legster

Ginger, it sounds to me like you just haven't achieved restriction yet. That's not unusual after only 2 fills. Tell your Dr. of your frustrations and fears. Ask for help! I'll be thinking good thoughts for you on Saturday.

First I want to say thank you to everyone who posts in this thread. You are an inspiration and a help when I need it. I may not post here too frequently, but a day rarely passes that I don't at least check out this thread, if not others in the forum. Again, thank you! Today it was 2 weeks since my fill on 6/28. It also just happened to be the day I had a follow-up appointment with my exercise therapist. I had wondered how much I was losing after the fill, so I would know whether I needed to schedule another one yet. I don't feel a lot of restriction, but haven't had much trouble sticking to the small portions and light snacks, if any. Well, when I got on the scale at the Heart Institute I had lost SEVEN pounds! I was elated to say the least. When she took me in and measured my resting heart rate she said it was down a lot (I can't recall exactly how much). Then we went for the 6 minute walk - at a pace I feel comfortable with. When we got done, she took my heart rate again and said it was down 20 beats a minute (plus I had gone farther in the time alloted!). :biggrin1: She attributed this to the exercise and cardio I've been doing 5 days a week. Then she measured my BMI and it was down 5 points (?) and said I had lost literally no muscle - all fat! Through the entire process she kept using words like "ideal" and "perfect". She said she couldn't have even hoped for a better result in my case and congratulated me 3 times! I swear, it was all I could do to not just break down and cry right in her office. I'm so proud and happy. Including weight lost on the pre-op diet, I've now lost 37 pounds. I hope this doesn't appear as bragging to anyone. I just had to let you know my good news. :clap2: Thanks for listening.

mazie, it was mainly very positive, sharing tips on where we like to clothes shop in the area and what is good to eat. However, there were 2 women there who, like you say, drank soda and coffee and admitted to eating chips and chocolate because they "went down well". It was a good lesson on what not to do. One of them had been banded in Mexico, then went to a Kansas City Dr. who told her it was "unrealistic" to think his patients would not drink soda. So much for support from your Dr.!

Yes, Mazie, I forgot to mention that he did come down to look at the Fluoroscope and said everything looked good. Woohooo! The waiting room for the fluoroscopy was like a casual support group! We were all just yakking it up! Fun! Update on fill: I couldn't finish a cup of yogurt! I was hungry in a couple of hours, but I feel good about the fill. :-)

Got my first fill today. They gave me 3 in my VG band. He said it might be tight, but I feel good. So far only water and tomato soup. Later tomorrow I can try a protein shake. Next day cottage cheese. :-) The fill was entirely uneventful, thanks goodness!

mazie, my surgery was on 5/14/07, so about 6 weeks ago. Yes, I feel speshul having the Dr. there. lol I have the larger band. I don't want any problems, but I hope he's not too conservative on first fills. That said, I'm a little nervous leaving for the lake (Bull Shoals, Protem area) 2 days later to be with 16 relatives...only one of which know about my surgery. I'm thinking they will know something is up even if I can eat some regular foods. But if I'm still on broth or full liquids the jig will be up! Oh, well.

I'm going in for my first fill tomorrow. Because Dr. Edwards also repaired a hiatal hernia at the time of banding, he asked to be there to watch the fluoroscope for any irregularities. I'm psyched! I need more restriction! And i definitely need it over this holiday at the lake! FYI, the next New Beginning Support Group for Dr. Edwards' patients will be on Monday, July 9.

Reading about everyone getting fills is making me antsy! Not long for me to wait now...Thursday is the day. Woohoo! I'm hoping my exercising has kept me losing. I haven't eaten anything bad, but the amount I can now eat is more than when I was first banded. Tonight I ate an entire boneless chicken breast sliced and made into a sandwich with 2 slices of whole wheat bread! Over the holiday, I'm going to be in charge of cooking a lot of food...most of which I probably won't be able to eat so soon after a fill. Also, my hubby's relatives (except his mother) don't know about my band, but will surely notice I'm not tying on the feedbag like in years past. Not sure how I'll handle that, but figure I'll just play it by ear.

Delete This Post

Count me in! I'll be doing all/most of my exercising at the gym because I just can't take the heat. M/W/F I'll be doing the "circuit" at Contours Express and Tu/Th it will be a combination of elliptical and treadmill. Thanks for making this challenge. I think it will be fun!!

Of course, check in anytime! Glad to hear you're doing well. My first fill is coming up this Thursday. Just in time for the holiday! That will be great and a huge help because by now (really only a few days ago) I am starting to feel more hungry and I don't want that! lol

The gym I joined recently has an infrared sauna and I was dying to use it, but hesitated because if my band. I called my Dr. who was unfamiliar with these saunas, so he couldn't recommend I use it. I was determined (just the kinda woman I am!) so I wrote to Inamed for the answer. Here is our correspondence: <!---->Me:I had an Inamed Lap Band placed on 5/14/07. I need to know if it is safe <!---->to use an infra-red sauna with your lap band. I'm dying to try the sauna and would appreciate an answer to this question. Thanks! Don Mills: Feel free to sauna away. There is nothing that I know of in a sauna that could damage your band or port. Of course it always a good idea to ask your surgeon about questionable activities. Regards, Me: Thanks very much for your prompt reply! I'm sorry to bother you again with this, but I just want to make certain you know it is an infra-red sauna, not the dry heat sort. I have no reason to think it won't be all right, but I did check with my Dr. first and since he wasn't familiar with infra-red saunas he couldn't recommend I use one. That's why I wrote to you. :-) Thanks in advance for your help. Don: Well a little longer answer is... The band is made of silicone which has a very high melting/degradation temperature, much higher that what the body could ever stand. Additionally, the band is well inside the body. Not to be facetious... But if the band were ever to be damaged by heat...that would be the very least of you problems. In other words, you would never tolerate a temperature that would be high enough to damage the band. In fact you never even come close to such a temperature. ----------- So he was not only helpful, but humorous! Anyway, I thought I'd pass along this info. I'm hoping it will help my arthritis. Infrared sauna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not sure, but he may have been talking about the 8 bite method? Take 8 small bites, then wait a bit to see if that went down okay, then try 8 more. I read about this method somewhere and thought it made sense for when you are "trying out" a new fill.

I won't look at needles, but I will get a fill. If averting my eyes doesn't seem like it will work, I will close them! I don't see why I would have to look, but maybe I'm wrong. lol I'm scheduled for a fill on the 28th. Can't wait!

I never, ever see any needle coming! :-) No thank you!

Today was probably my hungriest day yet since surgery. I am proud that I didn't succumb to it though! I had an extra protein shake and that's it! My fill is coming up on the 28th and I'm excited for that to happen. I read someone else's comment on their first fill was that they again felt like they did after surgery...just not hungry. I'll take that, even if it doesn't last all the way to the next fill. Baby steps here. I had a kind of alarming thing happen to me last Thursday. I had started to work out on the Monday with my only restriction being "no abdominals" per Dr. Edwards. By Thursday, I was getting a sharp, hot pain near my port that continued through Friday (intermittently). I also noticed a round raised bump about an inch above my port site that I assumed was my port (and it had moved!). That really got my attention and I called the Dr.'s office who worked me in for today. Well, it turned out the bump was just a "bruise" and the pain was from the increased activity of working out. He said my port was still right where it needed to be and I was VERY relieved to say the least. I had just about worried myself sick over the weekend. I searched in here for &quot;port pain&quot; and got about a thousand hits. lol Anyway, I felt kind of bad that I had over-reacted, but the Dr. (who I adore) just said, "If you are concerned about something, I want to know about it." He also said before he left the examining room, "This isn't the first time someone thought the very same thing." So, anyway, short story long, if you start working out and have a pain, it might just be the muscle by your port. Don't freak out like I did! :-) He also said I was doing great (he said that twice!) and I have lost another 4 pounds for a grand total of 28 pounds (17 were pre-op). I was wondering, since we now have our own forum, should we maybe start some sub-forums for topics like fills, etc.? Maybe it would be easier than this looong thread? Just a thought. Best wishes to those who are still struggling with post-op pain.

Yes...and did you notice those were 16 ounce bottles?? Eeek!

Here's a great article about drinking your water: Water & 20 Tips For Getting Your 8 Glasses Daily And here is a place to calculate how much Water you need daily. It's amazing how much an overweight person should really drink! Put in your stats, then click on the "water" tab: Fit Calculator | FitSugar - Fitness, Health & Well-Being.

The rain is crazy! Yesterday there was 3 inches in our rain gauge and today it was another whole inch! I'm glad we aren't near a large river. However, I live in the Galloway area, and the shops down there on Lone Pine on the east side of the road could be floating away anytime now. The support groups are great! I've only been to 2 so far, but I think they are always lead by Katie the psychologist you may have seen and are very informative. Once there was a speaker then we split up into two groups, lap band and RNY then just talked about what we were going through at the moment, etc. Last night, Katie spoke about "trading one addiction for another" and it was very interesting. She always involves everyone. It can never hurt to just have some "fellowship" with others who have had the procedure. I intend to go every month. You should try it!

I love that song! Hope I'm not the only Johnny Cash fan here. :-) This is from 2003, after his illness was beginning to show. <object height="350" width="425"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNQFzXtTjTA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></object>

I had a follow-up appointment with my nutritionist this morning. All went well, and she had some scales in there so I hopped on. I lost another 5 pounds since 5/24/07 for a total of 10 pounds since surgery and 26 since pre-surgery diet started. Also, my gym opened today so I went to get acquainted with the machines, then checked out the elliptical, too. I'll probably go tomorrow just to do the treadmill or elliptical, then Weds. will be my first real "workout". I'm psyched! I made it through my birthday this past weekend with no problems! Sorry to hear some of you are still having pain. Just keep your eyes on the prize!

Is anyone else going to the (Dr. Edwards) New Beginnings Support Group this evening? I am! :-)

That's when you go below the 200 lb. mark and onto the "one's".

I like using SparkPeople also. If they don't have a food in their database that fits, you just click on "enter a food not listed" and add it yourself. You can save frequently eaten foods to your "favorites". It takes me no time at all to track my calories there. Love it!

I got some Solotron chewable vitamins at GNC that I like. Just one "wafer" twice daily and they really don't taste bad at all. I can even take them before or after meals when I can't chase them with water. Hope this helps. :-)