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I'm trying to stay positive.... I mean I'm really TRYING hard to stay positive, but it is so hard. So now I'm up to 9.5 cc's and no restriction. I'm really hungry, in fact I feel as if there is no band. I can eat anything, no issues. I am finding it increasingly difficult to not eat myself into an oblivion. So far it's calorie counting, and battling that constant, nagging hunger, the last thing I want is to regain any of the weight that I have lost. My biggest fear is never getting that restriction. I have to wait another month until I get another fill, and quite frankly I'm running out of room in my band. I'm feeling overwhelmed by feelings of failure and that maybe I'm that person who this will not work for. Most of the time I try not to think like that, but since this last fill not changing anything, it's getting harder and harder to feel good about this process. Anyone else out there been through this?

I get alot of " You dont look like you weight THAT much " . Im 5'4 and i weight 240 . Apparantly I carry my weight well according to everyone . I DONT See it. I have had a few people tell me " You dont need the surgery it you dont look like you weight that much " That gets frustrating . As for your DH . My dh went through alot of the same things, with me. A LOT OF his issues were lack of awareness about the band. Has he gone to a seminar with you ? Have you showed him info on how diets fail and end up putitng on MORE WEight than before the diet ? I also explained to him that the band was something I felt I could DO and succeed with . Diets were not "Doable" for me and That even exercise at this weight was painful. Eventually he came around . He's supportive now . Good luck . I have known for 2 yrs this is 100% what i wanted. Dont do it unless you know . Sure I still have doubts ( Im not banded yet ) But it passes and I get my determination back to get the surgery done NOW . LOL Good luck , I hope you figure things out Mindy

One of the top predictors of long term success with WL is tracking your food/exercise etc. I weigh myself daily - I no longer am swayed if I am at the same weight for a while, as the trend continues downward - work through those stalls. I track calories, Protein, carbs, fat, and Fiber. I also keep track of my liquid intake, my Vitamins, meds (very few now) - I do have a myfitnesspal login but I use good old paper journals, and track exercize/walking with Runkeeper. Carbs and Water consumption seem to have the most significant impacts on how I feel, and how much I lose. I am a pound and a smidge from Onederland - a place I have been hanging out at for a couple of weeks (also a serious set point from my long ago past) Looking forward to seeing a 1 in front, rather than a 2...waay better than the 3

Just curious to know which of you are in the University of Washington Weight Management Program. I find it very helpful to find others going to the same facility as yourself.. I have a hard time remembering which of you members are in Western Washington. If you are, say Hello and the stage you're in!

Hi everyone I'm sorry if these questions have been asked before it's been a while since I've been on this site. I had my sleeve surgery done 5 years ago so I have been through a lot of ups and downs and I would say I'm on the more experienced side of being a sleever..... I am at a stage now where I have put on quite a bit of weight, probably over 20 kgs since I hit my goal weight. I lost overall 55 kgs on the sleeve and I was so happy. There has been a few complications such as a hiatus hernia operation, appendicitis and I've recently had surgery on my ankle which has made me put on even more weight. I am trying to get back to my goal weight and I am finding it difficult to shift any weight. I have POS which makes it hard too. I've tried shake diets, low carb diets and I lose maybe a few kgs, then put it back on if I even have one day of eating something such as bread. I'll admit I'm not in the best place the moment, most days I'm sad and down about this and all I want to do is get back to what I was. I wanted to know if anyone has gone through what i am currently going through and have you been successful in losing weight again? I really need advice and some tips and the best people would be the ones who are going through this journey with me. Thank you.

Hi, I have just joined these forums and this is my first time posting, I hope I don;t do anything wrong! On 14th May 2014 I was given a Sleeve by Dr Mannur at Homerton Hospital, London, UK. Prior to the pre op diet I weighed 34 Stone 4lb at the age of 25 and things were desperate, I was hugely struggling with day to day life. I followed the 'Milk Diet' for 31 days and on the day of Surgery I weighed exactly 31 stone. I had great success with the sleeve and before too long I weighed 21 stone 4 lb and I was happy. I went away to America on a holiday and over indulged on the bad things. I thought it was ok as I would get back into the swing of things when I got home, but I didn't. My weight crept back up to 29 stone and I felt hopeless. I knew it was time for change so sorted my head out and got back into the swing of things. The weight was coming back off and I joined Slimming World for the extra support. Then, in 2017 my surgeon told me that he wanted to perform a DS on me. I was against that as I had read up about it and personally didn't feel comfortable. He then suggested a Bypass which I agreed to. I had the surgery last week (17th April 2018) and on the day of surgery I weighed 24 stone. I had a different surgeon this time, Dr John Loy. My big question is what will my diet be like in 6 weeks time when I am back on solid food? I find plenty of information from people that have had a Sleeve or Bypass - but not both! I am hugely excited for my future, but I want to prepare myself for my new life and exactly what it will be like. Thank you for any help you can provide and sorry for the long post!

