MollyRN

Jack - you just summarized the issue I am having and I am going tomorrow am for an unfill. Well said!

I agree - tell the doctor the truth. You are an adult and you made the decision to not go to see him - but you cannot be dishonest and not get the care you deserve or need.

I think I am in exactly the same boat. I got a fill last month, was okay for like 2 weeks, got my period and I haven't been able to really eat since. No matter how slowly I eat or how much I chew. Even one bite often needs to come back up. In the last week, I have PBed at least one meal (of 2) a day. I too need to suck it up and go get an unfill. The resorting to Soup and stuff is a no no and I know it. Your post just reconfirmed it for me....

The thing about this is that they tell us because EVENTUALLY you can't do it. Like they tell you to eat slowly from the beginning, but eventually you can't eat quickly. They tell us to not drink after you eat and eventually, you physically CANNOT. These rules are only rules in the beginning because they want you to practice. Eventually, they become self-evident and heavily dependent on your own body.

Yeah - the head hunger is the part they don't tell us about before we get banded. This is where you will have to focus your self control. It does eventually go away once you kick the addiction to eating even when you are not hungry. It's easier said than done for sure. But there is a difference between hunger and what is in your head and you can distinguish between it and override that desire to eat.

Ok - I get the before thing because I am so tight at this point that nothing ever goes RIGHT through. It takes a couple of minutes for anything, even water, to clear from my pouch. This is why I give it 5 minutes....

Before I got banded, I was like NO WAY am I telling anyone. Once I did it, I was like WAIT, this is not the easy way out - WE ARE BRAVE PEOPLE. And I like how you put it.... we do the eating, the band controls the hunger. Nice.

I smile at your post. While I have never said it out loud, I feel the same way you do to a certain extent. I don't journal, track or count anything other than a rough Protein gram assessment each day. I was never a big junk food eater (but rather an overeater) so I don't feel like I eat crap. In fact, I am probably less strict now about WHAT I eat than I was in my two decades at Weight Watchers. At the point I am now, I struggle more with making sure I eat enough than watching what I eat. I will say I work out like a maniac, so maybe that helps. Now, does that mean it will always be that way? I have NO IDEA. I have lost about 10-12 lbs per month for 8 months.... I am 40 lbs from goal, you might see me on here next week complaining that I cannot get into Onederland no matter what I do.

I drink right up to about 5 minutes before I eat - and I agree with the above, I usually drink something warm, like a cup of tea, because it will open me up a little. I wait about 30-45 minutes after. I find drinking enough is the most difficult thing for me. I can't drink cold things quickly at all. I drink a lot of caffeine free warm tea. Meal wise, I don't get the snacking personally. I find that, for me, it kind of ruins my meals. I have a Protein shake in the morning if I work out but then eat 2 other meals - at about 12:30 and then at 6:30. I do a snack if I am having a bad day getting in enough calories or protein.

Jealousy.....jealousy. We women are interesting aren't we? Now we compete to see who was fatter? Who was more deserving? I would call her on it. On a similar note, I wrote on my blog yesterday about a women at my gym who came up to me and asked me how the heck I was losing so much weight, and I wrote that I was tempted to say, I eat very little and work out a lot. But I couldn't bring myself to not tell her the whole story. ONLY BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT HER TO FEEL LIKE SHE SUCKED at dieting. I wanted her to know that I had some ADDITIONAL help - and not to feel discouraged. We are supposed to support and cheerlead eachother. It's not a competition.

Your weight loss is awesome - some people take 4-8 weeks to even start losing. The thing that concerns me about your post is that you say you are hungry all the time. The point of the adjustments is to get to a place where that is not happening. Make sure you are not having head hunger. And be proud of yourself! You are rocking it!

I was given the same plan as you. Good luck!

I am a bit of a freak, but I have to say that I was so calm about this - I just felt like I was making such a great decision for myself and my family. And you are too! Be calm. You will be okay. I know your doctor and the hospital and you are in good hands. Here are my responses to your questions: 1) The actual surgery itself - NO BIGGIE, it was quick and easy and uneventful. And you won't remember so no worries! Be calm and be proud of yourself. 2) The pain after the surgery - I, like everyone else, had to deal with the gas pain. But MOVE, move around, swing your arms, it willl go away. It was by far the most painful part. Take your pain killers on time. I only needed them for two days. YOU CAN DO IT. 3) How long it will take me to start feeling like myself again - I felt like myself again after about a week. 4) My BIGGEST fear - will I ever be able to enjoy food again? Obviously, I get great enjoyment out of eating. It's a very pleasurable, intimate, and social experience for me. I am prepared to be able to eat much less, and I have already started modifying my eating habits, but I don't want food to be my enemy. I still want to enjoy it, yet make better and healthier choices. This last question is something I have thought long and hard about. Food has become a non-issue in my life. I eat because I need Protein and I want to work out. The relationship with food is a positive one. Sure, there are some things I cannot eat, but I don't want to. They make me feel like crap. The band will reduce intake. You will still have to make good choices. But it does interrupt social eating in that you will be totally different than you are now - IN A GOOD WAY. The thing that gets me now is that I don't need to eat something - you know that feeling of really wanting something, eating it and then feeling guilty for eating it? That is gone from my life - and honestly, that missing guilt is so much better than anything I could have eaten. You will decide your limits and what you are able to do. You will be in the driver seat of your band experience. Take a deep breath, be excited! GOOD LUCK!

PERIOD WEEK SUCKS

Dr. Fielding did mine and I have to say that I have been nothing but impressed with them. 8 months out, I can tell you that their followup and attention to the patients is VERY different than many other offices.

Ahhh....I love this question. There are some great bloggers out there who are working on maintenance. Their blogs are really great. I know that many of them had slight unfills when they dropped below their goal weight.

I too would sweat when something got stuck - but I do remember some anxiety around eating in the beginning and that could make you nervous.

I don't have enough time in to help with your question - but I have to say AWESOME on maintaining your weight.... it gives me hope on the other side of goal

I have considered your second topic many times and brought it up with my therapist. If there is a void, what fills it? And he was like, GIRL, it can just be a void. Don't get hung up on it. I love the results I am getting with my band, but I hear you, sometimes I hate the freaking thing and want to rip it out. But those are moments and they pass and nothing tastes as good as skinny anyway.

Staying connected is the right thing! This has been a long winter and you are still on track!

I agree, you don't have to have a fill but my own personal opinion is that you should keep the appointments - go in, get weighed, have the interaction. I have a couple of band buddies who sort of fell off the wagon about 6-8 months in because they didn't go to their appointments. It's good to have them track how you are doing.

Yeah - a permanent thing doesn't exist - but any cream with caffeine in it will temporarily tighten your skin - for an event or a bathing suit or something like that....

I have taken prozac since before I was banded and I have lost 86 lbs in a little less than 8 months - I think the band works inspite of the meds. Of course, they are liquid now and trust me, they don't taste good.

I don't feel hunger anymore either - I do just kind of run out of gas. And I REFUSE to give in to head hunger, I just fight it. At this point, I know that if I am "hungry" and feeling okay, then it is in my head.

Yes - for me, I felt full faster right from when I started eating food again post-op, don't know how much of that was mental. And I agree with the others above, that I would not feel hunger for a long time and I was consistently losing weight. But I have to say, I also think that you are at a good restriction when you cannot consume liquid super quickly anymore. Like, you kind of can tell that it stops for a second and then passes. That was kind of my OKAY, here is restriction moment. Right now, I really don't ever feel hunger and I definitely have to sip.