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Oh man.....this is one of my biggest fears lol I am so vain about my hair!!!

Molly, Would you considered joining our November Nymphs group? We check in with each other and start little weight loss challenges to encourage each other. I remember seeing your posts when I first came to the forum and didn't see you for awhile. Now I know why. Anyway, if you want to join the group that was banded in the same month, that would be great, we'd love to see you there. No pressure ( you have enough of that) but we'll be there when you're ready.

THANK YOU SO MUCH ALEX!!!!! I was wondering about the exact same thing-and your words of encouragement are very very comforting. I have my first fill in a few weeks-and I was a little upset about the temporary weight loss standstill. I really needed to hear that it was normal, and that I can expect things to change with a fill. Joan

14 days since my op and I am still on liquids. I've mentioned this before, but I am now getting really worried. My calorie intake is between 500 and 700 a day max. I lost 10lbs very quickly post op, but nothing, nada, not an ounce for 8 days now. How can this be? I am really scared that this is the way it's going to be and I'll never lose any more weight and all this will have been for nothing. I'm drinking loads of Water, so it's not that. I'm even getting exercise. And it's definitely the least amount of carbs I've ever consumed. I know it's early days and this period isn't about weight loss, but I feel like a freak. It isn't normal. Is it?

I would think that the two co-morbidities would help your case. (High blood pressure and triglycerides) The best thing to do is call your insurance carrier to see if they 1) Cover the weight loss surgery because some companies do not carry that coverage and 2) see what their qualifications are. :thumbup: Good luck to you! Ginger

I started mine a day early because I was sick and tired of thinking about it and having food funerals. But, like indecision says above, it was a victory in my book - I lived thru the pre-op diet and got an extra day. I won! You will win this, too - congrats on your loss so far, don't derail it because you're close to your pre-op goal. Stick with your plan and you'll do great! Good luck!

I'm only 6 weeks post op so I haven't lost any hair (but I know it's coming.... Ugh). My sister did the surgery last October and started losing her hair 3 months post op..... And let me tell you, she lost A lot of hair... However, once she hit 6 mo the, her hair started growing again and now it's super thick!!

is anyone else experience any type of hair loss? I have lost a lot of hair from my head and I am taking all my Vitamins and Biotin 1000 mg per day, should I be taking more?

I started losing my hair month 3 post op and stopped losing it 7 months post op. I take biotin 10,000mcg and silica and boy is my hair really growing fast.

Linda: I eat 5-6 small meals a day (usually 200-300 calories each)consisting of lean meat (chicken/fish), veggies (brocolli,green peppers, onions, zuchini, spinach,tomatoes,etc.), fruit (red grapes,strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc.), and whole grains (rice,wheat crackers, whole wheat pasta) I steer clear of potatoes and bread, nothing but Water and skim milk to drink also do green tea. I take Vitamins and Calcium everyday. I exercise 6-7 times a week usually 2-3 hours at a time. I do the arc trainer, treadmill, and elliptical and I also weight train 3 times a week. Make sure you are eating Breakfast. it jump starts the metabolism and also it is best to eat every 3 hours to fuel your furnace of a metabolism. Exercise is essential. Also drink tons of water (I drink about a gallon a day). How many calories are you eating? It may not be enough and your body may be trying to go into starvation mode. Good luck with your weight loss.

I think headaches are going to happen. We're cutting out sugar and caffeine. That's a huge shock to the body. Your body will adjust to it. I'm a big fan of herbal tea. It's very soothing. It's been helping my headaches. As far as cheating goes, it's going to happen. If it was THAT easy to stick to a diet, would weight loss surgery even exist? The biggest trick is learning to listen to your body and recognizing what it actually needs. That's going to take a while. Good luck and take care of yourself

well, I made it. I went back to work today. My boss (the one I didn't want to tell about my surgery) wasn't there. I am grateful. To start the day off my alarm went off at 4:55 AM. It scared me and I reached over quickly turn it off, a not to disturb Harry's sleep. I proceeded to have a sharp pain in my port incision from the stretching. OUCH!!!!! So, I slowly roll over and stand up right as best I can clutching my port incision. I feel my way to the bathroom in the dark. I push the scales out into the open so I can stand on them. WHOOOHOOOO! I am down to 288! I am 6 days post op and have lost 6 pounds. I proudly push the scale back between the toilet and the tub. I turn on the shower and slowly get in. I am washing my hair and hear a noise. i look outside the curtain to see nothing. I am pulling my head back in when soap gets in my eye and stings the ever loving hell out of it. I finish up and get out and towel off. I stand before the mirror and brush my teeth and hair (i do use two seperate brushes for this). I go to put on my deodorant and perfume and cause myself to sneeze. MOTHER F&$@$%!!! The pain in the port incision is getting worse. I am a set my clothes out the night before kind of person. I walk over to my pile of clothes on the dresser and start the chore of dressing. I get my bra and panties on no problem, I take my socks to the bed and have to do some contorsion act to get them on. I am satisfied with that and put on my shirt and pants only to discover that the waistline hits my port incision and send sharp pain directly to my pee brain. HOLY S*$%!!! I am ok I am ok I am ok i keep reassuring myself. I then discover that I cant bend over enough to tie my shoes. After several commical attempts I give up and walk over to Harry's side of the bed and wake him up to ask him to tie them for me. He is a grumpy butt but laughs at me and ties them for me despite having been woken up to do a preschool child type chore at 5;F@$&ing 30 in the morning. I get to my car and discover that I aslo cant sit with my pants buttoned. I see that my gas guage is reading empty. I speed off into the dawn as not to be late getting back to work. I dealt with the stairs coming down from my apt pretty well. Going up the two flights of staris at work was a different story. It took me so long to get up there! I ended up sitting at my desk with my pants undone and my shirt barely covering me all day. I had a ton of well wishers and hey how did your surgery go-ers come up and visit with me~ all wanting to see my incisions. It wasnt until my co manager said "hey! nice pink panties, Tina" did I realize that my pants were still unzipped!! I had been showing them off all morning to all my co workers both male and female. Tomorrow the big boss is there and I hope that no one asks about my surgery; as I would die if my boss were to accidently see my panties.

I initially went to the surgeon for lap band. I had no interest in the other options. After more research and after speaking with the surgeon - I decided to go with the sleeve. The band has a 50-60% chance of requiring a second surgery (band slips, erosion, etc) and the lowest % of weight loss. I'm sure there are many success stories but I decided my best option was the sleeve.

I've had the lap band for over 12 years now and yes I have lost about 85 lbs. very happy with my surgery with regards to my weight loss. However it has not been easy I rarely can enjoy a meal that is not a soup or purée. I either have to throw up or suffer for hours with discomfort of my stomach full of gas and no relief if I don't throw up.. But I have been willing to live with this because I figure you pay a prize for everything, it is a big sacrifice not only throwing up most of the time and seeing certain food that I have not been able to eat for years including holiday meals,hamburgers, steak sandwich I could go on and on. You really have to want to make the sacrifice and not unfill your band just so you can eat. I know people that do that, I also know people that just couldn't handle throwing up so they just unfilled their band and now they are as heavy as when they started. However now I'm having severe GERD I'm afraid that it is caused by my band. I was in another financial situation when I paid for my surgery now I don't want to unfill my band and I was reading that sometime the band just needs to be reposition which would mean another procedure which I can't pay for so, in a nut shell I can drink water slowly and eat mash potatoes and suffer through coughing, acid taste in my mouth and of course throwing up a lot . I hope that I have help with my story. I do love the weight loss

Hoping for a 15 lb loss as well.

Just starting my pre-op diet, 10% loss is required before surgery, I have 12 weeks to achieve this during the pre-op classes. So that's about 25lbs in 12 weeks. Feeling pumped! Let's do this!!! :ph34r:

I am seeing Dr next week to see if it is a stricture. I am hoping it resolves itself. Honestly, it is helping me with weight loss but I know whatever is happening ain't supposed to, so Dr. visit is warranted.

Thanks! What are the other issues I should think about? My goal is to be off diabetic medication. My dad died from diabetes complications. I'm just looking at weight loss as a benefit.

They weight you just like you get weighed at any other doctor's appointment. Nurse brings you back, checks your BP and then has you step on the scale. As for unwanted attention, I've never heard of people suddenly being accosted due to weight loss. Some people may feel more confident and outgoing but WLS isn't turning frogs into princes. More importantly you need to relearn how to eat and drink. When you go for your prescreening take notes regarding that. It will make you more likely to be successful post op

I visited my primary care physician yesterday...exactly 3 weeks post op....I told her how the information re: diet was so varied from doctor to doctor and she told me that when you see such variations, it suggests that no one way has been proven to be more or less effective. For example, if your doctor says you need to be on a clear liquid diet for two weeks prior to surgery, but mine said only three days (to "shrink" the liver), three clearly is enough, but some doctors may use that extra time to make sure that the patient takes the direction seriously and it certainly helps with weight loss BEFORE surgery. As for post surgery, I believe it is almost impossible to eat something that you shouldn't have without knowing it. I COULD eat a lot more things than what I am actually eating (based on my doctor's list), because at this point, the discomfort of certain things prevents me from wanting to eat those extra things. So for those of you with more rigid plans, maybe the doctor is trying to spare you the agony of knowing you can have tuna safely but it feeling "bad" when you eat it?

Aim for 10lbs a month. Thats what I was told is the average monthly loss. If you go by weekly you will be disappointed when you experience stalls etc.

This is my personal record of my progress at twelve weeks. A bit dull so don’t read it! But I kinda need to get it down. And I have to admit, it has been a dream run. 14 December, Lap band removal and RNY in one. Fobi Pouch (‘no stretch’) type RNY, with intestine sewn over the incision line for my long thin pouch, making it very thick and non-stretchy, also with a small non-adjustable silastic ring sewn in to maintain the girth size/shape. Open surgery, but even that was pretty easy. I did take 4 weeks off, then built up my hours over the next 3. I have a stressful job with 1000 staff, so I wanted to come back carefully, knowing I would not collapse. And steady weight loss averaging 3.75lbs (1.7kg) a week ever since. The MyFitnessPal graph below- at the start the pre-op diet for 3 days, the flat drop in the post-surgery out-of-town-so-no-daily-weighing days, and daily weighings first thing in the morning since. I am so glad that I faced up to the non-working band and made the call for surgery before letting my weight get right back up to my pre-band weight. In only 3 months I am less than 5kg off my band-working weight, so my reward has been like instant gratification. Back into many of my old, carefully stored clothes. Walking, without feeling self conscious. Hips, knees much less sore. Proud of my eating. Back into my motorcycling gear - so bought a new bike in the weekend!! She’s a beauty. And going scuba diving in the pacific at Easter. Amazing the lifestyle difference 45lbs makes. Being ‘obese’ and not. I can eat more than I want - I think. Too much sweet gives me dumping - or did. I am too scared to try sweets again! I have a piece of liquorice each night, fine. I can eat bread easily but if I eat a bread roll that is my whole meal, so I don’t. I feel like I can eat a lot, but after a meal maybe 1/4-1/3 the size of my partner’s, I kinda stop eating - not feeling full exactly, but feeling ... finished. Disinterested in having more. No drive to eat til stuffed. 3 or 4 potato chips and I am done - these were my nemesis. Am never driven to buy them. I am pretty good about ‘protein first’ each meal. I get 45-60g a day. My calories are 750-900 a day and very slowly climbing - I am on strictly 3 meals a day but I think I may need to add one to get to 1200 calories/60g protein. I eat too quickly and I sometimes forget and drink with a meal, to no ill effect. I drink lightly carbonated water, my coffee is mostly decaf, and I start each day with a Nescafé pod/ice/trim milk//‘balance’ vanilla protein powder frappe on the NutriBullet. Lunch - sardine or chicken salad. And a good dinner, which I love to cook for us both. My normal-sized partner’s wee pot tummy is gone because I am not being a bad influence! And this forum has been a constant source of inspiration, chuckles, and fascination. Many thanks.

I don't miss a thing! I too was never a big soda pop drinker. I can hardly wait to see just how much weight I can lose with the band. I feel a new sense of freedom. freedom from my old self and my old ways. I find that not eating has left me more time to do the things i need to and the loss of weight gives me the energy to do them. I do have cravings...big ones.... I do give into them. I eat a few chips and salsa. I eat a couple of bites of ice cream. I eat for my physical health now not my mental health. I used to feed my feelings, now I feed my hunger. Why do I give into a few bites of my favorites? I still have a fear of them overpowering me. I am scared of over eating. I am scared of losing control. I am scared of being a lap band failure. If i control when i give into my cravings i feel that i can also control how much i give in. i have eaten one chip dipped in guacamole and I have also eaten like 7 or 8. I feel that i ate more the longer that i tried to put the craving out my mind. i almost felt obsessed. I realized that one or two bites is so much better for me than the larger portions.

I think that's a point a lot of people forget. The way I found it to be was if you want rapid weight loss go with gastric bypass (you will lose more initially than gastric banding), but if you want long term and body adaptable weight loss go with gastric band (where you choose if it works for you or not, and yes I know that could incite a flame war). One to two lbs a week is a calorie deficiency of 3,700-7,400. If you were eating 2,200 calories a day prior to surgery then reduced yourself to 1,500 calories a day that's a loss of 5.28 lbs/month. So those people who are losing 20 lbs/month are both drastically limiting their calories and working out to expend more calories. Unless you do the same, don't expect those results.

I am a hairstylist and I also teach cosmetology. You need to get at least 80 grams of protien in so that you will not loose your hair. I have seen this with a few of my clients. I will tell you in the spring some people seem to loose a lot of hair. Almost like an animal loosing it winter pelt. And some people seem to loose a lot of hair in the fall. I am one of those people. Another thing you can do is massage your head really well for at least 5 mins every day. That will bring the blood flow to your scalp and the papilla which is the mother of your hair bulb. Will be able to feed better.