Cocoabean

What elcee said. You are on liquids now because your surgeon doesn't want your stomach to grind on food. Your band is stitched into place and those stitches need time to heal without your stomach trying to grind up food for digestion. Liquids go right through, making it easing on your healing stomach. Meaning you don't get any satisfaction feeling from what you are consuming. But you really do what the band to heal properly into place. Protein shakes are not forever. My surgeon doesn't want me drinking them. He wants me eating my calories. Get yourself healed up, then you'll be able to eat real foods in smaller quantities.

There is no answer to the age old question of why do I not lose faster. For me, I didn't exercise much and I ate about 1500-1700 calories a day, or thereabout. I rarely tracked food. Even if you could say I eat 1000 calories per day, I exercise off 700 per day, and I've had all my blood work checked and my metabolism is normal, we still could not guarantee you would lose 2-3 pounds per week. Our bodies just don't work that way. Personally, I think you are doing just fine, keep up the good work. There are plenty of us slow losers on here. Don't compare yourself to others. Just do your thing and get to where you want to go.

Thank you for the update! I find I have a huge learning curve after every fill.

Xavier!! Haven't seen you in donkey's years!! Judych, I don't believe 3cc on a first fill was too much as a general rule, that doesn't mean that it wasn't too much for you. Everyone reacts to fills differently. Some can only handle tiny bits at a time. If memory serves, I had 3cc on my first fill, along with 2cc at surgery. I was fine with that. I did go over on my third (I think it was third) fill. We are going back 4 years now, my memory is somewhat fuzzy. Needing an unfill is not a sign of failure or defeat, it is just a fact of life in bandland. Chances are you'll be able to get it put back in after a while. I am actually planning a slight unfill at the moment. I got a fill in September. In February it tightened up very tight for about 6 weeks. I got very sick in April and I am tight again, but not as tight. I am scheduling an Upper GI then a visit with my surgeon soon after that. I'll probably have just a teensy bit taken out to allow me to make better choices. I feel I am leaning too hard on sliders and I don't like that.

Judy, you might have had some fill in your band at the time surgery. I had 2cc in my 10cc band. When I had my unfill, my surgeon and I discussed how much to remove. It should not take you an hour to eat, and eating solids should not be painful. I have a hard time eating steak, I have to cut it very small and chew like crazy. I get bored eating it before I get full, but it isn't painful. As elcee said, reheated meats can be difficult to get down, the texture is just off. Also, fish is known to be a sticky food for many of us. My restriction level changes throughout the day and from day to day. I can eat best around lunch time, so that is my biggest meal in general. But I never know from day to day how much I will be able to consume. I call it my fickle, freaken, foofing band. That said, what you describe, is too tight in my opinion.

You can't avoid social eating forever, though. food is such a huge part of our culture. We have to find a way to deal with it, or we'll never see our family and friends. For me, reaching the green zone helped tremendously in controlling the urge to grab the not so good choices at gatherings. In restaurants, I have control over what I choose. At family gatherings, I began to no longer hang out by the table. Proper fill level has allowed me to say no to Desserts, or to just have a taste, rather than the entire slice.

Thank you for the update, very glad you are feeling better! Awesome that your surgeon was able to meet you and you didn't have to count on an ER doc to do an unfill. yay! We have a doc come to my work a couple times a month to do physicals, he is an ER doc by trade. I stopped in to say hi to the nurse when he was there one day. He'd never met a bad patient. He was fascinated, felt my port, asked a bunch of questions...decided he'd call a bariatric surgeon if a band patient ever came to his ER needing an unfill.

What all the conflicting information tells me is that there really is no true right and wrong. That said, what your surgeon tells you is what he or she has found to work best with the methods use by him or her. You should always stick to what rules were given to you by your surgeon. That said. After 4+ years, what my surgeon said vs. what I think my surgeon said vs. what I read here vs. what I wish my surgeon said have pretty much blurred into one big glob of information. Many things I do remember, but not all. But it is important for you to follow the guidelines given to YOU. I went to one of my surgeon's info seminars with a friend a month or so ago. He said, whatever I am doing, keep doing it, because it is working well.so I took that to mean my interpretation of his rules is right for me But I do see him yearly and check in with him.

Hi there! For me, I was back on solids pretty quickly. At my one week post-op I was able to go on mushies then to solids as tolerated. I was one of my surgeon's first band patients, so I am not certain he knew what to do with me. But it all worked out for me!

At that point you are not really eating meals. Just enough to take away the hunger. Soft foods go through pretty quickly, so yes, you'll feel hungry pretty rapidly. Before I started on solids, I was almost always hungry.

One thing to consider with a band and no insurance is after-care. With a band, you have to have fills or the band does you no good. Many surgeons offer fills for a period of time in their fees, but after that, you are on your own. Fills can cost a few hundred dollars per. My surgeon wants me to have an Upper GI each year. That would be another cost. Bands are not a set-it and forget-it procedure like bypass is. Should you have a complication down the road and need the band removed, such as erosion, it is another full surgery. If your band should slip, treatment starts conservatively, but can end up back in the operating room. If all goes well, banding is cheaper than bypass. I've seen amounts around 10K in the states for a band, I don't know what after is included in that price. Bypass would be substantially more as the procedure takes quite a bit more time to complete. There are many self-pay people here who are extremely happy with their choice. But be sure you can afford the aftercare. If you cannot have fills, then it isn't worth it. And empty band is like an empty gas tank...it just sits there going nowhere fast.

Not all of us are ordered onto low carb diets. I am not.

Dr. Ortiz is in Tijuana, Mexico just over the border from San Diego, CA. obesitycontrolcenter is the name of his web-site. Do you have health insurance? With a BMI of 49.5, if you have insurance that covers weight loss surgery, you should have no problem qualifying for coverage.

Your best bet is to find a surgeon who does both surgeries and speak with him/her about your medical conditions to help you make an informed decision. Some surgeons prefer bypass for someone with a BMI as high as yours, but there are bandsters here who were around that BMI and have done well. Most surgeons offer an information seminar. That is a great place to start. Mine offers side-by-side comparisons of the procedures to help you determine which is best. Every person here has their own reasons for choosing to be banded. But I made the decision I did with the help of my surgeon based on my medical needs. There is no one size fits all for which procedure is right.

My surgeon commented on his website that he doesn't understand the soda prohibition. The GI Tract is an open system. Gas escapes from either end, so it won't cause damage. But as you experienced it can be uncomfortable. Diet soda has chemicals that can stimulate appetite, that was enough to swear me off. I've sipped on my hubby's regular sodas from time to time. I just get the hiccups from it. I do OK with beer though. Just have to take the calories into account. Go figure.

I never thought to ask those questions either! Once you are at proper restriction you need fewer and fewer fills. You may have been gaining for a couple of reasons. You started eating higher caloric foods or larger amounts of foods. The reason for larger amounts of foods with the same fill can be that as you lose weight, you lose it everywhere, including the fat around your stomach beneath your band. When that happens, your band feels looser. Like what happens to a belt as you lose weight. When your band feels looser you get hungrier. For me hungrier means I eat more, eating more means weight gain. I seem to just get a teensie tune up fill yearly. About 0.25cc. It's good though, because I see my surgeon this way, and he checks everything out. He does an upper GI each time to check placement is still good. I had my last top-off in September. According to my surgeon the older bands seemed to have a bit of Fluid that seeps through the bladder of the bands over time. Not so much in the newer bands. He said my AP Standard 10cc band is one of the newer ones. For me, I've reached a fill level where what I eat is appropriate to maintain my weight. At this point, I could not take any more fill in my band. I am far from the capacity of it. I have a 10cc band, I have less than 7cc in it, not sure of the total. My surgeon has the total in his notes, it doesn't really matter to me, what matters to me is that I can eat and maintain my weight.

It depends on the size of your band, also. The larger bands can take more fills to reach the green zone. A note on 30 lbs in 9 months. It is slower than the 1-2 pound average that the Lap Band Company says we should lose, but it is an average of .83. Not too far off from 1 lb per week. Frustratingly slow while in the fight, yes. But downward. Plateaus suck. I went through many on my way to a normal BMI. I hope this helps...when all was said and done, my average weight loss 0.75 lb per week. It took me 2 years to lose a little over 70 lbs. I'd have liked it to happen quicker. But time passes no matter what. I decided I'd take a 3/4 lb loss any day over gaining like I was doing before my band. Once I got to my green zone (fill 4, by the way in my 10 cc band), it was easy. I did not have to diet. It was still slow, but I could live with my new eating habits forever. Maintenance has been a dream for me. Keep working with your surgeon to find your green zone. If you have a larger band, that can take some time.

My surgeon given "goal" was one oz per 15 minutes. You won't stretch your pouch on liquids. It actually takes quite a bit of work to do so. Liquids go right through and provide no resistance within the pouch. You cannot overfill the pouch on liquids, really, they just drain right through. A dilated pouch happens over a long time of overeating (generally). The upper stomach is a pretty strong muscle. Liquids are not much of a foe to force it open and stretch it out.

What everyone else said. Be sure to keep yourself hydrated. Do thinned out Protein shakes to keep some nutrition going in. If you get to the point that liquids don't go down, call you surgeon's office even though it's a weekend. Tell then you cannot get liquids down and ask for instructions. Dehydration doesn't take long to set in, and man, do you feel horrible. So, please stay on top of it. I was overfilled once. I could not get yogurt or mashed potatoes down. Put up with it for a week hoping it would get better. I'd had 1cc put in. Had 1/2cc taken out...instant relief. A month later, things had calmed down....I went back and had another 1cc put in. Don't be miserable, it sucks.

Kimmym, how are you feeling now? Better, I hope. I seemed to be loosening up after my stuck iron tablet the other night. Ugh.

The black stuff could be bile. It could also be blood. Nothing to mess with.

If it were me, I'd place a call to my surgeon about it. Only 5 weeks out? I'd want to touch base.

Hello and welcome. The port can be put in several locations. Mine is to the left of my bellybutton sewn to my abdominal muscles. Each surgeon has a preference of where to put it. If location concerns you, you'll have to ask where it will be located. I didn't even think about it. For other questions... read here... most surgeons do information seminars, attend one or two, then ask away! this is a great place for info.

Is your port red, hot to the touch, inflamed? If so call your surgeon. My port is in a location that gets rubbed on by the waist bands of pants. Some styles are more comfy than others. I generally choose a lower waisted style that won't rub the port area.

Banded folk make lots of noises. Burgles and gurgles we call it. That part of it is perfectly normal. Sort of like when you put a new 5 gallon water bottle on a cooler. You get all those bubbles as the water slowly drains out of the bottle. Chug, chug, glug, glug.