Woodslass

Went in for my 4th appt today, and ended up getting a whole whopping .1 cc fill. Guess I've been at restriction since the 2nd fill and sorta-kinda-knew I had restriction but everyone else seems to take so long to get to that sweet spot, I guess I thought there was no way I could be there just with the 2nd fill. I was wrong! Dr. K says I'm doing perfectly, right on target with 2 lbs per week. July 5th is my 3 month Bandiversary so I'm going to take measurements all over again and I'll post what I've lost in inches - I'm excited to see that because I know I've lost 2 sizes already at this point. I'm feeling pretty good about myself today, confident, knowing that I am working my band the right way. I will say that in the last two weeks I have really been paying close attention to that satisfied feeling and stopping when I feel it. It's taken me 3 months to finally know what to look for and that has made a world of difference. I really had to break that "clean your plate" mentality instilled by my mother. I think that was harder than quitting smoking! I've also had to learn (and re-learn, and re-learn) how much to put on my plate, and reminding myself I can always get more if I'm still hungry. My husband has been fantastic at helping me with that. I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday weekend - and Happy 3 Month Bandiversary to everyone in our group! Carlene

Holy cow Spot! That's scary to think one can lose that much weight just from fluids. I'm glad you're feeling better, and Onederland will be better when it's a true weight anyway I'm just trying to make it to Twoderland by September 8th when I go to a family reunion. 30 lbs to get there

I know you're scared - I was scared too. I was fine up until I had to walk "behind the door" from the waiting room into the surgery area and at that point I burst into tears and had to bawl in the bathroom for about 15 minutes. After that I was fine. You are doing the right thing. You won't be thinking that for about a week after surgery, but that goes away. I am so thankful I had this surgery, and I have such a positive outlook on life now. I get compliments just about every day, and I still have a long, long way to go. As someone else said, if you weren't scared of surgery, something would be wrong with you. It's like being scared to stand in front of a group of people and speak - everyone gets scared, nervous, anxious. But that is the great thing about being alive - you get through situations with courage and strength and you become a better person for it. Good luck and come see us when you're on the other side - we will be here for you!

I haven't had a problem with veggies at all. My can't-eat food is mostly bread and rice. I tried eating chinese food yesterday (just plain sauteed chicken with pea pods, celery, carrots in a clear sauce) and it came up immediately. I think I was just really tight yesterday, though - I couldn't eat anything till dinner. I had a problem with eggs for a while, no matter how they were cooked, but that seems to be okay now. I think it's just trying to eat them for Breakfast that doesn't work.

Good for you! That is awesome Keep up the good work!

I'm still only on two fills - I had an appointment for my third but the surgeon and I both decided I was doing fine and didn't need it. The problem is that since that appointment (June 15th) I haven't lost anything. I go in on Friday and I'm going to have him put some more in. I will admit right now that I am not exercising. This past week I've had to travel for work, my boss is on vacation so I've been dealing with her tasks as well as mine and I've been glued to my desk. But I can't say that's my only excuse, to be perfectly honest....I just HATE EXERCISING!! I go downstairs every morning and I imagine my treadmill is staring at me accusingly ....as if to say "You dummy, you spent all this money not only on surgery, but also on me, and you're not even using me! Look at the dust on me!" I hate exercising. Hate it, hate it, hate it. It just seems like a waste of time to me - not that it won't help me lose weight, but just TIME I could be doing something else that I enjoy. I need a kick in the butt. Seriously.

I have a 14cc band as well. My first fill was 5.5cc's and it was fine for about 10 days and then I was hungry again. I went back in and he put in another 2.3 cc's and it's worked for the last three weeks. I go in next Friday, and I'm planning on getting another fill, probably at least 1cc. I'm now going in every 2 weeks until the weight starts dropping again - I've been maintaining the same weight for about 2 weeks so I know it's time for another one.

