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Once upon a time, I was an egg. 8 months later, I was born, yay! 5 lbs. I was so cute. A few years later, I was a kid. I wasn't as big kid yet, but I saw my really big Mom, and really big aunts, and put two and two together. When I grew up, I was going to be fat. Fast forward to High school. I was at 160 lbs. I thought this was fat. I thought this was my fate, and did my best to accept it. I didn't think I was ugly, because I still had pretty good success dating. I was a resolved and proud BBW. At the time, my younger sister wasn't far behind. I just thought it was something to be accepted. It was in our genes. Onto College years. I was a starving artist with no car, so I got down to a nice 140 lbs. Too bad I didn't appreciate it, because I had a roommate with body image issues that rubbed off on me. In pictures, I see that I looked amazing, but I didn't feel amazing then. In fact, I was in such a bad place mentally, I had to leave college early and take medications. Then, I moved back home from college. Yes, home to Mom's and Sister's cooking. Combining good food with different mental medications, I went up to 170. I thought, "Okay, this must be me fat now. I'm gonna be okay with this, accept it and be proud to be different." Then, I got a job in a cubicle. The money was great, but my weight was not. I got up to 210 lbs. I was very upset. I busted past 200. But I was in a very committed relationship, which helped me accept it. My fiance was wonderful to me, and called me beautiful every day. Notice I said fiance? That's right, a wedding was coming up. And we were both quite overweight, so we counded calories for the months leading up to the wedding. He lost 25 lbs, I lost 10, but it was something. It was just enough to make me feel beautiful again for our wedding. The year following our wedding, things went to hell. My mental illness got incredibly worse, what I thought was just a couple stomach bugs due to stress turned out to be a full-blown permanent problem, adding more medication to my list. I went through tests after tests, and they found nothing. So they blamed my weight. Then I had another medical scare, a bump was found and they had to do a biopsy on it. And, since I missed so much work because of all the medical crap, I lost my job. Back to my parents' house. Back to 210 lbs. Back to misery. Then, my husband met a guy at work who had the Lap-Band surgery a year ago and lost 100 lbs. He learned that the guy was very happy, and that the same health care we had paid for it almost in full. My hubby brought this information to me and asked me if we should do this together. The only time I ever said yes faster in my life is when he proposed to me. I didn't pause, I didn't mull it over. I wanted it more than anything. So we made our first trip to TrueResults. The people there are very nice, and very informative. Sadly, I was 2 BMI points under what qualified according to our health insurance. I had to gain 16 lbs. I thought it would be fun. I started by having an extra treat here and there. But I wasn't gaining the weight fast enough. Eventually I was eating candy and fast food every day, drinking more soda than I could stand, and I will hate Twix for the rest of my life now. But after 6 weeks, we went back, and my BMI read 40.7. I did it. But then my mother suggested we see other doctors too and learn more about things. Around this time, I started walking every day with my mother and sister. My husband and I went to a few other doctors and found one who was less nice and harder truth. And instead of gaining weight, they want us to lose weight before the surgery. We were given a strict diet and careful directions to follow. This was good, because I ended up gaining more weight and was up to a 41 BMI. And that is where my journey began...

I am looking at the 10-12-12 with dr. garcia, but its not official yet.

Hey everybody- anyone else having trouble with taking pills? I can NOT get my Zoloft to go down comfortably. I am breaking them in half but my sleeve is NOT a fan at all. I took a few days off to see if it would improve, but just spent 10 minutes dry heaving. Sorry about TMI.. Help! I need my meds... I'm 17 days post op

Hi, I'm Cassi. It has taken me several years to make this decision. I previously felt like I was "giving up" or somehow "cheating" if I chose to do bariatric surgery. I felt like I needed to learn the lessons I needed to learn by working through this on my own. Now I've come to a point where I feel like the lesson I need to learn is that I don't have to do everything on my own. It's okay to ask for help. It's okay to NEED help. For so long I attached a lot of "moral rightness/wrongness" to choosing the surgery, as if losing weight the "old-fashioned way", i.e. diet and exercise, meant I was somehow stronger, better, etc. I have come to see it as a tool, a way of helping with the hunger part of the equation while I stay committed to the diet and exercise parts. I went to my PCP on Sept 6, 2007 with my decision to do the lap-band, which she whole-heartedly supported. From there, insurance had to approve the referral to a bariatric surgeon. They initially denied it, but then reversed their decision a few days later based on additional notes from PCP (showing consistent weight loss attempts). I have been to the requisite seminar, have scheduled the psych eval, and have scheduled the initial consultation with the surgeon, set for Oct 19, 2007. I'm hopeful that an approval to have a surg. consult. will mean that they will approve the actual procedure. It doesn't necessarily meant that, of course, but I can still hope, yes? Right now I'm at the stage of practicing eating with a lap-band--not the microscopic portion sizes, of course, but chewing thoroughly, eating slowly, avoiding "cheat" foods like ice cream, etc. My concerns are primarily centered around social issues. How/what do I tell people who say, "Wow, you look great!"? What is life at a Thanksgiving family get-together like? How do I deal with those who think I took the easy way out (believe me, I understand their mindset--I've been there). I just don't want to feel like I have to "explain myself" for the rest of my life. Anyway, sorry to get long-winded. I tend to do that. :-) I'm looking forward to getting to know many of you. Cassi

HOLY MOLY - I got a call from my surgeon's office this morning. My pre-cert nurse still said he hadn't gotten their fax with my 2 year weight history...BUT, she asked if she could give him the info over the phone and he said "yes"! So I am delighted to say I was APPROVED!!! I'm still reeling! Next step is the last appointment with the surgeon which may be the week of Sept. 19 or 26.

Mine was submitted on 9/24. Then they asked for more records on 10/3 ... which they received on 10/6, but, apparently this restated my 3 to 15 working day clock. Still waiting ... I'm climbing the walls. :-/

I would definitely say no, not at this point however I want to point out that week 3 is not always pureed foods. Every surgeon is different. I started soft foods on day 3-14 which includes things like yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna, eggs and even ground turkey as long as it's chewed very well. I am on day 10 post op and doing very well with all of these items. Day 14 I get to move into regular textured foods in 2-3 ounce portions and I'm so happy to have more options. Again, everyone is on a different plan, but I think the biggest thing is don't push yourself into anything that could cause you harm or discomfort. It's not worth it. Patience will pay off in the end.

Thanks Everyone! I called on 10/25 to make an appointment. Had an initial consultation with the surgeon's PA and first nutrition appt on 10/31/11. I had my Upper Endoscopy on 11/4/11. PA told me I could pick a date first week of Dec, but that I may want to push it back a little so I wouldn't be on Pre-op diet during Thanksgiving. That's how I landed on Dec. 14th. I go Dec 7th for second Nut. appt, Pre-op testing, and meet with Surgeon again (meet him initially at Endoscopy).

I'm 2 years post op and here's how I set up my mini goals. I looked forward to each 50 lbs lost, I celebrated when I got under 300 lbs. Then I celebrated each 50 lbs lost again until I hit -150 lbs. Now I celebrate every 10 lbs lost but am anxious to get below the 200 lbs mark. Once I'm below the 200 lbs mark, it will be a mini goal of 5 lbs at a time. It gets tougher and tougher to keep the big losses going so I set up realistic goals for a short term range for each stage of my weight loss. In the beginning, the pounds just fell off so 50 lbs was reasonable. I lost 100 lbs in exactly 8 months. Just keep your goals real and be accountable to them and you will not get discouraged.

Alex, I was confused about the programs. I have the home version and not the online version as well. I love that you can put the actually contents into the program. The online version you can't, I think that is one of the things he was referring to. Some people won't know that you can and should include every ingredient in what you eat down to the salt and pepper. LOL!! The "50" items were a general comment. He wasn't implying that everyone only eats 50 items he said most times we can only come up with 50 and of that we can only remember on average 10 of those 50. So use that as a general statement and not literal. Tuna is a food item Mayo is separate That is my understanding anyway.

Here's some hope for u: I got my band 2 1/2 yrs ago Nd the first 5time mths (till my 3rdlast fill) I lost about 5the lbs. I could eat like I could before the band. After the 3rd fill, I literally started melting the pounds off. I've now lost 102 lbs with about 10 left I thought I had failed yet another weight loss attempt and regretted my decision to even have it. Then it started working and I couldn't be happier with my decision. Yes, there's lots of us out there that it took a while to see results. Good luck to u Marci

Different practices have different pre-op requirements and different insurance plans have different requirements for who they will cover. What I am wondering is what were you approved for? Did your insurance company say they would pay for the surgery? Did your doctor say you are medically cleared? Those can be different things. You may want to check with your surgeon's office and ask them to walk you through all the steps that you need to go through before actually having surgery, including insurance approval (assuming you are NOT cash pay), medical clearance including all pre-op testing they require, psych clearance, nutrtional counseling, any pre-op classes required. As an additional resource, my mentor and I are successful long-term lap band patients with 10 years of combined experience working this amazing. We have blog sites that have a lot of useful information (see the link in my signature below). Let me know what you find out.

I'm sorry, but insurance or not, I would have gone to a doctor sometime in the last 4 years, if I was vomiting up to 10 times a day. Were you actually vomiting, or just productive burping (where food comes back up, but without retching)?

i had my surgery 10/27... i still have pain with liquids. it's hard to get the full 64 oz that my plan requires too ... hope your doing better ! best wishes ! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I got mine when I started my liquid diet 10 days pre-op, and I still have it [emoji24] I was sleeved feb 21st! Feels like I've been bleeding forever and just not sure this is normal !

I think for all of us this would be so difficult to deal with. Sounds like you sincerly want to lose weight. I like my surgeon but I love my dietician/nutritionist. I think if I ever experience any problems I would seek her advice before my doctor's unless it might be surgically related. My nutritionist is a full time bariatrics nutritionist. She only works with bariatric docs and bariatric patients. Nutritionists are much less expensive to consult with than a doctor although it sounds like you could use a very competent and caring bariatrics doctor. I just don't know if they exist? Most docs I've spoken with want to keep their visits to 10-15 minutes where you can spend up to an hour with a nutritionist for $50. Each doctor is so wrapped up in his/her own practice that most will not take on a consultation type roll for a patient who had surgery elsewhere. I'm sure there may be one but where? I'm assuming you're relationship with your surgeon went South? You should try to see him or ask around about a bariatrics nutritionist. tmf

So my question to you is "How long have you been doing this routine in the morning?" I have been working out since 1983 and one thing I find is a constant, if I get too excited about a routine and get into it like you are, I will burn out within six months--and then I have to force myself to get back into it. I'm at four days a week now, two at Curves (30 minutes) and two at the YMCA weight training (1 hour 15 minutes) but I really LOVE the weight training more! I just thought with the upcoming three day weekend, "Hey, I can go to the YMCA on Saturday AND Monday AND Wednesday with Curves twice in between!" But I KNOW myself and I know that if I do, I will get 'burnt' and tire of the routine in a few months--I am safer keeping myself down to four days a week (Friday's I work 10 1/2 hours--banking). So it's great you're getting in all the cardio--but maybe you could just mix it up a bit with a little weight training? Whatever you do, you're doing your body good!!

They probably gained 3 lbs of Water weight after surgery. You're on an IV and that puts water weight on some or probably even most. Don't freak out about this surgery. Be realistic about your expectations an keep remembering it's a tool not a miracle and don't expect it to be easy.. You got a lot of work ahead, this is just the beginning. My daugher had Dr. Garcia on Jan 23rd. We loved him and his staff in TJ. She's down from an 18 to a size 8-10. She like me struggles with the food addiction. We were just saying, "well you can't eat a whole gallon of ice cream at one time, but you can eat a gallon in a day!" Some days it's just hard.

I have excellent restriction, I am almost too tight in fact. Currently I have 6.2 ccs in my band which holds 10 ccs. So I am definitely not worried about being filled to the max!!!

