kacee

Welcome to BANDSTER HELL. This is totally normal. You are in the throes of it now, my friend, so don't worry about it. Your band is NOT YET WORKING for you, and won't be until very probably after your second or even third fill. I didn't get a real response until my third fill and didn't hit my sweet spot until number 4. Don't worry about the hunger. Do the best you can. You are healing right now, not supposed to be actively losing, though that comes as a bonus with the liquid diet...if you stick with it. I was chewing my leg off coming into my third week. With zero restriction, and the swelling healing, and the liquid only diet, you will have a voracious appetite that won't quit. This too shall pass. My first fill did NOTHING (Not unusual, so do NOT get disheartened), the second only slightly improved...the third was when I went "Ahhhh, so THIS is what it is supposed to be like!" and the 4th....el perfecto.

Beachgirl, I have what may be a dumb question. Have you tried going to a pain management group? My Mom has been on Vicodin for years with horrible arthritis in her back, knees and feet...barely mobile. She has lived on muscle relaxers and the vicodin and it has given a little quality of life. She was recommended by her allergist, of all people, to seek help through a pain management group, and it has been a GODSEND. I don't know why we didn't do this years ago. I don't know why we didn't consider this avenue. There are so many advancements in the treatment of chronic pain now it is amazing.

I think anyone with a YO-YO history (that would be...uh....pretty much all of us....) of weight on, weight off, weight on...and then some....weight off... should consider the band. I have been 113, 133, 155, 180, 195, 210, 225, everything in between and bouncing all around for the last 40 years. Up 10, down 15, up 25, down 6, up 20....you get the drift. My BMI was 38 and I was actually only 68 pounds overweight. It has saved my life.

Also, Isopure has a clear Protein drink (like koolaid or fruit punch) and it is very good and each bottle contains 40 grams of protein and only 160 calories. It's not the cheapest stuff on the block, but it fits with all post surgery diets...liquids, mushies, etc. and four month out I use it whenever I am not going to be getting a quality amount of protein for a day. Here is a website.... index

As long as you fit the parameters of the doctor (actually the days of requiring you to be 100 pounds minimum overweight are falling by the wayside, thank goodness!) you can just walk in to anyplace. Of course if you are a self-pay it is even easier....pretty much no hoops to go through initially. For pregnancy they let all the saline out of the band for that time period. As far as smoking? Uhhhhhh....don't get me started. You're really young and this is an optimum time to stop anyway. Smoking and surgery do not mix well.

I'd be willing to bet your body is going into "conservation mode" and is adjusting to the caloric intake accordingly. Basically it thinks you are starving and it is grabbing at all the little calories it can and saving them. That's why a lot of times when you are on a "diet" and not losing it is because your are not eating ENOUGH. You can try upping your protein intake. Wow, I am surprised they don't have you on mushies yet. That is really conservative.

Welcome to the throes of Bandster Hell! This is that horrible in-between place. For a lucky few it will cease after your first fill, but for many of you DON'T COUNT ON IT!!!!! I didn't get knocked off the hungry wagon until my 3rd fill, which was perfected on my 4th fill. I am now at LA SWEET SPOT!!! Let me tell you, it is a wonderful place to be, and I am still losing a little less than 10 pounds a month. I am within 22 pounds of my goal. I went on vacation cross-country for a week and didn't watch ANYTHING I ate....not a THING. I ate what I could, and what I wanted...which wasn't very much! And viola...when I got home I hadn't gained an ounce, and within 5 days of being home I lost another 3 pounds! Have I died and gone to Heaven? It seems so!

I hear ya. I had to fend off three chihuahuas in bed. Now I just try to keep them from tromping around on my port. Whenever I am laying on the couch or in bed my hand comes up automatically to cover the area over my port because to my dogs I am just another lane in their highway of life....hahahaha

I was watching Dr. Oz on Oprah a month or so ago (I just love him) and he wheeled in something like 12 pounds of fat on a tray. It was the most horrific thing I ever saw, and it was only 12 pounds! BLEAGH! Okay, think about it this way. I used to bowl many years ago. I had a 10 pound ball. My extra weight was the equivalent of strapping SEVEN bowling balls onto my body and walking around. Okay, those of you who are better bowlers probably use 15-20 pound balls. Think about strapping those puppies on your shoulders and hips! How the HELL have we been able to walk around all these years??????????

I used Dymatize Elite Cafe Mocha (with 8 oz of skim milk it goes about 32 grams of protein). VERY tastey. I have that for Breakfast each morning. I also drink Isopure Protein clear drinks. They are like koolaid and they are NOT BAD at all. Come in about 8 flavors. One bottle has 40 grams of protein and about 80 calories. Great for a supplement. Check out the website... index

Don't agonize. Your band isn't even working yet. It may not be operational after your first fill either, so don't hang your proverbial hat on that. You are not feeling ANYTHING out of the ordinary. Until you get a really GOOD fill (my fourth was the magic one) you won't start reacting like "Pavlov's Dog". Once I got a decent fill, I had not more "cravings" and even when I started to have them, within the first 2-3 bites of whatever I succumbed to, I had to push it aside. The little policeman in your stomach won't stop you from getting that lovely taco, but he WILL nip its consumption in the bud! After a while, you react like "Pavlov's Dog" (the scientific project...ring the bell feed the dog, and then finally it gets to the point that you ring the bell and the dog salivates on cue). Your bell is rung and your body goes "yuck" and you find it easier and easier to PUSH THAT MORSEL AWAY!!!!!! Amazing I know, but it is totally true.

That's funny because I started noticing my loss before anyone else did. The first 20 pounds off I felt like dynamite, but I was just getting hesitant "Yes, I'm seeing it in your face" comments when I KNEW I was losing all over....and fairly dramatically. Now, when I hit about the 35 pounds mark people started commenting, and now it is a daily occurrance. Some kindof threshold must have been crossed because I am getting great exclamations from people who haven't seen me for a month, and I have lost about 10 pounds, but apprently it is really showing. I think the most amazing thing is that I dance around in front of my mirror now in the complete buff, or my underware...and I DON'T repulse myself anymore! I'm not svelte, but I am IN PROPORTION!!!!!! The pants look okay, the shorter shirts look okay...nothing JUMPS out at me anymore. (I always was tiny on top and BIG on the bottom, with a small waist and big thighs (pones out to a point). Somehow "old age" has made my thighs "sag" and they are a little more up and down now instead of out to a point at the sides. My waist is bigger, but it fits my body. It's all symmetrically "overweight" and it feels pretty darned GOOD!

I would venture to state that a large percentage of obese people are depressed. The eating can definitely be a sign of depression...as it is a panacea for most of us....an emotional crutch. The bigger we get, the more depressed we get, the more we hide in food. I don't think this is any surprise at all.

<p> </p> <p> </p> <p>First of all...if you can do it yourself, have you done it? Why are you here looking and asking? The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. Can you lose the weight and KEEP it off? If not....I rest my case.</p> <p> </p> <p>I too ate all the time...and NEVER when I was hungry (I never GOT to the point where I was ever hungry!). That has all changed now. I rarely look at food with an eye to just eat. Grazing is really not in my vocabulary now....unless you call grazing eating 6 grapes......over about 10 minutes. Yes, I have made some "impulse buys"....Taco Cabana going down the road....mmmmmm a taco sure sounds good! Well, about three bites into it I wrapped it up and took it home. So much for stuffing my face.... I am now officially "eating like a bird"....the dream I have always had.</p> <p> </p> <p>Exercise? No it won't make you do that. I've been a bad girl for the last month and fell off the exercise wagon. But I will get back on. I am shooting to get very close to my goal weight by the end of this year. I was banded on 5-23. Snake oil? Nope. I was skeptical at first....not that it would not work.....but that it would not work for ME. I think we all have those fears going in. But I was wrong. I remember the last fill I went in for and I saw my surgeon and he winked at me and smiled and said, "It works, doesn't it!" and I said "YOU BETCHA!!!"</p>

If you could feel a definite difference after the B-12 shot, then you are definitely depleted. If nothing else, why don't you step up to three protein shakes a day? Are you taking chewable multivitamins?

Okay, I just noticed about 3 weeks ago that I am losing hair. No biggie for me because I have enough on my head for two people, but it was a unique thing to get tangled in my own hair in the shower. Hmmmm.

I actually chilled about 24 hours. But that being said, I was up and walking around, fending for myself, getting to the kitchen to provide my own sustenance and marching around the house within a few hours of getting home (first a nap). My gas actually hit me surgery day while I was still in recovery, but didn't settle in to be a real "pain in the shoulder" until the first night. It lasted about 2 weeks. I found that by day three I was getting a little bored with sitting around because frankly other than the gas (manageable with the pain meds and walking) I basically had no discomfort.

I was just going to say the same thing...what a beautiful hourglass! And what man would prefer Kate Moss over THIS figure must be outta his mind!!!! You GO girlfriend!

I too was banded 5-23. Are you logging all your food intake? That helps a LOT. You may be getting too many (OR TOO FEW!!!!) calories. I can go to just about 1000 before things slow down or stop. But if you are not getting ENOUGH calories your body is trying to conserve its intake and you may need to adjust up.

I work in the Space Program for those fun folks who build/maintain the space shuttle, service it, put it into space, and generally do everything to make sure the astronauts come back in one piece. (No, it's not NASA). I work in Cleark Lake area (Houston) close to Johnson Space Center in the Ethics Office (I've got MY EYE ON YOU!!!!!) which is a fascinating job. Been in the Ethics business (almost unheard of before 1985) for the last 15 years.

Brandy, if you are looking for something with more protein in it, I use Dymatize Elite Protein powder. It is VERY good. They have lots of flavors but I use cafe mocha. It gives you 24 gms of protein and then you get another 10 with skim milk. They have them at a lot of the health food stores (didn't have at GNC), especially the health food stores for body builders. I tried a LOT of the mixes when I was first banded and this was the best one I found. Most of them were YUCK.

Tiffany, doesn't that just stoke you to no end!!!! Congrats! You realy came out of the chute like gangbusters! Way to go girlfriend!!!

For every two people who have had slippage or erosion you will have ten who have not. Look at it this way. If you are morbidly obese now, where will you be in 10 years? Will you even be alive? If by some fluke you get the band and it erodes in 10 years....you will most likely be a healthy individual entering their 50's and if anything needs to be done with it, you'll be in good shape to get it done. The thought of erosion wouldn't have stopped me for a heartbeat!

If you are only going to eat once a day you definitely have to supplement with protein drinks or shakes. I use Dymatize Elite Cafe Mocha protein powder with 8 oz of milk and throw in some ice and blend. I have that every morning and I REALLY like it. I also drink Isopure protein drinks (clear) which come in about 8 flavors and served over ice are VERY good, and you can also cut them with a little water if they seem a little sweet for you. You need to be getting in about 60 gm of protein a day.

Walking cannot be stressed enough. You want to fart and burp as often as possible. Let it all out and rejoice in it! As your stomach gets less tender you can also do this.... get down on the floor on your stomach with a hard pillow on the soft part of your stomach down low, which will kindof raise your butt in the air a little. Relax against the pillow. The air will start moving toward your butt and you should be able to let loose a little. Heating pad and gas-x (I took the gas-x regularly all day for the first week). The left shoulder area seems to be a big reservoir for gas pains. Mine went up the left side of my neck too.