PhotoNut

Ah.. my apologies. :nervous

Hi Lisa and welcome to LBT! Im glad you've done your research and made an educated decision. Barring any unseen complications with your surgery, I don't think you'll regret your decision. It has changed my life and continues to every day. Here are a couple of links that you'll want to check out if you havent found them already. Be sure to speak out when you have questions and above all, enjoy the ride! Questions to ask your Dr. before surgery: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=15595 Things to have on hand for post surgery days: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14814 Best wishes for a successful journey. Keep us posted on your progress!

Hiya Hope! Long time no see! I get these at WinCo of Freddies. They are with the fish sticks in the freezer stuff, but they are not fish sticks. They are in a yellow box, and there are two fillets per box. Here's a picture: Gortons also has these wonderfully delicious shrimp scampi dishes. I just heat them in a big skillet, stir a lot until they are done and then serve over some mixed veggies, like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Yum yum! 120 calories per serving. 6 grams fat.

Just checking in on you, Christi. Did you go to the Dr yet? What's going on with ya girlie?

I'm laughing with joy over here, Mary. A size 10 Levis?? Goodness!! Rock on sister! :rockon:

Sure can! And you're right... you DON'T look like the same guy at all. You look fabulous. Grats Paul. :clap2:

This sure seems to be the Question of the Week! Everyone who is feeling this much restriction, please Please PLEASE get an unfill. You could cause damage to your esophagus, you could cause your band to slip, and you certainly won't be losing weight as well as you could. I recently wrote a lengthy post to Hopes Place in response to her question about being overfilled. I am going to put the link to that thread on here so you can all go have a peek. Please read my post, I think it's on page two of that thread. And get unfilled. This is NOT how your band was meant to be used. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21952

For all of us dorks not on the metric system, that translates to a starting weight of approx 342 pounds, and she is now at approx 218 pounds. Ok, my mouth fell open when I did that conversion! Holy smokes! In 9 months?? You lost 124 pounds?? Wowzers!! Do you have before and after (or in progress) pics? I'd love to see them! Let me know if you need help posting them. Wow.. great job and congrats!! :clap2::clap2:

Heya Sho Your siggy looks great, grasshopper :scared: About that complete unfill. I never said it wouldnt take some self control. When I got home, my mind was going crazy with thoughts like, "Holy cow, I'm wide open.. I could eat a cheeseburger if I wanted to!" I even started a thread about my unfill and asked everyone if I should just go ahead and eat what I haven't been allowed to eat, realizing I'd be giving it up again when I got refilled. DonnaB said she wouldnt know what to do if I did that, as I've been her inspiration to make good choices. *laughs* A "what would PNut do?" kind of thing. Well, I suddenly felt responsible for others and just couldnt do it. I am still unfilled, and I'm still eating the right measures of food and only eating good Proteins and carbs (fruits and veggies). Its paying off too. My advice to Hope, and encouragement about being unfilled, was regarding a short period of time which would allow her body to recoupe after being too tight for so long. To allow her time to eat good hard proteins and then re-examine her need for a fill. Its too hard to judge how much you can eat, when you are eating pudding. :cool: Anyway, Sho, I admire you and your success as well. You and I can just keep on rockin' on together babe! *big smiles* Oh, and Hope.. my Dr says two days on liquids after any kind of adjustment to the fill. Adding or reducing, I'm on liquids. I typically have slim fast shakes, bean with bacon Soup blended till smooth, yogurts, etc. And actually, I find that those two days of liquids are often refreshing. I'm glad you found encouragement in my post. Now let's just get ya back on track. The sooner you get that unnecessary restriction (overfill) out, the sooner you'll be feeling better, eating better, and losing weight again.

Wow Sammee! Congrats hon! Job well done. Now be sure to get lots and lots of before and after TT pics for us.

