lellow

Anything gluggy like sushi rice might cause problems. When I was at green zone, there were many things that were difficult to eat. I could probably still have eaten all of them if I chewed enough and took smaller bites but I couldn't really be bothered. These included shrimp, beef that was well-done, rice, bread and chicken breast. Now I'm relatively loose, by choice, and I still have difficulties with rice. Some things are just more uncomfortable to eat when you're banded.

Ok if you're not on any meds that might be causing the nausea, I think you need to go back in and see someone. Dry retching is not good for you while you're healing and even some anti-nausea meds might help.

I forgot to add that I don't tolerate rice well. I can still eat it but it makes me feel VERY full VERY fast. It's great aversion therapy. I'm Asian so the idea of not eating rice ever again used to fill me with fear. Now I just roll with it because it makes me uncomfy. I also gave up soda, refined sugar and KFC among other things even though I could probably eat those easy. I don't regret any of those because my end game was being healthy, so life changes were going to be necessary. And I don't feel deprived at all, in fact I believe I eat better quality, better tasting food now than I ever did when I was eating junk.

Weight training builds muscle, which in turn increases your metabolism and is absolutely fine after recovery from surgery. Cardio is good for fat burning and can be commenced as soon as you're cleared to (for me, it was 3 days). So you can do both without issue. I weight train and I'm 5 years banded.

I had the dry heaves before too and it was almost certainly related to my pain meds. I think I replied to another thread of yours asking if you may be allergic to your pain meds. It's only a fairly new occurence for me, but I now can't tolerate any form of opiates or opiodes. They make me so nauseaus that I dry heave. The minute I stop pain meds the nausea disappears. Are you on any pain meds?

Ok I actually think you more than anyone on this thread need to start counting calories. Exercise makes you hungry, and I know of too many people who exercise a lot, who then eat back their exercise calories and more because they're always hungry. Also all calories are not created equal. 200 calories of hard Protein will keep you fuller for longer, and it will assist in the building of muscle. 200 calories of refined sugar is pretty much going to go straight into building fat. Understanding the composition of your food is super important to weight loss and general health. My suggestion is you start by journalling all your food, every single mouthful, for a few weeks and see where you're at after that.

I went through the same thing. Lost a heap of weight (got down to 118lbs) and got to be what I term to be 'skinny fat' in that I had nearly no muscle mass, and my BFP was around 22%. I had no real strength, lots of stamina, sure, but I was weak as a kitten. Couldn't even open a cap off a bottle! Now my BMI is higher, I'm sitting on 138lbs because I am strength training, and to do that I need to eat well. My band is not so tight right now that I can't eat Breakfast, nor will I have it that tight from now on. My aim now is to build muscle and reduce my BFP (which is currently 19%). And for being 20lbs heavier than I used to be, strangely enough I'm only one size bigger in clothes, and my waist (thanks to lipo and many crunches) is smaller. So at this point, it's not about what the scales says as the rest of my body composition.

Man I hate Protein shakes. I had soup, broth, tea, anything I could possibly find that meant I wouldn't have to have Protein Shakes. Also remember this stage won't last forever. I was starving in a day or two after I came out of surgery and while it sucks, you can get through it and soon you'll be on mushies and less hungry. Now the nausea. Are you on painkillers of any sort? Many painkillers, on an empty tummy, can make you nauseated. If you're not taking painkillers, then buy yourself a hot Water bottle coz that helps with the nausea too.

Ahhh the mysteries of how our bodies work! I'd say if you're on liquids you're probably not getting enough calories and that's stalling your weight loss right now. When do you move to solids? Or are you already? Once you're having regular (portion controlled) solid food meals, the weight loss should get more consistent. I know breaking that 200lbs is a big milestone! That's why it feels like it's taking forever!

Some people come out of surgery starving. I was one. And to get back to a feeling of no hunger I needed a lot of fills. Others come out with no appetite straight off the bat. Your surgeon is right. Enjoy it. If you're lucky you may actually not need any fills, or just a few, to get to green zone. Green zone for me is a complete loss of hunger. Just like what you're feeling now.

Can I say that I relate as well, but wanted to add that one thing I have learnt being 5 years post banding is that I never changed. On the outside? Yes. How people treated me? Definitely. But the fundamental part of me, who I was, who I am, remains the same. That doesn't change with the what you weigh. The difference though between me and someone who was always thin is that I recognise that someone's weight doesn't define them. And it doesn't define me. Nor should it define you. Fat, thin, you will still be you.

You can't live on liquids forever. And once you stop liquids, it's VERY difficult if not impossible to not gain the weight back. Why? Because a liquid diet is a crash diet. It completely kills your metabolism. It is a fact that the more you crash diet, the likelihood of you gaining all the weight back and MORE is far higher than if you didn't bother dieting at all. The band carries a risk of complications, yes. I have never seen statistics that support a 6 in 10 complication rate. But assuming that's true, let's put it into perspective: complications with the band can range from a port flip (easy fixed in day surgery) to erosion or worse (requires band removal). In Australia where the lapband was used routinely long before it was approved for use in the US, the complication rate is about 5% (all complications). Erosion rates are at sub 1%. Of these complications, some are caused by band failure and some by patient non-compliance, so that too is a factor. Forums are NOT an unbiased representation of a population. Generally speaking, people seek out forums when they wish to discuss a problem and need support. This means that a lapbander who is at goal who isn't experiencing issues would usually have no reason to post, and few of them do (even on this site). Why would they? So your best bet in terms of getting information regarding complication rates, risks and issues is to seek real studies regarding short, medium and long term prognosis for lapband patients. Paul O'Brien has been placing lapbands in Australian patients since 1994, and my own surgeon has nearly 2 decades of experience and still advocates banding for his wls patients. Do your research and then make your choices, and don't necessarily accept other's personal experience as the only facts out there. Or else how is that different from me saying I lost over 100% of my excess weight with my band and have kept it off for 5 years with nearly no real imposition on my life?? I don't expect everyone to be like me, so those with complications shouldn't expect everyone to be like them.

I had to buy more layers of winter clothes, coz I get SO much colder than when I was big. Scarves, beanies, gloves, thick tights, all now part of my staple winter wardrobe. And a banded friend of mine told me she's saving on jeans coz she doesn't rub holes into the thighs any more and having to keep replacing them.

Today I was fiddling with my collage maker on my phone and made a collage of one of my 'before' pics from 2003 and one of me that I took today, in 2013. I wanted to use it as my profile pic on here, so this is it: I sent it to myself at work, had it up on my screen and someone I didn't know very well walked up behind me and said 'who is the person on the left?' So I said, 'oh that's me 10 years ago'. Believe it or not, she puffed herself up in indignation and looked me in the eye and said quite rudely "you're lying, that's not you!" and then proceeded to tell me that the person in the photo on the left looked nothing like me, the woman was obviously older, the skin tone was all wrong and who was I trying to kid anyway??? I didn't have to say anything, my colleague next to me actually said 'actually that is her' and explained about the lapband (everyone who knows me knows about it). The women then did the huge dramatic act of pretending to be hugely shocked and then interested in how I did it, completely ignoring the fact that she'd basically just accused me of lying! Lucky for her, I thought it was highly amusing, and took it as a compliment, and walked away thinking it would be a good anecdote for this blog. Hey, sometimes you gotta look for the silver lining in everything, right?

Ohhh I had sleeve envy soooo bad early on. I had a friend who got sleeved the same day I got banded, and the weight FELL off her. But 7 months later, our loss was comparable. 1 year later I had surpassed her. 5 years later, she's regained about 1/2 her excess weight and despite a leak that lasted 15 months, I have managed to keep most of my excess weight off, and today am still at more than 100% of my excess weight lost. And in April this year when they went to replace my leaky band and gave me the option of sleeve or band, I realised I now have absolutely no sleeve envy, and got another band. The decision you make should be based on risk, benefit and long term prognosis. Each wls has good and bad. Weigh those up and make the decision, because you can achieve success if you want to with any of them.

You know what? I've not been anything but civil to you, and apparently you are not at all capable of being the same. If anyone hasn't been nice in this thread, renewed_mind, it's been you. You are truly one sad human being if you think that how you have behaved is appropriate. And I, for one, am not wasting one more second of my time on you any further.

You look wonderful and yes pictures don't lie! I hope it motivates you how much your loss has inspired others just by looking at you!

I guess I'm a little taken aback by your reaction OP. Perhaps everyone misunderstood your intention: did you only want people to tell you it was ok? That you weren't potentially doing enough damage to yourself to not only cause long term problems, but perhaps even kill you? If that's what you were after, I'm sorry I offered any advice and I would have stayed out of this thread if I knew that to be the case. I don't know you, you certainly don't know me, so except for the fact that you're a fellow human being and I don't like seeing others get hurt, I don't actually have an investment in you or your success. I only know my own success and the lessons I've learnt along the way the last 5 years. I made mistakes too, and if I can help someone NOT make those same mistakes, I try to. So I give advice freely, but whether someone takes it or leaves it is no skin off my nose. If you want to eat now, and believe your hunger is somehow worse than anything any of us have felt, well ok. It sounds like nothing anyone can say will convince you otherwise anyway. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

As far as I'm aware not only do they not know what caused the leak, they couldn't actually find where the leak was after they took the band out. But it wasn't always leaking, no. I had great restriction and stayed in the green zone for 3 years, maintaining my weight easily. Then it disappeared slowly but surely over several months, and finally it was completely gone.

I was losing about 2cc every 3 months and it was a slow leak. I would get them to check it again every 2 months and record how much was in before and how much was in after. With a slow leak there isn't really a 'test' they can do to detect it, checking the amount of Fluid in your band is the only way to diagnose it. Slow leaks usually occur in the port or tubing and can be easily fixed by replacing these during day surgery. I say "usually" because mine was in my band itself and so it took longer for them to diagnose and fix.

Lol I just realised I sounded like this 'small fill' evangelist! I did not mention that I too have been overfilled and it SUCKS. Which is how I started to understand that my first doctor (from before moving states) was right when he said he was going to take it slow. Never had an overfill episode with him ever, and we found the green zone easily that first time around. Since then, new doctoir, bigger fills = more overfilled episodes. So just trying to impart the lesson I learnt so others don't go through the to and fro of feeling that the green zone is so hard to find. Small fills may feel like a pain in the behind but there is great reasoning behind it.

I'm going to put this out there: It's easier to find the green zone with smaller fills. It may take longer but the chances of pushing PAST it is lessened by heaps. I'm not talking about you in particular but I see the same type of post regarding overfills all the time so thought I'd mention that here. That they had to take more out than they put in because your stoma had become so swollen actually set you back. And you were miserable as well! Finding the green zone takes patience and faith that you will get there.

A barium swallow helps to show if the band placement is good. It can show the level of restriction too but 'it looks good' is very subjective, does that mean the swallow went down easy? Slow? What? Erosion can only be detected by GI. A leak can be detected via a CT scan or via complete withdrawal of all Fluid about 3 months in between (this is important especially to detect a slow leak). There are many things your doctor could do to get to the bottom of this, and throwing their hands up and giving up is a piss poor response from him, if I do say so myself. You may have something as simple as a small leak in your tubing that could be fixed my day surgery, for all he knows. I had a slow leak. Which meant I never retained restriction beyond a day or so after being filled. It took 15 months, multiple tests, many withdrawls of all the fluid in my band and two port replacements for them to realise it was my band itself that was leaking. Even the CT scans didn't show up the leak, it was so slow. When it became apparent what it was, I had the option of a new band or a sleeve. I got a new band in April this year. It's now restricted, I'm maintaining EASILY and back into the bandster lifestyle. Do not give up. I was so frustrated I was often in tears. But I would not be fobbed off, and I would not let them off with just ignoring my issue. It was NOT all in my mind, and I insisted they take me seriously. If you need to chat, feel free to PM me.

For a lot of us, hunger is something we will struggle with until we get the right restriction level. I was hungry ALL the time too before I got some restriction, and for me, it took a LOT of fills. This is not unusual at all. In fact it's so common, you can bet your last dollar many thousands have been through this before you. Eat well, eat bandster portions, look for satisfaction (no longer hungry) rather than fullness, eat low cal, high quality food (whole, hard proteins) and exercise. You will get to the point of feeling restriction and it will get easier, but use this time to build good foundations for long term weight loss/maintenance. Bandster hell is a GREAT time to analyse the way you've eaten previously and make changes for long term good health that will stay with you the rest of your life.

There is a post on here about that very thing. There are very valid medical reasons why you need to follow the post op instructions to the letter. I'll find it for you. Here it is: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/175029-starting-over-after-almost-dying-twice-and-gaining-back-150-pounds/ It's scary but it should be. You can do serious damage to yourself by not following your post operative instructions.