singingintherain

I go for my fill tomorrow. You can bet that before I leave that office I whip out my calendar and make a date for the next office visit! That I have learned to do after many many fruitless phone call attempts in the past. Hey, y'all...wish me luck on my 1st fill!

I also had to write down EVERY piece of food I put in my mouth(all was weighed and measured to the ounce according to the plan), commit it to my sponsor,journal every day, do step work every day,and make 3 contact calls each day as well attend 3 weekly meetings either phone or f2f. If there was a change in , say... a vegetable or fruit for the day, I had to call my sponsor, another member, or post it on a board BEFORE I ate it. I needed the Band! I had other things to take care of rather than ME ME ME. It took courage to change all that and I am glad I did. I still benefit However, from the spiritual principles of 12 step because I feel a lot of it stems from the Beatitudes. I would love to find an OA offshoot of those with WL surgery or a group which had no self- centered food nazis...some of us overweight people DO HAVE A LIFE and have others to care for also. OK..enough kvetching about 12 Step nazis for me....remembrances tend to shade the day and rob that newly found Serenity!. Looking forward to a fill next week.

I hear you all loud and clear! I love your blog, ifyourstomach.... Rigid plans: I was in FAA 12 step and Grey Sheet, an off shoot of OA. I was bounced back to day 1 so many times because I failed to be abstinent from all sugar,and its substitutes, flour and wheat on a B2B basis, that I threw in the towel. Once my sponsor bounced me back to day 1 because I ate my rice 2 hours early in the evening because I had skipped lunch due to being away from an accommodating eating place and with friends. I failed to pack a cooler and cart it in to a restaurant with the people I was with.(One mom whose son was getting married toted a cooler on the plane and sat at the reception as the Mother of the Bride eating out of her cooler? Now THAT is rigidity. 12 Step has many good benefits, but some of the groups are almost cultic.The more liberal groups still ridicule and look down on those who "took the easy way out". Little do they know that the addiction is still there and the battle is the same, we just have help with the Band. So I woke up one day having had enough and applied for Banding, finally finding the courage to change the things I can. I am glad I did . I have lost a bit and am scheduled for my 1st fill on Tuesday. Congrats, Bandana for locating a suitable sponsor..that is GOLD!

Spidey...Meatloaf(I love it and just made one an hour ago for the house minus your's truly). I find I cannot eat beef at all, and also tuna even though it is doused in mayonnaise to go down easy. If I want to have a meatloaf, I have to cook it with ground turkey! Canned salmon goes down nicely. Same stuck feeling with chicken breast and tilapia fish in the Forman grill. However, if I get shaved deli chicken breast it is ok. I was just amazed this afternoon how I can smell a food one day and want it, and a few days later, the smell of that same food makes me nauseous! Strange, this banding business.

Are you feeling hungry and grit your teeth to loose? Or is it that you just don;t have any appetite? That is a good loss of weight. I do own a scale and am addicted to weighing every morning. I also weigh in with a buddy my age(non band dieter) every Sunday over the internet. She weighs once a week. I also weigh to see what foods cause me to retain water and have water weight gain. Even some low sodium foods cause that in the summer with me.

I haven't had a fill yet, John and Spidey, but I really am having a tough time remembering to SLOW DOWN , TAKE SMALL BITES, and CHEW. Also I find myself going for a beverage WITH my meal..and then I suddenly remember that NOW the fluid won;t make the food go down. Old habits die hard and some of us learn the hard way. Even pre fill, I get that huge baseball in my chest..horrid feeling. ALso I get the hiccups, and then when the food goes past the band(I can feel it going through) the hiccups stop!..Eating too fast.

That is great to hear ! I have my first fill next Tuesday. However, my dr. doesn't numb before, but I am going to ask him for some Lidocaine and see if he will comply. I am not araid of the needles, I am afraid of being too tight after my fill!

How are you feeling? OK? Tight? Nauseous? Retaining food? OK? No Different?

Great WL Linda!

I can't believe you did that. Please tell me you didn't! Please?!

Hi tinywishes and thanks for starting this thread! Exercise! I get SOOO fatigued. My legs feel like noodles after taking a mild walk. I am eating mostly protein now and plenty of liquids. Have potassium rich vegetables also. Still fatigued, and wasn't that way pre-band. Will it ever perk up? Luv2teech...you are really looking forward to the meetings! They are not until the 13th and the 21st if I read right. I am one, although I am type A, who waits until the day before to make my final decision..I am leaning towards the Brigh this month mainly because of the traffic I encountered going in to Faulkner around Sox/Fenway Park time. Have to leave so much earlier, whereas the time is made up for in that short distance to the Brigh. The Faulkner was a great open group(although I didn't say much in my newby stage of the process). My first fill will be in a week so I know there will be something to 'share' common to others... Meanwhile I congregate on the May Bandsters board lately where we talk about gas,food, gas, lack of food,gas,first fills, gas, PB-ing, gas.....newby comiseration! Hope all are having a great weekend..Jay, Viv, IBelieve,Thinking et al. Love your craft blog, Heidi.

