Oregondaisy

I have a friend in the Portland area. I am going to give her your email address. She was banded by my dr. the same day as me. I think she could really use the support!

1/2 and hour is way better than an hour. I am really careful to not drink anything for an hour after a meal, but I will follow your instructions for an in between meal snack. I have never remembered to ask my dr. about this one.

You're really lucky Jack. I have heard of people like you. The husband of Dr. Tersigni's nurse, lost 85 lbs without a fill. She said he had plenty of restriction without a fill. I was starving by the time it was time for my first fill.

Hey that's easy enough to try. I take so much stuff now, it's hard to get it through my band. But I have chewable vit. C, and I just forget to take them. I am willing to try anything at this point. Someone said to eat baby food prunes, but that didn't help me at all. I think some of the medications I have to take for my bad spine are constipating. Eating so much protein only adds to the problems.

I wish someone who has been banded for over a year would come in here and tell us when it stops. I am almost at 8 months now and it's not slowing down at all.

It sounds like they operate the Curves differently in different towns or states. I live in a really small town. Maybe they have changed things from when I went there. When I tried it, you had to sign a year contract. I have heard on the radio where they have specials where you don't have to pay a joining fee. One other thing I didn't like about it was that there was no way to adjust the weights. The machines that I use, I can adjust how much weight I want to work with, and adjust the entire machine to fit me. The cardio machines are all hooked up to tvs and that really makes the time go by quickly.

I will be really curious to hear if this helps you. I am at 2.5 right now, and not losing. I want to get up to around 2.75 or 2.80 like you. I know I can't handle more than that. I have heard from a lot of people, it takes a tight band to keep losing. I don't go until the first week in Sept. so I will be anxious to hear if you feel like this has been a help to you.

Derbygirl, I am really tired of not losing too. The only reason I have lost anything since June is because I had a very bad episode with throwing up and I put myself on liquids for a week. But, everyone tells me I won't lose any weight if I don't tighten my band. So I am getting another fill. I hope it helps. I don't care if I have to stay on a liquid diet at first if I am too tight. I didn't pay all this money to not lose weight. I just have to remember to slow down and stop eating like I don't have a band. It's hard when you're really hungry to start to eat too fast. That's what gets me in trouble. Jc, I can't wait to hear what you find out. I don't see why they can't replace your band if you need that. Does your insurance pay for this? I would really be in trouble if I needed mine replaced. I don't have another 10,000 to pay for a new band.

If you don't have a fill, you're going to be hungry. There's no doubt about that. That's why they call it ''banster hell" In the book "Body for Life , he says it's good to eat small meals every two to three hours. He says it keeps your metabolism constantly working. Maybe you should try that, instead of eating so much at once.

I am replying to this to bump it up in case someone in their 60's is looking for something like this. I hope this thread takes off. Older people have different issues than the people in their 30's etc.

Well you need to know that the band is not a magic cure. You will still be able to eat candy ice cream, etc. You still have to use willpower and exercise. If you get the right fills, you will have trouble eating bread, potatoes, noodles & pizza. The band works the best for volume eaters. If over eating is your problem, like you always go for seconds, and eat huge portions, the band will help with that. I had no recovery to speak of. I would have never known I had surgery other than the little marks on my tummy. I was out walking 3 dogs the day after surgery. I have thrown up, but it's because I didn't chew well enough or took too big of a bite. That comes after you have had fills. After you have fills, you do have to be careful to chew well so your food can go through the band. I had a lower bmi too, and I paid $10,000.00 for my band and I would do it again tomorrow. If I haven't answered your questions, feel free to ask some more.

If you don't have a fill yet, you can probably eat a cup of food without a problem. It's after you get fills that you are restricted to a certain amount before you feel too full to take another bite.

I didn't want to tell very many people after I had someone tell me that I was taking the easy way out. I don't feel that living with the band is all that easy. Some days it's easy, but not always. Plus, it's not like RNY where the weight just melts off . It's still just like being on a diet. Even with the band, I won't lose unless I eat right and exercise.

Audree, don't think for one minute we don't miss you when you don't post. It's actually nice to see others struggle and not just have the weight melt off. It makes me feel like I am doing something wrong, when I know I do what everyone tells me to do. I get a fill at the beginning of Sept. Can anyone tell me what they're doing to keep from being constipated? (too much information, I know) I try to eat some fruit, take fiber caplets, have been trying metamucil, I put benefiber in my water, etc. Nothing seems to help.

