lapband78

Forgetting for a split second you have a lap band is the worst! I was hungry I stuffed my mouth with food, chewed a little and swallowed and OMG!!! I take my lap band seriously and I am always trying to be careful and eat correctly. This is NOT my proudest moment. The food got stuck, there was pain! like my upper body was going to explode! I was able to get rid of the food without throwing up by using the muscles (that I didn't know I had in there) and gagged a few times, but did not throw up. It took about an hour, a painful hour! Still worth it having the lap band. Yesterday I went out to meet my family at a camping trip out in the country. We had some BBQ and while everyone stuffed their faces with food, I just ate a little. And I had enough food, not starving myself. Then I looked at them still eating (it took me about 20 minutes to finish my portion) and thought about how odd it is, not eating so much. I used to be the one who ate the most of all of them. And I realized that I used to be a slave to food. And how much of my time went about eating and thinking about food. I'm having my third fill on Wednesday next week. I have to talk to my doctor about my trip overseas to the Mediterranean sea. I am somewhat nervous about it because you eat differently when travelling. It's going to be hot (Ice cream and cold drinks) and then unusual eating habits. The trip is going to last 2 weeks, I hope he can give me some good advice.

I've also been giving this a lot of thought so you are not alone I liked having a beer and beer is the drink I have when I go out with friends. But what to do.. Beer is the most inexpensive drink I think so it was easy to buy some I also love all carbonated alcoholic drinks, but no more ugh:( I think I will go for Smirnoff Ice. I like that drink. It's more expensive but it's refreshing

Adult Coloring books!! I love it! Helps with anxiety, being restless and is just wonderful

My doctor said no to any carbonated drinks because it will make you feel bloated. I think that's not going to get better. I don't even dare to try.

The longer time is passes since the surgery, the less stuff there is to blog about. This Friday it will be 11 weeks since I had the lap band. I‘m still very happy about the lap band. It has changed my life in so many ways. Yesterday and today I've had blocking issues. The food gets stuck, even though I chew and chew and chew. Today at work we had chicken breast for lunch but it was dry and I could feel that I was a bit tight. I just stopped eating the chicken I just ate the veggies and potato. I don't want anyone to know I have the lap band so I have to be careful not to get BP at work. I can have a bite of chocolate or a small slice of a cake without wanting to have more. I feel that for the first time in about 17 years or more, I can eat like a normal person. I eat the same portions as my „skinny friend“, no wonder she‘s „skinny“ I use the „“ because to me she‘s skinny but she‘s a normal looking girl. I also love that when there are deserts or a cake, I am at piece with just one slice, small slice. Before the lap band, I was always hoping that people wouldn‘t take big slices so that I could have 2 or 3 or even 4. DON‘T EAT MY CAKE! I was always worried that I wouldn‘t have enough. Today I find my self sharing! I had some people over for dinner and I had a dessert. I actually gave them the rest to take home. OMG that would NEVER have happened before. I would have eaten the rest alone! Ok let‘s talk about summers. This season is difficult. People have more time to prepare stuff to eat. Always baking and having people over for lunch or dinner. And ice cream omg!! seriously who can say no to ice cream. I‘m not behaving well in this area. But I‘m still loosing weight and my doctor is happy about my process. But then again, I don‘t eat like I‘m starving. I just have a taste. I bought two sorbet ice creams in May. Small boxes and they are still in my freezer, I haven‘t had half of it. Before surgery I would probably have bought 4 or 5 more boxes or more.. My biggest problem still is that I‘m eating too fast!! And oh my the PB is terrible! I‘m finding out more and more what I can‘t eat and I avoid that food. Because PB is not worth it. I‘ve also found out that if I get too hungry, I eat faster and I get PB. I have to remind my self always to eat sloooooooow! That‘s it for now J

I can't say I was depressed but I was sad. I was in pain, specially gas pain and being on fluids and soft food was not a fun diet. I often thought about why I let go like that, why did I allow myself to get so fat. Why didn't I care about myself more when I was in normal weight. But I got over that and accepted that this is my journey, I can't change the past but I can change the future. Today, 2 and half months after my lap band surgery, I am extremely happy. My weight is coming off. Even if I have difficult moment eating with co workers or family (because of food getting stuck or PB), it's still worth it. Enjoying my normal relationship with food. Food is not my best friend anymore

Same here, not to get too personal. But here, I don't mind any questions. If people are offended, they can just move forward to another topic

Oh my your comments were so funny haha. Why? because I can relate to so many of them. Like the restaurant booth thing. Common!! make a larger one. Terrible feeling to go to a restaurant and half of your stomach is actually sitting on the table haha. Yeah I'm trying to see the humor in the issues we have. But they still are mentally difficult! Not having to buy clothes at a store that only carries Big sizes. Being able to sit everywhere and not worry about if the chair is to narrow Not worrying about plane seats Worrying if I'm walking like a penguin. Taking space from others while sitting on a sofa or at a bus.

If there is a place where you can ask any question at all, that's here. I think we should all ask questions and be answered without any judgement. We are here to get help and support I believe that you should try your best to get plastic surgery if it helps how you feel after a weight loss surgery. Specially since my friend got a gastric bypass and decided to keep his extra skin to remind him of his hard work. Today he's more over weight than ever. I believe that it's because he never felt good with him self. But we are all different

I got my second fill on July 8th. I now have 6 cc/mm in my band. I was very very nervous since the first fill was very painful because of the area around the port being swollen. I had a huge black mark around it for about 2 weeks. Now I didn't feel a thing and I could drink a cup of water without any problems. Dr. Paul O'Brien is one of the doctors that has developed the lap band, he says that you can drink with food according to a new study. My doctor follows his procedure. I asked him about what he thought about drinking water with food. My doctor said that if I had to drink water, I should always wait for 30 sec after I swallowed my last bite. I was very happy since sometimes and some foods I just have to have a drink. Like if the food is too dry, spicy, hot/warm. I had a tiny bit of water with a spicy salsa.. it caught me by surprise. I don't like spicy food so the salsa was thrown out. I was at the canteen at work and didn't know it was going to be that spicy. But I'm going to be careful with drinking while eating still. Second question, can I take Ibuprofen. Yes I can!! But only in liquid hmmm that sucks because normally Ibuprofen liquid is made for children so the dosage is very small. That means I have to take a LOT of liquid to get 200 -400 mg. So if you live in America, UK or Spain and know about a high dosage Ibuprofen Liquid, please let me know. I have a bad back and need my Ibuprofen from time to time. Third question, what does my doctor feel about bread and pasta. Well he said they can cause blockage and he doesn't like bread at all (for us). I asked if he was ok with me trying it out to see if it would cause blockage. I told him I was having a craving for pizza. He told me that us humans, we love to eat the food love. I could try pizza but he wanted me to limit how often I eat it, if I could. So tonight, we grilled some Pizza on our BBQ. We made a very thin crust pizza for me. I had two slices and it went down without any problems. But I was chewing a lot!!! I was still on my first slice when everyone else had about 3-4 or more (didn't count). I didn't eat the end of the pizza since the crust was thicker. But omg!! I can eat pizza yay. I'm going to limit pizza eating though. Maybe once a month. But then again I don't know how I will be after the next fills. My doctor was happy about my weight loss. He told me it was a slow process. I'm ok with it being a slow process since the skin will adjust more. But I can already see my skin becoming loose on some parts of my body. I see more body change than weight change. I still have to learn how to chew slowly. PB (Productive burping) is terrible!! I hate when that happens, specially around people that don't know that I have a lap band. It happens maybe twice a week and I normally have to spit out the food or kinda pressure the food up in to my mouth and spit out. Why? because when food gets stuck, there is a lot of slimy stuff there as well and it makes it worse. So I like to get the slimy stuff out. I don't know where the slimy stuff comes from but it doesn't help the food going through the band. Other than the PB, I'm so happy I got the lap band! So happy! even if I could never eat bread or pizza again, I'm still happy

