MdGardengirl

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

Oh my girls! Good luck to you both! I think nerves get the best of all of us the day before surgery. Try deep breathing and/or go take a walk. Something relaxing. Stay focused on all the reasons you decided to get the band and know that it has been an excellent tool for so many of us. My life has certainly changed for the better.
Will keep you both in my prayers..... Hugs, Marg

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

I agree even though there are all kinds of studies out there saying we are wrong! And don't forget we aren't supposed to eat after 7pm at night or watch TV while eating. Who wants to sit at the dinner table and stare at their plate for 30 minutes??
Since the band, I eat my first meal mid-morning. As a result, I eat later in the evening which has helped me with my night time snacking! (My nutritionist suggested that one!) I do eat my biggest meal of the day during Meal #2. I also sit in my living room, in my Lazy-Boy with my meal and my laptop while slowly taking small bites, chewing my food to a pulp like consistency and waiting a few minutes before taking the next bite. In between I'm checking my e-mail, Facebook, news and the lapband forums.
I guess the moral of the story is to do what makes sense and works for you and forget about all the rules!

Hang in there girls! You are in the "Fill" stage where you are past the operation loss and now waiting for enough fills to get your band to the Sweet Spot. It took me a long time and I was super frustrated as well. I don't know why the surgeons don't prepare us for this stage better. Some people call it Bandster Hell. I just call it Diet 101...... keep yourself in the diet mentality, eat more Protein, a lot less carbs and exercise. Each fill will make a small difference in your hunger and eventually you are there!
Remember my Mantra .... this is not a Race..... it's LIFE!

Sounds like he is dragging his feet past the 3 months of free fills to me! I think you should report him. Google his name and find a site where you can leave comments and see if others are complaining about the same thing. Contact your local Medical Board of Physicians. I would be firm but fair and accurate about what transpired. It is your responsibility to diet and lose weight, but it's the surgeon's responsibility to provide adequate fills to get you to your Green Zone so the band can do it's job!
In the mean time, call his office and schedule a fill for August. Tell them what you suspect and let them know that you are going to take action. Hopefully this will get the ball a rolling in the right direction!

The eating fast will have to stop! My after care place gave me a one minute egg timer and you really need to use it at the beginning so you know how long to wait before taking another bite. Some same 30 seconds and some say 1 minute. The timer really helps! I have always been a slow eater, but when I wait too long to eat and get hungry, I tend to eat too fast, but you don't do that real often. It's like they say, if it hurts when you do that, don't do that!! It's really not as bad as it sounds. You will be so nervous about it happening that you will be really cautious to make sure it doesn't. You have lots of support and we are here for you! Go for it!!!

Thank you so much, I was really worried... You look awesome keep up the good work...

Is it true that weight loss with the band is basically the same as weight loss with a diet? And if it is, why have surgery at all?


From time to time, a bandster will comment (sometimes in the context of a complaint, sometimes just in surprise or confusion) that weight loss with the band is basically the same as weight loss with a diet. They’re disappointed by this. They expected WLS to make weight loss easier than it is with dieting, and while that's true, it's only part of weight loss success. They may hold the mistaken belief that the band itself is what causes weight loss, but that’s not true either. The band is just a piece of plastic. Although it’s inside the patient’s body, it does not directly affect the way nutrients from food are ingested or metabolized. It releases no weight loss instructions into the patient’s bloodstream, nervous system, or endocrine system. It doesn’t directly affect the patient’s eating behavior or exercise habits. It doesn’t compel the patient to make good food choices, limit portion sizes, eat slowly, or resist the urge to graze or binge because of boredom, stress, cravings, etc.
After reading that long list of what the band doesn’t do, you may be thinking that it’s a mighty expensive and not very helpful weight loss tool. Why go through the risk, trouble and expense of WLS when you could achieve the same results with plain old dieting?
HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL?
Here’s some news that may shock you: I lost 100% of my excess weight by dieting after my band surgery. My dietitian gave me a food plan to follow, and I followed it. It never occurred to me to do otherwise or to complain about that because my bariatric team had made it clear that I, not my band, was going to have to make some significant lifestyle changes in order to succeed. It wasn’t until after the excess weight was gone, after a big unfill to treat an irritated esophagus and stoma (after swallowing a large, corrosive antibiotic capsule), that I realized how much my band had been helping me by reducing my appetite and giving me early (if not always prolonged) satiety. I had been taking my band for granted – out of sight, out of mind.
I suppose it’s possible that I had been experiencing a placebo effect; that my band worked for me simply because I believed it would. If so, it was a remarkable and long-lived placebo effect. It wasn’t until my band was being refilled after a complete unfill (to treat a band slip) when I was 3 years post-op that I experienced a stunning, “Oh, so this is what it’s all about!” aha moment. My experience of restriction then was quite different than it had been the first time around, because I understood more about my band’s effects and how to optimize those effects, and because my body had changed so drastically since my surgery.
Whether your 8-ounce Water glass is half empty or half full, it still contains 4 ounces. Getting the most out of those 4 ounces is largely a matter of attitude adjustment. You can accept that you have 4 ounces, then make the best of it, or you can give up all together and spend your life in wistful regret. You can find another way to fill your WLS glass – complain to your surgeon, or the band manufacturer, revise to a different WLS procedure – or give up altogether and spend your life in angry regret.
Taking the “half full” viewpoint may be easier for me than for others because I’m an opportunist who actually enjoys making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Webster defines “opportunist” as one who uses the art, policy, or practice of taking advantage of opportunities or circumstances, often with little regard for principles or consequences. Since I do have immense regard for principles and consequences, perhaps I’m not a classic opportunist. But I see nothing wrong with taking advantage of opportunities and circumstances when my own careful plans aren’t working or have led me into unknown territory. Resourcefulness has been a handy life skill for me.
BUT I WANT IT TO BE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
I do know what it’s like to be disappointed with a purchase, though, be it a band, a blouse, or a bicycle. I want the item I purchase to be suitable, if not perfect, for its intended use. During a shift at my retail “day job” the other day, I helped a customer whose garment size wasn’t in stock. She didn’t want to order that garment – she wanted it now, so much so that she considered buying the wrong size and having it altered to fit her. Before I could volunteer an opinion, this woman uttered the very words I was thinking: “I hate to pay good money for something new and have to alter it. I just want to buy it and wear it.”
If I were a better (or pushier) salesperson, she might have bought that garment, but I’m not and she didn’t. If your adjustable gastric band hasn’t (yet) lived up to your expectations, you do have my sympathy. It’s not easy – if even possible – to return a disappointing medical implant, and it’s maddening to have to “alter” it (by dieting, for example) to make it work for you.
I could tell you (unhelpfully) that your expectations were not realistic, but it’s also possible that your surgeon educated you well, you’re a “compliant” patient, and yet your band just isn’t up to snuff. According to Doctors Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband, authors of Your Medical Mind, “Medicine is an uncertain science.” No one, not even your doctor, can say with certainty what impact a condition “will have on an individual’s life or how someone will experience the side effects from a particular treatment. Each of us is unique in the interplay of genetic makeup and environment. The path to maintaining or regaining health is not the same for everyone.”
Doctors Groopman and Hartzband go on to describe what they call the ‘focusing illusion’. “In trying to forecast the future, all of us tend to focus on a particular aspect of our lives that would be negatively affected by a proposed treatment. This then becomes the overriding element in decision making. The focusing illusion neglects our extraordinary capacity to adapt, to enjoy life with less than ‘perfect’ health. Imagining life with a colostomy, after a mastectomy, or following prostate surgery can all be skewed by the focusing illusion. We cannot see how the remaining parts of our lives expand to fill the gaps created by the illness and its treatment.”
Despite carefully-devised formulas and scoring systems (intended to direct resources and money to those most likely to survive) for calculating a patient’s chances of surviving a treatment or illness, doctors are lousy at predicting outcomes. A study in England found that one out of 20 ICU patients who doctors predicted would die actually lived, and most of those who survived had a good quality of life. I don’t think that’s a sign of medical incompetence. I think it’s a sign of the unquenchable human spirit and its enduring will to survive and even thrive against all odds.
One of my life goals is to survive and thrive, no matter what. That’s an ambition you can’t get from a medical device or bottle of medicine. It comes from within you, and if you think you don’t have it, or not enough of it, I suggest that you look again. You might be pleasantly surprised.

First off.... congratulations on a successful surgery! The gas and Constipation will stay with you for a while since you are not eating solids.
The fill is a piece of cake! You may feel a little pinch from the needle and a tingling from the Fluid going in but certainly no pain to speak of. So relax and concentrate on recovering from the surgery.

Hello Lapbanders! I have been banded for a year this month. Went for my yearly check up and got a small fill. Things are really going well and I am very happy with my band. I am always looking for information about the band because I firmly believe that knowledge is the key to success. I am very active on a few other lapband sites and this one gets mentioned a lot! So here I am. Look forward to meeting new friends!

