kabeerah

laurigee, that was very good advice...now i wonder if i can take it. it's already been 8 days. i admit i am dong it as a booster.

It only lasted a day, but thabks for your concern. I was tempted to wait it out longer but I'm breastfeeding.

Hello Everyone! I was banded March 2006. I did great the first 6 months and haven't lost anything since. I did liquids for the first month and lost 36lbs. By 6 months with still no fill I had lost a total of 81lbs! That's when my weight loss stopped and my fills began. I have since had a baby and am now ready to start over. Last week I went in for a fill. I could not swollow my spit, but I was loving how the restiriction felt! I did not get hungry at all that day. I went in the next day and had 1cc removed. I am hoping to replicate when I first got banded, so I plan on doing liquids for a month. I'll weigh myself once a week. Today, I am somewhat hungry but I still want to see how far I can get on liquids. I have 70lbs more to lose. I plan on sticking around the boards for a while, cuz that was my downfall leaving the community.

Yes, I am desparate! I have had the band for 2 1/2 years. I lost 30 lbs the first month and by the 6 th month I had lost 80lbs. I did not get a fill until I stopped losing weight after 6 months. My band in practically filled. I had a baby and I am really trying to get back on track. My restriction isn't great. I can and do eat a lot. I don't monitor my portions because I get very hungry. I am nursing. I usually grab easy food because with the baby I don't get a chance to even sit down and eat let alone eat properly (small bites...chew chew chew). So whatever is easy and goes down smooth I eat. They do the gastric balloon where I live and I am desparate! Maybe I just need an encouraging word. I think I'm about 220lbs now. I had got down to 190lbs before the baby.

thanks everyone, i have no restriction even though i have not been unfilled. i lost my initial restriction 6 months after surgury and haver had about 5 fills since then that have done nothing for me. i'll try sipping the inger ale if i can find any. also thanks for the ginger tea recipe, i already had it in mind but didn't have a recipe.

Hi Everyone! I'm four months pregnant and my all day sickness is killing me! In my other pregnancies I dranked Ginger Ale. I have not had carbonated drinks since being banded. I read the whole debate over it, and most say they drink diet after the fiz is gone, but with morning sickness I think the fiz is the point. From the discussion I get that soadas don't harm the band. but I have read that some suffer fron awful gas. Any advice? Can we PLEASE get a pregnancy board?

Can we get a pregnancy board here? I was banded in March of 2006 and lost a lot of weight fast!. I lost almost 40lbs the first month. By August I lost all I would lose so far and have been going up and down 10lbs. Each fill I lose the 10lbs I gained in between and then I stop losing! I usually lose that while on liquids after the fill. I am pregnant now and I honestly do not recall ever being this hungry in my life! I am not dieting, not eating like a bandster at all and am afraid to blow up. I really want to go in for a fill. What do you guys think? I'm only about 6 weeks preggo.

I don't know why I found Dr. C comment on bandng pigs so funny! I just sitting here lol and smiling. Eric, I have the Swedish band too and lost most of my weight the first 6 months with no fill. Now I am struggling to get the right restriction and continue to lose. I have not really lost anything since August. I really do hope things work out for you.

Carol, you've done great. what are your portions like. With good restriction how much do you eat. I have basically been eating 2 cups of food (4oz protein 1cup veggies or salad) for lunch and dinner and a pack of oatmeal for breakfast. At least that is what I ate the first 6 months. The last 2 months I fell off the bandwagon and have only maintained my weight with a slight gain. I am still on liquids from my last fill but am hoping that I get full once on solids on 1-1.5 cups of food.

I live in Saudi and you can find someone to do it at a hosptial in every major city.

Hi, I have the SAGB. I recently went for my 3rd fill and am at 5.5cc. I'm wondering how much others have and at what point did they consider their 'sweet spot'.

Hi Health1st. Sleepyjeans advice was very precise. It really was how I was feeling. Here is the update I just posted on my OH profile. I went in for my 2nd fill tonight, one month after my first tweak. When I called my dr last week to ask if I could come in he said he does them every two months...policy. Well after waiting patiently for a week, I decided that I did not have WLS do suggle like this. I mean I wasn't starving or anything and surprise surprise I still managed to lose 2lbs this week, but it was taking more will power than I had. I now have a total of 3.5cc in my 10cc Swedish Band. Funny thing, was that as soon as I called dr to say that I could not go another month without a fill, and he said come in tonight, then I got this strange tight restriction. I told him when I got there that I felt really tight all of a sudden. He said, not to worry he would check it out on the flouro. He said I was not tight but wide open and laughed when I said that I must just be crazy. I asked him to try a total of 4cc and to go from there. Same as the first time, 4cc was just sitting there and not moving. I said please do not take out so much this time, try .5cc. So he removed .5cc and it started flowing out. I hope this is a good restriction level for me. I'll try to stay on liquids until Ramadan starts, which is less than a week away.

I also have the Swedish Band. I'm in Saudi so I can't help you. If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you get the Inamed Band or look into fill doctors in your area prior to banding?

You look FANTASTIC!

Lexi, I'm sorry about your band. If there is a lesson to be learned from others, wht would you tell people with too tight bands? Is there a reason you stayed too tight for a year?

Well who do you think 'gorgeous' Roxanne got her looks from? Way to go! Your post brought tears to my eyes. It sounds like sometyhing I could have wrote 12 years from now if it were not for the band. After giving birth to my children I was stuck at 244lbs too!

