Cazzy

I think many have not had much sensation of restriction after the first fill, it can take up to 3 to 4 fills before this happens, but its very individual. Pateince and moderation is the key to getting through these times till u get to your sweet spot. Most Surgeons proceed with caution for the fills so as to not cause you any problems. Just give it time and i am sure you will be ok

I can eat most dried fruit .. which i am very happy about

i have felt stuck for 5 to 6 hours a couple of times, and salmon was also the problem i eat a lot of fish and now i poach salmon, its much softer and easier to eat. You might find its better to go on mushy or liquid after a stuck episode just to let your tummy recover as it can get a little swollen after getting stuck. I cant really advise u to call the doc or not , that decision is yours, all i can say is its rare that stuck episodes lead to medical intervention .. hope that helps and hopefully u wont be stuck too much longer !

Good luck and i wish you success

Absolutely agree with all you said .. I am a 197 lbs down in 11 months !

I weighed 400 lbs when i started this journey, I am 57 yrs old and everything hurt too believe me, but i started slow and steady, i did strength training and dumbells sitting down while i watched tv, i absolutely followed a healthy eating plan, i made the effort to move more and slowly it became easier each day, you have to be of a mind set that one step at a time is still better than no steps at all, once the weight starting dropping off i increased my exercise, i am still not a walker, but i use my bike to burn calories now, i still do strength training and this keeps the weight coming off. I dont consider myself as 'on a diet' what i eat now is what my body needs, not what my brain wants, the band helps me to reduce my portion sizes and helps me not feel hungry in between meals. 11 months banded, i wouldnt change a thing !.

I hope all the finance problems get sorted out for you and you get your surgery March isnt that long away, and this journey is years long so a couple of months wait in the grand scheme of things isnt that long to be honest. Use the time wisely, get fitter and see if you can drop some weight that way the extra time u have to wait will have been worth it . Good luck !

My surgeon requested i wait 6 months to do sit - ups ..

I too adore christmas, i will allow myself to have my favourites like christmas cake, panattone and sweet mincepies but only a 1 inch square, this gives me the taste of christmas not the full on calories.

I have always been a little confused by the information regarding coffee from a few posters here, the information in the uk from my surgeon is that coffee is fine. It certainly is regarded as more of a small help to weight loss than a hinderance in the UK. I found a good article including info from the Mayo clinic which i hope will help some of you ............ The idea that drinking coffee can keep you from getting hungry and aid in losing weight is a common one, and it may be true to an extent. As you might expect, there is more to it than that. While there is some evidence to suggest that drinking coffee will ward off hunger, there is also evidence that a weight-loss plan based around excessive coffee drinking could be misguided.Related Searches: Side Effects of Coffee Coffee and Tea Appetite Suppressant Yes, coffee is a natural appetite suppressant to a certain extent, because of its caffeine content. According to the Mayo Clinic, caffeine may reduce your desire to eat for a brief time, but there is not enough evidence to state that long-term consumption will help with weight loss. When hunger strikes, coffee can come to rescue for the moment. Naturalstrongappetitesuppressants.com says that one way to stop hunger, and keep it at bay for three hours, is to eat a handful (no more than 10) of peanuts and chase them with a few sips of coffee. This combination is said to nullify hunger within minutes. However, eating a comparable 30-calorie snack of any kind may stop hunger just as well if you give it a few minutes for the signal to be relayed to your brain. How much longer the caffeine in coffee will stop hunger is the key question, and the results may vary for different people. Coffee and Weight Loss In addition to the beverage's potential ability to control hunger, there are a couple of reasons why coffee may be effective in jumpstarting a weight-loss plan. Caffeine night stimulate thermogenesis, according the Mayo Clinic. Thermogenesis is a way the body produces heat and energy by digesting food and "burning" calories. Coffee also acts as a diuretic, which may cause some people to urinate more frequently and at higher volumes. This process will eliminate Water weight from the body, and could seem to indicate quick weight loss. However, the loss does not indicate a reduction in fat deposits, and metabolic processes can be stressed by functional dehydration. Side Effects Too much coffee or other heavily caffeinated beverages can lead to nervousness, restlessness and insomnia, and while black coffee may be effective for short-term appetite control, specialty coffees with high fat and sugar content are likely cause weight gain. Read more: Does Coffee Suppress Your Appetite? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5404063_coffee-suppress-appetite.html#ixzz1eyqqgonh

I had this a couple of times from a fill, my band seemed to tighten after a couple of weeks, not sure why it happens i just was more careful after that. Eating too fast is definitely as bad as not chewing enough . I tend to just make sure i am sitting upright when eating and if it does get stuck i havent found much worked for me except walking around and sometimes a heat pad on my back would feel comforting if nothing else !.

Hi Andrew welcome and good luck with your surgery.

I am close to 200lbs lost so far and 11 months banded, moderation, consitency and exercise for me is the key. It seems a daunting task at first but just take it one step at a time and have patience, i have more weight to lose yet but no giving up now Good luck !

Wishing all US 'banster's' a Happy Thanksgiving

I would ask them to fit a different make band, there may be a fault with the batch of that band that your hospital use. I think i would give it one more try, it is so worth it in the end

Quite often the statistics these people quote are from the newspapers and magazines. Mostly they have no idea that there is a difference between a bypass and a lapband, i have recently read 2 articles in our national newspapers relating to a bypass operation and half way through the article they call it a lapband ! The press never report how many people have been helped or saved they just sensationalize those very few who encounter problems. Good Luck

Comments like your co-worker made are normally born out of jealousy and seeing other people fail is what motivates them to keep failing themselves. I just smile and walk away, you are walking away from negativity by changing your life, so dont join them there

I dont normally advocate for processed food but this soup was my saviour, it is really satisfying and taste nice, it is low carb and sugar, which i had to have while i was still diabetic, or i made my own soup with green veg and stick blended it till it was as smooth as a protien shake. Nutritional Values ..Heinz Weight Watchers Tomato soup Typical values Per 100g Per can Energy 110kJ 326kJ 26kcal 76kcal Protein 0.7g 2.0g Carbohydrate 4.6g 13.7g (of which sugars) (2.8g) (8.2g) Fat 0.5g 1.4g (of which saturates) (Trace) (0.1g) Fibre 0.3g 0.9g Sodium 0.2g 0.7g

I loved growing up in the 60's too, i listened to tamla motown all the time ( 4 tops, drifters, jackson 5, diana ross etc etc ), then Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees Gary Puckett and ofc ( hides head) the monkees ! I fell 'in love' with Dustin Hoffman in the Graduate and still adore him to this day , and avidly watched the Andy Willimas show on tv every week. I could wear mini skirts and hot pants back then, I remember there was a health warning put out that if you wore things too short your thighs get cold and they will get a layer of fat on them to keep them warm < seems i made that prediction come tru lol The US was a long way away from the UK back then but the music we all shared made the distance almost non existant. Happy Thanksgiving to you all !

Grats on your weight loss

I think your weight loss is great .. well done A large band normally has a capacity of 14 cc's so with a 6 cc fill u arent half way yet, for some that will be plenty for others they will need more, from now on the adjustment fills should start making a bigger difference, you may well find that 1 or 2 cc's more will start to really kick in, my last fill took me to 8cc's and i had to go yesterday and have 1 cc removed i could hardly eat or drink without it getting stuck, i probably wont need much more than a further .5 ccs. So from now on it will be more fine tuning than 'big' fills. Try not to see what u can 'get away' with eating, and if you are quite hungry u do tend to eat more quickly or chew less, old habits die hard so find a small snack low carb/low calorie, high protien for when the hunger gets to you, and eat from a smaller plate. I am sure most of us hate feeling hungry, but lets be honest not one of us is starving, it tooks years to train our brains into thinking we need all this food and will take some time for them to adjust to feeling full with smaller portions. good luck !

It might be a good idea to have a word with your GP and ask for a referral to someone who you could discuss things with like a psychologist etc, also writing your thoughts down often helps , like making a list of all the pro's and con's for surgery. I really do hope you can get the help you need to get your mental state in a better place where u can then concentrate on the physical one

Throwing up a lot isnt really good for you or the band, but i do understand why u are reluctant to let them unfill you too, maybe ask for just .5 mls to be taken out that way u should get some relief from throwing up but also keep some restriction, sometimes even the smallest of fills can make a big difference I cant help u on the chest pain front as i have never experienced any, but u do need to discuss that with your surgeon. good luck !

Hi Stephen, you have to decide if you want to carry on living like you are and just gaining weight each year or take the opportunity to change the rest of your life. I buried my head in the sand for far too long, i avoided mirrors and photographs, avoided going out so i was never really confronted with my weight until i woke up one day and decided i dont want to live like this any more, i chose to claim my life back. I am sure you will meet the criteria for NHS weight loss surgery, i am not sure they will agree to use the band, i had to pay for mine as they wanted to do a bypass/sleeve and i didnt want that. Having the band fitted was probably one of the best decisions i had made in my life for many many years, and 10 months on i have absolutely no regrets. It will take a lot of effort on your part to get rid of the weight that has took so long to accumulate, but coming back on the forum and accepting that you will need help/surgery is the first step towards a better and healthier life for yourself. I came to the conclusion that gaining weight every year and becoming more immobile and useless was far more scary than a short operation. The more you delay it the longer the road is u will need to travel. I really wish you well and hope you choose to live instead of just exisiting!

I always have this method of a fill so its not new to me at all but im in the UK and its probably more standard here to do it this way than the US