riley4183

Gosh I felt restriction with just 3cc's total, so good thing I didn't have 3 in at surgery! I read the fill boards on here, every doc seems to be different in what they do, every patient is probably different too. We shall find out! I don't want to be too tight, but I also don't want to start gaining back weight either . . . I just want the feeling that I'm full again before I eat 2 cups, ya know? No complaints tho. No, I don't wonder if I should have had RNY, because one of my best friends did at just about the same time I had lap-band, we weighed exactly the same on my surgery day. She has many difficulties - still can't take more than tiny sips of water, can't eat any meats without pain and vomiting, it's nothing that I would want to go through. And yet we both lose at the same rate; in fact, I stay about 3 lbs. ahead of her. I do work harder than she does - I also eat more - but that's OK, I knew I'd have to work hard. Goodnight all! Riley

Tina silly girl, I am 2 months out! Not getting tired anymore. I was pooped after them mall at 2 weeks out! So was breaking it up into smaller walks. I still do. I have found that I lose steadily only if I do all 3 things right: 64 + ounces of water; 3 meals no snacking (and very limited carbs so I don't get hungry); and 3 walks a day - I do between 1-1/2 and 2 hours of aerobic walking with a little jogging thrown in for luck, plus walk as much as I can between. On a pedometer it's about 19,000 steps a day. Its a LOT and I need to start mixing it up . . I do hard hikes at least once a week, I mean HARD hills. My first fill was 1cc, we did not discuss it that's just what he gave me! When I asked his nurse before she said probably 1cc, so I get the feeling that's his standard first fill. I asked after and he said he'd given me 1, and I had 2 in at surgery. Everyone's going to be different tho . . . sounds like you guys had 3 ccs in at surgery, and I only had the 2. He knows what he's doing tho, look at us go!! Yes let's do the card, we can find somewhere to meet. I'll make the drive for it! You don't have to see Robin before your first fill, just before the second one.

Whew, I still have Robin at 10:30 and Dr. Baggs at 11 in Richmond for my fill, but not until May 22nd. So Tina do we know what days he will be in Pinole? I hope it's a nice new office and closer to his home, he deserves it he is SUCH a nice, positive doctor and let's face it, he is the lapband MASTER huh ladies! You know what we should do, we should get him a big, fat thank-you card and all of us lap-banders of his sign it! I am meeting with 2 friends that I went to Mexico with tomorrow to tell them about the lapband - they have heard I lost 70+ lbs. in under 6 months and they want it too! All Kaiser folks so that's all good, but you just don't know if folks are going to be ready to make all the lifelong changes that come with this program, you know? Seems like a lot of folks just want an easy way out of obesity and this ain't it. Still, I feel like I have to try! By the time I get in to talk to the 14 week class up here, folks are already sold on RNY cause they don't hrear anything about the band so I hope to spread the word a little sooner, I know RNY is the right choice for many but i think folks need to know more about the lap-band choice before they decide. I'm still almost the lone wolf in my smaller support group, and only a few of us bandsters in my large one. Best, ladies! Giotta go log some more miles . . . been doing 8-10 a day, getting in some jogging now too. OH and I just order a band system home gym, yahoo . . . gotta get rid of the bat wings!! Riley

Yay Christine & Tina, keep that scale moving throughout the month! Ain't it CRAZY??? Now remember this when you hit a stuck spot, like I did and Nicole is now . . . . . that's band life, allright! Nicole, are we celebrating yet? God I hope I don't get moved to Pinole, esp. since I have to have an appt. with Robin in Richmond before I can get my next fill with Dr. baggs! Pinole would be another 30 minutes away for me . . yucko. Oh well if I have to do it I'll just get an appt. on the same day as one of you so we can visit! I'm gonna go check the KP website now . . . .

Dr. Baggs visits in Pinole?? Gosh I hope he doesn;t have all of them there. That's uber-weird . . . and a lot farther for me! I wonder what is going on there? Maybe he lives out there & it's closer for him . . . or maybe they are opening a satellite office?? Boy it would be great if they opened one in north bay, maybe at their San Rafael office I have had Liz tell me to ignore appointment times and to come at another time, and have done what she says & all is well . . . I think they just can't "force" the computer to give you the time that they want you to come in, or something. I slept on my (right) side from the day of surgery. For some reason, all of my incisions are to the left of my midline, so I was able to sleep comfortably on my right side right away. Just lucky I guess! But I wonder why I'm so off-centered? Ha! Story of my life!! Riley:wink2:

