125ne1

crazycoolbutterfly,

Congrats on your accomplishment! That's stinkin' awesome!!!

My brother and his wife are very into triathlons, marathons, etc. I have always wanted to try a sprint triathlon, which is shorter than a regular one. In the past year or two, I have jogged in 5Ks. I was just banded in December, and I just finished the 3 week liquid phase. I 've been wanting to start training again for a 5K in April, but I'm afraid I might jar something loose. I've sent an email to the OCC, but haven't heard back yet.

Keep in touch. You're inspiring! vbranstetter@hotmail.com

125ne1

Congrats! Welcome to the really exciting part of the journey!

jhawkchick75,

I'm from Missouri, too. My friend and I were banded at the OCC by Dr. Martinez on Dec 22nd. Maybe we can meet up some time. It's so neat to meet people going through the same experience. We live about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis. We're both teachers, so maybe we can come to KC for a baseball game or something.

My email address is vbranstetter@hotmail.com.

My daughters went to Mizzou, so the Jayhawks were the mortal enemies. HA! We'll have to put all of that behind us. LOL

125ne1

Of the many message boards I am a member of, this is the first time I've seen this happen.

Sad. The moderators do little moderating, but are big on cutting off an arm to stop a splinter. C'est la vie.

mona, I received notice of a PM from you, but am unable to read it. Send me an email at bwillard1912@aol.com - thanks!

Julie, I agree with you. Moderators monitor a board daily, and make appropriate judgements on postings. They move posts to appropriate boards, and answer questions right away. There are features, like PMs which allow us to communicate with each other without airing for all to see, just as you've mentioned. It would've been APPROPRIATE for the person making this decision to have had the decency to send us all communication (they can do that easily) informing us of the messaging option shut-down.

Oh well. Deaf ears will hear this, too.

I'm a newbie, so I haven't had much experience with this site. I'm still trying to figure out what all I can do! It's a shame that admininstrators feel they have to be so harsh.

I cant seem to pm you grrr

Yup - we are going feb 5-10. I have arranged it with one of the other girls that was having her surgery (the one sitting accross from you with her mom and dad but I dont want to put her name on here)...anyways....she is going to take us four (my friend and I and u two) to the zoo while we are there Plus I think we could do some other things...like have chicken fajitas at the hotel lol - yum. I dont want to put my email on here cuz it has my last name in it and I cant pm grrrrrr....Ill make sure we get together though. If worst comes to worse Ill message you guys the day before we leave and Ill leave a message for you guys at the front desk with our room number on it and then we can meet up

I want to go to revolution ave just to a few places to get a few more things - but I hate it there so dont want to stay too long

mansaw,

Anle and myself are good friends and we work at the same place. So, if you can't pm her, just send it to me, and I'll get it to her. We're sooooooooo excited. I was down to 166 today! Yippee.

I'm Having surgery on the 13 of Jan and was wondering if anybody else is having it that day

I had my surgery on Dec. 22, 2008, but wanted to offer you encouragement. I'm so pleased with the OCC and their personnel. Everyone was wonderful! I met new friends who were also getting banded that day. It's a truly wonderful experience. And, everything is still going great! Best of Wishes!

Banded May 26,2008.I weigh 2x every day.At morning & night.

I want to remind myself of the goal.

My goal.To lose 100 lbs. 76 down so far.

I was just banded on December 22nd, so I'm new to all of this, but I wanted to congratulate you on your weight loss!!! Since May, WOW!

I want to weigh every day, but sometimes I do get disappointed and down when the scale goes up instead of down when I've done everything right. I'm still up in the air about what I will do. I want to retrain my mind. If I weigh everyday, it's just for a record--I will look at the overall effect.

Again, CONGRATS!

I havent gained any for sure, I am at 203lbs so I am not TOO high risk. My BMI is 31. I am still going to continue to get down as much as I can I just dont want to feel like I have to resort to fasting for the next 2 days. Thanks for your help!

I was just banded on the 22nd of December, and I was worried about the same thing. They told me that I didn't have to do the pre-op diet because I have a lower BMI, but I couldn't gain over a certain amount. WELL, that was the wrong thing to tell me. LOL

My friend, who was banded on the same day, had to be on the pre-op diet for two or three weeks, so I did last about a week on it--trying to be a good friend and calm myself down a bit. But, as soon as the Christmas parties at work, family gatherings, etc. started coming, I quit the pre-op. I was very paranoid that I had overdone it! The day before surgery, I was afraid to eat anything. I did eat a small lunch, but it was not a "good for you" type lunch!

When I went in on surgery day, no problem. I had lost a little weight. Dr. Miranda was fine with everything. So, don't worry. Easy for me to say, huh? But, really, do the best you can, and I'm sure you'll be fine.

okay - I just read this post..way to go...

but I have to say OUCH - you made me laugh when you said the chew and spit thing because I admit I have done it twice due to xmas dinner...well once with a bite of ham and the next morning with a bite of sausage...never new I could get satisfaction like that from doing it ha ha - not making a habbit of it but a persons gotta do what a persons gotta do!

I'm just now getting to go through all of the posts...I sometimes have a difficult time navigating this site.

This one is awesome! I just hope I can do nearly as well as you all!

I didn't know you could chew and spit something out! Do you still retain some of the calories from that? I never thought of doing that...maybe I shouldn't even think about doing it! Once I taste it, I may not be able to hold myself back!

yup - I completely agree....tomorrow is day 7 for me - so creamy soup stage and honestly I am worried about even starting that! In my mind I think maybe it would be better if I did clear liquids a few more days for more healing - but I am following Dr.Mirandas orders. I had drinkable yogurt today and felt guilty - I cant imagine having something solid! I would die of worry

I agree with all of you! I'm so paranoid about every little thing--I'm annoying to all around me. I've emailed Dr. Miranda several times asking about little things--I'm sure she's sorry she gave me her email address. LOL

I'm had my first liquid yogurt today. OMG! I though I was in heaven. How many can we have a day? Are we supposed to be trying to consume 1200 calories a day while on this liquid diet? It would be really hard to get that many calories in I would think.

Now, about creamy soups...does that mean I can eat creamy potato soup if I don't eat the chunks? Yummy!

waiting to find out about my first fill - hoping for feb 7th or 9th

mansaw,

I was banded on December 22nd also. We must have met each other that day! (My friend and I came from Missouri.) We are also hoping for Feb 7th or so for our first fill. Tell me what you decide to do.

Our starting weights are very similar! How cool!

125ne1

Hi everyone! I'm new at all of this. And, like many of you, have been reading the posts on this website for several weeks. My friend and I will be having our surgery on December 21 with Dr. Martinez. Did any of you have him instead of Dr. Ortiz. (Dr. Ortiz is not available that week.) My friend and I are teachers, so we are trying to fit it in over our Christmas Break. What about fills in Mexico? Someone with the OCC told me that is was a $99 fee to be picked up at the airport and taken to the OCC, and that the fill itself with exray would cost $100. What about the cost of the motel room? Does anyone know what that is per night?

I'm a little nervous about the entire thing. We're flying into San Diego from St. Louis, MO. Nervous about the trip into Mexico. Nervous about not knowing the doctors or facility personally--I'm going on just what I have researched. Nervous about the surgery--what if something goes wrong? Nervous about causing a slip or a stretched pouch. Can you tell I'm a nervous person? Ha! I don't want to be, it just sneaks up on me!

So, after you have your surgery, you are supposed to be on a liquid diet for two weeks? Is this correct? And, did someone say that since you don't have your first fill until 6-8 weeks after surgery, their is nothing in the band?

Does anyone know what kind of exercise is ok and what kind of exercise is considered too strenuous? In the beginning I'm sure you have to be very conservative, but what about after two or three months, can you start slow jogging? (Or does the jogging jar your insides too much?)

Thanks for your help in advance! Hope you all are enjoying you Thanksgiving Break!

Hi everyone! I am a newbie. I have my surgery date set for December 22 with Dr. Martinez. I was reading through your posts regarding target weights. I found it very surprising! I have been a yo-yo dieter since I was very young. Fought with body image issues for as long as I can remember. Just in the past year, my weight has gotten out of hand. I weigh more now than I have ever weighed--even 9 months pregnant! I imagine some of you will think I'm crazy. My BMI is between 30-31. The problem is not that 30-31 is really bad--it's the fact that I keep gaining at an alarming rate! I don't want to wait until I've let it get up to 35 to 40! That being said, I wanted to get down to 125 pounds; I am 5' 4.5" tall. I would think that 150-160 would not be a good target weight for me--I think that I will stocky at that wait. That's not what I want.

Do the OCC offer any counseling on body image issues? Maybe that's my biggest enemy! Any comments are welcome.