A thread for super-sized bandsters - starting BMI over 50?

[ladytonya 0]

Brenda, you really do need to find another doctor. I went through the same thing. The local doctor won't do anyone over 400. Period. It doesn't matter if you're 4'11" or 7', their blanket policy is they won't operate if you're over 400. I am having to drive a ways to do something, but I have an appointment in September with another doctor. I want this and I will go where I have to go in order to get it. The sad thing is that the local doc will do fills or whatever else I need after I have the surgery as long as I provide my records and it's done by an Inamed accredited surgeon (like I would go to someone who isn't accredited!) and is done in the United States. They will not fill bands that were done in Mexico particularly. The weight requirement is just very arbitrary. I might even drive the 2 hours to my surgeon to get fills just because I don't like the local surgeon's attitude, but that might change once I've done that drive a few times and just need a small fill to get restriction or something. Anyway, don't give up! Find another doctor who will band you! I am 5'9" and weigh ~425 and I have found one. You can, too!

[ofps 1]

Brenda,

I weighed 320 when banded. I'm doing great. If you're really determined to get this, please check with other Dr's. My surgeon is about 2 hrs from here and it's not that big of a deal to go. I've only had 2 appointments since surgery, and 1 was a fill. I really feel it's worth it. Don't know what my BMI is, but I'm 5'2" and have a small frame, so it's high. Since banding, I've lost about 20 lbs, last night the scales said 299. Slow loss is good, and if you're banded and restricted, it may take time, but the weight will come off. Just because the stats for GNY is 1/2 time compared to lap band, doesn't mean it doesn't work. Good luck in your search, I'm sure you will find a doctor.

ofps

[dezadoo 0]

mourningfuneral - the change is in our state of mind more than anything else. did you get fried or grilled/baked fish? i think that's the hardest part, making good choices. in food :pop2: , in exercise :hail: , in everything. this isn;t the quick fix many outsiders think it is. it was a hard decision to make and one i and you have to live with for the rest of our lives. tomorrow's a new day and a clean slate as i tell my students. you can do it!:cheer2:

[Wheetsin 714]

Sorry, but I'm going to quote you so I don't have to keep flipping back to a prior screen.

I got my band on 7/24/2006 and i was on liquids for two weeks and now i find myself *sneaking* things i shouldnt have:embarassed: i feel like a failure i mean i went this weekend to long john silvers and got a kids meal and ate one piece of fish and mashed potatos and a chocolate chewy bar. i dont know whats wrong with me. now i find that i am eating bigger portions:help: like instead of a little cup of cream of wheat for breakfest im having two. stuff like that. how do i start this over and try again? i have not had my band tightened till sep 2nd. should i go back through the detox part and do liqiuds again for a week? i feel so hopeless and sad that im even posting this but i thought id ask:think

It's common for your portion intake to creep up until you have restriction. I was completely lucky in that the band itself, unfilled, gave me restriction and my appetite never came back. PURE LUCK, both that it happened, and that I was able to bypass the "return of the hunger". But it's more exception than rule, so you shouldn't expect to have major portion changes/weightloss until you have restriction. Actually I don't know what your psych said, but mine stressed the fact that you should not expect weightloss until restriction, because until then the band isn't able to do its job... and anything you lose is solo -- so relish anything lost at all that much more.

My advice - don't even go to "fried fast food" places. If you're having a hard time making good decisions, then remove yourself from the temptation. I literally threw everything crap out -- found someone in my work building who was a little down on their luck and brought them in boxes and boxes of food I was not willing to risk being tempted by. It got me peace of mind, and saved them a month's worth of grocery bill. Win win. I didn't step foot in a fast food place for many, many weeks -- and when I did it was only the "healthier" fast food - Chipotle, Schlotzsky's, etc. Nothing fried, that stuff is so bad for you.

If you feel like you want to start over again, do carb detox for 1 - 2 weeks and go from there. It can only help you. That will get you through to your fill time, anyway. Advise your surgeon to be liberal with your fills. Mine is, and it helps. He only wanted to give me 1cc my first time instead of 2 b/c of the weight I'd lost, but since then it only took 2 more fills to get to 2.5cc (1, .5 - and the .5 was small t my own request... don't want to get overfilled).

