PrincesaJenE

Pick Me! Pick Me! I'm 29 years old, no children and I too live in southern Cali - well central Cali - Depends on who you ask. I live in Kern County about 2 hrs north of LA. I was banded on 2/13/09. So just 11 days before you. I've only lost 20 lbs so far and am a little frustrated as well. I have had one fill - I think I'm ready for another - but my Doc wouldn't give me one when I went in this past weekend. I would LOVE to befriend you - I want someone to share this process with too. :wub:

1 (Baby Goal) - After losing 40 lbs pull out that box of super cute clothes that I packed away two years ago because they were just too tight. :wub: 2 (Teenage Goal) - Not have to buy 2 plane tickets when flying :eek: 3. (Adult Goal) - Play outside with my nieces and not worry about getting tired. I'll be the best Auntie Ever!:wub: (I'm gonna add 4th though I know its breaking the rules - Wear my shirt tucked in!)

I actually JUST stumbled upon MyFitnessPal.com about 3 days ago. I have never gone more than a day of food journaling and even that may have been inaccurate. It was too much work writing everything done, finding the nutrition facts and having it all total up. MyFitnessPal does ALL THE WORK for you. I am AMAZED. They have so many different foods in their database. I have yet to run into anything they dont have (its only been 3 days though). Another feature I LOVE is the fact that you can save a meal. For instance I often premake crab salad with baby greens, avocado and cheese. I can add all these ingredients and amounts and save it as a meal. That way, next time I don't have to find the ingredients, just click on the meal. Its awesome. I give it FIVE THUMBS UP. I'm at a computer all day so its no problem going in an adding things throughout the day. You gotta try it.

Wow Luchay, Did you share this attitude with your doctor before getting the band? Sorry to burst your bubble but you HAVE to have SOME commitment to this process. I don't mean to sound harsh but I can't beleive your doctor even banded you without this committment. I liked what one bandster said earlier about finding a balance. You gotta give somewhere - either diet or exercise or somewhere. The band only assists you with your efforts. You HAVE to be committed to this process in some way if you can't be then honestly you shouldn't have even bothered. They do say that people who like sugar atruggle most with the band. I like what you said about eating less. Go with that. Eat less and less. I'm a sugar person too. What I did was suck on a piece of hard candy like a jolly rancher after some meals. This really helped with my need for sugar after a meal but didn't pack on a BUNCH of calories. But was the sweet treat I needed. I've also tried things like Tea. Sweet Tea (Sweetened with Splenda) seems to curb that sugar cry. I also liked the idea of taking it day by day and trying not to eat sugar for a day. You can then maybe up it to 2 days, 3 days, etc. What you have to be sure of is to not BINGE on sweet during the end between time. Remember this process is about moderation. You"ve got to be willing to make concessions somewhere. A bunch of small concessions are what make a big difference. You gotta be committed to DOING something - this band isn't a cure all by any means I wish it was. Good Luck To Ya!

I'm kinda having a similiar experience. I was banded on 2/13/09 - exactly 2 months ago today. I lost 20 lbs the first month (Yay). I felt fabulous. My goal is to lose 3-5 lbs per month. I felt like I was on a roll. I was a little surpised at how much I could eat. There is a model of a stomach with the lap band in my Doc's office and it looks like the stomach is the size of a walnut. I had also been warned that my stomach could accomodate about 6 grapes worth of food. I could easily eat a cup - a cup and a half of food. What I could eat was definitely less than the gobs of food I could eat before but I had this idea in my head that I would take 2 bites of a sandwhich and be about to burst. Au Contraire. I was supposed to get my first fill at 4 weeks out but because of some complications with finding my port we decided to wait 2 more weeks. When I returned 2 weeks later I had GAINED FOUR LBS. I was devastated. My Doc said it was okay - that the band before your first fill is open and attributed the weight gain to this. I received 4 ccs. I felt like a I got full a TAD bit faster but not much. Since then I have become scale obsessed and weigh myself 3-5 times a day (ok - maybe more - basically every time I go by the scale) Week 7 according to my home scale, which can be a little capricious, I lost about 9 lbs. Week 8 I shot back up like 6 lbs and pretty much stayed the same all week. I returned to the doc this past saturday for what I thought would be another fill. I had lost 3 lbs. So basically I was at a total weight loss of 19 lbs (1 lbs less than I was a month ago). The doc asked me how much I could eat, I told him a cup or so, he said that sounds perfect. He said I should be losing about 1-2 lbs a week - no more. I told him that I stay full for 3-4 hours. He said I was doing fine and would not give me a fill. I was so excited about getting a fill because I want to see steady and substantial weight loss - which I feel I'm not getting right now. But my doc insisted I was doing well. I felt a little discouraged yesterday but now I'm feeling okay. I looked through some of the before and after pics on one of the posts and I saw so many people with dramatic weight loss. It was then that I realized that I probably am right on track. One girl lost 100 lbs in nine months. If you break that down that is 10 -12 lbs a month. I've lost 20 in 2 months which would mean 100 lbs in 10 months. To lose 100 lbs in 10 months would be AWESOME. So I'm gonna give it some time and see how it goes.

