shannongetsslim

Hey, Same with me I was suffering for about a month. Went and got a total unfil, waited two weeks and he gave me it all back minus .5ccs. I am going back Monday for the .5 cuz boy can I see a difference. But it was worth the two weeks of no restriciton becauce no vomiting, and I feel so much better. It was a two week vacation, but I stuck to my guns and ate well, slurged once and ate pasta! But go get it taken out. Your body is obviously trying to tell you something...so listen? Shannon

Hey all! So I am not sure if anyone is checking in or not but I finally got my fill today. It was a hard couple of weeks and I strayed a bit but so far so good! He gaveme back all my fill minus .5cc so I am at 7ccs. I have been on liquids today and I will do it tomorrow too. It is weird but I dont feel like I am tight like I used to be, but sometimes it take a wee bit right? Thanks for the support! Shannon

Hi everyone! So end of May it will be one year since I got my band. It was an ordeal and they ended up having to open me up on the table. Recovery was longer, which meant more time off work, and much much longer to heal. That 8inch incision was a bugger! Anyways one year over and 70lbs off. It was a slow start but now here I am... So I work in a hospital as a nurse, so anyone who has spent anytime near or in one knows about Norwalk. I got it so bad about a week and a half ago. My stomach was convulsing with nothing in it for two days. I gave myself 5 days of healing and I was just too swollen. Vomiting, not keeping down liquids ect ect. So almost a year to the date I went in an saw my surgeon and he took my whole fill out. I was almost 6cc's in a 10cc band. So I am scared, I immediately felt better and was able to eat some soft Protein. I feel much better, but am worried. I can't go in for a fill for two weeks, and then I imagine it will be a slow process. Mind you it only took me 3 fills to get to my sweet spot. So here I am worried, that I will gain back everything I have lost in two and a half weeks. I am going to try real hard to stick to what I was doing before and exercise won't be a problem, but man oh man do I feel like I am starting over. Anyone else been through anything similar?

Hey all, Sorry I didn't make it to the meeting this month. So much has been going on and so stressed. I have been really sick, ate something really weird and was vomiting a lot. So after a week of hardly being able to keep liquids down I went to see Dr. Leung. He took it all out and won't be able to give me a fill until the 4th. I am not sure if he will work gradually up again or just put me where I was. It was my sweet spot and I was doing so well there. So I really hope it isn't going to take me another 3 months to get where I was. Plus he upped the prices of a fill and it cost me 50$ just to get it taken out. The more I think about it, the more I think about doing those fills myself. I mean I am a nurse....right? heh hope everyone is doing well! Shannon

Hi All, Ok, well I am 10 days until my fill and although I am being good, I am so sure I am eating more than I was before. This is freaking me out and I am totally trying not to beat myself up. I am still riding my bike and walking, and feeling good, I haven't felt like this is a while. Anyways just checking in and hoping I make it through this without too much turmoil! Thanks again for the support. shannon

Thanks so much you guys, i have made it through my first day and i did swimmingly! Thanks for your positive comments and suggestions. I am totally going to ask for a large fill, luckily my Dr isn't the most conservative with fills. So hopefully by the second one I will be back where I was. Thanks again and I will for sure keep checking in! May 4th is my appt, so whats what 16 days to go! Piece of cake right? Maybe piece of rice cake! shannon

Hi everyone, Thank goodness for this thread. I have been having problems for over a week now. One day I can eat a decent amount and drink my shakes, another day I am so tight that it takes 5 mins for a sip of something to slide down. I am under a lot of stress right now, new job, mom was in a car accident, and is fine, my little brother is an addict and trying to plan a wedding. I worry about stuff I should and night shifts also play havok with my digestive system. So here is where my concern is. My surgeon isn't the most sensitive man. Dr. Leung there are forums on him if ur interested. I don't want to go and have all my fill taken out.Because the restriction I had prior to all this stress was great. I was finally seeing the band work and was using it as the tool that I should. I also was sick had the 24 hour flu bug and was heaving even when my tummy was empty. I am not starving and can keep a shake down at the worst of times, there might be a bit of pain and it may take a bit but I am not starving. I just don't know what to do. I am not ready to start from the begining and wonder if my stomach will settle down if I give it some time. I know it is so easy to say go to the doc, cause I dont want to mess up my body, but I also don't want to loose the progress I have made. I hope you all are doing better, this thread is a life saver! shannon

Ok guys, So I am a chronic Pb'er. I had my band tightened on January 12th as I was not loosing as fast as I thought I should be, I wasn't as restricted as I thought I should be. I had only loast about 55lbs in a year. And reading all the weight you guys have lost in a year amazes me. I was eating better, way less than I used to be able to, but obviously still too much. So my doctor with some reluctance gave me a small fill. I have 6.3ccs in a 10cc band. So here I am 3 months later and I have some wicked problems. I *know* what I should do, but in these three months I see the change. I am loosing more quickly however it isn't so rapid that it isn't healthy. I am a nurse, and when I work nights it messes up my schedule. It is hard to eat, and if I try sometimes I throw up. This sort of continues for two or three days. Even with liquids I have major indigestion and if it is later in the night I feel like it sits in my upper pouch for longer. Look I know what I should do, but I am so conflicted, and as a nurse I feel like a bit of an ass. But finally, after a slow year of little progression, things are finally happening. I finally feel like this 12grand I spent on this tool is actually working. On my good days which are often, I can eat, but it is restricted, I can't eat the huge amounts I used to. And now I make sure my Protein comes first. So what do I do, I can't imagine loosing some restriction and gaining back the small amount of poundage I have lost, but I get scared. I know the obvious answer...I am just torn. I make sure to drink my lactouse free Protein drinks when I have the super tightness too. bah, I know what this looks like, I am trying to rationalize this to myself...what to do...

I am an RN as well, and I keep a Water bottle at the actual nsg station and drink when I chart, or just pass through the station. Sometimes I keep a juice box with me in my scrub pants, especially if i am running behind. My question to other nurses is night shifts...do you find that they totally bugger up what you can eat? I almost have to eat only liquids or mushies during my two nights and usually a day or two after....so suckie, but I hate to keep getting stuck or vomit!

Hey all, I work nights too, and for me I have just made healthier choices. I will eat some yogurt and maybe an apple and Peanut Butter. But then I just have to watch myself and try to push through. I agree with smsmithart distraction is the best thing. Boredom for me would lead to eating. So now I find other things to fill the bit of downtime I have on nights. Find other things to keep your hands and mouth busy, chew some gum, read, surf the net...just dont go into the kitchen. And like I said if it comes down to it, make healthier choices. The cravings for cabs will subside the longer you cut them out.. Good luck!

Hey Witchbabe, I know how you are feeling sorta. I was banded may 30th and have lost a decent chunk of weight. But I find there are so many weight obsessed people on here that I had to take a step back. So I watch my eating, but am not neurotic, I have been exercising, and walk 4kms every second day or I hit the gym for a cardio kick. But I am not focusing on a number, I am not weighing myself and every month or so I measure myself and take a set of pictures. I dont always see results right away, but I have to change my thinking. I am not here for instant gratification, I want to get healthy and health does not always correlate with weight. Learn to love you and when you feel hungry, go for a walk, get on a bike, call a girlfriend and get her to go to the mall. Just dont beat yourself up, you have lost a good chunk of weight you just need a kick start!

Amen to that!

Hey, You know what people are so different. You will see that once you start eating and such that the boards are helpful but sometimes set you up for disaster. You think I will never be 'normal' again or enjoy the things I did. But you said it it is moderation. And you will be so different from anyone else. For me I can eat anything as long as I chew the bejesus out of it. I get that really tight stuck feeling quickly if I don't spend the time to chew it up. Bread is ok, just in moderation and I had a steak this weekend 8oz, probably 5 or 6 since my fiancee ate some of it too. It took me an hour to sit and have it but I did, and boy was I full. I guess for me I tried a bit of everything, slowly and with someone else around! I have 5.5 ccs in a 10 cc band and was banded end of May. So try things as you can slowly go back into having solids and just remember that it is gonna be different for you. This wasn't much help now was it :0) Good luck

For some people, the hot liquid helps to ease the tightness of the band. I find if I eat warm cereal in the am I have a much easier time of things. Good luck!

So I had an open surgery and about three weeks ago got the ok to exercise. So I started off slowly I would ride my bike for 15mins every second day. It is a stationary bike. I did that for a week and then felt like I really needed to step it up. I am loosing but don't weight myself daily or weekly even, I got really obsessed at first so just took the scale away, its health for me not numbers. So now my fiance and myself walk every second day for about 45 minutes. It isn't a stroll it is a brisk walk and I feel my heart rate rising. I also weigh 315lbs now I lost 34 these were the numbers when I got my last fill on the 11th of August. So its been two weeks and I feel great. The thing is exercise is so personal depending on your size and your goals right. I don't want to sit and wait for this lapband to work by its self. I am eating better and less and now exercising. I feel like a million bucks and now have no reason that I shouldnt be loosing. My only advice and i am no expert is do what works for you, and do it at your own pace. We are all different and loose at different rates and in different areas. Good luck all!

Hey there, Well I was also an open band surgery and I waited over a month to go back to work. It then took me another two weeks before I could work a full shift set. But by the end of it I was feeling great and had almost all my energy back. It was hard for me as well as the first month my doctor requires clear fluids and not much if anything else. So starting work and starting eating helped me heal and feel much better. I had a little opening at the base of my incision as it was where my weight pulled. Now over two and a half months later I am healed and feel great. By the way I am a nurse so my job was physically and mentally draining hence the slow start. But take it easy, you will know when your ready, It wasn't until my third week that I was able to do everything on my own, ie, getting up and down off things, in and out of the car, drive the car, ect ect. But I walked everyday! Good luck, and if your like me you felt like you were the only one in the world, but all I keep thinking is that at least I have this band and a new lease on life! Good luck!

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but I have always been envious of people who experinced pbing or sliming. I felt that I needed to have those experinces so I knew exactly what it was like to have this band, and doing those things meant that I was going in the right direction. Yea well how stupid is that. Tonight I am at work, I work graveyards which is hard, but my eating has been curbed and replaced with yogurt and some fruit sometimes some tuna. Well I have also learned that our stomach swell at night? I took two bites of my tuna which I chewed to death and it got stuck and it hurt, and i cried and I had to make myself vomit. The pain was horrible and now my throat is so sore and I am just so mad at myself. I have noticed lately that in the morning my restriction is so tight, I have 5.5ccs in a 10cc band. So I usually can't eat anything os substance until 4 or 5pm, then by 8pm I am wickedly tight again, the pain is so bad that it makes me not want to eat, I am chewing and chewing, not drinking Water and eating slowly. I know the answer is an unfil but in the evenings I can just fine. I guess I just feel stupid for ever wanting to experince pbing and sliming. Watch what you wish for right?

Hey all, just checking in! So I had my first fill in the 3rd of August, 3.5ccs I had some restriction but not enough for sure. So yesterday I went and my doctor gave me another 2ccs. I couldn't swallow my own spit an hour after but held out and wanted to see how I was after 24 hours. My doctor doesn't make us go on fluids or anything like that. So about 8 hrs later I decided to make some dinner salmon whole grain Pasta for the man and some cauliflower. So I was able to eat almost 3 oz of salmon and then I tried a bite of noddle. Bad mistake I have never felt such horrid chest pain in my life took me 30mins for it to pass. So I am being much more careful I was able to eat left over salmon at work, some cherries and yogurt and have just been taking my time. Chewing and taking my time is the hard part but I don't want that nasty feeling again so I will slow down! Hope everyone is doing well! Best wishes!!!

Not a long weekend for all us Canadians! I can't say I have had anything close to the experince you have but best wishes and be confident that the band will work just as well as your previous one. Take care and best of luck!

Alright so I know that self loathing and hating myself is what got me here. I would over eat, be mad at myself and eat more. So look here is what I am looking/begging someone to help me with. I log everything I eat in a day and I want some feed back please. I had surgery May 30th and I was an open surgery, and on Clear liquids for a month. It took me a while to heal and I feel almost 100% better. So I have had one 3.5cc fill in a 7cc band. I have some restriction, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. Below are a few examples of my food logs...feedback? Thoughts? Help? Thanks everyone.. July 21 I can tuna with lite mayo 9 crackers -whole wheat low fat and sodium 1tsp Peanut Butter 1/2 cup potatoes, 3oz of pork and a handfull of carrots raw July 23 1/2 cup all bran Cereal with 1% milk 3 oz chicken baked 1 piece of bread and 1/4 cup hummas 6 cooked prawns 1/2 cup no noddle lasagna 1oz smoked salmon july 27 1 cup allbran strawberry cereal with 1% milk 1/2 canned pear 1 cup cottage cheese 1 individual yogurt 2 baby potatoes 4 oz porkchop 3 snack packs - through the day 100 cal or less each July 29th 1 cup tortilini with tomatoe sauce 3 oz chicken 1/2 piece garlic bread 1 cup of snack mix 1/4 cup turkey rice mix 10 carrots raw with 1/4 cup hummas Let me say I work day and night shifts as a nurse and we have had company in and out of our place for the last two weeks. It sure as heck isn't as much as I ate before the band that is for sure...bigmac large coke large fries and 10 nuggests all in one sitting, but I just need either reassurance that i am ok, or a firm yelling at! I don't know, I wish things were more black and white. I booked a fill for this thursday, i am not sure if I am messing with a good thing or if it is what i need...help any feedback would be appriciated.. shannongetsslim

Hey guys, Thanks for all the feedback...I certainly try to eat veg and fruit, It had been a rough week due to family in town and I think that is why i feel so crappy. I have been cooking my dinner meals from a great cookbook, eating well after weight loss surgery. Great book, written by someone who has gotten a band and is a chef. I haven't been as diligent as I was before the family arrived, and looking forward to going back to where I was. I wasn't prepared for this family 5 children and 1 adult so I had no time to prepare. I have been trying to make healthier choices for myelf, oatmeal or high fibre Cereal in the am, cottage cheese for lunch I really try to focus on Protein and complex carbs, the good ones, leafy veg and cauliflower that sort of stuff. It is hard when you are on track and feel like you have been shoved off it. I will try to cut my carbs, make better veggie/fruit choices for Snacks and focus on protein. Thanks guys. I also wanted to say I dont think I am dieting, I think I am making smarter choices, and being aware of the things I am putting in my diet, god I look and feel so much better when I read the lables of the things I am eating and make a choice to eat home made, fresh low fat low sodium things..It is just a better me, not a diet...and time to get back on track!

Thanks for replying, you know when you just aren't sure if your doing it right, I am loosing yes, but I am not weighing myself anymore as it became a bit too obsessive for me...but I measure myself and there is a difference..thanks again

Hi all, I need some advice or guidance or something. So I have 3.5 cc's in a 7cc band. I was banded on the 30th of May, and my weight loss has been great, nothing to be upset about and I am still continuing to loose. However I have decided to go for anothr fill this thursday. Well here is the thing....I felt good restriction before, I mean I could eat more than a cup of food at a time but I felt so full and for so long. But lately, the past couple of days I haven't felt as full or for long. I dont know right now I am really stressed, and I have been so good on my diet, but we have had tons of visitors and just when we thought it would end 6 more people are coming to stay in our 1 bedroom apt. 5 kids one adult, so cooking for myself and my fiance is out the window. I dont know I guess I am asking if anyone has gone from feeling goof restriction to feeling hardly any at all, or not as full for so long. God I can not wait until my next fill! Thanks for being there guys