kacee

Oooooooooohhhhhh yeah. When you do either, you will most certainly KNOW it....now you'll just be able to put a name to it too...

I like that....tiger in my tank!

because I really jacked around over the holidays. I didn't gain anything, but I did NOT lose, so in essence I guess I did "gain" because if I had remained good I would probably be down another 4 pounds now, instead of floating within 2 pounds of where I have been for over a month and a half. However, I am thankful I got through the holiday without gaining anything at all and I am ready to knock of my final 10 pounds. Good Heavens! Ten pounds! I should be able to do that IN MY SLEEP now!

Well, it's a long way from the band to that part of the anatomy. I cannot imagine it would be a problem.

As a former waitress, my experience was that if people did not order a drink with their meal I ALWAYS made sure they had water (actually I brought EVERYONE water....always). More than anything it is just polite...you might drink it, dip your napkin in it and wipe some food off your shirt, or clean off some baby's face, or whatever, but it's just kindof a nice thing to have at the table "just in case". I understand your feeling of aggravation, but I think the easiest thing is to automatically order water if someone asks what you would like. No one will think anything...people do it all the time, and then let it sit. That's what I do, and no one ever notices that I don't touch anything.

And your last fill was.........when? And if you have not had a period for2.5 months I'm not sure that I wouldn't be calling my doctor to check up on why that is....

To hell with everyone...get on those big girl panties and get straight to your doctor asap and tell him you have jacked around and been remiss but you need to get on the stick and get goin! He's not going to chastize you NEARLY as much as you are doing to yourself! The operative word is get in there and get some serious restriction and then get off your butt and quit eating around the band. Bad girl! (*kisses*) :-)

And talking about splitting dishes....there are a LOT of people who don't eat a lot and would LOVE to split a meal with you. You can maneuver that based on the company you are with. Another great restaurant meal is a totally loaded baked potato (period). It is wonderful and will fill you to the brim. You feel like you are really doing something scandalous....but a loaded baked potato by itself without anything else isn't but around 300 or so calories. Just because you are at a restaurant you don't have to feel the need to put on a "show of eating" for others. Get what you want and take home what''s left or get something small. One thing I have found since being banded....I'm one helluva cheap date at a restaurant!!!

We've all been so busy for so many years stuffing our chubby little faces and licking our 7-course meal plate clean, we never raised our heads out of the potato salad bowl long enough to see that it is totally NORMAL not to finish all the food on your plate!!!!!! (Zounds...real people do it every day!) You can do one of two things....order a real meal and eat the "good stuff" (let things like the salad slide if it comes with the meal. If salad comes with the meal ask to have it broiught WITH the meal. Otherwise you are going to be tempted to take 4-5 bites of salad and you won't be able to eat a THING by the time the meal arrives.... Unless you want to eat just a salad then order just that. This also gives a lot more stuff surrounding you that you can "play" with.) and do a lot of pushing your food around on the plate, taking multitudes of tiny tiny bites...then ask for a doggie bag, or you can order from the appetizer section, which is what I generally do. What you get is smaller portion than a whole meal and totally filling and you can get some yummy stuff. Just remember to tell the server that you want your appetizer brought with the regular meals at the table...not beforehand. Remember....there are no bad foods....just bad portions.

Your body should tell you when you need liquids. Pale pee is a great sign. They've pretty much thrown out the old "8 glasses of water a day" for everyone theory. Different people need diffeent amounts. Like anything, it's a habit you can get into. Carrying a water bottle with you is great. I keep one in my car, by my sofa, by the computer, by my bed. If you are not a water drinker (lots of folks hate it) there are a zillion types of teas out now with wonderful flavors (not that instant crap, but tea bags or loose tea leaves to make tea). Sounds to me like you are really on the right track. You might also get some clear protein drinks (Isopure puts a great one out that comes in a bottle and has 40 g of protein and 160 calories).

Depends on what kind of "soreness" you are referring to...there are several. "Topical" soreness -around the incisions - For me that faded quickly...within the first week or so. "Gas soreness" - pain in the shoulder, under shoulderblade, up the neck...that lasted about 2 weeks.

You are going to be redoing the definition of "full" now. Full before was like having a bowling ball in your stomach. Full now will be much higher up, a substantially different feeling. You're in the healing stage now so don't even worry about it. You've got a month or more before things start working.

Not lame at all. Sounds like you're in the right place to me! If your band is used correctly and you tune in to your body and modify your eating the band will work for you (now when I say this I do NOT mean "going on a diet" or "giving up all the foods you love".) There are no bads foods, just bad portions. Poor portion control is the single worst offense we commit. The band will take care of that for you. Do ask your doctor how many bands he has done. I hope you are in or near a large city to have a thoroughly experienced surgeon do your procedure (mine has done THOUSANDS). You don't want someone who hasn't done a LOT of surgeries like this. There can be complications with any surgical procedure, but putting yourself in the most capable hands mitigates that risk substantially.

Okey dokey, you're at the right place here. I would venture to say that 98% of us are emotional and/or compulsive eaters. It's called an eating disorder and we have it in spades! Very few of us have ever experienced TRUE hunger. I know my eating was totally HEAD hunger....strictly appetite. My MOUTH wanted food so it got food whether my stomach was ready for it or not (usually not). You are not outside the norm. That being said, you have to be willing to modify your behavior. The portion control part will be handled by the band, but what you put in your mouth is up to you. There are no bad foods, just bad portions. A piece of chocolate cake is okay. A whole cake in a sitting, or cake three times a day, is not good. I have found that as I have lost weight, I have gotten incentive to watch what I eat. To say that nothing tastes as good as "thin" feels, is an understatement. I've been a yo-yo dieter for 45 years and this is the first time I have had success. I too thought it was probably going to work for everyone BUT me, and that I would be the one they'd say, "Oops, well, I guess you are that one in 10 that it doesn't work on...so sorry." but I was WRONG!!!! IF you follow modified eating habits it WILL WORK for YOU!

I hear ya! I fell in LOVE weith cottage cheese with avacado mixed in and ate that ravenously for a few days. Thought I had died and went to heaven when I found Groton fish filets (Cajun!)....they were wonderful (and fall into soft food category) and I ate those for three weeks and they were a savior for me to feel like a "solid food" but not cheat. When I got so hungry I was thinking of licking the paint off the walls, I would go in and start eating sugar free jello cups, each with 10 cal, one after the other. I could get through about two of them before I filled up, but it kept something going down and I was doing no damage calorie-wise or consistency-wise.

Nope, for me just the act of leaning over many times brings it up. It's actually pretty high up in the chute and doesn't have too far to come back up.

Okay, there are two things you need to learn the names and properties of: PB = Productive Burp (Who the hell came up with THIS term?)...This is when food goes down too fast or is not chewed enough and gets caught at the opening into the pouch. When it gets STUCK you get a knot-type feeling in mid-chest which indicates that the food isn't going anywhere. Sometimes you can suffer through it and it will go down slowly. Sometimes you need to go to the bathroom and "get rid of it" for relief. It is like a vomit without some of the accompanied "nastiness"....the food somes back in the same condition it went down in...just chewed...there is no stomach acid with it (like a regular puke...that nasty sour stuff)...and it is often NOT accompanied by full stomach contractions like with a regular vomit, more like it comes from the throat up. The PB food coming up can be accompanied by sliming.... Sliming = When the stomach sense that food is coming, it releases mucus into the mouth and esophagus and stomach in order to help facilitate the movement of the food down the canal. When food is stuck, it's like a backed up toilet. The stomach goes "Oh, here comes food!": and starts secreting, but when the food doesn't move, the mucus backs up into your throat and mouth. You wind up have a huge mouthful of thick saliva (oh the bubbles you can blow! :-) )that must be spit out. Sometimes sliming precedes a PB, sometimes the food is just slow going down and you slime a little. Suffice it to say, it's worth a trip to the bathroom to spit it out. WORD OF CAUTION: NEVER NEVER NEVER try to "flush" stuck food down with a liquid. It works on a regular body, but not the way we are constructed now. It is a recipe for disaster. Like throwing a gallon of Water into a clogged up toilet, it's gonna do nothing but sit on the clog and come back up.

Howdy all you Texicans! I'm 7 months down the road and have a co-worker who was banded by my doc last Wednesday, and another good friend getting banded on Monday by another doctor. For something that I didn't know existed a year ago, this has certainly snowballed. There is a wealth of experience on this forum. We've ALL been where you guys are. I read like a fiend the 30 days before my surgery and was, if anything, over-educated. Better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.

Heavens YES! Gas pains is probably the single worst side effect post-surgery. I rebounded like an athelete from the "surgical" part of it...incisions, etc. were NO problem. Had BAD pains in my left shoulder, up my left side of neck, under left shoulderblade. Had it for about two weeks. Take Gas-X regularly, walk and use a heating pad.

Any liquid you can see through is a clear liquid. Another good one is Isopure clear protein drink. 40 g per bottle, 160 calories. It's a GREAT way to get the protein in. I'm 7 months into this and I keep a huge stock of Isopure (many flavors....) in the fridge. Great for when you need a protein boost. Here's a link.... some GNC's carry it (come in a bottle, doesn't need to be mixed). index

I do Dymatize Elite Cafe Mocha (they have a ton of flavors). 8 oz skim milk 1 scoop = 23 g ice (17 carbs)

That's where the learning curve comes in to play here. It took me MONTHS to figure out how to stop just short of being miserable. Some people get wonderful little physical "soft stop" indicators...like a runny nose, the hiccups, sneezing, etc. that they can learn to watch for. I haven't noticed any for myself. But one thing you can do is try to keep your meals kindof quiet initially. I live alone, so it's easy for me to sit with my food, without any distraction and really FEEL how it is going down. You're gonna have to learn to read some REALLY subtle signals that your body will give off telling you it's full.

If you are burning when you eat you need to slow down. Take smaller bites. The growling is totally normal. You don't necessarily HAVE to feed yourself when you growl, because you're gonna be growling loudly and a LOT for about 30 days or so. You can throw something to the monster when he growls just to shut him up, but I found that growling didn't necessarily mean I was "hungry." I fed him more to shut him up.

Better to be safe than sorry. I still have soups and broths also out the wazoo, and six-packs of juices (which I won't drink now because of the calorie content) for the liquid stage, which I never wound up drinking.

That is a sign that there is too much restriction. I know I have too much restriction because I occasionally get reflux at night (wake up with a burning throat) and coughing. I have to be extremely creful not to eat anything within 2 hours prior to bedtime. Also never eat or drink anything while laying in a prone position. Antacids should work for this, or I have even heard of someone taking a tablespoon of vinegar (the esophagus reacts to the acid and shuts, preventing further backup).