For those who had to lose weight before surgery..is it because your surgeon had a weight limit before he would operate? If so, did either mention what the threshold was before they would do surgery? Just curious. I thought for sure at my weight my surgeon would require me to lose a bit of weight before surgery, but he said I'm fine.. no need other than my 1 week pre-op diet.

Smoothies, protein bars, edamame, trail mix are all incredibly high calorie. Frankly I think whoever told you not to count calories did you a terrible disservice. And like Dr. Phil says, how's that working for you? Since you are gaining weight, I'd say it isn't . . . give tracking a try, at least temporarily, to see where the calories and carbs are adding up. Instead of smoothies (efficient way to gulp liquid calories) stick with dense protein and green veggies. Skip the protein bars and the trail mix. If you need a snack, eat a hard boiled egg, or a string cheese stick, or turkey jerky or a packet of tuna (if you eat meat). And definitely skip the cheat day -- call it what it is. It isn't a cheat day, it's a self-sabotage day. Cheating is when you do something unethical to gain an advantage. What you are doing isn't unethical, but it also isn't giving you an advantage -- you are just hurting yourself.

I had the band put in back in 2008. I spent a miserable five years. I was banded at 263, and didn't lose more than 15 pounds. I could eat a teeny piece of scrambled egg, have it get stuck, and spend the day sliming until it would finally get unstuck 12 or 14 hours later. I ended up developing a wicked sweet tooth. I couldn't eat healthy food, so I started eating slider foods- stuff that would go down easily. I sank into a deep depression, because seriously- I went to the extreme of having weight loss surgery and was STILL a failure! I gained back the fifteen pounds that I lost, and i had it removed in 2012. I ended up maintaining my weight for a few years, then hit age 40 and ballooned up to 305. Last year I stumbled back onto WLS sites, and that's when I discovered that it wasn't ME who was a failure- it was the band. I couldn't believe how many other people had stories just like mine. I literally read hundreds of stories where people suffered just like me. I was sleeved two weeks ago, and already I can see a huge difference. I could go on and on. My only regret is not doing this earlier. And I wish I had discovered earlier that I wasn't the only person having trouble with the band. The mental anguish was almost as bad as the physical discomfort.

I initially wanted the band because it's reversible and seems less scary than having part of my stomach removed. However, my surgeon talked me out of it. He said he barely does a handful a year and that he spends lots of time doing band revisions and removals. Apparently, a lot of people have had to change from the band to the sleeve. There are a lot of complications like band slippage. With the sleeve, you also don't have to get adjustments or worry about as many follow up appointments. Also, it can restrict your ability to eat healthy foods like raw vegetables and chicken, but then things like ice cream slide very easily down. For me, the main thing that freaked me out was having this foreign object in my body. I read on the internet about people who can see or feel their port through their skin and I didn't like the idea. I think you should talk to your surgeon and do as much research as possible. My surgeon did say that for someone with a lot of weight to lose, the sleeve is better. However, if you don't have much weight to lose then maybe the band could be for you (or you might consider the laparoscopic balloon or another alternative).

Well written, I wish You would have posted this at my 3 week mark. I got on that stupid scale every damn day and NOTHING moved. I am 5 weeks out now and still nothing. I will not get on that scale again until my 6 week follow up. I am very dishearten by the non moving scale, and I hope that it does not keep me in this rut for long. I am a cash pay patient and I think I spent equally as much on crap before I paid for my surgery. The money we waste on all the B.S they "feed" us on tv, it should be outlawed. Good luck with your weight loss journey. Its nice to know we are not alone out here.