Well I went in for my 3rd fill today - and didn't get a fill I still have restriction after 2 weeks, and I lost 10 lbs in that 2 weeks which is really great. So Dr. K and I decided not to put one in. I have another appointment for June 1st to see if I need one then. So far, so good. I've yo-yo'd with my weight for the last few days. I had a few indulgences over the weekend. I had been practicing Atkins since my last fill, and about 10 days out I stopped losing weight and actually started gaining it back. So, typical me, I say "screw it" and start eating carbs. I know that the initial Atkins weightloss is mostly Water anyway, so when I ate a carb or two over the weekend all the water weight poured back in and really pissed me off. So yesterday I actually had a piece of white pizza with chicken and olives - it was heaven! And there you go - by today I'd lost those 2 lbs again and was back to my original loss of 335 by this morning. I've come to the conclusion that while I can lose weight very fast on Atkins, it doesn't stay gone. So I think I'm going to start just counting calories from now on (I was not counting on Atkins) and eat more balanced and see how I do. I really think for me, now that I have a good amount of restriction, is to just really watch how much I eat and stop when I'm satisfied. Plus I had not been getting enough water in the last few days and I'm back to at least 80 oz a day. My poor husband never knows from one day to the next what I can eat and what I can't. I have him so confused! I keep changing my diet habits and I'm so glad he's patient with me.

LOL! That's so awesome No NSV's for me this week. However, my company has a fancy suite at Coors Field, home of the Rockies, and on Thursday I was the winner of 2 tickets plus the free parking pass. My husband and I arrive in the suite (which is right behind home base) and there's a TON of food - hotdogs, brats, all the fixings, chips, nachos, fajita bar, beer, you name it. Popcorn, peanuts and crackerjack are in bowls all over the place. I was really proud of myself - I ate a brat and a hotdog, no bun, just a little mustard. I put some of the chicken fajita meat on my plate, put lettuce and cheese on it, and ate that, then snacked on roasted peanuts while drinking nothing but Water. I did have a cookie though - they brought them fresh-baked around the 6th inning and I could not overcome the smell of oatmeal raisin! But otherwise I didn't go crazy and gobble Even when the icecream bars were passed around in a basket on the 8th inning, I held my ground and said NO.

I didn't get much from my first fill either - I was "restricted" for about 5 days, but now I realize that it was just swollen from the fill. My second fill has lasted much longer now, it's been 8 days and I still have pretty good restriction. I have my 3rd fill appt on the 16th (next Thursday) so I'll see what my surgeon says at that time.

So this is a thread for lists of things you just can't or won't eat anymore. I'll start. Can't eat: Flour tortillas Hamburgers Pasta Rice eggs Won't eat: Soda (I was a TOTAL Pepsi addict pre-band) Any liquid with sugar in it - I refuse to "drink" my calories Candy, chocolate, cakes, anything considered "dessert" Most bread (sometimes I can get a very thin slice of toasted Jewish rye down) French Fries (because I love them too much and I'm afraid I'll binge) Pre-band, I would come home from work after a long day, pop a loaf of frozen garlic-buttered french bread in the oven, and eat the entire loaf with 2 or 3 Pepsi's for dinner. Good grief I can't even IMAGINE doing that now! Just the thought literally makes me shudder. How about you all?

Don't be jealous, you've lost more than I have on less fills! I think you have more determination than anyone I've ever met

My surgeon gave me a great rule - put a cup of ice next to your plate. Whatever melts during your meal, you can drink.

To me it sounds like you have restriction, if you can go that long without hunger. I get the late night munchies too, and I just down a bottle of Water and ignore it if I can

For me, the first week after a fill I find myself usually PB'ing during a meal, not afterward. I will take too large of a bite, or not chew it enough, and it will come right back up with 2 minutes. I always know instantly because once it hits my pouch, I get a wierd crawling sensation - that's saliva pouring down to try to rectify the problem. I excuse myself, calmly walk to the bathroom and get rid of it. Afterwards I can usually go back to eating the rest of my meal - sometimes I can't, depending on when it happens, but most of the time I can. After about 5 days, things start to calm down for me and I do this less and less - for instance, at lunch today I had to PB a bite of turkey burger, but dinner was fine and I had chicken. It just depends, so take small bites and chew

10 lbs a month is a great goal, that's my goal too. I have 7.8cc's in my 14cc band and I haven't lost restriction after 5 days, keeping my fingers crossed. I have an appt for my third fill on the 16th if I need it.

Love the bike idea - good for you!!

Hi FeFe; I was banded just a week before you, and I've had 2 fills - I'm up to 7.8cc now in a 14cc band. I think you need to get more Fluid in your band, if you are getting hungry and feeling like you are eating more and more, then you need a fill. My doctor told me on my last visit that he would fill me every two weeks until I found lasting restriction. What's your doctor's policy on fills? It's been 2 months for you, so it's likely that you don't have enough fluid in the band.

WOW! What an amazing accomplishment! I can't even run for 60 seconds on the treadmill. Great job!!

What a great post, thank you for sharing your story and insights! I made sure I took the time to have before pictures taken, and measurements too. I am really looking forward to seeing those shrink!

B: 1/2 portion Unjury chocolate shake made with 1 cup fat free milk, 1 Atkins breakfast bar (peanut butter) L: 3 oz turkey burger patty, 1/2 cup broccoli with cheese sauce S: 1 string cheese D: 1/2 cup stir fried cabbage, green pepper, celery and onion; 3 oz turkey burger chopped up on top of it, small salad with bacon ranch dressing I'm going low carb now after my 2nd fill to get back into the game - bread is my downfall!

Update - it's gotta be that I can't get eggs down anymore. I had a turkey burger patty for lunch along with some broccoli, and it went down fine and stayed down fine. Bummer - I love scrambled eggs

Okay, got 2nd fill yesterday. I'm having some problems so far. I got my fill around 9am. Went shopping, did some errands, got home around 2pm. I was hungry, hadn't had anything to eat since the night before. So I scrambled some eggs, got about half of them down and then they came back up. Yuck. So I just left it at that. I can get Water down just fine, and also crystal light. Last night, I made some very soft fish and well-done veggies, cut very small. Was able to get down 1/2 cup veggies and about 3 oz of fish. I had to stop in the middle and let everything settle down, and then was able to resume. But everything stayed down and I didn't drink 1/2 before eating or an hour after eating. Drank two bottles of water before bed, everything was okay. This morning, tried eggs again - with some soft turkey sausage. 5 bites into it everything came up again. Tried again (stubborn I guess) and ate just eggs - everything came up. I am hoping that it's either just the eggs that I can't tolerate anymore, or I was very tight this morning. I ended up getting out a Protein powder and making a chocolate smoothie, which seems to be staying down okay - looking at my glass right now it's about 1/2 gone. I am scared I'm too tight - but if I was too tight, I wouldn't have been able to keep the fish and veggies down last night, right? So it must be the eggs.

That's a big NSV I still have knees and feet that hurt. It will be a great day when I can run around Sam's Club and haul everything home without wanting to lay down and die!

Today has been a GREAT day! Total NSV day I had my 2nd fill today, and got yelled at by Dr. K a little bit because I didn't come in when I knew I had lost restriction. So now I'm going every two weeks until we are sure I'm at restriction, which I thought was awesome. But here's the NSV... I've been going back to my bad habits and last night talked to Hubby about it. Basically I think because I've wanted to make sure that my surgery didn't impact him, I've still been making dinner and then eating with him, in front of the TV (very bad for me) and after 7pm, sometimes as late as 9pm, which we all know is a no no. So I really haven't been losing much weight. So I told him last night this is it, you have to fend for yourself, I need to get back on track and right now it's all about me, sorry He's fine with it and told me that since I was stopping by the mall to pick up my glasses today after my doctor's appointment, I should go into Lane Bryant and get a new outfit to Celebrate the fact that I've lost 28 lbs. I wasn't going to do it, because even though my clothes are loose right now it didn't feel like I went down a size. But anyway, I went and got my glasses and thought what the heck. Went into Lane Bryant, which I have not been able to buy clothes from for over 10 years because they only go up to 28 and I've been a 30/32 for a long time. They had just opened, and two of the salesgirls said hi, so I told them I'd had surgery and how I hadn't been able to shop there in lots of years. So they get excited too, and help me choose a pair of black dress pants and a pretty blue blouse. The pants were a 28 and the blouse was a 26/28. I went into the dressing room, pulled on the pants, and literally shrieked. I could not believe it....they were TOO BIG! I pull on the top....TOO BIG. I run out of the dressing room and the two girls are jumping up and down with me, and I had the biggest grin on my face...I look in the mirror and I'm just floored. The waist of the pants is not even touching me and the hips are too big. The blouse is falling off my shoulder. So the girls each go get a smaller size of each one - 26 pants and a 22/24 shirt. I change...and they fit. I can't even tell you how big of a deal this is for me. It was pure motivation, total justification for my surgery, real proof that I can do this <happy sigh>