Jennilyn

Hey I'm in east Round Rock. When did you get your band? I got mine in February and haven't lost anything since the beginning of the summer. And, I know it's certainly my fault. Trying to get motivated again!

Thank you - this gives me hope, too. I had my surgery 2/23 and lost 13.5 pounds right away. I have not lost a single ounce since then. Seriously, my weight stayed the same down to the tenth of a pound between my post op appt, my first fill on 3/31, and my second fill on 4/20. My second fill supposedly brought me up to 6 cc. I don't feel any different. :eek: I am however, trying to focus on the positives, that I have learned to eat slower and chew a lot better. I know I eat less overall (still not as little as I want, though.) I did have my first stuck episode at work. It was awful. I was eating some sandwich meat and in a hurry because I don't get very much time to sneak a bite or two. Then I was gripping the edge of my desk waiting for it to either come back up or go down... it finally went down so I've remained vomit-free thus far. I'm ready for May 12th when I get my 3rd fill. In the meantime I'll just be glad the scale isn't going the wrong direction, that I've made strides on portion control and using my body's cues to stop eating instead of how much food I have left on the plate. That I did lose 13.5 and not zero. That this is just the beginning, not a short term journey. Good luck everyone!

mzSassy - I have federal BCBS basic and I paid $75 at the hospital on surgery day, and then $25 copay for the appointments I've had (weight loss visits, psych eval., etc). So overall I'd say I've been out $250 for everything.

Truthfully, there is no watercooler in my office. But, regardless, this is subject matter I prefer to keep out of the workplace. So... where to start? Briefly, I was supposed to begin my 6 month "supervised weight loss" period back in April 2008. However, I was still somewhat arrogant at that point and thought "Nope, I can do this on my own. I am NOT going to sit on my @ss for 6 months and not lose any weight." I was at the borderline of having a BMI to qualify - hence the no weight loss for 6 months thing even thought it would have been considered my 6 month program for the insurance company. So my arrogance got me to November 2009 where my BMI was 10 points higher. Yes, 10. Ugh. So much for success. Yay! Luckily, during that time frame my insurance policy somehow changed and that 6 month period was shortened to 3. That 3 months zipped by, especially with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years thrown in there. Next thing I know I'm starting the pre-op diet, waiting not so patiently for that insurance approval to come through. Finally, the Thursday of the

Chicago29 - thanks for the advice. I did find out my first fill is NOT March 12th - I have to wait 2 more weeks after that. I certainly need some thicker protein shakes! Let me know how the first fill goes. I'm trying to stay focused! Will have no problems stepping on the scale daily... or several times daily... obsessed maybe? =)

btrieger - hope everything goes GREAT tomorrow! Congrats!

Thanks LeighaMason - tried the Greek yogurt today - love it! It kept me full all morning. I will definitely be recommending it to others as well!

The next 6 months will go by faster than you think! I was excited and nervous, too... the surgery itself really turned out to be no big deal in my book. Glad you've jumped in... it will be worth it! My friend and I were going to "jump" together... I chickened out the first time around, and now she's 100 pounds lighter, while I'm only 6 days post-op. At least now you have not let another day slip by wondering "what if..." You're on your way! Congrats on making the first step!

Hello all, I'm a newbie here, just joined yesterday. :biggrin: I'm 28 and ecstatic to be starting on this journey. Ready to live a life that doesn't revolve around food, and for my five year old daughter to follow in my future footsteps, not those from the past. I was banded last Tuesday 2/23. It wasn't a bad surgery at all, I'd say it went really well. Not too much pain, the gas-x and lortab have kept that under control, along with walking and following the liquid diet. I may be biased, because I have not forgotten the pain of the c-section I had five years ago. In my mind, I am always thinking of that pain when I think of "worst pain ever." Compared to that, the pain I have experienced since Tuesday is pretty mild. All has gone well, mentally, physically, until yesterday. No, yesterday, was different. Yesterday I was HUNGRY. I'm still supposed to be liquids only through day 7 (well, that is only one more day now, isn't it?) but no amount of beef broth or crystal light or sugar free popsicles were going to satisfy me yesterday. My stomach was rumbling... grumbling...I felt like Winnie the Pooh looking down at my round grumbling belly. So yesterday morning I decided to have some cream of celery Soup, had about half a cup of that. And then I had a Protein shake (which is liquid, but not "clear" liquid...) then I had some apple juice, then I had another Protein Shake. Had some Water in between all of these. Beef broth. Then last night I had some runny instant mashed potatoes. THAT hit the spot! I have yet to have any sort of adverse reaction.... which makes me wonder what's going on - shouldn't something be happening - shouldn't I have pain, something? Today has been the same. HUNGRY. I had half a serving of cream of wheat this morning. Later, I pureed some leftovers from sloppy joes (no bread of course, just the meat) and had about 1/3 a cup of that. Still not feeling satisfied so I had more of the instant mashed potatoes, about 1/3 of a cup. Had a protein shake. Then while ago I had half a cup of applesauce. All of this I have eaten slowly and never to where I felt "full," just satisfied to the point I wasn't thinking about it anymore. No pain. Everything stays down. No discomfort. I have lost 8 pounds total, half of that during the pre-op diet and then the other 4 since Tuesday. I'm not going in for my post-op appointment until 3/12 - I'm assuming that's when I get my first 'fill'. Maybe I'm just being paranoid - you'd think I'd be glad that nothing has happened yet - but for some reason that makes me think it's not working. Okay, I'm only 6 days in. I'm going to give this a chance to do what it's going to do, and it's going to be AWESOME! I am keeping track of my calories - today I am still under 600 and only have one more "meal" for the day. I'm doing okay, right? Now, if I could stop scratching at my incisions in my sleep... I'm going to go look through all the blogs now... maybe someone has a similar story... Glad to be a part of this and hope to make some friends along the way! :laugh: