snowbird

I probably would have done what you did. However, you may have been able to talk to the hostess and privately explain you had just had surgery and were unable to eat more than a cup of soup, so could you just purchase that? It's hard to know how much of a fuss to make, but I know we stay away from buffets because there is no way we can eat enough to warrant the cost. If I were caught unawares like you were, I probably would have just said I wasn't eating either.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Tonight I sat down at a family barbecue and had grilled baby potatoes, green Beans and shallots grilled with ham, plus 1/2 ear of corn on the cob and 1/3 of a bratwurst. Yummy. Yesterday I tried some meatloaf and green beans, and had problems with it. Luckily for me, my number one pre band junk food (donuts) is a major no no now. Just can't eat them. I stay away from bread in general, although I have had an occasional Sourdough Jack from Jack in the Box. My husband and I were eating fairly healthy food, lots of vegies, before banding, so now it is a matter of portion size. I eat 1/3 to 1/4 of what I used to eat at a meal.

I get so tired of people writing in and saying they HAD to eat ice cream, it's all they could get down. Oh, come on. Even if you are way too tight, there is always something else besides a milkshake. A low fat, low sugar protein shake, perhaps?? Oh no, then I wouldn't be able to blame the band instead of myself for my failure.

Most of the patients who go to Mexico fly home after a day or so, with little problem. However, your energy level will be a bit low for a couple weeks. If you are talking about a "lie around the pool and relax" vacation you would be fine, and some gentle strolling is good for you. Strenuous hiking wouldn't be.

RestlessMonkey is right; check out this thread for some insight into what is happening. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/how-lap-band-actually-works-fills-refills-41738/

Dr Martinez has been doing surgery with Dr Ortiz for quite a while. Everyone who has ever dealt with him seems to love him. I don't think you have anything to worry about; in fact, many OCC patients prefer Dr Martinez to Dr Ortiz. From what I have heard, he is very responsive to patients's questions and concerns, and is very competent. My husband and I had both surgeons in the OR when we were banded, so I have no idea who did what and didn't worry about it.

Denise, have you tried the Curves chocolate and peanut bars? They're smaller than the Fiber One bars and 100 calories, and are really yummy. The do have less fiber, again partly because they are smaller. They are a great snack.

I was 207 at surgery. I've lost about 60 lb in 10 months, and gone from size 20 pants to size 6. Weight loss hasn't been earthshaking, but fairly steady. Exercise is important in continuing the weight loss, but it is easier as you start feeling better about yourself and what you can do.

Your friends must be including their pre op diet weight loss in their numbers. I don't know of anyone who can lose 70 lb in 7 weeks. You are doing fine; many people don't lose at all until they have a fill or two. Do the math and realize that each pound represents 3600 calories. You have to reduce your intake by that many calories to lose a pound of fat. Since many of us were actually GAINING weight prior to surgery, those people would have to reduce their caloric intake even more to see a loss on the scales. It isn't a race; it's who can get to the finish line and stay there.

After you get filled you may have hiccup problems. As for the pain, you just had surgery, people! Your insides were cut up and your abdominal muscles now have a foreign object stitched to them (your port.) It will take a few weeks of healing before all the pains go away, and you will still feel a pulling around your port from time to time if you twist and turn sharply. I don't have a belching problem, but my husband does. He also has the hiccups more than I do, usually from eating too fast or the wrong things. Welcome to bandland.

You did very well, and I wouldn't confront her either publicly or privately. What would be the point? She sees that you are doing what she should be doing about food, so she has two choices: feel bad about herself, or make herself feel better by showing that you aren't really better because you will eat what she brought you. Well, you already showed her that you aren't going to cooperate in that. A confrontation would just cause hard feelings; giving away her "gifts" repeatedly should embarass her sufficiently and show her you can be successful. Just continue to give away whatever she brings you, and you will force her to realize that to make herself feel better she will have to change herself, not you!

I guess the real question, even though it sounds stupid, is what do we usually mean by hunger--a drop in blood sugar that makes us feel light-headed and weak? I haven't really gotten that since I started doing Atkins a few years ago. Stomach growling? Well, with the band my stomach can make all sorts of weird noises both before and after I eat. Craving food? AHHH- that one I know well. It doesn't really have anything to do with whether my body needs food or if I've just eaten a meal. I still crave sweets, but when I think about them, I really can't figure out exactly what I want anymore. A donut? No thanks, I've tried eating them and after about two bites they make my stomach hurt. Pie? Same thing. Cake? same thing. Cookies--ooohhh, those I can eat, but I refuse to buy more than one at a time so they are never around when the craving strikes. Ice cream? Never really my weakness. I still snack too much because I like eating. If I am really, really craving something, I will have it, but don't keep the really bad stuff around, so I have to decide if the craving is so bad that I want to make a trip to the store (11 miles for me). Sometimes it is, but usually it's too late at night or my common sense reappears and I just take a bite of a granola bar. The band stops me from eating too much at once, and I have been tight enough in the past that most of my serious cravings are tempered by the bad eating experiences I've had.

