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I only have 3.6 more pounds to lose and I will be able to schedule surgery and start my 4 week pre-op diet (Phase 3). I am HAPPY TODAY. And scared. And happy. And nervous. And then happy again. For the last month I have worked my ass off doing my requirements, losing weight. All in the face of: Tax audit Fiance job demotion 15 year old picked up at a party now has probation officer til May to avoid a "frequenting" charge House repairs we can't afford Etc. But it all blew up the same week I started this. And Ive kept on track. Its scary. 3.6 pounds seems so small, and at the same time, feels like 20 pounds away again. Normally putting such pressure on hitting a "number goal" isn't something I do ( I go by my size) but its my requirement...and the closer it gets the more it feels like *something* else is going to happen. Something else will finally happen and break my resolve to complete this and I will end up gaining or regaining (rapidly, as I am wont to do) the weight I have lost, and not make my requirements by the time I am supposed to. So. I have my Water bottle. And my Walk Away the Pounds DVD is queued up to play on my PS3. Im so close.

I only have 3.6 more pounds to lose and I will be able to schedule surgery and start my 4 week pre-op diet (Phase 3). I am HAPPY TODAY. And scared. And happy. And nervous. And then happy again. For the last month I have worked my ass off doing my requirements, losing weight. All in the face of: Tax audit Fiance job demotion 15 year old picked up at a party now has probation officer til May to avoid a "frequenting" charge House repairs we can't afford Etc. But it all blew up the same week I started this. And Ive kept on track. Its scary. 3.6 pounds seems so small, and at the same time, feels like 20 pounds away again. Normally putting such pressure on hitting a "number goal" isn't something I do ( I go by my size) but its my requirement...and the closer it gets the more it feels like *something* else is going to happen. Something else will finally happen and break my resolve to complete this and I will end up gaining or regaining (rapidly, as I am wont to do) the weight I have lost, and not make my requirements by the time I am supposed to. So. I have my Water bottle. And my Walk Away the Pounds DVD is queued up to play on my PS3. Im so close.

I took a notebook with a list of questions I already had so that I wouldn't forget any. And that way I could write down the answers and any other notes. They'll ask you to describe your previous attempts at weight loss so you may want to jot a few notes down on that before hand - when, what did you try, how much did you lose, how long before you started to regain etc. They'll go through all the surgery options and discuss with you your specific conditions etc and help decide what will be the best option for your particular case. So it does take a while but it is not overwhelming. In my case, while I do see my primary doc regularly (2x a year to monitor my high blood pressure) he is only in the background for this process. I'm using the surgeon and his nutritionist for my insurance-required 6 month medically supervised pre-op period. I am having my primary copied on all tests etc and his office is part of the same larger medical group that the surgeon is in so he has total access to the records at my surgeon's office. But the point is, you probably won't HAVE to use your primary doc for this process other than to get the letter of recommendation.

You will most likely need it forever. I've found that the way, amount and foods that I eat are pretty "normal". Most people would just think I have a small, ladylike appetite. I eat healthy foods but I occasionally have treats. I like wine in moderation. I run five times a week and do bootcamp twice, so I do much more exercise than "normal". But my lifestyle overall is a healthy, normal one and I dont need a tight band, so I can eat any foods. But without my band, I'd probably regain. I think my habits have improved such that I wouldnt hit previous highs, but I couldnt stay this light either.

He's normal. food in the digestive tract absorbs huge amounts of Water, and water weighs 8.33 pounds per gallon. When he goes back on solid food, he can expect a weight regain as his body absorbs water to keep the food in his digestive tract in a semi-solid state.

