tangerine

Yes. You're losing weight, right? You're not shoveling food in past warnings from the band and making yourself sick, right? You're pre-fill, my dear! Relax and enjoy the fact that you're losing weight eating a decent amount of food! Don't worry about how much you're eating, as long as it's *enough* food. Eat until you feel satisfied, and if you're still losing weight, hooray for you! You'll get a fill soon enough. I went 6 months without a fill, and ate a whole lot more than most bandsters. But I was still losing weight, consistently. I eat a lot less now, but still more than most bandsters. You're actually eating a lot less than you think you are, especially if you compare it to pre-op. If you go to www.fitday.com and log your food intake for a few days, you'll see that you're really not eating a whole lot of food. Enjoy this time! The real hard work comes later!

This got me through the first couple of weeks! I love CIB. I didn't use the sugar free though, since I can't handle sugar substitutes. I mixed that stuff with just about everything! vanilla with berries and ice...chocolate with peanut butter...it was soooo good! My second night home from the hospital, I woke up in the middle of the night and found I had been dreaming about soft vanilla ice cream cones, therefore I was dying for one! I got up and make a CIB shake with the vanilla, ice and milk and the craving went away. If I hadn't had that in the house, I *know* I would have gone out for ice cream. lol

Okay, I am not a baby with pain. Seriously. I fell asleep while getting a tattoo on my ankle bone. The worst thing after banding was breathing right after I woke up. Man, those breaths hurt. But by the end of the first night, it wasn't so bad. The catheter annoyed me. My butt hurt from laying on my back in the hospital bed. The band? Barely a bit of pain. The ride home from the hospital wasn't all that fun, but I hadn't had any pain medication in hours and Manhattan streets are hella bumpy. Just bring a pillow with you to hold against your stomach. Like Sue said, I felt *tender*, but not really in pain. I moved slowly for a couple of days, but things were more sore than anything else. It wasn't debilitating pain. Just take your pain meds, that's what they're for. They'll keep you nice and comfortable. 10 months later, I can barely remember how I felt the first few days.

Start working on ways to occupy your time now though! The hunger will come back and you may be tempted to start eating when bored again. At 10 months out I'm finally starting to learn how to not eat when I'm bored. It's definitely a hard habit to break. Took me about 3 weeks until I started feeling a little more hungry again. Good luck on finding ways to fill your time!

Tonia was kind enough to compile the Banding 101 thread from Spotlight and organize it into FAQ format on a website. Visit http://hometown.aol.com/texasrosey/ to answer some of your questions!

Hi everyone! I'm so sorry that I haven't been around at all lately. I have been officially promoted to manager at the restaurant I work, so things have been totally crazy lately. I had spent days redoing the menus, then the hard drive at work crashed. We're also trying to get our website up and running, not to mention all of the scheduling changes now that summer is over! I finally had a fill of .6ccs in the beginning of August. I have a little more restriction than I did just before it, but think I need just a tiny bit more. Maybe .4ccs to bring me up to 1cc. Weight loss is still going fairly well though. Hope everyone here is doing well, I'll try to catch up on all of the posts tonight after work!

WOO! *does a little happy dance* One less thing to worry about! You're on your way!

Don't have one, won't get one! I weigh every month at the doctor's office and that's good enough for me. I do take my measurements at home though, so I have an idea of if I'm losing weight or not.

I don't think she has yet, the little scamp! I'm telling you, she rocketed out of the gate like gangbusters and hasn't stopped yet! Woohoo! :banana

Solids actually *are* very important. If you have tight restriction and resort to soft foods, you will most likely take in more calories than you would if you had a bit less of a fill and could eat solid foods. Solids fill you up quicker, so you're more likely to eat more when you eat soft foods. Not to mention, soft foods are usually more calorie dense than good solid choices, like chicken and veggies. If you can't eat a decent amount of solid foods, it usually means that you're too tight.

Please, please, please follow your surgeon's instructions. They're given to you for a reason. Even though you don't think you have restriction, solid foods may still get stuck. Even if you chew them to a "puree", it might still be too chunky to get down. This can cause vomiting, something you really don't want to mess with right now. If you start vomiting before you're fully healed, the sutures that hold your band in place can rip loose, causing the band to slip. Slippage will require another surgery. I do understand that you're hungry. I do understand that staying on mushy foods for a few weeks is tough. I've been there. But, you don't want to mess with your body's healing time! Some of the things that satisfied me during the mushy (not liquid...my surgeon doesn't require a liquid phase, just pureed/mushy) stage were: Wendy's chili egg/tuna/chicken salad mushed up really well (no celery or onion) pureed bean Soups...as I went from pureed to mushy, I stopped pureeing them. really satisfying. chocolate pudding carnation instant Breakfast blended with milk, ice cubes and a dab of Peanut Butter mashed potatoes with a little cheddar cheese sprinkled on top Wendy's baked potato, no skin I ate the salads and soups for Protein (and great Fiber in the bean soups and chili!) and the other stuff for "comfort". I have to say that there were a few times I was practically crying because I wanted a big honkin' cheeseburger..lol..but I didn't want to jeopardize my band. Stretching the pouch is the least of your worries right now...you don't want to cause that band to slip!

Hey hey hey! Glad you made it over here! I still spend just as much time at Spotlight, but now it's nice to have a place for Bandsters only. I'm doing great! Got my first fill yesterday, since I ate like a horse last month and only lost 2lbs. It was really easy, she found my port with no problems and I have good restriction on .6cc. I guess now the weight loss really starts...63lbs was a very nice pre-fill "bonus"! lol What's up with you? Still rockin' along??

Good luck today Alexandra! Let us know what happens!

Listen to your body. You'll find that how much you can eat varies from day to day. It takes a lot of practice, but eat very slowly and stop just before you reach that overstuffed point. I know that this was hard for me to find, since before banding, I wasn't satisfied until I could barely move after eating. You just have to take it slow and really listen to what your body is telling you. A body signal I have come to find is the "big sigh". Seriously! lol Pay attention to yourself while you're eating. When you unconsciously do that big sigh, it's time to stop eating. If you eat past that, you'll be uncomfortably full. I know it sounds weird, but a friend brought this up to me a few years ago, and I've been playing with it ever since. It never fails! For now, I'd start with only putting a half a cup of food on your plate at a time. Eat it slowly, and pay attention. Give it 5 minutes when you've finished that amount to see if your stomach is still growling. If it is, get more food. If not, you're done. And a little further down the road, watch for the big sigh. I swear, it works! lol

I have lost exactly 10lbs per month for the last three months. From 278.9 to 268.9 to 258.9. How weird is that? lol So yes, it can be steady, or it can be erratic. It all depends on you and your body. Weight loss isn't guaranteed steady with the RNY either. I've known people who have plateaued for months with the RNY. It's all a matter of what feels best to you. For me, the band was much safer and much saner. Good luck with your decision!

Just moving this to the general discussion area, hopefully more people will see it there!

You just answered your question right here! Really, everyone is different, so everyone's banded journey is different. Fills seem to be such finicky things that it's hard to even give a general idea. For instance, some need fills once a month until they hit their sweet spot, some never need a fill, some only need one fill, and so on. I really wish I had a better answer for you!

I usually just get something small when that happens. And I try to make it something relatively healthy. If I'm going to eat when my body doesn't really need it, it might as well be something good for it! I too have had the experience of willing the tummy to start growling. lol

I'm curious as to why you'd disregard your surgeon's rules and follow another doctor's? Especially since Dr. Rumbaut is highly experienced and even has a band himself. Remember, this period is not about weight loss, it's about healing. Do what your *surgeon* tells you to do.

Great advice, always call your doctor if there's a problem. You really don't want to dehydrate. But I need to warn you about vomiting so often, especially if you've only been banded for 8 days. That makes the stoma swell even more, making it more difficult for things to get through, and you risk slippage of the band. That, you *really* don't want to do. You need to allow your band time to anchor into place. If your doctor clears you of dehydration and you don't need IV fluids, just wash your mouth out and spit the liquid that you can't handle out. Maybe you need to suck on ice chips or something instead..so you can't take a swallow that's too large. But please, stop vomiting all the time, you can only do damage that way.

Hi Carolyn! Welcome to LapBandTalk! In answer to your question, this will vary from person to person and will also vary according to what the liquid is. Since this time is about healing, do what feels right. Listen to your body and you'll know what's best for you. You can try to get the 60 grams of Protein in, but I wouldn't obssess about it. Thinned and pureed bean Soups are a great way to get protein and Fiber in while you're healing. Do try to drink as much Fluid as possible though, you don't want to dehydrate. Good Luck!

I'd think one forum for local discussions would be sufficient. That way members can start threads for the areas that they'd like. "Local Support" or something or other for members to find other members in their area.

Looks like you figured it out, you Empress of the Universe, you! For anyone else wondering how to change the caption under your username, just click on "user cp" at the top of the page, go to Edit Profile and change what it says under Custom User Text.

I still enjoy food very much, if not more now. I actually take the time to taste it now. I'm one of the lucky ones who can still eat any foods without problems after banding, so I haven't had to give up anything. I don't feel frustrated when I can't finish something. One of my favorite things about food was leftovers, and now I *always* have them. I love to bring stuff home from restaurants, so it's not a big deal to box up the other half of my burger, or whatever it was that I was eating! I have felt the frustration of not being able to binge once or twice though. My biggest comfort was binge eating. Loads and loads of food consumed very quickly. I'm talking about 5-7,000 calories in an hour. But I don't miss that despairing feeling that would come over me after a binge. So while, at times, I miss the actual process of the binge, I don't miss how it made me feel afterwards. It was comforting while I was doing it, but horrible afterwards. My little shock collar keeps me in check for the most part, and I really don't feel deprived at all. I feel freed actually. Freed from the bonds of emotional eating. It's so hard to explain this to a pre-op. I didn't believe it myself when I was a pre-op. All I knew was that I was ready to sever my relationship with food. I didn't know how easy it would actually be. Best of luck to you...and good for you for catching your problem while you "only" have 60lbs to lose!

PB stands for "productive burp". That's when something is stuck and has to come up instead of going down. Stomach acids aren't usually involved, and most people don't get the stomach contractions and heaving that comes with a full-fledged vomit. I haven't PB'd yet, thankfully, and I've been banded for 6 months. Regarding amounts...I eat until I'm satisfied. Satisfied being the key word. Not uncomfortably full, but no longer hungry. Some days that's a half a cup for me, sometimes it's less, sometimes I can eat a cup and a half and be not full, but satisfied. The biggest thing I've had to learn since banding is to listen to your body, not your mind. If your mind says to keep eating, but your body's had enough, you stop. If your mind says you've had a half a cup of food and need to stop, but your stomach is still growling, eat a bit more until it stops. It's much easier said than done, but if you work on it, it gets progressively easier as time goes on. I love that I've learned how to get in touch with what my body needs, and actually listen to it. I find that I also seem to make much better food choices that way. Don't worry, this is very much a learning process. You'll get there!