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You are going to stall we all do but even though you aren't losing weight don't lose faith cause you are losing inches!! I call it the condensing stage!! Haha the scale will move again!! Download my fitness pal!! I try keeping my calories around 800 and my protein between 60 and 90 an my carbs lower than 50!! Quest bars are great... So are pure protein bars for a quick meal... P3 by Oscar Mayer.. You find them in with the lunchables.. Are great for a grab and go meal. I like to get low sodium sandwich meat and put a slice if low fat Swiss cheese in between two slices if meat and roll it up and chow down. Maybe have some cottage cheese with it. If you are doing cardio... It's best to do it on an empty stomache!!! Then eat only protein after with a little good fats... I like to have salmon!! But egg whites work too... I have Greek yogurt on. Hand for snacks too!! Trying to think of what else I eat!! Haha I always eat protein first and then veggies and if room (rarely) carbs but stick to good carbs!!

I will be 1 year out in July 2013.. Had surgery in Mexico with Dr Garcia.. Yes I did have issues but have lost over 70lbs.. This is the smallest I have ever been.. It feels so good to buy clothes ! I still have issues with reflux, I take 1 prolosec in am & 1 in pm.. My insurance has covered all my after care, including 2 hospital stays for a C Diff infection. Also I still struggle with food. Sometimes difficult to eat with the reflux. One of my docs wanted to convert my sleeve to a bypass but I dont want to do anymore surgery.. I was suposed to have another EGD last Fall with a monitor placed for 2 days but I didnt want to do anything at that time.. My C Diff finally went away in December. Ok, so Im actually going to try & attach pics.. One is of me & my son from October 2011, I probably weighed 185.. The other 2 were taken a few days ago at 129 lbs! I never liked to take pics before so it feels weird to take them now.. Good luck to all in their weight loss journey!!

I'm 7 1/2 months out and this still comes and goes for me. Right around 6 months is when eating really began to not be such a pain for me. And still now I have days where 500 calories feels fine but I know it's not I need to get at least 800 or I won't lose any weight. Just keep at it and introduce gentle foods first. Good luck

As a vet on this site your post is probably the most common post on here. Newbies usually freak out on their first stall. It is very normal to freak out when your body stops. You start doubting everything. Your hormones are out of whack due to the weight loss and you brain is desperately trying to figure out what the hell you have done. It is laws of nature - you did not waste your money and you will lose the weight. Everyone is different and will lose differently - different times and amounts. You quickly learn the fine art of patience during this journey. The facts are your body is still recovering from major surgery. Your body is in what is called starvation mode. It believes you are in the lean winter months of our ancestors and it must hold onto everything you put in it. You brain is currently throwing a temper tantrum and is so pissed off and confused. It went from eating hamburgers, pizza and sweets to now only drinking a few oz every hour and protein shakes. It would piss anyone off. Instead of getting upset for not losing weight the past five days - Celebrate the positives. You have lost 16 pounds in two weeks!!!! That is great weight loss and I know there are several people on the site that are jealous of your loss. Try not to step in the scale for a few days. Find another way to measure your success. I wrote out goals for myself and worked to achieve them rather than looking at numbers on a silly little machine. Finally I will say this. You will hit many many more stalls during this journey. During most stalls you lose inches so your body is still losing during your stalls. When you hit your stalls take a deep breath and don't stress. Also in several months you will get on here and read a post just like the one you wrote today and you will smile knowing exactly what they are going through and also know it is temporary. Hang in there!!!!!

So surreal coming on this thread today. I happened to be going thru old pictures of my nephews wedding and I kept telling myself... How did I let myself get so big!! My boys tell me know they can't remember me being that big!!! So the mind does forget but my soul never will forget how miserable I was!!! So thankful for my new lease on life!! date of surgery 02/21/13 surgery weight 340 lbs. current weight 146 lbs

But do you realize the pizza isn't the problem? I eat pizza about once a month with my kids. I don't mean healthy homemade pizza, I mean the fatty calorie buster variety like you had tonight. 90% of the time, I follow my diet religiously, but 10% of the time I just eat what I want because I want it. I've lost a lot of weight in a relatively short period of time so obviously it hasn't hurt my efforts, either. You don't need an excuse to do what you did, you're human. I do think you're being way, way too hard on yourself about it. Why not embrace this as a learning experience rather than dwell on it as a failure? You realize you're prone to emotional eating so now you can be aware of it. That's a positive. Mistakes are only mistakes if you learn nothing from them, otherwise, they're learning experiences. Make this a learning experience.

I don't have anywhere near your stats but my goal weight is definitely overweight for the BMI chart, and it is 10 pounds lower than the weight discussed with the surgeon. I am so early in the process that I'm just going to see how it all goes. But I am not (so far) hung up on that dumb chart. :-)

And another motivation can be once you see that you are losing weight, setting short term realistic goals to keep you engaged in your weight loss journey. During the first 12 months following placement of my band, I had 3 surgeries, the recovery from two of which I had to be essentially a couch potato for 6 weeks. I was depressed because of my inability to engage in exercise. Then several weeks post op, with my ortho physician's blessing, I discovered I could use a recumbent bicycle. My mood improved dramatically...and I was back on track again. Now that we have moved to a cooler climate, I am able to get to the fitness center 5-6 days a week for at least an hour of cardio. I feel restless if I have to miss out on "my time" at the gym, as now it is a habit for me. Seeing the scale move in the right direction, even slowly, is the motivation which keeps me going with diet compliance and exercise. And the changes which take place with seeing the possibilities of a healthier and more fit you are excellent motivators as well. We can all be successful if we keep our focus on the rewards of improved health and mobility. Some days are more difficult than others...but maintaining focus also helps to maintain motivation! Best wishes for continuing success!

Hi ! Iam considering going abroad for sleeve to save some money. I am almost, 40, my weight drive me crazy and have finally decide to so something with it. I have 290 lbs and want them down. But because the price in UK is approximately £8,000 for it and more I want to try abroad clinic, in Europe, where costs can be around £2000 only! Even I have seen some reviews about Cyprus and Poland (bad and good ones) I am more likely to go to Prague where my cousin is live now, but i have not find any reviews about clinic there, i have found this in Prague(http://www.royalmedical.cz) and Brno (cosmetic-bliss.cz) focusing on sleeve .... but dont know which one to pick. Please, have you ever heard about these? Or tried to go through ANY surgery abroad? Thank you for all you replies, if you want to I will keep you updated if decide to go abroad...

If you are planning on ending up very muscular, I would scrap weight or BMI as a (primary) goal and shoot for a certain body fat percentage instead.

7months post op and 91 Ibs down goal weight is 122 so 98 lbs to go I'm nervous I feel like its gonna stop suddenly and I wont make it to my goal any advice on loosing the next 90 lbs

Kell, same here. I was banded on the 13th too, healing fine, and getting hungry. Six weeks full liquids now. My NUT called today so I asked her how to make this doable. She said my surgeon likes a big weight loss during these six weeks so basically, tough it out. I can have soups, so before I left work I drank an Ensure Clear for protein, and when I got home, I walked the treadmill and then modified my own soup. I used organic black bean soup in the blender with about a handful of frozen peas. Heated it up and it was heavenly. Just that extra thickening from the pureed peas is satisfying me now. I have a feeling that my blender will be my friend for the near future. Oh, today I realized that even the pudding and yogurt I was eating wasn't getting a chance to satisfy me because I've been sipping water nonstop all day. Back to no liquids after eating for half an hour, even if eating is also a liquid. Seems obvious now, but I didn't notice it was flushing those foods through faster. So when I waited after pudding today to drink water, I stayed satisfied longer. Hope this helps.

I am going to toot my own horn because I can so that here and u all get it! Soo I have been very happy with my success and so proud of myself for putting in the work to get the weight off and as a result I spent the entire summer at the community pool with my kids. I never thought u would catch me in a bathing suit again much less galavanting around the local pool!!! My kids had an awesome summer that I actually participated in! And to top it off I went down the Water slide today! They have been asking me to go all summer but I was afraid I was too big! I'm not! And I did it! They were sooo happy to do that together and I couldn't be more proud of myself! Looking forward to so many more proud moments!

No one knows how long the band will last, it's a foreign object, there could be many reasons why someone may have to get their band replaced or removed. Some have medical reasons, sometimes there are malfunctions with parts like leaks, some have very poor aftercare. The best thing you can do is arm yourself with knowledge of how the band works: Here are some things you may need to ask your surgeon: 1. How many lap bands has he/she has performed? greater than 500 is best 2. What is his/her complication rate? Do they convert many band patients to Bypass or Sleeve, if so, BEWARE. 3. Research the new eating habits of how to chew your food with the band to prevent frequent vomiting (frequent vomiting can cause lap band complications long term, like horrible reflux, bad enough to get the band removed). I will be 8 years post op this month, however I had my older band replaced 4cc band, that is no longer used in the US due to higher complication rate from Pouch and esophageal dilation. However these same complications can occur with the newer bands, but they occur less often, as long as the patient don't keep it dangerously too tight. The reason I got the band was because I can get it removed if something happens and I can always get it adjusted to help with weight loss. I would do the band over again in a heartbeat. Good luck.

Thanks everyone! I work hard in the gym. I do more weight training than cardio and it's nice to see results from all that work!

Already posted this in the pre op category, but I think it belongs here more! I'm Nicole, I'm 19, and I'm waiting on approval for my RNY! You are probably thinking, “Wow, she’s only 19, why they heck is she getting a Gastric Bypass surgery so young?" so I just wanted to make this post to kind of give you guys an idea of why I am getting the surgery, why I think it’s the best choice for me, and what has been happening lately! So, originally I opted for the Sleeve Gastrectomy, because I liked the fact that they didn’t mess around with your intestines and all that jazz like they do with the bypass, so I went to my surgeon, and I did all of my pre-op stuff, like my nutritionist visits and psychiatrist visits,and it turns out I was diagnosed with binge-eating disorder, so I had to do a month of group therapy before she would clear me for surgery. You have to make sure you are mentally prepared before you put your body through anything, which I get. I started this whole process the first of December. After all of my tests and appointments and stuff got finished, and I had lost enough pre-op weight, they sent away to the insurance company at the beginning of May. I waited and waited until just this week when my mom was finally like we should call and see what’s up. So she called the insurance company, and it turns out that my insurance doesn’t cover sleeves, but I was a clear candidate for bariatric surgery so I would have to re-submit for the bypass or the lap-band, So I made an appointment with my surgeon and we decided to go ahead and switch to the Roux en Y. So now I have to wait for this approval and to schedule a surgery date! As for my age, and having surgery, I have a lot of medical problems that no 19 year old should ever have to deal with. I take 7 pills in the morning and 4 at night. I have high blood pressure that I am on two different types of medication for, just to maintain it, I have asthma, I have poly-cystic ovarian syndrome, which causes me not to ovulate, and my OB-GYN said I may never be able to have children. I’ve been medicated for it in the past, but bariatric surgery has been proven to take this away in most cases. Also, when I was 18, i suffered from kidney failure and was in the hospital for almost a week. It just sucks to know that your body is so unhealthy that your organs are beginning to shut down. At this point, I know if I don’t make a change I will just end up getting worse and worse. I’m going to have to work my ass off every day, and my new stomach pouch is only going to be a tool to help me get to where I need to be, not an easy way out, and everyone who thinks that is horribly wrong. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be worth it. Peace & Love

My 14 yo daughter said something to me when i first started my journey back in march that has stuck in my head... We were talking about how much weight i would be losing after the surgery and she says to me... "i cant imagine what u would look like 100-150 lbs smaller because ive never seen u like that before" and i just thought to myaelf, how sad, i never really realized how much ive missed out on in her 14years :-( <3 brknhrtd8911 <3

Hello eveybody! I can relate to all of your stories havent been skinny in my life have no energy no libido( sorry if its tmi!) dont tk pictures anymore cant play with my boys10,5 and 3 its tough the embarrasing situation of me at a store and one of the employees without me asking tells me to go to the plus size section cause thats were my "size" was and i couldnt fit on a ride either today its my 29th bday an i refuse to keep missing life beacuse of my weight no more!!!! Good luck to evryone on your journeys! Karla

My moment was when my husband went to visit his children about 500 miles away. We fussed and argued on the phone everyday due to me being insecure about trivial things. Then I realized that he wasn't making me unhappy, I was the one that was not happy with my life. June 25, 2012 was the weight loss seminar but due to hurricane Sandy and it's effects, I had RNY on 1/28/13. Best decision I've ever made. My husband and I are finally having a son that we wished for for almost 13 years! HW:358 DOS:338 CW:275 SD:1/28/13

I always knew I had a weight problem, but it wasn't until I started paying attention to what I looked like in photo's my ex's mother took. I never took photos that included my whole body, just the shoulders up. She took pictures of people standing next to each other. I was always the biggest person in the photos. I had been thinking about the surgery for years, but those photos sealed the deal for me.

I'll be interested to know the outcome. My cardiologist told me a long time ago, that if I lost weight; not even ALL my weight, it would make a dramatic difference.....could possibly stop taking the meds. I only took one blood pressure med, and it was the lowest dose. Now....no more! In my classes before my WLS, they cautioned us of changes that could come quickly, in relationship to blood pressure meds. If we started feeling tired, dizzy, etc., that could be it. It's not only the weight loss, it's cutting out all the crap along with it.

Yes, I went down a size, I was a 9 now I am a 8. You lose weight in your feet for sure !!!!

So I haven't dropped weight in the last couple months, which is extremely frustrating. So, I think My body may just be comfortable here. I'm considering hiring a personal trainer to kick it up a notch. For those of you who have, any advice?? Specific questions to ask? What do I need to know? Any suggestions would be appreciated. This seems like a big investment, so I want to chose the right person. Thanks in advance!

The scale is finally being good to me this morning.. I had gained a few pounds while on vacation 3 weeks ago.. I lost those pounds now I am under what I was when I went to Colorado .. I really am so thrilled to have lost what I gained and then some more.. this is the first time I have ever lost weight after gaining... The band works....Side Note: Please keep my friends @ Sylvandale Guest Ranch in Loveland, Colorado in your prayers.. Their beautiful ranch has been devastated by the floods...

Did you give BCBS a weight history from just one Dr? I had to submit my weight history from other Dr.s from the last 2 years. That REALLY helped them decide on approval after a denial and an appeal process! Don't be discouraged. Just be persistant and ask your provider to help you. My provider actually spent time talking with the nurse who was reviewing my file for approval. I must have received 10 phone calls that day about getting more info to them. My provider said later that more info was needed and she had to keep working with the nurse from my insurance company to make sure I got the approval. You can't do it alone, get the help from the provider! They should know a lot about your approval and they should be 100% involved! Good luck. It took 1 month from start to denial, than 1 more month of waiting from appeal to approval for me. Before that, I had to do 3 months of supervised diet. I started in June and am finally being banded on Dec. 3rd. So glad it took so long because I spent 2 months on the preop diet in addition to the 3 months of supervised dietician diet. I have really changed my eating habits and proved to myself that I can do this. I needed this time. A blessing in disguise.