pieinsky

had a non scale victory today. i love boots, but i have never found a pair of boots that i both liked and could wear. i am uncomfortable wearing heals because i am very self-conscious about my height. it is hard to find fashionable flat or low heal boots. and on the rare occations that i have found a pair of flat boots that i liked, i have never been able to find a pair that fit. usually the sizes stop at a size 9 (i wear a 10). so i usually don't even get a chance to try any on. on the even more rare occations that i have found a pair of flat boots i like, in a size 10, they have never closed over my calves. even last february (7&1/2 mths after being banded; and 60lbs down) i still couldn't find boots that would fit over my calves. several bandsters have posted that their feet had shrunk a size along with the rest of their body. unfortunately, that hasn't been my experience. today i was shopping and saw a pair of flat boots, on sale, and available in a size 10. so i decided to try them on---and they fit!!!! i actually got to try on THREE different pairs of boots. and they all fit. after years of searching for just one pair of flat boots, i actually got to chose among several. it was a very happy victory. happy halloween to everyone.

i am one week away from my bandaversary! a few of weeks ago i scheduled my third fill. it has been awhile since i've felt any restriction. i am (unfortunately) able to eat anything i want--as much as i want any time. this, of course has resulted in weight gain. i got to within 4lbs of my goal weight before i gained 5lbs in one month! so i decided i'd better get my expanding butt back down to the occ before 5lbs became 20 lbs. or more! so when i showed up for my appointment--it didn't quite turn out as planned...turned out that the problem wasn't that my band wasn't tight enough. the problem was that i have already slightly stretched my pouch!!! the dr explained very thoroughly and patiently how stretching the pouch created by the band leads to slippage. i had (wrongly) thought that when the band slips, it slips up around the esophagus so it causes a stricture above the stomach preventing anything from reaching the stomach--hence the vomiting i kept reading about. the dr explained that the band slips down around the pyloris--the exit region of the stomach. so it causes an outflow obstruction. if the band slips food can get into the stomach. it just can't travel down into the intestines for absorption. if i had had the fill done without fluoroscopy, the dr would have never known that my band actually needed to be unfilled--rather then filled. he explained that loosening the band would allow the stretch to resolve and the pouch to shrink back down to the appropriate size. i had to go back on a liquid diet for a week and be more diligent about eating slowly and thoroughly chewing my food. well, i still don't feel any restriction. but, that third fill visit was a great wake-up call. it was soooo hard to hafta agree to getting even a small unfill. but, i am back on tract and just 2 lbs from my goal weight! just wish i knew how to post pictures--i took one set of "before's" no after's....yet thanx to the band i am on tract to reach my goal weight within one year. oh yeah, and how do you add icons to a post??

hi, i was banded 10 months ago. it took me about a year to finally commit to having the surgery done. i had scheduled the procedure elsewhere and wound up chickening out. but i finally acknowledged that i wasn't going to be able to lose and keep the weight off on my own. i had already been locked in battle with the weight for over 3 decades and despite temporary triumphs, it kept coming back. i thought what i was going to have the hardest time adjusting to was the no drinking with meals. but, what has turned out to be the hardest is the eating slowly. i used to wolf down my meals, at work you gotta eat fast--no time for sitting. now it takes me forever to eat an entire meal. and it is sometimes hard to drink as much as i should. but, i can still eat all of the foods i have always enjoyed. i go to restaurants with friends. i just end up taking at least half of my meal home. i still love bread. giving up sodas turned out not to be hard at all. and ultimately, the weight has come off. and i am eating more healthy then i used to.

me too. i rarely "feel full". i am not hungry most of the time. but, i am not really feeling any restriction. i can eat just as much as before i was banded. i weigh in once a month and at my last weigh in i found that i had gained 4 lbs!!!! i have already scheduled a fill. i am trying not to go back to my old eating habits. but, without the negative feed-back of restriction, i am slipping.

hi all, just had to post an awesome happening i had recently. i work in a veterinary hospital. whenever a giant breed dog comes in that outweighs any of the staff, they comment on it. no matter how often it happens (not very often), it is still noteworthy to be outweighed by a dog. we have a couple of very petite ladies that work in the office. they get outweight at least once a month. occationally, we will get a dog weighing between 120 and 140lbs--fat, giant breed dog. and a lot more staff bragging about being outweighed. even the time we got a 190lb bull mastiff that outweighed almost every other staff member, i could only smile and listen to the bragging. i never even dreamed i would ever get to be one of the ones saying "wow, this dog weighs more then i do!" well, it finally happened! this past week we saw a great dane that weighed in at 160lbs. the band is awesome!

it has been 9 mos since i was banded. for the first two months i had severe left shoulder gas pain. i would pace on the verge of tears for hours. the pain was completely unpredictable. but, finally, it struck less and less often. the intestinal gas has continued. i have noticed that i am a lot more gassy then i was before the band. i was also more weak then i had anticipated; i remember feeling really tired at the end of each day for about two months. lately, i have been having unpredictable restriction. my last fill was in january. i spent tues and wed not being able to hold down anything solid. today, i was able to eat normally. the weight loss has been great! i am only 5 lbs from my revised goal. slower then i had anticipated, but steady. i still have minor port sensitivity; but, i never experienced any real port pain. hang in there; you won't really know how you will feel about being banded until about 2 months post sx.

so is anyone else out there addicted to the show "what-not-to-wear"? i discovered this show flipping channels one day. reruns are broadcast a 6pm daily on TLC. i feel i have learned a lot about how to dress to look put together vs dressing to hide your body. the two hosts take a fashion victom and basically show her the errors of her wardrobe before setting her free to shop in new york with $5,000.00 . she also gets her hair and makeup done before she comes out in her new outfits at the end of the show. the guidance and tips the hosts give are general enough to be applied by anyone. when i finally went shopping recently, i found myself critiquing the clothes i tried on with those tips running thru my head. they actually gave me a starting point on how to dress my changed body. also, i have never been any good at putting outfits together. i am curious as to how other bandsters have handled the drastic changes to your body shape/size? did you already have an established style that you were comfortable with and just needed to buy smaller sizes? or have you been experimenting with new style options as your body has shrunk?

i have never spent much money on buying clothes; i could rarely find anything that i liked and that would actually fit. i wear scrubs at work, so before the band, i basically ended up wearing scrubs almost exclusively. i would just always claim to have "just gotten off of work". scrubs, t-shirts, and track pants were my only clothes. since getting banded 9 mos ago i have almost reached my goal weight--just 8 lbs left to go! i have started watching "what-not-wear" on TLC--good for learning basic fashion guidelines. i even went shopping last month and actually had fun trying on clothes! it was the first time in my life that i shopped for clothes that fit my body rather then clothes that hid my body. so congrats on you newly acquired band. before you know it, you'll be exercising your new fashion style.

i agree with most of what you wrote with one very big exception--vit D can indeed be overdosed. in fact, at mega doses it is toxic. it causes hypercalcemia and kidney damage. vit D toxicity is the basis of several rat baits: rampage, ortho, mouse-be-gone, and quintox. at the doses you listed, however, it is vital for good health.

congrats on reaching your anniversary! even thou you haven't reached your goal weight yet, you need to step back and enjoy what you have acheived. 50 friggin lbs!!!!! a year ago wouldn't you have been happy to start summer 50 lbs lighter? don't you already feel the benefits of carrying around 50 lbs less on your frame? go pick up a 50lb bag of dog food and marvel at the fact that you used to carry that around with you 24/7. how long does it take you before you grow tired of holding up all that extra weight? how much has your endurance improved? no more getting winded after a meer 5 to 10 min of exercising. and being able to say that you have grown to love exercise! that will surely get the rest of the way to your goal. i still don't like to exercise, and i still like junk food. even if it takes you another 6 months to get the rest of the weight off; so what???? if you get there without losing your lean muscle mass and by eating healthy, consistent meals then you are perfectly set up for maintaining your weight loss. the hardest part of any diet; and the part that we have all failed in the past. so despite how frustrating it can be to read about everyone's seemingly rapid weight loss, enjoy you current achievenment; you done good!!!

i also had no restriction after my first fill. also, i always felt i was losing weight slower then everyone else seemed to. it was especially frustrating that the harder i worked at losing weight--hours at the gym, limiting calories to 1000/day or less--the slower my weight loss seemed to be. what i have discovered is that my body responds better to moderation. i have actually lost more lbs when i do eat around 1200 to 1400 calories per day. i am spending less time at the gym, but a lot more time being generally active. i am doing lots of gardening right now--digging holes and preparing the ground for planting uses a lot of energy! i never actually felt restriction until after my second fill. and it has been completely unpredictable since then. some days i can eat like before i was banded. some days the restriction will kick in after two bites of anything. a few days i wasn't able to eat anything. but, the next day i would be fine. but with or without feeling restriction, the best thing the band has given me is the almost total lack of feeling the sensation of hunger. i almost never FEEL hungry anymore. so the lbs continue to come off--even if it has been at a slower rate then i would have liked.

i am 10lbs from my goal weight and the only hunger i usually feel is mental hunger. i spent the last two days binging. and none of it was because i was physically hungry. today i am back on moderate quantities. and it is the band that has allowed me to stop the binging before a day turned into a week or a month of non-stop eating. i no longer hafta fight physical hunger. but, not giving into cravings is an ongoing battle. with the band in my corner it is a more even fight. i actually do win the fight against cravings more often then not. but, sadly, i don't think i will ever be completely free from them.

i am 5'10" and dr miranda gave me a goal weight of 160. which i initially thought would be good. i guesstimated that i would be a size 8 at that weight. well, 7 months later i am 168lbs and a size 12. very frustrating! i still would like to get down to a size 8--i hate the idea of being in the double digits (size-wise). no one's goal size is in the double digits--that's where you start your weight loss; not where you end it. but, now i know that i will need to get down to 150lbs to reach that size. and i don't think know if i can maintain that weight long-term. i bought a body composition scale--the scale that gives you, not only your weight, but supposedly your body fat %. i don't know how accurate these scales are?? but, if they are reliable, then i got some more depressing news. i thought i would be between 120 - 125lbs of lean body weight. and everything above that fat weight. according to the scale i am only 116lbs of lean tissue. so even at my present weight, i am still over 30% fat!!! i may hafta stick to scv--i have gone from tight xl scrubs at work to mediums. and i am now able to squat!

i am from so cal also. i got banded almost six mths ago. so far i have lost about 40lbs. slower than i wanted, but it is working. i have driven down three times so far--one for surgery and twice for fills. i parked at the airport the first time to meet the driver. the two fill appointments i drove to the border and crossed on foot then took a cab for $5.00 to the clinic. if you have the address written down, that's all you need. parking at the border runs between $5.00 and 10.00 per day. there are plenty of lots off of the last exit. if you have any other questions please feel free to contact me good luck and happy new year!

four months since i was banded (july) and my wt loss has been steadily slowing--very frustrating and discouraging. i started out great! 10lbs lost on the two week pre-op diet. i was pleasantly surprised (i had never lost that much weight per week before). one month post banding (august) i was disappointed to find that i had only lost another 10lbs. i was surprised that i had only lost half as much weight per week as before being banded. i was on the liquid diet for three of the four weeks. i hadn't cheated at all. and i had already begun light exercising. two months post banding (sept)--down another 10lbs. again frustrated because i was being "good"--1200 cal/day or less and increasing exercise. this was also when i got my first fill. a demoralizing experience. i did return to the occ for the fill. the doctor (i don't recall his name) who did the fill wasn't very encouraging. when i told him that i could still eat the same way as before being banded, he said i just needed to follow the rules and not rely on feeling any restriction. that i should not wait to feel full before stopping eating. i should just stop when i had eaten about 1/3 of what i used to eat. i got a 2.5cc fill in a 4cc band and felt no restriction??? i have been reading other people's post and most of you seem to experience increased weight loss after getting fills done. so i tried to stay optimistic--10lbs a month isn't huge weight loss, but it is steady and will eventually get me where i want to be (just slower than i wanted to get there). month three--october. down 9 lbs. going to the gym regularly now. absolutely no change in the way i am able to eat. i did binge a couple of times since my last weigh-in (i weigh-in once a month).i am getting to the point now where my diets usually fail. i am getting no negative feed-back from my band--i can eat everything i've always been able to eat; in the amounts i've been able to eat with no discomfort???? month four--nov--today--down 5lbs. so far i have lost 44lbs--i am actually over the half-way point--30lbs left to go. but, i am losing steam. i do have a second fill scheduled for the first week of dec. but, i am worried that i may still not get any resrtiction. if i can't get to the point of feeling any restriction, than i know i will not only not reach my goal weight. i will eventually start regaining the weight i have already lost ): for my height (5'10") and build my ideal weight would be 155. obese is defined as more than 20% above one's ideal weight. so for me, anything above 186 is obese. today i weighed in at 188. i am depressed that i haven't experienced restriction yet. i am depressed that i am still obese. i am depressed that when i tried on size 16 pants yesterday, they didn't fit. and when i get depressed, guess what i turn to for comfort?? food! anyway, really needed to vent. pieinsky

i am scheduled for my first fill on sept 2nd. anyone else there that day?? grace

hi everyone, had a really rough day today. lots of gas. a really upset stomach. couldn't drink more than a bottle of liquid yoghurt and some water. only got half way thru the bottle of vitamin water. i feel blah and light-headed. and the more i tried to drink, the more upset my intestines got. walking hasn't really helped. i am just tired now and will probably just go to sleep soon. i don't know if it is just the bacteria in the yoghurt. i started drinking yoghurt yesterday. i started feeling bad after i drank some lemonade at lunch. maybe the bacteria feeding on the carbs in the lemonade. i got banded 8 days ago. on the other hand, i did get my first "have you lost weight?" comment today! that was good. but, time to rest now. grace

i was recently banded and am wondering if there are any activity restrictions that i will need to be aware of? any problems with stuff like riding roller coasters that flip you up-side-down. or rides that throw your body weight forward against restraints around your abdomen? any problems with activities or exercises that stretch your core like yoga? exercising on an exercise ball? grace

i just got banded this past wed. and i remember thinking while i was in the waiting room that most of the other people there didn't look as big as i had expected. my bmi was slightly under 32. but, i figured why wait for the inevidable wt gain? the longer you wait the more stretched out your skin will be. and the bigger the effects on your health and joints. i see this as a tool to help me cont the eating habits that are easier to stick to during the weight loss period than to maintain long term to keep the weight off. grace

just got banded 07/09/08. got home yesterday. i am absolutely paranoid about any movement that requires abdominal contractions--which is any change in position-sitting, getting up and down, lying down, bending down. dr miranda said no crunches, but how can you move without contracting your stomach muscles? i am also having trouble sipping enough fluids to get 64oz of fluids a day. so far no hunger, though. but, so far so good. grace

love the clothing exchange idea! anyone got any sizes 14 or 12 they are ready to pass along?? grace

i have tried a couple of times to add a ticker tape, not working. grace

how much did the fill in vegas cost?? travelwise, that may be an option for me. i just got banded yesterday. and so far--nothing-no resrtiction, no gas, no bletching, no trouble drinking. in fact, i am having a hard time remembering to sip 'cause i can still gulp with no problem. grace

please feel free to stop by. it is getting pretty close! grace