spoiltmom

That's totally doable! I started out at 232 and I lost 75 pounds in 1 year.

I've been banded a year now and I still use regular Mucinex all the time. I'm on it again right now. I've never had any problems with it but I take mine with hot coffee or warm tea.

For my last few fills I've been swollen and had a hard time eating for the first 10-12 days afterwards but by 14 days I was back to eating fine again. If I were you I might would just wait it out a little longer unless you start having heartburn, reflux or night coughs. Thanks:) It feels so odd to me to be in a size 6 but exciting:)

Thats awesome Amber! I start back to college next week. That should help me get the rest of my weight off. When I'm in school I'm too busy to eat so I stick to 3 meals and no Snacks. On a side note, am I the only one that is UBER annoyed by all these ads on the site? I have a little pop up ad that comes on when I'm on my iPhone. It drives me crazy:(

I totally agree with you. It's definite BS. If I pay that much I better be getting a personal chef to take home with me and prepare all my meals for the first 6 months. LOL

I am a stay at home mom. When I was banded, a year ago, I had a 6 month old, 3 year old and 9 year old. I had surgery on Friday and was back up taking care of them by Sunday. It wasn't a big deal at all.

Find another doctor. I had ZERO program fees. None. When I think of weight loss and program fees I think of Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem. I do not think of Lap Band surgery because IMO it should not have program fees attached. You and your insurance company pay enough for it without you paying extra.

It is VERY worth it:) Since getting my band I've been able to stop my high blood pressure meds. I don't need my CPap machine anymore. My knees don't hurt as badly. I have more energy and keep up with my kids. I really haven't had too much pain and right now I can still eat small amounts of Pasta and bread and not have any weight issues. I wish I would have done it sooner.

Okay I used to work for a doctor doing the billing. A doctor CAN refuse to accept new Medicaid patients, BUT if they choose to take new patients and file your Medicaid then they CANNOT make you pay. Medicaid is a legally binding contract that says the doctor will accept what Medicaid is paying as payment in full and that he/she cannot bill the difference to the patient. Now if you are on Medicaid and fills ARE NOT covered, then the doctor can charge you cash for them but only if you sign an agreement saying that you are a Medicaid patient and that you understand the fill is not covered and you are willing to pay cash for it. What state are you in? I know where I live doctors are starting to get out of the Medicaid network because Medicaid doesn't pay enough. If you can afford to pay cash for your fills though, you should be okay either way.

Did you guys get access to the Lindora site when you got banded? I did and after reading through their website I found that if I do low fat that I can have 40-50 carbs a day and still lose weight. If I do high fat like Atkins I have to do 20 carbs a day. I base my meals on 3-4 oz of Protein and usually only a 1/2 cup of veggies. Breakfast is a poached egg and 2 turkey sausage links. lunch today was a taco salad made with lean ground beef, reduced fat cheese and a homemade low fat/ low cal/ low carb salad dressing. I used a 1/2 cup of lettuce for the salad. My treat at night is unsweetened almon milk with Hershey's cocoa and Splenda. As for convenience: I buy lean meat in family packs. Then I repackage them. I freeze 1 piece/ portion of meat per bag. Then it's super quick to thaw and cook. I precook a pound of taco meat and then freeze it in 4 oz portions. It defrosts in just a few minutes and you can have a small protein rich meal in under 10 minutes.

Okay, when I started this process my goal was to be a size 6. Years ago I was a size 8 at 145 pounds so I figured I needed to be around 135-138 to be a size 6. As of today I can wear a size 6 and I'm at 155 pounds. How is that possible? I'm planning to get a tummy tuck next spring but really I don't have that much sagging skin. There's no way I could have 20 pounds of sagging skin and it's not because I'm working out because I admit I suck at working out:( So I'm happy that I've reached my goal size but I'm confused as to how and why. Is it just because clothing sizes have changed so much over the years?

I'm wanting a tummy tuck and boob job and possibly my upper thighs done. There's a plastic surgeon about 45 miles from me that accepts credit cards, cash or Care Credit. (I may have to finance a portion of my surgery) Anyway I made a consultation appointment with him but I don't know anything about him at all. It's a free consult though so I figured I'd go and just see what I thought. Well in the meantime my hairstylist and the owner of a local business here have both had plastic surgery recently and they are both Lap Band patients so I asked them about there experience. They both used this doctor and have nothing but AWESOME things to say about him. They also gave me the names of 8 other ladies in my town that have used him which is good considering our population here is only 750:) They all give excellent reviews. They say his skill is awesome, his prices are great and his office staff are very friendly. He also does Lap Bands and since he's so familiar with the band he does surgery without unfilling your band:) One friend of mine had her arms and stomach done and went home with a pain pump and it was only $8K total. She said after she healed there was skin out of place and he took it off for free in the office. She said it wasn't painful at all and she said if I have any more questions after my consult or during my recovery to just call her and she would help me. It sounds like he could be just what I'm looking for! I can't wait for my consult now:)

Girl I don't know either. I'm 5' 5 1/2". My tops are smalls and medium. Hmm, my scale is digital surely my scale is right. I mean I weigh on that same scale constantly so I'd notice if the battery needing replacing surely.

I know what you mean! I have some old size 9's that are too small even though I'm wearing a 6 now. But then again the 9's are high waisted where most of today's jeans are lower waisted so it's sort of hard to compare them. In Old Navy jeans I can even wear a 4 just because they are so stretchy. Sizes seem to be all over the place now.

I'm wondering about this also because I'm planning on getting implants. I see my surgeon next month so I'm waiting to see what he thinks.

Yay! Awesome progress!

Actually I'm thinking a slight unfill might be what you need. If your not taking in enough calories you won't lose weight and eating mushies and liquids all the time isn't the way to go. I'm glad your doing well though and I hope you get all your energy back soon:)

My scale isn't budging right now but my size 8 jeans are baggy. Is it possible I'm a size 6 now? I just can't believe it! Definitely going shopping this Saturday though.

If so who did you use? Was it a good experience? Would you use them again?

Well not everyone has that problem. I've been pregnant 3 times and I've gained and lost a lot of weight. I have 3 tummy tuck consults next month and I do plan on having a tummy tuck done next year.

My doc says I don't need anymore fills b/c I've hit his goal weight:/ I think I just really need to kick up my exercising and it will eventually come off.

You know what? Maintaining what I've lost is EASY. But I need to lose more and that's HARD.

Sorry but a small employer doesn't fall under FMLA so there probably isn't anything at all that you can do.

It's been a year since I have had soda and was doing fine without it but my kids brought home a stomach virus so for 2 days this week the only thing I could tolerate was some small sips of Coke. I sipped it all day long for 2 days with no problems. I don't plan to make it a permanent thing though.

Okay when I first got my Lap Band done I had a lot of people judging me for different reasons. There were a lot of people that told me I wasn't overweight enough and I was taking the easy way out. Well my insurance company did not agree. I had sleep Apnea and High Blood pressure. My insurance company decided it was medically necessary and the covered it. Now I haven't told everyone I had it done but I live in a small town and people talk so I assume every one knows. Today though it's been a year since I was banded so I posted my before and after pics on my FB page and officially outed myself. But now when I go back and read the comments, in every one I post I'm defending myself and no one has even said anything wrong I guess I just know people are judging me so I automatically put something in there about how bad my health was or something like that. But why am I still doing that? I've had a great success and it's really time for me to stop caring so much about what other people say or think of me. Now I feel going back and deleting my comments but some people have already read them. It's time for me to say I did this for me and I'm glad I did it and I don't care if you like that or not, and oh yeah this band is not EASY! LOL That's what I should post as my status right?