♥LovetheNewMe♥

Congratulations, you made it through a difficult situation and come out on top. Way to go................

Sounds like you are in the green zone, and you are right on when you say you fill satisfied. If you are filled properly you should have a feeling of satisfaction between meals. I eat 3 meals a day and am rarely hungry between meals. You should be able to take in 2-3 oz of protein per meal. Sounds like you are on your way, look at world here you come. Katie bar the door.

Great progress, glad it went well. After a fill it does fill a little different for a while, I usually fill it in the back of my throat when i am full or when I drink to fast.

Happy Hump Day everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I have been enjoying my new electronic toy, the FitBit to track my steps, a pedometer on steroids I will call it. I am finding it as obsessive as logging all my food on myfitnesspal. I do find it more rewarding to do the exercise when I can actually measure it accurately and record the numbers. Tomorrow is my 4 week follow up from my last fill, it is actually 5 weeks and I get weighed. I rarely weigh myself at home because the scales can vary so much so I will be excited to know where I am. I still think I am a little tight because I still find it difficult to get all my food in and I rarely fill hungry. I am only able to eat about 1/2 cup at each setting so I have been eating at least 1 snack per day to add some protein and calories. My regular MD did reduce my blood pressure meds on Monday to have the dosage so this was a hugh milestone. I have been on top dosages on my BP meds and asthma meds for several years. This was great news and a great milestone for me. My never be totally off but this is still great. Everyone keep up the good work, we will all make this journey. Believe in your self and you will succeed. Happy Wednesday and talk to ya later!

Great post, good luck and over time i am sure you will accomplish each and every thing on your bucket list.

The surgery is done laprascopically, they put gas in your abdomen to make it easier to work. The gas after surgery has to be expelled from the body and this happens with belching and flatus, gas that is trapped usually gives you some mild chest pain and pain under your shoulder blades. Walking, belching, passing flatus and lots of gas-x help this. Gas was my only pain post op, some have it some don't. Good luck, just be prepared for the gas and keep moving post op. This helps.

Southern Girl, we all understand how you feel. I also had gas for a while the initial weeks after surgery, Gas-x and phenergan were my best friends. I rarely needed any pain pills at all the gas pains were the worst for me. I ate so many Gas-x I thought I would become toxic. Each of us is individual, if you were to compare more do not lose weight before their first fill and if you read the literature this is suppose to be our healing time. This is as stated above a life time commitment and we would all like to wake up skinny, because I have always said, "I went to bed one night and woke up fat" It is also ok to be frustrated, and to whine and complain. I went through months of feeling sorry for my self because I could not eat like everyone else and than one day my brain finally caught up with my emotions. I still have occasional days that I feel irritated with what I can eat and not eat. Good luck to you and just remember we all have these days and moments and voicing it on here is better than eating. Good luck and we are all here so each of us can succeed.

So sorry for your complication but this is just a little set back. Not sure why they told you not to eat protein, I would follow up with your doc or a nutritionist. I know you must be hungry if only taking in liquids. Hope everything works out, keep us updated and let us know how we can support you.

Constipation has been a problem for me also, I tired the fiber tablets and other stuff but it gives me so much gas that my family can't stand to be in the same room with me. Sorry TMI! Make sure you drink your water and exercise I have found this helps me some.

Immediately after surgery prior to your first fill it is not uncommon to be able to eat most things. After your first fill you should notice a big difference in what you can and can't eat and especially if you do not chew. It is great that you have been losing a lot of people do not lose until after their first fill. Just remember to follow the rules and learn to chew and take small portions. It takes our mind and eyes a while to catch up with the fact that we really can only eat small portions. Still today if I allow myself to get hungry and tend to overfill my plate and than throw it way. Good luck to you.

Old feelings and thoughts are hard to break. It takes our brains a while to catch up with what is actually looking back at us from the mirror. We have all went through some serious self esteem issues from being obese and mirrors and scales were not always our friends. Here's hoping that one day all of us can look in the mirror and stand on the scale and say, WOW! who is that gorgeous creature looking back at me. Good luck to you.

Great progress, keep up the good work.

This is great, keep up the good work!

