elcee

I have posted on here about a similar topic, but this time I think I may be screwed...
I keep a very tight band, and get stuck pretty often. However, last night I drank several margarettas (first time I have drank in 2+ years) and ate pretty soon after...EVERYTHING went down. Woke up this morning, and everything is going down, this evening , everything is going down...this has NEVER happend. i feel no pain, no sickness, and if I drink after I weat, I can feew a little bit of tightness/restriction.
Did my band slip? Did I enlarge my pouch? My husband is home from iraq for two weeks, and I DO NOT want to make a doctor run if not needed , or to worry him, but I am FLIPPING out!!!

Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be an excess of negativity on this forum lately. Personally I come in here for the support and commradarie that is offered, but if I was no banded yet I would be scared after reading the whining and complaining.
People say they didn't know about bring stuck or sliming or puking- well if u looked into it at all u would know
People complaining they aren't losing weight, but they are also not counting calories or watching what they eat AT ALL. even before you have a fill u have the ability to watch what u are eating and not gorge yourself.
If u hate ur band - FINE - but accept blame if u aren't working with ur band and don't blame everyone else

I would be very wary of getting it taken out unless it is really necessary. It is quite possible that without it you may regain some or even all of your weight. Also why put your body through surgery unless you have to.
A BMI is 23 is perfectly healthy. It is not even close to being underweight. Maybe you just need to make better food choices to help allevaiate the tiredness. However tiredness often results from the busy lives we lead and often has nothing to do with what we eat. The diarrohea I would get checked out - is the Dr sure this is band related? It is very unusual if it is as most bandsters tend to border on the constipated end of the scale. I would make sure that all possibilities were checked out first before having the band removed. The last thing you want is to go through surgery and then discover that you still have the same issues.

I would be very wary of getting it taken out unless it is really necessary. It is quite possible that without it you may regain some or even all of your weight. Also why put your body through surgery unless you have to.
A BMI is 23 is perfectly healthy. It is not even close to being underweight. Maybe you just need to make better food choices to help allevaiate the tiredness. However tiredness often results from the busy lives we lead and often has nothing to do with what we eat. The diarrohea I would get checked out - is the Dr sure this is band related? It is very unusual if it is as most bandsters tend to border on the constipated end of the scale. I would make sure that all possibilities were checked out first before having the band removed. The last thing you want is to go through surgery and then discover that you still have the same issues.

That is interesting, but I am 13 months out from surgery and 15 pounds BELOW my doctors goal weight so I have lost more than what that article claims. And I know of a lot of others on this board with the same fantastic results. I love my band and I went into it knowing it might have to be removed but I just had my yearly upper gi and everything is perfect and I have had absolutely no complications. I will not let myself dwell on these statistics anymore. If anything happens then it does and I will deal with it then. I will decide to either replace my band or revise.

Really, without lectures, the answer is staring you in the face.
For your own bowel health and every day comfort, you have to eat right and you have to exercise.
There's no way round it. You cant overcome a basically bad diet without fibre supplements and such and you cannot live the rest of your life having it ruined by consitipation caused by having yoru band so tight. Sooner or later, you are going to have to learn to eat right, get in enough Water and enough exercise to cause your bowels to work like they should.
Dont you see how insane what you're saying sounds? How on earth could you say you've been liberated from obesity when in reality, you've only swapped one set of miserable circumstances for another? This is not "health" and its not "normal life". This is an eating disorder in every sense of the word. I read your other post and truly, I think you've lost perspective and need some help to get it back. Being thin is not worth living with painful Constipation and avoiding any normal sort of food intake forever. Your band cant do it all, you simply have to take some of the responsiblity for self control. Let some Fluid out of your band and include some healthy foods.
Your bowel is only the one issue you can see and feel. What on earth do you think is going on in your body as a result of semi-starvation that might come back to bite you in the future?
I really am not lecturing you. We are all sick with this disease to varying degrees and your take on controlling it is completely and utterly understandable. But you are truly risking your long term wellbeing and you are certainly greatly increasing the chances of having band problems by remaining so tight.

I took a look at your blog and regarding the upkeep of the RNY (bypass) you are aware that you have to have labs (blood) drawn ever so often and supplement with lots of vitamins/minerals? The malabsorption of the bypass can make keeping certain levels very tricky. You need to do more research.
I've been banded 2 years, no complications and have lost 200lbs. The band is to help control the appetite, controlling what you put in your mouth is up to the banded person.

I totally agree with Checkyes, and would like to add:
You say: "I thought I would be thrilled but now I am afraid I am making the wrong decision and I will be one of the banders who does not loose any weight." Or perhaps you "will be one of the banders who DOES lose all your weight."

You say: "I think I understand all the things that need to be done to make me successful, but what if I can't do it???" But what if you CAN DO IT??? Goodness, what a scary thought, huh?

You say: "I read a lot of the posts under struggling lap banders and I could totally be one of them too." Did you read any posts under "success stories", bet you could be one of them too.

You say: "Part of me is like if I keep doing what I am doing now I will keep getting the same results and lap band is my attempt to do something different but what if really I need to change something else?" You're right, what you're doing now will get you the same results (all us bandsters have been there). And, if you don't follow through with your decision to get the lapband how will you know if the band wasn't THE thing?

This is TOTALLY your decision and, since you have a surgery date, it appears that you HAVE made a decision. If you make a clear decision that this is just not what you want to do, well, that's okay too ... but to torture youself with "what if's" and "iffa woulda coulda shoulda's" seems counter productive. Remember, the band is reversible or, you can decide not to have it filled and it will (likely) be as if you don't have a band. I think that's what I like most about the band ... it does not have to be permanent. There are a number of people on this forum that have had their bands removed. You might want to read about them for perspective.

Stress before surgery is not good, so try to relax a bit. Continue to research, you still have time to change your mind ... but do it from a place of knowledge -- not fear.

I wish you the best on your journey ... whatever you choose to do.

~Fran

Oh goodness, opening a can of worms, lol. There have been all in brawls on here about this topic, with heavier people getting into those of us that had lower BMI's, suggesting that with a bit of willpower, we could have "done it ourselves". Well, my response to that is that if it were so frickin easy to lose weight when your BMI is 35, as mine was, then why the heck have these heavier people gotten even fatter than that. There are definitely people that feel they are more deserving, that they suffer more because they are heavier etc. In those cases, the question can be spiteful but its more about them than you.
Other times, people genunienly dont think a BMI under 40 is that heavy. It is actually obese but people are so used to seeing such huge people these days and hardly anyone of a truly normal weight that it seems 'normal'. Their question really does reflect that they dont understand that you are feeling he effects of obesity at that stage. By the same token, we've had huge arguments because some of us, me for one, cannot understand how anyone could be happy with losing down to a BMI of 28 or 30 and stopping there. To me, that's still rather fat, pretty fat actually. But that's because I havent been morbidly obese, its because I somehow was lucky and did lose right down to a BMI of 20, and I just have a different perspective on it. I'd be desperate if I put on weight back to a BMI of 25 again.
You do this to please YOU and that's all that matters. By and large I dont think people mean o be rude or nasty, they hjust see things from another perspective.

Don't panic. You probably got stuck which caused you to vomit and that has now irritated the band and oesophagus. The best thing to try is to suck ice chips. The ice should help to reduce swelling and hopefully you will absorb some of the liquid. It may take a while but eventually you should be able to swallow. Don't panic as that will make you feel worse.
It has happened to me before and it is really uncomfortable and annoying .
If you still can't get any liquid down in the morning then I would go and see my Dr for an unfit.
It is unlikely that your band has slipped.
Keep us updated and hope you feel better soon.

