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agree with reverie. a tiny unfill - you'll be amazed at what a difference it can make! maybe try more fish - I especially love tilapia & halibut. Fast & easy to cook, good Protein & pretty soft so easy to get down. cheers, chloe

Marissa, it is true that the lapband is more difficult to lose than the bypass. You need to know this. I'm only down 37 lbs in 8 months. My surgeon told me that 30% of your total weight loss is expected in the first year. I am moving along fine but you need to know this. That is why he is trying to persuade you. Everyone is different. You may be a fast loser. I have seen people lose 70 lbs in the same amount of time it took me to lose 40. I hope it goes smoothly for you. Good luck.

Ok, so I am 7 months past surgery and only 28-30 pounds down!! I mean I know the band is not bypass so I am not expecting super dropping of numbers but I have had 2 months solid with no dropping at all. I am pretty realistic. My eating could be a bit better but at most I have a few oreos a week. I've had fast few a handfull of times since my surgery and if you look at my eating habits prior to surgery and now WOW, what a differance. What is really frusterating is I have just completed my first 5K, that is 3 miles, so fo the past 3 weeks I have been doing the 3 miles everyday with the exception of 2 days a week (3 one week). This is rediculous. If you look at my lifestyle before I am so drastically differant. PLUS, I didnt get a fill this month the last time I got one was 6 month and I am up to 7 1/2 cc's. I vomit pretty much every time I eat, not all but ALOT. So you think at the very least I should be dropping from that. I made a appt to see my doc but I am pretty upset with this whole thing. Agian I am not expecting to wake up tomorrow skinny but I feel like so much effort is put into this for very little. Anyone out there have the same effect??? or troubles???

Really evaluate how much and how fast you are eating... but I was too tight for a long time... a slight unfill made all the difference in the world...... .3cc was the difference from only being able to sip soup, and eat food.

How much of a fill do you want? If your Dr lets you pick how much of a fill you want then I think he was not a good Dr for you to see. If you wanted to take weight off fast then you should have had the bypass. I'm not trying to be mean I just think you should take it slow so your hair doesn't fall out and you don't have other problems.

I am worried about my friend. My PA said that if I followed anything to the letter, it is to not drink any carbonated beverages! My PA said that carbonated beverages is the worst offender for stretching or moving the band out of place!!! Which would mean another surgery to correct or replace! And who knows if insurance would cover it for something you caused! Is it worth it?! I of course have shared this info with my friend. She said she has vastly reduced how much she drinks, and lets the fizzle subside before she drinks. But she recently visited and still drinks and eats fast, and therefore burps alot and gets stuck! She is a sad reinforcer for me to do things the right way.

:help:I was banded 4 months ago. Have lost 41 lbs. There have been a handful of times when I was out w/friends not paying attention and ate too fast and got too full but otherwise have tried to be as compliant as possible. Had a "got stuck" episode w/a piece of chicken about 2 weeks ago. Went on liquids for 2 days and was doing fine. Four days later I started to have a burning pain right between my breasts. My doctor said he would give it a week and if not better would have to do tests and unfill. Two days later the burning pain was worse and I was in his office. Esophogram was normal and he did a complete unfill. The pain subsided considerably but he told me he wanted to scope me on Tuesday of this week (tomorrow) to make sure there was no ulcer. On Sunday I began to hurt again just below my right breast--in a different place. I am so scared of what is going on. Don't want to lose my band. Have done so good. Maybe I am jumping ahead of myself but has anyone had an experience like this and can you tell me what happened? Maybe it is simply irritation and I just need to calm down but I am just so anxious. Tomorrow seems an eternity away.

For me, filling up too fast would make me sick! My first (last) fill was 1.5 to the 1.5 already in there from surgery (10cc band) and I swelled up with it. I barely consumed anything for almost a day and half til I felt better and finally had dinner 2 nights later. I go again on Tuesday for my 2nd fill and I know what to do now to help myself. Doc recommends full food after his fills but I just can't do it.

Thank you all....its tough....in Ireland therapy is not so common.....I did go to a psycho therapist here for 2 years....and basically I was told you are the master of your destiny.....so don't eat the bad things......I was never allowed sweets or crisps as a child...we did not have fast food or Drive Thru's ....so when my mother got sick in my teens we had to eat fast food as my father did not cook.....definitely crave carbs having PCOS.....love anything Italian.....don't eat meat as a vegetarian....missing bread.....pasta.....and pizza...would have eaten lots...I am a size 12 which is good....I think I have to have the will power now....and get back on track....thankfully I have this site as support

Hello, I was banded 2 yrs ago and haven't had any major problems with my band. I have not 'followed band rules' for about 6 months now. I've gained back 15lbs. As for my problem/question... I started having pain in my legs, actually the muscles in the backs of my thighs about 2 months ago. [i don't have any lower back issues and haven't exercised in quite awhile.] When I bend over it feels like my thigh muscles are tied in knots. After about 2 weeks of this I then woke up with a severe stiff neck. I had to turn my whole torso to look around. My shoulders, collar bone and down my left arm hurts. It also hurts under my left shoulder blade and it feels like my spine is bruised in that area. I can't raise my left arm fully and hurts like hell when I try. It actually hurts in the 'socket'. My hip joints are so sore that I have trouble walking. I used to walk super fast, always did, but now I look like an old woman when I 'shuffle'. I went to my chiroprator about 6 times and it didn't help. I just spent 4 days in the hospital and had scans on my neck and brain and blood work out the wazoo all came back fine. I go to a neurologist[?] on monday and they're talking about doing a spinal tap!! Has anyone had these types of pain and found out it was from scar tissue from their band? I will crap if my band is the cause of all this!! Any help would be greatly appreciated, Darlene

Angela, how'd you lose so much so fast you're 10 lbs ahead of me, and I was 12/6. I'm jealous!

NEVER being able to lose with the band would require a complete medical workup with a doc, a detailed food journal, etc... Having a band is a very small part of the journey... my best friend and I were talking about it and she was like "You have it cause it makes you accountable right?" and at the beginning, it does help with that... but as you continue in your journey, for me, it is NOT an accountability thing anymore, cause I just have my full feeling and am ready to stop eating cause I am satisfied... You MUST have a TRUE commitment to the band. A true commitment is NOT just eating till you are full. You have to follow some rules. The most important eating rule FOR ME is NOT to eat and drink simultaneously. PERIOD. I can FEEL the food wash through the band with the drink... Anyone who is trying to lose and is eating and drinking together is self-sabotaging. Whether they want to admit it or not. You also MUST maintain a commitment to do the follow ups with your doc. If you are not losing at the 1-2 pounds/week rate (accepting an occasional plateau) you need to first look at that food diary, and second make an appt with your doc. A fill too much or too little will make it MUCH harder to lose and maintain that loss. I am down 53 pounds and it is NOT a fast journey anymore... but I am doing the right things and losing slowly but surely. I look better than I have in a LONG time... My mom congratulated me and I did that "Aw shucks, I don't deserve it, I had help" line and my mom was like "WAIT! Katy! You DO deserve congrats. You made a commitment to your health and you've done it. Many people go get the band and don't do the work to get where they need to go, but you've been consistent and bought into your success" and that is true. I have. So, every pound I lose, every size I drop, I raise a glass of sparkling water and orange juice and toast myself. Because I DO deserve congrats for doing my work...

I got my first fill today 4cc and i can finally feel something. I have to be careul not to drink to fast.I had soup and did feel full pretty fast.

My port is a little to the right, below my chest bone. I never really feel it and i sleep on my stomach. I have never felt my band before...I forget about it mostly unless I eat too fast!

