Cat225

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Wow, you are lucky! I've had 2 fills so far, and they've both been .5ccs. My clinic won't do more than that every 4 weeks. Roxy, I love your avatar!!

Congratulations!

BlissfullyBanded, I, too, have been learning what is 'done' and what is 'too much'. I definitely can eat a much smaller portion of food than I did before, and seconds are usually not an option. But, what you said, done, it's a great way of looking at things!

Here's to not overdoing it, and not wanting to! Feels good, doesn't it, to be out of that feeding cycle, the more, more, more......
Congratulations -- you are doing so well! We will hit Onederland soon -- when is your birthday (you referred to in your blog)? Enjoyed reading your pieces!

I've been banded about 2 months now, I have 3cc's in my band, and I've been working at listening to the signals my band is sending. I think it's hard for us newly banded people to always tell what level of restriction we're at. I honestly don't know if I'm in the green zone or not, but I had an epiphany the other day about being full. It went like this:
Last night, after a home cooked meal with friends, everyone was sitting around talking about how full they were and rubbing their stomachs. I sat there thinking am I full too?
I wanted to ask them all how they knew they were full. Did they feel it in their stomachs, physically? Because that’s what my definition of full was before I was banded. I was full when I physically felt as though I couldn’t eat another bite. If I felt like I could still eat more, I wasn’t full.
Epiphany: I was still expecting that feeling after being banded, just that it would happen with less food, and that is all sorts of wrong!
That’s not how full is supposed to feel for anyone, banded or not. That’s what overeating feels like. Maybe full is the wrong word to use in general because, to me, it means “no more room.” My doctor often uses the term ‘satisfied’ in place of full but that doesn’t work for me either because I’m a food addict, I’m never quite “satisfied” with any amount of food. That’s how I got up to 235 pounds, ya know what I mean?
I prefer the word done, as in “I am done eating.” I don’t have to be full or satisfied to be done eating. It just means I have to stop, whatever the reason. Plus, it sounds very final and that helps me stop my head hunger.
So, was I done eating at that dinner with friends? Absolutely. I could tell that I had eaten in the sense that I felt the food in my stomach, but I wasn’t hurting or feeling uncomfortable like so many of my companions. I was just done.
It’s wonderful to realize that I don’t have to strive for full or even satisfied. I just have to eat enough of the right things to fuel my body and then be done. (This is an excerpt from my original blog post. Click here if you want to read the whole thing)
I wanted to share this on the forum because I hope it can inspire others who are struggling.
So who's with me on making "done" the new term for full?

Got my band at about 8:00 this morning. So far I have a little pain, hospital all is giving me IV meds for that. My dr requires an overnight stay, so I will rest comfortably here tonight
I lost 15 pounds in my pre-op, and I'm excited to get started in my new life!

For full liquids, I mostly drank a lot of chicken broth, ate sugar free Jello, had my Protein Shakes, but made them with skim milk instead of Water, and had the occasional yogurt drink. I got filled up pretty fast during this stage. After 2 weeks of Protein shakes, warm chicken broth never tasted so good!

I see you were banded in 2011 I was banded in 2012 , my question for myself, newbies and who ever how long did it tae you and did you have any major plateaus, please let us know , you loo great and I would bet that you are more energetic and love your life style you have now what a accomplishment, Great.

I quit on November 21, 2001. I became a full fledged smoker when I was 18 and away at college. I smoked around a pack a day, give or take, until I was 25 when I got a sore throat and laryngitis. I quit for around 2 years, but started back up right before I turned 28, and smoked a lot until I was 31. I quit for a bunch of reasons. I always told myself that I didn't want to still be smoking when I turned 30. I had started to really feel the effects in my chest, and I was sick of waking up in the morning and feeling like crap. I decided to quit, and of course, smoked the last one in my pack and never bought another pack.
I wasn't physically addicted. I wasn't the kind of smoker that craved one first thing in the morning. I smoked a lot at night after work, and when I was out drinking with friends. I mostly gave up drinking after I turned 30. It took another year to give up my cigarettes. I associated smoking with fun and good times, and being young. I had to get my mind to disassociate smoking with those memories. I had tried quitting several times before, but it finally stuck because I was 100% ready. I also stopped hanging out with smokers. That made it a lot easier. I wasn't tempted by others. My boyfriend, at the time, was also a non smoker. The only bad thing that happened was that I gained around 20 pounds. Smoking curbed my appetite. You have the lap band, so you should be fine!
Good luck! I know it isn't easy. Chew lots of gum. Think of how healthy you will be, and how much better you will feel...and smell. Smokers smell gross!

WOW! What an amazing accomplishment! Can you give me any tips? I was just banded 2 months ago.

Last year I asked my Facebook followers the foods that were always on their shopping list since having weight loss surgery. Read more about their responses.


Last year I asked my Facebook followers the foods that were always on their shopping list since having weight loss surgery. Following were the most common responses:
yoghurt
mince
avocado
eggs
porridge
cottage cheese
low fat ice cream.

What do you notice about this list? What do all these foods have in common? They are all ‘easy to eat’ foods.
This theme resurfaced in a similar conversation I observed recently about crackers. Following weight loss surgery, some people prefer to choose crackers over bread. It seems that easy to eat crackers, the ‘puffed’ varieties that dissolve in the mouth like Cruskits™, are a popular choice. You can eat them more easily, allowing you to also eat more of them, than a more challenging and nutritious cracker, like a grainy Vita-weat® or Ryvita®. So why are you choosing easy to eat foods?
The purpose of weight loss surgery is to feel satisfied on a smaller amount of food, preferably nutritious food. So I ask, what would make you feel more satisfied? Taking time to chew, chew, chew through the higher fibre, more nutritious, grainy Ryvita® or Vita-weat® crackers? Or taking half the time and effort for the Cruskits™ to dissolve in your mouth after a quick, half-hearted chew? It is an experiment worth doing. Perhaps also note how many of each of the crackers you need to eat to feel satisfied, as well as how long you remain satisfied after eating them.
In the hundreds of weight loss surgery clients I have seen I have noticed that after recovering from weight loss surgery some people never really progress past the ‘soft food’ stage of mornays, stews, casseroles and mince dishes. Or, they progress onto more solids foods but gradually slip back in to these softer, easier to eat foods, particularly those with a gastric band, as their band is adjusted and becomes tighter. I recall conversations with clients telling me they prefer the soft foods as they are “easy” and they “can eat more”. However, when we discuss this further, their true hunger is satisfied just as much on a smaller serve of a food, which is more challenging to eat. Eating larger amounts of soft, sloppy food or easy to eat, ‘dissolvable’ food is eating to satisfy our eyes, rather than our true hunger.
I am fully aware that some people with a gastric band have difficulty eating particular foods. I also believe however that there are thousands of people with poorly managed gastric bands that are not able to eat healthy, solid food. Unfortunately there is a misconception with gastric bands that tighter equals better, and that regurgitation is normal. Whilst I have no scientific studies to back this up, in my work the people I see who successfully lose and maintain their lost weight with a gastric band are those who can eat a good variety of solid, healthy foods, not those who must survive on Protein Shakes, Soups and juices as their band is too tight to eat anything else. If you can’t eat a range of healthy foods please speak to your team, or get a second opinion. It may be that you need to work on your eating technique, or you may need some medical intervention.
Unfortunately the perception that easy to eat foods are necessary has become quite widespread and is not only confined to the gastric band community and with many online weight loss surgery communities these beliefs spread.
Are you choosing easy to eat foods out of habit? Could you eat more challenging foods that will satisfy you more? Consider this ‘food for thought’ as you move forward on your journey.

You are so lucky! I wish you good luck with your surgery. We're only 3 days apart.

I'm on Day 4 of the pre-op diet, and I can't wait for it to be over! I get banded on Jan. 30th. Enjoying reading about everyone's experiences!

Thanks for the information Cat. Yeah that describes it pretty well. My surgeon said next time, remind her or whoever else is doing the fill that I have this issue and they can work with me. Maybe I stand against the wall so I can slide down if necessary or I might stay seated.

It's called pre-syncope, basically all the symptoms of fainting, but you don't lose consciousness. I have had this most of my life. My first one was when I was 10. I actually fainted during that one at school. I fainted two other times. Once as a teenager and once as an adult.
On the occasions where I've had a particularly bad one, I can't stand up for a while, and I am freezing cold for a few hours. It is so unpleasant. Medical situations and medical descriptions set me off. I had a little one on the day of my surgery, but I was able to mentally stave it off.
I had one in front of my doctor a few years ago. It was full blown, but it was good because she was able to observe me. She made me feel better about it. I hope you are feeling better, too. Next time maybe tell the nurse about how it might set you off, and ask her if she could be quick and gentle. I have found in situations where I'm at the doctor or hospital, the faster they are, the easier it is for me to stop it before it gets really bad.

It's called pre-syncope, basically all the symptoms of fainting, but you don't lose consciousness. I have had this most of my life. My first one was when I was 10. I actually fainted during that one at school. I fainted two other times. Once as a teenager and once as an adult.
On the occasions where I've had a particularly bad one, I can't stand up for a while, and I am freezing cold for a few hours. It is so unpleasant. Medical situations and medical descriptions set me off. I had a little one on the day of my surgery, but I was able to mentally stave it off.
I had one in front of my doctor a few years ago. It was full blown, but it was good because she was able to observe me. She made me feel better about it. I hope you are feeling better, too. Next time maybe tell the nurse about how it might set you off, and ask her if she could be quick and gentle. I have found in situations where I'm at the doctor or hospital, the faster they are, the easier it is for me to stop it before it gets really bad.

It's called pre-syncope, basically all the symptoms of fainting, but you don't lose consciousness. I have had this most of my life. My first one was when I was 10. I actually fainted during that one at school. I fainted two other times. Once as a teenager and once as an adult.
On the occasions where I've had a particularly bad one, I can't stand up for a while, and I am freezing cold for a few hours. It is so unpleasant. Medical situations and medical descriptions set me off. I had a little one on the day of my surgery, but I was able to mentally stave it off.
I had one in front of my doctor a few years ago. It was full blown, but it was good because she was able to observe me. She made me feel better about it. I hope you are feeling better, too. Next time maybe tell the nurse about how it might set you off, and ask her if she could be quick and gentle. I have found in situations where I'm at the doctor or hospital, the faster they are, the easier it is for me to stop it before it gets really bad.

I helped another bander with this several months ago. She needed a PLAN. So this is a suggestion.... BRAINSTORM everything for Breakfast:
eggs (boiled, scrambled, fried, omelette) :2 eggs
Bacon (turkey, pork): 2 pieces
Sausage (links, patties, crumbled) pork, turkey: 2 pieces
Oatmeal: w/ or w/out fruit: 1 cup
Cream of Wheat: 1 cup
Protein Shake
Protein Bar
Sweet Potato pancakes 1 Large or 2 small
Yogurt 1 cup w/out fruit or 1/2 cup w/ fruit
cheese and ham : 2 oz each
Whole wheat toast: 1 slice w/butter
Whole wheat waffle w/sugar free Syrup
Kellogg's whole wheat egg, sausage, bagel
Bare Naked Cereal 1/2 c w/ skim milk
ETC.
Then do the same thing for lunch:::: BRAINSTORM all that you could eat:
tuna salad 1 cup
chicken Salad 1 cup
Egg salad: 1 cup
Ground beef patty
Cheese and deli meat slices
Chili 1cup
Soup
Peanut Butter/Banana on whole wheat
Hummus and vegi tray
Grilled chicken salad
Grilled shrimp salad
Red Beans, White Beans, refried beans,
ETC.
Then take a blank calendar and start mixing and matching. You can take the calendar with you to the grocery store. If you need a visual plan, this might help.
I once did this when I was on a budget. I sat and wrote down every dish I could make with chicken and every dish I could make with ground beef. Then, I used a blank cendar and wrote a month's menu. I also cooked a lot of dishes over the weekend and bought lots of individual plastic containers and froze individual servings of many recipes.... 10 containers of chilli, 10 containers of red beans, 10 containers of soup, etc.
BEST WISHES.... Hope this helps!

I had terrible, intense pain from the gas inside my stomach after my surgery. It was very bad for the first few days, and did not completely go away for almost two weeks. My left shoulder feel like I was being stabbed. I remember how bad my stomach felt, but the only thing that helped me was time. I ate Gas X and walked around, but they didn't help much. Even the painkillers I was prescribed did nothing to help. I even called my doctor's after hours line thinking there was something wrong with band. I'm sorry, I know this isn't what you want to hear. I was also surprised at the severity of the pain post op. Hang in there! Call your doctor just in case it's something else!

If you are truly hungry eat something just try to make it a good choice and a healthy food for you. Bandster hell is the worst and I had it right out of surgery. Instantly hungry and no restriction or swelling.
My Dr. also gave the fills slowly once a month and it has taken me 9 months to get to the "green" zone where I am not hungry and eating smaller portions. Everyone is different and there are some here who have never needed a fill and they are doing amazing and have great restriction right out of surgery.
Don't be discouraged just do your best and know your going to get there, it's just going to take some time but slow and steady wins the race every time, so long as you stay the course and keep with it.
If your hungry eat something break your meals into more mini meals through out the day so your keeping your hunger at bay. Don't wait to be ravenous before eating because that will lead you to want to over eat or make a bad choice of what to eat.
Your going to do great!

Hi Cat:
I too had my surgery at SWLC in jan 2014. I had my first fill on Feb 27th and yeah...couldn't tell the difference either.
They tell me that they will only do one fill every 4 weeks, with only .5cc of Fluid. I was told that it can take two weeks for the fill to take effect. I'm still waiting for the "effect" to kick in. LOL
I found that to curb the cravings I have to eat lean Protein that takes a lot of chewing. I have never had a stuck issue, in fact, I think I could swallow an entire roast chicken (with a couple of side dishes). Maybe I am making the band work to pass the food by it, or I am just too tired to continue eating.
I also found that exercising helps. If I get hungry, I will go for a walk, or ride a stationary bike. Again, usually too tired to get to the fridge.
Looks like we are looking at a couple more fills this spring before we really see what this band will do.
Keep positive, everyone here has similar stories and they tell me we will get there too. I was hoping to travel this journey on a super highway, but it appears to be a gravel road with potholes.

Hey there, you are doing beautifully during a difficult time. All that excitement over the surgery, initial weight loss, etc. has dissipated and yet the band is still not adjusted. You will get there! Maybe let your surgeon's office know that you are very hungry and don't want to wait four weeks before the next fill -- maybe they can bump it up as they don't want you to lose traction? Meanwhile this is a good time to be really noticing everything. The hunger, thirst, what is going on in your body. Locate stress and emotion, get your exercise in -- Celebrate the reconnection with your body that this band us giving you and know that once you have the proper fill it will all be so much easier. Good luck to you!

I will be totally honest with you I was off for 10 days after my band surgery and I wish I had taken the full 2 weeks. I was pretty tired when I started back to full days of work.
Go easy on the pain and meds and try to switch to tylenol, because you are only binding things up with vicodine and it's going to make passing gas and moving bowels that much harder.
Best of luck to you all and know that soon this too shall pass