giveyouthemoon

Iluvharleys - thanks for your words of encouragement!! You've been around here on the boards for a while and I've read your stuff so thanks for all you've shared. You've helped me on my journey and I appreciate it!

mdrai - hey, the first part of the journey is the most fun! For me the pounds just melted off then. I know not everyone has that experience. Set the tone now for how you will get to your goal!! It's a fun journey!

babs0101 - woo hoo! Congrats on your band!! Like I said to mdrai, now's the fun before it becomes an "every day" kind of thing.

chubster808 - wow, three surgeries? Just, wow. I hope EVERYTHING is working right now and you can use this band as the tool it's meant to be!! Hang in there, I'm sure all the surgeries have been tough to go through! Stay strong, we're here to support!!!

libra - oh man, that one year mark is a big turning point. Start thinking now how you want year two to work for you. For me, I lost focus and that slowed me down a lot. Find ways to keep that strong focus that has gotten you this far!!! Good luck on your next year of success!!!

jmcambra - hey, thanks for the cheers! I'll send some your way as well!!! We're doing it! We're working the band!!

Thanks all!! Your words are so encouraging!!!

socalgal3 - thanks for the encouragement! This last thirty pounds looks like the biggest mountain yet to climb. Just gotta stay head down and keep walking, eh?

cazulay - good luck as you go through the process. Ask LOTS of questions!!! (both here and to your doctor)

areellady - thanks Deanna. All I can say is I *don't* feel powerful at the moment. But I'm working on it. Head down and keep walking, eh?

ReneeMarie - you are at a crucial point in your process. Deciding whether or not to do this and which surgery to have. ALL of them require a lot of work both inside and outside. Like I said to cazulay, ask a ton of questions. Get all the best information and conflicting viewpoints. Research it all. This is no small undertaking, but worth the journey.

Gibson - Thanks. If I could just make *peace* with the Dragon, I'd be happy.....the journey continues!

sunshine6855 - you are welcome! Good luck on your band, it's a wild ride!

Thanks to everyone for the support. This board has been really great!!!

Onward Bandsters!!!!

I stand before you now, fellow bandsters, humble. This is a celebration of my two-year baniversary on Saturday (yay!) but also a cautionary tale (cue *heavy* music).

A year ago, I wrote my one-year bandiversary post. You can read it again here.

A year ago, I was positive, upbeat. I'd lost 90 lbs and felt great! But I read that post again and see the beginning of difficulties. The downswing was starting.....

Year One was the year of tenacity. I lost almost 100lbs in a year. I was a success!! I stuck obsessively to my low carb diet. I ate small, I ate low carb, I exercised and I was rewarded with rapid weight loss.

Year Two has been a struggle. A dogfight. Filled with a lot of sadness, depression and fighting the internal demons (what the venerable Jack calls "The Dragon").

First, the results: In Year Two, I've lost a meager 22 lbs. Now, I'll take that. I'll take a loss over a gain anytime. But sitting at a 110 lb loss since surgery, I'm still about thirty lbs from goal. And those 30 lbs feel like the highest mountain in the world to overcome.

This past year has been about being way too smart for my own damn good. I remember my surgeon telling me that people "get smart" about their band and learn how to eat around it. In Year Two, I stopped being scared of a PB and dove headfirst into trying any and all foods. Hey, some worked. Like Cookies. Did you know that the right kind of cookie goes down with the greatest of ease? Especially if it's lubed up with some ice cream! Wooo!

Yeah. I took my eye off the ball. Now, it's due to Trink (my band) that in a year of running amok and eating quantities of cookies and ice cream (and a whole variety of other things that I shouldn't) I didn't gain weight. It was Marimaru who said recently, in this post that, "When I'm not good I don't gain weight, which is all thanks to my band, and when I am good, I lose slowly, which is frustrating, but it's the right direction and that's how my band works for me." Man, I read those words and it just drilled right to the heart. This is how my band is working for me, now, too.

Year Two has been A LOT of not being good. I've nowhere to place the blame but my own two shoulders.

