lizrbit

agchick, isnt that strange? I worry that i wont get a fill this next visit (here in about 11 days). I fly down from northern maine to south texas. I have a great surgeon and nutritionalist ive kept in contact with, but one week i'll be loose and have to struggle with losing or maintaining wieght...then i start my TOM and bingo! im snug as it can get. My losing has been soooooo slooooowwww, and i EXCERCISE!!!

say this is tempting....to open the veil a bit... i have macular degeneration among a couple of other eye problems, have worn patches and glasses most of my life, yet spent 16 years across three universities to study oils. I own and operate an oil painting studio and gallery. I have other galleries that represent me across the nation and have done corporate commissions in the US and inside Canada as well. Ive got portfolios, websites, agents, publicity and the whole bit.... I dont know how long i can keep it up.

me too. this one took me completely by surprise. anyone else? for me the day i start is the worst, it relaxes soon after, but that first day or two is tough.

tam, i dunno. I really struggle with restriction. When i first had this last fill about three weeks ago, i was PERFECTLY restricted up until about a week ago...and something just happened where i could feel it relax. i still have some restriction. i just wonder if i can get back up there to where i was really restricted. I loved it. i ate a half a palm of protien each meal and was full. Now...not so much. i eat a palm and a half full and im "eh, stop now" and find myself looking for inbetween meal snacks. I would just talk to your dr about it, and see if you can get a flourascope (it will show if youre too tight) and just go with what your dr says. if it were me, to be very honest...id enjoy the restriction. But im one of those who will lose ten lbs the first two weeks after banding, then start to bounce back up EACH MONTH. this is the first ten lbs ive lost since being rebanded in MAY. TEN LBS. i recently increased my daily workout significantly ..(from 2 miles a day to four miles a day plus fitness center and pool. I found an executive hotel that has an awesome fitness center and they do monthly memberships. our town gym closed down a few months ago) Today was my first day on the different routine. holy cow. Good Luck!

i started out at 330, then 317 at consult, 307 at surgery, and 285 at rebanding May 24th. The last fill was the first GREAT fill, which brought restriction! i have 6.5cc's in a 10cc small AP band. Its very comfortable to have. But, this morning at wiegh in, i weight an all time low of 275. I ride about 4 miles each morning, walk half that each night, keep track of my food at fitday.com. I still fight. I bounce wieght back on...two days ago i woke up to 278, so i upped my excercise and started doing protien shakes in the mornings INSTEAD of trying to eat solids and just pb'ing them back up. I can wear the next size down (24 down to 22 on some things). I no longer have to ask for an extention on a plane...i walk easier, and move easier. I really want to lose this weight but its very slow for me. im hoping it will increase.

a PF...or productive fart...happens when you are going seventy five down a highway and the guy infront of you slams on his brakes hard enough to go sideways.....and you were only a carlength away from him...

do you mean PB? it means Productive Burp, which is what happens after your banded, and after you have some fills in the band to create restriction, and when you eat too fast or too much. Its not like throwing up, because your stomach doesnt contract...your pouch just gives back what is causing it to be stuck. With a PB, what comes back is a LOT like what went in, plus some very stringy saliva.

Brandy, What your client did was extremely condesending and degrading. I work for myself and deal with a lot of clients too, many of whom are not as bad as this, but similar. They seem to think they 'own' a part of you when they hire you which allows them to justify these types of comments. You know, they probably dont intend to be this rude. They probably think they are more intimate with you on a friendship level than they actually are. As i see it, you have two choices.... a) keep the job, smile and hope the stupid dumquat comes to respect you for the work you do eventually. cash the check. keep quiet. Perhaps with time and effort you both can build a working relationship that while devoid of any respect, can still be profitable and help build the foundation of your company. When you can afford to be more selective with your clients, stop speaking to him altogether. or smile, then let the bitch in you come out to chomp his balls in retaliation for the comment, let him know that NO amount of money would smooth your conscience enough to allow yourself to suffer him a moment longer. (he may apologize at this point, and change his behavior so it can stop there..but if he doesnt...) Tear up the check, leave..and focus on getting better clients while you scramble for a way to pay the insurance and electricity bills with your pride and dignity in tact, which are the moral building blocks your company can later stand on. Of course, there are actually many infinite choices inbetween here... and i think the true answer lies somewhere in between...but when you work for yourself it isnt as easy as others would believe. The world is your 'boss', and that boss can be a bitch. Let me know what you wind up doing? Ive lost a LOT of accounts because i let number 5 go and couldnt allow them a sixth insult. i know..i count. I know, its more than three...i just know that i can pull off three good chances on a bad day myself, fourth is because im a gracious person and forgive myself, and five is for the people who let me have five....but i just cant do a sixth.

