NikkiReyes

I have had the same self image problems as well. Every night whenever I get ready to take my bath, I think when will "I" ever notice the weight loss. Then yesterday I looked in the mirror and thought I have curves again. I actually have a waist. I could see it in my clothes and I did finally go buy me some new clothes because my old ones were just falling off of me. I am finally getting excited, I was very leary of buying new clothes; I kept telling myself I just didn't want to spend all the extra money when I would only be able to wear them for a month or two anyways. But when I slid on that 18 and it was just a tad to tight, I couldn't help it I got excited just because; hey I could at least slide on a 18 and button it! Every day for me gets better and better. It will for all of you too.

:biggrin: hmmm i've only been banded for 2 weeks and havent had any problem eating any cooked veggies or scrambled eggs. i hurled the first time last night when i snuck a piece of beef quesadilla. i think i'll stay away from tortillas for a while ;( the only thing that i have to say is listen to your body! when you feel the tightness, STOP EATING! (or stop before it gets to that point, but for me, it just doesnt take much to get there, so i wait to feel it!) the burps are a great release... the hiccups make me think i'm going to puke any minute.

Hiccups are the first sign for me something is stuck and it is coming back up. Just remember everyone chew chew chew and small bites. Me PBing is my fault 95% of the time. I forget to chew everything up good enough and I will sometimes still eat to fast. I am not sure how to stop myself from it. It's been at habit for 34 years, what do some of you do to keep from eating so fast?

I have a list of things I can no longer eat

Red meat - Not good - sometimes I can do hamburger meat if it is mixed with something and cooked as fine as I can get it.

Lettuce was a huge mistake - my first time PBing was with a very small piece of lettuce. Can't do cole slaw either no matter how chopped up it is.

Strawberrys kill me and most other fruits do as well dried or fresh

Milk doesn't set really well on my stomach anymore, makes it pretty upset for awhile after drinking it.

No bread or torillas

But I will say, when you get sick on something you have a tendancy to never want to eat it again, so I guess that's a good thing.

I eat alot of chicken, eggs, cheese, Beans (as long as they are really well cooked) rice is ok. I swear though I am going to start clucking and growing feathers one day from eating so much chicken. :biggrin:

For the first time in 5 years I am back in a loose size 20 down from a very tight 24.

Actually being able to paint my toes with breathing like I ran a mile.

Going through my closet and getting rid of my fat clothes instead of getting rid of fat clothes for bigger fat clothes.

Just knowing that one day, I won't be the fat girl anymore!

It makes me want to cry with what I have acheived!

Congrats everyone! You guys are GREAT!

It really depends on where the ticker is from. Make sure you are using the code that says can be added for forums.

I think this band is the best thing to ever happen to me. I had surgery on June 12th and have lost 50.2 pounds since May 28th (pre-op). I have had no fill and have no Fluid in my band. My doctor will not give a fill unless you loose no weight in a month. He says the less fills you have the better chance you will have at reaching goal weight. I thought I needed a fill a couple of weeks ago but had lost 12 pounds in 1 month. So no go. Since then I made up my mind I was ok and I have stopped craving food all the time. I think alot of my cravings and being hungry were just pure mental. I do work out 4 to 5 times a week as well and I think that helps alot too.

Baked chicken Fajitas Recipe

This is easy and healthy.

35 min | 15 min prep

SERVES 6 , 12 fajitas

lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 flour tortillas, warm

In a 13x9x2-inch baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray, combine the chicken, tomatoes, onion and peppers.

Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin and salt. Drizzle over chicken mixture, toss to coat.

Bake, uncovered, at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender.

Spoon onto tortillas; fold in sides.

Baked chicken Fajitas Recipe

This is easy and healthy.

35 min | 15 min prep

SERVES 6 , 12 fajitas

This is very family friendly as well and healthy for all bansters. I just do not eat the tortillas!

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 flour tortillas, warm

In a 13x9x2-inch baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray, combine the chicken, tomatoes, onion and peppers.

Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin and salt. Drizzle over chicken mixture, toss to coat.

Bake, uncovered, at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender.

Spoon onto tortillas; fold in sides.

Baked chicken Fajitas Recipe

This is easy and healthy.

35 min | 15 min prep

SERVES 6 , 12 fajitas

This is a family friendly recipe, I just do not eat the tortillas.

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 flour tortillas, warm

In a 13x9x2-inch baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray, combine the chicken, tomatoes, onion and peppers.

Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin and salt. Drizzle over chicken mixture, toss to coat.

Bake, uncovered, at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender.

Spoon onto tortillas; fold in sides.

At first I didn't tell anyone at my office except two very close co-workers, heck now I tell EVERYONE! I guess I was embarrassed about it at first, felt sort of like a failure that I had to finally resort to something this drastic just to loose weight. Then I thought you know what, I'm proud of what I have done! And I don't care who talks about me. The way I see it is if they are talking about me, they are giving someone else a break! Hold your head up and be proud of what you have done. And who cares what the other people say, we are going to be healthy and happy and they are still going to be fat!

I slept in bed the first night and thought I was going to die, but was so conked out by pain meds it really didn't matter....lol The second night I slept on the couch and continued to do that for about 4 nights. It was so much easier because you can't move awhole lot. After the 5 nights I was able to sleep back in bed on my stomach. I was just easy when I first layed down so it wouldn't hurt. I could NOT sleep on my left side for about 2 weeks, so I would just use a king size pillow and put it slightly under me behind my back, helped alot with the side sleeping.< /p>

I never had any problems taking a whole pill, they aren't very big (the size of a tylenol) but I swallow them one at a time and wash it down with alot of Water.< /p>

I had surgery June 12th and my port site is just finally getting to were it doesn't hurt all the time. However, if I rub my stomach right there or hit it on something I certainly still feel it and it stays sore for a couple of days. I have been having some pain in the right side (rib cage) area. Doctor says it is muscle spasms and it should go away sometime soon. Well I wish that some time soon would hurry up, it's really annoying me!

I found that sugar free sno cones helped me get through this stage.

You may have a little bit of acid reflux, you may want to try to chew some tums or rolaids and see if that helps. It helps me when I feel that way.

I did this same thing last weekend. I was eating lunch with all of my family and all the sudden got the hiccups, and something just didn't feel right; like the food was stuck at the bottom of my throat. I got up walked around because I didn't want to throw up. It felt like I was going to burp but since the good people on this forum have explained what sliming is and how it feels I knew I was not going to like this burp so I ran to the bathroom and experienced my first sliming episode. NOT PRETTY! I guess I just didn't chew my food enough and it wouldn't go down. Then a little while later we were traveling back to our home and I had to have my husband stop on the side of the highway same thing. It took me two days to feel normal again. My doctor just told me to go on liquids and soft food for a couple of days and then I was fine. But I know now, chew chew chew; cause it will not go down like it use to.

I would take Wendy's Chili and blend it up in the blender so that it was easier on me. My doctor told me I could do that when I got to pureed food. It's hard, and I was a sweets fanatic. I stopped eating sweets period! And about a week after I didn't crave them at all. I have my fat free sugar free pudding and sugar free fudgcicles to get me over my sweet tooth and now I very rarely crave anything sweet. I will admit I did cheat a few times just on moving up to the next stage of foods before I really should have. If I never see broth again that will be fine by me. I had surgery June 12, 2009 and I still will not eat red meat; just kinda scares me some. Keep on keepin' on and just SAY NO to the candy bars. I know it's rough but you can do it just like we all have.

AMEN Sister!

Hey Nikki,

Oh I feel great now! I went to my surgeon and Monday and immediately deflated my band and sent me to the hospital for testing. I begged him not to relieve my band but he said "I know you don't want me to but, you don't understand this isn't right!"

Anyway I went to the hospital and after an hour and a half of radiology testing the radiologist told me that my stomach was filled to the brim with gas..he said my stomach was so filled it was pressing on my lungs and that's why I couldn't breathe! I told him I could be in the Macy's Day Parade as one of the balloons!

Thanks goodness things are looking up now...and the doc said he will give me more restriction in about a month. Honestly I still have plenty without the saline!

Cindy, I am glad you are doing better now. This is what I have been doing since surgery to keep the gas at bay. I take a GasX strip right before I eat and another one right after it really help alot with the gas, It is finally starting to get better now but I still can't eat much dairy. Hope you are doing good now.

I had the same thing happen to me and it was gas as well. Every time I would take a deep breath I thought I was going to explode or something, and sneezing OMG, I don't even want to think about it. Are you doing the breathing exercises? They gave me a breathing thingy that I had to do 10 times a day to get my lung capacity back to normal and that helped alot!

Hey everyone, I had my surgery on June 25th....was doing great until I had carpal tunnel surgery on my wrist last Wed. I have already planned my funeral for this Thurs..I am pretty sure I will be gone by then..lol. I have just started mush foods. The only thing I have really had is cottage cheese. I have had it twice and both times I have eaten it I think I am dying 30 minutes later. Anybody else having trouble on the simple mushy stuff? I feel like every organ is in pain! I had a low grade fever until this morning. I really think that was caused from the wrist surgery. I see my gastric doc tomorrow. Thanks goodness!!

Cindylou I had the same happen to me after eating yogurt...it felt like I was going to explode! I was sick after that for 3 days running a slight fever, couldn't hardly even get Water down, dehidrated (sp?) myself, and couldn't go to the bathroom. It was horrible! This all happened over the 4th of July weekend. I called my doctor's emergency line and told him what was going on, here I thought I was going to die and he told me I am probably lactose intolerant now and to stop eating dairy, drank a thing of gatorade and ate some crackers for the carbs to get my strength back and now I feel good again. You might want to stop the hard core dairy - yogurt, cottage cheese, stuff like that. I can still eat SF/FF pudding but if I eat heavy duty dairy it kills me. Hope you get to feeling better but it sounds just like what I had, try some gatorade - 2 big glasses and some wheat crackers for a couple of days, just make sure to take little bites and let them disolve in your mouth. Good LUCK! OH YEA, GAS X STRIPS WORK GREAT, I TAKE ONE AFTER EVERY TIME I EAT AND IT REALLY HELPS

I had my surgery on June 12th which will be 3 weeks tomorrow. Everything has been rolling really smoothly and no troubles at all. Then today hit! I have been bloated and feel so full that I can't eat anything. I can barely drink Water without having to burb like a man afterwards to get the air out. All I have had today was some yogurt this morning and about 1/2 cup of water. Is this normal? Did I do something wrong, everything feels so tight and pushed up into my chest. If you are lactose intolerant wouldn't it have happened before today? Oh and I am severly constipated. Does anyone have any suggestons?

Dr. David Hall is the only Doctor in Lubbock that does the Lap-Band procedure. I live here and just had my surgery on the 12th of June. He is great. I am originally from Carlsbad and there are no other doctors close by.

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it through surgery and did great!

Now if I just get through this Jello and Water diet I will be doing good. Only a couple more days left.

Thanks for all the great support!

Hello everyone, being banded on the 12th and getting pretty antsy. I'm not sure if I'm more scared or more excited? Anyways, just wanted to say hey to you all and wish everyone good luck pre and post bands. Cross your fingers for me and say a little prayer that I don't completely freak before actually having the surgery done. :thumbup: