RestlessMonkey

I have to say really discuss it with your surgeon and the psychologist. I still stand by the fact that being "stopped" depends on WHAT you eat. Deserts? you can really chow down on those. Cookies? ditto. chips? YES. I know someone said she couldn't but that's rare. I personally can't eat a lot of pizza but many can....especially thin. It really hinges on WHAT you are eating. If you get so restricted that you can't overeat ANYTHING then often you are so tight you can't even get Water or your own saliva down. I am not saying the band isn't great, or that anyone who "binged" would "fail" at it. I'm saying we all overeat in different ways for different reasons. Grazers, for example, don't do as well with the band because you can kind of graze your way all day through a bunch of calories, keeping a slow trickle of food going through a restricted band. It's not a panacea, or a cure all. It's a wonder, but it doesn't work for everyone. PLEASE you bingers, give yourselves the very best chance you can to be successful. Talk to a psychologist and your surgeon...see if you have "head" issues that need to be addressed first (again with the caveat that we are all different...some may need additional intervention, others not) but give yourself every chance on earth to beat your disease. Don't just cross your fingers and think "oh well this HAS to work". It doesn't have to work. It may not. It may. Find out. Good luck to each and every one of you!

PLEASE don't cheat! It isn't worth it. I learned the hard way after cheating on my preop (and not getting the band placed the 1st time!) Post op it is imperative that you let yourself heal. If you eat anything much that needs to be chewed (aside from jello) it causes peristalsis and your stomach churns and moves. You don't feel it, but it happens. This action can rip loose your sutures. Cheating on the post op diet is a major cause of band slippage. Worse, you may loosen a suture but not know you did and have a slip down the road (or erosion) and think "why me" The post op diet is short in the vast scheme of things. Man up and get through it. You'll be proud of yourself, AND...you'll set yourself up for a good band experience. You can do it!

I love my band, too. I think it is a wonder, a miracle. It gives ME control, finally. I don't have to grit my teeth and hold onto that diet mentality. I am just.... me. I eat less, is all. I don't have to avoid any food (except carbonation, which i guess strictly speaking isn't a food) I was your age when I had my surgery. I recovered very fast, little pain, have done well. I wouldn't give up my band for anything

I hear you! I was in nursing school and told everyone...they were all very nice and supportive but it became increasingly odd to NOT lose! :blushing: I just trusted in the process and the band, though (and my last semester I frankly couldn't have cared less. Stress was my name, trying to get through it was my game. If anyone had time to wonder if I'd lost, they weren't going to pass! LOL) But I totally get your point. I really did think about dieting but it really freaks me out. Lots of people are very successful however dieting while they wait for that restriction. The band really works so if dieting just fails you, don't think you've failed. Get your fills as soon as your doc will provide them (I could schedule mine every 4 weeks but he just did not believe in putting too much in each time, although i could have agitated for more and probably gotten it. But I trusted him and here I am restricted and able to eat ANY food. Any. I just don't eat too much of it, which is what he said "we" were aiming for!) Anyway good luck, hang in there. It's a wonderful tool, you did the right thing for yourself!

Smoking can really have a huge impact on how well you do during surgery and afterward for recovery. When we smoke we tend to forget about the carbon monoxide, for example. The last thing you want under anesthesia is for them to have problems keeping you oxygenated. It is staggering how deleterious smoking is, and how not smoking for even a short time can make a huge difference. Smoking also impairs healing. Sorry about that! I used to smoke, 3-4 packs a day! (back when I smoked it was just starting to become, uh, politically incorrect? It was still legal everywhere when I started in 1980) Quitting was really hard for me (I would lie in bed at night and cry I wanted to smoke so badly, and I was so mad I'd ever even started!) but I made it. Eventually you get to where you don't want one at all. I used the patch when I quit in 1995 . Nowadays I think I'd use the patch and chantix in a combo. Quitting smoking is WAY easier than dieting. For example in an office no one ever says "Its Joan's birthday, let's all go out and smoke!" LOL And you can be done with it; we always have to eat. So gather up your courage, get all the help you can, and go for it.

I didn't, but we're all different. My doc believes in slow fills (not aggressive!) and I didn't finally get restriction until March of this year (banded 8/08) . Long story short I needed an unfill and finally 5/7 hit the sweet spot. THAT is when I started losing. Until then, no. HOWEVER....if you want, you CAN diet and lose. Some are in a hurry or for whatever reason don't want to wait for restriction. That is perfectly ok...for them! I learned diets=food obsession for me, and I wanted freedom from thinking about food all the time. So I didn't "diet". I just let it happen for me. That's the beauty of the band, though. We all get to use it the best way for us.

I had surgery fri am, back in nursing school the next tues afternoon (but it was just sitting, no physical stuff). I felt fantastic! I bombed an easy math test though (and I am not a math-phobe...it was simple stuff..and I wasn't "On" anything stronger than tylenol and water) Teacher later quizzed me and I worked all the answers out in my head! She said It was probably just too soon after my surgery. So a caveat...you may think you're doing well and aren't (like drunk people often think they're funnier than they are, unless you're drinking too LOL) I would've preferred having a full week off, but I didn't have the option.

