donali

LOL!!! How true.

CoffeeWench!! CoffeeWench!!! CoffeeWench!! How the heck are you, anyway?

Uh... 'Cause people keep posting on it, so it keeps coming to the top of the new post list, and then people keep posting on it... ad nauseum... :yield: LOL

Welcome back!! This is the first I've heard of injections and gallbladder medicine. Who's your doc? Take it easy for the next 2 weeks, and soon you'll be feeling right as rain!!

Dana - I agree. It may not be true for everyone who's obese, but I think a good deal of obesity is hormone/physical related. Either we don't get the full signal, it's too delayed, or the body needs some sort of chemical reaction to either calm itself or jump start itself, or whatever. I think often times it's not JUST a physical cause, but has emotional ties as well. I have read that fat kind of takes on a life of its own, and creates hormone imbalances to help stay there. I know that I have said for many years that food was my "drug of choice" because I definitely felt sedated after eating my binge foods. Whether I always had a chemical need, or whether I created the chemical need I don't know, but having been banded proved to me that my eating was NOT purely emotional. I was finally free of the constant hunger signals. Being banded ALSO proved to me that my eating was NOT purely physical, as there were times when I still desired to eat even though I was definitely getting the full signals. Sigh.

Congrats!! Great job!!

I thought that's what women were for??? LOL

Jen - Most docs allow drinking up until eating. If you're very tight and the liquid doesn't drain through it would be better to wait until the pouch is empty before eating, but if the liquids are running through that shouldn't impact eating directly after. Drinking sooner than 1 hour after eating can help wash food out of the pouch faster, which means you're hungry again sooner. Of course you should always follow your doc's advice, but you will find that there are a lot of differing professional opinions out there.

Praise Him - Maybe a moderator can move this thread to one of it's own - you hit reply on a different subject, so you may get more responses if your question is posted by itself. I believe what your surgeon's office meant was that the band is not designed to work until you start getting fills. Everything is hooked up and ready to go, but you have to heal first and let the swelling go down before they fill your band, otherwise you wouldn't be able to swallow your own spit. No worries, follow your doc's protocol, and you'll be on your way before you know it.

(((Jonathan))) What a difficult decision. So far I have NOT been one of the lucky ones to keep my weight off like I thought I'd be able to without my band. In spite of my emotional healing, the physical hunger gets me everytime. IF I had had the option at the time, I would have gone with another band. But then, my band journey was so uneventful. RnY to me does not seem to be much of a long term solution - it wasn't for my sister. I know it is for some, but... If you have to have a period of unbanding before they put the VG in anyway, that may be the best of both of your worlds. It gives you time to consider. I, however, am such a weenie about needles and IVs, I would tell them to reband me at my removal surgery if at all possible. Best of luck with your decision! And maybe as Sue says, the DS may be a better option than the RnY, but both of those scare the sh*t out of me...

Kim, I think that sounds like a great idea, and if it works for you, whoo hooo! I had trouble getting in enough fiber - had no idea Citrucel made such a thing. I'll have to check them out, cause I still have problems getting in all my fiber.

:doh: Kelli, you are doing GREAT. It's surprising that it sounds as though so many of these WLS surgeons really don't seem to know anything about obesity, or what the expected results of the lapband are. I can only guess he's relatively new at placing the band?!?! YOU'RE DOING GREAT!!!

Shawn - I like your surgeon - he sounds very Enlightened...

Vanessa - If you're having a lot of problems being able to eat a variety of foods, you are probably too tight. You shouldn't have to worry so much about getting stuck and barfing if you are genuinely chewing throughly and eating slowly. Just a thought - maybe a teeny tiny unfill would allow you a more varied diet without the worries of it coming up.

OMG - (((Erin))) I can't even imagine...