So on this Two Year Bandiversary, below are the biggest lessons learned to date about the band. I want to put this out there as much as anything for someone who is considering the surgery.

What I've learned:

1) My doctor told me this, and I glossed over it....wanted to believe otherwise. But here we go.

The band works best when you are eating right.

There you have it.

We ALL want it to work best when we eat crap because it prevents overeating. Sure, and there is plenty of crap food I really CAN'T eat. But the trickster brain will find some kind of crap food that WILL go through. I can't eat cake. Clogs the pipes. However, I CAN eat cake if I mush it up with ice cream. And it goes through REAL easy.

However....when I eat salads, and Proteins, and don't drink liquid with meals...I fill up quickly, stay full longer and lose weight.

This I think is the MOST undersold problem with the band. It *requires* participation. It's mentioned that you have to "work harder" at the band than you do RNY in the initial years. It's true.

It's this rule I've faltered on the most this year.....

2) They aren't kidding in all those magazines and TV shows when they say the best way to lose weight is to exercise.

'Nuff said.

3) It's all about the fill. Don't fight getting a fill. Don't fight getting unfilled.

Being overfilled doesn't make you more moral, a better bandster or a better person because you can endure misery.

Being under filled or not having a fill doesn't make you a failure.

I see so many folks get so bound up about fills. Fighting against getting one when they need it or fighting against having some taken out when *clearly* they are overfilled.

I know, I was one of those folks. I went one year with the same level of fill.

In year two I've had a variety of fills and unfills, tinkering with what works. My body changes, how the band feels changes and because of that I need the fill levels to change. My doctor supports this.

If your surgeon offers a "support" plan where you pay an amount for all the visits and fills you can use, take it. Then you don't think about it, you just go in and have it taken care of.

I wish I'd internalized this lesson a little more at the start. The band is not a "static state". Again, in this way, it requires your particpation.

And finally....

3) The demons you have about food don't go away. In fact, something about the band actually magnifies them. My loving bf suggested recently that maybe I should have the band out because instead of giving me a feeling of control, it gives me a feeling of beating myself against a wall about food.

Just recently, I had to admit to my therapist that I've once again become a full-fledged bulimic. Thankfully with her guidance, it was a short-lived return of this terrible problem, but for a while there, it was back with a vengeance.

This was me fighting myself, fighting The Dragon, fighting the band.

Sometimes, I want so desperately to eat a big cheeseburger and fries I feel like I could rip my eyes out to be able to do so. Yes, that sounds dramatic, but sometimes I feel like that.

Thankfully the feeling always passes.

But biggest lesson here is don't go into this surgery alone. Get a good therapist. Get a good support group in place. This process isn't easy. But it is manageable.

Having a restrictive device on your stomach doesn't make your issues go away. It makes you have to face them, head on, unflinchingly.

So at Year Two what do all these lessons mean?

Well, it means I really do love and need my band. I feel like it's both a lifesaver and the bane of my existence. It's my job to "do the work" to continue to make it a lifesaver.

I've now been about two weeks back on track and suddenly, once again, with eating right and small portions, the band feels good again. Weight is easing off.

These last thirty pounds look insurmountable. I know they aren't. Just have to stay head down, hardworking.

So today I Celebrate my Bandiversary. I really do.

And as I blow out the candles on my sugar free sweets, my fondest wish for Year Three is to find some peace, some calm, some sense that food doesn't haunt me, it nourishes me.

My goal is to make friends with food. Right now I'm taking advantage of this friend and it's not going well. If I can find balance, if I can learn to love my body "as is", if I can just make peace with eating, then this will have truly been a successful journey.

Today, I mark my success in lessons, not pounds.

Wish me luck. I’m plugging my nose and jumping back in........

(if you slogged through my whole quite pensive post, thank you! )

Too. Much. Sugar.

Like others said, you can do a LOT better. Plus the SlimFast kind taste awful, I tried. Plenty of other choices out there, shop around a little.

And for a quick Protein boost, try these little miracles:

Profect Protein Drink

The band makes your stomach into a funnel. If you drink too fast, you over fill the funnel, backing up Water into your esophagus. Assuming the Water can flow, it will drain out. You can stretch the pouch for just a few moments.

For me, drinking while I eat = PB BAAAAAAD pb. Accidentally did it today. I'm two years with a band and still messed it up.

Also, as others said, drinking while eating washes the pouch, but for me, more than that, it's a bad combo.

Hello Kitty - like others said, it kind of varies what you can do with bread, Pasta and soda.

For me, first year, no way on any of that. Second year, I've gotten a bit smarter and more used to the band. I can eat *some* Pasta, very occasionally. I can eat *tiny* bites of bread....rarely. Soda still a no go. It hurts.

But here's what you have to know, having the band *changes EVERYTHING* about the way you see food. When I went to see my dr's nutritionist and she told me to eat 800 calories, I stared her in the eye and said "how do you expect a 300 pound woman to eat 800 calories!?!?!" I also never thought I could get by on half a cup of food.< /p>

But now, with the band, I look at big plates of food and wonder "gad, how did I EVER eat that much??!?!?"

It changes your perspective.

Ok, here's the brutal honesty...I miss sandwiches. I *long* to eat a sandwich. I cannot. : shrug : Ok, sometimes I get grumpy about that, but I just go on. It's ok, it really is.

But you need to know...if you are going to get a band, you have to be commmited. You have to *work* the band. It takes total participation...make sure you contemplate all of that before deciding on this surgery.

Oh man...I got that from my regular doctor! My HMO doesn't do band surgery so I paid myself. My HMO doctor is *very* pleased with the weight loss and keeps asking me when I'll have it taken out. I keep reminding her that, barring complications, this is a "forever" thing.

food muzzle. I like it. I think I'll steal, er..."appropriate" that for my own use!!

I wouls like to know what PB stands for. I am new to the site and would like to be able to help if I can. I am having a lot of trouble too. Mostly with reflux and vomiting. I also can't go poop. I only go once every 4 days and then it's so painful I cry and try not to let it out.

Hi, PB means "productive burp" which also means vomiting.

If you are having reflux and vomiting you MUST see your band doctor.

As for the painful bowel movements, that is probably not band related and you should see your regular doctor immediately! That could be irritable bowel or something worse.

When in doubt, always, always, always go see your dr.

Where are you at on fills? It sounds like you could be too tight. I get a weird "lump in my throat" feeling when I'm too tight. Everything is hard to swallow and even your own saliva is hard for the esophagus to push through.

I agree with everyone else, take this issue to your doctor....

Hi!! I read your other thread with all your problems and gasped aloud when I read you'd slipped.

BIG HAPPY dance that your band is fixed and you are doing ok! Hey, maybe this surgery will give you the boost on that last 13lbs!!

Read you said Dr. Feng left the LAPSF group. I figured that must have happened, he hasn't been around and I noticed his name isn't on the stationary anymore.

I'm edging up on my two year anniversary. I'm still 28 lbs away and frustrated. But I continue on....

And yes, I'm still seeing Dr. Cirangle. Glad you found a new dr that you like!!!

Ah welcome to bandsterhood. Post-op scoots are just part of the *fun*.

I went through it too. I got great exercise post op by running to the bathroom...literally.

It does get better...I promise.....

Biotin and time is what worked for me.......you will lose some hair....it will grow back. Patience, you are a beautiful work in progress!!!

I have to be SUPER careful when flying. Esp if I try to eat while in mid-air. No fun. I'm a bit of a sweller, so I think the tiny movement of the band makes it tough. I'm the sort that can't eat after a fill or unfill because my sensitive tissue gets angry being messed with.......

Nope, not alone. Not by a long shot. I still get depressed from time to time about my band...... Some days I want to reach down my throat and yank it out....somedays I could fall to the ground singing it's praises.

Such is the life of a bandster.

Someone mentioned support group, I wholeheartedly agree!

I agree with clynnc, can't do iceberg. Nope, nada. I can do spinich pretty well. If I go to a salad bar, I get spinich then tear it up into pretty small pieces to help the process.

To be honest, I couldn't eat salad of any kind in my first year. It was only here in year two that I got lettuce figured out......

Yeah, I have that issue. I have to be careful not to get too hungry or I'll get into that place where I'm *starving* and can't eat. Ugh.

And a side note...Frappacino? The kind from Starbucks full of sugar? Or are you making your own non-sugar version???? Cuz if you are having sugar for Breakfast you are going to be way hungry all day.

Reflux is the most common sign of being overfilled and can sometimes mean a slip. Go see your band dr. Even if it's nothing, it is best to check in.

I have heard that there can be really rare cases of diabetes onset after big weight loss....good to check in with the dr. 160 isn't outrageous but something to keep an eye on. How are your carbs? Maybe you can work on carbs a little and more Protein and get that all back in line.....

My honest opinion is that since dr's have gotten smarter about how they stitch in the band, over time we'll see less slips and more dilation. I've been struggling with it off and on because I pack the pouch. I know I do and it's stupid.

Not only is Barretts a real concern, so it this bit of fear my dr threw into me....

The esophagus is a muscle. If you keep overtaxing it by overeating, the muscle will fatigue and shut down. He told me of a woman who had lost all her weight but had to have the band out because her esophagus just shut down.

THAT is some scary sh-t.

btw Carlene I'm pulling for you. What you are doing will really help. When I did small bites and liquids my esophagus bounced back fast. However...go back to the old ways and it will dialate again. Tough balance. Hang in there, kid!

Ok, here's the thing....it's counter intuitive...but being overfilled often makes you GAIN or not lose. Why? Because you seek out crap food you CAN eat and have it...thus sabotaging weight loss.

My surgeon has a philosophy on fills:

"I'd rather you be a bit too loose and eat a bit too much chicken than be a bit too tight and eat crap food that will go through"

It is NOT A SIN to get an unfill. YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE!!!!!!

Get an unfill....it might just kick in some weight loss!!!!!!

Hello Ladies,

I have two questions. Here goes.

1. After being banded did you notice any changes to your monthly cycles?
   
2. Did you notice any changes to your sex drive?

Thank you for your help with thoughts you are willing to share.

1) yes. Your body stores excess hormones in fat. I took the pill for many years so as I lost, I released a LOT of estrogen into my body. At the advice of my gyno, I began taking progesterone cream to help keep it in balance. Bad PMS, ROUGH cycles. And oh yeah...became A LOT more fertile.....

2) yes. A LOT. Could just be from having a more healthy body. Could be that I'm nearing 40, a typical "hot" time for women. Dunno. Just know I'm as bad as any horny 14 year old boy. Thankfully my bf came along as a place to work out all that anxiety.......

How long ago did you have surgery? If it's only within the past few months I'm guessing it's your nerves reknitting themselves together. I got that around a couple of my incisions. It would sting like a mutha for a few minutes then subside.

Just my opinion.

How long term are you looking for? I'm coming up on two years and I still love the band and the control it gives me over my eating. I still have 30lbs to go, just about, and it's a long haul at this point, but the band is still totally worth it.

Alexandra is on the boards. She's had hers three years or more? Check in with her as well.....

I wouldn't. They are NOT the same as flour....they can get all Gummy in the pouch, believe me. Just don't. Need to be super sure everything will go through ok. A PB now could mean trouble from here on with the band.

Plus, they will totally slow up any weight loss you are experiencing.

Hey SillyWillyMommy! Glad to see you on board and welcome!

It's amazing how your perspective changes with the band. You are spot on...things you would think impossible become possible.

I remember right after the band as I was nearing the solid food stage I had an appt with my surgeon's nutritionist. She told me to eat half a cup of food. No way that will satisfy, I thought. She told me to eat only 800 calories. I looked her square in the eyes and said "don't you think that's a lot to ask of a 300 pound woman?" SHe didn't laugh. And I wasn't kidding.

And yet....half a cup of food at a time *can* satisfy.

It's weird, I tell ya.

Good luck on your journey!!!!