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Banded June 28th here. 14lbs gone since then. Most in the first week as well. My first fill is scheduled Aug. 11. I am taking two chewable Fiber Choice strawberry weight management tablets a day and they seem to be helping.

[im jessie43082 on there if you want to friend mr quote name=jersgirl' timestamp='1315855687' post='1662202] Ok, I was banded on July 21st of this year and I suck. I have only lost 7 lbs. Mostly because I have been able to eat anything and everything that I was able to eat before and have not changed any of my eating habits. Remember, I am not good at dieting, that is why I had this thing put in my body!!! I have had 2 fills now, the first one was 3 cc's and the second one was 1.5 cc's. Still no restriction. Here is the good part, I started working out on Sunday August 28th and have been kickin butt!! I have done at least 25 minutes of Turbo Jam everyday since. I figure why pay 11,500 out of pocket to be the same person as I was before. I just joined myfitnesspal.com and have been logging my food which is helping a ton. I need support and some buddies to chat with though. If you are on myfitnesspal.com my user name is jersgirl060606. Please look me up and let's lend some support to one another =-) I know eventually I will have the restriction I need to get through the food issues. I am starving all the time and am looking forward to the day that my band will assist me in my weight loss journey. In the meantime, I will continue working out at least 6 days per week.

1. Your health and medical choices are your business, not your co-workers. Tell them as much or as little as you want. But be prepared, they will probably, sooner or later, guess at your having had weight loss surgery. You need to be prepared about what to tell them -- either that you are going to lie (I don't advise it, not for anyone but specifically not for you since they may well hear about it via work and it will make you look like a bad, untrustworthy person), tell them you don't want to discuss it, or be open about it if/when they ask. Whatever you choose, don't let the reactions of people around you determine whether you are going forward with surgery or not. This is YOUR life and choice, and other people can go pound sand. 2. You will be able to eat and drink at your son's wedding. You may not want to have more than a couple bites of cake or sips of wine, but it will be up to you. Hopefully you will come to a place where your enjoyment of celebrations is measured by the fun you have with people and activities rather than by how much food you can eat. And believe me, I am not judging, I have definitely walked many miles in your shoes! Imagine yourself thinner, happier, with more energy at his wedding, dancing and receiving compliments from friends and family. Doesn't that sound better than eating three slices of cake and slugging back glasses of wine? Imagine shopping for your Mother of the Groom outfit in a brand new size and all the options you will have to pick from! 3. See above. It's a big change but a positive one. You can still enjoy football and spending time with friends without over-eating, I promise. None of these things are as important as your physical and emotional health -- and for most of us, things improve drastically on both fronts via this surgery. I worried too about missing out on things like big family dinners -- but trust me, I look back at my worries and have to laugh at myself a little bit. My life is so, so much better now, in a multitude of ways. Good luck in your decision.

Yes I was banded on April 1st. I think I am doing pretty good and my doctors office is happy with where I am at. I am down 44 pounds and have not needed a fill yet. Scheduled to go back to doctor on June 26th. I have not been exercising because I broke my ankle 2 weeks ago when I was moving into the solid food phase. So with no exercise and new foods I think my weight loss is slowing down a little. Still not overly hungry and satisfied with a small amount of food. Trying new things every day. How are you doing?

Hi everyone! I was banded on June 22! I have lost a total of 28 pounds! I also had problems with my bowels but I started taking the Benefiber chewable pills and it seemed to help. I had my first fill last week, but I don't know if it did anything. The doctor put in .4 cc (he says this is standard for his office). But I'm feeling hungry and not feeling any restriction! This concerns me. Although I REFUSE to cheat and I have promised myself to be disciplined! I just hope that I keep losing something each week!! Good luck all!

had my surgery on the 23rd as well.. but i had complication and my shakes didn't start until the 29th had two shakes at the hospital (had Optisource caramel and strawberry) although i wasn't a big fan i was happy to have something other than just plain water. although for the first time in my life i never wanted water more than i have now. on the 30th first day back home I had two more Optisource shakes a day and wasn't too bad, i never finished either one all the way but almost most of it. I also started on sugar free jello (again never happier to have jello). Today I tried costco premier shake (chocolate) and it was so thick it took me about two hours to have half of the shake. for my second shake (also the chocolate premier) i tried it with three ice cubes blended and it was much more easier to drink. the coldness or lighter feel felt easier to drink. I didn't finish it all but almost all the way and this one only took an hour to drink. Hope that helps, i will continue to try new ways of having the shakes and keeping the goal of three shakes a day. Hope this helps a bit Good luck!

Yup, had it. It showed up about a week or so after surgery. Yuck is right. Never had it before, don't want it again.

All is well in my world again! Advocate said that it is the standard initial approval from the insurance... and I have nothing to worry about.. And even better, she told me my out of pocket is $300 less than I thought it would be!!! Now I just have to wait for the scheduler to call me next week. Yippie! Thanks for the support everyone.

Cannot believe it has taken me this long, but I think I'm finally getting over the nausea hump. It's still there and I still have a hard time stomaching my own saliva. Either have to swallow it with Water or spit it out. My sleeve is a little wuss right now. LOL. However, the nausea is only there half the time... Woohoo!! I feel that I can finally Celebrate my weight-loss.. 45 lbs in 6 weeks! I stayed the same for about a week, but that's likely because I was in starvation mode. Literally no food or Protein drinks since about 5 days post-op will do that to a person. That's 5 straight weeks no nutrients. I kept asking asking the doctors how I was alive. The 3 ER visits for IV fluids were basically keeping me afloat plus I got more fluids when they did another endoscope. (BTW, the official prognosis was that I'm fine, just a slow healer & my stomach is more swollen than most.) Now to the exciting part!! I ate actual food yesterday! On a whim I bought 3-olive hummus, and no nausea after eating! I was able to eat about a tablespoon. I basically just licked it off the wheat thin mostly. But, did get about 3 wheat thins in, too. I'm so energized! This is the push I needed. Here's to my new life finally beginning! ~Jenn

I'm seven weeks out, and within the first month, I had to pick up some smaller clothes from the thrift store (don't want to invest a lot in transitional sizes). At about 5 weeks post-op, I pulled all the 22/24/26 and 1X/2X/3X out for donation, and left in the 18/20 and L/XL. Had to go out again this last weekend for a few more things as the 20s are now too baggy on me. I picked up a 16W pants to move into, but they already fit! Need to go out again for more 16s, and maybe some 14s and 12s.

I'm in a very similar position. Started at 259.9 and am now 221.4. I'm about 9 weeks out since surgery and am 5'3" - been stuck here for abt 2 weeks. Just started hard at the gym so hope that makes a difference.

I only weigh in every two weeks and so I was convinced I hadn't lost any weight the past two weeks with the holidays and all. I was super shocked when I weighed in today and found I had lost 12 lbs since my last weigh in. At my weight this loss isn't visible (not even to me)-but I can feel it in being able to move easier. I'm so excited. It hasn't been easy-but not really hard either. In spite of the several small issues I'm really glad I did this. I only wish I had done it years ago!!

LoL thank you all for these answers it has helped. I have only lost 3 pound since Surgery day which will be two weeks tomorrow. But i am down a total if 13 since the pre OP liquid diet so i guess that's good

Mine is located midway between incisions on my right side. The port is at least three inches from any incision point. How the heck the surgeon got it there, I have NO idea, and I probably don't want to know!

My surgeon told me that all who get sleeved have a muscle cut through then stitched. It is necessary to cut the muscle in order to get to the stomach. I too got a stabbing pain where that muscle was cut and stitched. It went away after about three weeks after surgery.

It seems like I have been submerged in this process forever, but I FINALLY got my surgery date last evening!!! April 8th is D-day... or should I say B-day!!! I'm nervous but more Excited!!!!... I am not worried about my surgery. I am a registered nurse and have done time in the OR. In fact, I've seen my surgeon in action (though he wasn't putting in a band). Still, it is strange to think I'll be the one on the table! My nerves stem from a fear of failure. I have lost just over 20lbs so far and feel like I'm already on the road to the new me.... I just REALLY want this to work! Anyway, the 8th feels sooo ok far away, but I know that before I know it, it will be t he 1st and then my surgery will be a week away!

I think my surgeon must have checked with my insurance company prior to having done all the prerequisites for approval and they told them it was a covered procedure. I had to go on a 6 month medically supervised diet, see a nutritionist, and have a psych eval(its easy). Through that whole time I worried about getting approved. I had a BMI of 38 with no diabetes, high cholesterol,etc. The only thing I can think of that I had was bad knees( due to the weight). After I finished my prerequisites and had all my info sent in I was a nervous wreck. After a couple of weeks the bariatric program called and told me I had been denied because it wasn't a covered procedure which they did not understand because they had been told that it was covered. The bariatric program told me not to give up and they told me some things I could try to get approval. I was DEVASTATED for 3 days. They called me back on the 3rd day and told me the insurance company had called back and said it was a covered procedure. So I went from having a covered procedure to a not covered procedure back to a covered procedure. The story gets even stranger: A lady I work with has a BMI of >40 and has the comorbities(diabetes, cholesterol etc) has gone to 2 separate bariatric programs(1 was the one I used) and they have told her its not a covered procedure under her insurance. We have the same insurance company (through work). The only difference we can figure out is that I bought the more expensive plan and she didn't. We don't know if that would really make the difference or not or its some arbitrary thing the insurance company came up with. Good luck to you and I hope you get your band.

Well, Im new to this app, and in the beginning stages of my gastric bypass surgery. I've completed all of the necessary steps except my Psychologist appointment , which is a couple weeks away...after that my surgeons office will submit an authorization to my insurance for the surgery itself. This whole process has taken so long. (Made the decision to get wls in Sept/Oct 2012) Im hoping it wont be long before I get my surgery date!

I did the same thing!!!! Had my surgery april 2 and on my 2 week was down 27lbs and then went back a week later and only lost 3 but he said it is becuase of me going to mushy foods! and that it will start to drop again soon I have already went down 2 pant sizes!!! You just keep up the good work and it will start falling off again!!!

Amazing how fast the last few months have gone. I am finishing up grad school this week (last test is Tuesday woot woot!) and soon thereafter I will be embarking on another huge undertaking – getting sleeved. I’ve complained about this on the boards a couple of times but will say it one more time…the pre-op classes are simply ridiculous. I can honestly say I got nothing out of them. The only semi-interesting class was a one-year post-op RNY patient who talked about the challenges and victories he had experienced. The rest were beyond lame. But, it’s over now Once I completed my last class, the surgeon’s nurse navigator got my paperwork submitted to Aetna and exactly 7 days later called to say I was approved! I was really expecting it to be more difficult than that. I met with the Surgeon 6/1 (before this, had only seen him at the seminar in December 2010) and had a good conversation in which he answered all of my questions and made me feel 100% comfortable with my decision to move forward. After we were done he had me talk with his scheduler, who got me on the roster for June 20. Sweet! I probably still won’t believe it until I’m driving to the hospital that morning. Since I don’t have a PCP the surgeon will just do my H&P the morning of surgery. He doesn’t do any type of pre-op testing. Interesting because here on the boards some people need sleep apnea studies, testing for hernias or h-pylori, etc. He does not require any of that. Which is cool because I am pretty sure all of those are negative for me and I hate when unnecessary testing is done. I have to go to one more nutrition class on June 9, which revolves around how to eat pre- and post-op. I actually start the pre-op diet June 10…the first few days will be challenging because I have visitors in town that I rarely get to see, and usually we eat out and drink wine, etc. But I will manage. The good news is that from the literature the surgeon’s office has given me, I think it’s pretty good as pre-op diets go. It’s only 10 days and I get mushy stuff, am not restricted to liquids like others sometimes are. Emotionally, I feel great. I feel ready to kick fat in the ass. I am not nervous at all. This may change as the date approaches, but as of now I feel at peace with my decision. The main issue on my mind right now about two weeks out is, whether or not to tell anyone. I do have a great family but truly just want to keep this private. Maybe I still have a little shame, I don’t know. My mom is a true supporter of me, however she has been through a lot the last few years (cancer, heart failure) and has developed a pretty significant amount of anxiety. I rarely see my siblings due to distance and they are great people however…skinny people. And I don’t think they would understand. Co-workers, I absolutely do NOT want to know because I feel they will forever scrutinize what I eat. That leaves friends. There are a few close ones I have considered telling. Despite the fact that they are thin I think they’d be on board with my decision because they have seen me fluctuate so much over the years. Anyway, still not sure. As surgery approaches I’ll decide what to do.

So I've had a slight set back. My surgeon sent in my paper work 3.5 weeks ago. Haven't heard anything. With advice from you great people on here I called the insurance company to see what was going on. So long story short they sent in my paper work with the right code for the sleeve but the review board reviewed it under the band. They denied my case due to my policy, contacted my surgeon and that was all within 4 days of them sending it in. Fast forward to yesterday. No one has contacted me to let me know this had happened (really pissed at that). The lady at the insurance company was GREAT. She looked at my stuff and told me they reviewed it under the wrong procedure (she fixes it), they didn't really read my policy to see that the sleeve is covered (she wrote a note about that in my paper work) and she resubmitted it with all the CORRECT information while I was in the phone with her. Thank GOD she picked up the phone. I have a feeling that if it was someone else they would've have done all that. Hopefully by next week I should have some more news. Fingers crossed.

I am introducing myself-- my name is Vanessa, and I am going to have the lap band on 9/28/09 at NYU with Dr. Christine Ren. Things happened pretty quick for me b/c I'm a bit of an insider (work at NYU)-- so I just saw everyone today in the office, start the liquid diet tomorrow and a week from Monday-- surgery. I've been doing my research and am very excited and positive about the band, but still have some reservations-- who wouldn't it is surgery, right? I am very motivated and excited to finally get my weight under control after so many years. I am 5'4 (though they measured me at 5'3, if I stand up tall, I am 5'4 to 5'4.5 !) and 193.6 pounds-- which puts me at a BMI of 34 ish. Cannot wait to see those numbers go down... I am one of those 'lower BMI' surgery candidates-- which means I am self-pay, but I cannot think of a better investment in my health and my life. I am looking forward to following my instructions down to the letter and doing great with the surgery. Looking forward to getting to know all of you as well. This was the first day of the rest of my life....

I'm not even 2 months and I am about 33 pounds down. I lost 20 really fast!! And now I'm slowing to a normal loss every week. Like a pound or so a day. Definitely losing more inches or something because my clothes do not fit at all!!

good plan!!! THis is where I am going to put my focus for the next 2 weeks and see what happens :-)

Eight days since my band... and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm glad I took off as much time as I did..don't think I would have been ready to go back to work any sooner than Monday. Even than I figure it best to take it easy. liquid Diet - 2 weeks of pure h*@!. This is a challenge. May not be bad if you live alone and don't have to watch other family members prepare and eat meals while you drink yours out of a glass or with a spoon, but I know it is "part" of the process. I have five more days until I graduate to mushies and I can't wait. LOL That sounds funny excited about mushies. Hope everybody is doing well and I will keep everybody posted.