DizzyLizzy

They repaired my hiatal (sp) hernia when they put my band in.

I use MyFitnessPal.com to track my calories and exercise. I noticed I was losing better when I was tracking more faithfully. I'm getting back into it now. I really like the article Holly Dolly posted. With exercise, just moving as much as you can as opposed to not at all will be good. Sometimes I will sit in my chair and wave my arms up and down like doing jumping jacks, or seated leg lifts. Even in the elevator (if I'm alone because I don't want people to know how nutty I really am, LOL) I will do standing crunches. Going from the bottom floor to my office at the 12th floor you can get a nice quick ab workout in because the elevator is super slow! Anything to raise your heart rate I think would be better than nothing.

YES!!! I have been working on losing weight seriously since 2006! I hit several plateus and gained before I was banded in 2009, and have hit another plateu and gained again over the last year. I'm always exercising hard, but the weight hasn't dropped off for me nearly as well as I see a lot of people. I gained 20lbs over the past year! But I am fully taking the blame this last round. Sometimes taking a break or switching things up helps, but never give up!!!

I get like that anytime I get a really really good workout, or that's what I'm thinking... give me a good high, again, so I'm thinking cause I've never been high, LOL! But, I definitely feel a bit loopy for a little bit after I've worked out hard. I like the feeling! My exercise physiologist said I have a low resting heart rate, and I have normal BP (on BP meds) so I don't know if that has anything to do with it or now.

FelizMi... add me

Be sure to have them check under xray if you have not already. I stretched my pouch which created a buldge that tilted my band and caused me to have bad reflux and some vomiting. They took all the Fluid out and I go back in a couple of weeks to see if my pouch and band are back in place and I can get small fills again. I attribute the stretch to my eating too much and too fast... thinking I could eat more, but was really just stuffing myself!!!

I personally know more people who have failed with gastric bypass than with lapband. But with both options, the people I know failed because they didn't do what they were supposed to after surgery (eating too much and the wrong things), there were no complications with the surgeries themselves or the products. I too was on the verge of being a lapband "failure", and it was all my fault! Thank goodness I caught myself and am back with the program! Like with any weightloss program, it is not a quick nor easy fix and it takes work and responsibility on the patient's part! Good luck!

You can strectch your pouch if you eat too much, similar to stretching your stomach without the band...eating too much/stuffing yourself, how most of us got overweight in the first place. I had the same problem, the stretched pouch created a bulge which tilted my band, causing acid reflux and some vomiting. They took out all my Fluid as well, this was on May 7th. I felt like I was a bottomless pit the 1st week, then the 2nd week, I would get full quickly (I have a smaller band so I will have a little restriction without any fill at all) but I wouldn't stay full long. Now I'm staying fuller longer (still not long enough), so I think my pouch is going back in place. They will check me again in 2 weeks and if all looks ok, I can start to get fills again. I've already started back making sure I eat slowly and small amounts so I don't stretch again.

Go see your doctor and have them check it under xray! Could be a stretched pouch tilting your band. I had a similar problem. They took out my fluid 4 weeks ago in hopes that my pouch and band will go back to where they should be and then I can get fills again. I go back in 2 weeks to check. The longer you wait, if that is the problem, the longer it could take for you pouch and band to get back in place. Go see your doc asap!

Good luck, happy banding! Let us know how you're doing!

The band is a simply a part of a team that includes you and your doctor (and their staff as mine has a dietician and exercise guru he works with). You all have to work together. But the brunt of the responsibility is on YOU! YOU have to follow the band rules of eating properly (nutrition and amount) and EXERCISE and YOU have to let you doctor and staff know if there are problems or if something isn't going as expected. They can't read your mind. When I went back to my doctor for the first time in over a year and discovered I gained 20lbs of the 70 I had lost, I said, it's totally MY fault!!! Although I exercised faithfully, I wasn't eating the right things, I ate too much, and I didn't come see you guys routinely as I should have. I know I've gone through some stressfull stuff over the past year, but that is no excuse, I messed up with my badn. And he said, "I am proud of you, because most patients will not admit to their responsibility in lapband setbacks and those are the ones who don't do well, because we and the band separate can only do so much. The rest is up to the patient. That is why I know in the end you will be a success, because you understand your responsiblity of it and that us with the band are a team and have to work together!" Lapband is not easy, it's a permanent diet, a lifestyle change, and the patient has to own up to their responsibility in eating right and communicating honestly with their doctor and being honest with themselves!

Similar situation, yes, go to your doc ASAP. I've been banded 2 1/2 years and have gained back 20 of the 70 pounds I lost. I didn't realize how much I gained back because I stopped weighing myself a few months ago and hadn't been to see my doctor in a year. What led me back was that I started having horrible acid reflux. I did a barium swallow and found my pouch was stretched which was tilting my band. They took out all the Fluid and will check in a few weeks to see if my pouch and band goes back in place, and if it has, they will give me little fills again. I haven't had any problems with reflux since they took my fluid out and I've gained some restriction again with the band alone, so I think it's working! Go to the doc ASAP and get checked! Waiting will only make it worse, because I found that the only thing that made my reflux feel better was more eating!!!

Have them check it under xray. You may have a slip or may have streteched your pouch which can tilt your band and cause problems. That's what happened to me, and it made me have really bad acid reflux and I was spitting up whenever I lie down, even Water that I would drink to take my night time medication would come up! They took all the Fluid out of my band to see if my pouch and band would go back into proper position. Seems to be working as I now have some restriction again just with the band and no fluid. They will check when I go back in a couple of weeks and if everything is where it should be, I can get fills again. Go see your doc ASAP!

I remember towards the end of my pre-op diet feeling very "loopy", almost like I was drunk! Keep it up, you guys can do it!!!

Yea, they told me just to not eat for a couple hours before. Liquids were fine. But maybe call them as soon as they open?

I had to during Christmas holiday party season... my surgery was on 12/22/09. It was rough!!! My office had a party at Dave & Buster's. I asked my nutritionist if I could go and have the chicken Soup and she said no. So I didn't go until after I knew they were done eating. But all the carry-ins during those two weeks, and then Christmas dinners and New Years after surgery (cause I was still on liquids for 2 weeks after), whew it was hard!!! So, I pretty much pouted my way through it, lol!

All I remembered from initial visit presentation was they said over and over "YOU COULD DIE" . So they were very informative of the risks with lapband surgery, as with any surgery. My knee surgery was also risky, removing my ovary, appendix, tonsils, and lead in my hand were risky. Even having my babies was risky. Could have died or had complications with any of those procedures. I'm on the highway 2 hours a day 5 days a week going to and from work, that's pretty darn risky! Heck, living is risky! Living overweight is more risky! But they help to reduce the risk of an enlarged liver with the pre-op diet to shrink it. My surgeon said he has stopped the procedure on sevaeral patients before because of enlarged livers.

It's something you are going to have to get used to and work through for the rest of your life. Even when you get off liquids, you will always have to eat differently then the rest of the people around you. I did well with that at first, I would fix something totally different that was good for me and my band than everyone else (because they weren't into healthy eating like I was forcing myself to be). As soon as I joined in while we were on vacation a little over a year ago and said, oh I can have this pizza, oh the brownies, ice cream, popcorn... a little became more and more and more. Put on 20lbs and stretched my pouch and tilted my band! So now I am completely unfilled for at least another 3 weeks and trying to not eat everything in sight! So, make the committment now that you're just going to have to do things and eat things differently than everyone else. It's a lifestyle change, not a diet! Once you get in a routine, you'll get pretty good at it, you'll just have to be more focused when you're out of routine like on vacation or even out to dinner, but just stay focused, and remember your goals. Keep at it and good luck!!!

I seemed to be doing pretty well with my ham & eggs for Breakfast. It was just some egg beaters, sliced ham, shredded low fat cheese, and hot sauce. And the chunk tyson chicken breast in a can with shredded cheese and broccoli. I'm trying to get back to good recipes as well. I have fallen waaaaayyyy off. Let that, "oh a little bit of ice cream won't hurt" get to me. Now that I think about it, I think that may have been the start of my problem, I think I had too much of a fill and started resorting to softs, puddings, soups, liquids and they were keeping me full, so then I started to force solids, which stretched my pouch, so you have to be careful with that.... make sure you're not too filled as well as have enough of a fill.

What is plication???

Anywhere but my boobs or butt! I like my round butt and my boobs have pretty much disappeared already!!! I was hoping for an hourglass figure, now I'm a pear with big flabby arms! :-( BUT, at least I'm not a big circle anymore, lol! {trying to look at the positive!}

Don't beat yourself up! I am in a similar situation. I was banded Dec 2009 and so far I've only lost about 50lbs since surgery. I had been down 70, but gained 20lbs over the last year! It started like you, stress! I took my kids on spring break and gained a measly 5lbs eating junk and out of embarassment wouldn't go to my doctor until I lost it... which never happened!!! Then divorce, having to move, having to file bankruptcy, being downsized, no insurance for a while, then got crappy insurance, stopped logging my calories, just one thing after another! Even though I still exercised 3 -4 a week I still kept putting on a pound here and there. So I said, I'm not even going to weigh myself anymore. Then i started having problems with acid reflux and the onlything that would make me feel better is eating, not thinking that it would make the reflux worse later. So the reflux is what drove me back to my surgeon. I went 2 weeks ago. Come to find out, I had gaied another 10bls just since I stopped weighing myself a few months ago, and I stretched my pouch which tilted my band causing the reflux. They took all the Fluid out, and man did my stomach immediately feel like a bottomless pit!!! I was STARVING and could eat like a horse! And once I ate, I did not stay full at all. BUT, the good thing is, sometime last week, I started getting full more quickly and staying full longer. So, I think my pouch has shrunk bad and my band is band is back in it's proper place and I'm getting a little restriction from the band alone. It's not great, but it's better. I'm on myfitnesspal as well and have gone back to logging my calories. I'm not where I want to be at 1200 - 1400, but at least with the 1500 - 2000 and shaving off about 3500 cals a week with exercise, I at least shouldn't gain. I think I've actually lost a couple pounds, but I don't trust my scale vs. the doctors, so I'm not getting too excited just yet lol. But they will check my band when I go back next month and if it is back in proper position start me over with little fills. So, THERE IS HOPE!!! Go back to your doctor. And as far as money, it may not be as bad as you think. I was worried I'd have to pay hundreds for each visit because my insurance has an exclusion for anything weight loss related, but my doctor is billing as just routine checkup, so I only have to pay my $35 co-pay! DON'T GIVE UP!!!

I don't think weight loss should change "who" you are. I'm a good person now at 270, I was a good person at 390. But I was not as healthy and active at 390 as I am now. And being healthy and active is what's made me a happier person. That's the only thing that has changed. I never made a big deal about being fat or overweight. Maybe because I alway have been and always will be. But my weight, my size, doesn't define me. Never have, never will. I think more people should look at it that way. I have a cousin who lost a lot of weight with lapband and she always looks at her old pictures, and "eeeeewwww" "yuck" "gross". She's gained the same mindset of the people who hurt her when she was heavier, can't see past the fat, and that's just not right, in my opinion. I look back at my heavier photos and think wow, I feel so much better now and wish I had taken my health more seriously sooner. And that's about it!

Exactly, I personally know 4 people who have had gastric bypass... 3 women and 1 man. Only 1 of the women lost a significant amount of weight and has kept it off the 4 years since she had surgery. The rest are bigger than before they had surgery, so none of them are fail proof! The one thing that stuck out for me, is the guy not long after his surgery said "My doctor wants me to go to a support group, I don't need no dang support group!!!". Now I know, yes WE do!!!

First off, the band is not magic. You will have to do some work. I just "re-discovered" this. I was banded December 2009 and did great my first year, lost almost 70lbs following the band rules and counting calories. Then I went on vacation and ate every sugary thing in site, which of course all slid down just fine, and drank shakes, slushies, all that bad stuff! Out of shame I refused to go back to my doctor thinking I could be back on track myself. A year later, and and extra 20lbs, I obviously did not! As they say EPIC FAIL!!! I was sooo hurt and disappointed in myself. But I told my family because I wanted to hold myself accoutable, and saying, YES, I MESSED UP, is helping me to cope! I had also stopped counting calories faithfully too. I didn't realize it at the time, but that bowl of sherbert, oh yea a serving is 120 calories, but that's half a cup, not a whole bowl, which, it's sherbert, turns into liquid as soon as it hits your mouth, goes down fine, oh so tasty, so it's easy to put down a bowl... every other night! It was a slippery slope to eating this and that. Sure I stayed away from potato chips because they would always get stuck, but not the pizza, and other greasy fattening stuff. So it takes willpower, you have to work with your band, you still have to diet and be conscious of what you put in your mouth. And you have to exercise. And I also managed to stretch my pouch and tilt my band, discovered that after a week of constant acid reflux finally drove me back to my band doctor! And now all my Fluid has been taken out for at least the next 5 weeks. So I really have to have some willpower now!!! Work with your doctor, you may have a slip or tilt. Or you may just be too tight makeing you result to liquids and softs which are easy to go over on your calories without you even realizing it because they don't keep you full. Good luck!