divaofsongs

I have had my band for almost 6 years now and have been through a series of ups and downs that I will not get into right now. You can read my last post about my journey so far if you want but I will say this..................every person is different and every person's amount of fill and number of cc's in their band is different. I have a 14 cc band and had lost about 150 pounds a few years back. At that time I had 12.5 cc's of fill in my 14 cc band with very tight restriction. I had to have all the fill removed 2 years ago and I gained all the weight back. I just had the band refilled again on Monday and I only have 6 cc's in and have the same restriction that I had several years ago when I had 10 cc's of fill in my band. There are a lot of variables. Some people have more fat tissue around their stomachs, where the band is placed than others. Clearly over the last 2 years, I have managed to accumulate a lot of fat tissue around my stomach for 6 cc's to give me good restriction when 2 years ago it would not have given me any. Please, please slow down, relax and take your time. You sound a lot like me and I almost died twice because I was eager to lose weight fast and I abused and misused the band fore years. Read my post here if you want to know the story.http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/175029-starting-over-after-almost-dying-twice-and-gaining-back-150-pounds/ Most of all, good luck to you and if you need to chat or want some advice, I am here for you.

Thank you to everyone who watched the show. I appreciate the support.

Thanks and congrats on your loss as well. My episode airs on Nov. 3rd.

I am really starting to worry about this show airing. It is so personal and I reveal so many personal things during the taping to the psychologist. I talk about being molested and bullied in school. It is just starting to dawn on me that EVERYONE in the world will know my business now. I did the show to try to help others and myself. Now that I have "seen" what I am doing, I am hoping to change it. I was throwing up 5-20 times a day, sometimes more, just so I could keep eating and I could have taken out some of the fill but instead I kept making it tighter and throwing up even more. It was very stupid because the doc on the show said that I could rupture my esophogus and die the next time I throw up. That was a wakeup call! I have not binged on slider foods for 6 weeks, have not thrown up on purpose and have lost 30 pounds since they started taping my therapy. I want people to know that even though the band, or any other surgery for that matter may restrict your portionn size, it is still possible to defeat the surgery if you are eating for reasons other than hunger. I am NEVER hungry with the band yet I ALWAYS want to eat. I was only hungry about 10% of the time I ate before the band. I have given so much power to food that it is like a drug to me. I use food to feel better and I use it almost unconsciously to numb myself. I have done a lot of publicity for the show on The Today Show, CNN Joy Behar, local news and others. To my knowledge, I am the only overweight person on the series and certainly the only one with a Lap-Band. I read posts all the time about people struggling with the things I struggle with so I hope it will inspire people to use the band as it is intended and not ABUSE it like I have.

Yes I was, along with another participant and a nutritionist from New York.

Hello everyone, it has been a really long time since I posted but I must say that I was doing quite well until I walked away from the support of this site. I am writing this because I met many wonderful people through this site and wanted to let my friends here know that I will be on a reality T.V. documentary called, "What's Eating You" on E!, November 3rd. It is about extreme eating disorders and I was one of the people they picked for the show. I have been baned since December of 2007 and had lost 150 pounds (with 100 still to go) but then gained back almost 50. Since starting therapy on the show, I have lost about 25 pounds of the 50 that I gained back. Unfortunately, I got the band but never worked on why I was overeating in the first place. I have a 14CC band with 12CC's of Fluid in and can't really eat a lot, yet I have learned to eat around the band with slider foods. I never really ate because I was hungry but because I get some sort of emotional release or "high" when I eat. The band has really helped me to control the portion size but unfortunately, I did not use it the right way. I do believe that without the band, I would have probably been over 500 pounds by now. The band has helped me to be in control, even when I didn't want to be BUT there is a problem when a person GAINS 25 pounds and can only eat 1/4 cup of food at a time. I was one of the "cash pay" patients that did not receive proper aftercare and I think that has contributed greatly to my demise. I controlled my own fills and did not receive any follow up care about nutrition, etc. I hope that the episode will help others who are banded not to make the same negative choices that I have made. I am determined to battle my binge disorder and I will overcome it but I just need to deal with the reasons I am binging.

I have only had fills under flouro and I have had a great deal of success with it. My doctor fills me until I am completely closed off, then he pulls back 1/8 cc at a time until the liquid "just" starts to slowly flow through. I have had great restriction and have never been overfilled. I like flouro because you get a chance to see what is going on inside.

Jasongrove, you have posted a total of 7 times so far on this site and every time you have posted, you have advertised this product in your post and said it is "not a sales solicitation." ??? You are clearly advertising your product and trying to make sales by giving out your e-mail address so you can peddle your product. You should think about paying for advertising space like the rest of the vendors do. No bandster in their right mind would use a bulking agent and stretch their pouch. Get a clue and peddle your glorified Metamucil somewhere else.

May I suggest that you ask your doctor to fill you under flouro or find a fill doctor in your area that will fill you unfer flouro so you can actually see what is going on? I have had all my fills under flouro and I have to say that I think it doesn't even make sense to do a fill without it. It is like hit or miss. Under flouro, you get an accurate picture of your fill and restriction. I hope you get the situation resolved. Keep us posted.

I have 10.25cc's in my 14cc APL band and I have really good restriction. I got my last fill almost 3 months ago and have been super restricted until about 2 weeks ago and now the restriction it is starting to come and go, just like it did before I went in for my last fill. I have a fill appointment on Aug 26th for another fill under flouro.

I also have a 14cc band and was banded in December of 07'. I had the same issues that you are referring to until my last fill 3 months ago bringing me to a total of 10.25cc's and PRESTO! I was at the perfect restriction level. My occassional binges of eating too much were immediatley brought to a screeching hault and I had no choice but to conform to the rules because if I didn't, I would be on my knees, worshipping the porcelain goddess in the bathroom. I would suggest that you find a doctor to fill you under flouro, that way you can rest assured that you have proper restriction.

I am not sure if I am at my sweet spot or not but I have had the same fill of 10.25cc's in my 14cc band now for over 3 months and still have good restriction. It still varies from day to day and morning to evening. However, I physically cannot eat more than 6 oz. of solid food EVER without throwing it up, no matter what time of day it is.

I am the same way. In the morning I am tighter, by mid afternoon I loosen up a bit. The first few weeks after a fill, I cannot eat until around 3 P.M.

I posted this on the other thread but I will post it here too. Hello everyone, I had no idea this area even existed, lol. Glad I found it. Here are my stats 8 months out. Banded on December 13, 2007 by Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver, Co with a 14CC APL Large Lap Band. I have had a total of 6 fills and I am now at 10.25cc's. My restriction is fairly good, although it has been diminishing the past few weeks so I think it is time for another fill soon. I have one scheduled on Aug 26th. I have lost a total of 110 pounds so far and I still have 126 pounds left to lose but I feel GREAT! I have survived mostly on high Protein and low carbs. My diet consists of mainly baked fish, chicken, tuna salad, Protein shakes, scrambled eggs and lots of veggies. I rarely eat Pasta, bread, potatoes, sugar, starches, and other high-carb foods. When I do, my weight loss stalls so I stay away from them. I am hoping to be at goal by next December. Thanks for all the encouraging updates. Keep up the great work everyone.