ShrinkyDink

My doctor said that since I don't have a fill yet the pouch is not restricting me and that I should eat until I feel satisfied, even if it's more than I think I ought to eat (within reason of course). As long as I'm eating slowly and chewing enough and not feeling the pressure of being full, he said my body needs the calories to heal and that's the goal right now. He said to just make sure I'm making good choices in what I eat and not to get hung up on the amount. I do find that sometimes I can eat more than the half cup at a time, but sometimes a half cup is too much. I think about a cup is the most I've eaten at one time and that was thick soup, the more solid the food is the less of it I can eat.

I had the steri strips also, and they will slowly release and fall off by themselves in a few days, I think mine took about a week. I don't have hiccups but oh my goodness do I have the burps! I burp constantly for about an hour every time I eat. Thank goodness they are small and quiet!

I was banded tuesday, and I know I still have bloating and blah blah, but gosh my scale hasn't moved a bit! I was down a pound one day but back up the next. I'm barely able to sip enough juice and broth to stay hydrated, yet I'm not losing, what is going on!

Yeah I know I should be exercising but I'm in a bit of a different situation, I have severe plantar faciitis which puts out any weight bearing exercise. We just put in an above ground pool but my foot can't handle the ladder so I'm waiting for my husband to build a small deck with steps so I can get in. I'm hoping my weight loss will get a jump start once I can, I plan to run laps around the pool every morning. The water is about chest deep so that should give me a good workout without hurting my foot. My frustration is I'm eating less than pre-band, and moving around the same amount, I was losing before and now I'm not. I know I'm being impatient, but we all have to whine sometimes huh?

I'm thinking ahead here, when I reach my goal I'd like to get a tattoo with meaning significant to the task I've accomplished, something to mark that I did this. Have any of you done this or are you planning to do it? I'd like some ideas of what kind of artwork to get.

Thanks for the support Cami, I sure hope it kicks in for both of us soon, it's so discouraging. My first fill is the 11th too, and I'm also self pay, we have a lot in common :smile: I also lost 21 pounds before surgery, I guess it's the plateau thing too.

I'm so discouraged, tuesday will be 3 weeks and I'm wavering between 1 and 2 pounds lost. I'm eating about 1100 calories per day, no focused exercise yet but I'm moving around normally, it's really upsetting me to have gone through all this and not have any results yet. The doctor said not to worry about it but I can't help it, I wanted a really good jump start to get my motivation up.

Same story, I had no idea I had a hiatal hernia until he told me he fixed it when I woke up. It did make my recovery rougher, I had more pain than I expected. Makes me wonder how many people are walking around with them and have no idea!

Well I guess I'm not alone, I need to be thankful that I'm a quiet burper and get used to it huh?

I'm doing everything right, small bites, chew chew chew, no straws, blah blah blah, but after I eat I burp constantly for at least an hour. Thankfully it's small quiet urps but good grief it's driving me crazy! Gas X doesn't do much for me, is there anything else I can do to help it?

We were at Golden Corral the other day and they said that particular location had stopped allowing the child's price because "a couple people decided to eat more than they were supposed to" I told the lady kindly that it was very short sighted of them to alienate an entire group of customers because of a couple of cheaters but she didn't care. Since we were already there we went ahead and ate and I payed full price for a small scoop of mac and cheese, one stalk of califlower, and about a 2 inch circle of taco meat and cheese. I was very tempted to fill a couple more plates and pick at them and leave them sitting there but that would have been very nasty of me. I guess it was the lady's attitude, by the look on her face she was clearing lumping me in with those who took advantage and it made me feel humiliated. Carino's and Red Robin on the other hand have been very gracious about letting me order from the kid's menu and they have nice choices, not just chicken nuggets.

Giant hugs, we're here for you!

Ooooooo that's so pretty! So sorry to hear about the rough times you've been through but glad to hear it's all looking brighter now!

Just posting a follow up, I saw my surgeon yesterday and he said that this bulge is fluid accumulation around where he tunneled through the muscle to place the port. He said it doesn't happen to everybody but it does show up fairly often and it's nothing to worry about unless it shows signs of being infected or gets painful. He said it will slowly reabsorb over the next couple weeks.

