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I do free weights 10 lbs doing a ton of different ways. I do the machines with 30-50 lbs 15 reps per machine. My arm a have always been heavy. I am loosing so well in my abs and stomach don't want to have these huge arms left.

It is unfortunate but number one, it is mostly genetics as to how your results will turn out. Second would be how much weight you need to lose and third will be the workout factor. Last but not least patience and time will help a lot too, as I've been noticing my batwings on my arms are slowly disappearing! I have really good skin and thankfully my arms came out pretty good. I am not a strength trainer at all. The only form of workout I do on my arms are with my elliptical, a little bit of Pilates type body resistance movements and using a 10 Lb Kettlebell. Yet my arms came out really nice.

It seems like there are a lot of us getting banded tomorrow. It feels like a milestone and it is a milestone because we are starting our new lives. I have the whole range of emotions that others have spoke of but mostly I'm just ready to get this over with. Good luck to all the 10/16 bandsters! I'll be looking forward to hearing your stories, and of course, I'll be sure to post mine as soon as I'm up to it!

I've never blogged before and thought I would start to record my journey. We'll see how long it lasts. :crying: I had my second fill today. Now I have a total of 4.7 cc in a 10 cc band. I feel better than I did last time. I got 3.3 cc last time and I felt really tight and uncomfortable for a couple of days. I'm being good and doing the liquid thing. I lost 4.5 pounds this month (actually lost 6, but had a small gain). The good news is that everything looks good, so I'm doing the right things. I know I should be happy with 20 pounds gone and I am, but I wish it would come off just a little faster. It's summer and I have to go swimsuit shopping soon. Another 10 pounds off would make it a little easier. I'm just feeling sorry for myself today. I should be telling myself to get my butt on the treadmill today since I haven't been on in a couple of days. No more pity party today. I'm doing great. I'm blessed to have been able to get the band and that I have a wonderful support system. I'll be taking my measurements later today and taking another "after" pic. I do that every time I get a fill. I need to set another short term goal to get me going. I'll decide on that today as well.

I'm at 1200-1300 calories per day and I'm close to 2 pounds a week with some exercise. Try upping the calories a bit and dropping the protein down to 70g-80g per day. Do this for 5-10 days.

Nah, your response is completely reasonable. I guess I'm just worried that I will make a permanent change to my anatomy and life and only lose 10 pounds or something. I have researched this quite a bit, but the stats seem to vary a great deal. I can cope with stalls, but not if I'm losing less than a pound a month, you know?

Hi guys! I’m new here and just two days ago (10/17/17), I had the gastric bypass procedure done! I’m ecstatic about this new chapter in my life and look forward to speaking with you all.

I have been banded for quite some time and sometimes felt a ltitle tired but it never lasted long ( usually after a surgery). However this last month I have been extremely tired, sleeping all the time etc. I thought it was because i was recovering from surgery but I happened to need a blood test done for a working visa and it turns out my Iron level was super low! 2 months ago it was at 12 ( healthy range 10-16) and right now it is 8.9! So thats why I am tired. Maybe you are having the same problem with your iron level?

I've got the 14 cc AP band (thought it was 10 cc until today!). I'm now at about 8cc after 3 fills. I was empty after surgery (normally this band is left w/ 4cc in after surgery). My first fill was 2 cc. Second was aggressive and brought me to about 6.5. Now, I'm at 8 cc. My dr said that with my size band the 'sweet spot' is usually around 7 - 9 cc. He has me scheduled for every 2 weeks to get there. Right now, based on my lunch experience I'm hopeful!

I did not know that! My dr, basically tells us that we can eat what we want , just eat all a serving of Protein first, which as most know, doesnt leave much room for else! I do eat my Proteins before anything else that i usually dont have any room left. But the few local gals i know that have had the procedure done said they have not done a special diet. I was hard core atkins before i had my surgery and it worked pretty well, I had a lap band in at the time, for 10 years actually and I lost more when i would atkins than with the band itself. The band wouldnt let me eat meat so eventually, I decided to have the revision done and get the sleeve. I really did not realize that i would be on low carb the rest of my life. Its a little sad but too late now ESPECIALLY if i want to see some results. Makes me feel like i should have done more research and just gotten my LB taken out instead of the full on sleeve procedure.

I was sleeved 12/16/10 and wasnt able to eat more than 8 bites of spaghetti with lean ground beef tonight. You will learn what is easier to eat as you go along. Chicken is still hard for me as well. Easiest thing for me to eat is food cooked in the crockpot! Its so moist and easy!

Hi all - this is repost from the financing forum. I was hoping to get your input on this as well if anyone is from Chicago area/Indiana...please chime in. ---------------------------- Of course I'm set with Dr. K in Colorado - but, I called all day Thurs & Fri - was unsuccesful in getting someone to accept me for local fills. fillcentersusa is not local for me. So... today, I begin considering going local and paying more. So, I'm posting messages to asking for prices locally (Chicagoland/Indiana). I do have 4 prices here so far. Actually found a couple good prices - just need to know if they will accept my current financing option which is all set and ready. RightWeigh Bariatric in Kentucky charges $12,500 - they also have a location in Indiana - I will call in the morning to see what they charge (hoping its so close to this). Lifeway Bariatrics in Downers Grove & Merriville, IN charge $15,500. Synchronyhealth: $16,000 Midwestbariatrics: $16,211 If any of the lower ones accept my financing and can band me sooner, I'm going to make the switch ASAP to free up that 10/30 date at Dr. K's office.

Thank you for sharing that information. I am tired of feeling I have to defend myself for the choice I made of Realize vs Lapband. I guess my question is why are people who have the Lapband care and why do they continue to getting in these forms and debating the choice we made for ourselves. I am sorry but I keep seeing one person responding to the Realize band in negative tone and unless you have it how can you comment. I am VERY pleased with my Realize Band. Many are discouraged on the amount of weight they have lost but keep in mind with either band the weight loss will (or can) be slow but steady. I choose the band over RNY because I didn't want it to come off so quick that my skin would not have time to respond to what the heck was going on. As my Dr. said to me one day . . . "you banders want the band because if comes off slower but when you don't a 10 - 15lb loss a month you get upset and complain". He is correct we just have to hang in there for the long haul. Be postive and think of where you would be if you hadn't made the discussion to get band at all. This is a journey on a short road trip. Thank you for letting me vent!!!!

Hi Mel, My insurance does cover my surgery and it did cover my psych evalu or as much as it will with my 90/10 rate so it only cost me 35 dollars. Once I started this part of the pre-op, it went really fast. My liquid diet was bad the first 4 days but all is good now. I think it will help prepare me for the Stage one portion of my new diet. Good Luck!!

How long did your stomach stay swollen. Mine feels hard and tender, but I'm only 10 days post-op. Just wanted to make sure this was par for the course.

So I had between 5.5-6 ccs and wasn't totally where I wanted to be and I went in for another fill today. Now I'm between 6.5-7 ccs. Out of a 10 cc band. My dr said I seem pretty tight so make sure I chew everything really really well. Just wondering if anyone out there has finally found their green zone with a higher amount of fluid.

To each their own, in this. I can say this ive had crabs from edamame crackers made with some rice flour, a few with hummus is fine, or i found some great chickpea chips with some homemade salsa rocks, but again if i eat to many, i stall , carbs are the enemy unfortunately. I had a bite of a piece of toast last weekend, and realized afterward that it was simply a waste. You have to find that healthy mid-line for yourself, how many carbs you need vs how many you take in. On an average day i manage to keep my carbs under 10 grams. on a bad day i can go as high as 30. But i try to get my carbs from veggies if possible. Even if its a starchy veg, i limit how much, So i might have two tablespoons of mashed potato say, or a spoonful of sweet potatoes. but only maybe once a week. food is what we Live ON, Not what we Live FOR!

Many of my close friends and family know that I have had a battle all my life. A struggle that has been at the forefront of each and every day that I can remember of my life. Something that I know many of you can relate to and also struggle with. Weight. For all of my teenage years and into my adult life I fought every pound my body so readily gained. I was active, I rode horses every day, I played sports, I camped, and I hiked. I grew up on a farm, so throwing hay and carting buckets of water and grain was any every day normal for me, however, as active as I was I gained weight at what seemed to be astronomical speeds. I was always the heaviest of my friends, even though I ate far less and much healthier foods than they, growing up on the farm, we ate home grown everything. I didn't chow down on the cookies, cakes and fast foods my thin friends ate and yet, there I was 50-75 pounds bigger than all of them. I can remember in 8th grade I weighted 185 pounds at 5 foot 3 inches tall at that time. Every minute of my life all I thought about was how I worked so hard and stayed so active and yet I was heavy. When I was 19 I became pregnant and my weight went from 190's to 240 plus. I was able to lose a bit of the "baby weight" and got back down to around 210 pounds. Three years later, and after every diet known to mankind, from weight watchers to metabolife, I was pregnant again, this time ballooning up to 270 pounds. I was on depression medications afterwards. I was sick, very sick from the depression and literal pain of morbid obesity. Many years passed, and many more diets came and went, Atkins, The Zone, Jenny Craig, South Beach, slim fast, fasting, dexatrim, low carb, low fat, high protein, phen phen and hgc diet, I tried them all. In that time I was never able to maintain anything under 200 pounds. At 32 years old, I went through a terrible divorce, and I don't know about any one else but divorce was like a living death for me, I gave up on myself at that point. In 2010 and weighing 256 pounds I finally found some hope to all the endlessness. I was able blessed to have family and friends and insurance see me through a life saving lapband surgery in April of 2010. I finally had the extra push and the help I needed. Though I did not lose weight fast, 5 pounds a month or so, I was healthier. My blood pressure returned to normal, my pre-diabetic blood sugars returned to normal, I did not have to have a cpac machine, my joints ached less and I felt pretty great all around. (My photo is after my surgery, after I had lost some weight and felt almost normal) So than why, you might wonder am I here today? Two months ago my lapband "slipped." It is not in the right place in order to help create the pocket of my stomach as it once had. Basically there is no restriction. Not only has this caused me to gain almost 40 pounds in 2 months, I am no longer able to feel a feeling of fullness. I still eat healthy, as anyone who has had weight loss surgery knows, you have to go through nutrition courses and relearn how and what to eat, my issue is is that even after I have eaten my salad, I feel as though I have eaten nothing at all, there is no satisfaction, no full feeling and so one salad becomes two, becomes three, and so on until I am in literal pain and a whole head of lettuce is gone in one sitting, not to mention the tomatoes, cheese, diced chicken, onion, zucchini and what ever other topping I can find to eat with it. I have gained weight back so fast that my bones, muscles, joints and ligament scream in pain in a constant. In just the past two months I have went from 177 pounds to 227 pounds. My blood pressure is on the rise, and as we all know all the other health risks associated with morbid obesity are close at hand. Another complication my lapband has caused because of the slippage is sever heartburn, acid, re-flux and gurd. Those in themselves have life threatening side effects, esophageal cancer at the top of the list. Though I have insurance, it does not cover the full cost of the surgery I need to have the band removed and replaced with a gastric surgery. I know this is a lot to ask of anyone, and to some it may even seem selfish, but I am a 40 plus year old, married, mom and I am not asking this in order to win any beauty contests. This is not cosmetic, in fact I never had the excess skin removed from my last surgery (which is now filled in again) because this is not about appearances. It's about a person, many of you may know in one form or another that just wants to spend the second half of her life healthy. A life not waking up to the fears of diabetes, heart attacks, uterine cysts and cancers that are so often coupled with being morbidly obese. And to not have to carry that tag ("morbidly obese") of death every day of what could be a shortened life. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, thank you for reading this far, thank you for your understanding, and compassion, you are a rare gift, and I mean this sincerely as there are some even in my own home that persecute me for even writing this. You are my hope and my salvation. Sincerely, Liv. https://www.gofundme.com/livs-surgery

I got rid of stuff as I shrunk out of them. It took quite a few pounds to drop a size in the larger sizes, there are lots of threads where people talk about this so its not just me. Those sizes are more forgiving and literally can take 40+ lbs sometimes to drop one size. Once you're Into straight sizes it's more like 10lbs per size or even less depending on how/where you lose. I had some sizes I literally just about skipped over and had stuff I never wore--never was a 10! Skipped straight from 12 to 8. I kept one pair of my largest size jeans for the pix below and my favorite largest size top. Now I am wishing I'd thought ahead and kept a top I could style into a dress, the one I chose fits like a baggy dress but the style just doesn't work as a dress LOL. Passed everything else on to Goodwill and haven't regretted it! I am over 2.5 years out.

At one of my support groups recently the surgeon on hand told us that it's impossible to stretch your pouch. That they have done various research and test on plp even 10 years out and the pouch is the same size as day one. What does open up a bit more is the opening in the bypass you intestine is still 25 feet long and xan hold a hole bunch. And because the opening to your intestine opens up your food leaves your pouch quicker which is wgy you can eat a bit more. Also this still isn't that big of a deal untill after 2plus years cause that's when the malabsorbtion stops or slows down.

I'm a pear and despite my BMI being 19 and all my chest bones showing, I still have a fair amount of padding on the backside and thighs. People tell me all the time I'm too thin but as soon as I get enough weight on me to hide the ribs in my chest, I have a muffin top and saddlebags. I have to stay skeletal on top for my lower half to be anywhere near acceptable to me.

P.S. Just found this article that could be useful to you: http://c-hit.org/2014/10/15/years-after-weight-loss-surgery-patients-seek-treatment-for-eating-disorders/

I can jump rope for 5 min! I can't believe how strong I am getting with this program, only 10 workouts left. When I went to the shoe store the guy said I should stop my cross training and just train for the half marathon that I am going to do but I just can't stand to quit anything so I will finish this and then train for the half and then after the half I will start the intermediate cross training program. Here is what I was suppose to do: Jump rope for 5 minutes, then run/walk with purpose for 5 minutes. Repeat for 30 minutes. Here is what I did: Rode my bike to the park 1 mile Jumped rope for a total of 15 min. Ran for a total of 15 min 1.2 miles. Rode my bike home. I didn't go until about 8 am so it was already hot, boy I will be glad when fall gets here.

209 this morning! I'm 4 weeks post op, and Im on my way to 199!!!!! Although I've been at 199 so many times before, I'm looking forward to being there again, and even more to breaking it! I can't wait to get under the 190's - this is something I'm never able to do. I get down to the 190's, then gain back up to over 200, than back down to the 190's, back up to 200's. This time, I know I will get there, so it is so exciting. What an incredible journey I'm on! So here goes my countdown to 199! 10 lbs to go! I'm hoping to be there by March 17th - a little over a month away. I'm going to a big family wedding and will see lot of my family who haven't seen me in awhile, so thats my goal! I start my solids today - i'm nervous, but anxious to get to eating the right way for the rest of my life. My plan for today is: bfast malt o meal, splenda, ff milk lunch a few black beans 4 green grapes 1/2 cup of cottage cheese 1 or 2 slices of a boiled egg Dinner salmon green beans