parisshel

I'm glad that your slipped band resolved itself and you are now back to being able to feel restriction. I'm seeing similar posts that echo what I've experienced with the unfill - refill process; once you've had to have unfill, it seems to be more difficult to find that optimal fill experience, even when refilled back to your original level. I wonder why this is? I am having great difficulty finding my footing after being unfilled and re-filled. While I'm not refilled back to my original level, I'm leery of refilling to my original level because I had issues at that level (esophegal spasms--very painful, like a heart attack.) But my current fill level isn't doing it for me and I have to rely on immense amounts of willpower just to maintain the weight I lost. I've been maintaining this weight for a year, with no gain but no loss. It is frustrating because before I unfilled, my band did so much more work in dimming my cravings and controlling my portions. Now I'm feeling just like a dieter, almost...Well, not quite. I still don't eat certain foods, but only because I say no to them with great difficulty.

These are legitimate issues to be working on. I think you'll find as the weight comes off, the "real" you will be revealed. This might be someone who will stay in the relationship, or it might be someone who decides you need someone else (or even to be alone for awhile). It's natural to fret, but trust me, the right path for you relationshipwise will make itself known in its own time. And it will be crystal clear.

Thank you for acknowledging the support on this board. Now go rock your WLS, and let us keep supporting you.

Keep on doing what you are doing. I know we all want to get the weight off NOW, but I find it helpful to reframe this entire banded experience as a daily committment to my health. Not just to my losing weight, but my health, my feeling comfortable in the world, my mobility. It sounds like you are following band rules and your total daily calories are totally within weight-loss range (unless you are 4 feet tall ) so I would say just keep on this way, enjoying all the good feelings that come from working this daily. Your body will eventually register the calorie deficit and catch up, I promise you.

I'm sorry you have only troubles with your lapband. It really stresses the importance of deeply researching one's WLS choice, as well as deeply researching one's WLS surgeon. So much of a succesful band is in the placement and expertise of the surgeon. As you said, many surgeons may not know or have a vast experience with the lapband and optimal placement. If it is not placed correctly, if it is placed too low or too high or not at the correct angle, this will affect one's health (and weight loss). If I had had no choice but to go to a surgeon whose expertise I could not confirm, I would have not chosen to have WLS. I do this with all my doctors--be it an eye doctor, a dentist or a physical therapist. That said, in looking at your losses in your signature, you lost well and seemed to have lost rapidly. So something was working at some point! I must take issue with your statement that the band stops working after five years. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't have an expiration date. Most of the magic a band does is actually done by the banded person, complying with the band rules. Keep on respecting the band rules, and a band is for life (with the exception of a mechanical failure.) I do not expect to wake up on March 20th, 2018 and suddenly have a need to have the band removed.

Can you sip slowly and keep liquids down? If so, I might wait it out a couple of days. If even with slow sips things come up, I probably wouldn't wait, due to fear of dehydration.

Oh honey...I feel your pain. I live in France, where they must keep the overweight people locked up behind bars...you rarely see anyone over a size 8 walking around here. It's a culture that is OBSESSED with women's beauty and I was such an outsider until I had my surgery. When I was fat, I could literally feel the disdain coming from the French as they looked at me...be it a physician or a shopkeeper...they all had something to say. Now that I'm more acceptable, from a societal point of view, I really don't care what they think. I did this for my own health and comfort, and less to be "acceptable" in terms of physicality. But I do enjoy being looked at in a positive way now, and certainly am glad people are nicer to me now. I totally understand what you are saying, however. It is so freeing when I go back to the States and feel that my body type is the norm.

I'm a "routine" eater. I find something and I just stick with it until I'm tired of it. My routine breakfast is 1 or 2 eggs scrambled. If I'm not very hungry, it's one. If I wake up with hunger, it's two. A hour later I have my milk+coffee which is basically more milk than coffee. My lunch lately is lettuce or chopped raw cabbage over which I throw diced ham or chicken, or some flaked tuna. A bit later I'll eat a yogurt or a piece of fruit. My snack can be another milky coffee or some hummus with carrots or whole grain crackers. dinner is always Protein like a piece of salmon or cod, or chicken (I eat a lot of chicken) or if I sense my band is open, some hamburger. More veg, either in the form of a small salad or roasted root vegetable. About an hour later I'll have either another fruit or some plain yogurt mixed with muesli. My eating protocol is "small, fractionned meals" spread out over six times/day. They are more like Snacks than meals. This is my surgeon's protocol. It's not an easy one to comply with 100% of the time (when traveling, for example) but I follow it for the most part. It really keeps any head hunger dormant (until I see an ad on TV or other...then I look away!)

Of course men have a second brain, but the blood can't irrigate the two at the same time.

I don't eat pizza (crust and melted cheese would never get through my band). But if I am wanting a pizzalike experience, I can make something similar with a cauliflower crust, pizza sauce, sauteed zuchini, olive slices and some parmesan cheese on top. One slice is my meal, and I bring and reheat the leftover slices for lunch during the week. (Heats up well in the microwave).

Your doctor will have his/her own protocol for post op fills. I would follow it. I say that because you may be feeling restriction uniquely due to the trauma of the band surgery. Once that wears off, when the swelling goes down, you are going to want to have that fill in place. (I'm assuming your band has no fill presently.)

You can do this again, and it might be beneficial to work on the mental part of recovering your health as well as the physical part. I spend a lot of time right now working the mental aspect of healthy habits and sense that it is this type of work that will allow me to get to goal and maintain my loss (along with my band, of course). As a fellow ankle-injury sufferer (tri-malleor fracture with surgery and plates, rods and pins), I share your pain and concern. My activity includes more cycling, swimming, elliptical and upper body work and less full-impact workouts if I sense my ankle/leg is feeling wonky. Ligament injuries are horrible, as they speak to you forever.

Welcome to the (almost)banded life. I don't think any bandsters ever poop "normally" after surgery. Ask your bariatric practice what they recommend; they've seen this before so don't be shy!

Your situation sounds challenging. The morning restriction doesn't seem that unusual, but the lack of any restriction at dinner time seems strange, as does the closing off of your band at 9pm. It's no wonder you'd eat more at dinner, because you must be hungry from not balancing your food during the day (Not your fault, of course, but the band seems to be preventing you from eating balanced volumes during the daytime.) I don't think it is normal to continually burp. I went through a couple of days where nothing would pass through my band--even my own saliva--unless I burped it through. It was tedious and painful and I knew that I need a slight unfill. I know what I'd do if I were faced with your situation. I would do a slight unfill which would allow me to eat my Protein and vegetable in band-friendly volumes at lunch and at dinner. I'd not include in my meals anything that did not contribute to satiety. I know that if I introduce any white carbs to my meals (because I could if I chose to eat rice or Pasta if I felt so inclined), this would spark hunger. I can't even eat granola or other Protein Bars that are sweet because they will open me up to hunger and not keep me full. This works for me. I've experienced a too-tight band a couple of times since being banded in 2013, and I am not one who is comfortable living with a constant pressure in my sternum and having to burp my food through or PB it up, even using band-compliant eating techniques. When you are doing everything right in terms of small bites, eating slowly, not drinking with your meals, and you still have issues getting food down comfortably, I would opt for the small unfill and have a look at countering your hunger with foods that will keep you full. Eliminate the foods that don't serve to keep you fill, and spark your appetite. As experienced eaters, we know what these are.

Don't wait for motivation for strike. Just act----and the motivation will follow. This was one of the biggest lessons I've learned with my band and where I am in my weight loss journey. If I wait to be motivated, I'm just spinning my wheels. If I just act as if I'm already motivated...right now, today,....the motivation will jump on board.

There's no "on a diet" or "off a diet." The band is always with me...vacations, birthdays, celebrations, weekends....so incredibly glad to no longer have the "I'll start again Monday" song playing over and over in my head.

I haven't read all the above responses, but I'll add "When you see a newly-slim celeb and your first thought is 'I wonder if they had WLS'?"

