kym828

i had gas pains for about 10 days and they were painful - i never had any trouble with liquids... i would suggest continuing to take baby sips for a few more days... its better to be safe than sorry and there is no hurry to get the liquids down as long as you are getting some nurtients and the sips are staying down. if you are unable to keep liquids down without them gurgling back up then call the doctor - you are still swollen - it will take a while to heal yet. kim

My only concern about this whole conversation is that we all plan on being normal and healthy in the correct BMI within one or two years following the lapband procedure... Does that mean we no longer require this tool and shouldnt have it since we are healthy? If people need the tool i dont think it should matter what your BMI is - i plan on having a 26 BMI for life and keeping my lapband for life. If it slips, i would head back to Dr Ortiz in a second to get a new one so i dont gain all the wt back again. kim

scuba diving is not a problem...

i am so glad to hear that! i have watched oprah for years hoping she would do a show on the lapband and i am thrilled that she picked the best surgeon in the world to showcase. (IMO) kym

i have heard it is suppose to take two years to reach goal so the wt you lost in the first year is excellent. from what you discribe about your bone structure, anything at 130 to 135 sounds perfect. my friend is very fit and large boned, 5'3" and when she is in perfect shape she cant get below 140 but wears a perfect size 6. when i was getting my surgery, the docs at OCC told me if i can get to 190 and stay there (i am 5'8" and lots of muscle) then i would be considered successful and healthy even though the charts say i should wt 160. i did a fat diagnostic testing thing where it measures the muscle, organs and fat in your body. based on that machine it said my muscles and organs alone wt 165 and we all need a little fat on our bodies to be healthy. maybe you should see if you could get that testing done some where just to see what your make-up of body mass is? i got mine done at a local health fair. kym

that was a very good suggestion about toasting the bread. i had forgotten to mention that is the only way i can eat bread and it has be thin slices. any thick bread, biscuits, pancakes, waffles are all no-no's for me. i love tuna salad on a slice of bread - you may find that you cant eat a full sandwhich but you can eat it like you would a cracker and tuna salad. make sure if you are PB'ing alot (more than a couple times a day for a few days) to try and go to soups for at least 24 hours to give your stomach a chance to return to normal... all that PB'ing causes swelling and something you can eat today you may not be able to eat tomorrow. that is another reason if you recently got a fill to give it a good 3 wks to see if it is working as long as you can get down liquids and keep them down. (just my opinion of course) Kym

have you tried eating really juicy meat or switching to dark meat since it naturally has more juice? i have a very hard time with meat so i usually eat lean cusine casarole dinners or something like that... i count my calories and stay between 1200 and 1500. try switching to low cal potatoe chips and low cal ice cream bars, they will help alot so you dont feel deprived. just make sure to count your calories. good luck! p.s. 48 lbs is still really good - you are only 35 wks out so you are on average losing more than a 1 lb per week. kym

you look beautiful!! congratulations--- i bet you have tons of energy now and feel wonderful! kym

i went to dr ortiz because of his experience in doing the procedure.. i could have gone to a local doctor for 12 or 13k who has done less than 100 surgeries or i could go to dr ortiz who has done over 5000 surgeries for 9k. i chose experience. i dont have a lot of faith in most american facilities because they seem to forget about the patient and its all about the all mighty dollar... just my experience... in fact my local family doctor is from Egypt and he spends 45 minutes to an 1 hour with me every single time i go for a visit. he is the first family doctor i have had that i feel cares about me as an individual and not just rushing thru to get to the next patient. i understand it really isnt the doctor's fault, its just the way it usually is in America. there are exceptions so i am not bashing every american care giver out there.... however, i have no problem researching worldwide to find the best physicians for a procedure... just because a physician isnt american made doesnt mean he or she doesnt have better skills in certain areas... its kind of like comparing a ford to a toyota - we may want a ford but we all know that toyotas really are the better quality car based on the research. kym

you look absolutely beautiful!! if you never lose another pound you will still look perfect at this height and weight! congratulations! kym

I did the bare minimum prior to surgery... i believe they wanted me to lose 10 lbs before i got to mexico but i think i only lost about 6 or 7 and they were ok with that. i had no problems but i would recommend trying to do the preop diet just to help shrink your liver and make it easier for the surgeon. the biggest misconception/secret is people believe the band will do most of the work - it will help but you will have to do most of the work. you will have to committ to watching what you eat, how you eat, and you will have to exercise to reach goal. good luck on your surgery!! kym

I added a new Christmas picture to the bunch... i have only lost 3 lbs in the last 6 weeks but it is the first time i have ever lost weight thru the holidays instead of gained!! Happy New Year everyone! Kym

