B-52

Ok, here's one I NEVER heard before. I have to go to a Podiatrist every 3 months...have/had problems with my feet from being overweight, Diabetes, etc. One thing I had is SEVERE ingrown toe nails on my big toes, that would grow down the sides and go deep. VERY painful, hard to walk, and has gotten infected a few times. Aside from seeing him every 3 months, surgery is also a option. Well today, he said he was impressed, there was very little problems, especially with the toenail issue. Hardly anything at all! I said thanks, but there is nothing I did to control my toe nail growth. He said your toenails are growing normally...it's your feet that are Skinny! A lot less flesh for the nails to bury into. So there you go...another positive for the band!

Have no Idea what that may mean...I sleep wherever, however I want. As a mattter of fact, I sleep better now than I have in a long tome...must have soomething to do with my air passages and breathing...not to mention my body as a whole is significantly smaller. Only negative is you get cold easier and need an extra blanket...not much of the fat insulation as before. Maybe I'll save on air conditioning bills this summer!!!

Thank You...that's just about what my Dr said also....it just continues, don't expect much in the way of losses. He did not want to give me a unfil, he did not want to see any non gains also.

Thanks...it's a very unsettling feeling....ther must be SOMETING I need to do, some type of goal. Just can't say that's it. It's over. All I can do is stay wih the program which has become a habit now, and continue to exercise to be it and healthy.

Everything remains the same.....your weight slows down to almost a stop. There is nothing else you can or need to do but continue with your new lifestyle. I considered getting a slight unfill, maybe .3 cc but my Dr advised against it. His only concern is that I loose any significant weight because that would not be fat but muscle and other essential tissue at that point. I don't go back to see him untill September.

Go easy on yourself...you have to look at the BIG Picture! It's the old everyday habits and the old lifestyle that will change eventually. People say they "Slipped Up" as though we were on a diet like weight watchers or something, well it's not. It's all about the band.

Agreed....function of the band is portion control. Thre is just so much the pouch can hold. No restriction food will pass quickly. I have grazed all day...snacking...difference is when I do I don't have any meals that day. It all evens out in the end, as long as I am snacking on good foods, not junk.

Within that 2 years, how many fills did you have, and how much total saline in what sizes band? And you kept regular Dr. Visits the entire time, never having a complete unfill or other complications? Just curious...I'm coming up on 2 years and always looking out for posts like these.

All depends upon how many fills you have had and how much resriction you have. If you are in the Green Zone, with adequate rstriction....food will sit in your pouch longer, passing through you band slowly. There is just so much room in your pouch without stretching it out. When you have food sitting there, adding Water on top of it would be disasterous....it can hurt, it can stretch your pouch, and it will more than likely come right back up becaus it has nowhere to go. It does not wash food down...It can, but then you probably don't have that much restriction if it does. In the beginning, you might get away with it and it will be a rule that makes no sence. Do it later on in your journey and you will regret it!!!

I'm trying to think of circumstances that they would need to do that in the ER, generally it is to empty your stomach....so yes, to "pump" your stomach from a overdose let's say, it would be dangerous. Those tubes are as big as a garden hose. I guess gastro bleeding would be another?

I belong to another chat group of bandsters....and sometimes I have to scratch my head in bewilderment about how obsessed they are with food!! On one hand they are talking about "woe is me" I'm not loosing!!! Then the next thread is "What's for dinner" Yes, there should be a healthy relationship with food...we need it to live! But we don't live to eat. For the past 35 years every Dr. I ever saw kept telling me "You eat too much....you eat to much...you eat to much....." better diet...better diet....! Which I did many, many times, and eventually I failed at every diet, because I could not stop eating!!! That was when my PCP said, in that case, perhaps you need surgery to help you stop eating...and that is exactly what the band did for me. It took conrol of not only what I can eat, but how much AND also when by curbing my hunger cravings. So why would I want to spend my time thinking and talking about food? I rather talk about weight loss, the band, fitting in new clothes, getting fit, etc, etc... Bottom line...."Food is not my friend" It has done me wrong for many, many years and now I have to approach it with caution lest it stabs me in the back when I'm not looking. Food, and the love of it, has always been my weakness....and I have to realize that at all times.

