lildarlin

HI! No, the band won't stop sugar cravings. But what it will do, if you're properly restricted is stop you in your tracks if you try to eat certain sugary foods. For example....I cannot in any way shape or form eat brownies, donuts, b-day cake (that's iffy). Anything "cakey". Getting these things stuck is not worth trying, in my opinion. I have a major sweet tooth and I've lost 84lbs in 17 months. I think my losses could be better, but my doctor is not upset and I don't feel deprived. I like ice cream and need to stop the nightly dishes of it. The band lets the stuff that melts in your mouth slide right through. Good luck!

Anyone else experience this? I still get a fair amount of gas - lots of toots sometimes! But for the past several months I get pain right about where your waistband would be, about at the belly button, maybe a little higher. I can lay in bed and press down and feel tenderness. Sometimes after I press, or while I'm pressing I can hear a gurgle or feel what I assume is gas moving. This is really annoying....I am assuming it's intestinal gas and nothing to worry about. Does anyone else ever have pain in that area? I meant to ask my dr. the last time I went, but I forgot. It's not a pain I have every day, but when it happens I'll have the tenderness for a few days. Thanks!

One part of this journey that I've noticed is that I eat more like a thin person. My sister is very thin, like 125lbs. She came to my house for a party and we both fixed our plates. I took a little dab of almost everything we had to eat. Stood there talking to her and looked down at her plate....in comparison...ours were identical. She took the same mini portions and was satisfied, so was I. Same thing happened the other night when she came to my house, identical portions on our plates. It's just something interesting I have observed. I pretty much eat whatever I want, I choose not to eat certain things because I know they'll get stuck. I'm in need of a small fill now so I probably am eating more at a sitting than I did before.

Deli ham, turkey from a roasted breast, but I can eat sliced deli turkey (go figure!), brownies, cake, sometimes crackers.

Here is a comparison of my face.

When you can get to the solid food stage, I just discovered pea pods. I bought them in a bag at Walmart in the produce section. They peas inside the pod and I just finished having some with lunch. Very crunchy! Quaker makes 90 calorie packs of baby rice cakes. Cinnamon streusel and one drizzled with chocolate and I can't think of the other. They are very good as well. You'll be able to crunch soon, hang in there!

I totally agree and totally off topic here...mainly because I am the recipient of said lawsuit. DH and I were sued for 1/2 million dollars about 10 years ago because it was an icy evening, roads hadn't been plowed and DH slid on the ice into the path of an oncoming car which t-boned him. The only injury was passenger of the car who went to the hospital and they literally put a bandaid on the cuticle of her finger! Yet we were sued THAT! Plus an additional 25,000 from her husband for "lack of services". We joked that she must have had some magical freaking fingers to not be able to service her man from a simple scratch on her finger. Plus I knew where she worked and had some spies watching to see if her finger was totally useless, nope, she could type with that finger just as well as I can! Totally bogus, they were awarded some money, but not without a fight first. Our insurance company rocks. Just thoughts from someone who has been burned......

Wow...you just told my story. No true support, met the doc 5 mins before surgery and now almost a year later acts like I'm the problem. I'm tired of it, but don't feel divorce is the answer. We've tried the night out business, certainly didn't change his attitude. I don't know.....it sucks.

I was over 9lbs when I was born. A chubby child, had to shop at Sears in the "pretty plus" section. My mom made a lot of my clothes too. I was and am tall so I wore my weight well, but have never been skinny. I was about 30lbs from my ideal weight when I was 20 (did nutrisystem them). But, stopped that and gained all my weight back. I don't know what it's like to shop for normal clothes. I want to put on a pair of jeans and look darned good in them! You know...even though I'm married, I'd love to know if when I get to goal, if any other guy would look at me and think I was pretty! I don't hear it from my husband....guess that's why folks who lose weight also lose the extra baggage from an unsupportive spouse!!!

Hi everyone. I'm curious, do you lose weight every week or is it a week of loss, then nothing for a few? For me, I seem to lose very well the first week or so after a fill, then it stops. I don't gain, but I do bounce up and down and can't seem to get past that weight unless I have another fill. Is that normal? I know I need to get back to a good exercise routine so maybe that'll help give me a more continual loss pattern. I just wondered if I was the only one dealing with this. Thanks!

I have had a misconception of fruit & veggies with the band. I thought that veggies had to be cooked to mush first and have been totally afraid to try fruit. I recently was told by local fellow bandsters that fruit and veggies are best eaten fresh/raw. My doctor said the same thing the other day when I went to see him. He said that a lot of folks adapt a vegetarian lifestyle with the band. As far as what things I have tried (because I was afraid to try anything) have been apples no peels, I can't eat the skins off tomatoes either. I have successfully eaten grapes and mandarin oranges from the can. I haven't tried fresh oranges, although they were my favorite this time of year prior to banding. My problem has been that I've been scared to death to try anything, primarily eating Protein, Beans and crackers (to have with my tuna salad etc.) I went to the store yesterday with some new ideas and bought some romaine, cucumbers and radishes to get started on trying new things.

Don't let it scare you too much! Make sure you know your surgeon, how many he's done, his success rate, his failure rate and talk to other bandsters as much as you can. The boards are good, but face to face is better. I went to monthly support groups for 5 months while in the process of getting approved to learn all that I could. Complications don't occur for everyone. I had an uneventful surgery, I was walking the halls 3 hours later for hours on end. My mother said it was the easiest recovery from major surgery she's ever seen. I stayed home 2 weeks just to be at my best because my workload was going to be very heavy when I went back. I have never PB'd, I slime now and then because I eat too fast, I have lost 64lbs in 7 months, I can eat most everything and I am doing this with a little over 1cc in the 4cc band. I don't even know that I have the band except for when it's time to eat!! That's the way it should be! I wish you luck in your decision.