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Sasha~ I am right there with you! I wanted to shout from the rooftop last week when I saw 249. I honestly have no idea when I weighed this last? Maybe back in 2001 when I got married? I had some short lived weight loss due to stress and IBS....but after the ceremony it returned and then some (as usual). Have you been measuring as well?? I love seeing the inches go down, down, down!!

I'm so sorry for your loss...I lost my father to brain cancer as well. There are no words to describe how devastating it is to lose a parent. Good luck on your journey...it's YOUR time now :-)

So, here is what I know from my experience, FWIW. It was suggested to me that better endurance translates to easier recovery from major surgery. I had a membership to the health club for years, but did not go religiously. However, one month prior to surgery, I started hitting it hard. To increase my endurance, I did elliptical and spinning classes almost daily. 45 minutes minimum. Started low, but after the month, I was able to go for 45 minutes at a pretty high level. I would go over to the weights occassionally when I had time and was able to increase my weights by the end of the month. Day of surgery (I was outpatient in Vegas, baby!) after taking a nap back at the hotel, I walked around downtown Vegas for a couple miles and took the wife out to dinner. Next day, we were all over the strip walking at least 5 miles. Same thing the next day, maybe even more. I felt great. I knew that my cardio workouts played a large role in my being able to do this. At my appt with my surgeon before I left town, I told him all this and he just laughed saying how incredible it was to do what I was doing. He believed it was my preparation that was responsible for this. Now, when I got home, things were definitely reduced that first month or so. As Butter says, you cannot build muscle on a calorie deficeit. For starters, muscle can only be built from Protein, which is just about impossible to meet quota for the first few weeks post-op. Your calorie intake is so low, it can be tough to muster up enough energy just to make it through the day let alone take on a serious workout. Napping took priority over working out. Fast forward two months post-op and I add walking/jogging around the neighborhood to the workout regimen dropping elliptical in favor or high intenstity interval training. As you can see from my signature, I'm dropping weight like crazy during this time. Almost too fast, if truth be told as my excess skin is really starting to show up. I am sagging from places you just don't want to sag. I have definitely lost muscle mass, but I am lifting weights and taking in over 100 g of protein daily. Buuuut ... still only getting about 900 calories a day. It is just difficult to get it all in. 6 months in I run my first 5K and actually do really well. Inspires me to try to be a runner. I basically only run and do HIIT and weight lift about twice a week. I cheat the rules of the sleeve to get extra calories in (drinking while eating) to be able to support my running efforts. I'm still dropping weight, but at this time, I feel pretty confident all of my weight loss is fat as I am able to increase my weights on the lifting side of things. One year out and I've been at goal for several months. My exercise has been sidelined with knee issues, but I follow the sleeve rules pretty tight, so I am able to maintain. In my last 5 races, I have either won or come in 2nd in my division. I had never even ran a mile before in my life. Never had an interest in running, even hated it, to be honest. But, I don't think there are a lot of obese people who like running ... know what I mean? What am I trying to say? This all started with cardio endurance training 1 month prior to my surgery. I know this was the basis for my recovery and transistion to a healthier lifestyle. Weight lifting ... yes, but only after I completed my cardio. Good luck and keep us all posted on how you do.

I am sorry for the loss of your father. Welcome back.

So sorry for your loss :\ I will pray all turns out the way you hope. I have a cousin who went through 7 miscarriages and they found out her uterus couldn't hold, so they sewed her up and she couldn't do much, lite duty. She now has 5 beautiful kids. Don't ever give up hope.. it will work out in the end!

I also started as a "lightweight" in regards to WLS. I had 80 lbs to lose and I've lost 75 so far. I still have my curves. In fact, they're more defined and feminine now than when I was 225 lbs. I have curvy hips and my boobs stayed the same size too. My smaller waist and strap size on my bra have actually made my boobs look bigger, in fact. As for losing too much, I would worry about that when you get to goal. 145 lbs is my goal and I'm probably going to try to go a little lower because of the "bounce back" as RickM said. I'm very happy with my size, but the desire is there to go lower! There's always the possibility of going overboard on the weight loss, of course. I'm only 7 months post-op so I'm by no means an expert on the matter.

