GreatlyBlessed

Hello everyone! I haven't logged on in a while because I was becoming more and more discouraged as my weight loss slowed down. I got another fill and I began losing again. I haven't lost as much as some of you but I am back on the right track and determined to get the rest of this weight off. I am so excited because as of yesterday, I have lost 100lbs. I am looking and feeling better than I have ever felt in my life. At 26yrs. old I am now smaller than I was at 16yrs. old. I never thought I would ever see this day. I thought I would be a big girl for the rest of my life. I see a brighter future ahead of me now. I will never let my weight hold me back again.

That is incredible. I am so happy for you all. I can't wait to make my announcement when I reach 100 pounds lost. I am almost there. Good luck and keep up the good work.

My dietitian told me to weigh myself one time per day to make sure I stay on track. If I see that I am gaining I can fix it before it gets out of control. I think I am a little obsessed though. I weigh myself at least 5 times a day, most of the time more than that. I am so ready for this weight to come off. It's not like after 1 hour of exercise I will see a drop in weight but I just have a bad obsession with the scale and I don't know if I can stop. If I see my weight hasn't gone down in a couple of days I get depressed and do whatever I can to speed up my weight loss. This last fill has helped me out because my weight seems to be dropping as the days go by. I hope it continues for a while as long as I keep doing my part but I know it won't always come off this easy.

I agree with all of you. I tried eating some tuna in mayo last night and although I took less than dime size bites it got stuck and I was terrified. I couldn't breathe, my eyes were watering, my mouth was overflowing in secretions, and I had waves of tightening in my chest. I kept swallowing the saliva in my mouth then had 2 sips of water and the tuna went down. I was so scared and I don't want to ever experience that again. I am going to stay on liquids until Monday then go in for an unfill.

Thank you all for your comments. They are all helpful. I was able to drink 4oz of light orange juice this morning and I had the same pain in my chest followed by the gurgling after every sip. At one point the juice was sitting in my throat and I thought it was going to come back up but it went down. I will try to drink a protein shake this evening. If by this evening I can't drink the protein shake I will go in for an unfill. I don't want to resort to eating unhealthy slider foods and I also don't want to get stuck. I just feel that if I get an unfill and I become too loose then I will be tempted to eat things I know I shouldn't, just because I can. I am hoping this is just swelling because my doctor told me that I will have some swelling after each adjustment and that is why he has me on liquids for 2 days, mushies for 2 days then solids. I do appreciate everyones advise. I think I was just a little scared lastnight because I have never felt this before. Thank you all for your comments and I will post an update later today.

I was banded June 23, 2008. I had my 5th fill Monday Nov. 24th. I could immediately tell that I was finally restricted. The nurse said that my doc may have filled me too much because it took me a long time to drink the cup of water she gave me. My doctor had already left because he was called to an emergency. I have 4.5cc's in a 10cc band. I thought I should have 6cc's now but I think he must have missed the port the last 2 times. I know that I am still swollen from the fill but I am having a real hard time drinking liquids. I am on liquids for 2 days, mushies for 2 days then solids. On Monday I had 1 cup of coffee before my fill. After the fill I could only get down about 8 ounces of water for the rest of the day. Today I had 2 small sips of coffee this morning and about 8 ounces of cold tea w/equal which I am still sipping on now. I am taking really tiny sips and when I swallow I feel painful tightening in my chest and then about 3-5 seconds later I hear and feel like a gurgling in my chest followed by a belch and then the pain calms down. It happens every time I take a sip. I am afraid to start mushies tomorrow because I don't want to get anything stuck. I don't want to get an unfill yet because I want to give the swelling time to go down. Is this what restriction feels like or am I too tight? I know it will loosen up in a couple of days but I just want to know if anyone else has had a similar situation happen to them? If so what happened and what did you do?

One thing I noticed right off the bat is that you are still eating a lot of mushy type foods. Things like tuna, yogurt, and soup can easily slide through your pouch. You need to eat grilled chicken, fish, ground beef or turkey and more solid like foods. They will keep you fuller longer because they will collect in the pouch and not slide through as quickly. I can't imagine why at 8.5 cc's you are not losing. You may be eating high calorie soups. I would suggest making sure you get a little exercise in everyday. Maybe you need an unfill to allow you to eat more solid foods without getting them stuck. Don't give up. Keep in touch with your doctor and nutritionist.

Hi I'm 25 and I am also in the DFW area. I was banded June 23, 2008. Good luck everyone.

I am also worried about overeating during Thanksgiving. I talked to my doctor about this and he is giving me an early fill on November 24. I already feel restriction so I know this next fill will be just what I need to keep me from overeating. Absolutely no one in my family knows about my surgery other than my mom and dad. My own brother doesn't even know. My family already sees me losing weight so they may not bombard me with questions when they see me eating a very small amount during the holidays. Good luck to all of you during the holidays. Remember if you mess up don't give up just start over with a clean slate tomorrow.

Well, I think my doctor did finally get the needle in my port because BOY do I feel restriction. I haven't felt like this before. I'm not too tight where I can't get anything down, but I feel the restriction now with just the liquids I'm on now. I feel like I'm so stuffed after drinking about a cup of water. I had 4cc's in already but I don't know how much more he put in because he couldn't draw it back out. I will see how much I can eat tomorrow when I start mushies. I am down 2 more pounds today. I am still swollen and sore from Thursday but it's getting better.

I had the same problem this morning. My doctor stuck me like 7 or 8 times and couldn't find the center of my port. He had to change needles because it almost broke inside me. When he pulled it out it was bent. He ended up having to give me a second local anesthetic. I felt the pressure from the needle going through the plastic on the port. I could feel the needle scraping around inside my belly. I also felt a lot of pressure and burning. I think he completely missed the port or went straight through it. He said he finally got it but I'm still not convinced. He couldn't pull the fluid out to make sure it was in there. They scheduled my next fill for 3 weeks instead of 5 so maybe he isn't convinced either. I am really sore right now so I took some tylenol. I really don't understand why it was so difficult this time. My first three fills were easy. Only one stick and I was done. My doctor also told me that as I lose weight the port moves. I just hope my next fill isn't this difficult.

I have set specific goals now and told myself there are NO EXCUSES not to exercise. I am 25 years old, I am carrying less weight now, I'm not tired all the time anymore, so I need to get off my but and get moving. The result! I lost 6 pounds this week and the week isn't even over yet. Exercise is very hard and I don't think I'll ever enjoy it but this weight isn't going to come off by itself. I found myself grabbing a bag of Cheetos and heading to bed when I realized that I was following the same pattern that made me morbidly obese to begin with. I made myself exercise tonight with the bag of chips right in front of me. I thought about how I want to look and feel after I lose weight and I didn't even have a taste for them anymore. After I finished exercising I took the chips back downstairs and threw them in the trash. I drank a diet snapple instead. I go to the doctor tomorrow morning for my 4th fill. I currently have 4cc's in a 10cc band. I hope he gives me a full cc, but I don't know because he is very conservative with his fills. I had to beg him for the 2cc's he put in last month. I have some restriction now but not enough because I can still eat large amounts but I try to limit myself and not test the limits of the band.

I just started exercising last week and now I can do 50 jumping jacks and 50 crunches without taking a break after 10.