Rachel412

Yes, I take fiber daily since I'm no longer getting the fiber from all the grains I used to eat (95% of my diet pre-band was carbs). I do two chewable Fiber Choice wafers twice a day... they're sugar free but still sweet so they almost feel like a treat Funny how that works! I also use Splenda with added fiber in my tea.

Are you supposed to be having clear liquids only? Are you having any protein shakes? If you are "starving" you should call your surgeon and ask if you can progress to full liquids. But you should NOT be eating these things without her OK. You probably have stitches around your band that help it to stay in place, and yes, you can damage your stomach by cheating right now. Every surgeon gives different post-op directions but you need to do what your doctor tells you to do. You CAN get through on liquids alone- many, many of us did. Think of how proud of yourself you'd be if you followed all of your surgeon's advice and were able to look back and say "if I can live through this, I can live through anything".

My biggest advice to you is to eat a big heavy meal before your appointment. It's a couple extra pounds that it'll look like you lost when you go back in

I don't know what it is, but you really need to call your doctor and just have it checked out. I'm sorry

I had a hard time with this in the beginning too. I try to eat whole foods, and I was very against artificial sweeteners, processed foods, etc. But in order to stay away from sugar yet still have the taste of sweet stuff, I started eating Splenda, and now that I'm used to it I can handle the weirder tasting sweeteners like Stevia. When eating low carb I don't pay any attention to fat. So... I pick sugar free over fat free, but yes, it's really hard to go down this road if you don't like a lot of processed foods, especially at the very beginning.

- when we lose weight, is there a place that it usually shows first? is that different with everyone or is it a fairly normal parts that happen in the first stages? Think it's different for everyone... mine showed first in my shoulders and neck, and my butt - when we buy Protein and it is of course in the big jugs, how long does it last after we open it before it becomes less effective or becomes off tasting? Good question. I buy mine in 5 gallon jars and the expiration date on my current jar (bought a month ago) is 2013. - how long till people are able to carry groceries and laundry and the like after surgery? (I have 5 kids and do a LOT of laundry, lifting of kiddos for baths and getting on bus...) I had a 10 pound weight limit for picking up or carrying for the first 3-4 weeks. Your port is usually stitched into your ab muscles and you don't want to pop the stitches. I showed my 3 year old the incision on my stomach and told her I couldn't pick her up until it was healed. She really was OK with it, she could still climb into my lap or snuggle with me in bed. - is it hard to find a dr to continue to do fills if you have to move after you have surgery? I don't think it's hard to find a fill doctor, but it can be really expensive as some doctors charge you a program fee to start up with them. - i have seen different things about ab excercise after being banded and would love to know if it is or is not something that is safe, and if things like rock climbing would hurt too. I couldn't do weight lifting or any strenuous exercise until 6 weeks post op. Cardio was fine from day 1. It'll depend on how your port heals. I can tell you that mine has been hurting a lot the past few days and I'm almost 3 months post-op. But I think something's wrong with it, that doesn't seem normal, so... - i think i am only going to tell my neightbors that i had gallbladder surgery because they know that is something that has been a problem and I dont feel like i need to share this decision with them, do you think that will be enough of a reason for things being different with me for a time after while i am healing or will they know that there is more up with me? (outside of the weight loss that is) I think that'll be fine, unless they normally watch you eat and wonder why you're only having liquids for a long period of time. Honestly I threw a party 5 days after surgery and nobody even noticed that I wasn't eating. - what is the psych appt looking for? To make sure any current mental problems are under control, and that you are aware of what you're getting yourself into.

Larry, I'm late to the game, can I please be added? Name, real or screen~ Rachel Age~ 32 Weight on July1st~ 240 Goal Weight for July 29th~ 232 Exercise Goal for July~ exercise 5 days a week, 45 minutes Dietary Goal for July~ no more desserts Personal Goal for July~ keep from going nuts while the kids are home with me every day Date Banded~ 4/12/11 Total Weight Loss Since Banding~ 31 lbs.

Yep, sounds exactly like what I experience.

Right after surgery we have REAL restriction, and our pouches can barely hold anything. but when the swelling goes down our stomachs go to normal, and you'll start to feel like you used to. You might have to fight through bandster hell until you get to a good fill level. It sucks, but if you can make it through, all of the weight you lose in that time will be a great source of pride for you, because you did it on willpower alone.

Liquid in = liquid out. This too shall pass.

Ha! 12 cups. Good luck with that everyone

Definitely go have it checked out- not all band slips are painful. I hope you're ok!

Mental hunger is the worst part of the band, for me! Good for you for staying strong. As for Pasta... my doctor's rules are 4 oz. Protein, then up to a cup of veggies, THEN up to 12 cup of grains if you are still hungry. So I can still have pasta salad. Pretty much everything is ok in moderation, you know?

Sage, you did better than I did this weekend- pizza friday, BBQ saturday (I ate a burger patty and some salad, but then had half a cookie, and some chips, and crackers, and 2 servings of some sort of fruit and meringue and lemon crust dessert... oy) but I'm hoping to be back to geing good to my band today. It is far, far too easy for me to ignore that "I'm satisfied" feeling and give in to the "I just want to eat more" voice in my head!

Everyone's different... I felt some "restriction" at 6 and more now, but I still think I could use another fill to get at a better spot.

You need to get that band emptied and see if it helps. Really. I'm sorry

So you've had the band for a year and a half now and you're constantly throwing up? You should NOT be puking so much. What you really need to do is get in to see a band doctor ASAP and tell them what's going on. At the very least you need to have that band emptied out. You might have had a slip at this point. You could have internal damage if it's been slipped for a while. Please, please go see a band doctor. What you are experiencing isn't normal and it's NOT what the band is supposed to do for you.

The big thing I had to learn after surgery was that during all of my pre-banded life, what I considered "full" was really OVER full. That feeling of being stuffed, of having a heaviness in my stomach, like I had to lean back and stretch out my abdomen because it needed more room- that's not full, that's TOO full. That's over eating. With the band and a few fills, I eat for a while and then no longer feel hungry, but I am not what I used to think of as "full". Your full stomach holds up to 6 cups of food. I still could eat that much, even with the band, but after the first cup the band tells me I'm not hungry any more. Can I keep eating past that? Sure I can. And I have to work really hard to continually ask myself "am I still hungry or do I just want to eat more?" when I'm having a meal or snack. I hope this helps...

Can you get a dropper from the pharmacy and squirt the antibx directly into the very back of your throat (as if you were going to gargle it) and then swallow it down fast, so it doesn't have a good chance to touch your tongue?

Agree with the above! If these don't help definitely call your doctor. Pills can do damage if they're stuck and dissolve in your stoma, depending on what the pill is.

If you have any self respect at all, don't do it. Yes you can do real damage to yourself and the sutures in your stomach but also, you need to have willpower to lose weight with this surgery, and "cheating" now is only going to make you feel like a failure. That feeling will stick long after the holiday weekend is over.

Definitely worth it. I was 282 when I started the WLS program. I'm quite sure I would be up to 300 right now- instead, in the 8 months I've lost 42 pounds (31 since surgery).

So when they started doing the band surgery, they thought just what you're thinking- that the band causes a small upper pouch of stomach to fill up, and that small pouch would then empty slowly, keeping us feeling full. They've recently realized that this isn't true at all. When we eat, each bite passes through the band within a minute. I personally know this to be a fact because I can feel everything that passes through my band (liquids, food, burps even!). So when we eat dense Protein, I think of it as a strength game at the fair. SOMEHOW the dense food rings a bell in our stomach, and that bell triggers our body to say "I'm not hungry anymore, thanks." If we're eating just shakes, or chips, or food that slides easily right through the band, that bell doesn't get rung as easily. Our stomach doesn't really fill up- not the upper portion, and not the lower portion either unless we overeat. It's just that the hungry signal gets turned off, and if you're at a good fill level, it gets turned off after a small portion of food and it STAYS off for 4-5 hours after eating. I'll give you an example of my lunch today because it was a really bad series of choices. I was at church after a long week of VBS. We had a pizza party to Celebrate the week, plus to reward everyone for helping to clean up. I ate three pieces of cheese pizza, a brownie, and a cookie. If I had finished the first piece of pizza and waited 5 minutes, I would have felt satisfied and that would have kept me satisfied until dinner, but I quickly started on slice #2 instead of stopping. When I was to the crust of #2 I realized that I wasn't hungry any more and I was satisfied. Not hungry, not full- satisfied. But I WANTED to eat more and I lost the willpower battle. So I had a 3rd piece, and then both Desserts. The band didn't stop me from eating and I probably could have eaten more! I chose it IGNORE the feeling that the band was giving me in order to eat more pizza.