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Last night I had a meeting for my son's high school football team. I had not seen many of my friends from football since before the summer. It's only been 10 weeks since my surgery, but I got so many compliments on how great I looked. I have not felt pretty in YEARS! Last night I felt like Miss America! I also felt confident and happy. I am amazed at the psychological change losing weight brings on. For those of you experiencing stalls early out and stressing over them.... I have had two so far (am currently in one now) that have lasted a few weeks. Trust me when I tell you, your body is still changing for the good!

Sunday, March 13, 2005 By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette All Murrysville dentist Michael Gigliotti wanted was a relatively cheap, last-minute flight from his mother's house in Florida to a natural-gas auction in Texas. But a $552 bill for the late-Februarytrip quickly went up when a late-boarding passenger complained he could not fit in the seat next to the 5-11, 300-pound Gigliotti. A supervisor from Southwest Airlines boarded the plane, crouched next to Gigliotti and said he would have to pay for a second seat on the return flight, claiming the dentist's large frame would not fit entirely in the 17-inch-wide space. Gigliotti did not feel humiliation -- just rage. "This won't hold up in court," he told the Southwest supervisor. "It already has," was her response, according to Gigliotti. The exchange captures a touchy topic in aviation -- how to deal with larger passengers as the nation's waistline expands. More than one-fourth of Americans are now classified as obese, and in an industry obsessed with fitting as many people as possible inside a giant aluminum tube, airline seats have shrunk to 16 inches measured from arm rest to arm rest -- narrower than an average-size computer keyboard and a tighter fit than the typical office chair or general-admission movie seat. "The airline seats are simply too small for a high percentage of the flying public," Gigliotti said. "We are getting bigger, we're getting taller, we're getting wider." Southwest is not the only major airline with a large-seating policy. US Airways, Northwest Airlines and America West Airlines all can require an overweight passenger to pay for two seats but said they do everything they can to find a pair of empty adjoining seats on the plane at no additional charge. Midwest Connect, which serves Pittsburgh from Milwaukee, requires that passengers unable to fit in one seat buy two; if there are other seats available on the same flight, they will be refunded for the second. But other carriers serving Pittsburgh, including United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, have no large-seating requirements. Hooters Air, an airline featuring slim, scantily-clad "Hooters girls" as flight entertainment, has no such policy, either. "We love large people," said Hooters Air President Mark Peterson. Hooters, which flies from Pittsburgh to Myrtle Beach, S.C., has never charged for an extra seat, he said, and fitting a larger passenger onboard has never been an issue in two years of operating the airline. While critics of Southwest's policy acknowledge that other airlines do the same thing, some said Southwest deserves to be singled out for its rigidity. "Southwest really expects its employees to enforce it, " said Mary Ray Worley, a board member on the Sacramento, Calif.-based National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. At other airlines, she said, "it seems to me their employees exercise a lot more of their own judgment in enforcing or not enforcing their policies. A lot depends on the prejudices of the employees involved." The large-seating policy is nothing new for the Dallas low-fare carrier, considered one of the industry's most successful companies, having made a profit 31 years in a row. It initiated a "customer of size" policy in 1980, requiring a larger passenger unable to fit in one seat to pay for two. But the airline, saying it could no longer ignore complaints from slimmer passengers, began enforcing the policy more vigilantly in 2002, requiring passengers to pay for the extra space even if others were available on the same flight. A refund is made available if the flight takes off with empty seats. Each case is a judgment call. There are no scales at the check-in counter. The test appears to be whether a passenger can sit in one seat without lifting the armrest. The increase in enforcement, leaked in a 2002 memo from Southwest President Colleen Barrett, sparked a few lawsuits and criticism from fat acceptance groups as well as jokes from NBC "Tonight Show" comedian Jay Leno. The negative attention was unusual for Southwest, used to glowing PR. Leno, in one of his monologues, stuck it to the Texas company, saying, "Boy, Southwest is cracking down on overweight passengers. Now any fat people standing in front of the terminal for more than 15 minutes will be towed." In another joke, he said Southwest had "been overstating each passenger's weight by 80 pounds so they can sell more fat ass seats." Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart attributed the controversy to "entertainment value." He mentioned the jokes from Leno and said "the reason you do it is because you think you can get a laugh out of it and it is something that affects everybody." The constant attention has "nothing to do with news value." It is little more than "people liking to make fun of other people." Most passengers, he said, like the policy. "For every 10 letters you get, nine of them will say they did not enjoy their flight because someone was sitting on them." Stewart said. A few, though, were upset enough to sue. New Hampshire businesswoman Nadine Thompson filed a lawsuit last year claiming she had no problem fitting into a Southwest seat but still was asked to pay for a second seat on a Manchester, N.H.-Chicago flight. When she refused, she was escorted from the plane, according to her lawsuit. Another woman in Spokane, Wash., filed a suit last year saying Southwest humiliated her in front of other passengers on a Orlando-Spokane flight, and that she spent the ride home in tears over her experience. But no one yet has been successful in overturning the policy in court. In 2000, a California judge ruled that Southwest's policy was "reasonable and not discriminatory" after a woman weighing 300 pounds sued. The woman's civil rights were not violated, the court said. But "I still think it's discriminatory to make me buy two seats," said the 5-foot-1, 350-pound Ray Worley, of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, who often will call ahead before booking flights to make sure there is enough room. "I believe I am entitled to the space I take up. It's a basic civil right issue. A lot of people believe it is within my control to be whatever size I am. That is completely false." When Southwest began enforcing its policy more strictly, it went before the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance's annual convention in Atlanta to explain it. It did not go well, according to Ray Worley, who was there. If Southwest hoped to make the policy more palatable, "They completely failed. ... The impression I got was they do not want fat people flying their airline. They don't want our business. They want us to go away." "What would make me want to fly Southwest?" Airline industry expert Terry Trippler said his biggest problem with the policy is its lack of consistency. If gate agents on one end of a round trip allow a large passenger to pay for only one seat, then the gate agents in another city should arrive at the same decision. But it doesn't always happen that way, Trippler said, and "everybody doesn't always have twice as much money for the airline ticket." "It's a tough call." Gigliotti, the Murrysville dentist, also has a problem with the way the policy is applied. "I think there has to be a measurable standard," he said. "The standard should be, can you put the arms down?" Gigliotti, who said his shoulders are wider than his waist from weightlifting, claims that he was able to get his arms down "without undue stress." The company, on its web site, said the armrest is the "definitive gauge." But in a Q&A about the policy on its Web site, Southwest said employees can still question the passenger "if a concern exists. ... Condoning an unsafe, cramped seating arrangement onboard our aircraft is far more inappropriate than simply questioning a customer's fit in our seats." Asked about Gigliotti's experience, Stewart, the Southwest spokesman, said, "I am sure he is a very slim 300 pounds" and it is "always going to be a judgment call." But every time the policy has been challenged, in court, "we have prevailed." Gigliotti was not charged extra for one leg of his trip, from Tampa to San Antonio, but he was charged for a second seat on the return trip to Tampa, despite the presence of other empty seats on the plane, he said. He was able to get a refund by calling a customer service number, but the experience is still with him. He fired off a letter last week to Southwest calling its policy "arbitrary and capricious." He vows never again to fly Southwest, even after its starts service from Pittsburgh in May. "I just want the public to realize what can happen to them if they fly Southwest."

I am 50 obs down today and funny enough, 3 different people mentioned my weight loss. Its funny because no one has really said anything until today..its funny how that happens. So for those of you waiting for others to take notice, itll happen!

My experience (did not do an insurance required supervised diet) was that they used the first weight in. My surgeon requires that you loose a percentage of body weight for me it was 30 pounds. My surgery had to be postponed and they had to resubmit to my insurance. They approved it almost immediately even though I had lost about 40 pounds by that time.

I'm s/p 4.5 yrs. french mid-band, Mexico. looking for a dr who will do fills on a french mid-band preferrably in VA or near VA or East Coast. I've gained 25 pounds since I had my last fill. But don't remember the amount of cc's i had from the last fill. Problem is that when I get the fill just right I have a major reflux/heart-burn, choking in the night problem. I went from a size 6 to a size 10. I sit a lot at work and make an effort to get up and walk everyday plus I try to drink enough water, but I know I need to drink more. Anyhow, I would prefer to see a dr. on my side of the world. Any reccommendations?:blushing:

I am sorry to hear about your experience Asche, hang in there! I am sure you know that the stress of the upcoming surgery can trigger and early ovulation and many other changes in your body. If you used to drink a lot of coffee and now don't drink much or any you could be retaining water, also check your sodium intake. I know that for me when I first significantly cut my caloric intake I either don't loose weight or I gain weight! It's like my body refuses to let go of the fat! That normally stops after a few days. Hang in there and congratulations on your upcoming surgery!

Nice numbers pal!! we had same HW number lol very impressed you lost significant Weight by your surgery day. Keep it going and never stop.. congrats in your success..

The sleeve generally removes 80-85% of your stomach While plication for weight loss is relatively new, the plication procedure is based on a technique that has been used to treat GERD for over 40 years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissen_fundoplication With plication your stomach is not removed unlike the sleeve. Like the band. plication is also reversible. The benefit of the iband (band and plication together) is that they serve as a back up to each other. The combination can result in the need for fewer fills or even no fills at all, however if there isn't adequate weight loss with the unfilled band, the band can be filled for additional restriction. I will grant that the procedure is new but it there are few to no additional risks when compared to the band alone.

I have not even gotten close to this point yet, but I think about it all the time and I can totally understand your nervous feelings about it. I'll tell you a little story though and hopefully that will make you feel a bit better. I have a cousin who at a very young age was extremely overweight and borderline morbidly obese. She was about 12 years old when she sat on a glass coffee table and it shattered with her stuck in the frame. They had to call and ambulance and have her removed and taken to the hospital to remove the glass from a sensitive area. This was enough to wake her and my cousin (her mother) up. When she was all healed up she started taking weight loss seriously, she changed her life style and started eating right and working out. Over the years she lost all that excess weight she did not have WLS, but once all the weight was gone she had a full body lift. I was in major shock seeing this girl with all the stitches and drains etc. after the surgery, but in a couple of days the swelling went down and finally all the drains were out and today she is amazing, and I am so happy for her! When I think about it being my turn some day I think about that little girl and how she braved that at such a young age and it makes me feel better and confidant that I can do it too. I hope it gives the same confidence to you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

theres no reason to eat extra on a workout day when your trying to lose. that the whole point of weight loss. It sort of sounds like your looking for an excuse to eat just because you work out. DO NOT fall into that trap. you have enough stored energy in fat cells than you need. so until you hit goal and beyond, you dont have to worry about eating more.

I started out with a 43 bmi, 42 on surgery day. I'm 3 ½ weeks out and have been losing about a pound a day. My friend, who had a similar height/weight (40 bmi on surgery day) lost most of her weight in the first 6 months, then got down to 115 by the time she was a year out. However, she had some plastic surgery to help her when she was 9 months out, so some of that weight loss is probably due to the removal if excess skin. I think your goal sounds realistic, as long as you are determined to stick to your plan. Good luck!

I hear you...taking stairs now myself. Bony butt...awful.....No one recognizes me..That is a good thing..NO ONE has commented on my weight loss..My neighbor who used to be my friend is now ignoring me. I think she is angry because I did not give her all the details...She is a nurse and I think she wanted to take credit for my weight loss...My hubby thinks that she is just waiting for me to gain it all back.... Life can send curves that's for sure.. Don't stress too much seems to me you are working your sleeve well...STOP weighing yourself so much you are going to get false readings and then get discouraged....K

I have an appointment tomorrow for the lap band orientation. They have already called me and confirmed that my insurance(if approved) will pay 90%. But I don't know where to begin... What if I don't like the surgeon, I didn't go through my regular doctor because I work with them and they believe in the good old fashion weight loss program.. (Tried and failed.) Is there anyone here from Bakersfield, California area.. This group of doctors also work in the Beverly Hills area. Just looking to see if anyone has any information.. I wonder if this is really going to happen...:rolleyes2:

a guy here, so there is that. I was 394 june 25-16, I was 361 july 11 for surgery, all liquid diet. I have lost right at 92 lbs pretty much 25 a month post surgery each month and not quite at 3 months post op yet, had stall for a week after 5 or 6 weeks, gained 3 and lost 8 week. I have noticed if I do not sleep, I do not lose weight, make sure you sleep! Doctor choose my goal weight, hell I weighed that in 3rd grade, no kidding, I was 6ft tall too. I played football in college at 275 all muscle. I seriously don't see getting under 250, I know muscle lose happens, but...I have a horrible back problem, I exercise very little, walking Walmart is about it.

@@QueenOfTheTamazons I have done this solo, since I live alone and I live in area where I don't know anyone. I still find it easier to be self motivated and rely on myself because no one else can derail me with their lack of motivation or seriousness. I have friend that are trying to lose and they don't have the motivation. For example I have logged all of my food every single day since surgery. I weigh and measure all of my food. I have a few friends WLS and others that are not consistent with that at all, they go weeks sometimes without logging and none of them weigh their food. If I was relying on them for motivation or support, I would be severely lacking. I'm not the relationship/marriage type, I am sure for people that are, having the support of their partner makes it easier. Still a lot of people that post here have partners that don't need to lose weight or aren't trying to lose weight and they are still successful.

Well, i am 6 weeks post op on Monday coming, I've noticed old habits are creeping back in and i find myself munching on slider foods, I can't seem to get all my fluids in or don't kniw what i can cook for myself that would be easy. Im eating slider foods such as crisps,chocos,cake and custards etc only because it's easier to grab and easy to eat. I really need to get back into it. 2 weeks and I've stayed the same weight :'( Sent from my VOG-L29 using BariatricPal mobile app

Start counting girl!! :-) Try to start with just counting protien. If you are not keeping track I can assure you that you probably not eating enough of it. If I don't keep track I end up with like 35 grams a day. I shoot for 80 grams per day. I find the weight loss completely stalls if I dont eat enough. Add in walking 3 days per week to start too and I think you will start to see the results!!! I keep track on myfitnesspal.com

Have you been measuring yourself? I've only lost 3 lbs in the last 2 weeks last week I lost none, but I started measuring myself and I've list 4 inches in the bust and 3 in the waist. Even if your not losing weight your losing inches. Try that to keep from getting frustrated about the weight stall.

for the BEST results the docs say cut out liquor and carbonated beverages out your diet because liquor is just empty calories and carbonated beverages give you a bloated feeling. When you get the sleeve during your weight loss journey youre not able to consume as much food as your body needs, so your Dr breaks it down to percentages which involves Water, Protein, carbons, Vitamins and other necessary nutrients. If you fill ya now small stomach with liquor, you rob your stomach of the space it needs to consume the daily necessities to function on the strict diet implemented by your Dr. You basically decreasing your weight loss results, but once your body is stable in terms of weight, you can resume your drinking activities (be advised though, when you came in for the surgery you wanted to reform your eating habits, so try not to revert back into pass eating habits or you may end up gaining all that weight back and going through all that hard work for nothing). Carbonated beverages are also empty calories and fill up your smaller stomach with air space cause you to be bloated and deprives your body for necessities as far as food intake. Plus in the early stages of the surgery you DONT want to stretch the stomach seeing that it has already been through a severe amount of trauma as it is. SO the answer to your question is no there are no NEVER AGAIN foods Everything should be taken in moderation, period...

So it appears that Dr. Kwon's office is one of the "you must lose weight" before banding.....5% of your total body weight, so they know you are "committed". I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't have great alternatives however, and I did like the people and the aftercare as they explained it. So now assuming I will continue in this path, I have to lose 13lbs before they will do the surgery. Great. Not that I can't do it, I"m an expert at losing - I"m also an expert at gaining, obviously. Thanks for all the positive vibes. I'm still thinking this is the right direction, I just need to get my brain around it more. Sharon

I would just go to your surgeon appt-psych eval was easy-they do a quick 20 min one on one-question and answer-to make sure you are not too crazy.LOL.. no it is just a personal interview-then you have to take a questionnaire- mine was like 500 questions-no joke-but the psych eval was easy. with the insurance just make sure you have the weight history and letter from pcp so your surgeon can send it all over at once-then follow up two weeks after it is submitted if you have not heard anything by then.

Venting is good, and we're good at it here. Maybe I can help make sense of some of the things you're experiencing. Doesn't it seem like we lose weight at a snails pace compared to everyone else? By we do you mean people with the band, or just people who are significantly overweight? Even worse, it seems like we GAIN weight faster than everyone else. This I have noticed. Gain on the tail end of loss is predictable. I think rate of gain also has to do with the extent to which we overeat. E.g. take a "normal" person who has lost 10 lbs, and may gain back 2. And a "fat" person who has lost 50 lbs, and may gain 15. Two things working against the fat ones - the amount they lost (which usually has a strong correlation to the amount that is gained), and the way in which the weight is gained. The "normal" person doesn't have an eating problem, the "fat" person does. Chances are the fat person is consuming a helluva lot more calories, hence the quicker weight gain. Have you ever been on a diet, stuck to every single little rule and didn't cheat even just a little bit - then, one day you have a morsel of something "bad" and gain 2 pounds?? This experience is exactly what kills so many diets before they even have a chance to kick in. People defeat themselves way too quickly. If you've been around a while you've seen me say it more than once - weight does not equal fat. Weight is your skin, everything on it, and everything in it. Fat is fat. During the first 7 - 10 days of a diet, especially a full omission diet (where some thing or things are excluded, e.g. low fat, low carb -- as opposed to a redcuded calorie diet where the overall calories are viewed rather than individual types of foods), your body is fighting like mad to keep the fat on. I won't go into the sordid details, but one byproduct of that battle is to retain things like Water and glycogen. What happens most of the time is that -- maybe some fat is lost, meube it's not, but it certainly isn't gained. However, the body is being greedy with all the things it's trying to hold on to, and not releasing the way it does when you're in a dietary equilibrium. This means you weigh more than you did a week ago, even if you have less fat on your body. People see that jump in the scale and say, "F it, I'm 2# heavier, this diet isn't working" when - if they could have just given it a little while longer - their body would have adjusted and they would have started to see the difference. And then there's the specific restriction leaps and bounds. Take low carb diets for example. While in a state of ketosis, the body uses a lot of water. Most people don't adequately increase their intake, so their body is continuously in a state of mild dehydration (that's on TOP of the dehydration most people are always in). When you break ketosis, you will gain water weight. It's pretty much a guaranteed thing. It can be as little as a pound, or as much as 18+ pounds. People on low carb diets in ketosis will "cheat", break their ketosis, see they've gained 10 lbs overnight, NOT make the distinction between "gain" and "fat gain" and give up because all of their sacrifice has been for nothing. This is why scale's aren't the way to go. I'm so frustrated I could scream! I'm on my pre-op liquid diet, been good as gold for 8 days and I've lost 5 measly pounds! GRRRRRR! I remember when I could lose 5 pounds in 2 days, now it takes me 8 whole days of nothing but liquid??!! Liquid diets usually aren't for weightloss, they're usually for a specific outcome, e.g. shrinking the liver, giving intestinal issues time to "take it easy," flushing some part of the body, etc. Try not to let yourself be frustrated by this. Part of it could be your age (you mention remembering the day -- also remember that your body has changed since then), part of it could be the liquids... there are SO many variables here. So frustrating. I really think that years of yo-yo dieting has messed with my metabolism. No worries here, it can't happen. Your body - if subjected to extreme dieting - becomes more efficient at storing fat. This "unexplained" weight gain, coupled with the additional challenges in weightloss that can come with age, hormonal changes, etc., and the body's natural tendency to change its own composition (which yoyo dieting can add to - remember, the body always tries to hold on to the fat it has... yo-yo dieting can make your body, well, to make a long story short, your body can become less sure of where its next meal is coming from, and want to hold on to even more fat, just in case... hence your equilibrium state is now fatter than it used to be). I know I didn't gain this weight over night, and I know it'll take a long-long-LONG time to lose it... but 5 pounds?? Come on! And I would say to you, 5 pounds in 8 days?? Come on, what more do you want!?!? :cool: Of course now I'm concerned with what will happen when I'm banded (this Friday). I know I'll go crazy when I see the scale creeping along, or even stopping after surgery. It's just so frustrating. The ideal thing would be to hide the scale - been there, done that. I always talk myself into stepping on it. I try not to be obsessive with the numbers, but, how can you not be? It's not that hard to get away from. It really does work to get rid of the scale. Just throw it away. It doesn't tell you what you need to know. If you want to do something compulsively, invest in a body fat meter, or hell - a $4 tape measure. Those will give you a much better idea of the changes in your body than a scale will. I'm really discouraged and really just plain bummed out. I know it'll take a while, but, I'm literally starving on this #$#%$ pre-op diet and so disappointed. I know we've all felt like this - I just needed to vent. And vent away. It's good for you. And understanding why some of these things may help.

I stopped taking some mood stabalization and anti-depressants a few months ago. Since then I have gained a bit over 10 pounds. All I think about it eating. It seems that the medications must have helped to level out my moods that it also effected how I ate. So now I am trying to decide what to do. The meds are so expensive I cant really afford them anymore. I also have not had a fill for quit a few months. I wonder if maybe I just need one again or is this issue from the lack of medications. Really I think its a little of both. I am not sure if anyone could relate to this problem or not. I wonder if thier is another kind of drug I could get thats cheaper maybe that can level out how much I think about eating. Lately I think I have been stressed so I eat for comfort. I am not sure how many of u have thought this to urself, "Who cares if I am a little chunky as long as I am happy". Happy while I eat is more like it but after reality kicks in u just feel guilty about failing another day. Any supportive comments or advice would be appriciated. Thx

Thank you for posting his current information. I emailed that address yesterday and was worried when I rec'd a reply from wlsclinicdot.com . I will go ahead and complete the paper work that Anaid & Cecilia emailed me. Thanks again, and well wishes on your weight loss journey.

From Friday to Monday, the 6# went away. Thought I'd post this for other vacationers who relax a wee bit and see a gain -- its all water.