Yesterday I decided not to weigh myself. I had been a little obsessive the past few weeks, kind of obsessive, and sort of endlessly disappointed the way I always am on the scale. You know there is that after-party feeling you get when you've just gotten weight loss surgery and even the loss of 30 pounds in three weeks somehow doesn't satisfy. It's the death of the fantasy-surgery in which you fly back from Mexico suddenly weighing 135 pounds. I mean it was weight loss *surgery*, right? Medical Magic? Where the hell *is* my flying car, by the way? I know there are people who give you this advice anyway. The Weight Watchers lady, the Jenny Craig lady and the Diet Center lady were all prone to the same advice and now thinking back on it they might have all been the same lady. Remember her? Skinny, size zero dress with a tiny waist and no sleeves, huge grin on her face and at least en years younger than you perkily dispensing dictums about how one should comport one's self in life. I swear she was always the same girl. And as far as I knew I was listening to a person who was subsisting on styrofoam and black tar heroin. Jenny Craig was probably the worst diet ripoff I ever encountered -- five hundred dollars "registration" fee and then I would come to get "my food", as they called the minsucule globules of prepackaged crap frozen dinners and "snacks" such as two thumbprint sized, elven lemon butter muffins. Jenny Craig is owned by Nestle Corporation. They are in the food business. The whole thing is designed to sell a vulnerable, aging and overweight population of females their crap food at an astronomical markup. It's all like this, all of it. All of it. What I keep thinking about still is all the lies and nonsense I paid for to try to lose a hundred pounds for the third time and I just knew I never would. I would just *keep buying products* as some sort of offering. Sure I was overweight. But I was doing something. I was spending thousands of dollars a year in extra shit I never used or got satisfaction from because those thousand dollars represented some kind of hope but then....after a while..it's just what you do. You're fat -- this is not a condition but a demographic, a role, a llifestyle. Your market speaks and your ears perk up right away. The salesman in your living room gets you to part with only six payments of 59.99 for some Chinese appliance wih moving parts you are supposed to press or move or kick; or some tape or "plan*. I will never regret the money I spent on weight loss surgery. What I regret is all that *other* goddamned money. Tangent, sorry. I decided to stop weighing myself because I am trying to save myself from the feedback loop I seem get sucked into with the scale. I know it's "stall week". I know I'm going to "stall". I would just rather not hear about it from that appliance. Because what it doesn't know is that I barely have a stomach anymore and I am eating less than six hundred calories a day on average so it's very *likely*, I mean one could *project* that I am losing a shit-ton of weight here. I'm sticking with that for the time being. For as long as I can stand it. It's very zen of me. And today was much better than yesterday. Special K went down with joy and peace in its heart; and then around 4 I went to Culvers and got a cup of bacon and potato Soup to dissect and pulverize. It also went down like a sleepy baby and gave me a nice, rounded, carby buzz. I had some juice in my veins today and did not cry, although I did get way too interested in mineral makeup products and at-home microdermabrasion which I had to force myself not to buy. I don't look all that great for a person who just lost thirty pounds. I look tired and kind of sucked-in and gray, which is what I hear happens to people who've . had surgery recently. But I decided it was not time to worry about that yet. It's really unlikely I'm going to look like Heather Locklear tomorrow no matter what I purchase online. A little more new normal today. And no scale, which to me should be the most normal thing of all.

Yesterday was my 1st encounter with this and I was upset all day. I wore sleeveless and I could see a nice little shoulder and bicep muscle starting from working out. Felt good leaving the house and then in my cars mirror I saw all this extra fat hangin under my arm. Maybe not fat, but skin. I still have another 30-something until my goal so that's only gonna get worse. Same with my upper thigh. Didn't think that would be an issue and yuck! Also I now have stretch marks from my upper thigh down to the middle of my calves. I was so excited for summer losing all this weight and now I'm gonna still be self conscious.

Congrats on the weight loss! I've been a member of bariatric pal since my surgery. Haven't followed it a whole lot since then. Looking to get some support as I initially lost 70 pounds, but have regained 30! It has me freaked out! However, my own fault here...I started a private practice (I'm a psych nurse practitioner) and have been so focused on work I have not been exercising at all. Also went back to some bad eating habits. Trying to get back on track and get into a regular routine of my daily 2-3 mile walks.

Well I am back from Florida and had a fill on Monday. It was no pain at all!! Had it done at the hospital and I was very suprised at how quick and painless:-) Can feel the restriction when I drink; can't take the big gulps that I used to could. Ready to loose more weight. Hopefully I can get all the fills in before the new year since my insurance is covering 100%. My deductible and out-of-pocket has been met. I have not lost any more weight; but am loosing inches....really weird. How does this happen? Hope all is well with all the losers and soon to be losers. Love this board!!!!!!!!!! Everyone Keep up the good work.

