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I put off my life for a year post-op. I didn't feel like my weight was low enough to seek out a new job, get out and have fun, or try dating. I think it's pretty common, much like the way people order a new "as seen on tv" exercise tool. And then wait for it to arrive before starting any kind of exercise program. I know I've done it. Get my free eBook - The Top 10 WLS Fears and How to Kick Their Butt!

I have a busy life and have a crazy nutty schedule that rules my life 1 baby daddy, 2 beautiful children, 1 house to run, 1 building to operate , 1 spa to run, 9 employees sometimes varies love interests and a partridge in a pear tree. But anyway i am not 19 months post op. HAVE LOST 74 lbs !!!!! Holy crap - i know i havent blogged in a long time but i now wear a regular ladies pant size 16 comfortably sometime a 14w still having bosy issues and eating issues - think my band is about half full and i am down to only eating about 2-3 oz at a time some funnie things that have changed for me I really cant eat rice or bread without feeling uncomfortable. White heavy foods are very hard to digest so after a while i really dont even want them at all !!! imagine a fat girl not into mashed potatoes. I have to stay very conscious of what i am eating and how much. I can eat anything i really want however the volume is so small i never thought this little food would fill me but it does. After losing 8 pants sizes i find myself wanting to excercise. I bought myself a gazelle excercize machine for christmas. Is great to do 30 minutes makes it a couple miles easy workout but effecient at getting up my heart rate. I am also finding out that i have way more endurance and energy. been working like a dog doing outdoor work - cleaning taking down walls in my house never a dull moment. People have told me how thin my face looks this is where things get strange for me even though i knwo my clothes are smaller and the number on the scale has dropped when i look in the mirror i still see myself as a fat girl. I mean i am actually less than 200 lbs for the first time in like 10 years maybe more - I have never been this thin as an adult. Is great get lots of attention from guys i feel sexy - still curvy i have a big ol butt. thinkin i always will but not that i am at 199 lbs my goal is 150 that means goal is only 49 lbs away at my current rate i am losing about 1-2 lbs a week 49 lbs will be here before 2011 and we all know how fast the years can fly by have even been looking at vacations bathing suits things that just might have made my skin crawl for a while i am now embracing. Is nuts the fat girl still lives in my head though she talks to me - :eat the cake" take one more bite- save that for a little while you will eat more again soon - aaauuuggghhh ! SHut Up already i have more wilpower have thrown away great dinners with moutheatering flavors - just trying my best to listen to my body and when i do that first deep breath at dinner I STOP EATING- is such a novel thing for me i will checkin more often and keep updates current watch out bathing suits stores i am coming in ! :thumbup:

Hey everyone- im 10 days post op and lost quickly in the first week. Seems to be slow now and Im kinda getting discouraged. Im happy with the weight I did lose but Im starving all the time and I yet to find my filler. Today I made chicken riggies for my family and i mashed up some chicken and im eating that now. I havent felt nausea or sick yet so is it too early to start eating. I have been on liquids and had mashed pot yesterday- does anyone know why I shouldnt be eating this or is it going to harm me. I need help starting to have doubts and my struggle is just yet to begin. Please help...thanks guys

I had my first fill today. It went much worse than I had imagined it would. The doctor (my surgeon) couldn't get the right angle or something, but he stuck me like 10 times. After the first few sticks, he took a break and gave me some lidocaine injections. It was better after that, but not pain free. I was on the verge of being on the verge of tears. :crying: My regular physician came in part way through the procedure. He's being taught how to do an unfill in case of an emergency. Bless his heart, he could tell I was distressed and he came and held my hand. I was doing labor breathing techniques to get through this. The surgeon kept saying this was a hard one. He'd get the needle in, but couldn't inject the saline. Finally, the saline went in. He withdrew it a couple of times to prove that he was indeed in the port and not just in the tissue. I may very well have been his first fill since he is a new (to the lapband) surgeon. Though I can't imagine he hasn't at least had the chance to do some practice fills somewhere. Anyway, I'm really hoping the next one will go much better. Ugh. I got 3 ccs in my 10cc AP band. On the bright side, I am down 30 pounds as of this morning. Yay!

I didn't try raw veggies until about 10 weeks Post Op. I'm about 3 months now and I eat whatever veggie I want cooked or raw. I just chew really good. I cut them up really fine or even use my potato peeler for cucumber, carrots and radishes if I have a small salad. That way it is thin sliced and easy to chew. I haven't had dumping from eating anything but I have had it from drinking right after I ate. I just mindlessly did it as habit and paid for it. Anyways, I think you'll be fine if you chew really good. I just recently added peppers to the mix and those were fine too.

I have this scale from HoMedics (bought it at BB&Beyond) and I love it. I can step on and off it 10 times and it always shows the same exact weight. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14755357 I also really love it that it gives me my weight by 10th of a pound. It's nice to see even small progress. Plus, I love it that the scale is so accurate. After years on a scale that could vary 3-5 lbs within 30 seconds, it's nice to see a number and know it's real! BTW, HoMedics has some cheaper scales than this one -- I just got this one b/c I wanted it to go with my bathroom. I don't use all of the features on it. Catherine

Hi Angela, You are doing excellent right now. Remember that any weight loss before you are properly restricted is bonus weight. Now is a time for your stomach to heal, not to focus on losing weight(though I know that is VERY hard!!) I went thru the exact same feelings as you are, feeling like I wasn't losing as much weight as other bandsters....Usually there will be a fast loss at the beginning and then the weight loss will slow to 1-2 lbs a week AFTER you are properly restricted. This is the hard part, I won't lie. I couldn't wait till I had restriction b/c I was basically wide open and was able to eat anything and everything. Just try to focus your best on eating lean Protein and veggies once you are able to and off of mushies. You may be one of the lucky ones and experience restriction right off of the bat or with only one fill. It took me 2 big ones to feel anything. Patience is key with this band. I am still working on it!! About the working out, I was able to 2 weeks after my surgery. I was SO sick of simply walking as well so I got the OK from my surgeon to proceed. A lot of people will wait 6 weeks on the weights, it is up to you though. I was fine on everything but situps because of the pain in my port area and stitches I waited. Congrats on your awesome weight loss so far!!! ~Liz~ banded 03/10/06 Dr.Ortiz 241/199/150 5'7''

I was banded about three and a half weeks ago (on May 17th). At first the weight was dropping off quickly--I was losing one to two pounds per DAY. But then after about 10 days, my weight loss sort of just halted. I think part of it was due to the fact that I went out of town and several times I ate milkshakes (b/c there was nothing else on the menu I could "eat"). Part of it is probably also because I haven't been walking as much as I probably should. All in all, I've dropped something like 12 pounds (most of which was lost in the first 10 days or so). It's still pretty good to lose 12 pounds in less than a month, but I feel like I'm not doing very well compared to other bandsters. I probably just need to exercise more but I'm so darn tired of walking around my neighborhood. I want to start going to the gym but I'm not sure how long I need to wait before I can start doing the eliptical machine and/or swimming. Does anybody know how long after surgery one should wait before starting a more vigorous exercise routine? Thanks for any tips/opinions/words of encouragement!

Dude With Bagpipes Plays 'Thunderstruck' by ACDC I suddenly feel the need to purchase a kilt, and a flame throwing set of bagpipes! http://www.ebaumswor...rIHKiiGzG8Ls.01

Hi, I'm scheduled with Dr. Umbach on 11-5-10. He quoted me $11,000 for outpatient and $15,000 for in patient. I was told he performs his inpatient surgerys on Wednesday at the hopsital where you stay one night and his outpatient surgerys on Fridays at the surgery clinic and get out the same day. There is a big difference in price by going home the same day... and now I'm wondering if I should try to get that extra $4,000 somewhere so I can have it performed in the hospital. I'm self pay. I don't know the answer to your drain question. I am awaiting a response from Dr. Umbach's office on a few more questions, and one was about the drain. Do you live Las Vegas?

Okay i went on monday up to Frankfurt to see Dr. Weiner. I spent an hour in his waiting room. When it was my turn my appt. was like seriously 10 min. He just asked me which WLS i wanted. I told him the lapband, he said that he liked to do them on higher BMI then mine(what 40 isn't good enough:smile:) But i told him i was sure that this was the right choice for me and so no more was said. He just asked me when i wanted to do it. We settled on June 27th 2008. So it looks like ill be a jazzy june. He also had me lay down and looked at my gallbladder for stones, and checked my kidneys and liver and told me all was good. I check into the hospital on the 26th I will do the rest of the pre op tests like Upper GI,EKG etc. and then stay the night and have the surgery in the morning on the 27th. I will have to stay that night also(*sigh*) But he said as long as everything looked good i could go home Sat. morning. I really did not want to stay so long but its a long drive and the tests take most of the day so i understand, less stress to. My husband is going to drive me up and drop me off, he cannot stay as we have a lil boy and he has to work. But he will come pick me up Sat. morning :thumbup: Well im excited and nervous all at the same time. Its different doing it here in then in the states. They do not speak alot of english in the hospital but im hoping they will do their best to assign me the best english speaking nurses LOL.. Tri care can still deny me, but im thinking in the positive and feel they won't. Well everyone wish me luck, cause im on my way to a new me.:cursing:

I'm on my medically supervised diet and it's 1200 calories a day. I follow it to the letter-no cheating. It's almost 10 weeks and I'm down 40 lbs. if I lose more than 12 more in the next two and a half weeks I may be denied for surgery because my bmi will be too low!

Hi Lisa I am a newbie too, and feel the same way. At about day three, the hunger started, and I am keeping a food journal to make sure I don't drink too many calories. As for the nausea, I only felt nausea and hunger together when I was pregnant. Are you taking any Vitamins or medicinces on an empty stomach or at night before you go to sleep? That might be the cause. You could try taking any medicine with some skim milk and see if that helps. Good luck. Dessia Banded 10/10/06

Dont focus on the 10% failure rate or you are setting yourself up to fail! Every single person I've ever met regretted having the surgery in the first couple weeks; I know I did. I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I did not suffer from the pain or depression issues that you are, but I definitely thought I shouldn't have had the surgery and was very scared. These feelings will pass! Getting the band was the BEST thing I EVER DID and I would do it all over again! Hang in there, the doubt will go away, and you will be on your way to a healthy life!

This sounded strange to me but I'll share. My friend had her surgery over three years ago. She lost 153 lbs in 10 months. She said her surgeon told her to expect skeletal pain because everything was relieved of the pressure and the changes caused the pain. She has no pain now and she is 55,

I am in the pre-op stage. I was always the worlds worst for getting off of track on whatever diet I was on, and always telling myself tomorrow/next week/after I get past this/ I am going to start eating better. Truth be told those days built one on another another and got me to where I am today or actually 1 month ago... but I started my pre-op diet 10 days ago and wow what a change already! We all have our own reason why we do what we do or have done what we used to do. Get back to the basics, I know it's hard because I went all day today with cravings, but I told myself to keep my head in the game...and not to sabotage the progress I have made. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!! Eat healthy.... don't give into the temptations, you are stronger than they are because you made the decision of start your journey..... and that is one the hardest and strongest decisions the we make for ourselves!!!! And remember don't regret yesterday, but look for tomorrow!!!!! Hang in there, and best of luck!!!!!

Almost a week since my April Fool's Day first blog posting, and i've finally procrastinated myself into this 1.39am effort. I told myself that i would record this journey, and i will. I know to do so, is important for me because i must always remember what life is like now at my heaviest, 193.5kg (427lbs)... for those days when i want to give up on the struggle to stay on my pre-op diet, or post-op when things might get a little rough and i feel frustrated. If you chance upon this blog, this blurb, is just so (if the going ever gets tough) i can come back and read this and remember... why. As it stands today, i struggle to think of a time in my life ever... when life with food, wasn't a struggle for me. As a baby i was a little 'pudgy' but in a relatively 'healthy' way. I was certainly active enough and full of strife too, from all accounts. Even as a toddler, i have pics of me still 'pudgy' but within the realms of the wider 'normal weight' for age. From my first and second grade pics tho, i was taller and wider than most of the other girls, and i suspect was already starting to overeat and probably not exercise as much as i should have for my age. I seemed to be pudgy one year and taller and slimmer the next, though never as slim as the other girls. I had a little double chin in my Grade 3 photo. Even then, i was still fairly fit. I was quite good at sports, and on every team we had at school. Between myself and my best friend... we were Captain of all but a few of the teams as well. I was a good swimmer and represented my district and even twice, my state in sports. I think i had the height, size and strength rather than the agility and that held me in good stead for a spot on most teams. I was also a pretty good strategist and good at motivating and organising others. I grew up on a farm and we worked every day before and after school. Most weekends in between team sports fixtures, we worked as well. At that time, i was 'chunky' and probably even 'fat' by todays standards, but think all the activity i was doing was holding my obesity at bay. Certainly when i hit senior and gave up most sports to study and work part time in a pizza place, the weight started to pile on. I didn't really notice, i guess because i had plenty of friends, got good grades, was voted class captain each year, and made the school honour roll. Some would call that kind of thinking, denial. Today i would agree with them. In college that trend continued, only now i was starting out on the 'dieting' merry-go-round. I would lose 10 or 15 kg's (30-40lbs) and then gain it all back and then some within a few short months. I hated my size by then, and avoided most sports as a result. By the time i was 21 i was 120+kg (260lbs). I remember losing about 40kb (100lbs) and feeling pretty good about myself. Life was good, and then a series of unfortunate things happened... life's ups and downs... and my weight went with up and down, right along with them. Through my 20's, with all the parties... when i wasn't eating i was drinking. Even that i did to excess too, ending up hospitalised and told to give up the booze of else! I did that, and the eating took over, even more completely. Add to this, smoking... a habit that would quickly turn into 50 cigs / day to try and help me ward off hunger pangs. I really can't begin to complain tho, because even as a 'bigger' girl, i really did have it all in many ways. I had a good education; a great job that paid really well; a nice feller that i was to marry the following year.. flash car; fun holidays; many friends... but life's what happens while you're busy making plans. It's a long story, but somewhere in the middle of that, my world caved in, and i just could not cope with the reality of what happened. I left and without planning or even a necessarily a destination... went overseas. To this day, i'm not sure what i was looking for, but i didn't find it overseas. As my friends referred to it, my "world tour of war zones" (i seemed to have a penchant for going to dangerous places) showed me a lot about life and a little about me. Mind i had the time of my life... but yet still, 41 countries later, i was stunned at the realisation of how little had changed when i finally got home. I had changed a little however, and managed to lose a fair amount of weight whilst trapsing from one end of the planet to the other... carrying that huge backpack. For a long time it was the hardest thing settle down and get back to work. So I studied, and then studied some more. I was bored for the excitement perhaps, so i began trying for promotions again. These came fairly easily, and quickly. I was once again successful at what i did, and happy. I had a great life, and the time and motivation to eat well and exercise... and i lost more weight. Enter, my now ex-husband. I'm not sure how to explain what happened next, but when he asked me to marry him... it seemed like the next right thing to do, settle down and start a family. He seemed so perfect for me too. So what happened... i lost a son, my sister died of a brain tumour, his brother committed suicide, and i was working 60 hours a week and coming home to raise two little girls on my own and run his business too. Somewhere in it all of that i lost myself in a relationship that was to become so incredibly and entirely toxic that it nearly killed me and my kids... literally! PTSD for the kids and i, divorce, bankruptcy, major upheaval from our home, my work, and then having to nurse my mother as she died of leukaemia. All in the space of about 5 years. Long days and even longer nights and i was so very very, tired... eating anything in front of me, my weight ballooned again to 160+kg's (350lbs). Then, i gave up smoking... and the final 30kg's came quickly. That day not so long ago when i stood on the scales and saw 193.5kg's (427lbs)really scared me. Already i was having mobility, health and every day life related problems. Sitting there, that morning too, i knew that no program alone, not theirs or anyone else's, let alone any diet... was enough to help me. That's why, the next day... 07 March 2010. 07.03.10, my Mum's lucky numbers.. i decided to have the LAP-BAND® surgery. I know people do this for many reasons, all of which are valid. I know in my heart though that i am doing this not just to lose weight or even to look better... but, rather.. to save my life. It really is such a relief in many ways to know that in 77 days time, I will being having surgery... and turning the corner on this life to a new and better one. I haven't even had surgery, and just meeting fellow banders, listening to and reading their stories, i have already started asking myself... why didn't i just do this sooner!? Thanks for letting me rant... crickey, it's 4.00am here, so i best hit the rack! Nite all xox