Ugggghhhh, I'm a little frustrated. I went to the Doc yesterday for what I thought would be a fill. My Doc wasn't in and I had to see another Doc. He wouldn't give me a fill! I lost 3 lbs in 2 weeks. THREE POUNDS! My goal is to lose 3-5 lbs each week. The doc asked me how much I was eating each meal - I said 1-1 1/2 cups of food. He said that's perfect. If I can eat a half a sandwhich and be full then that's exactly where I need to be. He asked how long before I felt hungry. I said I feel full for 3-4 hrs. He again said great! He didn't want to fill me and I start to vomit and feel sick and then have to unfill me. He said that things seem good and we shouldn't mess with it. The thing is - everything he said sounded right but my weight has been yo yoing over the last month and I've lost no weight this month really. After a month I was at 20 lbs lost. 6 weeks out I was at 16 lbs lost (gained 4), 7 weeks out 25 lbs lost (lost 9 in a week), and now I'm right back to 20 lbs lost (gained 5 in a week). I don't get it. Though I expect there to be weeks where I lost nothing I did not expect there to be weeks that I GAINED. I'm a little frustrated - okay a lot. But I'm trying to tell myself that its gonna be okay. I just need to see some progress soon. Well honestly - there are things I can do to improve. I REALLY need to incorporate exercise. I have for walks and stuff but no real exercise. One thing these past 20 lbs has given me is energy and I feelt antsy. I'm going to go renew my gym membership on Monday. GOAL 3lbs this week!!!!!

Ugggghhhh, I'm a little frustrated. I went to the Doc yesterday for what I thought would be a fill. My Doc wasn't in and I had to see another Doc. He wouldn't give me a fill! I lost 3 lbs in 2 weeks. THREE POUNDS! My goal is to lose 3-5 lbs each week. The doc asked me how much I was eating each meal - I said 1-1 1/2 cups of food. He said that's perfect. If I can eat a half a sandwhich and be full then that's exactly where I need to be. He asked how long before I felt hungry. I said I feel full for 3-4 hrs. He again said great! He didn't want to fill me and I start to vomit and feel sick and then have to unfill me. He said that things seem good and we shouldn't mess with it. The thing is - everything he said sounded right but my weight has been yo yoing over the last month and I've lost no weight this month really. After a month I was at 20 lbs lost. 6 weeks out I was at 16 lbs lost (gained 4), 7 weeks out 25 lbs lost (lost 9 in a week), and now I'm right back to 20 lbs lost (gained 5 in a week). I don't get it. Though I expect there to be weeks where I lost nothing I did not expect there to be weeks that I GAINED. I'm a little frustrated - okay a lot. But I'm trying to tell myself that its gonna be okay. I just need to see some progress soon. Well honestly - there are things I can do to improve. I REALLY need to incorporate exercise. I have for walks and stuff but no real exercise. One thing these past 20 lbs has given me is energy and I feelt antsy. I'm going to go renew my gym membership on Monday. GOAL 3lbs this week!!!!!

AFTER THE FILL I'm not sure what everyone means by "restriction". I don't know that I feel "restricted". I do feel like I get a fuller a little faster and have eaten a little less since my fill. Still feel like its a good amount of food and when I eat with friends and family it takes me more time to eat my food than to eat their food. I feel proud of how little food is on my plate rather than embarrassed about how MUCH food is on my plate. There's been nothing that I can't eat yet. I have tried to stay away from the doughy stuff just cause I've heard horror stories. I'm not that big of a fan of bread anyway. So, its' been 7 weeks and I'm 24 lbs lighter - YAY! I probably would have lost more if I would have gotten filled the first time around. I've never vomited, I've not felt miserable, since the first few days - I feel fabulous. Nothing has ever gotten "stuck" nor have I ever had to "dislodge" anything. Those words are scary to me and blessedly I'm not exactly sure what they even mean. I am very pleased with the results thus far. For the most part, I don't even feel like I have the band - just that I eat less, have more energy and my snug fitting clothes now fit like they're supposed to. No one other than the few people I've told - fam and a couple of friends - have commented about my weight loss. I can't wait til my coworkers say - hey you're loosing weight! I'm fighting the urge to run out to my garage and pull out those 2 boxes of my favorite clothes that I had to pack up because they were too tight! I'm gonna wait until I've lost at least 40 lbs to do that! I can't wait - I had some cute stuff! The one thing that I haven't yet incorporated is exercise. I do get up and get moving more - around the office and at home. I've walked to a nearby park and played around there a couple of times. I also bought a stretch band that I use for arm exercises as I watch tv. However, I need to incorporate a full exercise plan that includes 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week. WEIGHT LOSS Well I've made up for the 4 lb weight gain - I'm down to 347 for a total of 25 lbs. Woo hoo. I did this week stop drinking juice. I was probably drinking 300 calories a day in juice. Now Ice Tea and I are friends! I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. I also bought some of these new Sobe/Lifewater drinks that have zero cals. My Fav is the apple pear. So far - I couldn't be HAPPIER. I feel FABULOUS! :wub:

