MerryHearted

Besides the soft and liquid calories, it can also mean snacking and eating high-calorie/high fat foods. If you start snacking between meals / grazing all day, you can easily get in way too many calories. Same with just taking too long at a single meal. If you stretch your meal out over a longer period of time, the stuff you ate at the beginning of the meal will have dropped through the stoma and you can fit lots more in. And also if you make bad food choices, like fried cheese sticks, nachos, etc. too often. Even if you eat small portions, it's still usually way more calories than 2-3 oz of Protein and 1/2 c of veggies would have been. It adds up over time. Good luck with your banding!

I've heard you need adjustments far less often, but you may still need them once in awhile even after you've reached goal weight and are maintaining. One reason might be that your body gets used to the band pressure and no longer fires off the satiety signals, so you might feel hungry more often.

Is it a specific liquid that he has you on, or you get to choose? I'm guessing something like Optifast. (some preset balance of protein/carbs/fat and ~800-1000 cals per day?) It's the first couple days that are the hardest; after that for some reason it's a bit easier. Body gets used to not having as much in your stomach, probably. Hot liquids helped me: hot herbal tea, hot coffee, etc. for times when I felt like munching on something. And I kept raw veggies around -- cukes, radishes, carrots, celery -- stuff that I don't mind eating without dressing and they add negligible calories. Good luck! Just less weight to lose later!

How great that you're getting published! Thanks for sharing, they are lovely.

I haven't been on much lately, so I'm just getting around to posting. I gained back 2 lbs and am struggling. Start weight: 240 Goal by March 1: 224 NS Goal by March 1: size 20 jeans fit comfortably (size 22's just started fitting in Dec) What I need to do: * Stop overeating * Get in all my Water every day * Exercise And I know if I start with the Exercise, the other two will follow. I just need a good kick in the pants. On the plus side, I'm being really productive at work AND doing a great job of decluttering the house and preparing for a year of construction and remodeling. So there's other stuff going on. I just need to spend less time online & watching TV so I can focus on the weight loss too.

Welcome! At 221 lbs and 5'3", I'm sure you'd qualify -- your BMI is 39.14. Will your insurance cover? You might pop into the California section and ask what docs people used who live in your area if you haven't picked one yet. Good luck!!

My losing trend started out pretty similarly between regular dieting and the band. At least now with the band I'm able to stay with it for longer -- or get back with it faster/easier when I get off track. I'm now averaging 1.5 lbs a week since banding (17 weeks ago). The difference that I'm starting to see is that post-banding it's more of a stair-step. I won't lose every week, but then I catch up with a bigger loss the next week or so down the line.

LilDarlin, make sure to check your Junk Mail folder. Sometimes the mail gets sent there. (re: your signing up for SmartBandsters) If it's been a couple days, try again.

Don't worry Wendiss, you're going to do great! It's a rare person who doesn't get freaked out shortly before the actual surgery. :confused: And a rare person who is unhappy about having had it done if you ask them 6 months+ afterwards. [at least from what I've seen on the boards and groups I'm on. I concede that there might be some rabidly po'd people out there who just don't frequent any support areas due to their foaming-at-the-mouth hate of anything band related] :banana congrats on having a date! :banana

Well, it depends on what kind of tool you think the band is. If you see it as a "retraining" tool, then you would think after 10 years you would be retrained to eat small amounts. I don't think it's a retraining tool. Not as it's primary purpose. This is how it was explained to me: Imagine your stomach. Near the top of your stomach, your body has sensors. Now imagine eating a meal. When does the body send a signal to the brain that you are full? When there is food near the top of the stomach, setting off the satiety sensors. Now imagine putting a band up near the top of the stomach. The band itself is setting off some of the satiety sensors, so you are not feeling hungry all the time. It needs to be tightened enough so that happens. That's why bandsters aren't thinking about food all the time like we did pre-banding. It does also slow down the passage of food into your stomach, causing the sensors to signal the brain that you've had enough when you've only eaten a very small amount. Both both of those things are what contribute to success. This is why the band doesn't work when you don't have fill -- the band itself isn't setting off any signals and the food is falling right through and you're not setting off the satiety sensors with that either. When you have a good fill, it works. When the band is removed or unfilled, you're back to where you started. And while you may have retrained your eating habits to some degree, the band was doing some of the work by removing that feeling of hunger to begin with. When the hunger returns, you will probably begin to overeat again. That's my rough understanding of how this works, in non-medical terms. :confused:

This hurts *way* more than waxing, unfortunately. It's like someone takes a really thick rubber band and snaps it against your skin super hard. Over and over. It's totally worth the pain and swelling if it works long term! Even moderate improvement will be worth it. I'll check out the EMLA and other creams mentioned. I will check with the clinic to see if I can do both the cream and the ice packs, since the ice packs alone didn't do so great for me. Kim -- I am paying $225 per treatment, that is for both chin and upper lip. I pay for 5 treatments and then it's $50 per treatment after that as you are considered in "maintenance mode". I'm going to see how these work out long term.

No idea if it has less sugar than white zin, but our favorite white wine is Columbia Winery's "Cellarmaster Riesling".

I have PCOS and with it, the requisite beard and mustache. Ugh! I'm sick of shaving. So... I went in for my first laser hair removal treatment a couple weeks ago. OMG it hurt like h*ll. And stank (burnt hair, yum) My chin was swollen and red for a couple days -- I iced it like crazy. What was weird was that the hair was still there, and I was still shaving every morning, and then it wasn't anymore -- took a week or so after treatment before it was gone. I've got at least 4 treatments left, and then maintenance after that. Anyone done this and have tried-n-true suggestions besides icing that will help with the pain during the treatment? The girl who does it says that the numbing cream doesn't really help because it's put on the surface of the skin but the real pain is down in the follicle. Will ibuprofen prior to lasering help? My leftover Vicodin from surgery? :knockedou Is the technician wrong and I should try rubbing in some cream with lidocaine? All of the above?:paranoid

I have it too. My blood sugar is under control now. I'm hoping maybe once I've lost this weight that I'll get pregnant (and actually stay pregnant, not miscarry in the first trimester). We'll see...

Exercise definitely makes a difference for me on how fast I lose. It also makes a difference in my energy level -- a BIG difference, and when I'm getting my workouts in, my Water intake increases too. I also make better food choices. So you'd think I'd be more consistent with it, but over the holidays my schedule got all discombobulated. I'm starting to pick up with it again and am already feeling better. I was at a New Years party tonight and the kids were doing DDR. I'm thinking of getting one of those, anyone have one and like it? (DDR = Dance Dance Revolution, for those who haven't seen it / heard of it. A console game with a pad you put on the floor and you have to try and follow the moves on the screen.)

Great news! :banana:

I'm so sorry Crystal. It's so hard to let a beloved pet go.

Well, you're definitely odd... No, I wouldn't count you in the "complication" group -- I think you have something else going on with your body. Is the thyroid medication helping at all yet? I haven't read all the posts around here lately, sorry if that's already answered somewhere...

It's one of the "stages of banding" - shortly after surgery you wonder whether you made the right choice. I marked where you are in red, below. Hang in there! ---------------------------------------------- From: "Jessie H. Ahroni" (on SmartBandsters Yahoo Group) SUBJECT: Stages of Banding Discovering the Band Wondering if this is for me Investigation Doing serious research Joining a support group Getting hopeful Finding a doctor Shock at the price Deciding to do it Making the arrangements Wondering if you made the right decision Getting nervous Going ahead with it Waking up and wondering what the hell you did to yourself Post-op discomfort Month of liquids- not being able to strictly adhere Wondering if you've been scammed again Seeing a little success Getting your first fill Changing your eating habits Seeing more success Getting second fill Really losing Seriously changing your eating habits Being totally euphoric about your weight loss Changing your thinking about eating Wanting to tell every fat person you meet about the band Realizing you really can't eat Worrying about nutrition Learning to eat healthy and wise Finding other ways to meet your emotional needs Realizing it takes a long time to lose 100lbs Trudging along My clothes are too big Buying new clothes Oops, I bought too much too soon...now these are too big Buying more clothes Getting near goal Enjoying all the compliments Feeling successful Getting aggressive Not taking crap from anybody Realizing you can be assertive without steam rolling everybody Finding balance Wondering what comes next **There are other stages and everybody does not go through them in the same order or even go through all the stages. Some people might have stages to add....and there is some looping back and forth. But these are common stages that most Bandsters go through.

I think it's nice to feel the physical hunger before eating but not that constant head hunger. It makes me feel "normal" -- like I felt when I was a kid.

I got 1.5cc's on my first fill (4cc band) and was still wide open. I went to 1.75cc on my next fill and it helped for a few weeks, then I was wide open again (even though I only lost 7 lbs during that time). Last Thurs I got another fill and I'm up to 2cc's now. This is definitely helping. But I don't have "restriction" in the sense of how I heard it described by the bandsters at the seminar I went to. They were saying that they hit a hard stop pretty quickly, as well as describing PB'ing on certain types of foods. I have never hit a hard stop nor PB'd. At this last fill I was told that eventually I'd end up with a fill level where bread, tougher meat, stringy veggies, etc would give me problems and I would be more likely to hit a hard stop. I'm just not there yet.

I have wine on occasion with no problem. Not very often though, maybe twice a month? (except when I was on that cruise in Nov; we had wine every night with dinner! lol) With alcohol I try to watch for both calories and impaired judgement -- i.e. I've heard many people say that they end up eating more at dinner when they have alcohol before or with the meal. At support group someone mentioned that they enjoy a glass of wine before dinner when they eat out with friends because they are tight and it relaxes them enough that they don't have problems with anything getting stuck. I'm not tight enough to have had anything get stuck anyway, so I can't corroborate.

I like the longer challenges too, but either way I'll be participating. I'm finding it motivating. Plus, I've noticed that I feel like I'm not losing weight, but when I log my weight here and look what I've lost during the challenge time it reminds me that yes indeed I have been losing, it just hasn't been a steady every-week loss. So count me in! See you next week when our End-of-2005 challenge ends!

A fill (or more than one!) will make a HUGE difference, trust me. That's the way the band works. Just you wait and see. So you've been banded since the beginning of August but have not gotten fills?

I was drinking normally pretty soon after surgery. I just used a regular Water glass and sometimes a straw, for the cold stuff. For hot, I used a regular Soup bowl or coffee mug. Unless you've got extreme swelling, liquid goes right through the band. You should be able to "drink" a normal serving of soup, juice or Protein drink -- no need to be limiting to a shotglass full. [if they are telling you that at your surgery center, then I suspect they are primarily used to working with gastric bypass patients, not bandsters.] Don't "overstock" on liquids, as the phase goes by really fast and then you need to avoid liquid calories after that. For the first couple of days, all I wanted was chicken broth. After that, I tried to have caloric liquids at "mealtimes" and non-caloric the rest of the time, so I didn't end up consuming too many calories. Good luck on your surgery!!