[MourningFuneral 0]

I have decided i did this for me and ive got to STOP trying to hurt myself so tommorrow im going back on my flush for two weeks until i see the doctor. thank you guys for being here for me sometimes i feel so alone. i know i can do this and i will:faint:

[kimmason 0]

wow, I just read all 33 or so pages of this thread, whew, but well worth it. I was banded this past thursday and i have been sick since, not fun, but your e mails have all made this worth it and what inspirations you are, teresita, wheetsin et al, i feel like i know you all personally and have read you goals and victories. I am scared and wondered if my love of food would set me upo for failure. I mean i even blew the pre op diet. I was fine for 12 days and then BOOM I ate the last three days before surgery up until I wasn't allowed anything after midnight and my last meal was nachos. i was so hell bent on having food i liked I ate and ate and even did the bulimec thign and made myself vomit so I could eat more....so i am worried that i will fail. I am tired, sore, nauseated and even drinking small amounts make me nauseated. so this has not been fun. So for now thankyou, I also habve an entire human being tolose and started at 320 and then now 305, so getting under 300 will be the first victory and then if I made it to under 200 I will need depends as for what iwill do in my pants if that ever happens. So to all of you, best wishes, thankyou for being my inspiration and I hope one day to do you all proud.

[Nykee 13]

I have 4 herniated discs in my back and it can be miserable. I've had sciatica for several weeks at a time and muscle spasms so severe that it altered my ability to stand up straight...I definately can relate to the back issue. It was part of my decision to get WLS. You probably know the cycle...back hurts so you don't exercise...back feels better so you try to exercise to get some weight off then you hurt your back and are back to no exercise. This went on for years...luckily my band has broken this cycle and I've lost enough weight to comfortably exercise daily. Also, I do think it's realistic to lose 150 pounds with the band...I'm darn near close to 100 right now. It takes a lot of work to make the band work for you but if you're determined to do it then I say go for it! I'm trying my darndest to lose 200+ with my band!

Wow, thats MY story, lol

loves to all!

[ofps 1]

kimmason,

You're going in with a good attitude. And I must say, quite a bit of loss for just having surgery. I just weighed in last Wed. at 305 (won't weigh again until tomorrow) and I started at 330. You're doing great! My pain where the port is has just finally starting to feel better, was very painful before now and I was banded June 15. Everyone is different, but it just takes time to heal.

Don't feel bad about the overeating before surgery. I weighed 275 before preliminaries and decided since I would probably never be able to eat certain foods, I went nuts. Went to restaurants that I knew would be a no no, made homemade breads, just ate until I was stuffed. Weigh in at the hospital was 330. That's even with the liquid diet for a week before surgery, and I only cheated twice. Hate to think what I actually weighed before I went on the liquids. Now I regret it, but it's in the past. I can't change that. Only the future.

I had my first fill July 25, 1 1/2 cc. I still can't eat real solid foods. Only mushies, or blendered food. I'm hoping in the near future I can tolerate more real food, as I seem to have a need for it. By suppertime, I'm starving.

Waiting is hard to do, but hang in there, take it real easy and improvement will come. For years I've had hope at attaining my goal only to fail and revisit my old habits. I can't do that anymore, the band has forced me back to what I should be doing, and I'm realizing how much I need this.

ofps

[kimmason 0]

OFPS thankyou for acknowledging me, that means alot and the funny hting is, you were banded on my late fathers birthday which is kinda interesting. Also like the woman who worte after me I have had disc problems both three discs in my cervical spine ( neck) and lumbar and man nothing like that pain, where you can't even wipe yourself aftre you go to the bathroom. I hope , I mean I pray,hope whatever it takes to hope i get through this successfully, cuz I hate to sound morbid, but I have nothing else and I feel that I will die otherwise. I was not able to do it before and for awoman who many would say is strong etc, I just couldn't do this, and I do not understand. So I hope to become fast friends with you all, evn though you don't know me, but I have read ALLL of the posts here and think endearingly of all of you, my lapband family and since no one in my family has weight isssues nor can understand, you guys are my stability. Thankyou!

[purplemonkey 1]

Hi Everyone!