Not to be a doomsday-er, but I have been told by a few bandsters who had their procedures 1 and 2 years ago that the gas is an ongoing problem. It's not just releasing the gas from the surgery. It is a common lasting digestive thing, so buy stock in Gas X extra strength! I know that V8 juice sets me off big time for a whole day and a half. Can't leave the house. Overly large amounts of Protein additives will do it for me too. . I make sure I take activia no fat every day as well as benefiber with cream of wheat or oatmeal for Breakfast every day to avoid a back-up problem which in turn will cause more gas.. Sarabellzz...as long as the neighbors don;t call 911 I guess it;s ok. LOL REM sleep is peaceful for us, but ...as for the neighbors...who knows? LOL

I can eat shaved deli chicken with no additives just fine though...oh well. I had an aunt who could eat all kinds of steak but if you ground it up like hamburger..the same cut of meat..her system refused to digest it. Funny, these bodies of ours!

It is strange how the appetite comes and goes like that before a fill. I get mine in 2 weeks. Last night I made the mistake of having baked chicken breast and it sat in my track like cardboard, no matter how I chewed those small bites. I ended up mixing it up diced in mayo, and still it sat in there like a rock half the night. Not sick, just uncomfortable. I will never eat that again! Especially post fill. Good luck on you fill tomorrow and a step further to losing more lbs!

I hope mine goes as smoothly as yours, Kell.

I think that the fact that I am emitaphobic has a lot to do with it. I just HAVE to go on the safe side w/o risks of an overfill. That's just me. I appreciate the advice of you who are far ahead of me in the process. I am learning a lot from you .

In my future I know that if I have restriction I surely would not go in for more. 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it ' works for me. (when i initially saw your name on the post, your little anecdote about duckin' behind the tv's came to mind...too funny! ROFLOL)

Ya think the $$ would be beneficial to the dr's office when asked for a few gradual fills rather than the cost of just 1 visit for an overfill! It is MY body and I know I am going to request..strongly request...gradual small fills. Right now I am 'appetite controlled'. I can finish a meal, or not...quite the opposite from the pre-band me. Birthday yesterday(60)...treated myself to a small Chinese dish of which I dumped half in the garbage...delish,but couldn't finish it, whereas I could go through a quart of stuff before and look for more all in one evening sitting! I figure the swelling must all be down by now internally. I don't get hungry now, just fatigued..BIG TIME.(blame it on the old age) But , as I said, it's my body and I am going to INSIST on small gradual fills. OK...off to get a pedi. Gotta spruce up in my sunset years. LOL!

Good Morning Gals! As one getting ready for my 1 st fill, I am wondering why the dr , after an 'overfill' doesn't just take a portion of the fill out rather than taking out the entire solution? What am I misunderstanding about the fill procedure?

http://www.puritan.com/?afid=27&safid=Yahoo&scid=6861&cm_mmc=Yahoo-_-Puritan_Vitamin-_-puritan%20pride%20vitamin-_-advanced|-|Y99368001522&cm_guid=3-_-99368001522-_-45563277522Here is a site I found that has great prices on vitamins. There is a liquid calcium /magnesium/vit D supplement that is orange flavored too (for all you peri and post meno gals).

Anyone know if Shaws , Whole Foods Market or CVS carries Papaya Enzyme?

Banding has me doing something I have Never done before..scrutinize labels like a hawk...especially the # of servings per container! Good luck on your race. Will you run if it rains?

Hi Viv and iBelieve! Isn't a it a relief to have it done? Thinking...your date will be here before you know it. I had a surgery during the hot summer a few years ago and it was horrible with the perspiration and the incisions. So you will be heading into the cooler weather perhaps and will not have to trouble yourself about infection from sweat. Hang in there. Fills. I have a follow up in early July, and am hoping to have a first fill then. Perhaps it is too early..it will be 6-7 weeks post op...I don;t know. He didn't actually come out and say the visit was for a fill. Incisions are healing up nicely but still a bit sore on the wasteband line. As for eating...I am on my last mushy day. I have (a few times) forgotten to chew chew chew and swallowed too soon...eating at the computer does that...and the food just sat like a baseball in my chest. I wondered how something so small could feel so gargantuan in my chest! It was a good reminder each time to do what the seasoned Bandsters at the Support Group called 'Listen to you Band'. It does send out warnings to me, even without a fill..."Stop! You've had Enough", "Slow Down and Chew", "No! Resist the urge to sip after swallowing that bite that feels stuck". Weight has been slowly going down..not much, but headed in the right direction. I find that it is the sodium in the broths..even low sodium..which will cause water retention weight gain in me. The only thing I can kvetch about is the fatigue which I hear is normal til about 6 weeks after surgery. A trip to the market does me in as does a few minutes of slow walking on the treadmill. So I continue the protein. Good to hear from you all.

Hi Spidey! So it IS normal..a few more weeks to go to kick this lethargy. You are fortunate to have a dr at your support meetings. Somehow I knew upping the Protein was going to be strongly recommended. Thanks for reporting back with the tip, Spidey! Had salt last pm in some canned broth and woke up 2 lbs heavier! Water weight. Cursed salt. As for the caffeine in the above post..the pre-op diet broke and liberated me from my very strong caffeine habit which made me so so hungry all the time..it was a viscious circle. coffee,eat,coffee, eat. I wouldn't go back to caffeine addiction for anything. I couldn't control it and my gut acted up big time..like IBS, but it was the caffeine all along because I don;t have the symptoms any more.

I too am interested in what the group has to say, Spidey.