I cant allay your fears about the problems continuing now that you've had an issue, I guess you can only be positive about the fact that the band is in position, and that's one major problem that hasnt occurred. As to success with not gaining whilst unfilled - well that is doable. I was unfilled for over 6 months and then took 3 months to get back to my normal level and I didnt gain weight. Well.... that's not strictly true, but I only regained weight that I lost - about 8 lb - I got way way too skinny from being absolutely ultra careful and exercising like a maniac whilst having chemo. I regained that weight, but I'm still 10lb lighter than when I got unfilled last year. I just continued with what I knew worked and whilst I definitely at more with no fill, I made sure that "more" was made up things like salads, fruit and wholegrain bread - all light, low calorie, no fat kinda foods, and kept my portions of Protein and fat foods at banded size. I lost significant weight doing that as whilst I'd had fill, I'd slipped into a slider food routine and was eating a lot of calorie dense foods like cookied, too much full fat yogurt, Soups which I didnt hesitate to add cream to, all that sort of thing. Once I cut that out and replaced with salads, fruit and bread, I said bye bye to about 20lb remarkably quickly - and I was at a BMI of 22 to begin with! My routine is generally an hour of hard cardio about five days a week and about three strenght sessions (sand bag circuit training or Body Pump classes using pretty heavy weights). Chemo/radiation and a big surgery in which I was given an ileostomy helped to keep that weight down, but a lot of it was my hard work. It can be done! And at the very least, its much better to only gain a little than a lot. Dont just give up whatever you do.

Hi, For years now i've been sure that weight loss surgery wasn't my answer ... and yet, here I am, starting to seriously consider it and wanting to learn more to help with making the decision. I've met with a surgeon and he has suggested both the gastric sleeve and bypass are options; and explained that I would lose a bit more with the bypass which he would usually recommend at my weight (although not necessarily) ... so now this is another decision to make as far as which way to go before i see him again. For me, I know that while the food and exercise aspect of weight gain and loss have been a very unhealthy relationship for the last 40 years (mid-40's now) it's my thinking that has been the main impact on this journey and subsequent weight loss sabotage. I've always struggled with using food as a coping tool for most things; from dealing with emotions, to distractions, to trying to cope with the impacts of various traumatic experiences. Now after a life time of morbid obesity, my body clings to the weight when I do start losing and I regain so fast it seems like I just blink (although i know it's more than this really). Increasing health issues, and a desire to live a healthier more active and fulfilling life have led me to where i am now .... as well as an increasing number of medical professionals saying that while i might lose the weight without surgery they think it's unlikely I would keep it off. Some of the things that are impacting my decision are I guess the usual questions of what it would be like to not have food to turn to in the same way; wondering how to replace food with other alternatives for coping and wondering how it will impact my life when until now eating has been such a big part of it. Right now, i'm taking some time to focus on working on finding other coping tools aspect of things so that if i go forward I give myself the best chance of success possible. As part of that I'm working with a therapist, reading what i can find that might be helpful and open to other suggestions. I know that for this to work, I need to work on the mental side of things ..... and that in turn will help with being able to do the rest. I'm also in the position of not really having much support to make this journey; so another reason finding online support and people to talk this through with is really important because I keep seeing how it is so much better to do this with the support of others. Currently i'm leaning towards the sleeve, and as well as working on the mental side of things trying to work out whether it would be good to spend some time losing weight prior to surgery or not; the dietician seemed to think that if i did that i might get discouraged and not have the incentive following surgery that i'd need ....... and that if i was going to lose it, i would have already. I'd be interested hearing how others have gone forward with this as far as losing weight prior to surgery (apart from the two weeks prior) or not .... As well as any other suggestions or information; and I think just knowing that there are others going through similar things will help Very glad to have found this site and look forward to taking part I think my current head space is a mixture of being terrified and hopeful all wrapped in one!

@catwoman7 thanks for explaining some of the things you did pre-surgery and how they helped; and well done on your weight loss .... it's really helping reading a little of others experiences @GradyCat congratulations on the weight you've lost since surgery; and that's so encouraging to read that the surgery has helped you with the emotional eating as well; and to know i'm not alone in wondering regarding the hunger compared to emotional eating issue. Thanks for what you've shared @Orchids&Dragons thanks very much for your reply here. Definitely not something to do as a first option. i've done the loss, maintain, regain thing ........ a number of times. I've read some of the stories of sabotage after wls, and this is definitely something i want avoid, and to try and sort through before the surgery and find ways to reduce that happening. So working on my head, and finding new coping tools; that will then help with the surgery (as another tool) seems to be the direction I need to be taking

My goal is 140. For my height I could go as low as 120 but I don't think that would look good on me. I am worried about regain so I want a little wiggle room but I guess I will know if that weight suits me when I get there. I have another 28 pounds to go to reach 140..:thumbup:

dfdscott glad you are not going to change your mind about having surgery - keep that positive mindset your determination is great - good for you!!!! having WLS is wonderful - you will feel so healthy and happy glad your parents and wife are finally trying to be on board the "thing" about "you can loose weight on your pre-op, so just do this on your own"......... if a person has never been in your/our shoes - they couldn't possibly understand how hard/impossible it is for "us" to keep the weight off we've all yo yo'd - lost. then regained we are abusing our body with all the fluctuations up and down with our weight when someone is "concerned" or comments in a negative way - try to ignore their thought thank them for their concern - but tell them you have made up your mind- end of sentence - then try and change the subject i know "its" easier said than done - give it a try though thats what i did with a few people - "they" still weren't happy - they might have "discussed" bad things behing my back - oh well but............i decided i had to do this for myself - didn't want to listen to any negative!! hope you have your DOS soon good luck speedy recovery good luck with surgery 110% speedy recovery

Hi, I am very new to this, and I just made the decision that I want to change for the better and have comitted to a Lap-Band. I am looking for someone to talk to about this, who could offer a little advice and encouragement. I am new to the Lubbock area and really don't know many people. I am doing this with only my husband and kids in my corner, my family and parents are totally against this procedure. They feel like I am taking the "easy way" out, which hurts me because after failed diet after diet and gaining and regaining any weight I had lost, I had lost only my hope to make any kind of progress with my battle with my weight. I would just like a girlfriend to talk to who understands what I am going through and who could offer advice and help. I am a 37 year old mother of two, my son is 13 and my daughter is 14 and I have devoted my life to my kids and husband, putting myself last.... and now it has caught up to me but now I understand that I need to take care of myself as well if I am to be around long enough to care for and be in my kids and loved one's lives. Like I intend on, lol ok well I hope to hear from you ladies, I have read a few topics here on this site and am very happy to see so much encouragement and possitivity!

Hi everyone! I was banded March 8th: _ 1st fill March 29th as I had no restriction - 2nd fill was April 24th I have had very modest weight loss, about 9lbs 2 lbs of which I regained last week before the 2nd fill. I have had a problem with vomiting often but inconsistently on different foods, ie. some days I am ok to eat salads with chicken and some days I am not. I am a little discouraged as I keep hearing there is a sweet spot but I am not finding it. I find it difficult to eat as I throw up and also don't feel full with little amounts when I can eat. I almost have my regular appetite. I was also told to take an antireflux medicine daily. Has anyone found this helps with getting food stuck/vomiting and pressure below the breastbone? I could use anyone's advice right about now. Savannah

I'm not long into this yet -- almost 10 months, and have already hit goal and lost 5 pounds below that now. Maintenance is new to me -- about 1-1/2 months now. For me, the difference seems to be: 1. Less hunger -- the "lot less ghrelin" factor has been a big deal for me. 2. Restriction -- that's still a big deal for me, too. As we all know, the restriction is less than it used to be. But it's quite functional at this point. 3. New habits -- boy, do I have a lot of good, new habits: eating slower, chewing longer, planning my daily menus, recording my food intake, weighing daily. I'm even grooming myself better -- brushing teeth 2X daily, doing better skin care, getting dressed every day, wearing makeup, getting my hair done on schedule, etc. 4. I can move more now -- and, boy, do I move more! Weighing 90 pounds less has made me MUCH more energetic. I simply could not move much at all a year ago. And all that moving is burning calories. I'm cleaning house, walking, exercising, gardening, shopping more, and everything else you can imagine. 5. Elevated mood. I'm not nearly as depressed as I was a year ago when I weighed 90 pounds more, I was in physical pain, I was a functional agoraphobic (I could fly cross-country, but refused to go to the local Wal-Mart). And now I'm simply not pissed, embarrassed, afraid, etc. I am so much happier. Skinnier Me = Happier Me = Skinnier Me. 6. Seeing a shrink has helped. I've never seen a shrink before, but at my PCP's urging started doing so when I started my WLS journey. He's helped me stay quite focused on the right stuff. No big trauma in my past has been uncovered. But I've explored the factors associated with my past failures in caring for myself in the past and ways I can change those patterns. That's all been very helpful. So far, for me, this has all been a dynamic dealio in that everything above seems to feed everything else. Put another way, when everything is working well, everything works well. When everything sucks, everything sucks. And according to my shrink, people who've reached goal risk regaining when they don't keep changing their goals, e.g., we lost weight -- now what? Get fitter? Leverage our new health to start our dreamed-for career? Human beings don't "stand still" very comfortably. ... anyway, those are some thoughts from my point of view. Kindle, I hope you can find some peace in all this chaos thrust upon you. I'd love to "poof" you better, but I can't find my wand right now. ;(

