xavier

Sounds like it may be hormonal. But on the other hand, below 1200 a day and you can go into starvation-prevention mode. I would say make sure to get 1200 and make extra sure to get 70gms of protein every day! Good luck!

I love the premier protein drinks from costco...160 cals and 30 gms of protein in a little milk carton. Isopure is sooo bad!

I am too tight in the morning for solids and I am a vegetarian so protein is a concern. I drink a Premier Protein (from Costco) every morning. It is 30g of protein and only 160 cals. Tastes great. I don't like the taste of MM but maybe I'll try the lite version and see, Thanks.

I sometimes have protein ppwder in oatmeal or in grits. Some days just a protein drink.

LOVE Dr. Bounoua! She is my fill doc and she's just the nicest little lady with the cutes french accent. She has a way of doing your fill (you chug water while she fills you!) that put me at my sweet spot in one try! Highly recommend her!!!

I had my surg in LA with Dr. Oliak...LOVE him hes great but a 4-5 hour drive for me when traffic is GOOD! So I found Dr. Farida Bounoua in Santa Barbara for a fill...she's wonderful. A cute little lady with a French accent! She billed my first visit (awesome fill) as an initial consult so insurance would pay. After that, I dont know...worth ANY price! LOVE her and her staff...got my sweet spot right then!

Wow! This is a great thread because I see I'm not alone in being a bit of a slow learner after a painful incident. Its like I always have to try it again! Right now I am so tight I have to wait for every bite of solid food to go down before taking another...I can't ever eat more than a half a cup! Oh, and yes, I have had rice from a Thai restaurant leave me thru my nose! That's why I have ziplocs in my purse and in the cars! LOL!

Two fills is unlikley to be enough!

Are you hoping/expecting to be at goal by then (your TT) or is it ok to be, say, 10 pounds to go and hope they take that off? I want to get one too and I hope to be at goal by spring but I really dont know too much about it!

I think it would take years for an FDA decision to translate into an expensive change for the insurance companies. Yes, they save money because you dont end up with more or worse co morbidities but that is called prevention and they have generally never supported that. Scrape up your pennies, get a loan, whatever...I self-paid and it was the best thing i ever did...wish I had known about it or that it was available much sooner!

Sorry to jump in here since I am a girl but I think you need a fill. The fact that you have to have liquid in the morning doesn't mean you don't because I was like that but I could and did overeat at night! I also PB'd quite often and now that I have had a fill I realize PBing is more a factor of not chewing well than your fill tightness. I was at 5cc in a 10cc band and my doc tells me I'm lucky I never gained weight all this time. NOw I got 1.7cc more and I am back to eating tiny portions which stuff me like Thanksgiving dinner used to and keep me full for hours! Good luck, and again, sorry I dont have testicles...

i hope it is only irritated and swollen! I really think all of us should have anti emetic (no puke) meds prescribed just in case of something like this because that puking is not good for us.I think u should do a few days of liquids and maybe some antiinflam meds like tylenol or advil to help it calm down...then mushies, then real food just like post op. If your doc was close (I'm in the same boat as you for distance) I would go in now...Good luck and let us know how you are doing!

I think you're right to put your question here and i hope you get some good info but...I would tell this to your Doc just as you have said it here and see what he says. My Doc has his NPs do all the fills (they are great and I have never been stuck more than once!) so maybe he could arrange it or even recommend someone else. Good luck, those fills are important...I know because I neglected them, thought I was fine because I maintained, and now with a big fill losing weight is so easy I want to laugh!

I would say I have perfect to tight restriction and yet I could eat a LOT of slider food. I avoid those as much as possible. I love refried beans with greek yog but it goes right through. Orzo (tiny pasta that looks like rice) with olive oil slides through even if I dont chew that much.I eat foods that fill the pouch (1/2 cup approx) and make me feel stuffed. I stay full for about 4 hours.I think I could eat ice cream or shakes all day.

A lot of people get free fills for one year. I sometimes wonder if that's why some docs space them out to two months apart since there is no financial incentive to keep filling you when you want. You will know in a week or two at the most if youre good or need more fill! I think some people use the term productive burp because it sounds loud but mine I call a yak and its quiet so I think I could do it under a restaurant table and no one would know...havent done that yet but I never leave home without a ziploc bag!

I finally went to a local doc for a fill because my surgeon's office was just too far so I never went! She said 5cc in a 10cc band is like not having a band for most people and I was lucky to plateau instead of gain it all back. She gave me 1.7ccs! She fills you WHILE you are chugging water and when you stop because it cant go down, that's how she says she knows its right! So now I am nearly 7cc in the 10cc band and life is awesome...some trouble with solids in the morning (no big, I need the protein drink anyway because a am a veg) and the rest of the day TINY meals which must be chewed to baby food! Nearly no hunger at all!! Why didnt I do this many months ago??

Agree on the hot liquids, at first they seem to be all that will go down in the morning!

I have always heard nothing for 2-4 hrs before fill. Would advise ultrasound over fluoro to find port...no radiation involved!

Yes, thanks for the update...it gives us all motivation to see that internal change you are talking about. I live in Ca so I will pray for snow for you but not for me...my palm trees and I don't like it!

I think this is an appropriate place to post any complications and opinions about weight loss procedures and I was glad to hear Jaffa's story. I am a self pay bander and very happy with that choice. Unless you can see in the crystal ball and know you will have complications I don't agree that unilaterally the band is a poor choice for self payers...but that's just my opinion and Jaffa is certainly entitled to his/hers and to express it here. I think the tag line with DONT GET THE BAND over and over is excessive but hey, it not mine! Everyone's opinions on here are valuable!

Sorry but those huge bags of rice and dried beans from Cosco are practically free, very healthy, and very filling! Eating OUT is always a waste of money. On the other hand I get what you mean so good luck....

The difference isnt in how much weight you have to lose. Its how much work you think you can do and keep up. The band (my estimation) is a 50/50 game. It does half the work and you must do the other. It has the lowest risk of the weight loss surgeries. The sleeve is cutting your stomach from a bag to a tube and throwing the bag part in the trash. You WILL lose weight because you dont have a stomach and you wont have to work as hard on limiting the things you eat and exercise etc. The gastric bypass reroutes your anatomy so you cant eat as much AND you cant absorb some of what you eat. If you have never lost a significant amount of weight or kept weight off for any length of time at all you made need option 2 or 3. But if you have some will power and have had some success with self discipline, the band should work for you. Your face looks young so I hope the band might work for you before going to more risky/invasive/permanent type procedures but hey, whatever works! Good luck. You should get lots of good answers and support here!

Basically they are asking your PCP to put in writing that you wont die on the operating table. He cant predict that and it is more appropriate for a cardiologist or an anesthesiologist to determine that...but this is just how things work.. That remark about jogging at 5am was out of line!

Congrats!! What insurance do you have? I havent even checked mine cuz I KNOW it wont be covered!!! Good luck!

I'm glad you got what you wanted but you are dead wrong about the complication rates and I would ask you to cite your reference. Morbidity and mortality are way higher for sleeve than band.