Wheetsin

Since you said "The port area" I assume you mean sensitivity during sex in the area of the port? If so, I'm over 2 years out and this is still a reality for me. There are some things I can't do, or don't want to, because they will cause port discomfort. But all the other things I'm now able to do again more than make up for it.

This is why I hate duplicate threads. I'm going to answer your response here, because otherwise I'll just get confused. Eating mushies because you're too tight to eat anything else, and eating mushies as a surrogate for solid foods are completely different situations. When a mushy is all that will go down, then you should not force solid foods or (as you saw) you will just get sick. I can't speak for them, but I'd be 99% sure they meant as a rule -- if you can eat a piece of chicken, or mashed potatoes, go for the chicken. If chicken isn't/can't/shouldn't go down, go for something softer. Any Fluid retention could make you tighter, as could probably 20 other variables that people seem to be able to link random tightness with. Something being soup doesn't mean your band can't work. Trust me, I've PBed on soup. It doesn't have to be one extreme or another, but in this case since you yakked like 5 times yesterday, I would stick with liquids today and possibly mushies tomorrow, depending on how you're feeling. You need to give your body time to rest and get rid of the swelling. Having Protein drinks for a day doesn't mean you're breaking your nutritionist's rules of "don't use Protein Drinks for meals" or whatever. There are almost always exceptions. And as I originally answered, you do not sound like you're too tight to me. Being able to eat a pre-op size breakfast has no trace of "too tight" anywhere on it.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I swear I answered this...

Part-time graduate student. I'm done after summer, minus the comps.

I think out of control weight with no intervention from the parents is a form of abuse. If nothing else, it's a medical issue that the parents are not seeking medical help for. Or the equuivalent to taking a child to the doctor, but never following through with a prescription. There is the occasional, very very rare medical reason for obesity. That's where I can see this getting sticky. It's in the US too. 254 lb 7y/o may be taken from home. In the video she claims he eats scant meals, but if you look at her list, it's really the opposite. 4 eggs, cheese, ketchup and soda for Breakfast... for a 7 year old. She may very well think that's normal. Hence one root of the issue.

I'll be straight with you. It doesn't sound like you're too tight when you're eating meals that are closer to pre-op portions. Sometimes we're just tighter some days than others. Many females find that a few days before their period, or the day of, they're largely unable to eat. Yesterday could have just been a "tight day" for you. They don't have to be period-related. A few other things I'm noticing. A lot of the foods you tried to eat yesterday are foods that a lot of people have problems with. If you find you're having a "tight day" don't push it with hard foods, go with something mushy or that you know you can get down. Another - you yakked on sausage, but went on to try eggs. Yakked on eggs, but went on to try shrimp, etc. When you yak on something, that's it for the day, possibly two days if it happens at night. Yakking causes irritation and swelling in the area of the stoma. In other words, if you yak on something, you're that much tighter for a while... so stop trying to eat when you can't do it. Stick with Water and a Protein drink for the day and give your stoma & relevant areas time to heal. I'm seeing some bad habits in your post, e.g. trying to force eating even when you've already yakked several times. I think you'd go far to really learn how to listen to your body and take it easy with food. E.g. a good rule of thumb when you're learning is one bite, then wait 5 minutes. Bite after bite after bite doesn't allow the "uh oh" to register until it's too late.

Clothes on, shoes on.

The band won't do it's job until you're filled and have restriction. Until then, it's on you. Don't freak over weight gain. Gaining weight doesn't mean you're gaining fat. I gained 6 lbs since lastnight, and ate maybe 800 calories yesterday, but drink over a gallon of fluids. Of course I'm going to weigh more until those fluids work themselves out.

There's no set number of calories (e.g. 1000) that's the magic number for everyone here. I'm almost 6' tall and moderatly active. My calorie needs are probably going to be very different from yours, so what I eat has nothing to do with what you should eat. Find your BMR. There are range charts you can find online. If possible, determine your AMR. Then go for something between the two. My BMR is about 1877. When I pay attention to calories (not usually), I try to hit around 50% of my BMR, so roughly 930 calories. Half the BMR, or a threshold between your BMR and AMR (if you can determine it) is generally a good guideline for weightloss.

