DonnaB

400 calories a day? AND well balanced? Give me a break! I think that either your doctor is insane or maybe you misheard him. No one can live on 400 calories a day and keep it up over an extended period of time! MelAnne, you're obviously struggling right now, so, take a step back and breath for a few minutes. Call your nutritionist and get some solid answers. The best thing I can recommend for you is to log onto www.FitDay.com and start logging your food. FitDay makes it very easy and, at least for me, satisfying. It will prompt you for certain information like height, current weight, age, goal weight, goal date for weight loss, etc. Using the information you provide it will ESTIMATE your resting metabolic rate and tell you how many calories you need daily to reach your goal weight by your goal date. Super simple. The online version is free but the $20 downloadable is MUCH easier to use and has WAY MORE INFO! I wish I had known about FitDay a long, long, time ago. This was the best $20 I've ever spent on a weightloss tool. Well - excluding my band (which was slightly more than $20!). Seriously, give it a try, it will really help out.

Everyone is different. While some people didn't have restriction till they had a fill and felt like they were starving, I felt great. I had restriction from day one and ever since I made it past the first 3 days of my pre-op diet, I have never been starving. When I'm hungry I eat what I want but in a smaller portion and am satisfied. I try not to let myself get really hungry as I know it will be easier to make poor choices, eat too fast, or over eat if I'm super hungry. Everyone is different. The thing no one told me, is that I had a choice of location for my port. I think the sternum area port is probably more comfortable because of pant waistbands. I wish I had known I had a choice, I would have asked more people here on LBT where their port was and how comfortable it was.

Kentucky Fried Chicken. D I S G U S T I N G ! ! ! ! I've always thought it was gross and then when the news reports came out about them torturing live chickens - horrific. I wouldn't go near that place if you payed me to. No amount of money would induce me to support that kind of sick behavior.

Thank God. I've been so worried for you and for your daughter. When I read it was a bird in a cage in the classroom I burst into tears! She's not my child, and I don't even know you, but I cried hard in relief! Thank you Lord for delivering this innocent, precious, baby from harms way. Good job Mom. I know lots of parents who would have heard, but not heard that statement from their 'baby'. I bet you keep catching your breath and taking a big ol' sigh of relief, huh? LOL

If you eat nuts, be sure they are raw. Raw nuts have the good kind of cholesterol in them. If the nuts are roasted, that same good cholesterol becomes the bad, artery clogging cholesterol! You have to be really careful with portions too - nuts are high in calories. The best benefit of raw almonds, at least for me, is that 1/8 cup of raw almonds per day keeps me regular - which makes me very happy.

My port site was sore, but not in motion that I could feel. Hmmmm.

Call your pediatrician. I would. I see as I was forming my incredibly helpful post that other people gave the same or better advise! Keep us informed as we will definitely be thinking about, and praying for you and yours.

Describe the pain. Where is it located? What does it feel like?

Welcome to LapBandTalk - you're doing fine so far! Good luck on your upcoming surgery and on your weight loss journey. Come back and visit us.

Wow, I was a little jealous of your 50 pound loss until I found out why you've lost so much! I was banded on March 7th and have now lost 31 pounds with only one vomitting incident. One was enough! I can't imagine doing it every day. I'd be worried about losing my band to slippage or damaging my esophagus. I agree with the others, sounds like you need an unfill and maybe to determine if you're trying to eat too much. Or maybe too quickly? Good luck. Let us know how you're doing.

I wouldn't. I love my band and it's worth it for me to lose 130 pounds - but not for 30. The band isn't a miracle diet. All of us on this board are having to work HARD to lose weight. We have to follow rules or suffer consequences which include more than weight gain. The closer a person gets to their goal weight, the harder it becomes to lose. Being only 30 pounds overweight I expect you'd have to work at it just as hard with or without a band. I also think that you'd have a hard time finding a doctor willing to perform surgery on you, even if you went to Mexico or another foreign country. 130 pounds - yes. 30 pounds? Nope.

If you didn't feel like this you wouldn't be normal stuff4tt. Seriously, if you've done all the research and feel confident in your choice of surgeon, if you understand the band rules and have decided you can live within those parameters, it's time to give yourself a break and stop worrying. If you want to see more people who are in the exact same place you are, go to the Introductions forum. Almost everyone feels exactly like you do. I know I did before I got my band. Welcome to LapBandTalk and good luck on your weight loss journey.

