Wheetsin

There's no technical point where it becomes impossible to lose fat or no one would ever starve to death. But our bodies came become VERY resistant to losing fat. I've been through months at a time. I'd welcome a 2 month period about now. If you enjoy the exercise, I don't think you necessarily need to cut down. 3 hours a day isn't totally excessive if you have the time for it, and it sounds like you make the time for it, so good for you! That's truly awesome. Maybe you've reached a point where your caloric intake is exactly what you need to run your body, and hit an unintentional maintenance phase. Look up your BMR, and then compare that to what you're eating daily. IF there's a deficit in favor of the BMR, then look to other causes. Changing things up is good. If you do the same exercise routine, do something new. If you eat the same ratios, try to change them up. If you eat the same types of foods, try to add higher or fewer calorie foods. If you avoid carbs, do a carb feed. You can also try upping your Water, it helps your metabolism in more ways than I can list. And of course, sometimes it's a matter of just being patient. Also keep in mind that no change on the scale doesn't mean you aren't continuing to drop fat mass. I've lost entire sizes with no change on the scale at all. Scale measures your entire mass, and really has nothing to do with fat composition. Good luck!

It really isn't as "we have it so much harder" when you compare to other addictions. Smokers can't just "avoid" triggers. Maybe by never seeing smoking friends again, avoiding access to cigarettes by never leaving the house or going to a store, gas station, etc. Never driving because someone next to you may be smoking and that could trigger something just as watching a food commercial or seeing bad items at the buffet. Never going somewhere with smokers so they'd never be tempted to ask for one... you get the idea. Think of it as very similar situations. Both people have to face their addictions and cravings, have to find a way with it being part of daily life, and have to find in themselves the ability for behavioral change to be successful. Only smokers don't have readily available "SLS" surgeries to help them be able to say no to 8/10 cigarettes, or feel satisfied after smoking 1/10 of it. :smile2: Did your pre-op psychologist work through any of these issues with you, or have you sought help post-op? A good therapist really can do a lot to help. (They're not all good, though, have to use much discretion.) No one can make thoughts disappear, you will always have thoughts and there's always the possibility that one will just so happen to be about a food subject. But you can change behaviors, find out your root causes for overeating (they vary, e.g. most people are emotional eaters, but I am not, a concept emotional eaters have a hard time with and vice versa). When you know why, you can start working on fixing it. If you classify your need with food (or some sensation directly or indirectly linked to the food) as an "addiction" - and believe it's an addiction, then it's pretty obvious mental and physical balance has to come from somewhere, and if we could all take care of that ourselves, we wouldn't have any fat psychiatrists. BTW, search for "addiction" and you'll find many others in your same boat, as well as info on the addiction vs. not addiction debate, what people have done to find success, current challenges, etc. It's a long-standing topic here.

There have been several threads where the OP listed many restaurants and asked us what we order at each place. You might want to look for some of those, they contain good info. In general, I order whatever I would have ordered pre-op, except for red meat which I've given up. If I'm really tight, or not sure hwo tight I am, I will generally go with something safe like Soup. If I'm not terribly hungry it's an a la carte baked potato or a side/add like when you can add 3 shrimp for $7. Most often I get whatever entree sounds good, usually something seafood, chicken, or turkey. Whatever I can't eat comes a few more meals, or DH will eat it.

That's kind of what stuck feels like - you need to burp but you can't, but there's also usually pressure and discomfort when you're stuck. And if you're truly stuck, you wouldn't be able to get liquids down, they would just add to the pain and eventually you'd backfill. Does the feeling change at all maybe half hour after finishing a thin liquid like Water?

Instead of trying to be on top in a "traditional" way (which seems like it would strain your thigh muscles if you're having a hard time fitting), try more of a long angle, kind of like you're the guy. Also make sure he holds his legs together, that will give you less distance to cover, and if he can hold his knees up, like knees bent, that will give you something to push against. At my highest weight I did have some discomfort in a tradition (movie style) on-top position. My stomach interfered with being able to sit up completely, and he would fall out when I tried. I would still do it, but it's so much easier now. Also, try sitting on top of him backwards, so he sees the back of your head. This makes for a lot less of his girth to get your legs over, and gives you some interesting options with how you can move. :blushing:

Full for me sometimes feels like pressure, but mostly feels like "not hungry" that over time turns into a feeling like I just ate a large meal. If you're feeling light-headed and nauseous, I would say eat less and eat it slower. It sounds like you might be pushing yourself, but you want to stop eating while you still feel ok. If you're eating a cup and feeling poorly, try stopping at 3/4 cup. Many (perhaps most) bandsters find they're full before a cup is done. It is a different feeling before than after, but to tell you the truth, I'm far out enough that I don't remember pre-op full. Pre-op full was likely closer to "stuffed". I remember thinking they were very different sensations, but I don't have the detailed recall to tell you exactly how. Yes, restriction is possible without a fill. Especially the first few weeks after surgery, before your swelling goes all the way down. While you're still swollen, or bulked up on fluids, you're likely to have more restriction than when you're healed. And for some, the band itself - empty - is just enough to give some restriction.

