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Well I am back from Florida and had a fill on Monday. It was no pain at all!! Had it done at the hospital and I was very suprised at how quick and painless:-) Can feel the restriction when I drink; can't take the big gulps that I used to could. Ready to loose more weight. Hopefully I can get all the fills in before the new year since my insurance is covering 100%. My deductible and out-of-pocket has been met. I have not lost any more weight; but am loosing inches....really weird. How does this happen? Hope all is well with all the losers and soon to be losers. Love this board!!!!!!!!!! Everyone Keep up the good work.

:biggrin2: I am someone who has struggled with my weight for most of my life. Until recently, I have been a single mom to an amazing 3 ½ year old boy. In 2006, I met the love of my life and we married in June ‘07. My embarrassment over my size has always dictated my decisions of not doing things I love. I have let my access weight and food control my life and I decided that in 2008, I would get my life back. I love my new family too much and want nothing to get in the way of enjoying every moment! I was banded on December 27th, 2007. So my journey begins… I know there is a long road ahead of learning to eat healthy, exercising and overcoming my emotional eating. I was happy to find this site and I am hoping to find support from anyone who can relate. :biggrin:

1/3/09 I can’t believe it has been so long since I’ve posted. Well my family did come. The entire first day no one said ANYTHING about my weight loss. After 45 pounds gone and not one word! DH tried telling me they were just too tired to. I couldn’t believe it. About noon the next day dad said something. Then they said oh, yea they noticed right away. I asked why if I gain 2 lbs on they apologize and asked if I gained weight. It goes something like “I’m sorry, I know you don’t want me to ask, but have you gain weight?” HELLO! :crying:When I asked why they make negative comments so quickly about my weight, but not positive comments my mom seemed kind of set back and honestly said I was right. :confused: This is how we grew up. Looking back I wasn’t BIG growing up. In high school I was heavy, but not big. My grandma would tell us we were so big and overweight and needed to eat less and exercise and my parents seem to agree by omission. They never stuck up for us. I’m not saying I am the perfect mom. I have to work at not making comments about my daughter’s weight. She is overweight, but not big. Kind of like me. I don’t want her to follow in my footsteps. I work at saying positive things and biting my tongue when a stupid comment wants to slip out. Sometimes they do. I’m not perfect, but I apologize for saying something so stupid. Anyway….I am finally off of the stupid plateau that stuck around for two weeks.:grouphug: I know Christmas/New Years snacking didn’t help matters much. I am down 47# I hope to lose another 3 to make it an even 50 by the time I get a fill on Friday. I would like to have lost 100# by my birthday in June. Getting to onderland will be great too! If I lose 2 #/week I will be there by May. If I lose 3#/week I can be there in April. I hope the plateaus go away till then. I think part of my problem was that 45# seemed like such a big number for me to lose and I am feeling good about myself that I started to think I could ease up a little. I guess it isn’t a bad thing to slip off the wagon every now and then. I have to find my commitment and I think getting of the plateau will do it. I promised myself no matter what I ate or how little I worked out I wouldn’t skip a day on the scale. I know weighing in daily isn’t for everyone, but it helps to keep me accountable. At 8:00pm at night when I’m not hungry, but want to snack the thought of getting on my Wii Fit and weighing myself at 6:30 in the moring helps to keep me honest. I also see how my actions affect my goals. I like the Wii Fit because it graphs it all out and tells me my BMI. I don’t work out on it much because I have been hitting the gym every day that I can. Some weeks that is only 3 or 4 times and every once in a while I get there 5 times. I have started a Valentine’s Day challenge and have set 15# as my goal. Someone on one of my groups make the comment about size 9 in ’09. :scared2:That seems like a HUGE goal to set since I haven’t worn that since jr. high. (I guess…I really don’t remember wearing that small of a size.) I have always told my kids if you want to succeed then you have to aim high. If I hit my goal this year I will fit into that size 9! Good luck to everyone and I hope each of you reach your 2009 goals!

1/3/09 I can’t believe it has been so long since I’ve posted. Well my family did come. The entire first day no one said ANYTHING about my weight loss. After 45 pounds gone and not one word! DH tried telling me they were just too tired to. I couldn’t believe it. About noon the next day dad said something. Then they said oh, yea they noticed right away. I asked why if I gain 2 lbs on they apologize and asked if I gained weight. It goes something like “I’m sorry, I know you don’t want me to ask, but have you gain weight?” HELLO! :crying:When I asked why they make negative comments so quickly about my weight, but not positive comments my mom seemed kind of set back and honestly said I was right. :thumbup: This is how we grew up. Looking back I wasn’t BIG growing up. In high school I was heavy, but not big. My grandma would tell us we were so big and overweight and needed to eat less and exercise and my parents seem to agree by omission. They never stuck up for us. I’m not saying I am the perfect mom. I have to work at not making comments about my daughter’s weight. She is overweight, but not big. Kind of like me. I don’t want her to follow in my footsteps. I work at saying positive things and biting my tongue when a stupid comment wants to slip out. Sometimes they do. I’m not perfect, but I apologize for saying something so stupid. Anyway….I am finally off of the stupid plateau that stuck around for two weeks.:thumbdown: I know Christmas/New Years snacking didn’t help matters much. I am down 47# I hope to lose another 3 to make it an even 50 by the time I get a fill on Friday. I would like to have lost 100# by my birthday in June. Getting to onderland will be great too! If I lose 2 #/week I will be there by May. If I lose 3#/week I can be there in April. I hope the plateaus go away till then. I think part of my problem was that 45# seemed like such a big number for me to lose and I am feeling good about myself that I started to think I could ease up a little. I guess it isn’t a bad thing to slip off the wagon every now and then. I have to find my commitment and I think getting of the plateau will do it. I promised myself no matter what I ate or how little I worked out I wouldn’t skip a day on the scale. I know weighing in daily isn’t for everyone, but it helps to keep me accountable. At 8:00pm at night when I’m not hungry, but want to snack the thought of getting on my Wii Fit and weighing myself at 6:30 in the moring helps to keep me honest. I also see how my actions affect my goals. I like the Wii Fit because it graphs it all out and tells me my BMI. I don’t work out on it much because I have been hitting the gym every day that I can. Some weeks that is only 3 or 4 times and every once in a while I get there 5 times. I have started a Valentine’s Day challenge and have set 15# as my goal. Someone on one of my groups make the comment about size 9 in ’09. :scared2:That seems like a HUGE goal to set since I haven’t worn that since jr. high. (I guess…I really don’t remember wearing that small of a size.) I have always told my kids if you want to succeed then you have to aim high. If I hit my goal this year I will fit into that size 9! Good luck to everyone and I hope each of you reach your 2009 goals!

I used to be a pear shape, but in the last 7-8 years have been an apple. At first, when I started losing weight my body was exactly how you're describing yours. Now it's starting to change and I can't believe it! I do a lot of exercise, of all types and I'm quite excited to see what my final shape is gonna be like! Are you sleeved yet?

Scott, you have done fantastic in a very short period of time! Are you doing any type of exercise yet? You're probably still getting over your surgery, so please don't overdo. And please get your surgeon's o.k. before starting anything. Drink that ton of Water required. It helps fill you up. Also, don't eat too close to bedtime because of possible reflux problems. I've gotten into the habit of bike riding w/my husband after dinner. We were walking, but biking is so much "cooler" in this heat! Sunday evening, we saw a spotted tiny fawn and mother, then about 15 more deer. What a treat! A few months ago (pre-band), I would have missed out on all of this because I would have been "parked" in the house in the air conditioning. There hasn't been anything on t.v. so that helps encourage me to "get out the door". I really look forward to it now! When I come in, I don't want to eat a lot to "undo" all that work. I do allow myself one sweet each day. Usually it's a fat-free pudding or ice cream. That may be slowing down my weight loss, but it seems to satisfy my urge. A lot of people do water aerobics. Please come here and "talk" to us. We need some more males on this board.

