faithmd

I've asked this before but I can't remember where. What most said was that it totally depends. Some have no problems, some have loads of problems. Some can eat certain fruits with skins, others can't eat any skins at all. It seems that most often I heard it was grape skin and tomato skin that seemed to cause problems.

I have to ask, why would you want to? didn't you get this band to CHANGE your LIFE? To make positive changes and to eat BETTER? Why on earth so early after banding, and your rebirth so to speak, would you want to go back to that which has made us unhealthy? (Unless of course you are talking about a whole grain or cracked wheat bread with 7 or 8 grams-minimum-of Fiber per slice.) And I understand you are getting sick of mushy stuff, I really do. I was just there myself. I wasn't perfect, but I tried really damned hard to stay on the diet I was supposed to be on because if I have a slip in a year or two or three I don't EVER want to think back and realize that by my eating early and not allowing that important scar tissue to form around the band to hold it in place, I may have contributed to that slip! All because I couldn't handle eating mushy foods for a few weeks? I dont' know about you, but I've been fat for YEARS, the post-op diet is only WEEKS. You can do it. Suck it up, pick yourself up and talk to us about how you are feeling, you will get through this! We're here for you. I know there is a thread that polls folks about starting early, but it is still NOT okay if your doc said it wasn't. I think many docs finally give in and let folks eat because they get hounded by patients constantly that they want to chew something.

Congratulations, Nile!!!! What a fantastic year it's been, with many more to come!

I was denied one month, and the next month I drank SlimFast Carb Control, and ate salads and a handful of nuts every day and lost the required 5% and was approved. My problem was that I had a medical issue and gained a lot of weight in the year I was doing the monthly visits. So I not only had the original 5% excess weight to lose, but all that I had gained as well.

It's not your doc who will deny your surgery, it's your insurance company. I also had a 12 month program, and I didn't lost the REQUIRED amount of weight, so I was DENIED. So yes, they can and will deny you.

Margi, call HBC right away and get an unfill! The pain and the throwing up is very bad,the more often you throw up, the more likely you are to slip. I wish you well!

Everyone is doing SOOOOOOO well! Congrats!!!!!!

Sadly I think they either aren't going to fix it, or can't fix it. Apparently not everyone gets the smilies. Don't know why. Wish someone would do SOMETHING about it, though.

Christine, HOORAY!!!!! Insub: thanks! Staind have a great time! Rainer: Don't men make you crazy with how fast they can lose? I've finally broken another little plateau, I stepped up my calories quite a bit and it's coming off again. Name...............................Starting……....Loss.......Current…....Goal….....ToGo losingjusme..Christine).........293.............11 .............282...........275............7 tann.............Tammy)...........211.............3..............208..........198............10 Josette......Josette)...............322……......8..............314............307.............7 RidinMyHDDream.Carol).........264...........0..............264............254............10 FaithMD................................308............5............303.........299...........6.4 Elisabethsew..Elisabeth)..........275..........0............275 ...........265............10 Libra(Angela)...................214..........0..............214.............208 ............6 glindab..................................282..........3.4............278.6..........265........13.6 Inner_meChris)..................295...........0..............295............280 ............15 waterlily1072...Nicole)............279...........0 .............279............269............10 RainerLorraine).....................311...........5.............306.............299............7 staindgalBridget)..................319..........5.8...........313.2...........299.........14.2 jbtullisJonathan)...................317...........7.............310.............299............11 Insubordination.......................311........2.6...........308.4...........304............4.4 Squale.....................................334…....9...........325……........310….........15 ShaunECook........................256.2.........0...........256.2…….......245........11.2

You will get through it. And on the other side, you will be so much happier! Regarding the diarrhea and headaches, remember liquids in= liquids out. The headaches are probably the calorie reduction and lack of caffeine. It gets better fairly quickly. Congrats and welcome to LBT!

I hear ya! I've lost about 68 lbs so far (combination of pre and post-band loss) and I'm still not getting that excited feeling. It's frustrating when folks are starting to notice and are excited for me and I'm not gleeful. It's weird as heck!

I had stalled for the past few weeks, bouncing between the same four pounds! Arrrrgghh! I was averaging 1000-1400 calories a day. I had been losing on about 1800 to 2200 a day pre-op. So I have gone back to the higher level for a few days now and bam! Six pounds gone. I'm pleased as heck!

Sorry, WasaBB, I missed the part about newbie and losing hair to please vote. Oops Yep, I'm convinced it is the weight loss that does it. I know anesthesia also contributes, so I'm sure Im going to get double whacked, but I suppose I can always buy wigs... I'm just starting to get sad about the hair, if I lose a lot more, I'll be hysterical. I've never colored my hair, it's waist length and deep auburn. Crowning glory as it were. (Definitely WAS, past tense!) Not only is it falling out, but what's left is scraggly and dry and horrible looking despite all my best efforts. Like you said, I'm just going to hope that we can eventually tell the new folks that it *will* come back because ours did.

Hello Serena, I'm doing okay, I plateaued for a couple of weeks and was getting frustrated but now after a few days of eating anywhere from 2000 to 2500 calories, I've lost about 6 lbs. Thank goodness!

