2muchfun

They all work for me. Damn, now I have to really bear down and get skinny.

You should fill in your profile so we know more about you and can help you better? tmf

I don't see how sitting up, lying down or standing on your head would have any detrimental effect to your band or cause it to be painful. sleep like you always have slept. I do. tmf

12 first 4 months. Took 3 fills before I started to feel restriction. BTW I can still eat a large amount of food if I eat around my band. Most of us can. Just stay away from slider foods.

Eating foods like Soups, pasta(pizza, lasagna), mac and cheese, candy, crackers, chips, any food that slides(slider foods) through the band without stimulating the vagus nerve. tmf

I have BCBS and didn't lose any weight during the 6 month nutrition phase. Didn't matter. I doubt they would deny you.

I too need a fill and haven't scheduled it yet. Trying to make it through a gauntlet of Birthdays this month before I take the plunge again.

Very little pain for me. I was traumatized by all the anesthesia and drugs they pumped in me.

My doc had no pre-op diet at all.

Keep reading. I wish I would have read more so I was better prepared. I have no regrets, but I do wish that I had been better informed so that I wouldn't have been so disappointed in the first 4 months. tmf

It has been a year since I saw you. Be fun if we could all go to Red Robin again? tmf

Yes. And too much, too big and not chewing enough.

You just had surgery on your stomach. Of course it's going to react? Why would you be bummed? What did you expect? tmf

My preband nutrition consultation cost me $75 and my 6 month BCBS nutrition counseling cost $40 for each of my 6 visits. The 6 visits were useless as like M1a said they just tell you things you should already know. However, I've seen so many banded people post here who are totally clueless about nutrition so I wouldn't say it's useless for everyone. 4 months after being banded I was not losing weight. I went in for my 3rd fill and the nut was there so I had a consult. She's a bonafide expert in bariatric surgery nutrition. She pointed out foods that were the antithesis of foods I should be consuming to lose weight. I immediately started losing weight after the fill and the visit. At this point in your journey it may not be necessary to visit with a nut. Just follow your doctors orders but if you find that you are in a plateau or stalled for 1-2 months, you may want to sit down with a nut and work it out. tmf

Being an Atkins fan I'll take a look at these at the grocery store next visit.

You can't expect to lose weight like a robot. It's not like every day we lose .25 lbs if we burn 900 calories more than we take in. As we exercise we replace some lost fat with muscle. Losing fat is the goal and there will be weeks or months where we don't lose weight but we lose fat. Circumstances can allow our bodies to retain fluids. TOM, sodium intake, meds, stress and excessive carbohydrates can make us retain lbs of excess fluids. It's very easy for an obese person to retain 10-20 lbs of Water. 2 weeks before and after surgery we lose a lot of weight and most of that is water. Don't expect it to continue! tmf

Polar H7 bluetooth transmitter. About $63. I use it with my Iphone 5 and the polar free app when I exercise indoors and I use the H7 with the cyclemeter app when I bike. tmf

Comment from another forum member who I cannot remember his name?: "In my case, the most fearful thing I had to do in order to succeed with my band wasn't switching to skim milk, surviving a liquid diet, or giving up bread. The most fearful thing was giving up my emotional attachment to food. In the nearly 5 years since I was banded, I've made a lot of progress with that, but the attachment is still there. It forms one of the innermost layers of my turtle shell. Working on that layer will probably be a lifetime job for me. At times I'm not even sure I truly want to get rid of it altogether. At times I'm afraid that if I shed my shell completely, I won't be able to survive. On the other hand, I seem to be doing fine without that thick old b***h layer. So I'm going to pay attention to my dreams rather than my fears and pray for a miracle. And why not? It can't hurt to try!" Dream a little. Fear not!

We have 4 too. Bred many in the past but no longer. The female is just a b***h I think. She loves me and she's definitely my cat but she's camped out in my office for 1 1/2 years now and won't come out. They got along fine for 8 months then Beau got too big for her and she's not into playing like he does. Sorry folks for the cat dialogue. I'll go now. tmf

I've never seen them and I'm nearly an expert on the Atkins diet. Well, expert on the original one where you can eat a slab of bacon for Breakfast and a 24 oz porterhouse for dinner(no I never did indulge in that). It depends? Are the foods processed? The idea behind the band is for solid food to be chewed and swallowed so that as it goes through your pouch it stimulates the vagus nerve to enable you to feel satisfied sooner. Processed foods usually are slider foods. Like lean cuisine or smart ones. Low in calories, high in sodium but they slide right through your pouch and usually won't satisfy your hunger for long? If you are able to eat these atkins pre-packaged foods and feel satisfied you can lose weight. I'd recommend you only eat them when you're in a hurry or for lunch at work and only if you can't prepare nutritous foods in advance. jmo tmf

One slice once in a while won't harm your journey. Once slice every day is a different story but sounds like you already know that. Tomorrow my daughter will be 24 and two of our cats will be 13. Yay!! Happy Birthday! tmf

There are so many different pre-op diets you'll have to tell us what it is? Wait, your profile said you had surgery 2 days ago? Pre or post op? tmf

BTW- I like your handle(name). Can you come to my house and make peace between my 13 yr old female siamese and 2 year old male siamese. He just wants to play but she's not into it at all. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread

You probably don't want to hear this but I was where you are for 4 months. It's called "bandster hell". I'm no longer there but it was worth it for me. Once you can eat solids you can fill up on veggies, lean meats and fruit so it's not quite so bad. tmf

I was never afraid of the surgery(although it sucked more than I thought it would). I was afraid I would have to give up the foods I had become addicted to. They're different for all of us. For me, fast food, bread with butter and cheese, fried chicken, mashed potatoes smothered in fatty gravy and so on. But I don't miss it and I still sometimes have those foods. But, they don't taste as good as they did before so the cravings left immediately after surgery. Unknown forum member quote: " In my case, the most fearful thing I had to do in order to succeed with my band wasn't switching to skim milk, surviving a liquid diet, or giving up bread. The most fearful thing was giving up my emotional attachment to food. In the nearly 5 years since I was banded, I've made a lot of progress with that, but the attachment is still there. It forms one of the innermost layers of my turtle shell. Working on that layer will probably be a lifetime job for me. At times I'm not even sure I truly want to get rid of it altogether. At times I'm afraid that if I shed my shell completely, I won't be able to survive. On the other hand, I seem to be doing fine without that thick old b***h layer. So I'm going to pay attention to my dreams rather than my fears and pray for a miracle. And why not? It can't hurt to try!" I think change is difficult for many of us. Especially when it comes to our binky(food). Sounds like you have your head screwed on just right so good luck. tmf