Danimal

For me, the surgery does not turn off that switch in your head for not wanting certain foods. My nurse has told me I need to understand what I can eat and what I can't. If I tell her I had pizza, I will get the lecture for not eating properly and then she says once in a while is OK if you don't eat the crust. I can't eat items like corn, peas and salad. The skin I just can't get it chewed up enough. You will know it after having the surgery for a while what you can and cannot eat. For the most part, I follow a good diet and it is up to you to make good choices. Yes you can make bad ones as there are lots of slider foods out there which will cause you not to lose weight. Do I have them once in a while? Sure I do but I can't sit down and eat 3 pieces of pie like I used to. Can I eat a small piece of pie? Sure I can. The urgers haven't went away for me, they are still there and it's up to me to make good choices. On the other hand, we go exercise now almost every day. Couldn't do that before, nor did we feel like doing it when we were 80+ lbs heavier. Now it's just part of our routine.

Yeah it's one of the few addictions in which we still use the drug of choice, food, and are suppose to somehow control ourselves. Believe me, I would of fallen off the wagon months ago if I could. I just can't. Cravings are still there. I just can't over indulge.

I think we all pretty much did that. Let's face it, my best friend, my comfort in life, my enjoyment, the thing my day evolved around was about to leave me forever. It was like losing a loved one, but I adjusted. I haven't had a steak or a soda in nearly a year. Steak just isn't worth the work to eat anymore. I can still eat pizza. Must be thin and very crispy. Don't do it much though cause it goes against everything I've done in the past year. I stick to fish and chicken mainly.

I will start producing slime to the point I have to spit it out. I have excused myself and went to the bathroom. Usually for me, it just comes back up and I get rid of it then and I'm done. It helps for me to get up and move around. I will tear up, runny nose and lots of slime. You can't swallow because there is no where for it to go. Doesn't take too many of those lessons before you learn. That was always my biggest fear before banding but the stories I think are scarier than they really are. For me, it's not like when you get sick. I have time to get up and go to the bathroom. Just don't ask me to talk though.

I'm at about 7.5cc in a 10cc band and each time my sweet spot stays on for longer and longer. My doctors office has me return every 4 to 6 weeks and if I am struggling, they give me .5cc. Only one time did they give me 1cc. I was filled in November and that one has now lasted until March but I was ready to go in for a fill. They always tell me not to struggle and come in earlier if I do. Early on, I was just like you. the fill would seem to only last a day or 2, then a week or 2, then a month or 2. I should be getting close to being at a year or 2 now before needing a fill. Good luck. You'll get there soon.

I never thought of many goals, accomplishments, revelation or achievements before my LAP-BAND®® surgery. Just really wanted to lose 100 lbs. I'm getting close and am noticing more changes in my life. Now as a few of these things have happened, I think wow, another little thing that that I never realized. So here are a few of mine. What are yours? never realized I could exercise for an hour almost everyday and be ok with it. I was lucky to get off the couch before. Being able to sit in a booth at restaurant with out my belly being squashed. Seeing my reflection in a window and not recognizing myself Buying clothes an not having to pay extra because of the size.

I can't say that exercise is something I love to do. I know it's something I must do. I stared out just using the Wii last winter but as soon as the weather warmed up, I began walking on my lunch hour. If found if I kept busy it really keeps my mind away from food and usually afterwards, I'm not as hungry. That worked well for my initial weight loss but I finally hit a plateau once I dropped 75 lbs. So we joined the gym 2 months ago and began going almost everyday for an hour to 1.5 hours. Used to take me 22 minutes at 0 degrees to do a mile but now I walk 3.8 mph with an elevation of 8 degrees. I'll do this for 45 minutes. I still get my heart rate up to my goal and it's easier on my hips and knees than running. I also do 3 rounds of weights to help with my upper body fat. I still plateaued for a couple of months but figured I traded fat for muscle as I still dropped inches. I've now began dropping my weight again. It's just what I have to do in order to achieve my goal. I know I would of given up during the plateau for the 2 months, but the band wouldn't let me make that choice.

Hi everyone. Not sure where to post this but the wife and I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with this or has suggestions. We are going through this together and both are being banded. She finally found received her date after 8 long months. She informed the company she works for that in 28 days, she is going to have surgery. My wife runs payroll for a large company and does have a back up for her job. The gal that does the back up does not like doing this job and does everything she can to get out of it. So once the backup was told she would have to cover payroll for the 1 day, her back up immediately went to her manager and complained. Well, they had a management meeting and then came out and asked my wife to reschedule her surgery for a date that is more convenient for the company. My wife was very upset that they even had the gall to ask her that. I'm a manager in a large business and our company would never ask someone to do this. I find it unethical. Has anyone advice on this. Opinions are great but it would be nice to know what the laws are. Has anyone experienced this or know someone who has? What did they do? Thanks!

Dyingtobethin - It will all work out for you just like it has for us. I would be surprised if you could get your surgery by years end, but maybe. For us it took 2 months for the insurance to approve and then another 6 weeks to get the surgery date. Not many people realize that it is a needed surgery and consider it more elective. For both of us, the paperwork said it was required for health reasons. When your at work, most people have the perception there is nothing wrong with you because your there everyday. In reality, your at a health risk everyday. Good luck with your surgery. Wife and I were talking on the way home from exercising this morning. We both lost more weight before the band but the direction is still down. We both felt with out the band, we would of once again fell off the wagon and gained our weight back. The band won't allow us so we keep moving forward. Keep in touch and the best of luck. Let us know how it all goes. Dan

I loved bread but don't miss it. I can eat a little toast though. Once banded and you reach your proper fill, you won't want to eat things like this. For me it's just painful and not worth it (stuck, hurts). Same thing happens if I eat too fast. It's the power of the band. I haven't had soda either in over 6 months. Sometimes I have the urges. Peanut M&M's used to be my weakness. I've had them, but about 6 of them are enough. Basically for me, I can eat almost anything. Just in small quantities. The band is not the magic wand as you do have to do some work, count calories and eat right.

OK. You may of seen my other thread "what does full feel like" well this is just the opposite, "what does hungry feel like?" I had never thought of this before until my wife, who has also been banded, asked me and our fill nurse this question. The nurse said in all her years, she had never been asked that question nor did she know how to respond. Now think really hard about this before you answer. What is real hunger. For me I said it was just a craving for food. I see it, I smell it, I want it. That's probably not a true signal that "I'm hungry." Because if I'm really busy, I don't eat much nor does my wife because our minds are busy. It was this way at pre band as well as post band. Sometimes I guess it could be a growling stomach, but mine growls more after I eat than before. We are uncovering some real skeletons in our closet. We feel we got to our large size by not understanding these signals and eating because of our impulses. The difference is now, I can wake up in the morning and feel what I think is hunger, but only after a little bit of food, that urge goes away. With out the band, I would have no other signal to stop eating other than to stuff myself. So what does hungry feel like to you?

So now that you've been banded, what do you think full feels like? What is the trigger that says stop eating? I ask this because the other day when I had this discussion with the fill nurse, I said full to me is when I reach that point I feel some discomfort or pain. I was told that if I reach this point, I've eaten too much and that I needed to back off. This is difficult to judge because in the morning I'm very tight and can only eat about 2-3 oz of oatmeal and I may get this feeling only after a couple spoons full. By evening, it's just about perfect eating my 4-5 oz. Either way, I stop when I feel that discomfort. Also a lot depends on what I eat. I have found, when I don't have this, I feel I'm not tight enough and am hungry all the time and can usually over indulge. So what does full feel like to you?

I do drink hot coffee in the morning and it probably does help. It's more of a want than a need. I'd like to have eggs and bacon but I can't. Just doesn't agree with me. So I've found out to eat about 2 hours after getting up and having my coffee. I'm good with it all. Just trying to learn the new full feeling and what it is, other than the pain from eating wrong or over eating that last bite. I get no other signs that I am noticing just yet.

Hi Ed and welcome to the site. Your apprehension is not unusual. The wife worried about more items than I did but only because she had not had surgery before. For both of us, any worries would of been just waisted energy. Wife did well with the surgery, it was just the anesthesia that upset her stomach and kept her really sleepy. I had not issues was in and out in 6 hours and even mowed grass 4 days later. I believe you will hear about more complaints of things gone wrong just because it's the nature of the beast. People are naturally going to post more about issues and trying to find out more information. Read and educate yourself but don't let these cause you to have fear. A majority of people go through this with out a lot of issues. The wife and I have 3 weeks difference between our surgeries which worked well. At least one of us was able to help out the other that first week. Exercise has been a little difficult for us together. Because I was first, I can naturally do more than her right now because I have recovered sooner. So I have had to adjust my exercise routine to do things through the day with out her and then go at her pace in the evening. We didn't think or plan about this too much but it is working out well and she will soon be caught up with me. Best of luck! We both feel it has been one of the greatest things we have done. I hope all goes well with you and your wife.

I had my first fill last week. It has helped but I'm still a little hungry by the end of the day. I'm now on my life time diet. Told I can eat anything I want as long as it agrees with me and I stay with in the plan. Plan being 2 oz Protein, 1 oz starch, 1 oz fruit or veg. What that means is no Snacks, 3 meals a day with 4 oz each meal. When I talked to the dietitian, she said my calorie intake should be around 700 to 800 calories a day. She also claimed if I ate in the 1500 calorie range again, I would probably gain weight. It seems there is no real standard with this as I read there are multiple variations. Anyhow that is where I'm at and I have once again began losing weight after about a 3 week stand still. I go again in 2 weeks for another fill.

There is no way I can eat a full cup. I'm about 20 days post op and my doctor has me only eating 5 tbs for 3 meals plus 2 protein drinks at 4 oz. I only get in about 600 to 700 calories. Maybe I can eat a little bit more but I'm told this is in prep for my first fill. I could get more calories if I wanted through liquids but I don't choose to do that. A full cup, I'd be sick.

John337, Danimal, Nkwt2005, Bmaz, Others - How did everyone do? I went in at 6am and was released at Noon! When I woke up I had just thought I dozed off and asked when they were going to do it. I had no pain. After a few minutes though, I could feel some discomfort. I didn't have any pain meds and was walking by 10. Drinking the Water was tough. Just couldn't hardly get it down but I did taking my time. My wife asked me what it feels like (hers is June 1). I described it like someone having their hand squeezed around your neck but instead it's in your stomach. Not a choking feeling but a tightness feeling. I did take a pain med once I got home. It helped a little more with the feeling. I'm walking about every 2 hours. I also like to take a little nap too. I just hope tomorrow is not worse than today. Hope everyone else is doing well too!

Hi All. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm walking now about 5-6 miles a day. Other than the early jitters, I've recovered great. Sleeping on my side and even woke up on my stomach a couple of times. I don't have much pain at all. Now I can tell I don't have much restriction and I do have hunger so it's a little more difficult. I am following my diet pretty well though. I have only lost about 6 lbs since being banded but I believe I'm trading fat for muscle. What is changing is my size and not so much my weight right now. I'm down 2+ sizes now and have had several people now tell me they can see the difference.

Hi all. Well Monday is 7 days post op for us. I'm returning to work. Office job so no real labor involved. I do find through the day I get the jitters. Anyone else with this?? I haven't taken any pain meds since Wednesday. I thought today I might take some Tylenol in the morning. Eating about 400 to 500 calories a day now. I take a few walks in the day that are about 1000 steps each. At first I though the jitters were from not enough intake but not sure. They are not bad like I'm shaking or anything. Just that I can sense I'm not 100% yet. Anyone else going back to work on Monday or what are your plans??

Greetings Guys. May 11th band date here. Was in and out of the hospital in 6.5 hours. I'm so full all the time I have to force myself to eat. You'd have to put a plunger on me to force any thing more down than what the doctor is recommending. I still have difficulty getting all my fluids down in a day. Best I can do so far is about 35 oz of water. I do get tired still fairly quickly. Tonight we went and got groceries for the rest of the family. Nothing looked go to me and I was ready to go home and rest. Monday though I am returning to work.

Wife and I have went through most of the process together. I was just banded on May 11 and she will be banded on June 1. Your right about it being a great support system. We learn from each other and now she gets to watch me go through the process about 2 weeks ahead of her.

John337 good to hear you made it OK! With the gallbladder removal sounds like you had it a little rougher. Glad you made it home and are up and walking. The past 2 days I just couldn't hardly get anything down but this morning I'm off my pain meds and had 4oz of watered down oatmeal. Took me about 45 minutes to eat but at least I'm getting some nutrients now. Wish you continued success with the band!

Same here for me. I weighed that night after surgery and jumped up 5 lbs from when I went in. Has to be all the fluids they were pumping into me.

Actually it was a compliment. It finally happened this week. Twice I was told my clothes looks terrible hanging off of me. OK, I get the hint, maybe it's time to buy a new size. My current pants used to be so tight I had difficulty getting them buttoned but I refused to go up another size. Now I'm the opposite direction with them hanging off of me. Problem is, last year I had decided I was just going to be big for the rest of my life and donated all of my smaller clothes to charity. My wife says she's going to clean out my closet of all of these big clothes and do the same thing. I may have little to choose from. Banding isn't until tomorrow May 11, but I've been a trooper on my weight loss once I decided to get banded. My past problem was I just could never maintain. I hope this goes well and helps control me better.

Thanks for the advice Hallelujah.girl. Well it's 4:30am and I'm up. Not unusual as I normally get up at 5am anyhow. Pain is still about the same as yesterday so I'm still taking my pain medicine. I expected to be woke up with some pain because of the length of time between doses. I think I would be pretty sore with out it. My wife who has never had surgery may think this is terribly painful. I can understand and plan on taking off work as long as I need to in order to support her. For me and having open heart surgery 5 years ago, now that was painful for me. I don't wish that one on anybody. I read on here this is a wide range of how people do. Expected as we are all different. Glad you were finally able to sleep in your own bed once again. That's a great next step. Your getting there. I'm still sipping Water. Today I will keep track of my water intake making sure I'm getting enough. I have no hunger what so ever. Not sure about the fill. I think I'll email the nurse and see what she can tell me.