Wow! Healthy1st and Photonut, we are basically all in the same boat! How bout we be each others accountability buddies? Just don't hold me to the excerise thing yet..not for about a little over a week so that I can get a new stroller and take the kids with me for my 3 mile walk (at least the baby and dh can take the others).

lol. I don't overeat at the sociasl events, but I will make bad choices. It is not often I go out but the vacation was full of such events and I said to heck with it. It's been over a week now so I am slowly getting back on track. Overeating is not a big problem with the band for me. I think last weeks scare on that TOM got me into this funk. Now for some reason I feel like I am dieting whereas before it just came natural. Photonut...I can believe nut is in your name...as in crazy...lunatic. You are so balanced. You have been a great help and inspiration.

Health1st that is great. Thanks for the update. I have been doing 3 meals (2cups) no Snacks. Maybe I will change it around to 6 meals (1cup). what do you think? Jachut, I am so glad you understood what i meant. i was starting to question myself. Jack, you beat me to reply to Vinesqueen. VQ, I love that quote. Thank you for your support and well wishes. Just read your comment on the thread killer board and I was glad to see that you still responded. I hope everything works out well for you. You have amazing patience. Photonut, I'm just now seeing your posts here. Thanks for the link, I saved it in my favorites. Are you saying that you are completely unfilled now?

I have commented in red.

Yo Dawg I agree with you 100%! ****HIJACK**** I was just wondering if anybody else ever wondered if obese people had better personalities than non obese people? Seriously though, I hate hijacked threads.

OMG Photonut I LOVE YOU! You are so right on! How the heck did you do that? How were you able to read me like that? You are good gurl! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post (the first half was accidently copied from my profile..I posted that before so I will delete it).

From God we come and to Him we return. May his family be compensated.

Hello Band Buddies, I hope everyone is doing good and maintaining their health. I am asking for advised from the experienced. I have included my stats at the bottom of this post, if someone could help me make sense of this all it would be greatly appreciated. Today is weigh in day and I am down 1lb this week. I am not complaining but this adds to my confusion. I have been pondering getting a fill for a few weeks. Truth be told I am not sure I need one. I am 4 1/2 months out with no fill. Last week I experienced hunger for the first time. However, there may have been contributing factors: 1. I was on my menses. It has recently returned after 22 months. I am still breastfeeding my 15 month old son and lactating always delays the return of my cycle. Now that It's over, I no longer experience hunger. 2. I was on vacation. I really was not eating properly. 3. My helper has returned to her home country. I do not eat on time anymore. I can not eat with my kids...way to much action going on it it seems as if it will kill me to eat with them. I do not know how banded people can deal with kids and eat. As a result I do not even get my Water in until late in the day and I am eating very late and staying up very late. Before my helper left I did not eat after 8pm and rarely drank after 10pm. 4. I have not excercised in over 3 weeks. At first it was because I was on vacation. Then after I returned it was a combination of my dh packing the kids (my 6 yr old and 4 year old!!!) in the double stroller and breaking it. So without my helper to watch them at the playground/beach while I walk around it, I have not excercised. As of late I just can't fit it into my day. I need to get back on my program. 5. I am a social eater. I do great when I lock myself in the house and turn down invitations, but I was invited to a few social events and ate somethings that were not beneficial to my weight loss. Those are/were my setbacks. Yesterday, I went back to eating the way I was before all this drama and everything was just great. I had 4 oz of lemon peppewr chicken breast (boneless/skinless) and a cup of salad with romaine lettuce, cucumbers and a boiled egg. I was completely satisfied and was not hungry for more than 4 hours. Today was a very busy day and I did a lot of running around and did not even start on my water until around 7pm and just ate dinner (first meal of the day) around 8pm. It is now 11:15pm and I do not want to eat again but may have some more water. I plan on going to bed after submitting this because I want to see my surgeon tommorrow, insha'Allah. As much as I do not want a fill (afraid of complications, ie pb, slime, stuck, slip, too tight,etc), I am still contemplating getting one tommorrow (my friend is going in to get hers and I may piggyback on her appointment). The reason being is that because of how hectic my life has been lately (by next month there should be some order insha'Allah because my oldest will be back in school and my 2 youngest will go with me to school, so the boring summer chaos will be over insha'Allah), I will grab quick fixes instead of planning my meals properly. Now that I have typed that out I do not even know how a fill is suppose to help me with that. Sounds like something I will have to work on. Okay, I guess another reason would be to step up the weight loss but to be honest once I start my excercise routine that should happen, insha'Allah. The problem is that I have no idea when I will start back. I know I have written about this before and was advised to get a fill because the band is not meant to work without a fill, but it has worked just fine for me. I do feel myself slipping and am thinking that maybe the fill will help me. Until recent food was not even an issue for me and my sweet tooth was gone. I'm wondering if the fill will help squeeze that vargus nerve I keep reading about, that sends a message to the brain saying that it is not hungry. I was saving the fill as a life line in the event weight loss slowed down or ceased. I wonder if it is time to cash it in yet? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pre-op 277 1 week 260 -17# 2 week 253 -7# 3 week 250 -3# 4 week 241 -9# 5 week 240 -1# 6 week 238 -2# 7 week 235 -3# 8 week 231 -4# 9 week 230 -1# 10 week 218 -12# 11 week 216 -2# 12 week 216 -0# 13 week 210 -6# 14 week 210 -0# 15 week 210 -0# 16 week 207 -3# 17 week 207 -0# 18 week 206 -1# 19 week 205 -1# TOTAL = 72lbs

My Mama always says, I am as stubborn as a bull!