I used to be a pear shape, but in the last 7-8 years have been an apple. At first, when I started losing weight my body was exactly how you're describing yours. Now it's starting to change and I can't believe it! I do a lot of exercise, of all types and I'm quite excited to see what my final shape is gonna be like! Are you sleeved yet?

Tomorrow I go see Dr. L at OHSU again. A couple of weeks ago Lynne called me and told me that they want to see me. That I didn’t need to test any more. I guess when they tell you that it’s because they have all the data they need or want. Part of me is so afraid that he’s calling me down to tell me that there is nothing they can do for me. That I don’t need to test any more because there is nothing wrong, at least nothing wrong that losing weight won’t fix. Oh sure, if only I could lose weight. My husband said that I shouldn’t worry, that they wouldn’t have us drive 3 hours plus each way, just to tell me that there is nothing more to do. He figures that Dr. L would just dump me over the phone, like any bad relationship. My son asks me every day when are they going to take this thing out of my head. And then he either punches me in the arm or bitch-slaps me, or attempts to anyway. That’s one way he can tell if I’m High or Low… if I’m High there is no way he’s going to count coup on me, no way. But when I’m Low on the other hand… well, he knows that I’m going to be moving in slow motion, tai chi slow… He’s got a long way to go before he counts enough coups on me, that’s for sure; I’m so far ahead on the coup count he will never catch up. Last week was really rough for me. I was very, very Low, and my headaches were beyond reasonable. I was temped to go to the ER a couple of time, but it wasn’t until Friday night when I was throwing up that I went. I’d taken two phengren during the day, but by 8:00 pm I was throwing up, or at least I was giving it the old collage try. After the fifth dry heave session I gave up and had Mike drive me to the ER. I didn’t’ want to go, but I couldn’t’ stop heaving, and I couldn’t keep anything down. We had to wait for over an hour in the waiting room, so many sic people on a Friday night. The doc thought it was another migraine, but this time I didn’t have the weakness, so I could explain exactly what the headache felt like. These headaches are nothing like migraine, but something more. I can only hope that when I finally do have the pit surgery they will go away. Anyway, it took the nurse three tries before she was able to start the line. But she used lidocane, and besides, my head was in so much pain I don’t know that I would have even noticed the IV going in. Yeah, that bad. The doc wasn’t convinced that I’m not having “atypical migraines” so she wanted to try a combination of phenegren and benidryl. She said that was a sure fire way to knock out a migraine. Well, like I said, it wasn’t a migraine, and no it didn’t work. So she ordered a large dose of the narcotic for me. She said they were done pussy-footing around. On previous trips to the ER they gave me the usual small amounts, then had to repeat several times before I was beyond the pain. The last time they gave me a double dose, but again, had to keep repeating the dosage of the medication. This time they just game me a large syringe of the good stuff, lowered my bed and put me on oxygen. I have no idea how long I was knocked out, but it worked. I didn’t have a head ache the next morning. You have no idea how wonderful it is to wake up without a headache. If you do know, you have my deepest sympathies. Before she gave me the injection, we talked about pain management. She sent me home with a prescription for the highest dose percacet they make, a big bottle. She wants me to keep on top of the pain, and to not let it get away from me. So, now I don’t let the headaches get to far into the really bad range before I start managing the pain. No more “riding it out.” No more being the tough girl. She also had the radiology department make a CD of my CT scan from last week. We thought I was having a stroke or a TIA because the right side of my face was melting. I see the neurologist in a couple of weeks, but tomorrow I go to OHSU to see Dr. L. Back to that worry. And now for something completely different… The chinchillas are my husband's pets, but I've been training them to get used to being handled, so they will willingly come to me in their cage, because they know I always have a treat for them. Tonight I decided that I'd start working on them to see going in their balls as a happy thing, so I put treats in them, and let it be their decision to go in the ball, or not. Usually my husband stuffs them in there so he can clean their cages, very high adrenaline stuff... I was able to coax them into their balls and they had a good roll-around. Now I have these basketball sized balls roaming freely around my house. One of the chinchillas is really adventuresome, while the other got himself stuck between some pillows and boy shoes...Chilly got out of his ball, and it didn't take much effort to catch him. Spud, my son, scared him under my Chase lounge then I had him turn on the light, and I got one of the millet sprays to try to coax in from under it. Instead, he just crawled up between my arms as I was kneeled beside the chase Chilly let me pick him up without any fight or struggle. He wasn't interested in the millet, he just wanted me. He didn't struggle at all while we walked to the cage, all the while I was telling him what a good boy he was. Then he stretched out on one of the platforms, like they do when they are hot.

