TheProfessor

@@lovelypoison Sure - my word of caution to you in the last post was because I tried to rush the process a little (hey, it was Christmas after all, and there was delicious food EVERYWHERE....) so I tried to eat a devilled egg. I was 2 weeks post-surgery. I took a bite and chewed, and figuring it was small enough swallowed. Ten seconds later I had my first "stuck" episode. I felt a horribly uncomfortable pain and pressure build up behind my sternum, and then my mouth started to fill with sticky saliva. I had to excuse myself from the room.... Next thing I knew, I was producing slime by the mouthful over a sink. Everything I tried would not move the egg over the band. Drinking Water to wash it down made it worse. Banging on my chest (silly me) didn't help... I just needed to get this chunk OUT. So I puked it up. That "PB" (Productive Burp, as its known in Bandsterville), was my first tip-off that I actually had a band, and the first lesson my band taught me. ""DO NOT MESS WITH ME", said my band - and the message was received loud and clear. That episode wrecked the party I was at for me socially, as well as prevented me from eating anything else for hours. Lesson learned!

@@lovelypoison Your body is busy healing right now. There is SO MUCH happening within you - be patient... it will pay off! You are doing great! I was banded 5 days before Christmas last year - talk about a brutal time to be on liquids! Ridiculous. At Christmas dinner everyone was enjoying roast beef, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, green Beans, RED WINE... and I was having a Protein shake. GAH. I also felt myself dipping into sadness, then I shook myself out of it, realizing this was part of the process and it had been MY CHOICE. I needed to keep the big picture in mind. Here I am 8 months later, down 60 pounds and feeling absolutely amazing. I am so pleased that I adhered diligently to my surgical team's 'healing plan' - your tender tummy cannot tolerate solids the way it will in a few weeks. You may have been able to get some tuna and mayo down (yum - a staple in my new diet!) but I caution you (personal experience!) to take it slow. You are doing fantastic and on track to being a skinny-minny! You will look back on this time in a few months and realize that it has flown... and was worth it. As you say, one day at a time! We are all here to support you. Lean on us - we've been where you are.

For most people, 'Everything in moderation' is key, and that includes wine consumption...! Embarrassing as it is to admit, once I opened a bottle of red, there would be NONE left at the end of the night. I knew those 3000-5000 extra calories a week were inhibiting my weight loss progress, so I had to stop cold. No moderation for me... I required a FULL STOP. Now, at a single pound shy of being in the one hundreds for the first time in 15 years, I know my love affair and temptation with the grape is NOT worth it, not after investing $16K in WLS! No matter whether you cut wine out entirely or simply cut down, we have to remember that WE are in control of our awareness and consumption, and we are in this together!

Watch out for anything carbonated - your band may react very unhappily to it, and you could have a painful episode. As for wine, if you read this thread, you'll see I started it as I am now wine-free and seeing the results of my WFL - wine-free life. Being banded doesn't mean you can't induldge, but as someone who had a REALLY PASSIONATE LOVE for wine, I saw that it was de-railing my weight loss. It's a liquid - your band will have no problem tolerating it at any stage, (Obviously NOT recommended immediately following surgery!) but I would be very cautious about keeping the glass small and sipping slooooowly. If you're going to treat yourself to a glass of red, meter it out slow and enjoy every drop.

Hmmm... what an interesting question, Alex! As a relatively new bandster (8 months post-surgical this month) i have had the band adjusted in tiny increments tighter, certainly not looser. I've heard about people de-filling their bands prior to flying. I'm curious about that as I tend to swell up on long flights. A few years ago I flew Toronto --> Hong Kong --> Thailand (22 hours non stop) and experienced swelling of legs, arms, sinuses... last year flew Toronto --> Vancouver and blew up like a balloon - I had tender, painful "cankles' for 3 days. I'm scared to imagine what a flight will do to my band, thereby impacting my ability to eat normally, or at least swallow fluids! That said, if we did have a trip coming up, I'd be hesitant to get a de-fill as it's taken me 8 months to finally hit the green zone... to deliberately un-do that is (almost) unthinkable. I'm curious to hear from others out there who have had the experience of adjusting your band down... then up again.

Just an update: I am so close to "One-derland" (weighing in the 100's) that I can taste it! Wah - I'm so excited! I was banded 8 months ago, and I am down 58 pounds. I currently weigh 201 lbs. I have not been in the 100's for 15 years... I was 160 when I became pregnant with our baby girl... and then I ballooned up to 259 lbs in the 15 years that followed. Now I'm down these 58 pounds I have changed my lifestyle and my relationship with food significantly. I am alcohol-free, (that habit was packing on thousands of calories a week!) plus I no longer eat rice, Pasta, bread or chips. I am on the treadmill 3-4 times a week and my FitBit tracks my steps. I have learned not to be too attached (yes, I still do some serious comparing from time to time) to the results of others and realize that my progress is mine and mine alone. unique to me. Patience, patience patience... and trusting in my process. This is why I am in love with my band - it is my constant companion and serves to remind me of what a healthier ME feels (and looks!) like.

Get back into the program, Mama! It's amazing proof that the surgery worked wonders for you, having lost 120 pounds before baby came along. Congratulations. Woo! The band alone could not have done that, so this proves you had the strength, willpower and determination to get the job done. Babies mess us up (mostly in a good way, of course!) but our poor bodies change so much. So. Now that 2 years has passed, it's time to get back into the habits you had pre-babe to kick-start your weight loss. Small portions on a small plate Protein and fibre should take up most of your plate! Avoid Pasta, bread, wheat, pop, sweets and slider foods like sugar-saturated ice cream and pudding Small bites, sloooooooowwwwwwww chewing.... Remember that the more you chew, especially when you start with protein, the quicker your brain is to register satiety. Remember the 20/20/20 rule: Roughly 20 bites per meal, chewed 20 times each, limit your meals to 20 minutes in length STOP eating when you get a sense you've had enough - leave food on your plate! Review Dr. O'Brien's "8 Golden Rules of Lapband"! (Google it if not familiar) You've done it once, and you can do it again, Jackie-o! Go girl!

@@csg Hi - sorry about the delay in responding - I was on a wilderness vacation and without internet (what a treat!). Yes I was indeed tempted to overeat before I was in the green zone. This was case of me looking at food through my "old" eyes, rather than listening to my band and paying attention when it told me, "YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH - time to STOP". I would overeat (old habits die hard) and then feel ill/bloated or have a "sticking" episode. I learned pretty quickly, even when I was not in the green zone, that I needed to listen to my body more and realize that I no longer had the capacity to eat the way I used to. No, I never did slider foods like ice cream. I don't have a sweet tooth and I dislike creamy anything! So for me, cutting out flour, rice and Pasta were the trick for me to begin my weight loss. That and listening to my band. When it gave me a cue that I was sated, I would stop. I watched Dr. O'Brien's "8 Golden Rules of lap band" videos again and again and again until the information was drilled into my head. These helped me a lot! The kicker for me was cutting out all alcohol (see my other post - "my wine-free life") and then I started exercising on a treadmill (seriously - a freakin' treadmill!). Those two things have been instrumental in kick-starting my decent down the scale.

PGX Satisfast Whey Protein drink. (Kind of nasty but keeps me full for hours!) Rollomops (pickled herring). I know, but don't JUDGE me - completely awesome tasting and high in protein! Black Diamond Sharp cheddar, pre-packaged 1 oz servings. If they weren't pre-packaged, I would eat 43 of them at a go Havarti cheese Egg salad (Paula Dean's recipe - the best!) Roasted rack of lamb (Goes down easy!) Greek yoghurt (yes, me too - the honey flavour is amazing) Salad with light dressing Kale chips Caesar salad, but not from a store or out of a jar - home made only. Delicious! Wild salmon fillets brushed with mayo and BBQ sauce (trust me - grill this with a little salt and pepper and you will swoon) Summer sausage 2-egg omelettes with chives/green onion and cheddar or asiago Gala apples and plums

Maddiee - hang in there! IT GETS BETTER. :-) I was in pretty terrible pain for 3-4 days after I was banded 8 months ago. I had a double esophageal hiatus hernia repaired at the same time, which required more gas to pumped into my stomach than normal. HOLY CRAP I was deeply nauseated afterwards and I had terrible chest and shoulder pain ... relentless! Worse pain than the unmedicated home birth of my daughter! Please trust in the process and know that the recovery is quite long and the first few days are pretty rough. BUT! It gets easier and much, much more subtle. Yes, your port site hurts, and your incisions will be tight and sore as well... be gentle with yourself, sip sip sip sip Water and fluids and take it easy. Every day that passes will make you feel better. If not, you should contact your surgeon and have a chat and follow up. All the best - thinking of you and rooting for you! Woo woo! It gets better and IT IS WORTH IT!

I am going to privately message you!

@@arimerm1 Hello there! Sounds like you are doing everything right while creeping up on the Green Zone! I'm curious that your surgeon has told you exactly how many fills it will take to get you to the Green Zone. That goes contrary to all the research I've done around fills on this forum. I've learned that there is no predictable magic number of fills that a person can be guaranteed that will get them into the Green Zone. This is supported throughout the forum by hundreds of posts from people like you and me! How many fills and the quantity of the fills (ie; a teeny .1cc fill versus a whopping 1.5 cc fill) is something that varies wildly from bandster to bandster... a band can be placed with no Fluid in it and an individual may be instantly in the green zone with not a single fill (rare), or a bandster may be on fill #7 and still not quite there. Everyone reacts differently to fills, and often the effect of the fill can take a couple of weeks to "settle" in. Its great that your surgeon likes to get you to the Green slooooooowly. I have lived that, and although it was frustrating not losing a lot of weight for the first few months, now I am full steam ahead and grateful that the process was a slow and steady one. Keep us posted! You are doing AWESOME!

I am so sorry to read this, @sydneygirl. I also had a negative experience with Slimband Toronto (customer service) and pulled the plug on the lap-band surgery I had scheduled with them before it ever happened. If you signed a contract for a 5-year follow-up, they are within their rights to honour that, although it sucks for you. FYI: You should know that Slimband monitors this forum and will approach you with their legal team (as they did me) if you say anything negative about them and ask you to remove your post(s). Just a heads up. If you are in the Toronto area, I recommend consulting with "Smartshape", (otherwise know as SWLC - the Surgical Weight Loss Centre), in Mississauga with Dr. Chris Colbourn. I was banded with SWLC 8 months ago (December 18, 2014) and had superb results. The follow-up has been outstanding. There is NO FEE for band adjustments. If Slimband is not giving you the love, see what Dr. Colbourn has to say. Incidentally, I strongly feel $1,500 for 6 months for fills is absolutely RIDICULOUS, since they take 10 minutes. Money grab if I've ever heard of one!

The thrift stores have become my salvation! Every time I drop a size or two I saunter joyfully over to "Value Village" (Canadians, can I get a whoop whoop!) and spend a whopping $30 on new tops and jeans. HUZZAH! Man does it ever feel good to wear clothes that fit as I'm on my way down. I happily donated a bunch of my Size 22 pants and jeans (SEE YA' LATER!), but some of my tops that I bought full pop retail are truly lovely pieces (purchased from funky online shops like Zulily) that I cannot bear to part with. This is where my seamstress friend comes in - she will be doing some sewing for me at $10 per garment and saving me hundreds of bucks that I would otherwise need to spend on new clothes. As a professor I have an unwritten (but implied) professional dress code to adhere to, and having a seamstress buddy on board is very helpful!

HI and welcome to the forum. This has been a great (no, tremendous!) support to me throughout the first few months (I've been banded 7 months now). My gentle advice that I give to all brand new bandsters is to take it really easy on yourself, as your sore little tummy is healing. Your surgeon likely gave you instructions along the lines of clear fluids (3 days or so) --> full fluids (4-5 days or so) -->, mushies (one week) ---> soft foods, (one week)--> regular foods. It took me a month to start eating 'regular' foods again (but healthy!), and I was very happy with my healing process. Gentle and slow. Highly recommended, tjm2140! Check back here often, and post often, too! You can find the answer to SO MANY questions on the forum. Happy healing!

@@More than this- Thanks for your words. I've failed at every diet Ive ever tried. The magic of the lap-band is that it turns me OFF the very foods that caused my obesity. My last resort was wight loss surgery. And it was the best decision EVER. Breads, rice, Pasta and wine are now off the menu. White foods (sugar, flour) are gone. Fresh veggies and Proteins is 100% of my diet, and I feel terrific. The band has taught me that it's a tool only. Its been up to me to make significant life changes, ones that I could never had made without the help of WLS. Now that I have this constant sense of satiety, I'm no longer obsessed or distracted by food. I've started exercising. I feel free to live a better life. FINALLY.

You bet! We are in this together! Woo woo! Tonight when I have my alcohol-free glass of Water after dinner (ye GODS) I will toast you!

@@Hope41 Question: "How do we not drink alcohol?" Answer: You stop drinking alcohol. Honestly Hope41 I was in the same boat as you. Alcohol was my weakness, too. I loved (nay, FROLICKED) in red wine every single day after work. I had for over a decade. After stalling for 3 months at only 45 pounds lost, I was frustrated and needed to take a good long look at what the hell I was doing wrong. It was a tough wake-up call, but I realized it was my alcohol consumption. For you it's cocktails, for me, Merlot. I figured out that 3 glasses a night 6-7 nights a week equalled an extra 5000-7000 per week (HOLY CRAP) of empty, useless weight-fueling calories. I was eating right but de-railing my weight loss through my love of wine. I spent $16K on this surgery, and here I was self-sabotaging just because of drinking. Silly me. So I got hard with myself and said THIS STOPS NOW. And so 2 days before my 46th birthday (this past July 19th, 2015), I had my last delicious glass of red wine and polished off the last bottle of wine in our cellar. I have not bought any since. (Not having it in the house helps enormously). After a 3-month stall, the weight started coming off within 48 hours. After a massive stall where the needle on the scale had not moved, suddenly I was losing again. The needle went from 213 pounds... to 211 pounds... to 208 pounds... to 206 pounds.... In the past 8 alcohol-free days I have lost 7 pounds. I have kick-started my weight loss again and I feel terrific. For me, the only way to stop drinking those empty calories was to stop drinking. Period. If I can do it, I think just about anyone can, the exception being someone with alcohol addiction, in which case professional intervention is required!

@@More than this Yes, so much of what you say, dear soul, sounds familiar! I too have failed many times before. Atkins was my diet of choice, and in the induction phase I sailed through, losing 30 pounds... only as soon as I added a single carb back in, wham! The weight packed back on, PLUS an additional 20 pounds, and it was impossible to maintain. A couple of years before my weight loss surgery, my (wonderful) GP doc informed me that if my BMI was over ____ (not sure of the #, maybe 44?) in Canada, I would qualify for gastric bypass. My problem? I wasn't morbidly obese. I "only" obese at 259 pounds, and my BMI was "only" 41. Ironically, my doctor told me I would have to GAIN weight in order to qualify for surgery covered under Canada's health plan. Wha.....??! Wow yes, that is indeed a hefty sum, with the surgery plus the expense of a nurse/hotel, etc. At this point you have to have a good hard look at yourself and ask whether you are worth the investment (of course you are), and whether this is feasible. What are the consequences of NOT doing the surgery? Other than the $, what's standing in your way? Rooting for you over here! !!

@@More than this I am in London, Ontario. I opted for the lap-band and went with Smartshape - Dr. Coburn - and it has been a FANTASTIC experience. The best choice I have ever made for myself. They are so professional and the follow-up is amazing! I cannot recommend SWLC more enthusiastically. I was banded December 18th, 2014 (7 months ago) and received financing through Crelogix. Crelogix offer financing for elective surgeries. It was easy and deeply respectful - a very positive experience. YES indeed, WLS was expensive ($16K for the band), but the investment in my health was absolutely worth it. Did you know you can claim your surgery and get money back at tax time? My accountant informed me of that. Sure enough this year I got $3000 back from the CRA on my taxes, so to me it took three grand off the price tag. Like you, I was torn up about waiting. And what if it the surgery didn't work?? I'm since down 53 pounds, my hot flashes are gone, my eye twitch is gone, my knees are better, my herniated L4 disc has resolved. I have started exercise, and I am the lightest I've been in a decade. I've gone from a size 22 to a size 16. I feel gorgeous, even though I have another 68 pounds to go to my goal weight! Whatever WLS method you choose, it will be a TOOL only. You will need to learn how to work with your band/sleeve/other and do so diligently. I found investing all that money was a great motivator. No way I'm spending $16K on something i'm not going to use! The cost is considerable. However I am eating so little now (one Protein shake a two small meals a day) that the savings on groceries will pay for my surgery within a couple of years. Also I've given up a $50 a week wine habit. Bottom line - the investment I made through Crelogix for my weight loss surgery has financed a longer, more beautiful life, and more time spent with my gorgeous daughter and husband. Totally worth it.

I wondered that, too when I as first banded! The band is not about restriction. It's about SATIETY. To a lot of surgeons 'restriction' is a four-letter word. :-) What you want, what the goal of WLS surgery is, is a sense of satisfaction and satiation after a small amount of food. A lot of people when they are first banded will find to their disappointment (and panic!) that they can still eat quite freely - that they are not 'restricted' in the amount they can pack away. I was like that, until I had my 5th band adjustment (fill). Only then did I find I was incapable of eating large portions. This is what is commonly referred to as 'restriction'. I just finished writing a lengthy post on another thread about this (if you search my contributions you'll find it). I realize now, 7-months post-op and 6 fills later, that it is not the restriction that makes you lose weight. It's the length of time you can comfortably go between meals without hunger. @@mmartin3 where are you in your process? Your profile says you had WLS in November 1999?

@Tootyoyo: The green zone feels like heaven! Hmm... its tough to describe it, and of course, I can only speak for myself. Here I go: Being in the green zone feels like an absence of hunger. It doesn't feel like being "full", as in when someone scarfs down a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving. It feels simply like satiation - not thinking about food, not dreaming about food, not being anywhere near tempted to snack... Like walking by a vending machine or driving by a McDonald's and being utterly disinterested. I also know I'm 'green' because of my portions. I don't get a hard stop, so much as a 'soft' stop. I can have about 10 or 15 bites of whatever it is - a chopped salad, omelette, lamb chops, etc. and I find myself taking in a deep breath and sighing - a happy sigh of having had enough. That's the signal! For me it's waiting for the sigh. As soon as the sigh happens, I stop. A green zone example: Yesterday I woke up early and had a Protein shake with a drop of skim milk (170 calories) at 8:15 am. I spent the morning running errands and at 1pm found myself at the mall shopping for a new bra (I've dropped a cup size in the past two weeks!) So there it was, 1pm, and I had had nothing but a wee Protein Shake all day. Even though I had no hunger, it was high time to eat something or risk hypoglycaemia. So I took myself to the food court in the mall - Mama Vinelli's (first time) - a place that has salads. All orders are made fresh, so the place is a good choice (compared to A&W, KFC, Chinese Express, etc). I ordered a large chicken caesar salad... until I saw the person in front of me get hers - hold CRAP it was massive. My green zone band instantly said, "No way you're going to be able to get through even HALF of that, sister!" so I changed my order to a small with a request for just one Tbsp of dressing, no croutons, no fake bacon bits. Glad I changed my order. I took 20 minutes to leisurely enjoy my salad, and sure enough, after 15 or 20 bites, there was the "satisfaction sigh". I had salad left over. Yay! SO the green zone for me means feeling full on smaller portions. I'm still in the process of making this adjustment. My "eyes" are only now getting used to NOT being bigger than my belly. For the first few months after getting banded, I would still take big helpings: three chicken thighs, rice, multiple big florets of broccoli... now I know one thigh, no rice and a single floret will see me through for hours. After my 1pm chicken caesar salad, I went home and started cooking madly as I had company coming for a special Indian dinner. I love to cook and put on a huge spread - butter chicken, shrimp vindaloo, aaloo matter (peas & Potatoes), naan bread, basmati rice, lamb korma kebabs, lentils...we ate at 6:00pm, and I had no appetite. I took a side plate of shrimp and butter chicken, (about 6 Tbsps) and that was me done. See the pattern here? Small portions, long satiety (4-6 hours) between meals, feeling satisfied after just a few bites. Beautiful green zone!

My surgeon believes in "creeping towards the green". Tiny fills, nicely spaced apart (4-6 weeks)... Now that I'm in the green zone I cannot help but agree. I had surgery on December 18th, 2014 (7 months ago), and started out with 4.1 ccs of Fluid in my 10 cc band. Here's my fill history: 5 weeks later: Fill #1 was .5ccs 2 months later: Fill #2 was .3ccs 1 month later: Fill #3 was .3ccs 1 month later: Fill #4 was .2ccs 1 month later: Fill #5 was .1ccs 2 months later: Fill #6 was .2ccs I am now in the green zone with 5.7 ccs of fluid in my band. Hooray! I was reminded by very experienced, professional and compassionate nurses at each fill to be PATIENT, and trust in the process. At the time, it made no sense to me why the fills had to be so small. I was like, "Fill me up! Let's get this show on the road!" I was told that I needed to go slow and approach the green zone, as an overfill would result in vomiting, food sticking, etc., and would require a de-fill that would be GREATER than what I had been overfilled. In other words, one large mistake forward, 2 enormous steps backwards. In my experience fills can take up to two weeks to 'settle' in. (This delay is, apparently, a mystery to bariatric surgeons). This has been true of 4 of my fills. My last 2 fills took effect almost immediately, and this one in particular I have struggled to eat even 1000 calories each day since being filled as the feeling of satiety was so strong. (Yay!) Not one fill has resulted in heartburn, night cough, vomiting or discomfort. It's been a 7-month test of my patience to get here. Now I'm here it feels SO GOOD. I am immensely grateful to my surgeon and his team for their wisdom around fills. Had it been up to me, I would have way overdone it. Every BODY is different. I'm in the green zone at 5.7ccs. Some people finally get that elusive sense of satiety after 1 fill, some after 8 or 9. All I know is my surgeons were right. "Creeping towards the green" has been a terrific way to get there.

Normal food the day of. I've had 6 fills ranging from .1cc (teeny!) to 1.0cc and have never had any problem. My first fill I was nervous and stuck to liquids that day... there was no need. I had a fill 2 days ago (.2ccs) and had chicken and green Beans that night. (VERY WELL CHEWED!)

@@medicsgirl19 - Yeah... being so close to your surgery date you don't want to mess around when something unusual starts going on with your body. Hey, at least there's no fever, which is a good thing. Wishing the best for you. Keep us posted, okay?