calicat

Thank you for that post! I've been looking all over the CIN, CHI area for months now!!!

I used to go to the Skate King on Finn Hill!!! I grew up in the Juanita area. Fun, Fun.

Roller skating is great exercise. And for those of you scared of falling, I saved one pair of jeans that were a size too big - I call them my roller skating jeans. Seriously. It's so I can get back up easily as I'm sure I'm going to fall. I use a belt so they won't fall down, but they are loose enough that when I fall, I can get back up easily. I haven't fallen yet!

The other thing someone told me the other day was weighted hula hoops. Have you ever heard of those? This girl lost 60 pounds from adding that into her exercise routine. Not to mention the great ab workout!

I went by myself - left hubby and child at home. I had many offers from aunts, step mom, friends, co-workers, etc. But I chose to go by myself and it was a safe and enjoyable experience. I would do it again alone

Here was my story I posted...

http://www.lapbandforum.com/index.php?showtopic=5788

Try not to be discouraged. I lost 10 pounds first week after surgery. No more until first fill. Lost 10 pounds in first week after first fill. Lost next 10 pounds over 5 months until 2nd fill. I lost more consistently then. Even now though, I'm still on a plateau of sorts.

Hang in there! I wasn't a 1-2 pound/week loser either. You'll get there though

I will be 5 weeks Thursday and I've only lost 10 pounds and I lost that in the first 10 days. I have been really discouraged by that, especially after reading everyone else's incredible weight loss during this period of time. I get my first fill Friday and I am hoping that will jump start my weightloss. I have not started exercising yet either so I'm pretty sure that has got a lot to do with it also. Hopefully after my first fill and I start exercising, it will all jump start my metabolism.

I lost 10 pounds from surgery date to first fill.

There are so many factors to help determine if your band has slipped, or if your pouch has stretched. But it really all comes down to the fluoroscopy appointment. Watching the barium go down will tell ALOT about your pouch, and the band.

For example, your 3 vomits/month - are they around the time you PMS? Or stressed? Did you drink enough water that day? Or is it maybe food specific?

Good job for your weight loss and good luck with your appointment!

That is great to hear from a dentist's perspective.

And I love learning too! Sometimes it appears like I'm overanalyzing...but I'm really just trying to make sense of it all!!

I just went to OCC for the weekend and got a slight unfill. All is well and I'm glad I did it. I was too tight and not getting the right nutrients or fluids in because of it.

Anyways...he noted I did have some swelling in my band. Dr. So put me on malaax (spelling?) for 5 days to reduce the swelling caused by too much mucus. It's supposed to break it up. Apparently the band can get clogged, then swollen, because the mucus doesn't always go thru easily. Who knew!

Oh boy did I ever have the sharp, cutting, shoulder pain, as well as abdominal and back gas pains. I had it on and off until about week two post-op. I bought several boxes of Gas-X strips and popsicles. Soups were even hard to go down as I was sucking in too much air with the spoon.

I'm assuming you're still on all liquid diet. I used a sport top drinking bottle and squirted fluids down rather than trying to sip them up - less air that way. I also lived on popsicles - literally. I went thru several a day. I used sugar free most the time, but every once in a while would throw in a natural flavor one to get some sugars.

And walk - even if you don't feel the gas pain after drinking or putting something down..it will build up unless you walk it out. At least for me it did. So every "meal" time, I walked the dog around our neighborhood. Think of walking as a preventative measure. This is all after I had to sleep sitting up because my gas pains were so bad. Gas pains are by far worse than the surgery, or even recovering from my son's c-section!

They will subside. That's the good news. Good luck and be patient!

Hi All!

I just got banded one week ago today. Two days ago I began to have sever back pain up in my shoulder blades. I called my Doctor, and he said this id due to the Hiatal Hernia repair he did. I guess I have been eating, and drinking to quickly. I asked him if there was anything i could take, and he said'Nope'. Ugh! I am getting very frustrated with this. Has anyone else had this same problem? And if so How long til my body adjusts, and how did you deal with pain?

Thank you!

I'm not yet at goal weight - so I can only speak to the process.

I noticed a difference in how I was treated by waiters and cashiers about 3 months ago. It was so obvious. I'm the same person, shopping at the same stores, doing the same activities, but I'm respected more because of my weight, or lack of pounds thereof. That frustrates me. I won't go into details, but my husband is guilty of the same thing. He keeps telling me how he is proud of me - and I said....for what? What have I done? He says my weight loss. I say....but I'm the same person I was 11 months ago...just 80 pounds lighter. Weren't you proud of me or loved me as much then? Again, it just annoys me that society treats overweight people differently due to the shape of our butts, hips and thighs.

Now with that being said...I do now want to "rescue" people. We went to Red Robin the other day with family...I order the clam chowder. I don't feel left out or not included. But in another booth were two very heavy women "squished" in a both, sharing a tower of onion rings, two large chocolate shakes, and huge burgers. I wanted to talk to them, take a picture and show them what they looked like. They don't need all that food to make them happy. No one does. I would never do it - but I do want to help others....if they want to lose weight. That's key - you have to want to do it. The band isn't going to override someone who doesn't want to change.

I receive compliments now because of my weight loss. I appreciate it, but it's a little hard to take also. Why? I feel like a painter who's not yet finished their painting, or a builder, who has the roof on the new house, but the windows aren't in, walls not painted, etc. I'm not done yet. Makes me feel like I have pressure to perform now. It's pressure I'm putting on myself, because I've failed so many times, I want to succeed this time. I just feel like I'm on stage or something as there are many watching me now.

I think it's harder to lose weight than it was to gain. Gaining weight was relatively easy. Sure, someone would make a comment about your weight gain or look at you differently (you know the look of pity I'm talking about), but you could use food as the crutch to console the hurt feelings. Now...there is no crutch. Food is not an option. You have to strengthen yourself from the inside out. We cant' go binge, or eat bon bons like we used to hypothetically. It's hard. Working on yourself and trying to memorize all the new ways to eat, and establish new habits over the old ones I've had for 38 years is not easy.

What I find most amazing about this process is the picture of how I see myself hasn't changed. Sure....I see someone else in the mirror at 315 pounds, and I didnt' relate to what I saw. Because when I get dressed or walk around town, I have always thought of myself at 180 pounds. So now, at 235, as I'm getting closer to my goal weight, I actually see the start of that reflection in my head....in the mirror. And it does scare me. But I'm not running away from it - I'm learning to embrace it. I can't remember the last time the outside matched the inside.

I have seen, just as we all have, several Biggest Loser winners gain their weight back. I'm not a doctor, but I think they lost it too fast. I think their inside self-image didnt' mesh with their outside image. And I think the two need to go hand in hand to be successful.

I love my band and am so very glad I got it. My insurance wouldn't cover it as "nothing was wrong" with me. I had normal BP, normal cholesterol, hormones were off, but everything else was fine...except my scale weight. I didn't have the self control to succeed at WW, Jenny Craig, etc. The opportunity was always there to cheat, and I did. I didn't know how to change my lifestyle around food. Now food has changed around my lifestyle - and I love it!

Thanks for the great question. I look forward to reading other replies

Don't hesitate to get a second opinion. And it is unlikely there is a leak, but it's not impossible for that to happen. Are the fills with fluoro so they can see the pouch, make sure it's not stretched, etc.?

Have you told the doctor of your concerns? Usually the office should have an advocate or coordinator you can speak with. Try them instead of the doctor directly.

The lap band is a tool. He has to choose to do all the work - that means food portions and exercise and drinking enough water. All that "diet" stuff is not completely gone. He has to do the work, and the band will help him along.

Does he food journal? That may be key. Maybe he's eating too big of portions, or not getting enough protein, not enough water, etc. Sparkpeople.com works best for me. The band works - but it takes time for the patient to learn how to use the band (that's hard) and then it takes a while to get to the right sweet spot so you can live effortlessly with the band.

Good luck!

Honestly, I don't know the name of the brand or how much was injected. The first 6 months he really stuck to the guidelines the nutritionist gave him including drinking the juva??? (can't remember what it is called) and less than 1/3 of his previous diet. Now although I hate to admit it he has increased his intake and doesn't drink the protein drink. He stopped the drink because he feels like he is consuming enough again to not need it. He has recently started seeing a new doctor that isn't really up on lap bands and she had him start vitamins again. He has gained more weight since he started them. I didn't realize it is ok to say who the doctor was since we are so unhappy with him. His name is Lafonse in Cushing OK. In addition to the weight gain, when we went to our intial consultations and classses prior to the surgery he out right lied about the costs and what was included in them. We paid cash up front since our insurance won't cover it then he has charged tremendous amounts in addition for things he said were included. This a problem others having the surgery by him have encountered also. (sorry, didn't mean to get off on that). Any way it seems that he doens't want to inject much in order to get another fill fee real soon. Maybe this is just the impression we (and others) are getting, but within 2 days of the fill he feels like it wasn't done. We have even wondered if it is leaking or something, but the doctor assures us that this is impossible. We did a lot of research online and worked very hard to be careful of what and how much he ate in the beginning. He just gave up when his weight continued to climb. I would like to say, that he was almost too thin when we married 31 years ago, but has gained close to 200 pounds since then. He was a very active athlete, but has difficulty with most physical tasks now. His blood pressure and sugar are great though thank God.

