faithmd

Alexandra and Jack, thank you both so much for writing these amazing words of wisdom. I need to heed them myself.

Central Markte is usually good for lots of great food, though. I have a Trader Joes, but want a Central Market, too. I had discovered these a few weeks ago, they are gluten free and WONDERFUL. I don't even use a bun, I melt a slice of low fat cheese on one and top it with sliced tomato or salsa, some FF Greek Strained Yogurt (better Protein than sour cream) and a couple slices of avocado. WOW! They're GREAT!

Does who gave you the Rx for the NSAID know about the band? Are they liquid? According to the band manufacturer, folks who have had WLS should not use ANY NSAIDS because the pill has a tendency to sit in the pouch and can cause erosion/ulcers. Some folks do do okay with NSAIDS, as anything in this WLS experience, it is fairly individual. Additionally if it just sits there in the pouch, it isn't being broken down in the highly vascular stomach and absorbed into the bloodstream effectively. If a doc says it is okay for you to take NSAIDS, usually you want to not have a full pouch, and you MUST drink LOADS (at least a full glass) of water to flush it through the stoma. You want to avoid the pills sitting there in the pouch as much as possible.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Initially only DH and MY parents knew. Since I've told five friends. One has the band, one wants the band, one has been there through thick and thin, the other two are a couple who saw the scars and asked (and are VERY dear, wonderful friends who have recently grown close to DH and I). I have no plans to tell anyone else. I wouldn't normally have told that many folks but it just happened. I don't want folks at work looking at me and policing my weight loss or my food. My boss only knows I had a little personal surgery done. That's all any employer needs to know. Heck, they don't really need to know even that much. I wish you luck and I'm glad I haven't shared my decisions with many folks. For me it is not about whether I care or not if people know, it's just my decision and I don't think I need to share it with everyone. I wouldn't shout it from the rooftops if I had carpal tunnel surgery or any other surgery, why should I shout this? But if you want to, then goodonya! It's a total personal decision.

Congrats!!!! That is AWESOME! I look forward to the day I can get into a 16. Strangely I've lost almost 70 lbs ans STILL haven't changed sizes! Odd, huh? 30 lbs and you've changed a couple! How cool is that? That's wonderful!! I keep telling myself that one day I'll just all of a sudden have a shift and my size will change drastically. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

I'm plateaued, still plateaued, stuck in the same 6-8lbs for a month now. I haven't been filled yet and certainly am hungry. I'm really trying to do as much of this on my own as I can. I lost 40 lbs or so on my own before the band, I should be able to continue that now, right? At least that's what I keep telling myself. I am eating less than before though. But on the days I stay around 1000-1400 calories, I don't lose weight. The days I eat waaaaay more than I should and take in 1800-2200 calories I lose weight. I should be happy about being able to eat more, but I worry that when I get filled and can't take in the calories that I'll stop losing. Weird place to be, huh? Glad to see we are all doing so well! I don't check in as often as I had been, I'll try to be better.

Trystelle is right on target, it varys SOOOOO much from person to person. I had four weeks off, could probably have gone back in about two but things came up (not band related). Every doc it seems is different in their post-op diet and their pre-op diet plan. That information you should get from the surgeon you choose. I was about 5 or 6 weeks until regular foods. Trystelle's doc is quite liberal. But the key is to follow YOUR doc's advice. Just because her doc said it was okay for her, doesn't mean it was okay for me. Welcome to LBT!

Find a new doc! Hiatal hernias are found in as many as 70% of obese people. Every good, qualified doc fixes them while banding. Takes one stitch, maybe two. Have you checked out Hurley in Flint?

Gorgeous car! My husband LOVES purple cars, not if it's too pink, but purple, definitely. We have a purple (Amethyst) Durango and he was very sad when he got his PT Cruiser that it wasn't available in a shade of plum or purple.

I agree with you both, Green and Boo Boo.

Don't forget Greek Strained Yogurt such as Fage, 15 to 17 grams for 7 or 8 oz. Also many protein shakes are 18 to 25 grams of protein for a serving.

I am only two months out, I have not had any fills and do not plan to at this time. I would lke to do as much on my own as I can. I can eat about 1.5 to 2 cups of food which is certainly quite a bit, but MUCH less that I used to be able to. I have some restriction from my band which is a small AP. I am only losing at about 1-2lbs per week, but that's what we are supposed to lose. I'm frustrated, sure. But I would like to save this tool in reserve and get as far as I can on my own first. Weird, I know. But that's me.

Yummie, why on earth are you eating pizza at little more than two weeks out? Okay, let's try to help you out here. First, what was your surgeon's post-op diet orders? Where should you be now on that plan? You mention you have two different plans to follow, how is that? Did you get one from your surgeon and one from someone else? Who gave you these plans? We need to sort out which one you should be following. Next, I know it's TOUGH, it's HARD, it SUCKS. This is Bandster Hell (the time between surgery and when you reach your *effective* fill level-that may take two or three or more fills), it is not easy, and this time is for HEALING, try not to worry about weight loss right now. You just have to DO it. What I do is drink a glass of Water with lemon in it while I'm cooking, that usually stops me from eating. Occasionally I chew really strong mint or cinnamon gum or suck on Altoids while cooking because with that in your mouth, you don't want to eat something else, it would taste awful. Do you realize that you are getting LOADS and LOADS of calories by chewing the food and sucking the "juices" out of it? When you chew, your saliva starts breaking down the food and the starches start getting broken down, you are getting loads of calories just by swallowing the "juices." Regarding eating foods that are not yet on your post-op plan (if that in fact is what you are doing, I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing pizza at two weeks post-op isn't on it): STOP!!!!!! You are risking your band! Maybe not today, maybe you chew it "really well" and the food goes down "just fine" but your band is only stitched in place on the front of the stomach, the back gets "seated" by scar tissue forming around the band. That scar tissue cannot form if the stomach is churning and churning to digest FOOD. liquids do not cause as much movement of the stomach to digest, that's why lots of post-op diets are liquid for a while, then mushy, then slow progression to regular food. A slip a year or two from now may have been caused by early eating, maybe not. So often we don't know why we slip, but for my money, I don't want to take the chance that eating early.

I hope Alexandra will chime in but from what I understand a true exclusion in a policy to all weight loss surgery is not something you can get past. You can't overturn it, it wasn't a denial, it's an exclusion in the policy. Now if they will pay for bypass but not adjustable gastric banding, then you may be able to get that overturned. But not a policy exclusion.

I've asked this before but I can't remember where. What most said was that it totally depends. Some have no problems, some have loads of problems. Some can eat certain fruits with skins, others can't eat any skins at all. It seems that most often I heard it was grape skin and tomato skin that seemed to cause problems.

I have to ask, why would you want to? didn't you get this band to CHANGE your LIFE? To make positive changes and to eat BETTER? Why on earth so early after banding, and your rebirth so to speak, would you want to go back to that which has made us unhealthy? (Unless of course you are talking about a whole grain or cracked wheat bread with 7 or 8 grams-minimum-of Fiber per slice.) And I understand you are getting sick of mushy stuff, I really do. I was just there myself. I wasn't perfect, but I tried really damned hard to stay on the diet I was supposed to be on because if I have a slip in a year or two or three I don't EVER want to think back and realize that by my eating early and not allowing that important scar tissue to form around the band to hold it in place, I may have contributed to that slip! All because I couldn't handle eating mushy foods for a few weeks? I dont' know about you, but I've been fat for YEARS, the post-op diet is only WEEKS. You can do it. Suck it up, pick yourself up and talk to us about how you are feeling, you will get through this! We're here for you. I know there is a thread that polls folks about starting early, but it is still NOT okay if your doc said it wasn't. I think many docs finally give in and let folks eat because they get hounded by patients constantly that they want to chew something.

Congratulations, Nile!!!! What a fantastic year it's been, with many more to come!

I was denied one month, and the next month I drank SlimFast Carb Control, and ate salads and a handful of nuts every day and lost the required 5% and was approved. My problem was that I had a medical issue and gained a lot of weight in the year I was doing the monthly visits. So I not only had the original 5% excess weight to lose, but all that I had gained as well.

It's not your doc who will deny your surgery, it's your insurance company. I also had a 12 month program, and I didn't lost the REQUIRED amount of weight, so I was DENIED. So yes, they can and will deny you.

Margi, call HBC right away and get an unfill! The pain and the throwing up is very bad,the more often you throw up, the more likely you are to slip. I wish you well!

Everyone is doing SOOOOOOO well! Congrats!!!!!!

Sadly I think they either aren't going to fix it, or can't fix it. Apparently not everyone gets the smilies. Don't know why. Wish someone would do SOMETHING about it, though.

Christine, HOORAY!!!!! Insub: thanks! Staind have a great time! Rainer: Don't men make you crazy with how fast they can lose? I've finally broken another little plateau, I stepped up my calories quite a bit and it's coming off again. Name...............................Starting……....Loss.......Current…....Goal….....ToGo losingjusme..Christine).........293.............11 .............282...........275............7 tann.............Tammy)...........211.............3..............208..........198............10 Josette......Josette)...............322……......8..............314............307.............7 RidinMyHDDream.Carol).........264...........0..............264............254............10 FaithMD................................308............5............303.........299...........6.4 Elisabethsew..Elisabeth)..........275..........0............275 ...........265............10 Libra(Angela)...................214..........0..............214.............208 ............6 glindab..................................282..........3.4............278.6..........265........13.6 Inner_meChris)..................295...........0..............295............280 ............15 waterlily1072...Nicole)............279...........0 .............279............269............10 RainerLorraine).....................311...........5.............306.............299............7 staindgalBridget)..................319..........5.8...........313.2...........299.........14.2 jbtullisJonathan)...................317...........7.............310.............299............11 Insubordination.......................311........2.6...........308.4...........304............4.4 Squale.....................................334…....9...........325……........310….........15 ShaunECook........................256.2.........0...........256.2…….......245........11.2

You will get through it. And on the other side, you will be so much happier! Regarding the diarrhea and headaches, remember liquids in= liquids out. The headaches are probably the calorie reduction and lack of caffeine. It gets better fairly quickly. Congrats and welcome to LBT!

I hear ya! I've lost about 68 lbs so far (combination of pre and post-band loss) and I'm still not getting that excited feeling. It's frustrating when folks are starting to notice and are excited for me and I'm not gleeful. It's weird as heck!