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My scale also went on vacation. Hard to lose 10 Lbs in 3 weeks. Then lost 3 lbs in 2 days

bandayed, I am glad you asked the question! Me too! I am in the same predicament as you. I've read that it can be from the stress of surgery some 3-4 months after, to weight loss (lack of protein). It seems that when hair follicles are shocked (from surgery) they go into the resting phase. Those are the ones that are falling out. My surgeon said and also what I read, that this is temporary. For me it's been about a month. I am constantly running my fingers through my hair and shedding about 10-15 hairs every hour it seems.... Shawn

Aubrie, Thanks for the info. I don't know what I have either, other than its a 10 cc band. I'm at 2.9 fill right now. All I can say is that for the 5 days in Vegas I had, it wasn't until the last day I could eat any solid foods. I lived on Soup and free drinks! Thanks Debbie

SO good! Especially the brown sugar cinnamon ones. I have these for my 10-11am snack and it hits the spot!

I have not told my parents. My mom has been trying to get the bypass surgery. She has had insurance issues. Because, my WLS process was so quick and she has been struggling for so long, I just don't have the heart to tell her. I have not told anyone, other than my sis. And I only told her in case something bad were to happen. She is my emergency contact person. I would suggest telling your mom all your health issues and why it is so important to have this surgery. Their your parents. They will still worry about you and continue to love you. Take it from a mom who has a 24 yeard old girl and a 19 year old son. We worry about you regardless of how old you are. Best regards!

I had surgery on October 15th I was 19st 9 lb as of today I'm 14stone 10lb when will I start to slow down?? I'm 5 ft 10 so only want to loose another 2stone 10 lb

Had a really terrible experience with Quality Medical facilitators. They seemed to be so great and once I arrived in Mexico it all went to hell. Dr. Camelo did the procedure no problem but I saw him 10 minutes before I was put under and 5 minutes the next day in a post op visit. Anyone use him or this group? What were your experiences? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using the BariatricPal App

I'm brand new to this website. I am 36 and have been on a diet since I was 10, you name it, I tried it. I just made my 40< BMI (Yay chubby me) last week, Dr approved me, and now am just waiting for the bariatric surgery place to call me. What can I expect now? I am in California with Blue Shield Access + ***. I know there are nutritionalist sessions (How many?) And a period of supervised diet (How long?)

Hi, I was banded July 21st. My weight that day probably wasn't realistic, since I had all that pre-surgery prep, which really emptied me out. Basically, given that weight, I have only lost 10 pounds in the almost 4 weeks since surgery. I had lost 35 pounds before it and that may be the reason why this weight loss is so slow. My first few weeks I know I was taking in too few calories and I'm probably not doing enough exercise, but it is still very discouraging. My starting BMI was 39. I have 40 more pounds to lose, which may be another reason why it's going so slow, but emotionally it is still very difficult, when I read how well everyone's doing. Any advice. One other thing, I'm 62 years old. Dec, 2007 - 210 pounds July 9th - 184 pounds July 21st - 174.5 pounds August 16th - 164.5 Sure could use some emotional support!!!:thumbup: (Now that I look at the above stats, I see that I've lost 20 pounds in 5 1/2 weeks. I guess that's OK!) Thanks for letting me vent. Love, Ellen

HI I am one month post op tomorrow. When I started this process and I read how some people lost weight so slowly I was sure that would not be me since I dedicate myself 100% to things. Also I lost 60 pounds in just about 4 months... of course I gained it all back thats why I had the surgery. Anyways so now I am post op 1 month and only lost 10 pounds since the surgery and 10 pounds on my pre op diet. The 10 I lost after the surgery was the first 2 weeks.. the last 2 weeks I have lost NOTHING!!!! I blog what I eat and I exercise every day for 30 mins to 1 hour. Now before I had the band if I did this I would loose at least 4 pounds a week.. and now nothing?? At first I said well I am not loosing because I am gaining muscle but come on how long can your body stay at the same weight with such low calorie intake and so much exercising? I am getting my 70 grams of protein and low carbs everything sugar free I am doing all I am supposed to do and I am getting discouraged!!! So if you started out like me with a BMI around 40 please let me know where you were at 1 month post op. Thanks

I know how frustrated you are Emily. It is really hard in the first stages of being banded especially when you read on here how fast the weight falls off of some people. First off you should be congratulated for your 10 pounds pre and 10 pounds post op.. maybe you need to remind yourself just how heavy that is and go and pick up a few bags of sugar!!..(you won't feel so down about it then).. I was BMI 41 when I was banded on June 18th. After one month I lost 18 pounds. I was very pleased BUT I had many complications along the way. I have lost 30 pounds to date but haven't lost anthing for the past three weeks. I think because I had infections and my eating was just way out of whack. I also haven't been getting enough Protein. I do think that maybe you should call your dietician, give them a weekly journal of your eating and exercise.. maybe you need to increase your calories a bit more!??.. I read on here earlier that one woman could get out of her plateau by upping her calories (we are talking a couple hundred not a big mac style increase!!)..and changing her exercise routine..that would trick her body into moving the weight again... I used to do this when I was on weight watchers and would see a good weight loss afterwards. I am going to try again once I ge my ankle out of its plaster cast and can start exercising again!. Good luck to you and KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.. you are doing an amazing job!!!... keep in touch it will be good to hear how you are getting on. kind regards Kizzie

I know you all hate to hear it, and it's more than frustrating, but the lapband typical results are the average of 2 pounds lost per week. If you have lost 10 pounds in a month, you are right on course. Also if you lose 4 pounds one week, then the next you may not lose any. 8 a month is par...so you're doing alright. Someone on here said that the pre-op takes EVERYTHING out of you and it does. And so you gain a few pounds just putting it all back the first week or so. Don't panic. I started with a bmi of 40 and have found that when I stressed about it the scale refused to move. My biggest 'staller' has always been not getting enough no-cal liquids. I have been able to steadily lose 2 pounds a week and have been at 8-10 pounds every month. good luck to you all, if I can help any more, please let me know. This isn't easy but it is possible. Don't lose faith in yourself. You CAN do this.

I am 10 months out. For me, my food preferences didn't really change, but for a while I found food disappointing. I could eat so little at a sitting that I felt unsatisfied, even though I was full. Now that I can eat almost a cup at a meal, I'm back to enjoying all my foods. I have had stuffing on Thanksgiving and cake on my birthday. They still tasted great. I have to watch out. I have to use my brain when I make my food choices, not my appetite.

I feel the same as you. I had my sleeve on 10/23 and am having a really hard time taking in my fluids. I had to stay in hospital an extra day because of being so nauseated. That has gone, but just having a hard time. I am DEFINITELY trying though! Don't want anything to go wrong! Good luck to you!

I belonged to a group where one young lady had 10 fills...problem was her Dr. only gave 1/2 cc per fill.....and after a year she was upset her weight loss was so slow. I have only had 3 fills, and the first was 4cc's.... So it's not how many,...but how much....but many people cannot tolerate large fills, creating large changes to fast.

OMG> I just spent 10 minutes typing it all out!!!! Where did it go? DId I post it on the wrong thread??? Wahhhhh!

I've had my band for 6 days now and I have yet to figure out what's what. I have a pain in the middle of my chest and it burns. I'm burping all the time and I'm starving. Is my band just sore or am I having some serious gas pains. Also is anyone starving like I am. I haven't had any solids since 3/10. I would kill for a poached egg.

Hi! I was drinking anywhere from 10-12 diet cokes a day and went cold turkey about 6 weeks before my surgery. I sometimes miss it - you know, the snap of the pop top and the small hiss of the carbonation. Every once in a while I'll sneak a sip of one of my kid's or husband's but that's about it. One day I even thought - how did I drink so much of this? It tastes like crap! As far as the band, you do have to work at it. I haven't been and I'm totally kicking myself in the butt as I come close to my 1 year bandiversary at the end of March. I've spent the last 3 months working 12 hours a day and then partying almost every night. However, after my last fill last week, I changed my thinking and I've started working with it again. In fact since last Thursday I've lost 6 pounds and working out at least every other day now while drowning myself in water! I know it's a little harder with the large band to feel restriction and I think I've finally found what I was looking for. Good luck and keep in touch! Laura

Well, a BIG box of Optifast shakes arrived in yesterday's post (from my eBay purchase). I also bought a box each of the choc bars, choc mousse and chicken soup.:hungry: Not really motivated to drink or eat this stuff... ...but since I spent all that money on it, and want to drop some kilos right now before surgery, I'd better start. It tastes ok, but I'm not looking forward to hunger pains and feeling depived... ...at least its only a few weeks, and the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. My work pants and jeans are both falling apart, and as I haven't any other decent clothes I fit into right now that are warm enough or suitable to wear out of the house:cry , a couple of weeks of meal replacement will do me good. I have several pairs of NEW pants hanging in the wardrobe - and all they need is just a very few kilos lost before I can wear them:) . So that's motivation to get started. So, from now until the final 2 weeks pre-op, it will be breakfast and lunch of Optifast, and a normal dinner with the family. Some days I have lunch functions, so will not Optifast at these events:hungry: . The last 2 weeks pre-op will be the full Optifast shebang.:speechles Exercise will be a minimum 30 min walk (work days), a 1 hour session of something else on the other days (walk, ride, gym or swim), or a full weekend "chores day" (gardening, laundry, cleaning etc). I must log back into fitday.com and get that log going. I got the rest of my pre-op appointments and instructions from ESV today. Appointments as follows: Sat 26/8/06, 11:15am - weight loss counsellor, Kew Thurs 31/8/06, 5:30pm - dietician group session, Mulgrave Wed 27/9/06, 8:00am - pre-admission nurse, Mulgrave Fri 29/9/06, 9:30am - specialist surgeon pre-op review, Mulgrave Thurs 5/10/06 - surgery, Mulgrave Mon 16/10/06, 3:30pm- post-op nurse review, Mulgrave Mon 23/10/06, 5:00pm - dietician group session, Mulgrave

Unified Group Services? The insurance card also has an HFN 10 logo on it. I am waiting to hear back from them, but also looking for someone else who has used them.

I am down to the last 20 myself . . . and I am still consistently losing. It is getting harder however and I find I have to "tweak" things regularly. I will stay on a particular "plan" for a week and if I see that my weight is moving in the right direction, I stay the course. When I start to stall out or don't see movement, I make changes to exercise, calorie intake, Protein intake, food choices, etc to change things up and hopefully make them move again. It seems like keeping my body "guessing" seems to be the best way to peel off the pounds at this point. I also do not keep my calorie intake the same every day to avoid a rut. I have very low calorie days (800-950) mixed with higher calorie days (but never above 1250 calories). I usually do two low, then one high but it is not always the same. At six months out, I have found that I stall at any calorie level if it is always the same. I also can stall if I eat the same foods every day (which is in my nature to do). This works for me, but of course our bodies are all different. I suffered through many plateaus in the beginning, and once I learned how to break them, I turned plateau busting into part of my regular routine . . . and it is working beautifully for now . . . who knows if it will still work the last 5-10 pounds to goal . . . or if it will work when I bypass my original goal and go for the smoking hot goal of 125???

hello folks! my husband and i will be traveling to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia soon to meet the baby girl we are adopting. my doctor and i are considering unfilling my band for the trip for a couple of reasons...1.) the high possibility of getting sick and throwing up, which could cause a slip. 2.) medical professionals there have no idea what to do with the band, so if i were to having problems, i'd be out of luck with getting help. has anyone else done this while traveling? does the hunger come of fast? i have 6 cc in a 10 cc band and have lost just over 80 lbs. i'm scared of gaining weight, but near as scared as what could happen in Ethiopia with my band if i got sick. any advice is greatly appreciated!

