MelsPage

I'm still here. I'm down 166.8 pounds and at goal! I met my goal of 150 on 7/14/11.....I'm on youtube ALOT! They have a FANTASTIC support group and you should all come check it out! Just search for "lapband" or "WLS" or whatever and it should bring up a bunch of different people. You can watch videos of everyone's journey and it will motivate you to keep pushing forward! I promise! Congrats to everyone thus far! I can't believe it's been 2 years already!

I am one pound away from 100 pounds lost!! WOOHOO!! I think that breaks down to about 5.2 pounds per month. OR 1.22 pounds per week. I'm happy with that. I don't have any skin "issues" and I feel fantastic!

Seriously?? Ha dmy 3rd fill on February 5th (I've lost 6 pounds since the fill) and it was GREAT!!! I FINALLY had restriction, my intake was way down, I wasn't hungry for hours....all was right in my banded world! THEN I got a flu bug this week, not feeling so hot, got sick a few times, had a weird waking up in the middle of the night with the urge to throw up but nothing came up episode yesterday and today I can eat whatever.....not getting stuck at all, not feelings of tightness, no hiccups, NOTHING. Is this normal after 3 weeks with a good fill or could I have done something to the band while sick?? Have any of you had really good restriction and done well with it and then it just goes away.....overnight????

Moxie, What you are feeling is COMPLETELY normal! After my first 2 fills I had no restriction at all and wondered the same things you're wondering....had I made a huge mistake, was I cheating the band and myself? What was wrong with me that I wasn't feeling this "restriction" that everyone was talking about, and then.....I got my 3rd fill...(everyone kept saying it takes 3 or 4 fills....sometimes more....to get to a point where you have restriction) and after my 3rd fill 3 weeks ago, I definitely had restriction. You will get there...just be patient with yourself and trust the band to work (when you work with it!!!) DO be very careful about eating everything though...try keeping a journal and tracking calories and times you are eating. If you're starving make healthy choices (I KNOW easier said than done) so you don't get to the point of ordering 3 big macs and then feeling guilty afterwards! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!:eek: I promise it's worth it all!!!

Oh I can sympathize! I had the same thing for weeks post op! I wanted to burp soooooo bad but just couldn't....and when I did it was almost like it surprised me! SOOOO loud and drawn out! I am a sweet girl from the south originally and was raised being told ladies don't burp in public and let me tell you, all of that went out the window after this surgery! LOL Once I was able to burp, I felt so much better! The pain in your shoulders and back is most likely gas that's trapped and once you can burp, it will move!

Thank you girls so much! I called the nurse this afternoon and she asked if I had eaten close to bedtime but I hadn't. I had a small snack around 7pm and went to bed at 1130p, so whatever it was took 2 1/2 hours from the time I laid down to try to come back up! I am hoping this is an isolated incident. I love my band and haven't had any real problems since getting it! This forum is such a blessing! Thank you again for responding!! :wink:

Okay I have heard stories about people who choke and cough during the night and it can lead to vomiting but I always skimmed over it because it has never applied to me, until now! And even now I don't know if it's anything to worry about or if it was something I ate yesterday! So last night (2am) I woke up (don't remember couching or anything) and felt so sick to my stomach, and ended up standing over the toilet heaving but nothing actually came up, though I stood there praying it would so I could get rid of that feeling. This morning I feel fine! So now I'm worried that something could be wrong. Assuming it's not a flu bug what causes this in bandsters???

That was supposed to say I don't remember COUGHING not couching! LOL

Hey everyone, I have read on a few different posts about people doing a pouch test??? What is that? My doctor has never mentioned anything like this to me....is it something we should be doing??? Hope you're all having a great day!!

Happy Monday Everyone!!! Weighed in this morning...I lost 1.8 pounds since last Monday! Down to 219 from 220.8.....total of 5.6 pounds....only 19.4 to go in this challenge!! I need to really ramp up the exercise!!! Good Luck all!

Hey, I lost 20 pounds right after my surgery and then from October until my 3rd fill on February 5th, I had only lost 2 pounds. Since my fill (and this is the only one I have had restriction with) I have lost 5 pounds! Keeping my fingers crossed that this is the right one! It's worth it, we just have to be patient and I know that's not what you want to hear. I know I didn't! LOL But everyone is right about keeping a food journal. I never remember to write it down so I use dailyplate.com too. It figures all the numbers out for you and because I am online so much I find it easier than actually writing it down! Good Luck! You CAN do this!!!

Hi Bill, Okay I am going to offer my 2 cents and please keep in mind that I am not a nutrionist and I have been struggling with getting the weight off too, and at a rate I am happy with (down about 30 pounds since September but I expected more too!)....so with that said I will tell you what my nutritionist said and my opinion! If you want a cookie, eat a cookie! Lapband is NOT about depriving yourself for the rest of your life. Otherwise we would never be successful. I'm not suggesting you eat the entire package but that doesn't sound physically possible anyway. I think that continuing to strive towards improving your diet and exercise are extremely important, but remember it took us a lifetime to develope bad habits and to get to the point of needing a band. Be patient with yourself and try to wake up everyday with a positive attitude towards this process. It's my opinion that if we are giving it our all and constantly trying to work towards the next step then we are succeeding. It is only when you give up that you have failed. I know that I need to get my butt moving....I KNOW that's what's causing slow weight loss, that coupled with not having any restriction until this past friday. But since I have had my 3rd fill, I have been much more concious about what I eat, trying to get the right # of calories and Protein into such small meals and I have been exercising and in the last week I have lost another 4 pounds! I am excited! But I also know that, this is a journey and I want the weight to stay off so avoiding Cookies for the next 50 years is not realistic, we need to learn to stop after one and make sure that we're making good choices about our diets and about exercising. I think you are doing a great job! Keep up the good work and just focus on the success. This is worth it! YOU are worth it! :thumbup:

Oh I can sooooooo relate to this! I absolutely hate my arms...always have!!!! I seem to lose in my face/neck area first then waist.....I have very muscular legs and hips that wont quit and I don't forsee my curves going anywhere. I have always said that I have a super cute shape...under the chub! LOL It will start to reappear about 30 pounds from now and be smoking hot in 50 pounds.....I can't even imagine what I will look like at goal....I haven't been there since I was 17! I'm so excited to find out though! But YES YES YES JensGems I would deal with NO boobs if it meant normal arms! LOL:biggrin:

Hi Bree.... NSV stands for Non scale Victory....meaning something awesome that happens as a result of losing weight that has nothing to do with the numbers!!! :rolleyes2: Hope that helps!

That is so cool! You should be super proud of yourself!! I know that my big issue right now is exercise....I need to find time to get it in everyday. My schedule is so hectic that I always seem to find an excuse as to why I can't do it! :thumbup: I'm sure that moving my butt would seriously help the pounds come off a lot faster. Keep up the incredible work!!! And thank you for sharing!!! :thumbup:

AWESOME JOB!!!!! I'm jealous! LOL But when I go back in March I hope to report similiar statistics!!! You are doing amazing! :thumbup: What's your secret? And were you feeling any restriction after the 2nd fill??? I just had my 3rd fill last Friday! :thumbup:

WOOHOO!!!!! That's awesome! I am hoping that this fill did the trick to help getting me moving DOWN on the scale again. I wasn't gaining (thank goodness) but I had only lost 2 pounds since October and since Friday, I am down 3 more!!! YAY! So excited! Keep up the good work! You are seriously rockin that scale! :thumbup:

Hi Elfie, Thank you! I was just curious what this was all about. So cool that this is an option for us if we get to that point!!

Oh and I should have mentioned that even on my GOOD days of eating the right foods in appropriate quanities...I WAS STARVING!!! I was never satisfied and I had to TRULY comitt to ONLY eating those things......Now I still have to focus on making the right choices but my body tells me it's full now! THAT is amazing to me!! LOL

Hey, My diet before restriction wasn't AWFUL by any means....the doctor was happy with it, the dietician was pleased for the most part but trust me when I say that "menu" was on a good day!......on my BAD days, I would get take out or hit the drive thru after work and had NO problems packing it in! It was crazy! I was able to eat anytime I wanted and felt nothing! :thumbup: I am absolutely NOT trying to starve now. I'm not hungry like I was before restriction, and yes, I am trying to up my calories, by about 400 or 500 but I think because I just had the fill on Friday, there may still be some swelling which is keeping me from getting in enough. So I guess my point was just that a week and a half ago NOTHING was off limits and now....I am sooooo much more aware of that full feeling and I have to be sooooo much more careful to avoid throwing up! :thumbup: Does that make sense???

Hey, Before this past Friday (the 5th) when I got the 3rd fill, I could eat ANYTHING!!! I never felt full, never had that pain or restriction everyone talked about. I posted on my month's board and asked them what was going on and everyone told me that until the 3rd or 4th (sometimes even the 5th) fill you really don't have restriction. The only reason I even knew I had a band was because if I didn't chew well enough I could feel it go through "hard" but otherwise, unless I conciously made an effort to NOT eat the way I did before surgery I could have packed away ALOT! I was honestly starting to feel like the band was not going to work but I just kept forging ahead, having faith that eventually I would feel it, I would know what that restriction felt like and sure enough, on Friday I tried to drink a muscle milk and could only get about 1/2 of it down before feeling very full.....even today I am struggling to eat solids and I might eat 1/2 a cup at a time and maybe every 4 or 5 hours. Before the fill I was hungry every 2 hours and could eat as much as I wanted. So anyway, No I don't measure per say, I probably should, but I see the DRASTIC reduction in amounts of food I can eat. I'm hoping this was the right fill....I have 4.5 cc's in a 10 cc band.....so we'll see. I'm scheduled to see my doctor on March 23rd again but if I still feel this way, I won't need another fill. YAY!!! It will happen I promise!! But I definitely know the frustration you feel right now! So to give you an idea of what I ate today so far.... 4oz Greek Yogurt for Breakfast about 3-4oz of Tuna mixed with light Mayo on about 4 crackers for lunch I am going to try to eat a grilled chicken salad tonight for dinner but I am doubtful that I will get more than 4 or 5 bites of it down! AND I have NOT been hungry at all today. I actually need to increase my Protein somehow...I'm struggling with meeting that number since my fill. Before the 3rd fill..... 1 cup of Cereal with skim milk AND a yogurt for breakfast A sandwich with 4 oz of meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato, and some kind of fruit 4-5oz protein, 1/2-1 cup of veggies and 1/2 cup of starch (potatoes, rice, whatever) Plus I would snack on crackers or fruit or something throughout the day! Hang in there girl! It will get better!!! xoxo

Good Luck!!! I just had my 3rd fill Friday and I can DEFINITELY tell the difference! My portions and choices have changed more in the last 4 days than they have in 4 months! It's Crazy! Fingers crossed for you!!!!!