sustainable health

I was banded last october 19 and. When I went home, I bought a scale.I weighed myself and I lost 3 lbs since I got out of the hospital.today is day 6 post op and weighed myself this morning and weighed 213. This afternoon, I weighed again and I was 216. What the hell happened??? Is that normal? I almost broke down.

Weighing yourself during the day is a no no. I fluctuate during the day. I only count my morning weight after Ive been to the bathroom. All other times of day are invalid as far as Im concerned. Right now weight loss isnt the focus. You need to heal. You need accept this foreign object into your body. You need to turn your attention to your hunger and patterns of eating. The weight will come off. LATER. Slowly. I found it came off in chunks. NOthing for a week or so, then one day I wake up and 3 kilos are gone. Im in a country where kilos are used, but that's almost 7 lbs!

This band is a 10-15 year solution. Its not a quick fix. I know we are all in a hurry to get this fat off of us, but i think those that shed the weight without being aware of how your body FEELS and how your hunger is present and driving you, will put the weight back on once you learn how you can CHEAT! ANd there are ways to cheat with the band. its only a tool. Im sure everyone is different but you will find ways you can intake calories when youre not hungry. When youre eating bc youre bored or tired or emotional. There is no fill that can prevent milkshakes from going down. You can slurp tons of high fat and calorie drinks down all day if you want. But whats the point? Why get a band? Why go through all this just to sabotage yourself?

Relax and make peace with the band. It will do its job. I love it. I can eat almost anything I want, feel full most of the day which means then i forget about eating, and the weight just comes off slowly and naturally.

measure your food and you can make the decision if you're eating too much. i don't know how much of a fill you have but you should probably be eating 6-8 ounces at a meal.

if you find yourself staying within that range, it should take you 20-30 minutes to eat that.

i also started throwing up a lot about 5 months out. i just figured i was eating too much or not eating the right food. i WAS losing weight so i wasn't in a big hurry to get things looked at.

when i finally did give in and tell my surgeon, he did my fill under floro and i have been having a MAJOR case of acid reflux. i had no idea. i had no pain. i never had acid reflux before the surgery. i couldn't feel it at all.

so i got almost completely unfilled and started with much smaller fills. it's taken me about 6 months to get my band being tight again and it was a frustrating 6 months because i had gained 6 pounds right after my band was unfilled and it's taken me a long time to get those 6 pounds back off.

i'm finally under what my lowest weight was before my unfill and i feel great!

good luck on your journey!

Kalipso - I read your post and it was the closest one that came to possibly answering my questions about my situation.

Ok its been since Sunday (its now Thursday evening) and I still cant eat, even small bites. Sunday afternoon I started vomiting. The sliming comes every time i eat 2 bites of anything. I have even vomited pumpkin Soup. Ive been drinking soy milk and Water since Sunday.

Im just about at 5 months so your post was interesting to me. I feel Ive got a lump in my throat. When I ingest anything I notice a burning in my throat but its more like pressure than a burn.

Right now I am trying to get a Protein shake down but ive taken 3 sips and it just not happening. The slime is starting.

I started a new job and didnt want to ask off of work and have been trying to wait until Saturday to go see the dr.

It has been fun to at least see the scale go down each morning.

But this is a little troubling. Im not dehydrated bc i drink all day in tiny sips. So im drinking all day but its taking me hours to drink 12 oz.

I cant possibly have something blocking, right? All these days and after vomiting so many times?!

Thanks if you see this and respond.

Jenkins150: yeah I was a bit groggy so maybe Nurse Lee just said an english speaking woman (vs an american) so Im thinking it was you. What a small world! Yes I am happy with how I healed and happy overall with the band and how its really just brought more consciousness to the quantity of food I eat. What I ate wasnt the problem as much as HOW MUCH i ate. So the band is quite helpful in reducing the amount of food I eat.

violinist: welcome to the chat! Im from Philadelphia. How ironic?! You come to Seoul to visit family and I go to Philadelphia to visit family. Yes I know what you mean about koreans and weight. I felt fairly normal in the US but I came to Korea and suddenly Im like a monster. Good thing approval of the korean people is not a goal I have. I know what you mean, that no matter what your size, you wont be small enough. Its just how it is here.

Wow youve lost alot in 4 months! That must feel good.

I also have a 11cc band and right now Im almost at 9cc. Why almost? Bc my dr wanted 9 and I wanted 8 so we agreed on 8.5 but i think he snuck in more than he's telling me. Anyway, i feel good with this fill. Ive thought about getting this band for at least 6 yrs before doing it. Coming to Korea helped push me and it also made it possible for me to afford it. I love the medical care here and Im a fan of Korea overall.

One last thing, REALLY you come to Korea in the SUMMER??? Its so hot and sticky! Spring and Fall are so much more enjoyable.

I think it would be great for other patients to be able to talk with each other. I had my first appointment with him the day u were banded. Maybe i almost met you because he asked me if I wanted to see if the person who was banded that day would let me talk with them. I was in a rush so he never asked.

oh they came in and asked me if I wanted to meet an american but I said no bc I was so nauseous and felt like crap. Maybe it was you? Well Its nice to meet someone else who has the same procedure and the same dr.

Hello Jenkins!

Dr Kang asked me if there would be interest in forming a foreigner support group. What do you think?

Banded 9/19/09. lost -8 kgs since then. i feel good.

Im in S Korea as well and went with Dr Sehoon Kang. He speaks english and is in Seoul. you can find more info at lapbandseoul.com. What helped me decide was talking to another american who went to Dr Kang. I dont know about insurance but if you self pay its affordable compared to the US. its at least 50% if not 40% of what it costs in the US. Fills and dr appts are 10,000won/$8USD.

Hi. Im a teacher and my name is Rebecca! I have a question for you. Do you notice that before class you arent hungry but after teaching you are really hungry? This has been my experience. I was banded 9/19/09 and its only been 6 weeks for me but I still cant maintain satiety during the week when Im teaching. I dont know if its all that talking or the energy it takes to handle a classroom of 15 elementary students or what. Any ideas?

Thanks for your post. I also went for my first fill. I was banded 9/19/09. I lost 12 lbs in the first two weeks post op and this visit i gained 1 lb which im not too disappointed with and think it also might be from bloating as its close to my period. Either way I also feel hungry and like Im on a diet without a band which is just miserable. I emailed the dr and we'll see what he says about the fill not being so filling.