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Getting banded has been really great so far. My surgery went without a hitch and I was out of bed and rarring to go almost immediately following. Its early days, but I remain hopefully optimistic that this will work out in ways that all the other diets that I have tried have not. I consider myself a professional inexpert dieter --if its out there I have tried it. Low carb, no carb, nutri whatever, ww, fasting, diet pepsi and cigarettes, opti, medi, HMR, slimfast, diet pills (Rx and OTC) added to the mix to keep my appetite in check. My best and longest successful dieting foray was from the winter of 2000 through the summer of 2003. With boatloads of Water, a low carb diet, and as much exercise as I could stand -- I managed to lose about 90 lbs (this left me still needing to lose about 50 or 60 lbs to achieve a healthy weight by American standards and certainly by my standard). However, the long plateau worked to undermine my dedication and the weight began creeping back at a pretty steady clip. I never again got to my high of 292, but at my first weigh in with the lap band surgeon I was about 268 or so. It was a tough decision for me to make. For a variety of reasons I wasn't interested in a bypass....and it killed me that essentially I am paying someone to restrict my food intake. But the yo-yo dieting had really defeated me. I have been forturnate in that I am a relatively healthy fat person -- but I knew that time was working against me and the older I got -- the less likely that that trend would continue. So it was with alot of baggage that I started shopping around for a bariatric doctor to explore the lap band. The whole insurance thing was/is a hassle. They cover, but I couldn't find an in network provider (in NYC or NJ), just out of network with a threatened 70% coverage amount. I haven't seen any bills yet. I will certainly provide updates as that situation unfolds. Post surgically I have "officially" lost 14 lbs.... this is a little sketchy in my opinion. They weighed me at the hospital the day of .. and I was a whopping 274. I think working the day before from home, planted in front of my computer all day with no food after 3pm and no liquid (because I can be overzealous in following pre-surgery instructions) had me retaining major water. If I go by my last weigh in at the doctor the week before my surgery my weight loss as of 12-19-2007 is closer to 4 lbs. Post surgically, I was bullied by my doctor to lose about 10 lbs. Surprisingly, I have found that I am not at all interested in monitoring my weight other than whatever I am forced to do when I go to the doctor. I mean why torture myself? That's why I decided to get the surgery, right? This should not be interpreted as not monitoring my intake.... I have. Although I didn't do so good with the whole crushing pills until 1 month after surgery. Yuck! I just couldn't. I have tried my best to limit my intake, eat three times a day with no snacking and don't eat and drink at the same sitting. The last has proven to be the toughest thing. Also, it has put me in jeopardy of not taking in enough water -- I am trying but if you can't drink during, or up to 30 minutes before or after, and can't gulp it down like medicine.... I am reduced to totting around a bottle and taking sips all damn day. It has proven to be my greatest challenge so far. :faint: But generally speaking -- its so far so good and I am hopeful that I will have lost another couple of pounds when next I see my doctor 1-15-2008. And if I haven't... that's alright. The average weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year is like 5 lbs, right? If I managed to dodge that bullet -- its all good. Later,

This gets better and better as the days go by! My bmi is now 49.7... Whooo hoooo! I aimed for it to be below 50 by month end and with 8 days to spare I'm down to 308 today. This week was really, really, really did I say really?, STRESSFUL!!!!! There were days when I went up to over 1500 cals and I didn't exercise a single day this week but still I lost. Last night I stepped on the scale and it was still saying 310 and I said to myself at least I did not gain under all that stress. But sure enough when I got on this morning, it gave up the 2lbs. Wheeew! Cause of all the stress this past week, I do appreciate the 2lb loss this week even more than the 5lb last week, plus it did put my bmi under 50 for the first time in almost 10 years!!!! I am also elated over the fact that I can now pull on and off my favourite jeans without unbuttoning them, not to mention how much fun I'm having boasting about my skin 'wings' and having my sons crack up. (They're 10,8 and 2 yrs old .... so cute!) lol My husband is now happy that he's seeing our investment finally working. I secretly giggled when I heard him bragging about the weight his wife has recently lost, to someone on the phone. 44lbs and counting... On my weigh down...

Wowsers babe, I am sure it does suck the life out of the universe, but sounds like your medical team are onto it, so stay strong! Awesome re the weight loss, and aren't you clever to be able to alter your own clothes!! haha.. not something I would attempt having zero talent with sewing lol, but great idea and you will get to it when you can. Right now you need to get well and stay positive I wonder if the surgery triggered this or if it was going to come on now anyway?

