HeatherO

Shoes might help but be careful because they will probably ask you to remove them. Also, being weighed with shoes is helpful but you don't want them to check your height with shoes on.

Wear layers and extra clothing, that helps. Drink a ton of Water before you go in to the office. You can also wear ankle weights under your pants which can really make a fast difference (they are cheap too, you can get them at Walmart or any department store). Perhaps you can keep a lot of extra change or something similar in your pockets. An another important thing that can help is to slouch a little when they check your height. A 1 inch difference can make a big difference in the BMI calculation. 5 pounds isn't too bad. You can get there just by being inventive.

Unless you are tightly restricted, you can carefully eat just about anything. Bread, rice, and lunchmeat give me problems at my current restriction level, almost everything else works well.

I am happy to hear you are doing so much better. You are very near teh 50 pound mark which is quite an accomplishment. Congratulations!!!

I noticed today that my emails no longer contain the data posted by the responder. I liked this feature because I don't want to necessarily look at every post, I read them in the email and decide when to respond. Example, I now get this: Dear HeatherO, tapshoes has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Ouchhh . . . My butt hurts . . . Is it the band? - in the General Lap-Band Surgery Discussion forum of Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum. This thread is located at: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/ouchhh-my-butt-hurts-band-74898-new/ You will not receive any more notifications until you visit the forum again. All the best, Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unsubscription information::biggrin: Is this affecting everyone, or is it just a personal issue? Perhaps I clicked on something and didn't realize I changed my settings somehow.

I am still fasting from food when I can but it is irregular. When I break my fast, it is usually only with Water and not food. Most days now, I am not fasting because it was taking too much of a toll on my body. I can not go without the water during the day for more than one day . . . because I feel weak and dizzy and zombie-like and sometimes if I stand up to quickly the world seems to gray out around the edges and I feel like I am going to pass out. I think I am getting dehydrated because I just can't get enough in. It can take me a good 30 minutes plus to get in one glass of water because it is trickling down soo slow. I have been adding in Protein shakes, but they go down slow as molasses as well. I can not dedicate 3+ hours in the middle of the night just to drinking something hot, eating plus the additional hour of wait time to make sure it clears the pouch before I sleep. I think my band is almost closed at night, even though I can eat during the day. To be honest, I am not surprised by this because I was like many others, I could never eat Breakfast, I could only drink it and had to wait until mid morning to do so. I had rare and occasional reflux before (couple of times a month) . . . now I have it nightly if I eat anything at night. It doesnt taste acidy but I am waking up coughing and I have to spit out whatever is in my mouth or it will happen again. It is like my stomach contents are just sitting idly in my pouch . . . all dressed up with nowhere to go. 2 nights ago, I actually had a reflux dream. I was driving an airplane and trying to get away from bad people (I can't remember the specifics). I remember I kept having to spit throughout the dream and would go to the dream restrooms, take care of business and then felt the same desire to spit almost constantly. So I am driving this airplane and having difficulty keeping it level since I am always over/under compensating with the stick. I felt my mouth was full. I couldn't leave the cockpit so I opened the window (only in a dream) and spit out on the street below. I immediately woke up with a wet pillow. I spit in my dream but I had a slimy, wet pillow to show it was real. I have never done this before in my life, that I can remember anyway. I guess I need to attribute it to too many days of disturbed sleep patterns minimizing the veil between waking and nonwaking consciousness. My husband is sad and dismayed that I have been so uncomfortable lately. He is becoming concerned about my health and wants me unfilled as soon as possible. He says he is beginning to think that being banded is a mistake, even though I have lost the weight. He said nothing is worth risking my health. I have scheduled a partial unfill for September 23rd. If it is an emergency, I can go in sooner but that also involves a 4 hour drive. At this point, I will be eating during the day and will drink nothing other than an occasional sip of water at night. I feel good about the unfill because I need to nip this reflux before it damages my band. I am also at 150 now which is only 10 pounds from goal and I have been losing steadily. I am sure I can make it to goal even with a slight unfill because my lifestyle accomodates weight loss now, even if it takes a little longer to get there. I am also going to Turkey for three weeks in mid-October and I don't want to be sick while I am there. I also know that I could potentially gain a little in Turkey because Turkish cuisine is very band friendly if you forgo the bread and the sweets. Most main dishes have the meat chopped finely and is usually simmered in vegetables and sauces with olive oil. There is usually yogurt near which helps everything go down well and is good for you. Soups are very healthy and filling and the salads are usually light without having lettuce as the primary component sprinkled with a little lemon, olive oil and salt. Whole meats and vegetables are the basis of the diet and not much of what you eat is processed at all. We eat almost entirely Turkish cuisine at home and my entire family loves it. I am willing to risk a slight, sensible gain during vacation. I am also looking forward to the uninterrupted, untroubled sleep of a non-reflux sufferer. In the future, I will definitely be getting an unfill every year before Ramadan. This year is a bit of a loss . . . and I think even as a write this that I will not be fasting anymore this year. The only way to get back on track is to either make up the fasting days missed or feed an appropriate amount of hungry people. I don't want to extend the fast because I will likely continue to suffer from the same problems, so I will make some financial contributions to help feed the hungry which will help offset my inability to fast.

I am facing a slight unfill as well and am concerned about how this will affect me. I am suffering from reflux now and I have been at the same fill level since April, but the reflux is new. How much is enough to keep the restriction but lose the reflux issues??? I just don't want to backtrack if you know what I mean.

I was told an IUD or the pill are fine. It was a bigger risk "not" to be using something reliable.

I have the Realize band as well and am very happy with it. Be careful with people stating they are unhappy with their band choice . . . some problems are not specific to the band as much as being banded and the difficulties that banding alone brings. I remember being very frustrated when I made my initial decision because I could not find any hard evidence stating one was better than the other, only anecdotal statements. Even the doctor did not steer me strongly one way or the other. Someone mentioned statistics above on Lapband vs Realize band. Where did this information come from? Do you have a link to share with us?

I am on it at least once a day, sometimes more often. I am a little obsessive about it but I like know just where I am and I don't take small or TOM gains seriously as long as I keep moving in the right direction every week.

1 more down and 12 to go :0) Name_______Start Weight____Current Weight______Goal________Lbs lost *****:frown:************************:sad:************:biggrin:*********:frown:* 1day at a time.....263............258.5............243........4.5 2BHealthE!.........194............179............194............0 ahsem2bme..........244............244............225............0 aJoneen............223............223............213............0 Aphrodite1984......208............208............190............0 Ariel..............199............196.4............180........2.6 ArmyWife4life......209.5..........209.5..........190............0 Barb12590..........228............228............213............0 Bea1128............210.5..........208............188..........2.5 Brandymom1234......227............156............135............0 Caramia71..........208............207............195............1 Crzytchr...........281............279............265............2 DebinFl............181............181............168............0 georgiagirl........245............239............230............6 HarleyGirl.........188............188............175............0 HeatherA...........210.5..........209............200..........1.5 HeatherO...........155............152............140............3 Ivyrose325.........212............212............199............0 Jazzyywan..........255............255............190............0 Jodi_620...........196............190............177............6 KikiVal315.........237.5..........235............220............0 laurigee...........180............180............160............0 Leslie2Lose........220............214............205............6 lindar172 .........274.2..........271............256..........3.2 LisaB..............205.5..........201............180..........4.5 livn4thm...........235............235............210............0 Long2bthin.........248............244............230............4 Luu2008............203............199.5..........183..........3.5 KikiVal315.........237.5..........235............220..........2.5 Mamanmidwife.......299............295............280............4 mamato3............186............186............170............0 MarinaBleu.........226.5..........226.5..........216............0 memom..............210............210............170............0 Minxz..............299............296.8..........280..........2.2 mominlv13..........299.8..........295............275..........4.8 nip50..............175............174............160............1 NurseNiki..........258............255............239............3 odamay.............242............242............225............0 paige65............252............252............232............3 Peaches11..........205............205............194............0 pj_txlady..........220............220............200............0 Redtulips3.........180............180............170............0 Renee74............214............213............199............1 Renewedhope........171............170............150............1 reif78.............294............195............185............0 shaversd...........230.5..........227............210..........3.5 SpecialK...........294............294............280............0 Sunshine2..........177............176............167............1 Tess...............304............304............280............0 thatDEgirl.........211............210............195............1 Turler.............225............221............210............4 wendyw.............192............192............172............0 wowox7.............195............190............170............5 WyominGirl.........327............327............312............0

I asked my doctor about evaporation. She said that evaporation is possible, but it is so small and so slow that the results are negligible. She said the most that she has ever seen lost is a fraction of a cc over a years time.

6 pounds is nothing, I know you can do it. It feels great to be coming up on goal myself, so perhaps we can make this last little bit together. I was wondering, how tall are you? I think we are almost at the same place . . . but I am a rather short 5 '3 :0) So what are you going to do to Celebrate 100 pounds down???? You should think up something really awesome to celebrate such a wonderful achievement.

My first question would be what are you eating? If it is a lot of soft calories, it could be sabotaging your weight loss efforts. The first thing I would suggest is tracking your daily calories on something like fitday.com or a similar place. Make sure you track everything, and then you can analyze to see how much you are taking in on a daily basis. Many times we are ingesting more than we think. Exercise is sooo important as well. Are their some exercises you can do without straining your knee such as upper body or abdominal work? You may find that exercising actually increases your energy and stamina instead of taking it away.

Perhaps you could look on the pregnancy forum for threads on this. Unfortunately, I have read a few times that post pregnancy people have a real problem finding a good fill level that works for any length of time.

When was your fill? How long have you been at a standstill?

No alcohol for the first year. Never any carbonated alcoholic beverages. Also, the doctor said alcohol should really be avoided due to the possibility of addiction transfer.

I had x-ray and that was all. I had a hiatal hernia as well and they still did not require it.

I had the same problem the first week, but it did not continue into the second week. I think it is very common. I also had cramping . . . but it was definitely related to the diarreah.

I agree 100%. My doctor warned me that I may not lose at all the first month once the hunger kicked back in to prepare me with realistic expectations. I lost 20 pounds . . . but I followed all requirements per my doctors instructions and did a lottt of walking. I think one reason we start off with false expectations is that we tend to compare ourselves to others. I have seen plenty of diet tickers where people are banded a month previously and have lost 30, 40, 50 + pounds. What is not clear is that, at least for most people, a large percentage of that loss may have either come from a pre-op diet, or they put in their highest weight at the start and not the surgery weight the day of surgery. Significant banding weight loss really occurs once you reach proper restriction which may be a couple of months out. At least, this is true in my case.

I can not eat pizza unless it is on a very thin crust, and sometimes not even then. One of my worst pb episodes ever occurred after eating 1/2 a slice of pizza at a friends house. You may want to have some alternatives just in case.

I wouldn't say BMI charts are crap. They work as intended as a general guideline for the average person. Of course there are plenty of people that are not average, but for a rough estimate it works fine. However, I definitely agree the body composition test is a much better way of finding a true goal of where to be. BMI can never take bone structure or muscle mass into consideration.

My restriction can vary a lot from time to time. Some meals I can eat a lot of whatever I want. Some meals Soup doesn't even want to go down. The band is fickle, but I have found that when you have good restriction, it works more often than not with limited times in the super-restricted or super-loose zones. I wouldn't be too worried if you have a couple of meals go down a little too easy . . . but if it keeps up you need another fill.

I feel your pain. I keep stalling out now from time to time. However, I can get the scale moving again only if I keep changing up my routine. I have been doing some calorie switching to try and keep my body losing and it has been working for me. I might have a couple of days at 1100-1300 and then a super low day of 650-850. I keep cycling sporadically and it has been breaking my plateaus, but I don't know if it will keep working forever since I am very close to goal. I also exercise regularly with a minimum 30 minutes a day, but I do throw in a power-day or two every once in a while where I might get in 2-3 hours worth. I found the only way for me to keep losing at this point is to change the routine repeatedly. My routine now is to have a non-routine . . . and it is working :0).

Congratulations on your success!!! To not only have met your goal, but to actually exceed it is quite an accomplishment. :0) I would love to see some before/after pictures. Good luck finding a fill doctor in your area.