Soybean

I have a fairly tight band, so I can't easily eat a lot of foods. I'm very happy with the tightness which seems to be my "green zone" since I am able to eat full meals if I sit down, take my time, etc. The problem is that sometimes, with no apparent cause, I wake up choking and it's really unpleasant since it's left over liquid or traces of food that never went down before I sleep. It doesn't seem to matter if I don't eat late, don't drink a lot before sleeping, etc. The only thing that helps is if I take a big gulp of soda before bed and bring up anything left that didn't go down. Like I said, this is usually liquid or traces of food but it's really different from bringing up food when it won't go down and there's pain, discomfort, etc. I would like to understand what it is that's making the liquid or food traces drift up to my lungs or sometimes it just comes out my nose while I'm sleeping. Both are really awful to wake up to. Does anyone else have this problem? Any solution? Why does it happen? Maybe I should ask a doctor?

Even though all guacamole is "soft," I find some foods challenging with my band, including tomatoes. I make this very simple guacamole or avocado salad which goes down easily. Sometimes I can eat chips with it. 1 or 2 ripe avocados 1 or 2 limes, to taste 1 tbs of red onion, finely chopped salt to taste optional: 1/4 small fresh jalepeno pepper, finely chopped small hand full of fresh cilantro, finely chopped Do NOT use a food processor for any of these ingredients if you can avoid it. Peel avocados and quarter them. Combine with lime juice, starting with 1/2 a lime and the onions. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Mash with a fork gently so the avocado is still chunky. Taste and add more lime juice and salt as needed. The goal is to keep the avocado pieces chunky but mixed thoroughly with the ingredients so don't over-mash. Last, gently mix in the cilantro and jalepeno. You can add tomatoes if you like.

I can't feel it on the inside but I touch my stomach a couple of times each day and feel it there. It only makes itself felt when I'm eating or sometimes when I'm drinking.

I didn't have any restriction either until after 4 or so fills, and because I thought the band "wasn't working" I didn't get the last two fills until a year later! Don't take the road I did. When you are scheduled for a fill, do it but remember it's a gradual thing and don't expect you will be feeling restriction immediately. Some people have that but I definitely didn't.

I was also finding myself choking on bile or acid reflux at night sometimes, especially the later I ate. It hasn't happened for a while although it still happens on a rare occasion. What I am experiencing is some burning sensation in my throat, which I guess is acid reflux? It's not really "burning" though it feels uncomfortable. I'm very happy at this level of fill, and I think I had this even when I was a little less filled in the band. Anyway, just wanted to share it and see if others had same issues. I feel like it happens when I eat particular foods, though I'm still learning what those are since it's fairly new.

could you send questions to my email and I will attach doc? dillonsv@lasc.edu

I'm another OA'er and also accepted my weight somewhere along the way. I'm not happy with my weight but I accepted it. Accepting my body is another issue, but I'm working on it. Pouch cleanse, liquid diet, etc. is all a luxury if you don't have that "special relationship" with food that most of us have if we need to lose 100 pounds to get to a healthy weight. I like what you said about being the "good fat girl" since I've always felt like the bad fat girl who couldn't control her eating. With the lap band, it hurts to eat a lot of different foods, but I can still eat enough variety to be healthy and be losing weight consistently so far since it's been tightened to what works for me. I really believe the obsessive focus on food is the avoidance of so many other life issues. After working in an environment for over ten years where big women are still considered attractive (I work in an African-American company and neighborhood) my whole outlook has changed. Still, I would never have been psychologically ready to give up so much of my food without the year post-band that I didn't have it tight enough to stop me from eating a lot of what I wanted to, when I wanted to. So, I think it is a process with a lot of factors involved: your environment, the level of your addiction to food, your psychological readiness to give up certain foods/behaviors/diet thinking. I hope it doesn't sound condescending because I've just had some weight loss success in the past couple of months but I had a lot of smaller successes prior to and just after the surgery in terms of my thinking. I still check my scale regularly, though I've been told to do it just once a week. So, I hope talking to others on this forum will also help me with success with the band. Good luck.

