B-52

Did you have any symptoms of a Dilated Pouch? Or was it a side effect of being too tight and it was something they picked up on. The pouch is still part of the stomach, and has the same characteristics the stomach does....it will stretch when full and contract when empty....if your band was too tight OR you ate too much too fast even though the signals were there to slow down or stop....either way, too much food accumulated in your pouch and it stretched the same as one's stomach will when overeating.... One can closely monitor and heed the signals when eating..stop when you need to stop, slow down, time between bites....so as not to overload your pouch, OR one can get un-filled and let the food pass through faster and easier.... Speaking only for myself and my experience/observations....my pouch dilates all the time...perhaps not severe....but I can tell when it does just from experience.... My band is adjusted so, that my portions are automatically set...I cannot over eat no matter how hard I might try. But I will notice, about every 6 weeks, my portions are slowly getting larger than normal with no feedback....' When that happens, I do what some refer to as the 5 day pouch test...in other words all liquids for a few days to give the band a rest and let the pouch return to normal, and get my restriction back to where I am accustomed to. I am drinking Water right now...if I were to take 2-3 large gulps, I will get that pain! The pouch stretch!......I will also probably spit it up because I am introducing something faster than the band will allow to go through. This can happen more easily if drinking carbonated drinks and not having that relationship with your band yet...... This is why I will NEVER drink while eating....swallowing water when food is sitting there will instantly expand the volume in my pouch...resulting in bad things....some say it washes the food down...sure, if you don't have much restriction. Otherwise.... My Dr. has showed me x-rays of some serious dilated pouches....his comment was "some people just don't know when to stop!" and will eat right through any pain. The few people I know who have had severe dilations, had to get complete un-filled. Given enough time for things to return to normal, then start the slow process of band adjustment all over again....never heard of long term complications other than behavior issues where thy never learn their lesson. Never learn how to properly eat. And never loose the weight they hoped for. Again, this is all just me talking.....ask and listen to your Dr.s advice.

My Neice and her friends are really into this...they travel to event all over...she has been trying to get me to do it....MAYBE...we'll see.

Just to clarify......you had No problems for three years? Or you have not had a lot of luck with the band for three years.... Plus you say you had 10cc removed, with 3cc remaining...that was a total of 13cc's....and you felt you needed an additional fill?... And if I am reading this correctly, just recently you had your first stuck episode after eating a handful of blueberries? How long has it been since your last fill..... I have been banded for 2 1/2 years, and have had no problems...so I am just trying to understand your situation better....

It is a great feeling when the Band finally starts doing everything it was designed to do.....and takes over what we could never do on our own....FINALLY!

I cannot even presume I know anything about you or your situation, I can only speak on my own experiences.... To me, the band's intentions are to change the way I eat, the amounts, and to a certain extent the types of foods I eat....including the time of day..... It is a fine line...a true balancing act, walking a tight rope, for me to find that "magical" place between being too tight and eating differently...changing my habits....and it took a few months after my final fill to learn it....it was a very hard thing for me to learn, with many stuck episodes..sometime 2-3 times a day.....because I am stubborn, and a hard learner...not wanting to give up my old habits I picked up over the years.... The way I eat today...without giving it a second thought, 2nd nature, new habits,...I could never have imagined possible before being banded.....but change I did....I eat like a bird as the saying goes....many peoiple comment I do not eat enough, and worry I am ill or something....yet I run 5 miles a day and work 8-10 hrs with energy to spare....I put those who are concerned to shame..... if I were to attempt to eat the way I used to, it would be a stuck episode for sure...but I learned....so I no longer attempt....it has become a lifestyle... I am no in that lifetime phase, where everything new is now ingrained in me...I do not have to think about what I can and cannot do..there are certain foods I now simply ignore....I can walk right by them.... I do not need to count calories, worry about portion sizes....DIET is a 4 letter word! It is truly a lifestyle! But it took some hard knocks and hard lessons to get here....BANDSTER HELL....at any time I could have backed away and given up...the band is adjustable...fortunately my Dr. kept pushing me to go onwards...he understood that my life depended on it and I may not get a 2nd chance at this.... But again, only YOU know what is happening to you...and only YOU have control over your life....

I hit the Green Zone 4-5 months after surgery....then another 2-3 months to adjust myself and my habits to the band..not the other way around.....that was 2 years ago...still there...no hunger or cravings..even head hunger has gone because mentally I know it does not matter so I immediately dismiss it to the point it is merly a fleeting thought...... ...I have not had a fill since hitting the Green Zone...... Since I have been so consistent for so long, if I should feel I needed a fill, I know it would be something else rather than a band adjustment, like a dilated pouch for instance which I have come to recognize and know from experience how to deal with that as regular maintenance....

The reason we get the band is because we "Can't do it now" on our own...if we could, we would not need surgery....WLS for me was a Last Resort...I failed time after time at traditional dieting, and my health was suffering because of it...it was time for "Corrective" surgery, or else! As far as life after, it all depends upon how far after....there are different phases...I am 2 -1/2 years out, and my "life after" may sounfd like science fiction (too good to be true) to those who are still starting out or trying to find their way........

The band was the same on the 4th as it is on any other day...so food was not an issue....plus, since being banded I do not eat meat anymore so no dogs, burgers, ribs, anyway.... I did do some beer drinking...when I do I generally do not eat as a precaution.

I have not had a fill in over 2 years...and I am doing fine and steady in the Green Zone, and have also lost all the weight (fat) possible....so.....

My Fitness pal and other such apps where not designed for WLS people in mind....I know there are many people who live by it, but for me, one of the most significant turning points in my success was when I stopped obsessing with an app like that, and concentrated on the WLS itself and eveything it was intended to do for me.... But that was what worked for me.....other people have their success stories....

Whenever you mess with your band, such as getting a fill, it can be irritated, inflamed for a few day...eating will only increase the aggravation, and possibly irritate it more....this happens all the time...people will continue to try to eat and only continue to irritate the band....then they cannot understand why they cannot keep anything down.....then they feel the are too tight and get some fluid taken out,....then start complaining the band is not working!!....... When all they really needed to do is give the band a few days rest (at least) in the first place..... As far as wine, it is a liquid....drink whenever you want.....some people stay away from wine because they are still dieting and wine has too many calories for them....

I knew I was in the Green Zone because things got very easy, the band began to work as advertised.......coming out of the struggles of Bandster Hell into a healthy lifestyle, with steady weight loss and no hunger/cravings....

After being in the Green Zone for over 2 years, I have NEVER felt full.....I'm simply not hungry and have no interest in continuing. If I'm even interested in eating in the first place, which is rare since I'm not hungry most of the time, 24hrs.... Now if I eat sliders, or have more than one beer...then yes...I get that old fashioned full feeling...much faster than I used to because my stomach has shrunk from not eating as much. But eating with the band? Never.....

If it's on the internet...it must be true....why? Because I read it on the internet

First, I don't think you did anything to abuse your band and screw it up...you had a kidney stone..it's not your fault.... Vomiting and the band do not go together...it was not designed to have things forcefully go up the other way...we have to eat small and slow...there is nothing small and slow about vomiting. Since being banded, I have yet to vomit...but it is something I am very conscious of, and not looking forward to the day I do.... The only advice you should take from the psuedo-experts here would be to contact your Dr. and inform them of your symptoms and discomfort.

My Dr. never required me to count calories....it was focused on eating less, and eating healthy.....developing a new permanent lifestyle..... He would often as me what I was eating, or as the case may be, what I was no longer eating either by choice or because of the bad....as far as portions, he also stressed the band dictating portion sizes as it now does being in the green....if anything, he would make a fist and say my Protein portion should never be larger than that.... It's just my opinion, but I read enough posts about everyone's scientific theories on calories....it makes my head hurt!!! And then the same people, sometimes in the same post, complain about not loosing weight.And they're advised to eat more!!! In the beginning I used an app on my I-Phone to track all this....it drove me nuts and only fed into the Bandster hell I was going through....the most liberating thing that has ever happened to me after this surgery was when I stopped doing that and concentrated on eating right and being active.....which I will do for the rest of my life.... Just my own story and experience....you need to do whatever works for you and your Dr. advises....

This is the most accurate way of determining what is actually going on....BMI's are only reliable to a point......If you know your current BFP, and know where you want to be, say 10% lower, then determine 10% of you current weight and that would be how much more you want to loose. Fortunately, at the health club I go to, they have a very sophisticated computer operated scale the determines BF% by measuring the body's impedance...you have to stand on it barefoot, and grip metal handles with each hand....an attendant needs to enter some data such as weight, height, gender, etc....then it gives a printout of not only BF% but other information as well..... It cost $10 a shot...so I do it about once a month.... I took note of a high paid star professional football player in the NFL, who is the same height as me, but weighs 20 lbs more....if you follow BMI's, that would put him borderline Obese.....I don't think so, I don't think there is an oz. of fat on him....and he is a running back who played in the Super Bowl 2 years ago.... My BF% is at a point now, that my Dr said if I lost any more weight it would most likely be essential muscle and not fat....that would be unhealthy and dangerous....yet if I followed the BMI, I need to loose another 15 lbs and technically I am still overweight!!

I was never told no caffeine....and even if I were, I would never give it up.... I was drinking black coffee 12 hours after surgery....

I occasionally get a fresh made juice at the health club after a workout,,,,many of my friends have juicers.... My reluctance is that I focus on protein...so I stayed with making my own fresh smoothies, all types of flavors and combinations.......40gm of protein!

Body weight and BMI's are only good to a certain point....and not very accurate to begin with....according to the BMI charts, I am still overweight.....according to a Body Fat Analysis...which I can get done at the health club for $10,...I have a Body Fat % of around 14%....that puts me on the borderline of Fitness - Athletic.... (Bioelectrical impedance analysis) My surgeon says that is optimum for me at my age...and I should not loose any more weight..... But the BMI still says I am overweight and unhealthy.... And I can look at professional athletes (football-baseball players) height and weight, and they are ALL overweight, some even obese....according to their BMI.... So if you are struggling with the last 10-15 lbs, you need to find out exactly what out body composition actually is...the body need some essential fat, around 4-5% for males, to survive...I believe more for women... So it is not excess weight we need to loose, in %, it is the excess FAT we need to loose....and we burn fat by calorie intake, and burning fat for energy though exercise....that simple.

I understand a lot of people feel obesity is a disease....myself, I have a problem with that....obesity can be a epidemic, and can diretcly cause diseases. What happens is once something is labled a disease, then there becomes justification to medically treat it, opening avenues for $$ funding...and that is a good thing. So i am sure there was plenty of lobbying to get it labled as such.....it's always about the $$

I can no longer eat spicy foods....at least not the way I use to add Cholula Hot Sauce to EVERYTHING.... Early on , I had big issues with reflux, as the majority of people with WLS experience.... I simply cut back and in some cases did away with hot spicy foods and I have not had any reflux issues in a long, long time. I have read many stories about people automatically blaming the band, getting it unfilled, and eventually not loosing weight all because they blamed the band, and not their eating habits. Spoke with my surgeon about this....the thinking i with the pouch, I eat less food, confined in a smaller area, so the effects of the spicy foods is concentrated and has a more intense effect... Once I visualized this, I have had no more problems with reflux.... If people can get away with it, that's a good thing...but me, the reflux and thought of ulcers, etc and ultimate failure at this journey was enough.

It took me about 2-1/2 months after surgery before things began to turn in the other direction....I even gained weight between 4-8 weeks from surgery. Fortunately I have a surgeon with common sense, and did not get as upset as I was getting knowing at that point it was all about getting the band that was recently implanted, adjusted and working efficiently....the 2nd phase. All in all the whole process, of band adjustment, and myself adjusting to work with the band, (learning new habits, breaking the old) took 6 months....after that it has all been an effortless breeze...and still is till this day. A new life and lifestyle.