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To the people that are starting out. This has been great. I had surgery July 26th. On Dec 25 I had lost 100 pounds. I am now 105 pounds lost. I am trying to stop me weight loss at this weight. Started out at 290 now 185. Doctor said I may level off at 180. I am skinny now. For me this has been very easy. No problems. Stalled for about 2 weeks at 205, then started dropping again. I want to thank Dr Clark for giving me my life back. Go & get this done!

I have good and (possibly) bad news. Bad news first - weight loss and hormone changes can actually increase your chance becoming pregnant. My gyno warned me of this because I'm on the pill and told me that I should use backup because with the weight loss and especially the hormonal changes, it was a higher possibility of becoming prego. Good news...the weight loss and hormonal changes can throw off your cycle. Mine was a month late and then came 2 weeks early for the next one. It came hard and heavy too but I was expecting it because of the surgery. So hopefully it's the good news, I've read about a lot of people being thrown off from the surgery and weight loss.

I usually have to have something warm for breakfast so I just drink a big cup of diet hot chocolate! I will have some little snack if I get hungry before lunch. Sometimes I don't! I never use my calories on anything liquid. It just doesn't stick with me! I can honestly say that there are times I feel hungry every day. You have to determine whether it is an uncontrollable hunger. I know I was use to eating every time I had a twinge of hunger in the past, however, now it is not so overwhelming that I can't just move on to something else. I think if you never want to feel any type of hunger that could be unrealistic. That's just my opinion however! I know the calories that I'm able to eat per day and what I will eat, so I kind of let myself graze on that food all day. If I don't eat all my lunch, I may finish it if I get hungry between meals! Regardless of when I eat it, I stay within my allotted calories for the day so it doesn't effect my weight loss. Don't always rely on the fills for every solution, sometimes you just have to play around with different things to find something that works for you. Coming here and listening to everyone's different approaches is definitely a great idea. You may find something that worked for them that will work for you! You are doing great and should be very proud of yourself. Stick with it, it may be slow right now, but your getting healthier every day, that in itself is a success!

I have locs. I use coconut oil on my a hair after every shampoo. I think the theory is that because your hair is no longer dry and brittle it helps with breakage. Not sure if it will help with hair loss due to wls surgery.

So, I've been lurking for a while and have decided to join the fold. I decided about 10 years ago that I was never going to 'diet' again and would have to either make piece with my size or have surgery. I have made piece to a certain extent, but I have recently made a huge investment in myself by returning to school. I have one more year left. It has been a huge time and financial commitment and I feel like my size will likely hurt me as I seek employment in a competative field. So...for the last year or so I have thought about surgery more earnestly. My insurance expressly does not cover any weight loss surgery so I will be self pay (or self borrow) as the case may be. I live in the Pacific NW and surgery seems cost prohibitive, so I am leaning towards Mexico. I have tons of questions, of course, but mainly I am looking for support as I have isolated myself quite a bit over the years. In that vein, if one tavels to Mx, can you go alone? I don't have anyone to go with. Also if anyone knows of good support groups in the Seattle area that are open to the public I would love to start going and learning. Thanks for your ear.

Fiddleman is right. My 3 month graphed weigh loss chart looks exactly like a stair case. Keep working your program. It will come. Your body just needs time to rest and shift things around.

I did not have a real pre op diet as I ended up having surgery earlier than expected. I have read that the pre diet is not that bad it is only a few days. This LB has really worked for me. I was not much of a believer before hand. I had a surgery before my LB too, so when the Dr. went in a second time he was excited to see how I had healed from the first surgery. Best wishes and I hope all works out as well for you as it has for me. Six months banded, 77 lost pound , my head is in a great place and I am skiing my first really big weight loss goal. imaluckydog

My suggestion is to not weigh so often, if you can't handle daily fluctuations and periodic stalls and plateaus ..... Weigh once every two to three weeks. You will see a weight loss.

That's pretty wild. I'm intrigued by what my labs will show in October at the one year point. I'd assumed cholesterol and other stuff would be in good ranges......but don't really have anything to base that on other than the weight loss. I wonder if it's due to a higher percentage of our food intake is meat and there isn't much in the way of vegetables to buffer this ???? It'll be interesting to see.

Hello fellow sleevers, I hope this blog finds you all well. I am almost 7 weeks out since my leak was confirmed to have healed. Yay. I should get clearance from my surgeon soon to start going to the gym which I think will help with my over fitness (or more to the point, lack thereof). Generally things continue to improve. I still struggle (some days more than others) with a faintly sick feeling and a gurgling in my tummy. This usually means I am not eating quite enough or regularly enough. The less I eat at a meal, the more frequently I have to eat - and that depends on the day. So this blog is about the stupid things I have done, repeatedly, since going back on normal foods. In no particular order (I decided not to rank my stupidity as these are all, quite frankly, ridiculous) are: Drinking soft drinks (soda): Okay so this is mostly my several attempts to drink soda water. I've had a little lemonade and coke but it's so sweet I only did this a few times before deciding it wasn't worth it. What I have been slower in giving up is soda water (sparkling water). I keep stupidly thinking something would change and it would be okay to drink soda water but I've finally realised (after several uncomfortable and frankly painful experiences) that I should leave it well enough alone. Duh. Eating Bread (of any kind): So being the genius that I am, I decided to try bread. I always feel kinda ill afterwards. And yet I continued to try it. White, multigrain, soft grains, wholemeal, sourdough...always left with the same feeling of discomfort and just generally a bit yuck. Thank goodness I have finally decided to LEAVE IT ALONE. Eggs: Oh little eggies, how I loved you before surgery. I could have eaten half a dozen of you little buggers preferably poached, although I wasn't all that choosy. Now you have turned on me and make me very VERY ill. I no longer try to come to some kind of understanding with you...sometimes when you love something, you must set it free. Bye little eggies...you will be missed. Milk: Another before surgery love. Now, to highlight my stupidity, I need to give a teensy bit of background - I am Lactose Intolerant. Have been for years. And depsite this, I would guzzle a 750mL Iced Coffee three times a day. Yes I'd get the runs. Yes, I'd feel pretty darn sick. But I'd still do it. Post-surgery, I am lucky to be able to have the lactose free milk on my cereal for breakfast. Milk (of any kind) makes me sick. As does icecream which is just wrong. No more yummy iced coffee's or frappe's. Gone for good... Although it is taking me a while to work out what my sleeve needs, I feel I am making progress. It's slow. But I am learning to listen to what my body is telling me. Quick weight update - I am 40 kg down from my surgery weight And this Monday (03.12.12) is offically 3 months since the initial surgery date. I am really happy with my weight loss so far and hope to lose another 5kg before Christmas. Hope this finds you all well, sleevers! Talk soon, Lila

Please help me to understand: you had a leak which can lead to death. I am happy to hear that it is healed. Did this not SCARE you enough not to indulge in forbidden foods? Soda and breads. This type of behaviour can kill you........please go back to why you had the surgery in the first place don't treat it like it is nothing. Your weight loss is fantastic and I am sure you have a lot more to lose, please continue wisely. All the best

Ok so my surgery was January 31, 2012 in the first two and half weeks I lost 32 pounds and have been stalled for 2 weeksish. This has caused me to be so bummed. Even through reading posts about it being normal, and doing everything right: I'm still obsessed with the scale and bummed. My NUT said I already started out with a dramatic weight loss and I'll start to equal out and lose 10 pounds a month, conservatively. However I am trying to focus on the positive. Therefore I am posting my first NSV: I HAVE A NECK!! In my wedding pictures I was at my highest weight (still had an amazing wedding). However the one thing I noticed was my head looked like it sat on my shoulders. Yuck. Last night I went out with some friends and after being tagged on Facebook (I usually dreaded) I was happy with most of the pictures and noticed my neck (: I also posted two pictures in my gallery and can see a little difference there as well. Here's to more NSVs and a healthy journey! Have a fabulous Sunday, sleevettes!

You look gorgeous! Congrats on your weight loss!!

My thighs have always been big, even at a size 2, they were larger than most because if genetics and soccer. Now that I am losing weight, my thighs resemble melting candle wax. It's actually kind of amusing although I do hope the skin catches up with the weight loss, even a little. Instead of chub rub, I now have flap slap when I do martial arts. I can actually hear them slapping together when I do spinning kicks. GROSSSSSSSS!!!!

I had a revelation last night. I am 9 days pre op and I had kept reading prior to my surgery that the band is a tool. It's not a magic cure all. Now I understand what that means. I've lost 26 lbs since I started the pre surgery liquid diet. And for a few days after the surgery I was doing great. Now the swelling has gone down and I can eat pretty well. The scale hasn't budged in two days. What does it mean? It means nothing in the big picture, I shouldn't be weighing daily anyway, but it reminded me of something. After alot of reading here I think I had started falling into the lap band trap. "Boy, it will be great when I get a couple of fills and the band starts doing it's thing and I start loosing weight." Hold on, I don't have to wait around for fills for this thing to start working. I can go dust off the elliptical machine today and do a light work out and start working the tool. The tool is me. The aid is the band. Ah yes, I knew I wasn't going to be able to hide from this thing called weight loss. We still have our parts play. We still have to buck up and face this monster. :angry :angry :angry BRING IT ON!:angry :angry :angry

You look great and you can tell the weight loss Keep up the good work you go girl!

