PrettyThick1

The ACA has also protected ALL of us on this forum. Before the bill passed, we could be denied coverage or care due to our pre-existing conditions: morbid obesity, HBP, diabetes... That can't happen now!

That's jacked up...get 'em girl! If it's any consolation, I can't see a new provider making you start all over again, just have your records transferred.

Way to go B-52!!!!

It's a chore trying to find things to eat sometimes, today I'm keeping it simple and have made a big bowl of spinach with lots of real butter! Yummmy. I'm drinking the broth...buttered spinach Soup. LOL

I completely understand where you're coming from and I wish it were as simple as "I choose not to work for you because you're biased...but thanks for the device that made me thin and everything else you've done for me." But I work for a great company. In the nine years I've been here, I've been treated well even though I didn't get the breaks that some other women got, it hasn't been bad for me either. I'd like to add that I live in Texas and work for an oil and gas company. I don't think that I need to mention, this is a male-dominated industry and for the past 9 years, it is all I know. Sadly enough, that's the way things work by and large in this business for women, I hear the same thing from friends that work for our competitors and larger oil companies.

You're still swollen and if you didn't have a preop diet, expect this feeling to last another week or so.

I've tried to get friends hired on here at work before, to no avail. It's strange how I was just able to walk into our VP's office and let him know I needed a job for my boyfriend so he could move to Texas. It took less than one minute for him to respond "done, what job do you want for him?" I knew I chose the right dress to wear today! LOL

Softs: Mashed Potatoes Grits Cream of Wheat Oat Meal Muscle Milk - Cake Batter Flavor (mixed thick like cake batter and eaten) Cottage cheese (salt and pepper, fruit juice or other seasoning) Stewed Veggies I got creative and there were a few more things I ate, but I can't remember at the moment.

Welcome! Just go with the flow - follow doctor's orders, attend any appointments they set for you and learn as much as you can from experienced bandsters. It's easy to say this because I've been through it, but there's nothing to worry about. Look forward to all of the positive changes you are about to experience. It's great on the other side!

Any kind of scrambled egg or ground meat is tricky for me.

Sliming is when your esophogus creates tons of saliva to help move food down. When you're stuck, even juicing it up with the extra saliva doesn't get it to go down...so the extra saliva comes back up - thick and slimy.

THIS early in your journey...you need to stick to popsicles, Jello, pudding, sugar free ice cream (Bluebell No Sugar Added is also fat free, 90 calories, 8g Protein, 0 carbs). You can also add fruit juice to cottage cheese. If you grew up licking the bowl when your mother baked cakes, then try Muscle Milk Cake Batter flavor. Mix it thick, like you would a cake and eat it like that. Trust me...it's like being a kid in mom's kitchen again for a second.

Sorry to say this, but I eat whatever the craving calls for...as long as I think I can get it down that day, it's fair game.

I wouldn't get an unfill until you've tested whether it's tight because you're cold. Mine nearly collapses when it's less than say 70 degrees around me. When you eat, you need to be sitting erect, in a warm environment and not distracted. Especially during times of colder temps.

The most important point you make is that it is about YOU and YOUR Band.....I do not expect others to be like me, and others should not expect me to be like them..... The list you made, there are items that do not pertain to me and my experience, and if I was to make a list, there would be items that make no sense to you.... Does not make one right and the other wrong.... Also you list things that YOU Experience...NOT what others have told you, or read, or whatever....When people say this and that, I much rather hear how it affects THEM...what happens when THEY do or do not do something....not what they THINK will happen..... The best word of advice I ever received from my DR. was to learn to "Listen To Your Band" I had no idea what he meant at first...and now, EVERYTHING I do is from listening to my band...not a set of rules, or what others experience....

Nope sounds normal to me. Your swelling has finally gone down and your body is ready to feast again. This period ended for me after I got my first fill, six weeks post-op. From here on out, you can use this feeling as an indicator that you need a fill - eventually you'll be able to tell a few days before the hunger really ramps up. After you get in the green zone, these could easilly be considered periods of Head Hunger, when that happens, fill up on cottage cheese and Water - whatever you can to bring the hunger pangs to a halt quickly.

Simply put: just about everything. If I'm not scared it's going to get stuck...it's dinner.

Thanks CG...you know I'm crazy about you and you're an inspiration!

RUN!!! If a doctor says you have no pre-op diet, then they are going to pump your body full of gas to get between your liver to place the band and you're going to be miserable afterwards. The preop shrinks the liver so there is less gas needed during surgery. A friend of mine had no preop, they pumped her full of gas and she was in pain for 2 weeks until it finally went away. My surgical gas was gone after day 2 since there wasn't as much needed as my friend. Two weeks of dieting or two weeks of SURGICAL gas pain? Find a different surgeon.

I've learned that my biggest critics, you know the type: overweight themselves, says you don't need it, WLS is the easy road, you look fine the way you are...I could go on and on. It has been my experience that these people secretly want WLS and the positive outcome it gives, but for any number of reasons they can't or don't get it (no insurance, unable to self-pay, other's opinions). The funny thing is, just two weeks ago, my niece who is by all accounts my biggest critic (talk about me like a DOG to our family) told me I looked better FAT (mind you she tips the scales at around 275). Oh...but what a difference two short weeks makes...now she's waiting for her insurance to kick in on her new job so she can also be banded. She's observed my journey and can't get it done fast enough! Moral: Don't let someone talk you out of something you want for yourself. Critic/Hater = Envy

With all of the information sharing we do on this forum, nothing you read or research will help YOU understand how YOUR band works. I'm 6 months out and I realize I am JUST NOW understanding how MY band functions in MY body. To help any newbies that might be interested, I've learned: 1. I can't eat when I'm cold. I don't care if I take sliver sized bites...it's not going down if I'm not warm all over. 2. I can look at something and know if I can eat it. Even leftovers from the day before could be disasterous. 3. If you have to slime, slime. 4. I have to sip when I eat. It's not making a difference in my weightloss and it's easier to get food down. 5. Even though you're not hungry - EAT something. I went almost 4 days on less than 2,000 calories, it will catch up with you. 6. If I'm hurting, I'm not getting enough Protein. 7. Try not to worry excessively about your sliming/stuck episodes, just pay more attention to how you're eating and get control. You're not going to prevent all of them...it's a fact of life, it's going to happen. Non-Band lessons: 8. Fat people need more sleep/rest, I can't stay in bed for more than 6-7 hours now. I could EASILLY sleep 12 hours before and this crazy energy of mine...off the chart. (O_O) who needs sleep? 9. You look good, accept the compliments...they are genuine. 10. The mirror is lying to you...you're much smaller than your reflection. 11. You have to be really careless not to succeed (bad devices, bad surgeons notwithstanding). 12. Your biggest critics are the ones who are most envious and threatened by the new you. 13. You are an inspiration...to somebody! Even if they never tell you so, 14. Life is better now. 15. I find myself setting new goals on things I've never thought of doing before.

Congrats! Good luck and we'll see you on the other side!!!

My band's name is Miss Pearlie. I thought I might as well name her since she is such a big part of my life - she's on my mind everytime I have to make food and beverage decisions and she's responsible for so many good things that are happening in my life. She deserves a name.

I use to have regular stuck episodes, too. I'm glad I've learned how to eat correctly now, I had it all wrong in the beginning...even after all the research I'd done and all of the advice I had gotten from experienced bandsters. I've learned many lessons: don't eat when cold, don't eat and drive, don't eat fast, if you look at something and you get the idea that it's going to get stuck...then it will. So much more, I'm just glad I figured it out and have more control over stuck and sliming episodes.

I've had three fills: Banded with 3cc's. Six Weeks (First Fill) - 1cc (not enough, still hungry...went back) Six Weeks and 2 days (2nd Fill) - 1cc (Total 5) August 2013 - .5 cc (total 5.5) GREEN ZONE No fill since, average loss in green zone: 12 lbs. per month.