mrsto

Is your surgeon Dr. Billy? My doctor is also in Ventura. If Dr. Billy is your doctor, I would have to completely disagree with your comments about him being all about money, and not caring. He is highly reputable, and I find the exact opposite to be true. And he's got hundreds of patients that mirror my same feelings and experience. I had several concerns before surgery, and one issue after. When I email him, he responds within a half hour. When I see him, he takes plenty of time with me, and addresses all of my questions and concerns. There are a couple of people in the office that I'm not thrilled with, but overall the care has been excellent. If I had it to do all over again, I would choose him, and highly recommend him to anyone who asks. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with the band. I can only imagine how frustrating and disappointing that must be for you. But you are the exception. Some women can develop a blood clot from birth control pills.....and actually die. Does that mean that the masses that have zero issues should run? There is way more success with the band over failure, which we read daily in these forums. And that's not to mention the thousands that aren't involved in online forums. PS: On Dr. Billy..... When I first met with him, he recommended the gastric bypass. I was actually scheduled for it, but flipped out about 10 days prior...cancelled it. I tossed the whole idea of having anything, but gained another few pounds in the four weeks after that, and settled on the band with plication. Dr. Billy did clearly tell me about the issues with the band. He's not a big fan of it over the other surgeries, because of the possible ongoing issues, and percentage wise, the weight loss isn't as good as with the bypass. But even with all that info, I didn't want to rearrange my innards, or remove 3/4 of a major organ. I was ready to do the work, and more comfortable with something reversible. So far, so good..... I'm hopeful that things will move along nicely....as they have been.

Just curious..... If you're tracking your intake, drinking all your water and exercising, what is it that you think Weight Watchers is going to do?

I'm so with you on the 64oz of water. I don't think I've EVER had that much since being banded. And maybe, never have (unless I was so thirsty from eating salty foods). I think that the most I get in is 48oz. And I'm fine with it. All I drink is some coffee in the morning, and the rest is water. I used to like Crystal Lite, but since being banded, don't gravitate to it.

I hear ya! It's a lot to deal with.

There is so much talk about getting all the water in, and how important it is to avoid dehydration. Is dehydration a bigger issue when banded? Maybe this was touched on in all of my pre-op classes, but I don't remember. I only remember how important it is to get in 64oz of water daily. Just wondering why this may be more of an issue now, over pre-band. Dehydration is never good, but with all the talk about it here, I thought I'd ask if it's band specific.

I agree with Mis. Is the study over? Seems like a bit of a roller coaster ride to put your self through. Just my opinion, but once your band issue is straightened out, I would leave it alone.

It shouldn't affect your fill, but it might effect your weight loss. SSRIs are know to cause a bit of weight gain, so just be prepared. Maybe it won't affect you as much, since you're following such a low calorie plan. But it is a possibility

When I hit a plateau, I up my calories a bit for a day or two. I only up them by about 200, but it seems to trick my metabolism, and stop it from "resting on its laurels"

Right after I had surgery, my hunger pangs were very different than pre-op. They were so strong, it felt like I had an alien inside, ripping up my stomach. When I told the nurse, she said that they hear it a lot; especially from plication patients. What you're feeling today is very different than what you will feel as you heal. Everything will normalize. Your stomach has been through quite an ordeal, and it will take some time before things settle down. Did your doctor put you on an antacid for 30 days post-op? If not, you might want to ask about it. Mine put me on famotidine (generic Pepcid), which I took twice a day for one month.

Everyone has their own comfort level with how often they weigh, but for this very reason, I stay off the scale on a daily basis. Drives me nuts! Then, when I DO weigh (about once a week), I'm (usually) happy with what I see.

Just sip constantly. As CG says, as you heal, you will be able to drink more normally. After being banded, I could only take 2-3 tiny sips at a time. Now I can drink almost like I did pre-surgery. I don't even think about it. It takes time, but everything settles down & starts to feel more "normal".

Based on what you're saying, it doesn't sound like you need a fill at this point. Believe me, when the time comes, you will know it I remember when I entered bandster hell. It was a flashing neon sign; hungry all the time. It was difficult, but after that first fill I was good for about 6 weeks. Then I had a second fill, and seem to be doing fine. I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon last week. I've been doing well, but thought that since I was going to drive all the way out there, maybe I'll have a tiny fill; maybe 1/4 cc. (totally wrong reason to have a fill). He looked at my progress & didn't think it was necessary. He said that I'm losing better than most who are perfectly adjusted. He also said that he'd do it if I really wanted it, but thought I should wait another month & see how it's going. I still don't know if I'm in the green zone, but I'm losing, and able to stick to small portions; no stuck episodes or any other issues.

You look radiant! Such an accomplishment!! Congrats on your fabulous success......you earned every pound of it

The best thing you can do is try not to dwell on the few days of bad eating. Just move forward. 4 pounds doesn't need to become 14 pounds. I've had a handful of days since being banded, that weren't great. I didn't go out & have cheesecake, a big Mac, pizza and anything else I could put my hands on. But I did overeat. About once a week there will be a day where I just NEED to eat more. Whether it's chemical or emotional, I just feel like I will flip out completely if I don't have that extra whatever. So, I have it. And after a day of 1400-1500 calories, I'm over it. The next day I'm right back on track with my usual 1000-1100 calories. The way I see it, is that I'm doing this for life. What happens one or two days is nothing in the big scheme of things. Rangle this in before it takes control of you

It IS worse than quitting drinking... You don't need alcohol for survival, but you do need to eat. We ALWAYS have to practice our addiction, but we have to control it. It's a curse!

