-op, that it had totally disappeared! And reappeared under a different incision!!

That might be uncomfortable around the waist! But don't worry, if it does turn out to be a problem it can be replaced and re-sited. It is not uncommon for people to have them moved after the fat has gone because if you lose a lot, the port can show.

I am glad it has worked out for you. Your current surgeon' s eating rules are unusual! But if they work for you that's fine. If you do find they stop working, come back and people can tell you what works for them! We all learn what works for us as individuals.

That's how I am now. Not in the losing stages or in the first few years of maintenance, but several years later. In the losing stages, I never went up more than a couple of pounds and the monthly trend was always down. I got too thin and deliberately put some on! Then at first I maintained by very regular weighing; I wouid relax, gain maybe 5lbs, lose them, gain them etc.. It sort of worked out at relaxing for a month or so, dieting for a week or so. Worked for about four years. But in years 6, 7, 8 post-op, I didn't pull back fast enough and I twice gained just under 30lbs. Lost them again though! Now, coming up to my ninth anniversary, I am working at losing my 3rd regain - 20lbs this time. 15 gone, 5 more to go!

Not at all. The insurance is only billed for the hernia repair. The patient is billed separately at a vastly reduced price for the WLS portion of the surgery. This is an option that several people here have been able to take advantage of when insurance has excluded WLS surgery. It is simply a variation of self pay.To OP, good luck! You've worked so hard. I hope all the arrangements can be made ☺️ Fair enough! Your system is baffling to foreigners!!! I think mainly because of different companies doing different things - there has just been a thread on this very topic on another U.S. board I go on and everyone there was saying it couldn't be done! Hope the OP gets it this way!

Doing two different ops under one code wouid surely be insurance fraud? I am not familiar with how your systems work but if you end up paying for your surgery, remember the band requires a lot of aftercare and factor in on-going costs.

Mine are around my waist! When you start big, you get VERY droopy!!!!

I have been a member for a long time but only recently started doing much posting. A post I read yesterday made me realise that it is quite common to use the site the same way I do - that is, busy people cannot check all the boards but read the recent posts list and answer those. On a quiet day, all the new posts may be there but on a busy day, an awful lot "slide off" the bottom and so people like me never see them. The way this board is set up means that people use "specialist"band boards more than they do the general one. So there can be just too many boards to check! Could the recent threads list be a bit longer?

I was not required to do a liver-shrinking diet but if you are, it will not be easy! My view is, do what you are told to do but don't bother punishing yourself by doing more! Don't make things harder than they need to be!

If you eat fewer calories than you burn, the body has no choice but to burn stored energy - fat. These stalls can be so frustrating but just keep going! The pounds will go, I get round the cold weather comfort foods by always having a very, very thick Soup in the freezer. The sort you couldn't drink, have to spoon! I make veg soup, or pea soup or whatever and freeze it in microwaveable tubs in single portion sizes. Then when I need that " thick" warm food feeling. I have one. Warm, filling, not too high cal.

Ok, I am not your doctor, or any sort of doctor at all! The following is neither knowledge nor personal experience! It is based on being an active member of what used to be a very busy lapband board for nine years (not this board). Left shoulder pain, which is very common immediately post-op, is usually caused by pressure on the diaphragm. The nerve system which serves the diaphragm passes through the area of the left shoulder and so we get referred pain. After surgery, the usual cause is gas which dissipates after a few days. However, a few people continue to get this and it can be severe. The causes which I have seen identified by listers in here are either the band being placed too high, putting pressure on the diaphragm or, in just one case I know so very rare, damage to the diaphragm during the surgery. If you liked, I could work out some way of putting you in touch with an online friend with personal experience of this. If you wanted, you could send me a private message with your email address and I couid ask my friend to email you.

This isn't normal. You need IMO to keep pushing your doctor. At six weeks post-op there shouldn't be any swelling from the operation. Are you on normal foods now? Are you able to swallow them?

It should show with a barium swallow if you have a slip or dilation. It rally sounds like a leak! Have you had dye injected into the port under XRsy to check for leaks?

Hugs! It is very easy to get emotional on this journey! It is high stress and we all need support! Keep asking - but be patient! Answers almost aiways come!

Not personally but my daughter who is slim but fights a constant battle to stay that way (no surgery) found it made no difference at all to her. She monitored it because she thought it might.

Go back to how you ate at around a couple of months post-op. Start with dense Protein, then veggies, carbs if room. Put out a measured portion, eat it, walk away. It is probably a good idea to spend a week or so rigorously checking every mouthful, your portions have probably crept up. If you feel hungry when it is not a time you should be eating, get busy! Keep occupied. Excercise is important for all sorts of reasons but all research shows it is only a small part of actual weight loss. Weight loss only comes when the calories we burn exceed the calories we eat and lots of research shows that people tend to underestimate how many calories they are eating and greatly over-estimate the number of calories exercise burns. You can do this! You are unlikely to be older than I am (64) and I don't do any regular exercise except walking. I lost all my excess weight in around 15 months and, with a few blips, have kept most of it off for 7 1/2 years.

I am afraid there is only one cure for loose skin - surgery! You can tone the muscle under the skin but not the skin itself. That is down to genes, how obese you were, how long you were obese, your age. Some people do feel after a year or do, it seems to be a bit better. Some are extremely lucky and it isn't an issue. But for most of us who were large enough and had been so for long enough to resort to surgery, we either live with it or get it removed!

Only by seeing a post from the person you think blocked you or by seeing if you can access their profile.

OK. Far from being unhelpful, I have taken the time to look back over your posts. And there are very good reasons I didn't answer. I have never been over 300lbs. I rarely bother with posts with subject titles which give no indication of the question. And you did get answers to one of them.

Like the others I answer questions which appear as recent topics and which I feel are ones I have experience which will allow me to give a good answer, I spend a lot of time, not for my own benefit, helping people. I am sorry you feel ignored! Maybe you couid explain more in your subject title? I rarely answer ones which just say "help" or "support" because there is no way of telling what they are about. I have no idea at all what your previous questions were.

Weigh whenever and wherever you want but only record from one set! Put that set ( if at home) in one place and don't move it! By the way, as this is a U.S. board, explanation for readers - we Brits still talk in stones! This is the old imperial measure and is 14lbs. We only really use it for personal weight nowadays and officially ( as in hospitals,) we get weighed in kilograms. But everyone talks in stones!

BOB patients (band over bypass) tend to find they lose slowly. Certainly nothing like the loss you probably experienced at the start of being bypassed. Don't think of it being 23lbs in 2 weeks and then nothing, think of it as 23lbs in 9 weeks which is way over the average loss expected with the band. If you are eating fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.

I can't actually read your post on my Ipad because of the font.