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I came home from the hospital on Friday after gastric bypass revision from lapband on Tuesday and I had gained 19#'s. I know that it is from all the fluids given to me while in the hospital, but it still feels like a set back. I was very swollen and that has gone down and I have lost 17 of the 19#'s. but it looks like at my one week f/u on Thursday I will probably just barely be below weight day of surgery? Did anyone else experience this.?

I am going through menopause no period for 10 months and bam! 3 weeks after surgery I started. 8days from Hell. Going to make an appointment for a full checkup since I am due for one.

:hungry: Starting my low calorie diet 02/01/07. So far just switched to Splenda and lite creamer for my coffee!!! Switched to Promise instead of margarine. and diet coke w/ lime instead of reg. coke!!! We'll see what happens!!

Still doing well considering low carbing it for a whole week now. I'm down 8 pounds in 8 days!! Not too shabby. I just keep repeating to myself..Keep it up Robyn, you can do it again! :tongue_smilie:Here's the breakdown for today: B: assorted cheeses (400 cal / 15 protein), 2 slices summer sausage (120 cal/ 7 protein) S: 1/2 cup pistachios (200 cal/ 6 protein), L: side salad with 2 tbsp ranch (150 Cals/ 0 Protein), 1/4 c asparagus (10 Cal / 1 Protein), 4 sea scallops (100 cals / 20 Protein) D: Tuna Salad Kit (no crackers) (100 cal / 18 protein) Total for today is 1080 cals and 67 gms protein. Surgery Date: 8/5/05 Starting Weight: 384 pounds Lowest Weight 1/2/07: 226 pounds Starting over Date: 1/4/09 at 320 pounds Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

Hi guys , I'm Adrias im 35, live in slidell, louisiana. I was banded on 10-10-07 by Dr Zapada in Monterrey mexico. I am done with just the liquid diet and starting soft foods now . everything has been great since i decided to have this done . Just looking forward to losing some weight. I have lost about 20 as of today 10-25-07.

Hello, I guess this is the first step that makes it a realization that I am ready for a significant change. I have been fighting my weight for about 10 years now. It was found that I had hypothyroidism about 4 years ago. (5 years after gaining all the weight.) I have been on meds. and my THS is controlled. Well, the weight still is out of control. I am right at 40 BMI and am afraid that it will not be dramatic enough for imy insurance company to cover the lap band. I have a significant family history of diabetes and cancer, and am nervous that these things might await me if my weight continues to be a factor. A year ago I was 30 pounds lighter due to excessive dieting and workouts. Also, I used Merida for extra help. Well, I stopped Merida and the weight came right back on. I have my initial appointment in a week. I guess I will see what the nurse's thoughts are regarding my qualifications. Are there others out there who were approved based on a 40 BMI?

Hi I am new to the band I had it done on 6/13 and I am so excited I almost feel normal. I have lost 10 pounds and I am looking forward for more. So that I can get ahead of the game I want to make sure I have somewhere to get my fills I got my surgery done in monterrey, mx. A little far to go everytime I will need a fill.

