Toddy

If she says she is watching what she eats and is exercising, that is telling the truth. There are many, many reasons why a person wouldn't want to tell and there's no reason you should feel like you have to.

The feeling of being full after being banded is very different than the feeling of being full before having the band (for me, anyway). I don't get that stomach bloated, need to undo the button on my pants feeling of fullness anymore (thankfully). The feeling of fullness now is more in my chest. If I don't stop when I get that feeling, anything more I eat will come back up. In my opinion, it's so much better than walking around all icky and bloated!

My doctor was two days liquids, two day mushies, then normal diet as tolerated. He said the band works with solids, not liquids. He feels the goal is to get the band working... and he's been doing bariatric surgery long enough that I trust his methods 1000%!

EAT SOME CARBS!!!! I had the exact same thing happen. I had surgery on a Tuesday and just got weaker and weaker and spent the following Sunday in the ER because I just knew something had to be wrong. They ran all kinds of tests and nothing was wrong. Got home and ate a slice of pizza and then felt like a new person!!! My doctor thinks carbs are the devil; I think "good carbs" like Beans and whole grain, high Fiber breads are necessary to my existence!

After my third fill on Tuesday I'm at 5.5 cc's in the 10 cc band. I finally feel restriction, and I was beginning to feel like I may be a little too tight until I read B-52's post here. I can feel with every bite, and even with liquids, if I'm "doing it wrong". After reading that B-52 feels the same way, I'm thinking I may finally be in the "sweet spot"! We just left our favorite restaurant where I always order chili (even in the summer because it's just sooo good) and I could only eat about a third of the bowl and had to eat really slow. So far I haven't found anything that I absolutely can't eat, but I know I better chew whatever I eat to death!!! This is a great feeling! The only thing I'm worried about now is with as little as I eat, it's hard to get in all my Protein. I'm thinking I'm going to have to start drinking some protein again.

It's definitely different for everyone. One of the first things I realized when researching the band was that for it to work your head has to be in the right place. I was actually researching wls for my daughter and quickly realized that she wasn't mentally ready for this yet...but I was!! So I went ahead with surgery and am loving it. I didn't need mental health counseling, other than the mandatory pre-surgery visit, but if my daughter had this surgery she would need extensive counseling both before and after because of her relationship with food.

I actually did that even before I was banded. My husband and I would always joke that I had eaten too much, because I would immediately start sneezing eight to ten times. Kind of obnoxious in public -- people would look at me like I was contagious!

I did a TON of research online when I was first looking into wls. But it was a hand-out from my doctor (who, by the way, performs all the different weight loss surgeries) that helped me make the ultimate decision. His hand-out included the possible complications, both short-term and long-team, for each surgery. Choosing lap-band was a no-brainer for me because it has the least short-term and long-term complications. I'll take a 6% chance of re-operation with the band over a 30% chance of nutrient deficiency with the sleeve. Also, one of my husband's co-workers was having the sleeve at the same time I was having the band...last I heard "he wasn't doing too well." If you've chosen the sleeve, I wish you the best of luck. I'm very well educated and can make my choices for myself without your help.

I sneeze...repeatedly!!!

I told VERY FEW people and was very careful about who I told. One friend that I particularly thought wouldn't be supportive, I ended up having to tell because I was at dinner with her one night very shortly after a fill and, careful as I was, I got "stuck". Anyway, after trying to lead up to an explanation of what I had done (all the while trying to fight that stuck feeling: eyes watering, hand on my chest, halting speech) that when I finally got it out about the lap-band surgery, she was so relieved that it wasn't cancer or something equally as horrible, that she started crying! She also told me that she had looked into wls a couple of years ago and chickened out, but now she was so happy for me that she's going to look into it again -- even after witnessing a stuck episode!!

Glad to know it's not just me!

Your weight loss will probably slow down once you start soft foods and unfortunately your appetite will probably return too. It may be hard to keep losing weight while waiting to have fills and reach the "sweet spot" with your band. I'm not telling you this to discourage you, but to let you know what can happen. It happened to me and I was totally discouraged because I didn't expect it. However, now I've had three fills and am getting close to the sweet spot and am so totally happy!! Just hang in there!

I agree 100% with Mandagay! My whole reason for choosing lap-band was because it is reversible. If for some reason lap-band doesn't work, you can always try something more drastic. You may also be interested in researching lap-band with plication, it sounds like the best of both worlds, and still no organs (or parts of organs) are removed.

I had the option of plication when I was banded and opted not to have it. I so regret it now. I've heard nothing but good benefits from the band with plication. If I felt like having another surgery (which I so totally do not) I would get that done. Congratulations!!

I didn't start second guessing my decision until two days before surgery. Yes, there can be complications with the band, but some of those complications are self-inflicted (not eating properly after being banded). The complications that are not self-inflicted can require another surgery, which would be inconvenient, but is generally not life-threatening. The reason I chose lap-band was the fact that it is reversible if I find I can't tolerate it, and of all the weight loss surgeries, it has the least serious complications. I've been banded about 2.5 months, have lost 24 pounds, my back pain has already been greatly diminished, my BP med has been cut in half, and I'm completely off my ridiculously expensive acid reflux Rx!!!!! BEST DECISION I EVER MADE FOR MYSELF!! If I had a complication today, my goal would be to get that complication resolved and hopefully be able to be banded again!!!

I had surgery on a Tuesday and slept on my stomach on Wednesday night. If you assume what I call the Superman position, one leg straight and one leg up, it does take a little pressure off your stomach.

I went through this, too. I started exercising after my two week post-op appointment and the weight started dropping. It's been kind of slow so far, but steady!

You are just one week post surgery. You probably don't have much saline, if any at all, in your band right now. Your body is still recovering from surgery. It took me a solid week after surgery just to feel human, and then I still had the gas pains off an on. If you are having trouble keeping down liquids, you need to call you doctor's office immediately. Dehydration can come on really quickly and it is not fun to deal with!

This question is mainly geared toward people that have been banded for six months or longer. If you're completely honest with yourself, and you haven't lost much weight, is it more because you haven't changed your eating habits and been following the band eating rules, or is it more because you haven't maintained your band with the proper amount of restriction? I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad. As someone only two months post surgery and not terribly restricted yet, I'm beginning to wonder if restriction really will work for me.

Oh, what a nice thing to say and it means a lot coming from a very experienced "pro"!!

I agree with B-52. I've done a couple of bad things I know I shouldn't have and paid for it, but in these early stages while being in bandster hell it is nice to know that there is actually something in there! I had my third fill this week and while I'm not in the "zone" yet, it is definitely obvious now that I can't eat all the things I used to.

You're losing 10 lbs a month, and that's pretty good, in my opinion. I've only been banded for a little over two months and had three fills and don't particularly feel like I've had restriction yet. However, from all the research I've done, I'm thinking "feeling full" now is going to be much different than it was before being banded. I "think" the fullness is more in the chest now than in the stomach. Long-time bandsters please correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think you can say with any certainty that you would never have had to have your gallbladder removed or your bladder tacked if you hadn't had lap-band surgery. Lots of people have both of these conditions without having ever had lap-band surgery. A five minute search on the Internet into the possible causes of prolapsed bladder show that it can be caused by heavy lifting, straining to go to the bathroom, AND obesity. One of the things I saw recommended for prolapsed bladder was weight loss. I think you've just had some bad luck with your health lately. You may very well have had these same health problems (or worse) if you had not had lap-band surgery and lost a great deal of weight.

Both my GYN and my PCP thought it was a great idea. My GYN's mother even had WLS! I told my PCP on my first follow-up visit post-op that if I was a physician, I would recommend it to all my obese patients!

I used to be a Diet Pepsi-aholic! I would have a DP first thing in the morning when I woke up, and would have five or six during the course of a day. I've not had one single drink of a carbonated beverage since January 18 (the day I started my pre-op diet) and am happy to say I really haven't missed it. I have replaced my DP with hot tea in the morning and iced tea or Crystal Light during the day. Also, with all the Water you're supposed to drink, plus not drinking with meals, it would be hard to fit in any carbonated beverages!