♥LovetheNewMe♥

Great blog AJ, I am right there with you, it is so easy to slip back into old habits once you reach goal. You can get comfortable with the way you eat, what you eat and how you eat. I have episodes like this off and on and they are usually around a time when I do not take the time to eat my meal like I am suppose to. Example, today, I had a coffee from starbucks, no breakfast, no morning snack, finally got lunch around noon, (I had been up since 5am and this was my first bite of solid food) I got some salmon, a sweet potato and some grilled veggies. Two bites into the meal, I started to feel that feeling in the back of my thoart, tight and difficult to swallow. I knew I wasn't full so I had to lay down my fork and set back in my chair and take a break. Did I fail to mention I was on a conference call, So I was not really paying attention to my meal at all. I was able to eat about half of the meal and finally gave up and threw it away. I did manage to eat a tablespoon of peanut butter and a small banana this afternoon, than I ate some almonds. So yes band basics should never be far from our thoughts and we should always follow the rules no matter how long we have been banded. Old habits are always there and just waiting to come to the surface. Like I always say, that little fat girl is just sitting inside me waiting for me to screw up and I need to work daily to keep her in check. I think I broke lots of rules today. Thanks for sharing.

Debbie we all have doubts or at least most of us do. I was scared and afraid of failing and honestly my first few months were very hard for me. I went through a lot of emotional stuff in the beginning, I had no idea how much of an emotional attachment I had to food. I worked thorough all my issues and so can you, just blog your feelings and surround your self with a good support team and you will be fine. No one does this process perfect, we are all human and all just trying to get healthy. Good luck to you,

Slimming is something that happens to us when food gets stuck and the stomach trys to pull it into the stomach. Our stomach will secrete extra stomach acid to help with the digestion process when something is stuck, what happens is the stuck item gets push up and back out of our pouch by the gastric juices and it is frothy and slimmy, (sorry for the graphic description but it is pretty gross) My first slim episode was with a chicken nugget, It can also happen when you fail to chew or take to big a bite of food. The pressure you feel in the back of your throat is from pressure on you band, you may be a little irritated if you got something stuck earlier. In my experience when ever I have a sliming episode or stuck episode my band will not allow me to eat for at least 12 hours sometimes 24. For me once my band tightens I am done for the day. Good luck and I hope you feel better and I apologize if this is too much info.

Ouch, I am glad I did not have to do two weeks of liquids before surgery, one was bad enough. I did have to do a no carb diet before surgery for 2 weeks and I thought that was hard for me. I got a flu bug two weeks before surgery and when I felt better all I wanted was a grilled cheese sandwich. I a had it, and yes I felt guilty but it I am human and so are you so just refocus and start new tomorrow. Above post is correct they do want you to stick to this diet because they do want to shrink your liver and if the liver does not shrink enough it makes it near impossible for them to safely do the surgery as a lap. Good luck.

You look awesome, congratulations!

I struggled with protein drinks during the early days, they all tasted like yuck to me. I could not get past the smell. I did the unflavored protein in my morning coffee. I know, I know we are not suppose to drink coffee, but this is the one way in the early days of banding that I could get my protein down. I did a skinny tall latte from star bucks, I mixed my unflavored protein in 2 ozs of water and added it to my drink. I also added this to my cream soups and instant mashed potato's. I struggled eating enough protein in calories in the early band days and had to be very inventive to get enough nutrition in. Good luck, the isopure is also good, I like the grape. I tried the protein shots and I have not found one yet that I like.

Couple of questions, are you newly banded? You would run a fever if your incision was infected but if you teste positive for the flu you will also run a fever. Do you have redness or drainage from any of your incisions? Hope you feel better and so sorry you got the flu, it is really bad this year.

I am at goal, 2 years banded and have lost 124 lbs. I have lost 108 with my band and the other 16 lbs I lost on the pre surgery diet.

I have a fitbit also, it was the turning point for me and helped when I was stuck last winter. I wear mine daily, I even slept with it on in the beginning but have given up that obsession. When I looked at my poor sleep pattern it made me more tired. Enjoy!

Just be yourself Jennifer, they just want to make sure you are stable and don't have other problems that may affect your progress with the band. I wish I had used mine after surgery too to help me cope with some of the issues that I confronted. But stubborn me worked through them myself the hard way. Good luck and so excited for you.

No I have not heard of any deaths that have been directly related to lapband surgery. I do understand being nervous, I was very nervous the night before and day of surgery. I had never had any surgery before, only time in the hospital was to have kids so it was a first for me. This is a big step but I can tell you that it is well worth the risk, I felt I had more chance of dying being morbidly obese. Good luck to you.

My doctor progressed me quickly also, I was on soft foods by day 7. Quaker has an instant brand called Weight control, it is higher in protein than the other instant oatmeals and it tastes good. I cook oats every morning and I add liquid egg whites to them to give me additional protein but right now you probably need to stick to the packets and make sure they are thin enough to go down. Cream of Wheat and grits are another good option. Good luck and enjoy.

Wow are we a judgmental bunch! I read these blogs daily and daily I become more and more frustrated with the lack of sensitivity we show for one another. And I am sure someone will slam me today for this blog but honestly I really do not give a flip. We all come to this site for help, think about it ladies and gentleman none of us could do this on our own. Not one of us could lose weight and keep it off. Each of us has our own personal set of reasons as to why we are obese, read the paper, listen to the news, As a society we are getting more obese daily, our eating life styles have to change if we want to succeed with any WLS and face it this is HARD. Some of us have been very successful and some of us are still struggling. Some people may never be successful because they can't get the physiological side of this process hard wired. What do I mean by that statement, eating correctly is half the battle! I am fortunate, I have lost all my weight, well don't pat me on the back too fast. I still struggle daily just like I did at 252 pounds, I wake up every morning knowing that I have to work every minute of the day on eating right. The rest of the world is not on my plan, the rest of the world could care less that I can't eat certain foods or certain foods make me throw up. My point folks is this, we have to help each other. Some of us get this really easy and quick and some of us are really hard headed and may never get this. But honestly is it not worth trying to coach one another and having a little patience, compassion and human dignity. After all remember we were all once the fat person in the mirror and the whole world has been judging us for a long time, thinking we just sit around and eat bon bon's and stuff our faces. As we become thin, please don't let us become the people who have judged us for so long. In my line of work I am required to take sensitivity training, maybe we could all benefit from a little training! Sad we have to teach adults to be nice, no wonder our world is surrounded by so much evil and violence. So my topic who is to blame, only us and if we choose to fail we have no one to blame but our selves, just look in the mirror! Lapband is not for everyone, WLS is not for everyone, Surgery does not work for everyone and you and your surgeon can determine what is best for YOU!

I must confess, I am a cloths *****. I refused to wear baggy cloths after the first 40-50 lbs. I am short so as I lost everything got so big and my boss would tell me, "You need to retire that outfit it is too big" I shopped the bargin's after Christmas each year and I would buy some things that fit and some that I knew I could get into in a few months. Shoes, I used insoles in some to keep them fitting until they just got too big. Good luck!

This is a personal preference and some people find it time consuming. I started logging on MFP because I was stalled in my weight loss and was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. By logging everything it helps me to stay honest with myself and my friends who have supported me these past two years. If you can lose weight successfully without logging than go for it because it is time consuming but for me, I need to log, measure and weigh my food. I think it is a personal preference. Good luck to you.

You are a great inspiration to us all!

I agree it is scary and a good message for all of us. Even though I am at goal, I realize every day that I must eat right in order to maintain this. I have not had a fill since Jan of this year. One because I was losing and two because I always seem to go through such a hard time after each fill. I do have days I am hungrier than others and that is why I am obsessive about counting calories and measuring my one cup of food. I know for me the fat girl still lives inside and I still have days as the old saying goes "my eyes are bigger than my stomach". As destynee said we can't allow this to happen to us and hopefully we can keep our goals and our lessons learned to the forefront of our thoughts. Good luck to you, sending strength your way, you can be successful, you have done very well to date and be aware and knowledgeable about your actions is a big part of the battle.

Do not be distressed. Gaining can happen once you change from liquids to mushes. Your body is still healing and you have not had a fill yet and it is difficult to get all your protein in during this stage. When eating your mushes try to make good choices and add some unflavored protein to increase the protein content and this may help some with cutting back on the calorie content. Hope you feel better soon, holidays are hard for a new banded person so try to be positive and it will get better.

So sorry this is happening to you. You are living my greatest fear. I have seen this happen to two of my close co-workers after 3 years, one had the sleeve because her BMI was not low enough yet but the other one had nothing done because her BMI was normal, she had lost her weight. She struggles daily and has gained about 20 lbs back. My surgeon does not insert the band anymore due to what he says is high band failure rate. If faced with what you are facing not sure what I would do either, similar situation also happened to Jean who wrote Band Wagon. She had the sleeve. Good luck to you what ever your decision is, keep us posted.

Sounds as if you are too tight. I do know from my own personal experience that when I was sick my band became tighter and I had problems but mine did loosen back up on its own, I have been too tight one time and your symptoms sound very similar to mine, I required a small unfill. Maybe call your surgeon or PCP on Monday and see what they see. Being to tight is not good for you or your band. Good luck and I hope things get better soon, it is miserable to be too tight. Some good medical info, I have used this site often. http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-made-simple/Lap-band-surgery-restriction-slips/Lap-band-surgery-restriction-slips.html

On an average I would say 5-10 days depending if there is lifting involved in your job. I have a desk job so I took off 5 days and went back to work knowing I could not bend at the waist or lift anything heavier than 5 lbs. I was weak and still only taking in about 600 calories aday when I returned to work.

Band does not work for everyone! My physician has stopped doing the band because of the rate of success. Some people are very sensitive to fills and just the band it self and no matter what they do, they don't lose weight. The reflux you are having is a direct result of the band and one of the complications and your physician is correct to remove if this is not getting better and looking into other alternatives for you. As far as risks of others surgeries. All surgery carries risks and benefits, I know people who have had band erosion, I know people who have had their sleeve leek and I know people who continue to have problems with the gastric bypass. All in all the benefits of weight lose surgery out way the risks of continued obesity. I know you are sad to lose your band and frightened to move forward not know if this will work either but doing something is always better than doing nothing and wishing you had done something. I wish you luck and offer you prayers and much success in what YOU and YOUR physician think is best for you and I am truly sorry this did not work for you.

Oops! So sorry this happened but it does it was probably the eggs. Eggs were a problem for me for a long time, breakfast especially was a problem for me in my early band days. Suggest some thing warm to drink before eating in the morning and maybe wait at least an hour after drinking before you eat. The band has a tendancy to be tight first thing in the morning, sometimes it is not the amount we eat but the texture of the food we eat and even if we chew well this can still happen. So you did nothing wrong! If this continues call your physician.

Ridiculous, I would like to do major surgery on you physician and only give him or her Tylenol. I would discuss this with them again and insist on medication.

I traveled at 7 days post op for a business trip, I had my physicians permission. I was on a full liquid diet. Key to my statement is I had my physicians permission to travel. I will say it was a very hard trip, I was gone for 3 days, my band tightened up from the plane ride and it was just scary being hundreds of miles away from my surgeon so soon after surgery. I had no idea how I was going to react to traveling and what if something went wrong. All I can say is I was fortunate to be traveling with 6 other nurses and was surrounded the entire 3 days with medical people. I packed my protein and shaker and the rest I had to find. I ate the broth off of soups and yogurt. Funny but watching others eat does not bother me, I chose this life so I am rarely tempted by what others eat. I will warn you that this trip was hard for me, I was extremely tired and had little energy. I didn't have a choice but to go because this had been planned for a very long time and was a requirement for my work, if it had been for pleasure I would not have gone because I really did not have much fun nor was I much fun to be around. My main point discuss with MD and if you decide to go know it will not be easy.