I don't follow the minute rule. I can't even imagine! I don't inhale my food either; just take small bites, chew well, and feel it go down. If I had to wait one minute between bites, any hot meal would have to be eaten cold (after the first few bites). Feels too much like a punishment. I think the one minute between bites is a way to get people to retrain themselves from scarfing, to dramatically slowing down. I was told to limit meals to 20 minutes. I would say that it takes just about that time to eat a cup of food; sometimes a little less, but I have that sense of "full" at about 15 minutes.

Yeah, we do love our dogs! My little girl is the best therapy I've ever had, and I couldn't love anything more....if I gave birth to it She's a border collie/Australian shepherd mix, and tends to make sure that I'm walking fast enough - LOL! How do you insert pictures? I've tried several times, but can't seem to figure it out.

SO well written! A very sad commentary on our society indeed! It's no wonder why 12 year old girls dress like porn stars, and at 16, already looking to plastic surgery. Pathetic.......so unbelievably sick. And it just seems to get worse.

Regarding what foods go down easily, as mentioned by a few above, you have to try different things & see what works for you. So far, I don't have problems with anything, except honeydew melon. I used to LOVE honeydew, but now it gives me horrible stomach pain. It happens almost immediately when I start eating it. Go figure..... Maybe it's more about the plication than the band; don't really know. Maybe it's very gassy, and I never noticed before? I've thrown two melons in the trash already, and won't buy it again. The first time I thought maybe it was something else... The second time it was painfully clear

I do not miss anything about my old eating habits. Nada! I used to feel bloated after every meal, and never felt "good". I feel good all the time now. I love eating slower, and I LOVE eating less. As Jim said.....it's the new normal. Sometimes, if I'm feeling angst and totally compulsive, I will want to continue eating beyond what I'm physically comfortable with. Those days are difficult, but they don't happen often.

Jim, I was just talking to my husband about Guinness. Do you not have it occasionally because of the carbonation, or the calories? Guinness doesn't have a lot of carbonation, and I was wondering if it would be an acceptable alternative to regular beer?

Oops.....ate only 1/4 cup of quinoa. LOVE the edit feature!

Stephanie - are you taking small bites, and taking 20 minutes to eat? That 20 minute marker really helps. For instance..... I was SO hungry by the time dinner was finished cooking. I thought.....I'm only going to have one chicken thigh, so I'll take the biggest one of the bunch (probably 2-3 oz of meat). I measured out 1/2 cup of quinoa, and had a few spears of asparagus. Pre-band, I would have looked at that plate & thought that it wouldn't be enough. I was so hungry, I thought "I'm going to finish everything on this plate!". And I wanted to! As usual, I ate very slow, and by the time I ate about 1/4 cup of quinoa, a few bites of asparagus, and about 2/3 of the thigh, I was done. And I mean......done! I tried to eat a bit more, but stopped, thinking to myself "this is ridiculous". I'm full (in the banded world), so why am I trying to push this? So I tossed the rest, and that was that. The reason I wanted to finish everything on that plate, is because my old mindset told me that it was a small amount of food. Since being banded, what I used to consider small, has dramatically changed. For you, you could still be in bandster hell, along with your mind telling you to "finish up". If you go very slow, and pay attention to each bite going down, I think you'll become aware of when you've had enough. In the beginning, I had no clue what sense I was looking for; same as you. But it came in time, and now I'm acutely aware. Even so, there are some days that I'm able to eat a bit more; not MUCH more, but.....more.

My story is somewhat like AJ's. I couldn't walk up the stairs without feeling like I was going to drop dead at the top. I didn't want to go anywhere, get dressed, socialize.... I was embarrassed about the way I looked, aside from feeling physically horrible. My prescription bottles were increasing, and the writing was on the wall. And deep down I felt that it wasn't fair to my husband, who met me 8 years earlier when I was in a size 8. Even at that point I'd already gained 28 pounds, but he didn't know it. He never bothered me about my weight, but I felt that cutting my life short by carrying around so much extra, wasn't fair to him. It's not really ALL about me! Although, it IS completely up to me to do something about it. There were many things that brought me to my ah ha moment. But one day I was talking with my next door neighbor, who told me that she'd had a gastric bypass. I had no idea! She's always looked good, and when we got to talking, there were many similarities between us (regarding our life long struggle with our weight). I listened intently about the surgery, and entertained the idea for several months before moving forward. During those months I gained a few more pounds, at it became painfully clear that at my age, the weight wasn't coming off without some sort of intervention. The band is my intervention, and it's been a absolute blessing.

I see there are a few of us with the same affliction I'm the SAME way! I will obsess about a mistake, a conversation that didn't go well; play it over and over in my head until I'm beyond crazy. I repeat the conversation in my head, and go over what I'm going to say, what they will say, blah blah. It's nuts! Pink, here is what I've learned in my 58 years of neurotic thinking. Number ONE: WORRY, is the illusion of being in control. Number two: how ever bad you think whatever happened was, the reality is....it's not THAT bad. If I could have all of the time and ENERGY I put into these types of things that happen in life, I would probably add YEARS onto what I have left. As CG said....go in with your head held up HIGH, and "act as if" you are not bothered. We ALL make mistakes; no one on this earth is perfect. What I've also learned, is that when you learn to lighten up on yourself, you naturally lighten up on others. Life isn't black & white; it's numerous shakes of gray. Take a deep breath.....take a hot bath, and try & relaaaaaax