LadyOphelia1988

Lex, it will change for the rest of your life You are feeling less restriction now because your swelling is going down. You are healing from a pretty major surgery. Your insides are super pissed at you right now. so they tried to battle you from within. Your insides have just realized it was a losing battle so they are retreating and unswelling. So you will feel less restriction now. Let your body heal. Show it some mercy. But in a few weeks you will crush their spirits yet again with your first fill!! ( insert evil laugh here) ( p.s. it would look so evil and cool if you were petting a white cat here as well ala any evil genius in a james bond movie). Your body will gather forces again and rebel ( swelling up but really just a futile show of force.). You will be restricted again for a bit but this too shall pass. And than the trick is to find the right amount of fills to produce some serious weight loss.
Remember this though. This has now become a life long battle. You will gain a little some days, lose alot others. I often say this, the worst thing we do to our selves is weigh ourselves. It leads to too much worry. Let your body tell you how you are doing. Are your clothes getting a little too loose to be walking around a mall without security stopping you? Are you less out of breathe trying to run away from said security? Let those be your deciding factors for now. And remember- give it time!! you didnt gain weight over night ( although somehow I'm sure I actually did!!!) so you will not lose it all over night ( no matter how many times you write santa, again and again and again and again. I think he read those letters petting his white cat!!) You will do great!!!!

If you have trouble getting your Protein drinks in, try this schedule.
Drink 2-3 oz Protein at the top of each hour.
At each 15 minutes interval there after, drink 2-3 oz of hydrated liquids.
in a normal 15 hour waking period each day, that will net you 30-45 oz of protein averaging 17-23 gr per 10 ounces. and well over your needed hydration Fluid. Just after surgery this was my routine for 3 weeks and I was never hungry or dehydrated. Worked for me. Spacing the fluids out helped immensely.
Good luck!

So, I was pretty stoked this morning to get on my scale and finally see the 50+ pounds lost mark. It was quite the moment and it made me appreciate every ounce of the 51 pounds that I am now rid of!
Having always been an athlete, it was scary to watch all of my excess pounds pile on after a few injuries left me unable to compete anymore. Then you become complacent (or at least I did), the outright lazy. The thought of getting off of the couch long enough to go for a run on the treadmill was just too much to think about, let alone actually getting off my a$$.
It amazes me how my eating habits changed right along with my exercise habits (or lack of). I ate every single thing that I had never allowed myself to indulge in prior to my injuries…and enjoyed every, single bite.
I couldn’t figure out how SOOOO much weight was piling on my body. I figured that is just how my body was originally supposed to be, and it just never was, since I was such an active person. Or, that is how I justified it to myself.
So, now, after this morning’s humbling moment on the scale, I am 15 pounds away from my surgeon’s goal weight for me (and 40 pounds away from my own personal goal weight) but I am now on the other half of the battle (where the pounds lost weigh more than the pounds still to lose!)
So, maybe it isn’t considered a NSV, but today, it totally felt like a victory!! It was a wonderful morning, a very humbling moment that made me feel for the first time in a very long time, that I am on the right track with my health.
I didn’t really Celebrate my six month bandaversary (which was 3/27/13) because I was in the middle of a plateau and frustrated, so today, I am celebrating!! This site is inspiring, every one’s stories are inspiring!

For the first 7 days after being banded with the plication, I had fairly painful hunger pangs. At day 19, it's not as bad. I think mine was more of mind over matter. If the growling started, I would grab a Protein shake and even if it were just a few oz that I drank it would help a lot.
Good luck! Hopefully the hunger pains will go away for you.

Depends on if you want to lose weight.
If you want to lose then avoid the chips. If you don't then feel free to eat as many as you want.
Remember there is no LapBand God that say's you can eat this or can't eat that. It is up to you to make smart choices.

First fill today...Dr lol'd at me & said the smallest first fill ever.... .6cc . It's all go though. 30lbs down & I LOVE my lap-band!!!

You are experiencing what many call "bandster hell". The swelling from surgery has gone down; you haven't had any fills and your appetite is back with a vengeance. This is where YOU have to do the work by following the bandster rules: Protein first, eat slow, chew well, and stop eating when you are satisfied. You can get through this!!

PROTEIN......so important. Are you getting enough of it. I try to get at LEAST 75 plus a day, I prefer 90 plus...
I am 4.5 months out and I am good to go!

I was told no grains at all until 6 months and then to limit how much I eat.

Sorry you are struggling with this. You had ALOT done. Be kind to yourself, and try to relax. Sometimes we just need a little time to let our bodies and our emotions heal before we tackle more challenges. hope you feel better soon.

There are horror stories everywhere! And then there are just as many success stories. Seek out the success stories......apply it to your own life. Can you do this? Can you give up soda? Can you eat smaller portions and bites? Can you chew, chew, chew? This is all an indvidual decision and journey!
Having this surgery is the best thing I ever did for myself. But I was "all in" when I had it. I gave up control to the process and surgeon's rules because my rules made me morbidly obese. For me, the risk of being fat...far outweighed the risks of the Lapband.
Good luck with your decision!

I was surfing the net for a piechart for lifestyle goals and ran across this lol

Your profile says you have been banded for less than a week and you are doing salad and lasagna? Well, if your Dr.s instructions say it was ok, then who am I to say anything. Wait, your Dr.s instructions did say salad and Pasta were allowable after 6 days, right?

I am so much better today and finally I am able to expel the gas which let me tell you I have never been so happy to fart in my entire life, Lol. Thankfully here that doesn't offend anyone. I have noticed that I am not hungry and its hard to drink the shakes I have to sip them all day long. I can feel when my pouch is full. I know it's because everything is still swollen and soon that will go away but I am exhausted. Is it normal to feel this tired??? Will it be this way the whole three weeks I am on liquid?

I have had a weight problem all my life. I wish I had done something sooner. That being said, I hope at 14 you are ready to follow the band "rules". It's not a ticket to easy street, you will still need to work at it. I have no problem someone this young having surgery, as I assume it's been an issue most of your life. Why wait until you have diebeties, high cholesteral, high blood pressure et... I am in your corner, and hope you are succesfull! Please keep us posted.

Having witnessed a very good friend go through a year of chemotherapy as a result of melanoma and my beloved husband need plastic surgery to repair the hole in the side of his nose due to basal cell skin cancer, I think you are CRAZY to go tanning.
JMO, but not something I'd want to see anyone else experience.
You were banded to make yourself healthier...I just don't understand the irony.

I am so glad that I found a place like this. My lap band journey started in August. Well, actually it started many years ago when Tricare said they pay for it. I spoke with my husband over and over about it and he was still in the mindset of "you don't need surgery, you need self-control." Little did he know, I knew my body much better than he did. Ten years later and he finally saw what I had been telling him. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol (uncontrolled even on medication), and borderline diabetic. I went to one of Dr Keith's seminars and it was a packed seminar. Two weeks later I get the phone call I've been waiting for. I started making all my appointments and then all of a sudden we are deep in debt and I have to push off my appointments because the bills are piling up that weren't there just a few months ago. I started at a horrible job and lasted a meer 4 weeks until I told the doctor I was working for to shove his job where the sun doesn't shine. Not my best moment, but life does go on. I started back on my appointments using my Pell Grant money (after classes and books are paid for) and used that just for the appointments insurance wouldn't pay. I, again, had to look for a job, but I was very upfront and let my wonderful boss know that I was going to have weight loss surgery by the end of Feb. She was so happy for me and I was hired that day. I had a small set back and ended up having to see a cardiologist because I had Ventricular Tachycardia. I went through the appointment and stress test with the cardiolgist stating that he believes the problems I have is weight related and that I was cleared to have surgery.
Yay! Surgery day is here. I have March 27th, 2013 circled and ready to go. I was at the hospital at 5:45am and at 7:28am I was given the "boom boom" as my husband called it. I am 5 days post-op and are a little worried about the Protein Drink and always heading to the bathroom afterwards.
After my long winded post...Hi!
Linda