bandster_1007

i was single and 18 when i had my son. i went to college and later married my son's father.

i was fine. very adamant about my son's intelligence level, read to him, cared for him like any mother should. ...loved being a mom. still wanted to hang out some, but not a lot. i do not think age makes you a good mother, you either have that instinct or you do not. (unless you are 14 or something..but you are by no means too young). geez..our grandparent's had kids when they were 13.

i just found out that i'm pregnant, and i have not been getting enough Protein, i am only 5 months post op, and have only lost 20 lbs. how do you guys double your protein??? looks like i will have to do Protein Drinks.< /p>

bexley..i'm not trying to hijack the thread, but i'm having trouble getting feedback on being banded and pregnant.

how much weight had you lost when you got pregnant? did you have a healthy pregnancy? i've only lost 20 lbs, so i weigh 209 now, and i found out i'm pregnant tuesday.

the thing is, i just went to the gyno last month because i wasn't having any periods, and he said i would have a hard time and would probably need fertility drugs. now i'm pregnant. guess that 20 lbs, helped a lot.

i just found out that i'm pregnant, but i'm guessing that i'm anywhere between 4 and 8 weeks pregnant (i haven't had a period since surgery), but i have lost almost 20 lbs, this past month, due to nausea, and the band.

hi! i'm new to the forum. just found out i'm pregnant last night!! can't believe it! one month ago doc told me i would need fertility drugs and then i needed a hysterectomy after i had my baby.

i'm 25, just banded in october..i'm really nervous about being pregnant with my diet being what it has been, and i'm nervous that it will mess up my band, or that the band will just have been a waste.

advise from those of you that are experienced would help a lot.

i have no regrets...and a few months ago i posted "i hate my band"...those days are over. restriction took a while, and i have only lost 20 lbs, but i already see such an improvement in my health..no more blood sugar problems, no more high blood pressure, decreased Migraines, ...i was losing a lot of hair, and that was freaking me out, but i go a lot of it cut off and it quit.

i'm starting to save for cosmetics now :confused:.

i'm shortie too, i'm only 5'2" and currently 209.

talk about pants problems, most petites are too long on me. my inseam is 26 1/2 inches!!!

i have found that jms pants fit well in length and are pretty durable, then i find great work pants occasionally at Walmart, other than that, i have to hem them. 3/4 length sleeves are perfect for me, they come to my wrist, and if i get a regular long sleeve shirt, i roll up the cuffs.

i wear long skirts with seperate shirts, they look good..other than that, solid pants and printed tops. i have very large thighs, but a smaller waist.

i'm an 18 now..maybe i 16..can't wait to be a 6. i would like to weigh about 130.

i never really ate what i thought were really large portions, but i did eat really unhealthy stuff. anything fast food, i loved, anything covered in grease and cheese, i loved...add some sour cream, and i had the perfect dish. chips were my favorite snack. i also liked healthy meals, that i cooked, but i opted for fast food more often than not. so, bad choices was a major part of my problem, but i didn't have control over it, that is all i wanted. i also loved little debbie cakes and ice cream and things like that...AND..i drank regular cokes and sweet tea every day.

i also ate when i was bored..like at night before bed while watching tv. we had all eaten and we would have some popcorn or dh would have his fourth meal (he is thin but he eats SOOOOO much).

so, after i was banded, immediately, i had no restriction and it was the most horrible emotional process i had ever been through. i thought about food all the time, i was starving, and so i ate.

then restriction came, now i cannot believe that i thought i did not overeat. i look at my 7 year old son sometimes and i think..does he really need any more to eat, that seems like an awful lot... i can't remember the last time that i had a little debbie snack, the last time that i tried one, i do remember that it was gross. i do not like fast food anymore, it just takes nasty and makes my stomach feel gross. i don't like chip (except tortilla w/cheese dip) anymore, because they are too greasy. i don't like to snack, and i crave healthier foods now. i crave carrots, green Beans, and meat. if i'm hungry i will get up and fix something healthy like a can of Beans, that was unheard of before my surgery.

i have lost 15 lbs in a little under a month. (i just got restriction). and believe it or not, if i find myself hungry in the evenings like i used to, i try to find an alternate way to satisfy it..like..am i thirsty..do i need to move around some to get my mind occupied.

i just simply really do not care about food anymore...except that it is good Protein and as low cal as i want to be. i don't eat diet foods because i think they are bad, and i do not black list foods. i have food freedom, and it is awesome!!!! (it took 4 months to get here though).

ok, if you look at my record, you will think my advise isn't worth much, but i just got restriction...so..

i personally do not do free days or free meals, because it encourages me to obsess over it...like i used to do. now i eat very little, and if i do want something that is sweet or not good, i eat it, i just can't eat very much. the cool thing is, most of the time, i don't want it. before the band if i would have allowed myself to do that it would have been catastrophic, because there was no stopping point.

now, however, if i want a girl scouts cookie, i have one, but one is fine with me...not 20. ...if i allow myself to eat it when i want it, i don't focus on it, and life seems more free.

i also believe the body craves things for a reason, and it is not a bad thing to satisfy, for instance, now that my caloric intake is so low (i'm really only getting about 500 calories a day, because i'm too tight)..i crave things like meat, carrots, green Beans, etc. i rarely crave any type of junk.

good luck to you from me also. i just realized how morbid my post was.

i have bcbs advantage though, and it is different.

i know a lot of people that get approved through them at my doctor's office, even people with high BMI's. my doc pretty much only does lap band now and most of his insurance patients are bcbs.

i would have started exercising immediately, and i would have dieted until i found restriction.

instead i had a few months of, i'm not restricted so i'll eat whatever.

i have bcbs, and my policy had a written exclusion for any obesity treatment.

i was a self pay.

i am in my sweet spot now. i lost 2-3 lbs per week without trying. it takes effort for me to get my recommended 700 - 800 calories per day.

i could not, no way, no how, eat an entire sandwich. no way. 1/4 of a sandwich does it for me.

i've had 4 fills, and most of the time i can only eat 1/4 of a sandwich. that is all i can have. i rarely even attempt more, unless i just really need my calories for the day, but i have to take a break to finish it.

it was hard to adjust to, but that is just the way i am, if it's got bread on it, on 1/4 for me, and that is with 1 or 2 thin pieces of deli meat, one piece of cheese and miracle whip.

i am pretty tight, and i used to pb daily. i do not do that anymore, but recently i have had all out vomits. where it settles in my stomach and then all the sudden it doesn't work.

that is horrible..heaving...drooling, etc.

it's every bite.

i know that when i sneeze, i'm done. if i eat any more after that, it's coming up..so i don't push it.

ok, so i'm pretty tight since my last fill.

i can buy a south beach diet wrap meal, and i can eat a half of a wrap.

here is my problem. all of a sudden, every bite that i put into my mouth makes me nauseous...

anyone else experience this? it seems to be worse in the morning time.

i'll work on getting that done in a couple of days. the good picture is on my cell phone, i just need to go get a sd card.

i got it cut yesterday. my hair is already dark brown, but my lady suggested that we darken it up a bit, to make it appear fuller. i can't really think of anyone whose hair is cut like mine, but i will try to describe it.

she died it a neutral dark brown, then she took about 3 inches off of my length and about 6 inches on my shortest layers. so my shortest layers fall about at my face. it is incredile the difference that it made. my hair looks much fuller. and my face looks a lot thinner too. i will try to figure out how i can post a picture..i don't have a digital camera. it is framed to fall loosely around my face. the color made it really shiny too.

she suggested that i use tea tree oil Shampoo to stimulate the scalp. she wouldn't let me cut it off into a bob, because she said my hair is too pretty long.

are you kidding..that would look great on you now!!!! but, do you have thin hair, it looks thick in the picture. I can make my hair curly or straight with ease. i just add mouse and let it air dry it's curly, if i blow dry it (brush or not) it's straight, if i just let it dry it's wavy.

coo, i totally relate. although i've had this fill now for 2 weeks and it is not easing up on me. but the first few, well, all the sudden one day i was loose and that was that. i'm not sure why it happens so fast, but they say that the smallest difference in the stomach makes a huge difference in what we can eat.

