Cazzy

my fills also take only a minute or two at the most too, my surgeon does the fills .. I have 7cc's in a 14 cc band going in for a further small fill in a week. They did inform me that if you lose a lot of weight the band becomes loser as u lose fat internally from around the stomach. I tend to go for a fill after around each 40 lbs lost more than just relying on appetite/food intake indicators. The surgeon also makes me eat a yoghurt after the fill to make certain that i can eat it without any problems.

good news and good luck

good luck nicole let us know howw u get on

I can remember being told by the doctor after my band was fitted that quite often u can put a few pounds back on till u start getting your fills, i didnt because i restricted what i was eating, but it evidently is a common occurance that u might regain your appetite till u get your fills going. My port is also on my sternum, i really dont mind it there at all but since losing the weight i have it sticks out a little now but i dont really take much notice of it now. I had read some posts that if its in the stomach and u lose a lot of weight and wear something tight u can see it so maybe the sternum isnt such a bad site to have for a port. You are still healing tho so please be careful, common sense and moderation are the key to healing properly. good luck on your journey

totally agree my regime is very similar to yours, my metaboolism is a slow one too so calories in and burned are important to me to lose weight. I could do with some of your height tho I am only 5'4 hence my BMI started very high

I started off at 400lbs but kept to 1000/1100 calories a day since i was able to eat solid food, we all have different requirements based on how quickly/much our bodies metabolise food and what we are burning off. My Doctor also advised me to eat around 1200 calories a day. There is a standard formula for working out calorie requirements and for most people that works fine but not everyone fits into neat little boxes. As long as your nutritional needs are being met, like protiens, carbs and fats and starches and you drink plenty of water and exercise the weight does come off, if u do adjust the amount of calories you eat then do it slowly try a week or 2 at 100 calories less a day and see if that helps, but as always discuss any changes with your nutritionist/dietician I wish you well on your journey.

good luck on your journey

I think given the amount of people on this forum who have had a bad experience from the 1-800-GET-THIN centre it may well be that your experience of the band is more due to the doctors and their after care service than the band itself. Reading a lot of the posts here many people do have success with the lap band, but it isnt for everyone, all we can do is give it our best shot. Im sure everyone will sympathise with your story and wish you well in the future.

good luck with the band 100% happy with the band 182lbs lost in 12 months so far ..

I know a lot of people advise not weighing in daily but i do and i record my weight on a weekly basis, if i havent lost any weight or have remained the same i am fine if i have put on a 1lb overnight i work extra hard the next day to get it off. Being diabetic I was used to monitoring my sugar after each meal so i could see what food affected my sugar levels, i see my scales as a similar tool, i see what food doesnt help me lose wieght and i adjust my food accordingly. After a year of weighing every day i am used to the fluctuations in weight each day so it doesnt affect me at all now but i can really understand why some would get upset or disappointed weighing in on a daily basis. The trick is to weigh yourself at the same time always. We all cope with things differently and no one way is the right way.. and life would be pretty boring if it was

Its amazing how much different information and opinions are around concerning what we should eat and what we shouldnt, if you lose weight and are eating what could be considered a healthy diet, then why not continue. Not everyone is the same and our bodies will react in different ways to different foods, i wish i was someone who could just eat small portions of normal food but it just doesn't work for me. I have my band and it helps me but i dont eat food that i know will stop 'me' losing weight. I suppose it could be said that i am on a diet, but its 'my' diet its not a prescribed one, the information i was given i took as helpful not an absolute. I eat 1000 calories a day made up of protien and veggies and some low fat and low carb food and fizzy Water, i dont eat any bread products or cheese products at all or any processed food other than weight watchers tomato Soup. I drink as many cups of tea or coffee as i like with skimmed milk. I do eat a small amount of fruit normally some berries in sugar free Jello, if i eat anything that i consider 'naughty' like maple syrup its a teaspoonfull in plain low fat yoghurt/fromage frais. I also eat oat bran, which i add to yoghurt. For me this works and i stick at it and have done for the past year, to me this isnt a diet its now my normal food. As Jachut said 'You dont need a nutritionist to do well with a lapband. We are not idiots, we are perfectly capable of researching various styles of eating/diet and working out what works well for us. There's no magic to it, eat less than you burn and you will lose weight, but for many people, low carb works, and for others its not necessary.' Common sense rules

Thanks Stacy, I certainly dont feel 'inspirational' I have to say its almost a full time job having to lose so much weight and each day i have to push myself to exercise and keep moving, but the motivation is my health and happiness, it is over 20 yrs since i weighed what i do now and when i reach my goal it will have been 30 yrs since i weighed it. I started off really slow doing exercises sitting down, i would use dumbells and resistance bands just watching tv, when u weigh as much as i did when u first start this journey its just so hard to even stand for long periods let alone do exercises, i couldnt sit on a exercise bike as it was just too uncomfortable, now i use it all the time, my exercise bike , my strength training and my healthy diet have enabled me to lose all this weight and am hoping it will continue to do so till my goal weight is achieved. Its been exactly one year since i first started my pre-op diet and i havent looked back since, my goal was to get my life back and slowly it returns both emotionally and physically. So always keep plugging away and keep battling on, you cant let fat be the victor !

nice to see other 'soupies' out there

good luck for tomorrow

I always eat soup before my main meal of the day , i find it helps a lot in curbing the initial hunger pangs and it doesnt seem to affect me in getting food stuck etc, if i was to drink any liquid during a meal it would get stuck so i dont. If u are still on mushy food then u can liquidise your own home made soup in place of a meal, but the main thing is that u dont overload the pouch with too much of anything whilst its all healing, so until u are on regular food i would make soup, if its a thick main meal type one or liquidised food/mushy food your meal. Not sure if thats helpful for you. Weight Watchers tomato soup is low in calories only 71 and carbs and taste really good, the other flavours are really not so good . We are all different and i know i am not the norm but i make home made veg soup ( cauliflour, broccoli, courgette and peas ) for lunch every day with crispbread and have a ww tomato soup before evening meal and it works for me but i live in the Uk and the advice we get here from nutritionists is sometimes different from the US Banded Jan 2011 180lbs lost since Oct 2010.

Sounds like the same formula i use too, fish, chicken, seafood lots of veg, fruit and sugar free jelly and exercise .

I was banded in Jan 2011 and maybe have thrown up 15 times since then at most, i am reliant on my memory, as what makes me sick doesnt get eaten again unless i can see another cause like i was very hungry and just ate too fast or didnt chew my food enough. My best friend is a sharp knife i cut up all my food really small, i do not eat bread or bread products at all, and tend to avoid things like cold chicken as that is a big no no for me. What i do eat a lot of is Soup, homemade vegetable soup or tomato soup from weight watchers. If you do throw up then give your band /stomach time to recover, going onto liquids/soft food for the rest of the day is good advice. Eventually you get to know your band and what u can and cant do with it, i had to change my whole approach to food and what i was able to eat where other people just ate smaller portions of 'normal' food. Food can get stuck more often after a band fill so be cautious after a fill for a few days and hopefully things will improve. Be pateint we all lose weight at different rates just keep at it and eventually u will be ok. Just make sure u are burning more calories than you are eating I have lost over 170lbs so far by monitoring closely everything i eat, the band is a tool for weight loss and not the whole answer and i really hope things improve for you .

I didnt really experience any restrictions till my 3rd fill, but restrictions are more dependent on how much fill you get rather than the number of fills. I had to lose some weight before i was banded in january 2011 so was used to eating much smaller portions anyways so the band restriction didn't really affect my weight loss, just made it easier for me to eat less lost 12st 8lbs since October 2010. Banded Jan 2011.

Good luck to all having surgery this week, wishing u all a speedy recovery .

My weight when i started was 400lbs since Oct.2010 i have lost 170lbs and was banded in Jan 2011, most of us took a long time to gain that much weight and it will take some time to get it off again but dont give up its a long road but worth every step !

I am B all the way. Ive lost 170lbs since Oct. 2010 was banded in Jan 2011 and have another 60lbs to go. I do not miss any treats at all, i exercise every day and never touch soda or bread. I was lucky my partner needed to loose 72 lbs and he did that without being banded so we did it together. i never buy treat food any more and now dont even want it. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 5 yrs ago so am used to living without sugar anyways. I tried to eat small portions of normal food and it just didnt work for me. I roughly eat 1200 calories a day and burn around 500 per day, my weight loss is approx 3lbs per week. The best thing is , i am happy with what i am eating and healthy food is now my normal food !.

If food is getting stuck frequently mostly it would be either what you are eating or how u are eating it, everyone is different. Some cannot eat quickly, some cannot eat certain foods, some cannot drink with food, some find mornings their band is 'tighter', what you have to do is monitor what you eat and how u eat it, if food gets stuck then try eating slower, chewing more or avoid that food again, what u shouldnt be doing is throwing up daily. As the previous poster AnnieM says watch out for too much vomiting as this can sometimes cause problems with your band. I was banded in Jan 2011 and maybe have thrown up 15 times since then at most, i am reliant on my memory, as what makes me sick doesnt get eaten again unless i can see another cause like i was very hungry and just ate too fast or didnt chew my food enough. My best friend is a sharp knife i cut up all my food really small, i do not eat bread or bread products at all, and tend to avoid things like cold chicken as that is a big no no for me. What i do eat a lot of is Soup, homemade vegetable soup or tomato soup from weight watchers. If you do throw up then give your band /stomach time to recover, going onto liquids/soft food for the rest of the day is good advice. Eventually you get to know your band and what u can and cant do with it, i had to change my whole approach to food and what i was able to eat where other people just ate smaller portions of 'normal' food. Food can get stuck more often after a band fill so be cautious after a fill for a few days and hopefully things will improve. I really hope you find the answers that will help you , the information here on this forum is very helpful. I have lost over 120lbs so far so be patient and i really hope things improve for you .