AXA

On my off day, I tend to eat a lot of fruit, toasted wheat bread, and cheese so it's still healthy, just a lot of carbs (normal carbs for me is under 100g daily). About one day a month, I overload on sugar. Everything I love is a slider food: chocolate pudding, chocolate milk, juice, ice cream, bananas, strawberries, fruit smoothies, muscle milk light, and cookies. So it doesn't really put pressure on my pouch since it all just slides through. Notice I don't have french fries, donuts, and fast food on the menu. When I read about this diet, I thought first, it won't work, and second, it's unhealthy. However, I did it for my pre-op diet and dropped 8 pounds quickly and easily. Then, after surgery I thought I wouldn't have to do that diet anymore. Wrong. Lapband doesn't work for me without a diet so I went back on it and lost 25 more pounds in just the last two months. It tricks my body into thinking that it's not going into starvation mode so my metabolism doesn't downshift.

Was this after you ate (within 1-2 hours)? If so, take a walk to help the food go down. Next time, cut you food up into tiny bits and eat slowly. If it's not food related, go see the doc.

I eat the same...about 800-1000 calories and 80-100 grams of protein for 6 days. On the 7th, I eat as much as I want. I track it on myfitnesspal. I've had over 3,000 calories on my day off and I still lose about a pound a week. If I don't have that one day a week, I can't sustain the diet. There are a lot of names for this kind of diet: calorie cycling, the Spike Diet, the cyclic ketogenic diet, slow carb diet (that's my fav). If I could do it with just 100 extra calories on the 7th day, I'd probably lose 2 or 3 pounds a week but there's no way I can stick to strict diet for that long. Good for you for sustaining that.

Weight-loss surgery is as controversial as abortion. Lots of people have lots of different opinions. You should read the forum a week back or so when we were all writing why we had lapband surgery over gastric bypass. Gastic bypass people would be so offended at what we wrote with us choosing not to get THAT surgery because of it's severity, non-reversibility, and side effects. So the same goes for people who would choose a less invasive way to losing weight than the lapband. People are just thinking of themselves and what they would do when they say negative things. The way I handle it is just not to tell anyone. Everyone seems to support me eating less, cutting carbs, etc. I think people like to support others in getting healthy . . . people just don't all agree on how that's best done. I think social acceptance of the Lapband and other WLS will happen some day, but we aren't there yet.

Yes, on special occasions only. I have no problem with them and can't tell the difference post-band from pre-band. My doctor doesn't like drinking because he thinks that his patients might just exchange one addiction for another. At his monthly information meeting, he showed statistics that showed while people who had weight loss surgery had lower rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer, they had higher rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide. He also says that alcohol are just empty calories and slow weightloss. With that in mind, I still drink at special occassions.

It means that your band is tight around your stomach and you physically can't eat more than a certain amount. I can eat about a cup of food per meal. I'm still hungry (not everyone is, might just be me) but I can't get one more bite down because it's like the gas tank is full and topping it off is just going to cause a spill.

My husband knows and one of my brothers. That's it. I haven't told my parents, children, friends, coworkers, or anyone else. I figure it's no one's beeswax! I didn't feel compelled to tell anyone that I had a hernia operation or the results of pap smear either. I figure this is a medically necessary operation to make me healthy and sharing it with people is not something I have to do. Another reason that I didn't tell everyone was in case it didn't work. And it didn't work at first (first 3 months) so I was thankful I hadn't told and I only got grief from my husband ("you should have gotten the other surgery"). A girl at my support group had told everyone and then, four months in, she hadn't lost a pound and she felt guilty and ashamed around all these people who knew she had the surgery. She told us that everyone must think that she's still overeating, not exercising, or not trying. We gave her similar advice to what you get on these forums (track your food, lower calories, lots of Water, exercise, talk to doctor) but she never came back to the support group again. I felt so bad for her. I had a similarly hard time at the beginning but at least there weren't people around me with expectations! Telling people about it is such a personal decision. I think people should do what's right for them. I don't criticize those who tell the world or those who tell just a few. No one should feel bad about what they decide to do because there is no right or wrong answer here.

Wow. I wasn't going to answer because I don't have the experience you do but then I thought of something someone said to me once, "take care of your health, because once it's gone, it's gone." You need to get healthy whatever way you can. Stress is a killer too. Go to the doctor, get advice, and do what you need to do. . . whatever that is.

Slow start? What are you talking about? You are right on target. Go to Lapband Complication forum under Struggling and read about people who lose nothing or actually gain weight. Typical weight loss is one pound a week. You're halfway through the year and have already beaten that! Be happy with yourself!

Just eat the hamburger part, not the bun. That way you feel like you are having a treat but you are only having the protein.

Surgery side effects. Your body is healing. Take it easy. Drink liquids. Call your doctor and describe your symptoms just so they know and can advise you.

I eat under 1000 calories a day, under 100 carbs and 60-100 protein. If I eat any more than 1000 cals or 100 carbs, I don't lose weight. It seems like a crazy-low amount of calories to live on but the people in these forums were the ones who let me know that is what you need to do to lose. On Saturdays however, I eat as many calories and carbs as I want, then I get back on my regimen for the next 6 days. It keeps my cravings at bay and keeps my metabolism from slowing down. I have no idea why my high calorie Saturday doesn't derail my weightloss-but it doesn't (but I make sure I don't weigh myself for the three days after).

I only lose on the lapband with strict dieting. I didn't think I'd have to. The difference is that I can stick to the diet a little better and when I fall off the wagon, I can't do too much damage. As you've read in all these posts, we are all different. I really thought my experience would be just like those people who's weight just "fell off" or who found that magical green zone. Nope, no such luck. Just keep trying new things and read all the advice people give you. Something is bound to work eventually.

My doc tells me that it can put air bubbles in your stomach and/or have you get used to consuming too fast. I use straws occassionally with no ill effects but I generally try to avoid them. For shaved ice though? Definitely I would use a straw!

I found it very hard to follow all the rules before my surgery. Why don't you just pick one or two that will really pay off for you later? The major thing I did was quit diet soda. That was huge for me because I was so addicted. I replaced it with drinking lots of Water. So, then, I followed two rules! That's enough. It's good that you know what the rules are but just do what you can right now. It's better to succeed with one rule than to fail at all of them all, right? The exception to all this is... when you do get scheduled for surgery, concentrate on doing well on your pre-op diet because it really will make your surgery safer if you can reduce the size of your liver.

How did he know it was stretched out? Was it barium swallow thing or was he guessing from symptoms? Could you feel it? I'm just wondering for myself.

If it's after you eat (up to 3 hours), it could be food sitting in your esophagus waiting for it's turn to go through the band. Just eat smaller amounts. If it's not food related, go see your doctor and describe it because they'll probably able to pinpoint it a lot faster because they've go the MD.

I really like all the posts before mine. Everyone has really good advice. For a lot of people, the lapband doesn't work by itself. I only give it 10% credit for my weight loss and the other 90% to OCD-type compliance to a diet, plenty of water, exercise, and tracking everything. I used to think that micromanaging my diet so much would cause me to stress out . . . but I think it's much more stressful to not lose weight and not to know why. I'm only about 6 months out too and lost nothing the first three months but in the last 3, I lost 32 from being super-strict with myself.

Jess, Good for you for unloading all of that! You know, once you get it all on paper (or on the post), you might be able to let go of some of it and move on. Talking and writing is very therapeutic. I recommend a book. It's called "The 4-Hour Body: an uncommon guide to rapid fat-loss, incredible ***, and becoming superhuman" by Tim Ferris. I know, it sounds gimmicky. My regular doctor recommended it to me! I am on the Slow-Carb diet that Ferris outlines in the book. It follows all the Lapband rules: high protein, lots of veggies, lots of water, few meals but then it has one day a week you can splurge. The psychological benefits of being able to eat whatever you want once a week and to still lose weight has been my Holy Grail to weightloss. None of my family know about the surgery so they keep asking how I'm doing it so I point them to this book. My mom, my brother, and my husband have all lost weight on this diet (and no Lapbands!) I don't want to over-promote it. I'm sure it won't work for everyone and there are some fabulously successful people on these posts that have lost weight with their own methods. But, it's something different and it sounds as if you need a plan that gives you a day in which you can feed your demons.

Congratulations on how much weight you've already lost! Not EVERYONE says the weight just falls off. You've been very fortunate and have probably had to work at it to get that first bit off, right? I have fought every single pound off my body. It is not easy at all. HUGE lifestyle changes that I'm making permanent. If you scroll down the forums to struggling lapbanders, you'll read story after story of people who lose nothing or gain it back. They, like me, read all the glowing posts of people who said it just "fell off." I very much envy those people but sometimes I wonder if they have amnesia for all the little changes they had to make to get the weight off. I wrote my first post in that section myself and got all the advice I needed to start losing weight. No one said that it'll fall off me...they told me to cut my calories, eat healthy, exercise, see my doctor. All the usual stuff... the boring answers. But, it worked.

I've always exercised a lot too but cutting down to 1000 calories didn't really make difference in my ability to exercise. I add in more weights because I want to keep and build as much lean mass as I can as I lose weight. The only thing I found difficult since the lapband is the inability to chug water during my workout. I can sip water/take regular swallows but I can't just down it like I'm used to so I find I get dehydrated easier. So now I try to drink continuously before my workout, during, and after. Also, sit-ups at certain angles makes my port hurt a bit.

A few years ago, I lost 40 pounds on Medifast in two months and I developed all bunch of crazy physical symptoms. Every joint in my body hurt. My hair was falling out. I was very crabby. I couldn't even enjoy the lost weight because it was very unhealthy way to do it. Starving our bodies is a terrible thing to do. (I also lost a lot of muscle so when I gained it back, it was all fat). The lapband can keep us from eating the right nutrients and enough of them if we are not careful and caring about ourselves. My weight has plateaued in the last two weeks but my elbow pain has subsided. I think the medical establishment is on to something when they say healthy weight loss is only one or two pounds a week. Make sure you keep eating healthy, take your vitamins, drink your water, and do some exercise....and just take it easy on your arm. I hope it subsides for you too.

I told her it's helped me lose weight. She had noticed me go down two sizes since the beginning of March. (got my Lapband in December but I didn't figure out how to work it until March)

I forget I have a band 99% of the time. I used to take a regular bite, not chew that well, and generally eat too fast. and I would get the hiccups or all those other lovely things that happen on the way to food getting stuck. It kept occuring again and again. Now, my solution is to first cut up all my food into tiny little baby bites. It lets nothing get stuck (or almost stuck) and it's a visual for me to remind myself how and why I eat this way. The only problem is it's realy embarrassing around people who don't know I have a Lapband (which is everyone but my doctor and my husband!). My mom even asked me why I have regressed and eating like a child again.

google "golfer's elbow" I'm not sure how diet is related, by I've got that too. Try to use the other arm more and don't lean on that arm or carry heavy things with it.