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I think it would be cool to start a clothing swap. Meet once a month kind of thing and swap with people who are at different points in their weight loss period.

Many weight loss patients cannot tolerate plain water after surgery. I know I am one of those people. I cant drink more than a swig from a bottle of water without feeling the urge to puke. I'd try adding calorie free, sugar free additives to the water to see if it helps. I drink fruit tea (caffeine free). You can also use crystal light, watered down 100% juice, lemon, or cucumber.

Amanda, First...that little pain your felling is well-reported on this site and I get it, too. It's not an everyday thing for me, but it usually happens after I eat. I find it goes away if I get up and move around. I have no idea what causes it, although I think it has something to do with the positioning of the tubing that leads to the port. I feel like there's a kink (or something) and it's poking me. I know the pain you're feeling is not acid reflux because I am very familiar with that. As for the weight loss...I think you are doing great. You did well only gaining 35 lbs with the baby and you've gotten most of that off. That's a lot more than most women can do on their own. When you're ready, I would go back the the surgeon and get a fill. You haven't failed at anything. You just had life happen and now you want to use the tool you've got. There's nothing wrong with that. That's why you had surgery in the first place. Cindy

Same here..... sleeved and gall bladder removed at the same time. I've had zero pain, zero complications, zero symptoms (no hair loss, no nausea, nothing) and I'm 5 months out. This has been the best thing I've ever done for myself

Yea the weight loss does get slower the closer you get to a normal BMI. My last 20 or so pounds were a BEAR to get off. I worked my butt off and lost about 2 lbs a month. But I finally got there...

I weighed myself weekly to begin with, but once it became clear that I was going to be a serial-staller, I stopped weekly weigh ins and went with bi-weekly to monthly. As I got closer to goal, I weighed myself less and less, letting months go by. I found that actually really healthy, mentally. So I hit milestones like "under 100kg", and finally "goal weight" without even realising until weeks later. Obsessing about the scale isn't helpful. I could feel my clothes getting looser, which was much more significant, and I was sticking to my plan so even when weight loss slowed down, I knew I was heading in the right direction.

I havent had surgery yet, but stalls happen in all weight loss programs so it should be expected here as well. The water thing bothers me to and hopefully I can use a straw still afterwards. I heard it depends on surgeon.

I'm on an antidepressant as well. I take 30mg of Remeron. My psychiatrist has me on a really cool form of it too. I take the medicine in salt tab form. It dissolves right on the tongue and its effects can be felt in seconds. I wonder if, with significant weight loss and regular physical activity, I could actually get off it.

I’m almost 3 months post op, and the ability to gulp water shouldn’t be worrisome. The items you’re concerned with are minimal compared to the benefits of wls. I drink water everyday and sometimes I can gulp, sometimes I can’t. Weight loss stalls happen w/ or w/o surgery. And the length of time it occurs is different for everyone. Good luck with your decision!

I have Aetna and my surgeon had the requirements for Aetna. I lost 1 lb total for the 4 required visits with my surgeon and have since lost 8lbs in total. They did not stress weight loss but encouraged me to start to make healthy choices, exercise etc. Which I already do anyway and has lost 8 lbs in the process. You don't really get much information when you call Aetna customer service. I got all my best answers from my surgeons team, who are great with answering all of my questions. If you have a patient coordinator check with them, they are the ones who gather and submit all paper work. Good luck

It's not a bad idea. But honestly, as the months have gone by with this band, I have gotten fed up with having to diet. I did all of that before the band. I paid $10,850 so I wouldn't have to be stuck on a diet for the rest of my life. The past couple weeks, I have eaten whatever I wanted and started running. I've lost 7 lbs that I had regained when I went bust off of yet another diet. My portions are in control because of the band...I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that anymore. You may want to consider Paul McKenna's book, "I Can Make You Thin." Very interesting and I think it is truly turning around how I look at eating (and has contributed to my 7-lb loss). I don't want to spend the rest of my life obsessing over food - this is making it possible. He is also starting a TV series on TLC that started tonight. Everybody has something different that will work for them - this is simply one suggestion and I'm not implying that it is the cure-all for everyone.

My weight is down overall. I recently gained 5 pounds since I had an unfill 2.5 weeks ago. However, at about 24 weeks I am at a net loss of -11 pounds (154 at conception and currently 143). My band tightened sporadically during pregnancy. I was fine for the most part but occasionally with drift from eating fine to having trouble with liquids in a couple of days which led to 3 emergency unfills. I now have to stay empty until the baby comes. Just keep in mind, heartburn is a common side effect of pregnancy as well as banding. Either factor could be causing it. I am happy the slight unfill will give you some relief.

I want to thank all of you for your replies to my post. I am amazed at how all over the board your replies are. Seems some you got approved w/o any documentation or trouble at all, while others almost had to sign away their first born just to get a hello from the insurance company. Obviously depends on your doc’s efforts to help you and the state you live in. I am almost certain BCBS of Mich., just recently started covering WLS, so I guess they are going to make anyone who tries to get approval jump though all the hoops. GET THIS. When I called my insurance company and the customer service rep started telling me EVERYTHING I was going to have to need and do I immediately started to get a sinking feeling that I was going to be on my own with this one. After listening to the very nice, but not very generous CSR basically tell me it was going to take a miracle for BCBS to cover this for me I decided to ask her a question. I asked her if I paid for this on my own would they cover any treatment necessary if there were a complication with the surgery? I was stunned when she quickly told me "of course we will cover any treatment necessary related to any complications from the surgery. COME ON….BCBS has willingly covered and will continue to cover YEARS of medical treatment necessary due to my obesity: prescriptions, tests, arthritis medications, knee surgeries, and even treatment necessary if there are complications with the band surgery, but they do whatever they have to do to not cover the band surgery itself. Looks more and more like I am going to be paying for this on my own. I am a stress eater and the very thought of battling the insurance company makes me want to order an extra large round pepperoni pizza and eat the whole thing by myself. I just can not handle the thought of doing everything BCBS asks me to do, it taking months to get all their ducks in a row, then having them ask me over and over again for something more. I have done years of weight loss programs, but I really do not have any documentation to give other than the last medically supervised program that I left six months ago. After four months of nothing but liquids, minimal weight loss, and hundreds of dollars I was done. You all know how though this battle is already. I have been fighting and losing my battle with weight for so long I really do not think I have it in me to fight the insurance company and my weight at the same time. I figure why wait months just to still not be approved. Every day I wait is a day I don’t lose any weight. Again, thank you all for your replies. Regardless of how my band gets paid for it helps to know there are others out there just like me who I can talk to and turn to for support.

You can always appeal based on your co-morbidities... Write out a detailed history of your work with weight watchers and those other supervised programs - find any old documentation - a canceled check, or anything. High blood pressure and high cholesterol are dangerous stuff. You can just tell them that if you croak before the 12 mos is up, your relatives will sue the *&*p out of them and win. I hate BC/BS too. We know what BS stands for, right? Anyway, If you really do HAVE a history of supervised weight loss attempts and a history of being morbidly obese, you can fight them. Check out the sticky thread in the insurance section - there are some research studies there that you can quote in your appeal.

Okay, so I am very pleased with my weight loss thus far, and so excited about this journey. However, I am super bummed about this new phenomenon of adult acne!! I have never had problem skin, and my beautiful skin was one of my most prevalent and frequent compliments from others. However, now it seemed I have developed acne! It is mean acne too, resistant to everything I have tried. It is mostly concentrated on my forehead with a few stray bumps on my cheeks and chin. I know that sometimes that body expresses its struggle with adjusting to the new sleeve in many different ways, but I have not seen any posts on here about this. Am I alone? How long will this last? I didn't wanna go from looking like a cupcake to a crunch bar! Nobody warned me about this and I am totally blindsided. HELP!!!

Has anyone had VS pushed through due to medical issues? My BCBS Fed requires 4 months of medically supervised weight loss and counseling, but I am an uncontrolled diabetic. From what I have researched a lot of my medical problems may go away very soon after the surgery. I would appreciate any info from the folks here. I am so glad I found this site. Carrie

I feel bad when people feel like they can't eat because I can't. I have made it perfectly clear to go ahead get what they want. I am responsible to myself. I wanted change,they did not sign up for that change so I should not expect them to. The other day I met a girlfriend for Christmas shopping and lunch. She ordered what she wanted and I had Soup and 2 tsps of her mashed potatoes mixed in the broth. At first she said she felt bad eating in front of me and I told her to stop right there, I wanted this, this is MY situation and that she should not alter her eating based on what I can or can not eat. That relieved all the tension. It takes all my concentration to get in my few spoons of mushies, I can not even worry about the other food around me. I take a bite, make sure it is mushed enough, then swallow and then wait for it to settle in the right place to be able to take another spoonful. That process is all consuming and so filling that the food around me hold not interest for me. I decided long before the surgery when I was practicing my liquid diet that this was on me, I decided it and could not and would not make others who ate around me feel bad about it, and I told myself I have a goal and I want health so much that I was not going to waste time envying others food or ability to eat what ever came their way. For me it all boils down to how bad I want weight loss. Sure things smell good and then I remind myself of the goal and how far I have come and it the food is not a problem after that.

So here's a weird happenstance. I was super upset 2 weeks ago because I only lost 1lb all week. This week, on the other hand, I dropped 4.5lbs in a week. Now here's the weird part. The week before my 1lb loss I was eating well and going to the gym The week before I lost 4.5 lbs I was eating my sisters confectionary (like chocolate and sugar and everything we should not eat ever) and skipped the gym a few days. So why did I lose more weight? My theory is perhaps because I was eating too few calories beforehand... I was eating 550-900 cals per day the week I only lost 1lb and closer to 1200 when I lost 4.5 I am by NO MEANS saying any of us should eat any of the JUNK I was eating, it's not good at all. Like so bad that I was dumping. But isn't that weird? Obviously I need to focus on eating more because it helps. Healthier things that is. I only ate that crap because of the holidays. I feel like if i let myself splurge from time to time for special occasions then I won't eat crap on the daily - Kaylee Ann ~ Surgerversary 6/11/2012

Dear Kelli, Thank you so much for responding. I am just sooooo frustrated and scared that my lap band will be just like every other diet I have been on for the past 8 years and not loose weight. I will give this my all because I am really uncomfortable in my own skin. My OBGYN feels that all my PCOS will clear up to some degree with steady weight loss. So in 6 weeks I will start a liquid diet and on June 11th I will have my surgery. Slow and steady weight loss will make me more than happy so I will keep my fingers crossed. Thanks again. I am happy for you having results and wish you the best. Love, Tonya

Hi Melissa! Congradulations on your surgery date! My name is Jackie and I just had surgery on April 22nd. Everything went really smooth. congrats on the weight loss so far! I lost 11 pounds on my pre op diet and 8 more since surgery last wednesday. I am now on mushies and feeling great. Would love to chat with you sometime. I started this at 240 and now I am at 222. On my way!!!! Good luck to you!!!!

Dave once you get to the correct fill level after a band, then you are supposed to be satisfied or full with about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of food. This is how you are able to lose weight, but you have to follow the rules. The band is made to be a lifetime implant, and many have had them for a long time, but sometimes there are complications where they have to be removed, that percentage is pretty small though. On the excess skin issue everyone is different, it depends on your age and the elasticity of your skin, one advantage to the band is you lose slowly and this allows your skin to retract better than very very rapid weight loss such as you have with a bypass surgery. I believe I remember reading that about 20% of band weight loss paitients need a plastic surgery after they are at their goal weight. Hope this helps. Debbie

I had the band done in July 2008. My weight loss has been very, very slow. But my weight continues to go down. I feel soooooo much better and can do so many things that I couldn't do before due to pain. If I had to do it over I would in a heart beat!!!

WONDERFUL weight loss! How are you doing it? I'm 3 weeks post-op and I haven't lost a pound since the first week. What am I doing wrong? Melly:confused:

I had a BMI of around 67 when I got my surgery. So no, a higher BMI isn't a contraindication. This is surgery to promote weight loss. If your doc tries to push bypass on you, go to a seminar where you can get objective fair data on both and make your choice. I had to do a preop diet that was pretty strict but it wasn't to lose weight so much as to shrink my (enlarged by fat) liver. You may have that depending on your lab results etc. However it was just for a few weeks (would've only been 3 if I hadn't cheated) and it wasn't that bad.

Hi, my name is Yasmin and I am schedule to be banded June 2nd, 2006. In Mexico.Yikes! I did do my research and am as comfortable as I am going to get with surgery in Mexico but due to the cost it really is my only option. So any pointers, stories, ideas would be greatly appreciated. I hope the best for all of us and pray that everything goes well. I have several questions about diet, excersize, expected weight loss, etc. Please send any tips or comments on these subjects. I have read everything out there on the internet but really would like to hear from those who have had the procedure and are living with it. Also, I live in Idaho and am having problems with finding a follow up doctor, so if anyone knows of one in or around ID please let me know the name and no. I have made arrangements to follow up in Mexico if all else fails, but would prefer a closer doc. Thanks and God Bless, Yasmin :peace: