lellow

Pineapple juice may help with reducing the swelling, if you can get some of that. I've heard the same of papaya enzyme. If you are looking for something to help relieve the discomfort, I'd suggest maybe try one of those two and see how you go. Good luck.

It can take a fill a few hours to kick in as it swells. If you can't drink, you probably need to go back and have a little bit taken out just to ease that feeling a little bit. It might just be that they went a little too much too fast.

I have a lot of tattoos, and the ones I had before weight loss generally just shrunk along with me, especially the ones on my arms and legs. I did have a couple that were on my tummy (over a lot of stretch marks from pregnancy, not just weight loss) that kinda looked saggy and weird once I lost the weight, but I blame that more on the fact that the skin was all stretched out. When I had my body lift they were cut away with the excess skin anyway. I have pics in my gallery if you want to have a look at some of my tattoos before and after.

Make an appt. There is nothing stopping seeing your Dr if you feel like your need to. Discuss why you think you need another fill and the both of you can work it out.

Lost my boobs first. And my butt. My tummy and double chin were the last to go. Kinda sucked to be me! My thighs NEVER really lost and looked thinner. But I have since had a boob job, and on Monday I get lipo for my tummy and my thighs, so screw you, body shape! lol!

I read it a few days ago (being from Australia) and I agree it's spot on, and one of the reasons why on one hand, while I've always told my daughter that her worth has nothing to do with what she sees in a mirror, I've also had to explain why I underwent WLS, and plastic surgery. In the end, though, it was actually two sides of the same thing, I just didn't know it. The WLS made me think about ME and stopped me putting myself last and self-deprecating. Losing weight made me focus how my outsides never changed the person I was on the inside, and I think that's a GOOD lesson if done right. I am talking about myself in more positive terms now, and it's not because I'm thinner, it's because I've learnt to actually love myself in the process of all this.

You look great! I'm so not a gym person so I'm in a bit of awe of anyone who ends up living at the gym. Even now, most of my exercise is incidental! Do you lift?

I know the pain sucks SO much. I was miserable (and I did the band surgery TWICE!). But 2 months out, I can say, I don't regret it, even though I really did in that first week. It's tough when you're going through it but it does get better, I promise. Just take it one day at a time. And every time you think of falling off the wagon, remember what you went through to get the band and kick your butt into following the rules!

I promise you all in not very long the swelling will go down and then you'll miss feeling full all the time because you'll be ravenous! This stage is the hardest, the time between surgery and starting to get fills. It happened to everyone!

Ummm maybe not the first fill. It's possible if you're lucky. I took a fair few fills to get to the point where it was the band helping me lose instead of me doing all the work. But the good news is if you do the work, once the band does kick it it will help you lose faster and keep it off!

I have dark skin so I know how you feel. My scars go brown instead of fade. But as someone who rocks a bikini (often) I can tell you not ONE person has ever mentioned my scars, and if they did, I'd tell them they're looking at all the wrong things! Having said that, I've since had tattoos on my tummy to cover my body lift scars, which were massive. There are ways you can works with having scars, I think, but honestly I think the little ones from the lapband op aren't so bad and I would warrant a guess than only you would be conscious of them.

One thing I want to say, and not in an alarmist way, is that even if you follow the guidelines, it is possible to fail. That is one fallacy I need to point out as untrue. Some people don't ever get the right restriction, for some people the band exacerbates health issues, and for others, the band fails (and I should know, I have experienced band failure in the form of a leak - this is NOT something that is caused by patient non-compliance). The GOOD thing about the band is that you have options to try to resolve issues. If you have health issues and these are picked up quickly enough, unfilling may help. If you have band failure, you can get a replacement band. But the band can also be frustrating, high maintenance and requires more input (I believe) from the patient than other WLS. As for hunger, in my case, when I'm in the green zone I lose all hunger. I am actually choosing not to seek out being in the green zone again (after replacement band surgery) because I want the balance of being able to eat relatively normally and still maintain my weight, and yet, as of this morning, I'm still losing. I've dropped another lb in the last week since my last fill, and it's simply because I'm eating less and it's keeping me full for longer already, but without the potential for stuck episodes or not being able to eat certain things. And lastly, I got to goal in 7 months, maintained for 3 years with the band, and the minute the leak happened, my hunger returned and I started to gain. I eventually managed to arrest the weight gain and even lose a little just prior to getting my band replaced but damn, it was bloody hard work fighting hunger all the time. So I cannot imagine, despite my success to date, being able to maintain easily without the band. Nor do I want to.

I like that your doctor told you that. Many don't explain that after you come off liquids and before your first fill, gaining can be completely normal. This time really is for healing, so be kind to yourself!

Just think of all the years to come where you'll be swanning around with your more healthy self able to eat pretty normally if you give up just this ONE day.

Work on your mindset prior to getting your band. Know that the band will help you feel fuller for longer, but start from now to work on your fear of loss for the foods you think you'll never eat again (you will, just less of it!), and to recognise when you're really hungry instead of bored, or stressed, or just want to use it to feel good. Try to stop thinking of food as some sort of golden reward, because you get to eat 3 times a days at least for the rest of your life, so food will always be there. Taste your food, enjoy it, but remember that you don't have to be full in order to stop being hungry, or satisfied.

I have no doubts that you will likely gain after an unfill, especially if you were barely eating beforehand. But what I also believe is: You CAN get back in the green zone and you CAN slow, cease weight gain and eventually lose while unfilled if you really want to. It's harder to do than when with the help of the band but it can be done. So don't throw your hands up and give up.

I am committed to me being my best. This means I will not: - Reward myself with food. I love food, and I love beautiful tasting food, but it's not a reward, I am not a dog. I have to maintain a healthy relationship with food, which means I can enjoy it without it being the centre of my life. - Forgot that that for most people, achieving 'fullness' at every meal is not their goal. This is something I realised just recently. My partner is not a big guy, and he stops eating when he's no longer hungry. I have spent my whole life stopping only when I'm full. This is a FUNDAMENTAL difference between us, and the reason I have struggled with my weight all my life. But not any more. - Tell myself I don't have time. If I can find time to be there for others, I can find time to be there for me. Whether it's exercising, sitting on the couch reading a book, or just doing what I want to do instead of what someone else wants to do. In this way, I nourish myself and allow myself to be a better person for everyone around me. - Focus on being skinny instead of being healthy. This is important - I got to a BMI of 21 at one stage, and my ribs were showing and my hip bones stuck out. I had no muscle tone to speak of. That's not healthy. My BMI is 24 now and I get sick less, I feel strong, and I feel womanly. My body fat percentage is lower now than when my BMI was 21. I was so focussed on losing, I was losing sight of why I did this, which was to be healthy. - Hate my body. It has borne 4 beautiful kids, and my eldest is now 23 and watching how women hate their bodies and themselves in the process. That's not a lesson I want my daughter to learn. I have parts of me that I don't like, that's just human nature and it's silly to pretend I could stop doing that, and that's actually ok in small doses, but I will not hate my whole self. I am beautiful, whether I was big or small, and I am the same person on the inside. And I will value that, even if society may not (yet). - Compare myself to others. This is part of the above point too. Envy is a nasty, self-destructive thing. "I wish I was younger, prettier, smarter, thinner, richer". I now say "I want to be happy" and to do that, I need to stop hurting myself by wishing my life away and not seeing the things I should be thankful for. - Sit by and do nothing. Counting my blessings doesn't mean I just sit by crying into my soup about the things in my life that make me unhappy either. I change what I can if it's important to me, don't change what isn't important and accept what I can't change. And know that no one is responsible for my happiness but me. I'm writing this because in the last few years these ideas have formed in my head but I've never said them out loud in one place. Yet I think it's important for me now to see it in black and white. And while it's not just about me being a lapbander, but a person, I thought that this was a good place to put it.

I've made the decision (and it was an easy one to make) that I'm no longer aiming for a specific weight but a specific body fat percentage, which for me, is a goal of 15%. Some background - when I was losing, I got a little bit addicted to it. I eventually got down to a BMI of 21 and a BFP of about 22%. At a weight of 118lbs, I was 'skinny fat'. I now weigh 144lbs or 27lbs more than my lowest weight and I have a BFP of 19%. I know what I'd rather be! I've broken that mindset that skinny is what I want to be any more. I want to be healthy, that was my first motivation and it will continue to be henceforth. Which is why I now want to monitor my BFP and get rid of my scales forever. So I was doing some research and I found the following info: Essential Fat: women 10% - 13% Athletes: women 14% - 20% Fitness: women 21% - 24% Average: women 25% - 31% Obese: women 32% + Essential Fat: men 2% - 5% Athletes: men 6% - 13% Fitness: men 14% - 17% Average: men 18% - 24% Obese: men 25% + It says my current BFP is in the athletic range for women, which is great but I know I can do better. So I'm looking for fellow bandsters now to support each other through getting to a goal BFP instead of concentrating on the scales. Newbies or vets, it doesn't matter, if you need motivation and someone to help and cheer you along, I'm your girl. Anyone else with me?

I would say that the 4lbs your lost when you couldn't drink water was not fat but water. If you're still too tight to eat solid foods, you probably need MORE out. Despite what a lot of people think, being too tight will not help you lose weight. Being JUST right means you can stay full on a small amount of solid food for up to 4 hours and have enough energy to exercise as well. You can't live on protein shakes and little nibbles of protein bars.

Had 8.5cc in a 10cc band with my last band. Now with a new band, I'm topping out at under 7cc.

I get a side stitch sometimes when I've eaten too much. Cut your portions down, eat slower, allow yourself to feel satisfied sooner. I don't know for sure, but I choose to treat that 'stitch' as a warning signal, like when your car is running hot. You don't want to wait until your body is sending you warning signals. And I get those even when I'm not in the green zone. I think it's more about the WAY I'm eating than whether the band is well restricted.

I won't lie though, I thought the title was a bit off tangent, myself, but I do think you gave us the opportunity of providing context. I actually think that is article is a timely reminder to everyone that they need to fully disclose their medical history, including the fact that they have the lapband or any other medical issue that may impact their overall health, when seeing a physician. You're not a doctor, don't think you know better as to what it might be. Give them ALL the information so that they can make an most educated and informed decision for you.