Jachut...I hear you! I don't really WANT surgery and don't mind not "having" to wear closed-heel shoes. I have more birkenstocks than a person should have. I remember the last time we went to Disney World and I outran/outwalked/outlasted everyone with me in my Birkenstocks and they in their fancy sneakers. :blushing: I really would make a great heathen. LOL I truly thought I had plantar fasciitis but that will teach me to self diagnose. I read books, I read online, I read journals (researching for my husband) and couldn't figure out why the things that helped him didn't help me. I too thought heel spurs was just another way of saying plantar fasciitis (easier to spell) but it isn't always. Often, but not always. My dad too had heel spurs and none of the plantar stuff (rolling foot on a can, sleeping in a splint etc) ever helped him either. I guess being heathens runs in families! :confused:

Thanks Deb...I wish mine were caused by plantar fasciitis but it isn't. In fact that's what I thought I had (husband has it) I'm unique, in a bad way! LOL In fact...having to wear the closed heel shoes they required for nursing school is what probably caused my condition to become so darned bad. I've been told to go barefooted as much as possible (so NOT plantar! LOL) which I do...and did. I worked in a casual office for years and usually wore my birkenstock clogs or sandals so I never had any trouble at all. So thanks for your tips; mine really is a bone spur (saw it on the x-ray) and it is aggravating my achilles tendon and my plantar fascia both. I probably will need it removed at some point but for now, as long as I don't bounce on it or wear shoes with heels (all the new balance and custom shoes I got are gone!) I'm good.

I too have a 14 cc band and right now have 7 cc's and am golden. I hit "the sweet spot" finally at 6.5 cc's and lost almost 30 pounds in the 5 weeks between that fill and the one to 7 cc's The last week I found I could eat more and doc said it was because I'd lost so much so fast! Band had loosened (less fat around my stomach) YAY So 7 will hold me for a while...but I've got LOTS of adjustment room left! :blushing:

I don't know what size band you have etc...but I can tell you with 100% honesty that once you finally get restriction and hit what they call on here "the sweet spot" (my doc calls it the "green zone") it is a whole new way of life. I have lost over 1/2 of my total loss to date since 5/7 when I FINALLY hit restriction. I won't diet and use sites like the daily plate because I become so darned obsessed with food. That's not why I got the band. I want to be FREE of thinking about it, not over concerned with it, and when I "diet" I think about food all the time. Now I truly go hours. The first night I realized this I was up very late and around 2 am I thought "Wow something's wrong with my stomach. About then it growled and I thought OMG I"m HUNGRY" LOL sounds so silly, doesn't it? But I'd eaten my meal at 8pm and hadn't even thought about food (or a snack) since then. It had been right at 6 hours! I thought "HALLELUJAH! I'm FREE!" LOL and most days that is the way it goes. If I choose filling nutritious foods for my meals I am not hungry for hours. Makes it easy to pass up the bad stuff. Who eats thinking "I want this so I can be hungry again in an hour" ? No one. It'll happen for you and if you are a good dieter and can diet without becoming a raving lunatic like I do, then just watch your calorie intake . Either way, restriction will most likely change things up for you in a big way.

I think I win the BMI so far (LOL it's nice to be #1 at something) since mine started out at 67.4. I had to diet preop to shrink my liver for a longer period than others, but did not have a "goal" or set amt. of weight I had to lose preop. My doc never tried to steer me to RNY Bypass (he does both surgeries) and is encouraging and wonderful. I just have more to lose than many other bandsters but hey, that was true before I got the band, too. I love my band.

My doc had a chat with me preband. He said the goal was for me to be able to eat ANYTHING I could preband (except to drink carbonated beverages) but be "satisfied" by a significantly smaller portion. He believes in small incremental fills. He said some of his patients have trouble with bread or stringy red meat, but not all. Ok I have 7 cc in my 14 cc band. I was just cutting up and freezing my steak leftovers from last night; I can eat about 2-3 ounces and am FULL. AND guess what? I can eat bread IF I CHOOSE. White bread. Hot dog buns. Hamburger buns. Toasted or not. I have carb control flour tortillas that are high in Fiber and are a staple of my diet. They go down fine. We are all different. There is nothing inherently evil in bread. I just often don't eat it because unlike some I feel better and more energetic if I keep the processed carbs low and eat Protein first, then fill with veggies. One thing I was told...if, after a fill, you have foods you can't eat, wait and revisit in 4-6 months. I've never had that problem yet but will folllow that good advice too. I didn't get the band to eat only 2 ounces of steak per meal, or never eat a sandwich, or never have a pancake again. That wasn't the point. The point was portion control, not making chunks of food off limits for life. Right now while I'm losing it's easy to choose things that fill me up and keep me full for a while. But I know, down the road, if I want a waffle, I can have one. The world won't end. God won't come down and take back my band! You have to have something you can live with. If you want white bread to be part of your diet, try eating it with foods of different texture, and taking small bites. That should break it up and keeping it from becoming a "dough ball" in your pouch. Good luck to you! :blushing:

Honestly, no. I am worried about how I would hold up for the next 20 years without it. It is reversible. If something goes wrong, it can be removed. But if I were dead of a heart attack or stroke from being 405 (or more) pounds at age 60....well, dead is dead. I'm being totally honest here. To me, it was not even an issue. They've been approved in the USA for a while, there are issues with the band, there are MORE issues with obesity. I'm playing the odds.

I agree. I had planned to self-pay and found out literally a week before the seminar that ins would cover it (I had to switch surgeons, in fact. Thank God. I love my doc!) Anyway I decided I was worth the price of a Kia. (shoot, I'm worth a Lexus but the surgery wasn't THAT much!) That's honestly how I looked at it. LOL

Ok...but the staff is a huge portion of the "team". If they are not helpful, then you aren't getting good service. Because the band is just the start, and you DO want a good surgeon. But fills, questions, problems, all are generally handled, at least initially, by the staff. THEY must be as responsive as the surgeon. Sometimes "kind" docs have the staff you've described on purpose, as a kind of "fire wall". I often find it odd that people would think that docs don't have a clue what goes on in their little worlds. I know it CAN happen but it does not happen as often as you'd think. So I'm not so sure that informing your surgeon will do any good but I am sure you should at least try. If they don't improve, you really shouldn't proceed. The aftercare (and access to that aftercare) is what makes the band work. It's like buying a car but being unable to get gas or oil changes. If you can't get the aftercare, the band won't do you any good.

You're safest to call your insurance and ask. For one thing, your bariatric surgeon may not be one in your insurance network. They MAY require you to get it repaired by another surgeon before your band surgery. Call them now! Good luck.

Personally...I want a surgeon who does MY TYPE of surgery. All surgeries (and surgeons) are NOT created equal. The guy who took out my gallbladder (an excellent surgeon) does GALL BLADDERS. My banding surgeon does BARIATRIC SURGERY. He knows what to expect...he knows what emergencies can arise he knows about my AFTER CARE...my fills, my potential problems and how to rectify them. Because he has done over 2000 bariatric surgeries. He hasn't done a single gall bladder. My gall bladder surgeon was doing gall bladders while my WLS surgeon was doing bands and RNY bypasses and duodenal switches. See my point? You want a surgeon who does BARIATRICS. RUN RUN RUN to a different surgeon. S/He should be able to obtain your records (they legally are YOURS) so you won't start at square one. Get one who only does bariatrics, get one with experience in that area. You wouldn't want your gall bladder surgeon to operate on your knee or your heart, would you? Then why pick him for your band? Get a pro, like you did for your gall bladder! Good luck!

Just FYI...fruits (with their natural sugar) have carbs...some have LOTS of carbs. Maybe the doc put you on a "no processed carb" diet? If he said NO CARBS, I'd question the "fruit is ok" thing. Lucky you if you get fruit! I didn't even get veggies with many carbs...I had to stick to green veggies! :blushing:

I agree, it's all in the fill. I could eat large quantities (not as much as preband, but still a LOT) of food until I finally got restriction. When you start to get "filled" you'll see a little bit of sterile saline goes a long way. For example, at 6.0 cc I could still eat normally (a "normal" plate of food for example) and at 6.25 cc I couldn't even eat half as much and many old favorites got stuck if I didn't chew the dickens out of them. So that 1/4 cc (which is a very little bit of liquid...15 cc is a tablespoon) makes a big difference. That "little bit for a big effect" is pretty common for us bandsters! Keep the faith; it will happen for you!

I lost a chunk on my preop diet (32 pounds over 5 weeks) and another 9 during the 2 weeks of liquids post op, but then gained some back as I progressed into solid foods. I didn't really get good restriction until my May 7 fill (miracle!) and did NOT diet during the interim (been there, done that) Since that fill I dropped a good chunk, and then have stalled for a bit (that happens) but expect it to pick back up here at any time. At one year I'll probably have averaged around 1 1/2 pounds a week for year 1.

I'd ask him how long does it take his average patient to really start losing weight/reach good restriction. :blushing:

I'd suggest NOT wearing an underwire bra for another month or so and letting everything finish healing. Just a thought. Three weeks isn't long enough for everything to be back to normal yet.

It's a fine line...just think of a fire. Too much wood can smother it, or not enough wood and it doesn't burn well. Our bodies are like that...we need enough food/energy to get the old metabolism engine running but not so much that it doesn't turn to our stores of fat when needed. I'd think 300 cal a day isn't enough, esp with your exercising. Your engine isn't running smooth. On those low days, I'd add in Protein shakes or some type of food supplement, and if you are so tight you can't drink liquid, get a slight unfill. I am NOT a weight loss pro (although I am a pro at almost any diet, done them all LOL) but this I know...you have got to give the furnace fuel to burn.

If it were me, I'd call the person at my doc's office who does billing and say "My insurance company has directed me to pay only my deductible, which is the same as what your office originally told me to do. So I'm just going to pay that and then I'll pay the balance once it's billed and insurance has settled. I know that will be over a thousand, and I plan to give you a credit card (or whatever you plan to do)" As long as the issue isn't that you CANT pay it but just don't want to pay it too soon, I think that would do the trick! :blushing: