asksdf

You and your husband really need to start an exercise regiment together. It makes it a lot easier when you're doing it with somebody else. And hopefully you guys will motivate each other.

Yeah, I'll usually drink a half glass of water or less when eating a meal. Just take small drinks, don't gulp it all down.

You can do situps like normal, don't worry about that. You can't single out a part of your body and just lose weight there. The fat comes off from all over.

I was a little worried before being banded. But after, really nothing has changed. I mean I've lost a bunch of weight and I only eat a very small amount of food. If you start exercising regularly like you should, and start seeing the pounds come off, you'll want to eat healthier. I used to drink two sodas a day and fast food mostly twice a day. Once you get past the mental part of it - which is huge - you more than likely won't crave those things anymore. It's also all about finding that sweet spot in your fills. Every once in a while if I'm eating bread or chicken and don't chew it up into small enough pieces, it will get stuck. Very uncomfortable, but it passes in like 20 seconds. That's the only reminder that there is a band in me and that I have to be careful. What I'm getting at is, you won't be giving anything up. You'll make changes in your life for the better. Just think, these things you're afraid of giving up are the same things that got you to this point. Eating this or drinking that hasn't done you any favors.

You definitely look a lot younger, and I'm sure you're getting a bit more attention too.

You can still go out with your friends have a salad, or even just a few drinks. Obviously tell them you're trying to lose weight, and they should be cool with it. I rarely do things like with friends anymore, I just don't want to be tempted. You never know, eating healthy and working out just may consume you as it has me.

I use bodylastics resistance bands. They're great because you can do literally hundreds of different exercises with them, and they require really no space at all. As long as you have a door, and some space to move around in front of it, you can do anything. I love it because it's simple going from workout to workout, and I don't have to go to the gym. Plus for $50, you really can't go wrong.

Before getting banded, the doctors were adamant about no carbonated beverages. I'm not a huge beer drinker, once in a while is it. My problem was soda. But ok, fine, no problem I'll give it up. One month after being banded, I flew out to an old friend's wedding. One night all of the groomsmen went out and we all had a lot to drink. It was only after I laid down that night to sleep that I realized beer was carbonated. I saw the doctor the next week and told him, and he just laughed and said don't worry about it, it's not going to affect anything. So I allow myself a soda from time to time, maybe two a month. Thing is, like a lot of you I don't really crave it anymore.

If the weight is coming off, that should be enough of a reward. I'm completely against rewarding yourself with treats, because when you see the scale go up the next day you realize it just isn't worth it. Take pictures of yourself once a month and compare them. I was recently on vacation with my parents, and they were doing the same thing your mom is doing. They'd buy all this junk food and I'd tell them I wasn't hungry, and they just kept pestering me and it got to the point where it was getting me angry. I had to sit them down and explain what they were doing, and they stopped after that.

I don't know if it's different for everyone, but when I get stuck there is no question about it. It's a very tight feeling at the top of my chest / bottom of my throat. I feel like I can try to burp it through, but it never works. Breathing is also pretty constricted. It always passes in about 30 seconds for me. I've never felt swollen, or even felt the effects of being stuck a minute after it happened.

I haven't done any therapy, and don't plan on it. It blows my mind just how mental overeating is, I don't think skinny or average people will ever understand it. Once you hit that sweet spot on your band fill, it's all pretty easy. Every once in a while, I'll be extremely hungry. Like, basically wanting to eat 3x as much as I usually do. But that usual small portion always fills me up just fine. As simple as that sounds, it took me a few months to get that to sink in. Just eat your meal, and walk away.

After I had first been banded and allowed to eat mushy foods, I started having problems. At night when trying to sleep I could actually feel intense pressure building up in my chest and in my stomach, making it difficult to breathe unless I forced myself to keep burping. No joke, this would go on for anywhere from four - five hours a night. The second time it happened, I called my doc and he unfilled all the Fluid and it was immediate relief. Up to that point (3 weeks after being banded, I think) I still had the constant shoulder pains, and it would tire me out just to talk regularly and do the simplest tasks. Luckily after the unfill I was able to get fluid put back in and I'm doing good now. I still haven't read anywhere else of people having that problem. I even made a topic on here about it at like 3am or something when it first happened. It's a scary thing.

I've taken fiber supplements every day for the last four months or so, and my band is working good as ever. I actually just went for a checkup with the doc yesterday and I noted down that I had been taking them, he didn't say there was any problem.

I was banded Oct. 7, since then I've lost 75lbs. For the first couple months I really didn't have my head in the game and was pretty much doing what I wanted. In late January I decided to get serious.

Oh man, I felt exactly the same way. But honestly once the weight started dropping I didn't really care for that mentality, just happy I was losing. The only people that know are my parents and my sister. Nobody else needs to know. I don't need people gossiping about it and get stuck answering the same questions over and over. If a family member or close friend is considering the surgery but has concerns over it, then I'll probably talk to them about it. But until then it's nobody's business but my own. Question for you though, how do you feel about your wife telling your mutual friends?

I didn't shave before surgery, if they need anything shaved they'll do it after your knocked out. They shouldn't touch anything below your waist either. I also don't see any reason they should be touching your chest. There are five incisions total - bellybutton, left of bellybutton (port), further left of the port, a few inches below your right pec, and one on the right of your stomach. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

I've been banded for a couple weeks now and I have a 14cc band. During surgery my doc put in 5cc. After two weeks of discomfort, shortness of breath, shoulder pain, dry mouth, and just generally being uncomfortable all the time, I had the band emptied completely. Now I feel 100% normal, but I can only eat very little food before I get full, and I only have to eat two extremely small meals a day. I don't really get hungry at all during the day. So for me, right now, an empty band is the way to go.

I was banded one week ago, and thought I was having a pretty decent recovery until tonight. I've been feeling 95% better these last couple days, with only a lingering shoulder pain here and there, and some tightness in my chest. All was fine until I lay down for bed... What I'm guessing is gas builds up BIG TIME in my stomach and chest, stays for about five minutes, then completely goes away for five minutes. Rinse and repeat. No amount of burping out air would help this, and it by far the most uncomfortable thing yet. This went on for about an hour until I got up and walked around. I could burp everything out, it was looking good. I decide I'll try sleeping on my couch as that was helping before with the various minor pains. Now a new problem arises. Gas (?) is building up to the point where I can't feel anything in my chest. I'm breathing, yet I can't feel my lungs inhaling and exhaling, also my throat seemed like it was closed off. Honestly, I can't even begin to describe how bad that feels...but it's terrible. After a bit of that, I get up off the couch and try and clear out all the gas. Now it's not working again. Burp burp burp...nothing. I sit down, continue to burp, only occasionally clearing out some gas and making literal breathing room in my chest. Now the gas is still building and there is a very heavy constant pressure on my chest. Also, every once in a while there is this gurgling sound coming from both sides of my stomach. I don't hunger gurgling sounds....it sounds like something isn't right. I have the first week appointment scheduled for in about 7 hours with my lapband doctor. But I'm really wondering if I should go admit myself to the hospital right now. Has anybody had anything like this happen?

Wow, I can't imagine having to drink a meal every hour. That seems like so much.

I got banded on the 7th, I'm feeling the same way. We just had surgery and were pumped full of all kinds of fluids, so it's natural that we're going to be tired. It'll pass in a few days.

Hmmm, I don't remember if I was ever told not to use straws or not. Oh well, I've been using a straw to drink my soup broth but that's it.

When your shoulder is hurting, or your chest or stomach is feeling tight - just get up and start moving around and keep forcing yourself to burp. It helps a lot. Just keep burping over and over and over.

My surgery went great. I lost about 17lbs on the pre-op diet so at least there's that. I've spent the last 3 days at my parents house recovering. I'm going to try and go back to work on Monday, but I'm not sure how a tucked in shirt is going to feel on my belly button stitches.

Hey everyone I was banded October 7th, so I'm only two days out. My pre-op diet was easy compared to yours. Starting a week before I was to have two meals a day which ended up being some lean cuisine meals. Then the two days before just liquids....And I still hated it. I don't know how you guys do the week on liquids alone, I would go insane.

The only people that know I've been banded are my parents and my sister. I don't plan on telling anybody else. As far as what I'll tell them about the weight loss, I'll tell them it was done through diet and exercise. Because truthfully, I'm gonna be busting my ass to make this happen. Everyone here knows how negative people get about any kind of WLS, and with everything else we'll all be dealing with, nobody needs that crap.