I take 5000 mg of biotin every day and was a band to bypass revision my nails and hair look amazing now I am 4 months out from revision surgery.

I think stalls happen at random times and there's not a set schedule. We all have them and talk about them and it's true you just need to keep following the plan and the weight will come off, also measuring inches help too. I think our metabolism gets jacked, so mixing things up can help that (exercise, types of foods, amount of intake, etc). I noticed that I'd stall everytime I worked out during that week and think I'm not getting enough calories or working out to hard. I'm in week 13 and have stalled (for a week) 2x now, but wasn't until later, I'll have a 0 loss week then a random 6lb loss. Keep it up and as easy as it is to say but hard to do....don't get discouraged but I know it's frustrating!

You shouldn't take anything not approved by your surgeon or NUT. Most of us have tried every diet plan & diet pill that was ever invented. Obviously they didn't work or we wouldn't be here & having or had surgery. I definitely wouldn't take anything because you will lose the fat over time. Don't rush it. A slow loss is much better than a fast one. Give your body time to adjust to it's own level of weight loss. Also, a fast weight loss won't be good for your skin. I hope my comments & others will give you what you are looking for. Good luck with your sleeve.

((hugs)) You are right on time for the "Sophomore Slump". Come join us in the Sophomores thread! Honestly, it's a tough time. And your tool is maturing allowing less restriction. It's part of why it's so important not to believe the myth of restriction/malabsorption. At some point, everything in moderation will have a different meaning volumetrically and that could be enough to either derail losses entirely, cause stalls, or rebound weight gain. The things that helped me: 1. Planning, weighing, measuring and logging my food daily--good and bad 2. Following my surgeon's basic guidelines for the forever-diet including the 1cup max per meal; 3 meals + 1-2 VERY small snacks a day if necessary, protein first then veg then fruit and a tiny bit of fat. 3. Mixing things up to make them fun again--I added IF/EF to my plan. 4. Find fun peeps to hang out with who have shared goals/paths. Hope that helps!

Hi Misty, Congrats on getting your band and having weight loss too! Also welcome to the forums. This is a great source to help you learn more about the band and to share what your going through with others as they are going through it too. As for Mushies I suggest checking out this thread. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/lapband-food-stages-lists-suggestions-3995/ There is a whole list in there of foods for each stage plus under the Nutrition and Diet forum there are several threads on foods for mushies. Best of luck!

Hi guys! Hope all the holiday hotties are doing great! I had my first fill yesterday and it hurt! But it is soo worth it. I'm at 299 pounds today!!! Whoo hooo for being under 300. That's 31 pounds since before pre-op diet. i now have 4.5 cc in a 10cc band. You can check out my blog if you want details. Hope everyone is doing great!:thumbup: By the way, I have had weight loss stalls, second guessing, and being sad and feeling like it might not work over the past month, so to everyone who is struggling, it will get better. We have only just begun!

Thank-you. I think I'm getting obsessive with the weight loss, I lost 10 lbs within the first week and have only lost a pound since. Frustrated cause I wanted to be one if those that lose their weight quickly.

Everyone has different skin, some more elastic than others. I would wait until the weight loss progresses and see. Most people will have some extra skin, but it sure beats too much fat!

seriously for small weight losses like that, do NOT get a surgery! The complications from the surgery are not worth the risk. Invest in a Personal trainer and nutritionist!

I haven't stalled, but I slowed tremendously and although I have had a 5# loss in one week my average is quite a bit closer to 2.5#. My lowest loss was around 1.5#. I agree though, follow the rules and you will be fine, stall or not.

If I may, another resource is http://shrinkyourself.com whether you opt for the free or pay version. It's about emotional eating, not bariatrics or any particular method of weight loss.

I started 2 months post opp. Weight loss kicked in super fast!!! I'm 4 months out and lost 90lbs. I just started on the treadmill. Then worked my way up to machines.

Thanks for the encouragement you guys! :thumbup: I guess that I didn't think of people including their pre-surg weight loss. I will try bumping up my calorie intake. I have just been afraid to do it because of the stall. I go for another fill on the 31st so hopefully that will help with the hungry feeling. I got 1.2cc on my first fill so I am at 3.2cc right now, she originally put in 1.8cc but had to remove .6cc because I couldn't get the sip of Water to go down. I am going to continue with the exercise because it just makes me feel good! I have noticed that my clothes are fitting a little more loosely in the waist and thighs and my stomach has gone down some. Just not seeing it on the scale. Good luck to you all as well! By the way where did you get the weight loss ticker from?

The determination of whether the band will work for you, whether you'll be able to make it work, is not made in the first few weeks. Clearly there is a disconnect between what your doctor thinks you should be feeling and what you ARE feeling, so you and your sister should work on that. But that is NO reflection on whether/how you will use the band to attain your goals! One thing that doesn't get said enough is that time is the X factor in banded life---time to get restricted, time to learn how to live with that restriction, time to learn other ways to handle cravings and emotional impulses, time to learn to stop criticizing ourselves and gain control and accept the slower pace of weight loss. All of these things will come, but problems arise when we don't allow proper TIME for them to happen. To answer some of your questions specifically: Do we just wait and wait until we have enough saline in our bands to begin real weight loss? Do we diet as hard as we can for as long as we can and pretend the band is working for us? Do we pressure the surgery center for more fills until the doctor gets it right? Yes, no, YES. Dieting as hard as you can will only result in weight lost and a doctor who now thinks you don't need a fill. Usually, a lack of weight loss is one indication that a fill is in order, so don't go out of your way to try to lose weight if you're not adequately restricted. Waiting can be hard, sure, but how long have you waited to get banded? How many years did you assume the weight-loss battle was hopeless? You're closer now to having an effective tool in your arsenal than you've ever been before, so why despair and tear your hair out now? A few more weeks won't change the eventual outcome. Inamed looks down on doctors who have a strict fill schedule. It is NOT the right way to determine whether a patient needs an adjustment. Of course, your doctor may just have a restrictive schedule on its own, like mine does: my surgeon's office only does fills once a month, so if you miss getting on the schedule one month it's at least a 4-week wait for the next time. Is that what's going on? Personally, I think 8 weeks between fills is a perfectly decent time. Fills can surprise you, kicking in days or weeks later. And if this is your first experience with restriction you really don't want to be surprised by the way it feels. Much better to take it really slowly so you can avoid swallowing more than your pouch can handle (which is REALLY easy to do in the early days). Hang in there, ladies!! Your day will come, and then you'll look back on this frustration and see it as a minor blip.

Hi Sisters, I cannot offer you words of wisdom or success, but I can offer lots of empathy. I am in the same boat. I was banded 12/29/03, and have lost only 25 pounds. I have had three fills (I am at 2cc), and I feel very little restriction. Sometimes I feel the first few bites go painfully through, but they do go down, and never up. I can still eat anything and lots of it. I get depressed about it too, so I know how you feel. I am having another fill on the 23rd, and I am so hoping this will be the one. My Dr. is conservative with fills; it is her philosopy to have the band a little looser so that there will not be incidents of reflux. I don't disagree with that; I don't see much future in PBing all the time, but I NEED more restriction. Lately I find myself avoiding this site, which is not good. I am always happy for the success of others, but when I read about all the weight loss, I feel like a band failure. I try so hard to eat right, and I exercise. I am trying to believe that I am just not restricted enough, and that I am one of those who just needs more restriction. Luckily, my Dr. seems to be willing to work with me. Why don't you contact Inamed about fill data that you can present to your Dr.? I am sure that it is not the same for everyone. I am glad that you have each other!! My doctor does not do fluoro, but last time she did withdraw all the saline, and said that it was all there. Did your dr. do that to check for a leak?Please keep me posted, especially if you get some cheerful news.

Norma, you haven't been banded long, and it sounds as if you are frustrated, maybe you haven't learned your bands patterns yet. It is a fickle thing, something that you have to get used to. I hope you gain inspiration from here, and in time begin to find some of the positives of being banded. I am sad thinking of your misery, and wishing you strength to persevere. Ya know, if I had Oprah's millions and could hire a personal chef, personal assistants to monitor me, and a personal trainer, I might not have needed to be banded, and perhaps wouldn't have been...yet. Oprah looks wonderful right now doesn't she? Time will tell if she is able to stay that way this time, I wish her nothing but success in her journey. I would never presume to compare my own success and failures to her's, she is undoubtedly extraordinary in every aspect of her life. I am merely ordinary in most aspects of mine. My point would be that, well, I could afford a band. I can not afford a chef, nor personal assistants, nor a personal trainer, but the band was do-able. Prebanding, I have lost and regained more times than I could recount, with each regain larger than the loss had been. I have been skinny, very skinny even, and I have been very fat. I prefer fit and healthy, but couldnt seem to keep a hold of it if and when I found it. Among other attempts with other means, I have also lost weight with life style changes, and exercise, just like Oprah. The catch is there was nothing to keep me from falling back on old habits, nothing to keep me in check when my common sense about eating junk took a vacation, when my emotions hit over-ride on my appetite, or when the scale started climbing yet again. All the millions in the world won't protect me from self sabotage as well as my band does. It has it's uncomfortable moments, I hate the sliming and occasional PBing, if I eat too much or am too tight. I hate the feeling of discomfort when I think I must have swallowed a softball. I hate it when a time and place are such that a lovely meal is meant to be had, and I can only eat a bite or two because my band decides to be really tight. On the flip side, I love it when I step on the scale and it's down yet again. I like buying clothes several sizes smaller. I smile everytime someone says WOW! You really look great! I love that I sleep without a feeling of constriction around my neck from a roll of fat. I love how much lighter I feel on my feet, I haven't been short of breath in weeks from going up and down my basement stairs... this list goes on... Since banding I am learning that I am tight upon awakening, loosen up over the day, then tighten up again at night. I am learning that when I'm sick, or in menses, to go with liquids because I tighten up til it's over. I am learning that it's ok to throw away food once I've had enough, whether it's a bite, half or most of something. It's still kind of hard to toss it, but I'm finding that it's ok. The band is a tool, it hasn't been a breeze, but it's doing what I put it there to do. I am humbly grateful for that.

