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I just bought the fancy new one from Ninja. Works great for less than half the price of the vitamix or blendtec

Wow Christina.. I'm so sorry to hear that this happened to you. I have to agree with everyone above. The band is just a tool, it's not going to do all of the work. The same way a diet pill is just a tool. There was someone on here who got the band and *never* got a fill. She got down to her goal weight!! She knew it was just a tool.

I didn't have much success until I started keeping a log of my calories.. Through keeping a log I noticed I needed more fruits and veggies and less processed food. The weight hasn't flown off of me in my eyes, it's been slow, but that's the way I want it. I only have about 35 more pounds to go, but it's taken me 2 years to get to where I'm at.. And with school and work I haven't been able to exercise as much as I should. That's about to change and I can't wait.

Good luck with whatever you plan on doing next Christina. I really wish you the best of luck. I wish that you would have contacted the OCC and talked to Dr. Ortiz before you decided to have the band removed. That was a lot of money to drop on the band, and if it indeed wasn't placed properly, or in a position that worked for you, I'm sure Dr. Ortiz would have done whatever it took to make it right.

I think that log is great. I use an app on my phone called myfitnesspal and it helps me so much! I know I would forget to fill out the papers.. But if I set reminders on my phone, I will remember to fill out the logs! They have a huge database of foods.

Well, they say if you go under the 1200 calorie minimum, your body goes into starvation mode. I noticed for myself that I struggle when I go under 1200.. With you working out, you definitely need at least 1200!! Sometimes I do better weight loss wise with 1300. Get those calories in! Something that helps me is setting alarms on my phone to remind me to eat. If I'm busy I'm terrible at remembering, because my mind isn't on food. I love doing green smoothies and throwing vegan protein powder in them. It helps me meet my calories. There's a program I use on my iphone for calorie counting called myfitnesspal. It's free, and amazing!

If you can, look up reviews of the fill center you are going to. Not having floro isn't the end of the world. I've had all mine done with floro, but my friend hasn't and shes doing well. Lindsay is right, just be careful not to be too agressive with fills. Good luck!

Thank you for your post! I have been losing a lot of hair lately.. It wouldn't be so bad if my hair was thick, but its very thin, I just happen to have a lot!

The funny thing is I had really started to work in more protein, but I wasn't sure how much would be good. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have experienced alot of hair loss as well since my banding last October. The reason for the hair loss is that your protein intake is not enough. If you weigh 200 lbs you should be taking in approx 90-100 grams of protein per day. They say a safe way to calculate what you should be taking in for protein is to divide your weight in half and that should be your grams of protein you should take in EVERY day.

I hope this helps. !

Marianne

Ang,

Congrats on what you have lost! Good job! My weight has been coming off slowly, and I am just SOOO thankful that it's coming off instead of gaining. If I did not get the band, I know I would have ballooned from where I was at. Check out some recipe sites! It will give you ideas, and you can look at a recipe and figure out what you can substitute. If you dont like plain fruits that much, what about making a smoothie? You can always throw in some protein powder and make it that much healthier! Plain veggies are always boring. Add some spices! Mix it up! Make soups out of veggies! Mmmm!

I LOVED PIZZA, but I cut cheese and dairy completely out of my diet. I ended up doing this because my weight loss had stalled for a while. I always thought that cutting cheese out of my diet would be mission impossible. Now that it has been months, I had a bite of piece of pizza a few weeks ago and thought it tasted absolutely disgusting. Crazy huh?

Hello,

Eat More Fruits, Vegetables and Whole Grains

People who eat healthy, mostly unprocessed foods, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and limited amounts of lean animal protein, often find that they can eat as much as they want without gaining weight. If they are switching from a diet containing lots of processed foods, they find that they can eat more yet consume fewer calories -- and they lose weight.

Historically, the Chinese ate mostly rice and vegetables with a little lean meat for protein and flavor, nothing like the American Chinese restaurant dishes of deep fried sweet and sour pork. A step back to more natural foods would improve our health and waistlines.

Cut Down on Sugar

Be careful about sugar in coffee and soda pop. It can add up quickly, and these drinks aren't filling.

