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I've been told I lost faster than "normal" since the first week. Was told not to expect to keep losing that fast, but I did. Was told to raise my calories and I did...some...as much as I could without being uncomfortable or eating too many carbs/sugar. Some people are slow losers, some faster. I really don't think there's a whole lot you can do about it if you are following your dr's instructions.

That's unlucky Wisconsin I had RNY and not had any major issues lost weight real fast. Changed my metabolism completely.

I don't think that you can fake those problems and symptoms on a test. You either have them or you don't. My BMI was under 40, but I had some other medical problems. At first the surgery was denied but after they reviewed it and the doctor appealed the first decision, the insurance company approved it. If the band is causing you serious problems, then I would get them to take it out. You said that they would cover that. Let yourself heal and try to maintain your weight loss. If you can't keep the weight off then the co-morbidity problems will come back. If you gain weight back, you will lose it very fast with the gastric sleeve surgery. This is all about being happy and healthy.

I dont mean to be nosey but you got approved fast I have BCBS PPO and will be on a tight deadline to get approved and get my surgery done this year...but my question is this and certainly dont answer if you dont want to...I just wanted to know what my chances would be of getting approved quickly as well....what is your bmi and do you havce any comorbidities...again dont answer if you dont want and i hope that you dont view me as being too nosey...but i just was wondering...my 6mo weight loss is up dec 14...and my insurance will change in january...right now they pay 100% of the lapband but in january they will only pay 80% and I will have to pay my $400 ded. on top of that.....thanks and CONGRATS!!!!!!!

As long as the water isn't coming back up, then I'd say you are not drinking too fast.

I have days where I just eat empty calories for no apparent reason than they just sound good. The ice cream the cookies the chips. I think all of us have been to that place at least once if not several times. I think mentally sometimes we are losing too fast for our minds to know who we are and what to do now. The important thing is whether it was one meal or one year the band is still there waiting for you to be motivated again. I love that I can take time off from losing and just relax if I need to. I don't gain during those periods I just maintain, then when I am ready I get busy and follow the plan and start losing again, I just pick up right where I left off. It's ok that we do this, we are human, sometimes the craving for reeses is just too strong for anyone to resist! But it seems you are ready to get back on track so forgive yourself for the junk food eaten and make healthy choices.

This sounds normal to me hon! I am 4.5 months out and I can only eat 4 ounces or so of anything. Early on you have to chew chew chew. Try weighing and only eating 3 ounces, waiting, and seeing how you feel. Some of that feeling is "full" and some might be food backing up into your esophagus. A sure sign you are eating too much/too fast.

I love sugar....but here's the problem with sugar...it's absorbed into the blood really fast (sugar spike), and tells your pancreas to make insulin fast, too. So your pancreas goes...OMG! Look at this rush of sugar, I'd better make a TON of insulin (insulin spike)! But then, after the sugar is taken care of, there's insulin left over and blood sugar gets a little too low...which triggers your hormones to go...OMG, we're running out of food...we NEED more SUGAR! So you end up with a biological craving for sugar...that makes you eat more sugary things...or other simple carbs like white bread or fruit juice...and the whole process starts over again:) Round and round you go. I try to be mindful of picking low glycemic carbs...sugars that will enter the blood slower...whole gains, etc. For my really sugary stuff...fruit, milk, naughty regular sugar.....I am mindful of that boomerang effect. I eat small quantities and when I predictably get hungry again....I break the cycle with something low glycemic, or I just tough it out because knowledge is half the battle. I get along great with Splenda. I hate Stevia...just tastes God-awful to me. After sleeve I've noticed that if I try to eat too much refined sugar, I won't get true full-on dumping syndrome, but I'll feel a little nauseated and crappy...so maybe a touch of it. It's a good reminder and I'm happy to have it.

I was very nervous about the fill needle and being poked, but turned out to be pretty simple. When I was laying there with the needle and syringe sticking out of my body the doc says, "ok, now I'm going to have you sit up and drink some water'. At the point I started laughing hysterically, tears and all. I said, "REALLY! :w00t:With the needle sticking a foot out of my body?!" The doc and my hubby looked puzzled or maybe they decided I had really lost it, but I seriously couldn't stop laughing. Doc said this was a first, lol....I guess most people aren't that easily amused? Oh well, now I am NOT laughing...:sad:I don't think I got enough of a fill! The doc filled some and had me drink water to see if it went thru, and with each fill and each big gulp, it always went down, no problemo. A few times i felt a little bit of what felt like a bubble in my throat but no feeling of water being stuck or backing up. i think it was just that it was a little air since he was requesting that I GULP the water. Not knowing what i was feeling I thought the bubble feeling and my husbands bulging eyes was maybe an indication that I needed to stop, so I took 4.4cc as good enough. I have read so much on here, but for some reason it never occurred to me to read about other people's first fill experience. So I really didn't know what was a little or a lot in terms of 1cc, 2cc's etc.:eek: Since I have a 10cc band, 4.4cc's sure did sound like an awful lot for a first fill when I hear others say their doctor doesn't even let them participate in the decision and 1 cc is all they get whether it good enough or not. I really cheated myself darn it. So, since my appt was at 11:30am and I was told to fast before the fill, I decided to have a junior frosty on my 2 hour ride home since I had a free coupon for one...skim milk later in the day and mashed potatoes for dinner. The doc said start with liquids & rapidly progress to full liquids and then soft foods as tolerated for the next 24 hours. NOW GUESS WHAT??!! I AM HUNGRY AND IT HASN'T BEEN 24 HOURS! Grrrrr..thank goodness for me it's only a short drive for a fill. I have a feeling I will be heading back up there next week. I am so mad at myself! What the heck was I supposed to feel to know I was tight enough??? Next time I won't let him stop til water is backed up in my nostrils, lol....guess that would mean I am filled enough???

Yeah, I have aetna and it was an"absolutely not' if you dont have a BMI of 40 no matter what other comorbs you have! I just didnt feel I had the psychological reserve to gain that much weight and I guess I'm very lucky that I could self-pay...the good thing about self pay is it goes very fast! John, I will really be thinking of you on that Monday as I will be loafing around postop!!! Best of Luck!! Cali

Anyone else really hungry. I feel hungry all the time. I get full really fast but then feel hungry. I am following the doctors diet exactly but still feel hungry. I am worried, I have lost 32 pounds but the hunger is there all the time. Am I just having brain hunger or is the growly stomach hunger.

:thumbup:okay so i am now a little over six months into post op, and i have so much energy. unfort. my back doesn't keep up. as crazy as it seems i love mowing the lawn, have been hiking and even to a few very fast paced concerts. i am now down 81 lbs and can get into a 22, it is an accomplishment. but every now and then i feel like what the heck i still look big, but i remember it wasn;t how i looked that bothered me but what i couldn' do and then i am ok. it is so hard to get everything in and some days i still do nothing but the drinks. i am supposed to go next week for my fill but think maybe i will just discuss the feeking of irratation in my incision instead. i hope everyone else is having great sucesses!

So, I went to a doctor's appointment, and my Hg A1C has gone up to an unacceptable level. My pcp wanted to start me on a diabetes medication that also causes some weight loss. As I did more research into this drug, I saw that it can cause debilitating nausea. It is also pretty short acting, and would not deal with my high fasting blood sugars. As I thought about the prospect in years to come of trying medication after medication to control my diabetes, I went back to the idea of CURING this disease - via the lap-band surgery. I am right at a 35 BMI with comorbidities and I want to do this for my health. I got up my courage and made an appointment to see the surgeon on Friday. I am excited and nervous, and ready to begin the long haul of satisfying the requirements of my health insurance company. My husband is going to the appointment with me, and will learn all about this with me. I have put off a decision about which diabetes medication to use until I talk to the surgeon. In the meantime, I am drinking lots of water, trying to eat low carb, and getting out on my bicycle. I had really let my blood sugar get out of control.

I never did the last supper thing, because I knew it'd only make the first month of liquids & mushies harder if I was thinking back to when I recently deliciously gorged myself silly. I sat around wishing I had a few times during my grumpy liquids phase, but it definitely wouldn't have helped any! I will say though that my surgeon didn't require a pre-op diet, just 1 day of clears the day before surgery, so maybe that made it easier not to indulge. I was also trying very hard to reach a personal goal of being under BMI 50 and under 300 lbs by the time I had surgery, so I was working hard to count calories and behave. I also tried to avoid eating anything that would be a dietary staple during the first month, like Protein shakes, Jello, pudding, cottage cheese etc. so I wouldn't be burned out on it as fast. I figure that gave me an extra few days before I wanted to chuck all my protein samples into the disposal and just sleep until the first month was over. :thumbup1: Having a concrete goal for surgery day and knowing from reading these boards that the first month would suck but after that it gets so much better really helped me stay focused and get through the surgery and the first month. Everyone was right, too! Take it one day at a time and then one week at a time and focus on getting through your first month with staple line intact and tissues hydrated. After that, you'll be back to trying out old foods and new foods alike with a new freedom that you never had before.

Whilst sitting in the "green room" waiting to be called on set (actually, the name was quite apt as we were sat in a stuffy snooker room in the back of an old gentleman's club...baize green everywhere!) I had another moment of diving into people's psyche concerning us fatties (for those of a sensitive nature, scrub that and read "bariatrically challenged" or "those of a less than slender approach"). The moment that sparked my grey cells was when, as usual, I preempted the jokes and jibes that could be thrown at me - by putting myself down. I seem to recall it was some throw-away comment about squeezing in to a too-tight top which made me feel like a homosexual piglet in a boob-tube. As I uttered the defensive barrier, a very lovely lady leaned over to me (amongst the other actors laughing) and said "you shouldn't put yourself down like that...you're not fat." For a moment, I listened to her words and for an even briefer moment in time, I actually believed her. I like to consider myself an intelligent man and, being one hundred and fifteen pounds over my ideal weight, I have used many mathematical formulae and a sprinkle of the laws of physics to deduce that I am indeed fat. In fact, my calculation led me to the category of "morbidly obese". As much as I hate that label, that is what I am. And I look it. So what made that woman, who I must sat was a little chunky herself, advise me that I was not fat? Was she mad? Did she stem from a foreign country and was actually trying to say "you are not fit"? Was she being sarcastic and making fun of me? I believe she, like countless other of my friends and family over the years, was just being kind. She saw a stigma in the reference if fat, just like most people across the world do. She, unlike some of the less than sensitive people I have met in my life, handled this with an assumed kindness. A certain flattery that was meant to pat me on the back and say "there, there, you'll be OK". I would be an awfully cynical human being if I said that I didn't appreciate that kind of response. After all, it is well intentioned and far preferable to the kinds of insults one normally receives from the less civilized and less educated people in the world. Also, she was obviously under the impression that my put down servered no other purpose other than self-abuse. But, us overweight people know that it is far better to beat the others to the punchline than to have to sit through the humiliation when others cast their fatty remarks. But, forgetting that aspect, does it really help the situation when someone pats you on the backk and says "never mind, your not fat"? Having grown up fat, been educated fat and gone through my adult life fat, I have heard many, many people accuse me of not being "fat" or "too fat" before. People who are close to me. People who care for me. And people who are just embarrassed about the word or concept of "fat". But, I have now come to the conclusion that they have been part of my problem. Had everyone I had come in contact with over the years behaved like the Neanderthal beings that have caused me pain, embarrassment and tears over the past thirty six years, I believe I may have started to do something about it sooner. Had they publicly humiliated me, called me names and lessened by character because if my weight, I may well be slim, athletic and proud of myself. I may well be one of them. With every denial of my weight issues, came a psychological acceptance. They cared for my feelings, and in doings so aided my fast ride to diabetes, circulation problems, countless other health issues and even early death. They were indeed killing with kindness. Now I have decided to undergo the (not so controversial of late) Lap Band procedure, I write this with a certain historical perspective in my mind. From here on in, I am going to be slimmer. I am going to be more athletic. I am going to be more proud of myself. I am going to be more like them. But, I am doing it under my own volition. I have chosen my time. Had the world been a darker place where, the people who care for me had been more cruel (my closest friends, my family, the people embarrassed of the "F" word), then I would feel unsettled. I would not be the person I am today. I would be miserable and entirely alone. Kindness and understanding is an essential part if ensuring our loved ones mature and develop on the outside as well as the inside. I am grateful for all the blatant lies of me not being fat through my life, as I understand that they were, in the main, meant with care and love. However, I am also strangely grateful to the bastards (and I cannot stress that word enough - but more of that in a later blog) that littered my life and helped point out the fact that, even without mathematical formulae, I was obviously fat. Originally posted at: Lap Band Blog

I hope you have a fast and easy recover from surgery. I also wish you the best with your future hubby~Mandy

that is nice. I have kept a spreadsheet to and will show it when I get to goal. Can't believe how fast you lost!!!

I have to give a big WooHooo! I'm at 289lbs, that 35lbs lost!!! I'm doing really good following the low fat/low carb diet. I am feeling a little limited in my food choices though. I could use some great recipes. I had a very surreal moment today too. I love reading all the posts on the VGS board both good and bad and everything in between. I love giving encouragement and praying. Hugs and prayers have been my tag line, Why? Because I wish I could just reach out and give you all a hug to let you know I'm there for you, and prayers because, well, that's what I do. I believe if you talk the talk then you walk the walk too. But until know, it's always been the "other" people. It finally dawned on me, "This is going to be me this time next week " By 12:30 next Monday, I will have my sleeve, be in my room, learning all over again how to eat and begin with a fresh start in life. I have to be at the hospital by 7am and surgery is 9 am. Oh man, all I can do is say "Wow, it's happening so fast!!!" Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and rearing to go but.... well... OH MAN, WOW!!!

I hear ya foofy... Just this afternoon, I was working on my privacy fence in the back yard. (not something I would have done 4 months ago!!!) I was carrying a bag of quik-crete to the back yard. I was thinking, "jeez, this is awfully heavy to be carrying all the way to the back yard from the front. Maybe I ought to back the truck further up the driveway so I don't have to go so far." That is when it happened! I put the bag on the ground next to the post hole and out of the corner of my eye I saw 80 lbs.!!! I have lost just under 80 pounds, if I haven't already this week. I used to carry that much excess weight every step I took! I can't believe how much better I feel and how I can do so many more things I would have never dreamed of just 4 months ago! I had not idea the weight would come off this fast. I LOVE/hate this band on my stomach. The only time I have negative feelings on this band is when I get something hung up! I sure do hurt when I get stuck, but... knock on wood... I have not had the PB thing happen yet!

I have about 9cc in a 11cc band and can still eat way too much. Lost 50 pounds fast but have but 25 back on. Maybe my band needs to be almost full?

Aug. 2nd for me... good luck with your surgery and fast recovery Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using BariatricPal mobile app

oh the dreaded liquid diet, I feel your pain...it will go fast..before you know it you will be eating refried beans and cottage cheese..

So I am scheduled for July 8 and my surgeon tells me he does not require a preop diet, just normal surgery fast before. For those who did not preop, was it hard post op to be on such a limited diet? I am already starting to use protein shakes for breakfast and being kind to my liver so that I heal well. Anyone not need to diet before surgery?

In December of 2011 a bunch of my friends and I went to NYC to go to Rockefeller Center and do the whole touristy NYC thing (I've lived literally an hour away from NYC my whole life and have never done anything touristy there! So if anyone wants to visit and needs a tour guide don't ask me, I have no clue!). So anyway, we took a picture of the four of us. That was when I was at the weight that I realized I gained 30 lbs since having my gall bladder taken out (314 lbs). The picture sits in my office. Every time I think about eating crap I look at my bloated face and think "nah, I don't need it, I worked too hard at this" also in my office is another picture of me taken 1 week before my surgery when I was at my highest weight (322 lbs) and another picture next to it when I was my lowest weight post op (250 ish?) these are just reminders for me not to put food in my mouth and to keep up with the fills, the workouts, eating right etc....because if I looked decent at 250 ish or so, imagine how I'll look when I'm at my goal weight (180 lbs). I'm also a little worried because right now I have 2.75 ccs in a 4 cc band, and this is the most that has ever been in the band, and I can eat things and not feel true "restriction" granted I'm not hungry between meals but it's still scary. For example last night for dinner I had 1/2 c of general tso's tofu (homemade!!! Never made Chinese food before!) 1/2 cup of steamed broccoli and 1/4 c of brown rice. I ate everything except for a couple of bites of the brown rice. Something I'll have to bring up at my next mds appt. On a personal note I have my 90 day review for my new position at my job, I hope I don't get demoted lol. Week two of c25k is hard, I don't think I'm running fast enough. I think the next workout I'm going to try to amp up the treadmill to 5mph in the beginning until I can't stand it anymore. Going to the gym tonight to do some weights. Have a good day!

Greetings! I thought I would do a post since I'm at the three month post op mark and a couple of different things are happening. I'm down a total of 62lbs already, which seems to be a little fast and I'm experiencing the repercussions of that, for sure. Most notably headaches and hair loss. I'm going to have the last bit of my hair cut off tomorrow. Eating is going ok. I really need to add a protein shake to my daily intake and increase my water. I just have, at this point, no hunger. And no real anything to put anything in my mouth or down the hatch. I'm going in on Monday for a review under xray, to make sure that the positioning is still good and that the pouch looks ok. May get a smidge more of a fill but not over .2 cc I'm quite sure. As I feel quite snug as it is. I guess my only other real complaint is occasional pain. But this isn't serious pain at all...more transient really. I'm not taking Tylenol for it or anything. Plus I'm doing ok with my exercising. I went for a run tonight but with the seasonal weather etc, it's not happening as regularly as it should. But I'm not experiencing any of the things I was worried about pre-op, like port torsion or band slippage, PBs etc. So I hope that everyone else out there is doing equally well, and that a few of your can attest that hair will grow back after weight loss stabilizes. Regards, :huh2: