Hi All,

I've had an account here for a while, but haven't ever really been active. I was banded in June of '08 and had a serious rollercoaster ride with my band, almost from the start. About six months after surgery, I started having problems finding the proverbial "sweet spot." I either had too little restriction and wouldn't lose weight, or I had too much, and would start upon a horrible cycle of sliming, throwing up, and eventually being so swollen that I couldn't eat or drink. I had difficulty eating meat, and most fruits and vegetables. salad was a total no-go. This was often the case even when I didn't seem to be too tight and had no problem eating other foods. I couldn't eat carrot sticks or chicken, but had no problem scarfing down ice cream or a bag of cheetos. In fact, at one point that's *all* I could get down, and I would eat them just to get SOMETHING in my system and get my blood sugar off the floor. (Oops... yeah, I'll own that I made some bad eating choices!)

I even had trouble sleeping. After three years, I'd lost almost 50 lbs, but I was so miserable that I couldn't take it anymore. My band was too tight, I had constant heartburn, and I could barely get liquids down. I didn't want to give up (especially after financing my surgery out of pocket.) but I just couldn't do it any longer. By the time I was unfilled, I couldn't get down broth, much less any of my daily medications. (Which in my case is BAD.) I had my band completely unfilled, and haven't been back to the clinic since. Every once in a while when I eat the wrong thing or eat too fast, I'll get a stab to the chest and remember that the old girl is still in there, but otherwise it's been pre-surgery eating as usual, with both good and bad choices, and everything in between.

Now, a year and a half of yo-yo-ing later, I've regained most of the weight I'd lost, and I've decided to try it again. I'm hoping for a better result, but I'm afraid I'll end up facing the same issues. I feel like I have to completely re-acquaint myself with proper band eating, and after my history I really don't know what to expect. I'm nervous and uncertain of what's ahead.

Has anybody else been in the same boat?

Newbie, So glad you found us. I do hope we all can find that sharing our stories will end up helping us.

It sounds like you really have been thru a rough time. But making the necessary connections and coming to terms with your emotional eating issues is a major step. How good you must feel having done that.

Glad our are here and I hope you keep posting. You never know if something you say might be the inspiration for someone else.

You should check for a slip? Don't mean to alarm you whatsoever, but it pays to be safe right?

From what I gather, those kinds of things are are warning signs that your band needs some attention. You should be able to eat at least 3 small Protein meals without all that trouble. Tell your dr's what's going on before getting another fill.

Best of luck. We can do this!

My band is not slipped and my pouch is not stretched out. I got it checked a few months ago.

I live with it being too tight because it doesnt work for me otherwise.

I didn't get to have my Protein drink this morning. So I am going to have it for dinner. I will use the Peanut Butter and banana mixture, I might even put it in the freezer for a little while.

It's my fourth day of getting back on track. And so far I think I have done pretty good. I just wish we could get to the BBQ grill. I would love to cook out there. One thing I like to cook on the grill is veggies. Oh they are so good. But I have to do my protein first. But a little grilled veggie on every other bite shouldn't hurt, huh?

Funny how we find ways to get around the band. Sneaky, aren't we? And then wonder why we can't lose weight. I remember when I was in WW, the leader there was impressed with the excuses we made up with for not losing weight and for not exercising.

I went to my meeting on monday morning and people wondered why I would do that. They said you wouldn't be able to have good stuff on then weekends. No partying. Well that is exactly why I liked going monday mornings. It kept me accountable. But they eventually closed our local WW. Nearest one is 15 miles away.

Completely agree Suzie! I make all kinds of excuses to self-sabotage! Glad you're doing well.

Tomorrow is one full week...so far so good. Today was dinner with family (always a bit stressful), but I had several non-scale victories.....didn't overeat (yeah!), drank all my necessary Water (yeah!) and didn't eat through my emotions (yeah!) ~ those are all biggies for me!

Thanks to the group for posting info about "bandedwendy" ~ awesome information!

