stevegoad

I'll have to admit... I'm pretty good at deciphering theological and philosophical messages... but this one goes outsider my realm of understanding.

Well, I've been on half-a-dozen cruises since my band... my first was about 9 months after banding.
Don't do anything outside of your normal plans. If you're due for a fill, get a fill.
The thing is, the average person gains about a pound a day on a cruise. Most cruises, I maintain pretty well... but it's not so much the band (though it stops me from eating as much at meals), as it is making wise choices. There is ice cream available 24/7... there are bars serving drinks almost 24/7. There are midnight chocolate buffets. There are restaurants and buffets willing to serve almost all day and night. You can get room service pretty much 24/7.
In other words, it's not the three meals that get you... it's the dozen between meal meals that do it. Just make yourself eat on the cruise like you would at home. Use common sense. At the restaurant, order an appetizer as a meal.
AND WATCH THE CHOCOLATE MELTING CAKE... it's wonderful, gooey, warm, with ice cream on the side, and has three days worth of calories in one small dessert that works very well with a band.
Go, enjoy the cruise... have a ball... but keep your head about you when you eat and drink, and you'll be fine.

Well, I've been on half-a-dozen cruises since my band... my first was about 9 months after banding.
Don't do anything outside of your normal plans. If you're due for a fill, get a fill.
The thing is, the average person gains about a pound a day on a cruise. Most cruises, I maintain pretty well... but it's not so much the band (though it stops me from eating as much at meals), as it is making wise choices. There is ice cream available 24/7... there are bars serving drinks almost 24/7. There are midnight chocolate buffets. There are restaurants and buffets willing to serve almost all day and night. You can get room service pretty much 24/7.
In other words, it's not the three meals that get you... it's the dozen between meal meals that do it. Just make yourself eat on the cruise like you would at home. Use common sense. At the restaurant, order an appetizer as a meal.
AND WATCH THE CHOCOLATE MELTING CAKE... it's wonderful, gooey, warm, with ice cream on the side, and has three days worth of calories in one small dessert that works very well with a band.
Go, enjoy the cruise... have a ball... but keep your head about you when you eat and drink, and you'll be fine.

A stretched pouch can go back...
But it does take starting over... a few days on liquids, a few days soft, and then back to full diet.
No carbonation, watch the starches...
And it might help to use the gasX to keep the gas from helping stretch.
It'll take a couple of weeks, but it'll work.

The band is only a tool. It's still up to you to use it right.
Remember the basics. Hi Protein, eat slowly... stop eating when full... and then don't go back.
Don't drink while eating.
Keep the fried food down. Not only are they high calories, but they can slip through the band easier, allowing you to eat more.
No sodas.
Ice Cream is a no-no... The band might like it, but the calories don't.
Same with alcohol... Drinking won't hurt the band, but it's high calorie.
Like I said... Go back to the basics,and hang in there.

That is actually the reason I only told half-a-dozen people, all sworn to secrecy. It's none of their business, and most who don't know don't understand.
But you can't let other people's opinion rule your thoughts.

Congrats on the loss.
I hope everything goes well with the doctor.

Honestly, if you don't like your doctor, find another.
But think about something. Is it that horrible that he said the "D" word?
Lapband is a tool. (I know, we've heard that phrase ad nausium, but it's really true). We still have to watch what we eat, we still have to follow the rules. If we spend all day eating eating refried Beans and washing them down with margaritas (great food for the band, but terrible for the diet), then the band will be a waste.
In other words, the reality is we still need to live on a diet. We didn't get fat because of our will power, or because we had good eating habits. The band assist us in our portion sizes, but it doesn't tell us what to eat. A diet tells us that.
Some doctors don't like lapband... even some that used to do them regularly. I know the surgeon who repaired my hernia 2 months ago was very non-lapband friendly (he made it clear that the lapband surgery was the cause of my hernia, and in his opinion it was a bad surgery).
Like I said, if you don't like your surgeon, get another one... but if you don't like the word diet, then that's a personal problem that you have to deal with.

