Jack

there' s a ton of approaches to help such a project. The ultimate motivation of controlling our body behavior by the sheer application of our rational process is a demanding discipline that requires constant practice. You have your goal. You've identified your problem. That's 2/3 of the way there! The other third, is to develop your WON'T power....as in "I WON'T let my Old Bad Habits control my mind through my body addictions". Learn how to walk away from those temptations. Addictions can be modified using changes in behavior. Behavior is controlled by conscious effort. Wanting something is not as powerful as DOING something else....not related to what that 'want' ......so walk toward your goal that you choose and leave the wants behind kicking in the Old Habit graveyard. You can do it.

yes it is possible to suffer further hiatal hernia....have your doctor do exam to determine what is causing your symptoms. Life is tough enough without unnecessary pain. It may be something else. Adequate diagnosis will lead to appropriate treatment. Please keep us posted on your progress.

I found expanding my exploration into a wide variety of items limited only by my imagination and time on hand. Salads are limitless; meats I enjoyed a wide variety in the blenderizer form, as I was super tight at first even before first fill at 6 months. I still have some trouble with chicken if not very moist and I continue to cut into chicklet size pieces. Also, most meats get way to fibrous for me reheating in a microwave. There is an endless variety of soups that has caught my fancy....something I just never cared for preOp. The number one eating error I still make, is eating too fast without chewing properly....that leads to trouble. cheers to our new food journeys

Bandster life requires more study than "grabbing a quick bite" to succeed, IMHO. One of my first 'solids' to eat was a soft poached egg. After that, such as blenderized tuna or other meats eventually. Most fish worked well. There is a TON of reading to do on the subject, and you'll have every meal every day to find what works well for you. cheers on your journey

congratulations! down is up as far as those of us who spent much of our lives being "gravitationally enhanced"..... I used to inhale all forms of pasta in huge quantities....loved it but slowly came to realize it never actually satisfied my 'hunger'.....turned out it was the sauce that I liked and pasta was a mere vehicle for consumption thereof. I have pasta now maybe once a month or so. Same with pizza....and the thinner the crust the better. My old nemesis 'BREAD' (fresh sourdough, dark chewy kinds, or just wadded up in a dough ball) also led to many eating frenzies. Now it's rare I enjoy a whole sandwich with 2 slices....as both the sterling drivers of eating behavior ('fullness' as well as 'satiety) kick in and I just don't have the inclination to eat much of it. Chips....I actually had a small bag of Fritos the other day....first time in about 7 years. Hadn't 'quit' them, just uninterested. I grew up with Fritos as one of my main food groups. I had forgotten how greasy they are, and how salty. My tastes have mutated without much effort into healthier choices.

re: "Before I was banded I weighed over 600lbs. my surgery date was April 20. 2010. On saturday March 12 2011 I weighed when I went to a local support group and weighed in at 450 lbs. So I am on the right track. " nicely done bigdaddy24....sounds like you're on the way to total rebuild yourself!!! Cheers on your journey! re: tech training: are you "Wrangler enabled"?

Consider what the fill actually is and what it does, more restriction is the normal result. How we adapt to that is learning how to manage our postBand lifestyle. Personally I LOVE being 'full' on only a bite or 2. Usually within a week or so I don't feel so full....but there IS the fact some foods require caution and decrease volume intake. Cut your bites into chicklet sized and chew thoroughly until you learn how to manage the new fill. And liquids the first few days post fill work best for me too.

Way too many variables to be able to accurately respond to this question. By August it is likely you will come to know what ~your own~sweet spot is. cheers on your journey

The entire energy curve is being strongly changed by your postOp status. Read up on the physiological effects of glyconeogenesis and glycolosis. This 'tired' phase usually passes in short order as our body slides into utilizing the energy derived from all those stored cheeseburgers around our waist lines.

cause/effect of Band/hiatal hernia is certainly an issue of debate. Consider the % of morbidly obese that have hiatal hernia without the Band lowers the level of confidence in any statistics attempting to assign relationship, IMHO. Hiatal hernia develops too, in many non-obese as one of the foibles of the aging process. It is not uncommonly linked as one of the factors associated with obesity. I don't know how difficult it would be to gather supportive research data linking the two. Personally, I believe hiatal hernia is not specifically related to your premise of "band too tight". I could be wrong, but show me the evidence.

No regrets......wait, there was that mysterious blond in college all those years ago....

For me the usual 'will power' simply wasn't effective....but I discovered that introducing a concept of 'WON'T power' somehow gave me the incentive to make better choices for eating and snacking. As a 'serial/cereal snacker' my habit had long been to graze all day long in a private eating fest interrupted only periods of eating with other people at what was quaintly called 'meals'. 'WON'T power' gave me a tool to make empowered eating behavior decisions motivated by a higher degree of active and rational choice. Will power did not provide anything but continued sense of inept failure and uncontrollable eating. Perhaps only a word game, yet it helps me every day, as in :I WON'T eat that stuff the dog licked...HAR!!!

Contact your Doc at once, IMHO. And it is possible to have any variety of causes for your pain. Go get and exam and some answers. Personally I suffer better when I know what's causing my misery.

something is certainly creating a bad odor here, and for sure I would check it out completely BEFORE any surgery is completed. This is not a normal practice in my area.

Congratulations on helping us all realize vigilance and discipline is part of the Bandster Lifestyle. I'm not sure I could tolerate a talking scale. And I find a bite or 2 of turkey can do wonders for me the next day.

great tips....I've used them all and they WORK for ME !!!

great discovery! A _LOT_ of my own overeating was "sport eating' not justified by any real physiological hunger....boredom, anger, anxiety, etc.....and of course, food does NOT satisfy those kinds of feelings. I learned that 'getting busy' doing something --like cleaning out my wardrobe, boxing up my old fat clothes to send back to Omar the Tent Maker, etc, going for a walk or any number of easy physical activities along with a glass of water, put me back on the path to losing some of those old stored cheeseburgers around my hips. Action and activity solves a lot of those vague notions that chips will solve whatever emotion is lurking there.

postBand, it was an entirely new and welcomed feeling, to not wake up with the first thoughts of 'What's to eat?' Or in the middle of eating, planning on what to eat next. Of stopping for a bag-o-burgers on the way to dinner. It was madness befitting a Stephen King novel. postBand, the absence of "The Craving" was entirely a new and most welcomed state. "Satiety" is a far better sensation to me than 'full'.....full doesn't last long, 'satiety' goes on for hours.

re: " And so is this a sensation you never felt before the band?" Yes, preBand I _NEVER_ had the sensation of "satiety"....it was a word I had to look up in the dictionary. It was an intellectual term, not one I had experienced. For me, the sudden realization I had spent my life eating in pursuit of becoming "full".....which I eventually could, but it never lasted, which then over the years became a sort of marathon/search for the (un)holy grail...that "full" meant "not hungry"....which I ALWAYS was...'hungry' in an very abnormal way. I learned to eat to avoid becoming the dreaded 'unfull' / 'unhungry'. So for me at least, the discovery that there is a different reason with entirely different triggering mechanisms, to eat. And that is "hunger". My "hunger" was never satisfied by eating. I think that qualifies as some kind of psychoemotional abnormality.

re: "After several bites of chicken and several more of vegetables and a bite or two of brown rice, my ravenous appetite just clicked off. I was suddenly and completely full, and satisfied with what I'd eaten. " Dave: great illustration!!!! That happens to me also on many occasions. I disagree with calling the sensation 'being FULL' though. I have rigorously worked to study what "full" is to me....and the sensation of "full" is not the same as "satiated". In my days of wearing size 56/58 pants I was concerned about 'full'. In my postOp life at size 42/44, I prefer to label it "satiated". In any case, we are talking about the very same behavior, which is to not OVER eat despite our intention, opportunity and motives. Hooray for the Band!!!

Have you noticed any changes in the sensation of actually being hungry vs 'being restricted'?

Great observations....what you must consider also is the fact we DO change and our entire food/self relationship changes. I was as much a worrier about this entire "now what" if 'eating' were taken away.....what in fact happened, was (mostly) OVER eating was altered and the introduction of being concerned about other aspects of living, become more important. Without realizing it, I was moved from the 'living to eat' dysfunctional philosophy, to a most welcomed 'eating to live' behavior. Big difference. Along with changes in my eating behavior, I lost the ever increasing decade-long panic/anxiety attack cluster of symptoms. In fact, I was totally unprepared for the *concept* that 'becoming hungry' could be a pleasant experience in itself. The trouble with 'always eating' is we are never aware of the gentle pleasures of ENJOYMENT of the act of becoming satiated. It is a different experience than merely stuffing myself with my eating shovel as rapidly as possible while trying to anticipate what my next meal might be. cheers in your journey

Great post and great news Acadia. Good heads up response. Cheers on your journey

re: the challenge of Bandster life style There's a lot of comments about 'restriction' that seems to me to miss an essential point. The entire notion of 'feeling full' is in error in my formative years, as that is what led me to think 'eat till full' and 'being full' were the defining reasons of 'why' we eat. I have become enthralled with the notion that 'satiety' and 'hunger' and 'appetite' and 'restriction' must be revised in how we relate to 'eating' and 'OVER eating'. Normos eat when hungry and stop when they are (key point) NOT hungry. I always ate whether hungry or not, and ate till it was all gone then went looking for more. Hunger had nothing to do with eating. I've had more success with eating to become satiated, then stopping. Restriction was a tool along the way to help me recognize the difference. Necessary phase for sure. Hunger isn't what motivated my own over eating....it was more the FEAR of being hungry. Does this make any sense to the 'restriction'~'non restriction' issue?

My pain was minimal, recovery was swift and I was back to mostly normal stuff within 5 days. I don't have PCOS though. My anxiety postOp maximized around day 3 but I recovered rapidly when other Bandsters here pointed out each day gets better and better. Now 6+ years postOp, my very worst day has been far better than my best day of the 10 years preOp. In the end, it is our own fears and anxieties that limit stepping out into the brave new world that is at our feet every day. In my preOp days of Morbid Obesity, I was unable to see beyond my own phobias, and they imprisoned me far too long. Cheers in your journey.