The past week has been a HUGE test for me. I don't eat candy often, about 3 times a year. Christmas, Easter and then on one family trip every summer. I just came back from the family trip. Before the trip, I went shopping for food. I bought some candy, but only like 5% of what I usually buy. I also prepared egg muffins (egg, bacon, ham, veggies) for breakfast. I can tell you that the trip wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I ate VERY little candy. I came home with almost all of it. That's the first time!! I did have Ice cream twice. But food was more difficult. There was always BBQ, every night, with baked potatoes, veggies and meat. Then there was some snacking through out the day, something I haven't done since getting banded. The last day was specially bad. We had some cake, Dorritos, Dip (cream cheese, salsa). Wow she's bad you might think, but I did have a taste of it all but didn't eat a lot. AND it was my birthday 5 days ago. I bought a cake, because you have to have a cake when it's your birthday! But I didn't even bring it out!! I didn't feel like having a cake. But I brought it out the day after. I also brought some other sweets to have at my birthday but they all came back home with me. Now the result of the test. I should have done less snacking. I can eat more now than after my first fill so I ate bigger portions than I'm used to. I don't think I failed though but I've learned a lot through this week. I went on the scale when I came back home. I hadn't gained any weight but I hadn't lost any weight either. I have a lot of edema, something I haven't had a lot of since the surgery. Now it's back to work, eat 3 portions a day. No snacking. I have my second fill on Monday. I'm a bit stressed since the first fill was very uncomfortable. I have a few questions for my doctor: Dr. O'Brien says you can drink with food.. what will my doctor say What happens if I eat a thin crust pizza (I'm craving it) Can I try some pasta? What about toasted bread? I'm noticing now that my diet was based on bread! And after 2 months of not eating bread, I'm feeling so much better. No stomach pains like before. So I will NEVER go back to my past bread diet. But 1 slice of pizza... grrr I want. Edit: Today Friday is my step on the scale day and I am so surprised but I did loose 1 kg this week or 2,2 pounds. I am so surprised that I turned backwards on the scale, and forwards and I would have stood on my hands if I could. This means I have lost a total of 8 kg or 17,6 pounds since I got the lap band So happy

Ok I know it's only been 6 weeks since I got the lap band but I have to tell you that I'm very very happy I've had my ups and downs like everyone else but overall I'm very happy. One of the reasons for why I had the lap band is so that I can eat and have a normal relationship with food. About 3 years ago, I went to rehab where they thought you about food and exercise. It was a preparation for Gastric bypass surgery. There were 8 weeks in patient program and then a few times we had to go to meetings. I'm still in the program but I said no to the Gastric bypass even though it was for free. Instead I had a lap band that costs me about $9000 because the insurance doesn't cover lap band procedures. Call me crazy but I didn't want an invasive surgery. At rehab they said that you can allow your self to eat everything you want, just very small amounts and not all the time. Of course they say that you should try to leave unhealthy stuff alone but if you really really want some, then take a walk to try to forget and if you don't, then you can have just a small amount. This shouldn't be a punishment. Now I probably sound like I'm not ready for lap band but I am. I stopped drinking soft drinks 4 years ago, I only eat candy 3 times a year (Christmas, Easter and one family vacation). But what I want is to go to a birthday party where there is a cake and just have a tiny slice and that's it. Or if I am at someones house and they offer me some candy, I can have one piece and that's it. Before I would probably have ate the whole cake!! (well not really, I'm polite haha) Yesterday it was the Icelandic Independence day and I had the task to go to the bakery and buy the cakeS. I bought two and I had a slice of each, but the slices were so tiny that you wouldn't call it a slice. I ate it and I was done. I didn't even want more. Before the lap band I would probably have had 3 slices of EACH cake!! That's what I call a healthy relationship with food. Of course I know that if I'm not careful, I won't loose weight as quickly. But like with the cakes yesterday, I ate the "slices" as my second meal of the day. I only had 3 meals. I calculate how the day is going to be. My family is very proud of me and see how much I've changed. I also see it. My skin has changed, feels "bigger". I'm down from XXL in pants to XL and I've officially lost 6kg or 13.2 pounds since the surgery. My second fill (and I need it) will be on July 7th. I actually can't wait since I feel I can eat more and the hours between lunch and dinner are difficult. So I'm trying to delay lunch so that there will be less hours between. That's helping a little. Oh and I'm making seriously good egg muffins/cupcake for breakfast (not cakes, just like omelette in a muffin/cupcake pan). And also, I was watching the 8 golden rules video and Dr. Paul O'Brien says you can drink while eating yay!! so happy about that. But my doctor is following Dr. Paul O'Brien and recommends listening to him