lisacaron

Friends you can buy those neon jeans and crop tops fishnet shirts camel toe jeans college booty shorts and wear them too in the privacy of your home with the door shut the blinds drawn or in the isle of your local Walmart to be photographed and added to Facebook-Twitter-Instagram legends of Walmart pages and what not to wear over age 30

Ahhhh I tried to reply and lost it heheh. I can see a mudslide happening!!! I know there will be plenty of whine and the other kind too that comes in white as well as red I may have a fuzzy navel or two and jump in the pool bring your swim suit! The weather is supposed to be awesome!

Oh yes I can see that being a TOTAL possibility!!! I know there will be plenty of whine and the other kind of that comes in white as well as red I might need a fuzzy navel or two...sum sum summa time!!! Bring your swim suit!!

Oh yes dear to know me is to love me!!! so no mudslide 2 eggs and coffee for me and relaxing with the hubby:)

So for all you people on a diet out there who have never had a fill I say to you.....who the hell cares what people say?! Are you on a diet? NO do you have a band? YES and what's more... you know how to work it and make it work for YOU!! That is really what it is all about, and the only thing that matters! Honestly, you know we all have one and sometimes we all can act like one and I think sometimes people try and talk out of it! Some of these posts...OK they know what they are doing is wrong and maybe they are looking for someone to either validate their behavior or maybe looking for some kind of penance type way of confessing their bad behavior or food choice to purge themselves of guilt, but that's what we are here for right? We are here for support, for the ones that don't know any better, and the ones who should know better and the ones who know it all, the ones who know better then we do and those ones who like to think they are better than the best of the best can do no wrong right. No judgement So sometimes you have to call them out, (and it can be fun) sometimes you have to just have to tell them that for every comment they make there are 101 others who have made that comment before and they know the answer. Maybe that is just what they needed to hear. Yeah it gets old, but hey when I first started my journey I needed to hear it all...even though I read the answers from the past I wanted to hear a current answer not read something 3 years old. I knew enough to say surgery and technology had changed and I wanted fresh example from someone today. Ooo too deep for me at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon after fighting with my son about road tests and paper work! Is it too early to go out for a drink? Can I have one? Will that be too many calories if I skip my dinner and have a big ole mud slide instead?! Do I care....? I don't even drink...but today after that whole drama I want one!!! I want to go to Fridays and enjoy sucking down a big Mud Slide full of Kahlua Rum chocolate syrup and whip cream in a cup the size of my head!! Usually that's about all I can fit...and I'm pretty pissed off right now...I'm sure I'll get home and that feeling will pass but hey don't judge me...it might just become dinner tonight! IS that bad....?

OMG I wore those things in the 80's when I was 16 and wore a size 4 Now I'm over 40 and it's really not my style it wasn't then but yes it was cute and it was the "fashion" and you could toss it out with the trash like all the rest of the "fashion" items that change with the times. My sizes keep changing but good style never really does. You can add pizazz and you can add a bit of chic and funk to just about anything without being odd or trashy. You can be 80 and be fashion forward without looking like your wearing your granddaughters clothes. It just takes a sense of self and a sense of style. I know it's not easy with our changing bodies to find where we "fit" into things all the time I have that issue often. My size keeps changing but I like what I like and I don't want to compromise my taste or my style because of the times or the "fashion" of the moment. I pick and choose this or that to add as I like it or not and keep the classic things that I enjoy. My yoga pants are just one of them. On a weekend try to get me out of those! I even buy them for work when I can get away with it! Pair them with a fitted button down shirt and blazer and your in a power suit honey and ready to kick some ass My (now ex) mother in law was a dress maker for many of the top fashion designers in NYC. Vera Wang, Christian Dior, Olga Cassini, I could go on...and you know what all these lovely fashionistas wear on the daily....? Jeans and a tee shirt. So be comfortable, find what you like and accessorize it and make the clothes define who you are not the other way around is what I learned from these mega stars!

