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Hello everyone and welcome to weigh-in day! I will update everyone on the members page at the end of the day. Shackdog - Today is the first day of your journey to health! Mark this day on your calendar my friend. I'm so excited for you! You can do this! :cheer2: Mychevygirl - SIX pounds this week!? You are kicking some serious butt girlfriend! I sure hope you studied hard for your test! *snickers* I failed my first one. Yup, I'm borderline nuts. Y'all haven't figure that out by now?? The best me - OMG 4.4 pounds!!! *Celebrates with you!!* :) :eek: :eek: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C 258 (-49lbs total, -2 lbs this week)

Like Jack and Morsaille, I'll spit it out if it's risky. I've also had a couple of instances where I've popped a certain food in my mouth, like a spanish olive, and found that I couldn't stand the taste of it now so I spit it out. Odd how the tastes change. I know the question is - do you try to get your no-no foods by chewing and spitting. For me, the answer is no. If you are sucking the sugars and fats from the thing you are chewing and then spitting out the rest, what have you accomplished? The calories are in the sugars and fats. You silly people. *giggles* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OMG Kathy! I'm glad you did that first! LOL I've been fighting so hard to restrain myself! LOL I don't swallow, I spit. ROFL

Heyas Cashley, Let's see... 1. Does every one here do liquids after a fill for the required 2 or 3 days? I was restricted to clear and full liquids for 2 days after my fill. I stuck to this without cheating. 2. If the fill doesn't feel to restrictive do you progress yourself to more solids? As stated in #1 - I stayed on the liquids the full two days. When I did start eating solids again, I took very small bites and was careful to pay attention to how food was going to go down now. 3. He scheduled me for another fill (maybe) in 6 weeks but If I don't feel restricted would you call after 2 weeks, 3 weeks or wait the entire 6 weeks? To my surprise, I became instantly ravenous and ate like a starving person after the two days of liquids! That lasted for a day and then things started to settle in. For a few weeks I was still wanting to eat every three hours. But by week four I was very comfortable with my restriction and only eating every four hours. The goal is to eat a sensible meal and not be hungry again for four hours, eating three meals a day - unless you are diabetic, which means you would add some small Snacks to that. If after a few weeks, you are hungry more often than every 4 hours, I would suggest asking for a small addition to your fill. Sometimes, all it takes is a little. Well, depending on your band size. Anyway, hope this helped.

Hey Jeff - coffee should be fine for you at this point. The restrictions I got from my surgeon were only for the first few weeks to help avoid dehydration. I think you should try the hot sauce in moderation and see how it goes. The only harm I can see it causing would be if it makes you gassy. Many people find that food tastes and affects them differently after banding. PS - GREAT point about the hot sauce making you want to drink!! No drinking for an hour after meals might put a crimp in your spicy food lifestyle. *winks*

Magic - I have no idea what all you've eaten or how hard you've pushed your band. And even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you if you've done yourself any damage. That is something only your Dr. can tell you. If I were you, I would just be very kind to your tummy and your band from now on. When you go in for your post op check up, or your first fill.. if you're still concerened about your band, ask them check the position of your band by fluoroscopy, which is a moving xray that lets the Dr watch the flow of a contrast through your band. You may have done a barium swallow in the hospital - this is the same thing. I'm sure you're fine. Don't stress over it.. just love and treasure your band now and be patient. It will all come together soon. Carla - How are you doing now? Enjoying those fulls? *grins*

Leener, I strongly agree with Kathy. Contact your doctor in the morning and tell him you believe you are dehydrated because you can't drink and you want to be seen asap. Have him figure out what's going on with you. *hugs*

The placement of the band changes everything. Before I was banded I could eat so much it food at one time that it astounds me to think about it now. The sensation of being "full" has changed now. As Jack often tells us, the new sensation is satiety rather than the old "unbutton your pants and pat your full belly" type of full. Here is what Websters Dictionary has to say about satiety: "SATIATE and SATE may sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire." We simply lose the desire to eat - from hunger. Now, head hunger is a different story! Anyway, there is no way you could simulate a banded person's satiety by eating 3/4 C of food prior to banding. You have a full sized stomach wanting full sized meals. Once you are banded that will change without a lot of effort - other than fills. If you want to prepare for banding, begin by learning to chew your food until each bite is goo before swallowing; do not drink liquids for 30 mins before and 1 hour after eating; eat your meal in no less than 15 mins - no more than 20 mins.; eat with no distractions, learn to concentrate on your food and how you feel when eating it so that you are aware of the first signs of no longer being hungry. Those would be worthy habits to master before banding, because they are part of the key to success with your band.

Magic, I saw you mention on your other post that you have been drinking fluids with your meals. This, as you know now, could be why you're able to get around that 'stop signal'. Also, if you are like me, it's not easy to remember to take small bites, eat slowly, chew your food till it's goo, and concentrate on your meal. Don't eat with distractions around you like the tv or the computer, etc. When we are distracted, or in a hurry, we can easily eat too much. Before your first fill, you are basically 'wide open' with no restriction except the stomach swelling. If your swelling has subsided, you will feel normal again and probably will eat as you did prior to banding because you don't have the restriction which keeps food from passing through the smaller pouch as quickly. Once you have that restriction, your pouch will fill up and the food will begin to put pressure on your breastplate as described above. In the meantime, there are some things to remember. Your stomach and esophogus are healing from surgery and irritation of the band being around the swollen tissue. The sutures in your stomach, which are holding the outter wall of the stomach around the band to keep it in place, are very fragile right now. If you over stuff yourself and put pressure on the band as the food passes through, as you described in your post, you could cause tearing of the sutures and band slippage. So, while you CAN eat as much as you did prior to surgery, you SHOULDN'T! Yes, this is going to take some self control, but you aren't expected to maintain this self control for a long period of time - only until the healing process is complete and the internal swelling is gone so your Dr. can determine how much fill is enough. I see some people freak out over the idea of having to use self control. But everyone needs to realize that you will have to use self control during your entire lapband journey. While the band does provide some assistance by limiting the quantity of food we can eat, it will not stop us from putting high sugar, easily dissolved foods in our mouths, which in turn will bypass the very usefullness of the band by slipping huge amounts of calories through it. I saw a quote today by Martin Luther King Jr. that I thought was very appropriate. It went something like this: Though we all arrived on different ships, we are now all in the same boat. I pray that you all find peace in yourselves and the strength to take control of your lives. The first step to that will be to stop telling yourself you cannot control yourself. Every moment of every day we are faced with choices, and the choices of our past brought us to where we are today. Where you are tomorrow, depends on the next choice you make. Stop and think about it before you place a bite of any food in your mouth. Give yourselves time to make the choice, and believe that you have the ability to make one good choice at a time.

Welcome home and welcome to Bandland, Sparkling! I agree with everyone else's posts. The more you move around the faster you'll begin to feel better. Sounds like you're doing well. Be sure to drink as much Water as you can.. small sips though. Don't rush it, just keep consistent about drinking through the day. It's important to stay hydrated. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

52% (Dixie). Barely into the Dixie category. Ok, I need to keep working on this. I've -almost- gotten rid of all hint of my heritage. (no offense Dixies)

I have only two things to say: 1. The band is not designed to change high fat, high salt, high calorie foods into healthy foods. Even with the band, you have to eat the right things or you'll stay as you are. It's just a fact of life that we cannot get around. Even RNY folks will put the weight back on if they try to deny this fact and eat like they did prior to surgery. 2. The band isn't the only thing that has to work now. This is going to require some logical thought on your part, Magic. Do you really expect to lose weight while eating like that? You won't, no matter how much you wish it. Spend some time working on your mindset about this. Why did you have weight loss surgery if you weren't mentally prepared to make serious changes in your life? That's it. Everyone else covered all I was thinking. Good luck.

I have 1cc in a 4cc (10cm) band. Remember though, that everyone's stomach is different. What restricts one may not restrict another. Sometimes I can eat more than I think I should be eating, but I only eat three meals a day (about 4 hours apart) and I'm not hungry in between. I'm also eating between 750 to 1,100 calories per day. That varies a lot and is usually on the higher end if I've eaten red meat. Also, I sometimes do feel full in my lower stomach too. Especially if I've eaten a bit too much. But I usually don't feel this until after I've finished eating and it's settled a bit. The pressure thing is my first signal to let me know my pouch is full and that it's time to stop eating.

Heyas Xann.. Have you ever been drinking Water quicky and "swallowed an air bubble" that gets stuck right in the center of your chest, just behind the breastplate? Well, that's what it feels like for me. It's not the typical stuffed belly feeling that we are used to. The stomach is actually up under the ribcage and the band is very close to the chestplate. Anyway, some people say that when they feel that pressure, they know that if they take one more bite they will be in trouble. They call that the soft stop, I believe. If they take that one more bite, they hit the hard stop when the pressure turns into pain or they PB. It's taking me some time to realize this. I mean, I know it in my head.. but when it happens, my body is still telling me to keep going, as if it's wanting that old feeling before it's satisfied. The only way I've found to avoid it is by measuring out my food and not serving myself more than 3/4 to 1Cup of food. I find that if I have it in front of me, I'll eat it. If there is only the amount I should eat (which typically takes me right to that pressure feeling), I can accept that new feeling of full and not want more. Hope this helped.

