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I'm new (obviously) I've already spoken with my insurance co. and they pay 90% after the deductible is met, yay! Now, just to get started. I have an appointment the beginning of June for the initial consultation? - And I go to the required seminar at the end of June. All I really know so far is the mostly common BMI of 35 + 1 or more co-morbidities or a BMI of 40. And I was told that there is something about losing 10% prior to the surgery but clearly not to start that until after the actual weigh in. Anyone have any advice or experience they could share with me? Thank you! J

I signed onto My Chart for a message. Posted was my August 10 surgery date and my surgical pre-op appt. Aug 5. My surgery notification (the date I already knew) said procedure performed by Dr. Rosenthal (the one I know) and Dr. Ganga. I had two doctors (I didn't even know) do my egd, so I should assume they'll be more than one doctor doing my sleeve. I couldn't find any info on him, other than he is a MD at Cleveland Clinic. From their site, I find he is in the Residency surgical program. My biggest fear when going into a teaching hospital is that I'll be handed over to a student. Is this common in a hospital clinic setting? I'm thinking I'm going to make sure I physically see Dr. Rosenthal before they put me under. Although to be honest, Dr. Rosenthal wears the thickest glasses I've ever seen. I did ask his nurse about his eyesight and she assured me its fine. Am I just getting too picayune and just chill out and be happy insurance is paying.

I believe you must track your food calories during the losing stage. I used calorie counter on my phone and counted everything I put in my mouth. My number was 1000 each day to see a loss of 10 lbs a month. How else will you know how much you are consuming until you reach the green zone? but that's just what worked for me. Now that I am maintaining I don't count them on my phone ap.. But in my mind I have a running total that just comes as second nature after doing it for 2 years... And I like to be able to make wise choices... Especially when eating out. How else would I know each chicken wing from hooters is 100 calories.... You need to do what works for you...best wishes for your success...

Hi guys. 44 yr old guy new to the site and looking to chat with other men who have had or are getting ready to have the banding procedure. Have finished the 6 months of classes that BC/BS requires and will have a date soon. In February when I started I was 298 and have lost 10 lbs as of yesterday. I suffer from severe sleep apnea and that is the motivation to have the surgery. I'm a dispatch supervisor at 911 and sitting behind a dispatch console for 21 yrs has contributed greatly to my current weight status. Recently am having a case of nerves and I'm worried about chickening out. Like most men...I have committment issues! LOL Seriously, concerned about the changes that I'm going to have do after the surgery. So, feel free to respond. Would really appreciate it!

Just wanted to pop and say "Hi" and introduce myself. I am 41 year old female. I have been married to a wonderful man for 23 years. We have 7 children-5 boys and 2 girls. Their ages are 21, 19, 17, 15, 11, and 5 year old twin boys. Yes, I am very busy, but not busy enough to be thin! LOL. My BMI is 43, weight 276. I am through all of the tests and evaluations and am now waiting anxiously for insurance approval. I hope to really get to know all of you. I have been active on a "twins" site for a couple of years and have gained some really great friends. Hoping to add some more from here.

I'm laying here at 6 in the morning in totally agony over the pain of 2 surgery's in 2 weeks. I appreciate your last response and I think it's a good idea to ask for the band,I will see my doctor today and ask him for it. Looking at your success I am especially touched. I was 191 pre-op and 181 when I went in for surgery. I fluctuated b/t 181 and 183 during the 2 weeks that I had my band. Before I had the surgery I was looking for people who were under 200 who had the surgery and didn't get but one response and she had just had the surgery and no results. Looking at you, down to 123 now and running your first 5 k, you remind me of where I was going and what this journey was supposed to be about. I am so thankful that I am okay and that this didn't turn out more serious but now I have to say goodbye to this dream that I thought was going to become a reality and that really sucks right now. God has different plans for me and I am completely and totally faithful in His plan but it's just hard to re-adjust. After reading and resarching so much about the lab band, I know that it is a life saver for so many and that it transforms lives but I honestly don't think I could ever put it back in. I am in so much pain and I've put my family through a lot and I don't think I could do that again. Like I said, God's got a plan and I'm listening loud and clear as to what he wants me to do next. I'm actually feeling motivated to the challenge of losing weight without it.. not that it's not challenging with it too. I think we may take the money and invest in a trainer - not just 4 to 6 sessions - but someone who is with me always, pushing me and teaching me. I also think this process has taught me a lot more about nutrition than I knew. I never put heavy emphasis on lean Proteins and low carbs. I always did low fat, or counted points with weight watchers. My body really responded to the high Protein way by losing 10 pounds in a week and a half in my pre-op diet. So I'm trying to look at the upside. Sorry for the long post... you just gave me a painful reminder as to where I wanted to be by this time next year. I am proud of you and I wish you the best of luck with your rocking new body!!!! Take care.

Not only do I have the lap band but I work in surgery and see patients all the time have this procedure done. I have run across old and new threads about all three being months post op. Well here is the thing and I hate when people get frantic because they dont know what is wrong and want to take their band out or get the by pass done just sayin. I am 10 months post op. I often had and have shoulder pain but shoulder pain comes from over eating. Everyone has a nerve in their stomach that runs from the stomach to the shoulder when you have over eaten and the band presses on that nerve you will have pain. If you are havng this problem then whatever you are eating cut it in half. You also might have inflammation in your stomach so give it a rest of 72 hours. Go back to the diet you had when you came home from the hospital and start over. For gas and bloating my culprit was cinnamon in my coffee and spices and talking while eating, chewing gum, after I stopped all that the gas and bloating stopped. Also start drinking some probiotics dan active, eating activia yogurt, and use gas x until the symptoms stop. You probably are going back to your old eating ways at some point and you just cant. We have to stay on the diet, follow the diet or else you start having side affects you didnt have before. But dont talk about taking out your band until you have tried what you were doing before all that started. Hope it helps I really do.

12/10/15 i'm a little over 6 months out

Well, not really from the beginning because that would take us back to about 12 years old. I have wanted to have WLS for years and have never been able to afford it. Since starting with my current employer (2/1/10) I learned that our insurance policy will cover it. One of the requirements is to be employed for one year, so here I am a year later starting my journey. I used last year to fulfill my 6 month w/ PCP requirement so that I would be all set on 2/1/11. I am going to keep up with a timeline on this blog and try to track my entire process. I am not announcing it to the world, but I am being honest if someone asks me about surgery. I hope to be able to help others through transparency in my process. I can honestly say that so far, my dietition consult has been the most enlightening and helpful. While we did talk about food and nutrition, she actually did a great job of making me think about some of the emotional pieces of this puzzle. I have come to realize that I am ready to do this for ME. I need to be able to put myself first for a change so that I can be the fit wife/mother that I am in my heart. I have lots of dreams of jogging on the bike trail with my kids, running a 5k, fitting in the swings at the amusement park (not being afraid to take that Disney trip out of fear of not fitting in the seats), having pool parties in my back yard and actually getting IN the pool, etc. My main fears with the surgery revolve around whether or not it will be sucessful and a fear that I won't be able to keep the weight off. I know this is because of the lifetime of yo-yo dieting, but I'm just trying to be honest with myself. I am concerned (not really a fear, but concerned) about not being able to drink with meals and drinking liquids in general. After my surgery consultation, I realized very quickly that I am a "gulper". Never really thought about it before, but am very aware of it now. I know that this is going to be a very difficult transition and I hope that my friends and family will see the work that it takes and realize that it is not the "easy way out". I want this tool for the better chances of long term success. While I am VERY nervous...I am mainly excited and so ready to start seeing results. I'm hopeful that with a 3/28 surgery date that I will see some good "summer" results. Bring on swimsuit season. Weight Tracker: 290 - Highest Weight (before 6 month PCP visits) Size 24 270 - Current weight before surgery (BMI of 43.6) Size 20/22 Timeline: 2/1/10 - Clock ticking on one year employment requirement 6/1/10 - 12/1/10 - 6 monthly visits w/ PCP to document non-surgical weight loss 2/1/11 - One year employment anniversary 2/14/11 - Consult with Surgeon 2/19/11 - Psych Consult 2/22/11 - Dietition Consult 2/23/11 - Pre-Certification Packet submitted to insurance w/ scheduled date of 3/28/11

If you are that uncomfortable it might be time for an enema. You can one for less than $10 at the drugstore. Works really quickly too!

Hey Newbie Stalls can last different time periods for different sleevers. Since you are relatively new to WLS, 2 weeks stalled, i would venture to "guess" within a couple of weeks the scale will probably start moving again. gotta be patient that being said..... the last few lbs are hard to get rid of i have 10 lbs til goal ------------i've been stallllled for 2 months + , do you hear me screaming? of course not, i shut the door :lol: good luck

I could have written that, so I do know that fear. I have been doing really well, but lately I can eat a lot more than I could a month ago. I also know that I'm about 10 weeks post op, and I rarely was able to do well on a diet longer than this. I worry that I'll always be one who just "sticks something in my mouth". It would be super easy to do! There is no way this surgery will work for me without ME doing the work. I read that some people on here will lose no matter what, but I know for me, that's not the case. Thanks for the honest post.

Hi @@JamieLogical, I agree with @@erp and several others about taking advantage of the first year (honeymoon or not) to get to your goal. Everyone's goal is their own, with or without advice from their doc/nut, and there's no "right answer". My doc's philosophy is that we're doing this for our health, and everything else is just gravy, so if your health is good and you feel good, that's one thing. But... You also have this tremendous opportunity to push beyond the "I'm tired of this, so where I am is good enough" point. If you settle for "good enough", you may always wonder what your true goal might have brought you. (Kind of like spouses, right?) So I'm really glad to hear that you want to push on!!! Pick a number, re-focus on it, and drive towards it. Once you get there, see how you feel. If you want 5 more, go for it. If you're happy. That's great too. But don't stop short because it's "good enough". I aimed for the top of my "normal" BMI. Once I got there, I realized that I never wanted to get back to "overweight" again, so I lost 5 more. Then I was at 150 and decided that I wanted to stay below that, so I pushed to where I could touch 145. (It was also exactly 120 pounds down, which sounds way better than 115!) So now now I'm there and guess what? I don't have the desire to lose any more. I'm thrilled with where I am and just want to stay between 145 and 150, which leaves me with a 5-10 pound buffer for the "normal" range. And people who told me to stop because I was starting to look too thin 20 pounds ago, now tell me how healthy I look at this weight! You're always so full of wonderful advice, so I hope you'll take this from the heartfelt place from where it is offered. Good luck, I wish you nothing but the best – wherever you decide to go!!!

Thanks for your advice. I have decided to keep pushing forward with my weight loss, slow as it may be at this point. I don't know that I ever had a "honeymoon" phase. Maybe the first 3-4 months when I was losing without much exercise? I do know that I am working as hard or harder now to lose weight than I ever have in the past and it is going much more slowly. Aside from a stomach bug last month causing me to drop about 3 pounds in 2 days, my weight loss has "only" averaged 6 pounds a month since my second month post-op. And I have easily lost 8-10 pounds per month in the past through diet and exercise. Doing the same level of exercise I do now, but eating more calories than I'm currently capable of. All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing and as long as the scale keeps moving down (however slowly) I'll get to goal eventually.

Good luck! Hopefully, they approve you quickly! I was self-pay, so I didn't have to worry about that. I'm 36 (almost 37) and have 2 daughters, ages 12 & 8. I want to have as much time with them as I can & that's one reason I did this. I'm now 10 days post-op and can't be happier with my decision! Good luck with your journey!!

My surgeon never gave me a pre-op diet, just directions to lower the carbs, go high protein, and try to lose 10-15 pounds before surgery. He said the most important thing is to shrink the liver to allow better access to the stomach and reduce chances of complications. It's also a chance to practice what you'll have to do more stringently after surgery, so that you don't go into emotional shock in the first two phases after surgery (liquids and full liquids). So I just dieted like normal with salads, veggies, no soda, cut out sugary stuff, ate lots of chicken, tried out a few protein shakes. But I still made time to have some of my favorites, just in very small bites. Then of course, clears 24 hours before surgery for anesthesia reasons.

I was banded on 6/10/10 and am having port pain, after i eat when i take a breath it hurts, is this normal? i find i am eating once a day just because i don't want the discomfort. it almost feels like it's caught, i can feel a knot there still too.

Embrace this time. U were just banded. The stomach gets "angry" when messing with it. So right now u have natural restriction. When I was banded (10/17/2007) I didn't get my first fill till 3months after surgery as I had natural restriction. It doesn't happen like that for everyone. Just drink what u can. Take chewable multivitamins. Don't get frustrated. You will get through it. Take care.

Mine only said I may or may not be able to swallow them whole. It all depends on how tight I am and how big the pill is. There was no timeline on when I should try. I have been able to get my Sythroid and coated tablets down from the beginning. Capsules and Caplets wouldn't go down at all in the beginning and even now, it takes effort to get them down. I take three "Hair Skin and Nails" caplets and I have to swallow one with a ton of Water, wait 5-10 minutes for the next and so on. If they get stuck I slime BIG TIME!!! I still take my multi and Calcium in chewable form just because it is easier.

Today, Oct 20th, marks my second anniversary of this surgery we call RnY. In a very real sense it feels like the second birthday of the new and improved me. I can't help but reflect back on all of the changes that the last two years have seen. And at the same time, thinking in terms of new goals and challenges for the coming year. The first year following my surgery was an exciting time indeed. I was laser focused on one thing - achieving my optimum weight. I decided even before my surgery that rather than set a specific goal weight, I would allow my body to tell me when it was where it wanted to be. Just over a year later, that message came at 155 lbs. My weight stabilized. I felt great. And in my one year follow-up visit with my surgeon, she recommended that I not lose any more. It was time to shift my thinking, and my actions, away from losing and toward maintaining the new, 130 lb lighter, me. I had reached my destination. When I looked back at that first year, it occurred to me that is was much like what walking a tightrope would be. Maintaining an average calorie intake of just under 1300 calories a day was something of a delicate balancing act. There were days when I was over my goal. And those days had to be followed by "corrections" - days when I was under my goal. It was all about balance. And in the back of my mind the nagging, and always present fear that one misstep could result in all being lost. The more rational, confident part of me did not think that would happen. Still, I knew the surgery could be defeated. What if... So in that same follow-up appointment, my surgeon recommended that I increase my calories to approximately 1800 a day. To be sure, the number had some appeal. But I was concerned that it might be too high. What if? So I opted for a gradual increase to a more conservative 1600 calorie goal. My decision was undoubtedly due in part to a concern that kept going through my mind. It seemed that everywhere I looked, I read that many (if not most) bariatric surgery patients gain 10-20 lbs somewhere between 12 to 18 months post-op. A weight gain that is often described as "bounce back". That was out of the question. I was determined to not let that happen. So my goal for this past year became ensuring that I held my weight at, or very close to, the 155 lb mark. As the days and weeks went by my confidence grew. I decided it was time to really get to know my new body. I was tired of the balancing act. I wanted to enjoy a nice dinner at a nice restaurant with my wife, our family or friends. Or Celebrate a holiday or birthday enjoying the food that is inevitably part of festivities. I needed to test my limits. And I needed to know whether or not I had what it takes to do those things and still control my weight. Thanks to the amazing power of my food log, I got my answer. And it was in pursuit of that Quest that I discovered something quite remarkable. First there was the occasional 1800 calorie day. Not surprisingly, the following morning weigh-in usually reflected a gain of a pound or so. So my calorie goal became 1400-1500 for the next day or two. And sure enough, my weight would drop back down. Not just once or twice, but a number of times over the weeks and months that followed. Then came the occasional 2000 calorie day. Not often, but every now and then. Weight went up. Calories were reduced for a day or two. Weight came back down. At some point along the way I had a revelation. Controlling your weight is not about walking a tightrope - it's about riding a teeter totter. Up...and down. Up...and down. Gently. Relaxed. No fear. One misstep is not catastrophic. Wow. Since hitting the 155 lb mark almost a year ago, my weight has never been more than 156, or less than 151. This morning, this second anniversary of the new me, 152.2. No bounce back. Wow. So my goal for the coming year? More of the same. I have read in many places, including this forum, that maintaining your weight becomes more difficult after the two year mark. But I will be facing that new challenge coming not from a place of fear, but of vigilance. My food log will guide me. And it will tell the story. So next year, same time, same place - the next chapter in this amazing, life-changing journey.

I lost 20 lbs during my first 2 weeks on the pre-surgery diet. I lost another 30 lbs over the next 2.5 weeks. I stalled a bit (scale-wise) but have since lost another 5 lbs and I'm 6 weeks out now. I started at 375, surgery weight was 355... I'm down around 320 now. It's PERCENT to consider not POUNDS. In my first six weeks basically I lost 13% of my total body weight, or about 25% of my "excess" weight. The woman at your FI's work might have also lost 25% of her excess weight in the first couple weeks but she started out with less to lose.... Does that make sense? You are on liquids and 9 days post op - there's basically no way to gain or maintain weight like that (I mean unless you drank 10+ shakes a day, gross).... So YES weight loss right now seems rapid. But once you get back to food, your body will readjust into a more comfortable pace. Weight loss is NOT a straight line, so even tho it seems dramatic now, it'll ease up and your SHAPE will change even if the scale pauses a little. --Em

Weight loss does sometimes come to a halt after beginning an exercise program and that is the time to start measuring instead of weighing. Muscles retain Water while they are repairing (after heavy workouts/weight-lifting) and that is why the scale will not reflect your true progress. Before starting a program be sure to take measurements of your neck, shoulders, both upper arms, chest, waist, hips, both upper thighs and both calves. Take follow-up measurements every month. A few years ago I was 6 weeks into an intense weight=lifting program. My weight had 'stalled' but I persevered. I suffered a back injury and had to quit lifting entirely for a few weeks. During that time I lost 6 pounds in 10 days. Just shows you how much water I was retaining! A good program should include weights 3x a week and cardio 3-5x a week.

I dont really do much in the weigh of strenght training, just the very very basics two or three times a week becuase I hate it. But I find 45 minutes to an hour of cardio (running usually) five to six times a week perfect for me. I wouldnt want to do any more - because I dont think its necessary for fitness, it increases the risk of injury too much and I have other things to do. To save time, I combine cardio and strength training. I use my treadmill for this - 2 to 3 times a week instead of going out for my run I do the following: hop on the treadmill, walk one kilometre whilst doing fairly heavy (10lb) biceps and shoulders routine. Then I alternate running 200 metres (quite fast) with hopping off and doing 10 squats, 10 lunges each leg with a 40lb barbell, 3 times, that covers another kilometre on the treadmill, then I alternate running 200 metres with 30 tricep dips 3 times, then running 200metres and 30 pushups 3 times and then 200 metres with 30 crunches, leg raises combo 3 times. It takes about 50 minutes and is a pretty good overall workout. That's plenty I think, anymore is just really not necessary, except if you're doing it under supervision like on The Biggest Loser.

All of my paper work was submitted yesterday at 10:00 a.m. CST. I received a call today at Noon CST from the Insurance Director at the AIGB in Richardson, advising me that I am APPROVED for surgery and fills. Have my appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday, 10/17. I was told that surgery would most likely be scheduled a week later!!! One week of liquids.

My lab director came in my office and made a comment to me "Why are you wearing your husbands shirt to work?"... I laughed. I am wearing my shirt that used to be snug and now it just falls off! It is thick and warm and its cold here today so I just inadvertantly put it on. I guess i will have to retire it now... The second one was what he said after that. We continued to chat and I said I had lost over 40 inches, 10 in my hips alone! He said, "Thats great but dont loose too much weight. You know you can loose too much!" It was the first time someone has said for me not to lose too much.. I am still considered obese and have 45 more pounds to loose to get in the middle of my normal range!!!! I took the comment as a positive though... I told him I still had 45 more pounds to go and he just shook his head and walked off. LMAO! Yay for getting healthy and thin and feeling great about bagging clothes and people saying not to lose to much... I want that problem!