Watch for "hidden" sugar in processed foods like bread, ketchup, salad dressing, canned fruit, applesauce, peanut butter, and soups. And be careful with "fat-free" products. Sugar is often used to replace the flavor that is lost when the fat is removed. Fat-free does not mean calorie-free.

The greater concern with the insulin spike (above) is not that it tells our body to start storing fat. Whatever we eat and don't burn up eventually gets turned into fat anyway.

The greater concern is that the insulin spike is followed by a drop in insulin level that leaves us feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more. The unfortunate result of this scenario is that it makes us want to eat something else with a high sugar content. When we do, we start the cycle all over again.

Regulating your blood sugar level is the most effective way to maintain your fat-burning capacity.

thanks!!

TurboFire Workout for cheap

Milk of Magnesia is good, but the thing that works THE BEST for me and everyone I know that has had problems has been Natural Calm by Peter Gilliam. I get the rasberry kind that has calcium plus magnesium. You just throw in a few teaspoons with a small amount of warm water. The cheapest place I have found it has been on vitacost.com. I try to get all my vitamins from there. Hope this helps!

Lindsay,

I must say, you look AWESOME! Congrats! As for meal plans, I'm not really following one. What's been working for me is to fluctuate between 900-1200 calories a day. Granted, the weight isn't FLYING off, but it's coming off. I keep a log with my iPhone. I track everything I put in my mouth. The app I use is myfitnesspal, but there is another amazing app out there called foodscanner. Foodscanner is awesome because you can scan the label and it has the nutritional information in its database already! What I like about myfitnesspal is that you can log your workouts on their site, and you can customize it so that friends can log on and make comments on your progress. I feel like it holds me more accountable. I have it set to show everyone everything, and it posts to my Facebook account when I dont log on and track my calories! If you can't make it to the gym go for long walks and make sure you are getting lots of water. I drink at least 3 liters today. Sorry for all the info, I'm just telling you what has been working for me.

Hey there!

Are you working out?

It sounds like you need a refocus and shift it to something else.

Food is crucial, but why not focus on working out for a week or 2, and see how it goes

If anything, it will kick start your motivation

That's awesome Trisha! I wish my father would look into the band.. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabeties about 4 years ago, and he doesn't care. He eats everything in sight!

I have been diabetic for nearly 10 years. I began a journey of self awareness and weight loss when I was diagnosed. I was in my early 30's and so afraid of following my Grandmother and other family members to the grave with this disease. But even that fear didn't help me get enough of the weight off to change my future. I eventually lost 100lbs but then my own wants and bad choices stopped the steady weight loss and I began to gain once again.

As I loss weight, on my own at first, my medication was reduced. I was on 2000mg of Metformin at my peak. Eventually being lowered to 500mg, which I've been on for the last 2 years. My Dr. became very frustrated at my inability to drop the rest of this weight. He began to prescribe the new Lavaza shots to help me lose the weight. I'm not a big fan of shots and found the additional meds in my system only made me sick. Later I realized since my diabetes was controlled the extra meds was causing my blood sugar to drop, thus making me sick. But the fact remained the only way to be free of this disease is to lose the rest of the weight.

After the surgery taking the Metformin wasn't possible. it's a very large pill, think prenatal vitamin. I tried cutting it in half, smashing it and just suffering with the discomfort. But I eventually just stopped taking it. I know, I know...not good. I did monitor my blood sugar and it stayed within an acceptable range without the meds.

Last week I went to see my Dr and admitted to what i had done. If course, he wasn't happy and ordered an A1C immediately. The A1C will tell him if I had really been controlling my sugar without meds. he warned me very sternly that if the numbers came back high I would be back on the meds immediately. His nursed called me later on in the day, obviously surprised. She informed me my A1C without any meds was 5.8, with meds it had been 6.1. To everyone who hasn't had to go down this road let me tell you I'm drug free for the first time in nearly a decade!

I'm no where near my goal weight but this goal was just as important to me. I know without this lapband I would still be a slave to this disease and the meds that I've had to take for so many years. I have to think about my food choices. I have to go get my fill. I have to continue on this path to stay drug free and to eventually become cured of this disease. But I think for the first time...I can do this! I don't have to accept the diagnosis of Diabetes as my death sentence. I have a new outlook on life, thanks to this amazing weight loss tool.

I wanted to share my story in hopes that anyone out there struggling with this disease can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I still struggle too but now I know my life is written by me, not by my family genes or bad early choices. But by what I do and how I behave right now!

That sounds awesome, I am going to check it out. Another one I just downloaded that sounds similar is Gym Goal ABC, and it shows you how to properly do each exercise. Pretty neat!

Hey, what is the rule on drinking coffee? I have to have at least 16oz by noon or I get the head ache. I use flavord creamer too. Is that a no no? I am starting my pre op diet tomorrow, which should have been today but.... I need to know if I should begin my withdrawls now before surgery so that I will be ready to live without it.

I drink coffee too, but I measure out how much creamer i put in each cup and log it in with all of my other calories for the day.

For the diet diary I found this app for my iPhone called "Lose It"! It works great and you can input your exercise as well! Amazing! It has a ton of major brands in the database already.

Another great find for me was the Nutiva Hemp Protein with Fiber! They have the plain in a 3 lb bag from Vitacost.com which saves a lot of money. They also have the flavored in smaller amounts, but well worth it. Low calories!

And my last fabulous find that I will post for now is Peter Gilliam's Natural Calm. It helps soo much when you can't seem to have a BM. Sounds gross, but it works! The flavors are great but a little tart. It does fizz up when you add hot water, but if you let it sit for about 2 minutes all the fizzies go away. I actually let mine sit for about 5 minutes just to be safe! I order this from Vitacost as well. They usually beat most prices. Ohh yeah and for anyone out there that likes liquid vitamins, Peter Gilliam has a line of those as well.

Linipoo thanks for reminding me about the Juvo, I wanted to order that a while back and forgot all about it!

I know how your feeling! I just finished the all liquid phase and can't wait to go to the gym tomorrow!! I have this nifty iphone app as well called "Lose It", to help keep track of my calorie intake as well as calorie burn! When I need motivation I look at pictures of myself at my heaviest.. all I can say is YUCK!

Hi, I'm new to this site but have been on the road to lap banding for a little over a year now. I just yesterday was approved and have a surgery date for Dec 7th which is much sooner than expected. So now that my nerves have kicked in I have a few questions that I was hoping maybe some of you could answer or help with?

My first one is, did you get nervous and if so how did you deal with it? My doc says for at least a few days before surgery I shouldnt take my meds for it because of something thats in them.

Next question is, where you put on a liquid diet the week before? They're not having me do that, but part of me thinks maybe I should to prepare more?

My last one is probably completely ridiculous but, my self conciousness is getting to me so I have to ask: What did they let you wear for the surgery itself? Will I be able to keep my bra/underwear on or am I going to go bare with a gown? Sorry its an odd question but even though he is a professional, I cant help but feel awkward about someone seeing me totally bare lol.

Thanks to anyone who reads this or answers, I appreciate it

(Also, I dont know if it matters but I'm a 19 year old female and Ive never been in surgery before)

I wasn't as nervous as I was super excited before. I dealt with it by reading this forum and a few others.

My diet before consisted of salad and water!! LOL I know it seems like so little but I really wanted to make sure all of the weight was off in time. Just drink plenty of water. I tried veggie broth but all of the sodium made me retain water weight.

The surgery you get to wear the famous paper gown and PAPER UNDERWEAR!! The underwear are really lame but who cares. They also put some stalkings on your legs to prevent blood clots. No bra or other undies!

Congrats on getting the date!

Hi everyone. :lb10: I am a December bandster and have been following this thread because there is not a lot of action in the December thread. I love reading about all of your surgeries and stories. My surgery is scheduled for December 18th. Can't wait. That is about 4 1/2 weeks from today. Anyone have any advice they would like to share for someone who is 4 weeks out from surgery?

The best advice I can give you is to pick which preop diet you are going to do, and throw out ALL of the junk food well before!! Tell your roommates or family you are living with you are on this diet, and not to bring anything tempting around the house! If they want to eat junk they can do it away from home. I ate some junk before my preop diet, then had to lose that PLUS the required weight for the surgery. Not very smart I know, just honest! One thing that really helped me with loosing the weight was tons of WATER. I love drinking water anyway (usually 3 liters a day), but when the weight seemed to be stalling, I doubled it and it flew off! I had water, coffee and a salad consisting of lettuce, spinach, feta cheese a little but of pepper and garlic with hot sauce as a dressing. May not be your thing, but it worked for me! Good luck with everything!! :lb2:

Hello all,

Since I got banded, I have had a bit of pain in the esophagus, and it hurts REALLY bad for a few seconds then I am sometimes able to relieve it with burping.. Anyone else go through this? I just got banded on the 9th, so I'm on liquids only. Thanks!

So I was on there looking around going to submit my testimonail for Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Martinez and there are hardly any recent testimonials!! I like this site a LOT more, but there are people out there researching doctors and I want them all to know how amazing our Dr.'s are! So if you have had a surgery recently hop on there and tell them all about your experience!

Hey! Thanks! I went back to the hotel the day of the surgery, and we ended up catching a cab to the border early yesterday to spend the day with my hubbys cousin. I feel pretty good.. still sore and gassy! LOL!! Will keep everyone posted.. How are you doing?

Well its kinda weird.. Sometimes I feel like I need to burp, and then there is sort of a pain in my upper chest, then nothing! LOL I'll get over it! Other than that, everything is healing up great! I think I am going to hardly have any scarring at all!

Hey! I am here now! It was awesome.... such a breeze... I was the first banded today with 3 others right behind me! Everyone here has been sooooo great just like everyone had said!! I will post more later from the hotel room when all my loopiness is gone! Hopefully we can meet you tomorrow or friday!!

Congrats!! I fell asleep a while before my surgery and all I remember was waking up and it was over!! I was released a day early because I was doing so well! They forgot to give us a ride back to the border, but the drivers at the Lucerna had no problem taking us there instead! It was awesome!

I have been banded almost 2 years never felt any restr. I finally went to my 4th fill I have a little over 3.0cc. I can only have like 3 bits of anything I eat. So I thought maybe I could get soft food down but even like top ramon soup I can only get like three bites down. Does this mean I am to tight or is this is how it is suppose to work. I know it shounds dumb but I am not sure if I am full or not because mental in my head I want to finish everything in front of me. I am hicuping alot and I have slimed twice. Please some one let me know should I be taking in more food then this. I am getting to scared to eat cause after three bites it hurts. HAHA maybe I'll scare myself skinny!

Thanks :lb12:

From what I have read, it sounds like its too tight. I would call your doctor right away!

Thanks for telling me about Vitacost!! I bought "Next Proteins Designer Whey" in the strawberry and chocolate flavors. The price was very good. The same product was more than twice as much at GNC. I paid $35.00 for both 2lb. containers together. It has 18g, 2g carbs, 2g sugar, 100 cal. per serving. It's also 97% lactose free. 34 servings per container is fantastic compared to buying those expensive premade canned drinks.

No problemo! My boyfriend used to buy his protein from GNC and it was so expensive!! I used vitacost for vitamins, so we looked up his protein and now thats all he uses!!

I have been reading this forum and lapbandtalk and I am SOOOO excited! I cant wait to get this done! What a releif it will be. I guess until now it was just too far away to get excited but it hit now!! My surgery was the 10th but I got bumped to the 9th! The sooner the better!

Hey Guys! How is everyone doing? I am getting excited and nervous about my date! I am also struggling now with my preop diet.. I think I need someone to slap me on the face to wake me up! I hope everyone is doing well... we are almost there!! ;-)

Hey I added you on yahoo messenger, im themixxxologist.

I know how you feel, I looked around all over the place for a good protein that wasn't just soy! Everything was so expensive. I also wanted something with a decent amount of fiber, or that was raw, this had it all and this was PERFECT for me! Whatever you decide to go with, check out the vitacost site to see if its cheaper. Most of the time they can't be beat.