jennibells

Nicanette how are you doing? I had my second fill a week ago and I am now at 5 cc's. I do feel some restriction but not full restriction. I had been going up and down with my weigh for the last month and I am hoping to start going down again. I know I have some restriction now because I have had a few episodes of pbing when I ate too fast because I was too hungry. I have deceided to eat very small amounts every couple hours and try to eat mostly Protein since my body does not respond well to carbs and in turn I dont loose or I gain.

Aurelia, How are you doing? I have been having some of the same problems. I have had two fills, total of 5 cc's. I had some restriction after the first fill but it went away within a week. I just got my second one last week and a I dont feel any restriction. My doctor also told me that with the realize band people usually hit their sweet spot between 6-8cc's. I have really been struggling for the last week, almost depressed because I had big exspectations. I have been through this before and I know that once I feel good restriction it makes it alot easier for me to make good choices. Right now I am just fighting against my head and I am going to have to make good choices all on pure will power!

I also love my band! I was banded 10/07 and had a very slow weight loss from 10/07- 2/09. I was very happy with the slow weight loss because that meant I wasn't gaining. I than got sick and ended up causing my band to slip and had it replaced on 3/17/09. I am so thankful that I got to get a new band, I love the band and cant imagine life without it!!!

lapbandtalker- I went in to the ER and they rushed me in for emergency surgery. I knew my band had slipped for a month and we were waiting to see if it would go back on its own but I started having trouble keeping anything down and severe pain. My doctor told me it was a good thing I came in when I did because the band was strangulating my stomache and it could of cut off the blood flow to my stomache completely which would of caused my stomache to die and caused many complications for the rest of my life and possibly death due to unknown infection if I had let it go. I dont think that everybodys case is going to be just like mine but I do believe in signs and fate and it may be a sign that you read my post. I did read somone elses post who had a slipped band the day before I went in and I really think it scared me enough to go in which may have saved my life or at least my stomache. I had the best possible results, I had the band removed, a new one put in and I am doing great with my new band now! I cant imagine life without my band and I am so glad that I have been blessed enough to be able to keep it!!!

Kat how are you doing? did the unfill do the job for you or are you still having problems? I got my first fill with my new band and I am doing great. I cant eat much but I feel great!

I am doing higher protein/ lower carb but only because I will feel like crap if I dont because I cannot eat that much food. I try to always eat my protein first and fit in a little carbs. I do not count my carbs but I do keep track of my food on dailyplate.com.

I went in for my first fill 4/25, doctor put in 3cc's. Before my fill I could eat just about anything and large amounts. I was restricting myself to 1 cup because I did not want to gain. After my fill I am very tight! My normal breakfast is 1 pkg of high fiber oatmeal and 1 boiled egg but today I could only eat less than 1/2 pkg and 1/2 egg white and it took me a good hour to eat it. I dont know if I am too tight yet, I feel tight but I am going to give it a week and see how it goes.

The obsession really starts after you do it for a week or two straight. I feel so good afterwards that it just makes me want to do it more and more! I crave that feeling!!! I hated it when I started, I had to drag myself but once I got going again I love it again

Its a good thing too because I love boiled eggs and they fill me up so good! Does anybody know the breakdown of the calories/protein for egg whites verses yolk?

OMG, I must of clicked on the (3 eggs)! I went back and looked and it is now showing 70 cals and 6g of protein.

So I ate my high fiber oatmeal this morning and a hard boiled egg. I looked up the nutrition info for the egg and was "shocked"! I had no idea that one egg has 211 calories:eek: I am really happy that there are 17g of protein but I was just shocked about the amount of calories. Anybody know the breakdown for the yolk versus the egg white?

Peas- You did much better than me, I had alot of candy. I exercised alot which I hope counteracted it but I am so glad all that candy is gone out of my house!!! I learned a big lesson, out of sight- out of mouth! I wonder how my doc is going to be with the fills for the realize band? My last band was a 4cc lapband and my first fill was 1cc which was a quarter full so hopefully he will give me at least 3cc's with the new Realize band. Congratulations getting back down to 274!!! I know how you feel, I am fighting the same 3 lbs up and down right now:(

I have been on real food for almost a week now but today I really ate "normal food". I noticed that I was cooking my broccoli to mush like when I was on mushies so I cooked my broccoli normal and cut up some chicken breast and ate it like normal and I was plesantly suprised- I FELT SOME RESTRICTION!!! I could only eat half of my meal and I was very full! I think I really need to get away from all the mushy food and I think I will feel more restriction. I didn't even realize I was doing it, I just thought to myself "hey I dont have to cook everything to death anymore". Anyways, I am very excited that I felt some restriction today and I am looking forward to more

If your band hasn't slipped than I would suggest you be very careful, eat small amounts, avoid throwing up at all cost and than hopefully your pouch will go back to normal. My band slipped because I got very sick and threw up for 3-4 days straight and than continued to throw up off and on over several weeks because I never gave my pouch long enough time to recover and let the swelling go down. I wish more than anything I would of called my doctor but I didn't and now I am on my second band. Good luck!

"If what you are working for really matters, you'll give it all you've got"

I too fell into the obsession of exercise before I got my band. I previously worked at a gym and I loved working out all the time. I worked out probably 2-3 hours a day and when I switched jobs and couldn't keep up with the excessive exercise I felt like a failure and eventually gained all the weight back. I now have set realistic goals of 30 mins of exercise 5x's a week. I usually do 60 minutes but in my mind if I get at least 30 mins in than I am sucessful that week. I tend to be obsessive but as far as I am concerned we all must exercise at least 30 mins 5x's a week to be healthy.

I drink alot of water and try to eat cooked vegetables as they seem to fill me up faster and stay with me longer. I love cooked broccoli, squash, zuichini, mushrooms and onions. I made my lunches for this whole week, cooked broccoli, cut up chicken breast and a little bit of cheese. I put in alot of broccoli, about a half a chicken breast and probably a 1/4 c or less of cheese. Also sometimes I turn on a recorded show like Oprah or something that I have been looking forward to watching and put my gazelle right in front of the TV. I exercise through the whole show.

Martyh- What size band do you have and how much was your fill? Usually, most doctors will only do fills every 4 weeks, but if I were you and I felt absolutely no restriction I would call him at 2 weeks and ask to come in for another fill.

I struggle daily with the fact that I can eat just about anything. I am finding out that I have alot more will power than I ever thought I had because I really, really want to be sucessfull especially since this my second chance. I do know that once I get a fill I will get some extra help but somedays it is really hard! I gave in big time to the candy this weekend and I am just glad that the weekend is over, I am back to work and most of the candy is out of my house thanks to my kids. I hate when I give in like this because I am the only one paying the price, I am the one who will gain the pounds back that I worked so hard to get off! Today is a new day and I will learn about my will power all over again

That is one thing that I am worried about. We are going with another couple and they do not know I got the lapband. My husband knows I have to eat slower and chew, chew, chew but I am afraid that our friends will wonder what is going on with me. It doesn't matter because I have to do it regardless but I am hoping that they just think I am a slow eater.

I booked a trip to Vegas for May 9-12th. I am really excited and looking forward to it. I plan on utilizing the exercise facility in the hotel every day and walking the strip for extra exercise. Hopefully that will help with all the enticing foods!

Water really helps me while I am at work. I have a 32 oz bottle of water that I try to refill 2x's while I am at work. It is my goal to drink one bottle before lunch, one after lunch and start on the third before I leave at 5pm. It is a distraction and keeps me from reaching for snacky foods. I still think about the snacks and want to eat them but I try to drink every time I think about them. I really do feel much better now that I am getting plenty of water!

Jacqui- I am like you, I love to exercise. I think the more I started to eat better the more I wanted to exercise. I was never really good at logging my food but I did over time really start to change the way I ate because if I ate crappy food I felt really bad physically. Even though I ate alot healthier I never really kicked the sweets habit. I ate alot less of the sweets because I was physically incapable of eating alot at one time but I still enjoyed them when I had them. Thanks for posting, your post was really positive and uplifting! It really points out that there are many different kinds of people and we all handle the band exsperience differently. Your post really made me feel better about the way I am handling it. luchay- I still believe that I will fight the sugar cravings for the rest of my life. Some people crave salt, some crave sugar. I really had a rough weekend with all the candy every where I turned with having 4 kids and 4 easter baskets and it really made me feel bad about myself because I was not making good choices. Normally I do not keep sweets in the house because I will just eat them all so now that Easter is over I feel like I will definetly make better choices. Once I get my fill I know that the band will help with quantities so I know that it will in the long run help with the sugar cravings. The thing that I found was that if I am eating very little food my body tends to crave the things I need like vegetables and meat. I still love to have some sweets but I usually go for the healthier food first and than end up full and unable to eat anything else.

Unfortunately I think I am in the same boat as you. I LOVE SUGAR!!! I got banded 10/02/07 and lost 20 lbs in the preop stages and 26 lbs from the time of surgery until it slipped 1 year and 4 months later. I appreciate every pound that I lost and I am thankful that the band has helped me so much! I know it changed my eating habits in a huge way unfortunately it does nothing for sugar. I have continually fought the sugar cravings and I think I will for the rest of my life.

Actually I was one of those people that thought the band wasn't working for me. I had no idea this forum was here and if I did I probably wouldn't of beat myself up so much. I lost 20 lbs pre surgery and than I lost 26 lbs in the year and a half since the surgery. It was very slow, probably 1 lb every other week or so but it was consistent. After about a year I finally deceided that I was a slow looser and as long as I wasn't gaining it back than the band must be working for me. I know I would've never been able to keep the weight off if it wasn't for the band!