lellow

Lol I just realised I sounded like this 'small fill' evangelist! I did not mention that I too have been overfilled and it SUCKS. Which is how I started to understand that my first doctor (from before moving states) was right when he said he was going to take it slow. Never had an overfill episode with him ever, and we found the green zone easily that first time around. Since then, new doctoir, bigger fills = more overfilled episodes. So just trying to impart the lesson I learnt so others don't go through the to and fro of feeling that the green zone is so hard to find. Small fills may feel like a pain in the behind but there is great reasoning behind it.

I'm going to put this out there: It's easier to find the green zone with smaller fills. It may take longer but the chances of pushing PAST it is lessened by heaps. I'm not talking about you in particular but I see the same type of post regarding overfills all the time so thought I'd mention that here. That they had to take more out than they put in because your stoma had become so swollen actually set you back. And you were miserable as well! Finding the green zone takes patience and faith that you will get there.

A barium swallow helps to show if the band placement is good. It can show the level of restriction too but 'it looks good' is very subjective, does that mean the swallow went down easy? Slow? What? Erosion can only be detected by GI. A leak can be detected via a CT scan or via complete withdrawal of all Fluid about 3 months in between (this is important especially to detect a slow leak). There are many things your doctor could do to get to the bottom of this, and throwing their hands up and giving up is a piss poor response from him, if I do say so myself. You may have something as simple as a small leak in your tubing that could be fixed my day surgery, for all he knows. I had a slow leak. Which meant I never retained restriction beyond a day or so after being filled. It took 15 months, multiple tests, many withdrawls of all the fluid in my band and two port replacements for them to realise it was my band itself that was leaking. Even the CT scans didn't show up the leak, it was so slow. When it became apparent what it was, I had the option of a new band or a sleeve. I got a new band in April this year. It's now restricted, I'm maintaining EASILY and back into the bandster lifestyle. Do not give up. I was so frustrated I was often in tears. But I would not be fobbed off, and I would not let them off with just ignoring my issue. It was NOT all in my mind, and I insisted they take me seriously. If you need to chat, feel free to PM me.

For a lot of us, hunger is something we will struggle with until we get the right restriction level. I was hungry ALL the time too before I got some restriction, and for me, it took a LOT of fills. This is not unusual at all. In fact it's so common, you can bet your last dollar many thousands have been through this before you. Eat well, eat bandster portions, look for satisfaction (no longer hungry) rather than fullness, eat low cal, high quality food (whole, hard proteins) and exercise. You will get to the point of feeling restriction and it will get easier, but use this time to build good foundations for long term weight loss/maintenance. Bandster hell is a GREAT time to analyse the way you've eaten previously and make changes for long term good health that will stay with you the rest of your life.

There is a post on here about that very thing. There are very valid medical reasons why you need to follow the post op instructions to the letter. I'll find it for you. Here it is: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/175029-starting-over-after-almost-dying-twice-and-gaining-back-150-pounds/ It's scary but it should be. You can do serious damage to yourself by not following your post operative instructions.

yeah was the same for me. The first time I even FELT the band was at 6.5cc. I was beginning to think that they cut me up but didn't put anything in. But they did and the day came when a fill actually made me feel something. It still took up to 8.5cc to get to the green zone for me though. As for the leak, I knew something was wrong because I had had great, quite constant restriction for 3 years at 8.5cc and then lost all restriction. I couldn't feel the band at all again. They removed all the Fluid from my band and I only had about 4cc in my band instead of the 8.5cc they put in. AND then it took 15 months to resolve the leak because leaks (especially slow ones) can only be defected if you don't have any fills and then come back months later to find that some fluid has disappeared from your band. So attempts to fix the leak failed twice before I finally got a full band replacement in April this year. Having said that, though, leaky bands are not common and that's why I say if you can't feel anything right now, it is almost certainly because you need a higher level of fill and you just haven't gotten close to that level yet. I seriously doubt it's a leak.

Oh lord can I relate. All the people who were banded with me got restriction early and started losing. Me? I had to diet like all hell and exercise like a demon to lose half the weight they were losing. I felt like I'd never get to that 'elusive' green zone. Why was it so much harder for me??? But the funny thing is that the eating habits and exercising that I did helped me lose most of my weight before I even got to green zone. Once I did get there (8.5cc in a 10cc band) it became EASY. To lose the rest, to keep losing past goal, and then to maintain for 3 years because I had learnt the good lessons about how to eat and how to keep active. And on average, my 'slow' loss was actually about 10lbs a month on average. Less to start with and more as I got fitter and I felt the effects of the band with my later fills. I lost 70lbs in 7 months, but if you told me that in the beginning I wouldn't have thought it was possible. Yes it's different for different people but it doesn't mean it's a bad different. It's just different. Hang in there.

I worry when any provider tells you they want to get you tighter so you will start losing. It's a fine balance and finding the perfect spot means NOT being too tight. Tighter is NOT better. If you're only eating fruit bars and broth you're too tight. This is a chart that tells you where you should be. Being too tight not only slows your weight loss (or halts it completely) but can damage you.

There you go Luka! The best way to deal with getting stuck is to revert to liquids so your stoma can heal. Continuing to irritate your stoma can actually damage it in the long run.

Restriction changed for me every time the band was unfilled, so don't worry about the numbers, just concentrate on how it makes you feel and how well you're working with it. Also the swelling that occurs after a fill may settle in a few days and you might start to feel less restricted, so my suggestion is if you do, maybe do itty bitty fills from now on just to 'perfect' the fill level that will right for you.

Good luck. It sounds like you're going into this with your eyes open and I think that's a great start. At a BMI of 35, which others may not think was that heavy, I felt heavy. And in hindsight I never realised how much it impacted on my life. As long as you have realisitic goals, understand the fight you will have with your food demons and are prepared for them, I expect you will be successful where you haven't been able to be before. Isn't that all that every bander wants?

I didn't feel my band until I had 6.5cc in my 10cc band. Some people just need more fills. Between fills, try to stay on program. It's hard when you're hungry but it can be done. Think of the end game, what you're trying to achieve, and stay on program. Having said that I had 3 years of green zone and then suddenly lost all restriction. I had a leak. So damage is possible but I would say so early in the piece it's far more likely that you just aren't at the right fill restriction yet.

dawalsh, when I used to track calories while my band was leaking, yes I used MFP. I found it the easiest to use of all the apps around, but to be honest calorie countring was not fun for me. When my band is working, I don't count calories. I have a pretty good grip on what's 'good' food and I try to keep my diet to whole foods (minimise processed foods) so generally I just let my band tell me how much to eat, I try to eat well, and I lose/maintain that way. The reason I suggested that the OP count calories for a while is that I find that many things that are marketed as 'healthy' are in fact calorie-laden, full of sugar or increases hunger (like sugar substitues) so for someone who can't figure out why they're not losing, it can actually be a great way to learn about which foods they should avoid and to not listen to the marketing.

Haz is right, don't increase time, increase intensity. You should be sweating like all hell to get a good fat burning workout. Weight training is important for long term maintenance too. Muscle = increased metabolism. And one thing we do as lapbanders is eat less which in turn can compromise our metabolisms. So cardio is great for weight loss, but muscle is great to keep it off. The sooner you start strength training, obviously, the better your metabolism will be.

This last 0.1cc fill has certainly made a difference, yes. You don't need big fills to get to green zone, you just need the right level of fill. Doing small fills gives you a better chance of finding it instead of going past it.

That was a truly brave story, and I won't lie, I had moments too in my time where I was convinced that the tighter my band was, the better I would do. There are lots of really ingrained ideas that we get as overweight people that actually sabotage us, e.g. we should lose the weight at any cost, not eating at all is better than eating healthily, fast weight loss is what we look for, and anything less than that is failure. I do think that it's why support places like LBT is so important. Because if you want to, you can find people who have had success by following the lifestyle that you're supposed to live with your band, the lifestyle that won't cause you damage in the long run. It took me a while to get it, but when I realised that a super-tight band was counter-productive (and in fact could be dangerous), when I realised that if I wanted to lose, eating well while exercising was the best way to do it, and when I realised that all the band did was help with your physical hunger, that's when living the band life became easier. It was people on this very forum who taught me all those things, and for that I'm grateful, and probably why I've hung around this place on and off for the last 5 years like a bad smell. I really applaud you for telling your story with so much honesty. The band can be dangerous with misuse, as your story clearly attests to, and I'm sorry that you suffered as a result. I wish you all the very best for your start-over, I for one believe you can do it this time without any further damage to yourself.

ChicagoRose is right. I have times where I feel like I can eat anything and other times I'm tight, usually at TOM or if I'm a little dehydrated (when it's hot or I'm just not drinking enough). And if I'm tight and I try to eat something that will stick, I'm guaranteed to be tight for a few days because I've aggravated the stoma and there's swelling. If I keep trying to eat solids while the swelling is present, it will stay aggravated and suddenly it feels like I'm constantly tight, when in fact it's just staying swollen. This is what I sometimes think happens when people get 'suddenly tight'. Expect that there will be times in the month you may be tight. When those times roll around and something sticks, baby the band with liquids, then mushies for a couple of days before trying solids again. And if none of the above applies in your case, then I'd go back and discuss this with your doctor.

I find tattoos on men sexy too, but funnily enough most of my long term relationships have been with men who have no tattoos. My first husband and I got our first tattoos together, and I started to outstrip him in a matter of years. He was the only one of my LTR that had any tattoos. And bayou, I don't like chest tatts either. If others like them, awesome, but I wouldn't get any on my chest. I like the unadulterated expanse of cleavage!

Good luck, I wish you well! I know some people are perfectly capable of losing and keeping it off, I'm just not one of them. I hope you are!

I have never personally heard of food intolerances being related to the band. The band itself does not alter the composition of your stomach, so I would assume that it would not make you intolerant to certain foods that you weren't ALREADY prone to be intolerant too. My partner, who is not banded, has developed gluten and lactose intolerances over the last couple of years, at 41 years of age, and imo, that is more related to the changes in the way that wheat is grown (GMO) and milk is processed (permeates etc) than his body changing. If you have intolerances, these may be a more likely cause than the band, imo. But that's my non-medical opinion.

I have a lot. I can't remember how many. Also if you blend one tattoo with a couple of others, does it make it one tatt or 3 tatts? I think in terms of how many distinct times I've been tattooed, it would be maybe 40? My latest one is my favourite. It's a tattooed mermaid that covers most of my left outer thigh, but seeing as it's NSFW (she's topless), I won't post a pic of it in here. It's in my gallery if anyone is interested. I have just paid a deposit on my next tattoo. I have a pic of my son coming out of an egg on my right arm, but have gotten an AMAZING realistic tattoo artist who will convert that to a half sleeve. I have to wait til Febuary coz of his waiting list, but unlike when I was young, I am VERY happy to wait to get a first class tattoo these days, especially as I don't have a lot of bare skin left!

I think WLS should be a last resort, so if you believe you can do this on your own, I say go for it! For me, I certainly had the will power to stay on the pre-op diet. I had the will power to lose before my band was restricted, I lost all my weight and kept it off. But when my band started leaking I gained 35lbs so easily that it shocked me. I lost 15 of those pounds without the band's help leading up to my band replacement and did question whether I needed to have my band replaced at all. I did though because for me, keeping the weight off with the band is MUCH easier. I like not fighting hunger. When my band was leaking, I was still eating well and avoiding junk (or I would have gained FAR more than 35lbs in a year) but the weight slowly crept back on nonetheless just because my portions got bigger. Now I don't have to work to not gain/keep it off because the band helps remind me what my portions should look like.