2muchfun

That's incredible! You could use that old purple T-Shirt as a mini-skirt now?

Just having the band won't make you lose any more than weight watchers, atkins, jenny craig etc. It just won't prevent you from gaining weight and won't enable you to lose weight until it's adjusted properly and you understand how it works and work with it. It comes easy to some but for some of us, it's so much more difficult. Changing a lifetime of bad eating habits won't happen in 30 days and maybe not 12 months. Just keep working on it. Read Jean McMillan's most recent entry, "Think thin". tmf

It's PB and I agree with Suzanne, it's not as bad but if you do this with every meal you could dilate your pouch and or esophogus. tmf

We have lots of fruit, Jerky, pickles, tuna salad around all the time. We mostly munch on apples, melons, pears, blueberries, pineapple. All good for us but sometimes they can stop a weight loss program due to the high carb content, but still better than chips, candy, Cookies, processed food products. tmf

Please fill in your profile so we know you better? I'm confused, you just posted 9 days ago that you were 2 months out and had lost 50 lbs? Which is it? Many people offered advice? Did you not see the posts?

Most of us take months of being banded to be able to understand the difference between hunger and cravings/head hunger. Some patients never realize it. Sometimes the food demons in our minds override our sensibilities and we think we're hungry when we're not. It's difficult to give up our security blankets and I know, it took me 10 months to finally be able to tell the diff. It also can take months or even years to re-train ourselves to eat much smaller bites and chew. And I really mean much smaller and I really mean chew, chew, chew. If done properly, the small amount of food taken in the mouth will become mush just like soup or crackers. IF, eaten like a true bandster. You're still in the bandster 101 phase of your journey. Eat small, chew big. Hang in there. tmf

I believe she's asking about the prosthesis device list and yes, it's on the list. I just looked it up. Of course, this is for Australia!

You forgot 3 roma tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves and 2 chopped jalapenos.

My surgery was 11/28/11. 4 days after Thanksgiving and I had no pre op diet. Thankfully! I don't think I could have been a good boy. I love my dressing and gravy.

Many of us had no pre op diet but you should be happy yours is only one week of good food. Steak, hamburger, turkey, ham, salads, eggs, chicken. Doesn't get much better than that. tmf

Well, I'm jealous. I was starving 3 days out of surgery and could consume multiple cans of soup or juice with no problem. Took me 4 months to find restriction. You're going to be one of the lucky ones!

Fluids will pass right through the band to the lower stomach. Very doubtful you stretched anything. tmf

You are probably too tight, or, you're having a difficult time adjusting to the eat small bites and chew chew chew? Ask yourself and check this out? Can you wait to eat too long and still eat Soup or slider foods? Or, is it just meats or breads? If you can eat slider type foods with no problem, you probably aren't chewing enough or taking small bites? tmf

I think the gum, soda and drinking while eating rules are there because we all have a tendency to do things orally to the excess. All of it in moderation should be fine but we all got here by not shoving stuff in our pieholes moderately. Obviously, most of us are intelligent adults but it doesn't take long on this site to see how some might abuse the gum, soda and drinking rules? tmf

You're a very well spoken young man. Virtually no ums, uhs or "like" in your speech! Good to have anoter guy on the forum. We've got several here but as you've probably noticed, we're outnumered 10-1 but thats OK. They tolerate us just fine(most do) Good first video. FYI- for me, 5-6 minutes is about my tops for my attention span. The first one had to be long obviously since it was the setup for future broadcasts. But well done! Look forward to hearing more from you. tmf

Here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1iqMmA1chQ

I can't feel my band but this question has come up before and some bandsters say they think they can feel it. I'm programmed now to eat like it's there and I only eat small and chew big. tmf

Normal. Weight fluctuations happen during this phase. Most of the weight we lose shortly after surgery and even before on the pre op diet is just excess Water. It will take 4-6 weeks to wring out much of this type of excess weight. So, during this phase sodium, TOM, allergies, stress all can make you hold back fluids. Once you get some fills and can work on finding the green zone and satiety, you'll start to see the fat disappear along with inches. tmf

Lots of soda pop can dilate your pouch. Not good for you.

As long as there's no information regarding personal names, addresses and/or email addresses? What's the worry?

I had none.

Me too. I sometimes have a love/hate relationship but that's just because sometimes our stomach lining swells and makes eating a little more challenging. One thing that most newbies don't hear often is, some people cannot give up their addiction to food and it's so much easier to blame the band than take responsibility for their own failure to follow the rules and eat healthy sensible foods. There's probably not a day that doesn't go by that someone isn't crying for help here on this site, due to their lack of willpower to stop eating chocolate or ice cream or you name your favorite fattening food? Or, their inability to eat small bites and chew properly? And it's so much easier to eat slider foods like milk shakes, chips, soda pop, cake, lasagna, fried foods. Many of these folks find reasons to hate the band simply because they cannot give up the foods they love. There are those who have other issues as well. Reflux, vomiting the band from it's original location(slip), band failure just to name a few of the other complications that can piss off anyone who spent $10K for surgery.

And I agree with you on the anesthesia. I don't react well to that stuff. I think for me, the anesthesia was the worst part of the surgery. I didn't really have much pain afterwards as many people post here on this forum but I felt like I was traumatized for a week after surgery due to the massive amounts of anesthesia, pain meds, fluids, anti-biotics and oxygen. tmf

I don't recall vacillating back and forth before surgery simply because I knew the WLS was my only option to get healthy again. I knew for a fact that dieting wouldn't work so this was my only option. Be sure you've closed all other doors before you open this one and walk through. tmf

Are you saying you were too tight? Did you get a fill that was too tight or did you just fail to eat properly(like a bandster)?