The question is not whether we are ready for a woman vp. The question is whether we are ready for THIS woman to be president. After all, a VP is essentially the next in line for the presidency. And the more I see and listen to her, the more the thought of her as next in line to the oval office, after a 72 year old man in questionable health, scares the hell out of me.

So you read the forum here and we suggested chocolate, ice cream, and cheetos as foods to eat. I don't think so. I have seen recommendations of creamy Soups, Protein shakes, and sugar free pudding here, though, if you are too tight. I have also seen countless threads discussing the danger of being too tight. If your band was too tight from the beginning, it sounds like you were a bad candidate for it and it should have been removed near the beginning of your ordeal. You made bad choices from the beginning and are looking for someone or something to blame other than yourself. It is good that you posted, so people contemplating the band can hear about what not to do when you get banded--the main item being to ignore signals from your body that says things aren't right, and to fail todiscuss problems with your doctor and seek another doctor if you are not satisfied with the original one. I am sitting here, two pounds from goal in less than 11 months, eating leftover stuffed shrimp with stir fried vegies. When people ask me about the band, I am careful to explain it means a major switch in your life with food, and can result in problems that may occur if you don't follow the rules, and sometimes even if you do. But I would never tell people to DON'T DO IT!!!

Are you on liquids still for a post op diet? If so, try sugar free pudding, even with a little whipped cream on top. It is still one of my favorites.

I think she meant "stay at home Mom" although my first thought was single adult Hispanic male." I need to stay away from the personal ads. CC, welcome. I bet if you got out more you would see how many fat people there are out there. You certainly wouldn't stand out. Congratulations on a great start on your pre op diet.

I have never known them to use fluoro routinely. Their website at this time says they use it for inaccessible ports and band check. That is what I understood they have always done, although I don't know if the info on the website has been changed recently or not. I like to get a fluoro about once a year to check my band to be sure everything is in the right place, and I was glad to have it for the first fill, but for subsequent ones I don't think it is necessary.

That is absolutely true. The successful bandster is one who is able to do some self-examination and find ways to make the band work. For me, that means no junk food in the house, no bread, no flour, no Pasta, no potatoes, no Cookies, no ice cream. I can treat myself and go out for an ice cream cone, but buy no more than one serving at a time. The only danger I see in your thinking is creating expectations before you have the experience of how the band works for you. Just be willing to make adaptations if it isn't exactly how you expect it to be. Some bandsters have foods that they can never get down easily. Eventually your mind is conditioned to not want those foods, as I said before. By the way, I had kielbasa and corn on the cob for dinner tonight--a couple of inches of kielbasa and a small 1/2 ear of corn.

My doctor told me I should avoid fibrous foods, like broccoli or asparagus spears, and to avoid white carbs like pasta, potato, and bread, since they were nutritionally valueless and also likely to get stuck. We do all react differently to this tool; my husband has never pb'd, but he has also not had the restriction to lose as much as he feels he should have over the past 11 months.

They aren't licensed for a barium swallow, and I believe their literature states that. They can use a fluoroscope for a general look at the band and stomach. I'm confused, what do you mean by "measure?" Every fill I have had ws done under fluoro and the doctor manually felt my port to get the right place.

Well, restless, good luck with it. Some of the most successful oldtimers on here agree that the band works as negative conditioning, teaching us painfully that we cannot eat as we did pre-operatively. While I can eat small amounts of almost anything at this stage, a couple pounds from goal, if I were still in losing mode that just wouldn't work. I still have enough trouble with some foods that I no longer want them. So I guess I could say I eat what I want, because the band has taught me I don't want them anymore. What do you expect will force you to eat less and eat only healthy food when you could not do that before?

I'm sorry, but I have to add this. The reason the band works is because it has taught me that I can't eat anything. That I will have unpleasant results if I eat whatever I want, and however much I want. To me, saying you want to eat anything is like saying you don't really want to lose weight.

It sounds like you are too tight and need an unfill. You can really damage your esophagus doing this, so don't delay.

Three weeks isn't that long for liquids. It's what my surgeon requires. Remember the dietician is just guessing about what is causing the diarrhea, so I would experiment with other liquids. Strained soup where you have removed all solids IS a liquid, so I don't see the problem with that. Try mixing some fruit in the blender into your protein shake mix. I also added some instant mashed potato flakes to my broth to give it more body. It was still a liquid, though. Remember that there is an end to this, even if it is still a couple weeks away, and you can do it. Keep your eyes on the prize.

If you felt completely like normal after the surgery, then you would eat like normal. The whole idea is to not do that anymore. While I don't feel any different when I am not eating, I definitely know I am banded when I eat. The band conditions you to stop overeating through discomfort or the fear of discomfort. Eventually your brain reinterprets the feeling to one more closely aligned with feeling normally "full" but it takes a number of months. Most of us are food addicts, and if we didn't have a really good reason to stop eating, we wouldn't, full feeling or not. The band gives us that really good reason.