Vicodin should not be a problem. (It wouldn't hurt the band anyway. The concern is NSAIDS that can lead to ulceration -- on the inside, band is on the outside, Vicodin isn't an NSAID.). Some people have a very hard time with pills. If that's the case, go fir the liquid. Just about any liquid will be fine.

I did not.

I've lost over 150 lbs, have about 45 lbs left to lose - twenty-something to be in the 100s.

Being sick 2 years ago should not impact your surgery unless you're still sick. A nutritionist would not normally make a ruling on whether or not you could have surgery anyway.

I was told no deodorant, just antibacterial soap the morning of. If you're in doubt, why not just call the hospital or your admitting nurse and ask?

Do check the "Life at or near goal" forum. Perhaps more important than "how many make it" is "what reasons do people not make it." I'm trudging alonng. Started the year with roughly 60 lbs left to lose, currently around 45.

Not a whole lot of people active here are 3+ years out. I'm 2+ years out, if you feel that's enough experience to give you an idea of what to expect please feel free to ask some questions. Otherwise, best of luck to you.

Check to see what your surgeon's lifting/weight restrictions include. It should beincluded in their post-op/recovery info, and if it's not, just call and ask. That will help you gauge what you will need.

RE: organic sprays, the one I use is "Breath Tonic" made by Herb Pharm. Ingredients: extracts of peppermint, giner, clove in a base of grain alcohol, vegetable glycerine and distilled water. It's sugar free and non aerosol. It's not the yummiest thing around, but it really works, and tastes better once it has been in your mouth a bit. I get lots of compliments when I use it. :wink2: I picked it up at our local equivaent of Whole Foods. It was pricey (about $8 for a .47 fluid ounce spray), but so is everything there.

Ketones are virtually impossible to escape. You could go to bed with 0, then wake up with some from not eating while you slept. (Morning breath is a variant of ketosis breath). Trace ketones - just up your Water intake or add a few more calories (not additional meals -- think like a glass of milk). If you're worried about it, ask your OB where your ketones were at (they will register from the lab work), and if it's a concern.

I don't drink wine really, I've had some tastes since banding, didn't feel anything. Did it burn you pre-band?

Moved this to the Lounge for you. :wink2: I'm not really good with motivational quotes. I like: "Even sunshine burns if you get too much" "The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese." Do those count? :wink2:

I'll make this as clear as I can, but it's a lot clearer in my head than it will be on "paper" -- methinks. My skin is a joke. While I don't necessarily NEED plastic surgery, it's definitely my only option for something that resembles a human body. I have 40 - 50 pounds left to lose before I'm at my target BMI. When I look in the mirror, it looks to me like there's a lot more than 50 lbs of fat left to lose. This isn't just a distorted body image thing, I really do have a huge stomach, thighs, top part of my butt, etc. I've been looking at various PS websites and a lot of the time when I see someone's "befores" I think -- wow, they're still pretty fat, I wonder why the surgeon didn't make them lose more weight first. Then they lose 11 lbs from surgery and are a sz 6. When I see some of the befores in this forum, I think -- wow, they look kind of like I do, and I'm nowhere near ready for PS yet (in my own mind), I have too much weight to lose. (That's nothing against the pictures here, it's just my frame of reference). Yet the people have their surgeries and look great. I guess I'm just surprised, because sometimes people still look pretty chubby -- like the pannus/abdomen/arms/whatever is still holding quite a bit of fat. I always thought that when I was ready for PS, I would look like a normal person who had a ton of completely flat/deflated skin litterally just hanging off me. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. I see a lot of "after weightloss, before PS" pics that look like this (I don't know if this one is before or after the WLS, but let's use it as a representative): http://www.makemeheal.com/pictures/large/3443 To me, that person's before picture looks like they still have a good bit of weight to lose, and I see a lot of pics like that. Yes, the skin is loose and you can see it hanging, but it's not the utterly flat droopiness I associate with being ready for PS. It looks like there could still be a good bit of fat under the skin (I know some fat is removed too, but that's not the point). The after picture looks great. Alternately, this is more the picture in my head of being ready for PS: http://www.makemeheal.com/pictures/large/227. You'll notice there's a huge difference in the "fullness/emptiness" of the skin. So how did you guys know when it was time for your PS? Was it a matter of reaching some number the PS gave you as a target? Was it deciding on your own that you were ready, and if so, was there a particular "look" (droopy, etc.) that told you that you were ready?

I can't tell you for your case, but I can tell you what I've been told. First, I asked my surgeon about fills & pregnancy (before I became pregnant). At the time, his guidelines were that if 1) morning sickness is not an issue and 2) you can meet your OB's nutriotional guidelines, then he does not think it's necessary to have the fill removed. I'm 8 weeks today. So far I've not had even the most remote sign of morning sickness, knock on wood. I have had a significant decrease in appetite. I really don't want to eat anything, the thought of it puts me out. I've been making sure to get my Vitamins, folate, Omega 3, etc. Yesterday I had my first OB appt and I've lost a little over 10 lbs since learning I was preggo at the start of the month. I mentioned this to the OB and she wasn't concerned. She told me that I still had "plenty of reserves" (gee -- thanks!), and that as long as there were reserves, I didn't need to be too worried about what I was eating because either way the baby would get what it needed. For the last 3 weeks or so, with very rare exception, I've been eating about 3 - 4 oz solid food per day, plus liquids, fresh juices, etc. I've also been trying to get in at least one milk-based pritein drink per day since I'm not a milk drinker, no longer carry the emphasis on Protein that I did within my first year or so pre-op, and would prefer to cut back on the calcium supps a bit. The OB asked what my surgeon advised, and I told her that I haven't called him since getting the positive on the preggo, but that (see guidelines above) was what he he had said previously. She said that sounded fine. I'm sitting at right around 40 - 50 lbs to lose, depending on the scale and the day, so let's say 45 because that's right in the middle. If your ticker is accurate, you have a bit more to lose, so I'd *think* that if my 45 lbs of reserves is enough, you're in a similar boat. But I'm not a doctor, so take that for what it's worth.

One of my favorite quotes. "A lack of planning on your behalf does not constitute an emergency on mine."

One thing I try really hard to avoid, even when I'm super mad, is taking it out on "whomever" I'm talking to. And I try hard to refrain from saying things like, "you guys" or "you" and try to be more neutral... perhaps using the company name or saying "your company." I never used to give a shite about it, they were all employees... then once upon a time I was asked to spend some time on the phones as a customer service agent (I was contracted to redesigning part of the job and the company I was working with felt it was important that I "know" the job... debatable, but I was making REALLY GOOD money for a customer service agent!!) Holy cow, I can't tell you how miserable it was. Having a phone job is beside the point. People screamed at me, it was always "you did this" (umm no, I'm not even in your state), etc. It's insane how people act about things like that. Your story reminds me of one of the times someone managed to drag me into Wal-Mart. I was with a work friend who was refunding something during our lunch break. The person ahead of her was this lady with seriously like 8 kids. It was the dead of winter, and the lady had these grimy, broken down sandals she was trying to refund because one of the straps had broken. The lady was insisting she had just bought them "about a month ago". The workers kept telling her they weren't even in the system, and their store wouldn't have stocked sandals in January. THe lady got really personal with it -- "YOU sold me these sandals, and YOU have a guarantee to refund faulty merchandise..." It was so ridiculous, and pathetic. Just go spend $5 on some new Wal-Mart shoes, would you? Here, take my $5 because it's worth it not to have to listen to you being pathetic and stupid.