To try and ensure I hit on everything, my answers are below in blue. After reading the posts about band slippage, erections, the many doctor visits years out and so on and so forth. I am rethinking this thing. I was thinking that I would get banded, go to the Md for a couple of post op visits then once every year. You have to keep in mind that this is a support board, and by and large the people have sought this site out for some purpose. Often that purpose is complications. We likely have a higher concentration of people represeting complication statistics here than the general banded population. Complication rates are still very low. BTW, erection -- really?? As a female, I hope not! I think you meant erosion. Not to mention the hair loss!! The hairloss can come with any surgery or major body trauma, anesthesia, etc. It is not a"band" thing. I was under the impression that I would have 3 small incisions on my tummy. I've seen up to 5 and 6 VERY LARGE unsightly incisions. I have 5. I think most people have 5. My largest is just over an inch, and my smallest is probably 1/4". All but my post incision have faded to barely visible white lines. But let's get real for a moment. Incisions are unsightly, but being obese, stretchmarks, health issues, etc. aren't?? If someone needs the band, they're fat and probably have stretchmarks. Stretchmarks are likely to be in places others can see. The only way someone's going to see "unsightly" band incisions is if you pull your shirt up and show them your stomach. I don't know about you, but that's not something I do. Does the vanity of ~5 small incisions that no one will see unless you intentionally show them outweigh the "unsightly" fat/stretchmarks/health issues/etc.?? I've never understood this logic. I've read about not being able to eat, being uncomfortable and in pain. It seems as if the theme is : Yes I am in pain but at least I am not fat. If that's the theme, it's news to me. It takes a while to get the band adjusted. Part of that adjustment period is the potential that it is too tight, which can result in temporary pain. The biggest factor is our own behavior - chewing well, controlling bite size, listening to our body's built-in portion control, etc. Personally, if there's a theme then I think it's Yes I sometimes have pain, but it's my fault for doing stupid things. When I pay attention and follow the rules, I don't have pain. Perhaps you've been spending too much time in the complications area? I am NOT by any means trying to offend anyone. I appreciate all of your posts and it will help me to make a more informed decision. I appreciate everyone being transparent to help one another. Am I just delusional? This is not a 100% complicated free procedure is it? Again please forgive me if I offended anyone, I am just disappointed. You won't offend anyone. I don't think you're delusional, but I do get the impression you're focusing too much on the overall, very small rates of complication and letting that "block out the light" of all the success stories. Yes, you're going to have pain at some point. You're going to have to bring up food at some point. You're going to have some struggle in changing your behaviors. Those are things that just about all of us, especially anyone with any time out, goes through. The pain is not constant, and something that you can almost always control. The struggle is not constant... behaviors change, eb and flow.

The band is, to a large degree, negative conditioning. We want to do something bad for us, but the band gives us pain rather than reward. If we get slapped upside the head enough by our bands, it eventually gets through that the bad behavior causes pain rather than pleasure. For the lucky ones, the mere threat of pain is enough to steer them away from the bad behavior. For those of us not so bright, we need another occasional slap to keep us on track. The band stops us from overeating. How does it do that? With a gentle "no, no, dear?" Well, actually it does that, but I often don't listen. The pain from eating too much, too fast isn't a complication to me; it's a sign that my band is working. If it didn't hurt, I would still be stuffing myself with donuts. And I am not in pain unless I do what I know I shouldn't do. The hair loss can come with any weight loss. I lost hair on earlier diets; I think it's your body reacting to less food than it needs to maintain itself, so it sacrifices your hair. It came back before, so I expect it will this time too. My incisions are four quarter inch marks that don't even look like surgical scars anymore, and one inch long line. I consider them fairly minor. Your questions are good ones, and ones we all think about preband. The pain right after surgery is minimal for most; I never even took the pain pills my doctor gave me, nor did my husband. The biggest adjustment I thought I would have was the loss of my best friend food; as I've said before, she's still around but I don't like her that much anymore.

Consumed- Clear liquids (chicken broth, sherbert, italian ice, Water, apple juice, cranberry juice, etc) Length- 5 days Lost- 8 pounds (I was told this isn't real weight loss) I was extremely tired on the clear liquid diet. I take Parlodel for a Pituitary Growth.

