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My PCM checks me about every 3 to 4 months .... I call the lab techs "vamps" -- they laugh, and take over 10 vials from me. It's just best to get checked when your doc says to because they are trying to care for you.

Wow that is a long journey, I thought at first it would take atleast 5 months to get anywhere so atleast Im not that far off. After years of being overweight whats 6-8 months more ya know? Im curious if my surgeon will require a 10% loss since its something I hear often. Not sure how that will play out because I am borederline BMI qualified. I cant lose more than 19lbs or I will be under 40bmi but if he wants a 10% loss that 28 lbs.

I don't know if I'd use my money for a shake weight. For $40 I bought a set of weights at wally world that includes 2 each of 3, 5, and 8 pound weights. I use those for my at home workouts, along with my exercise ball, and haven't considered a shake weight. You could just as easily use cans of veggies at the beginning, although I did buy 2 pound weights at the thrift store immediately post op. I used those until I could do 100 reps of biceps curls, triceps kickbacks, and skull crushers easily...then I dropped the 2 pounders in the car. When I'm driving a lot, which is most days, I will do biceps curls with them. Any exercise you do preop will pay benefits in more ways than just better muscle tone, though. Being stronger also means that your metabolism runs faster, because muscle burns more energy than fat does at any time. Building muscle through exercise also helps to save your most essential muscle, the heart, while you're losing weight rapidly, and the cardiac benefits of cardiovascular fitness cannot be measured! My EKG from this year looks TONS better than my preop EKG, which made my pulmonary doctor blurt out "That's the sexiest thing I've ever seen" after the second EKG. According to the body fat machine at my surgeon's office, I'm within .01% of the amount of muscle I should have in my body, which translates to "Even though I lost over 100 pounds very fast, I didn't lose essential heart muscle". That's AWESOME, IMO. Improving your cardiac fitness also will help with your recovery from anesthesia and from surgery and will, hopefully, help prevent blood clots because your blood isn't pooled up anywhere from inactivity. Better cardiac health will help you get up and moving and heal faster after surgery, too. I'm a gym rat these days, but I see nothing but positive to exercising pre-op!!

I was scrolling across some of the old posts and came upon this one. I saw where I said that i just wanted to get to 250 pounds. I think that was early August. Well, this morning I was 239.8. I had been in a major slump for awhile. I had a third (.75 cc) fil) on 8/13 and .25cc on 10/8. Had not lost a pound since 10/8 although I feel I have good restriction. I decided to regroup and pay more attention to the amount of protein I was eating. I discovered that there was 2 or 3 consecutive days where I was not getting in 60g of protein and I think that was slowing my metabolism. I was staying between 1000-1100 calories per day and going to Curves 4-5 times a week plus riding bike at work. It wa a mystery to me why I was not losig weight. To make a long story short, I increased my protein, ensuring the 60+g per day EVERY DAY, and in the past 11 days I have lost 6.6 pounds. This is after almost 8 weeks of the scale not moving, although I was still losing inches. Hopefully my slump is over and I can get through the 230's very soon. Protein is very important and i thought i was handling things but when I really looked at it, I wasn't.

I read it in '97 back then I was down to a size 10 and thought that I had conquered my weight problem for good. Boy was I stupid!! I remember thinking that the book was very depressing so I guessed that it hit a nerve. I would not want to read it again. Although it was well written it was too dark for me.

Hello everyone! Very frustrated.... WARNING... Curses coming... So yesterday my insurance co (UMR) called my surgeons office and told them that I needed 3 more nutritional visits (May, June, July) before I could have my surgery..WTF!? The info was faxed to the insurance with plenty of time & now, just before surgery she wants to pick up the damn file & review it. Can I please know WTF she was doing all this time? My doctors office faxed the letter to her & today she says she needs 3 detailed letters with a bunch of other details ????. I'm waiting for my doc to come in and approve this so they can fax the letters over to the insurance lady & see how fast she can review my documents & approve my surgery. What pisses me off is whyyyy did she wait till the freakin last minute??? Ughhh... I'll keep u all updated!

