tybalt

First the good news, I was banded on April 25th and have lost 55 pounds as of today. Now the bad news: in the last three days I have not been able to hold down any solid food. I have vomited everytime I tried to eat even mushy foods which I had no problem with previously. Last night, I couldn't sleep at all because of acid leaking out of my stomach and causing me to cough. Today, I have had nothing but liquids; Water, broth and a popsicle. It's now 9:30pm and I haven't vomited, but I still feel pain in my stomach and have a lot of gas. Has anyone gone through this??? Is it a reaction to overindulging during the holidays? I guess I'm looking for advice from other people who have gone through this. I'm going to give it a few more days and if it continues I guess I won't have any choice but to go in for a checkup. Thanks for listening.:help:

I understand why people losing a pound a month might get upset, but why does anyone losing .5-1 pound a week feel like a failure??? Is my surgeon the only one who wants paitients to lose no more than a pound a week?? That and exercise is what will keep us from accumulating layers of skin. My niece lost over 50 pounds on a very restrictive diet over 4 months. She says she never felt happy about the weight loss because of the layers of skin covering her body. It put her in a depression and she's regained the weight. Now with the encouragement and support of her husband she's started on an exercise program and though she assures me she's back to her high weight she looks tighter and slimmer. I've also lost 50 pounds since my surgery, but have been doing it slowly. I also aquasize for an hour a day four days a week and have no problems with loose skin. I weigh myself about every two to three weeks and as long as the scale is going down I'm happy. I just remember how awful it was pre-band when every trip to the scale showed a weight increase. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that many of the people in this group are not slow losers, you're just sensible losers. At least that's my opinion.

I would go to the doctor to get this checked, that's how my awful episode of stomach irritation began. When in doubt, I will go to the doctor from now on.

He prescribed Pantoprazole 40mg. You're right about the experience taking one back to the first few weeks after surger, with the difference that I never felt this kind of pain after the surgery. Let me just add a note for people trying to decide whether to have the surgery; I would still have the lap band, I would just be a lot more careful about following the rules. You can bet I'll be cutting my food into tiny pieces, the doctor said no bitter than a pencil eraser and I'll also be counting my chew, 30.

My doctor has stated several times that he considers 1 lb a week the optimim weight loss. In his opinion it is an easy target to reach and helps the skin slowly restrict so you dont' have to face a body lift once you've lost your weight. And of course regular exercise is very important whether or not you need to lose weight. His opinion is that without adding exercise the weight loss alone gives you very little health benefits.

I absolutely couldn't stand it yesterday, my whole body was aching and I couldn't keep down even Water. I phoned my doctor and got in to see him yesterday afternoon. He took out all my fill and all symptoms ended instantly. I now have to take an antacid medication for a month, stay on liquids for a few days and then go back to the mush diet. I go back for a new fill in two weeks. All this happened because I haven't been absolutel religious about small, tiny bites and chewing. It has taught me an important lesson, for things to work well you have to follow the rules.

I wasn't given an amount to eat. I was told to eat lean protein first about 2 - 3 oz then veg and finally carbs; chew slowly, no drinking during meals and to eat until I got a satiated but not stuffed full feeling. It's working for me, I occassionally have a small snack between meals, but I usually don't feel the need to. I was also told not to go more than 4 hours without eating.

Sleepyjean, been there done that. I still believe one of the reasons I got into the whole overweight mess is because I stopped weighing myself during a prolonged bout of depression, like two years. When I finally got on a scale I was over 200 and the thought of losing all that weight just put me in another depression. I will deal with plateaus, but I don't want to go more than a week without checking my weight.

The band is a friend for the plate and bolts in my leg which were used to put my bones together after I fractured my ankle. :girl_hug:

I lost all taste for fast foods five years ago when I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma. Fast foods are loaded with transfats and transfats are thought to be one of the main causes for the increase in cancers over the last forty years. Since my cancer, I try to stick to fresh food I cook myself. Unfortunately for my weight loss, eating a lot of food, even if it's healthy keeps you fat. One of the things that motivated me to get banded was reading about the benefits of low cal eating espoused by Dr Walford. Countless studies have shown that low cal diets, increase longevity and decrease disease in animals, no one yet claims it does the same in humans, but preliminary studies are pointing in that direction. Fortunately, my cancer was diagnosed in the early stages and I'm (fingers crossed) considered to have a low risk of recurrence. For me, the band is a way of increasing my chances against the big C.

I've been reading up on plateaus because I don't want to despair when I eventually hit one. A lot of fitness experts say that plateaus are what happen when the body catches up with the scale. For example, you lose 15 pounds in 3 weeks, well that's really almost impossible to do, at least not 15 pounds of fat. So that 15 pounds includes a lot of Fluid loss. As your body regains fluid and loses fat, your losing real weight, but it doesn't show on the scale. I hope I've explained that clearly. What you should do when you hit a plateau is divide the total weight you've lost by the number of weeks you've been dieting. To go back to that 15 pounds if you hit a two week plateau after the initial loss, you divide 15/5 and have achieved a weight loss of 3 pounds per week which is much more realistic. Hope this helps. I know I'll be using this formula when the plateaus hit.

I can see Sara Rue's career slimming down along with her size. She looks nothing like she used to. She may become a victim of the Jennifer Grey factor, remember Jennifer she nose jobbed her way out of a career. As for me, I'd love to have a body like Ellen Degeneres, fit and healthy, not too many curves. I don't know why but I'm just not comfortable with cleavage.

Miper70: way to go. I love your thinking.:clap2::clap2::clap2:

sarabluebell, I felt like backing out for many reasons; the two week optifast prior to surgery was really tough for me, I was fighting off the last traces of a flu, and I was scared of the surgery, even though I'd had four previous surgeries which all went well. It was my wonderful husband who talked me through my cold feet stage. Once he read up on the proceedure and after our visit to the doctor, he was convinced the band would be a good option for me, and he was absolutely right. I was banded four weeks ago and I'm back to feeling 100%. I feel terrific and controlling what I eat has never been easier. So come on over and join us, if you can bring your surgery forward, do it, it will save you weeks of agonizing, just my suggestion.

Saying the lap band is taking the easy way out, is like saying taking medication for type 2 diabetes, or high pressure medication, etc. is the easy way out. Gee, we could all diet and exercise our way to health, unfortunately few of us have the stoicism to succeed. I see being overweight and constantly feeling hungry as being as serious as my depression; I take medication for my depression and I have the band to help me control my hunger. These last four weeks since getting banded have been the first time in nine years that I haven't battled hunger pangs and felt like a loser because I always ended up overeating. I appologize to no one for using something which is relatively safe and has already helped me lose 25 pounds. I feel great and I love my band.

I am following the South Beach Diet; it makes the most sense to me and allows healthy carbs in stage 2, which is the long term weight loss stage. My doctor loves the South Beach, he said most health professionals who go on a diet use it. With the band to help with portion control, it's a great way to eat healthy and stay on track with weight loss. I also read recently that plateau's are a natural part of every diet and to expect periods of 1-4 weeks when no weight is lost. The writer claims this is a period of time when the body is looking after other things, liver cleansing etc., and to just continue with your plan and eventually the weight loss will continue. She cautions that people who have a lot to lose 100+ pounds, should expect at least 4-5 plateau periods.

He did have the fobi. If anyone is interested there's a web site that lists some of the stars that have had the fobi. www.cstobesity.com Roseanne also had the fobi, and last time I saw her on TV she looked like she'd gained quite a bit of it back. Oprah did a show about the 500lb lady who had wls after 9/11. The woman stressed that wls gives a person an 18 month period in which to lose the weight after that you're on your own and have to watch what you eat and exercise to keep the weight off. There's a summary of the show on Oprah's web site. The more I hear about the bypass surgeries the happier I am that I chose the lap band.:confused:

I was banded by Dr Mumford, an associate of Dr Coburn, on April 25th. Everything seems to be fine. I had severe nausea the first week, but that has improved. I go for my first post op visit on Monday and will then be on mushies. I hope people give Dr Mumford a try, he is an experienced doctor and I think his waiting times are slightly shorter than Dr Coburn. I was lucky he had a cancellation and was able to have my operation in April rather than having to wait until May 20th. I've lost 20 pounds so far, that's more than I've managed to lose in the last 9 years. Well, if you count the same 5 pounds I kept losing and gaining, I guess I've lost 100 pounds in the last 9 years. :phanvan

Congratulations:clap2::clap2::clap2:. Sometimes I get depressed because I allowed myself to get to 250 before I got banded, but reading about others' successes keeps me motivated. It just means a longer journey, but hey don't they say it's the journey that counts not the destination. As an art teacher, I always say if you don't enjoy the process don't start the project.

Benefibre is a natural source of fibre, or so I believe. So I wouldn't worry about becoming dependent on it, it's no worse than eating a high fibre cereal. I was constipated for three days after my surgery on the fourth day I decide to drink some soya milk and it cleared everything out faster than I wanted it to. Now I know why my dog's breeder said never feed him soya.:omg:

My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday at 11:00 and as the time approaches I'm begining to feel very nervous. Even though I've had several operations already, I hate the idea of having to go into that operating room once again. I guess I just need people to let me know about their experience getting the procedure done and some reassurance that it's not such a horrible experience.

Thanks for all the words of support and encouragement. It is 10:00pm, and I am now an official member of bandland. The procedure went smoothly and the doctor said I had a fine smooth liver, guess those 12 days of Optifast hell did the job.:clap2: The gas pains aren't too bad, not yet anyway, it's the nothing but Water on the first day that has me down. Maybe I'll call midnight tomorrow and have some juice, low acidic of course.

Thanks for the words of support and encouragement. You're a great bunch of people. I'm still nervous but I feel a bit better after hearing about your experiences.

I have my operation scheduled for April 25 and have started my optifast to slim down my liver. It is six o'clock and I'm having a hard time. My stomach is screaming for food and I have a headache and feel light headed. I'm committed to the procedure as I know it's the only way that I'll lose weight. I'm just looking for words of encouragement. Does the preoperative fast get easier? Are there tricks I can use to calm my stomach? Any words of ecouragement are appreciated. :help:

It's nice to know I have so many misery companions, it kind of makes it easier to deal with this. I'm on day four and hubby, the dog, and the cat are still around so I figure I'm doing well. Susan, I don't think doggie mints are on the diet list, no cheating. Mandi, believe it or not I actually like the taste of the Optifast, its chewing real food, and filling my large belly that I miss. But I keep telling myself it's only for another 9 days.