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Wanted to see if anyone else out there in the forums is a band on bypass patient. I had gastric in 2005 and then I got banded in 2-2013. Just wanting to know your experiences!

Need some support. Newly banded in 2/2013 and would love someone to work out with or just chat with! Terri 32 years old Mom of 3 & 6 year old girls Divorced but in a long term relationship with a guy....and ham. Turn ons: Ham, food Network, Kindness and sarcasm. Turn offs: No Ham, Skinny Jeans (are they skinny if they are plus sized?), mean people and grapefruits. Ewww. Did I mention I'm freaking hilariously awesome? imfeelinsmurfy@gmail.com

I wish I could. Sunday is Mother's Day and I'm super busy:) You guys have a great time!

I did not have a good week last week. But the good thing about Monday's are that it's a new week. I've been starving and hungry since my unfill. I think a lot of it is head hunger, but it's been rough. I've been swamped and busy and need to really work this week on my food choices and chewing and especially working in exercise. I was banded in February and I've still seen no real weight loss. Beginning to really feel fail!

I've been hungry and eating crap all day long it feels like. Nothing like in a huge portion, but it's my busy day at work and someone stole my salad. I was just too lazy to go down to the cafeteria and get something so I just ate some chips and some diet coke. Both horrible. Thank goodness tomorrow is another day. I've had to quit Soup since that's all I want lately, and I only wanted broccoli cheese. Anyone have any favorite good Snacks? I've got mini cheeses and fruit, but what do you grab when you want something salty and or crunchy?

Hi. I'm Terri from TX!!! I got my band 2/13 of this year (made for a sucky Valentine's day lol). I went through True Results here in Dallas, and so far it's felt very much like a "herd them through, get them banded" kind of thing. I didn't really receive any support from them, just a packet telling me the dos and don't. I should explain that I'm not exactly new to the weight loss surgery game. I had gastric bypass in 2005 and lost about 100 pounds. But after gaining 45 pounds within the past two years, I saw an ad for this place and am now the proud monthly payment plan payer of a band. I'm really hoping that this helps me lose, but at this point I don't know. My surgery weight was 208. When I went in for my first fill, they couldn't do it. My incisions took forever to heal, so we waited an additional two weeks. So that was about three weeks ago. They said my band was filled with 4 ccs at surgery time, but honestly I felt no restriction after surgery whatsoever. At all. I lost no weight during this period whatsoever. They gave me an additional 1.5 cc fill three weeks ago. I took a sip of Water, everything seemed fine, and I went on my merry way. Since then, all I really want to eat is chips, Soup and things that crumble or that are soft. chicken and even fish are really hard to get down, and I just end up pukefesting it. But part of me thinks that's just me not chewing enough, which is a huge complaint. People talk about the sweet spot as far as banding goes. What's that like? I'm hungry all the time. I eat soup now most meals and even though I know crackers and chips aren't good - I feel so freaking hungry now, just like before the fill, but with more discomfort. I eat a lot of fresh seafood since that goes down fine, but anything like grilled chicken (I haven't had beef at all) just comes back up or feels stuck. Really - everything except soup feels sort of stuck and it just basically always feels like a have a ball stuck in my throat. I make weird gurgling sounds just sitting at my desk. I am pretty sure it's too tight, right? We went to Louisiana this weekend. While I can't eat much at one time now, we got comped one of those casino buffets. I had steamed broccoli...up it came. I chewed the heck out of that thing and up it came. I had some fresh steamed crab. That went down ok. I had some soup. That was ok. I tried to have some lettuce and tomatos with some vinigrette....up it came. I think I'm the only person on the planet that left the buffet more hungry then when they came in. My packet says if I throw up not to eat again for 24 hours. How the heck do you do that? After I throw up I feel like I never even ate! Sorry to whine. I'm just new to this thing, and the fear of failing yet again just sucks. I go in today for another visit, and I know they are going to probably take some out, so I'm just concerned I'm going to be hungry forever. Any thoughts? Besides the thought that I'm a complete motard that's doing this all wrong? ps....I've been working out (we have a gym at work and I do a class for 40 min each day, plus a bunch of stairs everywhere) and in the past two weeks I've lost about ten pounds. I was at 208 last visit and I weighed last week and was at 196. I'm going to say 10 to be safe.

You have to find things you enjoy. For me, I love to swim and being in Water. I fractured my ankle in two places around Thanksgiving and since then it's been a little difficult for me to put a bunch of weight for an extended period of time. I'm lucky that (for now) my job offers fitness classes like yoga and kickboxing, and three times a week I take advantage of class. I found a gym that has a 24 hour pool and I use that whenever I can. Swimming for me doesn't really seem like an exercise, even though it works you out more than lots of other things. I also am trying to take more walks with my kids, as it's been really great weather. Every little bit helps, but if you just do treadmills or things that don't interest you, you'll burn out. I hope to get a bike soon!

That's a great idea:) I'm just down the road during the week so that's great for me! Who else is game?

I live in Forney area, work in Plano. I thought maybe we could all meet up in Dallas soon! I saw your other post - I too wish I had a walking buddy in the evenings. It's boring and hard on your own! Keep it up though! You are are doing phenomenal:)

First few months are the hardest. I was banded 2/13 and I'm just now getting to the point where I'm not hungry ALL the time. This too shall pass:)

Who would be interested in getting together on the 17th for maybe dinner?

I'm feeling pretty good, although I think the .5cc unfill was too much. I feel the tiniest pit of restriction, but I'm excited, because that means (at least I think it does) that somewhere between here and there is my sweet spot! I had a diet soda yesterday and it hurt bad. So I'm trying to stay away from them completely. I don't really like plain Water, so I'm doing black iced tea and I had some coffee to ward off any headaches. I'm really practicing my chewing this morning. I'm having some eggs and bacon actually as we speak and I've got my timer here. Any of you have problems chewing things for a minute like they tell you? It's just instinct for me to swallow after like ten seconds lol. It feels so weird chewing so much. But I eat less I think - mainly because it's tiring! Monday: new beginning. Wipe the slate clean!

So glad to see I'm not the only one out there! I too was told I by my gastric surgeon that my pouch size was fine. I basically panicked when I got to 190 after maintaining a 100 pound weight loss and stablizing at 165. I knew that my pouch wasn't though, and since he would not do any xrays or anything I got a second opinion. My pouch was in fact stretched (not sure how much) but I decided late last year to do band. So far it's very slow for weight loss itself, but I feel like it's good that I have to relearn how to eat. Those first few years with gastric were easy - without real exercise or trying, I lost a ton, but never really learned good habits to go along with that. This time I too am having to learn about chewing your food, pacing your meal, etc. I found that I really didn't even taste food before! I have two little kids, so I'm constantly rushing through meals to get bathtime and homework or soccer practice in, which is horrible since I don't chew or even savor or taste the food I make! Tonight I'm making my little one's favorite: tacos. After that we are going to go for a walk and just not rush. I need to stop and smell the roses a bit:) I go back on the 14th and I'm going to ask for a few more ccs as I feel just a tad restricted. I'm hoping maybe I'm reaching my sweet spot!!!!! Remember: It's Monday - wipe the slate clean. New week!!!!

I got my band right before Valentines Day, but I didn't get a fill until about six weeks out because I wasn't fully healed at four weeks. I was told the doc pre filled 4ccs at surgery, and because I felt no restriction, they filled it 1.5cc more, putting me to 5.5. That was wayyyyy too tight so last week I had my second fill but it was an unfill of .5 cc. Big difference! I think I need to put .2 back in because its not making me feel full exactly but I'm trying to realize that could just be head hunger too. I want a diet coke BAD lol!

