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I'm down about 80 lbs since surgery on July 2nd. I just now feel like I'm starting to get good restriction. Bread and chik-fil-a waffle fries are a clear no-no. I've only vomitted twice and those have been in the past two weeks since my last fill. Other than that, I've had a really easy time of it. I can still eat what I feel like is a good bit and I don't usually get hungry. However I have found that my stomach growls like a bear when I do wait too long to eat. I exercise every day. Usually this means walking at least a couple of miles around the neighborhood. If I don't get home until 10p.m., then I walk at 10p.m. I want to lose another 50 lbs and I know this won't happen unless I keep at it. My weight loss has clearly slowed. I'm only losing about 5 lbs a month now, but I know if I went back hardcore on watching what I eat I could lose more. I still have a sweet tooth and I have to avoid that as much as possible. Another thing that has really helped me is avoiding liquid calories as much as possible. I usually only drink Water, though I will drink some OJ on occassion. I still haven't tried to eat steak yet, but I was able to handle fried deer meat with no troubles.

Like others mentioned above, I tend to avoid threads where people are complaining. I know I'm a band newbie (7/2/10), but I have yet to throw up and have only been stuck for a few minutes a couple of time. Now, I did gain weight this week for the first time since surgery, but I know why. I got shingles all in my eye and on my forehead and the pain was so severe that I could not bring myself to exercise for the past few weeks, plus my wife had a birthday on Friday. We went out to eat twice and had three cakes in the house. (Hey, I'm not superman!) However, I have started exercising again the past two days and got myself back on my eating routine and I expect to be back down next week.

Another guy here. I'm three months out from surgery, down about 70 lbs. It's not easy, but not impossible. I've found it takes a daily effort to exercise and eat right.

I had my dentist make me a mouthpiece that holds my lower jaw out. I sleep great now. A large percentage of people get the cpap machine, use if for a short period of time and then put it in the closet.

I developed shingles over the weekend. My doctor (not my surgeon) said it probably was from my surgery on 7/2 and subsequent weight loss (I'm down about 64 lbs since the surgery). He said it usually takes about three months for the stress to show. Anyway, the shingles are on my right forehead and down in my eye. They are more painful than the surgery and the shoulder gas pain. I'm on about four different medicines and hopefully they will clear up quickly. Anyone else had this problem?

I guess I am in a similar situation. I am 39 and my wife had bypass surgery about 5 years ago. My main motivation wasn't that I wanted to be thin or really cared about my weight, but the fact that I had a newborn son. I know that I need to make sure I stick around for him. I started thinking about the process when he was born in November and started the process of getting approved in February. My wife's insurance paid for the proceedure and I had surgery on July 2nd. I'm down 60 lbs right now and feel great. I exercise almost every day. By that I think I have missed maybe 2 or 3 days since I was released to start exercising. I just know that if I didn't have the band that I wouldn't be doing this. I would be sitting around saying that I would start tomorrow and another year would go by. As for telling people, I told a few people that would find out anyway, but that's it. Now I have been asked directly how I am losing weight and I am honest. I just don't go out of the way to advertise it. I'm not afraid of people knowing, I just know that it will turn into a conversation of them asking how much I can eat and that will transition into them telling me about someone they know who had the lapband or bypass and it didn't work.

The worst thing someone has said to me was from someone who I considered to be a friend. He said, "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for with all that." Maybe I am taking it wrong or maybe he didn't mean it the way that it sounded, but it kind of pissed me off. However, nothing feels like going through your closet and digging out all the clothes that you couldn't wear anymore and finding they are too big to wear now.

I'm from West Monroe. Not exactly your area but in Louisiana. I was banded on 7/2. Who Dat!

I have an 8 month old who weights 25lbs+ and I was carrying him around two days after surgery. (I was banded on 7/2). I haven't had any problems carrying him around. The only problem is that little joker knows just how to kick me right in the port incission.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but the Christmas challenge participants have lost a combined 162.9 lbs. So, we have basically lost a person and that's with a lot of people who have not updated their weight loss!

