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hey Guys thanks for the posts, when i woke up this morning i threw the rolls out i really didnt miss them as much as i thought i did when the impulse came. I started a low carb diet today!!!!!! Ive been a excellent patient for many years with all my injuries, so if the doctors say do this i will to the T. As for me doing diets and weight loss ive failed for one reason or another and after staring and stoping a diet Ill start again monday or after the holiday im just tired of it all. two years ago i walked into a bariatric doctors for a consultation he talked to me and pushed the Lapband, at the time i had three friends who had it done and it worked for one out of the three (the husband and wife) had complications not from lapband. So after leaving his office and talking to family who of course said just lose the weight you dont need another surgery, i put all thoughts of bariatric aside. All this time my mom has been suffering with Lymphoma (3yrs) and while helping her i popped a umbilical hernia and didnt tell anyone except my doctor and wife and maybe a close friend. I had been taking her to chemo and radiation for about 2 1/2 yrs and i just couldnt do it anymore i needed to help myself i forgot all about me and my needs, thats when i knew it was time to see another gastric doctor and get the help i needed for me. I seen my doctor this summer at the same time mom calls and says my aunt has pancreaitic cancer and not much they can do for her, she doesnt live close and mom and grandmom dont drive so ive been doing all the driving a few times a week back and forth 80 miles round trip and if theres traffic....ugh Id do anything for my family as you can see, had a talk with my aunt while she was in bed already thin and in pain but still smiled to see me and knew i love her, i told her what i was doing and she said its the best thing i could do for myself and wished she would be around to see my transformation, i cried she cried and she said she will always be around watching me and i know she will, last night i visited again and she only has days left. As you can see im a caretaker im not ashamed of what ive done always putting family or friends before me but if your like me and are thinking of bariatric help, DO IT and dont look back you have to put you first take your life back as im doing. Sorry for the long winded post i got off track a lil with my family issues andi was going to delete but there might be that other person who is in same spot and it might help...if not it helped me write it down! God Bless Joe

I had a VO2 max test today, along with my BMR test. Very interesting data. I learned that my BMR is 2174.... 4% above average for a man my age and weight....good to know it hasn't been reduced down to nothing after so much weight loss and so long on a reduced calorie diet. My VO2 max was 46.3 which according to their report was very good. They were also able to give me very precise target heart rate zones for burning fat versus burning glycogen while working out. It's nice having the exact numbers rather than using the online guesstimations that are all over the Internet. I'd say for many people this info may not be very important or necessary, but if you want to train hard and maximize your fat burning while doing it this information can be very helpful. Both tests together cost $175 and I had it done at a sports training center here in town.

Time for a fill! Seriously, there are two things that could be going on. One is that you have experienced lessened restriction as you lose weight, a common result as your stomach walls get thinner and fat disappears. In that case, a fill will bring back the restriction you used to have and you'll be back in the driver's seat. The other scenario is that there is something wrong, but I think that's highly unlikely if you're having no symptoms. By "wrong" I mean erosion (worst case scenario) or a leak of saline. The leak wouldn't cause any symptoms beyond a loss of restriction, but IMO it's less likely to be the cause than your weight loss. Call your doctor and make an appointment for a fill. That's my advice.

I started with the elliptical and am still using it on the weight loss setting but have increased resistance and duration

Hahaha! Great! I have not had the same experience. I am not losing hair but I am not growing hair either. Especially in the places it doesn't belong. I take 30000 mg of Biotin a day! I would rather wax it off it does grow where it's not supposed to. But I am nearly 7 months out and haven't had any issues. Good luck!

Comparing yourself to others is just as bad as weighing yourself every day. Both are surefire ways to make yourself feel terrible! 50 pounds is amazing in only 3 months! Pat yourself on the back and give yourself kudos for that! Have you taken your measurements? that's an ESSENTIAL to do. Your measurements will show you that your body is reshaping itself, even if you aren't losing pounds. I'd rather weigh 200 pounds and wear a size 12 than weigh 200 pounds and wear a 16, wouldn't you? My personal weight loss has slowed down, but now I'm watching my body firm up and dropping sizes in a hurry. You will do the same! Don't give up hope. You WILL get there!