What is "under fluro" mean?

I never told coworkers because I didn't want people to start expecting me to be thin. I was happy in the long run because I really didn't lose much weight at all the first year. I have actually chosen to tell some people at work who are new and a little more distant from the inner circle, and who aren't permanently there. I seem to feel more comfortable revealing it to people who won't expect anything if they hear it (and I find that people totally forget that you ever told them). As for intimacy, I've had a partner who noticed it and was little freaked out if he touched it and I've had another partner who never noticed it even though he knew about the surgery and touched me a lot there. So, I think it depends more on the partner than the surgery, in my experience.

Sorry, I should say that I'm not vomiting, but pbing.

Sorry, I should say that I'm not vomiting, but pbing.

When food gets stuck or won't pass easily, I immediately want to take my bra off. I don't know if it has anything to do with a hernia (I've had two repaired) since for me it's definitely related to trouble with food passing through the band.

I've had a lot more food come up also since I got my last fill. You may not be able to eat the same things you were eating before the fill, and you have to be psychologically ready to give up possibly a lot of different types of foods--that's my opinion only. I didn't have a tight enough fill to start feeling restricted for a year and 1/2 and then at 8cc I finally had to stop eating certain foods. That made me more ready for 9cc, where I really can't eat a lot of different foods but I can eat enough different foods to stay healthy. You probably aren't supposed to say this but when I first was "vomiting" from the 8cc fill, I was really feeling like I was truly vomiting. Now I can control how the food comes up, even if I can't control it coming up when it gets stuck. I drink big gulps of juice and it comes up more easily and without the awful vomiting feeling. Doing it with liquid makes it much easier for me to bring up food that is stuck. I eat a lot of melted cheese, Soup with soft vegetables, refried Beans, soy milk and milk products and crackers and croutons. I can drink almost everything but have trouble with the juice of oranges, tomatoes and lemons (anything acidic). It's not an exact science so see what your body is comfortable with and vary your foods to see what doesn't make you vomit.

I'm also at 9cc. I think I have a 12cc band. When I was 8cc I could still eat pretty much whatever I wanted, with few exceptions. Since I've had this fill a lot has changed. I can't eat much now (as in not many foods) but I'm psychologically more ready for it. I didn't feel any effects from the lapband for a full year and one half and since I wasn't feeling it working I didn't go back and get fills. This wasn't logical but it's where I was at. I guess I just didn't believe anything would work. Anyway, if you feel like another fill will help you, trust your judgement. There is no exact science to it as the woman who gave me the fill told me, and that makes sense to me. I feel that as long as I can drink comfortably and have a number of foods I can eat without much problems, I'm okay. Right now I can drink most things comfortably, though I've had trouble with acidic foods like lemons, oranges, and tomatoes. I also eat a lot of melted cheese, soups with soft vegetables, refried beans, and some salad plus crutons, crackers and potato chips in small quantities. I drink soy milk and milk products so I don't feel weak. I'm going to start taking my liquid vitamins again to be sure I have enough nutrients for the foods I can't eat. I don't feel hungry. If a food doesn't stay down, I take big gulps of juice to bring it back up so I'm not in pain or uncomfortable. I've never been a good dieter or bulimic or anorexic at all so my eating feels "honest" enough and I feel much healthier eating less (I've always felt better with less food but I have been a compulsive overeater so I was never able to eat lightly without the lap band). I guess I wrote a lot and hope you can take something from my rambling.