Norfin trolls, I think they were called. Also popular were the little fuzzy teddybears (very short fuzz). We put them on pens, turned them into pins, etc. Almost as cool as scratch & sniff stickers!

That's never been required at my fills, so I can't say for sure why. I would guess it's precautionary. Some people experience swelling after a fill, and the liquid period would ensure the swelling is gone before you resume eating.

Since losing weight my bellybutton has become a bottomless hole. From the outside it looks like a ^. I can stick an entire pencil into the bellybutton hole and never feel it reach skin. Creepy, eh? Well, as my belly button has collapsed, I've been getting random, temporary infections. Most likely because I can't do much to clean it out well. Before I could just soap/water it, but now, it's like trying to clean a well. In fact, sticking a pencil in there wasn't something I did for fun, it had swab and peroxide on the end, and I was trying to clean it out, and couldn't find a qtip long enough. ANYWAY, I've never gone to the doctor for it. It's not major, but is a sort of major self conscious thing for me. I mean, it stinks, right? And the first thing my doctor's going to do is stick her nose down there. I know, get over it -- I'm trying. ANYWAY again, I've been treating it with a wash and cloating of either triple antibioatic like Neosporin, or Hydrocortizone. Either seem to work equally well, and it never seems to last longer than a day or two.

Might want to check the pregnacy forum. I'm guessing most of our nursing mothers are still hanging out in that area. I'm only in my 2nd trimester but I know others have delivered and are still on the board.

You can bring shakes in checked luggage, or make a detour to a store once you're there. Also call the airlines and see if they would give you a medical exception for the carry-on, perhaps if you had doctor's note. Probably not, but worth asking. For travelling, Jerky, meat sticks like slim jims or similar cheese sticks, or the cheese/cracker snack packs if you do ok with crackers. Punch tuna with condiment mayo/relish/onion/whatever - instant tuna salad. Protein bars (you can carry these on). Cooked turkey pepperoni is one of my stand-bys, as 100 calorie snack packs are becoming. Applesauce cups. I've seen healthier snack alternatives at stores like carrot sticks and ranch or hummus and pita sticks instead of cheese & crackers. You can carry on fruit for domestic travel. Even at the worst (foodwise) conference I can think of, which hands down has to be Las Vegas, there are still healthy choices like fruit, usually some kind of deli meat, vegetables, etc. HTH

Refried beans, hummus, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with sugar & cinnamon, pudding, cream cheese with salsa mixed in or meatless chili and nuked (great with the beans or alone), any of the fruit -sauces - applesauce, pineapple sauce, etc. Yogurt... the list goes on, hope this helps.

I remember that show. Cripes, I remember part of the theme song. "We're kids incorporated... K-I-D-S" or something like that.

Honestly, I was 7 or 8 when Punky Brewster came out and I couldn't stand her. I wanted to slap her. Every episode, she wouldn't get her way about something, and instead of just dealing with it she's go off and pout or try to runaway because she was an orphan and no one loved her. I could not stand her whiny orphan butt. The 80s had the best commercials... far better than tv shows. Remember the Honeycomb Hideout? Max Headroom? The California Raisins? The Crest fighters and Toothopolis? Spuds Mackenzie?

The Hoff is so nasty. But for that matter, I think Patrick Dempsey is nasty too, young and older, but lots of people seem into him. So maybe there are Hoffamaniacs out there somewhere. You never know. When I was maybe 5 or 6 my dad and I would watch a Saturday morning wrestling show called "GLOW" or Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Anyone remember this? All their characters were extreme stereotypes - you had the clueless rich blond, the naive sexy country girl, the fat Polynesian who was always eating pineapple, etc. This was back before the days when Hulk body slammed Andre. Hehe. You couldn't pay me to watch wrestling now, but I used to love watching it with my dad on Saturday mornings.

Hehe, I tried some spinning classes at about 350 lbs and I'd have to just sit on my bike without moving, trying not to die, whilst the others continued their frantic pedaling. It was never an issue. I told the instructor after the class that I was sorry if I'd been an interruption, but it wasn't a necessary apology. They can't expect a first-timer, and an out-of-shape first-timer to be able to complete the entire workout.

Ask our Canadians. We have several of them here. Theye ven have their own forum, though they graciously mingle with us South Americans.

Holy crap that's a big font. My eyes are burning. No way I could tell you what it is, I'm not a doctor, nor have I examined you. Where in your side does it hurt? Does it feel like anything you've felt before? What did your surgeon say when you called them to discuss?

Mmmm moose munch... honey roasted chashews... choco fruits... this thread is making me hungry!

Gas-X won't help with the operational gas, so if that's what you have, save your money. If you're having intestinal gas it may do some good, people report mixed results with it. It's a misunderstanding that it will help with surgical gas. All gas is not created equal. :biggrin: Even on their website it's clear that it will not. It's designed to work inside your intestinal tract. Surgical gas is outside of that, in your body's "free space"... and unfortunately the best you can do for it is move around, see if heat/cold will bring any relief and wait for it to dissipate/be absorbed. Pain in the port area - not sure. But is the pain actually in the port area, or is it near the largest incision? Most people's ports are not directly at the incision site, they're located off to the side, lower, higher. So does it hurt "around" the incision area, or directly under the incision? Typically fills are not given at the time if surgery, and I believe the manufacturer's guidelines advise against it. This is because of the swelling and bloating with surgery, add a fill to that and it would be easy to get someone way too restricted way too fast. Then again, maybe your surgeon noticed there was a lot of extra room when the band was placed, opted not to use a smaller band, so used some fill to compensate. Who knows? But it's not standard procedure.

See this thread: Lap Band Talk Forum - The largest forum for Lap Band Surgery Discussion and Lap Band Surgery Support - FAQ: Lap Band Abbreviations

If this is the pre-op for shrinking the liver, choices usually include beef, chicken, vegetable broth, sugar free popsicles, sugar free Jello, sugar free drinks (tea, crystal light, etc.) Draining the chunks from soup will basically give you broth, so make it easy and just go that way. And make sure you're sugar free. Protein Shakes are technically a clear liquid, but their inclusion would be at your surgeon's discretion. Your surgeon should have provided you with a list of acceptable things to have on the pre-op diet. Examples of what to eat. Request this from them going forward, especially post-op.

My answers below in blue. First, for those of you that have lost the weight, is the port identifiable under your skin? I have a mental image of seeing a small circle protruding from some part of the body where the fill port is pushing from the inside out onto the skin. Hopefully this is just a crazy, paranoid question but I might as well ask. I'm down about 175 - 180, still have 30 - 50 lbs to go. So far my port is not visible, but I can easily find it by touch. Where mine is placed, I'm not sure it would be visible unless I actually became underweight. The boxing class does not allow blows to the head but body-blows are acceptable. Same for the martial arts classes. Considering I'll have a port near/at the surface of my skin, should I rethink my exercise choices and take up Yoga instead? I was an avid Aikidoer pre-op, but gave it up post-op. For one, the port area is sensitive to the touch, even when you're healed. Not to the everyday touch, but direct pressure smarts a bit. I talked to my surgeon's nurse about this and she thought I was crazy for even thinking about it. It amkes sense, a direct hit could do some damage. I'm not thinking of trying to do this in the next week or two after surgery - more like six months or so (or what ever the doctor recommends). I'm just wondering if anything changes as a result of having a port... Women mostly find that some sexual positions become uncomfortable. I take it "Mike" is not used in a female way. :biggrin: Some people have their port placed in an area where it does show, so they either deal with it (I have seen them to where they show through clothing), or seek revisions to low profile ports. If it's something you're concerned with, maybe talk to your surgeon now about a low profile port. Can't think of any other times that my port is even something I remember I have... Hope this helps.

Have you looked for someone closer to do your fills? That may be a way to go.

Hehe, sorry, I focused on on the whole pb/vomit thing. If you can't keep liquids down for more than a day, you need to get an unfill. Sometimes I can't keep liquids down and it's nothing more than being too tight in the a.m., hence the "more than a day". Sometimes we'll just get that tight, but we shouldn't stay that tight. Iwould suggset going back to your previous fill level for a few weeks, say 2, to give your band area a chance to heal and lose the swelling. Then if you still feel you need more fill, perhaps start by quartering the difference and go up a quarter each time from there. It's much more convenient to need more fill, than have to much.