papoose

My doctor only had me do the day before surgery on liquids, nothing more than that.

I am almost 2 years out and my last appointment with my dr. we discussed my eating habits and I told him everything I was eating and he said that I should be able to eat everything with the band. My only problem is when I do eat fast I will throw up. And it is usually when I let myself get too hungry. I think I have about 6 ccs in my band. I have not had a fill since March. I am maintaining my weight, almost at my goal another 5 lbs and I will be there. But I am fine if I don't make it. I have lost 130 lbs. wear a size 12. Never thought I could do it. Somedays I do overeat but it is a horrible feeling. Good luck to all.

I am almost 2 years out and my last appointment with my dr. we discussed my eating habits and I told him everything I was eating and he said that I should be able to eat everything with the band. My only problem is when I do eat fast I will throw up. And it is usually when I let myself get too hungry. I think I have about 6 ccs in my band. I have not had a fill since March. I am maintaining my weight, almost at my goal another 5 lbs and I will be there. But I am fine if I don't make it. I have lost 130 lbs. wear a size 12. Never thought I could do it. Somedays I do overeat but it is a horrible feeling. Good luck to all.

I'm on my way to the the hospital for my surgery. Good luck to those of you also being banded today!

Funny start, it does sound like a bad joke. I had lunch with a friend who had GB surgery 10 years ago. We were discussing how to identify when you are getting full / shen to stop eating. We pretty much agreed that at the point you think "should I take another bite" ~ you are full.
For what it's worth...

My surgeon puts the needle in with fluid and then has me hold it in place while I stand and walk to the floroscope. He then has me drink the barium swallow, nasty white stuff, and watch it either go down or not. If it goes down smoothly then he adjust the amount, if not going down, he will remove some. I love the floro fill. Best wishes.Karen

Our bodies are not machines. Our bodies react to foods, environment, medications, spices and our own particular cycles of life. It's very easy to retain 2-10 lbs of Water due to the same items I just mentioned. I gained 7 lbs of water over a period of 6 days back in July. I lost it all in about 5 days the following week when all my relatives left town with all their chips, Cookies and crackers.
FYI-the initial weight loss in the first 6 weeks is mostly fluids. You will only lose 1-3 lbs per week of "Fat" from here on out. Your weight will fluctuate with the types of foods you eat, medications, menstrual cycles and sodium intake. You may plateau for weeks at a time only to have 3 lbs disappear over one weekend.
You're doing great, don't sweat the small or even large temporary setbacks. It's all good.
tmf

My doctor said Miralax was a good choice, it's unflavored and you can take it every day. My daughter actually took it for 3 years when it was a prescription only.
It's expensive, but sooo worth it.

It is definitely a learning process! I'm 2 1/2 years out and still learning and adjusting to my new lifestyle.

David Letterman isn’t the only one who composes top 10 lists. Here’s my top 10 list of the things you need to know about gastric band surgery, served with a generous helping of GJTL™ - Genuine Jean Tuff Luv™.


TIME FOR SOME TOUGH LOVE?
Genuine Jean Tuff Luv™? What’s that? It’s my version of the kind of love that hurts so good, because it gets you going in the direction you want to go.
Stern but caring parents, teachers and coaches who maintain strict rules and demanding training regimens are said to practice tough love. Those rules and regimens may not be fun, but they can turn around kids, students or athletes who’ve gotten off track or are underachieving.
Tough love may seem too severe, too tough. It works best when the parent, teacher or coach believes in, proclaims, and respects the inherent value and purpose of the person they’re trying to help. Sometimes all we need is a wakeup call to shake us out of our stupor and pull us out of a rut. The drills and discipline of tough love can help (even as they hurt) when our bandwagons have gotten lost or stalled somewhere along the way to success.
A bandster once said of me, “Jean tells people the things they don’t want to hear.” I chose to take that as a compliment. Many times in my life, I’ve benefited from a slap upside the head by a concerned friend. When I do the slapping, I try to do it with just enough emphasis to get a friend’s attention long enough to deliver an important message, followed by a gentle and loving kick in the butt. So here’s my top 10 list of things you need to know about adjustable gastric band surgery. Consider yourself kicked!
THE GJTL TOP TEN LIST
1. You will not wake up in the recovery room at your goal weight. Average weight loss with the band is 1-2 pounds per week, and virtually no one loses weight at a nice steady pace of (say) 1.75 pounds per week. Some weeks you’ll lose, some weeks you’ll stall and some weeks you’ll gain, but as long as the overall trend is downward, you’re doing great!
2. Slower weight loss with the band does not prevent sagging or excess skin. How your skin reacts to massive weight loss depends mostly on your genetics and your age. As we age, our skin loses elasticity. If the possibility of sagging or excess skin worries you, start tossing your change into a plastic surgery piggy bank.
3. Weight loss surgery (of any type) does NOT cure obesity. Obesity is a chronic and incurable disease characterized by relapse and recurrence. Although bariatric surgery is currently the most effective way of treating obesity, obesity is something you’re going to have to manage for the rest of your life, with or without surgery. For most of us, a tool like the adjustable gastric band makes that a lot easier, but it’s not effortless, either.
4. Most eating problems after band surgery are due to user error, and can be prevented by using good band eating skills. Read an article about those skills by clicking here: How to Eat Like a Bandster.
5. In order to decrease your weight and increase your health, you must decrease your food intake and increase the quality of your food choices and the time you spend exercising. While you may be able to lose weight for a while by just eating much smaller portions of Chicken McNuggets, potato chips, and candy bars, eventually that approach will stop working, and at the same time it will start biting your health in the butt. And though it may be difficult for you to exercise at first, each pound you lose will make it easier, and each additional hour you spend exercising will not only burn calories but improve your physical and mental health.
6. No weight loss surgery procedure will cure eating disorders, eating demons, emotional eating, boredom eating, stress eating, celebratory eating or food addiction. Changing those behaviors is your job. If it’s too hard to tackle yourself, consider getting some counseling with a therapist experienced with eating disorder and WLS patients, and/or joining a 12-step group like Overeater’s Anonymous.
7. The band rarely works without fills. Even if you initially lose weight with one or no fills, sooner or later, you’re going to have to face the fill needle. And if you’re too needle-phobic to tolerate a fill needle, why did you choose band surgery in the first place?
8. The restriction “sweet spot” is a myth. There is no such thing as “perfect” restriction, or if there is, you can’t count on it to last more than one hour, one day or one week. This is because the band is an inert silicone object implanted in a living, breathing human body that changes constantly in reaction to the time of day, time of month, time of year, hydration, illness, medication, stress, you name it. Restriction variability is part of the gastric band package.
9. There is nothing magic in the band that makes you lose weight. Changing your eating and exercise behavior is what makes you lose weight. All the band does is make that work easier for you by reducing your physical hunger and increasing your satiety.
10. YOU are responsible for your weight loss. Not your band, not your surgeon, and not the server at McDonald’s who invariably asks you, “Want to supersize that?”

For me, it helps food get stuck. B efore restriction, it wasnt a problem and kind of hard. Now, I wouldn't dare drinking while I eat. I have no idea if its the sane for others.

I physically cannot drink while eating or else I feel miserable.

Another thought to consider. As you move through this program and your band gets adjusted to the point of good restriction - Fluid with your meal can actually cause your food to get stuck. Then you PB, slime and Throw up - you have chest pains and you think you might just die. SOOOO don't drink and eat at the same time. I know it is hard (probably 2nd only to the liquid pre-op diet in toughness) but they told you this for a good reason. It has happened to me - I know the pain.
Melinda in Florida

Having a lapband fitted and losing weight is far more about determinination and committment rather than age ... work hard at whatever age you are and u should be successful
I was 56 yrs old when i had my band fitted !

One word answer to your question... how often do i mess up............... Everyday.
No one is perfect, and if someone tells you they got the band and followed everything exactly... well they would be untruthful... Everyone slips....So don't be hard on yourself. Learn from what your doing and/or what you did and try and do better. that's the most we can all hope for.
We didn't get to be "large" people by being able to follow all the rules. Having the band doesn't change that. Don't be so hard on yourself and expect perfection... you will only be setting yourself up for disappointment. judge yourself on other mini goals... and reward yourself for reaching them. I got a mani and pedi for every 5lbs i lost. When i reach a bigger goal, like fitting in a smaller size pants... i rewarded myself with a new pair or something else.
good luck and happy shrinking

I beat myself up a LOT. I keep trying to remind myself of what I would do before the band. My noss took us out for lunch the other day and i had half a wrap and some fries and I felt TERRIBLE about it. After I got over beating mysef up I realized before i would have had a starter, a burger, all of the fries, and possibly a desert and a couple of cokes. Sure my decision wasn't great but it's a heck of a lot better then it would have been before the band.
I SUCK at diets. I'm sorry, I LIKE food. I got the band because one thing my surgon said was to use the 80/20 rule. As long as you are good and follow the diet 80% of the time, you don't have to be perfect the other 20%, you should still be successful. it is impossible to say that you will be perfect and never faulter, and if you did, that doesn't seem like a terribly enjoyable way to live to me!

Yes, we do follow a high proteing/low carb diet. The liquid diet and soft foods is for right after you have your surgery. When I am out and socializing I will have a couple of glasses of wine or a drink. You just have to be careful, you may feel the alcohol faster. I could only do 1 or 2 drinks depending on what I am drinking. Plus drinking alcohol may make you start eating junk food. But everyone once and awhile is no problem, we are human. Good luck to you if you decide to go with the lapband. Just do your research and go to a Seminar to see if it is the right thing for you. For me it was. I had my surgery in Sept. 2010 and have lost 130 lbs. I have a few more pounds to reach my goal. I don't think I never would have lost it without the lapband. WW and other diets just didn't work for me. Good luck again.

I don't think its choking. It just feels stuck in your chest, you may feel a burning sensation. It feels like it just won't move. Very rare will it pass through for me. Most times I throw it back up. And throwing up is not like it used to be, it is a little bit different. It's mostly mucuous. You shouldn't throw up a lot, it may cause problems with your band. I just feel so uncomfortable. So just try to pay more attention to your chewing and the size of the food you put into your mouth.

Eew I've never coughed up black bile. I've never heard of anyone else doing that either.
I don't miss the taste of anything. Coz if I really want something, I eat it, just a lot less of it.
Umm....negatives....
I guess if the food I'm eating is really good, I sometimes wish I could eat more of it than I actually can manage. Also my tummy makes loud noises sometimes, more so than pre-band. I also probably don't drink enough Water during the day. And I have to try to find any medication I take in liquid form if I can, coz big tablets are difficult for me. There are plenty of niggly little negatives that the band has that isn't widely advertised.
But then I slip into my size US size 4 jeans and they suddenly seem pretty insignificant.

I have just thought of another negative. I have to be careful when I drink as more than 2 glasses of wine and that is me finished! It makes me a cheap date so i save money but I have to be careful and remember not to overdo it.
I also waste so much food. I buy things thinking I will eat them and don't manage to finish them before they go off. Fruit is 1 of the main things that this seems to happen with, I hardly eat any fruit any more.

I have lost a total of 50lbs since my birthday last year. I could not be happier. I look GOOD!

I love not hiding from cameras anymore!

My husband has been supportive, but was a little worried at the beginning. Thankfully he came with me to the information seminar. There, he was able to see how simple it was and all the benefits and talk to the dr too. Try to get him to go with you so he can see what its about. tell him its just information and that you're not making a decision, but just getting info on the option. when it comes down to it, you will be losing naturally, because the band is just a tool to help you stay on track with your diet... its not a cure and you can eat anything later.
as for the skin... i've freaked out about that too. looking at youtube vids about it, has not helped! lol! i have stopped doing that. and honestly, i've seen people lose weight without surgery and they still have excess skin... so its about your body and how it will do to losing weight, period. right now, i try not to worry about that,since there's always surgery for that later if needed! and by the way... on biggest loser, they lose without surgery and they always have extra skin! thats why near the end of the season, they always start using tight stretchy shirts instead of the sports bras from the beginning!
hope it works out! let us know what happens and how it goes!
syl