Tomorrow I go see Dr. L at OHSU again. A couple of weeks ago Lynne called me and told me that they want to see me. That I didn’t need to test any more. I guess when they tell you that it’s because they have all the data they need or want. Part of me is so afraid that he’s calling me down to tell me that there is nothing they can do for me. That I don’t need to test any more because there is nothing wrong, at least nothing wrong that losing weight won’t fix. Oh sure, if only I could lose weight. My husband said that I shouldn’t worry, that they wouldn’t have us drive 3 hours plus each way, just to tell me that there is nothing more to do. He figures that Dr. L would just dump me over the phone, like any bad relationship. My son asks me every day when are they going to take this thing out of my head. And then he either punches me in the arm or bitch-slaps me, or attempts to anyway. That’s one way he can tell if I’m High or Low… if I’m High there is no way he’s going to count coup on me, no way. But when I’m Low on the other hand… well, he knows that I’m going to be moving in slow motion, tai chi slow… He’s got a long way to go before he counts enough coups on me, that’s for sure; I’m so far ahead on the coup count he will never catch up. Last week was really rough for me. I was very, very Low, and my headaches were beyond reasonable. I was temped to go to the ER a couple of time, but it wasn’t until Friday night when I was throwing up that I went. I’d taken two phengren during the day, but by 8:00 pm I was throwing up, or at least I was giving it the old collage try. After the fifth dry heave session I gave up and had Mike drive me to the ER. I didn’t’ want to go, but I couldn’t’ stop heaving, and I couldn’t keep anything down. We had to wait for over an hour in the waiting room, so many sic people on a Friday night. The doc thought it was another migraine, but this time I didn’t have the weakness, so I could explain exactly what the headache felt like. These headaches are nothing like migraine, but something more. I can only hope that when I finally do have the pit surgery they will go away. Anyway, it took the nurse three tries before she was able to start the line. But she used lidocane, and besides, my head was in so much pain I don’t know that I would have even noticed the IV going in. Yeah, that bad. The doc wasn’t convinced that I’m not having “atypical migraines” so she wanted to try a combination of phenegren and benidryl. She said that was a sure fire way to knock out a migraine. Well, like I said, it wasn’t a migraine, and no it didn’t work. So she ordered a large dose of the narcotic for me. She said they were done pussy-footing around. On previous trips to the ER they gave me the usual small amounts, then had to repeat several times before I was beyond the pain. The last time they gave me a double dose, but again, had to keep repeating the dosage of the medication. This time they just game me a large syringe of the good stuff, lowered my bed and put me on oxygen. I have no idea how long I was knocked out, but it worked. I didn’t have a head ache the next morning. You have no idea how wonderful it is to wake up without a headache. If you do know, you have my deepest sympathies. Before she gave me the injection, we talked about pain management. She sent me home with a prescription for the highest dose percacet they make, a big bottle. She wants me to keep on top of the pain, and to not let it get away from me. So, now I don’t let the headaches get to far into the really bad range before I start managing the pain. No more “riding it out.” No more being the tough girl. She also had the radiology department make a CD of my CT scan from last week. We thought I was having a stroke or a TIA because the right side of my face was melting. I see the neurologist in a couple of weeks, but tomorrow I go to OHSU to see Dr. L. Back to that worry. And now for something completely different… The chinchillas are my husband's pets, but I've been training them to get used to being handled, so they will willingly come to me in their cage, because they know I always have a treat for them. Tonight I decided that I'd start working on them to see going in their balls as a happy thing, so I put treats in them, and let it be their decision to go in the ball, or not. Usually my husband stuffs them in there so he can clean their cages, very high adrenaline stuff... I was able to coax them into their balls and they had a good roll-around. Now I have these basketball sized balls roaming freely around my house. One of the chinchillas is really adventuresome, while the other got himself stuck between some pillows and boy shoes...Chilly got out of his ball, and it didn't take much effort to catch him. Spud, my son, scared him under my Chase lounge then I had him turn on the light, and I got one of the millet sprays to try to coax in from under it. Instead, he just crawled up between my arms as I was kneeled beside the chase Chilly let me pick him up without any fight or struggle. He wasn't interested in the millet, he just wanted me. He didn't struggle at all while we walked to the cage, all the while I was telling him what a good boy he was. Then he stretched out on one of the platforms, like they do when they are hot.

I ended up paying for it myself. My husband and I sat down and talked about what the excess weight was costing. How much life we are missing out on etc. It was painful to pay for it, but what is more important in life than our health? One little thing that might make you feel better about being self pay, You can schedule your surgery ASAP... AND, my doctor said that a study shows that self pay people actually end up losing more .

Hi Bre, I have been banded for 2 years. I have lost 75% of my excess weight. I too tried everything you did. The band is a great tool. I hope you have much success. Julie

I would have done ANYTHING to have my insurance pay for any of my surgery! Why do the 6 months have to be a waste of time? Most of us have been able to lose weight, it's the keeping it off for long periods of time that we struggle with! Why can't you tell yourself your going to start with eating right, learning why you over eat, and learning about nutrition, and starting to exercise!?? These are things your going to have to know and do with the band! It's just giving you a head start! Being in better shape will definitely help with your recovery process after surgery! I had to work 2 and 3 jobs for over a year to save up for my band. I started out at 297 and had got to 267 by the day of my surgery! I didn't continue my bad habits until I got the band! The day I said "I've had enough" is the day I started doing something about it, not the day I got the band! Start NOW, absorb all the information about the band, about nutrition and about exercise! Even if you think you already know it all, learn more! Your long term success depends on it! I wish you all the best, be patient it will come faster than you think!

