thsisme

There are negatives to everything. Some folks are more fortunate than others. Black bile even once a week is not something to ignore. Please encourage your brother to be seen by a physician. It could be band related or caused by something else. I have had mostly a positive experience with the band. Here are my negative experiences: I drank a glass of milk to fast and started esphogeal spasms that lasted four days in the first week of being post op. Financial impact of good quality Vitamins, food, and yes clothing. These can add up to be very expensive. Head hunger, the place where your mind is telling you that you are hungry - when you really are not. Taking the time to think about eating, from what you are going to eat to how you are going to eat it, i.e. fast, slow, is the food a slider food.... The struggle of emotional eating, wanting to eat and then holding yourself back from eating at the wrong time or even over eating during meals. Adding in exercise (I know that one does not sound so tough, but when you hate it as much as I do, you learn to modify your lifestyle to include it and not allow yourself to talk yourself out of it...) I have heard from others who can tolerate only certain foods, severe constipation, band erosion and various port problems. I have also seen where some expect the band to do everything for them and then those that have the band done to please someone else and then eat the wrong foods. I am sure there are other negative experiences out there, however, those listed above are the ones that I am aware of... I

you go! not lame at all! I love NSVs!

generally, it can take up to 4 months for the port site to heal due to the fact that the port is sutured to the abdominal wall. you will eventually be able to sleep on your stomach, just give it time to heal. good luck everyone!

spoiltmom, you look fabulous! WOW! congrats. you don't have to explain yourself or how you run your household. it really is no one's business. to bad sanction doesn't get it.

fabulous! Congrats on your victory!

superluli, follow your bariatric doctor's rules. You will find as time goes on that there is no one rule as to how or when to graduate to different consistency foods. This is a time for you to learn what being satisfied vs. full means/feels to you. The feeling of full as I had viewed it (stomach stretched) will never be for me again. as LB4me suggests, try different techniques that will allow you some time to think about whether or not you feel full, chew, chew and then chew some more. This is a learned technique for most of us bandsters. I am a big advocate of measuring, weighing, and keeping a food journal. It works for some and for some it does not. Starting out, it will give you a good idea of how those portions look and the journal may surprise you at the things that you eat and allow you to keep track of your carb, protein, fat intake. Fills are just apart of the tool. If you are hungry (besides around the time to eat) within and hour or two of your last meal. or if you hit a plateau (same weight for a month or longer) you may need a fill. Speak to your docotor to see what his/her view point is. You will find that there may be some foods that you will not tolerate and then you may tolerate some that others can't. It really is an individual thing. Fills are not meant to lose weight faster per se. People lose weight at different rates at different times. Congrats on your new life as a bandster!

welcome to the i hate exercise club! to this day i hate exercise! however, i do it and i have learned to make it tolerable. 1) i listen to music while i am exercising 2) i started out walking. walk at your breaks when at work, park at the end of the parking lot and walk to your destination, if you can walk to the near by stores from your house, if you go to the local park walk around the park, dance around the house, i even walked around the house. I moved every hour or so. remember you don't have to exercise all at once, get it in in spurts. 3) explore what works for you 4) set your time and days up, don't talk your self out of it, just do it 5) I get up an hour earlier to get my exercise in... congrats on being banded and facing your exercise demon.

when did you start solid foods? some folks have a brief stall while transitioning from liquids to foods. Are you tracking your intake and fluids? also, are you exercising? just some thoughts...good luck

I had BBC PPC CA. no pre-op diet required. you have to meet with the surgeon, have a nutrtition consult, EKG, Psych eval. There may be one more eval, but I can't think of it. Your surgeon's office will know. It took one week for my approval. I was obnoxious and called for the status. Also, you can request a copy of their policy on WLS criteria. Good luck!

I have been obese all of my life. I have 35 lbs to go to be within normal BMI range. after being banded i am currently down 130 lbs since august 2010. Yes, it is possible and it opens up a whole new world to be in a position of going from 318 down to 191 currently. I am currently working on learning how to eat and maintain my weight while slowly losing the rest of my poundage. keep going folks! I wish everyone great health and joy!

Cheri, hope that you did not think that I thought you were giving out the cards! I re-read my post and it kinda read that way which is not what I meant it to be....I just kinda like WOW some fool is handing out cards...how absolutely rude of them...not you. Dawn, how funny!

Cheri, handing out a card....??? I have to agree with Dave, it is plain tacky and I think condensending as well as perhaps mean. I don't hide the fact that I had WLS, but I don't go around selling it either. Like Dave, if people approach me, then I tell. I think the decision to tell or not is of personal nature and who knows what their/our reasons are? Some for fear of being judged or looked at as weak, others for not wanting their business hung out for the gossips. There will always be critics out there as well as those that support. Personally, I just don't care what they think. I did this for me and am glad that I did.

Dave great job! and you are so right when you write that people are watching, some very openly and some not so openly. We can educate and encourage and it is up to those that want to do something about their weight and health.

yesterday, i finished my first 1/2 marathon in just under 4 hours. this time last year could not have made it round the block! congrats to everyone on your NSVs.

Cindy congrats on a true and exciting journey! We are rooting for you! Dave and Macfaster, congrats to you too! Dave, I am feeling the pain too. weight loss is slowing down...still coming off, but sooooo slowly, however, I am ok with that too!