That's great Jolly! You are on the lapband road to success with your attitude. Stick to the guidelines, pay attention to your body and the band. Once you start to get restriction, it will talk to you! So listen!
You may not (probably won't) get restriction right away. It took me 4-5 fills before I really felt enough to curb my hunger. So hang in there!

Good question Sissy!
I just celebrated my 1yr bandiversary last week. More than anything, I wish I had known how long it would take to feel restriction after you heal from the surgery. At about week 6, I became very hungry and for 4 months it was like I was not banded at all. Come to find out, this is normal and you will be this way until you get enough fills to start feeling restriction. I started eating more, but the right things, so I didn't gain any weight.
I always share this with new people because I think we are so inundated with information, that we don't hear all the little details. This was a BIG one for me!
The second thing would be to keep your head in the game. This is not Gastric Bypass where you lose a lot of weight all at once. The Lapband is a tool. Hopefully, one of many that you have in your toolbox. You still have to do the work of eating right and exercising. Don't get fills too fast. Most problems start after being too tight.
Remember..... this is Life, not a Race!!

Some people do and they are a lucky few. I thought I was one of those until the internal swelling went down. It's like a false positive on restriction so be aware of that one. I just got my first fill today. I have 5cc in a 11cc band. I am on liquids for 24 hours and then back to solids slowly to discover if this fill had any bearing. Like some of the others I had some expectations of restriction after surgery.
Like MDGardenGirl said this is not a quick weight loss remedy. If you want to drop weight fast you need to look else where....
Will power is still huge even with the band and the band will not prevent you from downing a 600 calorie shake from McDonalds.

Good question Sissy!
I just celebrated my 1yr bandiversary last week. More than anything, I wish I had known how long it would take to feel restriction after you heal from the surgery. At about week 6, I became very hungry and for 4 months it was like I was not banded at all. Come to find out, this is normal and you will be this way until you get enough fills to start feeling restriction. I started eating more, but the right things, so I didn't gain any weight.
I always share this with new people because I think we are so inundated with information, that we don't hear all the little details. This was a BIG one for me!
The second thing would be to keep your head in the game. This is not Gastric Bypass where you lose a lot of weight all at once. The Lapband is a tool. Hopefully, one of many that you have in your toolbox. You still have to do the work of eating right and exercising. Don't get fills too fast. Most problems start after being too tight.
Remember..... this is Life, not a Race!!

Good question Sissy!
I just celebrated my 1yr bandiversary last week. More than anything, I wish I had known how long it would take to feel restriction after you heal from the surgery. At about week 6, I became very hungry and for 4 months it was like I was not banded at all. Come to find out, this is normal and you will be this way until you get enough fills to start feeling restriction. I started eating more, but the right things, so I didn't gain any weight.
I always share this with new people because I think we are so inundated with information, that we don't hear all the little details. This was a BIG one for me!
The second thing would be to keep your head in the game. This is not Gastric Bypass where you lose a lot of weight all at once. The Lapband is a tool. Hopefully, one of many that you have in your toolbox. You still have to do the work of eating right and exercising. Don't get fills too fast. Most problems start after being too tight.
Remember..... this is Life, not a Race!!

Remember this?
“I’m strong to the finish ‘cause I eats me spinach. I’m Popeye the sailor man!”


