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I got my band in January 2008 and I ended up losing about 70 lbs. At my lowest I was still really overweight, but my diabetes is now gone, I have more energy and I just feel better. I hovered around the same weight for close to 2 years... losing a pound or 2, gaining up to 6 pounds but then having it come down again. I wanted to lose more, but quite frankly I was content enough with my life where it was at. At this point I can't even remember what my band is filled to. The last time I went in for a fill was about 18 months ago... the person that does the fills where I went made me feel like the biggest loser (not the good kind) ever. I got lectured about how my food choices are why I haven't lost more weight and that I wasn't going to be successful if my form of exercise was working in my yard (which, mind you I had never done before that year because I never had the energy). She flat out told me that she wasn't going to give me much of a fill and I did not lose any additional weight after that last fill. But it has left me not wanting to go back. I do realize that I have restriction and I need to make better choices. The last several months for me have been quite challenging, realizing there is a problem with my 7 year old son to getting him diagnosed with ADD. A husband that I am more and more unhappy with. I have found myself making more and more bad choices where food is concerned... and I just can't figure out how to get off this ride. That is my question today... aside from getting a fill... what have people done to successfully get themselves back on track and moving in the right direction.. because it has always seemed to me that when I start going down this path it's the hardest thing to get going in the right direction again because I know I will miss eating whatever I want. I have gained about 15 lbs from the point that I was content to live with and my pants are tight and I am just hating the choices I am making, and how I feel. So at this point, any suggestions for what has really worked for you would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for taking the time to give your input!! Today was better than the last several weeks and I plan to continue to move in the right direction.

Sounds like you have the blending/pureeing thing under control, but I will tell you that I LOVE my magic bullet for making smoothies. It is so much easier to deal with than a regular blender. Prior to having the magic bullet I would not make a smoothie because I did not want to deal with getting out the giant blender and then having to clean the darn thing.

Will you keep us posted about how successful the complete unfill is? I've been having heartburn (without neausea) so wondering if I'm going to have to follow this path. Thanks!! And good luck to you!

Banded more than 2 years ago... have lost 70-80 lbs since. Still have plenty to go. Last fill was just over a year ago. At that time I remember having occassional heartburn. But now I'm having it almost daily. Omeprazole usually takes care of it and I'm taking it 1-2 times per day as needed. I can still eat and drink. I am sure the advice will be to call my doctor, which I will do if need be... but they are 90 miles 1 way and I have to take a day off work to have an appt with them and I know if I call them about it they will almost certainly tell me to come in and I really would prefer not to if I can avoid it. So, wondering what cause for concern I might have... what related to the band might be causing the heartburn after all this time?

I have spent the last 5 weeks, 7 hours per day/5 days per week in a training class. The side affect was that I munched constantly to help me stay awake. I have never been a fast loser, but I have lost or maintained consistently for the last two years. This is the first time I have actually gained weight since before I got my band. I am up firmly 6 pounds in 5 weeks. I still have another week left in my current training class and my supervisor just informed me that she is going to be putting me in at least two additional 1 week classes within the next several weeks. I am completely discouraged and feeling depressed about this which is making me want to eat more. I have been shocked by how much I have eaten over the course of the last several weeks. I haven't felt this drive to eat so consistently for a very long time and I don't like it!!! Anybody have suggestions or could provide encouragement or anything else you can think of to get me moving back in the right direction I would really appreciate it!! Thanks!

I am really ticked off after my last fill and I decided that I have to vent. So I'm going to try to make a long story short. I live 2 hours from where I get my fills.... and lately I've been broke so it was a big decision for me to get to the clinic to get my last fill. But I felt strongly it was time so I scheduled the appt for this past Tuesday. I get into the room where they do the fill and "The Queen of Fills" comes in and starts drilling me about my lifestyle. I suddenly feel like I'm 12 years old and my mother has just caught me eating something I shouldn't. She asks me if I know how many calories I have to be consuming to maintain my current weight, she grills me about the amount of exercise I'm doing. She tells me that I should be able to lose 2 pounds per week if I was eating an appropriate diet and getting exercise. Then she tells me that she doesn't know if I should get a fill, but instead modify my lifestyle. I told her that I would like to at least get a little bit of a fill. So... she fills the syringe making it clear that they will be doing a fill on me today of no more then .5 cc. I felt totally humiliated when I left there.... and I got the joy of spending 2 hours driving home thinking about it. When I got home I wanted to eat everything that wasn't nailed down. I've actually gained weight since my fill. I realize that when I got the band I thought I would do better then I have, but after a 70 lb weightloss I feel so much better then I did. I eat much less and am far more active then I was before. But I left there feeling like crap. Like the 70 lbs that I'm down is worth nothing. To end, I cannot help but wonder if she gave me a fill or just went through the motions so that I would think she gave me a fill. So far as I can tell I have no more restriction then I did Monday night, only a waste of my time, my money and a new feeling of failure. Anybody else been through this type of situation? My aunt told me that she thinks I should write this woman to let her know she may need to work on her style. Thanks for "listening". :smile:

I agree... I really wouldn't have minded the message so much if it had been packaged better. I don't think a person should walk away from a fill feeling like a giant loser (and not the good kind of loser)!