OK what did I get stuck on: Easter ham (first solid food after my fill, big mistake!), sliced strawberry, chicken, and chicken. The last one was a Hungry Girl chicken nugget, and FOR SURE the worst - on my knees, salivating in buckets - it was SO CLOSE to coming back up, but I refused to throw up cause I'm scared to death the band will slip or erode, and then they would take it from me! Every single time I have been stuck, it has been because I am chatting while I am eating and not paying attention. The stuff that tends to get stuck is also the stuff that keeps me full longest, so I'm still going to eat it - just S L O W L Y and carefully :-)

Yay melting! It IS fun. I am not melting right now, but I will again soon . . .I hope! I had 2 cc's in at surgery, and he gave me 1 cc @ my first fill. We didn't even talk about it, that's just what he gave me - I asked him afterwards how much it was, and how much I had in before. He said I may not get any restriction from that first fil (I have gotten a little), but for the next one, I have to not eat anything for 6 hours before my appointment because they have to be sure I can still swallow the water. . . . so I guess they plan to really tighten it up then. I can still eat too much in my estimation, but I am losing 2 lbs. a week or better so it's all good. I stopped losing and started gaining before my first fill, I hope I don't do THAT again before every fill! :thumbup: Riley

Dang it Nicole, that's SO frustrating! Do you know what I noticed, though? During the week(s) that my scale doesn't go down, my inches DO go down. A lot of other folks in my support group have found the same thing! It's like your body has to wait up and shift some stuff around . . you have lost so much so fast that it tries to hang on to water, while it's doing that your fat cells are getting washed out, or SOMEthing . . but check it out! I can lose an inch during a week-long plateau. But darn it all, why does it have to happen just ounces from one-derland?!?!?! Arghh! I feel you frustration:mad2: Me & My, thanks that was nice! I really, really am just so darned happy with my band. People ask me all the time if I'm going to have it removed - you know, when I'm done losing - and I say yeah, when I'm dead they can take it! No way buddy, I love this thing :-)

Hi everyone, it sounds like you are all doing GREAT! That makes me so happy :-) Christine, you sound exactly like I did when I was where you are - I would wake up every morning and one of my first thoughts would be, oh yeah! I get to go weigh myself! And I would jump up, go tinkle & hop and the scale - and say "I love you" right out loud to the little dear! I only weigh every other day now - can't expect to love it EVERY day, but I do love it most weeks - and it moves slowly, but it does move. Better yet, so do the inches! I am down from 22/24 to 14/16, since November. WOW! I am 2 months out now, all of the little bumps that were under the glue have gone away. Dr. Baggs had me rub some oil on them (I use a mix of vitamin E and tea tree), massage them good and the bumps went right away in just a few days! I still have that piece of suture that sticks out of my port incision a little, and it gets looking kinda like a zit, but he says just keep trimming it with toenail scissors. Such highly technical stuff! I love this band. It was EXACTLY the right solution for me. I just have to not expect it to do all the work, that's all. It's like having a little life coach that reminds me every time that I put something in my mouth to WATCH IT. Eat slow, chew a LOT, and stop as SOON as you think you MIGHT be done. I have forgotten 4 times and gotten stuck 4 times! Reliable little buddy, that's what my band is. (Band) life is good! Riley:thumbup:

Nicole did you make it to one-derland?!?! I want to celebrate with you! Diet jellos all around!!!

Vicodin did more than give me a headache, it also stopped me up (if you know what I mean!) and made me see snakes! Kiddie chewable tylenol treated me MUCH better. Tina I mentioned the BP meds because I was getting really weak because my BP was WAY too low - like 80 over 49. My pulse was way too low too, under 45 BPM and my doc had told me before surgery to cut the atenolol in 1/2 if my pulse went below 55. So I started checking my BP 5 times a day and I was way too low and so was my pulse, I quit taking everything (they had taken me off the hydrocholothiazide in recovery) a week after surgery and still testing my BP 5 times a day, it was normal and I felt WAY better. When I saw my PCP @ 3 weeks he checked it twice himself, he said I was cured and it was good that I has stopped the meds when I did! VERY happy about having a normal BP now! Check it out, down 70 lbs. as of this morning!!! I LOVE my band :tt1:

Well hey there Tina, gosh I hope you get some energy back soon! You are taking your vitamins, right?? I got a lot of energy back when i stopped taking that darned vicodin - of course that was like a week out. And when I stopped taking that BP meds it turned out I didn't need anymore . . . . That port hurts for a long time - it's just a real pain in your side! Right under your ribcage, too . . .grrr! I told Dr. Baggs when I had my 6 week check that if I had come in at 4 weeks, he would have really heard it from me about how big the stupid thing was and how much it stuck out and what a dumb place to put it, you can't even bend over & tie you shoes for petes sakes! Then it suddently got better and now I don't feel it at all. Of course he laughed and said that's why we don't let you come in at 4 weeks . . . but it really does get better & moves right out of your way. Being able to sleep on your side is heaven, too!

Well hey there Tina, gosh I hope you get some energy back soon! You are taking your vitamins, right?? I got a lot of energy back when i stopped taking that darned vicodin - of course that was like a week out. And when I stopped taking that BP meds it turned out I didn't need anymore . . . . That port hurts for a long time - it's just a real pain in your side! Right under your ribcage, too . . .grrr! I told Dr. Baggs when I had my 6 week check that if I had come in at 4 weeks, he would have really heard it from me about how big the stupid thing was and how much it stuck out and what a dumb place to put it, you can't even bend over & tie you shoes for petes sakes! Then it suddently got better and now I don't feel it at all. Of course he laughed and said that's why we don't let you come in at 4 weeks . . . but it really does get better & moves right out of your way. Being able to sleep on your side is heaven, too!

Me & my, I think we all did that to some drgree. You see those little tiny 2-oz cups and say oh my God, are you kidding me? That will totally SUCK to not be able to eat like a normal person! But the thing is - and ya gotta trust those who have gone before you here - when you get there, is so does NOT suck to only be able to eat that much! It so rocks, it feels great. And you WILL be able to eat one normal people do, for most of the rest of your life - just not as much. You will not be sorry! I belong to 3 support groups, different sizes, the largest one has a hundred or so people, and I have NEVER heard anyone say that they wish they had not had the surgery - ever! Yes, it WILL change you life, and it's OK to be scared about that - you don't know what it'll feel like yet. But believe me when I say I have never heard any complaints from my support groups! Many struggles, yes, but every single one would do it again. Hope that helps!:rolleyes2: Riley

Oh my, my food intake took a DIVE today! Had my berries for breakfast, for lunch I had about 2 oz. extra-firm tofu with soy sauce and 2 roast beef and laughing cow lite roll-ups (total probably 3 ounces), and I was STUFFED. Could not even think about eating my salad. So now it's 5 1/2 hours later and I want dinner, so I started eating my cup-and-a half of lettuce that I brought for lunch and couldn't eat (after I ate 1 oz string cheese, protein first!), and I can't get through it! Full again, and I only ate about half of it. Yay! I wonder if this will last through the evening . . will probably need another little something before bed, as it's only 4:40 now. If I do I will have some more of that extra-firm, high-protein tofu (Trader Joes, 14 g protein in 3 oz) because it really seems to stick with me a long time. They do say it takes up to 2 weeks for the fill to restrict you, so maybe that's what's happening. I've also been real good about water today, which always seems to help. Yay!

There has to be 6 weeks between surgery & the first fill to allow full healing & for the band to nestle down into the fat pad on the outside of the stomach, according to the manufacturer. There is a nice sticky under the "fills" forum from the manufacturer that "splains"how it all works. I had a really hard time between weeks 4 & 6, actually gained weight back rather than losing . . .that's because I HAD lost 20 lbs, and when the fat pad gets smaller the band gets all loose again. You have 2ccs in there already from surgery, to make the waiting easier . . . but still! I would have DIED if I had to wait another week for the first fill! Aargh!!

:sneaky: Holy Moley LapBandGirl! Woo-hoo! That's incredible. I was banded 2/23/09 and I have lost, let's see, a whopping 24.8 lbs since surgery . . . congrats Jules, B, everyone! I guess we all lose at our own pace - but BOY does it EVER feel good to hit one of those milestones! And what terriffic lifestyle changes you have all made! YAY US!!!! Riley

I do eat super healthy, and I have for a long time - I was vegetarian before this journey started (until November 08) and I am looking forward to beiung vegie again. Robin is veggie so she gets it, but I had to commit to eating meat for 1 year . . .anyways, my PROBLEM has always been not WHAT I ate, but how frekin' MUCH I ate! Cows get fat eating grass, and I got fat eating super-healthy vegies! It's about the quantity, and one of the main reasons I picked the band - quantity was my problem. What scares me now is that, once again, I am eating more than (I feel like) I should, so am I even getting rid of the main overeating that got me close to 300 lbs. in the first place? I wonder if any other bandsters have this dilemna?

I don't really have before pics . . .I have some taken at the end of my 14-week Kaiser class, but I was already down 40+ lbs. then. I have one taken at a NASCAR event last summer - it was 106 out there, no shade anywhere and I have just run through the spray from a water truck to just survive in that heat - but it is so unflattering that my friend who took the shot took it back! eww. I can tell you that I was not using all 3 chins, so I lost one real quick and don't miss it :-) Oh my gosh Christine, I eat a LOT and never have gotten that "full" like after-thanksgiving feeling back that I had in the weeks after surgery. Breakfast: Decaf soy latte (made with sugar-free chocolate Soy Slender, 7 g, protein 70 cals 1 net carb), OR decaf black coffee and (after 1/2 hour or more) 1 cup fresh fruit "Snack" - diet jello (really a clear liquid, not a snack) Water water water Lunch: 4-5 ounces meat & cheese OR extra-firm tofu (I happen to love the stuff) OR 2 hard-boiled eggs, PLUS 1-2 cups lettuce with no-cal, no-carb Walden Farms dressing, PLUS either a sugar-free nonfat pudding or fat-free ricotta mixed with splenda and unsweetened cocoa poder (fake chocolate mousse!) I also walk for at least 30 minutes @ lunch (I walk 3x a day) Water water water "Snack" - chicken boullion (again, a clear liquid) or diet jello or another Soy Slender decaf latte - but if I really need something to eat-eat, whatever protein is leftover from my lunch, a string cheese or a boiled egg or something. Yes I know snacking is BAD and I am just perpetuating the habit, but I start at 5 am, have lunch at 11, and I really need something before I get home at 6!!!!! Water water water Dinner - 4-5 ounces ham (still left from Easter!) + an ounce of cheese + a cup of cooked vegetables. Or last night, I had the 2 boiled eggs than the salad. That's a LOT of food! It also takes me far too long to eat it - like, close to an hour. Salad is not on the menu yet, but I am having issues with constipation and need more roughage so I have added them - I just chew well. The fruit I chose is also not on the menu yet (no berries yet, and I eat blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, which are the lowest carb fruits) except for occasionally watermelon, which is what Robin recommends (melon) as a fruit at this stage. I do not eat ANY bread products (have discovered that my rashes and peeling skin went away when I cut out wheat, what a blessing!) or potatoes (they make me crave more, with butter and salt please), so pretty much all of my carbs come from fruits & veggies. Robin said it was fine to put protein first, then vegies, then fruit and forget about the starches as long as i was getting some carbs from fruits and vegies. See, I do listen to her! I am worried that I am eating too much, but everything seems to be working out fine. I have been stuck 3 times already since my fill (never was stuck before the fill), once on ham, once on a sliced strawberry, and once on hard-boiled egg. All 3 times I was eating and talking to someone else and not paying attention to my chewing. That's why I eat so slow now! I am starving now - nothing since 6:30 last night, and have been going for almost 4 hours alreadytoday - and going to go have a nice cup of blackberries, which will take me a half hour or so to chew! Not interested in anything else right now. I log everything at www.caloriecount.about.com, which gives me an analysis at the end of every day. I get between 55-70 grams of protein, 20 of carbs 20 of fiber and less than 1,000 calories. So it's really healthy, but it is SO MUCH FOOD! I am afraid that I have stretched out my pouch :sneaky: but neither Dr. Baggs or Robin seems to think there is any problem, they are thrilled with my weight loss and Robin just keeps saying that everybody's different. Nicole - how did you phone appt. go? Riley

Holy crap, my fill really worked! I have lost like 5.6 lbs. since having my fill last Friday - 6 days ago! WOO-HOO! I LOVE this band! What a perfect tool. I can eat quite a bit - like, last night I had 2 hard-boiled eggs followed by a cup of salad - but it takes me SO long to eat it, and if I follow the "protein first, then veggies" rule and the no-water-during or after rule, I stay full. SWEET! Happy Thursday everyone! Riley:thumbup:

Woot! Woot! The big 5-0! Way to go Christine!! Love your band, love your scale, love your side!!! Woo-hoo!

MomCof3, are you still around? We're all getting post-band around here and need your expertise! What is Kaiser Richmond's approach to fills? Do they do just .5 at a time, or?? Is there some point at which you can just call for a fill, or do you always have to have 6 weeks between? Whatif youneed an unfill? Do you think it's the same for all of the surgeons? If not I'd still like to know what Dr, Im does . . . .and HOW ARE YOU?? Riley

Pintos & Cheese came while I was still on full liquids, so . . . . sometime around 2 weeks out?

Good morning Christine! How are you feeling hunny? The TB pintos 'n cheese totally worked for me too, and I got the cheese - YUM - and it filled me up! At least 2 of the speakers that we had at our 14-week class raved about them, too, as one of the first things that they could eat "out" that agreed with them, even though it did not mesh with the "rules." Interesting! OK, have to go work now - yuck, but I got bills . . have a great day ladies

I agree! I was of the notion that I could puree ANYthing - and I did! She said no to chili though, said that beans don't come back for quite a while. Skins? Fiber? Too gassy? (I did notice that part) I dunno, but I ate it and it worked great for me. I'm eating shredded (raw) cabbage too, and it's been fine. And strawberries, blueberries, blackberries . . . all Stage 5 foods. I don't get advanced to Stage 5 until I meet with Robin right before my next fill, May 22, which is almost exactly 3 full months out.