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Twiggy sticks. They are sort of thin sausage type things, normally spicy. I tried twice last week and had problems both times. Probably good as they are high cal, high fat,low nutrition and probably a bit like eating plastic if you consider the skin etc.

I'm a grazer and I have been successful with the band. Do I still eat between meals? Yes - but a lot less than previously and I try to make healthy choices - 90% of the time. Any eating plan should not be all or nothing, often success comes from doing the right thing 90% of the time. If you put foods off limits completely you will crave them more. So now I eat much smaller meals than before and I eat far less between meals. I am not running back and fore to the fridge every 5 minutes. I agree with Phranp. You need to stop making excuses and realise that there is no magic cure for being overweight. So far they have not come up with the magic WLS that allows you to eat what you want , when you want and still lose.You are still in charge of what you put in your mouth. You have the band which is a marvellous tool if YOU WORK WITH IT. If you don't then you have put your body through surgery for nothing.

I agree with Cleosmum. It sounds like you are too tight and you need to get some fill taken out.

Hope everyone is doing well. Shammah my condolences on your loss. My parents have a lot to answer for with that last bite. As a child i was a very fussy eater (not good I know) then my Mum got remarried. My Dad used to make me sit at the table until I had finished everything. Somedays I would be there for hours and I was told if I didn't finish I would get it for breakfast. The line about those starving Ethiopians was brought out regularly! I'm sure a couple of times I offered to put the food into an envelope and send it to them. I don't know how me eating all my food including stuff I didn't like was supposed to help them. I have to admit that I do now eat a very wide variety of foods but I also have issues with leaving stuff.One food I still cannot stand though is peas, as a child I would cover them in tomato sauce(ketchup) and swallow them whole! The last few days my band seems to have tightened up for no apparent reason.(Last fill was months ago) I am not stressed and it's not that TOM! Maybe it is due to being menopausal or perimenopausal. I was fine until dinner time and then 2 nights in a row couldn't get food down that I normally eat fine - major sliming episodes. Today I had to have a liquid breakfast which for me is very unusual. I'm hoping it improves as we are going out for dinner tonight to celebrate my son's 16th Birthday which is tomorrow.I can't believe that my baby is so old already. My daughter who is 21 has come home from uni for the occassion. It's great to have her around. Yesterday we went to see "Eat, Pray,Love". It was OK but a bit boring. Hope you all have a very happy Hallowwen and don't eat too much candy.

I'm not a guy but thought I would chip in anyway. Dr's tend to have very contradictory ideas on what is/isn't OK after banding and that includes carbonation. I asked my Dr why you are not allowed any a couple of months after my surgery and was told that it is a very individual thing. For some people the carbonation causes a lot of discomfort whilst for others they can handle it without a problem. So long as it doesn't cause you pain or discomfort there is nothing wrong with having an occasional beer. Tips to make it easier include:- Do not drink it from the bottle. Pour it into a glass and let it stand for a while. Don't try to gulp it down. And of course don't drink it with or straight after food. Also be aware that some days it may go down fine and then the next it doesn't. I had a very uncomfortable evening after a couple of glasses of champagne a couple of months back.

Its a "no no" because it is a slider food.i.e. goes down easily and has low nutrition.

I do this too. I figure I have only served up a small portion that one more bite won't hurt......................... I am getting better at leaving food on my plate though. Depends what it is and sometimes when. I am more inclined to leave some of my dinner but really like to eat all my Breakfast if I can!

Most people at this stage are still on a liquid diet. If you are finding it hard to get down the things that your Dr has recommended try going back to liquids. Protein shakes,thin Soups,fruit and veggie juices etc. The focus at this stage is on healing not weight loss so generally it is OK to drink things such as juice which are not recommended later on. If you are struggling with the yogurt try thinning it out a little with some extra milk. HTH

I have had a number of fills and have no idea what feeling he is talking about. The only thing I have to do when I get a fill is drink water afterwards to make sure it is going down OK. To me aiming for a feeling in the throat would seem to indicate that the band would be tooooooo tight!

I went to South Africa without an unfill but that is a totally different kettle of fish to Ethiopia. South Africa has 1st world medical facilities plus I organised travel insurance that included cover for the band and searched for and found contact details for bariatric specialists in case I needed them. With the low level of medical care in Ethiopia plus the high risk of contracting some kind of stomach bug I would be inclined to go for an unfill before the trip. Oh and don't forget the HIV/AIDS risk so if you do need an unfill whilst you are there I would advise you to take your own needle. How long are you going to be there for? Congrats on the adoption, you must be very excited.

It's normal to feel like crap after surgery and anaesthesia.Maybe your band was filled at the time of surgery which for many people causes problems. Talk to your Dr and if he did prefill it get him to take the fill out . You will feel heaps better. At this stage you need to concentrate on healing. Don't worry about the weight loss - that will come soon enough. Hope you get this sorted and start feeling better soon.

I think that something most of us forget when we are banded is that having food in your stomach makes you feel full too! Plus preband most of us probably ate way too fast. I know I did - I always finished way ahead of everyone else. We are constantly being told that we should eat slower as it takes the brain 20 minutes or thereabouts to register that we have eaten enough. The band forces you to do this so this is probably a big part of the equation too.

Another piece of info from the LAP-BAND® site. Creating a sense of fullness. The gastric band presses on the stomach, which makes the brain think that the stomach is full and therefore requires no more food. and this from AOL Health 1. The small amount of stomach above the band contains the satiety stretch fibers. When they are stretched out, your brain feels full. 2. The outlet from the upper, smaller section of stomach above the band to the lower stomach is formed and controlled by the band that separates them. As the band tightens, the emptying is slower and the upper stomach stays stretched for longer with food. Thereby, you are kept fuller longer. The restriction with both the band and the bypass procedures is essentially the same. In essence, there are only two factors at play: 1. To feel full, you must stretch out the upper stomach and trigger the satiety fibers to signal your brain that you are full. In the bypass, this is done by filling the pouch, and with the band, this is done by filling the stomach above the band. 2. To stay full, you must adjust how long the satiety fibers in your stomach stay stretched out. In the bypass, this is done by keeping a small outlet from the pouch. With the band, this is done by adjusting the band itself to bring about slow emptying from the upper stomach. It's that simple. In both procedures, we use a very small part of the potential size of the actual stomach. In the bypass, we section off most of the stomach and separate it away. With the band, we segment off the top part of the stomach above the band.

They do say that you should see them at least once a year preferably twice even when you think you are at goal or have perfect "restriction".

Wren , if you are looking for an aussie site to log stuff on the best one is calorieking. The American sites might be better but there are a lot of our foods that they don't have.

It sounds as though you have encountered a minor setback which at this stage of your journey is disappointing and pretty overwhelming.I understand why you are feeling negative. However you have had the surgery which is the biggest hurdle to get over I don't think you should go backwards now. Get the port fixed, gets meds to clear up your abcess and carry on. Yes I know it's hard but I am sure in a couple of months you will be able to look back and see this for what it is, a minor pothole on the road to good health. Things like this do happen. They are not part of the plan but for most they continue and achieve what they are hoping for. Weight loss and improved health. Heres hoping that this will be you soon too.:huh2:

It sounds as though you have encountered a minor setback which at this stage of your journey is disappointing and pretty overwhelming.I understand why you are feeling negative. However you have had the surgery which is the biggest hurdle to get over I don't think you should go backwards now. Get the port fixed, gets meds to clear up your abcess and carry on. Yes I know it's hard but I am sure in a couple of months you will be able to look back and see this for what it is, a minor pothole on the road to good health. Things like this do happen. They are not part of the plan but for most they continue and achieve what they are hoping for. Weight loss and improved health. Heres hoping that this will be you soon too.

I wonder if starvation mode really does exist how do people manage to become anorexic and end up looking like walking skeletons? If the starvation mode theory was true surely at some point they would stop losing weight?

So having a plastic device in you for life makes you more nervous than having the majority of your stomach removed or your insides rerouted? I'm not saying that I wouldn't revise in the future if I had to but faced with the current choices I know I'd rather stick with the plastic. Don't know the answer to your insurance question sorry.

Gastric Bypass Surgery News Links Interesting article which goes some way to explaining the relationship between the vagus nerve and weight loss.

I have been told by my original surgeon's practice and the new one that I have seen that the food does not stay in the pouch for as long as it was originally thought - that it actually passes through quite quickly. This makes sense to me if we consider how quickly we feel stuck. I could never understand how if the food was supposed to sit there for a while why it hurt so much when you take too big a bite or whatever. But it does not explain how it creates the sensation of fullness. I have read somewhere that it is something to do with pressure on the vagus nerve which the band helps to create but I can't remember where I read it or what the exact explanation was. Also if the food does pass through so quickly then how is it possible to slime and PB food back up for so long afterwards when you get stuck.Surely only the stuck bite should come back not all the ones before it???? It seems that there is a lot about the way that the band works that is not yet fully understood. However I think this is true of many medical things.Yes I would love to know how and why it works but for me it is more important that it DOES work.

How can you not get your port replaced? If you don't get it replaced you won't be able to get any adjustments which means that your band will not work the way it should. I don't know anyone that has had an abcess but I do know people who have had their ports repositioned as they had tilted. As far as I am aware having the port fixed is a fairly minor procedure.

Yes it does. You are no longer overweight so you have lost 100% of the excess. Any extra you lose will mean that you have lost more than 100%. Getting to a normal BMI is what they base all their stats on. Time to celebrate.

The band works best with solid food e.g meat,chicken,fish, veggies etc.These foods stay in the pouch for longer and will satisfy you for longer. Cottage cheese although it is healthy is still technically a slider food. It slips past the band easily and will not give you the feeling of satisfaction that you are after. Try eating more dense foods and you should see a difference.

When you eat leftovers the texture of the food is not the same as it was when it was originally cooked. Often it can be a lot drier, meat can be tougher etc. Lots of people with bands have problems eating leftovers.