It seems we're all playing "follow the leader" with our journey. We were all excited with anticipation, then somewhat disappointed roughly 1 month out... and here we are over 3 months later.

Just wondering how everyone else is doing? How many fills? How much have you lost? How many cc's in your band? Are you happy, or still in the "Bandster Hell" phase?

Personally, I'm finally liking the band. I was NOT a big fan at first (felt as though it wasn't working at all!). After 3 fills (5.5 CC's in a AP Small band), I finally feel content. I'm slowly losing, and I'm confident I'll pick up the pace after my next fill (2 weeks). It was long and agonizing waiting for restriction - but, I can honestly say the "sweet spot" is within view.

I hope you're all starting to make nice with your bands too!

:smile:

Hello All the Tenacious Tens,

I haven't posted in awhile but nice to see everyone is doing well. My surgery was 10/11/07 and so far I've lost 61 lbs. and down to a size 14:thumbup:

My doctor has me on low carbs (less than 30 a day) and I'm at the point that I am running out of variety to eat. I also know I need to get exercising, which I haven't really done too much of.

Is anyone else trying to do low carbs? If so, what types of foods are you eating? I'd love to get some other ideas.

Sue

Wow! That is awesome! I am doing low carb too and I have to admit that it does help! I started out doing a weight watchers type thing then when restriction hit I switched to low carb and it has been pretty steady since. I have lost about 45 since surgery on October 5. I am in 16s and approaching 14s and can't wait! I was doing Curves, but recently switched to the YMCA for something more. So far so good. I made some low carb spaghetti the other night, it was great! Dreamlands makes a low carb Pasta with 5 g of carb per serving. I have been looking for some variety too!

kbinaz, when you put it that way, you are right. i am sure without the band i would have gained 10 pounds at least. thanks for setting me straight!!!!!!

i went through the hair loss thing also ! i called my dr.s office and talked to the dietician who advised to make sure i was getting enough biotin and flax or fish oil every day. he also told me its is most likely caused from the rapid weight loss. my hair loss was like an all over heavy shedding-no patches. it has finally subsided and he also assured me that the hair would come back in and it is- i have little short hairs all over coming in . hope this helps- i too tried to find posts on anyones hair loss and wasnt very successful.

tiff

I was banded Oct 22nd started at 219 and I am only at 207 the last time I went to the doctors office for a fill. I think that I totally suck at my food choices maybe because I can't really eat real food and I eat very little. I am going to see the dietician today so we will see how much hope she gives me. I do exercise not much but I do and here is a sample of what I eat.

AM - Yoplait yogurt

lunch - Mushy Masa basically this is corn mill cooked with onion, tomate, and chille it is a mexican dish anyways I eat like a cup maybe.

Sample LUnch- Canned Soup, Canned Raviolis, Canned Chef Boy R D stuff, grilled chicken

Snack- sometimes whatever I find

Dinner- Cereal, Pasta

Drink only Water always.

I have noticed that sometimes when I eat I get this freaking pain in my stomach. I get a lot of slimy nasty saliva also.

Please if you have any suggestions please share them with me. I will post what the dietician gives me later today.

hi there

wow-you are eating lots of carbs and really soft gushy foods. i would first get rid of the chef boy r d completely. they dont use all real meat and there is tons of hidden sugar in the sauce and the pasta. only choose whole grain pasta. the masa is all soft gushy carbs too. do you make tamales? are you avoiding cream based soups? they are loaded with fat.

i am glad to hear that you are going to see your dietician. be really honest with him/her about what you are eating and what portions. i would ask for a few tips on looking for hidden sugars in your food choices so you can really avoid these and ask what eating priorities they would like you to fallow for instance when i eat i eat my lean meat first then veggies then carbs like whole grain bread. you mentioned you coould eat a cup-i am guessing you need a fill. my first two fills only gave me mild restriction and i could still eat tooo much then i got my 3rd fill and thats when the magic happened.

also for me - i only walk 4-5 days a week for 30 minutes but it makes all the difference for me when it comes to weight loss. get your booty out there and get movin!

to help me keep enough lean protien readily handy i will usually cook a batch of something up that the whole family and i can eat for 2-3 days at a time for instance i will roast a bunch of chicken or grill some really lean 96% lean burger patties and have them ready to eat. i will find what ever is on sale at the grocery store.

get out your 1/2 cup measuring cup and keep it out on the counter all the time to use measure your portion. i am only supposed to eat 1/2 cup in a 2-3 hour period so i dont stretch out my pouch.

maybe this sounds funny but a lot of the time i will just fill my 1/2c. measuring cup an eat right out of it so i dont make another dish to wash! call me lazy or crazy but it works for me. keeps me on track so i dont eat too much. my dietician also wants me to eat every 2-3 hours-never going past 3 hours with out eating. even if i dont fell hungry i am supposed to have at least afew bites of something so my blood sugar stayes level. they dont want me to get low blood sugar because it can make you want to over eat and eat the wrong foods. so generally i will have about 6-7 very small meals through out the day and this works.

i would definitely say youu need to get more lean protein goin in your diet. other than the chicken you mentioned you are carbing up.

i make my carbs about 1/3 to 1/4 of each meal.

i have some other ideas on cooking lean meats if you would like some other ideas.

i really hope this helps you and please let me know what your visit with your dietician reveals.

tiff

Edited April 3, 200818 yr by honeyroast

sorry i totally forgot about mentioning my water intake. when i first get up in the morning i pound at least 10 oz. i also have my coffee. . about 10 minutes before i eat every small meal i will also have another 10 oz.. -so 6-7 10oz cups right there.

i like to drink tea also so in between meals i will usually have tea. i am not supposed to drink for a minimum of 1 hour after any meal, but because i drink enough right before my meal i am fine with this and dont get thirsty. i really try to avoid eating salty anything because this can make me overly thirsty.

you know i had a list that the dietician gave me with all these little rules to fallow. if yours doesnt give you a printed list you might want make one for yourself and post where you will readily see it in the kitchen when you go to eat.

this really helped me until all of these little rules became routine for me.

but i am the kind that needs constant reminding in my face so i can stay on track.

keep in touch and let me know what happens.

tiff

Edited April 3, 200818 yr by honeyroast

WOW thanks for all the 411! You are right about the carbs and yes I need to get out and exercise! Yes the masa is kinda like tamales but without the meat and all the work you kinda just cook it in a pan. It is the bomb! What if I have strected my band maybe. I get a lot of slimy spit all the time and even mushy stuff gets stuck sometimes and I have been throwing up some. I can say however that I have just about taken myself off of insulin (Lantuse 100 units am and pm, and Humalog 10-60 units at am, every meal and pm) I am down to 30 units of Lantus twice a day am and pm and 2 glucophage pills 500mg each. Humalog is almost non existance to me every so often I take maybe 2-4 units if I need to.

Yes, I would love to see your list and rules! You can send them to me bleeg2000@hotmail.com

Well I had my third fill March 18th and I'm down a total of 26 lbs and 2 dress sizes. It doesn't seem like much but it is so much more than I probably could have done on my own. I'm reminding myself that I'm keeping the weight off this time. This time last year I vacationed at the beach. I love the beach but I was miserable much of the time because I was disgusted with myself. Nothing fit. When I walked on the beach, which I love, I was sure people were staring and talking about me. Probably not but at the time I felt like it. I made an emergency run to the local Wal Mart to buy some larger clothes and had a terrible time finding anything decent. I ended up buying a pair of koolots (how do you spell that?!) which were really tight. They are so loose now that I can pull them down without unbuttoning them. I think I will keep them as a momento.

I was banded on October 15th 2007 so today is exactly 6 months and I couldn't be happier. I've had 3 fills so far and am due for the 4th in two weeks. So far 3.7cc's in a 14cc band. My Dr. uses a fluoroscope to see exactly how much to put in.

My restriction licked in after the 2nd fill and really walloped me after the 3rd. That one changed my eating habits completely and it was only a .4cc fill.

All of my co-workers have noticed how much weight I've lost and I see other people in the office building glance at me when I am waiting for an elevator. Even some of the ladies are giving me a second look now and that hasn't happened (in a good way) for a long time.

I haven't posted on this thread in awhile, but I am nearing my 6 month bandiversary on April 24th, and I love my band. I am now in ONEDERLAND. I have a new lease on life. The old me that was hidden is coming back. I love my band. I love my life.

HELLO ALL!!! TODAY IS MY BANDVERSARY!!! I WAS BANDED ON OCT. 16 AND I LOVE HOW IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!!!:thumbup: I HAVE A 10CC BAND AND I AM AT 3CC'S. MY LAST FILL WAS THE MOST CHANGE AND I THINK I AM NOW AT MY SWEET SPOT... I HAVE WENT FROM A SIZE 26/28 IN PANTS DOWN TO A SIZE 18/20.:wink: I AM SO EXCITED!! I AM NOW STRIVING TO GET BELOW 200 LBS AND BE ABLE TO SEE A 1 IN FRONT OF MY WEIGHT INTSTEAD OF A 2 OR LIKE AT THE BEGINNING A 3.:confused:

Some of you need to pull up your big girl (or boy) pants and get on with it, don't you think?

AMEN! You hit the nail on the head in your post. How are you doing these days? I know this was in January.

I've just spent the past hour (or so:biggrin:) ... reading the nice posts on here. I'm so grateful for this thread. Tomorrow is a fill for me and I almost called to cancel. I'm sitting here with an injured knee and I can't do much which is why I started reading the posts.

Anywho, I almost canceled due to knee, and due to my doctor who can be a PITA. :rolleyes2: I think he is v. nice, but he is always on my case. I think he is really a good person and that this may be his motivational technique. Keep your day job doc.

I sincerely am doing the best I can right now. I am NOT perfect but I am putting my best effort forth. And I'm having results. This is with PCOS, and according to my surgeon, it is with female pattern obesity, which he sez goes v. slowly opposed to male pattern obesity which comes off faster. Also, after my surgery he told my dh that I had almost zero abdominal muscles. He said that those muscles are your 'core' and set your metabolism, so put all of that together and I'm doing great. I MUST remember to remind him next time I see him. :biggrin:

I hope someone out there who is feeling the way I did, reads this thread and sees that we are all different, we have different appetites, different metabolisms and now we can see different fills as well.

Keep up the good work all of you, and I hope to get that sweet spot that I hear so much about.

I was banded Oct 22nd started at 219 and I am only at 207 the last time I went to the doctors office for a fill. I think that I totally suck at my food choices maybe because I can't really eat real food and I eat very little. I am going to see the dietician today so we will see how much hope she gives me. I do exercise not much but I do and here is a sample of what I eat.

AM - Yoplait yogurt

Lunch - Mushy Masa basically this is corn mill cooked with onion, tomate, and chille it is a mexican dish anyways I eat like a cup maybe.

Sample LUnch- Canned soup, Canned Raviolis, Canned Chef Boy R D stuff, grilled chicken

Snack- sometimes whatever I find

Dinner- cereal, pasta

Drink only water always.

I have noticed that sometimes when I eat I get this freaking pain in my stomach. I get a lot of slimy nasty saliva also.

Please if you have any suggestions please share them with me. I will post what the dietitian gives me later today.

You might think I'm crazy but if your band is too tight you will struggle to get down the proper types of protein. Because you are eating a lot of carbs and with our band, we must eat protein 70+ grams per day and keep carbs under 50, or speak to your doc about the right numbers.

My band was rather tight and I had a hard time getting water down but I could eat candy that disolved easily, and believe me after a few days of eating NOTHING, not even protein drinks would go down, I sucked on all sorts of candy, which are high in carbs. Well I dropped 3 pounds in a week, but I was so weak and crappy feeling that I finally went in and had it adjusted. I gained the 3 pounds back PRONTO and have had to work extra hard to get them off, my body shut down to preserve what energy it could .

I digress... sorry... my point was, that oatmeal for breakfast seems good, but is really bad for us who are trying to lose weight. Start out with a protein drink...