2muchfun

Some of us have lurked here for years so we consider ourselves as veterans. Also, some of the forum members seem to catch onto this journey quicker and seem to be much wiser than some of the veterans who had surgery 7 years ago. Just use your filter and accept the answers/advice that seems reasonable to you and discard the rest. Trust me when I say that you can see advice from people who were banded 8 years ago that may have made sense back then but bariatric docs know more now than they did back when surgery techniques and after care was so different(at least most do).

Many of us would be doing cartwheels to have your success so be proud of yourself, you're definitely in the group of WLS patients who are highly successful!! No need to be down, you're a winner. tmf

Because it's an open forum and Terry has much insight and valuable information to offer?

It is exciting isn't it. Finally, a small window opens to something that can bring you great joy. It's going to be a lot of work but you don't need a lot of motivation to lose with the band. I'm so happy I pulled the trigger 2.5 years ago. Good luck and stay in touch.

I have one but can't recall the name. It's difficult to read the numbers if you're not looking straight down. It also has liquid crystal diode numbers and symbols which are hard to see in dim light. Don't get one of these. Find one with LED lights. They're much easier to see. They go through batteries a little quicker but they're much less annoying.

Well I'm jealous. I only lost 12 lbs the first 2 weeks and then nothing for the next 3.5 weeks. But, then it all came together and I've lost 50. Congrats!

Need more info? Can you fill in your profile with a PC? Need to know starting weight? Weight Lost? Stalled? Surgery date? Date of last fill? It's hard to advise or recommend anything without some profile info?

Can you eat Soups? Drink Water or shakes? Does it happen any time of day/ But it does sound like you're too tight. A small unfill might be necessary?

^5

Sounds like it could also be a dilated pouch. Those are much easier and less invasive to deal with.

Is this a self-pay plan or a group plan through work?

Wow, two months and you're an expert? You remind me of all the naysayers who tried to talk me out of wls. They were all wrong too. And what's with all the band deniers? Me thinks you know not what you speak of. 100 lbs for a guy who has little time to workout and spends much of his time at brunches fundraisers and political events I respect what he's done. And bubba tikvah I'll take that bet?

Hang in there and lean on us. This phase can be so hard.

If you go to the surgeon search at the top or bottom of this page and enter your zip code, you can find surgeons in your area and each surgeon usually has many patients listed.

I remember early on in my journey where I wasn't losing weight and I had a consult with the clinic nutritionist. She carved out about 300 calories a day that I didn't need and from that point on my weight loss took off. So, yes, there can be silly calories hiding in our daily meals that can be eliminated.

Sounds sweet to me. I think it's Jack who said the greenzone(sweetspot) is like a bird chirping in a dense forest. You have to really look for it or you might miss it? Many of us just bulldozed our way through any stop signals before the band and now it can be so subtle it's easy to miss. I think that's why some patients don't find the success they looked for. Hearing, feeling that stop signal and reacting to it is the key to success. BTW-I was told that veggies were OK to eat in larger quantities simply because they're 90% Water. Just be careful you're not overfilling your pouch causing a dilation. tmf

Think of the band as if it's a ring on your finger. Some days that ring is very tight and others it might fly off if you tired to throw a rock.

I've never had an experience as extreme as nothing will go down but I do occasionally have a few days where I have to use coffee or Water to aid food to slide through and chew a lot of course. It's understandable once you get to the green zone or close to it. Your stomach is just another muscle so if you're retaining weight(sodium for us guys, TOM for girls) or if you have a little stomach bug, or even air pressure all can cause the lining in your stomach to inflame. This makes your stoma smaller and can cause a complete blockage where you need a small .1 unfill. tmf

I was just chatting with Carolina Girl about food we used to love. B4band, one of my go to Snacks was this sandwich: Dense, high Fiber, whole grain bread. You know, the ones that a loaf weighs enough to qualify as a workout weight? Peanut butter, jiffy, extra crunchy please. Jam, preferably strawberry but any berry type worked. Bologna, 2 slices. Miracle whip on one slice of bread, Peanut Butter on the other, jam on PB and bologna on the miracle whipped side, press together. Large glass of 2% milk. Enjoy. Now, I haven't had one of these in over 2 years, but I'll bet I still love it. So therefore, I won't go there but while I'm fantasizing about winning powerball, I can fantasize about my PBJB sandwich.