@@devillynn Saw my nurse today, she suggested Nioxin shampoo (suggested for chemo patients who are losing hair) for the hair loss. It's supposed to stimulate the hair follicles, thus promoting growth! Here's to growing things in the RIGHT places!

By Elizabeth Goodman Artis (Shape Magazine) We dissect the science of fat to help you pick the smartest strategies for losing it. Fat is the ultimate three-letter word, especially the kind that you spend so much time watching your diet and hitting the gym to keep at bay (or at least to keep off your butt). But beyond making you look less-than-svelte, fat can have significant physical and emotional implications. We talked to Shawn Talbott, Ph.D., a nutritional biochemist and author of The Secret of Vigor: How to Overcome Burnout, Restore Biochemical Balance, and Reclaim Your Natural Energy, to find out a few essential facts that might surprise you. 1. Fat Comes in Different Colors More specifically, there are different types of fat that have different hues and functions, according to Talbott: white, brown, and beige. The white fat is what most people think of as fat—pale and useless. Useless in that it has a low metabolic rate so it doesn’t help you burn any calories the way muscle does, and it’s the predominant type of fat in the human body, encompassing more than 90 percent of it. In other words, it’s a storage unit for extra calories. Brown fat is darker in color due to a rich blood supply and can actually burn calories rather than storing them—but only if you’re a rat (or other mammal); certain critters can activate brown fat to burn calories and generate heat to keep them warm in winter. Humans, sadly, have so little brown fat that it won’t help you burn calories or keep you warm. The third type of fat, beige fat, is in between white and brown in terms of its calorie-burning ability, which is actually very exciting. Why? Because researchers are looking into ways to shift white fat cells into more metabolically active beige ones via diet and exercise or supplements. In fact, there is preliminary evidence that certain hormones which are activated by exercise may convert white fat cells into beige ones, as well as some evidence that certain foods such as brown seaweed, licorice root, and hot peppers may have the ability to do this as well. 2. The Fat On Your Butt is Healthier than the Fat on Your Belly It’s probably safe to say that no woman favors the fat on one body part over another, but it’s actually safer health-wise to be more of a pear than an apple, Talbott says. Belly fat, also known as visceral fat, is much more responsive to the stress hormone cortisol compared to the fat on your thighs or butt, so when stress hits hard (and you don’t find a healthy way to handle it), any extra calories consumed are more likely to end up around your middle. Belly fat is also much more inflammatory than fat located elsewhere in the body and can create its own inflammatory chemicals (as a tumor would). These chemicals travel to the brain and make you hungry and tired, so you’re more likely to overeat or eat junk food and not exercise, thus creating a vicious cycle and perpetuating the storage of more belly fat. The good news is that anything that helps you reduce inflammation helps reduce those signals to the brain. Talbott recommends fish oil (for the Omega 3’s) and Probiotics, which you can take in pill form or get by eating yogurt with active cultures. 3. First You Burn Calories, Second You Burn Fat The term “fat-burning” is thrown around willy-nilly in fitness circles, but as an expression of weight loss, it’s indirect. Before you “burn” fat, you burn calories, whether those calories come from stored carbohydrates (glycogen and blood sugar) or from stored body fat. The more calories you burn during each workout, the bigger deficit you will create and the more fat you will lose. You can also create a calorie deficit by eating less. The trick, though, is time, since it’s hard for most people to put in the time needed to burn enough calories to make a weight-loss dent. Talbott (and many other experts) advocates high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to burn as many calories as possible in as short amount of time as possible. This method, which alternates between hard/easy efforts, can burn double the calories in the same amount of time spent exercising in a steady state. 4. Fat Affects Your Mood Certainly there is no easier way to ruin your day than seeing you’ve gone up a few numbers on the scale, but having excess fat—especially around your belly—activates that inflammation/cortisol cycle, which studies show may be a factor in serious mood disorders like bipolar disorder. If you’re stuck in a stress/eat/gain/stress cycle, however, you’re likely to experience at least a perpetually low mood, even if you don’t have an actual clinical condition. To help break the cycle, try eating a square of dark chocolate, suggests Talbott; there is just enough sugar to satisfy a stress-induced craving, but the healthy flavonoids help calm inflammation that leads to more stress. Low-fat dairy products like yogurt can have a similar effect—the combination of Calcium and magnesium can help calm the stress response. 5. Even Skinny People Can Have Cellulite The dreaded c-word is caused by fat trapped under the skin (known as subcutaneous fat). The overlying skin "dimples" are created by connective tissues that tie the skin to the underlying muscle, with fat trapped in between like a sandwich. You don’t need a lot of fat to cause a dimpling effect, so you can be in great shape and have low body fat but still have a little pocket of dimpled fat, for example, on your butt or the backs of your thighs. Building muscle while losing fat (and the fat loss part is key—you have to have it to lose) can help minimize the appearance of cellulite; cellulite-specific creams and lotions can also help minimize the look of dimpled skin (though they can’t do anything about the trapped fat beneath).

I am five months out down 93 pounds from the day of surgery and about 120 pounds down from the start of my weight loss journey. I am six foot four and 248 pounds and when I calculated my BMI I am still classified as obese. I saw my doctor last week and he flat told me that I had lost enough weight. I simply told him that this may be true but according to my BMI I was still obese and he flatly told me that I didn't need to worry about that. All of his staff were amazed how much weight I had lost (he is my pulmonolgist and only sees me every six months) so of course the last time I saw him I had not even had my surgery. My question is, does anybody think that the BMI is really a wide ruler to determine a persons weight? I know I have went from a size 50 jeans to size 36 jeans and I have not worn that size jeans since I was in my 20's. I'm 60 now. What do you think, do I look obese? Please be honest ok? Thanks Mark Mom_&_Dad.bmp

Yeah umm has everything to do with being fat. People look away from you. Like past you. When people haven’t experience being obese not just overweight it’s s totally different ball game. Like when waiter comes to the table and barely make eye contact when you order but with your trim parents they do. It’s unreal. I’ve been up and down all my life with weight loss and there is def a difference hot obese people are treated. In shale people just don’t get it’s not calories in work out so be it. They don’t get it at all. It took decades until my family finally understood what I had been going too. Eh screw anyone who doesn’t get us. Now it’s our time to thrive! (; good luck to all of you!

You are newly banded..restriction does not usually happen until you start getting your fills. This phase you are in is the healing phase for 6 weeks. Any weight loss during this phase is a bonus. Anytime you go from one stage to another like liquids to soft foods you may see a gain and then when you go from softs to solids you may see a gain, it is normal until your body adjusts. Yes lower BMI's will lose slower. Hng in there..once you start to get your fills you will feel the restriction.

Hi guys! I remember about a month ago I found a post w/ a list of things that we should be doing to maximize weight loss as well as signs that let us know we do need a fill. Can anyone help me find it? Thanks!

PB - Productive Burp: There are many versions to the PB, but it's basically when slime comes back up often followed by the food you just ate after the food refuses to go down. NSV- Non scale Victory: Something fabulous that happens as a result of weight loss that doesn't have anything to do with numbers, like getting flirted with or picking up something off the floor without falling over. ESOPHOGITUS STICKY PM - Private Message: If you want to say something privately to another member, just click on their name for an option to send them a private message. ACID REFLUX FILL UNFILL (DH?)<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Nancy, you are a true inspiration!!! Congratulations on your loss and nsv's!