Have a good evening! DeAnna

DeAnna, great job making it one week. And good going on the NSV's. Those are always exciting.

My NSV for yesterday was that I had not been able to have my Protein shake in the morning so I told myself that I would have it for dinner. Well, I have a class on sunday evenings and we take turns bringing in Snacks to eat. The girl whose turn it was had brought in a crockpot of chili with all of the trimmings. cheese, onion, fritos and more. I actually sat there and let everyone else eat and I drank my Water. I was so proud of myself. So as we were moving into another section of the building I was bringing up the rear end with another lady and our teacher and I was telling them about not eating so I could have my Protein Shake when I got home, and I told them how hard it was because it all smelt so good. Get this, both of them at the same time said I did the right thing because it didn't taste that good. So glad I held my ground. Finally got home and had my banana and Peanut Butter protein shake. It never tasted so good.

Now to make it thru another day. This truly is a day to day thing. I'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

And no more excuses or trying to fool myself thinking I can do or eat something and think I can explain it off.

Hey, I thought I would pass this on to you guys. When I was at the Docs last week I had told her that I eat a lot of salads. She told me that she wanted the proteins in first. I told her I put chicken and other proteins on my salad. She then explained it to me that lettuce and other veggies have water in them and that when I chew them all together that the water will help wash the food down. Hmm, I had never thought about that.

Greetings all. I feel your pain but honestly my success has been totally on me and working with my band to figure out what works and what doesn't work. I was Banded January 10th of 2008 by Dr. Aceves in Mexicali whom I now consider one of the best people I have ever met. He totally changed my life that day, little did I know that then. To date I have lost 169 pounds. Has it been easy, NO WAY! Has it been a struggle, OH YA.... Every time I throw up I cussed the blessed thing, but then realize how much good has done me. It's not the Bands fault I throw up, it's mine. I have given up a lot of food this past 5 years that I always enjoyed, but my life change has given me more. Salads, hardly, Red meat, Hardly, Bread---NO WAY, fish goes down like it never did, and I never did eat fish but have come to actually enjoy it... Work with it, come to realize YOU ARE DIFFERENT in that you can’t eat everything everyone else eats. Many of my friends have come to wait and see what I now order and eat and most the time follow suit. You have the tool, stick to your guns and get the job done. At 62 years young now, I just finished my 6th marathon in the past 10 months... Talk about a life change....

My name is Wayne and I live in Portland Oregon.... wvanraden@aol.com if ya need or want to visit....

Wow! I see I am not the only one struggling. I am 35 pounds from my goal and I am stuck! I don't slime, I don't gave problems with my band. I think it may be food choices and lack of exercise that has stagnated my journey. I also currently going through a divorce and really need the motivation and encouragement to meet my goal this year!!!!! Please help!

Wow Luv this post. I'm not alone. Long story short. Banded 10/07. Lost 105lbs in 2yrs. 5 lbs past goal. Kept off for about a year or so. Then started having little issues here and there. Little unfill. Then acid reflux and heartburn. Hmmm off to doc. Full slip. Another surgery for repositioning. Done 9/10. I've went from size 5 to 12 :-( I had a good restriction but had a day that it was really tight freaked out and had the fill removed just what was put in not complete unfill. So now got full 2 weeks ago. I can tell its there but no real restriction yet. So gonna call today and go BACK in again. Geez never ending battle.

So I am 5 years plus with my Band and so is my wife. She was actually Banded 4 months before me and has had great results as well. I am sure it is much easier having a spouse that's banded as you BOTH learn together.... One thing we have come to realize, and this may sound CRAZY, but we can actually tell when the weather is changing.... The barometric pressure seems to have a huge impact on how we eat. Anyone else notice this. When the pressure is high we don't eat much and when it's low we can almost eat freely..... Would be very interested in knowing how many others have noticed this.... and yes, excerise got us going again when were were stuck for over a year at the same weight... Walking made the difference and I started running which made a huge impact on my loss...

You're right Missy, this is a never ending battle. Whether it's fills, exercise, restrictions, hernias or anything else. It's the little battles within the big battle and how we handle those.

But one thing that is very important is a good support system. It can be your family, a freind, a teacher, a support group meeting or on-line support. I find my inspiration in what others have to say about their journeys. It may be one word or a sentence that could spark a light in someone. Who knows, it maybe some thing you say or do,

So far today, I got to take a little walk down the street. It's bitterly cold here and snow every where but the streets. Sidewalks are all covered. So we walked in the street. It felt good. I love to walk.

I put a few extra strawberries in my shake this morning. It help a little with the taste. Now I just need to figure out what to have for dinner. I pulled out some hamburger meat with thoughts of having hamburger patties and a salad for dinner. I could do this by myself but I have a family to cook for so I have to figure how to fix my meal along with what I cook for them. It's actually pretty easy to do. I just have to do it.

Morning Folks.

I will be so glad when all of this snow has melted and I can get out and do my walking again. It's not easy to walk in the street and most sidewalks are not clear.

Last night I was reading through a lot of different post and there were a few where people had lost a great amount of weight in a short time. I find myself a little jealous of these people and then I think, well how did they do that? Are they even eating? Even with the best restriction that you can get, you should still be eating. I don't want to have to do 500-800 calories a day to get the weight off. First I don't see that as healthy. I think most Doctors want the patients to get at least 1200 calories in. That and exercise should give you a pretty decent weight loss.

Please don't get me wrong. If you are one that has lost weight at a very fast rate, I applaud you. That must have not been easy. Jealous? Hell yes. Some part of me would love to do that. I would love to have all of this weight off.

So the other day when I was fixing my morning Protein shake, I made enough for two and put the other in a cup and covered it and put it in the freezer. I'm thinking for my lunch today that I might take it out about a half hour before hand and then have it as a frozen treat. I hope it works out ok. I'll post and let you know.

Two days away from my first week on this journey. So far so good. I had a little slip yesterday but got right back to it. Don't they say that it takes 21 day to make it a habit? I have 16 days to go then. lol.

I got to get outside yesterday and take a good walk. It felt really good and I look forward to walking today.

On GMA yesteray morning they had a guy who weigh over 500 pounds. He had gastic by-pass and lost 200 pounds. But he gained it back and then reality hit him and he knew he had to get it back off. So he ended up losing 300 pounds after that. It was a very amazing story. I don't remember how long it took him to take it off. But the determination on his face was an eye opener.

Well, I tried freezing my Protein drink and it was not what I was expecting. Maybe it was the fact that I'm kind of tired of the banana Peanut Butter flavor or that because I use Water instead of ilk that it didn't ave that creamy texture and more of an icee texture. I can pretty much gurantee that I won't be trying that again.

It's been a whole week now since my appointment with the band doc. I'm pretty proud of myself. I haven't weighed, I will later. But I really feel I did a very good job on the not snacking between meals except the one little slip when I had some fritos. Oops. But the rest of the week was snack free. Protein is still my main focus and I'm finding it that is getting easier to do. I's still having a little problem remembering to chew and to slow down and take my time eating.

I sure hope everyone is doing better and following the band rules. We all know it is not easy but I'm taking this second chance and running with it.

Hi Fellow Bandsters,

I've been absent for about a week. Here is an update. I've been working very hard on wearing my CPAP. I am getting about 3 to 6 hours of sleep a night with it. I'd like to get to where I've got in on for 7-8 hours a night. At first it was really uncomfortable and the air was too cold. But, I did a little googling and figured out how to adjust the humidity/heat setting on it. Since then it has been significantly more comfortable. Last night I put it on and fell asleep. Then at 3:30 am, I was woken up by my cat and realized that I didn't have it on. I'd taken it off and even turned off the machine in my sleep! What the heck!!! Additionally, I've had a really bad migraine for the first few days of this week. One of the ways that I can reduce my pain is to drink lots of caffeine. Well, caffeine might work well for my migraines, but it doesn't work well for me to try to regulate my sleep cycle. My sleep schedule has been a mess this week because of it. In fact, my whole body seems to be revolting on me. This migraine week has been rough.

So, basically, I'm trying to focus on getting out of pain (migraine stuff) which, today feels much better, and wearing the CPAP. Another thing I've been really making effort on is eating Breakfast and trying to eat a majority of my food during the day rather than at night. It is going okay. I've been having breakfast within 1-1.5 hours of waking up. I am finding that since I've been doing breakfast, I am more likely to eat every few hours during the day and then not really be as interested in food at night. Maybe my doctor does know what he is talking about! As for my weight, I have gained a few pounds over the past two weeks. Grrrr! Well, I'm a work in progress. I'm trying and that is what matters to me right now.

One other thing I want to update on is that I quit Weight Watchers. I was dutifully tracking all of my points on the WW website. But, since my band doc says I need to track my Protein and calories, I was also tracking protein and calories on myfitnesspal. WW doesn't show you how much protein you are consuming, only points. It was frustrating because I was double tracking. And I thought, why am I paying $43 a month to track points and go to meetings. I actually love the meetings, I think they are awesome, but the meetings don't focus on band nutrition. And, right now I'm really trying to focus on my band doc's suggestions. So, I quit weight watchers for now. Who knows, I may go back to it later.

As for Protein drinks, I don't have one every day. I do have two on hand that I like in case I need them. One is Primal Fuel vanilla, and the other is Syntrax nectar Cappucciono. I enjoy both of them, although I Water the Cappuccino one down a lot because it is so outrageously sweet (a little less splenda in the mix would be appreciated).

But, for breakfast, I am having some combination of 2% cottage cheese, 2% greek yogurt, 1% milk, reduced-fat cheese, and split pea or bean Soup that adds up to 300 calories and 20 grams of protein. This morning I almost went straight for chicken, but I was afraid my band wouldn't like solid protein that early in the day. So, I ate 3 bites of weight watcher mac n' cheese, a chobani greek yogurt, and a bowl of Pasta fazool bean soup with a tablespoon fo fat-free sour cream. Odd breakfast, but it works for me. 372 calories, 23 grams protein.

Hugs, Hilary

Yesterday we were so busy that I never got around to eating lunch. By the time I thought about it, it was 3:30 so I grabbed a Jello cup and had that. The Protein drink I am having in the morning seems to be keeping my tummy happy for a long time. I have actually noticed the last few days that I have no appetite till almost dinner time. I'm kinda liking this.

Hilary, I was wondering if you had abandoned us. But when I read your post, I now understand.

I wish I had some help for you with the c-pap. I have never used one. My cousin did and she hated it. She said she would pull it off during the night also. I think she eventually gave it up. But I'm proud of you for giving it a good try. Not sure I could handle wearing it.

I was on WW when I started my journey for my band. I would go on monday mornings to the meetings. We had an amazing leader and a really good group. But I got to that point after about two years that I reached a plateau and decided to quit WW for the same reason. Why should I pay to find out that month after month that i wasn't going anywhere. I miss going to the meetings because they at least kept me aware that I still needed to try. Not sure I could do the only WW. Seems like that would be to easy to cheat.

We are going to a fish fry tonight at my nephews.They were asking what sides do we want and I told them to have what ever the kids want because I'm there for the fish.

I have been able to get out and walk. And that is a great plus for me. I love to walk and used to do about a mile everyday. I would take my sisters little dog with me and we conquered the streets around here. But unfortunetly our little doggie passed away last year. It's been a struggle or me to get back to walking without him. The house next door to us is up for sale and I am hoping the new people will have a dog I could borrow. But getting back to walking after this surgery has been hard. My legs suffered from the surgery and it has taken me a long time to get them working right again. But I'm getting my strength back.

Make it a good day, Suzanne