roziecakes

I must say I am hostile to the very concept of divorce, as if people are throwaway commodities. if you say you love your husband, then don't get divorced. How hard is that? And your husband loved you and stayed with you when you were fat? And all for a person who as soon as she lost a bit of weight started to think of cheating on him? Er.. yuk! Maybe he is best rid of you, though. Honestly, this is one of the nastiest posts I have read. "Now I am not so fat, is it OK to get rid of my husband who I claim to still love and who stayed with me all while I was fat?" Which part of "till death do us part" did you not understand?

I had a hard time with this in the beginning too. I try to eat whole foods, and I was very against artificial sweeteners, processed foods, etc. But in order to stay away from sugar yet still have the taste of sweet stuff, I started eating Splenda, and now that I'm used to it I can handle the weirder tasting sweeteners like Stevia.
When eating low carb I don't pay any attention to fat. So... I pick sugar free over fat free, but yes, it's really hard to go down this road if you don't like a lot of processed foods, especially at the very beginning.

I would be very wary of getting it taken out unless it is really necessary. It is quite possible that without it you may regain some or even all of your weight. Also why put your body through surgery unless you have to.
A BMI is 23 is perfectly healthy. It is not even close to being underweight. Maybe you just need to make better food choices to help allevaiate the tiredness. However tiredness often results from the busy lives we lead and often has nothing to do with what we eat. The diarrohea I would get checked out - is the Dr sure this is band related? It is very unusual if it is as most bandsters tend to border on the constipated end of the scale. I would make sure that all possibilities were checked out first before having the band removed. The last thing you want is to go through surgery and then discover that you still have the same issues.

I think part of the problem is that so many surgeons are not educating their patients properly about the band. It sometimes - truly - is not the patient's fault.
Lots of people aren't ready to claim the blame that lies within them for even becoming overweight! I, like you I think, believe that the greatest success comes when we do claim that blame and also empower ourselves to change it. It's not possible to force that change in people... It's taken me five years of therapy to get to where I am mentally - band or no band - but im here now!!

Finally, they know how the band works!
We've had this discussion many times, how can you get stuck immediately you swallow a bite if food is sitting in the pouch for hours, not going through the stoma immediately and causing you to be stuck!
DH went to the doc yesterday and was given a video. We both attend Prof. Paul O'Brien's practice so its always at the forefront of any research into the band, Prof. O'Brien being one of the band's pioneers. Anyway, their latest discovery is that food does not sit in the pouch for hours and slowly plass through as previously thought but as all those of us actually WITH a band know is probably not the case. What the band actually does is exactly like a blocked sink - you know how the plug hole chugs and glugs and spits it back up and then sucks it down, spits it up, sucks it down and gradually clears? Well, that's what the band does too. Food passes through, some goes right through, most is spat back up by the muscular contractions of the stomach, then its sucked back, some goes through, more comes up etc. In that way, each bite takes about a minute to pass through the stoma. What the band does is slow down your eating (or should) to such an extent that there is time for the food you eat to stimulate the nerves at the top of the stomach to indicate fullness - merely a exention of that old, eat slowly becuase it takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain its full theory. Its the slowness of eating with a band that allows such a small portion of food to satisfy.
that being the case, the doctor advised DH that its quite important not only to chew, but to WAIT between bites to allow this process to take place, even to the point of a minute between each bite of food.
The DVD also went on to reinforce this clinic's believe in 3 meals a day, no Snacks based on the fact that hunger hormones are way better controlled with a long period between meals, that the body is not designed to constantly be coping with new input, but rather is designed to have long periods of fasting. I know for a fact this works for me, but I think differnet people cope better with different ways of eating.
Interesting, hey?

First of all, I'm not going to read you the riot act about what you are eating...you know what you are doing wrong. The problem I see is that you have unrealistic expectations of what the band will do for you. That said, the fact is that you have already had surgery so what can you do to put things back in the right place?
1. Stop comparing your weight loss to your mother's. You had different surgeries and trying to compare your weight loss to hers is just going to frustrate you.
2. I realize that you don't want to count calories but, quite frankly, not counting calories isn't working for you the way you would like it to so maybe you need to try it. I use myfitnesspal.com to track mine (they also have an app for IPhone and Blackberry)...it is really not too difficult to use because you just need to type in what you are eating and select the item (I have rarely found any foods that are not already listed) and it is really easy to keep track of.
3. As far as exercise goes, I know what it is like to live in a place where it gets very hot...you need to find something you can do inside at home that is fun. Do you have a Wii or an XBox? I have a lot of fun exercising with both - I bought the Kinect for my son's XBox - because it is more like playing a game than exercising. I know you don't want to do it, but reality is that you will need to do it at some point in order to reach your goal.
4. Recognize that although you haven't lost the amount of weight you would have like to have lost, you have still lost 40 lbs, which averages out to 1.82 lbs per week. That rate of weight loss is right in line with what you should be losing with the band (1-2 lbs per week). You are actually losing faster that many people have lost after surgery so be proud of what you have accomplished!
In the end, the band probably wasn't the best surgery for you because it will never allow you to lose weight without some work on your part so you have two choices...get a revision to the sleeve or bypass or decide that you are willing to put the work into making the most of the band you have.
Good Luck!
edited to add: You don't say how much fill you have in your band, but if you can eat a double cheeseburger and a medium fry then you definately need a fill...

Got on the scale today and I was at 209.8! Yaayyy!!!
I can see onderland in my sights now, which it has been so many years since that has happened. Without the band I would of given up on whatever diet I was on by now and been back on the upward side of getting heavier and heavier. Not now!!!!!
Now if I can make thru today and my sons 7th birthday party. I really want to stay below 210 for mondays 4th of july challenge weigh in.
Wish me luck!

What I did was I started writing down and thinking about all of the exciting things that I will be able to do once I lose all of the weight, like fit better in chairs, go out dancing all night, riding horses, riding bicycles and motorcycles, running marathons, rockclimbing, etc etc. I felt like that was really empowering, and then I felt less nervous and more excited. Remember that each step you take is bringing you closer to the healthiest you! Best of luck with your surgery

Hi everyone! I'm so thrilled to be writing in this thread.
Anyhoo, I was banded today; June 8th, 2011 by Dr. Ziad Hanna at Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Ukiah, CA. Yes, I drove all the way from Junction City, Oregon to have surgery in Ukiah. (About an 8 hour drive). The reason I did so, was because well, I'm from Ukiah originally, and my stepfather Michael is a nurse at the hospital. He recommended Dr. Hanna to me because he works with Dr. Hanna and knows that he has an excellent reputation for laparoscopic surgery in general, and especially bariatric surgery. Dr. Hanna and his staff are WONDERFUL, and I recommend them highly. A really cool thing is that one of Dr. Hanna's nurses was a bariatric surgery patient herself, so she is very knowledgeable and empathetic.
So this morning, my mom drove me to the hospital. I took my first dose of Emend, which is an anti-nausea medication which was highly recommended by Dr. Hanna's nurse. It is supposed to help me all day today, and then I take another tomorrow. I thought for some reason that my surgery was going to be at 10:30, but I was actually scheduled for 8:30; the first patient of the day! I got there at 7AM. A very friendly nurse named Tonya helped me for Pre-op. I got weighed, she took my vitals, everything was great. My blood pressure has gone down significantly since starting the pre-op diet / exercise, I was pleased. She also gave me some nice warm blankets and ever so fashionable non-slip socks.
I changed into a gown, and waited for my IV. Two of Dr. Hanna's nurses walked over from the office just to say hi and see how I was, and to wish me well. I thought that was so nice! Dr. Hanna came in and said hi. My IV got started, I got some heparin subcutaneously, which I didn't feel at all, and some antibiotic. The anaesthesiologist, Dr. Lodge came in and examined me. I got some versed, and they wheeled me in.
I thought I would be waiting a really long time, so I brought a book, but I honestly never brought the book out of the bag once, they were so efficient and fun to talk to. Tonya and I talked about our pets and our families, and everyone wanted to know what my partner Greg looked like (he had to stay back up in Oregon because he just started a new job and couldn't get away). I had a great time!
I remember going into the operating room. Dr. Lodge put an oxygen mask on my face, and then put some stuff (I assume it was anesthesia) into my IV, and I was out. I woke up in recovery, and I had a surprisingly small amount of pain. I felt pretty sleepy for about 20 minutes, but I was talking to the nurse, and didn't feel nauseated at all! They gave me some Water (and actually a little bit of coffee... ) which I could sip in little bits, and it was fine. I got REALLY tired of sitting there, and I had to pee, so the nurse let me get up to do that. I was a little wobbly, but it all came out alright (pardon the pun).
My mom came in, and we sat and blabbed while I waited to get my last dose of heparin. I even drank some apple juice. I did need some pain medicine, I believe it was toradol (sp?), but since then I've been doing fine, no meds at all.
Mom and I walked around the supermarket on the way home, and I got a crossword puzzle book and some sugar-free popsicles. I tell you what, that sugar-free popsicle that I just ate is probably the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. I'm not kidding. So now I'm going to read some more threads on the forum, and finish calling my nearests and dearests to let them know I'm doing well.
Hope everyone has a great day!