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OMG the band is the WORSEEE! Quick summary, got the band in 2009, lost 60 pounds in ONE YEAR! smh and it was a STRUGGLE!....Gained it all back..got the band revised to the sleeve in June 2012, I am 7 months post op and Im down 80 pounds! No problem and it was a smooth ride..no vomiting and I can eat anything...witht the band, it was impossible for me to eat protein so I ate junk!...My experience, sleeve is the best decision..Do some research of the difference from the band to sleeve and you will see for yourself...goodluck

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....

Well..... the fat in my flaps is certainly lumpy. My doctor said they were "fat globules". Whatever that means. I suppose that is a possibility. I had to crack up laughing while I was driving home yesterday.... There was a tattooed motor cycle rider driving alongside me. The tats on his arm caught my attention. When I looked, he had obviously lost a LOT of weight, because he had some awesome "flaps" that hands down topped mine. At the high speed he was driving, they were literally flapping in the wind. I got the giggles so bad I almost hit the curb!!! Oh the things we notice after being banded........

Ports for chemo therapy also placed few inches below the collar bone. They still flip, and the bump is very visible even before weight loss.

This search on Google can help: tofu recipes ("low fat" OR "low calorie" OR healthful) Also, you can puree tofu in the blender along with some splenda or equal + Water or milk + fruit or Protein powder - even green leafy vegetables, such as spinach!. Puree it on the highest speed (I have a VitaMix). Add a few ice cubes and puree them as well. You have a smoothee. You essentially turntofu into a liquid. This pureeing technique works with firm, medium, soft and silken textures of tofu. I do find that different brands of tofu have different flavors. My own personal favorite brand is Mori Nu. You can order cases of Mori Nu online. But other people might find other brands to be better. Tofu always has helped me lose weight in the past. I hope that this information is helpful.

I have the implannon and haven't had my surgery yet. I'm scheduled on Nov 7th. I have gained about ten lbs on while on it. I am now on the liquid pre op diet and I have lost weight while on the diet. My question is to those who have already had the surgery. Were any of you on BC and did it have any impact on how much weight you lost after surgery?

I have the Nexplanon implant. I lost weight prior to my surgery by following my NUT's plan and exercising. My surgeon wanted my implant removed one month prior to surgery due to a family history of blood clots. I had new implant inserted one month after surgery when I was cleared from the risk of developing a blood clot. Since then I've lost 66 lbs. (I'm a little over 4 months out from surgery.) In my experience, both pre- and post-op, birth control has had no impact on my weight loss. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Jachut, you work out a lot. If I work out with weights to get them to match, should I work the little arm or the fatter arm harder and more frequently with the weights???? God I sound like such an idiot, but I really don't know. Is my right arm bigger because of more fat, (which is what it looks like) or because there is more muscle underneath? This may be my imagination, but the loose skin and dimpling seems to be worse on the big arm as well. Like I won't have the same sagging skin issues on the two arms. The little arm looks like I may escape that nasty outcome. the big arm, there's no doubt I'm stuck with it. This is really freaking me out.

That Leigha is a girl after my own heart. Been a believer in non-starvation since I started this process. Throwing a body into the starvations mode only hinders weight loss and causes those nasty plateaus. Good healthy food choices at 2-3 hour intervals makes for a healthy bod!

interesting read. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57535156/weight-loss-surgery-may-lead-to-a-healthier-heart/

I'm booked... after a billion emails and questions to the office and to many people in this forum and another, I've booked my surgery date - June 22, 2010 - with Dr Armando Joya in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I've read through all of Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies (great book, but very gastric bypass-centric point of view) and have been reading pretty much every post that i can get time to go through on here. I think I'm ready. nervous as heck, but ready. lol I know this is the right decision for me, but it's so hard to be confident about it when not all of my family is supportive. I have one brother who is quite vocal about me making the wrong decision and nto really trying. I know he'll be there for me after it's over, but in the meantime, it leads to doubts... things like excess skin, weight gain after sleeving, and if I really have the fortitude to make this work. I assume nervousness and doubts are normal?

Happy NY! My "fun" was watching my husband drool on himself at (9:00pm) while my 5yr old son and I had a photo shoot spread featuring his face on fb! Woot woot talk about fun!! My goal (inspiration) is to drop a lot of weight by summer so I can at least get these pasty white legs out In the sun after being MIA for 15 years. My regret is being hardheaded in the gym and not learning that after you've been on a treadmill for 45 mins just because a "fit" girl gets on a treadmill beside you doesn't mean it's a "Instant competition" and you have to make damn sure she gets off her treadmill first (thus sparking the inside "that's what I though B fist pump" ) my Legs hurt!! Waaaah!

I'm happy you got the all clear. My doctor at 3 weeks- said no way. Until I'm able to consume enough calories that support regular activity that any extra workouts were out of the question and not safe. I have not updated my stats, but I'm currently 30 pounds down from my pre-hospital weight on May 1st. I am doing really good to get 500 calories in a day most of the time it's 400 or less. What is your caloric intake?

Eat a big Breakfast and lunch. Once you've been weighed at that appointment your weight won't be held against you. Ask what surgery he recommends. Does he have any preop requirements beyond your insurance requirements? How far out is he scheduling? It's normal to be nervous, it's a big step. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

So I leave tomorrow for Mexico and have my surgery done next Friday. I have spent about 4 months reasearching everything on the Lap Band. My wife came out last night and tells me she does not agree with my decision to get this done. She tells me she will support my decision, but thinks I have not tried hard enough to lose it on my own. Over the past 14 years, I have lost 100lbs, 60lbs twice and 50lbs....only to put it all back on. My mother I told tonight and I figured she would be the critical one, but she is very supportive because she has worried about my weight problems for years now. I am kinda disappointed that my wife does not agree with this procedure, and just mentioned it to me a day before I leave!! I think more than anything I just needed to vent. We had our first child in Feb and that is when I made the final decision to go through with this, to get healthly and be there for my son for a very long time!!

It is exactly what my doctor said it would be - I eat less and stay full longer. I do count calories and that helps me make better choices on what to eat. Diet has such a negtive fibe, but it is kinda a diet, but not in a bad way. You make better choices, you eat less, you stay statisfied, you loose weight. I do feel better. My asthma is A LOT better. I am able to jog again- yeah! I in general feel better because I am in control of my life.

When I went for my psych evaluation, the Dr. suggested 2 books: Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with food and The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person. They also have this on CD and there's a workbook you can buy that goes with it. He said they are both good since they don't focus on a specific diet but on changing the way you think about food and yourself. I have both but have only started reading the first one yesterday. I also have The Sleeved Life and that was a good book, depending on how much research you have already done. If you are far into the process, you may not learn too much but it's still a good read. I also ordered recipes for Life After Weight-Loss Surgery, Revised and Updated: Delicious Dishes for Nourishing the New You and the Latest Information on Lower-BMI Gastric Banding Procedures. I reviewed it and have begun to mark recipes that I'm going to test. The best part of this book is that it associates each meal with which phase you are in. So it has liquid, puree, soft, mechanically soft and regular meals. It also gives you eating tips for the type of bariatric surgery you are getting. This is one of the few that specifically discussed The Sleeve. Hope this helps.

I opted for the VSG first. My orthopedic surgeon even agreed to have the WLS first and get as much weight off as possible before having knee replacement surgery. I can say my mobility has drastically improved with my weight loss thus far. I will still need the knee surgery, but, I'm walking so much better.

Well its been two weeks + waiting so far. The first time I called medical mutual someone told me there was no claim on file (!) I was only semi worried because I knew the jewish hospital folks knew exactly what they are doing. Now Im nervous. I called and got another representative! I was told my information is in the nurses review part and it would take another five to seven days (!!!!!!!!) thats it. I am crossing everything on my body now. Seven days is around the nineteeth. After my first week of work. i hope those nurses arent suspicious of my weight watchers diet

@@ppressey24 Yep Tuesday 4th. Wow 22 pounds, that is unreal. Only 11 for me but I'm trying not to focus on the weight otherwise I'll drive myself insane. I can't wait until Tuesday either but sooooooo scared. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

My surgeon told me that I could lose as much as I WANTED to. That means I could lose as much as I put forth the effort to lose, so if I put forth minimal effort I would lose minimal weight, if great effort was put forth I could reach my lofty goal of being 135. I have spoken to many bansters some very succesful some only mildly. But what I see is what you put in to it you get out of it. However, that being said it may take years. One friend it has taken her 3 years to finally reach goal. So I believe that is the most important thing- just keep on living the band life and moving forward and you can reach goal.

Hello readers! I want to start off by saying I am writing you all my story in hopes that it will get rid of some of the emotions I am holding inside, and some of the things in my head that I've been wanting to say but didn't know who to tell. I was told by my doctor journaling is a good way to say the things that sometimes you are afraid to say, or dont know who to say them too. I figure by blogging maybe I can help someone else out with their weight loss journey along the way. So here goes nothing.. I guess I should introduce myself so you can better understand my journey. My name is Zoey and I am currently 24 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall and when I started my journey I was at my heaviest(weighing in at 310 lbs on March 1st 2011.) I have been heavy all my life. Myself as well as the majority of my family have always struggled with our weight. My doctor for most my adult life had said I should look into having surgery, as I've had countless failed weight loss attempts. Prior to having surgery I had tried just about every diet on the market and taken many different kinds of weight loss pills. Yet I couldn't seem to lose much weight. Everytime it was the same thing, lose a few pounds, gain even more back. I had done all the research, weighed all the risks and talked to numerous family, friends and online support groups before making my decision to have surgery. I knew just about everything there was to know on all the different kinds of weight loss surgeries. I knew that if I didnt make a drastic change I would end up living a shorter more painful life. I dont remember the last time I loved or even liked my body. I couldn't remember the last time I could say I weighed less that 200+ pounds. March 1st was the day that changed everything, the day I attended the required informational meeting at Park Nicollet that would forever change my life. I should probably let you know I along with all my research had also looked at many options of where and who I wanted to perform my surgery. I chose Park Nicollet after finding out that all my doctors would be under one roof and there wouldnt be a ton of running around. All the doctors, nurses, and staff knew each other, worked with one another on a dialy basis, and a good majority themselves had made the decision to have weight loss surgery. My journery started March 1st with attending the meeting. Just a short time later, May 24th 2011, I under went surgery. I know many people have told me that is a short amount of time from beginning to end but let me tell you it was one of the worse, most stressful 2 1/2 months of my life. I decided in the beginning that I was only going to tell the people most important to me about my surgery. I knew that for some people deciding who you are going to tell about your decision is even more difficult than the surgery and recovery its self. Its very emotionally and mentally draining to decide who you are going to tell or if you'll just tell everyone. After telling my parents, brother and sister in law, I told a couple friends 3 to be exact. I thought that would be good enough, that was all the support and stress I needed. I soon realized for me however, there were a few more people I was going to want to tell. I had some mixed reactions in telling my family, in particular my brother. I got the same reaction from him as I knew I would get from the majority of people. He wanted me to try another diet, try working out more, try eating differently. Being that he is not over weight and never has been, I knew this would be a likely response. I initially decided I was not going to tell anyone I worked with about it and was just going to say I was having surgery and leave it at that. Yet curioscity kills that cat every time and people would ask me "what kind of surgery are you having?" I soon turned to the excuse of a car accident I had been in June 2010. Most everyone at work knew I had been in a pretty bad car accident. Most people would ask if it was because of that. My response was always "yes its surgery to help with my back pain." Although this was a cover up, it was also some what the truth. My being over weight and having injured my back the year before did not work too well together. At first this was fine and it was an easy way to avoid tellig people the truth. After time it started to bother me emotionally because I wasnt being 100% truthful with people. To date I have extended my initial list of people to include the people I talk to the most at work, the people I eat lunch with at work, and my manager. I dont regret my decision to tell the people I did the truth. I know for me over time I will most likely tell more people. For me not telling people the truth is hard. I dont lie well and under pressure I generally crack. Thought I've told more people about surgery there are a number of people, my extended family, that I have chosen not to tell and dont plan on ever telling. My extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, are not always the most understanding people in the world. Prior to surgery I lost right around 30 pounds. I am not quite at the one month mark yet from surgery but as of June 16th I weigh 255.5. Which means since March 1st I have lost 54.5 pounds. I don't know how this compares to everyone else's progress but I think it's pretty good. The biggest thing since surgery that has been a struggle is seeing how little I am eating and feeling mentally as though I am wasting away. It's hard to see yourself after so many years eat so little food. I have had a lot of nausea since surgery which hasn't helped one bit either. I am currently still on medication to get rid of the nausea but am finding each day that goes by it seems to get better and better. I have my one month mark check up this coming Thursday the 23rd. I am interested to see what the doctors have to say about my progress and am interested to see what I will weigh in at. I will try and update this when I can. I apologize if I rambled I just needed to put it all in writing and get it out of my head.

Well i was printed to share my story, so here goes.. I'm 26, Mexican-Iranian... That's important because that means that I was raised on rice and corn tortillas. I'm female btw. Both of my parents work two or three jobs, so I was also raised on costco and walmart a frozen meals, like lasagna and chicken and rice... My sister has a disability which mean the I spend the better part of my early childhood in the waiting room of various doctors... Speech therapy, occupational therapy, at the ER, an the mental health therapist... But that not to being said to make you feel sorry, rather so you know that I again was subject to cafeteria food, Jello from the nurses and McDonalds. In high school one of my cousins said I was fat, and a kid in school said I had too much facial hair on my arms and cheeks... Thus the body image phase hit. And so did the diet programs... Slim fast, Jenny Craig, weight watchers, curves, just To name a few. In college I got a personal trainer and a dietician an got put on phentermine, then my knee cap popped sideways and I had to get knee surgery, that was 2009. Then I severely sprained my ankle and was on a boot for 6 weeks... So what brought me down this path for the Sleeve.... I need surgery on my other knee, same thing that happened on my right knee, reconstruction. Due to my weight says the doctor. I've got plantar faciitis on both heels of my feet, that doc said to "to try to loose 50lbs".. Like that was easy before. Ha. I've got pinched nerves on my lumbar and on my neck... That doc said to loose weight, that'd help. And lastly I'm pre-diabetic. My pcp said I'd for sure be on diabetic meds within the next 6 months if no change is made to my weight. No let me also say that since I moved away from home in 2006, after high school, I became semi-vegetarian...eating fish or chicken twice a week, pasta-rice-or-bread three times a week.... Also in high school I learned to cook for the family, and since dad is vegetarian, I learned all sorts of recipes to make. So it's not like I was eating out all the time or eating junk food all the time. So surgery was on 12/4/2014. Thanks to my crap Obamacare insurance I was dropped in June and either way this surgery is not covered. My dad had a good year financially and with the self-pay discounts at the hospital, my dad was able to get a loan for the procedure. Did I mention Ive been living at home with the parentals for the past two years, and I've been in grad school the last two years. My knees feel 1000x better. I've lost 25lbs so far, and even my heals don't get the stabbing shooting pain that they used to after walking for more than three hours. Only negative so far is that I haven't been able to take my anti-depressant/anxiety meds Effixor because when I take it I feel dizzy, light headed, nauseous, weak and that lasts for hours. That's me. Not sure why I had to share.

Today I had my consultation with the surgeon today. Things went well. He was telling me about both RNY and the lapband. He told me about everything it seemed. I really like him and totally trusted him. I have no idea how I can feel like I do after it though. I am so annoyed with myself that I've kept this weight on and now have to resort to surgery for help. I almost tried to talk myself into believing again that I could do it on my own. I've proven for the past 14 years that I CANT!!! I'm going through the process and will not stop this time. Just wondered if anyone else did this too?

Check your BMI - I think Oxford said 39 or 40 is what they look for. Also, do you have high BP or some other medical problem that would benefit from loosing weight? I have RA and high BP - my doctor's said they would write letters but none were needed.