Growing up, I watched Popeye guzzle cans of spinach to instantly restore and increase his legendary strength as he battled his enemies and courted the thin, homely Olive Oyl. I didn’t identify much with Popeye or Olive Oyl – I was more like the portly J. Wellington Wimpy, who would gladly pay you Thursday for a hamburger today. But like millions of other children, I did get the message that spinach was good for me. Magically good! And if eating spinach could help me prevail in the endless fights I had with my brother, it was worth a try.
I never did win a battle with my brother, but I ate my spinach and actually liked it. Not canned spinach like Popeye’s (the very sight of canned spinach is revolting), but frozen chopped spinach, boiled, drained, and covered with melted Velveeta cheese. When asked if he liked spinach, Popeye replied, “I hates it.” He might have liked my favorite cheesy spinach better, but clearly he was taking his spinach like medicine at a time in history when medicine always tasted terrible. The worse the taste, the more potent it was.
Spinach didn’t give me bulging Popeye muscles (or, thankfully, his speech impediment), and since I hated gym class and avoided exercise as much as possible, I didn’t develop any more than minimal strength and endurance. When I reached puberty in the 1960’s, women’s liberation and the concept of a strong, independent woman were still quite new. My macho first boyfriend thought women shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car, never mind lift something heavy. As I wrote in Bandwagon, my parents scorned President Kennedy’s physical fitness advocacy and encouraged intellectual rather than physical strength. The exercise programs and studios I tried in the 1970’s and 80’s prescribed exercise for weight loss and toning; the dance classes I took taught me about form, agility and flexibility; but never did I hear any messages about strength. Perhaps I wasn’t listening very well. I thought that weight lifting would turn me into a muscle-bound freak like the ones I occasionally saw on television.
As an adult married woman, I’ve had a tall, strong husband to open jars, change flat tires, take out the garbage, and reach things stored on high shelves (he claims that’s why I married him, when in fact it was his dog, not his brawn that captured my heart). That allowed me to reserve all my meager strength for the herculean task of moving my obese body from my arm chair to the kitchen and back.
It wasn’t until I had weight loss surgery at age 54 that I learned about the value of muscle during weight loss. That was the first time ever that I heard that muscle burns calories faster, and takes up less room, than fat. The theory sounded good, but for my first post-op year I focused on cardio exercise because an online calculator showed that I could burn almost three times more calories doing an aerobic dance class than the same time spent weight training. I worked out faithfully, walking and doing a variety of cardio classes, and reached my weight goal, but I was still a weakling… a scrawny weakling instead of an obese one, a weakling who could wear a size 10 but struggled to pick up a 10-pound bag of dog kibble. Here at the 9 Dogs Howling ranch, that’s a serious deficit indeed!
Eventually I got bored with my workout routine. To add more variety and challenge to my exercise, I began working with a personal trainer when I was 20 months post-op. My trainer taught me lots of moves with free weights and weight machines, some of which I grew to hate, but after about three months of our weekly sessions, I began to notice some muscle definition in my flabby arms. Nothing like Popeye, but there before me was proof, visible to the naked eye, that I actually had some muscles underneath that sagging skin.
Even after I stopped working with my personal trainer, I kept working at strength training, hoping to see more and more muscles. All that effort was in the service of my vanity, you understand. I just wanted to look “ripped” and it didn’t occur to me that strongly-defined muscles could be pressed into service at home (lifting dogs as well as dog food bags) and at work (lifting boxes, shifting heavy display fixtures, climbing stock room ladders).
Gradually I came to realize that I was getting physically stronger. I could no longer claim to be a “delicate flower of womanhood” like Scarlett O’Hara. That turned out to be no terrible loss. It turned out that being strong(er) was as good for my insides as my outsides. Not only was strength training helping make my bones and muscles stronger, it was making my mind and heart stronger. Instead of being afraid to try something new, I just went ahead and did it, and even if I brought absolutely no skill to the task, I had enough strength of mind and body to tough it out.
Early in 2010 I joined a new fitness studio, one with Stott Pilates machines instead of weight machines. At first I worried that I would lose muscle definition without weight machines as part of my workouts, but in fact my muscle definition improved all over my body and especially in my legs. In late summer 2010, I did some personal training with the owner of the studio. Her first step was to give me a fitness evaluation. I had to do push ups, step ups, toe touches, and other moves to evaluate my strength, agility, flexibility and cardio fitness. Much to my (happy) surprise, I scored above average for my age in most of those areas. Just the process of being tested was a revelation, because each time Caroline instructed me to do a new move, I did it without any anxiety or hesitation about whether or not I’d be able to do it.
Since then, I’ve thought many times about the importance of fitness and strength to an average, everyday woman like me. Not an Olympic athlete, not a dancer, not a ditch digger, not a materials handler, just Mrs. Middle Aged American. Although I admire my late mother and aspire to be like her in many ways, I don’t want to end up the way she did after a lifetime of avoiding exercise. She was only in her early 70’s when she began to struggle with little tasks that most of us take for granted. Dressing herself, picking a pen off the floor, getting out of a chair, walking from her apartment to the elevator, opening a door, all of that was too hard for her. She had never claimed to be a delicate flower of womanhood, either. She was one of the most capable and energetic people I’ve ever known, but she never took care of her body and in the end, her body failed her. I’ve vowed that I won’t let that happen to me. I’m going to keep this body moving, or die trying, and that’s got to be a better way to go than lying helpless in bed while an attendant maneuvers a straw into my mouth. I hope that in 20 years when I’m 78, I’ll enjoy sitting in a rocking chair beside my husband for a while, and then getting up to kick ass in an exercise class.

Thank you MdGardengirl. I will try to remember " this is Life, not a Race!!" when I get in a rush, or start comparing myself to others and their progress.