I ended up paying for it myself. My husband and I sat down and talked about what the excess weight was costing. How much life we are missing out on etc. It was painful to pay for it, but what is more important in life than our health? One little thing that might make you feel better about being self pay, You can schedule your surgery ASAP... AND, my doctor said that a study shows that self pay people actually end up losing more .

I would have done ANYTHING to have my insurance pay for any of my surgery! Why do the 6 months have to be a waste of time? Most of us have been able to lose weight, it's the keeping it off for long periods of time that we struggle with! Why can't you tell yourself your going to start with eating right, learning why you over eat, and learning about nutrition, and starting to exercise!?? These are things your going to have to know and do with the band! It's just giving you a head start! Being in better shape will definitely help with your recovery process after surgery! I had to work 2 and 3 jobs for over a year to save up for my band. I started out at 297 and had got to 267 by the day of my surgery! I didn't continue my bad habits until I got the band! The day I said "I've had enough" is the day I started doing something about it, not the day I got the band! Start NOW, absorb all the information about the band, about nutrition and about exercise! Even if you think you already know it all, learn more! Your long term success depends on it! I wish you all the best, be patient it will come faster than you think!

I have only told two of my sisters, my boyfriend, my son, his wife and one other person. Then a good friend at work told me just week she was having weight loss surgery so i told her. lol I am not gonna tell anyone else. People are judgmental. One of my sister's was very supportive, the other being no so much. It hurt my feelings and made me with i hadn't said anything. I figured this is my time and I am gonna treat it like it is:)

So here is the background...my 5'2 younger sister has always weighed about 100 lbs her whole life and it wasnt till she got pregnant that she actually gained weight and is at 130 post baby ( OMG!. shocking...right??). Anyways, my sister has always lately been a "difficult" person from time to time, since she became a born again catholic and after which anyone who wasnt was a sinner..yada yada, you get the story... so here is my rant, I made the mistake of telling her about my upcoming surgery and after pleading with her to put aside her ridiculous inability to be sympathethic since she has never had a problem with her weight she asked me yesterday when my date was. When I told her it is monday she tells me.." oh that's fast...I still think you should have taken some time to figure out other ways to loose the weight without jumping into surgery":angry::angry: ARRRGGGHHHH !!! Can you FRAKING beleive this FRAKING HORSE SH&% !!! :thumbup::cursing: What the FRAK happen to supporting your family and being open minded and accepting people for who they are which is what she preaches she is since she goes to church EVERY sunday !!! Give me a FRAKING break..REALLY !! Where is the FRAKIN compassion and understanding??? The funny thing is that God puts the right people in your life always !! I have received an incredible and amazingly touching amount of support from my two closets friends at work.:smile2: Can you beleive that one of them even did the liquid diet with me step by step to help me through it (that was just the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me !! :crying:) and signing up at the gym at work to go with me during the group lunches so that I wont be tempted and suffer, not too mention give me the push to work out.. I mean who does that if it isnt an angel from God himself ??? It's mind boggling for me to comprehend how a person that doesnt share a drop of my blood has behaved like more than a sister to me, while my own blood is being a total insensitive B$#T&H !!! anyways...woohoo!! I feel soooooooooo much better to have gotten that off my chest !!! :confused:

You would think I would be right there on the band wagon so to speak. BUT.... I think her comment was more out of fear for you. I had a LOT of people who worried about the surgery. It wasnt that they didnt want me to lose the weight, it was the fear of what could happen to me with surgery....and RIGHTFULLY so! I mean, people do have complications with this surgery. Its not a step your going to take lightly, why is she going to? Its a natural fear for people who dont have a weight issue to be uneducated in everything you have studied up on for a while. Give her a little chance to show her love. AFTER the surgery is where you will see where the friends and family are that support you. Hang in there

Hello, I did try it for a few months and I did have energy if you want to call it that,,,,it actually made me feel very anxious and wired. I did loose a little weight with it but not very much. I gave up because I did not like the way it made me feel. I too am on a 6 month diet trying to get an approval. Good luck and hoping for the best. :-)

@@Bufflehead thanks for sharing. Great advice as I don't want to live on supplements. Right now my weight is all the load bearing I can handle, but as soon as I get off 50 pounds I plan to expand beyond walking. The doctor believes my knees will hurt less as the weight comes off. Thanks! Banded 10/12/16