Rachel, Hope all is going well with you! If you find out anything about the meetings, Please post them here? or email me? Im having the MOST difficult time connecting. I suspect it might be because i fly in from Maine, and just not available all the time, but in all earnest, ive made valliant attempts at making meetings, even moving a flight to accomidate. Finally i gave up and rented an apartment in galveston so id be close enough to drive to meetings when i can be down there, but in the meantime im freeflying. if you find out anything, please post?

pause... i was afraid of this. i am one of those adaptable people. Im finding this so difficult. let me explain; i have what i think is perfect restriction. ive only had it since the middle of last month. I even have wondered if im too tight. i cant eat anything until one pm, and then only lightly. i sometimes can eat a decent dinner, but at further inspection, they are soft protiens. (beans and ground beef mostly) i was okay with this, and in the last two days ive gained back two lbs. My eyes pop open everymorning here in northern maine at sunrise which is very early. I put on my shorts and tshirt and im on bike peddling my three miles EVERY MORNING weather i feel like it or not. im worried. Last time the scale went back up ten lbs before getting this fill. I dont think i can get another fill. i might be too tight now. im exasperated and in need of hope. i know i have to find it for myself, just...damn.

soulful, i was so right where you are too. They call it "bandster hell", and it refers to the space of time post banding, but pre significant restrictive fill. I was there for months. I even GAINED ten lbs during that time.... It just goes with the territory. My surgeon does my fills and when i went in this last time, id kept up excercise but my appetite was still alot. I kept track with FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal its a free online thing where you log your food in, and it really does help. It helps you see what you really eat. But this last fill really did it. When he walked in he said, "so i see you can eat a 10 oz steak, how would you like for us to make that a 4 oz steak and you still feel satisfied?" and of course i said yes and this last fill put me at perfect restriction. Im at my all time low now and hoping to bring it down further before i go back in for checkup. it gets easier with the fills. theres No way of getting around it and its nothing you can plan for, you just have to get your fills as they are scheduled and wait until you get restriction. You will KNOW when you are there. If anything i worry now that im too tight. I cant eat anything in the mornings at all, usually until one pm. then im okay as long as i dont push it. Youll know when that happens too. KEEP PLUGGING ALONG...keep your excercise up (i dont have a gym in town, but i ride a bike in the mornings first thing, and walk in evenings after dinner) and track your food intake (try the fitday thing its free and it does keep you accountable) and keep your fill appointments! also dont be afraid to tell your doctor you want an agressive fill. You will get there sooner than you think. Dont give up. you will get there.

the last fill worked. i have 6.5cc's in the small ap band (ten cc)...and ive been at perfect restriction since the last fill (july 14). I had stopped losing and was really struggling prior to being rebanded, and this was my first significant fill since the surgery. He put five cc's in there at surgery and this last one and a half cc did the job. i may be too tight. Im journaling and keeping record of everything because mornings i cant eat at all, i usually cant eat anything until around one pm, and then we are talking two oz of food, like ground beef and beans mixed together, or tuna salad. dinner is tricky too. ive discovered lobster doesnt disintegrate. Not even a little. At 25 bux a pop for a pound and a halfer (with shell on) i was hoping to eat the tail and give the rest to my son...no dice..it just doesnt break down, so it all came back to object. im at my all time low since starting this, 275. im hoping that by the time i go back in next month (aug 22), i hope to be below that. Im biking each morning and walking each night. (two hours total) we dont have a gym in town anymore. We have a physical therapy place that might open one up to public fitness though. I have my fingers crossed.

