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OK--we've all been banded and recovered now--who is exercising? I am fortunate that the hospital where I was banded includes an 8-week exercise program with a trainer as part of the package. I started last week (1 1/2 weeks post-op) and am up to 40 min. on the treadmill and 30 min. on the bike. I am going to start with some light weights this week. Here is the FUN thing that I am hoping to do--locally, we have several walk/runs throughout the fall/winter. The first is Thanksgiving morning (2 miles) and I am planning to walk it with my husband. There is one each month in December, January, and February. The longest is 4 miles. For each, you get a t-shirt (I am a sucker for those!). Another thing I found through the YMCA is a fall hiking challenge that has you do 6/10 different trails in the area and you get a t-shirt for completing it (yes, another t-shirt!). I just wanted to encourage you to start exercising if you haven't and maybe join a group or train for a walk or run. A friend of mine who is newly single joined a contra dancing group and is meeting new people and having a great time (she is quite overweight). I am so proud of myself for actually GOING to the gym (a big thing for me). The good feelings last all day after I work out! ~~anne

I am not sure yet, as my first reward is a big one - a trip to Miami thanks to my wonderful parents. After that, I'm planning on celebrating every 10 pounds with a charm for my charm bracelet.

There were lots of little rewards for each 5 or 10 lbs...my indulgence/addiction is books, so I would spend the amount of $=pounds lost in books. Others included: a bra-fitting and some new fitting bra's (really, it did wonders psychologically as well as affecting how my clothes fit); new hair cut and colors; manicure; new shoes; a trip to visit my sister (hadn't done that in 8 years); books, books, and more books.....

To keep things lively and low carb in the kitchen, I have been experimenting. eggs will always be a love of mine, and as I was scanning the interweb I found a Paleo Fajita Frittata recipe. It looked delicious. I would have definitely loved to try some fresh peppers and onions in this recipe but it wasn't what I had on hand so I modified it a bit for my budget and pantry. It turned out delicious! 1 bag of moe's seasoned fajita veggies (3 in a package at BJ's for less than 5 dollars) 16 oz of round eye steak (Flank steak would probably work even better) 2 tbs chili powder 1 tbs cumin 2 tsp cayenne pepper (I might have added more, I like things HOT!) 2 pinches of pepper 10 eggs 1 cup of finely shredded mexican blend cheese First, grease the pan with a no calorie olive oil spray and set the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the round eye steak into cubes. Add your spices, and stir until spices are well mixed. Don't cook the meat through. Add frozen vegetables. Cook until softened, and cook the meat until desired color. Add cooked meat and vegetables to a 9x9 circular casserole dish. Scramble eggs. Add to casserole dish. Place in the preheated oven. Let cook for 20 minutes. For the next 10 minutes place on broil. Remove dish. Sprinkle cheese. Place back in for two minutes or until cheese is melty. Serve and enjoy! P.S. This is SUPER easy to make and really yummy says the boyfriend. Also, it has ridiculous amounts of Protein. I set the servings to 8, but I couldn't even finish a whole slice. However, it still calculates pretty high even if you finish 80% of said slice. :smile1: Fajita Frittata.bmp

Time of the month, Sweets....it makes a lot of us put on and hold on to Water weight before our cycles, and during, sometimes, too. I can easily gain 3 lbs the week before, then my body flushes it all the week I have my period. I agree 100% that there is physically no possible way to gain 10 lbs of FAT in one week after this surgery. I am guessing a moody, picky scale, water weight, and like rootman said, solid waste retention, maybe, too....or all combined! I'll bet you'll be on here in a week saying that 10 is gone, plus two more!!

I have Kaiser. I'm able to email or leave a message for my doctors, are you able to do that? I usually remember questions after I leave my appt. I email. Usually my surgeon's PA gets back with me, but once the surgeon did himself. At my 10 day I'd lost 15 lbs. now I'm 20 days and have lost 2 more. I look at it as 17 lbs in 20 days, none of my diets were this successful. I lost 96 lbs pre-op and was losing an avg of 3 lbs weekly (some 0, some 6). Depends on that time of the month for me too. Per my surgeon, I'll be very swollen internally for weeks and need to focus on healing, liquids (64 ounces daily) and protein (60 - 80 grams daily) for at least the first 6 weeks. So that's what I'm doing. I've already had a fainting episode and "over-did" activity, trying to walk to much, too many errands, and I've become over tired and pain increased. I'm reminding myself to take it easy, day by day and weigh once a week and not really count it but every 2. (In one day my weight can fluctuate 3-4 lbs).

