shortgal

What type of food can you eat? Are you eating soft food because that's the only thing that goes down? How many calories a day are you eating? How much Protein are you getting? You are doing a lot of exercise. Muscle weighs more than fat. Even though you haven't lost weight, have you lost a size since Feb?

The number of fills a person gets is not the issue, it's more of how quickly the fill gets the person to a good restriction level and that varies for each person. The amount of saline at each fill will also determine how quickly a person gets to the right spot. 5 to 6 Protein soups at 300 each is a calorie intake of 1500 to 1800 calories a day, which is actually not very low at all. And if she is getting her protein in then that is good as well. The problem with the soups is she is not learning to eat "regular" food in moderation and establishing that habit, but apparently what she is doing is working for her to take the weight off. How active your friend is versus your level of activity is important as well. My Dr. advises "full" liquids for two days, followed by two days of soft food after fills. I do get swelling after a fill, so this policy makes sense to me. I then gradually try regular foods to see how they go down. I generally try to keep my daily calories to 1000 to 1200.

No embarassment needed! Just say "oops, I'm getting so thin, my pants don't stay up". How cool is that!

You can try small ice chips as well. They will melt slowly in your mouth. Can you use a shot glass to measure out the Water? During my overnight hospital stay I had very small cups ( the kind the hospital gives you a pill in) and filled them with water and every 15 mins, I drank one slowly. Hopefully, your swelling will go down soon.

TURLER: It is so hard to understand in a written post the "tone" of someone's words. I know you are not banded yet and I am not at goal yet, so we haven't completed our journey and both have more to learn about how to work with our bands for the long and short term. So many phases to go through, pre-op, post op and then the long weight loss part, with bandster hell stuck in there, just for fun! I am so in bandster hell today. Craving everything and not enough fill to help. This is my worst day since being banded over 4 1/2 months ago. Why, I don't know. I've established very good eating habits and then wham! I am making healthy food choices but eating too much of them, too often. Just another lesson to learn and figure out a plan to change it. You'll be banded soon, too. Good for you... you're starting off with the right frame of mind... better health.

I have said many times this is a WAR and we win some battles and lose some battles. Trust me, today I am losing my own battle and that's not usual for me since being banded and I'm struggling to understand it. Our heads don't always keep up with the band and our weight loss, many of us have that challenge. I think the fact that your Dr is not nearby and readily accessible for a small unfill and refill if needed, is part of the problem. It makes the decision harder to make. I believe that if your diet is not including enough solid Protein, then you are too tight and you basically have lost weight by starvation not by restriction. You've lost all the weight you want and more, why not try to maintain the way the band was meant to work. Trust yourself that you can do it. You might have to change a few habits, but that is the whole point of the band from day 1. Maybe you just needed to take a different route to get there. Let us know how you make out, we might be hard on you but I think you can see it's becasue we care about you being successful and healthy.

Not wanting an unfill is very common. We have failed at so many diets and even if we lost the weight we re-gained it back so many times. It's easy to become "mentally dependent" on being filled and tight and so worried the weight will come back. There have been many threads on the forum about people being too tight and unable to eat almost anything and yet they resist a small unfill. Makes no sense, right? After reading many posts by Grace, I believe she does not always eat the most healthiest of foods in the proper quantity (have heard many times about Mt. Dew, M and M's, dorito's and how a lot of food is slimed back up, BUT perhaps she just needs to hear MANY times that a SLIGHT unfill could be just the fix she needs. I am guessing that she is worried about once again overeating and the weight will come back on. These are demons we all fight st some point. A reasonable fear but could lead to an unhealthy outcome. A refill after a slight unfill is always a possibility but convincing our head, not just our stomach is not easy for some. I think she needs more time to come to that conclusion. Just like so many of us needing lots of time before we realized we could not lose the weight on our own without WLS. Sorry Grace, not trying to speak for you, just felt a response was needed to the post. I hope you're not offended. That was not my intent, but I can be bluntly honest sometimes.

I hope everything works out for you. I'm sure waiting the six months will be difficult but many people have to do a six month diet before getting ins approval, so maybe you can tell yourself that's what your doing, to help you get through it all and not gain.

Is there info or a thread on the forum about reasons inc will cover PS like panni and TT? I will need that down the road and wonder what kind of documentation you used to get approval. You're all so lucky to be getting this done and I can see why you're all excited.

