BaileyRose

I use to always drink with meals. My dr said it was fine since I was still full for at least 4 hours between meals and my food intake was about 1-1 1/2 cups of food. Now, since my last(and only) fill, it's much more difficult to drink with meals. I can take sips sometime, but I can drink even 1/2 a glass. I do drink before and after though. I'm not saying you should, it just works for me. :-) you'll figure all these things out. Everything about the band is a learning process.

That's awesome! I too didn't experience the constant hunger. I was and am so thankful for that. I've only had one fill and I'm 3 and 1/2 months post op. I didn't get my first fill until 10 weeks post op, i believe. That's about when my hunger was really starting to come back. I knew I needed a fill because I was starting to get hungry about every three hours. Since my fill I get hungry about every 5-6 hours. Some people may never need a fill... But eventually at some point they do. I'm sure your doctor won't give you one because your weight loss Meeks right on track and your hunger is controlled! Enjoy it!

Haha just kidding. Here's a real answer. Infection. Plateaus. Post-op recovery.

Having to buy new clothes :-)

I had my wedding ring sized down a couple sizes even though I have a good 60-100 lbs to lose. I asked my jeweler if it would affect the integrity of the ring if I had to keep getting it sized down and he said no. So I didn't worry about sizing it as I go. But if you don't want to do that you can use thread and just wrap it around the inside of the ring. But it sounds like a clip is a better idea... I just didn't know those existed until now :-)

Ya... Sounds like you need a fill to me. I understand though. I deal with that too. It seems normal though. I pretty much stopped weighing myself. I only count what my doctor's scale says. My scale is ridiculous though. I will weigh myself, get off and jump back on and it will say I'm three pounds heavier. I'll get off and then get back on again and it says I'm 6 pounds lighter. It's gone from frustrating to entertaining :-)

Bread and starches for a diabetic and Lap band diet?? That seems nuts! I mean, I don't want to be rude but thats totally backwards. Go to a local bookstore or even look online for diabetic cookbooks/recipes. I don't have diabetes, but the lap band diet is very similar to a diabetic diet- High protein, lower carbs. Fruit is fine and healthy. Have you considered changing doctors? Hope you find what works best for you!

Girl, we have the same exact story. I'm three months post op. I've lost 50 lbs but only 26 since surgery... And 15 of that was the first two months. You'll get there. I only have had one fill- 4 cc's in a 14 cc band. I have some restriction but I know I'm not where I need to be. I'm behind on my fills because of some complications, but I have to remember I'll get there. I always tell myself "it took 25 years to put this weight on, it's not going to come off overnight!". I just wish it would come off faster. But honestly, I'm not working out as much as I should. I am staying under 1200 cals a day and getting around 80 grams of protein... Wish is a lot less cals than I was eating before! You'd think the weight would be falling off! But oh well. I know with another fill or two I'll start losing more consistently. I can't wait to be a size 14! I bought size 18 pants a couple weeks ago and was thrilled my size now starts with a 1!! Havent seen that since highschool! I started out squeezing myself in a 24 and comfortably wearing a 26. So I'm pleased. But I would be more pleased in a 14! Haha

Me too! It's always been my weakness. It sucks for me because my husbda doesn't get home from work until 10:30 and I like to eat dinner with him, but I just keep my portions under a cup. But when I'm craving snacky type food I usually have a sugar free fudge bar or those 100 calorie popcorns or something like that. Before my surgery, 50 lbs ago, I would eat candy at night... Usually a bag of gummy bears haha... But now my band hates all things gummy. So if I still feel the need for candy I Have a jolly rancher or a couple sugar free lifesavers. That always does the trick. I stick to hard candy and don't let myself chew it because sucking on it takes so long that my hunger is usually satisfied with just one piece. Those are my tricks :-) lately I've also tried just drinking a glass of crystal light and cleaning for a bit just to get my mind off food. It works and it's a win-win!

I'm 3 months post op and I still get that feeling sometimes when I lay on my left side... But just every now and then. I can feel it right now actually... But I also just had surgery again a week ago to remove my port so that's probably why. Haha... No worries though. It goes away. Also, you're probably more aware ofvyour body right now too since you just had surgery... So you're paying attention to every little sensation.

I wish you the best! Just said a prayer for you! I too have had some complications... But with my port. I've had three surgeries in three months and will be having another one in 5 weeks to put my new port in, but it's worth it to me. Surgery also takes me a while to feel back to normal, so I understand your hesitation. my family would also tell me to get it removed if I were going through the same thing ad you, but you're right- they don't understand. They just want you to feel better. Hopefully, this surgery will be your last and you'll be back on the road to weight loss. If it were me, I would do what you're going to do and get it fixed while you have great insurance. Unfortunately, God doesn't tell us what's going to happen in the future(usually) but that's why we have to trust him. wish you the best!

I've never heard of it! What's it like? I need to research it. I'm always looking for different workouts.

Some people's skin shrinks up after time. I'd wait six months after you're at goal and see what you want to do. I'm only 50 lbs down and still have up to 100 to go, but I know I will definitely have saggy arms, tummy and boobs. I plan on getting it all fixed once I'm finished having babies. Hopefully I don't have to get an upper thigh lift or anything. But I'm willing to if need to. I don't want to weight 150 lbs and still feel uncomfortable wearing shorts, ya know? But that's just my opinion. :-) like someone else said, the saggy skin is better than being overweight in my opinion :-)

My hair is also falling out like crazy. Your body also goes through shock from anesthesia which causes hair loss. It should start coming back in soon!

Hey! The surgery was actually very easy. He did wind up actually removing my port because there was so much infection surrounding it that it wasn't going to clear up. I'll get a new port placed in about 5 weeks. With a port revision, they usually don't have to use the gas to blow up your abdomen so the recovery was actually pretty painless. The day of surgery and the day after I was sore and tired, but after that I was pretty much back to normal. Hope that helps calm any nerves you may have! You'll be glad to get it over with because then you'll be able to get fills and really get your weight loss going! Wish you the best!

My doctor always says people lose their weight top to bottom. Haha most people always lose in their face first... I know I do. My trouble spots are my saddle bags and upper arms. Ugh.

Are you eating a lot of sugar free stuff? Sugar free sweeteners make me gassy so I just try to stay away from jello, pudding... Any of that stuff.

Thanks for the support ladies! Karen- so good to hear everything went well with your revision. Things went pretty good. He did remove my port and will put it back in hopefully by Christmas. This surgery and recovery has been much easier than the actualy placement of the band. I had such terrible gas pains that lasted 8 days with my band, but this time it was open surgery which means no gas! I was so happy. So I'm just taking it easy and I should be back to work on Friday :-)

I can drink pretty much as fast as I did pre surgery.... But not quite. I still drink with my meals l. My dr said it's not that big of a deal because I'm still satisfied between meals for about 6 hours. But I drink way less. My husband use to call me a camel because when we would go out to eat, I would drink probably around 5 or 6 glasses of soda(ahhhh!!! Calories!!!) with my dinner. Now I drink about 1/2-1 glass of Water or tea with dinner. Also, about the anti-inflammatories.... Does Tylenol work at all for you? You can still have Tylenol after surgery but no anti-inflammatories. it causes the acid in your stomach to multiply and that acid can cause erosion. Erosion is when the band basically eats through your stomach wall... You definitely don't want that to happen. Hope that helps!

So in about 12 hours I'm having my third surgery in three months. since two weeks post op, I've been battling a port incision infection. 4 rounds of antibiotics later, I'm currently laying here with an open port incision with scar tissue and granulated fat tissue sticking out of it. About 6 weeks ago, my port tubing popped through and they had to go in there to fix it. My surgeon will be opening up my port incision tomorrow to irrigate the wound and possibly removing my port. I hope he doesn't have to because that means in about 6-8 weeks I'll have to have yet another surgery to place my new port. With all the little(to me at least) complications, I still love my band. I'm down 46 ish pounds.... 46 lbs I have never been able to lose on my own. Just remember, when things seem rough, think about all the good things that have come from your band. I know there are some people out there that would give their band back in a second, but I'm happy :-) 46 down, 80 to go! I'm a 1/3 of the way there! Wish me luck tomorrow!!

I'm actually having surgery in about 12 hours to fix this problem.... And I also have an infection in my port incision that hasn't gone away since 2 weeks after surgery... I'm exactly 3 months post op. My surgeon is going to open up my incision, irrigate out the would with antibiotics and clean up my scar. While he's in there(if he doesn't have to remove my port bc of the infection) he's going to flip it back over and re stitch it. From what I understand, it's not too big of a deal if it flips. When I got my fill, my surgeon just maneuvered it to where he could access the port better. It was a little uncomfortable but not too bad. I'll let ya know how the surgery goes! This is my third surgery in three months for this thing... Hopefully he doesn't have to remove my port and it will be my last :-)

My doctor said this is a sign that you're too tight and that it needs urgent attention. Hope you feel better soon!

I eat soup all the time. It fills me up and keeps me full for at least 4-5 hours.

Sounds like reflux to me. I have the same problems and pepcid AC has really helped. That's what my doctor suggested. You could try that for a day or two and see if the pain goes away. Mine did :-) hope you feel better. I understand the exact pain/discomfort you're going through.

I'm hypoglycemic since surgery. Also, my blood pressure is much lower. Which it was always normal before. Luckily, I was with my mother in law(who is a nurse) once when I when I almost passed out... And we happened to be at the hospital at the time. She checked my blood pressure(108/56) and my blood sugar was 52. Drank an orange juice and I was back to good in no time. I just eat a snack if I'm feeling weak.