Might call your doctor... for this experience to be so sudden and drastic. Of course if you have lost a bunch of weight since your last fill then that could also explain the loosening. However, the reason I say this is because I have heard that erosion can be painless and cause people to feel little or no restriction. That's probably not it, but better to be safe then sorry!

So next one is June 29th?

Had one last night, first time. Couldn't tell if it was from h'roids and on the outside, or in the stool itself. I don't feel sick. Any thought? Thanks!

Thanks all for your concern! I really do know this is not an internet discussion. I suspected it was a roid... but I have some anxiety issues that I deal with so my mind always goes to worst case scenerio and I'm imagining the inside if my stomach bleeding from the band and all that. No sign of blood today (it was bright red). If it reappears I will most definitely call the doctor... but also didn't know who to start with... my gp or my band doc.

Thanks all for your concern! I really do know this is not an internet discussion. I suspected it was a roid... but I have some anxiety issues that I deal with so my mind always goes to worst case scenerio and I'm imagining the inside if my stomach bleeding from the band and all that. No sign of blood today (it was bright red). If it reappears I will most definitely call my doctor... but also didn't know who to start with... my gp or my band doc.

Anybody else experienced bloody stool? Just happened last night and I couldn't tell if it was from the stool itself or maybe a h'roid. I don't feel ill. Of course this stuff always happens to me right before the week-end so now I'm freaking out a little! Thanks!

Also a desk job... had surgery Thurs. Definitely felt up to working on Monday, but had taken that off. I believe I went back the Weds after the surgery.

Check out unjury. Of all the Protein Drinks I tried I liked theirs the best. But my suggestion on Protein drinks is don't go crazy buying them. 10 months later I still have a ton because I got 3 very large containers of non-unjury. Unjury has a chicken protein broth and you will definitely want something savory since most things liquid come in the form of sweet. Best of luck!

I was banded 10 months ago and have lost about 50 lbs since the day of my surgery. At 3 months I was one po'd person because the weight loss was so slow and my doctor's office was not willing to be more agressive with the fills. My opinion is that if you're able to eat a pretty good portion of food (even if it's not as much as it was before surgery), and you're not losing weight then it's time for a fill. So definitely see if your doctor's office is willing to do an adjustment. Stay on top of getting fills. If you get back to being able to eat a normal size portion and you're not losing... get back in. I just had my 7th fill in a 14 cc band-putting me at 8 cc's and I really can tell the difference in my portions far more then I have after any other fill. People are right about the exercise, but I can see where you're coming from. The truth is that the more weight you lose the more energy you're going to have to get out and exercise.

I got on the scale just now (at the end of the day) and the scale said 298.0. This is the first time I have weighed less then 300 lbs in the last 10 years. Ten years ago I made it to 294 with WW and then began the spiral back up the scale. This time I feel like I am just getting started. I am so happy for this victory that I just had to take a moment to post this celebration with people who understand that Yes, being 298 is still fat (when you aren't in the NFL), but being under 300 lbs for the first time in a really long time feels great! Thanks for being there for me!

I have the 14 cc band and my doctors policy was to fill 3 cc's the first fill, 1 month later 2 cc's, 1 month later 1 cc and then 1/2 cc as needed after that. The first 3 fills did almost nothing for me and I was frustrated and disgusted that they would not bend from their internal policy. I started trying to find someone that would do a fill for me and after quite a bit of looking I did find someone who has been doing lap band for a long time and is very knowledgeable about weight loss in general. I had only lost about 20-30 lbs 5 months after my surgery and he was not too thrilled by that because he said the first 6 months are critical because our bodies figure out what we've done and start working around it. He was willing to be more agressive, but unfortunately he did not have fluoroscopy and he was not able to access my port. I went back to my surgeon and decided that instead of getting discouraged with this process I would just start going ahead and scheduling each fill as soon as I could to get my band to be useful. If your doctor refuses to fill more then 1 cc at a time, try to work within that and don't get too discouraged or allow yourself to stop getting fills as I did for a while. The 4th fill I had back with my surgeon was very helpful to me and with a change to a higher Protein lower carb food plan I have been more successful in the last 2 months then I was in the first 6 months. Think about how long you've been overweight.... in the grand scheme of things if it takes 6-8 months to get your band adjusted to a useful point then it's still not that long. I know if you're like me, it's hard during this time because people look at you like you're a failure because they think of weightloss surgery and imagine gastric bypass patients. I hated going through that and I think that plays a huge role in making this period so frustrating... but do your best to forget about what everybody else is thinking. In a way I am glad for the slow weight loss now because it has allowed my brain time to keep up with what my body is doing. It feels great to be losing weight now after the initial period where everybody was looking at me funny. Good luck to you.

