hairagain

No, I don't think I have too much fill. Most of the time it is good. Like Seppi says, it is sometimes a tired thing, when you always have to eat cold food. Thank goodness for a micro wave. I many times nuc my food hlf way through. I think it is the always being aware like you said. If you forget, you pay the price. I also think sometimes I mourn the comfort food gave me. Doesn't anybody but me ever miss the "good old days"? Don't get me wrong, I love the band and my smaller personal body but, I still crave and always have to be on my guard. You all know, enough protein, not too many carbs, eat slow, small bites, be careful when you drink. All the stuff we do. Just for today, I had a tough one. Tomarrow will be fine and I am much too busy to dwell on it, but I guess this is the place we are spose to come unload and look for support. Today I needed some and it felt good to whine. In fact I feel better already!!!! Thanks for listening to me.

Jodie, I forgot to mention, I don't have a great deal of money either, however I dicided to go to my local ymca and learn to be a aquacise instructor. I get my membership free. Pay is only $7. a class and I only do about 2 a week for pay. Maybe you could ask if you could do volunteer work at your Y and they might give you a membership?? Just a thought. Darlene

What in the world would we ever do without each other?? If you ain't been there, you just don't know the agony this fat thing can be. Being honest to ourselves is key isn't it? I have been not posting or rading for awhile. I have been struggling too. Got out my books to journal too. god bless you all and hang in Jodie, The 18th is closer than you think. Look for some positive materials at your local library, rent them in tape form and take a slow walk around a few blocks and try not to be around your negative enviounment anymore than you have to be. I think admitting we are in a funk is the first step out of the funk!! Darlene

I use the slim fast low carb option drinks. Kind of hard to find here. I don't like other drinks but this on is very tastee to me. It has 20 gr of protein. I like vanilla best. In fact my husband even drinks these instead of breakfast sometimes. One a day plus my regular diet does it for me. Good luck!

I lost hair too. Go get yourself some hair and skin vitamins. They are sold in health food stores and on the net. Sometimes it is the lack of biotin that can cause it. My doc says it is inevitable to lose hair. When I was ready to go get a wig it stopped. I saw new hair coming in and I just adjusted my style to accomadate. Shorter one length hair helped alot. It is the change to your system in diet and metabolism. Hang in my friend, it will stop. Congrats on the progress you have made. I am still hanging around 30 lbs gone. I didn't get my first fill till May 5th and have been trying to do it right. Slow and steady is best. Had a rough nite last. I ate some cantalope as I was cleaning it before I went to bed. Then took my night pills. I had not chewed well enough and had trouble big time. Was 3:30 in the morning till it passed. Terrible!! Slept in a little today and on liquid diet. Feeling good now. I do have something to celebrate. We went on a cruise to Alaska for two weeks and I didn't gain a pound. Exactly the same yesterday when I weighed as the day we left. I love this band because the difference is that the lbs I lose pretty much stay gone. If I avoid the foods full of calories like ice cream candy etc, I don't gain and can eat almost anything I want to as long as I eat it slow enough. I think that is the key issue for me. Slow enough!! I eat like there is theives coming to steal my food. Had lesson to leatn over and over. Getting there though!! Good luck with your hair. I am a hairdresser and have seen many people lose their hair for weight loss. Never saw anyone lose it all. Get creative with a style if you need to. Find a good hairdresser and they can help. DArlene

I thinkin acid in your stomach that is not being absorbed by food. Should be better when you get to solids again. Try some antacid. Like zantac otc. Might help. Good luck!!

Hi Celeste I have thought of you and wondered how you are doing. I have not been watching the lapband web site much and am out of touch. I decided I should get to it and I ate some cantalope for a late snack and it is stuck in my craw so to speak because I didn't shew well enough. I am sure you can identify. If you have time and want to answer me my email is dabel2@min.midco.net. Hope to hear from you. Darlene

Are you getting enough protein? Are you drinking enough water? Those are the two things that sabatoged my loss from the beginning. Make sure you are getting at least 50 -60 grams of protein a day. You will need to use protein drinks to achieve that at this point if you are still doing mushies. I went to see the nutriion person at the hospital that handles bariatric people and their diets and she had me track my protien and water and Fiber intake. ( I was on solid food at the time) Might not be a bad idea to locate on of the professional nutritionists. I am sure your doc has someone to recommend.