Can you stretch your pouch by drinking too much liquid. I drink a lot and sometimes can feel full from drinking. Am I stretching my pouch when I do this? I've had one fill of 4ccs on my 14 cc band. Isn't the hole still big enough for liquids like water and ice tea to flow freely through?:welldoneclap:

I've had no problem thus far - but I've only had 1 fill. I have heard that you have to eat it really moist. Tip for grilling. Wrap it up tightly in foil. This helps keep it moist.

Good Luck!

Good Luck!

I tried to search around on your profile for your weight because that's a good determinant of how much you should be losing. Research says that you should lose no more than 1% of your body weight each week. So you had your surgery 12 weeks ago - that equates to about 2.5 lbs a week (MAX). So if you're between say 250 and 300 you're doing FAB! Good luck!

I opted not to tell anyone but my immediate family and 2 close friends. The girls in my office and I are all very close. its been 7 weeks now and surprisingly no one has really noticed. I've heard people don't usually start noticing until 50 or 60 lbs. I've lost 25 lbs thus far. I was on liquids only 1 day back at work (I took 1 week off). I knew I wasn't going to tell anyone so I started with "the story" early. When I went to my first appt they gave me all the handouts with the various lifestyle changes I would need to make. One of them was soda - so after my first appt - about 4 months before surgery - I stopped drinking soda. So by the time of the surgery it was already in place. The week before surgery - I did encourage a health kick in my office where we all stopped eating out and began sharing meals. So I had an excuse to bring in all my yogurt and V8 etc and stock our fridge. Basically I tried to phase things in over time so all these strange changes in my eating habits did not happen all at once and draw attention. My co-workers did find it odd when I started bringing Protein drinks to work - but I just told them my doc said I needed to get more protein in my diet (which was true) and, extra bonus, that it promotes weight loss. Since the surgery there is a girl in my office who is trying to watch her weight - I've been splitting things with her. She loves the fact that I'm helping HER out. There have been a couple of times when its been said "you hardly ate anything" - my excuse is that I ate something right before, or I had a big Breakfast, or didn't really like the food. I don't wanna to tell more people - sometimes I feel myself bursting at the seams wanting to tell. But I don't want it to get around the whole office. I want to see some dramatic weight loss before I share - fear of failure I guess. Whatever your decision - good luck!

I don't understand - if you have enough will power to go back to liquids (which I personally found to be the hardest part) than why don't you feel you have enough will power to sustain a solid food diet? Liquids is actually not a good stage to be on - its only to promote healing. In fact, you may end up consuming more calories than if eating solid food. You will always be hungry because liquids go right through the band. The band is meant for solid foods not liquid. You say you are losing weight - that's good. Research says that the in the time before the first fill you are expected to lose very little if any weight. The fact that you are losing now is a good sign and shows that the band is working. Don't expect too much at first. Remember this is a process that will take months or years. On average you should be losing 1-2 lbs a week or about 10% of your body weight. Now I haven't experienced "bandster hell" - but my advice would be to find ways to control you eating. Are you eating 3 meals a day? Are you having a snack in between meals. Remember 3 meals and 3 Snacks a day is what you should be doing. Be sure you are having A SNACK rather than SNACKING. Good luck.

Only 15 lbs? That's not bad at all - average weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week! They also say that BEFORE a fill you don't see significant weight loss because the band is still wide open. You should be proud of yourself. I'm seven weeks out and have only lost 25 lbs - should I be worried? What do you mean by you have to reapply to your insurance? You have to reappy to get a fill? The fills aren't covered? That's crazy. I wonder if mine automatically covers fills.

