Persimmon

This is just more evidence that flouro can't tell much about what "proper" restriction looks like anymore than blind fills. If you can eat that easily, you are not almost closed off and I don't see why this fillgiver wouldn't give you a teeny tweak. Gotta say, it really ticks me off when these folks put more faith in flouroscopy than what the patient is actually sensing. Unless you have tried to get a tiny tweak and that's made you too tight, you are not maxed out. Nancy

I bought 100 shares about a month after my surgery and I've earned about 30% on that...Inamed was recently acquired by another company and the stock was converted with a split (2 shares for every 1) plus about $30 on top of that because the acquiring company's shares were much lower than the Inamed shares so the split and the added $$ equalized it (or that's basically how my brother who's my broker explained it LOL) Nancy

You're too tight, even if it's just swelling from the fill. Please call your surgeon. Nancy 394/275/180

Are you referring to the doc-supervised diet requirement by most insurance companies or the pre-op diet some surgeons prescribe to shrink the liver? My insurance accepted my Optifast attempt from years ago as my doc-supervised diet and my surgeon didn't require a pre-op diet. Nancy 394/275/180

Right. The band doesn't work until it's properly adjusted, so just concentrate on healing right now and stay away from the scale! LOL Some folks lose during the healing phase, some don't and some even gain and all 3 scenarios are completely normal. Don't worry about it. Just worry about following your surgeon's instructions. Nancy

Just think about where the band was placed...2-3" below where the esophagus and stomach join, so yes it's very high up. But we don't breathe through the digestive tract, so unless you actually inhale stuff instead of swallowing it, nope, won't get stuck in your trachea and cause choking. 2 different pipes at that point... Nancy

Nykee, gonna give you some tough love here... The band is ALL about controlling portion size and hunger/satiety issues...PHYSICAL hunger/satiety. Most morbidly obese people have either physical satiety disorders OR they've responded so overwhelmingly to head/mental "hunger" that they've trained themselves to ignore physical sensations of hunger/satiety. Regardless, part of losing weight and the whole banding journey is to RELEARN this with the band's help once it's properly adjusted. The band will not do it for us...we have to do our part. As is said: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." And that has to do with choosing what you put in your mouth and when. Do not be looking for the band to STOP you from eating but to help you stop by giving you clearer physical signals. Most of us have to deal with mental hunger...it's one of the many reasons we ended up morbidly obese. If it means getting counselling/therapy, then we need to add that to our arsenal of tools in this battle. I know I'm new to this board so I don't know folks very well, but I've read a lot of your posts, and my sense is that you are really fighting change. And I'm gonna spell it out really clearly: If you cannot work on changing, if you cannot commit to really trying, this isn't going to work. Right now you're struggling...make it less complicated...for a while, plan your meals...give yourself some structure, abide by bandster eating guidelines...if you're really not sure what those are, we'll help you with that. But just because you CAN eat something, doesn't mean you should...the band will never make your choices for you. And you have to be at least willing to try to change your eating behaviors that got you to the point of needing surgery... I'll tell ya something...I'm the world's worst dieter...I have the trophy to prove it...prior to banding I was never able to lose more than 35 lbs and only managed that once when I was on Jenny Craig before I got totally bored and went off-program. And I've lost about 120 lbs so far. If I can do that, I swear, anyone can because I totally SUCK at dieting...but the reason it's been working for me is that I knew what I needed to change, and I knew what was primarily wrong (I have a physical satiety disorder paired with a lot of emotional/boredom eating) and I just kept going back to the basic premise: solid Protein first, then produce then, if there was room, something starchier or a little treat on special occasions...like what "normal" people do... Bottom line...there's no such thing as a WLS procedure that allows you to eat whatever you like, whenever you like, still lose weight and keep it off. That technology doesn't currently exist...WLS is merely a tool to help us change so we have to buckle down and deal with that part of it... Nancy 394/275/180

At 3 days out, yup, totally normal. The incision through which your port was placed is your largest incision...it's the most invasive portion of banding surgery and yea it'll be sore for a while...you may feel pulling-soreness for several weeks...try not to get all bendy/twisty at this time. But it will start feeling better 1-2 weeks out. Nancy 394/275/180

Yea it's normal...call your surgeon and see if he can prescribe some anti-nausea suppositories/meds to help. If you're still on prescription pain meds, that might be causing it too. Discuss this all with your surgeon. Are you feeling nausea with everything and anything you try to get down? Or more directly from Protein shakes? If it's mostly with the shakes, it could be the milk...it's not uncommon for folks to be lactose intolerant after surgery. You can also try sticking to totally clear stuff (there are clear Protein drinks too) if that helps. Don't worry too much the first week or so about getting all your protein in...best to concentrate on staying hydrated. Nancy 394/275/180

Well, are you tracking in Fitday? Doesn't look like you're eating ENOUGH from what you listed...you can't just live on Protein...you need to be eating a healthy balanced diet and most bandsters should be in the 1200-1500 cal/day range. You're what, 7 weeks out? You're not allowed to give up because your band still probably needs some fine tuning as does your eating behavior. There should be no expectation of weight loss with the band right off the bat. It's a tortoise game, not a hare race...I'd actually recommend staying away from the scale for a while and just concentrate relearning how to eat properly. Use a structured menu/plan that you lay out if that sort of thing is helpful to you. Are you working with a nutritionist? If not, you probably should be...most folks should be at least in the beginning. Now, if you've lost 6 pounds and you're a year out, then we have a problem...but this newly out, nope...it just takes time and patience to get it all working... Nancy

You're getting it...good thought process...next step, learn to stop before the hard stop (golfball). See if at some point prior to that you can figure out your soft stop...might be a runny nose, a sneeze, a hiccup, burp, a little sigh, a moment where you sit back for a sec...that's actually where we want to try to stop. While stopping at golfball is better than the alternative (not stopping and then puking), that can, long term, cause the pouch to stretch out which of course you don't want to happen. So see if you can now figure out what your soft stop is Nancy 394/275/180

Sounds yummy but don't expect your band to restrict liquids...sounds like a nice occasional snack or maybe enhanced a bit for Breakfast if you ever have trouble eating solids first thing...and sounds like just the thing for hot days too instead of ice cream...but don't expect the band to restrict it Nancy

No, you don't have to do Atkins...you don't have to low-carb it...everyone, banded or not, losing weight or not, should be avoiding simple carbs/sugars/highly processed foods because they have little to no nutritional value. But...you DO need to work on making overall decent choices...part of banding is learning how to eat a healthy balanced diet. Solid Protein first, then produce, then if there's room, something starchier/treat-ier...and yes you can combine things like make a wrap with chicken, lettuce, tomatoe a little dressing, for example. But bologna isn't one of the better choices for protein...if you like deli meats, get sliced turkey or chicken or, if you tolerate it, roast beef...not the overprocessed very fatty types like bologna or liverwurst, etc. And yes, overall, the banding mentality should be "everything in moderation" with the caveat of eating in a particular order overall. I rarely choose bread...very soft breads clog me up anyhow...if I want tuna salad for lunch, I put it on WASA crispbread made from whole grain...tastes good, chews up nice, is a complex carb and doesn't get stuck. Just keep in mind the band's actual job isn't to stop you from eating, but to HELP you stop eating...and it will never make our choices for us...that's the part we all have to work on and I'm not gonna lie to you and say it's easy to always choose the right stuff, but if you can make decent choices and follow the bandster guidelines about 70-80% of the time, you can do very well with your band. Nancy

If you're getting golfball you have restriction. That means you've either overeaten or you've not chewed properly. You are looking for the soft stop...which can be something like a burp, a runny nose, a sneeze, hiccup, a little sigh...you are not looking for feeling stuffed, or uncomfortable or golfball. When you hit the soft stop, stop eating and go do something else. If you eat beyond that you get golfball...at that point you are MORE than done. Go do something else. Meals should take no longer than 20-30 minutes. If you're not done by then, stop eating and go do something else. Chew to mush regardless of whether or not you "need" to...take time now to learn this behavior because at some point you will be tighter and you'll need this to be automatic. Anytime you feel tightness or golfball, do not sit around waiting for it to go away and start eating again. That is classic eating around your band. That is REAL restriction and you're ignoring it! Full after banding isn't thanksgiving full...from now on it means "not hungry anymore"...not stuffed, uncomfortable, golfball, or PBing/puking. You don't need to be PBing to have restriction...in fact, we don't WANT PBing to happen if at all possible. Nancy 394/275/180

I have the Inamed 10cm with 4cc capacity. There are 3 sizes of Inamed bands...9.75cm (4cc capacity), 10cm (4cc capacity) and the VG which is approx. 11cm (10cc capacity). One is not better or more beneficial than the other...there are different sizes to accommodate different sizes of anatomy. There is no benefit of having the VG if it's too big for your stomach, for example...a person in that situation would have a very hard time getting enough restriction...and a person for whom the 9.75cm was too small would have a hard time eating properly because they'd be way too tight. The surgeon should have the various sizes available at the time of the surgery and place the one best suited to that particular patient... Nancy

Really if you're on purees, the only way you can have egg salad or tuna salad is to mix up the salad, then put it through the food processor until it's the consistency of a spread. You could do the same thing with the deli turkey...chop it up, make a salad from it and put it through the food process. Puree means somewhat runny, absolutely no chunks or lumps...but thicker than liquids that could go up a straw... Nancy

It would take much more than any amusepark ride could do to make band slip...unless you try to eat the ride?? LOL Nancy

I rarely PB...only happens if I don't focus on what I'm doing. Preventable by chewing well, not eating foods that you know don't work, not maintaining too tight a fill, not wolfing your foods, and not drinking with meals Nancy

What does your surgeon say in terms of your post-op healing diet? That's the only opinion that matters. Don't let another bandster give you permission to not follow your surgeon's instructions. My surgeon is not conservative in terms of post-op healing phase eating...1 day liquids, then 2 weeks of mushies/purees, then 2 weeks of softs, the reintroduce solids as tolerated. However, those were MY instructions so have no bearing on what anyone else's surgeon instructs them to do. However, the instructions shouldn't come as a surprise after surgery. People should have the full set of instructions prior to undergoing surgery. Some surgeons "force" rapid loss in the beginning by ridiculously long clear liquid phases (several weeks) and if I was that patient consulting with that surgeon, that would've been one of my questions, and I would've questioned that protocol...and probably gone elsewhere to someone who had a post-op eating plan more in keeping with the general consensus... But regardless, once you select a surgeon, you follow THEIR instructions. Nancy 394/275/180

Yea isn't it cool? LOL My surgeon has a band in her office she shows folks during consults...I was messing with it so much she actually had to take it away LOL guess I'm a geek too You're in great hands with Jessie...she's da bomb Nancy

Do not worry about 18g of fat! goodness you're healing and you need nutrition! 32 oz of Fluid isn't enough either...between not enough Protein and not enough Water, no wonder you're feeling woozy. Now is not the time to be counting calories...it's not about loss right now, but about healing. Nancy

I don't advocate purposely gaining...however, if you slouch just a weeeee bit you could lose an inch of height If you're self-pay, a BMI of over 35 "should" be ok for most surgeons anyhow...it gets them into the range where they're technically allowed to perform the surgery per the medical guidelines...a BMI of, say, 32, would probably not work, but over 35 for self-pay should really not be a problem regardless...Just make sure you don't end up with one of those obnoxious surgeons who only "begrudgingly" agrees to operate on you but really doesn't think you need it. The thing about the band, I find, is that since it's so significantly less invasive, doctors have fewer qualms about installing it on more "borderline" cases because you're not altering your body to lose 80 lbs, for example... Nancy

Try seeing if you get other sorts of signals...they may be things that you normally wouldn't associate with eating...runny nose, sneeze, hiccup, burp, a little sigh, sitting back for a moment rather than going on to the next bite (the runny nose thing seems to be one of the more common ones...has to do with the vagus nerve)...these are all possible signals of the "soft stop" which is where we should be aiming to stop eating. If you stop at that point, you'll usually find that 10-15 min later you'll feel comfortably full. It's tricky at first, but when someone clued me in on this, it made ALL the difference in the world... Nancy

Just a quick intro by request LOL Have seen references to this board for a while, finally managed to wander over. I'm active on several yahoogroups (bandsters (moderator), smartbandsters, extraordinarybandsters), Spotlighthealth and ObesityHelp. Was banded 10/17/03 by Dr. Marina Kurian at Lenox Hill in NYC. Currently down 119 lbs (probably more but haven't weighed for a while) and should get a fill but waiting until some personal mega-stress is over (which should be soon thankfully!) so I can refocus on loss. However, the lovely thing about this band-o-mine is that for the first time, this sort of stress hasn't caused GAIN. Have gone through 2 holiday seasons with loss each time (again firsts) as well I really like how this board works technically...very user-friendly (the hover feature when browsing topics is awesome!) and so easy to get avatars/pics in without delay! I look forward to getting to know folks here and see who I know from elsewhere. Nancy 394/275/180

Don't you love these medical types who dismiss this sort of thing? I know a band surgeon who is also banded who doesn't "believe" in the kick in...guess he's never read the boards where it happens all the darn time! It's happened to me every one of my 5 fills... Nancy 394/275/180