Oregondaisy

Are you talking about in the chat room?

How big of bites of chicken are you eating? I cut mine into slivers, not chunks. I chew it up until it's liquid in my mouth, and wait to see how it feels. I can tell if it's stuck. Do you think it's possible that you're making your bites too big?

Hey there Denise - We are the popcorn girls I don't consider that to be a good thing. I go to the movies a lot and it's very hard when my friends buy the biggest bag. I can buy the kiddie size, but they always want to share their's. I usually will bring propel water. It tastes good and it makes me feel like I am having a treat. Normally the only thing I drink is regular water, no crystal light, etc, so the propel water is a nice treat, for only 25 calories.

In order to do the resting metabolic test, I couldn't exercise for 48 hours before the test. It had to be done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. They hooked me up to a computer, plugged my nose off with a thing like a clothes pin, and I breathed in and out of my mouth for 20 min. Then a computer print out came out that said just sitting there breathing, I burn about 1,000 calories per day. It showed a graph showing me to have a very slow metabolism. It showed me that I need to eat less than 1,000 calories per day and exercise if I wanted to lose. There are so many people here who have had gastric bypass. Our hospital is one of the largest employers in this town. The hospital insurance was covering it for several years. They no longer cover it, because I am sure they paid out an incredible amount of money with so many people having it done. The people that have kept the weight off are in the minority. Most of them thought it was a magic cure and they would never have to watch their weight ever again. The ones that having the dumping syndrome and can't eat sugar are the ones that do the best. There are quite a few people I know that can still eat sugar in great quantities. Sugar is my biggest downfall as well.

Me too. He told me he is going to delete his match profile. He has computer problems lately. I am going to offer the use of my computer

There is no comparison as far as I am concerned. I was in terrible pain after my c sections. I had my lap band surgery on Fri and went back to work on Mon. I have a desk job, but it only felt like I had done a few sit ups, with a little bit of muscle pain.

I have 14 years clean. It's pretty easy for me to see that I am addicted to food. It's kind of strange as I watch the newcomers come in all skinny and sick looking, then the longer they are in recovery, they get fat. It's so easy to use food as a drug of choice!

Hey I just found a guy on match.com and it's looking very promising. That is after meeting many frogs in my search to find my prince.

I never thought I would be successful with the band. I lost 22 lbs on the post op diet and nothing for months afterward. It was when I had my doctor do the resting metabolic test that I found out exactly how many calories per day I could eat and how much exercise I needed to do to lose weight. The test showed that I have a very slow metabolism but weight loss is still possible. I definitely lost much slower than others and still went on long plateaus, but eventually, I got the weight off. Brandy, how is your daughter doing? I am sure she knows that even though with gastric bypass weight loss is fast and easy in the beginning, but that the new pouch can be stretched out. I have so many friends that got so skinny with gastric bypass and have gained most of their weight back now that about 5 years has gone by. I sincerely hope that is not my daughter's case. She and I go to support group,and everyone talks about how hard it is to break old habits and to keep the weight off with either surgery.

Hey single bandsters! I have good news! I met a guy from match.com He is attractive, dresses nice, seems very sweet and the best news of all, he wants to see me again. I am WAY excited!

Brandy, I love mediums!

I sent you a private message, since this is a topic about fills. It's best to stay on the topic of the thread.

Gwen, I find that exercise is the best thing for stress. I started exercising to lose weight long before I was banded. I never lost any weight, but soon discovered that when I don't exercise, I am in a bad mood. The weight loss came with banding, but now that exercise has been part of my daily life for 4 years, I get really annoyed when anyone or anything interferes with my gym time.

Brandy are you stinky?

As far as the protein goes, I have heard that the body can't absorb more than 25 grams of protein at once. I personally like the Atkins drinks. They are cheap and easy to find. They only come in chocolate and stawberry though. I did drink a lot of low carb slim fast in the beginning too, but I found them to be too sweet eventually. Most people like Ungury but I am not good about ordering things online. Netrition.com has a lot of stuff and the good thing about them is that no matter how much you order, it's only 4.95 shipping.

That is true. Never be afraid to ask questions. Those of us who have been banded awhile and finally made it to goal are usually very willing to help anyone. Living with the band is a learning experience. There is also extremely good information to be found by doing thread searches, or going back and reading from the different sections. When I was first banded and for I would say the first 6 months, I spent hours and hours here!

There is a fat pad around the stomach that we can not see. This fat pad shrinks just like the rest of us when we are losing weight. That's why after we have lost some weight, we can suddenly feel looser and we need another fill. When you are close to goal, the fat pad is mostly gone. I have had the same fills since Dec. and I don't think I will ever need another one. Wendall describes this very well on the 1st page of this thread. After surgery, I did 4 weeks of liquids. On my post op diet I could have protein drinks, soups that I put in a blender so there were no chunks, sugar free jello, and yogurt with no sugar added. After 4 weeks of liquids, I was on mushies for another 2 weeks. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I am happy to help anyone at any time.

I drink a lot of protein drinks too. I don't consider protein drinks eating around the band. There are times when I am just not hungry and nothing sounds good. I know I need the protein, and for 120 calories, a protein drink is a good choice.

Jacqui's description is very accurate but I would like to add that eating chips and other junk food that goes down easy is also eating around the band. People have trouble with chicken, yet cheetos go down like there is no band.

I was on full liquids for four weeks and mushies for two weeks after that.

Yes, you are not chewing enough and maybe taking too big of bites. That's what happens when food gets stuck and can't go through the band. The sweet spot is when you are full and satisfied on a small portion of food and stay full until your next meal. It can change as you loose weight. Just like the beginning of this thread talks about, as you lose fat around your stomach, the band gets looser. The sweet spot doesn't last until you are nearly at goal.

Actually, most bandsters can eat pop corn just fine. I buy those 100 calorie bags when I crave popcorn. I could easily eat way too much of it. It goes right down for me like there is no band there at all.

A slip can be fixed by going back on the liquid diet. I have heard of many people having their's fixed this way. I have a friend that has been banded for 6 years. She decided to get unfilled to see how she would do. In 2 months she gained 16 lbs. I would really think it over before having the band removed. Your band hasn't been working the way it should, and has caused you all these problems. If it were working the way it should, you would be able to eat small portions and be perfectly happy with it. That is just my opinion, because I have no problems with my band. I stopped throwing up when I had a small unfill, and since then, I eat anything I want to eat in small portions.

The band does a lot of the work for me. I ended up eating out twice today. lunch I ordered a shrimp salad. I could only eat the shrimp and nothing else. I really wasn't even hungry at dinner time. The only thing the band doesn't help me with is head hunger. That is up to me. Having the right fill makes a huge difference.

Thanks for that article Janet. That really helped me a lot. I have been doing really good this week with not eating after dinner. I want to break that habit. Yvonne, don't worry. The band will work for you. I was really worried that it wouldn't work for me. It really didn't work for me until I got the right fill. I am one of the people that can eat anything I want without trouble. Tonight my daughter wanted to go for pizza. I didn't want to because it's not really a good calorie choice, but it was really what she wanted. I ordered myself a little mini pizza and the pieces are like 2-3" long. They are tiny. I ate one piece (cheese pizza, no toppings) and the cheese off one other piece. I was stuffed. There is no way I could have eaten more. In the past, I would have eaten the entire pizza, and wanted some of my daughter's too. Restriction is a great thing!