barbara465

Donna thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping the weight loss is permanent, but I'll be prepared. I'm a little hungrier today so not sure I have enough of a fill, but I won't be quick to call. I don't want any repeats of last weekend. The good news is as soon as they took some out I felt better. Even though the fluro and barrium showed no problems the unfill has done the drink. I now know not to trust it all to what happens under fluro. You can still be too restricted and it show everything to be alright. That was eye opening to me. Going to start real food tomorrow so I'll see how I do. Hopefully, that will tell me if I have enough restriction. Good luck to everyone. Let's hope we don't continue to visit this club!!

I think 1-2 liquids after a PB should do it. If the liquids are not causing you trouble then move to mushies. If they don't give you trouble move to solids. When I had mine I just didn't recover from the PB thus the unfill. Things that are sticky are probably not going to work for us. If you had coated that egg yolk with some hollandise sauce it would have slid right down. Does anyone else think its funny that we have to coat food for it to go down? Where else do you have permission to eat gravies, sauces, etc.? I did have swelling before and after my fill. I noticed that after my unfill I also had swelling. I would guess that it is just the nature of working with or effecting the stomach and the port. I am going to try taco meat tonight. I haven't had solid food since banding in any real sense. Hopefully I will do well this weekend and can start eating a little. I am having a little problem with food not looking like food and having a good presentation. Maybe this problem will help me lose the weight.

Try this link http://www.theeveningstore.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/plus_size_gowns_dresses_jackets.html?L+scstore+pstk7270ff633663+1153577984 I ordered my wedding dress from this site. It was beautiful. I like the one piece dresses that look like 2 pieces. It fits all occassions.

Good luck to you. Welcome to bandland! Let us know how you are doing. Don't forget the July Band Crew thread so you can meet and track with others.

Remember that he loves you for you, not how you look. Put on a dress and go to the wedding with your head held high. Be yourself and his family will see what he sees in you. Don't think of yourself as unworthy because you are fat. You are you, and you happens to carry a little extra baggage. He shouldn't and doesn't define who you are. Be proud of your accomplishments. You have nothing to explain to anyone. Enjoy the wedding, his family, and most of all, the love you share with your boyfriend.

I am having some fatigue this week. However, I had an overfill that caused me to PB and lose 8 lbs in one week. I had an unfill, but the lack of Protein I believe has left me fatigued. My plan is to increase protein and make sure I take my Vitamins. I've also added some juices to increase my sugar count a little to give me a boost in energy. You might want to look at how many calories you are taking in a day. It may be too low. However, unhealthy choices may be causing you fatigue as well since you are not used to that stuff anymore. Hope you get some energy soon. Don't be afraid to take time to rest and regroup. Sometimes we just need to recharge our batteries.

I am a firm believer if you have a PB or gurgling or burbing that it calls for going back to liquids. I am fearful of doing damage once that syndrome starts. I would go back to liquids Cindy, but more importately can you figure out what caused it? I am beginning to think that there are certain foods that "trigger" the action. For instance, Leila maybe the corn was stuck so the fish couldn't go down, backed up, and came up. The corn was acting like a plug. I may be all wrong, but I'm thinking its those things we need to start tracking for ourselves so we know what our triggers are. I would love to count the soup, coffee, and boost as part of my liquids, but I don't think that's fair. We had to have pure Water for half of the requirements. I'll just try to do better today. At least I'm making a concentrated effort to get more water down. I might not make the challenge goal, but I'm increasing my daily intake. I feel really good today, a little tired, but otherwise good. I am going to try some solid food tomorrow and see where I'm at. I rather do that over a weekend so if there is bad results I'll be home. Then DH can deal with it. I must say my DH has been so helpful in all of this. He has come up with wonderful ideas for mushies and has made me tasty dishes. They may not look good, but they taste divine. He thinks we should start a business of selling mushies. I just laugh, but love his creativity.

I was told that with the VG band it has little sections in the inside which makes it difficult to withdraw all the saline that is put in it. The saline gets trapped in those sections. The doctor showed me the band and the sections. Don't know if what he told me is true, but I mention it to you for what its worth. I didn't get that band so I don't have experience to share with you. You might go for another slight fill to see if you get restriction. Good luck.

Well I tried, but didn't do as well as you guys. However, it is better than what I was doing so that's a victory. I drank 30 oz water and 8 oz of crystal light. No smiley face for me, but like I said its better. I have been having soup since my unfill, but will start some regular food tomorrow. I do get hungry, but not like before the first fill. I think I have restriction, but scared to test it. My scale said another 2 lbs lost, but I'll wait to post the official weight the next time I go in for a fill. Sorry to hear about your PBs Leila. One thing on my list not to eat is corn. You may not be able to eat it now after your fill. I think each of us will find different foods that we can't eat now. It probably wasn't the fish, but the corn. I think we get "set up" and then wham the next thing in our mouth causes the PB. I'm eating way slow and waiting between bites for the tell tale signs. This is definitely a whole new way of life!!! Let's see if I can do better today on water. Hope everyone has a great day.

Water should be going through us and not effect our hunger or ability to eat. Am I wrong? I know you can feel full by drinking water, but I just figured you could eat. I have done really well so far and 2 bottles of water down. I am finding I can drink it more like I used to and not just little sips. I am now working on a Crystal Light. I can't wait to get back on regular food to see how much, or how little, restriction I have from the unfill. I was in such bad shape from the week of no eating that its hard to tell anymore. I've done real well today with food so the unfill was definitely the right thing to do. I think this is a day by day situation. It depends on the weather, our moods, our times, etc. what the band is going to do. It is very unpredictable. That makes us far more accountable on the days it will allow us to eat anything. We can do this.

Christa, It sounds like you have good restriction, but you should be able to drink some more. I know I am having problems also, but I think I was mostly scared. I am now concentrating on drinking the liquids. I might not make it, but at least I'm going to try. Try taking small sips, but very, very often. Carry a small bottle with you wherever you go. I started buying the 8 fl oz bottles for the office because I can carry them easily to meetings, etc. They don't overwhelm me with volume as well. IMO it is important for you to get the protein in so if you have to choose, choose a protein drink over the water. That way you can get it in for breakfast. My doc says I can drink up to 5 minutes before eating, but then have to wait 90 minutes after eating. That gives me a little more time to get some liquids in. Hope that helps.

Can you believe what I got when I went home last night? My DH had ordered two beautiful gold pine cone deer from Mark Roberts. I collect Mark Roberts fairies and have the big Pine Cone Fairy. The deer go with them. He was so excited since he ordered them 4 months ago. Unfortunately one was broken, but the store is going to send a replacement. DH said next year we are staying home for Christmas so we can decorate. I told him we were going to decorate anyway. Now all of you got me in the mood so I guess I'll plan a couple of parties early in December before our trip. Now I'm getting excited!!!

I'm joining the water challenge. I think I can do it today since I feel so much better. I've had my activia today and now working on my Boost. What a difference a unfill does. One thing I heard at the surgicenter is why we are open one day and closed the next. It seems the stomach can stretch some days and lets us eat, but then it will snap back and we get restriction. Don't know if that is true, but if it is, it gives us some ideas. On days that you can eat everything you should be extra careful not to because the next day you won't get much of anything down. Food for thought. The band really is fickled and works differently for everyone. I just can tell you that too much restriction is NOT fun and should be avoided. I am concentrating today to get my proteins in and to drink my water!!!!! Let's get it going!

UPDATE: I had .7 cc taken out of the band today. Immediate relief and was able to drink Water without golfball forming. Interesting note: the fluro before taking out showed the barium going down just fine. Just like it did when they put it in. I now know that is very deceiving and doesn't mean you have the right amount of restriction. I lost 8 lbs in one week. Not the way I wanted to lose it, but I'll take the loss. Glad this is over for now and hope that the fill will now do its work. Time will tell.

Went for my unfill. They took out .7 cc so now I'm back to 1.3. I can't begin to tell you how much better I feel. I lost 8lbs in 1 wk. Not the way to lose it for sure. I was able to drink a bottle of water on my way home. I haven't been able to do that for over a week. DH made me some mushies that were really good. It was absolutely wonderful. They said I could go to mushies instead of liquids for 3 days. Glad of that. Now I feel like I can get back to the program. The water challenge sounds good as I've been real bad about that. Randi - 4 cc sounds like alot. I had 1.5 put in mine (10cc band) and there was .5 in there. It was too much for me, but I didn't know it for several days. Also, the fluro shows it going in just fine. It wasn't, so now know not to trust the fluro as gospel. Hang in there. We're going to make it.

