Bandsters who aren't losing or losing slowly

[Liz1531 3]

I would like to see a perm thread for bandsters who are not losing or losing slowly. I have had a few flls (2.4 of 4cc band) and am pretty full. I can hardly eat a solid meal and I just can't lose for the life of me. The weight I have lost is because I started Weight Watchers about six weeks ago. I paid $8,500 only to join Weight Watchers! WTF??? I spent so much time here prior to surgery and I just never thought I'd be here not able to lose! Agh!!! Any advice, motivation, thoughts are welcome!!! =)

[losingjusme 12]

hi Liz,

try this forum.

Slow Losers Unite - Lap Band Talk Forum - The largest forum for Lap Band Surgery Discussion and Lap Band Surgery Support

[Dori 0]

Hello Liz,

I have been banded a year this month and have lost 42 pounds. I have had 11 fills, I exercise regularly and always have. I can only eat a very limited amount of food. I really thought that perhaps something was wrong with me because I did not start to lose weight until almost eight months after surgery and nine fills.

But I began to realize that the spurs that I was suffering from in both feet are not causing me pain anymore. I feel so much healthier and I am now slowly losing about 1 pound per week.

Stay encouraged and remember whatever amount of weight you lose you probably would not have done it without the help of your band.

[jacks9036 3]

I was banded over three years ago. Lost 88lbs by my one year mark. Had band slippage and was unfilled for a month. Gained 17lbs back. Got re-filled and went from there. Was doing really good took back off the 17lbs. Now in 2006 I had another slippage due to food poisioning. Vomitting very heavily and just slipped. Neither slippage required surgery so I was lucky. He was able to unfill and just let it set for a month and refill gradually. I was refilled and instead of losing weight started gaining weight. The only rule I have ever had problems with his drinking with my meals but I have limited that way down. Today I have gained back 30lbs of weight lost and I have 3.6cc's in my 4 cc band. My doctor isn't really supportive in someways. He pretty much in so many words has told me I have failed. I feel like a failure. I can't eat a lot of foods and still get stuck. The weight isn't coming off.

[Elisabethsew 50]

If you drink with meals, STOP! Once I followed the rules and removed my glass from the table with meals, the weight started coming off again because the food stayed in the pouch, made me feel fuller with less food, and eased the cravings.

[Marimaru 7]

If I want to lose weight, I have to count calories. For the most part, if I want to maintain, I don't need to pay any attention. I gained some weight after my wedding and over the holidays that I am now dealing with, but I am counting calories to do it. If that's my band reality, I'm totally fine with that, because I have help in maintaining, even if I have to do the work to lose. It's still different, because if I hit a rut, when I get out of it I can still pick up where I left off. I could probably be at goal by now if I was more diligent like a lot of the people here, but I guess that's just not who I am, and so I'm a slow loser. :mad:

[mimigirl 0]

I was like you. I couldn,t lose On my last fill I told him to run me over.I started to lose and have lost about 35 lbs. Not as much as I think I should have lost but I am at least losing.Mimigirl

[Wheetsin 714]

Moved to the support forum.

I'm what we used to call here a "winded rabbit" - I dropped weight like no one's business for a while, and have had an uphill battle ever since.

There's not really such a thing (for anyone here) as unable to lose weight. There are, however, ways to identify what's causing your roadblocks and move past them. It's largely a numbers game, so look there first. Have you figured your BMR & AMR, and does your average caloric intake fall between the two? If not, are you supplmenting your activity so that it does? Are your calories healthy calories or crap calories? Etc.

[Liz1531 3]

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your support. You have no idea how helpful it is to know that I'm not alone and that others have lost slowly as well. Just an FYI ~ I NEVER drink with meals and I'm following Weight Watchers which is about 1300 calories per day. As long as I follow WW very strickly I am losing. I guess I've seen so many people get gastric bypass and watched them shrink to nothing that when I got this surgery I expected the same. No dice!

[BJean 16]

I thought I was going to look like Sharon Osborne within a year. No dice for me either.

I lost beautifully for the first 5 months. Took off 42 lbs. Then I hit a wall. I insisted on lots of restriction and got to the point where I could hardly keep down 2 bites of real food. I became hungry all the time. I was obsessed with trying to figure out what I could eat and keep down. I found that I could eat nuts and chocolate. I gained about 12 lbs. back. I have been as frustrated as you can imagine.

