shortgal

Hi Peaches, You found us. Great! TXArcher: I know just what you mean, it is truly amazing to feel like this. My husband sees my "rear" view more often than I, and he continues to tell me how much my "cottage cheese butt" is going down! Small Curd is what he tells me it is now. LOL Good thing I have a good sense of humor and don;t take those comments too seriously. Overweight people develop a thick skin anyway and I know he doesn't mean anything in a bad way. He is very supportive, like your wife. Lucky us!

Hi Panda Girl, I read your story about your unfinished surgery when you first posted it. You've had a really hard time on this journey. I wish I had some magic words to help you. Would you consider buying a motivational book for help? Several people have mentioned the Beck Diet book, which apparently is not a diet. I just ordered it for myself. I find if I am at a point when I am struggling a motivational book helps me get my head back in the game. I know how much you want the band because I can see how hard you've worked, so do you have just a bit more fight left in you? I hope so, you've worked too hard to let it all go now. I really want you to have success with this, you deserve it.

Your doctor wants you on liquids because no matter how good you feel, your insides are still healing from the surgery. Your stomach is not ready to digest more solid food. Your band and sutures holding it are still healing. I know it's hard, but it's for a reason. Please stay on the stage of food your Dr. recommended and move to the next stage when your DR tell you it's ok.

There are Clear Liquids and full liquids so your surgeon might want you on CLEAR liquids at this stage. Until the swelling and tightness goes down, you can get your Protein in with a clear liquid Protein Drink like Isopure CLEAR. It has 40 gms of protein in one 20 oz bottle. Take small sips ( one to two ozs) every few minutes. And try to finish at least one bottle a day. Is that the one you are drinking? I had trouble the first few days I was home drinking a whole bottle, too. It took me all day. But my Dr told me to just drink as much as I could and try to increase it every day. Apparently the fuller liquids are too thick for you right now.

There can be a bit of a learning curve with the band. Some people learn faster than others. We must change habits, like eating slower and that can take awhile to retrain ourselves of habits we've had for many years. Getting fills is not an exact science. We sometimes end up with more than we need, become too tight and need to have it adjusted. some people also ask for agressive fills because that suits them better or because they believe they will lose weight faster or because a loved one or friend is expecting them to lose weight faster. I have had reasonable restriction and do not vomit ( so far), it could happen to me if I forget to eat slowly. I prefer to have a looser restriction and not have to worry about vomiting and so I can eat healthy foods that I enjoy, like apples. the band works by restricting our food, but sometimes we try to get down a food that we know we shouldn't and the band reminds us it's there and send the food back where it came. Lesson learned! This is why you'll hear people say it's only a tool and you have to do some of the work. so there are some personal choices that you can make to help some of these issues. You have less choice right after surgery as it might not be possible to control excess surgery swelling around the band that makes us tight and food gets stuck. That is a temporary thing. I wish you luck with your decision.

I believe our eyes send a signal to your brain. Our eyes look at the amount of food on our plate ( much less hopefully than before banding) and convinces our brain that it could not possibly be enough food to sustain us, so we eat more. If we don't eat it a lot right away, we just eat a little more later, still convinced we haven't had enough. That is why it is recommended you use a smaller plate. It fools our eye and brain that there is more food than we think there is. Can I suggest you try this? Put a weight watchers portion of solid Protein on your plate ( assuming you are at that stage of eating) with a small serving of one or two veggies. Eat very slowly, chew well and then stop. don;t drink with this meal and don't drink for one hour. During or at the end of the hour, evaluate your hunger. Really ask yourself how hungry you are. If you truly believe you are hungry, drink at least 12 oz of Water, also slowly, first. Wait ten mins and Then evaluate your hunger again. If you still think you are hungry, have that 90 calorie bar, but you must count it in your calories for the day. It takes time for our head, eyes, brain and stomach to all catch up to each other. I struggle with this too, but I have found the above method has helped me to change my brain about how much food by body should be satisifed with, at least more days than it did before. Slowing the eating down is an essential part of this. It will get easier, if you keep practicing.

There is a section on "complications" on the forum you might want to look at. I'm sorry you've had problems.

Welcome and check out the "Pregnacy" section on the forum. Scroll down on the main page and near the lower third of the page you should find it. There are definitely banders that have babies!

Kristin: You are our NO fill wonder girl! Amazes me completely. I've had eight! I was always uncomfortable with compliments, too. I think we didn't feel attractive, so they were hard to accept. Tables have turned now. I, too can more easily accept " a you look great" comment now.

TxArcher: I've noticed your photos in the Before and After thread. You are transforming yourself. Great job.

I just ordered that book, too and two others. I want to have them ready when I have a bad day and need the motivation.

NJ GAL Oh you had us all worried and it was just a little melt down! I have those for about two days every three to four weeks. I just get so hungry and craving and I watch the clock all day waiting for the next meal time! I stay on track those days (mostly) but mentally I just get crazy! My poor husband on those days. I'm like a broken record. Anyway, glad you are feeling better, stop forgetting your meds, please! And happy I made you chuckle a bit.

Is that the way you plan to eat when you reach goal? shouldn't we learn (to be succesful long term after reaching goal) to eat two to three "normal" meals? That's the way most of the "normal" people I know eat and my goal is to be normal. If you eat one large meal, then later will your body still crave that amount at that meal, but then you'll start adding additional meals as well, right? Counting and measuring IS a pain, but the more I do it and retrain my eye and stomach to recognize a regular portion, the easier it is to know when I'm away from home, how much a regular portion is. My way is not necessarily the right way or the only way, just wanted to offer what I am doing, since you wanted suggestions.

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..............183.....................175..................8 Ok, I am always the one with the lowest goal. I guess it's better mentally for me to set a lower goal and get there then to set a high goal and feel like i failed. Anyway, I did set this goal higher than I usually do for the amount of weeks in the challenge. Ha, this fresh fill must have me optimistic. Good Luck everybody!

You know I wonder, if they know we'll probably need between 7 and 8 cc's, why didn';t they give me larger fills, like 2 cc's at a time instead of 1 cc?

They have put in approx 7.75. I get very confused about the numbers becasue when they withdraw before adding new fill, the number always seems different from one nurse to another that does it. I asked about that today and she explained some can stay in the tubing. I guess it's more complicated. But she felt sure there was no leak or anything. The Dr. explained that my band is the same size they would use on someone 300 lbs. so it makes sense to me anyway, that i would need a lot of fill. I carry a lot of my weight in my limbs ( and butt) and not as much in my stomach, so maybe that is why, too???? I have no clue, but I don't want them to think that I am lieing about what I eat, to try to get too tight. I absolutely do not want that. I really do want to be able to eat a big variety of foods without getting stuck, but i would like to feel full for four hours after. I am supposed to be on full liquids for two days (and soft food for two) after a fill. I do get swelling from the fill, so I follow that rule for the first day and then as much of the second day as I can. so you've tried real food already? The upper GI is an x-ray type thing, you drink a liquid and they watch it go through. This is how I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia several years before banding. ( Hernia was fixed at banding). Test is no big deal. But when they mention things like that, it does make you worry a little. But I notice that those kind of statements vary so much from one nurse to the other. They have at least three that I've seen. This nurse is the same one that thought i needed to talk to the nutritionist because some days I would do a low calorie day (800). I spoke to the nutritionist on the phone right after that and she wasn't worried about it when I told her what eat on those days and what my activity level is. You seem in a good frame of mind. I had a few bad days last week with a few very hungry craving days. I was very anxious to get to this appt and I hope to see some improvement in the length of saiety.

What I have noticed since I lost some weight and my sagging has started is that I have some anger with myself. I think how did I end up doing this to myself? I don't mean the surgery, I mean all the overeating that got me to this place. I know I had a faulty "food" thermostat. It just didn't shut off when it should have, so i kept shoveling food in. UGH! I have to get past that and the only way will be to fix as many of the problem areas as I can with PS later. Where to start, right? Well, my neck is first. I wanted/needed that done before I lost any weight. ( hereditery, my mom had it) I have that hanging crepey skin thing happening. That's all I see when i look in the mirror. Then on to pannus.But what about my thighs, they are already really bad and my bat wings! Yikes. I was self pay for the band and that money was supposed to be for my PS. I am worried that I should not tempt the "going under anesthesia often" gods with all these surgeries. It is so helpful to see the courage all of you ahead of me in their journey have. It is all so daunting, but you just do it! Don't even get me started on family and comments. I have the SIL from hell. Thank god, the other SIL is the BEST! I will see them both on Sunday.... already worked up about it... the evil one does not know yet that I was banded. I hate to have to say the words, "I had lap band surgery" to her, but I don;t want HER to have that much control over me. Losing: You WILL get to your goal. I have no doubt about that. Thanks for all the posts from you veterans. I don't know where I would be without the forum. I have learned so much here. And whoever said to you that "you were sawed in half" really made me laugh. I just keep picturing you on a stage with a magician in a box as he "saws" the "assistant" in half! I can't get that picture out of my head. Kat: You know you're doing the right thing by not being too tight. I don;t care how slow I lose, I do not want to be too tight. It is unhealthy, unnatural and dangerous. I refuse to lose weight through starvation instead of restriction. The reality is your SIL cannot trust herself at all to work "with" her band. she thinks she has more "control" than you do, but the reality is just the opposite. I believe we will do better in the long term when we lose slowly as we are changing our habits, for the long haul. Thanks everyone!

Moving, walking. Walk around the inside of the house or where ever. Some say a heating pad helps, too. I had it bad for about four days. It will get better.

Name...................Start..........Current..........Goal ......To Go Momto1plus1.........228.8............223.0 ............218 .8.......4.2 Osangriared...........262...............252...............250......... ..2 Hollyberries............278...............267...............268....... ....(-1) Skinny_Jill..............186...............180...............178...... ......2 Sades...................201...............197...............190....... .....7 shortgal.................189...............183...............182............1 Original goal was 184 and I changed it mid stream(by mistake). I forgot in one of weekly posts, what my original goal weight was! so overall, I'm happy, I lost one pound more than my original goal (as conservative as it was). Looks like Cindy ( Hollyberries) is kicking our butts! I don't know how with her pants around her ankles! LOL SADES: Do you think your fill yesterday is good? I just had mine today. I always feel restricted and have no hunger the day or two after the fill, so I have no idea yet. The nurse said if this one doesn't do it, they should do an upper GI. We went out on Saturday night, I ordered chicken Francese. They brought me two breasts that had to be at least 6 oz each. I ate one (plus a small salad) and I told the nurse that. She seemed surprised I could eat that much. The band is helping my willpower, but I told her I am "clock watching" between meals waiting until my next meal. I hope this fill works at least a bit more than before. I don;t want to make another fill appt until I get back from vacation, but that is 6 weeks from now. I worry that if I go back before vacation, I might be too tight. That would not be good while in a foreign country! Let me know how you're doing.

Hi Peaches! Yes, join our challenge and our November banders group. I was banded the day after you! We set a goal weight loss for the time period. Example, it's a five week period and you decide you'd like to lose 8 pounds in that five weeks, so you set your goal weight 8 pounds less than you weigh at sign in. We post on a new thread ( labeled May 1st or Cinqo de Mayo week 1) and list our weight lost each week. Sometimes we fall short and sometimes we exceed our goal, either way it's just to support each other and to stay focused. Look under the November 2007 support group for the new thread each week. We;ll be watching for you to join us.

Thanks Trixie, I'll be joining, too.

Doesn't it feel great and at the same time, hard to believe? My head is having a hard time keeping up with some of the accomplishments. I keep checking the tag on clothes thinking it must be mis-labeled or something. I am "almost" starting to feel normal. Sometimes I feel like an imposter though, like a fat person going around imitating a thin person. Keep thinking someone will come along and rip off my "thin" suit and expose me! :embaressed_smile: Congratulations on your amazing success!

Wow Shalee, impressive weight loss!:embaressed_smile:

Now I thought we agreed you were going to "lock up" the snack food and give your teenager the key!!! LOL! What are you doing that you feel out of control? What can you do to stop? Let's think about this. What were you doing differently, when you lost the weight before? Honestly, stressing about the wedding dress is not going to help. Buy the dam dress now at whatever your weight is and you'll stop stressing and the dress can be taken in! Too much pressure. If you remember I have a dress goal too, for my son's wedding, but I can only do the best I can do to get to that goal. If I don't make the goal as long as I lose something I'll be ahead of the game from where I am now. I refuse to have my band so tight that I can't eat at all, that is just crazy, so I do the best I can. Can you read a motivational book to get your head back in the game? Join weight watchers? Tape your mouth shut? ( just checking to see if you're still reading!). Tell us how to help!

Glad to hear that. Now you can get down solid healthy Protein and I'm sure the last few pounds will begin to come off. Even if it's 1 or 2 pounds a month, suddenly one day you'll get on the scale and it will be gone!