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I quit smoking with the patch 10 years ago, after smoking 2 packs/day for 17 years. I don't miss it, never even had a craving after the first 3 months. Back then, a pack cost around $2, a carton was $16. Anyone know what they cost these days?

Sam's has a wonderful sf popsicle that comes in a blue box of 40 count. Sorry, but I can't remember the name. They are only 10 calories and come in a variety pack of orange, strawberry, and I believe raspberry, but the best thing is that the ice is very similar to the shaved ice sno cones, very soft and not crunchy...very yummy!

I started this journey at the end of January with a BMI of 49.6 and now my BMI is 44 (lost more than 35lbs so far). If I lose 19 more lbs I won't qualify for surgery anymore, and my surgery won't be for 2 more months at least. I'm losing about 9lbs a month, so it is entirely possible that I could have a BMI under 40 in 2 months! I don't have any other health conditions that would qualify me for surgery at a lower BMI, so I don't know what to do. I don't want to go back to the way I was eating before, and I know that I am always either gaining or losing weight. I'm eating lower carb and higher protein, so I'm just not really hungry. I never thought I'd have this problem!

My stores brand of frozen vegetables are usually 10 for $10. They fill me up completly and since Im pre-surgery, I'm having 4 daily (2 for lunch and 2 for dinner). Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, spinach and greens really stretch a meals and are super soft on the budget. They have some nice blends too like California, Asian and Mexican that help me switch up the plate.

It feels strange, it doesnt feel like running. But being a distance runner is ALL about pacing yourself. If you can slow it down you will be able to run MUCH further. But the simple action of jogging over walking seems to make you much stronger. I'm 5ft 10 and I"m sure I looked VERY strange at first, but the speed comes later. The main thing now is to keep going. So slow down and then slow down some more.

Jacqui, thanks so much ... i will definitely take your advice! the fastest i've ever ran is 5.2 MPH and that was for about 5-10 seconds . i normally go about 5.0. do you think that's still too much? i truly value your input. i guess i just dont really feel like i am 'running' if i dont go above 4.7ish. i am about 5'9" and have longish legs. thanks, C

Congrats Sydney! Congrats jillsko1! I'm going in on Wednesday 5/19 along with a bunch of other folks on here. Well, not literally, that would be quite a crowded operating room..... This is a great topic. I should have written a list down to refer to over the last couple weeks when things got tough with the pre-op diet, might have alleviated some of my grumpiness at times:-) Here are some of my things off the top of my head: Having energy throughout the day, not feeling so tired and defeated in the evenings. Playing sports - I was a good athlete once upon a time, and one of my goals is to rediscover that guy. Feeling attractive - I used to look in the mirror sometimes before going out and think to myself that I was a good looking guy! But I've been avoiding mirrors for a long time now. I know that's a bit superficial but I know that guy is in there and I want to feel that confidence again and know that I worked for it. Buying clothes at regular stores - no explanation needed here. Dating - I've used weight as an excuse for too long, even sabotaged relationships with people who found my fat self attractive. That's gonna end. I guess maybe these aren't all "every day" little things, but a lot of people take these things for granted. So I'll add that to the list: I want to take these things for granted too!

Most doctors recommend 12-18 months after banding before getting pregnant. I definitely agree. I was banded 10/06 and the first 6 months were a breeze! Then the next 8 months were really difficult with band related acid reflux. I am newly pregnant and very happy that I had a full year and a half of getting to know the band before adding the craziness of pregnancy to it as well.

My three kids 10, 11 and 15 know why I am having surgery and I even showed them the video that my surgeon showed at the seminar about the sleeve. It helped my kids to be able to visualize what I am having done and they are very understanding and supportive!

10 days after 4 days of clear liquids

Weight loss often happens in steps down, rather than a continual slope. If I'm constipated that also slows down the weight loss, so keep up your fluids and moving around. It's very common to hit a plateaus around this time. It will pass. I didn't lose anything from 3 to 7 weeks post surgery but now I'm losing 10 lb per month pretty steadily.

I just had my surgery 7/19/17, I'm on full liquids and tonight I think I'm experiencing acid reflux...any suggestions on what to do?

oh! I fell so bad I was banded on 4/10/08 I have only lost about 30

I am 19 days post op and last night i started having left flank pain that kinda radiates up to my left shoulder... anyone have anything like this ?

Ok, I just need to let off some steam. :frusty: My past two weeks have been pretty crappy. It's 17 days from the end of the school year and the kids are going crazy. I teach in an inner city school, so some of the issues get really bad because they are used to solving their problems with yelling and fights. :boxing: :confused: I've pretty much come out of the band closet with most of my co-workers. If they ask questions, I answer. Because of this, two of them are looking into the band and one other is seriously considering it. This has been pretty much the only highlight of these two weeks. One person, our retired nurse's assistant, gave me her opinion of how much weight I should lose. :omg: HUH?!? She asked me what size did I want to be and I answered her a 10-12. She then proceeded to tell me that because I've been heavy for so long that I couldn't possibly get down to that size and besides, I would just look anorexic. :confused: Excuse me????? My mother is that size and I'm the spitting image of my mother, so I know that size will be great for me. I had a UIL contest with two teams of students and we've been practicing for 3 months. The Friday before the Monday contest, one team member gets suspended and one flakes out on me. The rest of the team performed crappy in the contest. I have no idea what they've been doing at home, but obviously nothing. :huggie: Since the contest was yesterday and we started giving a standardized test today, we naturally had a faculty meeting that discussed important information,which I missed. Seems that our principal has taken a new job:pout: (which is great for her) but we all really like her. She's one of the reasons I've stayed at this school for six years even though it's quite a long commute for me. :phanvan Nobody likes our Asst. Principal and the word is that she has thrown his name into the pool to go to a middle school. Pray that happens. If he stays at this school, I might have to quit my job and find some other way to support myself. :pray: And to top it all off, I've been having slight port pain since the weekend and my period should start any minute. Of course since I'm not getting my first fill for another two weeks I'm naturally getting HUNGRY. :hungry: In the past my favorite way to calm my nerves when this much crap was going on was to eat, but I'm not doing that this time, so that's a good thing. Most of the stuff going on, I'm used to, because we never really know what's going to happen at the end of a school year, but when you throw pain and other peoples opinions into the mix, it has driven me NUTS. I did tell my mother what the person said about looking anorexic if I dropped below a size 14, and she just laughed. There's not a snowballs chance in hell that I would look that way. I just hate that some people feel they need to tell me things like that. Ok, I feel much better now. Rant off. Time to go take a shower and let the hot Water do it's thing. Might even get the urge to curl my hair for work tomorrow. :grouphug: Thanks for listening! Audra

My pain was not located specifically at the port necessarily. My erosion wasn't at the port either. Mine was my actual band that had eroded my stomach. This caused a major infection. The pain was the infection. To be honest I couldn't really distinguish other than to say it hurt very much in my abdomen and it came in fast. I ended up having my band removed via an emergency surgery the day after I went to the ER. Just FYI in case it's useful, I was banded in Sept 2010. My start weight was 330. Lost 130lbs in approx 10 months. I remained stable until erosion (Sept 2012) and for another three years after that. Following a significant life change I've regained around 60lbs in the last 12-16 months. I'm currently at day 5 of my pre-op for a VSG I'm having on Aug 25. Everyone's experience is different but for me the band worked very well. Without it I succeeded for a while but eventually had issues keeping things in line. I'm confident the sleeve will help me succeed once again. I hope this contextual information can be helpful. Any questions or anything just let me know. All the best AS

I have never heard of the Switch. I had the lap band for over a year, and recently converted to the Sleeve 10 days ago. I was VERY disappointed with the lap band. I did great with the band for the first 6 months. I had lost about 40 lbs, then I had something get stuck and it was downhill from there. I was constantly seeing the doctor as things always got stuck. It seems with the band, once you had an issue, it was downhill from there. I gained weight. Spent lots of money going to the doctor to have Fluid let out, then even more money to get fluid back in once my stomach "rested". My advice.....don't do the band. I know it works for a lot of people.....but the sleeve has been great for me thus far. The band was a nightmare.

@eyewonder - I'm such a big baby when it comes to pain. So I know if I can do it then no one should have a problem. Natalie - I have 4.4cc in a 10cc band. Congratulations on the weight loss! 16 lbs since surgery is great. My dr office gave me a performance sheet while I was in there and it described how much excess weight I had and until now I hadn't realized! I have like 87 lbs of excess weight. 87 LBS!!!! I couldnt believe that. So that has inspired me to get my butt in gear. That's larger than my 10 yr old! I'll have to lose the size of my 10 yr old plus some, that's just crazy. It's nice when people talk to you without talking down to you, that's what I love about my dr's office. They take such a wonderful approach to it, and of course the support of everyone here. I also have a little bruising by my port from the shot but I bruise easy. A little soreness from the bruise but overall feeling great. I would do this all over again!

I'm scheduled for surgery on Wed also. I feel your pain. I'm hungry now but I'm just trying to be strong because I know it's for the best. I'm tired of Protein shakes already.Hang in there! It will be worth it in the long run. Maybe we can keep in contact since we are starting this journey on the same day. Best of luck! Sent from my HP 10 G2 Tablet using the BariatricPal App

:cursing:So after my first date of 9/21/2009 being cancelled, my new surgery date is 10/7/2009. I'm ready, I've decided to continue with the pre-op diet until surgery day. :biggrin:

Just got home today and feel so overwhelmed. My doctor doesn't want me to take gas x strips and I feel completely swollen and full of air. I've been walking a lot but when I try to sleep I get pain in my stomach area. I felt like I was so prepared before surgery and now I feel lost and scared to make the wrong choices. Any advice?

Oct. 2008 4cc band placed (243lbs), after 5 small fills a total of 1.5cc in my band I had very little restriction. Having 2 kids it was hard to keep going for more fills so I tried to just keep eating healthy. After losing a slow 30 pounds then gaining about 10 of it back, I found out I was pregnant with my sweet baby girl in May (now 223lbs)! I didn't have too much restriction I could eat any food with no problems (example steak was an ease) so I'm guessing that's why I was able to go through pregnancy without an unfill. I was teeny bit more restricted while pregnant but not enough to really notice, I still think it really helped. Luckily, I didn't have morning sickness. I didn't have any problems with the band whatsoever. I started thinking that I might have problems toward the end of my pregnancy once my baby was bigger and I had gained more weight. But, even at the late stages it went really smooth and able to go through my whole pregnancy without an unfill. No, problems! I gained 36 pounds while pregnant ( now 259lbs), omg, I quickly dropped back to 223lbs and stayed there for about 5 months and started gaining again after gaining about 5lbs (now 228lbs) in July of 2010 I finally went for another fill...my first fill after pregnancy which was my choice to wait .5 was added (2cc now in my 4cc band), I was starving! Didn't make it back to the doctor till Sept. of 2010 another .5 was added (2.5cc now in my 4cc band), I was still starving and not eating the healthiest gained 11 lbs. So, December 22 I weighed a total 239 pounds almost to the point of where I started! I went back to my doctor who is great, she will fill the band till she feels pressure, makes me sit up and drink Water, will add or subtract till it's just right. Another .5cc was added to the band for a total of 3cc in my 4cc band. It feels so great, I finally feel what restriction feels like! I don't really have to chew chew chew and can eat regularly I could probably still eat steak but haven't tried it yet lol but the hunger is gone..so I'm definitely at my sweet spot and loving it. I've lost 2.5 lbs and never been so happy because I know that after a little over 2 years I'm finally on my way. I'm eating right and trying to walk/jog 1 to 1.5 miles a day and feeling great. I love my band and I will eventually get to where I need to be in my own time.

Halfway to goal, and only 10 more pounds until I am in a normal weight range for my height!

Hi Bay Area folks... I found a group in the Meetup site. There is a planned meeting with a local psychologist Oct 10 - here are the details. I am thinking of going and give it a try. http://www.meetup.com/SF-WLS-Group/

Hey everyone, I had surgery on 10/30/08, and am hating the liquid diet, and especially the Protein shakes. Any suggestions?