CapitolChick

Each fill level seems to have its own 'journey' if you will. I was up to 4.6 and had that level for 4 months and swore that was the highest I would go. Then because of the my steady wt loss one day I woke up and had no restriction (major hunger, ate everything in the house, ate french bread...)- now I am somebody who has had the sensation of restriction since they first put the band on me. So it was totally bizarre. So I went in and the nurse jacked me up to 5.4 and I am having trouble getting coffee down. I have PBed 2 times since friday...I am not sure what I am going to do..if I PB too much more I will ask for a slight unfill.. I HATE this part of the journey..

But then it actually happened to me last week. All of a sudden I could eat large quantities of normally 'forbidden' foods.. It was nutz! So now I know what it means when someone looses restriction. My nurse said that my rapid wt loss this last couple of months triggered my total lack of restriction and man was I friggen hungry every second last week!!! I was having a huge food bender party and gained 3 pounds!!!:scared2: Ok, thanks for listening :crying:

Whah!!! I gained back what I lost *sniffle, sniffle* (see post here) But I am so glad to be with you all. Truly it makes it so much easier to deal. Have a SUPER WEEKEND everyone!!

Isn't that the BEST feeling!! It is is like: FINALLY someone notices enough to actually make a comment to you. I work with a ton of people and it wasn't until I had lost over 60lbs women started commenting on my wt loss.

Everyone is doing soo good! Each week I see our numbers in the 'pounds to go' column go down and I am inspired. :confused:

Mine ended up being my gallbladder and I did not have same symptoms as everyone else so it was hard to find. I demanded an ultrasound which showed I had: "some sludge and what looked like a couple stones" Yah right! once they took it out and they got to look inside I had over 30 stones and the walls were so caked with cholesterol it was no wonder I had pain. Demand for real tests.

I remember you miss Trudeip! Congrats on your wtloss! Thank you for posting what you do - I am always curious as what other banders are doing daily to lose wt.

Having same issue -- I am 8 months out. Generally this stuff happens from vitamin, water, and or protein deficiency. Tea tree oil did not work for me. Using head and shoulders and keep hair trimmed seems to be the option for me. But I have got to get back to taking my vitamins! I have a lot of hair and it is long so..so far I am the only one who notices.

Well, Personally since I was always the one having to figure dinner out and cook before - my husband has to fend for himself now. It is a little joke in our family. But I work my ass off all day at work, make way more money than he does..I figure he can't have EVERYTHING perfect... But, I will cook for my son though :confused: My DH, is happy with me having the band and although he doesn't get everything he wants now (like a home cooked meal every night) he is VERY happy I did it. As for eating out, he thinks it is a hoot that I am such a 'cheap' date (I kinda think it is funny too)

I am self pay, went to my primary doctor out of courtesy to inform him of my decision and he tried to talk me into Gastric Bypass. He just 'knew' of another doctor who 'did' the GB and that this doctors surgery somehow made it so you never had dumping syndrome. I was like, "seriously??" did you really just say that to me? He went on to tell me the same thing your doctor said to you. Fast forward to now: MY DOCTOR EATS CROW EVERY TIME I SEE HIM!!!!!!!!! Each weigh in the nurse is like: "wow you lost more weight.." It is hilarious! Would you go to a foot doctor for your teeth? No. General doctors are just that. General. Primary Care Doctors only study one tiny chapter of WLS for their doctorate! That opinion she gave you was extremely damaging.

Did you all realize that when this challenge is over we will potentially have lost over 300lbs. WOW!

Yup! I was banded last July and realized right away that once the 'dust settled' I needed more structure. I love doing ww now! It is actually fun!! I feel sorry for all those boardies over at WW online -falling on and off the wagon..'specially the gals/guys on the 100+ to lose boards..I had done WW for SO many years and failed just like everyone else because of my hunger or over eating..well now both those issues are solved!! I highly recommend it. At first I felt a little bit like a failure or something. When I busted out all my materials..Like there must be something wrong with me. It wained fast as my results show. But, now I KNOW that there are many different ways to do the band and each person has to find what they can do (essentially) for the rest of their lives. Here is what I do: I am a long time flex points person so that is program I do. Reduced my base points to what a person 150LBS would eat (20 pts a day) Use all my flex points in a week (35 extra) if I need em. Have a mission to find all different kinds of WW and band friendly foods and meals I have been able to get in about 40 oz of water a day and am aiming for 64 soon. I walk 30 minutes 5 days a week (I hate it, but I do it) Send me a message if you need more information or post on the boards.

