Jonathan

Here's something I wrote last year. I wonder how many of you can relate to this. I also wonder what happens when you have a band, and no matter how much you want to compulsively eat, you can't... you know, when you're actually forced to face your deamons? I think that I've actually faced my deamons... at least I'm pretty sure I've identifed them.

Crystal Meth and Ex-Lax. Shuts 'em up every time.

I rarely have to calculate my own points, but if you do have to, you can use the points calculator, as you said. Since I just do the WW Online, when I enter my food it tells me how many points each item is. My wife and I have been making a LOT of the WW recipes lately. I'm amazed at how much I forgot about how important food choice is. I've lost about 18 lbs on WW so far, and it's a plan I can live with for the rest of my life. I hope you find WW useful, no matter which tools you choose to use. Jonathan

I couldn't eat bread, unless it was sliced and toasted. I could do a few bites of cake.

For me, it was reflux, lack of restriction (an odd combination, maybe), and pain with every bite of food I ate.

My opinion will differ from most of those already posted here. Isn't diversity great? =) I wonder how many people that post to this board -- even those who have lost 100+ lbs and been highly successful -- actually fall into the "slender" category. I don't think it's *too* many. I only pose the question to point out that your expectations might surpass the "norm". If this is the truth -- the honest truth -- then I think surgery is a huge mistake right now. The lap-band doesn't cause rapid weight loss. (At least, again, that's not the "norm".) If you're losing weight right now, no matter how slowly, I'd seriously reconsider having surgery. I think WLS should be a last resort -- the option that someone takes when nothing else works, and their life is out of control because of it. It sounds to me like something else IS working, and that your life isn't out of control. How about a slipped or eroded band? Infected port? Dying from the surgery itself? Yes, these are rare occurances, and lap-band surgery has a VERY low death rate, but just look at how many people here have had our bands removed or replaced. For most of us (I think), the risk didn't matter, because we would have rather died than continued down the path that we were on. It just doesn't sound to me like that's where you're coming from. Based on what you said, if you have no compelling reason to have surgery in 2 weeks, I'd wait. Wait through the summer, maybe, and see how you're doing and how you feel. Like I said, my opinion is different. I respect, completely, every opinion written here, and you've definitely come to the right place to get some good advice. In the end, that's all it is, and you have to decide. *Whatever* you decide, I wish you nothing but the best. Blessings, Jonathan

I'd wait until your incisions have healed, then go at it. And I'm sure I'll never say this again, but I wish I was your mom!

I don't know if you have H.E.B.'s where you live, but in the frozen vegatables, they have frozen zucchini sliced long ways, like you mentioned, seasoned. You can throw them in a frying pan (without oil ) and in 3-5 minutes, they're done, delicious, and very healthy and low calorie. So, they're pretty much exactly what you describe, only easier (I'm in a cooking kick lately, myself, and have been enjoying chopping up my veggies, so I'm not saying that easier is better =) ) Mmmm... zucchini....

3 ounces of bacon: 470 calories 3 ounces of canadian bacon: 100 calories To put it another way, if you ate 3 ounces of regular bacon every day instead of 3 ounces of canadian bacon, you would gain 40 lbs in a year that you wouldn't have gained if you would have eaten the canadian bacon instead.

I had a severe slip, and it repositioned itself after being on liquids for a week. (Unfortunately it slipped again after that and had to be removed.) However, I know a few people who have had slips as you describe yours, jigglypuff, and they all self-repaired after being on liquids. It could be that you're eating too much at once, or that you were just too tight, and it caused your pouch to stretch. I don't know what diet they put you on, but I highly recommend you stick to a STRICT liquids only diet for 1-2 weeks before trying to eat anything. Now is NOT the time to take "advantage" of being unfilled, as strong as the temptation may be. (It was for me anyway =) ) Best wishes, Jonathan

I'm sorry you've gone through this, but I'm happy that your surgery was a success. Now, use the band for all its worth. Blessings, Jonathan

Keep up the good work. =)

There are definitely more women than men on the board. By far. To answer your question, no, the port has never been an issue in any way from my perspective.

I'm sorry you took it that way. I was referring to "justbeingme", who posted in this thread, who is 15 years old. Jenna started this thread, evidently, after discussing the issue with "justbeingme". I make that assumption because she said, "Like we were talking about, it is different for teens." Really, I was just trying to keep the thread on track for Jenna. I'm sorry that what I wrote seemed rude to you. Jonathan

1. My God 2. My calling 3. My children 4. My wife 5. The lessons having (and not having) the band have taught me. 6. This forum

I just want to offer you some encouragment and a word of advice, coming from someone who's been there. For a long time, I ate as much as my band would let me. I mean, I paid for the band, and I got it because I wasn't capable of losing weight on my own, right? So I might as well let the band do the work. Well, dangit, that doesn't work. The band really IS just a tool, and as much as I wanted it to do all the work, it turns out that *I* had to do all the work. When the band worked right (which it never really did for me, unfortunately, except on rare occasions), it just meant that I had to work a little less hard. What I'm suggesting -- what I suggest to each and every bandster -- is that when you think about the band and how it works with you, think about you doing the work and the band making it easier -- not about the band doing all the work and weight loss suddenly being easy. (Please know that I am in NO way suggesting that you think in this or any other way.) I know that when you have no restriction, which seems to be the case right now, the band just doesn't help. So hang in there, use will power when you can to make GOOD food choices, and before you know it you'll be getting another fill -- hopefully the one that makes all the difference. The temptation *I* faced, when I didn't have restriction, was to use that time period to eat whatever I wanted, and blame it on the band. Unfortunatley, the band doesn't get to choose what we put in our mouths. It just gets to choose how fast it lets what we put in our mouths into our stomachs. This may not help you in the least, but it always helps me to put some of these thoughts on "paper". Thanks for letting me share your space =) I wish you the best, Jonathan

Please don't take this the wrong way, but being 24 and having the band is probably nothing like being 14 and having the band, but I really doubt it's that much different than being 34+ and having the band. Trust me when I tell you that it's not just people in school that think banding is "the easy way out" and "not safe". Teenagers who are still in highschool (or younger, if any such people exist) clearly have some specific issues that are unique to thier age bracket. Dealing with ignorant people, however, isn't one unique to ANY age bracket. Jonathan

Does anyone else remember gaining a lot of weight right after surgery (the 2-3 days after, I mean) due to Water retention and/or swelling? I've gained 10 lbs since my removal surgery 2 days ago and I've hardly consumed any calories at all. Of course, what I HAVE consumed has been broths that are high in sodium. Still, that seems extreme to me. Anyone go through anything similar with any surgeries you've had? Is this remotely normal?

I was 306 after surgery, but a week later, I'm back down to 292. The sudden gain scared me, but all is well now. Thanks y'all. Jonathan

I have to disagree with you. Whether you equate your behavior with bulimia isn't at question here. It's whether or not Joyce needs to equate her behavior with bulimia. Joyce wrote, "I know that sometimes I do this on purpose so that I can enjoy more of what I am eating...I feel awful about myself." From www.dictionary.com: Bulimia: A chronic eating disorder involving repeated and secretive episodes of eating, characterized by uncontrolled rapid ingestion of large quantities of food over a short period of time, followed by self-induced vomiting, purging, and anorexia and accompanied by feelings of guilt, depression, or self-disgust. I'd say that's a pretty accurate description of what's going on. And while a PB isn't the same thing as vomiting, excessive PB'ing certainly can lead to a slipped band. I don't know if that's what happened in your case, dishdiva, but I think it's something of which everyone needs to be constantly aware. I think we get sold on the band, in part, because it's a lifetime solution to a lifetime problem. The reality is that in many cases it's not a lifetime solution, it's a very limited solution; and while we have our bands, we have a responsibility to ourselves to make the most of it. Doing something that can very likely significantly increase our chance of losing the band (PBing on purpose so that one can consume additional food) should not be condoned in any way, shape, or form -- nor, I think, should it be excused or passed off as something trivial. (Just to clarify, dishdiva, I'm not accusing you or anyone else here of doing that.) Joyce, I commend you for sharing your experience with us, and seeking out advice for what's going on. This isn't a minor issue, it's a very major one, and one that you definitely need to pursue more help about than we can offer you. You're risking, at the very least, your health, in that the band cannot be an effective tool if you are contstantly working around it by PBing your food and continuing to eat. Even more, you're risking the band itself. I say this to you as someone who lost his band due to slippage from excessing PBing (though not intentional). I do wish you the best of luck, and you'll be in my thoughts. Jonathan

Returning it to the dealer will result in a reposession on your credit report. Short of a forclosure or a bankruptcy, it's the worst thing you can have there, and it will adversely affect you for many years to come, resulting in higher interest rates on any loan that you are able to get. Chances are, you're upside down in the car, or you would have just decided to sell it and get out of the loan altogether, so that's probably not an option that's available to you. Trading the car in on something cheaper is usally a mistake as well, since you'll just be wrapping negative equity into a new vehicle. Although I don't know what your exact situation is, chances are the best thing you can do is to get caught up, somehow, and keep making those payments, until you owe less on the vehicle than you can sell it for. I know that's not what you want to hear, and probably isn't very useful to you, but a repossession is going to hurt you for a very long time, and in ways that can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars over the long haul in higher interest rates on everything from credit cards to car loans to mortgages. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck. Jonathan

Ok. Thanks everyone, I feel better =)

I'd like to see a forum for those of us who have lost our bands to be able to discuss things. I don't think such conversations need to clutter up the other boards, nor do I want to scare prospective bansters on a daily basis, through casual conversation. However, those of us who have lost our bands need to work extra hard to maintain and perpetuate our weight loss, and I think it would be nice to have a section for us to discuss such matters. I think it would be important to let people know, nicely, that it's NOT a forum for anyone unbanded, but specifically for those who have been banded and are no longer (or, someone who's lost a port, even if they're still banded, or something similar, if there is anything else). Yes, we could just stop posting here and go to some other "diet" site, but I think that we have too much in common to just abandon this method of support. I also think we still have something to offer to the rest of the people here. However, a forum like this wouldn't be of any use if people aren't interested in it. So, if you are interested, why don't you post here and indicate that you are. If I'm the only one who wants the forum, then it wouldn't be much fun, or much help. Jonathan

I have never heard of an insurance covering surgery but not covering aftercare. Maybe if they drop obesity related coverage in the future, but I think that kind of thing only happens at year end, and I bet you'd be grandfathered in anyway. Lapband surgery DOES NOT WORK without aftercare. So I can't imagine any insurance company would be stupid enough to cover the expense of the surgery, and then not cover the minor (in comparison) expense of aftercare. Of course, the real answer for you is to call your insurance company and ask them, but in the mean time, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Congrats, by the way. Jonathan

You'll get more response from the board members if you start your own thread, rather than tacking onto this one, so you might want to repost the question. As for what a slipped band feels like -- it varies. One somewhat common symptom is reflux. Some people will lose all restriction, some people won't be able to keep anything down. Sometime's there's pain, sometimes there isn't. When my band slipped the first time, I didn't really notice any pain. The second time, it hurt everytime I ate or drank anything. It's just one of those things that's pretty hard to diagnose strictly through symptoms. If you do repost your question, include some of the symptoms that you're having, and maybe we can offer up any relavant experiences we've had. Best wishes, Jonathan