LOL I'm embarassed to admit that I've never noticed that before, but I daresay you are right. No wonder the English language continues to be butchered... lol When I was in Germany my German instructor told us that a German would NEVER make the kind of grammer mistakes in German that Americans do in English. Don't know if that's true or not, but I wouldn't be surprised... :welldone2:

Hopefully that magic pill won't have the same nasty type side effects as Xenical... :sick lol

I don't understand how a professional can give that kind of advice?!?! It flies in the face of everything I have read. I would have expected her to look at your exercise level and perhaps suggest that you add a small meal here or there. Can you get a metabolism breath test somewhere so you can find out exactly how many calories you burn at rest? You want to meet at least the calorie level of your basal metabolism. IMHO. Of course, I'm fat, so take my advice with huge grains of salt... :tired

Usually if you honestly analyse your feelings you can find possible reasons. Perhaps you're feeling a little resentful that you can't eat as much as you used to, so you feel (subconsciously) that you deserve a "treat"? Or perhaps you subconsciously feel that because you've lost so well that you can afford to coast a little? Have you been denying yourself since your surgery? It's not necessary. If you're in "diet" mentality then it's harder to stop with one or two Cookies, because subconsciously you never know when you're going to eat them again. If you KNOW they're not off limits, and you PROMISE yourself that if you've just gotta have them you can, then perhaps it will be easier to stop. You have to do some probing, though, and see if you can figure out what's going on in that mind of yours. :welldone2:

This is exactly how I went about my banding journey, and I was completely thrilled with my results. It is not necessary to have a "perfect" diet to succeed. I made conscious choices instead of mindlessly eating, and my more nutritious choices outweighed the less nutritious choices enough (coupled with significantly reduced quantities) that I was down 103 pounds in 18 months. I probably could have lost faster if I had "worked" harder, but I was looking for a lifestyle change, not a "job". My doc never forbid anything except soda, if I recall correctly.

YES - what Betty said. :welldone2: No dieting! With the list of things to work on, I was thinking (but not saying) things like getting in your Water, moving the bod regularly, replacing some less nutritious things with more nutritious things occasionally, that kind of stuff. And I love the TommyO suggestion as well. I was concentrating more on what might help keep the scale moving downward, even if it wasn't being used regularly, but much better to obsess about how to be a better person, more loving spouse, etc. (Not that you're not perfect just the way you are!) I personally would like to work on upping my "random acts of anonymous kindness"... xxoo :scared:

I haven't evaluated the nutritional content of bananas, but personally always considered them an acceptable fruit. They are higher in sugar content, don't contain as much Water or Fiber, but are often recommended for the potassium content. Have a banana!! :scared: (That is, if you're not in liquids, or otherwise forbidden... :welldone2:)

Hi Kim! I have had counseling for obsessive/compulsive, emotional eating, and I, too, had a relatively happy "normal" childhood - I was just fat, and beating myself up for it. I found it very helpful, even though I am still fat, I no longer feel out of control, and my self esteem is a thousand times higher than when I started. But if you are only having troubles around that time of the month, I would suspect it is all hormone related, and while good counseling maybe wouldn't hurt, it probably wouldn't help too much. I would explore the natural PMS remedies first and see if that helps. If you do decide counseling/therapy is in order, I would make sure to find someone who is well versed in overeating disorders - preferably someone who has had a weight problem themselves that the were able to overcome and maintain. Good luck, and hang in there!

Amanda - Good question. I'll doubt I'll ever know. :welldone2: Interesting stuff about nerve damage. Hmmmm.... :scared:

Hi Janet! I would suggest that you take a look at what your normal eating and exercise patterns are, and evaulate how you might want to tweak them to keep you on the path. List all the tweaks you could make - both the ones you are currently willing/able to do, as well as the ones you are no way no how willing/able to do. Then, pick ONE of those things to work on (go from easiest to hardest), and set teeny tiny goals. Keep working on this one thing until you reach your end goal for that item, and it has become a habit that you no longer think about. Then tackle the next easiest one. Good luck! Keep us posted! :welldone2: