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If you aren't seeing a counselor, now seems like a good time to start! If you're dealing with some self-esteem and self-doubt issues that are leading you to binge, then a therapist might be able to help you process these feelings and come to terms with them without having to resort to slider foods. It is my firm belief that everyone in this world could benefit from seeing a therapist once in awhile. You certainly don't need to be seriously mentally ill for it to be helpful

Hi everyone! My name is Jen and I am currently living in Ottawa, ON. I am 24 years old and weigh in around 270lbs. I have pretty much decided that the lap band is the way to go for me, but I still have some questions floating around in my head. Here are two that are on my mind today: 1. Do you ever get the sensation that you can feel your band? Not the restrictive effect, but like there's actually something inside you that if you move a weird way you can feel it? 2. I am concerned that I will never feel normal again. I will always have to eat with focus and explain to people why I can only eat a small portion. I am trying to arrange my finances before going ahead a booking my date. I will be self-paying because I live in Ontario. Thanks for any insight! Jen

i understand your frustrations. my clothes still fit the same way too. i was really discouraged in the beginning because i was not losing. then i started doing some reading on here to see what the "old timers" were doing to lose. i finally decided on a low carb, high protein diet. that has helped so much. now everyday the scales are going down. not a lot at a time... just 2 tenths of a pound or 4 tenths of a pound, everyday... but at least it's not staying the same or gaining. i eat meat and green veggies. and drink lots of water. anytime i crave something, i eat a piece of meat and it satisfies me. not sure if this interests you or not... just thought i'd share. good luck and hang in there! you can do this!

That's exactly what I was trying to convey. That eating beyond what your surgeon has prescribed for you could possibly be detrimental to healing and lead to possible detrimental consequences in the future. However, everyone has to make their own choices and live with the consequences. I think I'm through with this thread. About to go unsubscribe to it. Best of luck to all concerned.

Teekii, I know it is hard to stop those bad habits. Do some further research on the band and you will find that it does not prevent you from eating. It helps with portion control and hopefully hunger once restriction sets in. The types and choices of foods will be yours to make all through this process. Call your doctor, let him or his team know of your extreme hunger and see if he/they will allow you to advance your food levels. Try drinking added protein some for some folks it helps with the hunger. Wishing you luck in learning new ways....

Denise is right. The reason to progress very slowly to solids is to allow for healing. Contact your doctor and talk to them about your issues. They may allow you to progress a little faster, or may have suggestions to help you through this time. Medication for nausea would be better than changing what you're supposed to eat on your own. Hang in there, it will get easier. The saltines didn't get stuck cause they are a processed food.. basically pre-digested. Yuck.

For many surgeons, they put us on liquids post-op to allow our stomachs to heal. Unlike with bypass, our pouches still grind. Most surgeons anchor the band by pulling the stomach over it and putting in a few stitches. By eating solid foods of any kind you are forcing your pouch to grind and putting pressure on those stitches that are trying to heal and form scar tissue to anchor them down. You risk pulling them loose, and needing another surgery to repair it. Liquids don't cause any grinding as they go right down...thus leaving our stomachs empty. Now, not all surgeon's have the same post-op instructions and some people return to solids sooner than others. Each surgeon bases his or her post-op instructions on personal experiences of best outcomes. You should follow what you were instructed to do. If you were to eat something that got stuck at this point, the pain and trauma from that could be extreme. I'd not want to risk losing my band because I pushed the envelope. I was one of the ones who was very hungry immediately post-op. When my doctor called at 3 days post-op to check on me I told him I was ready to eat my dog. He said that would be a bad choice, but since I was doing so well, I could move to full liquids a few days early. Mashed potatoes never tasted soooooo good! If you are nauseous, there are medicines for that, call your surgeon's office and ask. Or ask if the saltines are OK. They might clear you for them.

If you test to your band to see what you can get away with, you're going to find yourself "winning" a lot But in the end, that's not a game you want to win, right? It sounds like once you're healed and can eat solid food again that your band may be working-- giving you a feeling of satiation after only a little food. But for a lot of us (me included) the band did never and will never stop you from eating anything. Your job= choosing what to eat and listening to the band Band's job= giving you a sense of "not hungry" after a relatively small amount of food That's it. Good luck to you! I know it's hard to figure out with every other person, and every other doctor, saying something different.