I had a hard time getting down all the recommended fluids and Protein for the first week. The PA for my surgeon said it was ok and that I should just take small sips and drink as much as I could handle. I had little appetite the first week but gradually increased my Liquid Protein. I had some dizziness and added something with a few carbs, like light apple juice. They pumped you with gas and IV fluids for the procedure so don;t worry about the weight gain. Hang in there, it'll get better in a few days.

I agree, aftercare questions are very important. If you had surgery in U.S. would you have a Dr. in Singapore for aftercare and fills? Would you be comfortable not having your family friend's clinc do the surgery but asking them to do your aftercare? That might be touchy.

I did not even tell my grown children, until the surgery was done. My husband was the only one that knew. I just didn't want everyone's opinion about why I should or shouldn't have the surgery. Now that it's done, I have told some of my family and friends. I will decide what to say as comments about my weight loss from others, not as close to me, might make. I don't feel I owe people that don't know me well, any explanation, but others I just say "thanks, I had lap band surgery". It's all still new now, but in a few years it won't even be discussed or be an issue. Like cancer gone into remission.

In this case, I prefer the old saying "an eye or an eye". But each person has their own opinion. A nurse, as a caregiver and in the medical field should definitely have know better than to make that offensive comment. I would have totally snapped back, had I been quick enough to think of that response, I would have used it too.

There is a diet that's been around for awhile called the "blood type" diet. It is based on your blood type. certain foods are avoided and others base up the majority of your eating. Maybe that was it?

Cindy, this is the first time I am feeling so out of control with the food. I've never had great restriction for more than a couple days but have always managed to eat sensibly. I am choosing healthy foods but eating too much of them. I am nervous about ending up too tight before my vacation, but if I am doing a fill it should be soon so I have a chance to try some solid food to see what works before I go away. And If I don't do something everything I own will be too tight before I leave! I'll have 2 1/2 weeks after the fill to get it all figured out.

Well, I couldn't take the hunger anymore, so I called and made an appt for Monday! It's not even Noon and I have had: one atkins shake, 3/4 c Kashi go lean Cereal with 1/2 c skim milk and one piece of whole grain bread with PB. I never eat that much. My stomach feels like a bottomless pit. And all that food did not fill me up! I knew I better get to the DR's office ASAP!

Could you ask the singapore Dr for a reference to a recently banded patient that you could talk to and ask questions? What was their experience like etc.

Just tell the anesthesiologist before the surgery that you get nausea after and they can give you a med to help control it.

You guys are making me hungry. PLEASE somebody, quick, tell me that there are maggots all over at fast food restaurants. Sometimes I use that image so I won't eat certain foods. I just pretend I saw a bug or something nasty crawling on it and then I won't eat it!

WOW! Awesome transformation, Cindy. You look great and your hard work is paying off. I'm glad you got some new pants that stay up! CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks Trixie but you shouldn't. Hunger is rampant. I'm actually working hard just to NOT GAIN! Only cure is a fill, but I just can't do that right now, so hanging in is all I can do. I'm absolutely floored at how long it's taking me to hit my sweet spot. Oh well there will always be another challenge. I met all the previous challenge goals, so I'm happy about that.

Name............Start.............Current...............Goal... ...........To Go Lizzie_07.........233...............233.....................220 .............13 Osangriared.....252...............252.....................232 .............20 Skinny_Jill.......180...............180.....................168....... .......12 Sades.............197...............197.....................185....... .......12 kandiceb..........187...............187.....................175....... ......12 shortgal............183..............182....................175...... ........7 TxArcher..........328..............328......................308....... ......20 Peaches11........217..............208.....................199......... ....10 Momto1plus1.....223..............220.6...............210.............10.4 zippykat...........173..............173.....................160....... ......13 Trixie...............219.5...........217.....................199...... .......18 Shalee04..........196..............196.....................185........ .....11 wnt2lose..........219..............219.....................209........ ......10 plump_princess....215.............213.....................199......... ....14 Mariegabrieleee....250............250......................239........ ......11 Foofy..............239.5............239.5...................230....... .........9.5 This is going to be one LONG month! I went up one pound. I'll never make my goal without a fill.

Looks like we turned a negative thing into a silver lining! Now you know when you need to document it, just don;t put your cream/powders on it and you'll be all set.

Maybe she doesn't understand the meaning of the word "encouragement".

It's possible that you have post op swelling that is making your band tight. Did your Dr put any fill in at the time of surgery? People have said that they are tighter at different times of the day. Are you sipping or gulping? Drinking too fast could cause it to come back up. Try small sips and drink slowly.