Oregondaisy

Janet, I have been wondering where you went! You haven't checked in on the over 50's thread. The band is great. I had no trouble losing the 5 lbs I gained in Arizona when I was stressed out to the max. I am actually going to try to lose some more. I thought I would be happy at this weight, but over the weekend, my friend took pictures of me. I still look fat in those pictures. I don't have a skin problem other than my arms, and that is what I was afraid of if I lost anymore.

I am a twice a day weigher. First thing in the morning after going potty, and right before bed. If I have fallen off the wagon and I ate something I am not supposed to eat, I will sometimes give up the evening weigh in. I know, I am obsessed with the scale.

If you can eat and aren't throwing up, you can wait and see how it goes. Sometimes fills will loosen on their own. If you just got it, give it a few days or another week. You said you're able to eat healthy foods. If you can do that without throwing up, it sounds like it's a good fill. You may not need another one until you get close to your goal. You can be your own judge. If you feel like you just can't eat more than a very few bites and it's not enough, you're the one that has to decide. If you aren't hungry, and you can eat healthy foods, it sounds pretty perfect to me.

A perfect fill is when you get full on a small amount of food and stay full for several hours until the next meal time. A perfect fill is also when you get full and don't think about eating for awhile.

I wish I could decide that I wanted to keep losing and I kept losing. I seem to be stuck and not losing anymore. I can't handle any more fill either. I exercise all the time, and my body seems to like the weight I am at, even though I would love to lose 15-20 more lbs. Are you doing anything special to keep losing or just following bandster rules?

I think we need more information. Your food is sticking but you are not throwing up, right? Are you making sure you chew it up until it's liquid in your mouth? Are you able to eat 3 meals per day? To answer your question, yes, it's possible to be so tight that the weight loss stops.

I use the restaurant card all the time. It lets me order off the senior menu or the child's menu. It's great! If I go out to eat and order off the regular menu, I usually get 3 meals out of it. If you're on liquids, you can go to a Chinese restaurant and order egg flower soup. I did that a lot. It made me feel less deprived. It was on my list of foods I could have.

I am sick of the scale not moving and will probably stick to protein drinks for a couple of days and see if I can get it to move. Even low carb can be high calories. When I do the protein drinks, I know exactly how many calories I am getting. It's easy to not count the calories right because the portion is never exactly the same as what I can find listed.

I like the South Beach meal that is chicken in some sort of spaghetti type sauce with broccoli. I can't eat all of it, but I like to make it on my lunch break. I will usually eat the rest of it for dinner and just add a bit more chicken.

People keep telling you to go for an unfill and it would seem to me that it's the logical answer, if you hadn't already done that. I have never heard of anyone continuing to have these problems with no fill. I hope you get some answers soon.

I am not sure where you are in Southern Oregon. Dr. Tersigni's support group meetings are the 2nd tuesday of the month. They are in the basement of the North Bend Medical Center. You have to drive around to the back of the building and you will see a door propped open. They start at 7:00. There are a lot of gastric bypass patients but we are getting more and more lap band people all the time. There are usually at least 3 or 4 lap band people. Robin usually has a topic do discuss which benefits anyone trying to lose weight or maintain their weight loss no matter what surgery you had. You don't have to have had your surgery by him either. Anyone is welcome that wants support.

Constipation has been a problem for me since banding and on Atkins. That's why I don't do strict Atkins. I will eat fruit. I guess it's more like South Beach. Lean meats, fruits and lots of veggies. I don't do so well with the veggies unless I make myself a big salad with a lot of different veggies in there. I've tried Benefiber and all it does is give me gas. doesn't do much for the problem.

It's a shame she wrote this last august and never came back to tell us how she is doing. It would also be good if she would tell who the dr was. has anyone from her area tried sending her a private message? I would be doing that if I lived near her to make sure her doctor didn't operate on me!

Yes, stay on liquids for 24 hours and mushies for a couple of days after that. Eat very slowly chewing well in between bites. When you have solids, make sure you're taking tiny bites and chewing it up until it's liquid in your mouth. If you still have trouble after that, you need to go in and have a tiny bit taken out.

They have laughing cow lite cheese too. I snack on those too.

Wow! I hope they find out what is wrong. I am glad you went to the dr. I will be anxious to hear what you find out. I would have thought the upper GI would have shown it if something was wrong. I am glad you're going for further tests.

I don't count calories anymore. I know what size portion I can have just cause I have been banded long enough. I try not to eat sugar, but I mess up on occasion. The rest of the rules are easy to follow.I don't drink with meals, I work out 6 days a week, I always eat protein first. I don't have caffeine but then I again, I have never been a coffee drinker. The only thing I drink is water.

It's nice to see someone that has had the band that long. I always worry something is going to go wrong and I will lose my band. I am at goal too, and it's a big worry that I will gain the weight back. I know it's kind of silly, but the band seems to good to be true.

No problem! Lori was 25 when she had the surgery. She is an RN so she knows what can happen if she forgets any of her Vitamins. She gained 30 lbs during her pregnancy and has lost 20 of it. This last 10, she is going to have to work a little harder to take off. She didn't eat carbs at all the first year. During her pregnancy, she pretty much ate whatever she wanted. She pretty much can't eat fat or sugar or gets sick. (Like tartar sauce makes her sick.) I am sure you have heard of dumping. She can eat one Cookies, but if she eats two, she is sick. She is thrilled with her surgery. We go to the support groups that our doctor has. That's how I found out about banding, by going to her support groups. People come in that want to have the surgery, and are waiting for insurance. She said if her insurance wouldn't have paid for it, she would have sold her house. The nurse that holds the support groups had the same surgery as her, and she always stresses how very important the Calcium and bariatric vitamins are. Like I said, I was very against her having the surgery. It really scarred me. Her friend has had it and was doing fine, and there was no way I could talk her out of it. She is married and on her own, so there was not a thing I could do about it though. Now I can see it was the right thing for her. She went from 325 to 160 in a year. She had her surgery a year before I did, in Dec. of 05. She's 27 now. She had a great pregnancy and my grandson weighed 7lbs 5 oz.

I know I have just under 3 ccs in a 4 cc band. I was at 3cc's and I was too tight. I told him to take a tiny bit out and leave me just under 3ccs. It's been perfect since Dec.

I use the weight machines at the gym. I have gained so much muscle in my thighs that when I try to pinch them, I can't pinch any fat. It's the first time in my life my thighs don't stick out farther than my hips. I also do squats, lunges, and what they call bench dips for my arms. When I work with my trainer, he has me do all sorts of things different from what I do. If you get the book "body for life" it shows all the exercises we need to do.I got it out of the library when I first started working out. There is a class at my gym with weights that I just love. At this gym they call it "Group Power" In Arizona at that gym, the called it "Body Pump" They are almost the identical class.

I weigh just about as soon as I get up. I go potty and weight myself right away before breakfast. today I had protein drink for breakfast lunch- salad dinner lamb gyros meat

You may be at your sweet spot for now, but it probably won't last. As we lose weight, we lose fat around our stomach. The band then loosens, and you need another fill. Try to find Wendall Edwards post, about how the band works, fills and unfills. It's a sticky I believe under fills.

There really is no perfect way to know that. At my last appt. I told my dr. not to tell me how much he gave me. I got all hung up on the number of cc's when really all that matters is how you feel. I have perfect restriction right now. I can eat and I don't slime or throw up unless I am careless and chew my food.

I don't see why as Plain said, you can't just ask her. If she won't take your phone calls ( and if you care enough to save the friendship) send her a card. There are all sorts of "thinking of you type cards" Just write in the card that you don't understand what is going on or whatever you would like to say to her. I have done that before and resolved problems with people.