The creator of this forum Alex Brecher posted this a few months ago for those who want a more informed, balanced and complete study of the different WLS. DO THE MATH 164 Studies, 161,756 Patients Over Nearly 10 Years: What Does This Add Up To? BARIATRIC AND METABOLIC SURGERY IS EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED AND GETTING SAFER! A new meta-analysis of studies carried out between 2003 and 2012 shows higher remission rates of diabetes and high blood pressure and a lower mortality rate than previously reported. The study, published online in JAMA Surgery, is an update to a meta-analysis of studies conducted between 1990 and 2003 and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, Buchwald et. al.) back in October 2004. Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reviewed outcomes from nearly 162,000 patients in 164 studies (37 randomized clinical trials and 127 observational studies), over almost 10 years. They discovered 92 percent of patients in randomized clinical trials experienced diabetes remission after surgery, slightly higher than the 86 percent remission rate found in observational studies, but significantly higher than the 76.8 percent remission rate found in the 2004 JAMA study. Remission rates for hypertension were about 75 percent in both the randomized clinical trials and observational studies, while the remission rate in 2004 was 61.7 percent. Body Mass Index (BMI) loss five years after surgery ranged from 12 to 17 in the new study. Before surgery, patients had an average BMI of 45.62. "With the 2004 study, we now have 22 years worth of data from over 180,000 patients and 300 studies," said study co-author J. Esteban Varela, MD, MPH, MBA, Fellow of the ASMBS. "The data continues to prove bariatric surgery is not only safe and effective in providing significant and sustainable weight loss, but is the most effective treatment today for diabetes, hypertension and an array of other diseases and conditions in people with obesity." In the new study, 30-day mortality rate was 0.08 percent, down from the 0.3 percent reported in 2004. Complication rates ranged from 10 to 17 percent and the reoperation rate was about 7 percent. Complication and reoperation rates were not reported in the previous meta-analysis. By procedure, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy resulted in the greatest weight loss, but had a higher rate of complications and mortality than adjustable gastric banding. Gastric banding had the highest reoperation rate (12% in randomized trials), while gastric bypass had the lowest at 3 percent, followed by sleeve gastrectomy, which had a reoperation rate of 9 percent. The new meta-analysis included sleeve gastrectomy, which was not available in the 1990s. Of note, sleeve gastrectomy had comparable weight loss to that of gastric bypass at 5 years. "This is but the latest study to validate the high degree of safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery," said Ninh T. Nguyen, MD, FACS, President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery at UC Irvine School of Medicine. "Today we are performing operations that are as safe or safer than gallbladder and hernia repair surgery." According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 78 million adults were obese in 2011–2012.1 The ASMBS estimates about 24 million people have severe or morbid obesity. Individuals with a BMI greater than 30 have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of premature death compared to healthy weight individuals as well as an increased risk of developing more than 40 obesity-related diseases and conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.2,3

I know, crazy right? When I went jean buying, the sale was on skinny jeans... I looked at those things and said "no way" but it was the largest size they had on the sale rack...and they were BIG! YIKES!!! What?!?! It's funny how our brain can't wrap itself around our bodies...I don't know when/if that will happen for me... that being said, now that I can stand for periods of a time (I have RA so I was almost bed ridden before the surgery it was so bad)... I search at Goodwill...AMAZING finds for about $4 each!!! and PLEASE let it be the color of the week so it's half off!!! LOL... I got 3 dresses that I needed for a cruise we were on and found them there all for under $10!!! They are lovely...but I don't wear dresses as a rule, so there was NO WAY, I was going to spend a lot...but I got a lot from there...go exploring and see what treasure you find! Good luck! Enjoy!

Hi everyone, I'm Gena and I'm still kinda new to this forum, even though I registered a while ago. I found this forum when I first started to check everything out about being banded about a year ago. But I decided to try 1 more diet before I did anything more. So I went on the Atkins Diet in April of 2007 and stay on it till the end of Feb. of 2008. I lost around 40 to 50 lbs till October, then from November to Feburary I wasn't losing anything. I kept telling myself that I was in a slump and I'll start losing again, but nothing. So on Feb. 23rd I stopped the diet and I have made an appt. with Dr. Clark in Ellis Hospital to go to the orientation for the lapband( before I gain the weight back). I need this, about 14yrs ago I had to have a hip replacement due to a car accident and it was only suppose to last 10 years, then I was to need of a new one. I am overdue and I have gained alot of weight through the years. I can't wait till I go to the appt. April 10th but I'm really nervous that I might not be able to have this surgery, I've been told that the Ins. Co. won't pay for the lapband but they will pay for the bypass and I will not have the bypass. I really can't afford to take a loan for it. I just found out last week that there is a woman from work that is being band on April 7th. She doesn't know if the Ins. will cover it. So I was wondering if I could get any info, if anyone has any? If I get my Hip surgeon involved does anyone think it will help with the Ins.?