Okie.. well, are you getting in a minimum of 60 grams of protein per day? If not, that could be why you are so hungry and having a hard time staying under the 800 calorie mark. Do you like Tuna? A can of tuna with 2 tablespoons of fat free dressing (I liked thousand island) will give you about 34 grams of protein. If you are relying on high sugar, high fat, soft foods, then yeah it will be hard to stay under 800 calories. Also, bean with bacon soup is very hearty, rib-stickin'. I couldnt have done it without that soup. Oh, and Gorton's makes the best frozen fish fillets that cook in the microwave in about 6-7 minutes. Two of those are only 200 calories and have 34 grams of protein. Have them with a 1/2c up peas and carrots and I guarantee you'll feel saited. Hope those help.

Ok, you posted that second post before I got my response posted to the first one. hehe I'm glad you called. Your band is obviously too tight. The blood is most likely from the esophagus being irritated by the vomiting. Bless your heart. Make sure that Dr does a thorough check on your band when you're there.

Call your Dr and get a slight unfill. Your band is too tight. Don't wait around for suggestions when you are PB'ing blood. Call your Dr. and get in to see him asap. Let us know how youre doing ok?

Is there a reason you have to stay under 800 calories? If it is Dr's orders then ok. I'm not sure where you are on your post op diet, so I'd need to know more before I could offer some help in food choices.

Being overfilled can slow your weightloss and cause serious problems. I just responded to something similar on another thread, rather than repeating it I'll just point ya to the thread. Also, I'll give you the link to an excellent checklist for fill guidance. I think you'll find both helpful, so please take a moment to check them out. My post is #23 on page two of this thread: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21952 Checklist for fills: http://lapbandtransformation.com/Adjustments.htm

Uh oh.. watch out. Here come the Yankees I couldnt resist. *grins*

Eat more protein! I have days like this as well. I feel like a bottomless pit. So I feed myself everything I know is on my "allowed" list - fish, veggies, more fish, cottage cheese, fruit, more fish *laughs* Then, suddenly, I find I'm saited and I stop. I typically reach this point before dinner and then eat nothing the rest of the night, simply because I'm not hungry. You'll be fine. Don't panick and certainly don't reach for the Cookies. They will NOT help you feel less hungry. They WILL make you feel like crap, you'll be disapppointed in yourself for caving in, and you'll STILL be looking for something to eat! *laughs* Eat all you need, just eat the good stuff. *hugs*

Happy Bandiversary and Grats on such a successful (even tho stressfu) year. How about some pictures now? *grins*