I like Wyler's sugar free lemonade, and my secret vice is Monster Rehab (10 calories). It's not carbonated, has some electrolights, and a bunch of caffeine which can crack your day to 11 when you need it.

Hey Vicki, Don't be discouraged, all will be well for you after surgery. I lost 15 lbs the first 10 days pre-op, but by the time I had my surgery, I had gained 3 of it back and I was true to my liquids, I did not cheat at all. Since my surgery though I (March 15, 2012) I'm getting close to 35 lbs lost total. Every ones body loses at a diferent rate, and dependinng on metabolism and how much weight one has to lose. Trust me, if you have this surgery, and follow all the doctors instructions during your recovery and stay true to each post-surgery food phase along with proper excercise for what ever stage you're in, then you will lose the weight. Also, I've noticed that even when I had my first weightloss stall at 6 weeks out, I still was losing inches, because I was able to fit comfortably in clothes that were too tight just 2 weeks before. My doctor said that my body was adjusting itself to the weight I had already lost and that muscle was replacing itself in places where fat used to be. So even though the scale had not moved, I was still getting smaller. Remember, a pound is a pound, but muscle is leaner, so the couple of pounds you've seen return may be gained muscle or it could simply be water weight gain, you know, that happens to us girls all the time. Good luck on your surgery, and looking forward to hearing about your progress along this journey. Keep Smiling!!

I had my surgery on 10-17 and I was totally emotional beforehand. Your whole life is about to change so it's normal. I found that saying goodbye to my old self and parting ways with her really helped me to embrace my new life, my new attitude towards eating, etc. You will most likely be emotional after your surgery, too, and that's normal. I wish you much luck and if you ever need someone to talk to who's able to empathize with you, feel free to message me!

If it's going to happen it's going to happen no matter the rate of weight loss. Take advantage of the "honeymoon" stage, which is the first 10 months to a year after surgery where the weight drops rapidly. After that you will have to work much harder. Personally, after losing almost 60 lbs in 2 months, my skin seems to be a bit squishier and my stomach is still hanging a little low. My arms have always been big so I know for a fact I will have a lot of skin there. I am 25 years old. I'd rather have loose skin than have it full of fat. Bring on the skin!