You may be surprised on how you fill. I have only had 3 fills in the past 14 months. I did excellent after my first fill and it lasted for 6 months before I needed another fill. My surgeon added 5 cc's the first time but everyone is different, mine did it under fluro and made me drink that wonderful chalking stuff and watched it go through the band. I felt immediate restriction and it was kinda scary for me. I thought I had some restriction just from having the band but after my fill I realized how much I really had to chew my food. My second fill did not go as well, but this third fill I think has been the best and I wish I had done it sooner. I actually do not get hungry between meals. Good luck and I know you will do fine, and just remember if the fill doesn't take you to the green zone go back and get a little more.

Thanks for allowing me to rant earlier today but i have been having a lot of bad days lately with eating solids and I just needed to vent. I had a yummy dinner tonight of solid foods and it all went down and it felt good to eat. Drinking only protein makes me grumpy sometimes and I knew you guys would understand. I bought my Fit Bit today and have set it up, I am really excited to wear it to work this coming week and to exercise. It will be interesting to compare how much I burn all day during my daily activity and how much more I can do. Hope everyone has a great week.

garfield1461, Did you reach your goal. It is nice to see persons who have maintained their lose post here. I like you do miss some things that I am no longer able to eat but I do not regret my surgery, I know me and I wold never have been able to do as well as I have on my own. Lapband gave me back my life and I am thankful to my surgeon and all of my famliy and friends who believe in me and support me. I also keep a fat picture of my self on the fridge but I also keep a thinner picture of me beside it. A nice reminder of why I don't eat those things anymore. Thanks for sharing.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and a wonderful relaxing Sunday. The day is beautiful here in SC, sun is shinning but it is still a little cool for the south. I don't know about everyone else but I can't wait until spring. I have so much more energy and motivation when it is warm outside. I find the winter months to be a little depressing and I do not feel as motivated to be outside and exercise. I am proud that I have went back to curves a week ago and have met my goal of going on Saturday mornings, and Tuesday and Thursday evenings after work. I need to set a new goal this week of at least doing 30 minutes of exercise daily of at least walking or something. I need my tread mill moved so I can use it, my son moved in late last year and it is in his room and a little hard to use. My husband says he has to take it apart to get it out of the room and has not done that yet. First thing that ticks me off lately. I go back to see my surgeon next week one , I had my last fill on Jan 30th and I am still struggling with solid foods most days, I do eat but it is usually late in the afternoons and evenings, I am getting all my protein in but with supplements. I keep thinking the band will loosen up a little and some days it seems to and others like yesterday, I just gave up and ate Greek yogurt and drank protein. I am still holding at 160 lbs, so at least I have slowed down on losing for a while. On the 30th I was at 175 which was up 5 lbs from before Christmas. I did find something good to eat this weekend, we ordered take out from the local Chinese restaurant and I ate a tofu stir fry, it was yummy and the tofu was silky soft and slide right down. I was only able to eat about 1/2 cup but it was yummy. I went out today and purchased a fit bit and tied it to my fitness pal account so I could track my activity and calories burned. I will let everyone know how that works out. I have been a little lazy lately and feeling a little frustrated with food and eating in general. I haven't felt this way in a long time but it is just so frustrating when one day things go down with out problems and they same things don't the next day. Welcome to bandster hell, I guess. The last thing that ticks me off today is people who use this site to promote sales of products. I was reviewing the forums and blogs this morning and found a blog that someone had started yesterday, she said she was 2 years out from lap band and had lost 150 lbs but was promoting a protein drink diet to get back on track. I thought to my self, every lap band patient knows that gimmicks don't work, diets don't work and getting the lap band has to be about changing your life and behaviors. Not sure why it pissed me off but it did, I feel we all work so hard on trying to live with lap band and trying to change out lives and live like others and the last thing I needed was someone telling me I could lose weight with lap band drinking yummy protein shakes. SERIOUSLY! I drink the damn shakes because nothing else goes down some days and this is not how I intend to lose my last pounds. I want to eat, enjoy my food portion. So shame on you if you are a lap band patient for encouraging us to drink protein to lose weight instead of change our behaviors and learn to live with lap band. I know we all have the freedom to post and believe what ever we want but SERIOUSLY give me a break. Ok, I feel better now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I vote Mirilax all the Benefiber does for me is give me more gas. I also tried probiotics and all they did was give me more gas. make sure you are drinking all your water this helps also. I have decided I will never be regular again, I don't think I eat enough fiber, I tried fiber tablets but again gas. Good luck.

i have been banded since 10/2010, I set small goals along the journey. First was to be obese and not morbidly obese, next goal is to be classified as overweight not obese. Not that I am just slightly to the overweight side of the pendulum I would like to be at a healthy BMI of 25 as long as it is below 30. My BMI is currently 30.2. Best advice is like stated above set mini goals along the journey. Looking at a long term goal can be very overwhelming when starting out. Good Luck!

I would call my surgeons office, it may just be a localized reaction but better to check it out. I had some soreness around my port after surgery but it was never swollen and red at the site.

Knew you could do it!

Emotional MorelGirl, I do understand how you feel. I have been banded for 16 months. I stayed the exact same weight for 5 months. I tracked my calories, I increased my activities, I too tracked and recorded every morsal I allowed to cross my lips, I increased my protein, I decreased my calories, I thought I was eating to many fats. Actually I almost drove emptional me off a cliff. I has my band adjusted 4 weeks ago and I drop 15 lbs in no time, first time the scales have moved in months. I can't explain it, neither can my physician. Moral of my story, hang in there, if your eating right and exercising the weight will come off maybe not as quickly as you want or would like but it will come off. Oh and I do agree, it is B*&^%T about the 3500 calorie to loss a pound. My BMR told me I needed around 1600 calories just to maintain my weight, I have faithfully ate 1000 to 1200 calories a day for over a year. Keep working it, at least exploding with words will burn some calorie and it's better than a piece of cake.

Abby at least you are starting over and not giving up. Losing weight with lap band like everything else we all have tried. Old behaviors do not change over night and any change is hard and takes some of us longer than others. We all fall off the wagon now and then but the key is to pick your self up and move forward. What happened over the past few months is exactly that in the past. Look at today as a new beginnng and go back to the basics and follow the rules. Don;t think of this as a diet but a life style change, It is kinda like AA, you take it one day at a time and find what works best for you. Make planning your meals a priority and do inventory of your cabnets and fridge and throw away the junk. Even if you don't post everyday, read the posts on this site. You need to set some small goals and have a win and then you will fill better about yourself but foremost don't beat yourself up I am sure you have done enough of that to last you a life time. Good luck and know we are all here for you. Diane

Suzie the one thing I have learned during my first year of being banded is constant follow up with a physician. There is no magic with the band and everyone of us is so individual and we all react so differently to our fills. You had a good start but maybe when you had your band filled it was too tight, from what I have read on this site, is if your band is to tight junk food is usually easier to eat. I suggest you find a good doctor and do a follow up, don't give up, you are right the band is finicky and sometimes just needs a little more tweaking.

I will apoligize up front for my post. First and foremost I want to say, "Why are you eating spaghetti?" Spaghetti is not a protein and if you were going to eat it a cup is too much, even if your band will allow you to eat it you should have it as a side of 1/4 to a 1/2 cup and eat protein like a meat ball or something as your main course. Pasta, rice, bread all our made from white flours unless you go whole grain and they will increase in size in your stomach and make you feel very full and sometimes can even make you feel over full. None of these foods are worth the risk of causing your band to slip by over eating. If you really want spaghetti might I suggest spaghetti squash, add some sauce and a meatball or some chicken sausage. It really does taste good, try it. When you say you are still eating preband portions? Have you changed your plate size, try eating off a small plate and always measure your food. Changing eating habits and behavior is not easy and all of us struggle and back slide from time to time. But I have learned that if I do not measure I will over eat, If my band is not properly adjusted and I can eat pizza, pasta or bread, I will try and eat it. I will tell my self anything to justify why I want something or can eat it but honestly all it does is decrease my weight loss and make it that much harder to get back on track. You are not the only person struggling with the emotional side of eating, we all struggle with this if we are honest. Maybe what your body is telling you is you need to make better choices. The one thing to remember is always eat protein first, it makes you stay fuller loner, takes longer to digest and holds you between meals and keeps you from getting hungery. Good luck, you can do this.