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?

_{Wow! Am I glad I found this thread!! I thought I was alone in this struggle and no one else had these problems.}

_{Came back to this site after a very long time to find the inspiration to face my doctor on Friday.}

_{Thank you all for sharing!!!}

Welcome back, ArcherGirl. We are living proof that you can recommit to your band after slipping away from living by the rules. The more time I spend thinking about my own experience, the more I realize the finding the correct level of restriction is the KEY to losing weight with the band. I think I'm finally reaching my green zone and I couldn't be happier.

This afternoon, I had lunch out with a friend and her husband. Less fun than usual, because I just had a fill yesterday and I'm still on full liquids transitioning to mushies. Well, I ate about a third of my soup and two bites of mushies and I was totally satisfied. I brought the rest home for dinner and I'm over the moon. I may still be swollen, but the idea of being totally done eating after mostly just liquids is novel and exciting. It gives me hope that this band and I will find a way to work together after more than a year of dissatisfaction.

And if I can do this, I know you all can, too! Have a great day!

After some extreme frustration on Tuesday, I am feeling much more forgiving of my band and myself today.

Suzie, I'm glad to hear you made it through your time with your grandneice and that she didn't poop you out too much. As for cottage cheese, I do eat it every once in a while. I primarily have it for Breakfast because of the low calories, high Protein content, and that is is easy to get down first thing in the morning. It is a bit of a slider food, as Amy said. But, I find that it keeps me sufficiently full throughout the morning, especially if I have it with some tomatoes. I also like cottage cheese with some Mott's no sugar added blueberry applesauce on top.

As for those people who lose a ton of weight in a few months, I have no earthly idea how they do it. If I knew, I'd do it too! Maybe it is because they are significantly larger like Amy said. The highest I've weighed is 211 and I find weight comes off slowly. But, once I get down to the 170s it gets really really hard for me to get any weight off at all. So, it could have to do with starting size. I watch The Biggest Loser too and at first they lose like 20lbs a week and then it gets down to just a few pounds a week around the end as they have shrunk down (even with all the exercise they do).

Amy, it is amazing to me that you have so much in your band and are just starting to feel restriction. The band really is different on everyone. I actually wish we all had a bit more of a standard experience and less personal variation. It gets frustrating for one thing to work for one person, but not for another. Also, Amy, a third of your soup and a few bites of mushies and you were full. That is awesome! I wonder how many calories you will be taking in a day now that you've had another fill.

According to my fitbit and all of my tracking that I've been doing, I'm burning an average of 2100 calories a day and eating about 1500 calories a day (still too much for having a band). That is an average deficit of 600 calories a day. So, when will I see some movement on the scale? I'm walking 2-6 miles every day, depending on my energy level. I'm also wearing the cpap for about 6-7 hours a night. I'm still tired a lot though. Maybe I will have lost at least a few pounds by the time I go in for my next appointment on April 10th.

One thing that is interesting to me is to see that fitbit says I only burn about 1300 calories if I don't move around a lot or get out and exercise that day. With my eating habits (1500 cal a day), I would be gaining weight slowly but surely without daily exercise. I had never really realized that before. I am really starting to see that for me, exercise is going to be a bigger piece of the equation that I had ever anticipated. I know for some people, exercise doesn't make or break them. But, I think it has the potential to really help/hinder me.

I live in the desert. Right now the weather is nice (70s to low 80s during the day). I can get out and take multiple walks or do a workout video in the house. But, at the end of May it will be in the 100s, and it will continue to get hotter and more humid as we get into summer time. Our house has a swamp cooler and no air conditioning, so exercising at home is not going to work very well. I think I am going to need some sort of gym membership for July - October because of the heat. Otherwise I'm going to have to be content with no chance of weight loss during those months.

-Hilary

Well after 1st surgery in 10/07. Lost 105lbs. Then slip and a revision in 9/11. Struggling to get that sweet spot. Went in today for yet another fill. Now I have 8.5ccs in a 11cc band. We will see how it goes.

I actually have no idea how much is in my 10 band. I think I was up to a little over 7 and then had to go in and they took out half for a surgery I was having. Since then I have only had two fills. Next week I will ask the doc and see if they tell me.

Hilary, when you were talking about the swamp cooler it brought back a lot of memories. I lived in the San Fernando Valley just north of L.A. till 1979. I grew up with the swamp cooler on top of our house. Now I live in the mid west and have to deal with humidity. I'm not sure which I would rather have. And now they are calling for 6 inches of snow on Saturday. The last snowfall we got was almost 10 inches. We are about done with the shoveling and snowblower. Bring on Spring.

Amy, a third of you soup and a few bites of mushies. That's got to feel weird but cool. And it is weird how the band affects each and everyone of us.

It must be that the heavier you are that it is easier to lose a little faster. I have never watched Biggest Loser. But I see the commercials for it. I'm not sure I could spend 4-5 hours in a gym and then take in so few calories. My choice of exercise is walking. I would walk to N.Y. and back if I could. Well, actually if my feet and knees wold allow me to. I don't mind going to the gym but would prefer outside execising. So waiting for spring to get here and we can uncover the pool and I can get back to my laps. Everyone one knows that I am the first one in the pool and that they have to wait till I get my 40 laps in. So come on spring and summer.

I think we all get frustrated with the band. I was banded in 2008 and lost 70 pounds, I've since regained and now know when I have a problem with the band to see my doctor. Well, I'm on my way now and really hoping that this time I will lose the weight I gained back (about 30 pounds) then proceed past that amount! As of today, I'm back on LapBandTalk which helped me so much before. I'm committed to this journey and know it takes time to reach success! So, hello, to everyone on there, it's nice to meet all of you and hear your concerns (which are often my own!) This looks like a fantastic thread!

So, hello, to everyone on there, it's nice to meet all of you and hear your concerns (which are often my own!) This looks like a fantastic thread!

Welcome! This is a great thread with a lot of wonderful participants. We definitely all get frustrated with the band. I know that for me, I spent so long dreaming about being thin that when it finally seemed realistic to expect to achieve it (when I got banded and saw the first few lbs come off) I wanted it all right away. I forgot that weight put on over a couple of decades doesn't come off over night. So I got off track, but I'm back on it and this thread is definitely helping me stay there!

Mushies today for me, starting with Greek yogurt. Whole foods has a blueberry-pomegranate flavor that is my new addiction, and I don't usually like blueberry yogurt. But yum!

Anyway, have a great day, everyone. I know we can all do whatever we decide to do!

Not in the same boat but I wish u much success with starting over.

So I had my fill today. Was expecting a lecture, but none! Actually forgot what some restriction actually felt like sicne it has been 10 months since my last fill. Had less in my band than I thought which was good news to me. Thought I had 4cc and I actually had only 3 which made me feel a little better. I know 7 is too much since it makes me very sick and now i know 3 is not enough. This is day 1 of the do over!

So I had my fill today. Was expecting a lecture, but none! Actually forgot what some restriction actually felt like sicne it has been 10 months since my last fill. Had less in my band than I thought which was good news to me. Thought I had 4cc and I actually had only 3 which made me feel a little better. I know 7 is too much since it makes me very sick and now i know 3 is not enough. This is day 1 of the do over!

Yay for your fill. I know finally getting filled after almost seven months of nothing made a big difference for me. In hope this help and sets you on the path to reaching your green zone!

I lost 155 lbs and it will be 14 months next week. Everyone does lose at a diff rate and their drs/nut have different plans. I have had one fill. I ate 500-600 calories a day and exercised to burn that much each day. Now that I am at goal I am trying to eat a little more 750 calories and I still exercise each day. I am preparing for hip replacement so have to do some required exercise each day for pre-op.

My nut always and still does say only eat when hungry. That your body will tell you when it needs fuel. Learning to get over the head hunger and lifelong routine of eating set meal times was very hard.

