JerseyGirl80

I spend a bit more on groceries these days, fresh veggies, fish and good lean meats don't come cheap. I don't buy in bulk anymore because I waste a lot of food doing this, so I go to the store more often (2 or 3 times a week). Fresh foods don't keep, so again, I have to shop more often. I buy enough to get me through a few days, which obviously ends up costing me more money in the end. Also, my protein shakes aren't cheap, $10 for 4 bottles is seriously highway robbery! Before surgery I thought "Yay, I'll save money not eating!" umm no, not even close..

You may or you may not lose fast. EveryBODY is different. I'm a slow loser and have been from the begining. I've lost 75lbs since surgery (Dec 2010). I see people on here that have lost twice that in half the time and yes, it can be very discouraging. But you can't get held up on worrying about losing alot of weight fast, or worrying about how much someone else has lost. I think that as long as it's coming off is all that matters. You can be one of the lucky ones and drop weight quickly, but there is also a chance that you won't. Just stay focused and do your best. To me losing at a nice pace leads to keeping the weight off easier. I've "dieted" for 15 years before my band and always lost weight quickly only to gain it back and then some just as fast. If being a slow loser means that I can finally lose weight and keep it off, than I'll take it! Don't worry about the what ifs and about what other people are losing or how fast they are losing it. The band is about patience and dedication and it works for us all differently. Good luck and keep your head up!

I also believe there's plenty of surgeons out there that just push patients through like cattle getting these weight loss surgerys just to get the money and don't take the time to inform them.. They know how we are all in our most deperate hours when we inquire about this, and some do take advantage. I also know that sometimes it's the patients that only hear what they want to hear and no matter what still believe that having the surgery will be an automatic fix. Patients and Surgeons need to take responsiblity for informing & being informed about the lap band. A friend of mine had the same surgeon, same staff, same nurses, and same nutrionist as I did, so I know for a fact that she was well informed about everything. She, like many others, blame the band for her "failures". She contiuned to eat crap, lay around after eating, ate mostly carbs, never attempted to work out or drink Water, never counted a calorie or a Protein, ate Cookies and cakes and chips everyday.. I saw all of this first hand. Yet she continued to blame the band and wonder why she only lost 45lbs in 2 years. Aside from that, she's thrown up after almost every meal since surgery because she eats things she shouldn't be eating and shovels them into her mouth like she's never eaten in her life and wonders why the band isn't working. So now since it's the "bands fault" she's not losing weight, she is having the Sleeve done in a few months. I guess she'll blame that too when she continues to eat garbage and lay around all day wondering why the weight isn't coming off. So anyway, it can go either way. But in the end it really is the patients responsiblity to get informed, because this surgery is their choice and their body. It is also their responsibity to take the time to find a good doctor and not just sign up with any old quack they can find on the internet.

If they are it really isn't noticable. When and if I do drink soda I drink it half flat (Doc says thats fine as long as it's not bubbly) and I think the slurpee is less carbonated than my flat soda. Like my flat soda, I stir the slurpee around anyway so it flattens it and makes it a little watery, it's easier to drink that way. I drink a sugar free slurpee once a week and haven't had problems. And FYI, just because it's sugar free doesn't mean it's calorie free, there's 20 calories and 8 carbs per 8oz! So be careful, because I can easily drink a 32oz and not even bat an eye.. they're so good.

I've found that being active after dinner keeps me from getting reflux/heartburn at night. I discovered this on vacation. I was starting to have a little trouble during the night about a month before I went away, (not long after my last fill). I noticed that when I was home I tended to be lazy and just sit around or I would lay around shortly after dinner, this is when the problems started. Now while on vacation I was up and walking around most of the night so that by bed time I had no issues. When I got home I starting just sitting around again after dinner to see if this was what this issue was, it sure was, the reflux came right back. Now I either go to the grocery store after dinner or take a short walk, I try to do something. Being active seems to help my food digest and keeps me from experiencing reflux.

I had my nails and some makeup on (some liquid, they probably didn't notice), they didn't say anything. My nails are "pink and whites" so they don't have polish on them anyway. I had polish on my toes though, they didn't say anything about that either.

I lost 73lbs since Dec 2010, I hardly exercise although I always plan to lol. Because of little exercise I am a slow loser. I am again, starting to walk a few times a week. I find when I do workout regularly the weight does come off a little faster, but there isn't much of a difference because I avoid strenuous workouts. I have back issues that come and go so I tend to be careful and keep things low impact. The overall health benefits through exercise are great, so regardless of what it is you do or how much faster or slower weight loss is with workouts, I'd suggest trying to do something, even if it is just walking. Every little bit helps.