This afternoon I got a call from surgeon's office letting me know that all surgeries for tomorrow have been cancelled due to a death in the immediate family of the Proctor coming in to work with surgeons. They are changing over to the new type of band with inflatable sections/balloons and need to learn from a Proctor. So, they reset me for 12/15. I am disappointed as emotionally and logistically I was all set and things arranged at work, home, etc. Of course, I am sorry for his family and their loss. I just finished the two week diet and drank this horrible drink this afternoon to clean me out, I guess I will just continue the prep diet until the 15th. I am down 13 pounds and maybe it will afford me the chance to lose more before the surgery. Like Pollyanna, I am trying to think of something to be glad about...still trying... okay I will move on now. I am bummed. So, now Ryan, I guess I am not a November Band sister to you, unless our Mom was in a very long labor ...like 2 weeks. HA. Best wishes to all. Happy December!!!!

Did you receive a lapband for weight loss? When did you have surgery? What stage are you in? Did your dr. give you any post-op instructions? Each dr. has his/her own rules that must be carefully followed. Please try to contact your dr. ASAP. You can also go to www.inamed.com and download their patient information booklet, which your dr. should have given you.

I've heard Nioxxin really helps along with taking biotin each day. I am having similar problems with my hair and taking biotin everyday. I haven't tried the Nioxxin yet buy have seen good reviews for it.

Isn't there a shampoo to help with losing hair?

I own a salon, my advice would be to first find a hairdresser in your area that you like their work. Ask their professional appenion. Each person needs a cut based on what your hair thickness texture and Aldo if you can stlye it at home. I think most will tell you to go shorter but you can do this a little at a time if your scared. When it's gone it's gone but they can always cut Moore off. I would totally go for heavy highlights. Highlights will give you more body and texture. From your pictures I would go with a Maranda cut and Samantha color from sex in the city! Have fun with a new look!!!

My first stall started at 4 weeks. The scale didn't change for two weeks. This week the stall broke and I am averaging a loss of a pound a day. I started at 197 and today I weigh 175. Surgery date 8/5. From reading here, I knew a stall was inevitable so I kept on keeping on. I changed nothing during the two weeks. Then on Monday the scale began moving again.

Congratulations! Hope you heal well and then enjoy great weight loss! 6 more days until mine and I'm soooo nervous!

According to Lap Band officials and even my doctors- they do not want you drinking your meals, as it defeats the whole purpose of the band. It's hard to go from drinking meals (for weight loss) to eating food (on the band) and actually believing you'll lose weight. I am a drinker, and I make myself eat a protein based meal in the mornings to follow the guidelines. It will hold you all morning and then you won't snack until lunch. Hope this helps. I know people do drink for meals, but that is not they way Lap band is supposed to work.

I’m five and half years out. I eat in the 1800-3000 range daily and maintain a 135 pound weight loss. I do exercise a good amount and those are the 2400+ days. I ate in the 300-500 range for six months gradually increasing to 600-800 at a year. I lost my weight in almost exactly a year

I'm getting some loose skin that I didn't have before weight loss. Also I don't really consider it a problem but my stomach does tend to rumble and grumble a lot when I am eating and for about an hour after. It's getting quieter and quieter as time passes sinces surgery though. And it's just making some noise, not causing me any pain or even discomfort. These are the only things that come close to problems. Physically I feel terrific and everything is in good working order

I'm 4.5 months out from my surgery and at 5'2" I've lost 65 pounds so far. I've gone down from a size 22/20 jeans to a size 14 or in some cases even size 12. To put in perspective, my older sister who had the same surgery (RNY) a few years ago, also 5'2, had lost 45 pounds at the point I'm at. This shows how different weight loss is individually. In my case a lot is probably from nutritional issues and losing weight too quickly. That's an ongoing issue my team is still trying to work out. It's hard to get enough nutrition when you are full for the day after literally one bite of something in the morning.