@@mca98 2muchfun is right. Bandster Hell that you read/hear about on the boards is not what MyDreamComeTrue is describing in her post which is a bit more of her own personal hell with her band. In the early stages of being banded before your band is filled to the optimal fill level for you to reach that "green zone" "sweet spot" or basically to feel that sense of being satiated or satisfied with a small portion of food and then not hungry for a least 4 hours between meals you are in what we call Bandster Hell. Your hungry, you can eat what ever you wish, it all passes easily through the stoma of the band and does not stimulate the band to signal your brain to tell you that you are satisfied with just that small portion hence you eat a bit more then you should but maybe not quite as much as you used to before. With each fill you will notice that this amount changes. You may eat less and less and go for longer and longer amount of time before feeling that "hunger". You have to take the time to access your hunger as well. Is it actual hunger? or is it head hunger? Is it coming from a true need to eat food or is it coming from a more mental emotional reason? Though this time can be rough and you may not lose the amount of weight you want to lose you have to remember that you are still healing inside and out from major surgery even if you feel awesome! This is the time to work on dismantlement all those old habits and building up new ones. Taking the time to identify your hunger signals and where they come from, what motivates you and what is the reason you reach for certain foods vs healthy foods. Why do you overeat..is it because you can or because you are hungry? All those things are just questions to ask yourself as you go through the phases to getting your fill level right and learning to live with your band. Once you reach that optimal fill level you will understand yourself and your eating habits and your band better and you will be able to work together to avoid things like getting stuck on foods and eating too large of bites or gulping liquids. We all do it and we all learn the hard way the first time and then don't do it again. The best time to learn and practice those band mechanics is now, so by the time your band is tight enough and at it's optimal level for you there won't be a question of taking too large a bite you will know to chew chew chew and not chug down Water though you might do it once you won't do it again The good news is that Bandster hell doesn't last long and it's only as painful as you make it. Best of luck to you!!

No you should not feel anything in the back of your throat before your food goes down. Are you having that feeling? Water should slide right down and never ever be an issue. For me eggs are a slider food, they go down too easily and they do not stimulate my band enough to tell me I am full and keep that hunger at bay. So after three hours I can see how you would be hungry again. If you add something like chicken or vegetables to your eggs, something solid that you need to chew and swallow to stimulate your band that might help your satiety levels a bit more. If you are still feeling hungry after 3 hours I would visit the doctor and have check your fill level. You may want to add a tiny bit more. However if you are feeling pressure in the back of your throat or like food is stuck there or slime then you could be too tight and the best thing to do would be to have the Dr. check the flow of Fluid through your band under an x-ray or via fluoroscope as you may have read here on the boards as well. This is a barium swallow where you would drink a solution under an x-ray machine and the Dr. would be able to view the amount of time it takes for the fluid to travel through your esophagus through the stoma and into the lower chamber of the stomach. If it's going to fast, he can make the band tighter if it's going to slow then the band should be made looser, in this way he will also be able to see where the band is placed to be sure it's sitting in the proper position as well. Some doctors do this routinely and some do it only if necessary. So speak to your Dr. and get his take on it and go from there. When it comes to band maintenance, and making sure our bands are in working order for us to lose the weight we want our doctors are really our best resource. That said the person that really has to do the work is YOU/ME. We have to reach out to our doctors and staff and make sure we have our bands set to the optimal levels for us, and then we have to make those hard choices, we have to decide what we eat and drink and if we move or not. Calories in vs calories out is always going to make or break our numbers on the scale and in our shorts. We have a great tool but just like a hammer if we don't swing it and hit the nail on the head we can't even start to hang the picture or build the fence or the house or what ever it is. If we don't line it up first we are more apt to hit our thumb then the nail and ouch that can be a painful lesson but I'm sure we have all done it once So give your Doc a call, get your band set to your optimal level and start building your master piece!

@@LilMissDiva Irene Your right it looks a lot like what the plication is, but a different way of doing it. I had mine done with my band from the outside this would be from the inside of the stomach through the esophagus. Very interesting and what's better is that it is working and is adjustable, and might also help down the line for those who are sleeved and even those with the bypass who might need a little extra help down the line...I can see this being used alone and as a layering tool as well to enhance other existing older surgeries. Technology isn't it an amazing thing?!

You should call your insurance company and ask them what the charge should be for a fill/unfill from this Dr. if he is in your plan they should have a negotiated rate with him/her. If he is out of your network, then maybe you want to fine another doctor who is in your network and provide a better service for you at a more reasonable rate. Either way your insurance provider should be able to help you to find one who is going to work with you and them to provide the service you need and do so at a good rate. There is also a place on this application where you can search for Dr.'s and Surgeons in your area. Then you can call and see if they accept your insurance. If you HAVE to pay out of pocket for each fill/unfill perhaps there is a way to work out a deal with the office of the Dr. of your choice for a certain number of fills/unfills at a certain out of pocket rate. Usually they are willing to work with cash paying patients at a lower rate vs. having to bill insurance companies. Wishing you all the best!

@@Red bird What a great question. "Restriction" that everyone talks about is really a misnomer. Since it is not restriction we are looking for at all. We are looking for a feeling of satiation. The word restriction was being used by medical professionals to describe the amount of time it would take for food particles to pass through the stoma where the band is placed and into the lower chamber of the stomach when the band was first being used. Many Dr.'s will still refer to this with their patients but the best word to use is satiation. You want to feel satisfied when you eat. Not restricted. To expand on this feeling of "restriction" or satiation the feeling you are looking for is that proverbial "green zone" or "sweet spot" you will also see around the boards for lapband. It is the place or point of fill that you reach in your band where you are satisfied with a small amount of food and no longer hungry and your hunger is kept at bay for 3-4 hours before returning. When you hit this point you have reached that "green zone" "sweet spot" and/or "restriction" level that you are looking for. How does it feel...well the reason I say that is different for everyone is that some like to have that band pretty tight, and they chose to eat only very tiny amounts of very soft food. They would never think of eating a steak, or a well cooked piece of pork. They would stick closer to what for me would be slider foods, like eggs, and flaky fishes. Then there are those who chose to keep the band loose and portion control their meals, they eat their portion and this satisfies them and they are done. They don't feel any push back from their band, and they don't need to. It works for them because they are not hungry. Then there are those who have a mid-line amount of fill, where the band is there they eat some solid foods like chicken, hamburger, fish or just about anything solid and the band is stimulated by the chewing and swallowing and after a small portion it signals to the brain that enough has been eaten and you are no longer hungry. So yes that level of restriction can vary for everyone, and you may bounce around the fill levels a bit until you find that spot that is just right for you.

So I have to say when I got banded I did it for my life, and I want to be able to live my life with it. So that means that I want to be able to enjoy events and not always be worrying about what I am eating and if there are foods there that I can eat etc. Pre-band I had lots of stomach issues and I was always worried about what food would be where and if we went out someplace what they would be serving and how my tummy would react. I hated living like that. Before banding when I went to WW I would always thing about the servings and the size of what I was eating and think of measurements and all that jazz on top of it all. Today...yes I would love to be at goal. Yes I would love to tell you I have lost 130 pounds in this last year of being banded but in reality I love being able to tell you even more that I have lost 60 pounds since deciding to have surgery, 50 pounds since being banded, and I have not gained even one pound back since then. I lose something every single month, and I keep losing. I don't worry about what I eat anymore I don't look at food like it is the devil holding me over a flaming hot cauldron of bubbling oil anymore. I don't measure in my head anymore. I eat when I am hungry and when I have had my fill, I have had my fill. If I want some sweet stuff I have some, and I don't regret it I enjoy it and I can no longer eat a whole anything. Not a whole box of ice cream, a whole cake a whole pie so am I worried..nope. I love that it's summer, yes the foods can be tempting but what's even better is that it's warm out and it's lighter out for longer and I am out and doing more. I am burning more calories then I am putting in these days because I want to be up and out and doing so much more then I have in the last 4 summers since I have lost this weight. I love my band, I love my life I love the banded life. I enjoy eating for the first time in my life, most food these days I am able to eat and it doesn't make me sick and I am so happy to say that. The band helps me keep it in proportion so I'm not all in my head about it, and when it's going down well I don't over do it like I used to. Well anyway...that's enough about me My hubby BBQ'd this MMD I can't say I ate horribly I had a piece of steak and a spoon of potato salad. I did have 2 slices of blue berry pie with light cool-whip dressing..but ah what can I say it was that good!

I would agree with TMF here. No one answer or advice is more valuable then another. We all have something offer and sometimes the thing I just needed to hear or read comes from someone who is not a banded. They might be having some of the very same issues but with their WLS. We are a community of WLS patients we are not so very different. Yes we all have issues that are unique to our WLS but we can say that about each and every person on the face of the planet. We are all unique with our own individual issues but that's what makes this forum great, we are able to learn from each other and motivate and share our journey with each other. If you are new to a WLS or you are yet to have a WLS this is the place to come and explore all your options and ask all your questions. If you are not sure if a person is answering a question related to your WLS you can always ask. What is true about getting stuck for the band is also pretty true about getting stuck for a sleeve. What is true in over eating and eating slider foods for all surgeries can be pretty much the same. The one thing the banders don't have to worry about is the dumping and the malnutrition that those who are sleeved and bypassed might have to worry about. We are not taking supplements for life, though we have our own maintenance issues. So really it's all relative I can understand why Alex brought the site together, and I can also understand why there are forums that are separated yet also open to others to comment and share. If your looking exclusivity well I guess this is not the place for you, but you can always create your group in the private groups and invite only bandsters to post with you....the options abound my friends.

@@Ginger Snaps I would go easy on the psych Dr. so you can avoid inpatient therapy vs surgery If your at work and near a fax machine why not call the psych Dr. first and have him fax it to YOU since it is about you and then you can get it over to your Dr? When I went through this surgery both my husband and myself I did not leave things to chance with all these tests and results. Though the many Dr.'s offices didn't like it I made them give me copies of the test results and clearance letters on the spot or fax them to me directly.Then I made a copy for my own files before giving them to my surgeon so that if they came up with something "missing" I would have a back up of it and I could provide it and not have to wait for another office or administrative staff to send it over on my behalf. These days we have to advocate for ourselves or we won't get anything done that we want or the way we want it. Best of luck to you!

@@prolife2014 there are many different opinions you are going to get here. The best advice you are going to get from anyone is this. Give your Doctor a call and follow his directions. If the doctor told you to be on a liquid diet for 2 weeks then that means just that. Liquids do not have lumps or bumps or anything in them that you need to chew. You have just had a major surgery. Now my Dr. had me on a liquid diet for 2 weeks after my surgery and I followed his directions to the letter. After I moved to mushy foods and this also did not include lumps of any kind, or anything that included chewing of any sort. Everything was put into a blender, and then eaten. After that 2 weeks I moved to soft foods and here came the lumps and the chewing, things like eggs and mashed potatoes with lumps and bits of soup with lumps etc. I know it is not easy but you need to give your insides a chance to heal and you are not doing that if they are repeating food on you. You should not have a reflux and while I can't say that is normal or not for you, it would not be for me and I would steer clear of this type of soup. I would stay with the liquids until prescribed to move to the next phase. Your insides though you do not feel it are still swollen and healing and getting used to this new way of being. If you are still having some discomfort with the reflux, and are unsure about foods give the doctor a call that is what they are there for, and they will advise you the best course of action to take. Good luck and congrats on your surgery!

