Search the Community

I do free weights 10 lbs doing a ton of different ways. I do the machines with 30-50 lbs 15 reps per machine. My arm a have always been heavy. I am loosing so well in my abs and stomach don't want to have these huge arms left.

It is unfortunate but number one, it is mostly genetics as to how your results will turn out. Second would be how much weight you need to lose and third will be the workout factor. Last but not least patience and time will help a lot too, as I've been noticing my batwings on my arms are slowly disappearing! I have really good skin and thankfully my arms came out pretty good. I am not a strength trainer at all. The only form of workout I do on my arms are with my elliptical, a little bit of Pilates type body resistance movements and using a 10 Lb Kettlebell. Yet my arms came out really nice.

9-16-08 = 270 1-4-09 = 261 3-13-09 = 256 6-30-09 = 260 7-03-09 = 251 10-2-09 = 244 10-22-09 = 240 12-22-09 = 227 2-28-10 = 224 3-7-10= 216

I was banded on 01-20-2011. I feel I am completely restricted on everything I eat however, I know in a few weeks I will be able to eat once again. I have always craved sweets. I know I will be able to eat some and many other foods I love however; this to me is odd; I have never been able to do this. I know I will need to still monitor what goes into my body. I am really scared that because I have the band I will have the mind set that I can eat what I want. Is there many people out there that have similar issues? Is there many people who have had failure?

I use Biotin daily. Some say it doesn't work, but for me, I've been on it for 10 months now and my hair has never been more healthy, strong and thick. It's also great for your nails. Old school remedy is Gelatin capsules - I have family that swears by it.

I'm a week out from gastric sleeve surgery. Down 10 since last Monday (35 total since September yay!) A few days ago I noticed my hair is already falling out at an alarming rate. I know this is temporary but I'm nervous. Does anyone have any tips to slow this down? Strengthen your hair? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

My husband's surgery was 4/30/11 down almost 100lbs. Mine was 5/10/11 down 51lbs.

sunshine, when they say chew chew chew that is for when you are tight and eating solid foods like chicken, beef jerky and other hard things to get down. the reason they say chew it good is because if you put a piece of chicken in your mouth and barely chew it then swallow it is going to get stuck and you will "slime" it up. my dr says dont drink protien shakes or any other liquid as a meal but I agree with shelly being that in the morning I am very tight and have a difficult time eating before about 2 pm so I tend to drink a shake in the morning to get some nutrients in my body. before I was adjusted I didnt drink the shakes i just ate and i dont drink them for lunch or dinner only in the morning now when it is difficult to get food down. i was on solid foods by week 2 and had a little restriction left from being swollen from the surgery but then that went away, i got 3cc fill at 6 weeks but it did nothing for me, i still could eat alot, another fill of 1cc at about 10 weeks and still nothing, my 3rd fill on jan 10th 1.5 cc now a total of 5.5 cc in my 10 cc band I have restriction, I am now eating smaller, chewing meats better and having the protien shake in the morning but only to get somethbing in me. this is very very confusing because there is so many different rules but i think we all need to do what is right for us and what works for us, you will learn as you go along as I am still learning and only been 41/2 months since banded. this is a great site with lots of information. hang in there and keep up the good work all

Zero sugars in the syrup(I forgot to mention it was the zero-calorie syrup, I changed it) 19 sugars total... 12 are from milk and the rest from the banana

I was banded on October 4th, 2013. I was on an all liquid diet for 10 days prior to surgery. The reason behind that is to get the liver to shrink down so they can move it out of the way to be able to get to the area easier. As far as a drain port, I did not have one. Maybe other doctors use it. I believe for the sleeve and the bypass they use a drain port. Best of luck to you on this journey!!

My experience exactly! I had to do 10 days of no carb or sugar and high protein but it was no big deal cause I'd already changed my eating. I had small glued incisions (4) that were closed by the 4th day out. Loved it!

like most on here, ive had and up and down battle with weight all my lfe. when i was 18 i decided i wanted to enlist into the military and i was not going to let my weight stop me. i lost 50 pounds in a year and thought for the first time in my llife i was auctually going to beat this weight battle. i was 19 164 pounds and i felt great.i enlisted in the airforce and was sent to basic in san antonio. i was there for 6 weeks and 2 days before i graduated i was sent home. turns out the pain in my hip (i had two hip surgeries prior to enlistment) wasnt becasue i was fat, but indeed a hip disease.my whole life was turned upside down.so here i was at 19, being told i need a hip replacement, severe arthrithis and i cant complete basic training. i think the next step is pretty obvious......DEPRESSION. although never treeated, i know i went thru it. i quickly went from 164 to 220 in a matter of months. now im 22, 253 pounds married to the love of my life, a beautiful 7 month old baby, and yet i still cant be happy with myself. i know the only thing holding me back is my weight, and im sick and tired of it. im no longer going to let this rule my life. i decided a month ago i was finally going to grow a pair and ask my PCM for a consult. my husbands in the airforce and we are currently in germany so there area lot of steps to getting a consult. but i did it. now ive got my nutritioist out of the way. ive had my psych eval...and passed.lol. and now i go to see my PCM on tuesday.im scared to death of what hes going to say. i cant afford this on my own and i cant lose it by myself. i'll keep everyone updated as my story continues....

I experience the same, especially on days that I have boxing (Tuesday & Thursday mornings). The nutritionist and instructor says that the body needs fuel after a vigorous workout, which I tend to agree. I just eat extra Protein on those days - usually I increase my protein to 80-100 grams from the usual 60 or so and that does the trick. Lately, I haven't experience any weight loss; however, I've lost inches (as mentioned in a previous post I've gone from a size 14 pant to a size 10 since June w/o losing a pound) building lots of muscle and losing fat. My dear husband calls me thunder thighs now since they're no longer shaking like Jello We're burning fat and building muscle and need the increased protein to fuel our bodies.

You know what is so funny lol...after I read your blog about what your mom said, I spent the entire night looking up youtube videos and posts about the negative effects of wls...one of which with somebody that died, and the persons family member that died is really trying hard to talk people out of getting it...a lot of the comments though were geared toward the person probably not doing what they were supposed to, and that they were a success so they don't know what they are talking about. I am getting mixed signals everywhere I turn.. My mom had gastric bypass over 10 years ago and kept her 100 pounds that she lost OFF..so obviously she is totally % FOR me getting the lap band...because she had complications, and this is safer...shes my biggest supporter..my whole family and boyfriend is. We know people too that had gastric bypass and the lap band done and it didn't work for them at all...they lost some and then gained it back..so I think for some people who aren't all in it, yeah thats exactly why it doesn't work for them...but it doesn't mean I'm not having second thoughts...because I am...even though I'm still doing every single thing I need to do...I'm just one step away...but after reading that blog I just got terrified and then reading all of the other awful things..I think it will be worth it in the long run. I see soo many people on here and all over who have had so much success with it and its changed their lives...so why wouldn't it work for me when I'm % in it, and I've already lost 30 pounds on my own?

I have just discovered BariatricPal, and today I discovered the blog section. I have been planning to do a blog to document my surgical journey, just for my own records, and maybe to have a place where I can refer close friends and family who ask about my journey. My journey began in January 2017. I had a partial nephrectomy on January 23rd - due to kidney cancer. My cancer was discovered completely by accident in December 2016. A diagnosis like cancer - even one as easily dealt with as mine - makes you think about your life, your future, your past, and what you want to accomplish. I have been fighting to lose weight and get healthy since about 2000. In my 20s, I got very healthy - working out 5 days a week doing cardio and strength training. In 1996, mid 20s, I gave birth to my lovely daughter, Amelia. I gained a LOT of weight. I think I topped out at about 265 on the day of delivery. I lost the weight rather quickly after birth, getting back down to about 165 over about 10 months with diet and exercise. I held that weight for about 3-4 years. Then, in my 30s, I started to gain. I gained about 15 lbs a year and before I knew it, by 2004, I was around 250. So from the age of 34 til now - age 47, I have yo-yo'd up and down from my highest weight of 287 down to 225 - but have hovered the last 6 or 7 years at around 265-275, going up and down the same frickin 10 pounds over and over again, no matter what eating plan and exercise plan I tried - and I tried EVERYTHING! Most things several times. Then I found out I had cancer, and I am immensely lucky to have had it found early and have it completely removed, not requiring any chemo or radiation. It certainly was a wakeup call. So over the next few months, I researched WLS, and my best friend had her WLS on 2/14/17. Her journey has been phenomenal - and she has been an incredible resource. So I went to my first informational meeting in May 2017, and my official journey started then. I have now completed all the flaming hoop jumps for the surgeon's office and also my insurance company, and my surgery has been approved and scheduled for 1/31/18. I start my two-week liquid diet this coming Wednesday. I am sooooooo ready.

I was told to not lift more than 10 lbs for at least 4 weeks. A busy/moving/wiggly toddler, I'd imagine feels many pounds more than they actually weigh. Consider starting to train him to climb in and out of the crib with maybe a step stool. I did that with my twins being that it was 2 of them and combined they were HEAVY (that was pre-op). One word of advice...don't forget and leave the step stool in there...oh the stories I could tell being sleep deprived and forgetting that stool.

Congratulations on your weight loss and your 1 year surgiversary! I am exactly 1 year today. Great advice from these ladies and I finally clued in a couple of weeks ago and started keeping a ziplock bag in the fridge with cucumber slices, red peppers and baby carrots. I still weigh everything that I put in my mouth, even the fresh veggies. The fresh veggies have helped me a lot over the past few days, because the hunger started coming back for me at around 10 months. I upped my calories 1100-1250 a day and didn't realize until a few days ago that that is why I have been at a stall for over 2 months! Why am I such a slow learner? Duh. Keep up the awesome work, you are almost there!

So I wrote this for myself but I wanted to share with people who understand. I'm being banded on Friday this week! Dear Self, Why am I doing this? Why am I subjecting myself to this? Well mainly it’s for my kids. I’d like to be healthy and be a good role model for my children. I want to be with them for as long as possible. There are other more selfish reasons of course. I’m so freakin sick of having the sore back all the freakin time! I know it’s because of my belly and I’m hoping and praying that if I’m able to get rid of that my back won’t hurt anymore. Every time I go to pick up Little Stink or when we are in the rocking chair nursing and I go to put him in his crib it hurts SO bad. Bending down to clean up their toys is a nightmare. I’m also so sick of being scared that I’m going to develop diabetes. If I’m able to loss weight and keep it off, that fear will most likely be alleviated. Not to mention of course, the HPB which weighs on my as well. I’d like to be able to nurse my next child without having to worry about that medication at least. I’d like to be thin enough to attempt a VBAC for baby 3 so maybe I can even have baby 4 if I want! I also want to be able to run without hearing my belly flap. It’s more than embarrassing. I want to be able to run and play with the kids. Play soccer or baseball or tennis without being winded. I want to be able to ride my bike without fear of a hill. I want to be able to run and get my baby if he falls more quickly than I can now. I want to be there for them more than I am now. I want to be able to walk into a room of people I don’t know and not be looking around to make sure there’s someone fatter than me in the room. I want to be able to stop looking for the shock or disgust in people’s eyes when they see me (as a point of note, I’ve NEVER seen that though! I just look for it). I want to be taken seriously and included in circles that I’m currently not given the opportunity to join. I want to be able to ride my bike or take a walk without worrying what the teenagers are thinking or worse yet saying about me. I don’t want the day to come when my little boys say to me “Mommy, you are fat” and I simply have to respond, “Yes, Mommy is fat”. I want to see the looks on people’s faces when they see me thin FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! I want to welcome my sister home from aboard having lost 100 pounds. I want to go to weddings or other family events and see all their faces when they realize that it really is me. This has been a dream since I was 10 years old. I’d like to finally see it come to fruition. I want my husband to be able to pick me up and swing me around like he does his mother. I want him to find me attractive. I want him to tell me he finds me attractive. What am I scared of though. I’m scared of not succeeding. That’s for sure. I’m scared that I’ll go through all of this and 10 years down the road I’ll be back right where I am now, and I’ll have to watch what I eat on top of it. That would SUCK. If I’m gonna be fat, then I damn well want to be enjoying it! I’m scared that life is gonna suck after the surgery. I’m scared I won’t be able to follow the diet. I’m scared I’ll lose my drive after too short a time. I’m SUPER scared I’ll have a recurrence of my anxiety problems. In the past this was enough to keep me from trying anything. But it’s been well controlled for around 7 years so I do think I’ll be ok. If I’m not, well then I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I’m scared that life is gonna suck without good food. I’m scared of what I won’t be able to eat anymore. I’m scared of not nursing for 24 hours. I’m scared of not being able to lift the kids for a time. That will be hard. I’m scared that I’ll give up too soon. I’m hoping that the band will not let me do that! I’m hoping that the results will be such that I don’t want to do that. I’m hoping to succeed. I’m hoping not to be disappointed by my audacity to hope.

ttn: walking into this bariatric experience, I heard alot of stuff I've heard before (e.g. portion control). What was new, & novel, to me: using smaller dishes, smaller silverware. I literally switched to pediatric size utensils; sandwich plate replaced standard size dinner plate. I didn't care what it looked like, or what people said..all I knew was that it slowed me down. Altered the previous engrained behavior of "shoveling" it in, if you know what I mean. Imagine my surprise when I actually began to savor food! OMG, no lie. That goes for chewing thoroughly as well (a daily conscious choice). It seems the world has gone super-size. Eating out, I divide those huge portions in half as soon as the plate is put in front of me. No doggie bags go home with me. Meals w family/friends....the comments that inevitably arise ("have another, you've hardly eaten", or the killer "you've gotten too thin"). My responses of choice: "just takin' a break", or, "maybe later". No thank you's didn't seem to work. Over time my tastes changed. I find fried, greasy, high fat foods (a previous staple)aren't palatable any more. As has red meat. Go figure. I was raised on beef, butter, & potatoes. All if which smothered in gravy. Your health is the priority. It's not about getting thin, or size 10 or beauty, or pleasing others. It's a process, fer sure. But it's entirely do-able. (Apologies for the rant).

April 2019 marks 13 yrs since Roux-N-Y laparoscopic procedure. Peak weight: 305 lbs. I maintain between 155-160. I have, & will continue annual follow-ups. Not only medically necessary, but makes me accountable. My bypass continues to work for me: I listen to what it's "telling me" when I have those moments. You know..the voice in your head that leads you to haunt the refrigerator or cabinets; buy foods that you know could trigger cravings or worse (binge). Surgery can't eliminate the disease of obesity....which lives in my head. Your's too, if you're reading this. I take action when I begin to see numbers trending up on the scale. (I don't wait til it's 20/40/50 or more lbs). Besides, I'm uncomfortable...along w gain comes bloat, discomfort, snug waist band, increased cravings. After a few yrs, trying different "maintenance" approaches, Jenny Craig works for me...I feel better when weight is a pound or 2 on either side of 155. For me, I persist w weekley wrigh ins....keeps me honest. I've been as low as 145, but it's a struggle. And I don't want that struggle. I just want to be comfortable in my skin. I'm challenged with anemia (intolerant of oral iron) & insufficient protein intake. So, I do what I can to improve those values. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this. And so far, my bypass &, I pretty much listen to each other.

Do it now before it's too late. I was overweight for years, and not just 10 or 20 pouns, but were talking three digits. I wish I would have done it earlier when I didn't have so much to lose. Then maybe I would have looked like a shar pei when I get done. It sucks I had to have my scrotum blow up to the size of a cantolope before I didnt something about it. Sorry for the visual, but the whole point is, don't wait and let things get worse. good luck. brian

Thanks for replying. I have thoroughly researched and have decided to have the VSG done. I know that there is a difference between the sleeve and the band. The sleeve seems to be a better tool. I am not willing to get the RNY because of the rerouting my insides. I have to pay cash and the sleeve is about 8 thousand dollars cheaper. I have already started a change in my eating. I also decided to get off my lazy butt and exercise. Which I know these 2 things are a must with the VSG too. I have to lose 10 lbs before the doc does the VSG. So what I guess I trying to say is that I want a 2nd chance and I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do this time........... I will keep you posted on my progress.

In the yahoo group there was a person that was 10 years out. She was part of the Band Trails and is doing well. They have replaced here band with an updated one she stated. Chris Pre Band St. Louis

I was banded 4/12 too! Relax Follow what you were told to eat. After surgery your body panics and tries to hold on to fat stores at all cost, so the weight doesn't drop off immediately. Also, you probably gained 5-10 pounds of fluids in the hospital during the surgery. Keep doing what you were told and the weight WILL start coming off. (and in case your wondering, my ticker includes my pre-band weight loss, it's not all in the past 6 days!)