Bonnie_Lass

I don't get your whole milk and cheese thing that those will always go down. I get feeling a little stuck at times eating cheese. The part where you can't drink for 8 hours after a meal that stays down or meals that won't stay down, sound like either you are not chewing enough or are too restricted. I know I've been too restricted and even though I try to chew well, if I don't consciously think about it with every bite I seem to get some food getting a little stuck a lot. Since it has been since your last fill try getting some taken out and make sure to chew. I've done it and been told that if you have to modify what you eat because you can't get the proper food down you're too tight.

You should always be able to drink fluids, maybe not guzzle them, but a least drink normally. I got too tight once and just water sat for hours right after a fill. The swelling did go down but I eventually got an unfill anyway. If you can't drink get some taken out now, don't wait.

I have osteo arthritis in my knees and hips, so it was making it harder to exercise, so that's what started me looking at WLS. I was taking glucosamine and celedrin pills and tylenol or advil before the surgery. Since then I dropped all except the occasional tylenol, and my hip started hurting even more - I never found tylenol to help much with the arthritis anyway. But I started taking a glucosamine liquid and using a celedrin cream and am doing much better now.

Have you checked for NSV's (non-scale victories) like gatorgal suggested - changes in measurements, the fit of your clothes? You may be replacing fat with muscle. Just the relative amount of water in your body can make a bigger change on the scale than the rate at which we lose weight. I too weigh myself every day too, but I look for the trend over time rather than each weighing.

I'd like the answer to your question too. I may just try the brushing teeth idea - I'm sure my dentist would approve. I think that we can't completely ignore cravings, but the hard part is to keep the indulging to a minimum. I know I'm stalled in my weight loss - is it this philosophy?

I didn't have any fill in my band initially and after just 2 fills of 1cc each, I got too tight and had 1/2 cc taken out. So 4 cc's is huge if you are anywhere close to the right tightness. There are different size bands and other factors, everything is individual so comparing how many cc's in your band to others becomes meaningless. The tightness of your band can vary on many other factors too, including time of day and time of the month, and can change as you lose weight. Congratulations on the weight loss, you will have to wait to see how you are doing closer to your potential fill time to see what is needed then.

Not to discredit your information but, your description of Turners Syndrome is not accurate - those born with Turners are missing one of the X chromosomes, but since they do not have a Y chromosome they are considered and appear as female as any other female. They do generally have a uterus and ovaries, but are usually infertile. I know this from having a friend with Turners and from research. She would definately have chosen female. I'm not familiar enough with the other "education" you provided to comment on those. I am involved in feminist, non-violence and anti-oppression issues also. I do agree with having the choice of "other" but I hope that some do not feel obligated to choose other if they are not one of the most biologically clear cases of male or female.

happy2lose only asked what kind of hunger you had - a good question. You answered and it is evident that it is real hunger not head hunger. Head hunger is when you think you want food, but your stomach is not growling or empty. Don't feel bad though, because you are not failing. I feel for you. The tightness of the band can be finicky. It can be tighter in the morning than the evening for some (including me). I've also been too tight and then after an unfill I could eat more than the 1/4 or 1/2 cup they recommend you eat. It's very frustrating that sometimes I get food not going down well and other times I can eat a lot more. Although since I can't and don't need to eat what I used to before surgery, my doctor doesn't want to do another fill right now. My weight loss is very slow, but so far it's going in the right direction, most of the time. Are you eating your Protein first? Protein takes the longest to digest and will make you feel full longer. Are you drinking with or near meals? That will wash food through faster. Hang in there, eat what you need to to not feel hungry and if you eat so much you're gaining weight (when making good food choices and exercising) you need a fill. 5cc may feel different next time anyway.

I've had this and when I told my surgeon, it seemed like he hadn't heard it before. He did a slight unfill to see what difference it would make and it made all the difference - I can eat again without getting that lump in my throat, unless of course I don't chew well enough or eat too fast, or at times of the day or the month when I am tighter. You did have a fill within a week so you could be just still swollen a little, but I agree with Band_Groupie, don't wait too long if this continues and see your doctor.

I've never had a problem like that. I've had shin splints and muscle soreness. I think you need to see some other specialist, like a chiropractor, or a physiologist. The weight loss clinic where I go has an exercise physiologist. But I think that the pain is trying to tell you something and you should look at doing different exercises and making sure you are doing them right and not too much. You may need to rest these muscles for a bit to let them heal.

Don't forget that with exercising you might have burned fat and added muscle, and since muscle weighs more than fat, you may have lost more than the .7 lbs of fat. Did you notice any non-scale victories? Clothes getting looser etc. Try not to be discouraged.

I found the tickerfactory a little tricky to get back to it again - you have to somehow bookmark the address of your bar to access it again, then you can access it to change your current weight. You don't have to recreate it or go in to your signature again to update it. Look at the page you get after creating the full ticker. It has a section for bulletin boards that you can copy and paste into your signature on this board. It also has the link to return to update.

I always drank diet pepsi, easily over 1 litre a day, for years. I've been drinking diet pop since my teens. But I just stopped after the surgery. It's been easier than I expected. I have replaced it with Crystal Light, but I don't drink as much of that as I did diet pepsi. I started out before the surgery by trying the various flavours of Crystal Light to find which ones I liked/didn't like, while still drinking Diet Pepsi. If you are drinking regular instead of diet now, and you give it up or replace it with non-carbonated diet drinks you will probably find you will lose weight quickly. I got my husband to switch from regular pop to diet and the weight just dropped off of him without any other changes.

Of proteins, I've found a fish fillet with a little sauce to be the easiest to go down.

Good reply Elfiepoo, and congratulations on your non-scale victories. Don''t forget about exercise, the muscle we may be adding weighs more than fat, so the scales can't show us that change. Also a very good point is that my reason for the surgery was more to be sure I could keep it off once lost not to lose weight quicker. The early weight loss does help to remind us of how much better things can be if we lose weight and I know I'm needing a reminder to keep on track.

Yes, I notice it too, and I've read others that it affects too. I just had 1/2 cc taken out because I was too tight. Eating was great again and 2 days later I got my period and food started sticking again. It did ease up afterwards. You are probably still a little swollen from the fill, so that should ease up soon. And next month may not be as bad since you won't be swollen from the fill, otherwise you may need to think about a small unfill. Not being able to drink water is definately too tight. Hang in there and see how it goes.

Dehydration could be the main cause of your weakness. Drink, even if it is just sips. To rehydrate you need more than Water, you need some electolytes. Gatorade is usually recommended for that. Don't worry too much about the sugar at this point. I expected to be weak, because of a previous less major surgery I had that left me very weak, but I had the start of a cold at the time, so it was probably the combination. After my lap-band surgery and during the liquid diet I was surprised at not feeling weak. Drink and hang in there.

I lost post-op too, and was told that was unusual. I think most would lose initially on the liquid diet, unless they go for milkshakes. Again, it may depend on your choices and how restricted you feel during the latter post-op period as to what you lose. It seems for most here, and me, the weight loss slowed down when you get to regular foods. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone who gains because 6 weeks post-op is for healing not losing. Once the right restriction is there, and you follow the guidelines, it will happen.

Like the others said exercising more should help. Analyzing your food/calories is a good idea too. What you didn't mention is whether you feel restriction on how much you can eat. From all the posts here you can't really go by the numbers of the fills. If you follow the rules of eating Protein first then other proper foods, about how much can you eat? Do you have any stuck problems? Those are the things that will tell you if you need a fill. I feel for you with your problems with a fill, I haven't had one under fluro, and my fills were included with the surgery fee (which was self-pay too), and I'm lucky they don't seem to had issues with scar tissue either.

As far as variation between doctors goes, I guess some are more cautious than others. Some accept and some reject ideas about carbonation, coffee, etc. Basically though there are a lot of similarities. I went to check out 2 different surgeons before choosing mine - they both had a pre-op diet, both for either 10 days or 2 weeks. One was restricted to a few no/low-fat foods, and the other had a liquid Meal Replacement. Both gave the same reason - to lose fat off the liver before surgery to avoid complications during surgery. Different approaches for the same objective. Common sense needs to be used, but the doctors have information we don't that would make a difference to what would make sense, so they need to give rules. Do you know what chemical affect smoothie yogourt mixed with stomach acid will have on a swollen irritated stomach? Yogourt is actually good on the stomach, I think - I'm not trying to scare you off of it, but that's why we need to check out the rules. One bandster on here talked about being allowed solids within a week post-op but had problems, another said, same deal, but they didn't have problems - who knows what the end results of those will be vs. those who have waited longer to start solids because of their doctors advice. Common sense would say though that if you are having problems on solids, go back to mushies or liquid. So yes, we do still need to use it, then check with the doctor. Glad to hear you're not hungry on a 600 calorie diet, but if you are talking post-op you will have a harder time soon when your stomach is less swollen. Good Luck.

Since your surgeon did say solids as tolerated, and since it is so soon after your surgery, I would say you're not tolerating those solids well, and go back to mushies. I know it can be hard to stick to liquids and mushies, but this is the time to err on the side of caution. Call your surgeons office or talk to him/her at your next followup.

I got my first fill 2 days shy of 6 weeks post-op. Might have had it a week earlier except it was a holiday on the one day a week they do fills.

I was told the same thing. I think they tell you that because the band isn't helping you fully until you get the right restriction and they don't want you to get discouraged if you gain or don't lose much before then. You do need a healing time. For myself, I did lose weight and they again said that was unusual. But I did feel some restriction, and it only took 2 fills for me to get to too tight. So it varies by different factors, like just how tight your band is from the beginning, and I see a lot of people on here that are doing it through willpower and sticking to the recommended food portions even if they could eat more, and maybe they are also changing to healthier foods too. Good luck with your weight loss, maybe you'll be a lucky one.

Give the band a chance, definately see your doctor and maybe have some taken out if it's not just temporary swelling. It does sound like you are too tight - at least the band is adjustable, imagine if you had GB and still felt like this. I've been too tight and it did ruin my enjoyment of meals, I got 1/2 cc taken out and what a difference. I did just get a little tight again during my monthly visitor, but other than that I have been able to eat comfortably and savour what I can eat. Hope you too are feeling better soon.

Basically it's 3 meals a day, but the post-op diet I was given for the 1st month after surgery did have 3 meals and 3 snacks. After you're on regular foods, it went to 3 meals.