RestlessMonkey

It varies based on many factors. Your surgeon at the initial appt should be able to give you a general time frame. Honestly, it can run from 2 weeks to a year...so just hang in there and your surgeon will let you know! If you just can't stand to wait (I couldn't) call and ask the staff at your surgeon's office. They should be able to give you a rough idea. Good luck!

Go back to your banding doc and tell him what you just told us. He needs to help you. Good luck!

We are 100% sympatico on the camping thing! AND the bug thing.

Wasa my friend...you DO know that this is a lighthearted little non-scientific poll and not a social commentary? I have poor "cred" too. I'd rather not have to worry about money and weigh a healthy rate but that wasn't an option. Besides isn't having a BMI of say 26 considered fat? No one said I had to be 100 pounds overweight to get the "fat" part taken care of. LOL At my height I can get down to 155 and STILL be overweight so from my perspective, rich and fat ain't so bad. You come over, my thin pal, and I'll feed you healthy food that isn't onion rings! And neither of us will camp!

Most of us don't have just a "little cushioning" though.. and if he likes her heavy he should tell her that, instead of making it about her insecurities etc...in other words, making her wish to change seem to be a character flaw. That's not loving. That's controlling. Big diff.

LOL no and I nope I didn't sound prissy I'm actually more likely to be snotty than prissy any day! I understand, but the band is for life and you are very young and will have a long happy healthy one! So a little cake now and then won't hurt you. Note I said "A LITTLE!" BUT I do mean it when I say you have to work it the way it works for you. So good luck and you have a lucky friend, whatever you decide!

Ok it's totally a personal choice of course. We can all use the band as we see fit. I got it so I could be like everyone else...and skinny people eat a little cake every now and then! But we all have to do what is right for us.

Exactly! We're all in this together!

Not sugar free, but an old WW trick is to take a box of cake mix and a diet soda and cook. not really a cake eater (I prefer icing) but I can see if I can find the particulars if you want. They do things like...spice cake and diet creme soda, or orange cake and diet sprite.. no oil no eggs. ? Not sugar free though; I'm sure the mix has sugar in it. Are you still on your post op diet? If not, just have a small piece of the cake you make her, and if you are, you may not be able to have any cake right now...?

I think that what it does is really more for the user than the pouch...gets us back in focus and on task! :thumbup:

Here's the one I got from here.... 5-day POUCH TEST Each day, at least 64 oz of Water Limit caffeine DAYS 1 and 2: LOW CARB shakes, broth, REGULAR OR CREAM OF Soups sugar free Jello SUGAR FREE pudding DAY 3 CANNED FISH, BAKED FISH, eggs DAY 4 GROUND meat, SHELLFISH, LOBSTER DAY 5 WHITE MEAT POULTRY BEEF STEAKS PORK

DONT ORDER!!! It's been posted on here and essentially just gets one back to basics...I THINK it's 2 days liquids and 2 days mushies and then regular food. Let me see if I have it...if not you can post and ask for it!

Many surgeons don't want to take on another surgeon's patient...regardless of the reason. It can be like inheriting someone's mess. However that doesn't mean you can't find a good doc and Parrothead gave you some good leads. :thumbup:

Does this strike you as total hypocrisy? It does me. Don't know him OR you...but I can't help but wonder if he prefers you fat (for HIS ego) and is running this line of BS to keep you that way? Just my 2 cents, for whatever that's worth!

Good for you! I wouldn't think it would matter so much but it does, and as you get closer a little goes a long way. If this fill doesn't do it, keep at it. Proper restriction (the sweet spot or green zone as my doc calls it) is just almost a miracle. Keep us posted how it goes for you!

My surgeon presented several weight loss surgeries. His patients pick; I guess if he feels we aren't suited to a certain type he'd suggest a different one, but he didn't bat an eye when I asked for the band. I LOVE it. Now that I am restricted (Please note that...reread it...NOW THAT I AM RESTRICTED) I am losing well. Before 5/7 of this year though, even my unfailing optimism had almost begun to flag a little. Getting to the proper restriction may be a long process. For me it took 8 1/2 months. ANYWAY actual approval for me with tricare PRIME was 2 days. I went to a seminar 7/25 and had my 1st banding attempt (I messed that one up) on 8/11. Successfully banded 8/29.

Just a point to ponder; the main purpose of the band is to form a small stoma creating an upper pouch separate from your lower stomach, causing you to feel full faster and, because of the delayed delivery of the food from the upper to the lower stomach, keeping you full longer. Until you tighten the band and form that "restriction" the band is just pricey plastic sitting there. Would you put on a belt and not buckle it up? and if you just had it on but not buckled, would you be shocked if it didn't hold your pants up? In a way the band is like that. Proper restriction is a big KEY factor. Once you get it, you'll know. Until you hit it, you may very well struggle. Its only part of the answer, good choices and exercise, not drinking while eating, are all part of the miracle that can happen, but without restriction the rest are just chores to practice. So go get a fill (or two, or more) if you need them. Make the band work.

I don't have the realize band but I know restriction is key to success for some of us. Many who lose from the start will diet and "white knuckle" it until restriction kicks in; I didn't do that and have lost 2/3 of my total loss since my 5/7 fill when I finally experienced "the sweet spot". AND one thing I know; the closer you get to restriction the less fill it takes so the poster who has 7ml in her 9 ml band shouldn't give up. Just keep at it. For me, 1/4 (.25) of a ml made a HUGE difference. That is all it took, once I got close. Hang in there.

Everyone's experience is different. My doc told me, way back at the start, that the goal would be for me to be able to eat ANYTHING post band that I had eaten pre-band, but that I'd eat less and be satisfied longer. Low and behold, that's exactly how it has happened for me. I have not found a single food item I cannot eat. I don't choose certain foods because right now I'm going for the maximum nutrient value and length of satiety, but I CAN eat anything. And at 405 being fat was WAY WAY harder than the band. Sounds to me like you are, at less than one month out, forgetting that you are in a healing stage. You've forgotten to look ahead. The band isn't for everyone but you thought it was for you; I think you're being too hard on it and on yourself. Give you and your band a chance. And guess what? If you meant food was your best friend...it was a back-stabbing beotch. It's not a friend, it's just fuel.

Because of my uric acid levels (never had gout) my doc prescribed a 3-month course of allopurinol prophylactically. Call your surgeon tomorrow.

What actually cuts the heat in things like red peppers is salt. However you don't want to keep the salt shaker handy, either. :thumbup: I live in San Antonio, I still eat really spicy foods, I just don't drink when I do. You really do adapt. I don't know about the heat in other ethnic foods but I'd think you could just tough it out.

As you get restricted it will become easier. Put your beverage away and set a timer if you need to. If you stick to it, it becomes second nature. I thought it would be REALLY hard; it isn't. In fact....my doc says to wait 15 minutes after a meal (all are different in this, as in many things) and I often go an hour or more without even thinking about it.

I was. I thought I'd be his "only" on friday at about 8 am and ended up the hospital couldn't do my surgery until 2 or so (no staff? sounds odd but that's what they said) ANYWAY it was no big deal. I still went home that night. I just slept a little later. What's a couple hours? Nothing.

Makes sense you might stretch it...liquids take up volume and if your stoma is closed or slowed with food, then the liquid will trickle through...but so would food, so who knows? I just know my doc told me not to, and I don't. If you "forget" then move your beverage to another area, or cover it with a plate or something. Personally if I drink while I'm eating it hurts like a son of a gun (I'm well restricted) so I don't.

What you eat when you are trying to lose and what you eat when you are in maintenance are different. And honestly you CAN eat candy. They may not be a good choice for weight loss or nutrition but for many they are slider foods (depending on which you choose). So work the band and your lifestyle the best way for you. If that means spending money on diet candy then go for it. I prefer the occasional bit of the real thing. In fact I ate 1/2 of a fun size snickers tonight. :tongue2: I have done diets where I had to have special or branded items and for me it just wasn't sustainable over the long term. It got to be tedious, in fact. So do what works for you, whether that's Atkins Candy or M & M's. Or ... no candy while you're losing.