WASaBubbleButt

Sounds like you need another fill. As you lose weight you lose fat around the band and it loosens. So if you get another fill you should be good to go again.

OMG finally! A place to whine for a bit! The only way I can tolerate a fill is if I take Luvox. Well, after a fill there is swelling and I can't take Luvox. I haven't taken Luvox in 3 days, got a fill three days ago. I'm screwed. I can't even drink Water now. 2.1cc in a 4cc band. I've never tolerated more than 1.3 without the drug. I seriously need Luvox, my band candy. With Luvox I can usually eat from about 1PM to 7PM. Hours other than that and it's a no go.

My brain isn't really keeping me from reaching goal, it's different. I know I'm losing weight, I see the scale move and I wear a different size. I just wish I could SEE the difference like others do. It would be satisfying to SEE the difference between today vs. last December. I'm banking on the tt doing the job for me. If that doesn't do the job I honestly don't know how to fix this. I don't know, maybe it will never be fixed. I guess that wouldn't be the end of the world when it's all put in perspective.

I'm not sure you can expect miracles at 1 week and 3 weeks. With time and band experience many of the cravings do indeed go away. But it doesn't happen in a week or three weeks, that is unrealistic. We didn't gain these habits and addictions in a week, they aren't going to be dealt with in a week either. I was banded in December and I have worked really hard and many (most?) of my cravings are gone. If I get a craving it lasts a few seconds and it's gone. Just not a biggie. OTOH, I have a friend who eats her 800 calories daily in food and another 2000-3000 calories in chocolate. But she isn't putting forth the least bit of effort either. None, absolutely zilch. Regardless of procedure you have to try and you have to put forth ALL your effort and it will pay off. The band helps you do what you can't do alone, but to think it will do it all for you is just plain wrong. It would be nice, but that surgery doesn't exist yet.

It's not the doctors that are refusing to band you, it's your insurance company that is refusing to pay for the band.

Sheila... There is nothing "easy" about the band. NOTHING! The difference is that this is the kind of hard WE can do. Get a fill and when your band is functioning then you can expect results but right now it is like you just bought the most expensive tires on the market for your car, let all the air out of them, and you are questioning why your car won't go fast. Give your band a chance to function before you get frustrated and NEVER say this is easy or you thought it would be easy. It's not easy. But we can do *this* unlike traditional diet/exercise.

The reason the band works is because it makes us so we are very satisfied with an amazingly small amount of food. Today I have eaten 1/4 cup of refried Beans and I realized I need to keep Protein up and I'm working on a Protein shake. Total calories so far today (6:06PM) 176. That's figuring the protein shake I'm working on is gone and it isn't, yet.

Just read your blog... I'm jealous of you Darr. I wish I could write the way you do!

That is common. The anti-venom is verrrrry expensive and hard to get depending on the type they need. It's not like an antibiotic where it is easily available. In Arizona there is one hospital that has all the drugs needed for snake bites. When someone needs it the drug is life-flighted to the patient or the patient is life-flighted to the drug. Either way, they get it. That's standard throughout the country. It's just not an easy drug to obtain for hospitals and verrrrrrrrry expensive.

It isn't "natural" to give a diabetic meds for their blood sugar but it's the right thing to do. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, joint deterioration... all those are natural. Are those okay? I think sometimes you just have to get realistic and put this in perspective. The reality is that you are just like us. We couldn't do it either. With the band, we can. It's admitting to yourself that you just can't do it alone. If getting medical treatment is less than natural, I'm all for "not natural" because I want to enjoy life. I think you need to ask yourself how much you want to lose weight and how hard you are willing to work for it. Being banded is not easy, but it IS the kind of hard WE can do.

HA! I have to laugh, I could have written this post! Well, not the belly button lint part. However sometimes when I'm not losing fast enough I do count the band as 2 oz.

There is a nerve at the top of your stomach and that is what signals the brain that you are full. The band makes a small pouch out of the top of your stomach. So without the band you could eat food the size of a football before that nerve is triggered telling you that you are full. With the band you can eat food the size of a plum to a baseball and the nerve is triggered telling your brain you are full. And you ARE full. Not a dumb question at all, actually... a very good question.

Anything with a flour/yeast combo doesn't work for me AT ALL. But crackers... crackers w/PB&J ... now that's some heaven. I love PB&J as well. But it is rare that I eat it. It's just not an important part of my life anymore and when I say that I mean food in general.

There are reasons why some docs say no to NSAIDs such as Motrin. One is that it USED to be thought that NSAIDs could cause erosion. Now they know that isn't true. They thought reflux caused erosion and they now know that isn't true either but NSAIDs can potentially cause more stomach acid. You have a stoma now. It is a part of your stomach that is more fragile than the section of your stomach used to be. The real key here is that they don't want you taking a tablet that will get stuck in your stoma and burn a hole in your stomach. Many docs are fine with NSAIDs, they prefer liquid with an 8oz glass of Water as a chaser. Each doc is different, some docs are fine with them, some are not. Talk to your doc and find out WHY he doesn't want you to take them. If it is due to erosion, that's has been proven to NOT be the cause of erosion. So that is no excuse. Some docs just want you to really baby your newbie pouch and stoma. So find out why he feels as he does and talk to him about it.

Find a doc that is a little more educated in bariatrics. Seriously, the higher your BMI the more risk there is for surgery. Would you want a patient with the most risk having the riskiest procedure or the procedure with the LEAST risk? I mean, common sense has to kick in at some point. Check out revision stats. Typically it is NOT bandsters getting a bypass revision, it is bypass getting a band revision. The reality is that docs make a LOT more money doing a bypass procedure than they do banding. They are business people running their business and they are looking to make money. There are very few times that I personally would advocate bypass over banding. I can see it happening every once in a great while but my personal opinion (and I'm not a doc) is that banding is superior to bypass in so many ways. As with any WLS YMMV.

Schedule? I have no schedule. I work out of my home now and sometimes I'm up early in the AMs, sometimes I'm up in the middle of the night, I'm off and on line all day. I have pretty well devoted the last 9-10 months to weight loss and educating myself on what is myth and what is fact. I have read every study I can get my hands on, I talk to doctors, I watch bariatric surgical procedures, I read posts, I read journal articles, I pretty much read everything I can get my hands on. I pick the brains of pretty much everyone that will let me, I value a patient's experiences every bit as much as I do an unbanded MD's education and experience. I researched doctors and procedures to the point of ridiculous before I was banded. I devote a huge amount of time to this and will continue as long as I need to so I can close the fat chapter of my life once and for all. My goal is to be banded, lose 102 pounds, and have plastic surgery all within one year. I was banded 12/6/06, I am almost to goal, and my tummy tuck is scheduled for 12/3/07. I *will* meet my goals and that is how I am doing it.

HA! I have to laugh. My hubby is a psychiatrist. I have a hunch you and I would agree on more than a few topics.

Whey and soy are probably the best Proteins for us, collagen is the absolute worst. Most docs suggest about 60gms of Protein daily. Solid proteins are best, if you can't get all 60gms in solid proteins then go to protein supplements. Try to consume no more than 25gms of protein at a time. More than that and your body won't really absorb it well at all and what isn't used needs to be burned or it turns to fat. It's really tempting to buy the products that have 40-60gms of protein in one serving to get it over with once daily but you really aren't doing yourself any favors if you do that. Give your body about 4 hours between protein intake. Don't depend on body building mags, they have different requirements and different needs than we do. They are trying to build muscle, we are trying to maintain muscle. With massive weight loss you WILL lose muscle mass, it's a given. There is no way around it. The idea we have is to maintain as much muscle mass as possible and to lose as little as possible. The best times to consume protein are early AMs, after hard work outs (hard cardio or muscle resistance), and PMs. During the liquid stage of the post op diet do your best to keep protein up and cut out ALL white carbs. White carbs will give you blood sugar spikes and as you know, that's what tells the body it wants food. You'll be so hungry you'll want to chew on your right arm. Cut out white carbs and keep protein up and you'll only deal with head hunger. If you have to battle head hunger and stomach hunger will will cave and fail the post op instructions. There you go, Bandster protein 101. :eek: :woot: :woot:

No need to apologize. On line is a very difficult form of communication and I tend to bottom line things so that makes it even harder for those reading to understand my intent. One thing I have learned is that there isn't a bloody thing in a health food store that is something worthy of my money. OMG that stuff is disgusting when it comes to Protein. I think unjury unflavored is going to be your best bet because it is something you can do sooo many things with. You can add it to milk, juice, recipes, anything. Just remember if you heat whey protein you MUST do so gradually. Mix unflavored whey in something THEN heat, stir and heat some more. Stir again and heat some more until it is hot. If you don't do it that way it will be clumpy. That's not an issue with brands but an issue with whey. Know any banded people that live near you? I have a few friends that live close by. We all buy products and trade back and forth. I buy something and give half to a friend, she buys something and gives half to me. We never kept track of dollars and who owes who money, I'm pretty sure it has evened out over the months. We do that with protein products, food products, everything. I've purchased things that were absolutely gross but she loved it so I gave it all to her. She's done the same. If you can find people to trade with and share it works a lot better. Just avoid those shots, shooters, and crappy test tube products. They are sooooo bad for you. It's a bad type of protein, collagen. Collagen is great for injecting in your skin and adding to make up type products, it's just horrible to build protein stores in your body. It has THE absolute cheapest source of protein with very expensive advertising and packaging. It's selling well but not doing a lot for those who need increased protein.

$82.98. That's what my weight loss costs so far per pound. I hadn't figured it out in quite some time so I'm feeling a little better about $7800 at this point. :eek:

You misunderstood. There wasn't an ounce of sarcasm in my post. I meant what I wrote literally. I've written long and involved posts previously explaining why this is a bad product.

My favorite kitchen gadget is the phone. Take out and Delivery. :eek: For Protein shakes I use a 16oz Water bottle, drink half the water, add Da Vinci S/F syrup, add Matrix, shake, drink.

A good rule of thumb is 4gms fiber for every 100 calories you consume daily. Lottsa luck getting THAT in w/restriction. :eek: Benefiber is an option but it takes a good month of using it regularly before you'll notice a difference.

I think a lot of it depends on which head issues you are dealing with. There are all kinds of them, such as: Clean plate club, Not comprehending the small amounts of food today vs. yesterday, Emotional eating, Social eating, Eating due to being bored, Food enjoyment, Food punishment, And the list goes on and on. I think the key is to determine what your individual head issues are and when you recognize "what" the issues are you have an easier time dealing with them. Notice the difference in the newbies posting vs. the old timers? The newbie posts are ALL about what can I eat? How much can I eat? Will I be able to eat cake and bread? How will I survive not eating pie and pizza? There are actually posts where they absolutely swear they will just die if they can't have tacos and beer. Then they get a little lap band time under their belt and they see the scale moving and they are proud that they gave up soda and bread. They miss it but they are realizing they are surviving anyway. Then the old timers... food? Who cares. They eat when they are hungry. I think a lot of it comes from time and getting used to the life style and accepting that there are some foods that just plain don't work and realizing we aren't going to die from not drinking soda. There are other things to do in life but eat and other ways of coping without being T-Day stuffed. It just takes time and a willingness to be open to new things in life. Don't be too hard on yourself. We didn't get these habits and issues over night, they aren't going to go away that quickly either.

Noooooo, you don't want that much protein in one sitting. Your body can't absorb that much at a time. What you don't use you either have to burn or it turns to fat. No more than 25gms, 30gms tops at a time and 4 hours or so inbetween protein servings. It really does become wasted money. Have you tried Da Vinci S/F syrups to change the flavor a bit? My fav is chocolate with Raspberry flavoring. MMMmmmmmmm