Scared

[iamworthit]

I haven't posted in a while, I have been very busy with work and homelife and only get to the forum ever couple of days. I try and keep up with everything, but find it more difficult than ever.

I was banded on 07/01 and still have not had a fill do to scheduling issues (on my part). I am getting my first fill Wednesday and am scared. I am not scared of the actual fill; rather, that it won't work. The last couple of months have been tough for me. On surgery day I was 234 and I am 215 now but the majority of that was lost the first couple weeks after surgery. I am following the plan and workout regularly and can tell my body is changing, but the weight is just not dropping. Luckily, my dr. does a fill with fluoro, so I am hoping he will be able to get me good and tight (but not too tight) so I can start dropping again. I am almost looking forward to the couple days on liquids he requires after the fill as a 'jump start'.

Anyway, I am scared. I know many of you have felt the same way as I so I wanted to share my feelings with you all because I get great comfort from this forum. I have been fighting this weight loss battle for almost a year now (solid) and was really hoping to be at 75 lbs by my first year.

Good job to all of you who are succeeding. You are a great inspiration to me and keep me motivated. I hope to have some new weight loss news in the next month or so, but for now just keep me in your prayers to get going again.

Iamworthit!!!!

[Kittycat]

Don't be scared...there is a possibility your first fill may not be the one...it took me two. But if you get a good fill, it just might do the trick for awhile.

Good luck, I hope it goes well for you!

[julieburns]

I think one thing that is the most overlooked and under spoken about is realistic weight loss after surgery BEFORE you get enough fill in you to have consistency with restriction. I too was guilty of this. We all want the band to help us lose weight and get so pumped up once we have the surgery. We lose our pre-op weight and then quickly lose some weight during post-op week 1. Some of us if we are lucky continue to lose in weeks 2 and maybe 3. Even Dr. O says people lose the most weight in the first months. I'd like to have him do a fact based study on this, I am certainly not questioning his expertise but does the OCC really follow up on how much weight people lose and when they actually lose it, during what months? At neither one of my fills did they weigh me or even record my said weight anywhere, so how does he have the data? Once the real food starts we plateau, stop losing and even gain some weight back. Suddenly things have changed and we aren't losing weight, unless we are very strict to the plan and even then we may not lose. We make it through this Bandster's Hell as it is called and then get all pumped up for our first fill, or perhaps at least have a glimmer of hope this may do it for us. 1st fill done now we may have some so called restriction for a fleeting few days or maybe a few weeks or maybe the 2nd one is it. If not we have to start in again with the willpower and stopping before we are full and the disappointment that comes with not losing the weight we thought we already should have lost. By now you get the picture I hope. Yes many folks do lose their weight on a nice regular basis, 8-10 pounds a month and this too can happen at any time to any of us, I am in no way saying many have not lost nice weight during this most difficult period before we reach the ultimate of "restriction".

The moral of this story is that there needs to be a heightened awareness of the real truth about weight loss and the band. It's my opinion that many people lose the weight from the get go, and this is great for them. But I know there is also group of people that really don't lose

the bulk of the weight before the 2nd or even 3rd fill and good restricton. I have read about it on this forum alot.

So to you iamworthit I am not trying to scare you certainly, you may get good restriction with the first fill. I just want to help you understand realistically that it might not happen either. This is a process that has it's own time schedule and sometimes as strictly as we adhere to the "rules" we may not lose the weight as we think we should.

I wish you the best and hope for a nice fill experience for you. Yes you will be in my prayers.

[mlgpdx]

Julie

You are EXACTLY right! No two bandsters are the same... but we all get psyched up to have the surgery then think the weight will "fall off" then we get introduced to bandster hell... then we are psyched for our first fill and the infamous "restriction".... we get it .... we may or may not get some kind of restriction but *normally* it's not till the 2nd or maybe even the 3rd fill b/4 we hit the sweet spot. It IS up to us to exercise, practice portion control and follow the order for bandsters in which to eat our food.. I know I know.. much easier said than done but it's what we commit to doing.. heck it's what we TELL ourselves we will do because THIS TIME will work. I only lost 14lbs between surgery and my 2nd fill. I was feeling pretty down about it.. I had to give myself daily pep talks.. I was exercising & eating right... it wasn't until my 3rd fill that I got "IT" and started dropping weight. I also realize now that while I thought I was eating the right things I was really still medicating myself with "slider foods"...... it is a journey.. it's not a fast journey but I promise you will get there.