puddin

I believe God helps those who help themselves, so GOOD FOR YOU for following the directions and doing what you were supposed to, despite the fact that you thought it'd make little difference. This is wonderful news!

Are you in the full liquid phase? If so, I used

Your doc sounds like he wants patients with quick weightloss and the inability to keep it off. With 7-800 calories a day, I'm willing to bet you're forcing your body into starvation mode so your metabolism is slowing down. When we do that we HAVE to keep up the 7-800 calories/day in order to keep from gaining weight (unless you can get your metabolism up again). I think you're doing wonderfully. If anything, eating more could help jumpstart that metabolism again.

Me too. I've been banded for 2.5 months and have only gotten stuck once (and I've had 3 fills). The "stuck" feeling was not a good one, but it only lasted about 5 minutes and was no big deal. I'll never eat tater tots again, though.

Tuesday: Breakfast: Metagenics protien shake Lunch: Leftover Olive Garden smoked chicken & 4 cheese pasta Snack: About 12 almonds Dinner: Balsamic pork tenderloin, salad, broccoli Snack: Spoonful of peanut butter and about 10 chocolate chips

Okay, I'm addicted now too. Damn you!!!

My fills are a bit disconcerting. Not painful. They give me a local anesthetic and then proceed to take the long curvy needle and poke around for about 5 minutes. Tap tap tap. I watch the whole thing because I'm sickeningly fascinated.

Paul Are you a filmmaker? I visited your website. Just wondering. I'm going to USC grad film school next Fall. I love these new collaborative filmmaker ideas like you seem to have on your website. My good friend (who writes about half the scripts we produce) started an Internet movie where he set up the premise and the characters and people can submit their own clips of the movie. From there we piece it together. It gets pretty hilarious! He's got the same thing going with a machinima movie. On another note, good luck with your surgery! It's never as bad as we think it'll be. Focus on that new, sexy you!

That is very strange for you to be eating that much, following the rules, and STILL have your hair falling out without losing a ton of weight. Have you been weight training? Maybe you're gaining muscle or have gained back the Water weight lost after surgery. I've heard of many patients who lose hair after surgery as a result of the anesthesia. Perhaps it's surgery related and not band related. How do your clothes fit? It definitely sounds like you need another fill if you can eat 2 cups at a time and get hungry between meals. It must be frustrating to have to wait so long between fills - ecspecially in the beginning when you seem to need them more often. I do know that when a bandster follows the rules like you seem to be doing, it's inevitable that you WILL be successful. There just may be a few speedbumps along the way; that doesn't mean you won't reach your final destination. I believe you'll be a huge success story! You've already been successful!

That's so amazing, ecspecially when you're ALREADY his patient and chances are you don't have a ton of other options besides to go to this particular doctor for fills. In a world where human kindness and compassion is dwindling, it's so great to hear these kinds of stories. Thanks for sharing.

I'm not looking for anyone to congratulate me on this - I didn't do anything! However, I'm definitely enjoying it while it lasts; I suppose I'm just fearing the dreaded PB. Vines, I have great restriction and I'm losing the 1-2 pounds per week, so I don't think that's what it is. Mostly I was just wondering if this was the same experience everyone else had, and when the band finally reared it's ugly head.

I got another fill last week, so I'm now at 1.5cc's. I think this is wonderful restriction for me as I can only eat 3/4-1 cup at a time, pretty much all times of the day. I can eat ANYTHING without any troubles. I've never gotten "stuck" or PBd or vomited. When's the other shoe going to drop here? Good restriction; losing weight; no PBs - Is it going to always be this way? Was it like this for you? When are all these band problems going to start? Don't get me wrong. I'm so thankful to have it this way, but I'm anxious to know if the honeymoon will end.

Oh yeah. I have several of these around my office. I even took the time once to put a sign on the shredder that said, "Employee Suggestion Box." I got in trouble for stickin' it to the Man. That's what it's all about! Hey, if anyone wants to know the URL for these it's www.despair.com. I figured I'd at least plug the company you're stealing pictures from. Have fun!

I think Jack's on crack again and is seeing dragons. Drugs are bad, Jack.

I've never had discomfort or a PB of any sort - I just hiccup every once in awhile (is that a soft PB?). I got my 2nd fill yesterday and today I had some chicken, acorn squash, and some green beans for dinner and nothing was a problem. I've had sandwiches with doughy bread, tough meat, everything. Nothing is a problem. I can only eat about 3/4 to 1 cup at a time so I think I have decent restriction. But who knows, the honeymoon could end with the next fill.

Oh yes, the lap band video. I watched this the night before my surgery, while eating a bucket of KFC. Fried chicken will never quite look the same to me.

NO OFFENSE TO CURVES because they've done a lot of good for many people, but it didn't do a damn thing for me. The idea is quality, but I found the results to be slow. I just couldn't work out hard enough there. Plus, the idea of staring at the same pieces of equipment day in and day out was depressing for me. Since joining a "real" gym I've seen much better results, mostly because I'm using the freeweights now. But really, that's all you need for weight training: Freeweights and a bench (and an iPod for musical motivation). I also found that interval training has made me focus much harder; it's made me more efficient with my time at the gym. Now Synchronous Pez Dispensing, that's a REAL sport. Anybody can dispense, but can they do it synchronously?

I was up and going the day after surgery. I did take a week off of work, and probably only needed 3 days, but I have an office job. If you have a job where you're up and on your feet all day they recommend 2 weeks off of work; 1 week for office jobs. The referred shoulder pain was the worst part for me. If you can afford to take a week off of work it's worth it. Many people here even go back after a couple of days. Good luck!

Thanks everyone. These are fantastic tips! I'll definitely try them. Actually, since my 1cc fill the reflux got a little better, so Yvonne may be on to something. I go in for another 1cc next week so perhaps that will resolve it. I had a lot of reflux before the band, no reflux right after I got the band, and 4 weeks after surgery I started having it again. Perhaps the swelling just went away and I needed more fill to keep "down" the reflux. Sarah, I had always wondered about the liquid bit. I'd heard not to EAT after 7pm, but I didn't know what the consensus was about liquid. This is very useful. Thanks!

Okay, I posted this on the reflux poll but wasn't getting any responses so I thought I'd ask it in a new thread: I just recently started to have reflux again. I had 1 cc put in the other day for the first time. The nurse didn't want to put in the "rest" because of my reflux. I can eat quite a bit, about 2 cups, so I'm not too tight. The doctor and nurses were perplexed that I'm having it all of a sudden. I didn't have any reflux the first 4 weeks after my surgery. I don't understand. The doc said I didn't have any hernias. Could I have an ulcer? Anyone have any ideas?

I just recently started to have reflux again. I haven't had a fill yet (I go in next week) and I can eat a lot: 3/4 as much as I could before surgery. The doctor and nurses were perplexed that I'm having it all of a sudden. I didn't have any reflux the first 4 weeks after my surgery. I don't understand. The doc said I didn't have any hernias. Could I have an ulcer? Anyone have any ideas?

I read posts here quite often and almost always, without fail, I see the words "I feel like a failure" in a thread. Let's stop this self-destructive behavior RIGHT NOW! Let's band together (no pun intended) and tell whatever friggin demon lives in our heads to go to hell! Despite whatever binging or poor eating habits we may have (and we ALL have them or we wouldn't be here) this thought process just CAN'T be good. I can only imagine that thinking you're a failure causes you to ACT like a failure. If we think it, we make it happen. So, let's choose to change our bad habits, not look back on the bad things we think we've done, and look to to the future! I've made horribly bad choices this past week but I'm CHOOSING not to feel bad about it. I can only re-commit myself and move onward. So how about it?

My first most embarassing moment was when I was 17 and in my high school swimming class. We all had to dive off the diving board while our team sat at the bottom and critiqued our dive. I happened to be on my period that day and was wearing a tampon. So I was at the top of the diving board when someone yells, "Hey cupie doll! Can I pull your string?" Everyone looked up, I looked down to see the string sticking out of my suit. AWFUL! My second most embarassing moment was when I was with a group of friends talking and I felt a spider crawl down my shirt. I started jumping up and down and pulling on my shirt and one of my falsies fell out. My friend DJ picks it up off the ground and says, "well that's a BIG BUG!"

Harley, I think you might be thinking of the Uric Acid kind. If you have stones caused by uric acid you can actually take a pill that will dissolve them. For calcium, the best thing to do is drink tons of Water. Also, if you don't get much calcium in your diet your body can try to extract the calcium from your bones which is harder on the body and apparently can cause a buildup in the kidney. As for me, I'm positive it's hereditary. My dad gets them constantly and I get them about every six months, though usually not this bad. The stone finally passed for me THANK GOODNESS! I'd like to give it up to my peeps Percoset and Morphine.

Let me elaborate on what a kidney stone is: A kidney stone is when your body has a buildup of either Calcium deposits or uric acid in the kidney. After a certain length of time the kidney releases the "stone" of calcium or uric acid. The stone looks like a porcupine, hence the excruciating pain as it passes through the ureter. The ureter is a tube that goes from your kidney to your bladder. The pain doesn't really occur when the stone is still in your kidney, it occurs when it passes through the ureter.