Have you tried a high protein/low carb/low fat diet? I did that for two weeks pre-op and lost over 20lbs in those two weeks.

Not to put too blunt of a point on the matter, but I feel like I could power the entire Gulf Coast with the amount of gas I have had since surgery.

I must be in the minority because I love the Isopure chocolate mix. I usually just put one scoop in a small glass of skim milk. You get 25g of protein from the Isopure and a few grams from the milk. While it doesn't mix great, I think it tastes pretty good.

I've only been banded for 7 days, so what do I know? But in my opinion, I think you are doing awesome!

I just wanted to point out that I was banded on July 2nd so I did not get to accurately weight myself for week one and so my weight loss for week two is actually the culmination of two weeks, one week of pre-op diet and one week post op.

I was banded on July 2nd and went back to work on the 6th. I am an attorney and sit at my desk much of the day. However, I have left early on the 6th and 7th because of terrible gas pain in my shoulder. I have a solo practice and so I have pushed going back to work quickly because if I don't work, my client's work doesn't get done and I don't get paid. If I worked at a firm where I could have someone else pick up my work and had vacation pay, I would probably have stayed out longer. I think six weeks is more than sufficent to take off. I would maybe take three or four weeks off and save the other two weeks to take a vacation later on to treat yourself for the lost weight.

My wife had the bypass 5 or 6 years ago and lost a lot of weight. I have seen her struggles at time with the bypass. I will say that she got pregnant since then and had a completely trouble free pregnancy. We now have healthy 8 month old baby boy. I personally decided on the lap band because it can be removed. An additional factor was the death rate from the bypass. I couldn't justify taking a 1/200 risk when I was losing weight so that I would be around for my son.

I was banded July 2nd. I've had severe shoulder pain the last few days. It was so bad yesterday that I left work (yeah, I know I wasn't supposed to be at work) and went home to rest. It seems to be better today. I haven't burped. All my gas seems to be going the other way . . . if you get my drift.

This really is the best part of this message board. I was banded on July 2nd and have had no appetite since then. I had become extremely worried and then I come on here and see that the loss of appetite is normal right after surgery. Really eases my mind.

I would tell the truth during your psych eval. I don't think they would disqualify you from what you described. However, it could be really helpful for you to talk through those feelings and prepare for the surgery. My psych evaluation was quite anti-climatic. My wife has had the bypass surgery and she had the same psychologist. She said that she cried all the way through the evaluation. So, she had me all ready for the wringer. In my case, he asked me a few questions about me, marriage, kids, etc, then I had to take a 300+ question test on the computer. It was really, really simple. Guess, I did ok though.

I'm supposed to be at the hospital tomorrow at 6 a.m. for a 9 a.m. sugery. Long story short, the last surgery I had (two years ago), I had an incompetent surgeon cut several arteries. It was not good. I'm really starting to freak out about the surgery and wondering if I should just accept my weight and get on with my life. I'm starting to fear that they will put me out, something else will go wrong and that will be it. I have an 8 month old son who is the main reason I am doing this. I want to be around to see him grow up. I know if I stay at this weight, I won't be. So, it's taking a risk now instead of facing a certainty later on. Sorry for the rant, just needed to get it out of my system.

I've been on the high protein/low carb/low fat diet since Friday, June 18th for surgery on July 2nd. My doctor also didn't really give any guidelines to exact numbers of carbs, just for the protein. I've been able to stay at it pretty hardcore. I've lost 16.5 lbs so far.

I'd like to be a part. However, I will not be banded until 7/2. Also, I have no idea how these work.

I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to throw in my $.02. I had a sleep study which found that I had sleep apnea. My dentist made a two piece mouthpiece/guard which I wear everynight and it is wonderful! I sleep so much better now and if I take a nap I don't put in my mouthpiece I feel so drained when I wake up.