MamaJava

I know I need to go back to tracking my calories. I stopped doing that about 3 months ago because I just threw in the towel. I am slipping back into a mild depressive state again (the fat depression, you know) and I have to pull myself up by my boot straps and get through this. I'm fighting like hell, and not seeing results. My bites were soooo tiny the last 3 days after that fill. Everything is getting stuck, except for oatmeal, pudding & ice cream (the last one is not good to eat I know). Oh, and I had some Smart Pop popcorn last night and that went down fine. So I guess I'm not too tight or I wouldn't even be able to get down anything, right?

Honestly, my bites can't get smaller unless I stop eating altogether. I'm doing "smaller than a kernel of corn" right now, per doc's suggestion, and it still hurts like the dickens in my esophagus...and then it all comes back up.

Hi all. I was banded 01/04/08. I'm almost 8 months out and I've only lost 25-30 pounds (depending on the day). My problem is, I have a 9cc band, and I'm at 8cc's. For a few months I was at 7.5 cc with very little restriction, but getting everything stuck within the first 2-3 bites of food. After a painful stick, or a painful PB, I could then eat normally. I have not been able to eat bread, Pasta, flour tortillas, etc. for about 4 months now. The problem is I went and spoke with my surgeon about it this past Monday, and after discussion, he gave me another 0.5 cc. Now I think I'm TOO tight. I have PB'd almost every bite of food I've taken in the last 2 days, except for when I broke down and ate ice cream tonight just to make my stomach stop growling.

My main fear is that if I get Fluid taken out, I STILL won't have proper restriction. Before this last fill, when I could eat real meals, I was still packing away nearly 2 cups of food. I was getting numerous things stuck, but after the stick it's almost like my stoma loosens or something and then I can eat. Now that is not even possible after this last fill. What if I go in and he takes out 1 cc or something and I'm back to having no restriction again?

I'm NOT losing. I'm exercising, I'm drinking plenty of fluids, my bites are tiny, I'm taking Vitamins...WHY AM I NOT LOSING? My doc keeps saying "You've lost 25-30...good for you...be patient"....but this is killlllllllllling me. My scale hasn't moved in months. I lost the majority during my first 3 months and then stopped. I'm starting to think I picked the WRONG surgery.

What am I doing wrong? I'm slipping into a depression over this and I feel like I'm not getting any answers from my surgeon. He just keeps telling me I'm not patient. I AM patient. If I was losing a pound a week average then THAT would be patience. I don't know what to do about this. I'm embarrassed. People keep looking me up and down and saying "Hey, didn't you have that surgery?"

UGH. I just wanna crawl in a hole. :thumbup:

I adore Dr. Schram. He was my surgeon and does my fills. He's incredibly knowledgeable and is one of the best in the field. I highly recommend him. :tongue_smilie:

I'm following the CORE plan, which works perfectly for what I love to eat, and it makes more sense to me nutritionally. A few years back I lost 56 lbs. in 5 months following the Core plan, and so I know it works for me and my body. Can't wait to see results soon. Had my 2nd fill today, following Core and working out 6 days per week. I should start seeing good results very soon!

Just got home from 2nd fill today. He added 2 more cc's for a total of 5 altogether. I'm really, REALLY hoping this does something for me. Still not losing weight, and working out 6 days per week, eating fantastic and journaling everything that crosses my lips. I'm pissed, and getting more pissed every time I weigh myself and the scale doesn't even budge.

He said if there is still no weight loss after this fill before my next one (April 16), then he will run some metabolic blood work on me again. I think he's as frustrated as I am, even after he and the nutritionist reviewed my food journals and can't find a damn thing wrong with what I'm doing. I even track my weak moments when I don't do so well and they said that shouldn't be affecting me negatively since I'm doing so well overall.

I don't know. We'll see what happens now. :confused2:

I was never told anything about giving up coffee, so I didn't. I drink 1 large cup at home OR 1 large coffee from a to-go place everyday. Sometimes 2 if I want to...but that's how I've always been so I haven't changed a thing.

I don't see an occasional brownie or muffin as a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with indulging ones self if you know you can afford it and if you know you can handle it. We are human and we can still enjoy treats just like regular folks who don't have bands around their stomachs.

Also, some people are on solid foods earlier than others after surgery. I had to wait 6 weeks, and I know plenty of folks who only had to wait 2 weeks at the most. So...there isn't always a bad thing about someone eating a brownie or muffin "so soon" after surgery.

I realized this morning that my next fill is next Thursday, and I will be on a liquid diet for my nephew's birthday party on Saturday and on mush for Easter Sunday.

I was on liquid for all the Christmas parties, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and had my surgery on New Years Eve. So, I am missing another holiday....:angry_smile:. I am cooking for both the party and Easter.:cursing:

This just goes to show how totally different everbody's surgeons are. After my fills, I'm only on full liquids for the remainder of my fill day, then soft foods the next day, then back to regular foods on day 3. It's gotta be hard going to functions while on mushies or liquids. I remember that right after my surgery, it seemed everybody wanted to invite me to special dinners or birthdays or anniversaries...UGH! :cursing: Even harder when you gotta cook for any of them. (((HUGS)))

LOL! Don't worry, I'm not laughing AT you, I'm laughing WITH you. :cursing: It hurts so bad, doesn't it? When it first happened, I was like "oh lordy...this is what their talking about..." as I proceeded to gack and burp and swallow and spit. I was alone and I was a little bit freaked out, but luckily (same as you) I had read about all that stuff on these boards. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known it was gonna be okay in a few minutes. I would have hightailed it to the ER as well.

Now, I chew sooooo slowly (I thought I chewed slow before) and thoroughly and after each swallow, I wait. I know that's the point, so now I know why it's so heavily enforced.

Oh...and stretching as long and tall as I can vertically used to help with minor sticks, but it did not help one bit on the major sticks with the PB's. I guess once it's really in there, it's 100% no-turnin'-back IN there. :angry_smile:

I would never eat below 1000 calories...because only my stomach was banded, NOT my entire body. My body still needs calories to burn, because my body still needs adequate amounts of fuel to burn throughout my entire adult body. It just makes sense. You lower your calorie intake too low, and your body thinks it's starving and holds on to every single fat store you have. Then, after that, it begins to eat away your muscle. Not cool.

Yeah, I know it's okay to skip breakfast cuz it's a free country and stuff (tongue-in-cheek...I'm a kidder), but I just won't do it because I know it's the most important meal of the day. Also, in the past, I've never been successful losing weight unless I ate breakfast...so it's a "knock on wood" sort of thing for me. Even if it gets to the point where I may need to stop eating my regular staples (oatmeal or toast) for breakfast depending on my restriction, I will still have my Vitamins and some fruit or yogurt at least. I just won't ignore breakfast. :smile2:

Yesterday morning I apparently had a day of very strong restriction. I decided to double-toast a bagel since double-toasting doesn't seem to ever cause me any sticking issues. I put some light cream cheese on it, grabbed my Water and headed to the computer to eat Breakfast and catch up on emails.

I took my first bite, chewed a million times and all was fine. I took my second bite a few minutes later and chewed again a million times. I swallowed and HOLY CRAP I had the worst stick/slime episode thusfar. For the very first time, I actually had to run to the bathroom and PB into the toilet. Ewww.

I had my Water a little bit later and rested for a bit. I was still hungry, so I decided to throw the bagel away (duh) and this time I chose 2 scrambled eggs with onion and a tiny bit of shredded cheese sprinkled on there and melted. I took one bite, it was fine. Waited. Took another bite (of course always chewing super-well), it was fine. About 5 minutes later, after changing my son's diaper and washing my hands, I took another bite. HOLY CRAP it happened again! Ran to the bathroom, slimed and gulped and slimed and gulped and gurgled until finally...into the toilet it went.

The rest of the day was okay. No sticking episodes but today I was petrified to eat Breakfast again. I finally did it because I know breakfast kick-starts that metabolism and I will not skip breakfast ever. I had some orange juice when I first got up and let that settle. I had a Fiber One Yogurt about 15 minutes later with double-toasted (very dark) whole grain toast cuz I couldn't wait anymore and it was fine. Yippee! Breakfast stayed down and did not get stuck.

So I don't know what the whole point of that post was. LOL I guess just to say even though I'm glad I had restriction (rare for me) yesterday, it was a little too much for me. I just don't understand this band stuff quite yet, but I'm learning.

I'm also returning to my old Weight Watcher Core program. I'm not going to join, because I can't afford that on top of my monthly Curves membership payments, but I remember enough to do it again on my own. I even have all my old books. I can't stand not losing weight this far post-op and I think this should do the trick.

My first fill was 3 cc in a 9 cc Realize band.

I go March 19 for my 2nd fill but I don't know yet how much he'll put in.

Um, I think your doctor is rude! How on earth can he say it's not a big deal when you haven't even had your band very long? Most legitimate doctors who know anything about the human body know for a fact that each pound lost is a huge big deal. Whatever.

I've only lost 14 pounds and I was banded 01/04/08. My doc would never say such a thing to me. In fact, I have a hard time convincing him that mine are the lowest weight loss stats I've ever seen for the lap band this far out after being banded. My girlfriend got banded just 6 weeks before me and she's lost 35 pounds. Yep. We had the same surgeon and she eats horribly. I just don't get it...but my doc still thinks 14 pounds gone is a big deal and he's proud of me. He DOES agree that I need another fill, which I go in for next Wednesday, March 19. I CAN'T WAIT!

Regardless, my advice to you would be to leave your band in. Honestly, I can't even tell it's there, and I definitely couldn't tell it was there before my first fill. Sometimes I even doubt I have anything in there at all! I got a little restriction from my first fill and I was so happy. That restriction is gone already and I'm frustrated, but I would never opt to have this band removed. After all, it causes me no problems, and there are NO foods that I have had to give up. None. Maybe that will change eventually and that won't bother me one bit...because I hopped on this journey with full knowledge that this was gonna be tough.

Also, I've heard that band removal is more difficult and a little more rough and harder to heal from. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I've heard. I would never have my band removed just for the peace of mind that it's out...especially when you seriously won't even know it's there as long as you just don't get any fills.

Another thing to consider is once you get past this depressive point, you may kick yourself in the booty for ever thinking you wanted to get it out. It may begin to work for you in ways that you could have never imagined. Once you begin eating normally again (and you CAN eat normally as a Bandster...even with fills...you just eat less), you may find yourself loving this tool and thanking ALL of us here in this thread that advised you to just leave it in and don't mess with it. You may be surprised and you may want to "try" a fill at one point and realize that it's not bad AT ALL! In fact, I love getting my fills...it's exciting and fascinating all at the same time.

I have a feeling those 3 months will go by and your feelings will have changed a bit by that point. At any rate, best of luck to you!

Yes, I love Curves! I like it because I know exactly what to do and it's done in 30 minutes. When I work out on my own at a gym, I really struggle with staying on task and working at a proper level to burn anything. Plus, it's a great social time as well. At Curves I get resistance training and cardio rolled into 1 workout, and that is perfect for me.

Honestly, I would never have that Protein shake right before bed. I would switch that up to your Breakfast, or mid-morning snack. You may be surprised.

Also, my doc said to me at my first fill when I was so concerned about why I'm not losing weight, he said "if you ever eat below 1000 calories while under my care, I'll kick your ass." (yeah, we have that type of relationship). :tongue:

I took that to heart. He wants me up to a calorie intake between 1000-1300 per day and no less, and no more. I struggle with that, but I began using FitDay online to keep better track of my food. It's very accurate and it allows me to enter obscure foods that may not be pre-entered by the website in their database. I have a Realize band and I use that website to track my weight and stats, but NOT for my food. Realizemysuccess.com has the ability to track food, but it's a horrible mess and you have to search endlessly for foods (cuz they aren't entered in order), most of their foods are foods that I would NEVER eat (fast food galore) and I can't enter most of my basic staples, like cooked plain oatmeal with skim milk, walnuts, cinnamon & Splenda. I have that everyday...so my food log on the Realize site is not even close to accurate. I called the support line and complained about how terrible it is, but I still haven't heard back from anybody.

Sorry I got way off track there. Anyway, cut out that Protein Shake before bed and make sure you get the correct amount of calories in according to your doctor's advice. It also appears like you need another fill. I know I need one (scheduled for next Wednesday) because I can still eat almost 2 cups of food so this is really a struggle for me, too.

I joined Curves Friday and had my first workout the same day. I've been to Curves 2 more times since then...Saturday and again on Monday. I have not been yet today.

I was 281 when I weighed in at my registration on Friday. I was so happy, cuz I had finally dropped 4 more after gaining those pesky 4 lbs. from returning to solids, and I held in a plateau until then.

Well, I had heard of the scale not budging when beginning Curves, but what about it going UP? I've gained back those stupid 4 lbs. again and I'm up to 285 again. What the heck?!? I've only worked out 3 times @ Curves...could it be building muscle already? My eating habits are still on par and I'm doing really well there, so it can't be that.

I updated my ticker...can't believe it's been 150 minutes already! I really enjoy this. I hope you're all still headed toward that 600 minute mark!

I just joined Curves, so I'll be able to get in 30 minutes (or more) about 4-5 days per week doing that. I really want to swim laps or join Water aerobics, but still too embarrassed to get into a bathing suit in public. Anybody else do that? If so, how did you get over your image issues? I'm a big girl and I get anxiety just thinking about people seeing me in my suit.

I did not ignore anything - I wasn't by my computer

I'd like to throw my 2 cents in here, I'm a proctor for both Lap Band and Realize Band and have a pretty good feel for both products: (Getting paid to proctor by both companies = more money for the doctor)

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My bad. The quote above is pulled from a post by Isuzu on page 3 (or maybe it was page 4) of this thread where I thought he/she claims to be a Proctor for both Lap Band and Realize band. Apparently, Isuzu was pulling a quote from Dr. C's post...but he/she did not use the "quote" option so it appears to be Isuzu's words, and I misread this as his or her own personal statement. LOL If you read the post, you can see my mistake. At any rate, it got very confusing. Also, agreeing to disagree is not a problem. It's a good thing. In fact, I think that's how most of the world should behave. Cheers! And you're right...usually someone who wants to pretend to be somebody else would just simply set up a new account...but I strongly feel redstarr/Isuzu was a Troll, and many times trolls aren't very smart about things of that nature.

Awww...I adore Dr. Schram. :rolleyes2: Thanks for asking! Of course, most bandsters really are fantastic cheerleaders for their own personal surgeons. I think he's phenomenal and I love talking about him.

Sorry to hear about your fill. You must have had really great restriction before your first fill if you had trouble during your first fill. I healed way too fast (that's usually a good thing) so I was feeling like I never even had the surgery. Zero restriction and it was hell until I got filled. Once I got filled, it got better, but I am really looking forward to fill #2 on March 19th. I think that will make all the difference in the world. I'm close...but no cigar. Sounds like your nausea may have been nerves?

Yes, I knew I was getting the Realize band before the surgery. He had told me about it beforehand and brought it in to show me. I got to really check it out and he explained everything about it to me. He switched to Realize bands back in November and he only places Realize bands now. He doesn't use any other brand or style of band. Other dudes over there use other bands...so if anybody didn't want the Realize, they still have the choice to use one of the other surgeons.

I'm babbling. I think he's great and I love the facility. The nurses are (mostly) really great, too. I had a great big b**** of a Radiographer the day after my surgery, but nobody else ever upset me at the facility.

How about you?

ATTENTION!!! A NEW THREAD HAS BEGUN FOR THIS CHALLENGE. PLEASE RELOCATE ANY POSTS RELATING TO THIS SUBJECT TO THE NEW THREAD. THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK!

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Here is the official thread for the 600 Minute March, exclusively created for the New Year Knockouts! If you've already begun, then keep on truckin'. If you haven't, then get up off your tushies and get moving toward your 600 exercise minutes for the remainder of the month of March! Make a ticker, a graph, or just post your progress in this thread. We're all here for support and ideas on how to get in all our minutes. Next month, we'll change challenges and venture into a new goal. Go Knockouts!

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I keep feeling my collar bones, also! I think the 13 lbs. I've lost seriously all came off only in my face, neck & shoulders...but that's okay. I'll take it! I have to say that each and every time I've lost significant weight in my life, I judge everything straight by the collar bones and hip bones. I can't WAIT to feel those hip bones again. I love laying in bed on my back and just gently touching them (yeah, that sounds dirty after I wrote it). I'm so looking forward to doing that again. :biggrin2:

I started a ticker for the 600 Minute March! I also added NSV goals to my siggy. Things are going well, I suppose. Could be better, so I'm joining Curves tomorrow. I'm just not losing the weight so I need more structure in my exercise regimen. I have decent restriction only part of the time after my first fill. My 2nd fill is coming up March 19th and it just cannot come soon enough!

How's everybody else doing?