Now I realize why you are asking this question, because it is the same question I asked myself 1-2 months out where I was starving. (It was also the same question I asked myself dozen's of times over the years before banding when I kept deciding to give it one more shot the old fashioned way) You are in bandster hell of course and becoming depressed is natural. We have all been there, or will get there in the future. A lot of us have read something about it before we got there, but you don't realllyyy understand it until you have lived it. It is a miserable time where you doubt yourself, doubt your band, doubt everything. It is true, your band is not really helping you at this phase. I stalled out on weight loss for several weeks at this point. The only way I could get it going again was to cut out processed carbs. I ate only lean meats and vegetables with limited fruit and was able to start moving downwards on the scale again. I did not lose much from a few weeks out from surgery through my first fill. My first fill brought me down a few pounds quickly. However, what little restriction I felt was gone within a week. I started stalling again and had to really start exercising regularly to keep a downward movement on the scale. I could keep losing, but I was losing super slooowwww. However, as long as I kept losing even a little, I wasn't so depressed. Then came fill #2. This was a real kick in the pants for me. I was pb'ing everyday for the first week and a half and had decided on an unfill. Then I realized that the problem was me eating too fast & not chewing enough. I also was not going on liquids for a day after a pb to let my stomach rest. I started eating more like a bandster and found this fill gave me great restriction, and I cancelled my appointment for a slight unfill. I have not had to get another fill since as of yet and I am still losing steadily around 1.5 pounds a week on average. When I was in bandster hell, every day was a supreme struggle. Now, it has become more easy because my tool is working with me. Once you are at the right fill level, you can find success as well as long as you follow bandster rules and eat healthy foods the majority of the time. You can also lose weight at this stage as well. Low carb worked well for me. I didn't restrict volume so much, only certain types of foods. Exercise also worked for me. What kinds of foods are you eating? Are you tracking them by calories and Protein? What are you doing for exercise?

Hi! New to the site! I have been overweight my entire life. I started losing my weight journey in 2001 when my gyn doc put me on Adipex. I took those for about a month or two. Then my primary doc told me to stop taking them because of blood pressure. So I joined this program, LA Weight. Loss about 80lbs. with them spent years spending money with them and said I'll never have WLS! Tried over programs as I moved to and from different states( Quick Weight Loss, WW 3 times, Atkins and South Beach). In 2005, started taking Phentermine again through online Pharmacies along with doing LAWL again. Did that for about a year. Finally stopped and gained all the weight back. So in '06, I decided I need to have GB surgery but how was I going to pay for it. So, in '07 I started going to seminars. Started hearing about LAP BAND and all it's stories and cost. Met people who had it done and heard all there wl stories. So, in '08 had a REALIZE BAND placed at a start weight of 310 lbs. loss only 40lbs. I exercised and did my proteins, everything just couldn't pass 40lbs. Never really controlled hunger. Just made it to where food would get stuck and then I would start having problems. Had several fills and unfills. Over the course of 4 years I started thinking well maybe I could start taking pills again. My doc even put me on a low dose Phentermine for 3 weeks, a tease! I thought we were on to something! His rationale was to jump start my metabolism! Ha! In May of '11 found a job with WLS coverage. I new that my precert would have to start one year from the time of my initial coverage (July) with 6 month (Jan '12-July '12)wl supervision. I had it down to a science. Started seeing my PCP in Jan and joined WW again for the 3rd time. July rolled around I scheduled appt with surgeon. Had a scope done didn't find anything wrong with band, just some gastric irritation below due to H. Pylori bacteria. Put me on a 2 week PrevPac. The bariatric coordinator sent paper work to BCBSof AL. They wanted to see proof of where I paid for band. Took about 2- 3 weeks for approval. Schedule for band removal and RNY on 10/22! Wt now 312lbs!

That's great how much have you lost and how is hair

The clothes issue is bugging me now too - it was a novelty at first. But it gets expensive. I'm at the end of my journey and just losing those last few pounds, but the trouble is, 6 or 7lb now takes me down a dress size. I just bought a few new pairs of jeans six weeks ago and they're enormous on me now, I need new ones. I dont know where my weight loss will stop either, I'm not really trying to lose anymore. But enjoy it early on, you'll get more wear out of what you buy at the start of your journey and looking forward to the really great stuff you want to wear is a big part of it. Inching closer to that is so exciting.

Yeah, the clothes thing is kind of a two edged sword. On one hand it is a great feeling and on the other it is SO expensive. Congrats on your continued weight loss!