another good part about not getting too thin off the bat is that maintaining 160's is much more pleasant and easy than maintaining 120's! the chance to regain weight is so much higher if you get very thin. My goal is to just maintain, no more yo-yo-ing for me

Hi Everyone, I decided that I would make a list of things for new people who are thinking about having WLS that might be helpful to them. This is long so please PRINT THIS OUT TO READ if you don’t want to read it all at one time. This is my point of view after having surgery with Dr. Aceves , in Mexicali, Mexico. First thing is to start asking people on the board you are on all kinds of questions—make of list of things you want to ask and keep coming back and ask more questions as time goes on. The more questions that ask the more you educate yourself about WLS and the process and what doctor they liked. Don’t rely on just one source of information. It is really normal to have all kind of feeling and emotions when trying to decide if you want to have Weight Loss Surgery. I must have talked myself in and out of doing this at least 50 times during my 6 months of research. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. This is a big step. But if diet and exercise worked for us then we still wouldn’t be fat and would have lost the weight a long time ago and never regained it. It takes a lot of courage to have Weight Loss Surgery. I am very proud of you for looking into this. Don’t give any more days of your life being overweight, and your body hurting along with being unhealthy. WLS really is your answer. How do you select your surgeon? First of all this is NOT a time to price shop for the cheapest doctor to do your WLS—that is just the wrong way to go at this. There are a lot of doctors who advertise on the Internet doing sleeve surgery for a lot less than some other doctors. I found one posting from a person who had the following concerns after having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. (a) They put NO name band on her to be able to ID her when giving medications or anything else. ( NO one asked if she had any allergies to foods or medications—thank goodness this person didn’t have any. ( The lab did NOT label tubes of blood with the person’s name on it—very dangerous. © Day after surgery they gave this person ice chips, tea and apple juice. The next day (day 2) they gave this person NOTHING so this person asked why and the nurse said this person wasn’t allowed to eat anything. Well, this person then said I had Clear liquids the day before and they wanted to know WHO gave it to this person?? (d) This person was told that they would get a copy of the operative report on their discharge to take home with them—This person has not received it yet and that was about 2 weeks ago. So make sure have positive feedback about the Surgeon and Staff and Hospital that you choose. There are some good doctors out there and there are so NOT so good doctors out there. My choice after 6 months of research was Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. What I can tell you in my opinion is that he is the very best you will ever find to do your surgery. I can only speak about my experience and my research that I did before I made him my choice for a surgeon. I am sure there are other people out there that feel the very same way about their doctor too. Pack lightly for your WLS. So many of us have gone to Mexico, so you want a small suitcase with wheels, a laptop & a cell phone. The clothing that you wear to Mexico are the same ones you can wear home—slip on shoes work great too. Make sure that the clothing is loose fitting. Something just comfortable for your ride home. While in Mexico—that is if you go to Mexico for WLS make sure you take GAS-X. They have nothing in Mexico that they give your for gas, and the use gas in your abdominal area during surgery. It is painful after the surgery, so GAS-X STRIPS are easy to use by just placing them on your tongue. Take a couple of boxes with you—you will be glad you did. If you are going to use a credit card make sure you tell your credit card company and your Bank if you use your debit card or credit card. Sometimes if you DO NOT let these companies know you are outside of the US they block your charges. Use a credit card or debit card vs cash it is much easier to use. Take small amounts of cash for tips—I took $45.00 in 1’s for tip money for various things. If you go to any hospital anywhere leave ALL jewelry at home –just a watch and no rings or other jewelry. I never had any problems at all leaving my purse and computer& cell phone in my room while I was in surgery, but they recommend that you leave all jewelry at home. If you are a lady please remove all nail polish—they need it removed to see your nail beds during surgery. The first month you do after surgery is the HARDEST month you will ever have to do. You do 10 days of nothing but clear liquids to start with—that means you have to be able to see through the liquid. Do not panic if you can not get the Protein they want you to have the 1st 10 days—I couldn’t find anything I liked that was clear during the 1st 10 days. They want you to try to drink 64 oz each day, and I don’t think I could ever get that much Water drank—just do the best you can. Your new stomach has just had major surgery and it is swollen and will only hold something about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days gets much better—you are now on creamy liquids for these 10 days. You can now have some creamy Soups, yogurt, and pudding—sugar free and find a Protein Drink that you like. For me it is Premier Protein Drink and I get mine at costco. When looking for a protein drink, make sure they are low in calories, high in Protein—Premier has 30 grams of protein in each drink box and make sure you have low carbs too. I know there are a lot of other Protein drinks out there that people like. When it comes to carbs I tried to keep mine at no more than 20 carbs per day. Ask others what kind