So I have officially scheduled my port replacement. I really truly hope this will be it. I am SOO ready to get back to losing. I decided I am going to stay on the looser side this time, and do more head work and expect less from my band. I think I really expected it to do it all. And I pushed it.

I remember the pain... the chest pressure... the pb'ing on 1 or 2 bites of salad. I hope that by staying a bit looser those issues will resolve.

I will be absolutely CRUSHED if I STILL have pain, chest pressure, PB'ing on healthy foods.

I hope that finding a consistent restriction will be the key.

Anyone with similar experience... would LOVE to hear your story & results. Thanks.

cheers on your new commitment to personal health

that 'pressure' is the weight of the dragons of old habits trying to continue imposing their desire on your "won't power".....

as in...."I WON'T yield to the habit of gobbling my food" and "I WON'T continue stuffing myself with my eating shovel when I'm not actually hungry" etc.

From what I've read, port replacement is not such a big deal. What we do with our 'eating hats' is a bigger deal.

You can do whatever you choose. I found when I choose smaller nibbles and better chewing, I get far fewer incidents of PBs and various swallowing pain.

I consider them errors of eating and errors that I can control by observing what caused the symptom. Invariably my own similar complaints have been revealed to be my own old eating habits slipping back into temporary dominance. We have to keep 'in training' for far longer to change those basic habits over the decades that produced our Morbid Obesity in the first place.

It does become easier as time goes on.

Whether being 'looser' or a 'loser' regarding unwanted fat, we have to find ways to modify our own behavior. That is the biggest challenge for me.

keep us posted on your progress