2muchfun

You bring up a good point regarding your band's moods. This is a common theme here where people don't want to adapt to their new lifestyle. Being banded will change you, your lifestyle and your eating habits. You've done great and good luck with a new doc. tmf

Maybe you should invest in a cooler type lunch pail to keep your food cold for when you go to work? You said you used a packaged oatmeal? As I recall, those are more of an instant oatmeal and are processed more? Regular steel cut oatmeal will take longer to pass and provide more fiber than an instant oatmeal. tmf

I agree with Guy. I eat Protein in the morning. What you are eating is considered a slider food even though it's somewhat nutritious. Try egg beaters, or scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, ham, omelettes. They're a little harder to digest so they stick around a lot longer. I also eat skinny flat breads with an egg, ham and cheese slice. It's around 300 calories and sticks around for many hours. One other thing? My doctor explained to me that as time goes by, our pouch becomes a more efficient muscle and adapts to pushing food through the band with more ease. In other words, it becomes stronger which can appear that your stoma is more open when it's not. I'm going in for another fill tomorrow for the same reason. I seldom get stuck and I believe I need the adjustment so that I feel satisfied longer.

I'm happy. I'm healthier. No worries. tmf

Slip, dilation? Something's wrong? Get in as soon as you can and try to stick to foods that won't irritate the band and cause more vomiting. tmf

I sounds like you're just tight enough, but, consuming processed carbs in chips and sweets along with lots of sodium can cause your entire body to swell. It won't take much swelling to make your band too tight. Most of the foods you ate on Memorial day sound like slider foods. Dark chicken meat slides through much easier than white breast meat. I wouldn't be overly concerned and you don't sound like you've had a slip at all. tmf

It's easy to look in the rear view mirror and say I'd like 5 CCs please, now that I know I needed 6 fills. But, it's unpredictable to assume every patient will recover the same. Some may only need 1 fill and others 6 fills before they feel any restriction. Filling the band early with a patient who has control issues could jeopardize the sutures holding the band in place. Just make sure your doctor gives fills under fluoro so you can move right up to and kiss restriction in the first 60 days. And it won't hurt to ask him to put some in during surgery if he feels comfortable with doing it. tmf

Not enough info to really help you? Depends on what you are eating? The band won't stop you from eating too much. It can help you feel more satisfied, sooner. You still have a stomach so you can eat slider foods till the cows come home. It still stretches to accommodate large quantities of food. You can choose to ignore the signals your pouch/band is sending that you're no longer hungry and you can stop eating. We all love food so in some environments we can't turn off those eating demons who encourage us to eat till we're in a coma. tmf

Vomit? As in full blown hurling, or just regurgitating, or PBing?

Ditto on Minimi. Call your doctor or at least schedule an appt with your nutritionist. Nutritionists are a great source for those of us who get stuck or slide back into old habits.

Go to the top of this page and click on "Surgeons". Input your zip code and find popular surgeons in your area. Google or call them to see if they're holding any seminars. Go to as many as you can so you find the one doctor you feel comfortable with. Ask questions, go to support groups before settling on a surgeon. Good luck. tmf

If one assumes you mean, what will the band reject, the answer is, it's different for every bandster. You may be fine with breads where someone else isn't. Dry meats seem to be the most cited food that travels poorly from mouth to stomach. Rice, lettuce, doughy breads are also cited regularly. But, you'll find out soon enough which ones are acceptable. If your question is about what foods to avoid so you lose weight, it's like Labwalker said. Junk foods, fatty foods, high simple carb foods, overly processed foods, most fast foods. These are all no brainers of course, but most of us still allow ourselves a little indulgence occasionally. A slice of pizza, a scoop of ice cream or an occasional cheeseburger can keep me sane for a long time. tmf

Grace, imo, you should revisit your bariatrics doctor and sounds like you need some fills? Also, speaking to a nutritionist who understands the lapband can be incredibly helpful. The band is a tool and if it's not adjusted properly it's not going to work. As far as old habits go, yes, we all have those demons and but they can be overcome. With a properly adjusted band, fighting those demons is so much easier. Otherwise, you're just on another diet and fighting on your own. tmf

If you know that you have to burn 3500 calories or eat 3500 calories in excess of your daily calorie needs, you can see that gaining or losing 8 lbs isn't going to be all fat. Maybe 1 lb of fat if you're consuming more than you burn? If your caloric intake is coming primarily from carbs, your body can/will store excess fluids. If you're consuming a lot of sodium, your body will retain fluids. Can you post a typical meal? tmf

I lost 12 lbs the first 2 weeks and then nothing for the next 14 weeks. Then I got my 4th fill and starting feeling satisfied and ate less food. I've lost 50 lbs now since surgery and have about another 25 lbs to go. If you're losing inches you must be exercising a lot? Replacing lost fat with new muscle cells will make it appear that you're not losing weight but you are losing fat. tmf

The short answer is that there's a nerve, the vagus nerve, that winds through your stomach and once you get to the green zone, the movement of your esophogus and pouch massaging food to your stomach affects this nerve giving you the feeling that you've eaten enough. This can be the hard part of your journey. Recognizing the difference between feeling satisfied and feeling full can be difficult for so many. Good luck and look for that satisfied feeling. tmf

So I'm sorry to be too graphic here but remember, someone filled your body cavity full of gas, they pumped fluids, medications, antibiotics and anesthesia into your body. They punched 5 holes in your abdomen, moved all your inner body parts around, shoved a tube down your throat, took an electric scalpel and burned away excess fat and tissue wrapped around your upper stomach, then wrapped a plastic strap around your stomach just below the lower esophogeal sphincter, stitched it in place with 5-6 sutures bringing your lower stomach up and over the band and then snaked a tube out of your body and then sewed another plastic piece to the muscle tissue on your rib cage. Now, considering all that has been done to your body, you're doing quite well aren't you? You can't eat solid food till your doctor tells you to. Your band is stitched into place and eating solids too soon could compromise the good work your surgeon performed. It will get better. Promise. tmf

41.8? Did you move to Alaska?

One more illustration:

You must burn off 7,000 calories/wk more than you consume. So, you need to create a daily deficit of 1,000 calories. If your natural metabolism is 1800 calories a day, less 1200 consumed, less 600 burned(5 days) = 1200/day. You should be losing 2 lbs a week now. Mind you, thats 2 lbs of fat but if you're replacing fat with muscle, the scale may not reflect this. Only you would know if your clothes fit looser or you actually measure inches lost? The scale does not differentiate fat from muscle. tmf

PJ, does it really matter if it takes you one year or 3 years to attain your goal? If you're making yourself healthy every step of the way, isn't it a good thing? Impatience is quite normal for all of us. Stories like Missy's, Floridays and B-52 should stand as aspirations for all of us, not walls or roadblocks to a healthier life. You're healthier now than when you started right? Keep working at it and never give up. Look at Candice Glover on American Idol. She was rejected twice and mocked by Simon Cowell as a lounge act. You're no lounge act and you're just as capable at succeeding as anyone on the forum. tmf

Once again Ms Maui is flying fast and loose with the facts. The study she cites was the initial study initiated in 1995 shortly after the advent of the product. Techniques and product enhancements have made these results antiquated and negligible. As I've said before, all new medical devices and surgical techniques improve over time. It's only natural. Lapband surgery will be better in 10 years than it is now I have no doubt. Body part transplants will have better outcomes 10 years from now. Lapband outcomes now, compared to 20-23 years ago, are also much better due to higher quality products, surgical techniques and physician training. Are there still failures and complications? Of course there are and as long as human nature is involved, this will continue to be the case. From the FDA.gov website: Study Design: A 3-year, single-arm, multi-center study was initiated in June 1995 with 299 subjects enrolled at 8 centers under the care of 12 surgeons. All procedures were completed utilizing a perigastric dissection technique with pouches of 25 ml or (later in the study) 15 ml, using the 9.75cm (B- 2210) and 10.0cm (B-2220) LAP-BAND ® Systems. http://www.fda.gov/d...l/UCM235263.pdf

Throwing up can tear the sutures holding the band in place around your stomach. Be very careful. tmf

We have so many doves in our backyard. We have these bird feeders and unfortunately hawks feed here too. Doves are such easy targets for raptors, it just pains me to see them taken so often.

I mean, literally! So, these two robins, mom and dad I suppose, have been creating this huge nest in a small basket on our front door. How did I miss this? So, I want to move it left or right 10-15 ft but my wife wants to leave it right where it's at? Some guy at Wildbirds Unlimited suggested leaving it there too. It's so cute but the basket is held on with a magnet. So, if it falls off and the little birds don't survive, I'm sure it will be my fault