January Bandsters???

[Sula 0]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday was the monthly seminar that my surgeon gives for people considering surgery. As an established patient I volunteer to go and talk to anyone who might have questions. I had someone say to me (who is also a patient) "Hi, are you thinking about having surgery? Which surgery?" I was so mad, sad, stunned, frustrated. I'm sure this person didn't mean to be offensive but the way she worded her question was terrible. I just smiled and said, "I am already a patient, I had LapBand surgery in January."

I have been so depressed - people are so careless and can be so rude!

I am down 55 lbs. I went to a dietician for a "private lesson" last week and she said I am doing fine and am actually ahead of the National Average of weight loss for LapBand patients. Although I feel like I am losing the weight kind of slow, my skin looks good as I build much needed muscle so I try to remember that. I average about 1,500-1,800 calories a day, exercise about 20-60 minutes a day and she said that is definitely perfect. She thought I was at my "sweet spot" as far as fills because I can eat solid foods but not much!

My Protein intake averages 100-120 g per day and she said that was plenty and to be careful not to go any higher. She encouraged me to increase my Metamucil (or any Fiber supplement) to twice a day since I can't get in enough fruits and vegetables. She was adamant about taking my Vitamins and Calcium (I am post-menopausal.)

I was getting severe cramps while swimming and she told me I needed more potassium. I am trying to eat a half of a banana per day and a couple of prunes. I also drink diluted Gatorade or Vitamin Water before and after swimming and that has helped a lot.

Hopefully, these tips can help some of you - I thought it was a very beneficial appt. This dietician is so awesome...her motto is "all foods, fit." In other words, there are no good or bad foods. That is nice since I have really struggled with a binge disorder and the minute someone tells me I can't have something, it seems to be all I want.

Love to you all!

Jennifer

Jennifer,

Thanks for all these helpful tips. I'm sorry that the lady said the wrong thing. I've been frustrated that people haven't been saying anything. I get, when I egotistically mention my weightloss, "oh, I thought you looked thinner, but didn't want to say anything." It just brings home that we really need to do this for ourselves and plug on without the comments of others. Maybe that is what this group is about here...we can give all the positive feedback we want to. And do!!

I just got back from a week of "dog trialing" in eastern Montana. I did a lot of movement but managed to eat a boatload of homemade chocolate chip cookes and snickerdoodles. Sigh..my downfall. My fill has given me a couple of problems and this is the first time. My DH says..eat with your left hand..it'll slow you down For the first time, eggs wouldn't go down!! I love omlettes but didn't get to finish mine yesterday. I took it home and heated it up for lunch. I finally figured it out that I think it was the mushrooms in the omlette. (lightbulb moment!)

Hey, Sunshine, welcome back. Sorry to hear about your mishap. I was on a cruise last year and a member of our party fell over a thresh hold and had to be airlifted out for surgery in the US. We were in Ensenada, MX at the time.

Well, more later folks, I gotta get to work.

Shawn

[Tulip 0]

Quote:

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by mommi-hammi

Tulip (Terry) ~

I was just looking at your numbers and noticed that you have 2.6cc in your band.

I have a 4cc band too and have 2.2cc in there now.

I am wondering if I need another fill - ??? I am curious if you know how much difference you FEEL with a little more fill . . . Some days I can eat anything and other days I can hardly get anything down.

Does that question even make sense???

Thanks,

Lynn

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Lynn, I felt that I was ready for another fill even before the cruise. I just put it off knowing that I would need a "jump start" once I got back.

I felt ready for a "small" fill, and that is what I did. I was definitely getting hungry between meals and wanting to snack more that I felt was

acceptable.

This fill has limited my portions more at dinner, and that is what I wanted (yes I can tell a difference). I am pretty restricted in the morning

and usually have a Protein Drink for Breakfast, for lunch I have cottage cheese or yogurt, and now have a small portion dinner with meat and

veggies served on a salad plate. For a snack I might have a thin slice of lunch meat, and that curbs my appetite. I hope this fill stays like this.

I don't know if this answered your question, but if you are losing weight then I would postpone another fill until you have stalled for a bit. That's

just my opinion.

Terry<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[I'm still here 0]

Hi Terry ~

That is the problem . . . I'm not losing! I really think I need a little fill because I am feeling a lot of hunger, and am most likely eating way too much.

Thanks for your reply,

Lynn

[jenslapband 0]

It is the middle of the night and here I am. When I lay down and fall asleep I choke. This has been getting progressively worse since my last fill. I need a tiny, tiny bit taken out. I also have a cold, probably because I can't get good sleep! and that has me all congested so I feel like I am drowning!

Sula, thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it.

Sunshine, I'm so sorry to hear about your knee! Thank God you have lost so much weight and are so healthy now. Can you imagine having to go through such a major surgery before the weight loss and exercise? Good luck to you, we will all be thinking of you and anxiously waiting to hear how you are.

My bike has been broken and the pool I swim at is closed for two weeks for maintenance. Usually I would have been thrilled at the perfect excuse not to exercise but instead I am kind of lost! I have my trusty treadmill.

I will try to download some pictures. One is my before picture - yikes, extra ugly because I don't have any make-up on, and the other is about a month ago.

Before&Current.pdf

[juno610 1]

Tonya -- take care of that knee! What a week you've had! You look pretty smokin' in that picture though

Jen -- you look great!

My scale finally moved!!!!! I took some advice from some experienced bandsters and got results! After being stuck at 242.5 for literally the past two months, I am down 1lb this morning!! Can you tell I'm excited? Just got to keep it moving now...

[Louisianagirl 0]

Has anyone got on a plateau for 6 weeks. I am still stuck. I am going for a fill tomorrow. I hope this works.

[juno610 1]

Has anyone got on a plateau for 6 weeks. I am still stuck. I am going for a fill tomorrow. I hope this works.

I had been stuck for about 3 months. Most of it, for me, I suspect has to do with not eating properly and not eating enough (believe it or not). After a long conversation with my friend (a 2 year bandster) and some great advice from another bandster here, I made some changes, and the scale has started moving again. Here's what I am doing:

1) Every morning starts with a Protein Shake. I do 1 cup of skim milk with 1 serving of GNC Live Well Vitamin formula and 1 serving Optimum Nutrition Protein Powder. I put in a lot of ice and make it nice and thick. It holds me till lunch time.

2) I'm wearing a pedometer and making sure I am moving! I'm aiming for that 10,000 steps per day. I'm not even close right now, but having this thing on lets me know when I've been lazy.

3) I'm cooking again. I put my foreman grill in a place that was more convenient, and I've been cooking burgers and chicken on it. I also add some sort of veggie.

It's not rocket science and I'm sure it's nothing new, but these were some things that I knew I needed to work on. So far, so good!

[BabyGotBack 0]

Sorry to hear about your fall Sunshine!!

You look AMAZING!!!!!

I will also say a little prayer for your surgury and recovery!!

God Bless! Audree

[Sula 0]

Hi, Yippee it's friday!!

Juno, what advice did you get that helped with the WL?

Loser, yep, I was on a plateau for 6 weeks...finally went in for another fill. My WL goes in fits and starts. Will hang on to those pounds for a week or two, or bob up and down and then finally settle down. The operative word "DOWN!" I stepped on the scale this morning and am down two pounds...I think I weigh less now than when I got married almost 9 years ago. I'm shooting for three more pounds by Sept 4th, my anniversary, which will put me at a 50 pound weightloss since surgery. I think I will have to put up notes around the house to remind me of my goal. Something to keep me visually motivated. I did not go for my walk this morning even though I promised my dog. She is sooo disappointed in me I haven't been sleeping well (for no particular reason) so those extra winks were too inviting.

Hope you are all doing super well. Tonya, hope the surgery went well and you're up and running soon.