Is this not something anybody is concerned about? Do most people realize that if you go SUPER low-cal, your body thinks it's starving and will fight for its life to hold onto every pound? I'm just curious. I totally forgot that I used to buy into the "eat as few calories as you possibly can" camp. It's very unhealthy. Perhaps I should "introduce" myself because I have not been around in awhile and I don't think I ever was that regular of a poster in this particular forum, anyway. I had LAP-BAND surgery in November of 2007. I lost 55 lbs in a 5-month period by eating VERY low calorie and low carb. I yo-yo'd back up by 13 lbs over the next 4 months due to stress from a dissolving marriage and also going back to school at the same time. I managed to get back down the 13 lbs, plus 5.5 more lbs over the next 3 months. Again - being VERY calorie-restrictive. I can't say I got a very healthy view of diet from my nutritionist or the class we had to go through. It felt like elementary all over again. "This is a portion size...." But nothing truly useful that STUCK. I have yo-yo'd around since November of 2008 with the same 10 lbs. I go down some, I go up some, I go down some, I go up some. Anyway - after doing some thorough research on what works...I discovered that very low calorie is NOT GOOD. Not only does it lower your metabolism (people get used to eating 800 calories a day and then "lose" their band...then what?), but if your body doesn't get what it needs through nutrition, it eats your muscle. Muscle also keeps your metabolism firing high. You lose lean body mass and you are left with what is often referred to as a "skinny fat person." Meaning your WEIGHT might be low, but your body fat % sucks. I'm just going to say - No, I have not been perfect. I have struggled to "get" this band thing. I have become major exercise monster. (It is IDEAL to exercise on top of eating better. Don't just rely on your band to get you there. Exercise ALSO fires up your metabolism.) Most recently, I ran a half marathon at the beginning of this month. There's NO WAY I would have the energy to run as much as I do if I was eating 800 calories. For instance - after this day is over, I will have logged 22 miles for the week, which included a 9-mile run yesterday. When I was doing super-low-cal before, I couldn't run that intensely for more than 3 miles at a time. I also have picked up strength-training 3 days a week to build up my lean body tissue. I have been running regularly since August of last year and I picked up the strength training in December. So why am I still at my 2008 weight? Because - I was eating very high cal. It's not easy to stay in super low-cal for life, nor is it realistic for most people. I feel like my body was trying to compensate for the "stealing" I did by keeping the calories so low. This is actually quite common for many people. I am now in a slight calorie deficit, calculated based on my basal metabolic rate (how many calories I use on a daily basis just living). The slight calorie deficit plus the huge amount of calories I burn through exercise (btw - it's MUCH better to burn the calories than to starve your body of them) is causing weight loss. And you know what? It's easy. I don't feel like I'm dieting at all. The band does make this tremendously easy because it's pretty much next to impossible to go over my calories for the day. I also have to add that losing weight at break-neck pace isn't good for anybody. It makes it hard for your body to adjust in many ways. But also, if you lose OVER a certain amount of weight per week, again, you're burning muscle to get that weight loss. It's not worth it to me. I'd rather keep the muscle and lose slower. So I have to agree with the thing I have read on this board MANY times: The band is a tool. Period. But it shouldn't be used as a tool for starvation if you want life-long, healthy results. I'm open to comment, discussion, insult (kidding). I am training for another race in October and probably December - lots of running. Still weight training, and keeping my calories at a slight deficit rather than a major one. I think I have about 6 lbs to go to get down to the lowest weight I have ever gotten with the band. But I plan to THIS TIME blow past that and keep going...losing the final 23 lbs below that to get to goal. I'm willing to admit I was wrong if I STILL can't get there. But I'm positive that this time I can because I don't feel deprived.

I live in Seattle now and had my 4cc lap band surgery in July 2005. I'm down 60-70 pounds and am so tired of the excess weight around my abdomen..It shrinks or gets thicker if I gain a bit of weight, which I have since I had my whole fill taken out June 2008 because of severe acid reflux...I'm up 10 pounds and am trying to rely now more on diet and exercise to lose it but no matter what my abdomen area is pudgy and misshaped and I am considering a tummy tuck surgery..Any thoughts, suggestions, experience with it would be helpful. If you've had it I'd love to talk to you and possibly see before and after pics and know the good, bad and ugly about having the surgery..Thanks SO much!! If you can, email me at bluesfire@mac.com I'd appreciate it, Trish

got banded 2 years ago lost 100lb so far to my goal weight of 210lb. Just about 10 days ago started feeling tightness and difficulty keeping food down and on top of that i started to choke while i sleep, saliva and black matter getting in the airway. The black matter mix with saliva seems to looks like black dust particles mixed with Water when i Regurgitate (vomit) anyone knows !!! help please... brian

You really need to go to the doctor, I would say ASAP. Good luck and please keep us posted as to the outcome. Do you have black tar-like stools as well? That is another indicator of Upper GI bleeding. This is a quote from the Emergency Physcician's Review, "coffee ground emesis (vomit) contains gross blood that has been coagulated and oxidized by stomach acid and appears as "coffee grounds" floating in stomach aspirate. It usually indicates a signifcant upper GI bleed that has stopped." The bold and underline is mine. The following is a quote from the following weblink: http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3566.htm Acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a potentially life-threatening abdominal emergency that remains a common cause of hospitalization. The incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is approximately 100 cases per 100,000 population per year (Fallah, 2000). Bleeding from the upper GI tract is approximately 4 times as common as bleeding from the lower GI tract and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Mortality rates from UGIB are 6-10% overall (Fallah, 2000).

Oh yea, I just looked at your stats, 10 lbs plus a month, you are rockin. I loose 10 lbs a month, here I am 8 mo post op & 15 lbs preop weight loss & I have lost 101. I believe for 10 lbs each month & it happens. (I lost 16 the 1st mo. Post op.) How much r u able to eat per meal? By 4/7 you will drop more weight.

This fill did not hurt at all. The first one was .. .uncomfortable. I still would not call it painful, but I felt it. This one . . .piece of cake! Now hoping for the feeling of restriction . . .liquids today and tomorrow and soft on Sunday . . .now at 4cc in a 10 cc band. Have a great weekend everyone!:smile2: