Salbri

Hi Nooshie, I have lost 20 lbs since I was banded on October 1st. My surgeon recommended I not get a fill until until I stop losing weight for 3 weeks. He also recommended that I do not measure my food, just make sure I stick to the rules. I was losing about 1 - 2 lbs per week in the beginning and now I have been losing about 2 lbs per week since I started doing an hour of cardio 4-5 x per week. Rarely do I feel hungry. Maybe because I live in a controlled environment where I do not allow ice cream, candy, etc. in the house. I think if I had kids and that stuff was around, I would be in trouble. Well maybe I would feel the need to get fills at least. Glad both of you have had the willpower to walk away when surrounded by tempting food.

What countries in Latin America are you visiting? I spent 5 mos last year in South America and lost 30 lbs. This is before I was banded. We walked a ton each day and I have this rule when I travel to never eat food that is covered up and I can't smell. I never eat sauces, gravy or deep fried if I can help it. On the coast I ate lots of fish and in the cities I ate lots of chicken and beef. Well I also ate Llama, Alpaca, and Guiniue Pig - but that was just to try it. side dishes included french fries most of the time which I thought was weird and never any good so no problem not eating them. I drank lots of fruit juice - just amazing and quite a bit of cooked vegetables (didn't trust the fresh ones). I also ate quite a bit of Soups. Now that I am banded I really don't think I would have a hard time going back to latin American countries. I am heading to Honduras next May and I'm not worried about it all. If you don't speak spanish at least have a spanish/english translation book with you so you can choose wisely from the menu.

That is a great question. I have always had the ability to lose weight, but the closest I have ever come to a goal weight is within 25 lbs. If I continue to diet it just doesn't come off. I have a calendar from 1992 I keep where I came within 25 lbs of the weight and it shows my calories and workouts and stayed there for 4 months until I just couldn't maintain those low calories anymore. I have been banded for 2 months now and wonder if the day will come that I can say for the first time in my life I have reached my goal weight. Or will the day come and I am within those 25 lbs and I just have to say that I just have to settle and maintain this for the rest of my life. I asked my surgeon if there were statistics on this and he said he didn't know of any but in his 4,000 surgery experience he didn't notice any difference from people who were skinny when they were younger vs people who were not. Of course, I was never asked this question on any of his forms so I just have to believe he doesn't know the answer.

I was self-pay and saved for six months by working 3 jobs. My day job plus managing someone's books who has a in-house business and babysitting my friends 4 year old twins. I was able to save $10,000 for the surgery in Mexico. The surgeon I eventually chose was $7,000 plus $500 to fly my friend and I down there. I have $2500 left for fills and God forbid a possible failure of the band that may need to be replaced. I asked the surgeon if anything went wrong with the band would it generally be so bad that I end up in an emergency room. He said no that if the band slipped I would be sicker than a dog, but I should be able to get on a plane and make it there to have it fixed. I have to believe he is right because having medical insurance with a pre-existing clause right now is a bit scary to think I could end up in a local hospital and not be covered.

I was the last normal size of shoe (size 10) until about 5 years ago when my foot grew to an 11 and some of the 11's don't fit well. I had no idea people were losing shoe sizes and now I can hope that maybe I will someday be back to a 10. If only I kept some of those shoes.

Funny this subject just came up with me. I was banded on Oct 1st. I called my facilitator yesterday and she said she knows several people who have never gotten a fill and some have lost up to 200 lbs. The surgeon told me as long as I keep to 3 meals a day, follow the rules and continue to lose weight there is no reason to get one. So I am going to do what he says and listen to my body and not follow some kind of calendar. I like the idea of asking the fill person not to tell me how much they are putting in the band. One less thing to obsess over.

I had a friend who also said I was cheating by getting the Lapband. I said can you get me a copy of that Diet Bible where it specifically states that Lapband is cheating? Really that type of response just makes no sense to me. If someone is on blood pressure pills, insulin, chloesteral pills, etc because they are overweight. Is it OK for someone to say this is cheating?

My surgery was October 1st and I have been doing great. I mentally count calories and have kept them about 1200 to 1500. I called my facilitator and asked if I really need a fill and she said she knows people who have lost over 200 lbs and never had a fill. She has only 1cc fill and was banded 4 years ago. So because I have to pay for fills on my own (Banded in Mexico), I am going to wait until I quit losing at least 1 - 2 lbs per week or I find I'm hungry between meals.

Hi Everyone, I work with dataases for a living so after seeing numerous versions I decided to go back to the beginning and add everyone in the list - I removed the duplicates and sorted by date and name. So this should be the final list (I hope). Congrats to all 77 October Bandsters!!! bethany329 10/1 Happyloser 10/1 heyred1 10/1 Lindac80 10/1 Marfar7 10/1 Salbri 10/1 Timmers 10/1 Ca7696 10/2 Opus03 10/2 ihavehope3 10/3 RedboneLA 10/3 Viking_girl 10/5 leetie 10/7 O-2BTHIN 10/07 FeatherHen2010 10/8 Jtreece 10/8 MommyOf1 10/8 WhyW8 10/8 AngieW_RN 10/9 Noodles 10/9 Suz-Q 10/9 Guy 10/13 SharPei 10/13 2bheathlyn40s 10/14 Cshytle 10/14 Jenfromtheburg 10/14 ncarreras 10/14 Okiegirl79 10/14 questions09 10/14 angela677 10/15 Kme 10/15 munkee'smommy 10/15 Nooshie 10/15 txtigergirl 10/15 danyett 10/16 MeMe* 10/16 Oliverdog 10/16 Wisteria75 10/16 1019Joanne 10/19 Chickychoo 10/19 Deekel 10/19 Granny of 10 10/19/09 hope2bthinr 10/19 Onikenbai 10/19 TheGerm 10/19 We3601 10/19 Holly143831 10/20 kcg 10/20 MoniqueD 10/20 Mzcancer 10/20 nc_liz 10/20 TxCloverAngel 10/20 erenstar983 10/21 marybeth 10/21 mybandjourney09 10/21 pina3940 10/21 Soexcited 10/21 aghealthy 10/22 HDmama 10/22 butafly 10/23/09 Cindylou00 10/23 Crazychica133 10/26 Jamie (endlessdreams_x) 10/26 NJLIZ 10/26 Sarah1285: 10/26 Daria77 10/27 Idahlem72 10/27 Jenrobbar951 10/27 yngold2000 10/27 Barley 10/28 Daveh7373 10/28/09 4girlfamily 10/29 Chatty826 10/29 Patterba 10/29 Scrappin Spud 10/29/09 Tina 10/29 MrgrtVntll 10/30

You're strip searched at the airport because you no longer look like your passport photo.

Hi Nooshie, Funny when I was on liquids I was the most excited about eating cottage cheese - so I have eaten it nearly every day. I am getting about 1200 - 1400 calories Protein shake (Genisoy protein, water, Peanut Butter, banana, GNC powder vitamins (this is something I have been eating every breakfast for the last 4 years) lunch is usually cottage cheese, a few tablespoons of hummus and few tablespoons of pate. Dinner - soup, more cottage cheese or greek yogurt, hummus or pate. Oh and I made this amazing applesauce made with apples I cooked in apple cider in place of water and cinnamon. I have 9 days of mushies left so I am going to try some of the recipes I found in the food section. Maybe a bit of a change in diet would be good.

I was banded on the 1st and the incisions have healed nicely, but it is still itchy and red where the bandages were. I have noticed I have very low energy. I don't know if it is the change of weather, lack of daylight hours (I live in Portland, OR) or the lack of carbs in the mushy diet.

Realized I never added myself to the list and my surgery was on Oct 1st. The list has now grown to 47 of us with Oct surgeries. Quite impressive. Happyloser 10/1 bethany329 10/1 Timmers 10/1 Lindac80 10/1 Marfar7 10/1 Salbri 10/1 Ca7696 10/2 Opus03 10/2 RedboneLA 10/3 ihavehope3 10/3 Viking_girl 10/5 leetie 10/7 o-2BTHIN 1O/7 Jtreece 10/8 MommyOf1 10/8 Suz-Q 10/9 Noodles 10/9 SharPei 10/13 Guy 10/13 Cshytle 10/13 MoniqueD 10/14 Jenfromtheburg 10/14 ncarreras 10/14 angela677 10/15 Kme 10/15 Nooshie 10/15 munkee'smommy 10/15 Oliverdog 10/16 danyett 10/16 We3601 10/19 Onikenbai 10/19 hope2bthinr 10/19 Mzcancer 10/20 Soexcited 10/21 erenstar983 10/21 pina3940 10/21 marybeth 10/21 HDmama 10/22 Crazychica133 10/26 NJLIZ 10/26 Idahlem72 10/27 Daria77 10/27 Jenrobbar951 10/27 Barley 10/28 4girlfamily 10/29 Tina 10/29 jenrobbar951 TBA

I woke with a catheter that they removed in the early afternoon. My voice was very raspy the first day which indicated to me that there was probably a tube in my throat during the surgery.

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I am now 14 days after the surgery and by about day 10 it no longer hurt to bend over, roll over in bed, cough, sneeze or laugh. I think the port is starting to settle in. Other than a jello incident on day 4 I am doing fantastic. I could possibly be the only person alive who has gotten Jello stuck. Thank goodness I just had to wait for it to melt. Thanks for asking and reminding me to pick up all those things I pushed to the corner to pick up later. Sarah

I researched for 3 months before I told anyone about the surgery. Once I chose a surgeon I told my 2 best friends and 2 other friends one a nurse the other a doctor. I booked the surgery for October 1, 2009 and started having the conversations with family and other friends. In all, I have told 20 people about the surgery. I would say 18 of the 20 were against my decision at first, but changed their mind after they listened to how much time I put into researching this decision. The knowledge I gained gave me the confidence to address all concerns including the emotional ones. I am not saying that everyone is supportive of my decision. I am saying that everyone is supportive of me and I have tried to keep them well informed thru pre/post surgery. I know I feel different than many of you, but having a large support group is very important to me and I don't know how I could be successful if I had kept this life changing event to myself.

I had my surgery on October 1st and everything is going great so far. Only thing is I had no idea how often I drop things on the floor and have to pick it up - just so painful.

Hi Everyone, Decided it was time to finally sign up and start posting. My surgery is scheduled for Oct 1st.