Sai

Great article, Alex. I especially like "Make the Most of Each Appointment". Being a naturally quiet person, I will have to make a point to do this each appointment. I often start off with questions and communication because I want answers but then after I tend to withdraw. With many things in life, communication is the key... Especially when it comes to the medical personnel who are supporting me in my weight loss, and also the the great support here in the forums. Thank you for the excellent reminder.

Ah kk, thank you! Sent from my SM-N910V using the BariatricPal App

So far not one restaurant honors my card.

hehehehe. I'm Asian so unfortunately I can eat really fast with them. /cry

Interesting, thank you for sharing. My husband is naturally thin, and he always gets us a booth far away (if I choose, it's up close and personal haha), he also always sits on the booth side that his back is to the buffet (I'm always facing it lol), and he absolutely scouts the entire bar before deciding what he'll eat first.

I start my pre op diet tomorrow as well! I'm both nervous and excited! Good luck with yours! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App You too! Woot, we got this!

Sept. 2 is my revision date: Band to Sleeve. Starting my pre-op liquid diet tomorrow.

What a wonderful article. Something I can certainly relate to because I was in "Soft Calorie Syndrome" land for perhaps more than a year. After they removed some liquid, it took a long time to get out of that mentality, and I still have to force myself to eat real food. When I do eat, I can easily stay full for up to 6 hrs. or longer. "She said, “I was able to eat again. Solids went down easily. Bread was on my menu. Meals lasted me several hours. I didn’t snack because I was able to eat enough to keep me satisfied.” is what I'm experiencing again but it has been difficult because my mind still wavers towards the Soft calorie syndrome mentality. Since I've been making myself eat real food, I've been taking in about 500 calories less per day because I can eat anything I want without pain. However, mentally, I still battle with it every meal . When everything gets stuck & eating becomes painful day after day for over a year, I suppose one's mind won't easily forget that. For example, when I'm at a restaurant, I still have the urge to find something soft that will slide down easier for fear of being stuck at a public place but that defeats the band's purpose. I'm hoping that it will pass soon but in the mean time, I continue taking each meal one at a time. Thanks again for a great article!

People like you Alex make a difference in the world. A sincere Thank you.

I had a terrible time the first week as far as not being able to sleep. Mine was due to slight port pain. I love sleeping on my right side, and my port was placed on the right side. Also due to gas pains like you said. I took GasX strips, and it really helped. Hope you get some zzzzs soon!

After a month of having half of the liquid in my band, my esophagus has recovered well. I didn't have to go on a liquid or soft food diet. Removing half the liquid caused me to gain during that month, and have been going in every month for fills to get to my green zone. Now I'm at or very close to my green zone and began losing weight again.

Absolutely worth it! I went from 293 to 162 currently. I wish I did it sooner. I've had very little problems and lost weight without much of a problem, and before the lap band, I had felt total despair. Good luck!

Hi, I went to the doctor's today and had a fluro done, and it showed I also have an enlarged esophagus, roughly 2x bigger than normal. I had been overfilled for over a year, and my esophagus was enlarged due to nothing being able to pass. He removed 1/2 of the liquid, and told me to return in a month. According to him, it will return normal, and then he will begin filling again. Only lost 2 lbs/month the last few months, and it was because of the overfill, I was far too tight and most of my calories came from a liquid source. I hope this helps.

I had a fill about 2 months ago, and I've experience a lot of throwing up, foaming, sliming, you name it... Especially when I laid down to sleep. The moment i'd fall asleep, it would come back up. Either undigested food or saliva. I couldn't sleep unless sitting upright. Yet I felt more hungry than usual so I didn't think I was overfilled. Well, I had an upper GI done, and it showed that the barium wasn't going down, it just sat in my esophagus. What I learned was being too tight isn't a good thing, it doesn't allow the food to go to the stomach and therefore you really don't get "full", you just get miserable. At first, I really fought not to have a slight unfill, I had thought that it will make me lose more weight. I was wrong, I had hardly lost any weight. So, in the end, I had 0.2 removed and I feel so much better, and the weight loss will begin again. I can actually feel the food in my stomach (versus sitting in my throat) and I can get the signals of being full after a little bit of food.

I've had the band 1 year 10 months. I haven't had trouble eating pizza or most foods, as long as I chew thoroughly and eat slowly. Just recently, I was too tight and I had to have a 0.2 unfill, during this time I had problems with just about everything.