Hello! I am a "newly banded" woman. My surgery was done in Covington, Louisiana by Dr. James Redmond, on January 2, 2008.

After losing weight for 20 years :wink: , I finally decided to do something about it! I am both excited and nervous. I've done very well, returning to work on January 7th.

I'm glad that I found this forum, so I'll have friends to help me through this.

Hi Michelle,

I was banded January 3rd and wish I had found this page before I started!

How are you feeling?

I'm feeling pretty good. Haven't had any complications. I've lost 18 pounds. I'm looking forward to being thin again! I can't keep myself from weighing ever day! I know I'm not supposed to , but I do!

Congratulations for taking that first step... SURGERY. I'm fairly new to LBT. I was banded on October 3, 2007. I think it's awesome that you're returning to work so quickly. My recovery was awful. The pain was bad. I had a burning sensation that lasted for three full weeks.

I have no regrets as far as choosing surgery. It's hard work though! I've slacked off a bit with keeping my food journal, and I'm not drinking lots of Water. I'm glad for this website. It seems that we're ALL going through the same ups and downs.

~Anne

I'm glad to hear from you guys! Haven't had many replies here.:waytogo: I've mainly just introduced myself and peeked at a few places. I know , I should get out more! I need to put a weight tracker on here, but not sure how. I'll have to look into it.

Are you having problems keeping within the food list guidelines? or eating too much? I'll have my first fill on February 13. Do you do protein shakes or just food? I can't stand baked fish, so I'm doing protein shakes.

Any and ALL advice will be appreciated!!!

Hi Michelle,

I'm not following food list guidelines, not really. As time went by, I tested the waters with some foods and found that they could go down. I admit, I've been thrilled that I can still eat a bagel as long as I chew it thoroughly. I had one BAD incident with a bagel. I wasn't paying attention to my chewing or speed of eating. Food got stuck and it had to come up. When food gets stuck, you will feel pain and pressure. If you don't belch or get some kind of relief, you'll bring it up by coughing (at least that's how it worked for me). It came up with a lot of slimy Fluid. They use different terms in this forum (PB'ing and sliming), but I don't understand them. I only know that PB stands for productive burp.

I've had no desire to put rice, Pasta, steak, or pork in my mouth because they can most likely cause issues. I'm proud that I haven't had one drop of soda since October 1st. I do miss it, some days more than others. It's not worth a possible complication and going back to the O.R. if the band slips. The carbonation is the culprit.

I went to my support group meeting last Wednesday, and it seems that several of us (or at least a few of us) are struggling with our sweet tooth, perhaps more so since the holiday season. I started eating Cookies during the holidays, and it's the worst thing I could have done. I'm hearing that some of us have the sweet tooth problem, and others have the salty/crunchy junk food problem.

I know that there are hard-core self-disciplined patients out there, but I don't know if it's the norm. I would think that many of us have our weak spots. I would advise you to stick to your food list guidelines as much as you can. While you're on your post-op diet, try to think of ways to not fall into bad habits. I don't know if this will work or not, and I don't know how much willpower you have. I need to work on the sweets! One option would be to only allow myself one sweet per week or something like that, but I'm not there yet.

As far as Protein drinks, I really like Worldwide Pure Protein Drinks (Shakes?). The best two flavors are vanilla and chocolate. I think the banana is awful. The best price I've found is at VigorousLiving.com. Worldwide has two drinks. I like the one with 35 grams protein. It's 11 ounces, very low carbs, and 160 calories.

I have the larger 10cc band, which can actually be filled much more than 10cc. I've had three fills so far (6.5 cc total), and I'm having another fill next Thursday. I've read threads here where people are in the same boat as me. We'll eat a meal, but won't feel sustained for more than a couple of hours. Part of it may be mental, but I do start to get hungry again. If this happens, and you're eating right, than you're probably going to need more restriction. My nutritionist reminds me that Snacks like yogurt aren't going to be satisfying for long because yogurt is basically a liquid. Same with maybe eating some dry Cheerios. She calls that dust. I've been told to focus on the heavier food during a meal (i.e., the meat, then veggies), and for snack cheese and crackers. Jell-O isn't going to satisfy for long.

I feel like I've been rambling. I hope I've been of some help. You can ask me anything! Feel free to send me e-mail. I think you just have to click on Messages (in the right margin).

As far as Tickers go, if you see a ticker that you like, click on it and you'll be taken to that website. I've seen a few different ticker websites in use. I chose TickerFactory.com. Once you create your ticker, you'll see the URL code for it. Be sure to copy and paste the entire code into the large text box where you Edit Signature (see the right margin).

~Anne