TulipStar

I have been fat all my life and have called myself that. I tend to use the word "chubby" or "big girl". I am what I am....

I have never found relief with the man hair on my face, but retin a helped with the acne.

The pinapple juice is a good idea. I will have to try that next time.

My surgeon suspects that it was because he used dissolvable sutures. He used to use regular but recently switched to dissolvable bc he read somewhere that it was the new best practive. However, since he switched to dissolvable, I am the 2nd one to flip. so, he said he was going back to regular sutures from now on.

I actually had to go in today for an un-fill at SCOR. The woman was very nice and immediately put me under x-ray to do the fill. I just had revision surgery yesterday and my surgeon filled me too much (7cc's and I couldn't even drink water!!!), so she understood that I didn't want anyone pushing around on my stomach to try to find the port. I felt bad for the whole staff at SCOR bc I started crying once they took me back to the room. I had bad memories of what happened 3 weeks ago when I was there. The poor guy who took my BP was like..why r u crying?? All I could say is that I don't want to have to go through this again after what happened last time when they couldn't find the port and it being a day after surgery, I am still in a lot of pain. They were really nice this time though...the fill staff was completely different, I had never seen any of them before--weird.

He is a really nice doctor. I am starting to wonder about him though. I went in for my revision surgery yesterday to flip my port back over and re-stitch it to my muscle. while I was under, he filled my band. He said he put in 6cc's total but when I got home I couldn't take a tblsp of the liquid hydrocodone and I couldn't keep Water down..it just came right back up. I called his office and they told me to go to either SCOR or SCOH and have Fluid removed. I was like whta the heck! I just had surgery yesterday...you think that he would have cheked to make sure I didn't have too much?? so, here I am 1 day po and have to have my hubby take me to SCOR and they said that I had a total of 7cc's. Dr. Marsden said he put in 6... 7cc's in reality plus the swelling from the surgery I was completely cut off and my salivia wouldn't even go down. You know the last thing I wanted to do after surgery is having someone press around on my stomach to try to find the port to stick a needle in it to unfill me. It makes me wonder about him....I thought he was the best but I have had too many problems back to back with him. I don't understand why an experienced dr would fill me the wrong amount and then not check to see if I could swallow before I left the hospital.

Another update...he put 7cc in total and I WAS too tight. I couldn't keep the liquid painkiller or water down. I had to go and have 3 cc removed!!! It seems like this will never work for me!

Yeah, I think we all have it. I called it "last supper syndrome" and trust me...I had it bad. I gained 23lbs in the 2 months leading up to my surgery. Of course I was on a diet the week before and lost 7 lbs. I am mad that I did that, bc now that is just more weight for me to lose. Also, I have had some problems and have been unfilled for 2 weeks. My eating has not been the best, but I haven't gained any weight...but I haven't lost either. Try to gradually ease off of some of the foods. Trust me, you will be able to eat all of the same food, if you choose to. It will just be smaller portions.

Everyone is different. I returned to the work 6 days later, but still had a lot of pain. I ended up working from home for days 7 and 8.

I get my fills at SCOR. But i have only had 1 fill...the 2nd time didn't work. And yes, they poke around blindly. ouch. I don't know any better bc the 1st fill was great, she found the port right away and that was it. The 2nd time the lady didn't know what she was doing and I ended up crying bc they freaked me out. The last time I was thinking to myself, would I have had this surgery if it was going to be like this??

I have one called "Life is hard, food is easy" by Linda Spangle. It tells how to recognize emotional eating by the types of food you eat and how to deal with the emotions instead of eating them. It's great!

I think the key is finding something that you like to do. When I was growing up I never liked exercise....hated it hated it hated it, but I did it just because I was always trying to lose weight. I started going to the gym and found that I love group exercise. I like step aerboics, spinning classes etc. I need the trainer at the front, who is pushing me to move. Otherwise, if I am doing it on my own, I quit too soon (treadmill, elliptical) bc I get bored. Once you start, you will find that you feel good when you exercise and it's kind of like a high that you feel. It becomes addicting. I go to the gym and work out every single day. And I love it!!

Some people have problems. I fly about 1-2 times per week and I haven't had a problem at all. Some of these have been 10+ hour flights and I eat and everything with no issue.

I eat a lot of salad. I get something with like grilled chicken salad and eat the chicken first, then the lettuce. I know some bandsters can't eat lettuce, but I haven't had a problem. I avoid bread. A lot of restaurants have items that are "low carb" on the menu. These items avoid bread/starches which I have been told not to eat. These restaurants are big chains like: Cracker Barrell, Applebees, TGI Fridays, Bennigans, etc. Also, if the restaurant serves Breakfast all day you can get breakfast food like eggs and ham (Cracker Barrel serves bfast all day). I travel a lot for works, so I eat out a lot. the key is to PLAN. Know where you are going and decide even before you get there what you are going to eat. Look at their menu online. This will help you from being tempted when you get to the restaurant and see all the yummy food, bc you have already made up your mind.

Sue, Isn't it great? I want to say THANKS too!

When I have some restriction, I was eating 4 times a day. Now, I don't have any restriction and I eat like 6 or more times a day! I can't even imagine only eating 3 times per day. Even when I had fill, my stomach would start growling so loud at about 4 hours after the last time I ate. Hopefully when I have proper restriction, 3x per day will work for me too!

Wow, what a bad day!!!!!!! Once you get banded and the weight starts dropping you will be amazed to notice things like: arms on chairs aren't a problem you can sit in a booth people don't stare and the list goes on!!! hang in there!!!

Clara, I too overdid it on Thanksgiving. It's ok. Move on. However, you must face the scale, just to keep yourself in check. I just actually totaled the calories that I ate for Thanksgiving dinner... a whopping 900 calories!! And that is only for dinner. Then every night I have been having leftovers...so those meals are averaging about 700 calories. For me, if I avoid the scale or avoid logging my food, it's as if it doesn't exist and I continue to overeat. The scale and food log hold me accountable.

Smiley, I am familiar with your story. Rememer the band is a tool to help you through this, so you should definitely get more restricition. Secondly, you must be honesty with yourself about what you're eating. You should track all the food that you eat, even on binge weekends. 3500 extra calories equal a pound. so, if you down 2 bags of chips in a weekend that is almost equal to an extra pound. I have no restriction right now because of a leak and a flipped port. I can eat whatever I want... not that I should. I really ate a lot on Thanksgiving, but I put myself in check and logged my food for it. That turkey dinner was 1,000 calories alone!!! That is all I am supposed to have in a day....oh well, we all slip sometimes and I must move on. Also, try to get more active. Start with a 10 minute walk and then gradually move to 30. I am maintaining by doing 1 hour of exercise a day.

My first fill was at 5 weeks. It was really nice to finally have some restriction. during this time, just try to focus on eating right and exercising/drinking your Water. Keep a food journal to track your calories to make sure you aren't eating too much. This is "bandster hell" and I remember it all too well. You can do it!!!!

You're fine. Just sleep it off. I felt funny a lot after sugery for about 3 weeks.

I quit, but every once in a while I still want one. I wasn't a heavy smoker before surgery. I smoked about 2-4 times per month. About a pack a month. I used to smoke 2 packs a day 10 years ago, but weaned myself off to only be an occasional smoker. I decided that I am not going back. The last time I smoked was a week before surgery. I feel really good now. You can do it, if you want to!

I did learn this very quickly. I often get food stuck becuase I eat too fast. I have learned (painfully) to not eat too fast. Hunger seems to creep up so fast now, that before i know it I am ravenous. You will learn it too!

Stacy 73… 43 TulipStar…32 Mdicurn…30 time4me…27.8 Magooz07…11 Caresarn…16 Klpdbl…47 Lapband4me...32 Sirusman…56 Allisarin…23 Tishamarie…49 EL1…23 Juliacleone…24 Kimmie…45 dsmit13…23 ScareDcat…32 Lapitup…22.5 mandi78…23 andrea71…28 Thinmom…23 Kellymovingon...35 flipper64...30 kagoscuba...37 Lucylu...15 Gurlygirl....23 Amber...39 suzygayle....31 Linda E......24.5 lbs Texrose 575 .....24.0 lbs Jennie1976...18 lbs itstime....23 lbs eastxnurse....30 lbs wannabthin...26 lbs

At first I didn't want to tell anyone. Prior to my surgery the only ones that I wanted to tell was my hubby, my boss, my dad and my good girlfriend. I really didn't want to anyone else or my in-laws bc they trash talk wls so much. My in-laws live in a different state, but they visited me 2 weeks prior to my surgery. I ended up telling my mil, but first started off the conversation with...."I'm going to tell you something but I want your full support and confidentiality..." In the end it made her feel good that I would confide in her. I think the main reason I didn't want to tell anyone was bc I didn't want people to judge. Now, 2 months after my surgery....I really don't care who knows. I find myself telling people randomly. It's not bc I have lost a lot of weight (i really haven't). I just feel more comfortable with it now.