You look wonderful!! congratulations! Kym

the band is just a tool... you will still have to watch what you eat and diet and exercise... it is certainly not a magic pill.. having said that - i have gained and lost the same 100 lbs twice before and this is the first time that i am very confident that i wont gain the wt back. that is the main reason i got the band... to help me get there and then help me stay there. its the best investment i have ever made but it may not be for everyone... kym

i have had tons of counseling for the past 9 years. it really did help alot but i havent gone in about 9 months because my therapist said i didnt need her anymore. i have basically given myself a time out and taken a step back from all social situations to give my mind time to catch up with my body. i think it is slowly working - i now see a size 16 when i look in the mirror and in reality i am now a 12. i went shopping last weekend for a thermal shirt and bought a mens XL - which always fit before, well it hung on me like a dress and i could wear the small fine - so i know i still have a ways to go. i have sworn off all men and dating situations until i figure this out and figure out their intentions... we will see what the new year brings! thank you for the suggestion and i will considerate if i dont start seeing the real me soon. kym

Maybe some people can give up alcohol... but i am not one of them so i understand completely!! at first i tried the drinks like vodka and diet soda or something like that.. but the sugar is really what messes you up and it causes plateaus and messes up a weeks worth of being good..... however, if you are just a beer drinker you should be ok to have a couple... just remember to count those calories and bud light is 110 per bottle. stay with the lights and if you like bud select it has either 90 calories or 100 - i cant remember...try to go back and forth between the beer and water when you are out with friends. i do cut out all alcohol for two weeks at a time when i hit a plateau just to try and change things up a bit. as for the food, i cant eat any dry meat all - i have switched to all dark meat for turkey and chicken - which helps since it is juicier. i rarely eat bread because its just too dry. last night i had a biscuit and ended up PB'ing and couldnt eat the rest of the night - thats just the way it goes sometimes.. i have noticed on the days that i have no restriction i can eat anything and way too much of everything but it never fails a day or two later i cant eat anything at all without PBing so that is why i have not gotten a fill in so long. some how it balances itself out.. I am on a strict 1200 calorie a day diet and i do exercise for one hour 5 to 7 days a week which seem to be the key... when i say strict diet - i guess not really because i dont worry about my alcohol intake on the weekends unless i start gaining or dont lose for a couple of weeks. i have been very cautious with my fills so i dont know what to tell you on that one. it is a lifestyle change and even if the wt comes off very slowly ( i averaged 1 lb a week for the first year) it still is so much better than gaining that 10 or 20 lbs every year. it will happen - hang in there. Kim

Lynn, thank you! the only scares i really have are my stupid stretch marks from being so fat! honestly all the scares from surgery have faded and you can barely see the one left from where they put they port in...its about 3/4 of and inch long and very faint - in another year it will be all gone i think. when i post the next pictures i will try to show my belly - that will be in about 20 lbs or so or at 18 months post op - which ever comes first. go for it - its the best thing i ever did for myself! kym

Hi I live in colorado springs as well and i go to dr. allen in denver for all my fills. he is a radiologist but he is very good at fills and i wont go to anyone but him in the states for my fills. he works in an office at cherry creek radiology and his co-workers also do fills but he is the best and most experienced so i will wait for the days he is doing fills.. he charges 350 and it is under fluro... he can be reached at 720-941-7000. if you want to talk more private message me and i will be glad to chat. kim

Thanks everyone! Christopher - good luck on your surgery!! Kym

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd187/kym828/ here is the link to the before and after pics for my one year post op. kym

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd187/kym828/ here are the before and after pics... kym

Brenny and Suzie, Thank you so much for the kind words. i am doing better this week. i have some really good girlfriends that rallied around me and reminded me that these people that say these terrible things really do not matter one bit in my life and their not all that wonderful themselves. as for the ex husband, we were only married two years and together a total of 3 1/2 - which was 3 1/2 years too long. i am really trying not to be so untrusting of new men i meet but i swear the ex did a bait and switch on me that has left me doubting peoples intentions. he was wonderful sweet and attentive when we were dating and even the first year we lived together. i swear the day after we got married he totally changed. one of the first things he said to me was that my son would never amount to anything if he didnt toughen him up. he became verbally abusive to my son and said the only way to raise a boy into a man is to have that boy afraid of his father figure... so he tried to get my son to be terrified of him. it was the worst experience i have ever been through. my son's real father is a wonderful man that has always played an active role in his life... which is one reason i was blind sided by the ex-husbands behavior, i didnt know people could be so mean!! it was 2 years of pure hell with me and my son walking around on egg shells, me gaining 100 lbs in that time frame from stress and looking to food for comfort and also my son gained quite abit of wt - he was always a big boy but not fat - healthy. he put on extra 40 to 50 himself. this man destroyed my son's self esteem and made him so rebellous that i was so afraid my son would turn suicidel. his grades went from B's and C's to straight F's. teachers passed him year after year because they said he knew the work he just wouldnt do it...my son and i were so unhappy and finally one day i was so worried about me son that we left and by then we both truly hated the man i had married. we got our own place and my son swore he would straighten up, he tried but it was too late. after going thru all of middle school getting straight F's he was too far behind starting his freshman year of hs and he had no idea how to study and apply himself. at this point i had to do something or i was going to lose this child forever, i ended up sending him to Cal Farlys Boys Ranch in Texas (we live in Colorado). this is a wonderful place, that is free, ran by donations only. my son needed structure, direction, and something to live for... with me he was lost and sad and giving up on ever graduating. this was the hardest decision i had ever made. i felt like i had failed as a mother. it had always been me and my son since the age of 6. we were so close and we were a team. now i had lost him all because of some stupid guy that i fell for. i have hated myself for years because of this and i have hated men too. the first year my son hated me so bad, he kept crying and yelling at me to tell him the truth that i just didnt want him. it broke my heart and crushed me to think he believed this when all i wanted to do was save him. - 4 years later... now my son is 6'2" and 220 lbs... he is a senior in high school, still on the ranch and is so happy and so good its amazing. i went to see him a couple weeks ago for his homecoming and he was crying i thought because they had lost their football game... he surprised me - he looked at me and said "mom, i am going to miss this place and these people so much when i graduate and have to leave here." he then thanked me for sending him and told me if i hadnt sent him he would have dropped out like alot of his friends have here in colorado. finally i had made this mess right for him and i am so thankful that he now has the tools to be successful. he will be coming home next summer to go to college and he wants to live with me until he transfers to the university. the ranch is paying for most, if not all of his college as that is part of the deal for the kids that graduate from the ranch. I know it all turned positive after the hell we went thru, i am trying very hard to focus on the fact that this story has a happy ending. i am damaged from the experience. my son has told me he would like to see me date again as i have not had a real boyfriend since this experience ended back in 2003. i am so scared of screwing up again, but also i dont want to pass up the chance to meet a really good guy because of the asshole ex... that would be giving him the power still and that is what i am working really hard on right now... i want my power back! i am sorry i wrote a book - i know we all have our stories of how we got where we are. Suzie, i so relate to your story and i am amazed you have hung in there. its like a fight or flight syndrome and i chose flight everytime! i wish you success and i am so glad you are doing this for you and no one else. thanks again girls!

thanks for the responses... suzie, yeah i am worried about the saggy skin too but so far so good. i wanted to tell you what triggered this depression for me a couple weeks ago and it is still hanging around.... i have a guy friend who is extremely blunt and just tells it like he sees it. we were talking about my one year band anniversery coming up and how much i had lost. then he says to me and i quote "i cant believe anyone would ever have been with you the size you were a year ago - you were so huge and had the biggest thighs i have ever seen!" now, i know he meant this as a compliment, but seriously i am still the same person i have always been inside. it crushed me to think that people, even people that actually care about me as so shallow! even my ex-husband is suddenly trying to pay me more attention, which irritates me because he used to call me walmart white trash... so you know every time he asks me to go to dinner or go get a drink i tell him he doesnt want to be seen with the walmart white trash and now he says he didnt mean that blah blah blah. i still wont go out with him but he is persistent -it has never been more obvious to me how men think with the little brain. (no offense to the really good guys on here that have a totally different perspective) i really dont want to turn into a man hater but it is hard to weed out the good from the bad and sometimes i miss that fat suit and being able to hide!

i know you know the rules and what you need to do and i know it is a hell of a lot easier to say than actually do... just a couple things might make the difference... make sure you are not drinking at all with your meal and second, make sure you are eating super super slow like you are savoring every last little bite - take 40 mins to eat a meal instead of 20 mins but with the right size portion and smaller bites. also, i know none of us want to do this, but you are going to have to count every single calorie you put in your mouth. 1200 calories a day has got to be it - no more no less. last is the exercise, if you are eating 1200 calories a day and getting 30 to 40 mins of cardio it will slowly come off - its depressing i know but it is the truth that its like the turtle and the hare - slow and steady win the race. finally, from personal experience, i lost 25 to 30 lbs in the first 5 to 7 months and then stalled until month 9 ... when i went to my family doctor he was very upset with me and that is when he put me on the strict 1200 calorie a day diet, made me start exercising consistantly and every single day and he also gave me a 60 day supply of Fastin (which is suppose to be the good part of phen/phen) i was upset at first because i spent $8500 to avoid having to take a food suppressint, but he told me that i had to relearn to eat and the best way to do that is to have no appetite while i become accustomed to eating like a small person. personally, i was fighting my band and pb'ing so much that i was afraid i would cause it to slip. i have since dropped another 26 lbs and i am finally starting to make the connection between how much food i need compared to what i want. this is not the answer for everyone, but it did help me get over a plateau when i knew i didnt want to get another fill and PB more. i am not staying on the pills as they do lose their effectiveness after a month or two...so now it is back to me to do it on my own with the right band restriction, diet and exercise and yes, i did feel like i was cheating while i was on the pills!

thanks Chris, it really is a mental game... even when i see recent pics i see a really fat girl with a pretty face. i had the same problem when i first got heavy 20 yrs ago... i thought i was still average and i was actually huge! my brain just takes awhile to catch up with the rest of me. i just dont want others to get discouraged if they are experiencing the same thing. i definetely prefer the messed up self image i see in my own minds eye compared to what i saw 20 yrs ago. this also gives me a whole new understanding of how anorexic people think they are fat. self preception is a strange thing. kym kym