xavier

I agree 100%! and all the times I gave up I gained back what I lost and more!!! Thats why I never dieted through this whole thing...

Three days a week of exercise is ENOUGH!!! I dont think you have to become a exercise nut to lose weight with the band. I tried not to make any changes I couldnt keep up for life...who can go to the gym nearly every day their whole life? This is not a race to lose weight nor is it a crazy extreme diet/exercise regimen! (havent we done that many times over in the past and not stuck with it?) This lap band is a lifestyle for your lifetime...moderation!

For me, I eat anything and everything I want but not very much of it! The hardest part of all this for me was worrying about what others think If I could only eat a quarter of what is served in a restaurant. Would they thing, "Oh, she must be anorexic so thats how she lost weight!" or would they think."Now shes skinny and she hardly eats so she must think I'm a pig for eating the whole serving!" I really just had to let it go. Pretty much no one cares and if they do judge me or think I am judging them, I just dont care. I have not given up any food and I have never dieted. I eat very tiny meals and much more often than I would have before. I think I have eaten a whole pizza in my life and now I can eat part of a slice...its all well worth it and I would even self pay again! I wear a size 6!

Congrats! I think you have done great and your slow loss (not really slow but compared to some folks who feel they have to lose 10+ a month!) will help you maintain the changes for a lifetime!

I LOVED the part about NOT dieting! So many people on here are weighing and measuring everything they put in their mouth (and feeling bad about it if it isnt perfect!) AND fanatically going to the gym....how many of us can keep that up for a LIFETIME??? Seriously, if they could keep it up long term, why get a band? I obviously couldnt do that even though I lost weight many times (and gained it all back and more) in the past 20 years, so thats why I needed the band and to make changes I knew I could keep up forever...I truly believe the diet and workout mentality is going to cause a lot of people to gain their weight back down the road!

I never had to have an upper GI or cardiology clearance unless that's what you mean by a 5 minute EKG! Once your surgeon knows hes getting paid, things can go very quickly! Good luck youll get lots of support here!

Excellent! I lost mine pretty slowly but when you're in maintenance it wont matter! Some of the fast losers here have really dieted and exercised like crazy and I always wonder if they can keep that up lifelong. The small changes for us slow losers seem more likely to last a lifetime...good work and keep on!

Well since it says "for ideal height and bone structure" that gives the doc some leeway instead of a hard and fast BMI. I think you'll be fine but its hard to say! Good luck!

Its different for different people. My restriction is keeping me satisfied on small amounts of food but also stopping me from overeating.I can eat about a half a cup at a time and I am good for two to four hours. I like it that way but for me the biggest part of having good restriction is the pain I get if I try to overeat...I dont do that too much anymore but once n a while...

Be nice to yourself, it looks like you are early in this journey and that is the hardest part! There will be a day when a restaurant serving of egg fu yung would last you a week if you ate it at every meal! Even if there are set backs (there willl be) or Christmas weight gain, I always tell people in a year or two none of it will matter and you will barely remember it! I know I agonized over every choice and every pound but now in maintenance I really dont! It has become easy and that will happen for you too!!

Gotta be careful that early in the day and in the workplace! I eat tuna salad or egg salad, there's Krab salad and pasta salad at the hospital salad bar, or soup! I stay away from bread or tortillas that early in the day!

It does seem to get harder to budge the scale as you get close to a normal weight. I wouldnt go past 1200 but I have never counted mine. I am lazy to do more than walk my fat dog but I doubt I eat more than 800-900 every day and I continue to lose. I hit normal BMI (145) about a month ago and have since lost 3 lbs. I'll just see where i end up but I am happy here. Good luck, it will eventually start coming off again!

I still have that weird feeling of dread when I put on my (size 6) jeans that they wont go up over my thighs and that they look tiny coming out of the dryer! I never wanted to try on my original stretched out size 16s because all along, I was scared they would still fit. When I hit goal (normal BMI) I took them out of the drawer and even just folded, I couldn't believe how HEAVY they were...so much more fabric! Anyway I tried them on with some fear in my heart and then I just laughed! Lately I have been thinking about trying on my wedding dress...hmmm.