Yay! Noise and a party!!! *boogies down*

Hey Hope, I read this yesterday and decided to give it some thought before responding. So, here I am today. I hope your spirits are lifted somewhat and I hope we can band together to help lift them even more. Being over-filled can be very uncomfortable and can cause a lot of issues, as you have seen. The goal for your band should be to achieve enough restriction to comfortably eat about a cup of food, three times a day, and not be hungry between meals. You should also be able to eat a good selection of hard Proteins along with some fresh veggies and fruits. Oftentimes, when the restriction is too tight, people will begin to rely on softer foods which slow the weightloss. Softer foods tend to be higher in sugars and fats and they slip through the band easier so the volume of intake increases. Carbs are easily burned by the body, so you find yourself hungry again even though you have just eaten far more than you normally would. The big mistake at this point is when folks assume that because they can eat so much, they -must- need more fill! So off they go, telling the Dr that they can eat far too much and are hungry all the time, and then they return home with even more problems... such as getting stuck on even soft mushed up avacado. My Dr recently removed all of my fill after my complaints of pressure behind my breastplate, and of pains in my stomach and around my port. When he said he was going to take it out I just about panicked. I had heard stories of people regaining 20 pounds in a month after a complete unfill. However, he explained that he didnt want to play a guessing game with the fill - you know, take out .5cc, then maybe a bit more, nope that was too much, put some back in. He said he wanted to give things time to get over the irritation from being too tight and he wanted me to get back on hard proteins and get my body used to eating the right foods again before attempting more restriction. Ya know what? I'm still losing weight. I am now eating roast beef, steak, chicken, and fish. I ate a plum yesterday with the skin on! I don't get stuck on broccoli anymore. My weightloss has resumed it's normal 2 pounds per week and I'm not constantly in the kitchen eating cottage cheese out of the conatiner because I am always hungry, but not losing weight. So, I think that this has been the overall problem with your band. I can certainly see why it's been a frustration and why you'd be upset at even getting banded. However, there is hope, Hope! Take a few steps back. Get unfilled completely. Allow yourself a few days for the irritation to go down. Then slowly introduce moist meats into your daily diet. Serve your meals in very small containers. Glad makes disposable containers that are perfect for this. Put your cooked veggies in the container first, then lay your 4oz of meat on top. Eat all of the meat before eating the veggies. Then, give yourself about an hour after eating before you drink any fluids. Drinking after meals will break down the food and wash it through the band, leaving you with that hungry feeling again. After you have adjusted your diet to eat like this, then and only then, will you be able to judge if you need more restriction. If you are hungry between meals. If you are having to force yourself to stick to one cup of food at meal times, then you probably do need a fill. Have your Dr start out slowly, say .5cc. Then give yourself another couple of weeks to see how that really sits in. Sometimes, right after a fill, I swear I could eat more than before the fill. But after a few days, it seems as if the fill really "kicks in". So giving it time is important. Also, be sure to stay on liquids the first couple of days after a fill. Then carefully introduce your hard proteins back into your diet. You should be eating a minimum of 60 grams of Protein per day. And, you should have no problem achieving this with your hard proteins. If you'd like more specific suggestions on that, let me know. Anyway, I think if you try this you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results and much happier about your decision to get the band. Now, I know you said you are self pay, and approaching fills this way might cost you more, but keep in mind that you paid a LOT for that band and making it work correctly for you, so you can see the success you hoped for.. well, that is worth a few well planned trips to the fill Dr. Right? I hope this helped. I'll be thinking about ya and please let us know how you're doing. Sincerely :Banane59:

Hey Pinky, guess what I saw on that scale this morning? You guessed it! *laughs* Why oh why am I slacking off now when I'm so stinking close to 100 pounds gone and Onederland?? This is nuts! I'm the one cracking the whip over everyone else's head. The unforgiving, no excuses, queen of stick-to-it! *yawn* I feel so lazy about it all of a sudden. Someone light a fire under my arse! *laughs* And where's Funny? What about Telly? I'm having withdrawals ladies! Tricia K?? Yoohoo! Why's it so quiet around here?

C 220 (-87lbs total, -2 this week) :Cry:waaaah! I saw 218 last Friday, I swear I did! Where'd it go?? waaaah!:Cry:

Tickers are not LBT features. Those are created at sites such as www.tickerfactory.com and the code is just pasted into the signature lines here. There is a detailed post about how to create tickers for your signatures using tickerfactory. It is located in the Frequently Asked Questions Forum, but if you click on the link below.. that thread will open for you. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=16218

I see ya, Mystjin. Sounds like you have a busy life going on, and true to my image of you.. there you are, being a sweetheart and brightening other people's days. You rock.. even if I haven't heard 'that voice'. *grins* I wound up on the couch taking a glorious 3 hour nap this evening. What better way to get through a hot August night. Ok, there are plenty of better ways but these meds I'm taking for hives knock me out after dinner. So what's everyone doing tonight then? Anyone still up for a hello and a hug? I've got plenty of each!

I said it on another thread today.. any excuse to buy new clothes! I've been taking mega doses of two different kinds of antihistimine and while I'm not broken out (at the moment) and not itching, I have been an agitated, hyper, frustrated, on edge, tense bitch all day. And now, I'm about ready to pass out on the couch for an hour. I hate the way these pills are affecting me, but a day without the hives is just about worth it. Speaking of.. its time for the next dose. Stand back everyone, this could get ugly. *snickers*