Sorry, I'm in the same boat, I got banded on 8/19 and had my first fill 9/24 and since my fill I have only lost 5 lbs. But I'm down from a size 20 pants to a size 16 jeans. I record and watch what I eat and I do zumba 4 days a week, so hopefully the scale will show some results soon.

I should have measured myself!! I've lost only 10 lbs (5 the wk before surgery and 5 after band) but i guess I lost most in my face cause clothes dont feel any different.

I don't care what the scale says as long as I can wear a size 10 jeans without a muffin top :biggrin3:

hi!! my surgery is friday and im very excited...not nervous yet....prob will be by thur night! lol .....going shopping tomorrow for post op things....i finally found gasx strips in walmart,after looking everywhere else for weeks! so,stocked up on those....on my list: tomato soup,protein shakes of course,chicken broth,yogurt,diet v8 splash,sugar free hot chocolate...my only worry(besides the gas),is that i'll be starving...even though i've done well on my 10 days of liquids,i would kill for a burger or a slice of pizza!! lol my paperwork from the surgeon actually says to avoid tv for the first 10 days after surgery,because of the large number of food commercials!! good luck to you!!!!

19 days out and in hell!! Ended up having a second surgery to remove scar tissue, have been admitted twice back to the hospital for throwing up, and I've only lost ten pounds. I'm nauseous and dry heve if I eat anything, I'm still in pain and wishing I never did this. Tell me it gets better???

Hi everyone, Thanks for the replies. My surgeons diet plan seems to be very different to most others, he told me that I could have virtually any liquid I'd like, virtually anything can be blended he said, and as of week 4 according to my diet sheet I can have bread 1/2 times per day. I'm really hoping to avoid that, as my problem has never really been too much of a sweet eater, but where carbs are concerned, I've never been able to help myself, so I'm hoping to steer away from my surgeons recommendations in that respect or I'll never lose any weight! I've managed to get in about 350 calories a day, it's easier now than it was! I'm managing soups and shakes and water much easier than I was a few days ago! Also, i will be keeping away from fruit juices too! Thank you all for your kind advice to my messages! I've been so worried about it all going wrong (I'm a massive worrier!) But almost a week home, I'm realising that it's all going to be fine. I cant believe I'm 10 days out from my operation already!

I know 10 days seems like and eternity after all of the appointments we have during this process but, be thankful that your insurance doesn't require more. Based on your signature it's been roughly 2 months for you?

Yeah i know and i just flew in a total of 10 airplanes for my surgery which was in mexico! I cant seem to wint for losing!!! Well this just means i have to stay extra extra extra healthy- no matter what bc ive had lots of ct scans my life time and dont plan on flying many planes in my future- ill have to stock up on extra antioxdkant Vitamins as well I guess eventually thismwill be easier but for. Now its crazy!

