mypov

Hey guys! I just got my first fill today! Went perfectly fine, no problems. She put in 1 cc to start and my chocolate protein shakesh are keeping me a little fuller than usual but the nurse said I won't realy know what this fill did for me for a few days- so she scheduled another one for me just in case....So here it goes!!!!

Ok I was a heavy teenager and painfully shy. I never got asked to formal dances EVER. I was out shopping with my teenager sister last night who is preparing for her 5th formal dance since starting highschool (she is a senior). The dresses there were so gorgeous and I started really feeling sorry for myself for never having worn one. So I have found a new goal!!! When I get to my goal weight, I'm going to go to the ball at my university with my hubby (gee he'll love being dragged to that! lol) but I just want to recapture a bit of my youth and experience something I missed out on. What do ya think???

The one thing I regret about this whole thing is that I have to go all the way to Sandy for fills or support groups. SIGH.I really like Dr. Hansen and staff but I have an extremely busy life right now and taking a half of a day to get a fill due to the travelling is no good. For that reason i'm really hoping that the first fill gives me some restriction again because I probably won't be able to schedule another in for another month. Anyway, 2 more days until my first filll and thanks to all of you, I am not worried at ALL. Just looking forward to feeling like I have some control again. how's everyone else doing?

I'm about 6 weeks out. My extended family goes out for dinner for every family occasion and we have a large family. I realized I can't avoid it forever so I just have to make the best (safest) choices possible and keep my portions small. Last week I went to sizzler. I had a salad with some healthy toppings and a lil' ranch dressing. I could only eat about 3/4 cup. Another time I was taken out to IHOP and I ordered a egg and cheese omelet. It came with 3 pancakes. I told the waiter to bring me ONE pancake ONLY (I'm a carb addict and would have tried to eat them all if he'd brought me more than the one). I also asked for a box up front and put all but 1/2 cups worth of omelet into the box before I started eating. I didn't even eat all of the portion I didn't box up. During my pureed stage I was at a mexican restaurant i ordered a bean burrito and told them to leave off the side dishes. Then I opened the burrito and ate some of the bean/cheese mixture. It was YUM. When the waitress cleared my plate she said something like, "Ah, low-carbing huh? Been there." I have heard that salad and things like eggs are usually band friendly and I didn't have any trouble what-so-ever. PS. I made sure to drink a large glass of Water while waiting for the food and then had them clear it once the food got there. They probably thought I was weird but who cares!!!

slipped into a size 26 jeans this morning!!! they are a bit tighter than i am used to because my 28's were falling off! i am still in need of a fill so looking forward to that on the 31st. Whoohoo!!!

I have lost about 10% of my body weight, and about 20% of my excess weight (least by my calculations) but no one has noticed or said ANYthing about it. My clothes are all a bit looser and the people that know about the surgery (my family) say my face is definitely smaller. I don't really see it. It's not that I WANT people to talk about my weight but people saying something is the best way for me to gauge if I visibly look different. I think my body image is a bit askew lol. Anyway, how much before you guys started getting comments???

These are wonderful, keep 'em coming!!! My biggest mistake (keeping in mind I'm only 5 weeks out) is keeping my calories too low. I hit a plateau last week so I kept lowering my calories but it wasn't until I got frustrated and "gave in" and actually upped my calories that I started losing again. I think my body needed to know there was going to be more fuel coming in before it started letting go of that darn fat again!

Puddin- have you become our resident lower-body lift expert??? I definitely want this done when I am done losing weight. What I'm most concerned about are the drains. How long do you have them for? What are they Draining? Where are they going to? Also, do they JUST lift or do they do some lipo- and this may win a prize for the day's dumbest question but can they ADD fat too my butt??? I look like a walking letter "D" lol. Even my skinny sisters have no butt and gosh darn I WANT ONE....know anything about it? Thanks Puddin! PS- thanks for sharing your story, you really help a lot of people!

This morning I guess I was a little tight because I took a few bites of my breakfast and it did not want to go down. It caused that pain in my chest. I then sipped some water hoping that would help it along. I burped a couple of small burps and it felt like the water (which I could still feel was cold in my chest) was just coming up my esophagus a bit but wasn't going to go down. BAsically I felt I was going to have a productive burp. I have had one sliming episode and did NOT want to PB so I just kept swallowing with my mouth closed hoping that would force the food through(no food or drink). After about 5 minutes I felt some relief like it went down. Now I wonder though, maybe having it go down when it was possibly too big for the stoma or something was more risky to my band than just productive burping it all back up. Anyone know????? Thanks!

For those of us who make those little mistakes and beat ourselves up about it, please inspire us to keep working at it and not give up!!!! 1. What was the biggest mistake you've made since banding (probs with food, exercise, follow-up, other band rules etc etc)?? 2. Did you learn the first time you made the mistake or are you still learning to change this behavior? 3. What would you tell others who might also be having this problem? Looking forward to your responses!!!

