Sunta

So far I can't eat Mcdonald's anything. I also have gotten stuck three times on eggs, so I'm thinking I can't eat them any more. Once I got stuck on sushi rice. Other than those things everything else seems fine.

Hi,

I'm three and a half months out, never had bad shoulder pain before, even immediately post-op, and now for the last three days I'm having bad pain in my left shoulder that definitely feels like gas. I can feel it moving around and stabbing me all over my left shoulder, but mostly it just stays there making it hurt constantly. When I get into the position with my head down and my butt up, I can feel it all moving down and some of it comes out (sorry to be gross) however, when I stand up again I've gotten no relief. Is this normal??? It really hurts! Why three and a half months later would this be happening? I've tried gas-x and it didn't do anything. Help!

how long have you been banded? 3 months

2. rate your level of restriction: Almost perfect, but not quite

3. how long after you wake do you drink your first liquids, are they hot or cold: As soon as possible after waking, usually cold (I'm thirsty when I wake up!)

4. how long after you wake do you eat your first food, is it solid or mushy? Well, the thing is, I've gotten stuck in the morning and PB'd twice since my last fill. So instead of trying to eat solids in the morning, I'm going to switch to shakes or mushies.

if it is mushy, when is your first dense protien solid? From now on, it will be lunch.

5. does your restriction change throughout the day? Yes, I am much tighter in the mornings and open up almost completely at night.

6. how often do you PB? So far I have PB'd three times since being banded. Once after my first fill and twice after my second fill.

7. is it mostly Slime/Saliva or is it the offending food or liquid that comes up? The first two times, all that came up was slime. The third time, everything came up.

8. why are you PB'ing? The first time I think it was because I ate sushi rice, and I know I didn't chew well enough. The second time it was because I simply ate way too much, and the third time I think it was the texture because it was an egg sandwich.

Hi Dancer,

Your post inspired me to give an update! Well, I got my second fill last Wednesday and so far I'm loving it!!! I have a total of 1cc now (somehow, half of my first fill of one cc disappeared, so when he filled it with another .5cc it put me at a total of 1cc). I have restriction but can still eat everything! I think I even have enough restriction because I'm not getting hungry for like 5 hours in between meals now! (up from 2 hours). My meals are small yet delicious and satisfying! The only thing I have to be aware of is to slow down and to not overeat because I did have a PB episode from eating too much yesterday. Then, I was not hungry the rest of the night and didn't eat dinner. But it's so wonderful to eat a half sandwich and be full for 5 hours!!! Wow! If things continue like this I will be very happy indeed! My total loss so far is 28 pounds.

I PB'd this weekend at Mother's Day lunch. I took my mom out for lunch and the food was sooooooooo good, I was kind of wolfing it down faster than I should have. I got the golfball and ran to the bathroom and I threw up like three times. I couldn't see what came up because there was so much slime covering it up (sorry to be gross). I think I just simply ate too much, too fast. I had an appetizer (tuna tartar on fried wontons), a small salad, a roll, and half of my small entree (maybe 2 oz. of fish and a small spring potato). It was waaay too much I think, although pre-band I would have eaten my whole entree, plus dessert. I then did not eat for the rest of the day, so I only had that one meal all day. I must remember to stop eating sooner! It's so difficult to break old habits...

Hi,

I think your husband is just concerned about your safety, which is sweet, but it's also really frustrating for you to have to convince the one person closest to you to be supportive. Let me address each of his concerns based on my experience with the band thus far:

We eat out when we travel and go on vacation. He thinks I will have to obsess over my choices and/or end up disappointed all the time.

I eat out constantly. Probably about 14 times a week or more. I definitely don't obsess over my choices. On the contraray, I obsess much much less than I did before the band! Before the band, I was always on some diet or another, so eating out was a real challenge. It was difficult or impossible to know how many "points", "calories" "carbs" "fat" (or whatever else I was counting at the time), was in the food. Now, I order exactly what I feel like eating and have zero worry or concern over what the calorie counts are because the band limits my portions for me! It takes all the worry and guesswork out of choosing. I just order what looks delicious. I allow myself any kind of food and don't limit anything because I don't have to any more! It's an incredibly liberating feeling. Because the foods I order are delicious and I don't worry about cutting fat or carbs, I find myself extremely satisfied with my meals, much more so than before the band. I enjoy food much, much more now than before. Another great benefit is that I don't feel guilty after eating like I always did before, because I know I'm eating the corect amount for weight loss!

