lea32

I'm hoping they are baby fills too dammit! I'm ready for that restriction!

Haha! No more "fun" stuff for me! I have had my share of plastic surgery already (got a tummy tuck, lipo and fat booty injections) a couple years ago) so I'm done for now! I want to get a boob lift after I have reached my goal but I'm focusing on trying to buy a house right now! We shall see . I have lost 2 pounds since my fill but that's because I am working super duper hard on watching what I eat!

Hey All, So I just went back to OCC for my first fill yesterday. I got 3cc's put in. I'm on full liquids for three days and I don't feel any restriction at all. Does everyone else get put on liquids for 3 days after their fill too? They told me that it can take a couple weeks to feel some type of restriction so hopefully it comes but if not, then work harder till my second fill. Anyone felt like this after their first fill? I was just kinda hoping for better restriction bcuz I haven't lost any weight in the past three weeks since being on solids and I really can eat anything!

Hey All, So I just went back to OCC for my first fill yesterday. I got 3cc's put in. I'm on full liquids for three days and I don't feel any restriction at all. They told me that it can take a couple weeks to feel some type of restriction so hopefully it comes but if not, then work harder till my second fill. Anyone felt like this after their first fill? I was just kinda hoping for better restriction bcuz I haven't lost any weight in the past three weeks since being on solids and I really can eat anything!

Hi Lena! Do you have any more restriction since your fill a few weeks ago? I just got my fill yesterday and I don't feel a difference but since its only been a day, I'm waitin to see if I feel I difference. I'm on full liquids for 3 days but it all goes down fine. I think I'm gonna be one of those people who needs a couple more fills before I get to my sweet spot. I haven't lost any weight since being on solids for the past three weeks. Lea

hey carla! i sent you a personal message as well so check your in box!

Hi CARLA and BMEagain! How do we do this! Getting to know each other, or getting together? Personal emails? How fun to know that we can chitty chat!

Hi! I live in Cerritos (also O.C. & L.A. border) and I was banded on June 12th. Where are you?! Damn, its such a small world that I probably know you already!

I know that many of you say that you don't feel real restriction until after the first fill but dang, I feel like I could eat anything if I allowed myself to. I'm too scared to hurt my band so I'm trying to stay under 1300 calories daily and lkeep a ow fat intake. I don't feel like I even had the surgery but mentally, I know I have to limit my eating as I don't want gain the 12 lbs I lost over the last 3 weeks and also because I'm not going to treat this like a magic band. I really do feel though like I'm just on a regular diet. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me that I will feel some change when I get my first fill!

So, since being banded for 18 days, I haven't felt what you all call much "restriction". All I know is that after eating like a 1/2 to 1 cup of soup, I suddenly don't want anymore. I don't get any of the feelings like my food is coming up or food getting stuck and I feel like if I kept eating, I would be fine. Luckily, I don't feel the need to keep eating after that little fullness feeling. I have read many of you say that you don't that restriction until the first, second or even third fill. I am just afraid that I won't be able to continue on like I am doing right now as the weeks go by. I know I'm only going on my third week and I love that I have lost almost 12 lbs but I just wanted to know what I can look forward to before my first fill on July 23rd. Thanks guys!

Hi Carrie! For me, I guess in order to maintain my weight right now, my body needs roughly 1900 calories daily and for every pound I want to lose, I need to cut down 500 calories but I'm averaging 1200 right now but I'm yet to be on solids. I don't want to sound negative at all but I don't think that was good information that your friend's lapband doctors gave her. It's no wonder that her weight is falling off because 800 calories or less is close to nothing as your body doesn't have any energy to burn but it's the KEEPING IT OFF that's important. How so many of us have lost the big pounds but couldn't keep it. I'm the type that can lose it fast but gains it back too! ugghhhh! I tell you though, I can't wait to eat a tuna or chicken sandwhich on my first day of solids and if I gain a pound, I"ll take it cuz I'm just so excited to eat solid meat!

HI SHELBY! For the past few weeks when I would see your posts and your newest picture, I have wanted to tell you that you look fabulous but also, YOUR CLOTHES ARE FALLING OFF YOU! You're so cute. Pretty soon, you'll be needing a new wardrobe! Yay!

Hey guys! I was just curious as to the average you now eat on a daily basis? I know it's different for everyone and you are to eat only 1/3 of what you could have before but I just wanted to know. I start solids this 4th of July. Yay me!

Hi! My fiance and I were there two weeks ago today when I got banded and let me tell you, my gas was so horrendous that I needed to get out of the hotel room and so we decided to take a mile walk into the city. We stopped by a liquor store where I decided to ask a couple of guys who were obviously Mexican/Americans (one ended up being a cop in TJ) where Revolucion Street and they gave us instructions. Take the yellow cab and when we get down to the shopping area, DO NOT GO PAST 2ND STREET! They were adamant, both repeating themselves because once you past that street, you go into the city (neighborhood) where you do not want to be. It was a little scary but my gas had me delirious and I needed to try to walk it off. So yucky that as we were walking, bouncers for the clubs were trying to get my fiance to go into the strip clubs, even as we were walking hand in hand. If the pain wasn't as bad as it was, we would have just stuck to being in the hotel but otherwise, we felt pretty safe getting into the cab and getting dropped back off at the Lucerna.

HI! I was banded almost two weeks ago, on friday,june 12th and i will be able to eat solids next friday, just in time for 4th of July! yay! Seriously though, I really felt your pain the first few days, wishing I would have waited because I had two graduation dinners, a picnic, father's day and a concert that i couldn't eat at =( I was starving but I realized it was because mentally, I was starving but after talking to my sister (who had the gastric bypass surgery two years ago and went from 250lbs to her current 150) who couldn't eat solids for 3 months, she talked me through the hunger. she told me that i have the rest of my life to eat food and if she, who weighed 75lbs more than I did at her surgery weight, could go several months without being able to eat everything, then i could last 21 days and she's right. she told me,the less i though about food, the less i would want it and she was really right about that. you have to learn to pay attention to what your body wants, not your mind. Everyone here knows your pain because we have all, or are, going through this journey. when i tell you i was starving, i really mean STARVING to where i was ready to cry. Now, that I am past the halfway point, it's become a little normal now. i am sick of soup because it's the same thing over and over again but it's meant to help train you to change your eating habits and allow your body to heel. The few things that have helped me are: FROZEN GOGURTS (the kids yogurt that come in liquid form and i freeze them) CAMPBELLS CHEDDAR CHEESE (mixing them with cream of potato, cream of brocolli, etc.) MUSCLE MILK PROTEIN SHAKES (they are so yummy and tastes really milky and sweet!) JELLO (sugar free, all kind of flavors) METAMUCIL (to curb hunger and for the fiber) You'll be a lot better once you start the creamy soup stage because the broth gets old quick and only so many variations. Hang in there.

Can you guys suggest what kind of soups, with meat, to eat after the 10th day? Is it safe to eat strained dumpling soup? I don't want to risk it.

my goodness, it's only been three days and i'm starving. my stomach keeps churning and rumbling. is egg flour soup an option at this point or if anyone has any suggestions other than broth, please suggest away! man, i have 18 days to go.....arrrrggghh!

KSK! I gotta tell you, you're the reason why I found out about Dr. Ortiz and I wanted to THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! About a month ago, I looked into the lapband and I was told right away that I wasn't going to be covered because of my low BMI and I was so frustrated and I googled about low BMI's and your post came up on this forum asking the same damn thing! It's been a whirlwind because here I am, in the land of the banded with you! I keep thinking, if someone wasn't in the same boat as me, feeling the same way, would I be here right now? So, I am so glad you were As for the gas pain, super UUUUGGGGGHHHH! I was in tears the next day in my fiance's arms because of the severe pain that literally took my breath away. I couldn't sleep at all and had to pace back and forth almost through that second night. Nothing helped, not the Gas X nor the pain killer OCC prescribed. The ride back home to Los Angeles, though only two hours away was excruciating for the first hour but luckily I fell asleep the second half. When I got home, I took your advice about the heating pad and along with prescribed Naproxen from my doctor from prior back surgery, I was able to get some rest. So, here I am today at work with my heating pad tucked under my shirt and it's such comfort! Thanks KSK!

Hi Sabrina! I didn't mean to bring you to tears, just myself It can be such a battle but with people such as yourself who know what it's like and are there to support me, I know that it can only get better from here!

whoops! i forgot to five you the website to the Realize band so here it is... http://www.realizeband.com/dtcf/pages/compare-lap-band.htm

Hi VancouverGirl! I had this brand discussion with Dr. Ortiz before my surgery this past friday. He told me since two months ago, the OCC only uses the Realize band by Johnson and Johnson and discontinued using the lapband by Allergen. The Realize band is supposed to be better and I did some researching on it when I was researching the procedure, even before I found Dr. Ortiz. There is only one size port of this new band. Here is the Realize band official website with comparison info. Hope this helps!

Hey everyone! So, had the lapband yesterday at the OCC with Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Martinez, who may I say are very two hot men, always a perk! I cannot say what a wonderful exprience it was and continues to be as I am here just resting at the Lucerna. My fiance and I parked at the Border Parking as we drove in from Long Beach and it only took us less than two hours to get here. The shuttle was already there waiting for us and when we stepped in, a prior patient, Kristy her mother, Billlie who was gettin banded that day too, greeted us with their gorgeous smiling faces. You two are awesome! The OCC is literally right into the border, so close that I looked to my left side to catch the beginning of the long line of cars returning to the U.S when the van stopped and to my shock we had arrived already. The hospital is super clean. The staff is wonderful, so professional and personable. I felt so loved ad taken care of. My room was great! I felt like I was at home with a mini sofa and a flat-panel screen tv and one of those meditation water gadgets that play relaxing sounds. My fiance was blown away because he was apprehensive about the entire thing and especially because it was of course, in Mexico. Dr. Ortiz's mother came in and was such a sweetheart to put a blanket on me. Then came in Dr. Ortiz and followed Dr. Martinez who individually consulted with me. They are a plethera of information. What I did learn though from the doctors is that I asked about the actual lapband itself and they said they stopped using the regular lapband and are now using the newest technology of the band which i called the REALIZE band. They have been using this new one for the last two months and Dr. Ortiz told me that they and a doctor in Georgia are the first ones to use it. It's manufactured by Johnson&Johnson so I gotta look into that. The procedure went smoothly and I decided to leave the same day of surgry and leave for Hotel Lucerna right after. The first night was uncomfortable for me as I have a lot of gas pain and I had to take a sleeping pill along with the pain meds they adminstered through my i.v. before I left. I sipped on some of their good chicken broth before going to bed but only a few spoonfulls. Same thing today with also a few sips of apple juice. I kinda feel nauseacous but maybe it's just because I'm tired but the gas is keeping me up. My tummy keeps rumbling so I'm trying to keep sipping my soup. I'm gonna get some popsicles later. Ooh, I also discovered that room service is free here at the Lucerne for whatever you want to order, which of course would be mostly for your companion as my fiance did, ordering hoards of delicious food while the smell and sight of it was torcher. You only have to pay gratuity. It's nice because we don't even have to leave the hotel room. Does anyone know how long this gas thing lasts and if being nauseacous is okay? I'm thinking it's moreso my port area and that pain is just traveling.

Hi! I'm scheduled for my surgery this friday June 12th and I have my passport but my fiance didn't so I had to have him go get his at the Los Angeles National Passport Agency. I see that you're located in SoCal so hopefully, within feasable distance of L.A. You can get an emergency passport for $160 or even cheaper, I think the passport card as well for $100 (which is only good for Mexico and Canada travel) if you're traveling within the next 14 days. Carolyn from the OCC emailed me a letter to give to the passport agency as proof of travel for medical neccesity and I am sure you can easily get one too. My fiance went to the agency last thursday to order it and was able to pick up his passport this past monday so it only took two business days in between so you will be good. True, you don't neccesarily need a passport to get INTO Mexico but to leave and cross back into U.S. borders, no way will they let you pass. For your safety, I would not attempt it at all. You can make an appointment for the L.A. Passport Agency through their automated system 1-877-4-USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778) and that info is available on their website. If you do go, plan on being there for approxiamately two to three hours because even with an appointment, it takes forever to wait! Good luck!

After reading the tons of posts all of you have put on here about your numerous trips to TJ, I can honestly say that I'm more excited than anything to go! I bet that's how everyone felt as the days came closer to getting banded? I can't wait!