2muchfun

You're the envy of many on the board. I recommend passing on the fill and working on the small bites, big chews and slowing down. Learning to eat with the band can be the hardest to overcome. 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

Relax, it takes some of us months to finally get restriction. Like Missy said, it's normal. It sucks, but it's normal. Took me 4 months to finally get enough restriction to start losing weight. It will come, just be patient and follow your Drs orders. tmf

Sometimes it's great to be a guy

When you eat too much, too fast, too big a bite, food sometimes won't pass through the stoma(band portal). This causes the small pouch to fill up and if you continue to eat, it all backs up(stuck). Being stuck causes your esophogus to create a lot of flem/saliva to aid the food to slide through into your stomach area. It can back up and you spit it out. PB(productive burping) means that sometimes you can burp(small regurgitation) up some of this stuck food to alleviate some of the pressure the food is causing.

LOL...I found some spots on my scale that give me 2 lbs less. I don't use them but sometimes I flirt with that spot. I remember when I dropped below 200 last May. Great feeling. It had been about 8 years for me and it was so painful back then. I literally starved myself to 198. Add the endless biking, running and walking and I never did it again. Of course I gained 30 of it back in a few months. Not now though. Good for you!

Lots of good advice up there. I double vouch for the nutritionist. I was 4 months into my journey and had only lost 12 lbs. I sat down with my nutritionist and she pointed out some mistakes I was making. i started losing almost immediately. Of course, I got a few fills and the extra restriction enabled me to eat less. So now I'm down 50 lbs and loving it. Sounds like you are not near the green zone yet? Do you eat solid food? I'm talking about seafood, lean hamburger, chicken breast, veggies? I know even now that I could sit down and down half a pan of hamburger helper easily. I can eat slider food almost like I could a year ago. But, if I eat a lean chicken breast, broccoli, salad I can eat much less. I feel satisfied so much sooner. If you are eating right you really need a good fill. Don't give up, I've seen so many here who didn't really kick it in gear until year 2 or later. See a nutritionist!! tmf

Insurance fraud is a serious crime and I wouldn't recommend you solicit your surgeon to do it. There are far too many eyes in surgery and too many whistleblowers to attempt something like that. jmo of course. tmf

Before commenting, you should follow your doctors orders. The jury is still out on this one. There have been new studies that dispute the drinking before, during and after restrictions. Below is a link to a series of 4 videos from a well known Dr in Australia. I highly recommend that all new bandsters watch all 4 videos. But, for this topic, video part 3 and around 6:30 minutes into the video is an explanation about the current thinking on Fluid intake before, during and after a meal: Go to 6:30 minutes into video:

I see these comments/topics a lot. You don't explain why your doctor thinks you aren't following the rules? Why did he say you need to learn how the band works? You're leaving out some very important data it seems? I can see why some docs won't fill if a patient is eating slider foods, sugar/high carb foods and drinking band unfriendly beverages? If you are following the rules he should give you a fill. But if you're misbehaving, maybe not? tmf

It would be easier to advise you if you filled out your profile? Height ,weight, male or female, amount of exercise/day and age will factor into your caloric intake? Sojourner and Maya are right on imo. I don't really count every day but if I look at what I've eaten most days it's somewhere between 1400-1800/day. I mostly shoot for satiety with Protein first and veggies 2nd. Some people here average 800 a day and others like me, average 1600/day. tmf

The band is a lot of work and requires you change your eating habits to healthy foods. Can you do that? Can you avoid high fat processed food? We mostly eat fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and chicken. Lots of salads. Sounds like a diet but it's not. Since we can't eat as much we try to eat healthier foods. And for heavens sake, do not consider the band as a panacea. The band will not help you shop for healthy food, it won't make good choices for you if you are a fast food junkie, it won't reach out and take that bar of chocolate away from you. It will help you to feel full or more satisfied with less food if you follow the rules. The band is a much slower method than the others. You may lose 30 lbs the first month and 50 through the 2nd month. But then it will slow to a crawl. 2-6 lbs a month after that. Sometimes months with no progress. Some are lucky and lose consistently every month. They're in a very small minority. This could be the hardest you've ever worked to lose weight. Not necessarily because you feel deprived, but because you will be changing your life as you know it. And it may sound fun and exotic, but it's traumatic, humbling, but deeply rewarding. Glad to see you have seen a light. Keep walking towards it. tmf