i'm pretty tight right now with my **supposed to be but not *** tom, yesterday i could only get in 400 calories, 4 ounces yogurt for Breakfast, 1/4 cheeseburger for lunch, and 1 1/2 chicken nuggets for dinner(and a donut..i know i know)...nothing else. i keep waiting for that day whenever i'm able to eat whatever, but it isn't happening yet.

now this morning, i was able to eat my entire Breakfast bar where last week i could only eat 3/4, but i still can't pass the 1/2 sandwich test (which means i need a fill) so...

yesterday, i had a weak moment ..i was starving...and i had nothing at work to eat, so i had a donut. AWFUL. my body was trying to pb, but nothing was coming up. i'm in the bathroom drooling and coughing and choking and nothing would come up.

still not as bad as the fish, but no more donuts.

i've been banded, but i've not lost a lot of weight yet, and my relationship seems to have gone to hell.

i like what someone said about dealing with the demons now that we can use food to shut them up.

a lot of my problem, i believe is me. i respond to things differently, and i'm just not feeling it. i think it is because i have been so preoccupied. but we don't have sex anymore..i just don't want to. when we do, soon after he says or does something that i think is stupid, so we are back to square one. also, i want to have more kids and he doesn't....so.l.

if i were losing a lot of weight, i could blame it on the wls, but the fact is, it was this way to begin with. i love my husband more than i have ever loved anyone, but sometimes you have to decide what love means that you are willing to put up with. not everyone is perfect and everyone is going to do things that piss you off or hurt you sometimes, but is that worth throwing everything away?

ok, so i think i just went on a rant preaching to myself. but, i have been having problems and i think it is coincidental that it comes after wls.

ok, i'm over 4 months out. i too felt exactly what you are feeling. also, i was cleared to go to mushies early. i followed the rules for the most part, but my doctor said most of the foods that you have eaten today are in the mushie stage. however, the problem with the foods you are eating is that they are high in fat and calories.

take this from some one who was where you are and went to mushies early. i followed the rules the first 6 weeks, but i was able to eat 4 pieces of pizza plus breadsticks and a drink 5 weeks after surgery.

more than likely you have no restriction. follow your doctor's rules on the consistency of the foods that you should eat, no one else's. but be careful that you are choosing healthy foods. it is hell, and it only gets worse, but if you can choose healthier foods and keep from gaining you will be much more happy down the road.

4 weeks post op i had lost 12 lbs, which was good. 6 weeks post op at my first fill i weighed 2 lbs less than i did pre surgery, 3 fills later, i'm just now losing weight.

my doctor's office believes that if you can eat it you will, otherwise we would not have needed the surgery. although this may be true for you, you want to follow the rules as far as the consistency of the foods. if you don't you may pay for it way later down the road. as far as your food choices, you are the one that has to deal with that consequence, just as i have.

personally, i have no will power, and i had a lot of trouble controlling what i ate. now i have restriction and i don't even want pizza or anything like that. so.....it will get better and it will take time, but if you are totally wreckless with your food choices the scale will show because your band is not helping you yet.

la8..thank you...my husband doesn't want any more children so..we aren't trying actually.

kind of sucks when 2 people don't see the same thing when it comes to having more children. this is a great sacrifice for me.

coo, it has a lot to do with your stomach muscles adjusting to the tightness, losing some of the fat pad around your stomach (with weight loss), and evaporation within the band.

my doctor says, imagine putting your finger around a sponge and squeezing and squeezing until you can't squeeze anymore. you think you are to that point, but then you can squeeze more. that is how your stomach is, it takes a while for the tissue to get to a point where it does not move around and stays tight. not to mention that each time we lose weight we are also losing the fat pad around our stomach.

i told everyone.

and i regret it daily.

they put you under a microscope..and then you have days where someone walks up to you and says, "my neighbor had that same surgery as you at around the same time, and he died this weekend".

...i don't want to know..and stop looking at me.

(of course if i were real successful, i would probably feel different, but i am a little slow).