In retrospect I am sure that I thought I would just watch the weight drop off like a bypass patient even though everyone said over and over that the band is just a tool. I never expected to have such an appetite, especially after such a great initial weight loss and relatively no appetite.

Like Jack, I have made it to a BMI of 35. Much better, but not out of the woods. And initially after the good loss, my blood work stats dropped significantly. Now I have found, after 1.5 years with the band, and recently losing 10 of the 12 lbs I'd gained back, that my stats are creeping back up. Even my blood sugar which yesterday was at 103!

I recently contracted an eye infection, a painful kidney infection, and now I have shingles (not the house kind). My family doctor is checking me for auto-immune disorders and I'm scared that I might have Lupus or some other serious ailment.

I haven't taken the time to sit down with my LB doctor although I'm sure he would want to know about all of this.

I think Jack had it right when he suggested that this is not a sprint but a long-term marathon. Getting in too big a hurry can produce problems and what we really should want is good health over the long haul. :mad:

[rharriet62 0]

Like some folks above said, I think it's time to track all your calories. I also noted that you are filled only to 2.2ccs. That just might not be enough restriction for you! I think you need a fill. THEN, track your calories and up your exercise. I am 3.5 years out and lost only 26 lbs last YEAR. I was so mad at myself that I invested in a Body Bugg. I have to say, it's KILLER! I am really keeping up on burning calories AND most importantly for me, tracking my calories. It started back...since 1-7-08, I've lost 10 lbs. That is FAB for me since last year I didn't lose much at all. I was just eating too much, even tho I was often working out 3 hours a day...I'm obviously a slow loser! Journal calories. It really helps!

[BJean 16]

I used to listen to people here who said that they had so many cc's in a certain size band and try to decide whether I had enough restriction by listening to others.

Everyone is different. Your fill amount cannot be gauged by anyone else's fill amount. It is dangerous for people to get the mindset that they must have a certain amount of fill to be successful. I played into that game and I am now paying the price.

Please be careful, ya'll. There can be repercussions if you overfill and stay that way for too long.

Btw congratulations on your success, rharriet. Writing down what you eat is always beneficial to people who are trying to change their eating plan. That's a great suggestion.

[VegasGrace 1]

Interesting post...and a good one!

But I noticed a few things.... you sad you had several fills and are now at 2.4 in a 4cc band.

Several? Hope you only mean 2. I was at 2.4 at my 2nd fill and got restriction. And if you have had 3 or more fills and are only at 2.4 then your doctor isn't doing his job.

Just getting the band put in isn't the lapband system. It will only work when you get restriciton...and restriction enough to STOP you from eating...wether that's cutting off the pipe...you got to do what you got to do!

Get the pipe cut off to where you vomit saliva, then take it down a notch. Guaranteed if you can't eat...you'll lose weight.

I've had a plan in place before I was banded, wrote it in my journal, on how I was going to use my band. I read the owners manual and KNEW upfront what my doc should be giving me for fills. And if he tried to pull one over on me and cheat me out of fills...I'd know and fire him.

But, to my surprise, it was right on track.

1st fill for a 4cc band (9.75) is 2 cc. Guys, get the fills and be aggressive.

Good luck!

[BJean 16]

Ok. I'll shut up. Everyone probably has to learn for themselves.

[faithmd 14]

BJean, truer words have not been written.

Keeping yourself so tight you cannot eat is not only silly, it's freaking irresponsible and asking for BIG trouble. Getting a fill to the point that you "VOMIT SALIVA" and then take it down a little notch is setting yourself up for an emergency unfill a couple of days later when you swell and occlude the stoma.

I agree that we should have a big part in deciding the path of our care, but to be so arrogant as to say that we (who are generally NOT bariatric surgeons) know better than our surgeon as to how to fill our band and with how mcuh and when is preposterous. Granted there are suggested fill schedules in the literature from all the band manufacturers, but they are just that, suggestions! Not set in stone fill schedules!

If this could be predicted and filled the same way in everyone, then there'd be no need for fills at all, they'd just make bands in certain sizes.

I'd hope that if my doc wanted to deviate drastically from what I had read in the literature we would have a conversation about why and if his reasoning was sound (which I'd expect it to be, he's the TRAINED BARIATRIC SURGEON), then I cannot imagine thinking he was trying to "pull one over on me" or "cheat me out of fills" I would not presume that I'd "know" more than him and thus fire him for having a different treatment plan than I made up in my own mind because I read some book and a couple of websites...