I'm two weeks post op and have been feeling pretty good the last few days. Most of the pregnant look from the swelling is gone, I've only lost 2 pounds but from what I read here that's not unusual. I've been good on my diet, haven't eaten anything I shouldn't. Yesterday I was up a pound and thought it odd, then later in the day I noticed a bulge in the side of my belly, just below my ribs and just above my port incision. It was small but firm and now it's probably the size of a grapefruit but more oblong than round, firm but not hard, and not painful. It sticks out enough that it's visible. I'm not constipated, I'm more gassy than usual but I've been that way since surgery. I progressed to soft foods yesterday and had a small portion of a hamburger patty cooked very soft and chewed to a pulp and had no problems when I ate it. Because of this swelling(?) I decided to go back to mushies just in case and I'm having no problem eating or drinking. I actually noticed it before I ate the hamburger but it has gotten larger over the last day so it doesn't seem related. I feel silly calling my doctor when I feel fine, but wanted to post to see if this sounded familiar to anybody.

I also was banded on the 12th and I've only lost 2 pounds. I saw my doctor yesterday for my follow up and he said not to give it a moment's worry. Your body has been through a huge shock and it takes some time to recover normalcy. Right now it's holding onto every calorie it can get and slowing your metabolism cause it doesn't know what's happening. He said once we move on to solid food it makes a big difference, the body doesn't know what's going on with the liquids and prolongs the starvation reaction. I know very well that it's hard to be patient and easy to be down on yourself, but give yourself some time, you and I will start seeing the weight fall off very soon!

I had surgery on a Tuesday and needed the Vicodin every 4 hours round the clock through Thursday and then started to feel enough better that I was able to space it out more and more. Last time I needed it was that Saturday morning. Everybody is different and every experience any one person has is different. I had a hysterectomy last year and only needed the meds for a day after I got home, but this surgery was much more painful for me.

I had one, it was huge, and I had no symptoms whatsoever and no idea it was there. Slight heartburn rarely when I really really overate, but who doesn't have that? My doctor fixed it when he placed my band and said it's really pretty common. I did have more post op pain because of it, but I'm glad it's fixed.

If you're a baby hand me a pacifier cause I'm right with you. I had a lot of post op pain too for a good 10 days. Don't overdo it, and don't beat yourself up over it. It will get better :w00t:

I called and since I have my post op appointment on thursday he said not to worry about coming in before that unless I develop pain or nausea or other symptoms. It hasn't gotten any bigger since this morning and I'm still able to drink soup just fine so I think I'm ok. I'll post after I see him.

You might want to think about skipping coasters that have a lap bar, sometimes they have sudden stops and that bar hits you pretty hard, not hard enough to hurt normally but it might be too much this soon after your surgery. I'd think you'd be fine with the over the shoulder restraints though.

When I say the size of a grapefruit I mean it feels like that size inside, it doesn't stick out that far, just realized that sounded alarming hehe. I'm wondering if as the general abdominal swelling is going down this is just the swelling in my actual stomach becoming more noticable? I think I will call him just to be sure, but I still feel silly.

You would likely have kid's options at the counter service restaurants, but for a lot of them the adult meals are also chicken strips and burgers so they aren't much different, but it might still be worth looking into because many of the sit down restaurants are served family style and you would have the same food for adults and kids. I'd look into the cost of buying the child's dining plan and paying out of pocket for any restaurant where you just can't stand the kid's choices. Hope it's ok to post a link, (it doesn't benefit me at all) but I love a site called intercot.com for WDW info, and they have menus for all the restaurants, that would help you compare costs and food. Dangit you guys have got me wanting to plan a trip now! Take me with you!

I had a pretty rough first week, more pain than I expected, but I'm feeling much better now. I can see weight loss even though the scale hasn't moved much. The small incisions healed up really quickly and the larger one looks good but still hurts more. Looking forward to seeing my doctor this week, hope he'll do my first fill! Good luck to you with your surgery :smile2:

I had Olive Garden fettucini alfredo, Logan's chicken fried chicken, Pizza Hut thin crust with bacon and extra cheese, Alamo Cafe cheese enchiladas, and homemade biscuits and gravy. I managed to keep it under control though, I had slim fast/lean cuisine meals all day and one of my favorite meals for dinner over the course of a week and while I didn't lose any, I at least managed to not gain.