Wheetsin

Drink until your pee looks like Water. The rule of thumb is that when your pee looks like water you're drinking enough, and when your poop floats you're eating the right things. Not so sure about that last one, but that's what I've always been told. The guidelime my doctor gives is a base of 64oz, which is a daily minimum, not maximum, plus 8 more 8oz for every 10 lbs you're overweight. But that's not "right" because, like how many calories to eat each day, there is no "right" answer that fits everyone.

Me me me!!! 100.2 gone as of my weigh-in this morning! I was hoping to be there by my 6 month anniversary but that's not for another week and a half, guess I'll have to settle for sooner!!

Hit 100 lbs this morning!

And when I've made the statement before that communism isn't a bad thing, people tell me to "Go to Russia if you like it so much".

You're right, and I didn't bother getting terribly specific. My bad.

All IMO... Communism isn't a bad thing. Fascism is a bad thing. Too many people don't know the difference and lump it (along with socialism) into one big lump. I've never spent a significant amount of time in a communist country, but I have in a socialist, and it was actually a bit of a breath of fresh air - literally and figuratively.

I've noticed that when I PB, the VAST majority of the time, no food comes up. It's thick discolored (presumably by what I ate) slime, and what I can best describe as "foam". The "foam" will float on the top of the Water, so it's definitely foam-ish, at least -- or it would be heavier than the water and sink. So am I getting stuck on this "foam", or am I getting stuck on food, but PBing somehow pushes the food down and the foam/saliva is what's left? (which makes no sense... that food would go down but not saliva). I understand what the foam is, and what causes it, etc. But I don't understand why it's what I bring up, and not food, most of the time. Any input?

This isn't specific to LBT, but is prevalent in the bigger scheme of Internet communication & info sharing... There will always be the people who have their minds made up on something, yet still ask about it, and then want to argue/justify based on what you reply... or hang around waiting for that one person who is going to say it's "ok" and just add to their pile of self-validation. E.g. "I'm two weeks post-op and I'm really hungry and craving rice and bread and steak. My surgeon said I'm supposed to be on liquids for two weeks. Can I go ahead and eat this stuff anyway?" A lot of the time, in cases like that, the person has already decided they're going to eat the stuff, or better yet -- has already eaten it -- and they'll argue/debate why they should be able to if you say "no", or they'll ignore an ocean of "no" replies in favor of that one person who posts, "I did and I was fine so you can too!". It's not the newness of the person, and it's not that they're asking a question. It's that they're asking a question they KNOW the answer to, and are asking it even though they've already made up their minds. Granted not all questions fit this scenario, but a lot do, and they aren't hard to pick out. "Am I chewing well enough?" "Not IMO" "Well yes I am because I don't swallow until goo." "Ok, so if you already know what the answer to your question is, why ask it?" "Well I wanted to make sure." "And in MHO you're not..." "Well you're stupid because I am." (insert "end of thread" here)

I've had PBs on the job. I'm in a different setting though, to where it doesn't really matter if I'm away from my desk randomly for a while. Not sure how to best handle that one. Maybe explain the potential to your supervisor, and let them know that it may happen that you'll need to step away. If your PBs are anything like mine, toward the end you can't really work through them anyway... there comes a while when I'm doing good to be able to pace the bathroom.

96.4 lbs gone. About that much left to go. I have about 2 weeks until my 6 mo bandiversary so my fingers are still crossed that I see 100# (or more!) gone @ 6 mos...

My parents were pretty adamant that I not work until I was done with school, including college. The first four years, anyway! It was always their belief that school should be the kid's "job", and as long as the child was doing good at "work" they would provide me with my "income" -- so to speak. They bought me a car for my 16th, paid insurance, gave me their gas card, paid tuition, gave me spending money every week, etc. Heck, when I wanted to move out they even offered to pay my rent as long as I stayed in school & made good grades, and after I moved out the continued to buy my groceries (or, since I was only about 10 mins from their house, they'd have me over every night for dinner). I got a credit card in my name, and the bill went to them, (their idea) so that I could start to establish credit. As far back as I can remember, they took care of everything. So I never really wanted for anything & never really needed a job. Until the whole independence thing kicked in... and then we had to start negotiations. My uncle manages a campus B&N, and I always helped him during the semester start & end rush. Actual payroll job... I was probably 17ish. I worked as a telemarketer. Easy, easy job but totally boring. First job that lasted more than a month or two... a local music store that sold new/used, t-shirts, posters, "tobacco" accessories, and had a little adult novelty store. It was kind of like a Spencer's, only with music. I loved watching all the embarassed older folks trying to explain why they were buying an inflatable sheep, or how the vibrator was just "for a joke". Uh huh...