!. I cant chug water (would shoot back out like the Exorcist!) 2. stretch marks are scar tissue they fade with time but not because of weight loss. 3."I am eating less and moving more" the truth 4.I was pretty hopeless and I succeeded pretty easily...but of course I was scared I would fail! 5.yes they can switch you to a low profile port...I have a big bump but I am proud of it! 6.hmmmm, chicken breast vs. lifelong obesity...easy choice! 7. For me other than learning not to get stuck or have to yak (I still make mistakes) the whole thing was pretty easy but maintaining is the easiest since I am more used to everything now. 8. I have at least a glass of wine every evening...it keeps me from TV snacking when my band is a little looser (evenings) 9. I chew a Flintstones...but I occasionally do swallow an advil or whatever with no prob. 10. My boobs went from overflowing D to between B and C but they arent too saggy. I am in maintenance and still losing but I dont want to lose much more because of the boobs. I wear a size 6 at Gap and I weigh 142 at 5'4" (normal BMI was 145, reached about a month ago). ******* Most (NOT ALL! LOL!) of my crazy food/thinness/fatness/ guilt shame etc thoughts are gone...this has been pretty easy and I would do it all again...even self pay again if I had to! GOOD LUCK (and excellent questions!)

My crystal ball says in five years you will be comfortably thin and she will have gained it back and more...especially with the phentermine (been there done that)!

This phase is Bandster Hell and its the worst part. Let yourself off the hook a bit here, your band just isnt doing anything yet! Even if you gain a few...you'll be laughing about it a year from now. This is the long haul and even though everyone is so anxious to get going and lose some weight right away its just not realistic without some brutal dieting and no darn help from your band! Be careful of dieting I think its what got a lot of us to become obese! Be patient...try to think long term and BELIEVE me when I say at a good restriction even a slacker like me lost all my weight!

I think over time I dieted myself to obesity. At age 46 I really had given up. Then I got my lap band and although the process was slow (I never dieted, I never ate any low calorie of low fat food, I never exercised except a few dog walks) It has been pretty easy. I keep my band pretty tight and it keeps me from overeating. I self payed and would do it all again. I have no doubt that I will keep the weight off.If you havent already take the time to read the whole blog of band_groupie which is called the sweet spot. She also never dieted or exercised and I think she lost 100 pounds in a year. I have reached my normal BMI goal and have since lost a few more pounds. I dont want to lose any more of my boobs (LOL!) so if I lose more than about 5 more I think I might get a tiny unfill. Good luck!

I always say the same thing, but many disagree. When my band is nice and tight I can only eat tiny meals at a time. Yes, I do try to make good food choices but my band prevents me from overeating and I need that. I always say look into getting a fill if you are not losing! I admire all the people on here who are basically dieting and hoping their band keeps them more full or less hungry. I dont have that kind of willpower and I think dieting is how I became obese. I get a bitchslap from my band if I eat more than about a half a cup of food...so I have lost my weight fairly easily.

I think the posters above are right and I would expect it to get better soon. It can also just be pressure from swallowed saliva which can just be from the inflammation/irritation from the surgery. If I eat too much (well, WHEN I eat too much) I might feel fine and never even know it but after the meal it becomes more and more difficult just to swallow normal saliva and that leads me to the sliming!

I dont think carbonation can hurt you at all, after all the top of your pouch is open to the esophagus and gas will just rise up and escape. That being said, it can be unpleasant to drink so I dont except a rare sip if I am craving it.

100% happy with my band. I am able to make some small behavior changes permanently and the band does the rest. I think the sleeve is for people who have a little more of the "fat/crazy" which I think we all have some of. I still want to eat when I am not hungry etc but I was never one to sit and binge on ice cream and cry about my life. I think if the crazy part is pretty strong a person may need the sleeve. But if you still have a little bit of sanity in there to make some changes, the band is probably better. I hope I haven't offended anyone, my theory about the "fat/crazy" voice in our heads is just that, my theory.

I have been banded more than two years and I have improved to a near normal state in terms of how I eat but I still have the crazy thoughts, just much less of them. I assume it is a lifelong process. A small part of me wonders if I might wake up in the morning obese again and a small voice criticizes what or how much I eat but I would say that voice is 90% less. I dont diet, I never eat low fat, low calorie, or diet food, and other than walking my plump dog, I dont exercise. I just eat tiny meals of whatever I want, focusing on protein and it seems to quiet the fat/crazy voice I think we all have! I am continually astonished how it seems to me the vast majority of people on this site who are banded continue to diet and try to work out like mad and continually feel bad about not being good enough at either....I got my band (cash out of pocket) to stop that insanity which only made me fatter anyway!

Hopefully it tells you if you throw up dont go back and finish your meal! Just kidding but really! It is supposed to let your stretched out pouch shrink back down to see if in a normal (unstretched) state your restriction is adequate.