Takingmylifeback

Jackie. I just had this done by Dr F on Monday. How are you doing with it?

I am 44 and pregnant with my second. My first daughter was born pre-band. I don't really see much of a difference yet, but I'm only on week 7. Having some minor difficulties already but I also had them with my daughter's pregnancy so I'm just taking it easy and praying as much as I can.

I actually got pregnant twice after having the lapband and having PCOS. Unfortunately both ended in MC because of my age and the quality of my egg. I am happy to say after having an egg donor that I am now 7 weeks pregnant. I was pregnant with twins but unfortunately we lost one last week so I am home on rest. But the other baby seems to be doing well. Saying our prayers and hoping for a great Christmas to share the news with the family.

I think this thread might be the motivation I need to stay focused. You are all a great group of people. Thank you for the great replies. I would like to get myself more involved in this site to keep myself motivated. Any suggestions of places you visit the most on here?

I am going through the very same thing. I lost 102 lbs (yeah me) but I didn't have a 15 lb gain, I had a 33 lb gain. I had 2 miscarriages this year and blame that for the gain but i can't continue to use that as an excuse I too think I'm tight enough but already mentioned to the nurse today that I need a fill. The doctor is aware of my gain and I managed to get 10 off but just put it back on over the holidays. I realized while reading this thread that I can't wait to get it off before going back. My doctor deals with this all the time and the reason I chose to get the band was for this very reason. It's adjustable and allows for us humans to make "u-turns" on our journey. We're all in this together. (I'm going to email the office now to make my fill appointment). Let's just do it. Remember why we opted for the surgery in the first place. Let's protect out investment.

I was so diligent the first year of the band, and did so well. Lost 102 lbs. As soon as the anniversary date hit, it seemed as if I hit a major plateau. I kept telling myself this would pass, but now I'm 6 weeks away from my 2 year bandiversary and I'm up 18 lbs. My reason for getting the band originally was to try to get pregnant again. We met with infertility specialists and decided we'd have to go through an egg-donor and ivf in order to get pregant so we decided just to get healthy for the daughter we already have and for ourselves. In March, I found out I was pregnant. We were so happy, couldn't believe it happened on it's own. A week later, I miscarried. It was devastating but I'm getting through it with great support from my friends and husband and even my daughter. What I can't seem to do is get back on track. I can be so strong willed during the day and then at night, It's like a spiral downfall. I seem to pick on everything at night. I just want to do my what screen name says, take my life back. I'm hoping some of you have some great tips or advice as a way to break the plateau. My doctor suggested Optifast but that doesn't sound like something I could stick to or afford at this point. Thanks for listening!

Thank you all. Rachel, your post made me feel more relaxed about everything.

Everyone, thank you all for your replies. I love the idea of posting pics as a reminder. I did start to pick up better habits in the past few weeks and an doing better. I also found out that I'm pregnant again. I'm scared though because I just had a miscarriage back in March. Trying to take it one day at a time and praying for the best. The band feels a bit tighter right now but I'm ok the way it is. I've only had one bad restriction in the past few weeks and that was from over cooked beef. Too tough. So please, if you have a few extra prayers to give, I'd really appreciate them. Hugs!

I have a few friends who are also banded yet we have different doctors. My doctor tells us we need to weigh our food to no more than 4 ounces (5 ounces if you're over 6' tall) . The other doctor has them weigh their food with measuring cups. My thought is weight is more accurate than volume because the stoma should only be holding approximately 4 ounces. a cup of macaroni and cheese versus a cup of lettuce are going to be completely different. I've done amazingly well the first year (101 lbs gone) yet lately (the past 4 months) I've plateau'd. I need to find a way and motivation to break this streak as I've come this far and I'm not ready for this part of the journey to be over. Any advice/ideas?

I am now 3 months, 8 days past my surgery and have lost 42 lbs as of today.....I am exercising at least 30 minutes a day and measuring all my meals to 4 oz. No more/No Less.....But I find myself grazing on Snacks the past few weeks. Every morning I tell myself. NO SNACKS TODAY, PERIOD, and I just found myself sitting on the couch with a twinkie watching my soaps....As I got to the last bite, I realized what I was doing and quickly threw the last piece to the dogs. I realize a twinkie is only 150 calories and I probably surrendered about 35 calories to the dog but I still have this incredible feeling of guilt. Does anyone else go through this. I understand that nobody is perfect but I feel I am slowing down my loss the past couple of weeks. Each week I only had a 1.5 lb loss. I have 5.5 cc's in by band now and thought I was "Full" because I finally started feeling restrictions and had an incident over a month ago where I threw up. I really don't feel full after eating my meals and find myself hungry 2-3 hours later. What scares me more is Halloween weekend is here and my daughter has already been bringing home extra candy. Every pack of Smarties seems insignificant but I know they add up. Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.:thumbup:

I can't believe this band is even inside me.....I can't feel a thing and I have such minimal discomfort I hardly believe they did the surgery. Just wanted to join in on the boards and find out how other's people first day experiences are.:smile:

Thank you so much for that idea. I did sleep with a pillow on top last night in case the cat decided to walk on me.

Felkatz, The chest pain is from the anesthesia. I have it near my collar bone/shoulder area. It's not all that bad. What type of band did you get? I woke up with Realize Band. I had no preference but I do like their website. Are you on Clear liquids for this week? I do hope you feel better. I also was banded on 7/20 so we can go through this battle together!