I cheated and got on the scale today instead of waiting out my week like I should have. :kiss I should know better to do that since I always weigh more at TOM, and it takes about a week after TOM before everything gets back to normal. But it would seem that my 4 weeks of going back and forth between 291 - 294 is officially over, because I was pleasantly surprised to see 285.6. :dance: So now it's 3.6 more lbs until 100 gone... can't wait... still secretely hoping to get there by 6 months, which gives me about 2 more weeks...

I hate it when people dress me up like the mailman and make me dance for them while they go and smoke crack and have sex with some guy I don't even know on my dad's bed. What's a PB?

mysherrijo, PBs are a lot of the reason why it took me 5 years to go through with lap-band. My aversion to regurgitative activities *ahem* is so strong that I almost didn't have this procedure because of the food having to come back up. So here's what I can say about that... You'll see a lot of people refer to "food coming back up" as vomit. This is a very inaccurate misuse of the word. Vomitting is horrible. PBing, on the other hand, while not something I'd stand in line to get to do, isn't that bad. It's a very small amount, is over very quickly, and isn't nearly is unpleasant (no stomach acid involved, unlike vomitting -- it's just whatever got stuck + whatever you've swallowed since). PB doesn't leave a taste in your mouth. It's swallowed, but undigested... so really it's no worse than couching something up that you swallowed the wrong way. Except it's slimier. Personally I make the same wretching sound when I PB as when I vomit, and it *sounds* like I'm vomitting, but I can just rinse my mouth and go about my day. Not the case with vomitting. Also, honestly - PBs truly aren't that bad because they stop the pain of something being stuck. Trust me. You'll only have to get something stuck once before you go from "I hope I don't PB" to "Please hurry up & PB so this quits hurting".

Spitting out slime makes me PB (bandster version of tossing cookies - search for it, you'll find tons of "dictionary" references)... I have a strong gag reflex too. If I hold something in my mouth (like a PEN, you pervs), and think about it, I'll gag.

Blanket statements kill a thread for me too. Ugh. And paranoia. "I've been banded 7 months and have no fill and eat almost as much as I did before banding. I think I stretched my pouch/slipped my band/eroded/etc."

Yep! I bought them as part of my post-op prep kit. All they do for me is taste bad and turn my PB orange!

I'm the same way. I've been able to tie it to a few things, sometimes, but for the most part I'm very random. Things I know will affect me are onset of TOM, flying, weather (e.g. hot/humid vs cool/humid), and time of day. But other than those relatively few "knowns", I'm very random. I can be wide open at breakfast & lunch, then PB at dinner even though dinner is usually when I'm the widest. I can eat my "easy" foods one day, then have to wait 15 mins between bites the next day. I'll eat a whole chicken breast one day, and 3 bites the next. Most of the time there is rno rhyme or reason other than my band has bipolar disorder.

Sorry, but I'm going to quote you so I don't have to keep flipping back to a prior screen. It's common for your portion intake to creep up until you have restriction. I was completely lucky in that the band itself, unfilled, gave me restriction and my appetite never came back. PURE LUCK, both that it happened, and that I was able to bypass the "return of the hunger". But it's more exception than rule, so you shouldn't expect to have major portion changes/weightloss until you have restriction. Actually I don't know what your psych said, but mine stressed the fact that you should not expect weightloss until restriction, because until then the band isn't able to do its job... and anything you lose is solo -- so relish anything lost at all that much more. My advice - don't even go to "fried fast food" places. If you're having a hard time making good decisions, then remove yourself from the temptation. I literally threw everything crap out -- found someone in my work building who was a little down on their luck and brought them in boxes and boxes of food I was not willing to risk being tempted by. It got me peace of mind, and saved them a month's worth of grocery bill. Win win. I didn't step foot in a fast food place for many, many weeks -- and when I did it was only the "healthier" fast food - Chipotle, Schlotzsky's, etc. Nothing fried, that stuff is so bad for you. If you feel like you want to start over again, do carb detox for 1 - 2 weeks and go from there. It can only help you. That will get you through to your fill time, anyway. Advise your surgeon to be liberal with your fills. Mine is, and it helps. He only wanted to give me 1cc my first time instead of 2 b/c of the weight I'd lost, but since then it only took 2 more fills to get to 2.5cc (1, .5 - and the .5 was small t my own request... don't want to get overfilled).

I can't - and never could - bring stuff up by coughing. Wish I could! I used to have major sinus problems (and oddly enough, haven't had hardly any since banding), lots o' phlegm, to where I'd have to do that gross "old people" throat clear... then it would get caught in my throat and I'd feel like I was choking... having to swallow a big lump... and my doctor would always advise me to "just cough it up" -- but I can't! Mid-throat is the best I can do. Sometimes when I have to PB I do the "spit out the slime" thing, and just wretch, which seems to clear the stick without anything having to come up. I'm SO glad I started doing that, because it shaved off at least 25 minutes of agony! Now, how about that slime ball that comes up, that keeps its shape in Water -- much like the lava in a lava lamp? That's some amazing stuff. I've seen it "hold" the water surface, but sink at the same time, so it forms something that looks a lot like a twisted slipe & slide stretching from the top of the water to the bottom of the bowl... like a possessed egg yolk... now there's something you don't hear people talking about all the time.

I haven't read through every post here so maybe this has already been mentioned, but since we have a "life after removal" forum, what about a "life after goal" forum? Many of our "goalies" still have their bands, and still continue to face the same struggles as the rest of us... they're just doing it in smaller sizes.

Today... hmm. We were at Quizno's. Pain kicked in there. DH went down the road, stopped for gas (I insisted he stop, I still thought it might pass at this point), then had the drive back to my work... and it was another 5 mins at least before anything came up the first time so at least 10 mins total, if not 15. And it was about 5 - 10 mins between the first PB and the second. I usually get the pain immediately, but sometimes it clears. 20 mins is the unfortunate guideline for when it's not going to just unstick, and will have to come back up. About 20 minutes in is when my tell-tale "have to PB" signs kick in: heavy sliming, pain in my waist, pain in my spine, difficulty swallowing, and a heavy pain in the back of my throat. If the PB clears on its own, it's *always* very sudden. It's a small burp, one hiccup, and instant relief. Oh the misery of being so well acquainted. No nausea though, for me nausea feels completely different.

BTW, unfortunately for me, my restriction goes haywire when I'm near TOM. Chewing doesn't make any difference. At TOM I've gotten stuck on Soup, and today what I PBed on was chili "juice". No solids eaten at all. Anything thicker than my Protein drinks seems to have a hard time, but it's also completely random. I got stuck Saturday am, and had to PB Saturday pm, but had no problems at all yesterday. Then lunch today - whamm-o. I do this for about 3 - 5 days, then I'm back to good/normal restriction as soon as my body lets loose some of the fluids it has been retaining.

Pain usually kicks in pretty quick, and PB comes about 45 minutes later if I let if run its course. If I encourage it to get over with (spit out the excess saliva which makes me gag which helps to bring on the PB), it's still usually about 20 mins in to the pain before anything comes up b/c I have to wait until I'm sliming before I have anything I need to spit out.

Shows how regional this stuff is, because here houses with white/beige sell slower than houses with colors. When I walk into a white house, I think, "Holy crap, look at all the deep primer I'm going to have to use..." Worst case scenario, I would have told them to stuff it & just offered the buyer a painting allowance. There's no need for you to go through all that work. And if I could choose between a house w/ stained concrete floors, or carpet, I'd take the concrete any day. *shrug* But again, a lot of it is driven by the demographics of your area, the cost, what the other houses in the neighborhood are like, etc. Realtors *should* (IMO) consider things like -- is it likely that the buyers have exhausted their $$$ buying the house, or have they bought mid-line, so that there are reserve funds for customizing.