These ones are tasty and have a better flavor: Protica - Product Catalog I just ordered 2 diff. sample packs and will order more. They had an ad in Obesity help magazine I get, so I tried em. I am sold! Some how the yucky Protein part is less potent tasting. Just wanted to share

Hi Dee, I am a fellow July 08 bander. I think you posted back in July when we all started. I agree with the unfill for you..I got filled and it was too tight and all I wanted was slider food. And I just wanted to say that even though my wt loss shows 60+ pounds I have to tell you the band lifestyle alone would not do it for me. I am a tough nut to crack. You need some type of structure. Whatever you think you can do: Calorie counting, watching fat, WW, whatever. I can tell you that without weight watchers I would be doing EXACTLY what you posted. Slider foods are going to kill ya. 1) Icecream, get rid of it. 2) Soups. Chuck em. 3) Popcorn, chips, pretzels..are all awesome and going to make your life miserable. Keep posting and let us know how you are coming along!

My surgeon never told me stop drinking coffee. He asked how much I drank. I had just heard it on the boards (people's doctors telling them it causes band erosion) so I had a conversation with him about it with regards to any JMA articles and he said as long as he has been instructing LB surgeries and doing WLS he could not cite a credible study that showed a link between coffee band erosion, slippage or damage. He surmised that each surgeon has his/her own personal 'take' on caffeine and that as 'surgical' patients some docs want us to follow a more pure lifestyle --- caffeine is a drug..and a lot of WLS have co-morbities (HB, heart trouble etc.) So each person has to decide on their own.

You have a large band so it will take more fills for your to really feel it. I saw my 10 cc band and even if I account for my anatomy the hole is about the diameter of my thumb..And since I chew like the the dickens..it goes down pretty fast. So! Just remember that you are NORMAL. sorry you are not a special case *wink* and you are not eating the same way you were preband. Congrats on your loss so far!

No problem here. LB nurses (who are patients also) use em too. But I am a person that questions things when they don't quite add up and pushes until I get a reasonable answer. Couple of my favorite 'rules' are: You will erode your band if you drink coffee and don't drink soda 'cause your pouch will blow up like a balloon.

Health Blends I just had the 'healthy wt" one: Carrots, snap peas, edamame (sp?), small black beans in a light butter herb sauce. It was AWESOME and so easy to make. 2 pts for the entire box if you are doing WW. 1 box is just a touch more than 1 cup.

Did you send a request to one of the moderators? Wheetsin, Alexandra, Iluvharleys, Jack, coltonwade, Kat817, libra, SherryW, *Susan*, Elisabethsew, gordonfamily3, Oregondaisy, FairyFacade, plain

whoda thunk it? :wink: (LOL I meant SMART LIPO - hehe)

I have never heard of those ones. I will venture to Wally world and see if I can find 'em. My whole thing is, for some reason if I drink 1 bullet each day I have consistant wt. loss. ?? Don't really understand it. But I am not going to stop that habit.

I have read posts were, yes people did. I had my GB removed 7 months after banding.

CareCredit.com and others can possibly finance you. Some boardies go to mexico or other states to find cheaper rates. Where are you located?

Your signature says you can not kick soda..what about coffee? Also, do you eat or drink any energy drinks, take Vitamins that have something in them? Your symptoms sound like those caused by any 'drug/food element' that can cause the 'rebound' effect. Basically 'rebounding' means that even though something can be thought of as an upper/downer (depending) on the person these same elements cause the opposite effect within so many hours. For example: In some people if they eat or drink something that they are sensitive to (this can be anything from Nutrasweet to sudafed) they follow your pattern: Instant Rem sleep followed by sudden waking up. The other thing that comes to mind reading your post is: What about the tests that check for Vitamin defincienies? Sleep is driven by hormones too. So what about those kinds of tests. Just a thought. I learned this when I was working at behavioral health center. And my husband suffers from sleep problems.

JMAX and JennyT I added you to the Spreadsheet list. Double check my work. The Link is here w/directions: if you can't figure it out (basically if you know excel, you will be able to)... then here is what you need to do everytime you want to update: 1. go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...NWic_LuT_qA_DA 2. double click on the box you want to change 3. edit the number 4. that's it! you don't need to save it or anything, just close the browser and google automatically saves it for you. you can open the site again just to make sure it changed if you want. Post if you have questions :wink: Jenn (AKA: CapitolChick) (PS - there are a lot of Jens in our challenge!!)