I will have scars and a device in my body for life:

The scars I have are very minimal. I don't even notice them, and I'm only three months out from surgery. They are very small and make very little difference in my appearance. It's a tiny trade-off for being a healthy weight! When my scars fade completely, they will be extremely difficult to detect because most of them are the size of a dot. I would accept a huge scar from open surgery if it meant I could be a normal weight. A scar is no big deal, and laproscopic scars are a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. As for having a device implanted, what about knee and hip replacments, heart valves, heart stints, artificial joints, artificial spinal disks, pacemakers, etc. Should the people that need these decide against getting them because they'll have a device implanted? I think anyone would say that the health benefits to them far outweigh the risks. Many of the implants I listed are life-saving devices, and so is the band.

I will be miserable and regret it.

That is highly doubtful. Even the people on this board that have had alot of complications and problems that make/made them miserable still do not regret getting the band! They are still grateful for their weight loss and many of them would get it again in a heartbeat. Every big decision we make in our lives has the potential to make us miserable and cause regret, but when the benefits outweigh the risks, it becomes a calculated risk and one worth taking. The fact is, the vast majority of people who get the band absolutely love it and have no regrets.

Why he thinks I can succeed without the band (in his words):

"You have lost weight before and I know you can do it again"

Well, I think we all have lost weight before, haven't we? Again and again and again. I definitely did the "one last diet before surgery" thing. I went to Weight Watchers. It didn't work. Again. If you have come this far and gained this much weight in this many years, ask yourself honestly where will you be 10 years from now? How many pounds gained in 10 years? Diets have a near 100% failure rate. That has been proven time and time again. Almost 100% of people who lose weight on diets gain it back within 5 years.

"I can help you and we can do it together"

It is so nice that your husband wants to help you. Hopefully he will continue that same sentiment after your surgery. My husband and my best friend both went on a liquid diet with me for my four weeks after surgery! It was wonderful to have their support.

"We just need to make better choices"

That's really not true, actually. It's a matter of calories in, calories out. You can choose the most healthy food in the world and if you eat too much of it, you'll still gain weight. Restricting calories is really hard, and for me, in the end, hunger would always win. The band removes hunger from the equation and makes calorie restriction automatic. I defy anyone to show me a person who can maintain severe calorie restriction on their own for very long. That is why nearly 100% of dieters fail in the long run.

"I'd rather you be a little heavy but do it naturally than be thin and do it surgically"

Are you just a "little heavy"? Or are you the required 100 pounds overweight? If you're just "a little heavy" then you would not be a candidate for surgery. Dieting is what got you to this point in the first place. Diets do not work. It has been proven time and again. Dieting is not the answer. Nearly 100% of dieters gain the weight back. In spite of this rock-solid, concrete proof, the idea persists that diets can work. I don't understand it. I have seen no proof that a diet can be succesful in the long term. I'll change my mind when someone can produce a person who lost a huge amount of weight and kept it off for good. As of yet in all my life experience, I have not met such a person. However I met probably hundreds of people who lost weight and then regained it. How much proof is needed before people stop relying on "dieting naturally"?

I hope you can convince your husband to get behind you on this. I'm totally convinced that surgery is the only way for long-term weight loss. That too has been proven.

Best of luck to you!!!

I already bought my skinny dream clothes! A tiny (actually size "large" but it looks awfully small to me!) pink lace panty and bra set! I figure I might fit into it about 130 pounds down from now!

No offense taken Mini Me. You know, I just like to live by Dorothy Parker's quip:

"I you don't have anything nice to say about anyone....

Come sit next to me!"

LOL! Sorry if I tend to be catty, it's just my nature...

Dana, congratulations to you! I can't wait to get there...

Are you certain that your daughter is not confusing the LAP Band with the gastric bypass, or that the woman she knows isn't confusing the two procedures? Most people I told I was having this done reacted the same way because most people do not make a distinction between the band and the bypass. Believe me, I heard numerous reports of knowing someone who knows someone who died during the bypass. It's funny how people feel just fine to say "I know someone who died getting that!" when it's weight loss surgery, but they would never say the same if you were having your gall bladder removed. But the fact is, gall bladder removal has a higher mortality rate than LAP Band surgery.

Mini Me:

I don't know about anyone else, but I like and enjoy hearing people's opinions of all the contestants, positive or negative. If celebs can't handle having negative things said about them, then they should not reach for the limelight. And I DO respect myself, thanks.

I have experienced the horror of chronic pain before and I know how destructive it can be to someone's quality of life. I agree with the others who recommend accupuncture. There is another treatment for back pain called "Vax-D" but I'm not sure, with your dad's metal plate, if he would be eligible. Still, it would be worth exploring. I really wish these doctors could get people's pain under control! I agree with suggestions of alternative medicines like herbs and such. If all else fails, I advocate definitely looking into marajuana. I think it is a crime against humanity that it is not readily available for those in chronic pain. It does wonders, even for people who have stopped responding to narcotics. My heart goes out to you and your dad and I hope he finds some relief soon.

I didn't see the show yet, but am shocked beyond belief that Chris got voted off. In my opinion, Katherine is the one who should have gone. She is sooooooooo soooo boring and generic. Her voice is just ok but she cannot handle the really "big" songs as she has proven time and again. Elliot is probably the best vocalist on the show, but lacks charisma.

Katherine is so boring, I always forget all about her, and I'm always asking my husband "who's the other finalist again?" and he tells me and then I'm like "oh yeah... her." What a big yawn.

It would be funny if Taylor Hicks won, but how are they going to promote his album? I bet Simon is none too happy about Chris being kicked off. Chris would have been so much easier to market.

Hi,

I have a regimine I do every day. I have no idea if it will help to prevent hanging skin or not, but I sure hope so!

1. Apply Jergens Skin Firming lotion (designed specifically for "after pregancy and weight loss" according to the bottle) every morning. I also apply coconut oil most evenings.

2. Take a multi-Vitamin and mineral tablet

3. Drink at least 64 ounces of Water every day

4. Exercise five times a week

5. Take Flax oil (I'm bad about this but do try to take it as often as possible to moisturize my skin from the inside out)

So, as I said I have no clue if any of this will help but I sure hope it does!

I wholehearterdly agree with the others who say find another doc. Please... I watched a show a few months ago where they gave a man who weighed 900 pounds a gastric bypass (and he's doing great)!!! So I think it's outrageous that your doc would require that you lose 50 pounds.

At three weeks, it's very premature to say that the band won't work for you. When I started eating solid food again, I gained almost five pounds. And yes, I was on about 500-800 calories a day. As soon as I stabilized and got used to the solid food, I have been losing slowly. I am now eating 1,500-1,600 calories per day and have been losing between 1-2 pounds every week. I just got another fill yesterday and am anticipating being satisfied on 1,000-1,200 which will put me squarely at 2 pounds lost every week (at least, that is my goal). Please give it a minimum of a few months after your first fill to judge if you should be regretful or not. Many people don't lose during the first six weeks.

I worry that tanning would dry my skin out, making it more prone to sag as I lose weight, so I don't do it any more.

I love Indian food, and it is perfect for the mushy phase. Check out the pre-packaged Indian meals in your local health food store or Whole Foods. Lentils, pureed spinach, cooked mushy wheat, mmmm mmmm! Sooo delicious!

I go to the gym five days a week and do the treadmill for 45 minutes or I do the elliptical for 15 minutes and the treadmill for 30. Recently I've started adding in weights and do 20 minutes of upper or lower body work after 30 minutes of cardio. Today, however, I am not going to the gym, but instead am walking to center city from where I work, which is about a 1.5 mile walk. Maybe I will walk back too, if I'm feeling really ambitious and it's not too late.

Maybe I'm crazy, but when I was in college and weighed 160 (I'm 5'3' and a hlaf) I think I looked really good. When I look back at pictures of myself from that time I can't believe how thin I looked. I would love to get down to 150, which I think is totally realistic and within reach, and would make me very happy. I think I would look like a totally normal average weight and would fit into normal clothes. I don't want to be tiny anyway...

Hi,

I went for my second fill today, and after he filled me another .5cc, he drew the entire amount out of the band. He had previously given me 1cc. But when he drew the entire amount of my first plus second fill out, I still only had 1cc. So does this mean that I have the exact same amount I have had these past five weeks, or does it mean .5cc evaporated after my first fill? He said he thought some was "hiding in the tubing" but is it hiding in the tubing now after my second fill or was .5cc always hiding in the tubing? My main question in a nutshell is: will I be more restricted now, or the same amount restricted as I have been the past five weeks?

I agree with everyone else. One year makes no sense at all. I would definitely find a different doc.

I just came from my second fill. At my first fill, he'd put in 1cc, and today he added .5 cc. However, he said that he only got out 1cc total with the fill he put in today. So I guess I have 1cc in there now and only had .5cc in there these past five weeks??? I don't know what to make of it. I sure wish I had a total of 1.5cc in though because I need more restriction.

Am I the only one who hates Cold Stone ice cream??? I tried it twice, and both times, it felt like I was chewing gum because it's so Gummy in my mouth! It literally was "bouncy" like a gummy bear or chewing gum. Yuk! I tried it the second time because I thought the first time might be a fluke, but no, the same thing happened the second time with a different flavor at a different store. I looked it up online and it turns out they use like three times the normal amount of guar gum (to prevent it from melting when folding in the other stuff). It was horrible. Maybe if you think about the extra guar gum next time you will realize what I'm talking about and it will help break your addiction because it was truly gross. Good luck.

I'm 11 weeks post-op, and my port is still getting sore (from time to time) from exercise, sleeping wrong, etc. It's not bad though, just a bit of little pinching pains and aching. Nothing I need painkiller for. I think it's totally normal and will go away completely in time.