Hey ladies, glad to see a new thread; that last one was way too overwhelming for me. I have my first fill on the 31st...least I HOPE they give me a fill. I've lost lost 27 lbs since my preop weigh in, but Nothing in the last week and I'm struggling like crazy to maintain the loss since I am SO hungry!!!! I hope I can hold on but my hubby and daughter both have birthday's this week UGH. I am learning just how impatient I" am. I mean, I was having this great and fast weightloss and this plateau is not making me happy. I hope the first fill gives me restriction again!!!!

I have PCOS too. The whole hair thing drives me crazy. UGH. Anyway I saw some news report lately (can't remember which show, sorry!) that PCOS is now sometimes being called Androgen excessive disorder. Apparently since not everyone with PCOS actually HAS the cysts, but all seem to have an excessive amount of the male hormone Androgen-hence the hairiness, weight gain in the stomach area, fertility issues, male pattern baldness etc etc.... they feel it's a more appropriate name for it. Anywhoo that was my biggest worry when I was banded- that because of PCOS I would not lose weight. I have lost over 30 lbs already though. The loss is slowing down now to about 2 lbs a week. The key has been getting that Protein in, and the Water too, I think. No one has really noticed the weight loss yet or at least they haven't mentioned it- but someone last week said my skin looked like it was "glowing" and I attribute that to my water intake....but I've always had such horrible skin issues that they had no idea how much they made my day!

I was sitting in one of my university classes today and my professor passed around several pages of pictures, each of which had at least 10 different but NORMAL variations of body organs. The one that really made me stop and think is the picture of the stomachs. Each stomach looked drastically different from the rest and the caption under the pictures said something like "A sampling of the many variations of the shape of a stomach in normal, healthy humans." It got me to thinking- we are always comparing our lapband experience to others- why are they losing more weight, or less? Why are they naturally restricted and I need fills all the time? Why can some people eat any type of food and others have a PB after they nibble on some bread? I'm a huge believer in getting other people's opinions and learning from other's experiences- but this was a good reminder that we all come with our own variations in anatomy and our experience is going to be completely unique to us- and it's okay!!! Just a thought!!!

I have tried several so far. I can't stand anything from GNC. The ONLY kind I like is Unjuy.com chocolate protein powder. I didn't like any of thier other flavors. I mix it in my bullet blender with a cup of skim milk. It has 90 calories and 20 grams of protein (before adding the milk) per serving. I usually have one in the morning and drink one at night if I haven't had enough protein that day from my other foods. Unjury has sample sizes for sale too, which is nice.

At my 2 week post op appointment i asked my doctor about my pain that sounds similar to yours. he said it's normal unless it continues and doesn't eventually go away completely. In that case, he said the port may be hitting a nerve. Ask your surgeon about it though for sure. I hope you find some comfort!

I went through this after being banded too. I was worried about it but I talked to my surgeon, and then have heard from many others on the board that it has to do with the placement of the camera and all that they do with that side during surgery. I still get minor tugging sensations when I am active for awhile. It's much much better now though. If you're really concerned though, you can always ask your surgeon. Good luck!!!

I'm very confused. It seems like the more time that goes on, the more I feel restriction. I have no fill yet. At my 2 week post op appointment I told my doctor I felt restriction already and he said he wasn't surprised because I didn't have alot of fat right around the stomach area where the band was placed. (Guess he found the one spot that was fatless!!!:huggie: ) Anyway This week I've been feeling really tight. I don't know why or what's going on. I also feel that gassy pressure feeling again that I did the first few days after surgery. I posted earlier that I had no food/water most of sunday (religious reasons but won't be doing that again if that's the cause) and that I chewed gum on Monday but here it is thursday and I'm still really tight. I wouldn't complain except that the gassy feeling is uncomfortable.... Any suggestions or thoughts on what's going on would be appreciated! Thanks!!!

I've been banded 3 1/2 weeks. I seem to have some natural restriction. Some days I eat around 1000 calories and some days I feel a little tighter and can only manage to eat about 600. Just depends on the day. Anyway I don't want to follow any strict diet but I have changed all my food choices to healthy ones. I eat more on days I feel hungrier and less on days I'm not as hungry. It's working fine for me so far!