I mentioned in another thread that I really don't think it does anyone good to starve ourselves, especially right after surgery. Go ahead and eat what's necessary to keep the growlies away! This is a big step, certainly, but it's not one we have to get used to overnight. Norma, you will indeed be able to eat. 0 calorie salads are fine and a staple for many people. As you explore life with your band, you'll see that you're not deprived at all. But it does take some getting used to. I know that I could never have achieved the permanent loss I want without a serious tool in my arsenal. Oprah has some tools in her arsenal most people don't have--the personal chef, trainer, and the motivation of being on camera every day. With those kinds of helps, maybe I wouldn't have needed a band either.

Hi there! I had my gastric sleeve procedure on 10/30. I lost 10 lbs before the procedure and 10 lbs following it (first 2-3 days). It's been over 5 weeks and I haven't lost a single pound. I don't exercise, get about 500-600 calories a day. Not enough Water though. But I've attempted fixing all that and still nothing. I'm hypothyroid and insulin resistant. Have you any words of advice for me? I'm going crazy here. The doctor's office wants me to wait until next week to "look over the diet". That is not going to help. I've been following the diet. Just hasn't worked.

I think we anticipate losing it all right away, but it doesn't happen like that, and shouldn't for our health. I know for me it isn't coming off fast, but it is coming off. I am down 65lbs now, and definitely wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't have the band. I also seem to lose it in spurts; I'll go up 5 then down 10. I definitely think monthly hormones are to blame. I know I am doing the right things though, not cheating, exercising, eating well, etc. so it will happen. I can tell that it definitely comes off slower as I am older though, I have to work for every pound! Patience is key... I remember breaking the 300 mark, and now I broke the 250 mark. I really want to work my butt of to somehow, someway try to get below 200 by the end of summer, or my 1 year bandiversary of August 26th, that would be 10lbs a month, might be tough to do. The weight loss is slow for me right now so I don't know if it is possible, but I am going to do what I can!!!! The longer days really help with the exercise motivation, that is for sure!!

Hello. I'm 6.5 months post VGS and in a major stall. I'm beginning to think have gone as far as I can go at 35 lbs overall. the bright spot is that I am not gaining, but have be within the same 1.5 to 2 lbs since December 2016. I'm looking for sleevers over 65 who may be having the same issues as I am. I have lost slowly from the beginning with stalls every few weeks. And Oh yes, I'm diabetic. Regular insulin and one heart/BP med were stopped immediately post-op and I have not needed to resume them. But I am still on long acting insulin and BP meds. I am tracking what I eat I work out with a physical trainer twice a week and try to keep up my steps the remainder of the week. I have tried using the protein shakes again, liquids only for 2 days at a time without much change. My surgeon tells me not to worry about how much I lost, but to concentrate on following the plan, as this is a marathon not a sprint. But that still leaves me having gone through this surgery for such a small loss. Anyone else overcome this?

You got this. Everyone's different and losses at different rates. I lost a lot real fast and then slow down I'm 3 months out and down 80 lb. It gets easier just remember you got this. Sent from my LG-H910 using BariatricPal mobile app

Omg, I know the feeling! I had surgery in February as well and can eat so much more. I can't overeat at one meal, but could graze. I'm on my way to my 6 month post-op in 5 minutes a d plan to be honest with my PA about the situation. I've lost 75 pounds and am so worried she might be disappointed in the loss. I will let you know. Best wishes!🥵