Welcome Scott F. Congratulations skibishop and, SRaeM. Is there ANYTHING better than stepping on that scale and seeing the number lower than the day before? Contrary to what most people feel, I'm encouraged by stepping on the scale every day. If it goes up I know I can take action and send it down again, if it goes down I have a wonderful, warm feeling all day - win win. Tamyrn, cashley, I feel your pain ladies, I was doing the same thing. May I recommend a good long six-hour PB to get you moving again? I dropped 3 pounds after mine. It's sssssssssssooooooooo not worth it. I'll GLADLY use my treadmill to torture the weight off for the next 3. Yikes! Julie*, congrats on your fill. Still wondering if I should jump in and test the water on that front. *knees knocking* Stacy, Dancer, You GO with your tight jeans. I'm sticking with loose ones for a while - my port site still gets sore if I wear anything tight in the waist. Fortunately, if it fits my @ss it's a little loose in the waist. What a great thought, huh. *sigh* JerseyTammy, how did the eating go this weekend? *anxious* I plan to get fills only at the beginning of weeks in which the fill doc does not have any vacation scheduled! I'm so nervous about this. Paula, thanks for the kind words. I so don't like how I look that I avoid cameras like the plague. If I could have got out of the group picture without making a scene I would have. Hopefully, my self-image will improve with my real image. Thanks again, your comment made me feel good. Mikey! You can't just say that and nothing more! What were the books? The last time I submerged into a two book weekend was with Angels and Demons and The DiVinci Code by Dan Brown. I enjoyed the first one for the work of fiction it is, but when I got to DiVinci Code I was kinda like, "Eh? Who cares?" Didn't finish it. In reality I didn't even give it a chance, just put it down and moved on to a wonderful nonfiction about Henry VIII's six wives by David Starkey. The title? Six Wives, The Queens of Henry VIII. Clever title, huh? It's a pretty good book if you like history and minutia. I'm reading this one at a really slow pace, just savoring it! Well, using it as a sedative is more accurate. lol I think I'll start a What are you Reading thread! See you all soon.

Sorry dawg. When I posted I didn't realize this was your thread about sizing. When you open a thread that looks interesting, they open to the first unread post. I read it and replied without going back to the beginning. Rant on.

My band surgery cost $10,600. My car cost $20,000. Which one is more important? I'm fortunate in that I had the money in savings to have the band. If I didn't have the money, I would have borrowed money from a bank and payed it back in monthly installments, just like a car payment.

Dody, My husband and I both have LBT accounts and we share a DSL router. We therefore have the same IP address. How's that for one good reason? If I can think of one off the top of my head, I'm SURE there are others. I like you Dody and I'm saying this with the best intention: It's time for you to chill out a bit, OK? Seriously, this constant back and forth is not helping anything or anyone. I do understand standing up for your friends, but if you want to be a friend at this point, it's time to let it go.

stinaNYC, Ummmm, you think I wasn't TRYING to bring that egg back up? LOL Believe me I PB'd several times! I think there must be a difference between getting something stuck IN the stoma and eating something that won't go through the stoma. I brought up both bites of egg I swallowed - the first bit came up after about 40 minutes, but it took hours and hours before the rest came up and believe me it wasn't for lack of trying. It went on so long I finally called my doctor! Thank GOD I knew what was going on through reading on LapBandTalk or I would have been FREAKING OUT! Wouldn't you know it, right after I got off the phone with my doctor, the last bit came up and I felt fine. I went on Clear liquids for the rest of that day, full liquids the next, and mushies on day three. After that I went back to normal food with no problems. Thank you Lord! I did discover that the slowing down of weight loss can be solved with a good PB. Over the next three days I dropped three pounds! lol Oh my. As far as other types of eggs go . . . no problem. Over easy, egg salad, devilled, no problem. I'm not crazy enough to try boiled with a bit of salt and pepper. Nope. Uh uh. truckinmama, PB is a polite euphamism. PB stands for productive burp which is a polite way of saying throwin up. It's really not the same as vomit though because the food hasn't been in your stomach with the stomach acids so it looks just like when you swallowed it - gooey chomped up food. Yuck. The other difference is there's not vomit smell, at least not for me or that I've heard from anyone else. As far as sliming goes, you produce a whole lot more saliva than you ever suspected. When something get's stuck or can't go past your band, your saliva doesn't go through either. It builds up until eventually you have to start spitting it out. It becomes quite thick and slimey, probably as your body is trying to help lubricate the situation so whatever it is will slide past. Although, regular saliva might be this thick and slimey all the time and we just don't notice it! Hmmmm. Never really though about it before. God. I hope you're not eating while you read this! Yuck. Wyldvelia, Red in your PB? That doesn't sound good. It's been a couple of days, how are you doing now?