Yup...I made it through the Clear liquid weeks. I am now to be on full liquids for a week...Thank God I can have a latte again!! I do have a question...I am pretty sure that I have NO restriction, and I am afraid that I still eat too much, and/or too quickly. Are we supposed to take 30 minutes to eat 2 Tbsp of Malt-o-meal?? I can go through it pretty quickly, the same goes for cream Soups, yogurt, pudding... What type of potential damage am I doing by eating too fast? Also, I am still unfamiliar with what it feels like to be full. Still, I am down 13 pounds in two weeks, even during the healing stage!! Sheryl Dr. Wetherille 244/231/140

Notice I said "best". For some reason I have little appetite for "bad" stuff. My problem is I get really hungry and eat too fast when it is meal time. Snacks have helped a lot. In fact, when I added planned snacks, I started losing again.

The fact is if youre going to have excess skin, you already have it - the damage is done as you get bigger, not asvyou get smaller. If those collagen bonds are broken, they cant be fixed. How resilient your skin is depends on age and genetics. No amount of moisturising, exercising, fast or slow weightloss, hydration etc is going to prevent loose skin. Its not encouraging news, but you just have to face it if and when it becomes apparent.

Perhaps I'm "marked", or star-crossed Current mood:dichotomious Category: Blogging So, I was in a MySpace conversation the other night. It is very rare for me to have somebody to talk to, unless I have a student watching over my shoulder (verry rare indeed.....hey, SOMEBODY has to mentor young minds). I was relating to this person a strange little story that had happened when.....out of the blue it struck me.....I realized that really weird things happen to me all the time. Ok, maybe not life-changing, channeling the dead type of weird.....but "Twin Peaks" kind of weird. I decided that this week's blog would be dedicated to some strange things that have recently happened. People engage me in strange conversations. I don't mean friends. I'm talking about nebulous acquaintances, if not full-on strangers. Last week, I was walking into work and fast approaching somebody leaving work. While this person is a familiar face to me, we barely have a "nod" relationship (you know....a slight nod as a greeting when we pass....maybe the occasional "good evening"). Out of the blue, this lady stops and says "Hey (because she doesn't know my name).....Have you ever cooked Tilapia? (As in the fish)". Well.......as a matter of fact.....actually I have. But how did she know? How did she know? So I spend the next 15 mins in the parking lot in a Forrest Gump moment (You can fry tilapia.....you can bake it.....grill it....broil it.....steam it.....carve it into sushi....make fish tacos.....etc.) discussing a flavorful fish. I did not forsee that. Here's another odd little tidbit. People often cross me in line. I don't mean that they cut in front of me. I mean that, if there is a long line stretching in one plane, and people need to cross to get to the other side of the line, then the point in which they will bisect the line will be directly in front of me. I used to be stumped by this. The odds are astronomically against ME being the cross point, but yet it happens 90% of the time. After reading the excellent Freakonomics, however, I looked at this mystery in a different light and have come up with two solutions: 1)- I am a big man, and my personal space requirements are big as well. Therefore, in any given line, I have probably more space between me and the person in front of me. That creates a more attractive crossing point. 2)- People are drawn to my raw, magnetic sexuality like Mark Foley is drawn to male congressional pages. I'm still looking into this. Strangers tend to see me in two polar ways. Either I'm a big, physically intimidating, creepy man, or I am a big goofy "softy" type. Most kids are not scared of me. On the contrary, they like to scale my mountainous belly (to be sure, this can take a couple of hours, which is a testament to its size) and climb onto my shoulders. The parents, however, are not usually so impressed. It was not so long ago that a little girl came into the sleep lab for a test. I explained to the mother that she would have to stay in the room with the girl (I know, I know....but you'd be surprised at how many parents want to drop their children off for some parental free time)and explained that after 2-3 hours of sleep, I would come back in the room and place a medical device on the girl. So, the girl goes to sleep and the time comes for me to go back into the room. As I open the door....*BANG* *CRASH*...the parent had rigged an "alarm" by putting a chair against the door, and putting the trashcan on the chair. So much for not scaring your kid, lady. Sorry that I'm such a creepy bastard that you had to barricade yourself in your hospital room. Next time I'll put my trousers back on, ok? The truth is....I'm actually a big "teddy bear" (by that I mean that I have glass eyes and often sleep with children <------Kidding! What? Too much?)

Perhaps I'm "marked", or star-crossed Current mood:dichotomious Category: Blogging So, I was in a MySpace conversation the other night. It is very rare for me to have somebody to talk to, unless I have a student watching over my shoulder (verry rare indeed.....hey, SOMEBODY has to mentor young minds). I was relating to this person a strange little story that had happened when.....out of the blue it struck me.....I realized that really weird things happen to me all the time. Ok, maybe not life-changing, channeling the dead type of weird.....but "Twin Peaks" kind of weird. I decided that this week's blog would be dedicated to some strange things that have recently happened. People engage me in strange conversations. I don't mean friends. I'm talking about nebulous acquaintances, if not full-on strangers. Last week, I was walking into work and fast approaching somebody leaving work. While this person is a familiar face to me, we barely have a "nod" relationship (you know....a slight nod as a greeting when we pass....maybe the occasional "good evening"). Out of the blue, this lady stops and says "Hey (because she doesn't know my name).....Have you ever cooked Tilapia? (As in the fish)". Well.......as a matter of fact.....actually I have. But how did she know? How did she know? So I spend the next 15 mins in the parking lot in a Forrest Gump moment (You can fry tilapia.....you can bake it.....grill it....broil it.....steam it.....carve it into sushi....make fish tacos.....etc.) discussing a flavorful fish. I did not forsee that. Here's another odd little tidbit. People often cross me in line. I don't mean that they cut in front of me. I mean that, if there is a long line stretching in one plane, and people need to cross to get to the other side of the line, then the point in which they will bisect the line will be directly in front of me. I used to be stumped by this. The odds are astronomically against ME being the cross point, but yet it happens 90% of the time. After reading the excellent Freakonomics, however, I looked at this mystery in a different light and have come up with two solutions: 1)- I am a big man, and my personal space requirements are big as well. Therefore, in any given line, I have probably more space between me and the person in front of me. That creates a more attractive crossing point. 2)- People are drawn to my raw, magnetic sexuality like Mark Foley is drawn to male congressional pages. I'm still looking into this. Strangers tend to see me in two polar ways. Either I'm a big, physically intimidating, creepy man, or I am a big goofy "softy" type. Most kids are not scared of me. On the contrary, they like to scale my mountainous belly (to be sure, this can take a couple of hours, which is a testament to its size) and climb onto my shoulders. The parents, however, are not usually so impressed. It was not so long ago that a little girl came into the sleep lab for a test. I explained to the mother that she would have to stay in the room with the girl (I know, I know....but you'd be surprised at how many parents want to drop their children off for some parental free time)and explained that after 2-3 hours of sleep, I would come back in the room and place a medical device on the girl. So, the girl goes to sleep and the time comes for me to go back into the room. As I open the door....*BANG* *CRASH*...the parent had rigged an "alarm" by putting a chair against the door, and putting the trashcan on the chair. So much for not scaring your kid, lady. Sorry that I'm such a creepy bastard that you had to barricade yourself in your hospital room. Next time I'll put my trousers back on, ok? The truth is....I'm actually a big "teddy bear" (by that I mean that I have glass eyes and often sleep with children <------Kidding! What? Too much?)

I'm in the middle of my preop liquid diet, I know I can have clear broth, but I can't figure out exactly what it is. Is it simply chicken Soup without the chicken and the top layer of fat removed? Or is there anything else involved? Also, has anyone used the slim-fast Protein shakes? They're very good and all, but seem to be awfully high in carbs. I mean 24 grams of carbs for one bottle seems very high to me. Another thing, in my instructions it says only decaffeinated coffee till surgery. Is there any specific reason for that, or can I grab a regular cup of coffee with some skim milk? I seem to miss that the most!

