atlambros83

So I was banded 5 years ago. I lost 150lbs within the first year and by a year and a half I had removed all of the Fluid from my band. My starting weight was 300.4lbs and I have maintained 150-155lbs ever since initially losing the weight. A few weeks ago I began feeling very sick and started having trouble keeping anything down. It turned out my band had slipped and was not allowing anything to pass so I would have to throw it up. In turn, I aspirated food into my lungs causing pneumonia. After about a week in the hospital they got the pneumonia under control and decided I should have the band removed. Honestly I had been considering removal for a while anyway because I seem to be managing my weight fine. Anyways, today was the day. My band is removed and I feel great, I couldn't be happier. My question is, how long should I stay on a liquid diet while I heal? My surgeon didn't give me much info as far as when I could start eating solid foods again. He simply just said to start out on a liquid diet for a while and I didn't think to clarify what he meant by a while....a day...days...a week...weeks!? Any input would be much appreciated! Thanks.

I could always feel mine once I went in for my first fill and knew where it was but now after losing all of the weight (150lbs), you can see the bump all the time. It gets a little annoying explaining it to people but hey I'll take that over the alternative!

150 lbs lost here, took 11 months to reach my goal of 135, lost a little more and loosened up the band completely over a year ago. Stepped on the scale today, still weighing 152 where ive comfortably sat ever since loosening it up. Couldn't be happier. :-)

150 lbs lost here, took 11 months to reach my goal of 135, lost a little more and loosened up the band completely over a year ago. Stepped on the scale today, still weighing 152 where ive comfortably sat ever since loosening it up. Couldn't be happier. :-)

I tell everyone that asks...personally I don't care how I lost the weight, I'm just happy I lost it. At my heaviest I was almost 300 lbs, a bmi of 42 and severe sleep apnea. Today I stepped on my scale and weigh 162 lbs, have a bmi of 23, and have never slept better. I'm proud of the fact that I had this surgery and have even turned several other people I know on to the lap-band because they saw it work through me.

One year, two months, and 115 pounds after my surgery, I am at my goal weight and target BMI and I am very happy with my decision to have this surgery. I researched and tossed around the idea of having this surgery for several years before actually having it though. The thought of going into something like this blindly is a little crazy IMO.

Yeah it happened to me like that too, I guess as the restriction lets up you don't really notice until its a big enough difference where you can start eating those "bad" foods again lol. But yeah it always seemed to just come out of nowhere to me as well.

My doctors took it pretty slow every step of the way and even when I thought the amount going in was a little small, after I'd get home and eat something I'd realize they were right every time and each check up I continued to lose weight.

lol yeah I have some crazy burps now after being banded. It's pretty funny when I can actually let em rip but can be really annoying to keep down if I'm out in public or something.

Do you not go to the same place for your fills each time? I don't even keep up with how much I have in my band because the doctor always tells me. Seems like the whole unfill/refill thing is kind of an un necessary step. Not to mention they basically did nothing for you once the swelling settles.

I usually take small sips during my meals, I know I shouldn't but I just can't eat and not drink SOMETHING. As long as I take small sips it's usually not a problem. There are times where I slip up and accidentally take too large of a sip though and everything just comes right up. I was banded on 6/24/09 and am now a little over 70 lbs down, shooting for 100-120. So far so good. I still have to get a better hang of eating the right things and keeping my portion sizes down though because I still end up throwing up more than I should.

So I had my first adjustment yesterday, I feel fine after the adjustment and all but I was wondering....have any of you used fat burners to help give you an extra boost during all of this? If so, what kind? Also, do any of you have a good multivitamin to recomend? When I first received the surgery they told me to get a gummy vitamin so I got those new one a day vitacraves but from what I've seen they're not exactly packed full of vitamins like some of the more solid ones out there. Anyways, any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.

True, I guess I'm just excited about losing and was thinking it would help give an even bigger push. I see what you mean though, there really doesn't seem like there's much of a point, the band will work just fine without. Congrats on your milestones though! I hope to be as successful as you soon enough. I bought the Centrum liquid multi Vitamin back when i got the vitacraves and I couldn't stomach the taste so I've been sticking with the gummies but I guess now that I'm able to have solids again maybe I'll give the chewables from centrum a try. Any other Multivitamins you guys are using out there?

lol I just rubbed it off with the towel after I took a shower and it came right off fairly easy. I was wondering how I was gonna get it off for the first few days, my fiance told me to use baby oil but that did nothing. but yeah after a couple days when you're a little more comfortable with your wounds just rub around the tape area with a wet towel.

Hey guys, I was just banded on Wednesday (6/24) and I've finally been feeling alot better today, I actually made it out and caught the new transformers movie with my fiance earlier but along with being a little more active the applesauce and jello are getting a little boring. My doctors weren't very specific and gave me a very small list to go by as far as eating for the first 15 days after surgery. should I strictly be sticking to this list or is it safe for me to eat something like a tomato soup? I'm not really very hungry, just tired of what I've got I guess. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into the Unjury Chicken Broth. That's weird about the apple sauce...they didn't list much on here for me to go by other than "protien drinks, broth, skim/lactaid milk, sugar free jello, popsicles, low fat yogurt, sugar free pudding, or baby food fruit". :thumbdown:

That's awesome guys, thank you for your input. I can't wait to get started myself. Hopefully things will go as well for me as they have for you and by the time I get married in June of 2010 I will have lost most if not all of this extra weight! I'll definitely be hanging around here and giving updates though.

Hey everybody, just thought I'd go ahead and introduce myself since I stumbled on this snazzy intro section. My name is Angelo, I'm 26 years old and live in Atlanta, Georgia. I went in for my consultation today and had a few tests done and I think I'm going to move forward with the surgery at the beginning of June. I don't have insurance so I'll be paying for it straight up which I'm not thrilled about but if this works for me it will be more than worth it. I'm 5'9" and 280lbs, since high school I have always hovered around 200-220lbs but recently I've just lost control of my weight and decided it was time for me to do something more than pop a diet pill and skip a meal. I would be the happiest guy in the world if I could get down to 180lbs and after doing some research that actually looks like it could be an attainable goal with this surgery. Anyways, I'm super excited to be moving forward with this and came across your site while I was looking for info and thought this would be a great place to come to get advice and to share my experience. I do have a couple of questions for anyone willing to answer though. I've always been a bigger guy but I've also always been pretty muscular as well, should I expect a substantial amount of muscle loss as a result of the weight loss? How long after the surgery did you feel 100% recovered without any pain or soreness? How hard was it for you to adjust your portion sizes? Do you really feel full and satisfied with less or is this program more so just a forced diet? How quickly did you start to see significant results? I'm sorry if I rambled on there I'm just really excited and I've never had the opportunity to speak to people who have actually been through this before. Thank you all for any help or advice in advance!

Thanks! I'm using a company called True Results, my actual surgeon is Dr. Christopher Hart and in total they are charging me $15,000 with included follow ups for one year after surgery. That's awesome that you're already 18lbs down in just a few days. How has the recovery been? Feeling good yet or still in a little pain? I'm supposed to hear from them tomorrow to schedule some x-rays and an upper gi test and then its on to scheduling my surgery. I can't wait! I got engaged about a month ago on a cruise in the Bahamas and we plan to get married in about a year. To think that this could actually work and I could seriously have lost this weight by then is just crazy to me. I mean, I've tried for this my whole life and now there's something out there that can help this become a reality. I'm just really excited.