My 1st fill was a little scary. My doctor had told me after surgery that due to some scar tissue they had to implant the band a little deeper than usual which would make it harder to fill. I was scheduled for my first fill 4 weeks after being banded. Again the scar tissue is the biggest culprit in this debacle. I have quite a bit and its a little painful to touch. Sometimes just sleeping on my stomach can be uncomfortable. Well as you fellow banders know - the doctor has to push on your stomach quite a bit to find your band. Well the doctor was pushing and prodding and he couldn't quite locate my port. Once he did find it he had a hard time getting the needle in. He kept moving me around. He had me laying flat, tiltle backwards almost upside down, for a while he had me sit up and then even stand up. He kept calling the nurse for a longer needle. After like the 4th needle she came back and said - we have no longer needles. That's when the nurse got in on the action. She gloved up and was pushing and prodding to trying to get a solid hold on my port. They must have stuck me at least 10 times. I was a little scared and all the pushing on my scar tissue was painful. Every time they get a hole of the port I could feel it inside me which was making me a little nauseus. Despite this, I was okay until I saw the Dr's hands covered in blood. I started to cry - when my doctor noticed I was crying he called the game. Said that he had put me through to much - this whole process was atleast 30 mins. He said we'll try again in 2 weeks. I left the office and cried on the phone to my sister in the parking lot.

AFTER THE FILL I'm not sure what everyone means by "restriction". I don't know that I feel "restricted". I do feel like I get a fuller a little faster and have eaten a little less since my fill. Still feel like its a good amount of food and when I eat with friends and family it takes me more time to eat my food than to eat their food. I feel proud of how little food is on my plate rather than embarrassed about how MUCH food is on my plate. There's been nothing that I can't eat yet. I have tried to stay away from the doughy stuff just cause I've heard horror stories. I'm not that big of a fan of bread anyway. So, its' been 7 weeks and I'm 24 lbs lighter - YAY! I probably would have lost more if I would have gotten filled the first time around. I've never vomited, I've not felt miserable, since the first few days - I feel fabulous. Nothing has ever gotten "stuck" nor have I ever had to "dislodge" anything. Those words are scary to me and blessedly I'm not exactly sure what they even mean. I am very pleased with the results thus far. For the most part, I don't even feel like I have the band - just that I eat less, have more energy and my snug fitting clothes now fit like they're supposed to. No one other than the few people I've told - fam and a couple of friends - have commented about my weight loss. I can't wait til my coworkers say - hey you're loosing weight! I'm fighting the urge to run out to my garage and pull out those 2 boxes of my favorite clothes that I had to pack up because they were too tight! I'm gonna wait until I've lost at least 40 lbs to do that! I can't wait - I had some cute stuff! The one thing that I haven't yet incorporated is exercise. I do get up and get moving more - around the office and at home. I've walked to a nearby park and played around there a couple of times. I also bought a stretch band that I use for arm exercises as I watch tv. However, I need to incorporate a full exercise plan that includes 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week. WEIGHT LOSS Well I've made up for the 4 lb weight gain - I'm down to 347 for a total of 25 lbs. Woo hoo. I did this week stop drinking juice. I was probably drinking 300 calories a day in juice. Now Ice Tea and I are friends! I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. I also bought some of these new Sobe/Lifewater drinks that have zero cals. My Fav is the apple pear. So far - I couldn't be HAPPIER. I feel FABULOUS! :thumbdown:

After the debacle with my FIRST first fill I was VERY nervous. I had my scheduled appt which was now six week after I my surgery and 2 weeks after the failed fill attempt scheduled in my blackberry. Every time I looked at my phone for about 5 days there the appt was looming. Even the nurse when I first walked in gave me a pitiful look and gave me some encouraging words. This time I went in - the doctor reassured me. He layed me down and voila - in less than 30 seconds her was in - sans all the pushing and prodding. He said he mapped it the last time so he knew right where to go. He began to fill me as I drank the water - small gulp - nothing, small gulp -nothing. He kept asking if I could swallow and I was like of course I can. Eventually he told me to start taking big gulps. So I did. Big gulp - nothing, another big gulp - nothing. Finally - the gulp couldn't go down. It felt as if water was back up from my stomach, all the way up my esophagus right to where I could feel it at the back of my throat. He was like great - and then - the needle came out! YIKES! I was sitting up as he did the fill so he put me back down real quick. He pushed and prodded on my stomach and finally found the port. It took him about 5 mins this time get the needle back in. The whole time I'm laying tilted back - my head almost upside down feel suffocated by the water that's at the back of my throat. Once he got the needle back in - instant relief - the water went right down. So there I was with my first 4cc fill out of the way. My doc did admit that he got a little scared for a moment when the needle came out - which actually made me feel good - I thought I was the only one. So now I am 7 weeks post op (one week after my second first fill) and my home scale if fluctuating between 3-5 pounds lost. That makes a total of 23 -25 pounds 7 weeks post op.