His mindset is a difficult one to overcome. Even fat people believe that crap. So they keep dieting and lose and then gain again. I've lost 50 lbs and my daughter made a comment last weekend that obese people are just too lazy to eat less. To keep harmony in the family I ignored the comment. If your insurance won't pay because it's not part of your employer's plan, you're out of luck. If it's because you have a low BMI, you may be able to have the surgery but you will have to have co-morbids to qualify and a willing PCP who will go to bat for you? tmf

Keep the scale. If you don't know you're gaining weight, how can you pin down the offending food? How do you know if you're making headway when you don't know where you are? It's probably fluids you're retaining. Especially if you are consuming a lot of sodium or any carbs? Relax, it's a very very long journey and no need to fret over small speed bumps along the way. tmf

I've posted this before but seems appropriate here. This is a comment from a bandster that I lifted somewhere and don't recall 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!" Don';t fret the little 2 lb weekly or even daily bumps. It's most likely just your body retaining fluids. I can gain 4 lbs in one day if I eat too many carbs or sodium. It eventually comes off so no need to be concerned. tmf

Liquids or at least something soupy. Your throw-up was what we call PB for productive burping. Usually your esophogus fills with flem/saliva which we call slime(ghostbusters!). It's there to help the food pass through but if the chunk is too big, a little PB will work. Don't alway rely on PBs to get you through. We have one forum member who has been PBing for years and it stretched her esophogus out. Sadly, most of us take much longer to get the message. I got stuck just yesterday. I probably have at least one stuck episode a month now. Distraction is the enemy. tmf

Updating my ticker is always a treat! tmf

Another starry eyed bandster meets reality. Many bandsters ignore the warnings and advice of the doctors, nutritionists and support goups, in favor of the utopian ramblings of the very very few who meet extreme success immediately after surgery? I somewhat recall a year ago as I was going through the seminars, doctor visits, support groups and reading this forum that the weight will come off slowly. But I don't recall anyone mentioning "Bandster Hell"? I've commented on BH numerous times and probably will in the future. I lost 12 lbs the first 30 days. Then nothing for the next 3.5 months. It took me 6 fills and 6 months to finally get to the green zone. I started losing weight again in my 5th month. Slowly, very slowly losing weight. 40-50 lbs of weight loss by November is unrealistic for most of us. If you weigh 350 lbs, it's possible to lose that much but only because you're carrying around about 40 lbs of excess fluids trapped in your fat cells. So you can lose weight but not necessarily fat. Your band is not tight enough most likely and won't be for a few fills. It happens to almost all of us. You will have hunger problems until you get some restriction. B-52 is a forum member and he always says: "Until there's restriction, it's just another diet"! This is so true. So, almost all of us have been where you are and many of us were disappointed the band didn't start to work miracles immediately. I know I was. Brace yourself for a long journey but a journey worth taking. Hang in there, it will get better, slowly. tmf

Just an FYI: I'm not going to be as supportive as the others. Sounds to me like your doctor may be right? First, 20 lbs in the first few months is awesome. "Only" should not apply to 20 lbs in 2-3 months. You say you can eat whatever you want and you are always hungry? I'd need more information but you won't lose weight if you eat whatever you want? There is a right way to eat with the band and it sounds like you weren't eating that way. I'm reading between the lines of course since there is so little to go on? Were/are you exercising? I see many bandsters post comments here where they seem to find reasons to fail on the band. Being dissed by their doctor is a popular one. The doctor's comments to you may have been accurate, we can't know, we weren't there to hear the entire conversation. He must have said that for a reason? But it hardly sounds like a reason to quit? You're going to need to have a thicker skin if you want to succeed with WLS or any diet for that matter. It does sound like you want to get back on the bandwagon. That's a very good start. Go back to your current doc and tell him how you feel and ask for his help. Follow his guidelines as close as you can. If you do, he won't have a reason to question your bariatric integrity. You're not a failure, yet. tmf

Sore muscles is always good feedback isn't it? Let's you know you're pushing your body beyond it's normal limits. tmf

First, you need to stop buying processed foods. And if you can, throw what you have away. tmf

Whatever I want but I've changed my eating habits so it's mostly healthy foods. No fast food and very little of anything that begins as white. Small portions of flour products, much smaller dairy and no sugar. But that's all by choice. I can eat whatever I want as long as I'm mindful of how big my bites will be. tmf

Yes it is. As I've lost weight it's become more pronounced. Not a bad trade-off imo. tmf

I agree with you. As long as you aren't experiencing any pain why not? You're supposed to be active, right? tmf