B-52

It's true that you need to get to know your band, learn how to listen to it, and learn how to live day by day....then you will know the answer to that question...

What was the reason for your heart attack? I have had at least one, and that was from CAD - Coronary Artery Disease... However, for myself....I suffered from High BP, was a diabetic with daily injections and oral meds, body aches and pains..I was a mess... and I suffered from many things you do not mention... After loosing all my weight, all that is gone...behind me...I am no longer a Diabetic..no meds, A1C normal for 2 years now...BO normal, as a matter of fact it tends to be a bit on the low side...my heart attack, which required surgery, well my cardiologist calls me his poster patient, I breeze through stress tests like a walk in the park... I have not been healthier or feel better in over 35 years.... I now run 5 miles a day, and have more energy than I know what to do with... Depression and anxiety...well all I can say is that as of now, I feel like I am on top of the world...I have more confidence, an overwhelming positive self image, etc etc....all because I had Weight Loss surgery and lost all my excess weight!!! I am a new person....both physically and mentally....and I am 61 years old...my only regret is that I did not do this a lot sooner. BTW, as I type this it is 4am, Saturday, having my coffee....I cannot wait to get to the gym when they open at 5am....I'm that motivated...

So what if you get tight? Are they offering meals again? I fly all the time and don't feel any difference drinking my gin & tonics, not to mention the little bags of peanuts....

True....there have been days I was completely somewhere else, a very pleasurable place.... for as much as an hour and forgot completely I was even running.......I wish I could somehow bottle it... Because of that I am very superstitious and have certain rituals..what I eat and drink, which Vitamins, etc, even what clothes I wear......before I work out...I want it to be "Just right" which it always isn't...but I'm working on finding that formula...

I did not shop around, and I know there are places closer to my home....but that was the name my PCP gave me to call, so I did.... I've been going there over 3 years, and have been very satisfied....day after my surgery I had a HUGE gift box UPS'd to the office from Delicious Orchards.... Maybe that's why they still love me so much....

I always wear a heart monitor belt...if I am not doing cardio - aerobics, then I feel I wasted an opportunity..... It is not important how I do it, (although running is the most effieicent for me) but getting to 85% of my Max Heart Rate...and keeping it there for at LEAST 20 minutes.... In the beginning, 5 minutes was hard...had to do 5 on 5 off...then it was 10, then 20 on 5 off... Now, 20 minutes and I am just getting warmed up, in that special "Groove" Then there is the "Runners High" when you get in that groove and sustain it..... I have actually come to a point where, after say 20-30 minutes I feel my body is almost dead. My mind then has to take control if I am to continue. When running is initially very hard, there is a war going on between the body and the mind. If the body wins, I will have to give up and stop, call it a day........ if my mind wins, I will continue. At that time I begin to feel that I stay outside of my body. It is as if I see my body as not being part of me, or the process...I can think about my body and what it is doing as though it is not here, but a little over there...maybe right in front of me..... my mind commands and my body follows. This is a very euphoric feeling, which I strive for every time I run. . .you actually experience your personality separate from your body, as two different things. I can feel at that point, I can run forever and ever....if I so choose.... feeling of invincibility and superior performance....to name a few...like happiness, peace of mind... Once you have experienced that, and can repeat it on occasion...you will do ANYTHING to get it again and again...like a drug, you're addicted and you don't let the initial pain and hard work get in the way... There is a reason you see runners, and cyclists for that matter...all over the place no matter where you go, all different times of day... Just typing this makes me feel I want to get out there right now....

For me, the day I stopped using my I-phone app, and stopped counting calories, etc, was liberating! Total Freedom! Along with all the other verbage like starvation mode, metabolism, etc. It made my head hurt! I began, per my Dr's advice, concentrating on a healthy, active lifestyle, one that involved eating much LESS than I used to, and exercising a lot MORE than I used to..... I am old school...want to loose weight? Don't eat so much.....that's all every diet under the sun is designed to do.....

I simply make good food decisions, and listen to my band as I would no matter where I am eating.....eating venues may change, but the band does not.... I always wind up bringing food home....

Where Monmouth? And what Dr. are you considering...I used Central Jersey bariatrics in Freehold...

2.5 to 9 is a HUGE difference...are you sure? How large is your band? Anyway, after a fill I have found NOT to eat anything solid for 24-48 hrs....the band can be irritated, inflamed from the fill, and eating will only compound the problem....and it will never go away untill I finally stop and give it that rest I should have done in the first place... Like spraining your ankle, you need to stay off it for a while to heal...otherwise...... I have talked to people who, after getting a fill, started eating solids right away, which continued to irritate the band, to the point they were still miserable 2 weeks later, and wound up getting an un fill. When you call your DXr. with those symptoms, what does one expect him/her to say? Don't eat for 24-48 hours after a fill? He/she probably already said that.... After the un needed un-fill, they then turn around and say they are hungry, gaining weight, and the Bnad is NOT WORKING.... Truth is, the band is/was trying to work, but because of patient non-compliance never gave it a chance.... This is why so many Dr.'s are going to the sleeve.... Not saying this is you, I have no idea...just saying what I have observed from experience with some people....

Somewhere in my fill process I GAINED weight...my Dr. assured me not to get too upset, the whole point was to get the band working and not ill then it will not be all roses......

In the beginning when we were getting my band properly adjusted, my Dr. would point to this chart he had hanging on the wall and ask me to point EXACTLY were I though I was....he would then ask a few questions, look at my weight loss/gain since last visit, then make his decsions..... \ \ So, looking at the chart...are you NOT hungry? Do you have GOOD weight loss? Good Portion Control? and most of all Patient satisfaction...are you happy?

I read posts like these, and pay close attention and try to learn something... I have only been banded for 2 1/2 years, and so far everything has been great....so when people say they gain the weight back, or they loose restriction, my ears perk up because it is something I must be aware of...especially the reasons why it happens.... I still cannot understand how one can loose restriction...as long as the band remains a constant...I do understand and experience it for myself the pouch dilating stretching, allowing larger than normal portions because there is more room for food to accumulate above the band....for this I do the 5 day pouch test, actually will go all liquids for 2-3 days, to give my pouch a rest and return to normal size...hopefully avoiding more serious issues in the future....also why Dr.'s suggest un-fills... But I am still naive how one can "Fall off the wagon" so to speak....so when people do post these type of stories, it is something that interests me very much...like I said. I try to understand the WHY so others like me, can be warned....and educated.. Thanks for being honest and posting......that is why this forum CAN be productive...for people to hear other people's experiences, good and bad....and learn from them.....NOT to have know it alls tell us what we should and should not do when they themselves have a way to go and much to learn........as if their way is the only way

I am simply no longer interested in food....because, due to the band I have no longer have an appetite and I am never hungry.......NEVER I have gone grocery shopping and roamed around the store not finding anything interesting.....and come home with little things to snack on.... I can stand and stare into the refrigerator and not find anything I care to eat, even though it is stocked full..... Cooking and baking was a hobby of mine, I also was a Chef's assistant long time ago in a 5 star restaurant....but now, if I should prepare something, all that work to only throw 90% of it away.... I used to be a foodaholic, could not stop eating....so the opposite does not bother me in the least....I still have foods I enjoy, small delicacies mainly, which I can get at the deli freshly made... but not food in general. (big meals)... I don't mind...I enjoy my new healthy skinny life better, and prefer running 10k's, doing yard work shirtless, and now that the weather is here, spending time at beach after work, (which is a short walk away)

This topic comes up from time to time....I'm not sure why... The port is attached to the abdominal muscles at the anchor points.....how close to the surface it is depends upon the layer of fat thickness between it and the epidermus..... Here is a photo of mine...I can feel every nook and cranny....you can also see and feel the tubing runnig out the side before it goes deep. Needless to say, there is not much fat there covering it up....I don't worry about a flipped port..if it did I could flip it back over myself. But it's not going to happen. Trust me, it's secure. Yes, people ask me all the time what is it...I simply tell them it is not a tumor, but a surgical implant...they don't probe further...it also shows through a t-shirt as a lump... A one armed blind man can hit that port with a syringe... /

First...Congratulations on your success..... Are you 1 pound away from YOUR Goal? I had personal goals also...they all came and went.... I found that since this is new lifestyle and not a diet where you can start and stop, the body will continue to loose untill it reaches that place that is normal and healthy for you....then it will simply stop....providing you keep your Protein at normal levels....

Cannot possibly understand what is happening to you or your body,...but in my case.... With my last fill, which was only 1 cc, that actually did the trick for me....BUT it was rough to say the least..like you said, for me almost 2 full weeks...and everything was fine when I left the Dr.'s office, and for 24 hrs after.... But I came very close to flat out calling my Dr. to get a unfill....could not eat anything substantial..... Now I am not suggesting this to anyone, just my story.... I stuck it out, determined to get it...I was of the impression that it was ME that had to change, and not the band....mind you, it was a gamble....and yes I did stress about everything I ate, as I have to stress about everything I do if I want it to be perfect.... Then suddenly, as if by magic...it all leveled out and everything has been fantastic since then...2 years ago....no more struggles....definitley in the Green Zone everyday since then....I don't have to think about what I am eating anymore...it all comes natural, from forming new habits....but it was a learning curve.... Was it because I adapted and finally learned I needed to eat differently? (probably) And stay away from those risky foods? (still do) I think about what would have happened if I did get that unfill...I don't know....would I have yo-yo'd up and down? never getting it right? Or was it because I was not giving the band adequate time for the inflamtion to go down but continuing to force myself to eat? I don't know....I may never know....all I do know, in my case, is I am glad I stuck it out.....I have now lost all the weight I possibly can, having a very low fat %. Dr informs me I am finished with my weight loss, and any further weight loss would not be fat, but muscle.(unhealthy, REAL starvation mode) And yes, the band is TOTALLY in control of my life...I would not have it any other way because I have tried many times to loose weight and failed...I needed surgery to correct that....in control with permanent life change....

It's between you and your band....there are foods that i can and choose to no longer eat....many of these quick dinnrs like Lean cusine, etc, conatin things that are not band frindly for me....foods I chose to ignore long ago and has since become second nature to do so....even if they are low cal, low carb, they don't agree with me or my band. Also, I was once on "Diet" very similar to the Nutri-system...where I would go every week, get weighed, counseled, pay my $ and come home with a weeks worth of food in prepared portions..... I would have all the weeks food finished in 2 days......then go and eat whatever I wanted for thr rest of the week.... So that is why I had Weight Loss Surgery..... It was not so much WHAT I was eating, it was the fact I was eating so much! The band took care of that for me....unable to overeat now no matter how hard I try.......

All I can say is I am glad I did not find this website until AFTER I did my own research and until AFTER I had my surgery and knew what my treatment plan was going to be....(get to the Green ASAP) Otherwise I m not sure where I would be today...so many different opinions...so many different complaints and stories of struggles.... And this is the Internet....everything and anything you read on the Internet is true...right? Of course it is.....I read that on the Internet also....

I followed all thee pre-op diets, protocols, etc.....2 days before my surgery, after my final office visit and weigh in before surgery, I had my LAST MEAL! We went out to a place that I knew I would NEVER be able to go to anymore....one of those All-You can eat Buffets....but a upscale one.... Ate like a pig.....and enjoyed every minute.... Then for the next 2 days I went all liquids, and fasted, and was fine for surgery..... And yes, 2 1/2 years later I have never been back to that buffet....and never will unless I want to blow $35 for a small portion.... And best of all...I don't miss it, or miss food and eating for that matter....

I have not counted calories or measured portions in over 2 years.... Being in the Green Zone means my portions are automatically set ...I Cannot overeat if I wanted to....and my hunger is totally under control, not between meals, but 24/7. The band is there 24/7, right? So is the signal sent to my brain... So, seeing that I eat considerably less than what I used to, I just make it a habit to as healthy as I can...low fat, no junk, wholesome good foods...and get plenty of Water and pay particular attention to my Protein....I also quit Red meat for 2 years, thanks to the band....and if I forget to eat, which happens, like yesterday, then so be it...as long as I got my protein.... It has become a new lifestyle, without ever having to diet again in the traditional sense, and having no fear of gaining weight......everyday is just another day... That's what being in the Green Zone, over time, will do.....

A little general info......just because you have pain does not mean you are stuck.... I have not been stuck for almost 18 months....but I still get pain if I do something I know I shouldn't.... Like swallowing something too large without chewing it down properly will cause me a lot of pain....it will pass through the band, but the pain can linger for what seems forever...like someone punching you in the arm....the damage is done and everything swallowed will be felt with pain because of the irritation done. I have even experienced severe pain by drinking Water alone...at the gym, running on the treadmill and working up a sweat, I'll take 2-3 large gulps of water without thinking...faster than it can pass through the band...PAIN! And that can linger for a while...just from water....a sure sign I am stretching my pouch!!! IMO, the LAST thing anyone should do is drink carbonated drinks while stuck....unless you want your pouch to stretch, possible doubling your pain.... There is a reason many Dr.'s say no carbonation...I drink them all the time...but I know what I'm doing when I do, and my Dr. has questioned me to be sure I understood....and one of the tricks is knowing a carbonated drink is passing right through to the stomach freely....being stuck would mean carbonation will accumulate in your pouch and, well, your asking for problems.... Many people I know swear by papaya enzymes for getting un stuck...I never used them but some never leave home without it....carry it with them all the time.... I have always simply sipped water...if the drain is truly clogged, than adding water will make the sink overflow....and with the band, will bring up what was causing the blockage....if not, then the slime will start to accumulate eventually which is the body's way of accomplishing the same thing to dislodge the cause... But pain alone does not always mean you are stuck..it can mean you traumatized the area and need to give it a chance to heal, and learn how to avoid it in the future...unless you like pouch dilation and possibly erosion..... If you cannot recognize these things, and treat it accordingly, then the Dr. will have to give you a un-fill to let the site heal properly....

Monmouth County.....I use Central Jersey Bariatrics at Centre State Hospital in Freehold....they also have a office near Bayshore Hospital in Keyport..... Is you Horizon NJ Health your Medicaid ***? In other words you are 100% Medicaid with no other primary....I would definitely give them a call...

I belong to other groups, one in particular has over 200 members and they ALL at one time or another used to be active here on this forum, well over a year ago........NONE of them come here anymore, they, like you, have gotten tired of hearing the negatives, and wanted to surround themselves with like minded people..... And that group is not as active as it once was because many people, being banded well over a year, have met their goals, and comfortably living in the Green Zone, and are happily moving in with their lives..... That happens here a lot also....many of the people I used to follow have succeeded, completed their WL journeys, and never come around anymore.... Plus I quess the majority of people who post here are those who are still struggling and having issues, looking for advice....soi that bis what we see most often...people with problems or those still trying to figure this all out....