HeatherO

Actually, I have hit a couple of plateaus . . . and even though I did not read of a plateau breaker, I was essentially following this plan on my own and it worked well. Lean healthy Proteins, tons of Water, up the exercise and withing a few days I was back on the decline. :0) It works, thank goodness for that. There is nothing worse than getting on the scale and seeing that it is not moving in the right direction. Thanks for posting it, Chrisann.

I dont know that actual statistics but I would venture to guess that most of us who have gone through wls are compulsive overeaters. I have been a compulsive overeater and I admit it. The band has helped me to lose a lot of weight quickly. My compulsions have gone away for the most part in that I can eat a bite or two of something I am satisfied . . . where it used to be I had to eventually eat it until it was gone :0). I think I have found success so far because I learned a couple of valuable things to help me along the way. I am a processed carb addict. I eat them and I can not stop. I have had to eliminate processed carbs from my diet. Apart from the initial difficulty, I dont crave them much now. The other thing that I am still learning is that I am an emotional eater and I have had to learn to find alternate ways to deal with my feelings. Your BMI is fairly low to begin with. If you are ready to commit to the lifestyle and analyze the reasons why you overeat, you can achieve great success. Best of all, you don't have to wait to be banded to get started. Best of luck to you.

I would wonder if you are having some regularity problems as well. If gas-x is doing nothing for you it makes sense that it is not the gas that is giving you problems. Perhaps you need a little extra fiber, metamucil or something similar. Are you getting in enough water during the day as well? It sounds like the classic symptoms of constipation.

Wow, you both are going through a lot. It is great that you are there for her. I would also have gone through the transfusion route rather than putting it off for months. I am surprised they did not catch the anemia problem earlier so that you could have started combatting in other ways instead of something so drastic a couple of days before surgery. I think you will find that your partner will not be bed ridden next week. In fact, the more walking she gets the better off she will be. The things my husband needed to help me out with the most during the first week was massage (there can be left shoulder and neck pain) and he changed all of the bandages when needed and he was there for moral support. It was not hard to get around for me, only I got tired easily and did sleep a little more than usual. Best of luck to you both :0) It is such a wonderful journey and sooo worthwhile.

I think it was 4 weeks as well but I waited longer. I also didn't stay in the Water very long the first time or two. There is some definite risk in swimming too early. There is also a difference in how well people heal. If you have ever had any indications of infection or any difficulty during the healing stage I would wait longer. It might be best to take this question to your doctor to get their opinion just to be on the safe side.

Go on liquids for a little while so that your stomach has a chance to recover adn if there is swelling it can go down. If I have sliming or pb, it is like I can easily continue to get it to keep happening by not going on liquids. I didnt realize at first that I have to go on liquids or it just keeps happening. I can't really tell you if my fill is what it needs to be until after the first week. It is always fickle the first couple of days. I also have found I have to work a little harder at chewing and eating slow with each new fill. As long as you can get liquids down, go a little softer and work your way up to more solid foods over a couple of days. You will know how things are shaping up a little further down the road.

I just started taking Zumba classes at the YMCA and they are awesome and fun. It is a great workout because you are so busy having fun you can forget you are working out :0). I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to really enjoy their exercise. I was taking step classes before banding. I stopped for about 4 weeks per doctors suggestion. The first couple of classes when I started again were very difficult for me. Pain was no issue, but I was tired really fast and felt a little light headed. I would typically feel the same after 10 minutes as I usually would after 1 hour. Just take it slow, weight about 4 weeks and you should be good.

Please don't be too discouraged. I think we have all been in the same place as you at one time or another in our journeys. I felt the same way for a time, then I went in for my second fill and the gods of restriction finally blessed me. What was a continuous, discouraging struggle every day became no big deal. Before I was restricted, it was just normal dieting as always . . . well I never would have become obese if normal dieting worked for me long term. 38 pounds is not too shabby . . . it is still a significant loss and you are still closer to your goal than before banding. Keep that in mind when you are feeling down. Can you talk to your doctor about more aggressive fills or going in sooner? It will continue to be a struggle until you have workable restriction. I got lucky in that my doctor gave me agressive fills 6.8 the first and 1.5 for the second fill in a Realize band which was just the ticket. I am not even thinking of another fill for another month or two depending on how I am feeling. Hang in there . . . it is only a matter of time before things become a little more workable.

Congratulations!!!! That is such wonderful news. I am looking to get pregnant at about a year out. Perhaps we will have stories to share if it happens near the same time :0)

Most places have the doctor attend. However, I am not sure it would make a big difference for me other than giving a couple extra warm and fuzzies. The nurse can probably give all of the basic information and you would still get the one-on-one deeper level consult with the doctor.

It seems strange to me. Talk to your doctor about it. Perhaps if you convert to self pay due to non-coverage you can work out a special rate that works for everyone.