Oh, thank goodness it is Saturday, so I can actually keep to a schedule! Lol. Somehow it seems as if events since my fill on Wednesday have been conspiring to make it so hard to eat actual meals at normal times. I've done fine with my calories, but it's difficult to keep from getting too hungry or to make a smooth transition of liquids to solids when constantly on the run. Thursday I had lunch out, which also threw me off, and had appointments and errands that kept me away from the house basically from after breakfast (actually drank a protein shake) until nearly dinner time. And yesterday, I ended up having to run one of my dogs to the vet in the morning and only got home in time to run my car into the shop at noon time. That was the worst, since I wasn't able to have any regular meals and ended up sipping parts of a protein shake throughout the day whenever I could get near the fridge.

Today, though, my only plans are to plant myself at my desk and work (and occasionally check in here, of course) so I'm hopeful I can go back to my regular meals and actually have the time and focus to check in with my body to see how my hunger and satiety are doing after the latest fill. If I think I'm going to need more, I need to call my doctor by Wednesday, or else I'll have to pay for an additional visit, so I need to figure it out soon. I'd rather not spend that money if I don't have to!

So that's me. I hope all of you are doing well, and that everyone has a great weekend.

Well, someone is plotting against me. 6 inches of snow. It sure would be nice to get outside and get so e walking done. Looks like it will have to wait for a little while.

Amy, were you able to get some stuff done and get back on schedule? It is hard when things don't go our way. Wouldn't it be nice if we could control the weather and time. Seems like we could really get ourselves on track and stay that way.

Four days till I see my doc again. I'm nervous to find out if I have lost any weight or not. I hope I have lost enough so that she see that I at least tried. Back before my first surgery I was at a great spot. I would really love to be back there again. Not sure how long it will take for that. I remember that I could do no bread. If we got hamburgers, I had to take the bun off. One time we wereback at my nephews for his daughters birthday party and that had hot dogs and chips. I am a hot dog hound. I grabbed me one and put mustard and onions on it and by the second bite, I was handing it over to my husband. It just sucked. But that is the restriction I hope to be back at sometime soon.

So it's batton down the hatches and head straight into my appointment. I'm think I'm ready,,,,,I think. LOL.

Well, I was able to get back on schedule this weekend, which was a help. Did well with my healthy meals, but I'm still averaging only around 1000 calories. I've decided that as long as I'm losing, I'm not going to obsess, but if I stall, I'll try upping the count. For now, I'm still doing well.

My big discovery of the weekend is that this pesky green zone is even more elusive than I realized. I was very excited by my satiety this weekend lasting around 4 hours between meals, which is what I've been waiting for. I was all set to declare myself in the green zone, especially since I have had no trouble eating normal solids, no sticking, no PBs, nothing negative. Then it hit -- mild heartburn. Not all the time, but for the first time since I was banded, so I think that instead of another fill, I may need to call my doctor tomorrow and see if I can get a teeny-tiny unfill. Since they just added 0.25cc on Wednesday and my symptoms are very mild, I think that if they take out even 0.1cc I should be just fine and maybe even officially green. I'll update once I know.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Hey everyone! I called my doctor's office this morning and spoke to my surgeon's bariatric nurse (the one who actually put in the last fill). She listened to my story and said that since my symptoms are very mild and not all the time (heartburn happens no more than once or twice a day and goes away without medication), I might want to wait a week before deciding on an unfill. She said I could still have a little swelling and that it may still resolve itself as I get used to the new fill. I can take an OTC med if I choose, but as long as it is going away on its own and not being a big problem, I shouldn't worry too much, but call back in another week if I still have it.

I have to admit that I'm a little relieved. I really do think I may be in the green zone, and based on what I told her, the nurse agrees. I know it would have been a different story if I'd had any episodes of being stuck, sliming or PBing, but she really seemed to think that this might be residual swelling and my stomach just becoming accustomed to this fill level. As long as I can still eat and drink, the HB is mild and I'm having not trouble eating or sleeping, and no night cough, I should be good. Yay! I'm so ready to just keep on trucking and heading toward my goal!

Hope everyone has a great day!