was..what a great friend you are to take her out for the whole weekend to try to ween her off her sugar jones. I had a friend like that but she lives across the nation now. reading this and the effort you went through to make your friend feel special on her birthday is really moving. In case no one has said it... thanks for all that.

it may be too late, i just read this... but.. specific flowers...asian lilies are really fragrant. a friend gave me some once and i LOVED them, love them still. and i dig the spa /manicure/pedicure idea. Bath Junkie ROCKS. If all else fails, hand picked flowers, and a lunch date out?

leg, i laughed when i read that you can smell 240! i cant smell it yet....but...when i get to 250, that will be a very special day for me. just twenty small lbs to go...i cant smell it yet, but i can see it on the shelf down the isle.

BUMP..i LOVE jacks response. perfect! i had this almost exact thing happen to me, except i was at my local bank (im a business owner) and the man who said it was mentally handicapped. I know he lacked the intention to be 'mean'...which in a way hurt even worse, because i couldn't rule it off to someone just being hurtful. I just thought to myself, "its okay. He doesnt understand that comment just tore at your soul. In a year you will look and feel so much better and this kind of thing likely wont happen anymore. You've already done something proactive about it, and you reinforce your intention daily. Its all you can do, its all anyone can do. Do what you came here today for, then leave." in your case though girlfriend i think i would have told him to kiss my arse. i hate drunk people.

Kathy, Thank you for posting the link to the manufacturer's directions re the new AP band. Since its sunday i took the time and read through it. How FASCINATING! some things i knew but some things described were brand new. how wild! noted that they said the ap band isnt a lifetime product. if it gets me to fifty nine, ill be thrilled.

break the cycle. go out of town after your fill. go camping. buy a bicycle and ride to work and back each day. do something different and stop punishing yourself. find something active that you enjoy doing. Fishing, camping, mallwalking, hiking, biking, skating, buy a dog that will need walked daily. couple of times a day if you really love him. You know this already. I know this already. do me a favor and remind me about doing this when i inevitably get stuck. so...just stop typing, turn off your computer and go outside. :car:

my scale is finally moving DOWN!!!! I think i found the mysterious 'sweet spot'. i love this.

im hoping things will be different now. I just got a significant fill..then TOM RIGHT after. tighter than Beans right now, but i can feel it start to relax a little, which is good. I just dont want to gain again. im almost convinced my surgeon has a remote control, and pushes the button randomly.

bump! this is fabulous info!

i have one!

I HAVE RESTRICTION!!! this fill i got one and a half cc's and i didnt know it but he had put in five cc's already right after surgery. i have a ten cc (new small ap band) and im diggin this! unfortunately its also suddenly my TOM and im swollen all up. ill respost in a few days but i can already feel less of me. its good. im ready to start losing.

hey Ginger! its a total fill amount. I didnt realize he had put five cc's in the band just after rebanding to mimic the fills i had up to that point. this visit he added one and a half cc's and im perfect. alittle too snug right now since its TOM, but im very excited about what this will allow. Im being very selective about food right now and its just like id hoped it would be. do i understand you right in that you have a total fill of nine cc's in a ten cc band and yet you feel no restriction?

Ginger... and those fearing they may have a leak: your doctor can do tests to see if you have a leak in your band. Small pinprick leaks are common in the port area and can be remedied with using omnipaque for your fill instead of saline. its slightly thicker saline based composition and works like 'fix a flat'. if you or your dr fear a more significant leak, you can be filled under fluoroscope which will show where the leak is if there is one. He can also do a fill up, where he injects a full amount (or more) of saline into your band until you are closed up, then backs out saline from there while you drink water to see where your restriction is. This helps you know what it physically feels like to be restricted, which you cant get if you have a bad leak. i didnt even have a pb until the new band...now im real familiar with them.