I am not sure how many fills you have had at this point. Just for reference I was banded on 1-7-08 and have lost 34 lbs. You also didn't say what your BMI was so not sure how much you want to lose. Mine was almost 40. I have had 1 fill and do not feel a lot of restriction. I have however changed my eating habits. I stay below 1000 cals a day. I also work out at the gym 5-6 days a week. I haven't overeaten yet so the band is not really doing what it was intended to do yet. I just want to be very conservative with my fills. Not looking forward to sliming or pbing so trying to work on issues without the band for now. It will be more helpful to me as I get down closer to my goal and just maintaining. Are you for sure getting in 60 grams of protein and 64 oz water a day. Very important for continued loss. Are you eating out a lot? Lots of hidden calories there. Hey be happy 33lbs is a good amount. Just stay the course.

very much the same timing and all, I am 2 months out on next Monday.lost, 61 but had a few more to loose to get under 300, 2 1/2 week plateau shortly after raising protein levels and adding raw veg's. I am trying to exercise and there is not any result of weight loss only. I am waiting for this to blow over with out worrying that it may not be so much the same as any more. no band, just the sleeve current.

I have Cigna and they do cover weight loss surgery. Call the number on your Cigna ID card and ask them for a copy of your employer's particular policy. Weight loss surgery is option and some employers opt out.

Cat.jackson89..how are you doing with your post op now that a few days have past?Are you having pureed food now or have you moved on to real food I'm just curious how things are going for you? Sent from my SM-G920T using the BariatricPal App I'm doing great! I have some pain when I bend over, but I've been limiting my bending as much as possible. I did get moved up to the puréed phase last week, and it definitely slows the weight loss, but I'm still losing

It sounds like you need more support than you are getting and really it might be wise to get back to your doctor or a different one and talk over whats going on. Is something else going on in your life that is causing you to feel this way ? from your profile you have lost 45lbs so far, that is something to be proud of and going back to old eating eating habits and no exercise will just undo all the hard work you have already put in. It feels like whatever is going on in your life needs to be addressed with help and support and hopefully that will help u discover what is making you sabotage yourself. Of course there are people that the band just doesnt work for but given your initial weight loss it doesnt seem like that is the case, motivation to make this thing work to me is key for a successful journey, what motivated you when you were losing weight ? , try and get that back. Please dont throw in the towel, even if you set yourself a goal of not putting any weight back on it will help you bide time till you can sort out the emotional side of eating. I really hope u can sort this out and find something/someone that will help u get out of this 'low' that you find yourself in ..

I think it varies from person to person. Mine didn't start until about month six. It just recently stopped and I am 16 months post op. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones. I will say losing the hair was so worth the weight loss and a new lease on life!!

Some people don't lose hair.

My hair is so thick! I've been purposely not having my stylist thin it out but I'm losing patience. I don't want to have her thin it out AND THEN lose a bunch more. I'll wait a couple more months just to be sure.

I started losing about 4 months. My hair has thinned drastically. I can see, but I don't know that anyone else notices it. I cut it way shorter. I'm taking a lot of biotin and making sure my protein intake is high to help prevent it from thinning further. It is growing like crazy, but still losing at 6 months. It has slowed quite a bit.

from what I've heard/read, it usually starts falling out at 3 or 4 months out, but it can start as late as six months. I'm quickly approaching five months (with no loss so far) and am cautiously optimistic, but I won't rest easy until I hit the six-month mark.

I hated the sleep study!!!! It has been a nightmare from the beginning. My doctor has three offices in three different cities, takes forever to schedule an appointment, has incompetent staff that lose paperwork. I'm just at a loss. I finished all my clearances, nutrition classes, blood work, psych approval blah blah blah in early November here it is January and I'm STILL waiting for an approval from him. I originally did the study at home then he claimed I needed to do the study in their overnight office. I barely slept either because hello... There is crap everywhere and I'm breathing through a machine that is hurting my lungs! So I push through the silly study and they tell me my number is 5. I can't remember the term off hand but I know it's the lowest number you can have for the mildest of mild sleep apnea. Mind you I have NO TROUBLE sleeping at all. So I had to get fitted for a machine, wait for it to be shipped, and now use it a full 30 days before my approval from his office. AND he said I probably don't need it. So with are you prescribing it? And then on top of that he says well I think it will be a good idea just in case you need during surgery... OK fine. I'm OK with that but if that's the ONLY REAL REASON you want me to have it then why do I need to use the dumb piece of crap for 30 days? Sigh. Can you tell I'm ranting. Just hijacking your post. Lol. My bad!!!! I seriously think its only for insurance and billing purposes. And extra doctor visits. Smh!!! Best of luck.