August 22, 2006..I remember that day like it was yesterday. I arrived at the hospital so happy so excited so full of joy and ready to prove my doctor WRONG. You see my pre-op weight was 416lbs and the surgeon wanted me to undergo a gastric bypass or a duodenal switch (which I don't think they do anymore) because my BMI was so high. But at that time I was only 20 years old no serious medical issues and my mother didn't want me to have either of those surgeries so lapband it was. Moreover, my bariatric doctor made it very clear that I wasn't going to lose any weight and in two years I'd be back for a gastric bypass. Fast forward a few years and I was making tremendous progress. I'll never forget when I walked into Dr. Prachand's office in August 2008 for my two year post-op appt and I was down 138 lbs. And he looked at me with a smile and said "well Liqui you proved me wrong" that was the best feeling I ever felt. I was on a mission..I had a point to prove. Needless to say a few years went by and the weight slowly stop coming off...I was getting discouraged...I was losing my motivation and I had to switch doctors (I started a job and my health insurance changed). In 2011, I started seeing a new bariatric doctor (who I'm stilling seeing today) and it was like starting all over again at the time I had gained some weight back and I was about 310. At my first appointment with Dr. Mihil he told me to tell him my journey to this point...although he had my huge file in front of him. I told him my story anyway and he said "so let's start campaign prove Dr. Prachand wrong again." I laughed through my tears of disappointment and agreed. He proceed to say "I don't know Prachand personally but I want you to succeed because he wrote everywhere in your file. Placed band despite better judgement." When I tell you that doctor was AGAINST the band he was AGAINST the band and if I'm not mistaken he doesn't place them anymore at all. Moreover, my motivation started to come back I was checking in regular with the new doctor, losing weight, then BAM in 2013 I found out I was pregnant with TWINS. I was sooooo happy and excited yet sad because I knew I was going to gain weight. Well needless to say I gained more weight than I and the doctor expected. During my pregnancy I gained 73lbs I was mortified. I delivered my twins 4weeks early so I can't imagine how much more weight I would've gained if I carried them full term lol. My babies were born completely healthy but I was left with almost 60lbs of weight to loss. I avoided the bariatric doctor for two years...I kept saying "I wanna loss the weight before I go see him." I hadn't seen him since I was 4 months pregnant and he removed all my Fluid from my band. Then one day a few months ago I realized that I wasn't going to lose the weight on my own (which is why I needed weight loss surgery in the first place). And I finally made in appointment to go see him. I felt like a dead man walking.. I weighed in at 359. Which I was okay with considering I was 374lbs post babies. So I had lost weight but I still wasn't where I started. I was sitting in the room so nervous I thought the doctor was going to chew me out for waiting two years to see him and gaining so much weigh. He came in the room, gave me a hug and asked to see the babies. I just started to cry. I felt like I let him down. But he reminded me that "you're doing this for YOU and now those babies not me." That visit was such a breath of fresh air until he tried to give me a fill and to our surprise my port has flipped around. We played around with it for a while but no luck he couldn't get the fluid in. Another doctor came in and tried to give me a fill as well... No luck So I left that day with no fill but gained my sense of hope back. I have an appointment in the 26th of this month. And we're going to try it again or discuss possibly going in for a revision surgery which I really don't want. But I know something has to be done because right now I have no fluid in my band and feel no restrictions. I know everyone feels differently about the band and although weight wise I'm not were I want to be I'm still pretty happy with it because I haven't had as many complications like I hear about from the other WLS. And when I have fluid in my band it works of course with exercise and eating right. Moreover, I just really hope at my next appointment they can find the top of my port and give me a fill. Has anyone had a lap band revision surgery? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I did get my first fill on 10/18 and I actually have been feeling restriction. I had my first slime last week (2 weeks after my fill) and it was so painful I don't think I will every try to eat pizza crust again. I really notice the restriction in the morning. I can only drink something hot or eat hot oatmeal. I absolutely cannot eat anything cold in the morning. Tomorrow I go for my 2nd fill!! I am kind of nervous...how much more restriction can I have? My fill center is really agressive with the fills. She told me she put in a lot (I forgot to ask how much) and that I would definitely feel the difference. I felt it, but I am not sure I want to feel it any more than I already do!

It depends in the doctor. I was giveb 3 days clear, 10 days full liquids, the two weeks mushies, the 2 weeks soft solids and then 2 weeks solids.

I am 1 week post op today and I can say im down almost 10 pounds. I am drinking the different protein premium drinks, sugar free Gatorade and water. Trust me when I say its a struggle at times getting 64 oz in if I dont start drinking by 6am. But what I hate so far is this nauseous feeling. Also I hate these muxed berry chewable vitamins by bariatric advantage. They are nasty as hell and makes me want to puke. The wild cherry chewable calcium citrate vitamins not too bad. I call myself getting bariatric specific so i want have to take alot of pills. Im thinking now I probably have should went with the flintstone vitamins.