I am losing weight right now (about 15 lbs in the last month), and I do have restriction, but I can still eat a full size meal without any problems. My PA that does my fills has warned me that I shouldn't be eating more then 1/2-1 cup per meal, but I think I would still be hungry if I limited to that, and I most certainly wouldn't feel satisfied. She has warned me that eating more may cause the band to slip. There are no foods that I have found that I cannot eat at all. I did have bread get stuck once and had to bring it back up when I ate a sandwich too fast. Ever since that painful experience with the bread I've been afraid to get a fill and find out what it really means to have restriction. I'm stuck between the desire to increase my weight loss by attaining the "sweet spot" and being afraid that I will hurt myself if I have more restriction then I do now because I am now so used to getting away with eating anything. Some of the stories I've heard about sliming, pb's, stuck food etc are freaking me out. I'm wondering when others choose to go for fills.

Thanks for the response... that is kind of what I was thinking. I wasn't wanting to get a fill until I stopped losing weight again, mainly because I didn't want to create a situation where I was having all those side effects. So many people with the band talk about the inability to eat bread and Pasta like it is a good thing, and I really would prefer to be able to eat those things at times. I tend to agree with SHM in that if I am not overfull after a meal and do not have food coming back up and I am not in pain, why would eating more then a cup of food cause slippage?? Every time I go in for a fill I get the 3rd degree about how much I am eating and a lecture if I try to be honest and say I'm eating more then a cup and taking less then 30 minutes per meal. It just makes me want to be less then truthful with them.

I only scanned the posts here, and it didn't look like anybody addressed the issue that is going on. There is a good chance that what you are referring to is addiction jumping. My pastor does a self help support group where he talks about people going from one addiction to another that doesn't peeve people off as much. I would say the majority of us are food addicts. What happens when you can't use food anymore, but you haven't addressed the underlying issue's that caused you to overeat?? Addiction jump. Oprah did a show in the last year or so with women who had WLS, mostly bypass, and the women on her show had become alcoholics. You can also get more into drugs... shopaholic, sexaholic etc etc etc. I went into this surgery knowing that shopping would most likely be my issue because it was an issue before the surgery and of course I can't afford that. I also pre-planned that I would be extra aware of the use of alcoholic beverages.

The PA that does my fills suggested these to me, she said the angel hair pasta was the best of what she had tried. She also said they take some getting used to, but she does use them. I have not yet tried them.

Well... the pain is lessening every day. I haven't called my doctor yet, but I am going to do so tomorrow. I do not want to make the 2.5 hour drive tomorrow (unless they are really concerned), but I do want to find out what I should do if it worsens over the long week-end. Thanks everybody!

Beware---some of this post could be considered TMI! Okay... so yesterday I noticed my stomach aching in the area where I'm sure the band is. Aching with a sharp pain every now and again. Last night it hurt as I was going to sleep, but woke up this morning and it felt better at first but as the day progressed it started to ache again. I was banded in January and had very little restriction until my 4th fill which was last month. I can still eat pretty much anything as long as I am careful with things like bread. So I'm going back in my memory trying to figure out if I should be concerned about this or if it is just muscle ache from being more active then usual. So Sunday... I had a pretty good size Breakfast, which I felt full after eating, but not painfully full and no issue's with backing up. (So here's the tmi) About 2-3 hours after breakfast my husband and I had sex and I was on top for the first time in years :w00t:. Then Sunday night we had pretty vigorous sex again :cool2::embaressed_smile:. Then yesterday early evening we took our son to the park and I decided that I'd race my pre-schooler. It was my first attempt at running in-well-possibly ever. So now my left side is really achy. My stomach around my band, my lower back and my thigh are all achy today. It does not hurt to swallow/eat, but it hurts my stomach and into my left lower back to take a deep breath. I am not having any issues with reflux, pb or vomiting. I was thinking I'd try to stick to mostly liquids for the next day or so (which is nearly impossible for me to do), and then if I am still hurting by Thursday morning I will call my doctor and see what they have to say. So should I be worried?