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Hi :-) I mainly post on a different site-but am pretty desperate for imput and hope to broaden my search-hope you'll indulge me :-) I was banded 2 years ago-get fills and feel some restriction for a couple weeks then lose the feeling (NOT the saline- no leak) I'm filled to 4.25 cc in the smaller band with NO restriction-honest< I can eat anything in preband portions and never pb anymore...my surgeon has checked it and says it looks tight enough under fluro...but I believe food just goes right through ...my fill doc (different man) is willing to add more but has no reason for my feeling no restriction-the only thing I can think of is a weak place in the tubing that is bulging, keeping the saline from moving equally around the band-checking that out means a trip to Mexico-again- to have barium injected instead of saline..which I'll do when I can -BUT if you have had a similar problem or lack of restriction with plenty of saline I really love to hear your story-thanks so much!!

Yeah the incision pain is what I am left with too at 12 days post-op. I have learned to hold in/push in my tummy when I laugh, cought or sneeze. I have been able to sleep on my belly which is nice. I am not taking any pain meds either. I am just doing walking as my exercise. I also have pain if I pick up something or push something heavy. This is normal and I hope it goes away in the next 2 weeks before I go back to work in early November.

I had mine deflated for 3 years due to problems. The preop was only hard the first few days then got so much easier. I got a revision from band to sleeve in one. My surgeon usually does it in two but I had n insurance situation so he accommodated me. What did they say when you demanded the unfill?

Got all my paper work today from my insurance and weight watchers!! I can start this week which I am going to on Thursday morning I am so excited to start but also really nervous honestly, I have to do 6 months which is 24weeks of WW, which will be broken up into two sessions and I have to attend at least 10 out of 12 meetings. Which ill be trying to go to all of them. And with each session I will need to lose 13lbs which is 26lbs in the 6 months (24wks) so I figure by November 28th I will be completely done with my weight watchers and I should be getting banded in December or beginning of January at the latest. so happy still can't believe this is really going to happen.

Well when I had dilation and prolapse, my band was emptied for 3 months to heal. After 3 months it looked much better and we started re-filling again. So it made sense to me that if I emptied it again before my revision, that it would be in better condition, therefore making my surgery easier. I emptied 2 months pre-op, and had a great single surgery revision. Almost 3 months out now from my single surgery revision. Surgery itself was a breeze (50 minutes) and my recovery after has been pretty easy the whole time. That being said though, there are doctors that just don't believe a single surgery revision is ever safe and won't do them. I was self pay, so the possibility for a safe single surgery was very important to me. In your case, it's frustrating, but best to just listen to your surgeon. Patience is a necessary evil all the way through this journey. Consider it some extra practice Best of luck!!!!

Congratulations on your commitment to a healthier lifestyle by signing up! Curves is very successful here in the US and I'm sure you'll do great! However, the quoted text really bothers me and it upsets me that a fitness facility would guarantee weight loss by attending 3x or more a week. Losing weight requires that you use more calories than you take in. If you do 3 workouts a week for an average of 400 calories, that's only a total of 1200 calories. And we all know far too well how easy it is to consume 1200 calories... and that would just keep you at maintenance. You know your body better than anyone else so listen to it and go for it! Just don't buy into somebody else's BS because it's what you want to hear... You're going to do awesome because of YOU, not because THEY guarantee it.

Hey everyone, I joined a "gym" today that just opened a few blocks from my apartment. It's called VivaFit and they specialize in 2 things. One is Pilate's and the other is a 30 min program that is done on hydraulic machines. There is a circle of machines and you start the circle and spend 30 seconds on each machine, the entire round should last 30 min. They say that if you do it a min of 3 times a week your guaranteed weight loss. It's geared for women and is a women's only institute. The girl there told me that they have something similar in the US called Curves? Has any one heard of this? Has any one tired it? How were the results?? Any thing any one has to add would be great! Thanks!

For me it is all about controlling my hunger and cravings. I know that carbs are the issue I have to watch. I try to avoid all starches like bread, potatoes, rice, and all sweets by not having them around. If I eat them, my appetite, especially for them, increases dramatically. I try to stick with lean meats (chicken, turkey, diet lean burger, shrimp, pork tenderloin, etc.) low carb veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, zuchinni, green Beans, peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, salad greens, etc), occasionally beans of all sorts, and limited fresh fruits. If I am hungry I bump up my Protein with Protein powder. That way my hunger stays in better control. I was banded April 7 and have had two fills so far and have 2.5cc in my band. I am looking forward to another fill next week. My band is great, but what I put in it makes a world of difference. I am better when I stay away from heavy carbs. The band has helped tremendouly but my chioces make a lot of difference. Good luck wiht your exercise and food choices. It is not easy, but can be done!

I hear your pain. I LOVED spaghetti and tacos. I like pizza alot. So I'm only 2 weeks post op but I've been collecting some great recipes from some health sources like skinnytaste.com, emily bites, and the world according to eggface. This includes some wonderful pizza and taco recipes that should satisfy the "taste" of my favorites. I don't know if Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps or Hungry Girl WonTon tacos will satisfy the crunch I loved some much about tacos but salsa fixes much! Good luck!! G.

HI, Today is my 7th week post surgery. I've lost 24 pounds but the last two weeks...nothing. I have my third post-op appointment next Thursday. My Dr. said he wanted me to loose 10 pounds by that appointment and I've only lost 3. I'm feeling a lot of pressure to "make weight" by next Thursday and it's really making me angry. I've spent my life being a slave to the scale and now that I've had the surgery, I just want to be good to my body and have a healthy attitude toward my weight loss and new eating habits. Thank you to anyone who reads this and has any wisdom or encouragement to share. I've never before participated in a site like this but I feel isolated because my schedule doesn't allow for me to join any support groups. Thanks again to all of you "out there"

My Sergeon felt I would better benefit from having the sleeve since I was having so much issues with the band. Now it's been almost a year and I only lost 50lbs verses the 120lbs with the band. I have no idea what I am doing wrong and this is disappointing on all levels. Just a quick background: weighted 302 at the time I was banded and lost more than 180lbs in the year I had it. The band kept slipping and my Sergeon felt it would be safer for me if I did the sleeve. I was in the hospital for 6 weeks because I had lost more than 200lbs while banded, I had to gain the weight back. I was 289!when I got the sleeve last year and can't seem to get off 238lbs.

It will depend on how far post op you are. I wasn't allowed anything but liquids for four weeks -- I'm on soft foods now, about 7 weeks out, and can eat 2 oz. fish or any other meat, maximum. I expect that will change over time, I see other people later on can eat up to 4 oz. I'm not allowed soup -- ever -- since it's the same thing as drinking with your meal. As my doctor explained it, if you drank broth from a mug at the same time as eating chunks of meat and veggies on a plate, everyone knows that isn't okay. So why is it okay if you dump them all into a bowl and eat/drink them together? But most people are allowed soup on their post-op plans.

There is a reason I never trusted a fart the first 6 weeks of my sleeve. It mostly seemed to be with diet and not the sleeve. As you get back to normal food and if you still have this issue, that's when you need to call the doc IMHO.

I started walking every day about a week post op. Then I started going back to the gym around week 4 and got back into the full swing week 6. My dr. recommended 6 weeks, but said that as long as I avoid abdominal exercise, I should be ok at week 4. I am at 7 weeks po and still have tenderness when trying to do ab work, so I am still avoiding it until I feel better. I exercise 4-5 days a week at the gym, 3 days a week at home.

Go slow, you'll have plenty of time later to work out. For now, go for a walk, short walk, long walk, just go slow. And now is so not the time to push yourself. I would give it a month, then after that play it by ear. I would definately not do any strenuous exercises for at least 6 weeks.

I'm 13 days post op and just started soft foods today. My doctor had me on clear liquids for 2 days, then two weeks on liquids. Yours sounds fairly normal to me.

I am finally exercising! Yeah! I have been getting at least 30 minutes of exercise today. So far I have lost 17 lbs!!! I began to worry my progress would slow down if I did not start moving, so I am mostly doing the elliptical machine each day. I am finally use to being hungry. It does not really bother me anymore. I still cannot wait to get my first fill on the 16th! To think about eating less, and feeling full.... I cannot wait!!!! Three weeks ago, I would not have believed how I feel right now. I was miserable, sad, and in pain. But now I realize the surgery was definitely worth it. I have more energy, and a different perspective on life! The surgery is not a complete cure; I have had to change my eating habits and philosophy about food. The fact that I have had to change my eating habits to food I do not like has helped! I do not look forward to eating anymore! HA HA HA!!!!! Off to the gym! I hope I keep it up! I had set a goal that I would be exercising 3Xs a week by Feb. 5th. Looks like I will make that goal! Woo Hoo!

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a little feedback or simular experience from anyone who wants to share. Here's my story: For about the last 6 weeks I've been having reflux problems at night. I feel acid in my throat and have a sore throat in the morning. I tried taking Zantac 150mg but it didn't help. Then I tried Prilosec which helped a little bit. I also elevated the head of my bed and stopped eating after 6pm. I also cut out acidic foods. Since none of this seemed to get rid of it completely, I called my fill doctors office. He was on vacation so his nurse told me to go to my primary doctor and ask to have an upper gi/barium swallow done. I just got the results of the upper gi and the impression by the radiologist reads: "old duodenal ulcer or duodenal inflammation.". The primary doctor told me to go back to see the fill doctor (his office is closed until monday) because she didn't know what to do from here. In the mean time she gave me Nexium to take and I'm doing MUCH better since taking it. I don't have any acid in my throat and my sore throat has gone away. I didn't have much faith in the radiologist who did the upper gi because he had never seen a lapband before. He asked me lots of questions about it including "when are you going to have it removed". He didn't understand that I couldn't drink the barium really fast because I had to wait a minute in between swallows for it to go down (it was morning and I try to be extra careful in the morning because I'm a little tighter then in the afternoon) It made me nervous! I have to call the fill doctor on Monday to see if he'll see me. I posted a message on Dr. Kuri's website to see what others thought and I got an immediate email from JoAnn (patient facilitator) telling me to call Dr. Kuri right away! And Sandy,RN told me to get an unfill right away to prevent reflux damage of the esophagus. She thinks I've waited too long already but as soon as I realized the reflux wasn't a temporary thing, I made appointments (it just took a long time to get an appointment with the primary doctor and then I had to wait to have the upper gi done and then another week to get the results) Oh, I hope my band has not eroded or something terrible. I'm doing so well with my weight loss (it's been slow but steady). I hate to think of loosing my band and gaining it all back. :-( Anyone else have a simular experience?

Interesting to here what people in the countries have to do for insurance coverage. Yes, in the USA there are many different insurance programs and weight loss programs. I am lucky that mine is covered. The hardest part of my program was the hoops you have to jump prior to qualifying for surgery; mental health screen, sleep study, physical by your primary care, dietitian consultation, support groups and then healthy eating classes. Do you folks have the same requirements? I just joined the forum and have my surgery scheduled for next week.

Ordered my preop diet weeks ago through a rep at my Dr. Appt. Diet starts in 3 days and it's still not here! Called the company and it "may" be here late Wednesday. I start diet Tuesday! Luckily I have some powder here to make shakes. Would Atkins or slimfast snack bars make a good substitution for a few days??

first of all, yes, being really nervous before surgeries is pretty normal. secondly, if you can lose the weight on your own, then go for it. Up to about 5% of people are able to lose their excess weight and keep it off long term. I, unfortunately, was not one of the 5%. I had surgery at age 55, after literally decades of losing and regaining the same 50 lbs. Same story every time - I'd lose it, hit a brick wall, and then it'd eventually all come back on - within a few months. I finally got to the point where I had to stop kidding myself. I couldn't even keep 50 lbs off, and I had over 200 to lose! So for me, surgery was really my only choice. Maybe you'll be one those who'll be able to do it and keep it off. There are some out there. And btw - surgery doesn't guarantee you'll be able to lose most or all of your excess weight and keep it off - but it greatly improves your odds. not sure what to tell you about protein. I only eat meat a couple of times a week, but I do eat a lot of dairy (including yogurt and cottage cheese). I also add protein powder to some things. In addition, I still drink protein shakes, at five years out, because they help me get up to my protein goals (most people don't need them after the first few weeks or months - but I have to have 100+ grams a day to keep my prealbumin level up, and a protein shake a day really helps me get there) you do have to be mentally ready for this, because the surgery only does so much. It's a lot of work, esp after the first few months. But the difference is, your efforts actually pay off. I was able to lose - and maintain - and enormous amount of weight, which I'd never been able to do before.

I like kettlebells, try to follow a video 2 x a week.

Do you keep a food log? Do you supplement with Protein shakes or bars? Are you getting in your Water? The good news is you will likely continue to lose. The bad news is stalls are fairly common. Your body needs a minute to re-calibrate and adjust to all the changes happening in a relatively short period of time. You can try putting the scale away and taking your measurements instead. Does your nutritionist want your to cut back on calories? I am 4 mths out and avg around 800 - 850 calories a day. I workout 4-5 days a week mostly in classes. Occasionally I have a day where I go higher because I'm hungry.

I have had a breast lift/ augment, abdominoplasty, thigh lift, lipo in a variety of areas, brachioplasty, and posterior body lift with auto augment of the butt. My first surgery was boobs, stomach and lipo on my hips, thighs, and back. I expected the pain to be excruciating and there was barely any. The most pain I experienced was during my last surgery which was the posterior part of the body lift, probably because unlike the other procedures you are laying on the part of your body that just had surgery done on it. Even then though, I was on Percocet for 3 days which is what I did for the prior two surgeries and I didn't even need Tylenol after that. I could have probably skipped the Percocet after the first day or two, but it helps you to recover better when you aren't tensing up every time you move because you think it's going to hurt. So, in terms of pain, plastic surgery isn't pleasant, but it's not actually painful as much as irritating. Sometimes you move a little bit in the wrong way and you get a bit of a stab of pain, or you go to reach for something and realize your stomach or back is too tight that you can't quite get where you wanted to go. The pain is easy, the first week where your mobility is limited is the annoying part. Also, the drains the first week are annoying, and for me I ended up with a seroma after the abdominoplasty and wound separation after the posterior body lift, so those two things just added to my annoyance. Not painful or scary, just irritating. I had my procedures broken into three procedures because I had them done in the States with an awesome doctor who uses an outpatient policy for plastics. I was capped at 6 hours in surgery, so they did the boobs and tummy first, brachioplasty and groin incision thigh lift second, and then the posterior body lift, auto augment, and a re-do of my thighs in the third procedure. My doctor has a policy that you wait 3 months between procedures, so the first one I had done in August of 2014 and the last one I had done in March of 2015. Much as I would have preferred to have it all done at once, I live alone and while you can easily handle recovery for a few procedures, having all of this done at once would have not only put me at a greater risk for issues because I had to have some mobility, but recovery would have been hell. You can compensate for things when you have the surgeries broken up. For example, when I couldn't use my ab muscles, I relied heavily on my legs. When I couldn't use my arms very much I relied more on my abs (sitting up in bed as an example, you need either arms or abs). I'm sure you can get everything done at once, but my surgeon didn't allow it and I was ok with that.

The only think I have found so far, 4 weeks out today, is cow's milk. I am now using Silk Low fat Soy milk in my Protein shakes. I can only eat about 6 teaspoons at a sitting. I do well with any kind of chicken and ground turkey. Oh, and my Vitamins make me throw up everytime I take them.