I am 3 weeks Post-Op, and am excited to eat some soft foods.. but am feeling sluggish, and tired... Do I need more portein? I getting about 50-60 g a day.. but, maybe not as early as I need it. It seems like about 10 am I cannot stay awake. I have not had any Protein yet, I usually get some about this time... Or could my blood sugar be too low?

I had surgery on 8/19. The pain in my shoulder hurts so bad. I was told walk walk and use a heating pad. The heating pad really helps.

I lose about 10 lbs a month averaged out. The first month was higher at 17 lbs, but it has slowed down since. Sent from my SM-J700P using the BariatricPal App

I was 55 when I got banded. I fought the insurance, the first two trys they denied me the band and finally I had it done 2 1/2 yrs ago. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, border line diabetic and severe arthritis in my knees and feet that hurt so bad every day at work. I was a size 22-24 and have lost 90 pds and am now a size 10, even though I have gained 5 pds over the winter that I have been battling over the last 7 months to get off, I feel great. I am off all meds and the family Dr said I am a glowing tribute to how a person can turn their life around for the better health wise. You are never to old to change and make life better. The best decision I did and that you can make also.

Hello, My name is Kara. I'm 24 years old from Green Bay Wisconsin. I have been overweight my entire life and have struggled for years. I can typically lose about 15 to 20 pounds on my own, but that's the most I have ever lost. It doesn't stay gone. Here's my story... About as far back as I can remember. I have a huge family. My mother has been married 3 times, and my father 4. I have two biological sisters who seemed to get my fathers genes. My one sister who is 2 years older, is exactly 5 feet tall and weighs about 95 pounds. My one sister who is 4 years younger is a little over 5 feet and weighs around 110. I am 5'7 1/2 and my last weigh in was 299.9. I was so elighted to see I was under 300! :001_smile: Anyway, as far back as I can remember, I was teased about being overweight. I never really ate that much, but it just kept adding on. By the time I was in 5th grade I was already in a size 14. Throughout middle school, I got the nick name blubbercheeks. Infact, I started calling myself it because it made the teasing stop. Kids in school didn't find it amusing anymore when it no longer bothered me to be called a name. I was now calling myself names. I continued to gain weight throughout middle school. I wasn't very active in sports, but I was in volleyball. In highschool, same thing. I wasn't really active in sports. I tried out for volleyball freshman year but was cut from the team. Sophmore year I tried out again and made the team. I was 290 pounds My sophmore year, and lost only 15 pounds the entire volleyball season. This took me down to 275. I was involved in a lot of other things in school. Forensics, Theatre, Choir, Pep Club. All this to keep my mind away from my weight. I maintained the same weight all throughout the rest of high school. I think my senior year, I finally dropped down to about 260. Senior year of highschool, I met my husband. He was my first boyfriend, my first everything if you know what I mean. We dated through graduation and the start of my freshman year in college. I don't know what happened, but my freshman year I was happy, in love, and I lost some weight. I got down to about 250 on my own. No dieting nothing. The world turned.... I suffered from severe depression, and I started making myself throw up. I got down to my lowest on record. 236. This only lasted about a week. I had to drop out of college because my mom didn't want me to stay as I was making myself sick. I quit school and moved back home. My husband and I at the time were driving a very rocky road, and because of the stress I started gaining all my weight back. I was a size 20 at this time, my lowest that I can ever remember. Things changed, and my husband and I got our own place and got married. I was 19 at the time I got married. My weight was pretty steady at around 275. That seems to be the magic number. I'm always around 275. Now I've failed to mention that during these years, I was constantly on diets. I have tried everything from making myself throw up, to weight watchers. The weight would come off, a few pounds here and there but as usual would come back on. 5 months after I got married, I re enrolled in college. A week into school and my husband and I had to get up and move 1/2 way across the country to Massachusetts. You see, my husband is an immigrant and throughout our marriage