Just wanted to share an experience with everyone. I recently went on a trip to Korea to see my daughter and 5 of my 9 grandkids. I am 10 months post sleeve and this was my first LONG distance trip. I had traveled by plane after the surgery (short flight of 2 hours) before and was prepared to only drink Water on the flight (though the soda was a temptation I resisted). Well...... the flight from San Francisco to Korea was 15 hours long. I had brought a shaker bottle and prepackaged samples of Protein shakes to get through the TSA thrill (no way was I going to hassle with getting pre made/packaged Protein Shakes through the screening). The flight out went as I had planned. I asked for water every time they brought around the tray. The meals provided were pretty good! I skipped the high carb foods (bread, potatoes, rice) and took my time eating (I tried to keep the meal under an hour though). I also skipped the iceberg lettuce salad since I was trying to eat the other veggies provided with the meal. Again, water after the meal. For "breakfast" I made my shake. All in all the trip up was a success in regards to traveling and dealing with meals/water intake. The trip back was a different beast. Maybe I had become over confident or maybe the 2 week vacation of being off my regular routine were the problem but I seemed to have a harder time with the return flight. I started out ok and made sure to ask for water frequently (I also had my water bottle that I purchased preflight) dinner was beef with rice (I had been eating rice every day for the past 2 weeks and knew to limit the amount to a tablespoon), spinach, roll and salad. I ate the beef, small amount of rice and the spinach. Skipped the roll and salad. After the meal I tried a glass of orange juice (the first time since the surgery. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have NEVER tried something new on a plane) The OJ did not sit well on my stomach. I started having heart burn almost immediately and knew the beverage choice was a mistake. Trying to get water down when my stomach was upset was a nightmare and I spent the remainder of the flight (about 10 hours) fearing I would throw up on the plane. I didn't dare eat anything else and stuck to sipping water as much as I could. I tried a sprite zero (mixed with water to get rid of the bubbles but it didn't seem to help. Of course I couldn't sleep because of the upset stomach (and the drunk man behind me who kept pulling on my chair to move around) so when I arrived in San Fran I was very jet lagged, sick and just wanted to sleep. I had a 6 hour layover to endure till I could get home to my bed. I spent the time in the lounge closest to the bathroom. Lets just say the OJ finally completed the trip before me. My fear of vomiting on the plane was not realized but I did have 1 episode at the airport (not sure why since I hadn't eaten for over 10 hours). My bum was sore from the diarrhea by the time I got on the plane again. Lessons learned: Don't try new things on a 15 hour international flight. BRING anti nausea medication (I forgot to pack my zofran and regretted this error) Stick to water, frequently, while flying.

I have my psych evaluation on 3/10 and last nut appointment on 3/12... insurance said it could take 3 days to 3 weeks to approve in patient taking longer. How long did it take for your approval how long of a wait for surgery date? I want to have it in April or at least by mid May is that realistic? I had a full abdominal radical hysterectomy last June I'm assuming that the pain will be similar, anyone have both and have pain comparisons? I wish I was more patient person