@@jammiebp I am really sorry to hear that your going through this and I would definitely be researching an other surgeon and Dr. for follow up care. There are so many levels to caring for your band and though your doctors and surgeons should know better I have to tell you my friend that you also need to advocate for yourself. We should always know how much fill we have and I know not all Dr.'s and PA's like to give that information because they don't want the bandster to get "hung up" on it, but I think it is something we need to know. It is also our responsibility to know our limits and how to work with our bands, to eat the foods that keep us satiated and no eat around the band. No matter what WLS you have you can always self sabotage and eat around it if you want to, and you will not lose and you can hurt yourself as well. I am not putting the blame on you, so don't take it that. Just telling you that no matter what you do in the future...don't just trust blindly always question and speak up when you don't understand something or have someone do it on your behalf if you can't. We have to advocate for our health and our care. Good luck and speedy recover to you!

Yes I love this idea and I will be looking into putting something like this together or at the very least if there is one out there participating as a local chapter BP member for NY!

@@Muñekita I saw you posted earlier that you were worried about a feeling of pressure and bloating not being not able to eat/drink Water for fear of making matters worse. Are you thinking it might have had something to do with your plication or your band? I have a band and plication but I had them done at the same time. Reading your post in the plication forum suggested you had the plication after being banded for 7 years. You might want to give your surgeon a call and go in to have your band and plication checked out to be sure that everything is in place and working well. I know sometimes for me when I have one of those large yawns and swallow a large amount of air I can get a bit of an air bubble for a minute but it usually passes quickly and never stops me from drinking or eating. Please do give your doctor a call and keep us updated on how your doing.

So my advice would be to start where you want to be. If what you are going to make is going to be your reward to yourself and your motivation to fit into it then make it the size you want to be. Be realistic with yourself, only you know your body and your mind well enough to know if you will ever be a size 12 again, and what that size 12 will look like. One day I might wear I size 5 again but I know I will never be 16 or a virgin again who never had children, so my body is going to fit that size very differently. Measure your maturity and make something that rocks and will inspire you to want to wear it for a BIG celebration!! As you lose the weight you can always make stretchy stuff, and different sizes but for that motivational piece go for the pièce de résistance and make it great!

You know for a while there I was having this manic sugar craving!! I had stopped eating sugar for so long...using all these "artificial" substitutes and pretty much not eating any carbs or fruits really and my body was going crazy for lack of sugar! I actually "needed" some sugar according to my endocrinologist as my electrolytes were out of balance. Of course that didn't mean I could have cake and Cookies and ice cream though for a while there my body was craving that crap so badly all was doing what gravitating toward that! Now I am just eating what I know I should eat, having some fruit and vegies now and then, and keeping the diet filled with healthy sugars Though a nice rum induced coma...I could probably use one of those for a weekend!!

My only caveat to you would be to ensure that you are getting enough fluids in as it is easy to become dehydrated. There are Protein shots that you can get which will help you keep up with your protein nutrient intake in a small amount of Fluid in take try to get them if you can I think Walmart has them a pretty low price. You want to keep that part up as well so you don't start losing hair and muscle tone. http://www.bodyfortress.com/liquid-protein-shots Congrats on your band and best of luck to you!!

OK so I have to say that I am confused. Who is sponsoring the cruise? Is it an existing cruise? I will admit that what I saw with the limited amount of information that I did see/receive it seemed all a bit too cryptic for me to want to partake in it. I want to see more information. What is the cruise line? Where is going to? Where does it leave from? What is the cost? How many days is it? Do I have a choice of rooms and levels of service? There are too many variables to just say give me a deposit and that's it. If I were putting something together I would be doing things a little more broadly and much more transparent manner, so if anything I think this is where you might be getting some of the push back from. So perhaps we could get a bit more information, and see what the interest is.

@@Industrious Bee rant away, people will be jealous if you do bad or if you do good and true friends won't care about anything but you. So close your kitchen, and take some Bee time tell them all to Buzz off.