PrettyThick1

I wish I could hug you Lisa. Wow...you said it better than I or anyone else in this position could. Bravo!!!

I love milk, but it sounds like the lactose might be a bit much for you right now. Concentrate more on Water and lighter liquids - Protein shots would be a great option for you right now.

One more note: It's been a while since you were at your heaviest Nana...I'm sure your work life is drastically different (even with a new employer) than it was before you got your very first band.

Thank you Rayanne!!!! Hugs!!! If you don't live in Texas or have limited familiarity with the Petroleum industry, you can't understand where I'm coming from. Don't judge. I'm getting by the way professional women here have to.

Hi Nana: Fortunately I started at this company at my highest weight (244) and was given a nice starting wage. They have financed 1/2 of my bachelor's degree and the first $25k of my MBA. I got my band, two cars and a house from this company. I'll accept the additional perks that I've lost the weight...if I gain it back, I was happy here to begin with, so no harm no foul. Call it what you will, but you as well as most people who have opted for WLS know that weight descrimination is rampant - you just never know what form it's going to take. In my case, it happens to be employment in a male-dominated industry and if being more attractive gets me ahead, then fine...I think I have some ground to make up anyway.

If you choose this procedure, you get to know your band fairly quickly. I'm 6 months out and can now look at a food and know if I can eat it - even if I ate it the day before and it was fine...new day, sometimes things change. Now that I know how to eat properly, as well as when and where I can eat I don't have many stuck episodes. Again, it's about getting to know your band and how it functions best in your body. I'm almost at goal, in a pretty short amount of time. I will surpass my goal by 5lbs. and then get a slight unfill until I can find my happy place for maintenance throughout my banded life. It took 3 fills to get me to the right level: staying full for 4 hours by eating 1/2 - 1 cup of food, losing weight, no adverse affects. I've been in the green since August, losing an average of about 12lbs. a month since then.

With all of the information sharing we do on this forum, nothing you read or research will help YOU understand how YOUR band works. I'm 6 months out and I realize I am JUST NOW understanding how MY band functions in MY body. To help any newbies that might be interested, I've learned: 1. I can't eat when I'm cold. I don't care if I take sliver sized bites...it's not going down if I'm not warm all over. 2. I can look at something and know if I can eat it. Even leftovers from the day before could be disasterous. 3. If you have to slime, slime. 4. I have to sip when I eat. It's not making a difference in my weightloss and it's easier to get food down. 5. Even though you're not hungry - EAT something. I went almost 4 days on less than 2,000 calories, it will catch up with you. 6. If I'm hurting, I'm not getting enough Protein. 7. Try not to worry excessively about your sliming/stuck episodes, just pay more attention to how you're eating and get control. You're not going to prevent all of them...it's a fact of life, it's going to happen. Non-Band lessons: 8. Fat people need more sleep/rest, I can't stay in bed for more than 6-7 hours now. I could EASILLY sleep 12 hours before and this crazy energy of mine...off the chart. (O_O) who needs sleep? 9. You look good, accept the compliments...they are genuine. 10. The mirror is lying to you...you're much smaller than your reflection. 11. You have to be really careless not to succeed (bad devices, bad surgeons notwithstanding). 12. Your biggest critics are the ones who are most envious and threatened by the new you. 13. You are an inspiration...to somebody! Even if they never tell you so, 14. Life is better now. 15. I find myself setting new goals on things I've never thought of doing before.

Write.

It's a chore trying to find things to eat sometimes, today I'm keeping it simple and have made a big bowl of spinach with lots of real butter! Yummmy. I'm drinking the broth...buttered spinach Soup. LOL

The ACA has also protected ALL of us on this forum. Before the bill passed, we could be denied coverage or care due to our pre-existing conditions: morbid obesity, HBP, diabetes... That can't happen now!

That's jacked up...get 'em girl! If it's any consolation, I can't see a new provider making you start all over again, just have your records transferred.

Way to go B-52!!!!

I completely understand where you're coming from and I wish it were as simple as "I choose not to work for you because you're biased...but thanks for the device that made me thin and everything else you've done for me." But I work for a great company. In the nine years I've been here, I've been treated well even though I didn't get the breaks that some other women got, it hasn't been bad for me either. I'd like to add that I live in Texas and work for an oil and gas company. I don't think that I need to mention, this is a male-dominated industry and for the past 9 years, it is all I know. Sadly enough, that's the way things work by and large in this business for women, I hear the same thing from friends that work for our competitors and larger oil companies.

You're still swollen and if you didn't have a preop diet, expect this feeling to last another week or so.

Softs: Mashed Potatoes Grits Cream of Wheat Oat Meal Muscle Milk - Cake Batter Flavor (mixed thick like cake batter and eaten) Cottage cheese (salt and pepper, fruit juice or other seasoning) Stewed Veggies I got creative and there were a few more things I ate, but I can't remember at the moment.

Welcome! Just go with the flow - follow doctor's orders, attend any appointments they set for you and learn as much as you can from experienced bandsters. It's easy to say this because I've been through it, but there's nothing to worry about. Look forward to all of the positive changes you are about to experience. It's great on the other side!

Any kind of scrambled egg or ground meat is tricky for me.

Sliming is when your esophogus creates tons of saliva to help move food down. When you're stuck, even juicing it up with the extra saliva doesn't get it to go down...so the extra saliva comes back up - thick and slimy.

THIS early in your journey...you need to stick to popsicles, Jello, pudding, sugar free ice cream (Bluebell No Sugar Added is also fat free, 90 calories, 8g Protein, 0 carbs). You can also add fruit juice to cottage cheese. If you grew up licking the bowl when your mother baked cakes, then try Muscle Milk Cake Batter flavor. Mix it thick, like you would a cake and eat it like that. Trust me...it's like being a kid in mom's kitchen again for a second.

Sorry to say this, but I eat whatever the craving calls for...as long as I think I can get it down that day, it's fair game.

I wouldn't get an unfill until you've tested whether it's tight because you're cold. Mine nearly collapses when it's less than say 70 degrees around me. When you eat, you need to be sitting erect, in a warm environment and not distracted. Especially during times of colder temps.

The most important point you make is that it is about YOU and YOUR Band.....I do not expect others to be like me, and others should not expect me to be like them..... The list you made, there are items that do not pertain to me and my experience, and if I was to make a list, there would be items that make no sense to you.... Does not make one right and the other wrong.... Also you list things that YOU Experience...NOT what others have told you, or read, or whatever....When people say this and that, I much rather hear how it affects THEM...what happens when THEY do or do not do something....not what they THINK will happen..... The best word of advice I ever received from my DR. was to learn to "Listen To Your Band" I had no idea what he meant at first...and now, EVERYTHING I do is from listening to my band...not a set of rules, or what others experience....

Nope sounds normal to me. Your swelling has finally gone down and your body is ready to feast again. This period ended for me after I got my first fill, six weeks post-op. From here on out, you can use this feeling as an indicator that you need a fill - eventually you'll be able to tell a few days before the hunger really ramps up. After you get in the green zone, these could easilly be considered periods of Head Hunger, when that happens, fill up on cottage cheese and Water - whatever you can to bring the hunger pangs to a halt quickly.

Simply put: just about everything. If I'm not scared it's going to get stuck...it's dinner.

Thanks CG...you know I'm crazy about you and you're an inspiration!