At my first fill I asked them what they usually put in - 1cc. I told her I didn't want them to be too aggressive. Well 1cc (already had .5 in it from surgery) under fluro the barium went sailing through. They put another .5 in bringing me to 2 cc. She said that wasn't too aggressive. I felt hungry for 3 days after and on the 3rd day I had a major PB and sliming event. I am now 1 week and I am getting golf balls and burbing with everything I drink. All liquids now. I am going for an unfill today. Fills can sneak up on you and tighten after some time. Give your input and don't let them be aggressive if you are not willing to take the consequences if you get too tight. I thought I was being cautious, but got it anyway.

Dr. St. Laurent is who I chose when I wanted to switch from Spiegel. At that the last minute his office still couldn't get the paperwork from UHC. I had to switch back to Spiegel to get the surgery on time. You will like St. Laurent. He spends time with you and I think his aftercare is probably pretty good. His office staff is nice, but I'm not sure they are any more efficient than the others. Good luck to you.

Consider the recovery period as well in your decision process. The lapband surgery is easier to recover from and is reversible. At our age I wanted all my options open to me. I didn't want to alter my body permanently in such a way that I would regret later if some disease took over. I feel that the slower weight loss process than bypass is better for our bodies and studies are now showing that we keep it off longer. Good luck in any decision you make.

Going for some unfill today. It can't come soon enough. I burb on a sip of water. I can't wait to see how much I've lost this week. Just goes to show that you can live on very little food intake. I haven't had much since Wednesday and less than 300 calories a day since Saturday night. This is getting old. Thanks for the pizza and cake July group. However, we are not giving out awards for the group that loses the most in a given month! We are older and wiser than the July group so we know that pizza and cake will harm us! :eek: It was a good try, but we won't yield to temptation. My doctor wants you to stay around 900-1100 calories. He thinks you lose weight if you stay below 1,000. On sparkpeople it will calculate how much you should eat per day to lose. It won't let you lose over 2 lbs/wk so keep that in mind. Hope everyone else is doing well after their fills. It really is a guessing game to get to the right spot. We all will get there and life will be good!

Poodles, I think 1/2 cup is probably just right. They say only 1/2 c to a cup. Just watch out. I think these things tighten when we aren't looking! I can't believe on Saturday I was saying how hungry I was!! It took me all morning to get down my bottle of Ensure. Not sure yet if I'll even try my Soup for lunch. I do try to get the Activia down so I keep regular. I don't want a repeat of that problem either. Hang in there Junesters. We're going to make it. Trial and error. Have you looked at sparkpeople.com . Looks like a good way to track our intake.

Well in past years I put up about 6 trees. I had one in every room, themed, and every inch of the house was decorated. I would throw an open house for about 100 people. In recent years I haven't done as much. DH and I are going on a Christmas cruise this year. I'll still decorate, but not as much. I am going to put up 2 trees, my 10 ft. tree in the formal room with Radko ornaments, and my 6 ft red and white themed tree in the family room. I hope to have lost 60 lbs by then. I really want to wear a new bathing suit on the cruise and some new clothes.

Jude, Take a deep breath. It is slow going at first. Please don't get discouraged. You know that once you aren't eating as much as before, you have to lose weight. You are probably just retaining right now. Be careful with the fill. You should be on liquids for a couple of days and give your stomach a chance to adjust. I was very hungry after my fill and felt I had no restriction. Three days later, whammy. Some people take up to two weeks before their fill kicks in. If after that time you don't feel restriction you might see about getting another small fill. You have to sneak up to the sweet spot. I went to hungry to over restricted in 3 days. Give it time.

When I experimented with pretzels and a few tortillia chips I was able to chew them to mush. I think they are easier to get to a liquid stage than a piece of rubbery chicken. If you chew them to liquids they can't get bigger like bread does. That's my theory.

I called and they will work me in tomorrow at 3:45. I could have gone in today, but I work downtown and didn't drive. I almost did, but then thought I was just being a baby. Glad I called and I think I will feel better with a slight unfill. At the time of the fill they told me they usually put in 1cc. However, they ended up giving me 1.5 with .5 already being in there. When they did the fluro the first time with 1cc I was still pretty wide open. I guess my stomach has a delayed reaction to fills. That's good to know and should warn others who are feeling no restriction from their fill. Wait a while to see if you do get some. I have been on liquids since July 12th and getting tired of them. I'll take care of the July group. Hope everyone is doing well.

Yes I did, but when I tried to post it it went on as an attachment. I had to delete it. I think we will have to do the words like they did. Maybe I should welcome them to fill land, where you are opened to the unknowns of the PBs, burps, no restriction, too much restriction, plain happy, plain sad, etc. This sucks big time. I hate to do it, but I'm calling for an unfill.