Honestly, if you don't like your doctor, find another.
But think about something. Is it that horrible that he said the "D" word?
Lapband is a tool. (I know, we've heard that phrase ad nausium, but it's really true). We still have to watch what we eat, we still have to follow the rules. If we spend all day eating eating refried Beans and washing them down with margaritas (great food for the band, but terrible for the diet), then the band will be a waste.
In other words, the reality is we still need to live on a diet. We didn't get fat because of our will power, or because we had good eating habits. The band assist us in our portion sizes, but it doesn't tell us what to eat. A diet tells us that.
Some doctors don't like lapband... even some that used to do them regularly. I know the surgeon who repaired my hernia 2 months ago was very non-lapband friendly (he made it clear that the lapband surgery was the cause of my hernia, and in his opinion it was a bad surgery).
Like I said, if you don't like your surgeon, get another one... but if you don't like the word diet, then that's a personal problem that you have to deal with.

You're going to have pain (maybe a week or so).
For gas, gas-x strips (it doesn't really work well, but I guess it does something).
For pain, Tylenol liquid. Again, doesn't work well, but it's something.
And remember, in a week or so you'll feel better.

You'll be absolutely fine. No problem at all.

Over the last 4 years, I can't even begin to count the number of times I've had my doubts.
I was private pay, so going back was not an option. But in spite of my success, and in spite of loving some of the effects of that success (being able to travel with my wife for one... for some reason she did not like sitting on an airplane next to a 400 pound man), every time I eat I hate it... I hated paying thousands of dollars for hernia repair, only having the surgeon tell me that the hernia was cause by my gastric surgery. I hate when I go to a restaurant having to scope out the rest rooms (just in case).
I know, people around here claim I'm strange hating my band (though I bet there are other successful banders that have the same feelings I do who just won't speak up), but that's the truth. I love the results, I love my life... but I couldn't tell you how many times I have felt it was not right.

Over the last 4 years, I can't even begin to count the number of times I've had my doubts.
I was private pay, so going back was not an option. But in spite of my success, and in spite of loving some of the effects of that success (being able to travel with my wife for one... for some reason she did not like sitting on an airplane next to a 400 pound man), every time I eat I hate it... I hated paying thousands of dollars for hernia repair, only having the surgeon tell me that the hernia was cause by my gastric surgery. I hate when I go to a restaurant having to scope out the rest rooms (just in case).
I know, people around here claim I'm strange hating my band (though I bet there are other successful banders that have the same feelings I do who just won't speak up), but that's the truth. I love the results, I love my life... but I couldn't tell you how many times I have felt it was not right.

Well, I tend to do slim fast or a granola bar around Breakfast time.
lunch will be something light. Some tuna or a weight watchers dinner.
maybe a bar or a slim fast for a snack
Supper is whatever is cooked. Tonight was grilled chicken and some cooked cauliflower (overdone, but a bit mushy is easier).
It's not so much the diet as whatever I can handle.

Well, I tend to do slim fast or a granola bar around Breakfast time.
lunch will be something light. Some tuna or a weight watchers dinner.
maybe a bar or a slim fast for a snack
Supper is whatever is cooked. Tonight was grilled chicken and some cooked cauliflower (overdone, but a bit mushy is easier).
It's not so much the diet as whatever I can handle.

Oh, and BTW... Don't let that addictive thinking hit you... You do have control over your eating. The stess didn't cause you to eat; it made it easier, it might have given you opportunity and desire... but you ate the calories. The stress didn't...
Not trying to be mean. But the lapband is only a tool. You still have to control your behavior.
So just hang in there.

I kept my band a secret from most. My thought.. who the heck needs to know.
If you don't want to be under the microscope... don't place yourself on the slide.

What is "messing up?" After all, we're not on a diet; we're in a lifetime plan. Some days are going to be better than others as far as making the right choices in our eating. Each day, each meal, each snack, each minute, you have to chose who to use the tool that we've chosen to help us lose weight. The band won't do it for you.
But if you are facing depression 3 or 4 times a week because you feel you're not using the tool correctly, and you just don't feel you can make the right choices, it sounds like it's not so much your band or your diet. You might seek a counselor as to the root of your problem.

