Melissannde

I didn't intend to tell anyone, but my husband let the cat out of the bag at his work (again hospital based), so there that went. LOL I don't tell everyone who comments on my loss, but I do share if someone seems very interested, especially if I see that they are someone who might benefit from banding. I agree with Pay It Forward. There has been one person at my gym who has gotten banded since watching me lose and another at my church who has visited my doctor and is in the process of deciding whether to band or sleeve. I also tell my other healthcare providers (big duh) and I've told the trainers I work with at my gym. I tell the trainers so that they understand when I don't want to do extreme situps (from a heads down position while sitting on a ball) or any other exercise that puts a huge amount of stress on the abdomen. Keyword, huge. I will do regular crunches and ab exercises, just not extremes. All my immediate family knows (sisters, brothers in law, parents are deceased), but not extended family. I'll tell if asked, but we're not in that close of contact.

Hi, When I read your original post I'm seeing 2 different questions. 1) not traveling 2 weeks after surgery 2) not traveling 2 weeks after a fill. The first one, yeah, I think you probably need to at least be close to home for the first two weeks after surgery. I say "close" as my surgeon is an hours drive from me and I know he does surgery on folks 2 or more hours away. In fact, I had a different surgery at a location 4 hours from home, but they didn't want me going any further until my first post-op check. Not traveling 2 weeks after a fill.. this is something my surgeon recommends. I've never tested it out, so I don't know how I would do. I don't like flying, so mine would only be in a car. I'm not trying to be negative, just giving my lack of experience! LOL. I would suggest sitting down and having a heart to heart with your surgeon about your concerns re fills and traveling. I suspect he/she worries that you might get too tight suddenly while away from home and not be where you could get an unfill. Or that you could get an unfill, but the cost of it would be prohibitive for you. Maybe you could get very small fills to alleviate that possibility. Maybe you could make arrangements for emergency care (just in case) with bariatric surgeons in the areas you visit on business. I hope ya'll can find a "work around". And not everyone needs fills. Some go long periods of time after banding before needing an adjustment. The very lucky make it all the way to goal without adding saline. Hope this helps some.

Hurray for you and hugs to your daughter.

This is an excellent question. I am still dealing with it almost 2 years out, but it really does become easier as time goes on. I want a new house.. the way mine is designed, you have to pass through the kitchen to do anything!! I now go to the gym 5 or 6 days a week. That takes up a good amount of my time. I am somewhat lucky in that my kids are older (college age, but still at home.. for now) and if they don't like the "healthy" foods I've fixed are quite capable of making a sandwich or whatever. Most of the time they do eat what I fix tho.. I read, crochet, and am slowly getting involved with Relay for Life. Before banding, I was so ashamed and shy, I was practically a hermit. I didn't go out of the house unless forced. Don't get me wrong, I'm still on the larger size.. still over 200, but am soooooo much better that I don't mind going out. Having been SMO for many years has given me a different perspective on life as being only Obese. Don't know if I'm expressing myself very well ...

I didn't see ElfiePoo use the word "stupid" anywhere in her post. Where do you get that from?

I think there's a weight loss conference in Vegas sometime in the future.... Congrats on the weight loss.