Exactly....I smoked cigarettes for most of my life, and even though I knew they would kill me...I Enjoyed them. Took me a long time to stop, and it has been 6 years now. Had to put it behind me. I'm surely not going to spend my days talking about them with other people who have., or are trying to quit. Yes, we need food to nourish ourselves and be healthy...but that's about it. I'd rather talk about how good it is to be skinny and fit, or how to get there!!

You were just banded a few weeks ago....what do you expect to be different this early??? It can take months and a few adjustments before the band starts to do what it is designed to do. Ask yourself.....what are you expectations? that's an honets question...I asked myself that same question before I got banded, and came up with a answer. I did not give up until I got what I expected. It took me 5-6 months, but I got it and would not settle for anything else.

Have to start somewhere....the more you do, the more successful you will become and the better you will feel....wanting you to do even more to be more successful and feel even better about yourself...then you become hooked to the point that if you miss a day, you feel like there's a hole. It's called addiction..and it's a good one to have.

Of course we're talking Type 2,......I was taking 60 units of lantus every evening, plus oral meds before every meal, and my 3's were still out of control. Within 12 months of my surgery and dropped 80 lbs, I am no longer taking any meds for Diabetes. Same goes for Cholesterol, Triglycerides,. I still have to take my cardiac meds, probably will for life seeing how I already ad one heart attack, resulting in surgery. But I am exercising every day, including running, and hope to run my first 5K this summer.....at 60 years old.

Thanks! I appreciate your prayers. I love my band! It is real for me! If it's a placebo, I still love it! It has changed my life......and I hope everyone here who has had the surgery is also successful.

I'm glad this is was all a placebo....all this restriction, reaching my goal, reversing all those medical conditions, getting stuck, sliming, regurgitation........was all in my head. I need to see a Physc Dr also......I must be hallucinating!

At least there's no heavy lifting......

You can be sure of that....I have had discussions where they were concerned about current employees due to their obesity....it drives up insurance premiums.

Definitely!!!! I can't say I was treated mean when I was fat, but I can say people are more sociable with me now that I am normal weight. I also have to say that I am more outward with people, not having those old bad self esteem feelings. Also, I have to admit, now that I am slim and fit, I am always checking out fat people with more scrutiny....not in mean way, but I find myself watching them struggling getting out of car, notice how short of breath they are trying to speak after doing something minimally physical. I suppose it is the same thing as being a ex-smoker...watching people huddled outside the office building in the cold weather just to get a smoke break.... I think it is I feel sorry for them, things will not get better, only worse for them, remembering how bad I felt, and know that there are things they can do to rectify their situation.

I've been around these boards, and others for a while and after a while your head starts to spin and hurt. Why do we attempt to make it so difficult?? It really is quite the simple thing. 1) Overweight - obese - diets fail - health issues, Pre Surgery 2) have surgery - get band installed. 3) get installed band properly adjusted 4) Start loosing significant weight 5) reach goal - health issues resolved - start living a normal life Everybody falls into that scenario somewhere. So many people can't all be having problems, can they??? Just go to the main category page, and there are 100's if not more with nothing more than people who have issues??? Is there nobody who feels this thing is Hunkey-dorey and happy as a clam????

Yes, I'm hooked also....it also kick started another weight loss for me which I did not think I had left in me. You should try the audio version. Plays your own music, and has audio prompts telling you when to jog and walk. If you use it on your I-pod, it has a video timer also. $1.99 for the app.

Well.'m at my goal and still loosing, I'm sure you'll let us know when you reach your goal.

I have never even counted calories since being banded, and have gone all day without eating at times, other than my morning Protein shake. I work out strenuously 3 hrs a day, including running, and I have never had a problem with energy levels, and I reached my goal within a year, and still loosing below my goal. Based on the starvation mode equation - theory, you should eat more to loose more!!! I have always found the less I eat, the more I loose.

The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters. Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department There are various articles on line about this....I for one am old school: calories in versus calories burned = weight loss. I also believe that I had enough fat stored as energy that I could survive on a deserted island for months without food....just give me Protein and water! It has also been my personal observation that the people who worry about getting enough calories in, are also the ones complaining about slow weight loss. Just my observation. 'm sure I'll get a lot of " flak" from this one.....but....it is just a line we use to rationalize eating more....if it were true , the opposite should hold true. if we eat too much are body would go into " dump the fat mode ".... seems my body skipped the memo on that one !