RestlessMonkey

Unforgettable, that is all so great! Sometimes at 3 weeks, people are still in that "OMG why did I do this to myself phase" They should enjoy reading your take on it. You're already looking ahead and figuring out ways to use it to help you with more than "just" weight loss and maintenance. (isn't nursing just a real head trip?) I'm so glad to read you are doing well! I agree too; I got such a mental BOOST from knowing I had the band, like a safety net or training wheels! :crying: I still feel that security. It's grand!

elcee you don't get off the hook...I am sure you are having some good things happen too. Share with your classmates! :crying:

This early on, unless your surgeon says it's ok (like some people's docs tell them to let it go flat first) you're probably safest to just pass on it. Once you've had the band a while, been at your sweet spot, learned how your body responds to it and so on, maybe revisit it. You are just under 3 months out...so I'd give it another 3-6 at least (again unless your surgeon says "go for it") :crying:

You, my friend, were just giving me more credit than I deserve! :crying: That's all.......

greytz...that type of thing is SO COOL! Thanks for sharing it! I realized today when I whipped around the grocery store (and shopping is much faster now...partly because I MOVE more quickly and partly because there are huge chunks I can thankfully just avoid! :crying: Have you been on the candy row at 5pm on a friday? LOL) I remember times in the past when physically (I always refused to use a scooter) I'd really have to pump myself up to get up the gumption to go grocery shopping. I'm happy to leave where I was, but I always want to remember it. Now, I'm happy for Petunia, you, AND me!

Congrats on YOUR loss! and your good recovery...off to a good start on your bandster life! :crying:

I never heard that carbonation can cause your band to slip. I ask how far post op the OP is because at 11 mos I just asked my surgeon about it and he said that now that I'm this far out if I proceed VERY carefully I can have carbonation. He said if it hurts, stop. If it doesn't, you're ok. I think this is something (one of the many things) we should all get directions about from our banding surgeons. I believe there will be conflicting opinions. My doc also gave me the go-ahead for straws and gum and said the big issue with those two things also was gas (and the concurrent PAIN involved in gas) There are many things that can cause a slip and eating the wrong things ahead of time (during the immediate post op phase) is a biggie...so follow your docs advice of course

Hi all! We read so many problems/issues on here (nature of the beast, I know)...I just wanted to post and say...that for me at least, life is good! I started at 405 pounds (53 YO 5'5" female) and have lost almost 75. I'm still really fat. I don't look that different. BUT life is good. I feel different! I have about a billion times more energy. No wonder, I've lost a couple of toddlers! My wrist watch that dug into my chubby little arm now spins around. It is so cool! Sometimes when no one is watching I spin it around just to amuse myself! :frown: I had a day of "wild abandon" yesterday. I ate a piece of white bread (mostly because I always post on here that I can eat anything and don't want to intentionally lie). It was bland but went down easily. I had chicken enchiladas for supper! I had a "fun size" bag of M & M's w/peanuts (rarely eat candy...don't really want it) Today without even THINKING about it I got up and was back in my "bandster" routine. The Water, the eating at set times, the shake for Breakfast, sugar free "stuff" in my coffee...I just realized I'd slipped back into my groove without even being aware of it, even after my odd eating from yesterday. I'd have NEVER done that while "dieting". Any aberration from the norm meant a free-for-all, or a struggle to get back on track. I love my band. Thank God I don't have GERD, acid reflux, pain, frequent PBing, problem foods. I have a long way to go and feel totally 1000% sure I can do it. It is working exactly as I hoped it would. I am eating way less of whatever I want and losing. Whatever I want is changing and becoming more healthy, but it's an easy process, not a paradigm shift. This is so do-able! I got my blood drawn yesterday for my annual check and for the very first time in my adult life I wasn't worried about it. I know the figures will be good and improved over the last time. That is so great...to be 54 and be getting BETTER instead of slowly going the wrong way! Just wanted to share, with people curious about the band, with my fellow bandsters. These are little things, nothing huge. But they keep you going, you know? Anyone else? :crying:

GAS. How long post op are you?

Talk to your SURGEON! You need to be unfilled ASAP and they can numb you today as well as next week. Good grief that nurse is a witch! SIGH! Don't mess with it. You are getting cruddy care, ok? They shouldn't have filled you during surgery. You may have swelling that is going down but if you aren't getting a little better each day, odds are the fill is irritating you and you WONT improve. Fills lessen over time as you lose weight and the fat around your stomach lessens. Also you can lose a neglibile amount over time (months and months) Again...I'm not a surgeon. I just graduated from nursing school. BUT what I'm telling you to do is what I'd do, or do for a loved one. Based on what you've told me. I don't know the surgeon, the nurse, or you.... There are some people who fret more easily over things than i do and if you are a worrier then perhaps waiting is right for you because you may feel it's worse than it is. I don't know of course! But unless (not being tacky, just honest) you are the kind of person where friends and family call you a hypochondriac..:crying: you are getting bad care. You need attention. And even if you are the biggest hypochondriac in Texarkana, if you can't drink 64 oz of Water each day you are in danger! OK? This is what I think in my limited capacity (NOT A DOC! You need your surgeon...not that nurse) You were filled during surgery and are one of those people who have a large degree of post op swelling...coupled with the FILL you can't drink. And like many surgeons tell us to take it easy after a fill because our stomachs, esophaguses (esophagi? whatever!) and bands can be agitated....your upper digestive tract is agitated and swollen. It is so agitated that when you try to drink you re-agitate it. If you could be put in the hospital and given nothing by mouth and hydrated via IV it MIGHT calm down. OR you could get an unfill. Your SURGEON can give you the best info on this. Don't feel you are the problem because you aren't. I think he inadvertently caused it by filling you and the nurse has exacerbated it by blowing you off. Now she's trying to scare you. Shame on her. It may hurt to access your port because you are so soon post op but they can give you drugs to combat that....and it will be cheaper and easier on you than ending up in the ER on an IV. Having had my rant....IF you can get your 64 oz of fluids in, then yes you can wait until next weds. But I want to tell you this..your port isn't going to miraculously heal so much in 4 days that what would hurt today won't still hurt on Weds. Your medical team needs to pay some attention to you. Call them and make them listen.

Be sure to remember that to tell your kids! That's hysterical! :crying: There's love, and then...the judge's schedule! :frown:

Great! So when's your date? (J/k!) I am sure you're excited

Unforgettable...I didn't follow my doc's diet; at least not the 1st time. I did my "own" diet because, Hey, I'm a professional dieter! (yes I am making fun of me) This is what I think....that happened and it's a good thing because I re-evaluated my "knowledge" and realized I needed to listen to my surgeon...question him of course if in doubt but otherwise LISTEN to him. I'm not really a know-it-all (I may sound like it sometimes but I know I'm not) but I am mature, smart, and used to figuring things out for myself. So I thought I could do a diet that I would enjoy more but I would lose weight. And I DID lose 15 pounds. BUT I didn't know about the liver shrink part. Why? I didn't ask my doc "WHY THIS DIET" I just assumed it was for general weight loss. NOT. SO mostly I learned (once again although by now you'd think I'd have known it) NEVER ASSUME. THAT Is how I learned that for the post op diet it is VITAL to follow it because it is for healing and even one BITE of food can cause the stomach to churn and THAT can rip the old stitches and band loose. Most of us grow up occasionally cheating on diets...it's a way of life for many obese. I had to learn (and will always share) that the preop one is important to follow but the post op one is almost IMPERTIVE to follow. They shouldn't call it a "diet" They should call it "your post op healing prescription" or something. :crying: If I hadn't done my own diet I probably would have lost more, lost it from my liver, and gotten the band the first time. BUT I did what he told me post op and am glad of that; it was a hard lesson I learned but I think (hope) I learned it.

YES! YES! YES! Studies are showing that there are hormonal influences etc that impact loss. There are some supplements (like chromium piccolinate, or the substance in uncut green tea who's name i forget, ecgc or something like that) that helps you lose more quickly...and things that tend to retard the process. Metabolic syndrom/insulin resistance can keep your body from losing, for example. And people on those EXTREME low calorie diets who are doing it to live longer....adapt their BMR to low low LOW calories. They'll probably get it all figured out in another 100 years or so. It's tied to many factors. As I've often said, if it were easy we'd all be thin. I might add if it were really as logical as they think MORE of us would be thin. It's not; they don't really understand it yet.

I always have to think (LOL bad I know)...11/25/83 That's right I wanted it to be 11/23/83 but that was the Weds before Thanksgiving. So we got married the friday after. :crying: You have a sweet romantic take on it! :frown:

WOW requiring a 20% loss before surgery seems a little harsh! I'd never have been able to do it (no matter how much I wanted it) if I'd had to do that! Good luck to you!

Discuss with your surgeon. Without knowing you (and how you heal, do you have comorbidities, how old you are, who your surgeon is, yada yada etc LOL) it's impossible to say for sure but odds.... playing the odds do not do it with just 2 days to recover. You'll screw up your new job. Better to wait until Christmas break. Your surgeon can guide you best in this (he knows his patients) but even we bandsters who had worry free easy great recoveries need more than 2 days recovery. Plus you'll be on a liquid diet for a while...you'd be stressing your body too much I think, between healing and the new job. Making too many demands with no nutrition.

or not. I lost very little until this may when I finally hit my sweet spot and since then have lost 48 pounds. My AVERAGE is around 1 1/2 pounds a week, but I haven't lost that steadily. Some times I haven't lost, (or gained a little) sometimes I've lost 5 pounds (or more) a week. We're all different...the big thing with the band, IMHO, is that you have better odds of KEEPING it off. What happened when you lost that 4 pounds a week? Gained it back I bet (been there done that) The band helps you hold your loss even if you do go nutso. It can be eaten around but it helps if you try to work it. So to me it isn't that it helps people LOSE so much as that it helps people KEEP LOSING. If that makes sense! And yes some lose fast and keep it off...lucky dogs! (hard working lucky dogs...because it's work, even with the band)

Let's see...you've lost 21 pounds in 2 months. That's ahead of the "average 1-2 pounds a week" loss the lap band advertises. Maybe an appt with your surgeon's nutritionist is in order! :laugh:

No Protein isn't usually a clear liquid...so no EAS shakes (or any brand, for that matter) during week 1! Didn't you have to go to a nutritionist session before hand? That would've helped you a lot! Clear liquids are liquids you can see through (and coffee and tea are considered "clear"...but you probably can't have caffeine) Milk isn't clear. Protein shakes aren't clear. Creamy Soups aren't clear...tomato Soup isn't clear ... just things like Water, broth. STICK TO IT! Very important to let your band heal! After that call and ask them to tell you what exactly they mean by full liquids. Unfortunately we're all given different post op instructions and it's important to do what our individual surgeons tell us, because they have different styles, different staff and teams, use different equipment, have different levels of skill, AND they know their patients best. So don't do what someone on here "was cleared for" or whatever...do what your surgeon tells you. Most of us got a booklet or some such with that in it. If you didn't, call and get them to tell you item by item! OR... call if you're in doubt. Way way better for you to be safe than sorry!

Mine's a little left of center, and a good couple inches under my left breast....great spot! I never feel it! :laugh:

Just wanted to tell you good luck...and follow the post op diet exactly as you're told. It's a "healing" diet, not a weight loss one, and if you cheat (like eat foods ahead of when you are cleared for them) you can really hurt yourself! :laugh: Otherwise, it's about time! Good Luck! :tt2:

I know I say this a lot but you really should tell your surgeon this if it keeps up. I agree that I get more "bang for the buck" with Protein rich foods. I can eat 3 oz of grilled steak (just that...nothing else) and honest to goodness be FULL for 6 hours. OR I can eat something like, say, 3/4 of a bean burrito (with a high Fiber tortilla, just FYI! and low fat refrieds) and be full for about 3 hours. Obviously now I like the more protein rich, dense foods (love chicken breast too...or roast...) They just fill me up quick and keep me "not hungry" for a good long time. So tinker with your choices. If that doesn't help, I don't know what to tell you.

It's just odd how different the docs and post op directions are, and yet how successful so many are. My doc doesn't restrict foods. It's possible there is an "unsweetened" rule so that you can lose, but I don't really know that for sure! It's best to follow the rules YOUR surgeon gives you. I will say if there is one that's really hard for you ask your surgeon why...see if it applies to you.

It gets better. They call it "hell" for a reason...and fyi it covers the time from you get the band, are healing and feeling hungry...to the time where you finally start to get restriction and feel the band actually working in there. It did NOT happen for me at fill 1, or 2, or 3..but it does for some. However once healed you can safely eat more if you want to because until your band is filled and tightened most food goes on through. The time you are in is a hard time. You generally are physically in some pain, you are generally HUNGRY and you aren't losing much ... you dont' see the light at the end of the tunnel but it's there. Hang in there is all I can tell you.