The post-op pain/nausea can also be affected by what kind of pain meds you are given. Many are given liquid vicodin. Good stuff, but can cause nausea in those who are sensitive to it. My post-op pain was not well controlled because I was given only Darvocet!! NEVER again will I let someone cut into my abdomen with only Darvocet as post-op medication. I tried to tell the NP that Darvocet would not be enough at my pre-op appt. She assured me it would be.. I was right, she was wrong. I got through it, but was not a happy camper and let her know it at my 2 week visit. And that was stupid of me. I should've called and insisted on better pain coverage from the get-go. Call your surgeon if you don't have adequate pain control. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Swirl, I know this wasn't addressed to me, but to Lolly Moe, but I hope you won't mind if I respond. What I ate before surgery were things like Fried catfish, plates (multiple) of nacho's, tortillas, fried chicken, baked potatoes, along with healthy things like broccoli and cauliflower. I also ate cheese on almost everything (except the fried foods.. lol). Anything in the house was fair game. Tortilla chips were ALWAYS in the pantry. Now, I eat baked fish, baked chicken, thick Soups made with lean (at least 90/10) grnd beef or turkey, pot roast made with leaner cuts of beef. I almost never have a potato. I will sometimes cook green Beans with new potatoes, and I might have about 1/2 of a golf-ball sized portion of the red potato, but that's it. Tortilla chips are a rare treat now, mainly at a restaurant. I buy 2% cheese and limit my intake of it. I do eat low fat, but that is a personal choice. I know lots of people who don't agree and eat full fat products and if that works for them.. great!! I go low fat for two reasons, 1) it has helped me with weight loss and 2) I have some very small GB stones that act up if I eat too much fat. I could have GB surgery, but I don't want it and am trying to avoid it by eating low fat. So far it's working.. last GB attack was July 4 when I ate two pork ribs in succession. I probably could've gotten by with eating 1.. but 2 was too many. :/ I rarely eat fried foods now. My husband and I go out to eat about once a week. Sometimes he'll order something like fried shrimp.. I'll order grilled fish .. and we share. He gets a bite of my fish and I get one of his shrimp. Of course I'd like more, but I like my smaller pants lots better. ::shrug:: I'm not perfect.. back in December I caved and had a full fried dinner. It was very good and I lucked out and didn't have a GB attack. whew. I didn't have to do a pre-op diet other than 1 day of Clear liquids, so I was still eating carbs post-op (well, after getting back to solids). I gradually weaned myself off of breads, tortillas, rice, Pasta, etc. Took a while. Hope this helps you some. I'll be glad to discuss this more if you're interested. Again, please excuse my jumping in to your discussion with LollyMoe.

I do the same thing but with Zucchini for the pasta. My husband sometimes does Atkins and he eats the "Dreamfield" brand pasta. Barilla makes a pasta with10 grams protiein in 2oz.. but it also has 210 calories in those 2 oz.. yikes!! Last time I made spaghetti sauce, I grated my zucchini and then had 1/2 oz of the Barilla mixed in with it. It wasn't enough to spike my blood sugar and make me too hungry later. Might not work for everyone so proceed with caution. We really like boiled cabbage in this household.. well DH & I do, kids (college age) haven't gotten a sophisticated enough palate yet.. so I may try the cabbage as spaghetti noodles since he's getting serious about Atkins again.

The length of time I stay full varies, but with a good fill, it's usually about 4 hours. Things that can cause variation: what I ate, emotional state, amount of weight lost recently, how much Water I'm drinking, how busy I am. When I'm going through a period when I'm eating correctly (dense Protein and a good amount of it) and it's not time yet for a fill, but I'm hungry sooner than I'd like.. I push fluids. Not easy this time of year as I don't want to drink as much because of the cold.. and I'm not fond of unsweet hot stuff .. blah, blah, blah.. Hang in there.

Doesn't work that way for me. If I depended on physically being prevented from eating.. it wouldn't work. I could still eat everything in the house. The way the band works for ME (and more than a few others) is that we eat our measured portions, and we step away from the table. Wait 20 minutes and see if our hunger is gone. Still hungry.. have more veggies (provided they're not loaded with high calorie butter or some sauce). Did you read Dr. Simpson's article? I don't want to go over it again if you have.

1/2 cup of food sounds way too small to me. But then again, 3oz Protein & 1/2 cup veggies sounded way too little to me 2 years ago..and now sometimes it looks like a lot. Maybe.. no, definitely, my perceptions have changed. yes, there needs to be a better word than restriction. I really try not to use it. I prefer "appetite suppression" or dimming or something like that.

Unfortunately, the band doesn't do all the work, you have to work the band. The good news is that once you start getting enough Fluid in the band, your appetite is dimmed enough that whatever amount of will power you have, it becomes stronger. And each time you resist something, that little bit of will power grows. Some thoughts about Will Power by Jessie Ahroni (posted on Smartbandsters ~ a yahoo group~ on 1-9-2011 Re: Willpower People usually have core beliefs about their own "willpower." Some feel that their willpower is strong; others blame a lifetime struggle with obesity on lack of willpower. Regardless of what your belief is about willpower, we invite you to rethink the concept altogether. What if willpower is not some special gift that you either have or don't have? What if willpower is simply the following: * A trigger (an internal or external experience that leads to an impulse) * An impulse (in this case, a desire to eat or stuff down feelings with food) * A decision (in this case, a decision to eat or not to eat) * An action (in this case, acting on the decision to eat or not to eat) What if willpower is simply a trigger, followed by an impulse, followed by a decision, followed by an action? You already possess every power needed to make good choices about your health and what you eat. Learn to break down this sequence and make a decision to eat only if you are physically hungry. Make a list of alternative activities to fill up 10-15 minutes the next time you are tempted to eat when you are not physically hungry.

My site to track is www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate. I mainly count calories, but keep an eye on sugars, fats, carbs. I also record my exercise (calculated by a polar HR monitor) and my water consumption.

Since it's been almost 2 years since I was banded, I don't remember the precise progression, but my doctor has most of his banded patients back on soft solid foods by two weeks. If you want to take it slower than what your doc says, that shouldn't be a problem. And I too could eat bread when first banded. It often takes a few fills to get to where bread is an issue. But, everyone is different.. there are those who can't tolerate it right off the bat. :: shrug :: Just be careful of the "white carbs", ie potatoes, rice, Pasta, bread and also corn. These things are high glycemic and tend to spike our blood sugar. Then when the blood sugar drops, we become ravenously hungry. I know it's not easy to do without them, at least at first, but if you find yourself hungry sooner than you'd like to be.. try weaning yourself off of these types of foods. There are lower glycemic alternatives that you can use if you are interested. Congrats on being banded. You're on your way!!

You might benefit from reading Dr. Simpson's article "It's not about restriction" http://drsimpson.net/newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter.html

My doctor's post fill protocol is liquids day of fill, soft foods evening of fill, back to regular food as tolerated the next day. If anything gives trouble (stuck, soreness, etc) back down and progress a little more slowly. Have you tried drinking some kind of warm liquid? coffee, tea, Water with lemon? warmth often loosens the band just a tad. Or tried a chewable papaya enzyme? If something is "stuck" the papaya may help it dissolve and move on down. Hope you feel better soon.

It is unlikely at this point to have slipped your band. However, anything can happen. I would suggest that you call your doctor Monday and confess that you misunderstood the postop eating instructions and what you did consume and for how long and ask for their help. I'm proud of you for realizing your mistake and getting back on track. That's excellent. I know it's scary to contemplate calling the doctor, but I'll bet you're not their first patient to fall off the post-op diet. They need to know so that they can help you. Try not to worry, worrying won't help anything. Just follow the postop plan and call the doc.

I agree the papaya enzyme would be a better choice. It has much less sugar than the pineapple juice. I do keep both on hand "just in case". Hope you feel better soon. And it might not be a bad idea to call your doc's office Monday and talk to one of the nurses.

My doctor recommends 3oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of veggies 3x day with small healthy high protein Snacks in between IF needed. When eating at home (which is most of the time) I weigh my protein out. I measure my veggies. I sometimes then weigh my veggies just for curiosities sake. My protein and veggies together usually weigh somewhere around 6 oz.. sometimes as much as 8. When eating out, I compare my protein portion to a deck of cards and my veggies to a tennis ball. Very appetizing.. LOL I have a digital scale I bought years ago on eBay for weighing packages. It works fine for food. I don't think I paid more than 20.00 for it, but it's been a long time and I really don't recall. I place an empty plate/bowl/cup on it and then turn it on and it "tares" or Zeros out, so that all I am weighing is the food. I've never been given a calorie goal either. I just do what seems to work for me. If I'm not losing weight at a certain calorie goal, I play with it, either decreasing by 100 a day for a week and if that doesn't work, I'll go the other way and increase for a while and see if that works. I'm usually erring on the side of not eating enough. I log all my intake at www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate. This is the one that suits me the best, but there are many other sites: fitday.com, caloriecount.about.com, fatsecret.com (unfortunate name), www.sparkpeople.com. Basically, do what works for you. If your weight loss stalls or slows to a point you want to change it.. try something different. If what you're doing is working.. run with it.

The way I've been taught about the band, we are not to eat to fullness, but eat our measured portions (3oz Protein, 1/2 cup veggies). Many people are told to eat till they're not hungry. If I were given that guideline, I probably would've eaten the house down. Could it be that you misundertood your doctor's instructions? Perhaps what they meant was to experiment on what TYPES of food you can tolerate, not the amounts? from a recent post on the Smartbandsters email list: For you newbies: if you want to test the band: eat a small portion of protein and produce. Stop. Go get really busy doing something else. You will probably forget about eating. Your band is working. See how long you can go before you get PHYSICALLY hungry again. If it's 3-5+ hours, your band is working. Don't try to test it by seeing how much you can eat. We already know you can eat more than you should. Don't try to test it by eating things you shouldn't. They may go down or they may cause you a major problem but it's not worth risking your band over some gummy, sticky, or stringy food you don't need. That said, even if you're careful it might happen anyway because it takes a long time to change a lifetime of eating habits. PRACTICE slowing down, cutting your food into toddler size pieces, chewing more, and making WISE choices. This really does work. Also read Dr. Simpson's post.. it's not about restriction: http://drsimpson.net...newsletter.html

You might even be too tight if it's taking you an hour to eat a meal of 3oz of solid, dense Protein and 1/2 cup veggies. Taking an hour is on the verge of "eating around the band". Ideally you want a meal to last only about 30 minutes. And since you are tight.. are you eating Solid Dense Proteins or are slider foods making their way onto your plate? And yes, the previous poster is correct, your rate of loss will decrease as you have less to loose. I'd keep the appointment on Jan 25, but take in my food journal and just talk to the support staff about your concerns. If they think you are too tight, don't panic, a tiny unfill of .25 cc's or less can ease things considerably without making you overly hungry. (although you may feel that way for a little bit afterwards. I found pushing fluids helped after my tiny unfill) Good luck.

Look for a gym that's not part of a huge chain. I go to one that is locally owned and I was able to pay by the day, week, month or 3 months.. whatever I wanted. I did weekly for a while because that was actually a better deal than daily.

The juice and smoothies might be a problem. One of the cardinal rules of eating after banding (once you're past the healing stages) is no liquid calories except for 1 or 2 servings of skim milk/day. coffee may or may not be an issue, depending on what you put in it. If you can drink it with 1 tablespoon of fat/free half & half or 1 tbspn f/f evaporated milk, etc. and splenda, it should be fine. It's the large, unmeasured doses of creamer and sugar that make coffee unfriendly to weight loss. You'll also find some folks who will come along and say coffee is dehydrating. Maybe if you're drinking a whole pot a day.. but at normal consumption of 2 to 3 cups, dehydration should not be a concern. Water is absolutely the best thing to drink. But it's hard this time of year with it being so cold to want to drink just water. Try squeezing some lemon in your water or floating some cucumber. I use crystal lite sometimes when I'm tired of plain water. It has a little bit of calories, but not too much. Also look at fruit20, Powerade zero, vitaminwater zero, etc. Some people like Sassy water: 2 quarts or 2 litres water (about 8 ½ cups) 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger 1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced 1 medium lemon, thinly sliced 12 small spearmint leaves. Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and let flavors blend overnight. Drink the entire pitcher by the end of each day. Sounds like you're on the right track with exercise and the meals. Just drop the juice and smoothies and up the water and see if that doesn't make a difference.

I don't know anyone personally who has had their band filled all the way, but I'm sure there are a few out there. May I suggest that you approach your eating with the band a bit differently and see if it helps? My doctor says to eat 3oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of veggies and stop. Wait 20 minutes and if still hungry, eat more veggies. Try to avoid processed foods and high glycemic carbs such as potatoes, rice, Pasta, bread and corn. Try to not drink for 30 minutes before and after meals. You might benefit from reading Dr. Simpson's article on how it's not about restriction. http://drsimpson.net/newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter.html How I know I need more fill is when I am getting hungry more often than 3 to 5 hours (over several days, not just one day), portions are getting larger and weight loss has slowed waaaaayyy down or stalled and measurements are also not changing. I also keep a food journal online. When I go in for an appointment (and not every appointment is for a fill, sometimes it's just to keep me on track) I print out a weeks worth of my journal so my nurses and I look at my choices and see if I really need a fill or if I need to make better choices. It is normal for weight loss to stall at times, but when this happens to me, it's usually my body is reshaping. Start taking your measurements once a month or so. You may see changes that you don't realize are happening. I started taking measurements back in May when I started getting discouraged.. it really helps to see the numbers change on my waist & hips.. bust, not so much. LOL