This is exactly how I feel. No more driving through McDonalds for dinner...or Snacks... People are so highly misled about portion sizes- so how are kids supposed to know what is normal? What i eat now is probably the equivalent of what a young child eats anyway so the modeling is actually perfect for my little kids. Not to mention we are now sitting down to dinner every night with a healthy meal...I believe this will have majorly positive effects on my kids. Now, as for hubby, I feel frustrated. I mean, I got this surgery so that I would live a long healthy life- but I don't wanna live it alone! I am now realizing that even though he's not as overweight as me, all his weight is in the belly and I have been watching him make really poor food choices. I'm tyring to convince him to start exercising with me at least but I SOOOOO Know how losing weight has to be a personal decision, can't be forced or coerced by a spouse. And dangit its hard with the band but without- forGET it. Anway any suggestions of how to help him without being pushy, insulting, or seeming judgemental??? I kinda feel guilty since we are paying for this band for me-and even though he wouldn't want surgery, he would like to be healthier. Sorry rambling!!!

Thanks guys. I will hold off on the fasting for now. I still feel quite gassy and tight. I'm also wondering if mb it had to do with the gum I chewed the other day. Anyway, I just hope the feeling goes away soon it's not fun.

Hello all! I'm 3wks post op now and having been feeling pretty good the last couple weeks. This morning I woke up and felt really tight though- much tighter than normal. I tried drinking some warm Water (don't drink tea or coffee) but it didn't help. Even now I feel really tight, and like there is an air bubble trapped or something. I've tried burping but that slightly uncomfortable pressure doesn't go away. The ONLY thing I can come up with is that yesterday I didn't drink much water at all- usually I drink more than 8 glasses daily. Anway it's a religious thing- I fasted until dinner on Sunday and then got maybe 2-3 glasses in before bed. could my lack of water yesterday be causing the super-tight feeling today??? I'm back on track with my water levels now but I'm just wondering if these things could be related?? Thanks!

Hey everyone! Today for lunch I had some super spicy and YUMMY chili. Afterwards my mouth was burning and of course I can't drink water so I had a couple of bites of some yogurt. It got me wondering though, is my little healing pouch alright to have some spice? I hope I didn't cause any damage, I feel fine though- what do you think?

Before surgery my main worry was that I was one of those people who for some reason was simply incapable of losing weight. I've tried so many diets and had such miserable results that I couldn't stay motivated. I've been banded almost 3 weeks, and did my own pre-op diet a couple of weeks prior to surgery- this is the most I've lost in this amount of time EVER. Usually, if I've even stuck to a "diet" for 5 whole weeks my weight loss would be closer to 5 pounds......My main focus is getting enough Protein, choosing healthier foods (no more enriched flour or high fructose corn syrup in MY food choices) drinking more than 8 glasses of Water a day, and stopping eating a couple of hours before bedtime. BTW- For me, the fact that I am now banded is a huge motivation in itself to keep with it. There is no better than feeling like you have hope to actually see results along with your hard work. That said, I may develop complications in the future- but I knew that going in- and I am working it as best I can in the mean time. Good luck with your decision!

I'm so sorry you are going through this. You are probably making the right choice to have it unfilled. I hope you aren't blaming yourself for this- it almost sounds like your surgeon doesn't want to accept that maybe the band just didn't work for you but if you can't even keep tea down, it is NOT a chewing problem.I wish you luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do.

I just wanted to update on how I'm doing since my December 18th surgery. I'm off all pain meds (for over a week now) and have really no more pain, just slight discomfort in the port area when I walk for awhile. I'm sleeping on either side with no trouble, even on my belly sometimes though I'm not really a belly-sleeper. My scars are very minimal and healed up really nicely. I drink 16 oz of Water in the morning, then have a small Breakfast of a Protein shake or scrambled egg. I eat slow and chew well, swallowing tiny bites at a time. I then wait 2 hours before I have another 16 oz of water and have some lunch- usually about about a cups worth of creamy Soup or 1/2 cup of well mashed casserole. water before dinner and usually something similar to eat as lunch. I have 2 more glasses of water before bed and that's 64oz total. I DO feel hungry sometimes. Usually late at night if I don't get to bed at a decent hour (such as tonight ) but I just remind myself that once my tummy realizes there's nothing there for it then my metabolism will kick in and grab a bite to eat elsewhere (i try to will it to aim for my big 'ol gut:heh: ) the head hunger is better now that the holidays are over. I am much more in control about what comes into our home food-wise. I've even gotten my husband to help out making healthy dinners and where we use to serve it all at the table, I now make a plate for everybody in the kitchen and then serve it to them at the table. That way everyone has more reasonable portions. I've always been bad at serving veggies but guess what- I've learned my kids actually LIKE them!!! We're changing our whole family and the band is what is doing it. I must admit alot of it is psychological- I have hope now and not to mention I spent a lotta money for this little bugger!!! BUT- at the same time, I get full WAY faster than I used to, too. I wanted to put this out there for all those considering the band because I want you to know that after the initial pain and -- liquid diet (ick) life can start to get back to normal but with a new hope for the future. I can't believe its only been 2 weeks!!! Good luck everyone!!!