DELETE THIS ACCOUNT!

This is just my opinion, but I wouldn't trade doctors just because there is a small delay in appointment time. If you trusted him to do surgery on you and are happy with his care overall, then it's worth the wait.

Happy Birthday and congratulations on your success!!

With no disrespect to previous posters, PBing and vomiting are not even close the the same thing. The only similarity is the fact food comes back up with both but process is very different. When you PB, you essentially just burp the stuck food back up. There is no force and there is no retching or stomach spasming. It's not pleasant but it's not dangerous, either. When you vomit, your stomach contracts and spasms forcing the food back up. That is when you get all the retching and violence. Vomiting is very dangerous with the band. It's never normal and should be avoided at all costs because it's the leading cause of slips.

I actually feel like now I eat normal. Before I had the band and changed my lifestyle, I ate like a glutton. Do I ever miss the gluttonous eating? Every once in a great while, I wish I could sit down and have a Big Mac, large fried, large Coke, and apple pie. It's usually when I'm upset over something. BUT... that is a very fleeting moment because then I look in the mirror. I love my new life since losing weight and wouldn't trade that in for the world.

I would tell myself to start buying smaller clothes in various sizes as I see them on clearance or at 2nd hand shops. It's expensive to constantly be dropping sizes!

When I first got banded, I could only feel my port if I really pushed and searched for it. Now, after losing a lot of weight, it sticks out a lot. You can actually see it through my clothes if my shirt is snug.

Unfortunately we can't help unless we know exactly what you're doctor allows at that phase. It's very important to stick to your post op diet exactly.

Emotional eating is rough, very rough. I realized early on I was an emotional eater at both extremes, both good and bad emotions. Have a bad day? Have a Twinkie! Have a great day? Celebrate with a Hershey bar! It wasn't until I was banded and was changing my lifestyle that realized how emotionally driven my eating always was. For me, my incentive is seeing how far I've come. Nothing depresses me faster than remembering what my life was like when I was almost 220 pound heavier. I was positively miserable. I never, ever want to be "that girl" again. So, when I feel the overwhelming urge to emotionally eat, I think and remember how awful it felt back then. I even keep a picture of myself taken the day of my surgery on my phone so I can look at it as a reminder why emotional eating just can't happen in my life anymore. Best wishes.

Plateaus are a normal part of weight loss and so are minor weight fluctuations. You have to remember, your body isn't a machine. It needs time to adjust to major changes and weight loss is one. It's not uncommon at all for plateaus to last weeks- sometimes even months. It's frustrating, I know I've been there, but it's all part of the process. If you keep doing what you're doing your weight loss will pick up again. As far as a fill, talk to your doctor to be sure. But typically speaking a plateau isn't reason to have a fill. The fills are to control and dim your hunger. If you feel your hunger isn't controlled as well then maybe you do need one. But if it's just because of the plateau? A fill won't help. Best wishes.

I am so sorry you're going through this. I also have MS. The best advice I can give you is to get on a disease modifying drug (often referred to as a DMD) ASAP. This is really important because they slow progression of the disease and the sooner you get on one the better your prognosis will be. Yes, there are 4 types of MS. Relapse/Remitting (RRMS), Primary Progressive, Secondary Progressive, and Progressive Relapsing. The majority of people start off RRMS (which is what I still am, too). In fact, that is another reason the DMD's are so important, to keep people from turning from RRMS to Secondary Progressive. May I ask, did you have both an MRI and a spinal tap to be diagnosed?

Lellow gives good advice (as she always does!) It takes time and patience to have adequate Fluid in your band. Until you do, it's very much just another diet. At this point it's a choice: White knuckle it and follow your eating guidelines despite not getting enough help from the band yet or have your weight loss stall out (or possibly even gain) until you're in the Green Zone. Bandster hell (which you're in) isn't easy but it's survivable. As far as another fill, most doctors have a set schedule amount of time they'll allow between fills. For instance, mine will do them every 4 weeks. Most will make you wait a period of time just to be sure it's settled in and another won't accidentally over fill you. To know for sure, you'll have to ask your doctor what his rules are fills. Hang in there, it does get easier.

You likely vomited today not because of "restriction" but because you ate food your stomach was too injured to handle. Unfortunately, vomiting only assaulted it further. You desperately need to get back on your post op diet and stay there. When you cheat on your post op diet and vomit, you put yourself at risk of very serious complications including ripping the sutures in your stomach.

The way it was explained to me was this: If you feel like you just ate a big dinner and can't eat another bite, you're full. If you are simply no longer physically hungry, you're satisfied. This is why I was told pausing between bites was so important- to give your stomach time to send a signal to your brain "Oh, I'm not hungry anymore". (and of course so you don't get stuck by eating too fast). Honestly? It wasn't easy for me to learn. After spending my entire life stuffing myself silly and eating when I wasn't hungry- I didn't even really know what physical hunger felt like anymore. It's a pretty big learning curve at the beginning with the band. It's A LOT easier once you have adequate Fluid in your band, too. A lot of us also have "soft soft" signals when we're satisfied, too. Like mine is getting the hiccurps. Some will sigh, or their nose may Water a little. There's all different little body cues we learn to tune into and really listen to our bands and body. Hope that helps!

I get what I call "hiccurps" after eating. It's like combination hiccup and burp. I get about a half dozen of them every time I'm done eating.

I am. I've lost 2.8 pounds so far this week.

Ask your doctor to be safe. The biggest reason doctors advise against long car trips or plane rides immediately after surgery is due to the risk of blood clots.

Everyone loses at different rates. If you feel good and your doctor isn't concerned, then just enjoy the success. For the record, I lost super fast at first. I actually lost a whopping 44 pounds before I even had my first fill. I continued to lose around 20 pounds a month for awhile, too. It's only in the last 6-8 months my loss rate has slowed to a more "normal" pace. Just enjoy it while it lasts but don't be discouraged when it does slow down

I was originally scheduled for Gastric Bypass. My BMI was a whopping 72 and the surgeon insisted I'd never lose enough weight with the Lap Band. As the day got closer, I had more and more doubts. Ultimately I canceled the surgery at the last minute. I then went out and did some more research on the band- including a different bariatric surgeon who wasn't biased against it. I knew the band was right for me and luckily I found a surgeon who supported my choice. I had the Lap Band surgery 18 months ago and it's the best decision I could've ever made for myself. I've lost almost 220 pounds and I'm still losing- obviously the first surgeon who tried to tell me I'd never lose enough with the band was wrong. This is strictly my opinion and why I made the choice for the band: I simply could not justify permanently re-routing my healthy intestines without trying something far less drastic first. I also didn't want to deal with malnutrition, malabsorbtion, and dumping. Here's an interesting fact: Gastric Bypass patients may lose faster than Lap Band patients right away after surgery, but long term data shows that ultimately the weight loss is comparable between both surgeries. It also shows that the serious complication rate of the Lap Band by no fault of the patient is only 5%. http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/weight-stays-off-long-after-lap-band-surgery/ Ultimately, you have to do what is best for you. Best wishes on whatever you decide.

I love tuna and this sounds really good! I'm totally going to try it, thank you!!

First, don't be so hard on yourself. You messed up one day. We all have our bad days, trust me. The trick is not letting a bad day turn into a bad week or month. One bad day isn't going to sabotage your surgery. Just don't let it turn into more. Eating habits aren't easy to change. I had my surgery 18 months ago and still have my days that I struggle. For me, distraction seems to be the best way to handle it. For instance, I'm a nighttime eater by nature. I can go all day without a problem but come night time, I want to graze. I find if I distract myself when the urge hits (I usually take a long hot bath) then it will pass. Hang in there!

I personally like the Centrum chewables. Plus, they're for adults not kids. A lot of people like the gummy Vitamins. My daughter loves the Vitafusion gummies. It's really a trial and error process trying to find one you like.

I totally agree with you. Very well said!

For me, it was the realization if I didn't make drastic lifestyle changes I wouldn't live to see my kids grow into adults. I started this journey truly huge- my BMI was 72. My blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol were all high. It was only a matter of time before I was on blood pressure meds and diabetic. I also had a pretty bad sleep apnea. I remember my visit to my neurologist before having Lap Band surgery and him telling me I was a "ticking time bomb" if I didn't lose weight.

I use Lose It and I've used it for 18 months. I absolutely love it, it's like my "food bible".

The definition of a fad is "An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, esp. one that is short-lived; a craze." Everyone trying to use low carb dieting to lose weight, regardless of whether or not it is what's best for them, is in my opinion a fad. It's no different than back when everyone thought fat was the blame for obesity and if you just eliminated fat, you'd lose weight. Furthermore, since 1992 the obesity rate has skyrocketed in the United States. It doesn't matter which diet fad people attempted, including low carb, we still continue to get fatter as a society. Carb addiction is very real, by the way. I never claimed that it wasn't. For people suffering from carb addition, low carb would definitely be the way to go. In fact there's a lot of reasons, ranging from medical to psychological in nature, that someone would be best suited for low carb eating. However, there are just as many reasons that someone shouldn't be following the low carb diet. Everyone has to do what is best for them and their body- and low carb eating isn't what is best for everyone. For the record? Your surgeon may believe carbs are the culprits for obesity and lack of weight loss but not all doctors agree with your surgeon. Both my bariatric surgeon and my nutritionist believe the culprit for obesity is America's obsession with "bigger is better" when it comes to portion size. My nutritionist is actually the one who originally referred to low carb eating as a fad to me- and I happen to agree with her. Does that mean either of our surgeons are wrong? No, it means they have a difference of opinion. People need to figure out what is best for specifically for them because there is no single right way to lose weight.