Iam a hairdresser specializing in hair loss issues for men and women. I have worked for 37 years and am going to retire from this profession on June 29th. Gonna travel for a while and then decide what is next. My husband is disabled. Work injury and he can no longer work because of cronic pain. He has a spinal injury. He worked at our utility company for 30 years too. I am interested in many things but have not as yet focused in on what my next career will be. Flunky maybe??? The ladies I work with are having an open house for me and my clients to celebrate my 37 years. Some of the clients have been with me most of those years. Will miss them very much. Someone here said just a hairdresser and I want to say I am very proud to have been a hairdresser all these years. I look at it as this, I make people feel better about themselves on a daily bases. What perfession could be better than that!!! Love your hair dressers, They have been under apprietiated for years. I think it is really cool that my clients have become my friends and they PAY me to come and visit. Life is good!! Darlene

Make sure you are getting in enough protien. I had the same issues you stated. I went back to the dietian and she said I was in starvation mode and my body was protecting my calories. I started eating MORE calories and making sure I had 55 grams of protein and it started coming off. Today am at 30. Stayed the same for a month. It really worked for me. Secondly make sure you are getting excercise. Don't have to join a gym just walk or move some way. Go shopping or something. :girl_hug: Good luck! Darlene

I will the warm water thing and see if that helps. I will also try to take first small bite and then wait a few min and see what happens. gosh, do you ever think about the days when eating wasn't a project? I am doing well and very happy with the band, just seems kind of like work sometimes. I guess that is part of the learning curve. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Today went pretty well. Only one little funny feeling. I had a few chips and I didn't chew those well enough so dinner had to wait till they passed through. I guess I wasn't maybe spose to eat them so I ate them too fast. Anyone else ever do that? Ha Ha!! Part of my problem sometimes. If it is a little "cheat" instead of just doing it and enjoying it, I eat it too fast so the "evidence" is gone. Actually I did count out my 12 chips and counted them in my daily calories. We had a very busy day and I had not eaten a great deal and could have them, they just are always such a red light for me that I felt guilty. I did something interesting. I got a food saver, you know the kind that vac seals stuff? I sealed the left chips in a bag and now will have to cut open the bag instead of just taking off the clip. We don't usually even buy the stupid things. My skinny husband said he was demon posessed in the store today. I guess we need to learn portion control too. So far so good. Darlene

I don't have thyroid problems. I am a hairdresser sho specilaizes in hair loss issues. I am told by the people at the organization for hair loss experts, it is a situation where our bodies are in a shock faze and needs to adjust to our new body composition. It is very common and I have experienced it before. (fen-fen) It grows back and usually is not a problem as long as nutrition is good. Do not get caught up in any things to make hair grow etc. Use a good shampoo that removes toxicity from the scalp (like Nioxin) and don't need to use the treatment. Hair grows in stages or phases an as the next growth cycle starts the hair will be replaced by baby hair. Go see a stylist and get help with styling tecniques and amybe treat yourself to a little hair extension. Remember this is not permanent and you do NOT have androgenetic hair loss. That is the kind men get. (women too but less of us) it is hormone related. Hang in there everyone, this too shall pass. Darlene

Seems sometimes we are being ganged up on in life. Gosh, I do understand. My Mom passed away on Nov12 of 05. She was incredibly ill for 10 months she never left a medical facility. She was in a total of 7 different places. It was a very difficult time for me. I miss her terribly and I am going through my parents home and disposing of their lifetime of possesions. Hardest job I have ever had. If you need an ear to cry or talk or laugh, I would be that ear for you. Contact me in a privatee-mail and we can talk. My granddaughter has a pituatary tumor too. Whe is 10 and had it removed and is doing very well. Was benign. I am going to pray for you. By now you have had tests I am sure. Best of luck!! Darlene

I am shedding my hair too. I asked the dietician if she had any idea why and I was told usually in the early stages we lack protein. She had me count my protein levels and I was short. Need to be at 55 or 60 grms per day. I started a jounal too. Gosh, has that made a difference at getting in the protein and watching what I am eating. I am celebrating today. I went over the 25 lb mark. Actually 26 lbs. Banded on 1/19/06 but had an infection and didn't get to have a fill till 4/5/06. I am on a roooooolllllll!!!!

I think you will know. I seem to need to be reminded by a major pb miserable event every so often. Last night I think was the worst ever. Today my banded pouch is even a little sore. I am taking the food on the mushie side today. What I have I think is first bite syndrom. No matter how small the first bite is, it seems to stick in the pouch and feel like the golf ball. Sometimes I have lost my cookies so to speak. Yuc!!! Any idea what that is all about and why after I let the golf ball reside I can eat a small portion no trouble. Happened again tonight with my spaggetti. It is weird. Answers anyone?

Hey, anyone have what I think is first bite syndrom? I think I have this bad. I just ate a bite of spageeti and chewed it lots, swallowed and it I had a pb or something like that from hell. Miserable. I let that settle, I ate a small portion after the hic-up s went away. This happens almost everytime I eat. What up with that??> Advise?

My doc had me on clear liq for a week thaen full liquids, like cream soup jello, broth, protien drinks that were not clear etc. for a week then on to mushy stuff for a week. the more solid stuff like mashed potatos and pudding cottage cheese and oatmeal. One month of restricted diet. It is worth it. I am down 24 lbs since I began this about 3 monts ago. Slow but sure, that is a good thing!! Good luck!

I am not sure how long it will last. I don't remember how long it took. I do remember however it started with new peach fuzz aroung my hairline. Eventually I had to cut my hair pretty short to make it workable. Some was short and some was long. Not condusive to good styling. I would guess after a couple months it would be letting up/ Good luck! I hope I have some left by the time we leave on an extended vacation in July. We are crusin to Alaska. Hate to do it bald. Yuc!

I did not feel much restricton until the second fill. The only time I did is if I ate really fast and didn't chew enough. Dry things would stick too. I had my second fill last Weds. I have 4 ccs in my 10 cc band. It is tight enough I think for now. Lost about 5 lbs in a few days. Just tried ti cheat and eat a peice of pizza. Would not go down. I love pizza so will have to put that aside for now. Maybe someday when I am at goal and get unfilled a little it will go down again. This is a very good thinng. I am happy!! Darlene

Everyone, for what it is worth, I work with hair loss and am losing hair myself. I have lost weight before and I lost much of my hair. That was back in the phen phen times. I have worked with many people who have lost hair after wieght loss. It soes usually grow back. Mine always has. I also lost alot after two babies in two years. LIke I had to wear a wig. From all the research I have done it is very common. I have yet to see anything make any difference. I sell the entire Nioxin line and use all of it. I even take the vitamins and did for several months before I was banded. I was banded on 1/19/06. What nioxin will do is make for a shorter fall cycle and a longer growth cycle. Hair grows on a cyclical schedule and it helps to increase the growth phase. We have people who are on chemo use it but it does not prevent there hair loss. Does help to keep the scalp healthy as possible. I know it won't hurt and will help some. I do not use the treatments for this kind of hair loss because the research says it won't help. I worked for the Nioxin company for several years so I do know what I am saying. It is made for androgenetic hair loss. Chin up everyone. I have yet to see anyone who didn't get their hair back. I was in a panic too and still am to a degree. It is very disturbing to see hair all over the place and know it is from me and not my dear balding husband. I know that if push comes to shove there are some really cute wigs out there now. I have one in reserve. Hair is a big problem when it is no longer nice when a person has had nice hair for most of their life. A crushing blow to ones self esteem. I had a client who was so sad when her thinned she would not leave her home. I fit her with a hair integration unit, ( that is a wig that you comb your own hair through) and it made her so happy to have a full head of hair she could style again. Best of luck to all and keep on swallerin that protein. Yum Yummmmm!!! Darlene

Hey everybody. I had a break through today. I had my fill on Weds and was have a hard time eating almost anything. I have been doing mostly soup and protien drinks. I wanted to eat some meat tonight and tried it and it didn't go. Got stuck and had some discomfort and went outside and walked up and down the street. Finally it worked its way down into the bigger stomach. RElief!!! Sooo, I remembered someone told me to cut food no bigger than my little finger nail. I did that and chewed until it was pulp. WEnt down no problem. I guess I was not doing things slow enough. I thought I was. I was chewing plenty but the too big of pieces was the issue. I have decided this is definetly a learning curve. To apply all these ideas at once is really something. I am learning each day and by golly I am gonna do this. I am on a roll now toooooooooo! Darlene

Sorrry, type o. NOT doing this alone!

Untill I had my last fill on WEds of this week, I was able to eat pretty much anything I wanted. I did. I am a grazer and love to eat little bits all day long. Now if I do that, the band is putting on enough restriction to cause me discomfort. I don't think before I swallow and don't seem to be chewing enough so it causes me discomfort. That is a good thing. I am hoping it is a learned response and I will no longer want to just eat and not be thinking about it. I want to be totally aware of every bite because every bite counts in losing this fat. I am thankful I got the band. It all has not been easy and I do miss the comfort of the food but I am trying to find other ways to cope with stress and boredom and all the other things I want to eat for. thanks for all the positive minded posts. Helpos so much that we are doing this alone.

I have been reading this site for a long time but today is the first time I have read anything that hit this close to home. I have compulsions from hell sometimes. I had fill number two on Weds and now have enough restriction that I can't binge anymore. I am doing my best not to eat things I should not. It is still tough. Been to therepy some time back for these problems but didn't seem to help. Been thinking of trying a journal. Any thought on that anyone??

Wow!! That is so great. I am using you as motivation for my own goals. I have a higher number goal (want to break the 250 mark) Just had my second fill on Weds. and am doing great. Enjoy those margaritas and have a nice time. I love lbt becuse there are people who understand and even my fat friends here are many times in competition to a degree. I always feel 100% understood by someone out there. Great job!!!!!!!!!!