I don't think that it's highly improbable for you to lose even more than 3 pounds in some weeks, especially the first few. I have lost more than 3 pounds some weeks (although some of it was likely Water and possibly even muscle, unfortunately), but my usual weight-loss is 2 pounds (in the first 6 months, it was only about 1-1.5 pounds). Remember that, for many people, restriction doesn't occur until 3 or 4 months in. Some people pick up the slack and go through bandster hell in the interim, while others, like me, eat more than 1 cup in the first few months and lose slower until restriction. As others mentioned, you might be disappointed when you fail to reach your goal or you might end up eating far too little at the expense of your health (malnutrition and muscle loss) and your metabolism.
To byrdmen, your progress is really great (congratulations on losing 149 pounds!), but you can't quite compare your experience to Deidre. Aside from the fact that a person's weight-loss is dependent on their metabolism and other factors, there are two factors that make it easy for you to lose 3 pounds a week consistently over a year; you are male and you have 341 pounds to lose, according to your ticker. On average, most males lose weight much more rapidly than females, partly on account of higher muscle mass and the fact that females have evolved to retain fat more easily for reproductive function.
Most importantly, people lose weight quicker if they have more weight to lose and they're farther from their ideal body weight. That's why you see people who weigh 800 pounds sometimes losing 25 pounds/week. That would be an impossible or highly unhealthy feat for someone who weighs 259 pounds and whose ideal weight might be about 110 pounds away.
You could easily create a 2200 caloric deficit and lose 3-5 pounds/week, while still staying above the 1600 calorie a day guideline for males. If Deidre were to create a 2200 caloric deficit, she might be severely malnourished. If she weren't malnourished (if she was previously consuming 3000 calories and exercising), she'd still be eating a very strict diet in comparison (much lower than the 1200 calorie guideline for women), so it would not be an easy weight-loss. I eat about 900-1100 calories a day and I cannot lose 3 pounds a week consistently over a whole year. For people with less to lose, weight-loss slows down over the year since many are getting very near their ideal weight by one year.

I don't have a sweet tooth I have sweet TEETH!

I don't have a sweet tooth I have sweet TEETH!

I don't have a sweet tooth I have sweet TEETH!

If you test to your band to see what you can get away with, you're going to find yourself "winning" a lot But in the end, that's not a game you want to win, right?
It sounds like once you're healed and can eat solid food again that your band may be working-- giving you a feeling of satiation after only a little food. But for a lot of us (me included) the band did never and will never stop you from eating anything.
Your job= choosing what to eat and listening to the band
Band's job= giving you a sense of "not hungry" after a relatively small amount of food
That's it.
Good luck to you! I know it's hard to figure out with every other person, and every other doctor, saying something different.

I posted this on the pre-surg forum as well. I ALSO posted this on my blog and thought it may be nice to come and visit lapbandtalk as well! I have been banded over 2 years. I started at 327 pounds and now weigh 159. I love my band. Sometimes those of us "old timers" can forget all the questions we had when we were newbies...so I tried to think of as many as possible. I don't have tons of updated pics on here, but you can always see more on my blog. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I am an open book.
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Sometimes we forget when we were first beginning. Do you remember the first time you googled Lapband? Or the first time you logged into the forums...frantically searching for before and afters....looking at successes and getting pumped...stumbling upon a horror story and then getting scared? Do you remember the stupid questions you asked? I remember posting on lapbandtalk.com something like "is one cup of Wendy's chili bad for you?"
Well, I am going to try and remember back to when I didn't know much about the band...and what information would have been helpful. Here goes...
Did you know:

I started at 327 pounds. My doctor, the wonderful and handsome Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, told me that the band is not always the best choice for someone who is a grazer. They find that the band is actually more successful for men, because men tend to eat in volume (sitting down for a huge dinner and getting really full, vs eating and munching on little things all day). Some doctors say that the band will not work as well for those of us who are or were really morbidly obese. I disagree. And there are plenty of us out here who are proving them wrong. Did you know:

The band may not work for you? You could have the surgery and not lose much weight at all. It is not a sure thing. BUT, if you work with the band...it can and will work for most of us. What does "work with the band mean"?

Every doctor has a different regimen they want you to follow. Every doc is different, as it almost every patient. Some say no pop/soda, some say it's fine. Some have a 2 week liquid preop and scare the sweet baby jebsus out of you about not shrinking your liver enough for surgery and not being able to operate (thank you Dr. Friedman). But, you will have to do your part with the band. You will have to watch what you eat. You will have to eventually get your ass up and exercise. You will have to make healthier choices and just be better. I know you are saying WHAT? That sounds like a diet to me. And I fail at diets!!! The band is a TOOL, not the Alpha and Omega of your weight loss journey. You can "cheat" the band by eating sliders and soft food. I for one could eat cheetos all day long and the band would sleep right through it. But with the right restriction, your band prevents you from eating that large pizza, the extra value meal, the entire bovine. You have to find a doctor that you can have a relationship with. They have to be open with you and you have to be open with them. You HAVE to go see them for fills. You have to follow up. You have to be a good patient. ASK QUESTIONS.
What can you eat once you are banded?

At this point in my journey, I can't think of one thing I CANT eat. However, there are somethings that I try to stay away from because they are difficult with my band. Example: Bowtie Pasta. It doesnt go down well. And then it just sits in my band and expands...causing me to PB (get to that in a second). I can't eat a sandwich, or a hamburger with a bun, but I could eat a roll if I tear off little pieces at a time. Hot dogs give me problems for some reason. Dry chicken or reheated meat (with the exception of a hamburger) often give me problems as well. I still drink soda, I still drink beer. I love Soups. I can eat veggies. I can eat fruit.< /li> Eating after being banded is about going slow. It's about chewing. They say with proper restriction that 4-6 ounces of solid Protein (a piece of meat about the size of your fist) should keep you full for 3-4 hours. Most docs want their patients to avoid "slider meals". Meaning, eating a bowl of Soup for lunch or yogurt for Breakfast isn't going to keep you full or satisfied because it will SLIDE right down. You want your food to stay in your pouch, and slowly drop down. Sometimes though...food may get stuck and then you get "sick". The Dreaded PB:

A couple things may happen if a piece of food gets "stuck in your pipe" as Heather refers to it. You aren't going to die. It's not like it gets stuck and you need the Heimlich. But if a piece of food gets stuck, ain't nothing else going down until it moves or comes up. The first thing that may happen is a productive burp (PB). This is not throwing up. When something gets stuck, your slobber starts to build on top of it. For me, when this happens, I get a weird sensation in the back of my jaw. And if I wait long enough, I will have to get somewhere private (hopefully) and let it come up. What comes up is this weird slime/foam combo. It doesn't hurt. And hopefully...it moves whatever is stuck. Sometimes though, it takes a little more work. Sometimes that one piece of food I didnt chew enough will be down there for hours. And then, it's not PBing. It's sort of like dry heaving until that piece comes up. There is a tightness in the chest...a pressure. It's not fun. I will say that not everyone gets stuck or PB's. And most of us would agree that when we do get stuck...it's our fault. We eat without being present, we didn't chew, we ate too fast. Restriction and Tips for Eating:

Unless you are extremely lucky, you will not awake from surgery with perfect restriction. Some docs put a little liquid in your band to start with, others wait. I had to wait 6 weeks for my first fill. And again, unless you are the rare case, you probably won't get restriction with your first fill. It took me several fills before I had good restriction. ASK your doctor what his/her fill policy is. Some docs are super restrictive with their fills. They only fill on a schedule. They don't care whether or not you have restriction. All I know is if Dr. Friedman hadn't let me tell him that I was ready for a fill...and if he had made me wait regardless of what I could eat...I wouldn't have been as successful as I was. You will know you have restriction when you have it. It's sort of like having sex. If you have to wonder if you had an orgasm or not...um...you probably didn't. Restriction will keep you full and satisfied for 3-4 hours. You will be able to eat less. Restriction DOES NOT RESTRICT YOUR BRAIN. You may still mentally crave things. You will have to learn the difference between head hunger and physical hunger. This is very hard. When you do have good restriction, you will have to change the way you eat. This is easier said than done. You should be taking small bites. For example, if you are eating steak, you need to cut that sucker up into pea sized bites. You need to chew. Then, set your fork down and wait a few seconds. You should eat sitting down. You should pay attention to what you are doing. You will learn that things like eating in the car is rarely going to end well. (Always have your emergency PB kit in your car. A couple of bags, some papertowels or handywipes. Trust me.) You probably shouldnt drink with your meal or for 30 minutes after. liquids can help push your food down...thus...cheating the band. How much weight will I lose? How quickly will I lose it?

Now you know that there is no one answer for this. Statistically, Lapband patients lose around 40% of their excess weight. SO, if you are 100 pounds overweight, statistically you will lose 40 pounds. I hate statistics. And remember, they are an average. 17 more pounds lost and I will have lost 100% of my excess weight...and I am not alone. It can happen. However, there are so many factors that go into how much and how fast. Genetics, age, diet history, personal support, family life, exercise. Some weeks I lost 7 pounds. Some weeks I gained 5. The weeks I gained, I gained because I ate poorly. I cheated the band The weeks I lost, I ate and made healthy choices. There are some weeks, even when I WAS doing the right thing...I didn't lose. It can be frustrating. But you can't give up. You will have to keep upping your game. At some point, even with the band, you will either have to adjust your food or exercise. But, I feel like the band is "cheating". I feel like if I have WLS, I am weak.

I'm gonna tell you what. Who gives a flying monkey's ass?! Cheating what? Cheating early death? Cheating sleep apena? Cheating high blood pressure, sore joints, diabetes? I say CHEAT AWAY then. There is no shame in WLS. It's not about will power. It's not about failing. It is about trying to find a tool that works to give you some power, give you your health. I tell whoever wants to know or will listen about the band. And yes, I have heard "Oh...well...I thought you did it the hard way"...or "hmmm...that must be nice". I say listen FOOL. There ain't nothing easy about the band. It makes some things easier but it is still work. And I find that people either give you 'tude about the band bc they are afraid or jealous or because they don't understand. Either way, that is okay. I will educate or I will ignore. I feel like if I were to say "oh, I am just watching my diet and working out"...that I would be lying by omission. AND, my real fear is that someone who is overweight will think "Well, Amy did it "the old fashioned way", and they will feel like a failure when they try and do not succeed. Will my relationship fall apart if I have the surgery?

We all hear the stories of what happens when someone has WLS. The divorce rate and seperation rate is a little higher for us. There are several reasons. One, for some of us....when we lose weight, we become a different person...or the person we would have been if our bodies hadn't been our enemies so long. Our expectations may change, we may want more. OR, our partners may not be able to deal with the new us. OR, as in any relationship...sometimes it's just time to move on. I don't think that having WLS should make you fear losing or changing your partner anymore than the normal person. There are tons of bandsters out there still happy and maybe even happier with their significant other. Sometimes though, even though we can't see it or don't want to admit it...we have settled. And once you start to shed your cloak of security or denial...you realize you deserve more (too bad we don't realize that to begin with. Long story short...people change and grow...with or without weightloss surgery. Are you worried about complications:

No. But most days I am not a worrier about things that may or may not happen. I heard recently that the stats for band slipping are about 5% and for erosion, about 1-2%. Slipping for example, can be avoided most of the time and according to the docs...is easy to fix. Erosion is of course a little more scary. But I hope that by always paying attention to my body, my band, and how I am feeling...I can avoid it or if it ever happens...catch it early. Do fills hurt?

Mine never do. My doc has never done one under fluoro. He gives me a numbing shot and then the fill. How many fills do you have to have?

To get restriction, it took me 4. My first year I had around 6 fills. My second year, I had 2. Will you ever have the band taken out?

Lord I hope not. Even now that I am at goal weight and weight loss is more of what I do instead of what the band does for me...it's always there. It's my safety net. It will keep me from ever being 327 pounds again. Why did you choose the band over other options?

I was 28 when I decided on the surgery. I didn't want my stomach cut apart. I still wanted to be able to absorb my nutrients. I wanted to be able to eat sugar and other things without getting physcially ill. I liked that the removal of the band was a possibility if something went wrong. I liked the idea of being able to control my restriction. And even though I bitched and complained along the way, I liked the idea of a slower weight loss (vs Gastric bypass). It gave my skin and my brain a little more time to adjust. Did you know there are different brands of lapbands?

I have the Allegran Lapband. Ask you doctor your choices and the differences. Mine is a 10-11cc band. Some are smaller. Were you worried about the loose skin?

Barely. I figured I may look like a saggy deflated sack after I lost my weight, but I would rather be deflated then morbidly obese. And I am lucky. My skin is nowhere as bad as it could have been. Again, so many factors go into skin. Age, genes, working out, sun...etc. Would you do it again?

In a heartbeat my friends. In a heartbeat. It was the best decision of my life. It was a tremedous catalyst for change. I can't think of one negative consequence of the band.

When someone finds the answer please let me know too. I also want to be able to eat Cookies, chocolate,cake etc without putting on weight. I don't want to exercise and I don't want to take responsibility for what I put in my mouth - that's too hard.
I'm looking for a magic wand - maybe I should go to Ollivanders?
Please don't tell me there isn't one. I can't lose weight by making healthy choices the same way everyone else has to. There has to be a surgery that makes it possible to do things my way. I'm happy to do what it takes - if not the lapband,then a bypass, sleeve or whatever so long as it doesn't involve me having to do the work!

I have a butterfly above my ankle so I doubt it will change much. Although it is a barometer for shaving my legs when it turns into a moth.

No you probably have something stuck. You said you were rushing and didn't chew properley , so there is probably a large piece of food lodged in your stoma. Eating or drinking at this point may aggravate it but you don't want to become dehydrated. Try taking small sips to see if you can drink, if you can't sucking on crushed ice may help - it usually helps me. Are you sure it is acid you are coughing up or is it excess saliva - the body's normal reaction when something is stuck is to produce excess saliva to try to slide it through.
I doubt vey much that your band has slipped.
See how you are feeling in the morning and let us know. If you can't get liquids down then you need to call your Dr.
Don't panic i am sure you will be fine.

When someone finds the answer please let me know too. I also want to be able to eat Cookies, chocolate,cake etc without putting on weight. I don't want to exercise and I don't want to take responsibility for what I put in my mouth - that's too hard.
I'm looking for a magic wand - maybe I should go to Ollivanders?
Please don't tell me there isn't one. I can't lose weight by making healthy choices the same way everyone else has to. There has to be a surgery that makes it possible to do things my way. I'm happy to do what it takes - if not the lapband,then a bypass, sleeve or whatever so long as it doesn't involve me having to do the work!

When someone finds the answer please let me know too. I also want to be able to eat Cookies, chocolate,cake etc without putting on weight. I don't want to exercise and I don't want to take responsibility for what I put in my mouth - that's too hard.
I'm looking for a magic wand - maybe I should go to Ollivanders?
Please don't tell me there isn't one. I can't lose weight by making healthy choices the same way everyone else has to. There has to be a surgery that makes it possible to do things my way. I'm happy to do what it takes - if not the lapband,then a bypass, sleeve or whatever so long as it doesn't involve me having to do the work!

When someone finds the answer please let me know too. I also want to be able to eat Cookies, chocolate,cake etc without putting on weight. I don't want to exercise and I don't want to take responsibility for what I put in my mouth - that's too hard.
I'm looking for a magic wand - maybe I should go to Ollivanders?
Please don't tell me there isn't one. I can't lose weight by making healthy choices the same way everyone else has to. There has to be a surgery that makes it possible to do things my way. I'm happy to do what it takes - if not the lapband,then a bypass, sleeve or whatever so long as it doesn't involve me having to do the work!

Thought I had made the decision to get a lap band. I'd talked with my insurance company, and since I've had multiple issues related to my immune system they encouraged me to look long and hard because even laparoscopic surgeries can be traumatic ( I know... I've had 15). I'm glad I waited!
This is going to sound like a cheesy ad, but I'm just offering an alternative before proceeding with banding/bypass... to make sure you really have to do it.
Having tried Atkins, Weight Watchers, Perricone, Palm Beach, yada yada yada... I was NOT interested in having to weigh and measure everything and micro-manage my eating. After all, it was food --- not my life. A means to and end --not the end. Know what I mean? And on those programs I drove everyone in my family batty because I had to eat very specific things prepared a specific way. I was grumpy, hungry, and on every one of them I gave up without much success.
So when my friend at work asked me if I wanted to join Slimming World (what a hoky name!), I wasn't very optimistic. But after being the largest girl in the office for 4 years running, I was willing to go and listen. Before my illness (lupus), I was a size 10 -- so I knew what I was missing, being able to wear anything and do anything. Really, I went in there with a bad attitude, but I heard their 'schpiel' and thought about it.
I decided to try it, because at 5'5", I weighed 289 pounds. It wasn't going to make a difference if it bombed. Id be out the $10 for the meeting. So I took it home and digested what they had to say... literally. Their program allows UNLIMITED (as in frequency and portions) fruit, vegetables, LEAN meat and fish, rice, Beans, and more. Sure, you have to be careful how you prepare it... but you'd be AMAZED with how many different sauces you can make out of fat free plain yogurt. I've made convincing-tasting bearnaise, alfredo and hollandaise sauce -- not to mention whipped "cream" in maple, almond, vanilla and other flavors. You make sure 1/3 of your plate is "superfree" food that speeds weight loss (fruits & veggies), and the rest is up to you.
In three weeks, I've dropped 19 pounds. Lap band would be hard pressed to beat that. The thing is, I EAT ALL DAY LONG, noshing on fruit, rotisserie chicken w/o the skin, sushi... I've even cheated quite a few times -- and I'm still losing that fast!.
I know it won't work for everyone, because some people can't force themselves to give up the comfort food and aren't willing to learn how to prepare it in a more healthy way; but you're going to be forced to make those changes anyway with a band. Cheat too much and you get physically sick.
All I'm saying is that for some people (like me), there IS another much-more-satisfying solution. Food is not the enemy. it's the junk we put in it and on it!!
Whatever you decide, I wish you health. There is nothing more demoralizing than the labels people attach to us because we're large. We're told we're 'slow", stupid, lazy, clumsy... I could go on. They're all a load of horse puckey, and we know it.
Blessings,
ElizabethInDallas (down from 289 to 268)
P.S. Slimming World is only available online to everywhere in the US except the Dallas TX metroplex (thier US pilot area) where they have support groups. Based on the success here so far (one lady in my group will be the first American woman on the program to lose 100 pounds next week), they'll be expanding soon. If you're curious, check out www.slimmingworld.com.

I'd hate to come on here and say well, I'm unfilled and I havent gained so you can do it too, its patronising and not helpful. But perhaps I can share my take on it and you can take or leave my opinion, but if it helps you at all then I'm glad.
I've been unfilled for a couple of months now because I had rectal cancer, and had to have chemo, radiation and a major surgery, which involved creating an ileostomy so I have a bag for now. I'm now having more chemo and will have the ileostomy reversed sometime in the next few months. Chemo hasnt made me the type of sick that means i dont want to eat so my appetite is quite normal. I was so devastated/angry/frustrated/terrified of being unfilled, I'd been so successful with my band. But I had no freaking choice. So I sat myself down and said to myself "you're a grown up and you know you have to face the consequences of your actions". I was also feeling so out of control with the whole disease that is cancer, my life was just taken out of my hands and I had a new schedule for the coming 12 months, my job, our travel plans, even our plans for a new house, I've just had to let them all go, so I was absolutely adamant that it would not take over my weight and self image too!
I have continued to exercise like always, I run daily, I do bootcamp, I circuit train with my son - exercise is your prime weapon, it is just so important. Do lots and lots of cardio. I follow what I call my no bullshit diet, but amazingly, the other day I found someone has put it up on the web, lol - google the NOS diet or the no "s" diet. No sweets, no seconds, no Snacks is all it is basically. I eat three meals a day - healthy meals, meals that satisfy - I dont even try to stick to bandster portions, because only bandsters can do that! I've been logging calories, weighing and measuring but I stopped, because I felt that despite not gaining, I was losing all I'd worked so hard for and starting to become obsessed with food and dieting again - so yeah, 3 healthy meals, no Snacks. That's only a couple of rules. No agonising over can I eat this, how much Protein does that have, how many calories do I have left for the day. I can eat enjoyable food, but not junk. Its really really worked for me, my weight has stayed pretty stable.
Now I've had a slight advantage in that I had a big surgery in there and lost a couple of kilos that I was able to gain back, and unfortunately my 3 healthy meals included LOTS of salad to fill the gaps. Salads and ostomates and chemotherapy dont mix - I've just come home from hospital following a bowel obstruction (painful, you dont want one!) and I am simply going to have to cave in and follow the recommended diet of lots of white bread, potato, rice and not too many fruits and vegies - and especially no skins. It freaks me out - all those white carbs - but I really believe with the no bullshit approach, I still wont gain weight!
You are the one in control of this, it is only you and you must make your choices. It is as plain as that. I wish there were a secret but there simply isnt. You're only human and you still might gain weight, statistically most unfilled or de-banded people do. But you dont have to absolutely pile it back on at lightening speed. You need to protect your self esteem, your sense of achievement and if you can contain the weight gain, you'll feel better than if you simply give up. Best of luck to you.

So...your band has become non-functional, and you're doing WHAT? Eating whatever you want?
Ummm. I'm thinking that the Lap band is probably not gonna jump out of your stomach and snatch that burger out of your hand before you shove it into your mouth.
It doesn't usually work that way.
Yes, you DO need to see your Doctor and find out what the problem is. Perhaps it was someone new that gave you a fill, and accidentally removed some Fluid. It could be one of several things.
But the more important issue here is..... What are YOU going to do until this is sorted out? You need to eat as though the Band is working at full capacity. The rules do NOT change just because your band is not functioning as it should. If you have had your band for around a year, then you should know how to eat by now, and you shouldn't have to "test" the band in any way.
"I swear I feel like I have no band at all. Has anyone ever had this? I left a message for my Doc today after a big il breakfast."
You really didn't HAVE to have that "Big il breakfast". You could have had a small, band-sized breakfast, the kind you SHOULD be having every day.
"I was not hungry today while I ate but I tested the band all day and the food won every time."
I wouldn't see it so much as the food winning, but as YOU LOSING. And why did you feel the need to "test" the band?
You know, you really need to learn how to live WITHOUT the Lap Band. There is a very good possibility that your Lap band might be removed from you at some point. SOME surgeons are beginning to see the Lap Band as a temporary set of "training" wheels over a period of 3-5 years, during which the Patient should do everything they can to develop new eating habits, and a new relationship with food. This is because of increasing incidence of erosion, slippage, and other problems associated with the Band. And if it happens to you, you need to be ready.
SEE your Doctor, and find out what the problem is, and get it fixed. But in the meantime, STICK TO THE RULES.
S.