There is a lot of vulnerability and insecurity around here. That's fine, this is a weight loss forum with a lot of strangers telling other strangers how they must cut out most of their stomach in order to keep their eating habits from killing them. Given how being fat is stigmatized in a way many other addictions/behaviors aren't (there is a heck of a lot of support/compassion for people addicted to other things, especially in the medical community), bristling at bluntness isn't an unusual reaction. It's not that I think we need to be a hug box, echo chamber, or hippy drum circle in which everyone vomits sunshine and rainbows and walks on eggshells for fear of offending the too-easily-offended. But I do think the emotional rawness and fragility is something important to keep in mind. ...Although, if I read one more "I'M SIX DAYS POST OP AND JUST ATE A PLATE OF Pasta, DRANK ALCOHOL AND SMOKED WEED, IS THAT OKAY," I'm gonna punch myself in the throat.

Hi everyone, It has been ages, but with the holidays and tons of overtime at work I was slammed. :faint: I was banded 1/16 by Dr.Randall at the Lawrence Memorial in MA. I am so thrilled with my band, down 10lbs since my pre-op testing and doing great with purees. So far no nausea or yucky upchuck incidents :clap2:, although I did test the waters with some Pad Thai the other night and did NOT go further than one little bite (it hurt...really hurt:p ) Recovery has also been great. I am so glad to be banded and ready to go forward with my weight loss goals!!!

Today I had a Body Age Assessment done at my gym. The report indicates the following: 61.3% lean 38.7% fat fat mass - 82lbs* Lean Body Mass - 131.2 * Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) of 1858 calories/day 557 calories burned by processing food and normal daily activities Conclusion: Daily Caloric Intake 2037!Daily Meals 3 Daily Snacks 2 My confusion lies with the number of calories they have recommended I eat. Isn't that a lot? Why wouldn't they recommend I take in less calories? Aren't we supposed to take in less calories to lose weight? I think my calories are coming right at about 1300 calories. Perhaps this is why my weight loss has stalled? Who knows? What do I do? How many calories do you guys recommend I take in? * The fat mass they came up with is the same amount of weight I want to lose. I wonder if this means when I lose the weight will I have a nice lean muscular body underneath :scared: Thanks in advance for you help. Lisa

I know one thing......I was mad as hell at the person who first told me I had to give up the BigMac's, fries, apple pies and pizza if I wanted to reach my weight loss goals. The gall they showed. How dare they question my desire to succeed just because I wasn't willing to make the needed changes. No pizza and Cookies right now???? They were being mean. I should be able to have at least 2-3 biscuits every morning, right ? No? WTH ??? I'm leaving. I'm not feeling the support....yada, yada, yada................. Thank God for the folks here that post true and accurate information and are willing to share the good, bad and ugly about wls and their path to it. I'm reminded of Jack Nicolson from "A Few Good Men"....."You want the truth? You can't HANDLE the truth !!!!!!". Some folks want a hug and a lie. They want validation that it'll all be easy and they can keep on doing the same old thing. Some folks really want to get real.....make a change. Some already have. Their input is what fuels my interest here. So.....where's the support ? It's evident in the candid responses. Simply going along and passing out blankets and cookies isn't support. It's enabling.........

I know this post is older, but I really just wanted to say THANK YOU for listing those things!!! Unless you go though it you can't really understand how AWFUL it is to not be able to tie your shoes, do a simple pedicure or put on a pair of boots. I miss being able to cross my legs when I sit and pick up my purse from the floor of the car.. I am so happy for you! I have about 4-5 months to go before I can have surgery, due to my Insurance requirements (6 months medical supervised weight loss) and I tatter between fear and incredible excitement! Thanks for posting this!

I'm just over 7 months, and have lost 53 pounds or so, depending on the day. Lovecats85, looking over the stats, I see you were much lighter when you started, which might explain the slower rate of loss, so don't worry. You are doing great! Cindy

Hi Eric! Welcome to the fold...lol. Your BMI for insurance purposes is what you start at, so if you lose weight it will not effect your approval, but some docs do require you to lose weight prior to surgery, and they definately don't want you to GAIN. Any weight loss prior will only make the surgery go easier. Your doc will give you guidlines to follow. As for the approval letter, it probably varies from insurance to insurance, but mine did send me a letter, although that wasn't until after I submitted all my documentation, and completed my 3 month supervised diet period. You can always call your insurance to be sure....one piece of advice...don't assume anything! Always check to comfirm things have been done or submitted as needed every step of the way. Will save you a lot of greif in the end. Good luck!

We all lose at different rates, but the most important thing is not to get discouraged! Actually slower weight loss is much more healthier... It's taken us years to put the weight on, so a few months to lose it is nothing in the grand scheme of things! Hang in there!

congrats on your new journey to weight loss!!! you will have no regrets and you will totally love your new you!!! Godbless and best of luck....:smile2: