ElfiePoo

When I forget, my husband very quietly leans over and slides my glass of water to his place setting so I won't forget and inadvertently sip the water. .

I am a diabetic and have been giving myself injections for a couple years (but soon to be a think of the past...yeah!) so the *idea* of doing my own fills isn't a scary thing. I know where my port is and I'm sure they could train me to do it. That said, I'm not interested. Mainly because as someone else said, the temptation to 'tweak' so I could have a day of eating or 'tweak' so I couldn't eat anything (to make up for it) would be too great. I'll let the professionals do what they do best. Love this thread. Some of the responses have been hysterical, although I admit that those who took them seriously were even more so. :thumbup:

OMG...ROFLMAO!!! Best response yet! This one is going to keep my snickering all day! .

Sometimes we even have to 'fire' friends and family. I had to do this with a friend of 25 years (completely different reasons) and for a long while I was so depressed at the thought that I had been misled for so many years by someone who wasn't really a true friend. I finally realized that they were, but people do change and sometimes that green eyed monster of jealousy can grab on to someone so tightly that they become a completely different person than the one you were friends with. I am sorry at the loss of your friendship, but glad you are confident and strong enough to recognize an unhealthy relationship and move on. :thumbup: .

LOL...sitting home and eating out of boredom *and* not burning any calories is definitely worse. We're having another snow day today because it snowed through the night. My exercise this morning is to shovel my way through a foot of snow to my car, clean off both cars, shovel two car sized spaces in the back of the drive and then move the cars so the plow can make it around our 'long' horseshoe shaped drive. Fortunately, the snow is somewhat light still so it shouldn't be overstrenuous. Not even a snowball's chance in hell of going anywhere and wouldn't matter if I could. Everything is shut down due to the storm. .

Most likely a combination of both. There's nothing people find more attractive than a self-confident, happy person. Ever notice that when you walk around with a smile on your face and a skip in your step (figuratively), you get more people saying 'hello' or giving you a smile? I have a bright yellow (crayon yellow) pair of Crocs that are my favorites and when I put them on, they make me smile...and I've noticed that, on those days, I get far more smiles and nods from strangers. As for not going out...c'mon...are you going to let a 'little' snow keep you from your city tour? Get out the snowshoes! :thumbup: .

How did your fill go, Todd? Here's hoping it's *the one*. I had my 6th (?) fill last Thursday and yeah baby, I can finally see the difference in what I'm eating and how little it takes to make me full and keep me full. Nirvana. .

As someone already said, Protein shakes don't make you gain weight...eating too many calories does. I drink EAS shakes because they're low calorie and low carb and high protein. I usually drink one for breakfast and make it with 2% milk and half a banana. The rest of the time (mid-meals and one in the evening), it's just the shake made with Water or the readymade. For me, the shakes are a way of getting the protein and calories I need, particularly since I'm not eating a lot since my last fill. .

I'll ditto what Mel said. Before my last fill I was still able to eat almost as much as I could before banding. My last fill 5 days ago brought me up to 8.5cc and I think (knock on wood) I may have hit the sweet spot. I was so sick of Protein shakes for breakfast that I decided to try my old standby of a scrambled egg and toast this morning. It took me about 25 minutes but I got the whole egg down and about half a piece of extremely thin toast. lunch was the other half of my leftover toast with a tablespoon of Peanut Butter spread over it. dinner ended up being 3/4 cup of beef stew (sans the gravy) that had beef, carrots and potatoes in it. I did have my usual low cal, low carb Protein Shakes mid-meal and will have another this evening just to keep my calories and protein to a reasonable level. I haven't been hungry or craving even once in the last 5 days. Well, ok...I was craving to bake but not necessarily because I wanted to eat it (see my post 'snow day'). Hang in there ladies. There is light at the end of the tunnel. .

Nah...I was always hotter. Extra padding, dontcha know. :thumbup: .

That's the word! Hollow! I told my husband that since my last fill I've been really restricted (some most likely due to swelling) and have only been able to eat about 3/4 of a cup of food or less (depending on what it is) and I'm not hungry but I do feel 'off'. When you said you felt 'hollow', that describes exactly how I've been feeling! It's not bad...just 'different'. I'm not sure if that feeling will ever go away for me since I have 40 years of walking away from the table 'stuffed'. . .

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and suggestions. I'm 5 days post fill and still pretty tight (for the first time) so I haven't been getting a whole lot to eat that satisfies the taste buds. So I'm kind of afraid if I make anything, even sugarfree, I'll binge just because it's something to excite the taste buds. But it's 7 p.m. here in the snowy midwest and I think if I made it through this much of the day, I can make it through another couple of hours. We'll see what the morning brings but I'm usually pretty motivated in the mornings. One step at a time...I guess. Hope everyone in the path of this storm is keeping warm and toasty! .

Why wait a month? If you're still able to eat to excess and hungry, call them up and tell them you want another fill. Mine will do them every 2 weeks. My first fill was 3cc and second fill was 3cc and I didn't have any restriction after my fills (not even temporary) until I had about 7.5cc. Now at 8.5 (in a 12cc band) I think I have restriction...or at least still do 5 days after my fill. .

My first snow day since being banded...and I am soooo struggling. For as long as I can remember, when my kids had a snow day, we'd bake Cookies together and then go outside and play in the snow. When we came back in, we'd have cookies and *real* homemade hot chocolate. Even though I have really good restriction right now, I *know* those cookies would be no problem sliding through so I am so far resisting the temptation to bake. Fortunately, the only 'child' left home is 17 years old and has no problem with not baking and settling for sugar free hot chocolate...but I'm the one having problems. It's tradition dammit! .

Nothing will happen *now*...but when you start getting fills and restriction, a couple possible scenarios. One, if you take small sips, the water will go down, but it has a tendency to help slide your food through...defeating the purpose of the band. We don't want to slide our food through because it is the full pouch that will give us the satisfied feeling and keeping us from being hungry for 4-5 hours after a meal. Another is that if you take too big of sips, it will not only fill up your pouch before you can eat the food that you need to keep you full...meaning you will be hungrier sooner or it will go down, shift things around and come right back up. I continued to drink with my meals until I started getting fills. Then I got a crash course in why no drinking with meals (since I'm a gulper and not a sipper). It didn't take long to cure me. :cursing: .

Congratulations!! What a milestone! .

I have a 12cc Realize band. I think I might be about .25cc too tight since I am only able to eat about 1/2 cup of food and we're aiming for 1 cup, but I want to give it a couple weeks to make sure it's not just temporary swelling. I figure any weight I lose in the meantime is just a bonus. :cursing: .

I think the thread is quiet because nobody can find it unless someone posts. I always forget about this thread until someone posts and I get an e-mail notification and think, "Oh right". I'm now down 35 lbs. and I think I may actually have hit my sweet spot at 8.5cc. Had a fill last Thursday and still have restriction. Knocking on wood that it lasts because I'm finally starting to see some serious drop. .

Personally, I'm not into the whole 'lying' thing so I'd just tell them I'm having elective surgery and if they're brass enough to ask, would tell them it's 'personal and I don't wish to discuss it'. As someone already said, in the U.S. you aren't required to tell them. They'll probably have more fun letting their imaginations run wild about what you could possibly be getting done. .

Right. I forgot not everyone is a short stump like me. I'm only 5'3. I've always said I'm not too fat...I'm just too short. :cursing: .

A 22? I want to shop in your stores! When I was 330 I was wearing 28's. At 260 I was wearing 24's! Can't wait to go buy new pants now that I'm down 35 pounds!

I tried them. They were a waste of money in my opinion. Didn't make me feel full at all. .

Breakfast is either a Protein shake made with milk and half a banana or 1 egg with 1 slice of toast. Since my last fill (5 days ago), it's been a protein shake because I can't manage either the egg or the toast. lunch is 3 oz of protein and 1/2 cup of steamed vegies. My favorite lunch is to mix a bit of lite mayo (not fat free...yuck) into some tuna or chopped chicken and just a bit of fresh cilantro, scoop the seeds out of a tomato and stuff the tomato with it. dinner is 3 oz of protein, 1/2 cup of steamed vegies and 1/4 cup of carbs (Pasta, rice, potato, etc.) In between meals and mid-evening, I drink a low carb, low cal protein shake to help boost my daily protein so I won't feel hungry. Between that and the Water, I feel pretty full all day. I keep my meals pretty simple and don't snack in between meals, so I don't feel the need to journal. If you haven't lost in 2 months, I would recommend journaling because you're obviously taking in enough calories to maintain your current weight and it might benefit you to see where they're coming from. .

First, the postop diet seems to be somewhat arbitrary. Some people are back on solids within days of their surgery. My doc had me back on solids within 2 weeks. Second, it takes a lot more to get your band to slip than just eating something you think you shouldn't. Second, according to my doc, part of the stomach is folded up over the band and sewed to keep the band in place. The only 'slips' he's seen are from people who were throwing up violently within the first month of surgery. Throwing up means heaving stomach...not the thing that happens when you drink something too fast and it goes down and right back up. Just remember to take small bites and chew thoroughly and don't drink with your meals. If you *must*, take small sips and you shouldn't have any problems. However, once you start getting fills and some restriction, that may not be the case. I have restriction and if I make the mistake of taking even a small sip with a meal, it's a tossup (ar ar...pun intended) whether I'll get to the bathroom before that Water comes right back up. .

My doc said alcohol was ok after I was back on solid foods. I don't drink alcohol but I would guess that if you're eating only 1/2-1 cup of food at a meal, the alcohol could hit you faster.