SmallerChristie

Now I'm just "regular" obese. :thumbup: Strangely that's a great feeling. On my way to overweight! Thank you, LAP-BAND®.

LOL - thanks everyone!

Welcome Jamie, and congratulations on taking this step! I've heard wonderful things about Dr. Baker at Unity. My doc referred me there a few years ago but I was too chicken to follow through. Since then, my clinic merged with Fairview so my referral this year was to a Fairview surgeon. I'm happy with my experience so far at the U of MN Fairview, but I WISH that I was going to Unity (for logistics sake). Driving on the University Campus and dealing with their parking situation is less than ideal. :cursing:

Way to go! I can't wait to join you in Onederland! Thank you for the inspiration. BTW, I'm not so sure I'd call that a "NSV". It seems like a pretty specific SV! :smile:

That is hysterical! It might just work for me? :smile2:

It's a HUGE difference! You look great. Thanks for the inspiration! :smile2:

I'm also taking Zoloft. I started taking it about 5 months before my surgery, and it upset my stomach for the first few days. For the first couple months, I was taking Xanax while the Zoloft built up in my system. I haven't had any issues continuing it post-band, and am not in a hurry to give it up.

Your best bet is probably to email the pics from the phone to your email address. Then grab the pictures from the email and save them on your computer. From there, you could upload them here.

Several friends, most of my family and a lot of my coworkers all know about it. Nobody has been anything less than supportive, at least not to me personally. For some reason, I'm shy about mentioning it on Facebook though?

My port is about an inch below my bra line just to the left of center. I don't think so. It's only been a couple months, but no problems yet. I wouldn't want it at my waist-line where jeans could irritate it. I never thought to ask if I had a choice! I can feel it if I palpitate my abdomen, but once the post-surgery healing was complete, I don't feel it during the course of normal activities. Can't answer yet!

My surgeon suggested that once we advance to "solid" food that we shouldn't EVER need to back up to mushies or liquids (including after a fill.) After your post-op period, while you can certainly still eat soup, it's not likely to leave you feeling very satisfied.

liquid in = Liquid Out!! :smile2: I wish someone had warned me about that, too!

I also got a month off. I had 100% short term disability coverage, so when the surgeon asked me when I wanted to go back to work, I gave him the date following the last day of disability coverage. :thumbup: It was fantastic! I felt like hell the first week and was really glad that I had more time off. The second week started to get better. Weeks 3 and 4 were sheer bliss! :thumbup:

My surgeon won't do fills until 8 weeks post-op. But, once he starts, he's not shy. I had my first fill, with 6ccs, on Tuesday. It's made a BIG difference so far. Where I was hungry all the time before, it seems I can go 4-5 hours between small meals now. I hope it continues!

Way to go! You are an inspiration. :smile:

Somehow I disappeared from the spreadsheet, so I just added myself back in. I've changed my goal to a more realistic one though. There's no way I'm going to be able to lose 56 more pounds in the next 3 months! I've changed my goal to 230 instead of 200.

I, too, have wondered what it was supposed to mean. Is it part of your signature? If so, I'm assuming you could edit it out of there in the control panel....

What about Crystal Light? I LIVE on it. I love the lemonade, fruit punch, and sunrise orange.

Happy Anniversary, Nicole!! 24 pounds in a month is FANTASTIC! Way to go. :biggrin: My surgery was the same day as yours..... I'm happy with a 14 pound loss. Oooooh, and HUNGRY, too! Counting the days until my first fill.

Hi Tina! How are you feeling after 3 fills? Do you feel like you're getting close to the sweet spot? I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since my surgery already, and hope the next 4 weeks goes just as fast. I need my band "turned on" ASAP!

Those 3 to 4 months will go faster than you believe! Good luck with everything. :biggrin:

Hi Cheryl. OMG, no, that hasn't all been since the banding (I wish!) 38 pounds was pre-surgery - April through July. I've lost 11 since my surgery 3 1/2 weeks ago. I've been less active during my "recovery period" and in the last week or so I've found myself to be incredibly hungry and able to eat ANYTHING. Ughhhh. At this point, I'm going to be happy if I don't gain weight in the 5 more weeks until my first fill.

Hi Nelson! What has been most successful for me is tracking what I consume, and the activity that I get, and trying to make sure that I output more calories than I input. It really all comes down to eating healthier/smaller portions and being as active as possible. Good luck!

Hey Jenn! Dr. Leslie did my surgery, too. I haven't really interacted with HIM all that much, but he definitely knows what he's doing and I haven't had any issues since my banding 3 1/2 weeks ago. I had to lose 20 pounds pre-surgery and lost it almost entirely by just MOVING more. Having been a couch potato for the past several years, it didn't take much more than 20-30 minutes of daily walking to drop that 20. I lost a total of 38 pounds pre-surgery without really changing my eating habits all that much at all. Be careful that you don't burn yourself out on the Protein Shakes before the surgery, because after the surgery you might not have too many other options initially. Unless of course, you LIKE them. I was ok with a few of them initially, but now the thought of them makes me gag!

Hi there! I just joined a few weeks ago, too. I'm also in MN, and have Health Partners. I had to have a psych consultation with MMPI evaluation, and complete 5 sessions of phone consultations with a Health Partners dietician (at a minimum of 2 weeks between each call), and get a letter from my Primary Care Provider documenting my weights over the last 2 years and previous weight loss attempts. The whole thing went VERY smoothly. Once all of those requirements were met, they didn't hesitate to approve the procedure. It took just about 4 months between my initial consultation at the surgeon and my banding. I went to the University of MN (Fairview). Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions!