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I am sorry the ER cant/wont help you. Hopefully you surgeon can prioritise your surgery and get you in quick. you will be fine! gastric bypass will certainly help you with your weight loss. I have a freind who has lost 110lbs since jan 5th, 2010. I hope you feel better with your stomache problems. Please let us know how your doing! J

I am 5 days post op and went out for the first time with friends last night. I felt a bit disconnected as well. As everyone else was eating I couldn't. I just said my tummy was not feeling too well because I haven't told my friends about the surgery. In the future (especially when everyone can tell I'm losing weight) I think I will just explain that I am on such a great diet that I don't want to cheat. I will definitely still go have a glass of wine with them and eat some tomato Soup or something that I can eat while they eat their meal.

This is such a scary process at times and sometimes I wonder if I am doing the right thing. I am so scared of so many things, not sure if I remember what it is like to be a skinny person... and did I not like something about.... why the hell did i gain all this weight. It is a little crazy this is what I look like. And the worst part is when I do rarely catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror i dont recognize myself because is my head I dont look like this... Anyhow I NEED a buddy, getting banding Oct 26, that is this monday at Jefferson Hosp in Philadelphia, Dr Tchansky is my doctor. I live in South Jersey, 1 kid, and 30 years old , bmi 53, ... Does anyone want to be my buddy? I like to email a lot :thumbup: waverly79@gmail.com

Wow!!!Congrats on the fast weight loss.:biggrin: I am one of the slow losers....I had my surgery last July and am down only 60 lbs. That's a bit slower than my surgeon wants me to lose, but he tries to adjust the band to where I can lose no more than 3 lbs or less than 1 pound a week. He really likes it when I lose 2 lbs a week. So I am going to have to go back for another fill soon. I have 7cc's in my 10cc band now and hope that the next fill gets me closer to the "sweet spot". I am really impressed with your will power and the weight loss. Don't think I could stand a whole pound of baby carrots, even though I like them a lot!!

This week I am on an annually business trip. This trip normally messes up my rhythm on diet and exercise. It is a week of eating out, drinking and food on the company dime. I am currently in the supervise weight loss phase which I have lost between 15 to 20 pounds so far. I don't want this trip to derail me. Today I did ok but I fly in today and survived airport travel. I have another 84 hours before I am back home. Hopefully able to get my grove back quickly.

Started pre-op diet 12/04/06 at 289 Pre-op testing 12/11/06 at 278 Banded 12/21/06 at 278 Follow up 01/03/06 at 267

I am still at 154.5 so for the last two weeks I have been at a stall on my weight loss. I was banded May 15, so I am almost 3 months out from my lap band surgery. I have been very discouraged lately because the weight loss has stalled but I am confident I will get the weight loss going again real soon. I have not been exercising but plan to change that immediately. Going walking tomorrow morning. I have been eating really well. I have not cheated with carbs, sliders, sweets, candy or fast food. But I have noticed I am getting a little lazy. I am not getting in enough protein. I am not eating enough vegetables. I am doing well not eating late at night and I drink non-calorie drinks all day long. My hunger goes away for 4 hours after I eat so I may be in the green zone. I think I am in the green zone because I am not hungry between meals. But I do skip meals and I am not eating my protein first, veggies next. I have been very discouraged because three months out I thought I should be 30 pounds down. I started at 187 and now I am 154.5. Gotta get out there and exercise because I am not eating too much food but without the exercise I am at a stall and not losing right now. I am battling the negative comments flooding my head. But I will be happy with the thought that weight loss that comes of slow is probably the best way for me to get the weight off. Slow and steady win the race!!!!!!! Would love your input please. Jenn

Yes, I also believe it's the IV. I think they put saline in it. The weight is probably just water.

This is absolutely normal! Most surgeons do not fill your band when they place it on you, during surgery. Most of the "restriction" you get, is because the band has irritated your stomach and it's swollen. As the puffiness goes down, guess what? NO restriction - meaning, food is just dropping through, as normal. Welcome to Bandster Hell - (I'm in it right now too) This is the time period that we must be patient. It typically takes 3-4+ fills to get to the perfect restriction. I'm on fill #2 (had surgery in Feb) and am no where near my "sweet spot". It's all about will power for a few months - my NUT told me that most people remain the same (weight wise) or even gain during this time period. :thumbup: It's frustrating and disappointing but the important thing is to be patient and know that your band WILL work - it may just not be today or tomorrow. Stay strong and know that thousands of people are going through the exact same thing you are right now!!!! Good luck!

Hi There! I'm Jes. I'm twenty four.. from Baltimore, Maryland. I had my sleeve on December 20th, 2010. So I will be ten months out in just three dates. I started my journey at 317 pounds, day of surgery I was 292. And, today I'm at 175 pounds. To date the brings me to a total f 142 pounds lost. My original goal weight was 150 pounds. But, even then at 5'5 my BMI would be considered over weight. So at my last visit my surgeon and I jokingly agreed my new goal weight was 147. So either way you look at it I have 25lbs or 27 lbs. I started wearing a 24/26 and a 2/3 x top. I'm now in a 12/14 and a Medium top. SUPER excited. My personal goal was a 14 because I couldn't ever remember fitting into a 14. And, now they're starting to be too big.... AMAZING! I've noticed lately the only time I lose weight is when it's TOM! I was hoping to reach goal by my 1 year mark. But, at this point I'll be happy with just meeting goal in general!

Well I had my 4th fill about a week ago; I am now at 6.5cc's in my 10cc band. Now when I eat fish and shrimp I get a stabbing sitting feeling in my chest. I try to burp but I can't instead it feels like the food is coming up. If any goes down in the stomach it hurts like "hell". The only way to relieve the pain is to just bring the food all up (you all know how that looks). MY QUESTION TO YOU IS: IS THIS RESTRICTION???? HAVE I NOW MADE IT????? CAN I NOW LOOK FORWARD TO LOSING WEIGHT? I had a lean cuisine today for lunc and I could only eat half.

I'd been on depression meds for about 10 years. My doc stopped them as of the day of surgery and I haven't taken any since. I feel better than I've felt in many years and, yeah, a lot of it is from the weight loss itself but a lot is also in the change the weight loss brought to my self image.

Does anyone have this? Are the recipes good/simple?

I am currently on meds for depression and anxiety. Anyone else on meds for this before surgery? After surgery have you gotten to come off of the depression one? Most of my depression is due to my weight. I am hoping with the weight coming off my depression may lighten or even go away. Anyone out there who knows?

Hello - Does anybody want to share a one year anniversary story with us? How much weight have you lost and what did you do on your one year anniversary day.

Girl ... I smile all the time now.... Makes 'em wonder what I've been up to date of surgery 02/21/12 surgery weight 340 lbs. current weight 146 lbs

Hi! My name is Courtney. I have my consultation with Dr. John Bagnato tomorrow (April 8) and my surgery is scheduled for April 30th! I'm so excited to get started on this journey. Unfortunately, I will be completely self pay, as tri-care will not pay. Personally, though, I'm convinced that this is an investment in my future. For the price of a low end car, I can significantly decrease my chances of getting all the weight related issues that I'm headed towards. :-) I think I can handle that. I have been reading a lot of the forums on here for about 2 weeks, and I find a lot of encouragement from reading other people's posts. Thanks for that! :-)

I had my conversion surgery from band to sleeve on june first, i had it done in the Dominican republic because my company excluded bariatric from my policy. i was so scare and even felt regrets the day after surgery. Six week later those regrets are way off my mind, I have never felt better. I've lost 30lbs and I'm static My Self-esteem over the top, as supposed to six weeks earlier I wouldn't look my self in the mirror and today I'm jumping for joy. I've had my my ups and down, when my weight loss stalled I thought I failed, coming to this site has been a blessing. Can't wait so reach my goal weight, only 47lbs to go and I made a promise to myself to not drive my self crazy and enjoy the journey. Any other June first sleever. Share your story

Good to hear... while I have lost the weight, it seems like the abdomen size is the same.....

Ive had alot of friends who have had the lapband surgery and all of them have had different results. They are however all in a healthy weight range and only one has lost to much weight and for a little while was under weight. I look at my band as a tool to become healthy and when my doctor asked me what I wanted to weigh, I replied that I didnt want to be a super model, but a healthy person. The lapband isnt a "quick fix" solution as alot of people expect you still have to work at it, but it certainly helps.

I think the place to look for answers is your weight loss surgery center--make sure they accept Medicare and see what questions they are willing to answer. Or call a couple different centers if you haven't decided on where you want to go yet. My clinic put me through to their insurance coordinator. That person might also be able to give you a Medicare number to call so that you can call them and ask some questions. (Rather than the number on back of the card, where you get people reading the Medicare book back to you, no matter how many "supervisors" you are supposedly talking to.) I have Medicare and my clinic says they usually approve everything without a problem, as long as you have met their criteria. One of their criteria is 6 months of consecutive, "successful" appointments with a Dietitian. This is a requirement of my surgery center anyway, so no big deal. But Medicare will not pay for those appointments. My center knocks the price waaaay down so it's affordable. Those are the types of things I would want to know in advance, because otherwise when I got my explanation of benefits from Medicare saying I owed over $200 for one visit, I would have freaked out.

I started my "diet" two days after my consult, and found that it's more of a behavior mod diet that one to lose weight on! My guidelines are to eat at least 4 times a day, lots of protein, eating slowly, drinking lots of water.... etc. The dietician says it's not about weight loss, mostly practicing to eat like a bandster. If I lose weight, thats great, but I just can't gain it! I can live with that. I've been on it for 4 days now, and am finding it hard to being eating "so much", as I usually don't eat much during the day. Not drinking with meals has been fine, but eating slowly and taking smaller bites has been a challenge. I guess it'll get better with time and PRACTICE! As for exercising, I haven't started anything yet, I need to start walking at least a little bit though, just as a start. I need to make an appointment with the exercize physiologist to get a routine made for me, that will help! I know that I need to get moving for all of this to work!

Kind of a long story - Six years ago I was in a car wreck that totalled my car. I severely damaged the ligaments in my right ankle - all three that attach the foot to the ankle. I am left with an ankle that rolls over on me with the slightest provocation. For the past six years I have slowly been adapting my life to dealing with my ankle. I gave up wearing any shoes except tennis shoes with my custom orthotics. Even flat womens shoes make my ankle ache by the end of the day. I normally wear some kind of ankle brace every day - depending on what I am planning on doing. I have about every kind on the market. Driving any distance makes it ache (I commute two hours each way to work). I have sprained my ankle at least once a year (sometimes more) since the original injury and it takes a month or two to get back to my "normal". I have a low level of pain all the time. Imagine a radio playing static at a low volume in the background 24 hours a day. I can mentally block the pain, but it is always there. Over the years, I have done less and less physical things that might cause me to sprain my ankle. While I was morbidly obese, I had a fear I would sprain my ankle and do major damage (broken bones, etc) to other parts of my body when I did it. So seven months ago I was sleeved. I am approaching my goal and feeling great. Two months ago I sprained my ankle, stepping off of a step while cleaning a closet getting rid of "fat" clothes. No more Zumba (I always wore a brace and was REALLY careful there). One month in a boot cast, one month is a stabilizer and now I am in physical therapy. The good news, I have strong ankle muscles that compensate somewhat for the shot tendons. The bad news? I have NO STABILITY in the muscles. I can not stand on my right foot with the left foot off the ground and stay balanced. Without strength and stability I am doomed to repeating the same situation that I have been. Now that I am a normal weight, I could have a harvest graft tendon surgery to rebuild my tendons in the ankle.(There really was no point in going down this path before.) Have a great surgeon who has been taking care of my foot and ankle for 20+ years that has successful history with the surgery. The downside is, the surgery is not easy. It is three months not putting any weight on the foot. That means crutches or one of those rolling gadgets, no driving, and working remotely after the initial recovery. Then three months in a boot cast, then a long bout of physical therapy. After a year, you are as recovered as you will be. I know at some point, I will likely have to have this surgery. There are insurance reasons that are encouraging me to have it this year or next at the latest. (in 2013, I will have a $10,000 deductible) My questions are, has anyone on this site had their ankle tendons rebuilt? Any good news on functionality afterwards? Also, I want to have a tummy tuck. What about having it while recovering from ankle surgery (or under the same anasthesia - the same day) and doing both recoveries at the same time? I'm looking for opinions here - I welcome comments.

Weight Loss - Diet Ticker

My DH had his sleeve done about a year ago; it took me a lot longer to make the decision to have the surgery--long story, but here we both are now, sleeved. And I have to say it's GREAT having a spouse who's been through it and understands. It is NOT cool that his recovery and weight loss and "dealing with the changes" was so much easier than mine is being! LOL It's hard for me not to compare my meager weight loss with his melting--I'm evidently one of those who is going to have to look really long-term, because the short-term view is sort of depressing. At any rate, I would say the positives definitely "outweigh" the negatives, and I'm glad to have someone here who is excited for me when I'm not excited, if that makes sense. And he's an excellent sounding board for all the emotional stuff, too, which is really nice. Meg