A thread for super-sized bandsters - starting BMI over 50?

[vanceemilton]

Hello,
My name is Patricia and I am 48 years old, I have a great marriage of 27 years, I have two wonderful children, Gina age 26 and Wayne age 22. I live in Navarre, FL. I have been over FLUFFY all my life and I come from a FLUFFY family. I had Lap Band surgery on June 28th by Dr. Jeffrey Lord. I look forward to talking to all the Super Sized Bandster and have a couple of questions.

(1) Do super-size bandsters lose more weight per week with the Lap Band since we have more to lose or is it the same?
(2) Recommendations for exercize?
(3) Anyone have surgery on 7/28/2007?

Thanks for your time,
Pattie

[DebLPN]

Hi Patricia and welcome!!
I'm 53 and my pre-surg wt was 331 and i'm 5' 2". As far as do 'we' lose faster than our lighter weight conterparts,,I have no idea. MY road on this journey is measured soley against myself,,not anyone else. I focus (try to,,lol) on how I feel, how I look, how much I'M losing and am tackling some of my emotional issues that caused me to become morbidly obese. This site is great to share experiences and strength and support. Pleaseeeeeee don't worry about how much anyone else has lost,,,concentrate on YOU!! Heck,,I went to a support meeting last month and sat next to a woman how has lost 20 pounds more than me and she has been banded HALF the time I have. If I start looking at her and measure my sucess or failure by her program,,I'm sabatoging my own self. If I know I'km doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'll get the results in the end. Everyone is different. EXERCISE,,,,,I do water aerobics 3 times a week and do a few gym things,,nothing real heavy or hard. The gym has a water aerobics called "Gentle Joints" and even tho it sounds like a breeze,,lol,,it ISN'T! It also has an underwater sit up thing,,underwater treadmill and bike. My knee is shot, so it really helps.

Be kind to yourself along this journey. You're not alone.

banded 1/29/07
Dr Ken Cleveland-CMMC-Jackson, MS

[tmeyer66]

Hi - I am a super-size bandster. My initial consult weight - was 561 and my weight on surgery day was 532. I'm 5'6".

I had my surgery on July 23, 2007 at KU Med Center with Dr. Niazy Selim. I ended up having 8 incisions. I stayed overnight, as my oxygen stats were low.

I'm still having some pain/soreness. I've been walking down to the end of the block, and doing some gentle exercise band stretches.

Theresa
St. Joseph, MO

[Zannie]

Wow! Welcome to all the new "faces" on this thread! :wave: I tend not to post much these days, but do read everything. We've all got a long road ahead, but at least we're on the right path now!

As far as loosing faster than others because we've got more to loose...that has not been my experience. I'm keeping pace with many others banded in Feb'07, regardless of initial weight. 1 to 2-1/2 pounds a week is "safe" weight loss, no mater how much you have to loose -- or so my doctor tells me! And I'm averaging at just over 2# a week in my 24 weeks since surgery. Frankly, people who exercise more, loose more and faster, so walk-walk-walk or do some other form of cardio!! The advice my doc gives is strive for a minimum of 30-mins every day or 1-hour 4 days a week of cardio exercise for weight loss.

Congrats on all the success so far, and best wishes to us all! :gluck:

[insubordination]

I'm not losing super-fast but above average. This is because I still eat chocolate and only exercise on weekend (and even then, I have to push myself to do it).

I was interested to read that some of you had to purchase a disabled scooter. I don't know how you got through that. It must have been so hard with the looks you got but to think that walking was even harder.

My highest weight was 374 when I was 29 years old. Luckily my knees held out. I'm now 310 but I don't feel too different yet. Maybe I will soon.

[phyllser]

Originally Posted by insubordination

I'm not losing super-fast but above average. This is because I still eat chocolate and only exercise on weekend (and even then, I have to push myself to do it).

I was interested to read that some of you had to purchase a disabled scooter. I don't know how you got through that. It must have been so hard with the looks you got but to think that walking was even harder.

My highest weight was 374 when I was 29 years old. Luckily my knees held out. I'm now 310 but I don't feel too different yet. Maybe I will soon.

Excuse me??? I'm not embarrassed about having to use a scooter, thank you very much!! Over 30 years of floor nursing took its toll on my knees. I'm well aware my excess weight was a contributing factor, but so is arthritis. My scooter gives me freedom and independence I didn't have without it. I'm hoping my weight loss will enable me to increase my walking, but I don't expect it will allow me to completely give up my scooter. I'd have to regenerate some cartilege for that to happen. And, yeah, your comment kinda ticked me off. I found it condescending and insulting.

[crazyace]

Thank you ---i am getting banded on aug 13----I am not approved yet so everyone cross your fingers for my insurance!----but I have gotten really sick of reading all of these people who are having problems with thier bands--when they had very little to lose in the first place---i don't feel like this is a choice or a maybe for me----it is surgery or nothing ---I am 312lbs----my goal is 135---which to me seems insane----i would be thrilled with anything under 200lbs---199lbs---i am glad to find people who are doing this not to look pretty but for there health. I just don't understand doctors that would band somone with a BMI under 30. I dream of a BMI under 30.

[kansas sooner]

Originally Posted by tmeyer66

Hi - I am a super-size bandster. My initial consult weight - was 561 and my weight on surgery day was 532. I'm 5'6".

I had my surgery on July 23, 2007 at KU Med Center with Dr. Niazy Selim. I ended up having 8 incisions. I stayed overnight, as my oxygen stats were low.

I'm still having some pain/soreness. I've been walking down to the end of the block, and doing some gentle exercise band stretches.

Theresa
St. Joseph, MO

welcome, I am a KS girl and was banded on 5/24, going for fill 8/18. Walk all that you can... i found a lot of the pain was gas. I was very lucky and didn't really have what i would call pain. My worst was my flight home from MX. The altitude really messed with me. I felt like i could go back to work the 2nd day. I am an administrator of an Assisted Living so i can set my job duties...
I had been doing well, but now i am in what a friend called Bandster Hell.... Old habbits die hard and i broke my foot the 2nd day home so have NOT been able to walk, and have used that as an excuse not to do ANYTHING. Even with that God has blessed me and i have been able to loose about 50# and gone down from 5x shirt to 3x, i am about clothes sizes more than weight.... although 199 looks good...
anyways Welcome and it gets better after the first few weeks of the liquids/mushes...
DOB 5/24/07
424/374/199(first long term goal)

[lizrbit]

pause...
i was afraid of this.
i am one of those adaptable people. Im finding this so difficult. let me explain;
i have what i think is perfect restriction. ive only had it since the middle of last month. I even have wondered if im too tight. i cant eat anything until one pm, and then only lightly. i sometimes can eat a decent dinner, but at further inspection, they are soft protiens. (beans and ground beef mostly)

i was okay with this, and in the last two days ive gained back two lbs.
My eyes pop open everymorning here in northern maine at sunrise which is very early. I put on my shorts and tshirt and im on bike peddling my three miles EVERY MORNING weather i feel like it or not.
im worried. Last time the scale went back up ten lbs before getting this fill. I dont think i can get another fill. i might be too tight now.
im exasperated and in need of hope. i know i have to find it for myself, just...damn.

[Darragha]

I applaud you, Round Peddling woman! Riding whether you want to or not is commendable. I have problems getting out of bed at this point! I did a lot of walking at a family gathering a casino today. I exhausted myself. All I can think about is *in one year this will all be easier.* One year from now.

Here's my plan:

I'm going to go to the bulk mail scale at the post office, stand on it and get my picture taken. I think I weigh around 340 right now. DD can take a photo of me. I'm going to stand on that scale on the first of every month and have my picture taken. In a year's time, the postal workers will probably line up and applaud me!

I'm going to begin the "liver shrinking diet" on 8/1 so that when I see the doctor on 8/9, I'll be more ready than not. I can do this! Since I'm a private payer, my surgery should be scheduled within a few weeks of seeing the doctor. I want to walk in there and get my surgery date as soon as possible.

It is time! I told some cousins today that I'm having the Lap Band surgery and one told me that an office-mate of hers has lost over 100lbs with the same thing. That, and many of these posts, are just so encouraging!

I'm jazzed!

Darr

[thompson632]

I started at 481 and am now down to 388. I had surgery in November. My question is how do you deal with your sagging stomach and still keep going on your weight loss? I haven't weighed this amount since the 90's and I feel great, but I know I have a long way to go. Any suggestions for keeping in a reality check?

Carole

[leedorr]

Carole
I started at 378 and am down to 205. I deal with it by realizing it is a part of me. I much rather see it hanging and flat ( loss of fat) than out ther ein front of me. In time some of it goes away, especially if you are exercising. crunches and leg raises. Some of it may have to be removed whe you get to your goal. Look at it as success and weight underwear that has some spandex in it for now. Congrats on your weight loss, you are well on your way to bexoming healthy and adding years on your life!

[insubordination]

Excuse me??? I'm not embarrassed about having to use a scooter, thank you very much

Hi Phyl. I was very surprised and upset to read your response so I read my post again to understand how I ticked you off. I think I can see why now.

You must have thought I was having a go at disabled people. I guess my post did imply that you were in a scooter solely because of your weight. I know that's not the case. I didn't mean to be condescending or insulting so I'm sincerely sorry if that was communicated in some way.

I guess I was projecting my fears onto you. My biggest fear is/was becoming so massive that I couldn't walk around anymore. I thought I'd have to get a scooter or similar in the near future. Rather than thinking it would be liberating and a way to be more mobile like it is for you, I imagined people looking at me in disgust and judging me for being too fat and lazy to even walk around.

I guess I assumed that you had experienced this kind of judgment and the purpose of my post was trying to show empathy. I didn't consider your knee ailments etc. I was imagining me in a scooter because of my weight and how society would react to that.

For me, getting to the point that I could no longer walk or work because I could not stop eating would be the ultimate humiliation. My Grandma is in a wheelchair and when I go to the shops with her, people look at her in a pitying way. I imagined that if I were in a wheelchair or scooter, I would get no such pity (and pity is bad). I imagined I would get outright hostility. My fear is that people would think I was too fat and lazy to walk around and stare at me and make comments.

I get verbal abuse yelled at me now (particularly by males in cars) when I walk down the street sometimes. Isn't this one of the reasons why a lot of MO people remain housebound?

I am very big and encounter a lot of disgust at my size. I feel like Frankenstein's monster sometimes. Fat people are treated differently and they are treated unkindly.

The reason why I got the surgery is that it was getting really hard to just walk around and perform my job. My fear was losing my mobility and becoming a shut-in.

I hope I've explained myself properly this time and I hope you can understand what I was trying to say and where I was coming from. Even if I was off-the-mark, it wasn't my intention to say people in scooters were less than others or to insult them. I'm sorry if it was that way for you.

I don't like conflict and the last thing I want to do is upset someone on a lap band forum.

[Zannie]

Originally Posted by insubordination

<snip> You must have thought I was having a go at disabled people. I guess my post did imply that you were in a scooter solely because of your weight. I know that's not the case. I didn't mean to be condescending or insulting so I'm sincerely sorry if that was communicated in some way.

I guess I was projecting my fears onto you. My biggest fear is/was becoming so massive that I couldn't walk around anymore. I thought I'd have to get a scooter or similar in the near future. Rather than thinking it would be liberating and a way to be more mobile like it is for you, I imagined people looking at me in disgust and judging me for being too fat and lazy to even walk around.

I guess I assumed that you had experienced this kind of judgment and the purpose of my post was trying to show empathy. I didn't consider your knee ailments etc. I was imagining me in a scooter because of my weight and how society would react to that.

I took your comment the way you intended it... And I know where your fears are coming from, too.

I hurt my knee & on a separate occasion fractured my foot. In both cases, I hobbled around without crutches from the car to the grocery store on DH's arm, sat in the scooter cart & shopped from that vantage point. Without the crutches with me in the store, it was unclear I had an actual ailment -- apart from my weight. At my peak, I weighed 320...and while it often hurt, I was still completely mobile. But I did get the exact looks you've described while using the scooter shopping cart. Disgust -- I guess maybe people are more polite here because I never got actual comments about my weight, just sneers & heads turning away. And while using the crutches to get around, the looks were of empathy / sympathy for my situation -- total strangers would stop to ask me what happened. So I, too, feared my weight would leave me chair-bound and the subject of ridicule if I didn't take some action.

I know you didn't mean to offend anyone, and it's common to project your fears onto others...

[phyllser]

Originally Posted by insubordination

Hi Phyl. I was very surprised and upset to read your response so I read my post again to understand how I ticked you off. I think I can see why now.

You must have thought I was having a go at disabled people. I guess my post did imply that you were in a scooter solely because of your weight. I know that's not the case. I didn't mean to be condescending or insulting so I'm sincerely sorry if that was communicated in some way.

I guess I was projecting my fears onto you. My biggest fear is/was becoming so massive that I couldn't walk around anymore. I thought I'd have to get a scooter or similar in the near future. Rather than thinking it would be liberating and a way to be more mobile like it is for you, I imagined people looking at me in disgust and judging me for being too fat and lazy to even walk around.

I guess I assumed that you had experienced this kind of judgment and the purpose of my post was trying to show empathy. I didn't consider your knee ailments etc. I was imagining me in a scooter because of my weight and how society would react to that.

For me, getting to the point that I could no longer walk or work because I could not stop eating would be the ultimate humiliation. My Grandma is in a wheelchair and when I go to the shops with her, people look at her in a pitying way. I imagined that if I were in a wheelchair or scooter, I would get no such pity (and pity is bad). I imagined I would get outright hostility. My fear is that people would think I was too fat and lazy to walk around and stare at me and make comments.

I get verbal abuse yelled at me now (particularly by males in cars) when I walk down the street sometimes. Isn't this one of the reasons why a lot of MO people remain housebound?

I am very big and encounter a lot of disgust at my size. I feel like Frankenstein's monster sometimes. Fat people are treated differently and they are treated unkindly.

The reason why I got the surgery is that it was getting really hard to just walk around and perform my job. My fear was losing my mobility and becoming a shut-in.

I hope I've explained myself properly this time and I hope you can understand what I was trying to say and where I was coming from. Even if I was off-the-mark, it wasn't my intention to say people in scooters were less than others or to insult them. I'm sorry if it was that way for you.

I don't like conflict and the last thing I want to do is upset someone on a lap band forum.

Thanks so much for clarifying your remarks. I understand what you are saying and must agree that I have experienced some of the same reactions to my appearance that you have. In fact, I actually chased down a guy with my scooter, in a Palm Springs Wal-Mart last winter because he made some very loud, very insulting comments to me as he walked past me with his young son. Picture that!! :) I don't remember what I said to him when I caught up with him, but I chewed him out pretty good for making distasteful and judgemental comments, especially in the presence of his little boy.

So, yes, I relate. Sorry I came on so strong. I misinterpreted what you were saying, and I overreacted, as well. I was feeling really lousy that night and should have let it pass. Or maybe not, because I think what you've shared about your feelings are worth saying and things a lot of us feel!