QWINNER

Penni, Since I am so new here, I was waiting for someone as loving and caring as yourself to say something about eating solids a couple of days after surgery. My doctor was more strict. Clear Liquids 1st week, liquids 2nd week, 3rd and 4th week mushies and week 5 stepping up to solids. This time was a wonderful opportunity to lose weight without really trying. It is so important to follow your dr's recommendations. Humans can live on liquids for weeks and still get ample nutrition. Try taking on a new hobbie or walking if you feel very hungry. We tend to want more the things we can't have - like eating big after banding. As time passes, food becomes less important but you need to substitute another behavior for eating. I ask myself, what has food done for me? I answer - nothing but make me fat. Food is not my best friend anymore, it is a mere acquaintance. Good luck and listen to penni about the liquids or I have a feeling she will personally come and smack your head.

Great description Megan. Did you mean a whole pie in level 1 or a whole slice. I hope you meant a slice. I agree with you. I think I am at level 3 most of the time now but I have to say that if I don't eat slow enough or take small bites, I can feel very uncomfortable. Only PB'd once and that was enough for me. Funny thing is, even though I have such great restriction, the easiest foods for me to eat are all the unhealthy ones such as Icecream, cookies, candy, pretzels, chips. I know because I have tried one of each in the past few weeks. The other not so funny thing is that the healthy proteins like chicken, eggs, fish, yogurt, turkey are very difficult to swallow. They have to be moist and tiny. The good thing is that salad with some diced chicken and fat free dressing goes down easy too. I think my point is (got off task lol) that restriction is great in many ways but it is not so great in other ways. Too tight and you can blow your cookies sitting at the table with friends, or you can't eat a yummy seafood pilaf that you and your son made together cause you took too big of a first bite. Restriction is not going to automatically make you stop eating or make you pick the right foods to eat. Like everyone says, the band is a tool and we have to use it but it is no magic gatekeeper for what we grab off the table or out of a bag and hope that the band won't let us eat it. I just wanted to all that in because I thought that once I had restriction, I wouldn't be able to eat much at all. THat is true but I still have to decide what I am going to eat. Salad with grilled chicken or a milk shake and cookies. It would be nice though if the band was so powerful.

It sounds like you have great restriction. Perhaps you are not used to eating that small amount of food. I feel the same way. I just cooked a healthy choice meal and I can barely eat 1/4 of it. I think the band is doing it's job and we are just not used to it. Try keeping track of everything you eat, even if it is a small amount. Then go to fitday.com and enter it in the food journal. I would bet that you are getting 1000 calories. Keep making the healthy choices. Lentil soup, deli turkey, shrimp goes down easy, yogurt, eggs, moist chicken, you know the good stuff. Make sure you can drink your water and enjoy the freedom.

Isa, It is not uncommon for people to lose 20 or more lbs in under 2 weeks. You've drastically decreased your caloric intake from presurgery so it is normal to have lost that much weight. If you remain on liquids, then mushies you could probably lose more than you would ever imagine. Many doctors say no solids for the first 6 weeks and that is so your stomach can heal. Maybe you should stick to yogurt, Soups and the like to avoid any complications. You'd be amazed how much weight you might lose. I would say that nothing is wrong - you just got yourself a band. Good luck

Hi. I had my surgery 1/12/05 and had port pain for atleast 6 weeks. It was tender and hurt when my jeans would touch the area. Check with your doctor if the pain continues but that is a big incision so it does take time to heal. Good luck.

I have an inamed 10cc band. You have made remarkable progress. Congrats.

Don't worry - you are only 1 month out. Isn't it great to put on those jeans and feel good and comfortable in them. That, to me, is better than what the scale says. In regard to the dieting perspective, I felt the same way as you did. I got my second fill the end of march and have so much restriction that I can barely eat more than a cup or 2 of food at a time and if I don't eat slow enough, watch out. Never PB'd but that stopping feeling is enough to drive the dieting theory away. Sure, I have to make good choices now or I don't get the right kind of nutrition. I can go to a restaurant and order a salad with grilled chicken on top, pick at it, have one of my son's Buffalo wings and I am stuffed. But, alas, I have lunch for the next day and I ate what I wanted but just a bit. On Saturday, I had a very stressful day and said to my husband, I would love to eat a bacon cheese burger and onion rings right now. He said order it, but it will probably last you a week. I thought why I wanted to put such junk into my body and realized it was just comfort food. I ordered something else and found that satisfying. I guess what I am trying to say is that until I got my second fill, (1st one did nothing and I protested my doctor to add more) I was upset that I had to do the dieting thing too. I was upset that I felt hunger with my band. That was the one thing I wanted to accomplish when I had my surgery was to not be hungry all of the time. Well, let me tell ya, now I am hardly ever hungry and I can hardly eat alot so I don't feel like I have to diet. I do feel that once you get to good restriction, you have to eat very healthy foods. All the bad stuff goes down way to easy. I could eat chips, cookies, Icecream, pretzels and chocolate really, really well right now but it is harder and more of an effort to prepare, chew and not drink with my meals. I have to make to right choice and WORK with my band. I realized that the band doesn't work for you unless you work with the band. It takes will power on bad days and effort to make the right choices on good days. Sometimes it's painful if you eat too fast and sometimes it is just right when you feel the liberation from always stuffing your face. For me, I take to good with the bad. Sometimes I eat a peanut butter cup to satisfy my sweet tooth but atleast I am not eating 4 or 5 of them. I think if people wanted effortless weight loss, then the bypass was a better choice. If you eat the wrong things, you get sick, simple as that. More risks, more weightloss in the on set, but the band will be with you a long time if you treat it well and baby it and make a choice to eat right and over indulge once in a while and realize it is o.k. to have a serving of ice cream. The band won't work if you chose to have the whole pint. Hang in there until your fill. If after a week or 2 of your fill, you still feel no restriction, insist that your doctor add a bit more. There is no reason why we should feel hungry with the band. That is why we got it. It's been 3 months that i've had my band and I feel that the dieting mentality is all but gone. Good luck and don't get discouraged.