Shawn

[angyl2314 1]

I just logged on for the first time in a LONG time and got a note from Sunshine to check in (thanks for the note!). I am doing great, aside from a minor complication, which is why I came on in the first place. I had my surgery on Jan 3rd. I have had 2 fills, one in March and one in May. I have now lost 60 lbs and I am not even sure how many inches. I haven't done measurements in a few months. I have gone from a size 22/24 top to a 14/16 in some and smaller in others, and a size 18 pants to a 12, and 10 in skirts. I have a personal trainer that I do "boot camp" with 3 x a week. I feel fantastic, and maintain that this is the best decision I have ever made. I want to lose about 20 more lbs and then go for the plastic surgeries. I wish I didn't have to but there are just some things I can't tone up =(

Ok, the complication I had is minor, but I was wondering if anyone had anything similar, or heard of anyone else who may have. Some time ago I began to experience a pinching pain near my port. I ended up in the ER because I was worried. After CT scans and ultrasounds, they couldn't find anything wrong. My doctor thought it was inflamation of the muscles when he did the previous fill. When I went for my 2nd fill under the flouroscopy, my doctor FINALLY realized my port turned, so we attributed the significant pain leading to me going to the ER to the sutures coming up. I have slight discomfort, but my doctor said it isn't something to be overly concerned with. I am having port replacement or readjustment surgery on Monday. Apparently it is a simple out patient procedure under local anesthesia which should take about an hour. My doctor is going to reopen one my port incision (barf) and resuture the port to the muscle. Luckily enough he is on vacation this week, and I really don't have ANY more information than what I just wrote here. I have no idea how long I will be in pain, or what my limitations will be, or even if this is common. So, anybody know anything?

[juno610 1]

Angyl - man! What a bummer! BUT... just have to say fantastic job losing 60lbs! I hope your port replacement goes smooth. Please keep us posted!

[juno610 1]

Juno, what advice did you get that helped with the WL?

I copied this from a few posts back, but this is mainly it: Cook more, move more, and more protein!

1) Every morning starts with a Protein Shake. I do 1 cup of skim milk with 1 serving of GNC Live Well Vitamin formula and 1 serving Optimum Nutrition Protein powder. I put in a lot of ice and make it nice and thick. It holds me till lunch time.

2) I'm wearing a pedometer and making sure I am moving! I'm aiming for that 10,000 steps per day. I'm not even close right now, but having this thing on lets me know when I've been lazy.

3) I'm cooking again. I put my foreman grill in a place that was more convenient, and I've been cooking burgers and chicken on it. I also add some sort of veggie.

[jenslapband 0]

I feel so much better after getting my small unfill. What a difference - but I still have restriction.

So, the lesson here is: if you lay down and food/liquid chokes you - you are too tight. If you get acid in your PBs - you are too tight. If your esophagus starts to sting, burn or hurt - you are too tight. If solid Protein hasn't "passed" through the stoma or band opening within three hours - you are too tight.

My esophagus feels pretty normal this morning. I am hoping I won't have to have an upper GI to check it. When I got the unfill on Friday I was told that if it didn't feel better by Monday I would have to but I don't have any pain now. Thank God!

It was scary to have the unfill - I thought I wouldn't have restriction and gain weight but the damage we can do to our band and body is far more important than continuing to be too tight. One more lesson I guess!

I hope everyone is doing well, I'm sure many of you are busy, busy getting the kids back to school.

Sunshine, I am thinking about you and your surgery - hope all is well with you. If you lived close I would bring you and your family dinner!

Jennifer

[juno610 1]

Jen - I'm so glad you are feeling better! I like what you said about damaging our bands and bodies -- it's hard to get past the desire to get the weight off, but we have to keep healthy in order to do so!

Well, I FINALLY went back to the gym yesterday! I did 30 mins on the treadmill and 15 on the elliptical. I think today I will do a tape in the basement, since I'm waiting for my dad to come over and help with some home improvement stuff. I'm afraid to do any heavy weights in the gym until I know for sure if I'm preggo or not.

[Sula 0]

Hi All,

I made my four mile walk this morning..first time in about three weeks and it felt GREAT. I think I'm mentally lined out to do five days this week. Anyone else up for getting on the exercise bandwagon this week?

Boy, I had my worst PB/vomit session this saturday. I think it was corn on the cob and I finally resorted to some meat tenderizer to clear the way and that just gagged me so I had a legit vomit. I, obviously, didn't eat anything after that and then went to soft food yesterday. This last fill should have me minding my P's and Q's but habits are hard to break and I just start eating sometime.

Juno, am I reading correctly...you might be PG? Wow..that will be an interesting lapband journey as well. I hope you will keep us posted!

Tonya, if you're out there, how are ya doing?

Shawn