ElfiePoo

Been there, done that. I had them take 2.75cc out of my band in mid-July because I was getting stuck on everything but the bad for you sliders. I'm back up 2cc and have some restriction. I'm thinking *maybe* another .25cc or less and I'll be at the sweet spot. .

I 'eat' 6 times a day...3 main meals and 3 mini-meals in between. Breakfast is usually a low carb, low cal Protein shake although I had oatmeal with 1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk yesterday. lunch and dinner is 3-4 oz of protein, 1/2-3/4 c. low carb vegies, 1/4 c. starch. Mini-meals between meals and one in the evening are either another low car, low cal protein shake or a hardboiled egg, 2 oz of cheese or something similar. I try to keep it around 160 calories or below and low carb. .

Oh how I miss my guest bedroom! Over the last couple of years I've been downsizing my business to the point where it now fits in the remodeled attached 3 car garage. So a couple months ago we moved it in and put the warehouse up for sale. However, that was our only guest bedroom/suite which means when my parents come to visit (once or twice a year), we now bunk in my youngest son's bedroom on his twin beds (he has a futon as well and that's his preferred bed at any time) and give my parents our room. The beds aren't bad...they're just not *my* bed. ;-p Fortunately, they're only here for 2 nights. I still have some restriction on how much I can eat and do have to pay attention to the bite size and chewing. I made lasagna for dinner last night and was only able to eat a very small piece with about 1/2 cup of salad...and I was happy with that. Lots to do today, most of it outside, so I'm hoping the weather will stay as nice as yesterday...although I hear we're expecting rain. Have a good one y'all! Melody .

Elcee: Good luck with getting the red wine out of the carpet. They say club soda works at getting wine stains out of clothes but I've never tried it. OxyClean (not sure if you can get it there) works pretty well on all stains and you can use it on colors. How'd the modeling go? Denise: You just have to marry the right person. When I mess up my computer, I just call my IT person...."Oh honey..." Although I have to admit that sometimes it's like being married to the shoemaker. Everyone has shoes except you. Melody .

I have a 14cc Realize band and when I 'complained' about not having any restriction after my many fills, was told that most Realize band patients do not experience any restriction at all until they get to about 7cc. That was my experience. At 7cc I did have the occasional stuck feeling if I took too big a bite but that was about it. At 8cc I have to pay attention to the size of my bites and how well I chew and I have some limited sense of 'enough' so I think I'm close but not quite there. I know that at 8.75cc I was overfilled so my sweet spot is somewhere in between. .

Studies show that women who eat about 1200 calories a day lose weight faster and more steadily than those who drop below that so you aren't eating too much food. You do need to make sure you get in your Water because not drinking enough water will also slow down your weight loss. You may find when you start getting fills that you'll eat less Protein just because you're tighter. My meals are usually about 3-4 oz of protein, 3/4 cup steamed vegies and (maybe) 1/4 c of starch). .

Yep, it's because the band is being pulled a bit more taught. As you lose, it will go away again. Mine is back with a vengeance since getting my fill last tuesday. .

Well hello bitchy and grumpy dwarves...sorry you're dealing with yucky weather. It is a gorgeous fall day here. Full sun and blue skies, slight breeze but definitely short sleeve weather. I'm hoping it stays this way tomorrow so I can run the riding mower (with bagger) over all the leaves in the yard. Otherwise my mid-winter snowmen look nasty with leaves poking out of them. .

I've never had to say 'no' because I'm the one who determines whether I'm getting one in the first place. I did set up a fill for 3 weeks ago and then decided to cancel it. Almost cancelled the latest one but decided to go ahead with it and am glad I did. .

Cleo, Is it possible you passed your sweet spot and went from not enough to too much? In hindsight, I've had suppression of appetite in the sense that I no longer desired to eat but it didn't last long. Now I think perhaps I might have just needed a tweak. .

I just use dusting as an excuse to rearrange the furniture. My husband said it's a good thing I didn't marry a blind man. What can I say...I used to move every 2 years and I mean 'move' to another state. For the last 15 years I've been living in the same house. 'Dusting' is my way of dealing with the frustration of not moving. :wink2: Melody .

I look at cobwebs as 'natural bug exterminators'. Then again, I was told by a professional exterminator that if you have lots of spiders, it means you also have lots of bugs. :wink2: .

Day 2 post fill and still no desire to eat. Here's hoping it will continue. Already got in a 5k walk this morning and I think I'm going to start adding in another a few times a week in the evening. My husband has started some sort of fitness thing at work and he's supposed to go out and walk a couple times a week for an hour so I think I'll join him. Think I'll dust the living room today...'dust' being a misnomer for 'rearrange'. :wink2: Melody .

Better twiddling your thumbs than using them to eat, eh? Melody .

How long ago did you have that fill? You should be kind to your band after a fill, eating 'soft' foods. I had a fill two days ago and at this point I'm eating things that can only be classified as 'mushies'. In a day or two I'll try something more solid and if I still have problems will go back to mushies. As long as you can get liquids down, I'd give it a week or so, introducing mushies as you can and then solid foods. .

Yes, doctors and literature are all over the map and I think that none of them are really thinking about how the band actually works. Betsy, you've said a number of times that when you eat, at some point you get a sense of "enough" and you're content for awhile (unless I completely misunderstood your posts). That sounds very much like what that article was saying. Cleo, don't depend too much on 'scientific evidence'. Those who have used lavender oil on burns know that the pain stops almost immediately and prevents blistering if you put it on right away and even some of the most serious burns are healed within a fraction of a time as burns using more traditional methods. Yet you won't find any scientific evidence showing that and the medical community is still using less than adequate means in comparison. Sure, you can get your band so tight that you can only eat a couple tablespoons of food and you're constantly urping and sliming (not directing this towards Cleo or Betsy btw), and if that's what it takes to make someone put down the fork, then so be it...but I want to eat like a normal person and know it's time to put down the fork before I have to open the top button of my pants. I can't just not eat when I'm not hungry because I'm *never* hungry. I eat because I'm never satisifed or content. To be honest I can feel that way even when I've stuffed myself. I know the band can give me that feeling of 'enough' because I've been there in the past. It just never stays. What I realize now is that when I lose that feeling, my band just needs to be 'tweaked' a tiny bit. I know the band won't stop me from pigging out. Even when I was overfilled, I could eat large volumes of food. I just couldn't eat certain foods. So I'm looking for the band to tell me 'enough'. Again, we each need to find the way to make the band work for our particular needs. There is no right or wrong way...unless you're doing something that will cause you physical harm over time...such as being so tight you're getting stuck everytime you eat. .

ROFLMAO!!! You are so right! My scale hasn't budged in a long time...in fact it is going up and down...but my husband commented that my belly and butt no longer 'jiggle'. The muscle underneath is tighter and the fat more 'compact'. Thanks for my morning laugh. Think I'll stop with this post and go off for my morning walk. .

The question should be, "Is there anyone who doesn't fall off the wagon?". We all fall off the wagon. It's what we do afterwards that is important. In the past, when I'd fall, I'd just keep on falling the rest of the day...week...month...after the holiday. Now, if I eat something at lunch that I shouldn't have (or eat too much), I just smack myself on the head (sort of a wake up shot) and get right back on plan. It's probably the only reason I didn't gain back the 30 I lost prior to getting an unfill and no restriction for the last 3 months. .

This is pretty much what the nurse at my bariatric clinic told me last Tuesday when I had my last fill...and something I've learned over the last 6 months when I went right past my sweet spot without even realizing it. The band, when it's at the right restriction, should allow you to eat most foods if you take small bites and chew well and eat slowly (putting fork down between bites). It will give us that initial sense of fullness because when we take that 'one bite too many' we go from fine to uncomfortable. What it also does, is to send a signal to the brain that we're 'full' and gives us that satisfied feeling that eliminates the desire to eat. This article put it so much more clearly for me and I realize now that at one point I was at my sweet spot...but at the time was looking for the wrong thing. If someone is constantly sliming or urping up their food, then they may be taking bites that are too big, not chewing enough, are eating past the point of 'full' or are overfilled. Don't give up Cleo. We've both struggled with understanding this band and trying to get it to do its job. I think a big part of that is understanding what it is actually doing and then paying attention to our bodies so we recognize when it actually is working. :wink2: .

They're looking for information. Good for them for wanting to be well informed. :wink2: .

I wouldn't worry about it while you're on liquids. Afterwards, I'd get into the habit because at some point, when you get close to your sweet spot, it will drinking while eating will most likely cause you to get stuck. My doc says I can drink right up to that first bite...then no more until 30 minutes after eating. That's only to prevent getting stuck. He doesn't go with the whole 'you'll wash your food through more quickly' because he said it doesn't stay in the pouch that long anyway because as soon as you start drinking again, it will wash right through. It has more to do with making your body kick out the hormone that says 'enough'. I don't even begin to understand all of it. .

Be patient...you'll get there. I'm almost 1 year postop and still haven't found the right spot. At some point I passed it (looking for the wrong thing?) and had an unfill and started working my way up again. I guess I've been fat for almost 40 years...a few months won't make that much difference, eh? .

To be honest, I see nothing wrong with the way you're eating. The diabetic community has been saying for a long time that it's better for us to eat 6 mini meals, rather than 3 main meals. The only thing I'd do differently is to avoid eating carbs (e.g. potatoes) as one of your mini meals. Eat Protein. It will help keep you satisfied longer whereas the carbs, particularly those in potatoes and flour products, will start you craving more carbs. At the main meals, make sure you're getting your protein and vegies in. Here's a typical day for me... Breakfast: Low cal/low carb protein shake made with unsweetened almond milk. mid-morning: Protein shake or hard boiled egg or 2 oz of cheese (sometimes with a multigrain cracker or two) Lunch: 3-4 oz of protein, 3/4-1 cup low carb vegies (e.g. broccoli or a small salad) and 1/4 c. starch (Pasta, potatoes, rice, beans) mid-afternoon: same as mid-morning Dinner: Same as lunch mid-evening: same as mid-morning. At my main meals, I eat my protein and vegies first and, if I'm still 'not content', I'll eat my starch. Since my last fill two days ago, I'm not even eating this much...most likely due to temporary swelling. .

ok...first, at 4 weeks postop it's highly likely that you have not yet reached restriction and at 3 days post fill, you're getting stuck on some things because of temporary swelling...and getting stuck will continue to irritate the band area and prolong the swelling. Change what you're eating...eat softer foods. You said you can eat what you did before but then said it took you 2 hours to eat a massive bowl of Pasta. First, why are you serving up 'massive' bowls of anything? That's just an invitation to eat. Second, if it took you 2 hours to eat it, then you really can't eat what you did before because I'll bet in the past you didn't take 2 hours to eat that same sized bowl, yes? You shouldn't be taking more than 20-30 minutes to eat your meal. If you are, then you're grazing. Some ground rules for making the band work... Portion out your meal according to what you know you *should* be eating. Don't go back for seconds. Take small bites, chew well and put your fork down between bites. You should be able to finish your meal in 20-30 minutes. Don't drink once you take your first bite and not for 30 minutes afterward. Pay attention to your body. When you reach a good restriction, you'll just know you've had enough and when you take that bite too many, you'll know it because it feels like it's kind of stuck in your throat (but isn't). I eat every 2.5 hours. Protein shake for Breakfast, then two main meals. In between my meals and once in the evening I'll have a healthy 'snack'...a Protein Shake, 2 oz of cheese, hard boiled egg or something similar just to keep my blood sugar stable. .

Mine just says be kind to the band. Eat however we're able to. On most fills I had no problem eating normally. With this last one at 8cc I'm pretty tight (more than usual) in the morning, so I'm sticking to soft foods. Not a problem at all since I don't feel like eating anyway. .