we had tons of immigration problems. Our lawyer felt this was the best way to get things moving. Boy was he wrong. We moved to Massachusetts and nothing happened. We wasted a lot of money and precious time. Because of all the stress, I got up to 305 pounds when I moved. I told my husband that I couldn't handle it anymore and I wanted to move back home. 6 months after being there, we moved back to Wisconsin. Back home, I started school again, and worked full time. The immigration problems continued so I always had stress in my life. Some people lose weight with stress, but I gain it. I lost about 15 pounds and got back down to my 275 and was pretty steady for quite some time. I've had the same doctor since I was 15 and she knows my history with weight. I would meet with her often asking her why I couldn't lose weight. She would ask me how I eat, what I drink things like that. I always got the same answer.... You need to excersise and watch what you eat. I always have, just can't keep the weight off. She finally decided to put me on Phentermine when my weight got back up to 305 pounds. In order to stay on it, I had to lose 4 pounds a month. I lost 20 pounds before she took me off. What do you know, as soon as I was off even though I was excercising the same and eating the same, the weight came back on. I asked to go back on it again in January 2009. I just started a one year membership with Anytime Fitness and was working my butt off, but was not losing weight. She put me back on, and I got down to 265. My lowest in years. I only lost 3 pounds that last month so she took me off the Phentermine. I continued to work out 5 times a week, while off the Phentermine and I did not lose a single pound. Now, I didn't gain any of the weight back but I did not lose any more weight. I went back to my doctor and asked her why I wasn't losing weight on my own. Why could I only lose weight while on Phentermine. Her Answer! Some people just can't lose weight! Not what I wanted to hear.... I continued working out all this last year, I continued to diet, but the weight came back on. I am now at 300 pounds again! Finally.... I give up!!! I do not have any insurance and I started looking into WLS. I was really interested in the band until I went to a seminar from my surgeon. This is where I heard about the sleeve. It seems so simple. There are more risks during the surgery for the sleeve, but post op there are less risks. During the surgery for the band there are less risks, but after there are so many problems. I scheduled my surgery for April 15th. 8am! I am soooooo scared.....!!!!! I don't have any heath problems besides the weight. I don't want to go into this and ruin the rest of my life because of a problem from this. I don't have much support. My mom is really against this. She is overweight herself, but says I shouldn't waste my money on the surgery w/o trying other options first. Such as a nutritionist and personal trainer. I know if I did the trainer and nutritoinist, I would lose weight. I just know it wouldn't stay off.... I hope I'm doing the right thing. My surgeon has only performed 10 sleeves before and 1 of them had a leak. He says I am an extremely low risk patient as I'm not severly obese and don't have any other health problems. He doesn't see a concern with doing the sleeve on me. He said the patient with a leak was high risk going in, and new there might be complications..... I just don't know... I don't have any kids so I have never had a hospital stay in my life. I am not scared about the before or after of the surgery, just the surgery in itself. Because i'm self pay, if anything goes wrong It'll be a huge difference in the cost of the bill. These are the things I think about! What kind of concerns did you all have going in? I know this is long, but I wanted to give you all a backgound. Thanks for all your advice! 35 days and counting until the rest of my life changes! Kara

So I got sleeved on 10/17. At first I was having these insane hunger pains and always wanted to be consuming (I think it was boredom) but now I can barely finish anything and I only eat because I haven't all day and feel like I need to. I'm just like not hungry it's so weird. And when I do eat, I over do it because I'm worried about my lack of calories and Protein (I drink 2 premier Protein shakes a day). I guess I'm wondering if anyone experienced the same thing? How do I consume more calories? Without feeling sick? And will this pass? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

This was a great story and you look wonderful. Mt surgery is scheduled for 6/3/10 and I am scared of failure....stories like yours are inspirational.