The key to this one comes right at the beginning... It's only a tool. Too many people go into surgery thinking it will do all the work for you. If you don't make the right choices, if you don't use the tool right, it will do you no good... and then the band is not to blame.

From a male prospective, it doesn't c hange much. Now, I speak from the experience who was nearly 400 when I got married, and now at 250 am still madly and passionately in love with my wife (and it's pretty nice having a woman who I know has seen me at my very worst and loves me no mattter what. Such feelings are, in and of themselves, a turn-on).
If you are single and looking around, you might have some feelings change as your self-confidence improves... seeing youself healthier, you might find it easier to see yourself with a healthier woman.
But in general, such things are related to your self image; who you see yourself with.
So the short answer is... only time will tell, Things might change in proportion to how you see yourself change, but the values you put into a relationship with remain the same.

From a male prospective, it doesn't c hange much. Now, I speak from the experience who was nearly 400 when I got married, and now at 250 am still madly and passionately in love with my wife (and it's pretty nice having a woman who I know has seen me at my very worst and loves me no mattter what. Such feelings are, in and of themselves, a turn-on).
If you are single and looking around, you might have some feelings change as your self-confidence improves... seeing youself healthier, you might find it easier to see yourself with a healthier woman.
But in general, such things are related to your self image; who you see yourself with.
So the short answer is... only time will tell, Things might change in proportion to how you see yourself change, but the values you put into a relationship with remain the same.

From a male prospective, it doesn't c hange much. Now, I speak from the experience who was nearly 400 when I got married, and now at 250 am still madly and passionately in love with my wife (and it's pretty nice having a woman who I know has seen me at my very worst and loves me no mattter what. Such feelings are, in and of themselves, a turn-on).
If you are single and looking around, you might have some feelings change as your self-confidence improves... seeing youself healthier, you might find it easier to see yourself with a healthier woman.
But in general, such things are related to your self image; who you see yourself with.
So the short answer is... only time will tell, Things might change in proportion to how you see yourself change, but the values you put into a relationship with remain the same.

I don't even remember the name of the surgeon now... It wasn't Spivak (I didn't even want him because of his big billboard presence... it was a bit disturbing for me... I was with one in the practice who didn't advertise as much).
I doubt I need therapy.
Let me be clear. Even though I hate the band, I am very happy with my life. I have been blessed, and I am quick to embrace the blessings of life.
But if I had it to do over again, I would have made a much more serious attempt to lose naturally and keep it off. I was one who had done it before, losing over 100 on slim fast, but then gaining it back. Again, had I had known then what I know now... I would have made better choices.
But again, I love my life. it's just the band I hate...

It's been a while since I got on the list... so a quick re-introduction.
I was banded on July 25, 2008 at True Results here in Houston. These guys are one of those quicky banding. Since I am private pay, I was approved and had the surgery in about 2 weeks time. I went in for regular fills for the first year, and have been reasonably restricted since (even though I have lost touch with the clinic, and the surgeon quit practicing in Houston about a month after my surgery).
At my highest, I weighed 420. On the day of my surgery, I was 372.
Today, I weighed in at 251 and have been steady in the 250 area for nearly 3 years.
And while I am happy of the results, I have HATED THE BAND EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST 4 YEARS.
I know it's unpopular. While I like that I can get around better, that I have been able to walk, snorkel, fly without being insulted, and in general, live a better life, I hate the pain, the inability to eat even simple, healthy things like salad. I hate the fact of risking having to run to the bathroom after I eat.
THe surgery cost me 12,000 out of pocket... except that's now up to about 40,000 since the surgery weakened me, causing a hernia which strangulated last week (and yes, I have the surgeon's word that the lap band was the cause). After the surgery and the removal of 6" of small intestine, I am now recovering.
I have gotten good results as far as weight... but I will suggest anything before surgery. It is a bad thing, and if anyone is thinking about it... think again. You might lose weight... but you might also hate it.