Nah! Who wouldn't want to have slim hips and huge boobs? LOL OK, in all honesty I don't want to have huge boobs - good thing too because I don't! lol But . . . The ideal female image for most men is slim hips and huge boobs - congratulations!

I didn't realize that Health-O-Meter had a bulky version. Mine is slim and lightweight. I think it cost between $35 - $40. I like it. It has custom settings for multiple users and it keep track of your past five uses. Also shows how much you need to lose to reach your goal, body fat, etc.

Health-O-Meter. Love it.

I talked to my sister, she's on Lexapro and Wellbutrin together and is feeling 100% better. Let us know how you're doing.

Hey Bruce, I know it's hard sometimes to not snack between meals. My suggestion about snacking is this: make better choices! lol I know that sounds overly simplistic, but you would be way better off to choose something besides peanutbutter - it's got 95 calories per tablespoon. It doesn't take much of that to bust your diet to hell! One black skinned avocado has 279 calories! Yikes! One cup of cottage cheese has 220 calories. These are not good snack foods. Try some fruits instead - watermelon is great and has only 49 calories per cup AND is full of water which is really good for you. The pulp makes me feel full for a long time and I'm less apt to snack on something else. Are you logging your food? If not, stop what you're doing and log onto www.FitDay.com It's free if you use the online version and it's a real eye opener when it comes to what the calorie count is in our daily choices. If you like FitDay and you want to keep using it, which I recommend, you should go ahead and buy the downloadable version for $20. It's the best money I've ever spent on myself. Good luck on your weight loss journey and keep in touch - I want to know how you're doing, OK?

Do a search and read EVERYTHING you can before choosing your Mexican surgeon. I've heard horrible things about Huacuz but he wasn't my surgeon so I can't give you details to back that statement up - do a search on LBT and read it ALL. I had surgery by Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico and paid $10,600. I understand the the cost of the surgery is why you're having it done in Mexico, but you really should be careful about choosing a surgeon based on who charges the least. Choose your surgeon based on his credentials and outcomes. I offer the same advice about researching Dr. Rumbaut - do a search on LBT and across the internet. He isn't the least expensive, but I would recommend him to my best friend or my sister. If I had a daughter who needed lapband surgery I'd recommend Dr. Rumbaut - that's how strongly I feel about him and the facility in which he performs surgery. Good luck on your weight loss journey.

Your doctor has to be able to see what he's doing without damaging your liver trying to keep it out of the way while he's doing the surgery. You need to do your part to make sure he can do his. If you cheat on your pre-op diet and your liver doesn't shrink enough, you could go into surgery, be cut open, suffer ALL the after effects of surgery including pain and scarring, but walk away with NO BAND! That would suck way worse than a few days of sticking to a liquid diet. I know it's hard, believe me, I spent liquid-diet days 2 and 3 in bed with a horrible headache and feeling like I had a hot pipe resting in my chest. After that it wasn't such a problem. Post op your stomach is swollen and any hunger you have is head hunger so its a little easier. Remember you CAN'T EAT post op for a few weeks. If you do you'll risk losing your band. It'll be easier to stick with the post op diet if you make it through the pre-op diet without cheating. JMO - you should talk to your doctor's office before eating anything else. Eating just a little bit prolongs the suffering of such a restricted diet. Go cold turkey and wait it out.

Green pee? Dye? Huh? I don't think my doc used green dye for anything. He never mentioned it anyway and I never saw green pee. Hmmmmm. Another mystery. As far as Vicodin goes . . . Be careful - it has a lot of weird side effects which can include some pretty severe paranoia. My friend took Vicodin after giving birth. A few days after she came home from the hospital, her husband, my husband, and myself were painting the baby's room, laughing and having a good time while she rested in her bed. Weeks later she told me that she was furious with us because she just knew that we were talking about her AND HER BABY (!) and laughing because she was in pain and so stupid. !!!!! WTF? She said the next time she talked to her doctor he warned her about the Vicodin paranoia! Two weeks later? What was the point then? !!! Crazy. I hope you will find some other pain medication just in case this one is clouding your perceptions in addition to deadening your pain.