I'm always on and off the wagon, as I was before the band. It's just easier to maintain with the band and I don't let myself get as out of control as I did pre-band. Now when I'm "off the wagon" it may last a few months or a few weeks with a gain of 5-10lbs, whereas before the band it could last a few years with gains of 30-50lbs, if not more. My band is my biggest motivator, I didn't get this thing put in for nothing. We all have our ups and downs, you aren't alone. But I think as long as we are concious to what we are doing and are able to get a hold of ourselves after a minor set back and don't get ourselves back to where we started, we'll be ok. This is a process and it takes alot of patience. There will probably always be some gains along the way, but we can't lose complete focus on our main goal. When I got this surgery I didn't expect all my old habits to just disappear, I know ME too well lol. I knew there would be times where I'd be depressed, lazy, careless, sad, frustrated, HUNGRY lol, happy or whatever other emotion life would slap on me and I know that those would be the times I might lose hold of myself. The thing that has brought me back was remembering all I've missed in life because of the weight and the want to not miss out anymore, for me, becomes much stronger than my want for chips and cake lol. I look at my scars, physical and emotional, and remember that I did this for a reason. Don't beat yourself up, just get back on that wagon and do the best you can. I'd say gaining 10lbs isn't the worst thing in the world when you look at how far you have come. You've done great, had a setback, and now it's time to pull yourself out of the rut and get it together again. Never give up! Good luck!

I didn't have a "stuck" episode for a quite a while after surgery, probably not until I had 2 or 3 small fills. I suppose it's possible to never have one, but as you get more fills and the novelty of being newly banded wears off a bit (sometimes I forget I have a band because I'm so used to it now), you may forget or not pay attention or be in a rush and you too will probably have that stuck feeling eventually, and if not, more power to you, you'll be one of the lucky ones. When it's happened to me it's been my own fault, each and every time from me eating too fast or not chewing enough or just being distracted while eating has caused episodes. But these episodes are very rare for me at this point (I was 1 yr post-op this past December), as I have learned what I should and shouldn't do at certain times of the day (from morning til dinner, lately, I'm pretty tight and eat very little and mostly mushier things or Protein shakes). Around dinner time is usually when I am able to eat a small meal (probably the size of a lean cuisine) and I'm satified, but I still have to be very careful. I'm not perfect all the time, which is why I am a slow loser, I do indulge on occasion but it works for me and my lifestyle. It's really all been trial and error so far in discovering foods I should try to avoid and things that usually give me no trouble. The only thing I can't do is eat fried or crispy (from being baked in the oven) chicken skin, which I shouldn't be having anyway lol, but this is a big NO for me, the few times I've tried it I've gotten stuck, even just one bite has gotten stuck no matter how much I chewed it. I also can't sit and eat a big burger with the bun or eat a big sub sandwich with the bun (shouldn't be doing that either, but I can't even if I wanted to). Also, if I have steak and it's too chewy, fatty, well done, or rubbery I have to spit it out because I know it'll get stuck. But for the most part I can have every type of food as long as it's cooked right, Pasta, rice, breads, all meats, although sometimes veggies give me trouble unless they are really over cooked, salads are sometimes hard, I have to eat them extra slowly. If my food is dry, that means trouble, so I try to moisten it a little with fat free dressings or fat free sour cream fat free sauces or gravys, I eat alot of avacoado too in place of mayo to add some moisture. So I basically can eat anything, just in very small amounts now, I have to be very careful though at all times when I'm eating. This wasn't so until my last fill (about a month ago). I'm now at 7ccs in an 11cc band and this is definitely as tight as I feel I should be without starving to death lol. I felt a little restriction since the beinging, and then little by little I felt a little more with each small fill, but comparing that to how I feel right now, I'd say that was nothing compared to this! So it took me over a year to get where I needed to be with restriction, my "green zone", but that's mainly because my doctors believe in filling slowly and also because I'm self pay since my insurance changed. I have to pay out of pocket for each fill so I didn't fill up as often as I would have liked to. Like I mentioned before, the amount of food I eat for dinner is about the size of a small lean cuisine, sometimes I can eat more, sometimes less, it depends on the day or the types of food I'm eating. I do not measure my food, to me that whole 1 cup, half cup of food thing is for the birds.. I eat what I'm eating and I count my protein and calories, that's it. I am not telling anyone to not measure their food, always follow your doctors orders, I'm just stating that this is what works for me, my doctor feels this is fine for me to do it as long as I'm still losing. To answer your question as to why some don't feel restriction until after several fills, keep in mind that every BODY is different, what works for you might not work for someone else, it's not an exact science. Some people have bigger bands that need more Fluid to constrict, some people have larger stomachs and need more saline injected in their bands for the proper amount of restriction. Some doctors do small fills, some do bigger. Sometimes just the band alone is enough for some patients and some need to be super tight. We are all different, but in time we can find our perfect balance. Good luck to you, I've babbled enough.. I hope some of what I've said helps!