I've lost 2.5 pounds of the 4 lb. I gained in the two weeks gone. My stomach is pretty much back to normal (had a few burning issues yesterday, but I'm staying on the Nexium until I see the doc next week). We're off to Columbus again for a nephew's college graduation party (from OSU). Yay, college football starts again! Mom's cooking all weekend...help me! Have a great loooong weekend all! OK, here's my journal from the week before last when I was swamped with getting ready for the college move and then vacation the next day. 8/18 I just got a call from my sister-in law. My niece/goddaughter is off to PSU tomorrow for her senior year and they're packing the car. She's so excited our DS1 is starting at PSU this year and she's meeting us Friday to help with his move in. I'm 'nesting'. I've been spending days buying and returning items (when I find something better) to stores, checking things off lists and organizing it all. He'll be almost 4 hours from home and it helps me to know he'll have everything he needs. I'm a self-admittedly almost OCD organizer. I've got plastic bins all organized and labeled…I've written our last name in sharpie on most of his more expensive things…tiny, where no one will notice, but this totally irks DS1…it's not like I'm labeling his underwear or anything (although that isn't a bad idea LOL). I bought some more bins yesterday and I'm disappointed he doesn't seem to have anything to put in them…boys just need less than girls. We took the car and the van to move DD in her freshman year. I'm thinking we're going to get everything in the van…and probably without the roof-rack and car-top carrier. I spent half a day trying to find pics of his dorm room setup online (finally found a few on Flicker). PSU missed the boat on this one…no pics, just a drawing of the layout with mislabeled room sizes (one dimension says 12'15"…took me finding other sites to realize it's 12'5" and it was a typo, like I suspected). The furniture isn't even to scale on their drawings (yeah, I plugged the room info. into my architect computer program to see how his things would fit). These freshman dorm rooms are TINY and the furniture is all bolted down, so correct dimensions are important when you're trying to figure out if the rug you bought will fit in the room (I think I have an inch leeway on one side as long as the radiator isn't deeper than 12"…no dimensions given). Luckily, I also got a 'heads-up' on a few things from my niece…like you can request a Twin XL bed instead of the Twin given (big deal if you're over 6' like DS1 is) and that the beds have 6 legs and not 4 (important if you're buying bed riser feet in packs of 4 so you can put big bins of things under the bed). We've got 'extras' of several items…no way will we be standing in the 2 hour lines at Wal-Mart for more extension cords. I'm such a visual organizer that it helps me to feel that he's settled before we get there. I know where most things go and then when we're done placing it all I feel like the Momma bird who has feathered the nest and made it all cozy for her baby. Leaving your child at school for the first time is hard enough without feeling like you've left them without something they'll need. Do I get that he's a big-boy now and can certainly get to the store and buy things if he needs them…yep, of course I do, but it makes me feel better…and so I'm nesting… ---- 8/19 Side note; we finished the art projects for his room (I may have told you about these already, so sorry if I'm repeating?). DH and DS1 made a batik for the big wall over his bed. DD and I did a decoupage tissue paper triptych for her first dorm room with all her room colors, so I was trying to find something that DH could do with DS1…DH can't draw a straight line to save his life, but I remembered seeing some batiks that he had made in HS. I helped DS1 draw out the Nittany Lion paw print logo on the white fabric we bought and then they painted the wax and dyed it the PSU blue. I ironed it out and hemmed the edges (It was my sneaky way of getting a little color in the room with all the black, black, gray, and black…and now blue! hee-hee). I also surprised DS1 with taking some indoor/outdoor lights (just round white bulbs) and painting some little paw prints on those too with some glass paint…yes, you can bake light-bulbs in the oven. ---- 8/21 The move into college went well. We got permission to move in with the locals on Friday since we leave for vacation on Saturday morning. It was a super Looooong day....up and out by 5am, 4 hours there, unpack and lunch, 4 hours home, then repack the whole car for vacation. Everything for his move went really smoothly though. We arrived there 15 min. before the start of check-in time and thankfully they were already ready and unloading cars. PSU was very organized…we were sent right onto the grass parking for his dorm and students were there with dollies to take loads up to his room (we'd borrowed one from a neighbor also). Lucky for us I'm a little OCD about things as I'd looked and knew there was a good chance of rain in the morning and insisted we put everything not in plastic bins into plastic bags. It was drizzling when we arrived and then we had a hard shower while DH and DS1 were taking loads up as I unpacked the van. When they came back, they were happy that his giant pile of stuff on the sidewalk was protected from the rain as everyone around us was trying to hold umbrellas over their stuff. My niece/god-daughter (also at PSU) came to the room to help and she was great. After struggling to get the rug down and under both beds, the rest of the move went smoothly. We got his batik up on the wall and my niece put up the lights I made him up on the ceiling. The two body pillows fit well along the wall and made the bed into a nice 'couch' of sorts. My son had insisted that he didn't want a bed-skirt as anything with the word 'skirt' in it had to be bad and he feared getting made fun of…I tried 'dust-ruffle', but that was even worse LOL. I whispered for my niece to come over while he was busy and we took the 2 curtain panels I'd bought (for the 'bed-skirt'), folded them and hung them from the bed frame/springs to the floor and overlapped them in the middle. Looks much nicer than seeing the bed risers and the big bins of food and stuff that are under the bed. He was really pleased with how everything turned out…and I don't think he even noticed the bedSKIRT! *Pic 1 Attached: DS1 in the bed portion; note you can see part of the paw-print batik on the wall and the string of lights hanging (and see how you don't notice the bedskirt with all the other black?). *Pic 2 Attached: DS1 and I in the desk/closet portion; note I also got some more color (blue) in with some wrapping paper on the bulletin board. *Pic 3 Attached: Here's the lights up close with the little logos I painted, it's a 24 set (I made another set to send to my god-daughter as a surprise since she liked his so much).

Congrats and we are twins! We are the same size. I am down to the size 17-17 1/2 shirt from 19 and my paints were 44-46 now I am 38 and about to go out and buy 36 by end of year... Exciting yet hard to believe! As i said before the mental aspect is daunting, takes some time to comprehend it is happening and staying off for the FINAL time...

Wow!!! Im sorry to hear that! I too was banded got down to an 8-10 now im a 14-16 currently waitin on the Vsg...good luck beautiful lady i understand the pain and feel the struggle!

Four years out here and never had a problem. My weight loss averaged about 1.5 lb a week for the first year, although I tended to not lose for weeks and then suddenly lose 5lb. I started out with a BMI of 36 so I didnt expect the fast weight loss some had and I also refuse to EVER diet again, so no protein or calorie counting for me either. The second year I lost the other 25lb or so very gradually. I exercised very vigorously all the way through and still do so I never needed to be very tight or dip down below 1500 calories a day or so. Consequently, I have pb'd probably 10 times in 4 years and have never been overfilled or had any issues at all. My band simply makes it easy to eat proper portions and i can eat any food. I didnt get fast loss and I worked darn hard for it exercise wise, but I found the eating side of the equation quite simple - I ate less and lost weight.

I am 6 mos today, I am down a total of 48 lbs, so I guess that averages to about 8lbs a month. I have had a couple issues, when I first started getting fills they would be great for a week to 10 days and then I would lose whatever restriction I had. Took 2 mos to confirm a leak by filling, measuring, filing measuring that I had a leak and the port had to be replaced, that was done 10/30, after that I was too tight and had reflux and so on until we got the fill level correct again. Would I do it again, yes, is it hard work, absolutely! Does it work? If you work at it, it does. I feel like for the first time in my life I can be successful long term on my weight, but it is also likely to take me another 12+ mos to get to goal. I am continually learning about my band and what works and does not with it, and it seems to change at times. I.e I have just discovered like many others that I can no longer eat scrambled eggs, dont know why, but they get stuck every time. Other things I can't eat are heavy pasta, mashed potatoes, rice unless very saucy, bread unless well toasted and then just a bit. Hope this helps.

I've been dry skin brushing for about a year. It's common in Europe, not so much here. I got the idea from Teresa Tapp, whose exercise videos T-Tapp, I do. She sells the dry skin brushes for about 10 dollars on her website. It takes me about 5 minutes a day. Whether this will help with sagging and loose skin or not, I am not sure. For the small amount of money and time invested, I am willing to give it a shot! I figure anything that doesn't hurt might help:smile2:

Hernias can be anywhere from really painful to zero pain. The only way to know for sure is to be checked out. Most likely you have just strained something, so don't panic. If you develop screaming, debilitating pain... 10 out if 10.. go to the ER.

I know what you are saying...I have gone from an 18 to 10 (sometimes 8) and was trying on some 70% off shorts yesterday. They had very limited sizes..I thought I put on XL and they fit just a tad snug. When I got home and tried the stuff on again...much to my surprise I saw that the shorts were a small!!! I would never have tried them on in the first place had I seen the size. Who knew??? Now I know why they were a little snug...I thought the XL were cut small. What a trip to know that I fit into a SMALL.

I used to spend $20-$30 a day on food. Now it's more like $5-$10. I used to take 7 medications, now I take 2. So for me, it's paying for itself!

Has anyone else tried Kay's Naturals Protein Chips? I tried the chili nacho cheese and the lemon herb and they are great. I need crunch sometimes and these fit the bill. One serving of the chili ones have 3.5 g fat, 14 grams carb, 10 grams protein, and 110 calories. I called the company and order their samplers today. They also have parmesean cheese chips, cheddar cheese chips, honey mustard pretzels, cinnamon toast pretzels, etc. They come in small bags. I am going to take them on my motorcycle trip so when everybody else is eating junk food I can have healthy junk food. I will let you know how the other flavors taste when they get here.

The first 10 days were liquid only and then onto pureed foods. At 30 days I started on soft foods which lasts until 12 weeks out. I'm nearly 8 weeks out now and still can't manage most meats and canned fish (fresh fish is ok).

This is a total guess... so as always you're doctors advice is going to be the best. That said... it seems like at 10 days out, as long as you are listening to your body you should be able to do the stuff you are describing. I wouldnt push anything... once it starts to feel like a strain I would stop. This is not time to push through the pain. I think that being carful about lifting is a big deal because you don't want a hernia. I saw a great post on here and I wish I could remember who to credit.... but they said that your incision sites are a very good indicator of your staple line. If your incisions are looking strong.... like they could handle some pulling and twisting.... that's a good indicator of whats going on inside your body in terms of healing. Hope that helps Stacey

ok so i went in for my consultation ...mind u i am self pay so i paid 250.00for the stupid thing and the whole time i was there all they talked about was how the lapband fails ... i was told that i would only lose about 30 pds if was lucky !!!!! and that they have patients that have only like lost 10 in 2 yrs ... very negative feeling after leaving there ,,,then they kept pushing the bypass and sleeve ..... well when i told the nurse pract that i wanted lapband she's like fine but u know there r so many problems and then i just want u to succeed ... i mentioned that i knew 2 ppl mind u that have lost more than 100 pds on the band she said ohhh they must be 1 in a milliom and bla bla bla ..... so now it's like where do i start again .. i researched this surgeon for like the longest time and heard only good things about him but it must have been about the bypass instead .... can anyone tell me what surgeon u've used or heard of or anything in florida aside from dr jawad and dr kim cuz dr kim is like 16500 for self pay which is like 4500 more than dr jawad and i'm trying to find someone no more than a couple hours drive i'm in orlando ...... i'm afraid if i don't find anyone i'll be forced to just go back and have it done by dr jawad i mean does it really matter with where they place the band and what ur outcome is ? or is it all the same and then u just go home and lose to whatever amount of work u put into it? thanks for reading. I had already recieved a surgery date of 7/7 from dr jawad now i'm back to square one :w00t:

it seems like forever, and yet so quick that i've come to this point. I made the decision to look into Bariartric Surgery last march, had my informative meeting in May, began classes in July..... got accepted to the Prep Study (more intense weekly visits with a diet coach assigned to me) in August. Did all the testing i needed then some. I have a personal family doctor that is so supportive and proactive in my care. Turned into the Insurance for approval on February 11th,...... heard that i was approved February 16th and scheduled the day on February 19...... I am having Surgery on March 19th at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh Pa with Doctor Anital Corcoulas.... i was in no hurry.... learned so much... lost about 15 pounds from last FEb to Jul and lost about another 25 lbs since August...... I didn't have a date in mind.......and if it would have taken another few months to get my date.......then i figured that God wanted me to wait..... I am so scared and so excited all at once..... and i am going to make a big effort in not experiencing the "last supper syndrome"....... wow its almost here

i start my 10 day pre-op on the 24 too. i am doing the same thing, like almost in a panic, omg--what shoud i eat now that i wont be able to? i keep thinking i am doing horrible, but i havent gained any so it must not be. tonight my dh and i are going out with his brother and his wife to dinner and to the haunted houses. kinda like my last hoorah before monday. my bil and sil have NO idea that i am doing this though, they just think we are going out for a night w/ no kids. i am looking forward to it. we live in a small rural town and we going into the "city" in the neighboring state, so i get to eat at my favorite GOOD place...now i just have to decide which one that is!!! best of luck on your diet. i am excited to start, it just makes it all real, ya know?