@banded2004: I'm sorry to read you have had this complication with your band. It sounds very draining. I hope removal will rid you of the infection and that you can find another option to continue on your path. You've done very well and I can only imagine your frustration at this point. Sending supportive thoughts for your surgery and healing.

If Oprah ever did have WLS I'm sure she would never make it public. It would be the cause of her entire industry going belly up. She could no longer continue to shout out to "Live Your Best Life" and "Love Yourself As You Are In The Now" . Her weight seems to have stablized in any case at whereever she is...I'd say 220ish. She no longer has all those ups and downs, or at least the Spanx is hiding it.

You might be experiencing First Bite Syndrome (Google it.) I had a couple of weeks with this...where the first bite would get stuck but after that everything was fine. I had to take the first bite and then get up from the table and walk around for a couple of minutes while it passed. It's a strange thing, but something that bandsters can experience. It didn't persist, however.

I don't eat bread. I don't even know if I could. But I know that if I figured out I could eat bread, I'd eat it, so I don't eat bread, and tell myself (and anyone who asks why I don't eat a sandwich, pizza, toast, Pasta dish, rice on the side, etc.) that with my band, I can't eat it. Which, while physically is perhaps untrue, mentally it is true. Better never to start then to have wean myself off again.

An interesting thread. The above comments are true; even with a world of support you need to be your own cheerleader (as well as planner, shopper, cook, etc). In fact, I suspect that an entire house of supporters might work against my efforts, as the pressure to succeed would make me crumble! I have zero real-life support. Zero. My kids are teenagers and turned towards themselves, which is completely normal. They notice when I lose weight, but that's about it. My partner is neither supportive nor unsupportive and of no help in motivating me at all. He is quite lazy and his default is bad eating and lack of movement so we are fairly incompatible on this weight loss/more activity journey. (I doubt we will stay together in the longterm, but that's another thread.) Like you, I do everything myself and always have, since a young child. I've been conditioned (and learned) to only rely on myself. I suppose this self-awareness is beneficial, but I would have loved to have an IRL support group just so I could be around people who were going through the same thing, and mirroring their success. I've always used this site as my support team, and recently joined an online webinar course/support group that has given me a shot of oxygen in this journey. When looking for exterior support, I only look towards those who've acheived something I want. In other words, I don't follow blogs/threads of people who are failing their weight loss/maintenance path. I'm someone who is fairly influenced by the hivemind, so if I see others giving themselves permission to fail, it can effect me negatively. So my advice to you is to surround yourself with a good assortment of winners (here, and perhaps thru your surgical practice there is a group?) and avoid those who sabotage or do not live their WLS in a healthy way.

You are a stellar example of the power of the band + your own power.

Wow. "I am the norm." What? She obviously is angry because she failed her band. The doctor who banded her did not do his/her due diligence with this woman; she clearly should never have been a candidate. And I cannot understand how she could have "no restriction, ever" yet get stuck "with every bite, no matter how small." Maybe this is just one of those "reefer madness" videos make by the producers of a competing WLS product? It can't be a real person...no one is this dumb.

Just to be clear...the band doesn't loosen or tighten...it just feels that way because of the natural fluctuations in the area that the band surrounds (the stoma). When the stoma is swollen, due to a recent fill, or post-nasal drip, or morning (because of Fluid retention that is natural in our organs when we are horizontal), food and liquids will pass thru the area slower (or not at all, depending on size of bite). Just like our ankles or fingers swell, so does our upper stomach. Veteran bandsters know that these fluctuations are normal but novice bandsters are surprised by them. I don't think bariatric practices pay enough attention to alerting post op patients that restriction will fluctuate all our banded life, and not to freak out about it. My restriction varies according to weather (heat really makes me tight), congestion (head colds = very tight band), stress (my poor-man's fill), and exercise. Also, whenever I eat in a restaurant my band tightens up...probably because I worry about getting stuck, so this is self-protecting. So, yes...you'll never have two days in a row that your restriction feels identical. Just be thankful for that, because it means you are alive and functioning well!