I agree with the above posts. My 2cents is to stop the juice and the milk. You are drinking the calories rather than eating. Orange juice has tons of sugar, natural sugar but still sugar. It will cause your blood sugar to spike wich leads to your body storing the sugar as fat. Once you get to solid food, you will be much better off eating an orange, then you get fiber which helps control blood sugar. You will find it more filling as well. Eat low fat cheese for your calcium. Good luck on your journey!

Hi Eda I want to tell you I've been on this site for only a few days So I will just start off by saying be careful. I have what people may call thick skin so as of right now I can handle what most of the posters say because in between all of the Criticizing,Judging,and the Soap Box Preachers there are some people on here that are able to stick with the topic or at least give you some good tools or advice without making you feel small or feel the need to defend yourself from writing a simple post. Not Many but there seem to be some!lol I'll try to be one of the actual non judgmental kind encouraging type of person to you. Or at least say I can relate to what your're saying. Somehow everyone took it as me saying I'm just chowing down on any piece of junk I can get my mouth on. I almost wrote a post saying "BACK UP OFF ME!" Even tho its the truth I hope I can make you smile some. Shoot these folks ain't no joke on here!lol Anyway like I had posted earlier I have never felt Hunger pains like this! This is some tuff stuff. I have been working seriously on my weight since 09 The key thing was to make good choices in food to avoid those hunger pains. Feed the diet! lol Well Honey what I'm experiencing right now is so frustrating. It gets on my nerves so bad that I have to eat every few hrs. You can't even stay up late without those doggone hunger pains chasing you. I'm used to eating a good breakfast,full healthy lunch,and a light dinner. I had even got to where i didn't even need any snacks in between my meals just water or light lemonade. So I find all this eating annoying and having to figure out what to eat or what not to eat even more annoying. I'm ok with it because I know its only for a little while and as one person stated above she doesn't do all the diet food and etc. And She's almost at her goal. I'm finding that this is a very true statement among the "honest posters" or people who's had this done. My little sister had this done back in 09 and she says that this is the hardest but shortest part. The part we're going thru right now. I see my sis eat pretty much whatever she wants but she has learned some self-control courtesy of her big sis!lol No for real she was losing but she still wasn't eating good stuff, a bunch of junk. As a result she never had a lot of energy and get this She started losing her hair. I'm a hair dresser and a few times of me pointing this out and fussing at her, snatching hawaian punches out of her hand and putting milk in it,She got with the program!lol Now dont get me wrong she still loves her junk but she eats her protien and veggies 1st then if she has room for the junk which she usually dont then she eats it. (my sissy was even a junkaholic even when we was kids!she gave our mommy fits!)lol Anyway Long story short My Sissy got married last Month and she was the most beautiful size 12/14 bride I had ever seen! she started at size 26/28 like myself used to be. So I'm saying don't let these people on here and dont make yourself feel like the Hamburgular! Like someone else says you got to find what works for YOU. and there is something thats gonna work for you. Not what works for them.Like the girl who loves to tell everyone how many calories are in whatever food we say we ate!lol I'm like chick don't you think I know after all these years of working on my weight all this time how many calories are in 2 oreos! I lost the weight I did from counting calories. So if I decide to have 2 and not the whole sleeve you better believe I know what I'm getting ready to eat.If she keeps doing that thats gonna get annoying to someone. If somebody wants to know how many cals they're eating they can go buy a calorie count book like she did,like I did!lol Its great that, that works for us,but that may not work for someone else. I will say this I never volunteered that info to people unless they asked me. they knew I knew it if they wanted to know the cal count they ASK me I would tell them. Otherwise Please Shut Up!lol Thats an easy way to get cussed out or get your feelings hurt! Hanging over a hungry fat person shoulder telling them how many calories they getting ready to ingest when it sounds like a lion is trapped in their Belly! Or even worse like this chick on here does, telling them after they already feel bad about eating it. Its like kicking someone when they're down! Well I hope I made you feel better or anyone else who is feeling Hungry and frustrated Like myself and just wanted to confess I ate 4 doritos without feeling like its the end of Lapband world. Please! We are gonna be ok! I'm sure someone will eventually ask me to leave this site,cuz I dont seem to fit in with straight lace bandsters thats on here. But until then I hope I can help someone if all I can offer is a "Lets Keep It Real Attitude" Good Luck All!