I was just chatting with Carolina Girl about food we used to love. B4band, one of my go to Snacks was this sandwich: Dense, high Fiber, whole grain bread. You know, the ones that a loaf weighs enough to qualify as a workout weight? Peanut Butter, jiffy, extra crunchy please. Jam, preferably strawberry but any berry type worked. Bologna, 2 slices. Miracle whip on one slice of bread, peanut butter on the other, jam on PB and bologna on the miracle whipped side, press together. Large glass of 2% milk. Enjoy. Now, I haven't had one of these in over 2 years, but I'll bet I still love it. So therefore, I won't go there but while I'm fantasizing about winning powerball, I can fantasize about my PBJB sandwich.

Just eating healthy and being a good animal(to the earth).

Everyone's port could be in a different place so it's hard to say where it is? Any time you have an odd pain you should call your doctor's office and run it by them? So many things it could be such as kidney stones, gall bladder, hernia. Don't rely on a stranger from the internet for healthcare solutions. Only your doctors can know for sure. Hope you feel better.

Hummus goes down OK although I'm not much of a fan of the food. Sushi can be problematic. I can eat rice and sushi but only in small bites mixed with other veggies. I guess that's why sushi works for me. But, the problem with sushi is trying to eat small bites. Rolls are very difficult to consume since it's hard to nibble on them without the disintegration of the entire piece. Also, it's so darn good, it's hard to not eat too fast and too much. Stuck episodes just around the turn. tmf

We're about the same height and weight pre op and I can recall how great it felt getting down to the 190's. I seemed to stall there for a while but I found a paleo diet with extreme exercising that helped me drop 10 lbs the next month. I know once summer comes and you can walk/run/bike/golf you'll keep dropping lbs and reach your goal. Well done. tmf

Bandarella, You missed this one from the same page you quoted. The surgery is much more effective now than in the first 10 years. OBJECTIVE: BACKGROUND: METHODS: RESULTS: Ann Surg. 2013 Jan;257(1):87-94. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e31827b6c02. Long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery: fifteen-year follow-up of adjustable gastric banding and a systematic review of the bariatric surgical literature. O'Brien PE , MacDonald L, Anderson M, Brennan L, Brown WA. Abstract To describe the long-term outcomes after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) and compare these with the published literature on bariatric surgery. Because obesity is a chronic disease, any proposed obesity treatment should be expected to demonstrate long-term durability to be considered effective. Yet for bariatric surgery, few long-term weight loss data are available. We report our 15-year follow-up data after LAGB and provide a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature for weight loss at 10 years or more after bariatric surgical procedures. We performed a prospective longitudinal cohort study of LAGB patients using an electronic database system (LapBase) to track progress, measure weight changes, and document revisional procedures. The evolution of the LAGB procedure was recognized, and revisional rates for 3 separate periods between September 1994 and December 2011 were described. In addition, we performed a systematic review of the peer-reviewed published literature collecting all reports that included weight loss data at or beyond 10 years. A total of 3227 patients, with a mean age of 47 years and a mean body mass index of 43.8 kg/m, were treated by laparoscopic adjustable gastric band placement between September 1994 and December 2011. Seven hundred fourteen patients had completed at least 10 years of follow-up. Follow-up was intact in 81% of patients overall and 78% of those beyond 10 years. There was no perioperative mortality for the primary placement or for any revisional procedures. There was 47.1% of excess weight loss (% EWL) at 15 years [n = 54; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.3] and 62% EWL at 16 years (n = 14; 95% CI = 13.6). There was a mean of 47.0% EWL (n = 714; 95% CI = 1.3) for all patients who were at or beyond 10 years follow-up. Revisional procedures were performed for proximal enlargement (26%), erosion (3.4%), and port and tubing problems (21%). The band was explanted in 5.6%. The need for revision decreased as the technique evolved, with 40% revision rate for proximal gastric enlargements in the first 10 years, reducing to 6.4% in the past 5 years. The revision group showed a similar weight loss to the overall group beyond 10 years. The systematic review of all bariatric procedures with 10 or more years of follow-up showed greater than 50% EWL for all current procedures. The weighted mean Display Settings: Abstract 1 Author information PubMed  Long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery: fifteen... [Ann Surg. 2013] - PubMed - NCBI Page 1 of 2 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23235396 2/23/2014 CONCLUSIONS: PubMed Commons home How to join PubMed Commons at maximum follow-up for LAGB was 54.2% EWL and for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass was 54.0% EWL. The LAGB study from 1 center demonstrates a durable weight loss with 47% EWL maintained to 15 years. This weight loss occurred regardless of whether any revisional procedures were needed. A systematic review shows substantial and similar long-term weight losses for LAGB and other bariatric procedures.