I went 3.5 months without losing a single pound. And it was summer, I was very active, working out, watched what I ate - the whole deal. I went and got another fill and started losing again.

Maybe you need another fill? If not, change up your routine. Do your exercise in the am rather than at pm, or vise versa? Maybe try a 3 day liquid diet to change your system up. Make sure you're drinking ALOT of water. That's key. You're plateau-ing. Every one does. Change up the foods you eat. Maybe eat smaller dinner and bigger lunch. Call Dr. Miranda for suggestions - she has many!

Four pounds/month isn't bad. My personal goal was 5 pounds/month. I'm just not doing the 8-10 pounds like was suggested. And I'm okay with that. 4 pounds/month is better than gaining, or better than none!

Remember, it's not a race. Good luck!

I just need to vent. I have lost very slowly to begin with - - approximately 4 lbs per month. I was 200 lbs to begin with, so I guess a 'lower' weight would make it tougher anyhow, but still... COME ON!! 32 lbs in like 8 months - how frustrating!! I haven't lost anything in over 2 months despite exercising and following a strict diet. Meh. I have posted about this before but just needed to vent again as I am having a bad day - - an emotional day, rather. Thanks for listening everyone.

I live in Western WA and flew back to OCC for first fill, got 2nd fill here in town, and third vist I made to OCC to get check-up and slight unfill. I really do like OCC best - they do so many fills and surgeries - that's all they do! It's their speciality. If you book the flight far enough in advance, it's not that unaffordable, and I stayed at a decent (better than Motel 6) hotel for $50/night. Making the entire weekend just $20 over what it would have been to get fill here in town. I got a check-up, met with Dr. Miranda for 30 mins, and had my fill appointment - was very much worth the trip!

Is there anyone from Eastern Washington that have been banded?? Where are you getting your fills done?

I just met with Dr. Miranda last week. I was concerned about not getting enough nutrients and proteins, etc. She said for proteins - it's around 50grams/day. That's same as 16 oz of milk, 1 egg and 6oz of meat/poultry/fish. The size of the palm of your hand is equal to 3 oz, so both palms is 6.

Putting in a real visual way for me like that has helped so much. I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out what I needed, what each portion was giving me, etc.

Hello..

I started tracking everything I'm consuming on sparkpeople.com and it gives you a pretty accurate idea of what you are getting in terms of calories, protein, fat, carbs...

I read another post about how we americans tend to consume WAY too much protein to begin with. Apparantly we need about 50-60 grams of protein a day (it varies if you are male, female, vigorously working out, etc). I thought...oh okay, I need to get supplemental protein thru these bullets or whatnot! But in reality, even on my first and second days of solids, I'm getting TONS of protein (if that site is correct with it's numbers) with just normal eating, nothing supplemental.

Just yesterday I had a slimfast shake in the morning. For lunch and then again for dinner: a small filet of baked fish, broccoli, white rice. For snacks (a no-no I know) I had two low fat string cheese servings at different times during the day. With just that and no supplements - I had a whopping 134 grams of protein, folks!!! And 1,410 calories. (not bad on calories, I thought even tho I'm trying to keep them at 1200 - that is the reccommendation, right?)

Okay bandsters.....What are you thoughts on this? Did you think what I ate would add up to 134 grams of protein? More than double what I need??? I certainly do not need the bullets. I could see needing them when I'm super tight after a fill and getting hardly any solids down, but in general....

I bought 2 new Le Mysterie bras a couple months before my band surgery.

Over Christmas, I thought maybe they had stretched or something so went into Nordstroms to get fitted again. I went down 4 band sizes, and up one cup size!!

I just had an unfill on Friday with Dr. So and I had many many problems with burping, gas, etc.

When does it happen - when you drink, sip soup, or eat? I could give you my remedy - but I know it's not recommended - email me and I'll tell you and let you decide.

But if this goes on for more than a couple days, please call Dr. So. Since my 2nd fill I've been a regular burper. He explained the whole thing to me as we could see the air pocket in my pouch when I drank the barium. You're just a day out from your fill....so give it a couple days and see what happens. It may subside and go away. I was burpy the first day after my unfill, and then it went away. Dr. So is always available to talk to and I would encourage you call him if it lasts for more than a couple days!

We missed you by a day! Another bandster and I went down on Friday - and met with Dr. Miranda before our fills. Like you, it was very informative and I was thrilled we had the opportunity to talk with her.

I've been saying this all along - every body is different. Every experience is different. We each respond differently. And you're right....what works for one, may not work for another. I too suffered from weight loss envy - feeling like I've failed because my weight loss was slower or more sparatic than others.

I personally got an unfill - yes, I know...odd but true. I'm not at goal weight yet, but sometimes trying to hydrate during morning hours thru lunch can be difficult and it's created a unhealthy cycle of unhealthy eating. So for me, I wanted the unfill. And I have been thrilled with the results just over the last couple days. I can eat, drink and function - all day - w/o throwing up, w/o being hungry.

I would also encourage everyone to re-evaluate from time to time. Your body is different, and has different needs. At least mine does. I've lost 80 pounds in 11 months, and I still have 40-50 to go. What I did 8 months ago is different than what I need to do today to continue to lose weight.

Thanks for this post - it's a great one!

Just for an FYI - the day my friend got surgery, someone was at the OCC getting a re-surgery. Same with the day I went back to the OCC to get my first fill. Both surgeries were to fix a broken tube - not one that was defective, but one that was punctured by an american clinic while getting a fill.

I've gotten the same reaction, except I was the one who said goodbye after she changed her voice and became short and rude. I was shocked. I would have flown anywhere Dr. Ortiz was performing surgery - no matter what country. I wish they would judge more by the doctor, then by the country the surgeon practices in.

Great job! You're doing it all right

Good job - way to go!!!

Congratulations!!! Welcome to bandster land

What a great picture - I'm sorry I missed the meeting.

Let me know when the next one is - a Sunday afternoon would be great!!

I burp during lunch and dinner - at least 5 days a week. It's only when eating. About 2 minutes after I start, I have to belch. I can't eat anymore until I do, then I can finish the rest of my meal. It's odd, but those who know me have gotten used to it. If we're out in public, I just cover my mouth with a napkin when the urge is coming, and pretend like I'm wiping my mouth. It's crazy!!

I like to ride my mountain bike, and switch off from my road bike. I don't ride it in the mountains though - gravel or dirt trails - but not true rugged terrain. I usually just us it to commute to work when its not too hot, and to ride with my son, or to his soccer games. I got a cool little grocery pannier pack that folds up on the side when it's not in use - it's great - it will fit a paper grocery bag or hold my son's soccer ball, my backpack with clothes and shoes for work, etc.

I'll have to try the gel packs. I definitely needed energy, and I wasn't going to be able to get it from food like some of the other riders.

Ya know, they told me about how elevation could potentially affect us bandsters. Oh lord, on the way home from OCC, I wasn't feeling great, but couldn't pinpoint if it was my incision pains, swelling, or the band being sensitive to elevation. So I was shocked when I flew back to OCC to get my first fill - and I was so very nausea when landing both times. I mean, it really worried me. I grabbed the barf bag - I've NEVER had to do that before. I'm a big rollercoaster fanatic, and I've been a little leary about trying it. Not sure what was up with me feeling so sick on the plane - but it sucked. I hope the elevation doesn't affect you. Have you climbed that high up before? Let me know. Next year I want to go to Hawaii and go to the top of the volcano. They take a stop half way up, just to acclimate to the altitude. I'd be interested to see how it affects you, if at all.

Good job on plugging away - I'm excited to hear your results.

I can relate to this - of course on a lesser scale. I usually enjoy biking in the 10-20 mile range for a daily ride, but something came over me, and I decided to ride to another city - 20 miles away. I've always heard it was a fun ride, but never did it. It ended up being a 42 mile bike ride, on a hot sunny day, and I learned what my band can and can't do. Here's what I learned...

While exercising for those 4 hours, I could have easily been dehydrated. I used to swig water when I needed it..but with the band, I would feel full and sloshy so I used a camelbak pack instead - I did much better sipping often, and kept hydrated.

As far as eating, I ate before I left, but packed pop tarts per a suggestion from a cyclist for the halfway point. Well, it was good and bad. Bready things don't necessarily do well with me all the time, so I was able to eat one, but it sat like a lump of clay and was uncomfortable for a good hour afterwards. I really needed the carbs and sugars from both pop tarts as my ride home was a challenge. I was wobbly on the last 2 miles home. I was hydrated, but my blood sugars were too low. I crashed when I finally got home, and it wasn't from the exercise, but lack of foods. Next time, I'll bring something maybe I can suck on - sugar candies, or a crunchy protein bar (soft ones felt like a lump of clay too while exercising). I havent' tried on, but they also make energy gels which would be great for our bands.

The moral of my story is...I think you can do the hike - you just need to make the adjustments with the band. For me, that was drinking differently than I did pre-band. Big drinks of water don't sit well on the band while exercising - at least not with me. And for food - find some sucky alternatives - the energy gels, sugar candies, crunchy foods (maybe nuts). I found on other rides that when I actually ate something, even an handful of grapes, it was uncomfortable to ride shortly after that because they were in my pouch and not going straight thru. So maybe find some calories from drinks too instead of heavy foods. And make sure you're well hydrated up to the day before your hike. You'll need them for you 18 mile hike!! Good luck and have fun!!!