Supposed to rain here too. You're in the woodlands? I'm in Dallas!!!! Yeah fellow Texan!!!!

I'm feeling ok. Same boat as you are...about half gained back after 7 years with gastric. Makes me feel like a failure, but I'm coming to terms that no surgery is forever...you have to work at it:) I had an unfill this week and I'm able to eat more, but I feel I'm eating more than I should. Trying to get over head hunger. How are you doing?

That's awesome! That first bite of real food is the best isn't it? So glad you are feeling better !

So I forgot to put this last week. I was reading some article in People magazine that was about that country singer that's married to Garth Brooks. I know her because of her cooking show on food Network: Trisha Yearwood. She's lost about 30 pounds and I figured this would be the same old kind of article about eating right and exercise that we always see. It wasn't. She was so honest about living her life at size 16 for decades and just wanting to be able to be less tired. The thing I thought was so cool about this piece was when she said a couple of weeks ago after some awards thing her and Garth were flying back and she ate an In N Out burger with fries and a coke and she had two Peanut Butter cups. Usually she'd just go "Well, my diet is ruined so I might as well just keep eating everything I want to eat" but now she thinks "Ok. I splurged. No big deal." and the next day she ate like she was supposed to and went to Zumba class and that was that. And she didn't have any weight gain and realized this is how normal people eat. Normal people do not beat themselves up everytime they have a burger. Normal people do not constantly think about food or the ramifications of having a piece of chocolate. As long as your indulgences are limited to splurges and not an everyday occurence, we should stop being so obsessive and negative towards ourselves. I really found this helpful. I am just like that. I'll eat chips and think "Well, since I've already come this far" when really I just need to go "Those were a great treat. Where's my Water?" instead. Alright. That's all. Just felt like sharing. Ters

Those are great tips m.rsu! I think a bunch of us new banders just automatically think everything is normal. You figure "If it wasn't, I'd be told". That's not always the case. I really figured I was just never going to have chicken or beef ever again because the band wouldn't allow it. Imagine my shock when I realized that's not how it works! Mine's a little too loose now, but I'm still not able to eat bread really, which is good, because I'm not supposed to anyway. Tried to get down some toast for some reason since I saw it and thought it was a good idea (I'm so stupid) and let's just say it wasn't. But it feels so much better now with just that .5 unfill. I'll ask for them to put back maybe .2 and see how that is, but all of your hints are spot on.

Yeah. I'm trying really hard to just give it up completely. Diet coke HURTS going down, so I'm trying to remember that each time I want to just grab one. Flat or not flat...it's not clean eating, and that's where I want to head towards! Keep us updated on how it goes today!

And Hockey: the moment I ate some chicken and salad, my headaches went away. I had them constantly for the past week. Most of the soup I ate contained a bunch of sodium too, so that didn't help, but I feel so much better a couple of days later. My energy is coming back. I'm almost positive you'll feel better and the good news is it's pretty immediate:)

I can't speak for anyone else but I got my unfill Tuesday afternoon and True Results in Richardson said to do one meal of soup or something soft and then do chicken and solids. They said for an unfill they don't require two days of liquid or anything. I know others have been advised to, but that's what I was told to do. I'm trying really hard not to drink anything while eating. I'm not making a glass of tea or getting a diet coke for meals and it's difficult! I'm just trained to drink and eat lol. Feels so weird not to, but I think I eat a bunch less because of this. Not because I'm full exactly, but be because I'm thirsty and want my tea lol! Anyone else have the drink/eat problem?

I'm feeling great. I was at 5.5 and they took out .5. Such a huge difference! I'm keeping stuff down and while I'll probably have a few ccs put back in, it feels much better. I'm not gurgling and throwing up or belching like crazy trying to move things along:) Hope you feel better!

You can still talk with me. I love pen pals (except the ones in prison. Just too clingy:) !!!!

Do you ask them to double chop it or does it come like that? That's so neat. I want to go get one now!