I'm glad to hear you got that unfill. Sitting too tight just can't be good for you, even if you are losing weight. As Ddiedre said, it sounds like you've been thinking about this logically and have put your finger on the problem, so I'm sure you'll be fine. You know what's funny is that feeling of sudden ravenous hunger when we get a fill or unfill. I wonder if what we are feeling is our stomach's reaction to being "messed" with and Hunger is the only way our brain knows how to identify the reaction? Does that make sense? After my first fill, I was ok for the first day and then.. bam! I was so hungry I felt like I couldn't get enough food in me although I was eating more than usual. It did go away by the next day. But yeah, I wonder if our brain wasn't wired to translate the "wow, something just changed down here" signal from the stomach, so it just shrugs and says.. must be hunger. It's a thought. *shrugs*

Wow, congratulations!! I can hardly wait to see 200 again! It's been so many years. I'm just a little under half way there.

Aww geeze! This really sucks! Well, hang in there and we'll all keep praying for the right thing to happen for you. Keep on trying! Never give up hope! *hugs*

Journals are working and speed is great! Thanks Alex! Dody - As someone already said.. in the blue menu bar across the top of the LBT window, you'll see a drop down menu for LBT Journals. From there you can view anyone's public journal (those who's journals are set to private aren't seen on the list) or you can begin your own. I keep mine private because I have my gawd-awful before pics in there. *grins* And NO, y'all can't see them yet!

Hiya Michelle. Loved your happy song! Welcome to bandland! Who is Wendy? I have a friend who was recently banded in Toronto. I'll check with her about local or nearby fills for your friend.

Big warm hugs and lots of prayers for a more peaceful time in your life to replace the stressful ones you are walking through now. Hang in there kiddo.. this too shall pass. Susan

Errr.. John. I think I understand why you'd need to "move on" but I have to say you will be missed. I've always enjoyed your positive attitude and your advice to others has been so great. It's been a pleasure knowing you, even if for such a short time. I wish you the best in your ongoing journey we call life. And remember, just because you don't frequent the place, doesn't mean you can't pop in now and then and let us know how you're doing, right? Take care John *hugs* Susan

Go Mom! And go Jana! Best wishes for a very smooth experience tomorrow, and a speedy recovery! Can't wait to welcome you to bandland when you return home! I'm so excited for you! *whipser to everyone else* Ok, are we all nuts or what? We are sending our friends off to be cut open and manhandled by strangers and we are excited?! LOL Seriously girl.. best wishes and see you in Bandland! *big hugs*

Hey Jean.. how frustrating for you. But, Im a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that God's timing is perfect. I'm with the other gals on this one. Any exercise you can start doing now will be of great help to you for post-op recovery. You said it hurts to walk to the middle of the block. When we bought our treadmill, I couldn't walk on it for more than 5 minutes at a time. So I did what I could and just kept doing it. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll be able to increase your walks. I wasn't able to do much in the way of preparing. I had a very bad hernia and was afraid to move much for fear it would get to bad to wait until my band date to repair, thus putting off the band surgery. But had I been able to, I would have made sure my house was clean from top to bottom. Spring cleaning! I would have done all the laundry. Prepared meals ahead of time and started freezing them for my family. Get your nails and your hair done. Buy some soft clothes for after the surgery. Things like that. There is a great list of foods and items to have on hand prior to surgery in the FAQ forum. You could check that out. And last but not least - come here a lot and learn all you can! The day will arrive before you know it. *hugs* Ooo.. after thought. Join a gym and go to some Water aerobics classes. Or just swim some laps at your leisure. There is nothing better for you than swimming. And when you think of getting out in public in a swimsuit, just block your mind from that - dont care. How you are now is not how you will be in a few months from now. You go now to get where you want to be. Not to look good. Right? I'm going to be doing this very soon too! Oh.. how about getting in some tanning sessions before surgery? Neat! Then you'll be all tan when you start walking in shorts this spring!

How did I know about tomatoes.. hm, not sure really. Tomato based sauces give me - gave me - heartburn? And guess what.. as soon as youre off the liquids you can have a baked tater with butter and sour cream! How? Well, I scrape out the insides of a small potato that I cook in the microwave. I moosh it up with a fork, then add a thin sliver of real butter. I dont use sour cream but there are very good fat free ones you can use. I had this very thing with 3 oz of juicy roast beef and green Beans for dinner tonight and I'm so full. *whines*

*Grins* Come on Morsaille - I'd be happy to have you catch up with me! *holds out a hand* In fact, I'll give ya a hand! Gosh, all of you/us have done so well. How brave we were to not give up. I came close to giving up. I'm so grateful for this band, a real gift from God. I know its only been three short months - man those went by so fast! - but I'm feeling tired already! It seems like so far to go. The initial high from all of this is starting to wear off and I'm staring at over a year of work to be done. Granted, 47 pounds is a great deal of weight to shed.. but there's 133 more to go. How have you long term bandsters dealt with this? Do you try to forget your band and think about other things? I'm almost afraid to forget about it. I'm afraid of slipping back into the old ways. This is where I would typically fall off the diet wagon and give up. I know the band will keep me going, but what do I do with my head?? LOL

Banded in KS - woohoo! congratulations!! :eek: :confused: