Realize My Success Questions

Good afternoon, everybody.  I hope your day is going well.

One of the striking differences between the Lap-Band and the Realize-Band has nothing to do with the physical design and function of the two bands.  It has to do with online support.  The My Lap-Band Journey/Lindora websites are not nearly as user-friendly as the Realize My Success website (to me, anyway).  Because I'm so frequently asked for my opinion about the two bands, I'd like to know the answers to the following questions, if you're willing to share your thoughts with me.

1.  Do you find the Realize My Success tools both user-friendly and useful?
2.  Does the Realize My Success program include online forums for users?
3.  Does the Realize My Success program include any telephone support or coaching?
4.  (small nit-picky thing) Does the Realize My Success program have a feature for printing an
      adjustable gastric band patient ID card?

Thanks!
Jean

1. I find it very user friendly and helpful. It has a place to trach food diaries, activities and fills.
2. It has some but I also have not searched all teh site
3. Not to my knowledge but it also is available for your Dr to check in on things
4. I was given a card at the post op check from the Dr that I used that along with it had the website info.

1.  Do you find the Realize My Success tools both user-friendly and useful?
It is user-friendly but no overly useful. To explain, the food diary does not have much listed in it to begin with so you have to add lots of foods you eat to really use it. I would love it and use it if it came with more foods in it's database already. I tried using it for the first month which was easy since I wasn't on a wide variety of foods but once my diet became more diverse it was a pain to add more foods. I haven't found an online food diary that I love so I just log what I eat with calories and protein in my own notebook by hand. What I did love about adding the foods to the Realize site was that you could add everything from the nutritional panel and then see summaries of everything (fat, calories, protein, carbs) from what you ate. You can also lo****er, restriction, trigger foods, trouble foods.



2.  Does the Realize My Success program include online forums for users?
No
3.  Does the Realize My Success program include any telephone support or coaching?
Not that I can see.
But it does have phone support for the site.
4.  (small nit-picky thing) Does the Realize My Success program have a feature for printing an
      adjustable gastric band patient ID card?
I don't see a way to do this.

I haven't really used the site as much as I thought I would. I use OH more. It also reports what you enter to your doctor. I'm not sure if my doctor actually looks at it.

Also, I like the set up of the food diary much better than any other I have seen and would love to use it. I have put in my "two cents" about the database having more entries in it already but not sure if the makers of the site will do anything about that.  Another cool thing is that you can upload progressive pictures of your progress as a side by side comparison very easily.

I thought I would be using Realize My Success alot more. I hardly log-on.  OH is way more informative.

I do use the site to track my food and exercise. I agree the database doesn't have a lot in it but once I began using it I got better at finding what I needed or added my own custom foods. They have recently added a one page summary of your progress that you can print out to take with you to your doctor's appt. if you have questions about your progress. It includes your weight history and calories per day. I have made a suggestion to them to also include the exercise information but that has not been added yet.

It doesn't have any forum or telephone support. It does have a spot where you can enter your own tips that others can then see. You can search recipes and tips that others have submitted. You can keep track of my appointments, goals, measurements, fills, and photos.
 There is no patient ID card. I got that from my doctor's office.

1.  Do you find the Realize My Success tools both user-friendly and useful? – I use Realize My Success quite often. It’s not as user-friendly as I would like, but once you get used to it it’s good. I find it very useful, as long as you input all the information honestly. Could be your best friend, because it’s not going to lie to you. Each time I gained weight, I was able to track what I was doing and realize it was because of MY mistakes – so I got back on track and was able to lose whatever I gained.

2.  Does the Realize My Success program include online forums for users? – Not a forum like this, but there are some links that are helpful, and they ask you to share your stories.

3.  Does the Realize My Success program include any telephone support or coaching? – No. This is one thing I have mentioned to them, however if your Doctor is participated in the Realize system, he can log in an monitor you. I think your nutritionist can also.

4.  (small nit-picky thing) Does the Realize My Success program have a feature for printing an
      adjustable gastric band patient ID card? – As far as I know, no. Your Doctor will have to give you that

Funny thing Jean, now that you brought this up I'm giving the food diary another shot. I really do like the reports/summary it gives you. Also since my weight loss is slowing down and I'm getting a fill next week I want to have a good track of what I'm doing, etc.

Thanks, everybody, for your clear and honest responses!  Just what I needed.

 what's a  adjustable gastric band patient ID card? I haven't been given one of those, what it for? 

It's a credit-card sized card that says something like:

PATIENT IDENTIFICATION CARD
(Your Name)
This person has an Adjustable Gastric Band implanted around the stomach [with a drawing showing a band on a stoma*****ase you need to "explain" it to someone who doesn't speak English]

It gives warnings to medical professionals about band patients' eating and care needs & lists the surgeon's name & phone number.

My surgeon also gave me a Special Diet Request card to use in restaurants in case you want to order from the children's menu.

I've never had to use my cards, but I'm glad I have them...you never know...

Jean