My surgery was scheduled for 10am on April 3rd. I arrived at 8:15 to the same day surgery waiting room, I no more than cracked my book open figuring on at least an hours wait when they called me back and had me undress and put the robe on. The drew blood for last minute tests, and started the IV asked a bunch of questions. Then they brought my husband in and we just watched TV for a bit lol. I was pretty relaxed through the whole thing. The anesthesiologist came in and told me she was going to give me something to relax, and then would give me the main anesthesia in the OR. My surgeon came in and told us a little about the procedure and how when i was asleep they would stand me up and do all sorts of stuff and to check everything, I was like WOAH! So that was the last thing i remember, well that and the nurse putting nipple cream on my lips because my lips were dry and since the anesthesia would make my mouth, throat and lips dry after surgery. So then I woke up in recovery, kept dozing off here and there felt pretty good, no real pain. the highest my pain got was a 5 on their 1-10 scale and even that was just port pain, more when i moved than anything else. I started out in the bed, then moved to the recliner, started on liquids. The nurse came in and checked my vitals and I started walking right then, they were shocked that i jumped out of bed (it was really high! lol) and started walking, no problems at all. I was on morphine pump at that time, but i wasn't too kean on it, it was great for pain, but made me a little naseas. I was taken down for the barium swallow and everything looked great, but that stuff was NASTY! I had to do it twice because they didn't give me enough the first time, which made me pb a little air. no vomiting though. Then when i went back to my room, i tried some apple juice. I must have been drinking too fast and threw that up...not painful, not hacking just kind of like a kid spitting up. Once that was done I was fine. I blame it on the morphine. The switched me to oxycodone and I was fine, and also gave me two doses of anti nausea meds in my iv. No nausea since that one bout. I do have anti nausea pills two different kinds with me at home now. I am taking pills fine, just cut up in half or quarters. I took one oxy last night and switched to tylonol today just for general muscle acheyness. I have been walking every two hours and getting my fluids in. I get gas pains here and there, but nothing bad at all. I would have to say the most pain I have today is maybe a 1.5 and thats if I move suddenly. I slept in my recliner last night just fine and my dh massaged lotion into my lower legs since I hadn't been up to walk during the night and they were sore. But not clot sore, just muscle inactivity sore. It took a while to get released from the hospital because after they took the catheter out I couldn't pee. I tried SO hard. I sat in there for about an hour just praying i could pee because if I didn't they would have to cath me again, in and out cath, but still! So finally I peed and all was good. honestly i would think that i just worked out too hard and had some muscle pain if I didn't look at my stomach and see incisions. i feel pretty good and still don't feel like it's 100% real! lol Hints I learned, I always have a pillow on my lap, the extra pressure even slight makes my incision pain feel really good. Chap stick is a must when you walk, walk with ice chips or sip Water the first few days, your mouth gets SO dry. Gas x strips help a lot when you get a small gas attack. drink those fluids, we are supposed to aim at peeing every 2 hours! i have been able to have cream Soups no problem i can eat about a half to 3/4 of a cup of split pea, but less of cream of potato.

Yes, that year usually comes up on you very very fast. I like a party so you all just tell me when and where. Even if it is at my house:banana :music:

I have only been banded since 10/27/11 and yes have only lost 9 pounds so far. What you heard is incorrect there are many people on here that have lost 100 pounds in a year and probably more than that. It is a slower process they want us to lose 1-2 #s per week. t also depends on how much you have to lose depends on how fast you will lose it.

Rachel-- Yeah, my 18W was well-worn and well stretched out. I think this is just one of those oddities of fit. My torso is a bit too long for one piece suits and so to get them to cover my large breasts adequately, they have to be a little big so I can use that extra stretch. Lands End is where I got my Tankini's-- I love the quality of their suits (except the dye tends to fade super fast). I just wanted to get something cheaper-- I guess I got what I paid for I KNEW I'd regret not getting that yellow Juicy Couture one-piece at TJ Maxx that I tried on in the spring!