Hello. I also just had a fill. I hadn't come back for a year after my second fill and had gained a lot of weight between visits. I just thought the surgery hadn't worked for me. Then four days ago I had my third fill going from about 5cc to 8cc. Big difference! I don't know if it's a little too tight but I don't mind and am able to manage a combination of liquid foods and solid foods, but just a little at a time. When I drink cold liquids, I tend to feel a slight pain in my chest, as I do when I'm eating but not the horrible heartburn I've been reading about. It's like the beginning of a heart burn pain but it passes quickly. It seems to happen more when I eat and drink a cold liquid at the same time. For the person whose band feels too tight, I read that cold liquids tighten the band, while warm ones loosen it. I haven't had any problem with hot Soups and when I ate some hot Soup I was able to eat a lot more solid-ish food like hummus and crackers and tomatoes. However, I overate by accident and the pain and discomfort was really awful for about an hour or so after and I knew I was eating too much when I was doing it. Today I had some warm soymilk in the afternoon and it went down without any discomfort as long as I sipped moderately, without any big gulping. So, my experience to share is to try having some hot liquids prior to trying to eat anything. And I read on a web site that if you drink cold liquids first it will help to restrict your meals since the band gets tighter. For me, the small pain helps me keep on track but I'm definitely getting enough to eat. I also read that the band is tighter in the morning, which seems to be my experience. I can't eat much in the mornings but by late afternoon and evening I feel less pain or tightness. Well, good luck to you and thanks all for writing your thoughts. I found this info at this site: http://drsimpson.net/fills/post-fill/post-fill.htm

Hello. I got the band 10 days ago and will transition to soft foods on Friday. I've checked out a lot of posts on recipes but I'm having trouble finding exact quantities of food people eat in the week 3-5 transition period and I'm scared that I'll overeat because I just don't know how much to have. I figured that I can have about 1 egg for breakfast but is that all? Also, how much do people eat for lunch and dinner? Do the quantities stay the same for every meal? Real examples would help. Or please direct me to some sample lap band menus for this time period! Thanks in advance.

Hello. I just got the band and now I'm recovering. It went well and although I was in some pain for about a week or 10 days, I feel just about normal now. I'm pretty hungry still, especially these last few days and am sticking to the post-surgery diet for the most part. It's been a tough 3 weeks for me not eating much and being on the liquid diet for about 10 days now but I take it for granted that I'm not eating the way I used to. I am just trying to figure out how much to eat when I go to soft foods at the end of this week. I'm looking forward to eating a little more normally than I have been going through the surgery experience. I'm glad this forum is here.

I totally cheated on the 14 day liquid diet prior to surgery, and though I wouldn't encourage it, my liver was fine to operate on. I was great for first three days and then each subsequent day I began eating small things like a salad, or a little bit of chicken, or some seafood. The problem was that once I started cheating it was so hard not to do it again the next day. 3 days before surgery I ate some burger (no bun) and noodles, a regular sized meal. I got so freaked out that I put all my effort into the last two days and really did only clear liquids. I suggest you try to get back on track but don't worry too much about not being fit for surgery. Many doctors prescribe different kinds of diets pre-op from what I read, and some are just low fat, low carb for part of the week or so before surgery. Being guilty won't shrink your liver either so don't sweat it just try and think of the purpose you have. Good luck.

I'm also in the post op diet phase, day 10 after surgery. My surgeon and hospital gave me literature that said I could start eating soups with Beans (thoroughly blended to a pea soup consistency) and I just started eating that today which REALLY helped. I made my own white bean soup with lamb, carrots, white beans and a few potatoes and instead of blending it I thinned it (but not too much) with tomato sauce and Water. I ate the brothy stuff and mashed some of the beans, tossed out the bean skins. Having that was heavenly! I felt like I was eating real food finally. I have to say that I haven't followed the no sugar rule with the post op diet because I think that's only supposed to help your weight loss, but it's not protecting the surgery itself like not eating solid foods does. I was getting really naseous and needed some calories and felt better with juice and juice popsicles. Anyway, that's what I've been doing. I also feel like I'm getting ready for the soft foods which I'm kind of scared of because I'm afraid I'll have a miserable feeling if I eat too much of them so I'm going to tighten up my food program in order to prepare for the transition at the end of this week. Also, staying really busy with work or outside helps distract you from the hunger. And maybe going to a support group like Overeaters Anonymous or a Lap Band group.