I have only told two of my sisters, my boyfriend, my son, his wife and one other person. Then a good friend at work told me just week she was having weight loss surgery so i told her. lol I am not gonna tell anyone else. People are judgmental. One of my sister's was very supportive, the other being no so much. It hurt my feelings and made me with i hadn't said anything. I figured this is my time and I am gonna treat it like it is:)

So here is the background...my 5'2 younger sister has always weighed about 100 lbs her whole life and it wasnt till she got pregnant that she actually gained weight and is at 130 post baby ( OMG!. shocking...right??). Anyways, my sister has always lately been a "difficult" person from time to time, since she became a born again catholic and after which anyone who wasnt was a sinner..yada yada, you get the story... so here is my rant, I made the mistake of telling her about my upcoming surgery and after pleading with her to put aside her ridiculous inability to be sympathethic since she has never had a problem with her weight she asked me yesterday when my date was. When I told her it is monday she tells me.." oh that's fast...I still think you should have taken some time to figure out other ways to loose the weight without jumping into surgery":angry::angry: ARRRGGGHHHH !!! Can you FRAKING beleive this FRAKING HORSE SH&% !!! :thumbup::cursing: What the FRAK happen to supporting your family and being open minded and accepting people for who they are which is what she preaches she is since she goes to church EVERY sunday !!! Give me a FRAKING break..REALLY !! Where is the FRAKIN compassion and understanding??? The funny thing is that God puts the right people in your life always !! I have received an incredible and amazingly touching amount of support from my two closets friends at work.:smile2: Can you beleive that one of them even did the liquid diet with me step by step to help me through it (that was just the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me !! :crying:) and signing up at the gym at work to go with me during the group lunches so that I wont be tempted and suffer, not too mention give me the push to work out.. I mean who does that if it isnt an angel from God himself ??? It's mind boggling for me to comprehend how a person that doesnt share a drop of my blood has behaved like more than a sister to me, while my own blood is being a total insensitive B$#T&H !!! anyways...woohoo!! I feel soooooooooo much better to have gotten that off my chest !!! :confused:

You would think I would be right there on the band wagon so to speak. BUT.... I think her comment was more out of fear for you. I had a LOT of people who worried about the surgery. It wasnt that they didnt want me to lose the weight, it was the fear of what could happen to me with surgery....and RIGHTFULLY so! I mean, people do have complications with this surgery. Its not a step your going to take lightly, why is she going to? Its a natural fear for people who dont have a weight issue to be uneducated in everything you have studied up on for a while. Give her a little chance to show her love. AFTER the surgery is where you will see where the friends and family are that support you. Hang in there

I had my surgery in Mexico. It was awesome. I went thru Beliteweight.com....They handled everything except my flight. I was treated like a queen. Do take a washrag and a heating pad. The staff was wonderful and the doctors were great. I have a coach who will be with me until my ideal weight is obtained. There was a shuttle to carry me from El Paso to Juarez to the Star Medical Center. They were friendly and I felt safe with whole time. You wil find the hospital clean and new. You can't go wrong.

I am also to be banded. My surgery is scheduled for February 7th is Richardson, TX by Dr. Marsden. I am excited but at the same time scared of the process, specially of possible complications during and after surgery. I am such an eater, my goodness !!! No wonder I gained 70 lbs in the past few years.... I am now 193 lbs and need to loose 70 lbs, I hope Lap Band works for me, my appetite is so intense, maybe I can have the doctor stich up my mouth too... Just kidding... Everything sounds good for me, from Indian to Brazilian food but it is time to shed the extra weight and feel good about myself. Good luck to all of you having the surgery.

I need some tips on getting my head straight.... I have begun my six months of supervised dieting, and I feel like i am on a journey of last meals....one mexican. one italian, one chinese...one indian...you get the picture.. Things are complicated by the fact that it has been raining for days and also very cold BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I need a lift...or I'll GAIN:embarassed: weight before my surgery.

Woohoo! My surgery is set for Nov. 3rd assuming all the bloodwork (which I don't do until Oct 21st) comes back as normal and I don't expect it won't. I am so geeked! I've been 'attempting' to eat low carb this week, but now I'm really motivated to watch what I eat. Since my doc doesn't prescribe any pre-surgery diet, I think I'll do my Isopure Protein shake for Breakfast, salad with some low fat cheese in it for lunch and low carb green vegies and protein for dinner. Three weeks of that should make it easier for them to grub around my liver and so I won't feel so bloated going into surgery. Well, after tonight. I know...I shouldn't say 'after' but my son is going to school to be a chef and tonight is one of their quarterly international dinners. Since this one is French, it stands to reason that it will be high in fat with all the sauces that are typically French, but hopefully I can keep the carbs to a dull roar. Perhaps it's time for a ticker...and yes I am going to put my highest weight because I am very proud off the fact that I took of 70 lbs and kept it off.

My doctor says 3 oz by weight of solid protein and then veggies/fruits. I use a digital scale and use a "lunch/sandwich" plate. I refuse to use baby silverware. Until you hit restriction this is a diet. Once you are on solids eat the perscribed amounts and then stop. While my Nut does'nt want me to get in the habit of snacks; she does approve having one between lunch and dinner. Since I go to the gym in between it can be a longggg time between the two for me. If you are having a snack I would recommend either veggies (no dip), greek yoghurt (excellent source of portein for the calories), low fat cheese stick.

Thanks for the advice! I had been working out, but only one committed day a week and then whenever I could fit it in. I'm not a slacker at home, but I sit all day at work. I guess I need to get moving more to make up for that. I'm going to up that committment to two days and try for three or more. The funny thing is that when I went to the gym last, I had only had about 800 calories that day and after working out for 2 hours I "lost" those few pounds I had gained in the last week. Must have been Water weight. Thank again!

Hello, I did try it for a few months and I did have energy if you want to call it that,,,,it actually made me feel very anxious and wired. I did loose a little weight with it but not very much. I gave up because I did not like the way it made me feel. I too am on a 6 month diet trying to get an approval. Good luck and hoping for the best. :-)

@@Bufflehead thanks for sharing. Great advice as I don't want to live on supplements. Right now my weight is all the load bearing I can handle, but as soon as I get off 50 pounds I plan to expand beyond walking. The doctor believes my knees will hurt less as the weight comes off. Thanks! Banded 10/12/16

Thanks all. I have met, and surpassed my pre-op weight loss (started last may at 275, now at 191lbs) - clinic told me to try and maintain my weight where I am (not gain, not lose) - so I guess I am relieved that they don't want me to lose anymore, but I am worried about gaining - all "diets" I have done have always failed, resulting in all the weight, plus some returning. I had the clinic put me on the cancelation list, so I am crossing my fingers that I am called.

I took phentermine for about 3 months December 2006 - February 2007. The first 6 weeks or so was awesome! I lost about 25 pounds, even during the holidays. Then during the first week of February, I was hospitalized with "stroke-like symptoms" - slurred speech, confusion, lack of concentration - all listed side effects of phentermine. I spent 5 days in the hospital before they figured out the phentermine is what was causing it and ruled out anything else. Scared my husband and son to death. So if you can take it to help with weight loss prior to surgery, lucky you! You will definitely have a good jump start once your band is in place. Just be careful and if you start having any symptoms, go to your dr. immediately!!! Good luck!

I have an 11 cc Realize band. At 7cc I felt 'real' restriction tho I did lose weight before then. I just had another fill this week of 1cc, so now @ 8cc I think I'm at my 'sweet spot'. I always thought I had restriction, but I really didn't have much before I reached 7cc. I lost weight before due to me really trying to comply. I've had 5 fills total. No problems. Love my band.

Hi Everyone, My name is Becky, Im 23 yrs old, 5'7 and 329. Ive researched the lap band going on 2 years now and well I am beyond ready to make a change! i have alot of health problems going on and my weight makes them all worst! I have previous injuries as well as high blood pressure with being border line diabetic. I started my process for the lap band techincally about 2 weeks ago and should be set up for surgery come mid-the end of June! my doctor is so relieved that i finally made my step since my health has been going down hill for awhile now. I wish i could say i have a great support system from my own family but they cant seem to realize that i am beyond serious and ready to go! My husband and in laws though are with me every step of the way! I am so ready to be able to run and play with my kids without being out of breathe and tired! Looking for alot of encouragment and in sight here! -Becky