Guilty as charged. I weigh every morning and before I go to bed. It was really hard for me to be at my dad's house for a week because his scales did not agree with mine. So I weighed myself right before I took him to the dr. then weighed myself on the dr. 's scale as soon as I got there. The dr. scales weighed me what I weighed at home. I would completely freak out if I couldn't weigh every day. I guess I have OCD:rolleyes

I don't buy the shots or bullets. The Protein drink that I have a huge can of thanks to my daughter, is EAS Myo Pro. I think the thing that may have helped me not look 170 are the muscles in my legs from all the weight machines. I lost my thunder thighs for the first time in my life. I hate my bat wing arms though. I can't seem to build any muscle in my arms. I did have some spinach leaves and raw broccoli with my daughter yesterday when she was on her dinner break at the hospital. Any luck with the Bo-Flex?

The problem I have is snacking. Not that I snack all the time, but sometimes if I am hungry I have a healthy snack. I go by a strict time schedule for eating. Lunch is noon dinner is 5:00 . So if I get hungry between noon and 5:00 or after 5:00 before bed, I might have a string cheese. Does that mean I can't drink for an hour after a string cheese? That's where I get confused.

The sweet spot is when you get full from solid Protein, like chicken, not something mushy and stay full for about 3-4 hours. They say that takes about 1/2 to 1 cup of food. What you are feeling is food getting stuck, not fullness. You need to chew until there is nothing left to chew, take pea sized bites, and then you won't get that uncomfortable stuck feeling.

You are way too nice, Bubble. There is no way I would call myself thin. At 170 lbs and 5'2" , you can't call that thin. I busted my butt at the gym today, so I have high hopes that I'll start losing more by just drinking the Protein shakes. Plus I am getting a small fill at the beginning of Sept and I am sure that's going to help. I think that will be my "sweet spot." I'd like to get down to 150, and even that's too much for 5'2", but I would be happy and not feel as fat at 150. 135 would be great, but I don't think that will ever happen.

It's not that hard, really. I drink a lot in between meals. I had already gotten the habit several years ago of drinking nothing but Water all the time. I am very concerned about the chemicals they put in diet drinks. juice is too fattening. Plain water is the best! I look at the clock when I am finished eating and get busy doing something and pretty soon, my hour is up and I can drink again.

I didn't like curves. I hated the music they played, and the fact that you can't go at your own speed. You have to change machines when they tell you to. I much prefer my gym, but it is a bit more expensive. There is so much more variety there, too. A lot of people really do like curves though. I was just glad that I was able to get out of the contract that they made me sign.

I hope you find the answer to that one. I have been trying to find that out for a couple of months. For me, it's been going back to the liquid diet. I can't do it though when I am on my way to the gym. I find I have to have something with a little carbs before exercise or I get nauseous. I eat 1/2 pack of low sugar oatmeal with a scoop of non flavored Protein powder and a little milk before I do leave the house when I plan to do a lot of cardio. I have been doing protein shakes for lunch and dinner an d dropped 2 lbs.

I really don't know how many I have had in the almost 8 months since banding. I threw up two days in a row, after this last fill. I threw up my vitamins . I have learned to be really careful the first few days after a fill. I threw up a piece of broccoli once out in a restaurant from a salad bar. If I had to guess, I would say that I have probably thrown up a dozen times since being banded last Dec. But most of the time, it's not a big deal. It's painful when something is stuck. I raise my hands up above my head and it goes down. If it doesn't I know now to lean over the sink, and out it pops. This last one with the fish was very unusual. I ran to the bathroom and out popped the fish. I don't know why I kept throwing up "slime" which is white foam after I got home. There must have still been a tiny piece still stuck. I do get hungry when I haven't eaten for several hours. I eat cottage cheese with yogurt mixed in, I eat a lot of spinach leaves made into a salad with chicken breast mixed in, I eat some South Beach frozen meals, turkey chili. I eat fruit every day. I had two tiny pieces of pizza on vacation. I chewed very well and they didn't get stuck. Usually, I can eat whatever I want, as long as I chew very very well. You have to chew until there is nothing left to chew and eat slowly. How much do I eat? It depends on what it is. If it's soft and mushy and goes right through the band, I can eat more. If it's hard protein like chicken breast, I eat less. please feel free to private message me if you have more questions that I didn't answer, or you can keep asking here. There are a lot of people that have trouble with certain foods. I don't eat rice, not because it gets stuck, but because it's fattening and has no nutritional value. When I eat, I am trying to eat protein.

cottage cheese mixed with yogurt is really good. I always hated cottage cheese until my daughter told me to mix it with yogurt. Sometimes I crush up a couple walnuts and put them in there too.

I tell people I have changed my eating habits, exercise regularly, and have learned to eat smaller portions. None of this is a lie. I have told some people but not all. There are too many people that would not be supportive and I don't want to hear about it.