Hey don't forget us long islanders. I know, also that there are many excellent and not too crazy hotel deals right in manhattan. Just think of the fun it would be to stay in NYC. If we book a block of rooms early enough, we could get a great deal. I would be willling to check it out. Last month my husband and I got a room at the Hilton in midtown for $129. It was originally $239 but priceline was very cool. The hotel was awesome. Let me know what you think. Any other long islanders willing to jump in??? We love the city and go there often. It is such a blast. Maybe even get tickets to a matinee on the 2fer line??? So COOL!!

Nykee, The sweet spot refers to the spot that you have the best restriction. It can happen at your first fill or your 5th fill. It depends on the person. I had no restriction when I got my first fill of 1cc 6 weeks post op. 2 weeks later I called and insisted on another fill as the first one did nothing and I didn't want to pay again. My doctor put in another 1cc and said he wouldn't do another fill for a few months. Now i am retsricted but find it difficult to drink even Water too quickly. I have had to learn to eat soooo slowly and not too much. I can really only eat a small amount of healthy foods at a time. But isn't that the point of the band? Unfortunately, the easiest foods to go down a very restricted band are icecream, Cookies and candy. I have to fight like heck to avoid those foods. All doctors are different but most won't fill again for atleast 4-6 weeks. Please keep in mind that a fill is a fill and we still have to manage our own diets. Please don't count solely on the fill to be the miracle weight loss vehicle. You can really hurt yourself, PB, vomiting, slipage, if you eat or drink to much or too fast. It is really painful. Try to work on the emotional issues that cause us to over eat. That is when true success follows. Old habits are hard to change, but it can be done.

I was banded on 1/12/2005 and can hardly remember the pain, sleeping trouble and lack of food. Time goes by quickly and before you know it, you will be amazed how you made it through the tough times. Take things slowly, stick to the liquids. You will lose most the longer you wait to eat. Try to occupy your mind with new things. Read, write in a journal, catch up on sleep and walk for a few minutes. It gets better each day. You made the first step toward a healthier, happier life. Good luck!

Laura It is normal to be very hungry just a week or 2 out of surgery. Keep feeding your hunger with Protein shakes, fat free pudding/jell0, fat free yogurt. The mushy stage is hard. I didn't like the consistency of the mushy food so I kept eating yogurt and egg salad. If you want to lose a good chunk of weight, hold off on solids as long as you can. I think most dr's say atleast 4 weeks until solid. Plus that will help you heal faster. Drink lots of Water too. Good luck and try to fight off the hunger. Take a walk or something.

Some food suggestions are Egg/tuna/chicken salad with little lite mayo. Shrimp and fish go down well and are a great source of protein. Also, spinach and sweet potatoes are good with the protein. Homemade chili made with white meat turket and beans is great too. good luck

Hi everyone. I asked my doctor about fills and how much is a good amount and I told him about how some people get more than others and he told me that the amount of fill has a lot to do with the type and size of your personal band. Some peoples bands are larger in diameter and need more to fill. Brands other than inamed run differently in size as will. I have a 10cc inamed band and I have just under 2cc's filled and I am really tight.

I got 2 fills without flouro. Both times were not too bad. It took a couple of tries for the Dr to get the port but there is very little pain involved. Your sweet spot is not determined by flouro, but by the amount of a fill when you have achieved the most comfortable restriction. When you can't eat too much or too little. Some say it is the spot where you can lose 2-3 lbs a week. I'll let you know if that is true as I think I am at my sweet spot at 2cc's in a 10cc inamed band. Good luck and don't worry about not have the flouro.

I have only been banded since January, and I consider myself successful not only because of the weight I lost but because of the way I am working with the band. The band is just a tool to deminish hunger. That is all. It doesn't make you not able to consume 3000 calories a day. It doesn't wipe out our past habits or our horrible childhoods or pregnancy weight or anything else. Prior to getting the band, I knew that it wouldn't be the end to my bad choices and over eating. The only thing that would help that was to gain a better understanding of why I was over eating, riding myself of the negative behaviors and learning about nutrition. This band won't work if too many calories are consumed and not enough calories burned. It is the same concept as a diet, however, the band is supposed to diminish the feeling of hunger. Isn't it up to us to think thru our hunger to determine if it is in our heads or in our bellies. I think it is important for people (myself included) to truly understand the purpose of a silicone band. It will do nothing for you if you do nothing for yourself. If I were to find myself eating everything in sight or not able to work with the band, then perhaps the band wasn't the right choice. We can't just look through this board and see that people are losing 50, 70, 100 lbs and think oh this is going to be it for me. This is the answer. The only thing that is going to make the band work is working with the band.

I didn't really get the possessiveness/jealousy thing from the post, but that is just my interpretation. Those 2 things wouldn't factor into a relationship as if they are a part of a relationship then there is no relationship to begin with. I understand what you are saying about a spouse loving eachother during all aspects of their lives. That is a given, however, it is often difficult to love a person who isn't loving themselves very much at one given moment. Life isn't always perfect and neither are our spouses. Lets face it, Being 100 lbs or more overweight does add stress to us personally and stress to our relationships. That is why people spend billions of dollars on diet products and surgery. Weight has nothing to do with how much a person loves you but it sure makes things better in many ways. Simple as that. For me, anyway.

That is very funny about the kitchen table. You go for it girlfriend. lol

Alex, you are so right. I don't think relationships can fail due to weight issues and if they do, then there wasn't too much there to begin with. My husband and I have been married for 18 years and have been through many ups and downs, some of which have come very close to what seemed like the end of it all. Other things have made us stronger and closer. Being over weight has caused me some personal struggles along the way, but to blame things on the weight issue is only a smoke screen to other problems as well. Relationships are funny. They are either meant to be or not. Hard work and dedication is the answer, just like the weight loss issue. Funny how things get tied into one another.

I do see your point about the physical aspect of a relationship. But I must say that our entire personality changes when we don't feel horrible about ourselves because our clothing is too tight or we ate too much junk the night before or we are angry because we have to "diet" again. Personally, I was cranky a lot of the time because I wasn't happy with myself and the person (both inside and out) I had become at 204 pounds. My husband was getting kind of sick of the moodiness, the anger and the depression I was exhibiting over the last 5 years due to my excess weight and self image. Basically, I wasn't happy with myself so I wasn't happy with many other aspects of my life. Did he love me any less because of that? No. But he didn't always like me that way and I think now that things are changing, he is liking me alot more and wants to be around me more as it is becoming apparent that I like being around myself more now too. Also, I might add that as I lose weight, my husband is gaining. He was always thin and now is getting quite the corporation up front. Do I love him any less? No, but I do wish there was less of that belly to love. lol

I'm no doctor ruth, but is it terribly wrong for a BF or husband to find their other half more attractive physically after a weight loss? Don't you find yourself feeling and looking more attractive and feeling better about yourself when you loose weight? When very overweight people get thinner, our entire self image changes. We get more confident, more self esteem, we have a bounce in our step and we are generally happier people. You bet we change in many ways and why shouldn't our loved ones treat us more affectionately and lovingly. We are treating ourselves differently too. Just because they are more loving toward us doesn't mean they didn't love us for who we are or were when we were fatter. Perhaps, we weren't letting ourselves be loved as much 50 lbs ago. I know that my husband, although he never complained about my added baggage, finds me more attractive 30 lbs lighter and so do I. I can't wait to think how his eyes will sparkle when I am 80 lbs lighter. Do I think he loves me more now? No. But if he loves the way I am looking more now, well so be it. So do I. Let's face it, 80lbs of excess body fat isn't too pretty.

I had to quit smoking before my doctor would do my surgery. His theory was that smoking can cause stomach ulsers and stomach cancer. When you have the band, the pouch and the larger stomach are now two areas of cancer concerns and why put yourself in that kind of situation. He would never agree to the fact that smoking is better than over eating. That is a very strange statement for a doctor to make. If you have or want to quit, try the patch. It works well. Good luck.

I like to have a protein bar sometimes, while on the go, but you will see that you can't eat them for 3 meals a day for 2 long. That is only about 600 calories and you have lost quite a bit of water. I'll bet you could eat some pretty good stuff for under 700 calories a day. Try turkey breast, egg salad, tuna, shrimp with cocktail sauce and chicken. Good luck. Maybe even add a protein bar in for a snack (1/2 of bar 2 times). It almost feels like your eating a candy bar

The day after my surgery, when I went home, I chopped up a vicodin and took it. A few short hours later, I was slimming and heeving (but didn't vomit) and sweating and I felt so sick that it took 2 days for me to recover. I will never take that stuff again after surgery. (perhaps another time, lol) I thought I was going to die, literally. But, as you can see I am still here. Things will get better and you will slowly begin to feel yourself improving. Good luck and keep resting.

Hi Amy, I'm from stonybrook area.

I hope it works out for you. I have a feeling that you will not take no for an answer so you will eventually be banded either way. I wish you the best of luck and will be thinking about you.