I didn't vote because I haven't been banded six months, but I started losing about six months ago and that's probably what triggered it, the weight loss itself. Then I had the band placed and I'm sure added to my loss because of anesthesia...ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! I have lost at least 25% at this point, and it's continuing to fall at a rapid rate....

Also, scroll down to the bottom of this page and you'll see a few threads about Port Huron. Good Luck!

Quite a few people have, use the search function look for Port Huron or Dr. Bhesania or Dr. Boutt. Check out the Michigan Threads and also the Doctors and Hospitals threads.

Yep, that's what happens. You can either then click to go advances, but you;ll have to remove the < and > stuff, or before you click on edit, you can right click and highlight and copy your post then click on edit and delete the smilies, then paste your text, edit and viola!

You are not alone, but you can also see how one bite snowballs into something more very quickly. You have to stop, NOW. Sure, you think you'll be fine, most folks say "I didn't notice anything and it went down okay, I've had no problems." Do folks think that as soon as we swallowed the chewed food that light would flash and alarms would ring, or that daggers of pain would pierce our stomachs? The damage probably wouldn't show up until down the road possibly a year or more in the form of a slipped band. So yes, while it's okay right now, later it might not be. Why not chew? The reason for the liquid diet is because the band gets "seated" on the stomach and held in place by scar tissue that forms during the weeks we are taking in liquids. The stomach is a muscle, and that muscle has to churn and undulate to digest and move food through. Liquid requires little stomach movement to process. When we start to chew something, that lets our digestive system know that food is coming down, fluids begin to be secreted to aid in digestion and the stomach starts moving in preparation to start the breakdown of food. The band is held in place on the front of the stomach by sutures in the stomach where it is pulled up and over the top of the band, then sutured to itself. There is nothing holding the back in place, the surgeon tunnels behind the stomach to pull the band around and then scar tissue forms to hold it. That scar tissue can't form properly or as well if the stomach is churning and moving to digest. Hope this explanation helps. I know that some docs let their patients eat earlier than others, and that's fine for them, but you need to follow your doc's advice. Good luck! Remember it's only a few weeks out of your life, how long have you been fat? I'm guessing a lot longer than a few weeks. You can make it through this!

It's in the FAQ forum, I think because it's a very good (albeit frequent) question. Here's the link: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/post-op-checklists-things-have-before-surgery-14814/ I would second the advice for the Gas-X strips, and LOAD up on popsicles. Also, you can get an adult liquid Tylenol it's called Rapid Blast and it's pretty good. Stay away from the children's stuff, it's not concentrated enough, you'll be drinking a buttload of it. I hate the chewable tylenol tabs. I bought the heating pad but didn't end up needing it, though my roommate in the hospital was in terrible pain from the gas, so I was glad to have it just in case. I found I really like a lot of the babyfoods that I tried pre-op for the pureed stage. Stay away from anything labeled 1st stage, though. ICK! Good luck!

Hello nicknack, there is an entire forum devoted to plastic and reconsructive surgery here. There are a couple of threads about lower body lifts, and one is a very long and excellent thread from a lady named puddin. She is in her mid 20's and lost (I think) about 150lbs. Here's the link to the forum itself: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/

Wow, no I didn't!!! Thanks, WasaBB! And you're almost all the way there! Woohoo!!!!

You should have gotten an information packet from your surgeon about your post-op diet. Every surgeon and nutritionist is different, but here's what I was told. 2-3oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of veggies as a side, and I could have two sides each meal. You will likely not have restriction until you have had at least a couple of fills. Remember the band is only a tool, you should not just eat what you want. You have to make good choices now about what foods to eat and avoid everything we have always known is bad for us. The band just helps us restrict how much we eat, not what we eat. I was also told to introduce new foods slowly, one every couple of days or so, that way if I have a problem with one of them, I know which one it was. Chew, chew, chew and do not drink with your meal or for at least (and every doc is different on this, too) 30 mins, or 45 mins or an hour, or 90 mins, depending on what your doc told you. Good luck!

Where are you located? And where will you have your surgery? In the US the only bands available to us are the Allergan LapBand system. Allergan has a few bands out, all are great. Check out the FAQ and references forum here for more of a description of the bands. There is now the AP or Advanced Platform band that was released in June of this year. It is similar to the VG band with "omniform" technology whre it has 360 degrees of inflation in the inner circle of the band and the inflation ring is baffled rather than a solid balloon type inflatable area. The baffles are somewhat ridged and the thought is that that will help it stay in place better. Also, the AP band is a bit wider that the other bands. It's just improvements made over the years to the technology. Certainly the original bands work well, there are plenty of folks here who have gotten to goal and lost 100, 150 and more pounds with the original band. Your doctor will decide which band and size to use once s/he gets in there. Some docs do choose to only use the VG bands or the AP bands, but then again, the size is determined by the thickness of your stomach walls and your internal anatomy. It's a good question to ask your doc, what bands do they use?

That is sooooooo awesome!!!! Practice banding can really work, for a while at least. It's the keeping it off that I was sure I wouldn't be able to do without the band. I had completely forgot about posting to this thread, so I posted almost the same thing again in the TwoTerville thread, sorry! Goodonya!!! I'd love to see Twoterville this month as well.