elcee

I'm female and haven't been advised to take calcium. I didn't know osteoporosis was an issue after banding, it's not something my surgeon ever mentioned.For us females I think it is more of a concern after the menopause . I do find that since being banded I eat a lot more dairy than I did previously - lots of greek yogurt - so that would probably help.

Isn't there a chain of places called Fill Centers USA that will fill you regardless of where you were banded? Try looking them up and see if there is one close to you. Don't worry about the flouro/x-ray. It is not necessary. The standard procedure here in Australia is to fill without them and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

You are extremely lucky. I have heard of other instances but they are very rare. Are you actively dieting, low carbing , exercising lots or what? Obviously just being banded has been enough for you. in some ways this is probably similar to those instances where they hypnotise people into believing they have been banded. It must make something click in your brain. Well done.

Are you using patches or anything to help? Personally I would get any help that I could rather than just trying to tough it out on my own.

Have you spoken to your Dr? I would think they need to run some tests to see what is going on.

looking good.

Actually you are probably dying a lot less than you were while you were smoking. I don't know the specific risks with smoking and banding but surely they are not important,the risks of smoking are so great anyway. Isn't the reason that you are being banded to get healthy and prolong your life? If you start smoking again then you may as well not have bothered. Of course if you want to smoke yourself into an early grave that is upto you but I would take the band and everything that goes with it as being the start of a new healthy lifestyle and that includes giving up smoking as well. Think of all the money you will save, think how much better you will smell etc etc. yes it's hard but you CAN do it.

gotta love what kids ay.

If you ask us here we will probably tell you that the lapband is best because obviously that is what we have chosen. If you go to the VSG group they will tell you that the sleeve is better because that is what they have chosen . If you go to another group you will get another answer. What I am trying to get at is the fact that noone can objectively tell you which is the better surgery. Different types of surgery suit different types of people. You should research each type of surgery as much as you can , discuss the pro's and con's with your surgeon and then you will have to come to a decision based on what you believe is right for you.

Didn't you get WLS so that you could get healthy and prolong your life? Do you think smoking hookah does either of these?

I eat 1 egg - poached on 1 slice of wholemeal toast.

Greek yogurt. Soups So long as you remember that this is a temporary measure until you get to the Dr for that slight unfill. You do not want to stay too tight. It is dangerous and can often lead to weight gain as slider foods are higher in calories and do not keep you satisfied.

Get that unfill - it will make a huge difference.

I mix food all the time too - depending on what I'm eating. If it's a roast I eat the foods seperately but I eat lots of casserole type dishes and I then mix it up further by eating them with the rice! The only problem when you do this is if you do get stuck you have no idea what food was the problem.

Try thigh instead - it is much moister. And I agree, I tried the chicken flap thing the other day and it did nothing!

That sounds scary! It was hard enough making the decision to have elective surgery to have a lapband put in, imagine having to decide to have brain surgery instead. is this one of the op's that they do whilst you are awake like the op's for parkinsons etc?

When you say it's been a rough weekend is it because you had problems eating or were there other problems that caused you stress? Stress can cause your band to tighten so the rough weekend may have triggered the eating problem.

The amount of Water around is incredible. Two of my friends have family members that have been flooded. I think the worst thing with floods is not just that everything gets wrecked but insurance companies refuse to cover flood damge so basically you are st@@@@d! The earthquakes would be worse though. Far more frightening and unpredictable. I didn't realise that there had been more shocks and that they were so big. I still find it incredible that the quake was so big and no-one was killed.That is amazing. Can't give you any advice on how to get the Protein shakes down. I don't use them - the only time I did was preop when i used Celebrity Slim. All the best.

Rach, glad that the earthquake hasn't affected you too badly. It must be an extremely stressful time. I always thought that stress made me eat but it doesn't seem to be that bad now I am banded. I tend to get most stressed in the middle of the night and I don't normally eat then! Listening to the rain on Sat night wondering if the Water from our dam was going to hit our house was pretty stressful. Jacqui sending you lots of hugs and positive thoughts today. I assume that this is as a result of the problems that you were having and the tests you had? I wish you all the best and hope that whatever is wrong you and the docs have it beat real quick!Which hospital are you going to? Hugs XXXXX

Sticking with the funnel analogy. Yes if you tip a litre bottle of Water extremely rapidly into a funnel it may overflow. If there is a blockage in the funnel then it will definitely overflow which is why you shouldn't eat and drink at the same time. But if you tip the bottle slightly and pour steadily into the funnel it will pass through easily. You certainly don't pour the water into the funnel one drop every 5 minutes. If you ever get to the stage where you can't drink normally then your band is overtight and you need an unfill.

There was a similar thread previously where someone had been told by her Dr that she had to wait 3 minutes between bites. I don't think that whoever it was posted after her surgery to say if she was maaging to stick to that and how. As the others have said the whole idea is absurd. imagine how many bites you would manage to eat before you had to give up eating. Not many as lots of Dr's recommend that you shouldn't carry on eating for longer than 20 minitues as by then your pouch has already started emptying and you will be able to eat more! Just chew well, and eat slowly.

They do say that you shouldn't let yourself get that hungry as when you do you are likely to eat too fast and that as you have found out causes problems.

It's because bad foods have all ready been broken down by processing. Many of them require little or no chewing - they will just melt in your mouth. They also have lots of fat/sugar added which again melts or slides down easily.

Hi I see this is your first post - welcome. Firstly you started with a low BMI. The less weight you have to lose the slower you lose it. I also got banded in jun 09 and have lost 22kg. The loss now seems to have stopped. Secondly you have a very low BMi as a goal. It is right at the bottom of the normal/bordering on the underweight range. Yes you may be able to achieve this but unless you really limit your food and do lots of exercise it is unlikely. If I was you I would reassess once you are into the healthy weight range. You may find that you don't want to weigh that little. I have always wanted to lose more weight but I realise now that if I lose much more I will probably end up looking old/gaunt. It would be fine if I could choose where it should come off(stomach) but that is not possible. Instead my legs just get thinner - if they get much thinner then I won't be able to buy clothes off the rack. here in Aus it can be pretty hard to find a size 8 - if I need to get a 6 or smaller I could really be in trouble. Where are you from? Obviously not the USA or UK as your ticker shows your weight in kgs and they generally show theirs in lbs or stones.

You can drink normally once you are banded.Its generally only the first couple of days after surgery that you need to be really slow and careful. You may not be gulping quite so fast but you can certainly drink fast enough to quench your thirst. Certainly not a sip every 5 minutes.