NJGirl32

I know some people like Muscle Milk-but I thought it was the worst. It was so thick-like drinking pudding and the after taste was horrible.

I tried plenty and couldn't stand the after taste either! You can use Carnation Instant Breakfastwith milk, but you might need a little scoop of Protein to boost it up. My absolte favorite is GNC's Total Lean (I get the ready made kind). The chocolate is great and you can but a single to try and see if you like it. It's a thinner shake and it's great! If you like strawberry that's good too. The vanilla was kind of plain. I use to pour it in a blender with ice and a 1/2 of banana (optional)and then pour it into a diaquiri-type glass and add a little LF whipped cream on top.

I think my fill is a little tight but I am okay with it.

In the morning I simply can not eat-I do have my coffee. Sometimes later in the morning I can do oatmeal or yogurt. I rather drink a Protein shake on my way to work.

Lunch-well it depends. Truthfully I usually skip lunch, but if I am meeting someone for lunch I will opt for Soup (maybe a salad). I also discovered I can eat a small piece of chicken from McDonald's snack wrap (no bread though).

Dinner-a small piece of Protein. I would say my dinner is less than an average Lean Cusiene meal.

Snacks- vary I usually dpn't snack between meals but if I didn't eat lunch I come home and snack before dinner. I always have a small snack at night.

I can feel food going down and I can sometimes feel in pop into my large stomache from my pouch. Sometimes my body makes all kinds of grugling sounds-only my dog can hear it and she tilts her head to the side! lol

When I go outto dinner with my hubby we need to share because there is no way I could eat a full meal. I like having Soup when I eat out. Sometimes I can eat more and other times I can't.

I really need to get better eating lunch because I am hungry when I come home from work. I also need to drink more Water.

Someone told me their friend was paying over $150 for fills and she asked our doctor if he would do it for her-he agreed and I believe he is only charging $50! So all doctors are not the same-my doctor in at a center of excellence and he's awesome. After a few fills you won't need them as often. I am on my 4th fill and I haven't needed one in the last 2 months-I figure I'll call him when I need one, but at this rate I can't see that happening for a while.

Whoa!!! You look amazing!!! Yes, I agree you look a lot younger too! Congratulations on such a great accomplishment!

I just posted something on this a few weeks ago! I had a pain just below my ribcage on my left side. I went to the doctor's and she said there are no vital organs on the left side. She gave me a pain killer which barely helped-I had an xray too-a mystery pain for sure! It went away on it's on...thank goodness!! I thought I may have bruised a rib while PBing-and if you vonited for 6 hours you may have also added forced against your ribcage. I found that it hurt worse when I was sitting for any period of time. Oddly enough when I slept or laid down it didn't hurt. That makes me think it was a bruised rib or a nerve. Good luck - and congrats on the baby!!!!

I have had no problem with beer-none. There are beers out there with very little carbonation. I like having a beer or two on ocassion and have had no issues whatsoever. I don't get drunk any faster either.

OMG if the band can get in the way orally all I have to say is....

I WANNA MEET HIM!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I needed a good laugh today!!! LMAO!

The mind boggles? Is this question for real?

What worries me is that if someone can ask questions like this it would seem that they know very little about the band. I would be doing a lot more research to make sure I understood what the band is and where it goes before having surgery.

To answer:

The band is inside your body around the top part of your stomach.You cannot feel it once it is there. I cannot by any stretch of the imagination figure out how someone could imagine it could get in the way orally. Even having toured the sex museum in Amsterdam and seen all the strange stuff there I don't know what kind of sex a person would be having for that to happen.

Your port you can feel through your skin if you are trying to. It feels like a hard lump. It doesn't interfere with sex at all.

OMG!! LMAO!!!!!!!! LOL

Thanks for all your replies! I feel better that I am not alone! Next month I will now know the reason I am tight-I actually thought my band slipped, but right afterwards I was able to eat without any problems at all! Thanks again

I usually order an appetizer to share and Soup, but all the suggestions are very good. I love seafood and it's a great choice. Crab legs always go down well and I agree that they take time to eat. If you order chicken make sure it's not dried out or it can get stuck. Stay away from all bread/pasta items.

Basically no places are off limits- you just need to think small portions and healthy choices.

I use this method and it helps. I also found walking around and going up and down stairs helps. The worse thing, for me, is to sit .

Oh the day I need to justify being a size 4 would be an awesome day!! LOL

Relax-obivously you caught her on a bad day!

My dear, sweet friends......... only a woman would worry about this.

LOL- You are SO right!! We are crazy! Today, at the same convention I realized that I was just sitting at the the wrong table! IF I was sitting at the next table over I would have been the 2nd skinniest at a table of 8!! AND at lunch time I was right in the middle with at least 4 people heavier than me-and I did notice their plates were piled high with food!

For the last 2 days I was hardly able to keep anything down, I PBed on shrimp and had a really rough night. Yesterday I PBed on my way to work after I ate a teeny bit of tail mix-had to pull over my car. I couldn't really eat much the rest of the day. I thought I might have had a slipped band. I was googling it and getting info.

Well today I get my period. I was able to eat again with no PBing.

Does anyone else have a fickle band that time of the month? I

This study was completed by people in Belgium who had it 17-14 years ago? I would think A LOT of advances have come along since then. I know now they use a differnt technique to help avoid slippage then they did back then. I wouldn't base my decision on such old data since we are constantly fine tuning the procedure to make it safer and more successful.

Also their percentages are flawed. They were only able to get 50% of the bandsters to compare. So when you see 47% were satified that means 47% of the 50% that participated. Too many variables and too small of a study if you ask me-and agian-far too long ago.

Here's the complete article, hope this helps:

Long-term Outcomes of Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding

Jacques Himpens, MD; Guy-Bernard Cadière, MD, PhD; Michel Bazi, MD; Michael Vouche, MD; Benjamin Cadière, MD; Giovanni Dapri, MD

Arch Surg. 2011;146(7):802-807. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2011.45Objective To determine the long-term efficacy and safetyof laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) for morbidobesity.

Design Clinical assessment in the surgeon's office in2009 (12 years after LAGB).

Setting University obesity center in Brussels, Belgium.

Patients A total of 151 consecutive patients who had benefitedfrom LAGB between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1997, werecontacted for evaluation.

Intervention Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.

Main Outcome Measures Mortality rate, number of majorand minor complications, number of corrective operations, numberof patients who experienced weight loss, evolution of comorbidities,patient satisfaction, and quality of life were evaluated.

Results The median age of patients was 50 years (range,28-73 years). The operative mortality rate was zero. Overall,the rate of follow-up was 54.3% (82 of 151 patients). The long-termmortality rate from unrelated causes was 3.7%. Twenty-two percentof patients experienced minor complications, and 39% experiencedmajor complications (28% experienced band erosion). Seventeenpercent of patients had their procedure switched to laparoscopicRoux-en-Y gastric bypass. Overall, the (intention-to-treat)mean (SD) excess weight loss was 42.8% (33.92%) (range, 24%-143%).Thirty-six patients (51.4%) still had their band, and theirmean excess weight loss was 48% (range, 38%-58%). Overall, thesatisfaction index was good for 60.3% of patients. The quality-of-lifescore (using the Bariatric Analysis and Reporting Outcome System)was neutral.

Conclusion Based on a follow-up of 54.3% of patients,LAGB appears to result in a mean excess weight loss of 42.8%after 12 years or longer. Of 78 patients, 47 (60.3%) were satisfied,and the quality-of-life index was neutral. However, becausenearly 1 out of 3 patients experienced band erosion, and nearly50% of the patients required removal of their bands (contributingto a reoperation rate of 60%), LAGB appears to result in relativelypoor long-term outcomes.

<br clear="right">Author Affiliation: The European School of Laparoscopic Surgery, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Saint Pierre University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.

That's a good point about the blood clots. I would probably not travel 2 weeks post surgery especially if you have suitcases and a laptop to lug around. I was still sore 2 weeks post surgery. I was told not to lift anything heavy I think for 6 weeks.

So I am at this out of town convetion for a few days.

All the women sitting at my table seemed skinny-am I still the heaviest at my table-really?!! This time last year I was 258-and was 248 the week before surgery-now I am 207. I am wearing a size 16 (regular 16s-not plus size) and I am still the heaviest? Really?

How is it that other women stay slender and I do not?!

Is it genetics-seriously? Okay-my goal is to not be the fattest woman in any given room. Certain rooms that is true. I thought I looked really good today, before I left my daughter said I looked skinny. OK 207 isn't skinny for 5'6 but I felt good.

Do you ever look around to see if you are the heaviest? I don't want to be the fat one anymore. I

Dear Shrimp,

Stop trying to get back together with me!! Can't you take no for an answer?!!! I don't know how you managed to get on my plate tonight (2 pieces) but I am glad I didn't give in!

It is from the swelling-you might also have a little reflux. I use to get that feeling in my chest, but it did go away.

Thanks for the info-it really helped! I was super tight the last 2 days-very tight and I got my period today! So maybe that was why I was so tight and had trouble getting food down. I didn't realize that your periods can make it tighter.

I am not sure how much I lost since getting this fill, but I guess around 13-15 pounds-not sure though. All I know is that each week the scale goes down and before it was at an absolute standstill! It's been 6 weeks and it's still a tight fill or maybe it's simply restriction? I mean I can get fluids down, no problem and I can get food down -small amounts. But I need to be very careful with what I put in my mouth-and no breads!

Whoa, Texas!! You have just been banded-but I feel your total frustration! I was in the same situation-slowly losing or not losing at all. It took 3 months for the band to kick in and oh my, did it ever!! When you have a good fill you will ablsutely not be able to eat regualr sized portions. I have trouble finishing a friggen Lean Cuseine! I read all the post about counting calories and tracking calories, etc. I don't wantto do that-and I don't. My bosy gives me signals when I have had enough or when I had too much. I am more intuned with my body then ever before. This took 4 fills-yes 4!! So you are still at the beginning-you'll get there-really you will. And until then we are here to offer support and encouragement-because that's what we do!!

Well I feel restriction. I don't eat a lot. I'm not hungry at all. I know I am a slow loser but I didn't know that would prevail once I got the band!!! If someone would have told me that I would have still lose 2 pounds every month then shoot I would have never, never been banded. I thought the low calories and low carb diet with working out more would increase my weight loss. I feel frustrated, cheated, lied to, and hopeless. Also I've been working my butt off for 4 months now. So I'm talking about total weight loss. So here I am, I've gain 2 lbs. Just frigging horrible. I'm so tired I can't even make it thru my day.

:)I was thinking the same thing-your exercise routine might need some tweaking. I am not sure what kind of health your body is in or your age, but 1.5 miles a day isn't enough. Also how long does it take you to walk it? If you have been working out for a while and not increases your routine that could be a cause. At this point I would highly suggest in interviewing a few personal trainers. Yes, interview them prior to selecting one and make sure they have no band bias. I know they are pricey but it could make a difference.

Also, I agree that a teeny fill might be necessary to help.

Good luck and congratualtions for such a great weight loss!!!

I think I remember reading something about a port turning around -so a search and see what comes up. I think they can fix it right there. If there is any problem insist of s fluro fill where through an xray they can see excatly what's going on. I wentto a Center of Excellence and they did the first fill via fluro-it was cool seeing the Water go down through the xray! I wouldn't panic- yours might be difficult to locate-I always have to sit up a little for them to find mine.

Good luck!

When I was 2 months post op my weight loss was so slow. I started wondering if I would be one of the bandsters that this just doesn't seem to work for-I doubted everything and it was so frustrating!

It wasn't unitl my 4th fill (3 months post op) that I finally had restriction-and WOW what a difference it made!! Now I can't even overeat if I wanted too. I know a lot of people track calories and it is a helpful tool, but for me I wanted my days of counting calories over with-I wanted to judge my own full signals and stop signals. Sometimes I don't always listen to my soft stop signals (a hiccup, burp, runny nose, or just that full feeling) but I am learning (the hard way).

The point is that this is very normal-yes your first year you'll lose a bunch-but not until you are in that green zone. For me it took 4.5ccs in a 10cc band-it varys greatly from person to person. Be patient, soon enough you will be there and you'll be thinking Now this is what I signed up for!! Good luck!