of Protein drinks they liked and where they get them. The last 10 days are mushy foods. So this is a bit of a challenge. How many foods can I make mushy? I even considered using some baby foods. Start thinking about what will work as mushy foods for you. Starting the 2nd month is quite an adventure. You can eat regular food. Here is where the relearning process takes place. You now will take tiny BABY BITES of food and chew each bit about 30 times or until it is like a liquid. From here on out you will need to take small bites of food and chew and chew and chew. I found out that chicken and fish were a lot easier to chew up. I don’t eat much red meat—your tastes will change and things you didn’t like a lot might taste good and something that you used to love don’t taste that great anymore. Keep track of what you are eating and keep your calories at about 800 calories per day and no more than 20 carbs per day—whole grain carbs are the best to have—NO white or refined carbs. I highly suggest that you keep track by writing them down or using some of the Internet sites that offers you this. I suggest this site it works great there are other sites to use this is just a suggestion. hair 3 or 4 months after having WLS. I would find a lot of hair in the shower after washing my hair. That is pretty normal for a lot of us—this does not happen to everyone. There is no magical cure for hair loss—some people use different shampoo’s or take Biotin. It happens and you live with it. YES, it will grow back. For me I had pencil straight hair and mine grew back natural curly and I love it now. I already had thin hair so for me, I got some cute wigs and wore them for about 9 months until my hair looked a lot better. It was worth the hair loss to lose 105 pounds. Because we eat a lot of protein we suffer from constipation. You need to have at least 70 grams of protein EACH day. So I mix my protein drink each morning with MIRALAX. It is NOT habit forming and is tasteless and it is just a good way to start off the day. I put the protein and a cap full of Miralax in the blender with about 5 small ice cubes and that is my Breakfast. 3 years later I still have this for breakfast and nothing else, it just works for me. You may have periods where you have what we call STALLS. You may be doing everything right and eating and exercising and you have NO weight loss for a week or more. This is normal—mine lasted 9 days. Don’t panic the weight loss will start up again, just keep doing what you are doing. Our heads play games with us sometimes it is ugly what our brain tried to convince us of—We call these “Head Games” and they really are tough times to work though, but you can do it. Your head is still thinking with your old brain and way of thinking that you have been doing for most of your life. You now are eating VERY small amount of food, but your head is used to you eating LARGE amounts of food and that is what your brain wants—so it tries to tell you the you should be eating more—NOT true at all. So you need to have a talk with yourself. Do I just WAN T to eat or do I really NEED to eat? You are not on a diet, but you are making a LIFESTYLE change and that is good because you can do this for the rest of your life. You will NEVER be able to eat like you used to. That is good because that is how we got fat. You will morn the loss of food—you will look around and see others inhaling all this food and you think to yourself—I used to eat like that. You will notice how fast people eat and inhale their food and talk and hardly chew what they are eating. That is pretty normal feeling to have—because you are now eating such small amounts of food and chewing and chewing. You will never be able to guzzle a bottle of water again—that is OK too. These are all good things. In time you will look at all the food people are eating and thinking to yourself oh my gosh I could never eat that much again—it is way too much food. When you have issues or problems come back to the board and ask others who have already done this. We are here to help and support you. Give or exchange all your fat clothes away. You will never need them again after they become too big for you. This weight loss is something you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. You have earned the right to have new clothes. Make sure you have the VERY best doctor that has had a lot of experience with sleeve surgery and check his success rates out. Check the doctor for HIGH patient reviews from the people who have gone to him or her. I can NOT STRESSS this enough. Make sure that your surgery is being done in a hospital NOT a Clinic. One clue that it is a clinic is if they send you to a hotel room to recover—that is why they cost less, this is also dangerous too. YOU are worth the extra money that it cost to have this WLS in a Hospital and by the best Doctor you can have. You want to have a happy and GREAT life and having the RIGHT Doctor and Hospital are the key to this. Sorry if this is long, but it is intended to have as a reference and answer a lot of your questions that you might have. For some of you, you are very lucky because your health insurance is now starting to pay for Weight Loss Surgery. For many of us, we did not have your luck, so we are self pay patients. There are companies that loan money for this surgery—be aware that their interest rate is high. Once you pick your doctor ask them about these companies that give loans for surgery if you are a self pay patient. You know we never think twice about making car payments. If you have to borrow the money for this surgery just look at this as “body payment.” It will be the best money you have ever borrowed. Please PRINT this out to read later. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me. I had surgery almost 4 years ago, so I do have quite a bit of experience. I really am here to help you along your journey. It took me 14 months to lose this weight and I was 63 when I had the surgery, so it is NEVER too late in life to do this.

I'm being sleeved the day after tomorrow ( the day before Thanksgiving). I started out between 255 and 260, woke up today to 194.9, so I'm wondering why I need surgery? That said, I'm thinking long term. I've lost before only to put it all back on again. Since I started this journey back in June, I've felt strong and committed to the process of regaining my health, and I still feel very capable. But that long term thing hangs in my mind. I can't begin to count the number of times I've felt sure I had this food thing down, only to go back to mindless eating. That is what keeps me wanting the surgery. Now, though, it's a mere two days away and my mind is spinning out of control. All opinions welcome, I'm feeling conflicted.

Hi Kate i had my WLS because i had tried any all "diets" hate that word. I also lost a zillion lbs over and over, and then gained the weight back + congrats on loosing your weight again through proper eating & exercise if you think this is the time you can keep the weight off, thats great - no WLS necessary but...............if once again you are afraid you might regain the weight, the WLS sleeve is for you IMO the sleeve gives you alot of help to loose your weight, but.............you have to work with the sleeve by eating properly, small portions, following many rules, esp Water drinking before, during and after meal good luck DOS 12/15/11 235 lbs 10/15/12 145 lbs down 90 lbs want 10 more so i can join Lissa and others in the Century Club good luck on your decision

Hi all, This will be a long post about my journey 6.5 weeks post-op and its a bit tough (like everyone else's!) So I have not updated in a while due going through a major stall. After surgery my weight went up 5lbs, dropped by 4 then again up by 2. I started feeling very lousy and discouraged. Was blaming it all on the fill... etc (naturally) But little by little I regained my will, well still trying, Put reminders to eat slow, eat little, drink Water and exercise will beep on my phone FOREVER. Yes, every 30 minutes I set up my phone to drink water. Funny when my hubs is at home he counts how many I missed I have 25 oz bottle and know exactly how much I drink. Four of those and I feel accomplished. Three and I am happy too! Two I know I have to get back on track. I can gulp for now as I am only 2cc so pretty loose. Second, I log my food on MFP for nutrients counting. Started right when I finished cake from my son's 2nd bday... I have now the 2 bad days to compare with... then I threw out all the sweet stuff (except my dark chocolate!). I still cheat a tiny bit (i know, booooooo!) my hubby had to make homemade ice-cream! but I only had a cup about when I had 300 cal def and made him feel so guilty for making ice-cream and not frozen yogurt haha Plus I walk 1.5 - 2 miles at least 5 days a week. Wish I could do 3 miles, but my little monster gets annoyed. Plus weather in NYC is not so friendly. No excuses, so I did my first day of exercise following an app on iPhone. Just 19 minutes, light one to prove how out of shape I am! Still soar and feels great. So thats it, eat & count calories, carbs, fat and Protein. Eating about half a cup per meal. Drinking water every 30 minutes, but not 30 min before and after meals and get moving! Oh and I did buy Alex & Natalie's "The big book on lap band" just for support still reading ... Finally, I am down to 225.8 lbs! Its a tough journey but I chose the perfect tool. Thank you for reading and hope to hear some stories too. lula

My highest weight ever was 368 which was like 10 years ago. I had lost weight over the years and never regained (Atkin's etc.). So by the time I started inquiring about LapBand i was like 320. I lost 20 pounds from the time I got serious about band and surgery day. On surgery day, I was 300.5 & today I am 225. So not all of my weightloss was due to the band. Only about 75-80 pounds of it. I'm in a serious plateau right now but still losing inches. This bothers me tremendously because I want the scale to move some too. People say that is still good because means I am losing fat/gaining muscle but I'm not trying to be a body builder or anything. I just want to see 199.

They do follow up with them, but they start the show on their road to surgery and most of them take a long time to qualify so that is most of the show, getting them to buy in. People on 600lb Life are the worst representation of WLS patients because they are severe food addicts. Most of them lose weight post-op with terrible, trash diets, They perpetuate the myth that you can lose weight with WLS eating anything. 75% of the people that post on this and other WLS forums have trash diets too, Which is why the general population doesn't think that WLS is hard work and that everyone regains.

Losing weight while not hungry will come with your restriction. Until then, chances are (unfortunately) that you're going to be hungry. And you should eat as you're still healing and not really to the point of "weightloss" with the band. I totally lucked out and never regained my appetite, which now almost 9 months after the fact isn't as great as it may sound. When you do eat focus on solid Proteins (when you can), and foods with Fiber or mass (e.g. mashed potatoes vs. Jello, cottage cheese vs. soup). They help you feel full longer.

I am looking for folk at a similar place in the process and with similar stats to buddy up with and compare notes. I am in NC 45 yo. 5" 1' BMI 41.5 224 lbs. Surgery in mid-late June I want to regain my ability to go kayaking, camping, and to feel sexy again!! I want to be good roll model for my girls, 3 and 5 yo. I make fairly healthy food choice, but I seem to have a super human appetite. I seem to be able to eat twice as much as other folks w/o feeling full at all. Here's to making friends and not going it alone. :biggrin:

Thank you, LipstickLady. Logically, I know he has my best interest in mind. He wants to ensure a safe procedure. I just quickly got my heart set on it, and it seems so unattainable. In my entire state, there are only three clinics. I'm going to go ahead and do the testing, to see the results. If he does not/will not proceed, I will see another clinic, as my general practitioner is actually three hours away, so therefore was actually more familiar with another clinic (my OB had referred me to this specific clinic, as it is closer to my home - sounds confusing, but I live between two places, as I have a home home, but a secondary home, because I teach at a University). As far as a plan for losing the weight at the moment, they simply printed off the 10 day preop diet they use. That does not really work for me, however, as it incorporates a lot of 'green' foods, which I cannot eat (on blood thinners, so I cannot eat green veggies). I also asked him for suggestions for controlling hunger, as I am on Depo Provera shots, which his nurse practitioner said was more than likely increasing my appetite (I asked her how it influenced weight, as I was told by a doctor it does, and that was the reason I had regained the 74 pounds I lost last year, with friends). He had no recommendations.

I am here as everyone else to learn as much as I can about the Lapband surgery...before and after. I am not yet scheduled and am attending a seminar Jan. 7. I am so going to do this and am excited about the process. I am a mother of 5, married for over 27 yrs. to a husband that isn't ctitical but sometimes I think that wasn't in my favor cause I have to lose over 100 lbs. I have the same history as everyone I am sure. Dieting every way possible, excerciseing to lose a number of lbs. only to regain it plus more. That leaves me where I am now. Any encouraging words or tips would be gr8. Thanks:smile2:

Hi kath, and welcome. You will find answers to most of your questions on our various forums. When you first get banded, you will be focused on healing, not losing weight. At first, you may feel like you have restriction, but that is just your tummy swelling from the surgery. Once that swelling goes down, you will mostly likely regain your hunger. Most people don't lose much during this phase, and many do gain. But, again, at this point, the focus is on healing. The band is designed to work with a proper fill. Once you are healed and start getting fills, you will find the restriction you are looking for and begin to start your weight loss then.