Currently I am 365lbs with a BMI of 64.4. I have been obese to morbidly obese all of my life. I even have the vivid memory of being weighed in the nurse's office in 1st grade in front of my classmates and her saying 140lbs. I've tried every kind of diet and nothing worked for me. I dream of the day when I can get back to that 140. God that would be so amazing.

Quite frankly though, I just want to feel comfortable in my own skin. I want to be able to walk and hike and do outdoorsy things I enjoy. I want to be able to go up a flight of stairs and not feel like I've just climbed Mt. Everest. The amount of weight I lose really isn't my focus, just feeling healthy and able to be more active. Oh...and healthy enough to have a baby. My clock is really ticking now...LOL

I'm in the very preliminary stages of this process. I will be attending the introductory seminar next week Thursday and I'm hoping, although doubtful, that things will go really fast after that. The waiting will be the hardest part I fear.

You all are certainly an inspiration for me and I hope to be an inspiration for someone in the future. I live in Northern New Jersey and would love to find local friends going through the lap banding. Best of luck to everyone here and to all of your continued success!!

Virginia

[pier13 1]

LapBandit.... your comment about the pain from having herniated disks and trying to exercise is the absolute truth. I am at a point were I just cant exercise and this is not a good place to be. Between severe asthma and my back it's horrible. I feel so much better knowing that there is hope for me yet and that it is possible to lose a lot of weight with the lap band. My body has been screaming at me with aches and pains for far to long now. I really want to start living again, just to be and feel healthy is my ultimate goal. thanks and best of luck to you all with your weightloss journey's :-)

[waterlily1072 5]

I am with you guys on the bad backs, not fun at all. Mine is one of the primary reasons for really wanting to lose weight. The less pressure on those vertabrae the better.

[JulieNYC 4]

Ok, warning to all that I'm having a bad case of bandster euphoria right now, so beware!

I am 4 months post-op this week and as of this morning I'm -70. I still weigh more than many people who start this journey, but I just wanted to report in to those in my favorite group (Supersized Bandsters) who are a little bit behind me in their journey, as there seem to be a few of you in that category posting lately.

At the beginning, before deciding to get banded, I felt so discouraged. I felt like nothing would work for me, and even if it would, I had so much to lose that the journey would be so, so long that it was depressing to even think about it. I had spent a long time (10 years or so) weighing 260, had lost down to 175 beore I started law school about 6 years ago, then quickly gained up to 358 just after law school and entering the work force for the first time. I felt like I was so far from my personal "normal fat weight" (the 260ish or so weight) that why bother. I knew how hard it was to lose 100 lbs, having lost 90 lbs 6 years ago and having just gained it back plus friends.

In comes the lap band. WOW. It took me a long time to decide to go for it (like 3 years of research), but this is the tool I have always needed. I don't stay super tight, so I don't have a lot of PB issues or food texture issues, I just have a tool that is like a light switch that has switched off my hunger. I physically CAN eat a plate of nachos if I try hard enough, but most days I just could care less about food. I'm sewing more, playing my violing, exercising and working more. I sleep all night, every night and I feel great. So cool!

All that is to say that My BMI is still in the 50s (14 lbs to go, I'm only 5'2), but at my height, life in the 200s is completely different from life in the 300s. My bones (feet and back) don't hurt at all. I don't constantly feel bad about myself. There's no exercise I can't do.

What I'm trying to get across is that for anyone who has 200 or more to lose, don't think that it'll be 150 lbs before you start to feel good and that it's not worth the journey. There is something special about getting below every century mark that is, in itself, worth the journey, whether it's getting from 500 to 499 or 200 to 199. Relatively speaking, I think I feel just as good now having lost 70 as I did when I wa at the stage where I'd lost 70 before, even though this time puts me at 288 and not at 188.

This is a meaningful journey and the journey itself is rewarding, even when the ultimate goal is far off. I would do this again, even if I never lost another lb (which, obviously, I will).

Good luck to us all!

[shackdog 1]

I was bmi 52 now I am a 42bmi. Work the plan it does work

[Elisabethsew 50]

Congratulations, Julie! I have only lost 47 pounds so far but you're right, those pounds lost have made a big difference in how much easier it is for me to get around. Thank you for sharing a very inspiring personal take on the band. I needed that.