I didn't realize but it is good to know. I am definitely going to pretty it up a little when I have some time. Thanks :0)

I would hold off on the fill. It is working just the way it is supposed to and you are not experiencing symptoms of being too tight. It sounds perfect to me. You may or may not want to keep the appointment or push it out. It is sometimes good to go in for a brief checkup.

Now that I have read a couple more responses, it does make sense to have friends but i think maybe I just did not really understand this feature. It appears that some people use it a lot and a some of us either don't really pay it much attention or understand it fully. Of course, I am new to the forum world and there is a lot I don't know yet. I do check up on people that interest me or I have had conversations with, but I usually check recent posts by them. Having them as friends might be a more efficient way to go.

I logged on the other day and found that I was friendless . . . it was a big surprise to me :0). I have been adding people with interesting posts but it has been a little sporadic. What happened to reputation points? We used to have those well . . . but I think I only had 1 point. So I have a bad reputation and very few friends . . . who woulda thunk it :0) Does anybody wanna be my friend??? I promise I don't bite or smell bad . . . :0)

Did you see your surgeon yesterday? Any results on being preggers? I am just curious how everything went yesterday. I hope it is going a little better for you.

It is funny you should post this :0). I was thinking the same thing myself the other day. I started requesting friendships with people who have great posts or intriguing writing styles. I am so happy not to be friendless now.

I am sorry you have had a rough go of it. I can understand your frustrations. Good luck with getting it corrected and back on track again.

Losing weight is not likely to make it go away, but should make it a little easier to handle and maybe diminish the severity of the attacks. It should also help your overall health.

I felt the same at that stage. It only took a couple more days for me to feel normal again. You have had surgery and your body is trying to recover and you went back to work really quick. Maybe bumping up a few calories will work, but I can tell you in my case I just needed a little time and a little extra sleep. Definitely relax and take it easy when you are done working. Get as much extra sleep as you can as well.

Go by your doctors orders first of course. I was having refried Beans about that time after surgery. I think it is good to mix them with something during the pureed stage because you dont want to eat them too thick. I started by mixing in some broth (half beans & half chicken broth) so that they were not so thick and had a very tiny bit of melted cheese on the top. It is funny, when I had those first refried beans after liquids for soooo long . . . they tasted like heaven. I can't remember enjoying any food that much for a long time. I couldn't believe that I did not think they were all that awesome prior to banding. I don't even eat them now :0). I think I was just dying for something with a little taste and a little body to it.

The shopping list posted above has helpful items. I bought a lot of stuff to prepare but found that there were a couple of items that were especially helpful as follows: * Bandaging supplies to clean and cover your incision areas. You will not need big bandages for most of your incisions. The port area may have an incision a couple of inches across. I used antibacterial standard bandaids for my three smallest incisions. * Antibacterial cream as recommended by your physician for wound care. * Protein supplement - some of them don't taste good and some are downright terrible. I used Isopure pre-mixed drinks which were a little pricey but I could have them in the Clear liquids phase. I found that before I started taking them, I was exausted and run down. They helped me to feel normal again. * Gas-X strips that dissolve on your tounge. I don't think I could have gotten by comfortably without them, gas is pretty intense after the surgery. * Anti-nausea meds - your doctor might give you a prescription but perhaps you should ask. I did not ask and did not get a prescription and found that drinking Water made me continuously nauseous. I found Nauzene chewables which were over the counter at Wal-Mart and worked well. * broth was mentioned above, but I just wanted to say that I ended up ingesting a lot of this and ended up needing larger containers of it. Good luck with your surgery.

I found some stuff over the counter at Wal-Mart that worked great for me. It is a chewable that disolves to nothing before you swallow. It is called Nauzene chewables. It was cheap, effective and I didn't need a script. I bought one box and I still have plenty left. My nausea problem only lasted a couple of weeks early after surgery. I found that Water was making me nauseous more than anything else.

I am starting to notice comments like, maybe you are going to be too skinny, and you can't be eating enough to stay healthy :0). I am not afraid I will waste away :0) Normalcy is so much more attainable than ever before . . . what a delightful surprise. Isn't it great???

Plain, that was great . . . you said it all. What a hoot :0) By the way, medical trials typically have a group following the treatment and a control group utilizing a placebo treatment as well. When people believe something will work for them, it is usual and expected for some behavioral changes to occur. So if I am in the control/placebo group for the sensa sprinkles product, and I think that it should be working for me and I am excited for the change and know I am supposed to feel more full . . . why shouldn't this work if I am actively engaged in thinking about what I am putting in my mouth instead of mindless munching. I may very well lose weight from mindful eating which has nothing to do with the sprinkles. I am done with diets . . . in the end I only ended up heavier after losing and eventually regaining a little extra than I started with. It is so liberating to have my band work for me and making healthful decisions. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you to my wonderful lapband. I have found that good old fashioned exercise, eating organic whole foods and enjoying how my tool is working for me is beating any fad diet. It also makes watching the latest weight loss miracle breakthrough advertisements/articles/etc much more entertaining.