@par1959 I was going to say the same thing... How much is the true question... I have heard of the small weight gain once you have hit your goal & are year or more out... between 10-20lbs... Thats what my Doc & Nut told me... I just cant see how someone would gain all the weight back when your not eating like you use to....

My sister had the Roux N-Y done about 10 years ago and lost about 160 pounds and then after drinking too much beer with her girlfriends she gained back about 30 pounds but is still down 130 and now is going back to the gym and starting to eat healthier and last I heard lost 6 of the 30 she regained. That is my only real life knowledge on this topic and I have been a student of my sister's surgery for the last 10 years.

I have 8cc in a 10 cc band. I felt restriction but I also felt PB and slimming. I went to the doctor today and I have gained 1/2 lb. I know not much but this is my first gain in the 9 months since I was banded, I know why, I have been eating "crap". You know, Cookies, oatmeal, donuts, pizza. They would go down..good food would get stuck and I would end up in pain and throwing it up. Crap was easier plus I MISSED THIS BAD STUFF. Well, after a lecture (of stuff I already knew) he removed .5cc from the band (under Floroscope) and told me to come back in 2 weeks and we would talk again. I really feel like a failure right now. I just joined a gym (up until now I just was walking a bunch) so I expect this to take a turn soon. I am down over 90 pounds but this past month has been a real disappointment in myself! Thanks for letting me vent. I just needed to get this out to someone who would understand. My husband still thinks I was crazy to do this in the first place and he would be ready to say "I told you it wouldn't work either". I really need to prove that it will work for me. I am the one who did all the research and all the stuff required to get this done. I can't turn back now... Melinda in Florida

Banded 11/28/11 and only started to feel some restriction with the 4th and especially the 5th fill. Going in next week for fill 6. I know where you are. I was there and still am to a point. I have about 10 ccs in a 14 cc band. My band is very tight now. Don't sit around waiting for a fill if you feel like you're not benefiting from the band. Some docs have to be pushed. I've heard of some docs who won't allow fills for over 6 weeks between. Don't be intimidated by your Doc. Be aggressive and insist on a 1 cc fill. tmf

That's good ! Where are you at anyway? Calories 195, Protein25G, Total Carb. 11G. I took that of the strawberry. I bought 2strawberry. / 2peanut butter choc... Then I emailed her, and bought 2 more strawberry. I couldn't pass it at that price. This way I have about 5 different flavors to go threw, and I been buying this since I was banded, and that's what they told us to drink. Banded 10/31/2006 That's a long time... But these flavors are good, some are lousy like their chocolate, creme brulee yuk! Now there chocolate Milk is very good. It's hit n miss with everything. But if it wasn't any good?? I wouldn't post it. Hope you can enjoy it. Shirley.

Height - 5'4" Weight at start - 253 Weight day of surgery 240 after 3 months - lost 55 pounds (198) after 6 months - lost 84 pounds (169) after 9 months - lost 104 pounds (149) after 10 months - lost 108 pounds (145)

Hi Sharona Thanks for replying. I have never asked how much I have in my band but I will ask when I see him on tues. I have the small inamed 10 ml band. I agree that I feel as though I am still able to eat too much at a meal however I also like the fact that I can pretty much eat everything (as in still eat bread and meat) but I will discuss all of this and my concerns about possibly getting over-filled with my doc.

Hi Queen of Hearts. Thanks so much for your reply. I just went through all of my papers, I have a 10 ml inamed band. I will talk some more to my doc on tuesday. My weight loss is excruciatingly slow at the moment so I am leaning towards getting another fill. many thanks

4leafclover-Really? What time is your appointment? I haven't actually made mine with the aftercare center yet but that is the day of my appt w/ Dr B so I'm hoping to get my fill appt. that day too. I need to get in gear and call to make the appt. I hope to get mine early morning so I can get back to work. We will be doing Halloween preparations that day. Halloween is always a huge competition at my work. Did they tell you that you could start mushies on day 10? That's what they told us even though the sheet says 2 weeks. I'm starting mine this weekend!!! Has your largest incision scabbed over yet?

I am with you CC I have mental wars with my head on what food to eat. I am working on it. I hate HATE logging food. It makes me aware of what I am NOT eatting instead of what I am eatting. It is a mental thing for me. As for working out. I just do it. I dont really give myself an option. How I got started working out like crazy was I set a goal for myself. For me it was to be in the gym 10 times in 2 weeks. If I made that goal I had treats for myself. My friends boxed and wrapped $20 gifts for me. like gift certificates to movies my nails done. Things like that. NON FOOD rewards. So Every 2 weeks I had a gift if I made it to the gym. I started off small like just walking on the treadmill. Then I moved it up to lifting weights along with walking. Now I spend 2 hrs in the gym after work. I go more then 10 times in 2 weeks so this month I changed my goal. but my treat was a personal training session. So I am sore from working out with her. But motivated by doing things I thought I couldnt do. I hope it helps.

Me! :-) Before my EGD, I so wanted to have surgery on July 19. But since then, I have to wait to take another the first week of August and then wait for approval. So, NO, you are not alone.

No, you are not alone. I have considered surgery many times in the past but always decided I wasn't ready to give up trying. Now that I have decided to do this it all I can think about...and I still have 10 months b4 I can get it done!! If I had the $$ today I would schedule it for tomorrow if I could, lol. I keep telling myself I have more time to prepare this way but I just won't listen to myself.

Hey... still here too! Do much more reading these days than posting! I am doing great, during the week! I find weekends I lose complete control. (Which worries me since I am off for the whole summer!!) I am down in the 170's which I haven't seen since before my first child 10 years ago. I also am down from a size 20 to a 12!!!! Yah!! I just think of how great I could be doing if I didn't screw up every stinkin weekend!!!!

I just hate the BMI. I am 10 lbs over being "normal" weight at a BMI of 26.4. But if I lose more it would be with some muscle as well.

I hag my surgery 8/19 and just released to go home 8/22. My hospital experience was horrible. The post op nurse withheld all fluids and refused to activate my pain pump saying I didn't need it. We demanded she check with the surgeon and she said she did and he said no. Finally the charge nurse made her give me ice chips, but only getting one dose of pain meds every 4 hours I never got my pain under control. The surgeon came in the next day and was FURIOUS that she went against orders and she was removed immediately. Apparently she never even asked him about the pain meds or fluids. I got apologies from director of nursing, the hospital patient advocate and the surgeon, who stated my recovery would be "stunted" because of the lack of pain control and now dehydration. It earned me an extra day in the hospital and 3 days of being treated like I was lazy after every shift change for not being farther along in my recovery. I am finally home, but the pain is still horrible. I have gas pain trapped in my left shoulder that is killing me, and the abdomen pain is almost unbearable. I'm getting very little walking in due to the pain and depending on the Dr, I'm pushing myself too hard, or not walking enough. I'm not getting any sleep due to the pain. Even I do walk the pain overwhelms me and I get very nauseous and shaky. I take my nausea meds then spend an hour recovering. I'm feeling so defeated and worn out. I don't know what to do. Any advice or encouragement? Will this pain ever subside?

Hello everyone my name is Ellie and I am about to get a sleeve on September 29! This was all very sudden and unexpected unlike some folks who have researched this for many years and gone through a long qualifying process, I have stumbled onto this procedure through a very roundabout way and in a matter of weeks I was approved. I am 37 years old and I weigh 270lbs at 5.8", I am hypothyroidic, I have sleep apnea and I'm prediabetic at this time. A Little history: In 2007 I weighed 273 pounds! I had mild sleep apnea but aside from that I was relatively healthy. I had the Lap band procedure done mostly because I did not like the way I looked. But the band yielded very little results, despite 13 fills and unfills to adjust, I never achieved an ideal restriction and was always hungry the weight that I did lose was because I was starving and working out and then I plateaued at about 245 pounds. Then I got pregnant in 2009 I decided to take all liquid out of the band (complete unfill) so that I could eat tons of vegetables and fruits. Funnily enough during the pregnancy and the one that followed I actually lost weight!? I guess something to do with the baby and the restriction I felt because the baby was pushing against the the band. At birth I was 214lbs. But as soon as my children came out in 2010 and 2013, even as I breast-fed, I was completely ravenous and the pounds returned at an alarming rate. So I have found myself right back to where I started at 270 pounds. Only this time mother nature has not been so kind... I am prediabetic and my sleep apnea has returned with a vengeance! On a day to day bases I ache and hurt like an old rickety roller coaster! I feel like I am walking through Jell-O all the time everything has just slowed down. Even so, being busy with a three-year-old and a five-year-old and being a full-time working mom I put myself in last place and have not focused much on trying to lose the weight. It's basically been, whatever I need to do to make it to the next day! I have ignored the aching that my body feels on a day-to-day basis and how hard it has become living and getting around at this weight. I have ignored the emotional and social impact of my weight, or maybe ignored is not the best word, more like drowned out with more food. And I experience some of what most mothers will relate to, I don't want to be in pictures with my children because I feel like I ruin the pictures with my presence. But even all this did not bring me to a decision to refill my lapband or do anything about it until a few weeks ago... In unrelated events I twisted funnily and managed to cause harm to my port. I was in severe pain like having stitches after running but the pain never went away. So due to that event, I finally went back to see my bariatric surgeon and upon further examination I was told that my port had ripped out of my muscles and was now flipped. Great! It was then that my surgeon told me that my options were to repair the port and try the band again or do something different. He recommended I try the sleeve because if I was initially unsuccessful with the band chances of me being successful the second time around were slim to none. I had heard about the sleeve before but never really in-depth. I also have gallstones and have had two attacks which I feel is not enough to warrant surgery but my surgeons seem to think differently. They say the gallbladder wall has thickened and that it is a matter of if and not when I will need to have it removed I hate surgery I do terrible with general anesthesia it takes me hours and hours of tortured nauseated foggy horrible sickness and pain to come out of it. And there is nothing I want more than to avoid having to go through another surgery. However My surgeon sent me to other surgeon who specializes in lap band revision who said he could perform all three surgeries at one time!! He would take out the Lapband remove my gallbladder and perform the gastric sleeve. And we are close to maxing out our yearly insurance maximum out of pocket, so if approved these procedures will be completely at no cost to me!! If I have to go under the knife anyways, I reason, I might as well get as much stuff done at one time, so that I don't have to go under the knife several times. I have not had too much time to do research on the sleeve or get emotionally prepared for the journey ahead but I have spent the past few weeks ferociously researching and ferociously reading up on it and doing a lot of soul-searching realizing that given my Freewill to eat, I am killing myself by being morbidly obese. My doctor submitted the proposal for surgeries to my insurance and I prepared for a long wait. However a week later I found myself getting approved by my insurance and my doctors office saying September 29 is available so start your diet now!! WOA????? No time for food funerals, no time for that last binge, no time to take a cruise which I love to do because of all the deliciousness, and no time to deliberate too long. I do have an option of doing it at the next available date in November but that would be very close to holidays and who knows what other circumstances could arise to prevent me from having the surgery at that time. It seems like all the factors have aligned together perfectly... my job is willing to let me go for that period of time the surgery will cost me nothing I can do three in one surgeries and I can have it relatively soon so that I don't have an agonizing time to wait and stress about it. It's like it's now or never. Most reviews I've read have people saying they wish they had done it sooner. I have already started my pre-op diet which means I would've only been on it for 10 days versus 12 like most people. And unlike most people rather than being on full liquids I have been placed on a South Beach supercharged phase 1 diet that includes lean meats, low-fat dairy and vegetables. I am finally wrapping my brain around what is about to take place mentally emotionally and physically. I have stocked up on many things and thanks to all you wonderful sharing caring people that have taken time to share your journey I have had a chance to very quickly catch up on all the information that I will need to be successful. But I'm so scared and so nervous not even about the liquid diet following surgery , (although, my coworker who got the sleeve weeks ago says that she is hungry all the time), or anything like that but of the surgery itself of being under Anastasia, of the pain I will feel when I wake up, and I wonder if I will miss the stomach that God gave me with which I was born...I'm sure all these things have crossed your mind too. And because my Lapband failed I fear that if this procedure does not work for me and I shall be that one anomaly for whom this did not work, there is not much else to be done. And since this is so life altering and Permanent, I don't know where to go from there if it does not work out for me. I know...I know...not thoughts I should be thinking .., but I'm being candid and sharing from the deepest parts of my heart the secret fears that I have, I would never admit to anyone. Any words of encouragement advice, solidarity, anything will be so very much appreciated at this time! Like many of you my weight loss journey is a very personal and private one and I don't have much support from the few friends with whom I have shared this information. I am sorry this has been long, but the welcome letter encouraged that we share details about our experience and I hope that Sharing this much will give you a more in-depth insight into my personal journey struggles and fears. Sending you blessings and green lights, Ellie

Olwen - Please don't equate being tight with the ability to lose weight. I did this and was miserable for about 6-7 weeks. My doc's office really cautions people on their forum to try and leave the band a little looser rather than too tight. I was reading some recent statistics yesterday concerning the band and noticed that between year 2 to 3 with the band the average slippage rate goes to 10%. That is a huge concern to me. I have been tight and have been where I am now and still been able to loose weight effectively. Just because I can eat more comfortably doesn't mean I can eat more in volume. But I sure have more of a variety of foods I can tolerate. It's really important to be able to get your fluids in daily. That was also an issue when I was tight. It was difficult to drink 64 oz in a day. Now, no problem. I can't chug it, but I can take 3-4 medium size gulps with no issues. I am just really concerned with those who choose to keep their band tight. Because it is a really slippery slope in terms of taking chances with a slippage. Good luck to you in your journey!

OMG...Congrats..That is amazing. 10 days post op this is just want i needed to see, what an inspiration. You go Girl, keep up the great work.