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I haven't been posting much lately because I'm experiencing what I guess would be called bandster hell. I am stuck at the same weight and have even gained a couple back in the last couple of days. I am very busy now and I know I have to have a stricter regimen and routine. I'm a little down and depressed about it but I refuse to fully go there. I'm still happy with my band but I haven't been in a good routine for so long I guess it's harder for me than I thought. Onthego...we were banded the same day. I can't say I have much pain at my port but it does feel like it's not fully healed yet so I'm protective of it. I don't bend over the sink to wash my face as far as I did before and I hold my port. That thing was placed so close to my skin that I'm sure they had to do a good bit to fit it there so I imagine that it will take a while to fully heal. Amanda maybe roll up a towel to place btwn your port and the tub when you bend over to wash the kidlets in the tub . I do that if I quickly wash my hair at the sink and I feel no pressure. Have to protect the port. Dee

Thank you for this. I put off my surgery for close to 3 years because of coming in and reading so much negativity about the band. I am going through a rough time with my band now but I know what I'm doing wrong. I am calling it "bandster hell" because that's all I've heard around here . I still love my band and I have a hope now that I have not had for years. Thanks for keeping it real. Dee

I don't know how I got quoted as saying that but I didn't. I am bored with this subject already . I will never understand why people on the net want to tell others what to say and feel and get into "e" fights. Really, it's not that serious. I was not being unsupportive in agreeing with the post of the person I guess you were trying to quote. When you post a very negative thread to begin with not everyone is gonna come in and agree with you. I don't think the response was snide or unsupportive she was just expressing what a lot of people thought but did not post. I was one of the fortunate ones that had no pain or discomfort after my surgery and I know I was blessed because of that. I did tons of research though before hand and I was prepared for a lot worse. So when I read OP's post I agreed with the comment of the poster. I just happen to feel that 1 week after having major surgery some pain and discomfort is to be expected . I put off my surgery for almost 3 years because of coming here and reading all of the not so good experiences. I see from this thread though that there are many that did not have a good experience and the OP has a lot of sympathizers and persons telling her what she is experiencing is somewhat normal and I guess it is for some. However, it is not everyone's experience. Take heart though I am being punished and the band that I was so happy with at first now has me in "bandster hell" and I'm not so happy but I don't feel like I want out and I don't want my band removed. I know what I am experiencing now is part of the journey for some. As badly as I wanted to wake up after the first month and be down 50 lbs. it's not happening for me. I hope time and experience heals us all and makes our dreams come true. Dee

Congrats Monica, I wish I was down 45lbs. I am beginning to feel that I'll never get there. I feel like I'm just on another diet. I don't feel my band at all. I've noticed during the day I can feel pretty tight but as the evening rolls around my hunger kicks in and I'm not as tight and I'm fighting cravings. I'm not much of a sweet eater but last night I was craving cake. I didn't have any but I hate that feeling. I had a portion of vanilla wafers (8 wafers) but still craving. I feel very frustrated and I'm not happy at all. I'm beginning to wonder if I will really meet my goal. Sorry you had a bad episode Beachbunny. I hate throwing up so I try to avoid that. I have had a stuck episode and it was painful to me also. I felt it all down my back. What to do? what to do?

I didn't think it would be a big deal but I'm finding it very hard. I try to be aware of it but mindlessly I find myself picking up a glass to sip while I'm eating and sometimes I sip to make something that feels like it may get stuck go down. I'm struggling and I think I may be defeating myself. Tonight I don't feel banded I just feel like I'm failing on yet another diet. Dee

Congrats Monica you are doing so well. Keep it up.

So far at my Surgeons office I have met 2 people that have been banded 8 and 8 1/2 years. They are both happy , maintaining goal and have not had any problems to speak of. Dee

Glad things went better for you this time Beachbunny. I had 1.5cc put in at surgery and then the PA put in 2cc at first fill. She says I'm now btwn 3.5-3.8cc so I guess there is a drop or 2 more in there. I feel some restriction now but I'm looking forward to my 2nd fill. The way I'm feeling now I think I may hit my sweet spot sooner than later. Hopefully :smile: Dee

Now I'm craving salad.:smile: I have had one chicken caesar salad since being banded and it went down no problem but that was before my first fill. I managed to eat the whole thing. I may try another one today.

If you sign up online you get no actual materials but you get to use their online trackers and tools and meal plans, recipe finders all that. You may want to consider ordering the WW at home kit where you get a box with all of the current materials . I like that more because I like to have stuff to read and have on hand. I may order a new one so I can get the current info. WW works for me but I was never able to keep it off for long with the band I think I can do it. I always wanted to be a WW leader but I guess now that I'm banded I can't do that. Oh well!!

I agree with this view to a degree. I'm newly banded so I can't speak from much experience but I found out that I did have 1.5 cc put in my band at surgery. I was hungry as the time for my next fill came up but I did have restriction with just that little bit of Fluid. I did have my 1 stuck incident before getting my next fill at this point I'm just a little over 3.5cc and I can barely eat anything not to a serious degree like not being able to eat healthy things but I find that eating very little has me full. I don't know about Sara but I would think that she does have at least a little restriction from the band. I'm not a surgeon but I would think that having the band placed around the top of your stomach w/o any fluid will make you full on a little less from just that. I have read on here and seen people on Youtube lose most of their weight with little to no fill. I don't know if she likes it I love it good for her. ElfiePoo...there is a big difference btwn 7cc and 8.5 maybe somewhere in there would give you your sweet spot. I've read and heard that even taking or adding .1cc makes a big difference. Congrats on what you've done so far.

Congrats to you Shadena!!! I am so happy for you. When I get to 180 I will be over the moon. If you have that energy you will be 180 in no time maybe in the next 2 weeks or so. I need a great energy supplement. Does anyone know of any? I want to exercise harder but I don't have much energy at all. Dee

I think you're doing great to lose 70lbs in 5 months is awesome. This site is great but one problem I see including for me is that we can get caught up in what someone else is doing and eating and think we should be able to do or eat that too. Your band is yours and you don't sound like your suffering you sound like your doing great for you. Your not doing anything wrong because its working great for you. I read of some of the things some eat here and I haven't tried it and I don't want to. Maybe later I will though. Some won't eat what I eat ,like today I had a pc. of ckn .wing because I was out and felt so hungry so I stopped at Popeyes. I had 2 drumette pcs and the flat pc whatever that's called. It took me a couple of hours to eat that but that's ok as long as I'm losing I'm Ok. I have a long way to go so I can't torture myself.

Inquiring minds want to know. How do you know that? Like I said in another thread because WLS is more mainstream now every time someone loses a significant amount of weight from now on it's going to be assumed they had surgery. Did she admit that she had it? I wouldn't be surprised if she did but I don't want to be that skeptical and jaded yet. Dee

I'm having this sensation too. I only have as my PA says 3.5-3.8c in my band but I am satisfied with much less food now. Before my fill I could eat a whole sandwich made with a flatout wrap . I tried to do that last night and I had to take my ham out of the wrap it was going down really hard. the cold cuts I have are 50 cals for 3 slices so I tried to just wrap 2 0f those up this morning with a 1/2 slice of swiss cheese each. The 1st I shared with my dog and the second I just took a couple of bites and I was done. I'm down about 3 lbs since my fill. We'll see how this goes. I'm wondering if my restriction will ease up soon which I'm expecting. No one hits their sweet spot so soon, right???!!! Dee

Yes and I wish I had known about it years ago.

Very nice Katy. I just checked you out and subscribed. I also follow BandedWendy, Skymoon1982 and anume1109 and Blakkandi. They have all reached goal but looking back at their old vids is very inspiring to me. I was looking for someone new to follow that's currently in the fight. Your channel is layed out very nicely too. I have a channel but I'm so not tech savvy. I haven't even figured out how to post a pic on there yet. Oh, there is another lady on here that has a channel her screen name is Moo but on youtube you can find her as creamymoo.

I asked the nutritionist ystrday too. She said no WW. Just concentrate on the Protein and veggies and eating healthy. She said that you won't be able to eat that much anyway. She also said to stop the Protein shakes and to concentrate on getting my protein from real food. I don't see the harm in following the plan if you need to though for some structure. I think I may do that. However, after having a fill ystrday I'm only at 3.5cc but I'm really not hungry. I'm expecting that feeling to go away soon though.

Wow, that's deep. Who exactly is this Dr. Lucky? Obviously , you're very hurt and I wish I could say something to console you. Maybe someone else will have more words of wisdom. One thing I know for sure though is that "what goes around comes around " just give it time. Wishing you the best.

Because WLS is so out there now. I think from now on anytime somebody loses a significant amount of weight people are going to suspect they had WLS. She's in her 20's. When I was in my 20's I could lose weight in a flash and look dramatically different too. I believe that she did do WW but if I find out otherwise I would not be surprised. Why not? I wish I had known about lap band years ago. I would have done it back then and it would have saved me years of hurt, embarassment, self loathing and low self-esteem. So I say more power to all of them. Dee

congrats!! I know that felt soooo good. Dee

Thanks Monica....what you have is exactly the way I want to feel. I don't want to have a nagging hunger like I've had these past couple of weeks. I just want to go on about my business and look up and not be worried about stuffing my face. If you're not hungry until 3 or 4 it's probably body hunger and then if you eat a small quantity and are satisfied I think that's good. I may be thinking wrong but for right now while I want to actively lose that's the feeling I want to have. You had your fill almost a month ahead of me and you're still not feeling hungry so I guess a 6 week period is good. I'll see how my body adjusts to this 1st fill. Laurie ...the weekends are hard for me too. We have a busy social life and most weekends we get invited out for dinner or whatever. Last weekend we were invited to a picnic but I did pretty good. I ate a bite of this and that. They had wine I had none so I didn't feel bad and I didn't feel deprived . After that we were invited out to dinner (I know!!) but I ate a small pc of ckn and about 3 shrimps and a couple pcs of calamari and about 3-4 fries and some salad and I was good. I think the nutritionist was off too. I'm going to count points until I have good restriction and then take it from there. We will keep losing. I'm not worried , none of us should be we're all doing well. Dee

When was your last fill? if you don't mind. Are you hungry?

Well time will tell. The first surgeon I chose , Dr. George Fielding said that if you see a person lose a good amount of weight and they keep it off most likely they have had WLS. Of course, not every WLS patient keeps their weight off but they have a better chance than someone who loses "on their own" with the help of a personal trainer a chef and Whatever else.