2muchfun

I can gain 5 lbs of Water simply by eating too many processed carbs, sodium or a combination of both. Look at what you're eating? If it's high in processed carbs and sodium, that's the villain. It can still be low in calories but excessive simple carbs and sodium can make you retain water. 12 lbs in one month is a lot and you may have lost a lot of excess fluids last month and now you're retaining fluids? tmf

First, your doctor should have given you a program to follow? You should follow his dietary plans. If not, click on this link and go to page 24 for a list of items that Peachtree suggests. Good luck! http://www.peachtreebariatrics.com/docs/Gastric-Band-Patient-Manual.pdf

It may take over 6 fills before you feel enough restriction to feel satisfied with less food. It took me 3 fills before I started to feel a little restriction and 6 fills to reach my green zone. Meeting with your nutritionist is very important. My 3rd fill and a meeting with my nut started me on my journey.

Chili Con Carne is a slider food. It's one of those foods that usually pass through the stoma with ease. Try eating fish, chicken or ground beef and see if you feel any restriction or early satiety? I didn't feel restriction till fill #3(4 months out) so hang in there.

Working fine for me today!

I remember when I made my mental commitment and how thrilling the whole thing was but how darn long it takes to get to the point where you start shedding the lbs. Congrats!

I especially love this comment. I think I knew it all along but denial helped me avoid facing my addictions. Do you also find that foods that you used to love now taste bland? I once loved hamburger helper doctored up with fried onion crisps, jalapenos and extra cheese. I had it about a month ago and ugh! Not going back to that again. Back to Salmon and salad. tmf

For me it was feeling satisfied with eating less food from the git-go. With each fill I felt I could eat less and I was fine with that. Then, the 3rd fill and some foods struggled to pass through my pouch and stoma. I've always equated getting food stuck as a sign my band is doing it's job but I'm not following the rules. This is a signal for me to slow down, chew more, and that, to me is restriction. BTW-It took 3 more small fills for me to find the green zone. tmf

If you feel like you've learned over the last 5 years regarding how to eat nutritious and healthy foods you may do just fine? I sometimes wonder how I would do now that I've fallen in love with veggies and fruits if I had to have my band removed? If you have insurance or the financial means you might look at the sleeve? Seems to be the WLS of choice for revisionists? I usually agree with Guy but not this time? This forum is the place to tell all how you were successful and why you weren't? Most slips are unexplainable but sometimes there are reasons for a slip and if a bandster can educate us all as to why or how it happened, it could prevent someone else from making a mistake? Quite often it's something as simple as a stomach flu where violent vomiting is the culprit. At any rate, sounds like you were once successful so I'm confident you'll succeed with or without your band.

I lost 12 lbs(5.5 kg) the first 2 weeks and then nothing the next 14 weeks so imo, you're doing very well.

Nausea can be overwhelming after surgery and a 2 hour drive aint gonna help? Although, one day later could be even worse. Usually right after surgery you're so medicated you won't feel a lot of pain and 24 hours later reality could set in. Or, you could be like me and I went back to work(I work from home) in my office the same day and never really had any pain, nausea or discomfort. We all react differently to anesthesia, gas, pain meds etc. I would say that if you get out early enough, go for it but have a back up plan to stay in a hotel between the two cities just in case?

#4-Insurance will pay if there's a bariatrics rider on the policy. If not, probably not. Also, after care is as important as the surgery itself. Make damn sure you have a safety net in the city you move to or you could be very disappointed. We've seen dozens or hundreds of posts from folks who moved and couldn't find a fill doc or the practice wasn't as supportive as the original doctor. There are few doctors who want to take on the responsibility of caring for a patient they didn't operate on. There's not much money in lapband surgeries and even less in fills. tmf

No veggies bother me as long as I follow the rules. I've been stuck on some apple peels, peach peels a few times.

Voyeur

No problem for me today.

I liked this presentation. We all see these very same issues posted here on the forum often.

Let us know how that goes? I wonder the same thing now that I believe I know how this nutrition vs. weightloss/weightgain works.

Wow. That's odd to imagine a band migrating so far? You gonna go it alone now or sleeve, new lapband?

Not so far. What happened to cause your slip and did they empty your band to let it re-locate itself?

BTW-I still follow the old rules to an extent. And I believe new banded patients follow the old rules simply because learning to eat slowly and small is so hard for many of us in the beginning and adding water to the meal is just too tempting. I sometimes will have a glass of wine or a beer with my dinner and sip occasionally. But it's just too difficult to have one little bite, chew, chew, chew, wait one minute, sip and start all over again. That takes too much time so I'll drink before I eat and maybe a few minutes after a meal. I'd say I follow the rules about 80% of the time especially for breakfast and lunch. jmo

Keep in mind this guy(in the topic video) had a gastric bypass surgery and isn't a lapband patient. His video may have been what was accepted back a few years ago but Dr. Paul O'Brien has his own visual that explains how the band works for his patients:

Like Missy said, Lapband profits are much smaller than other WLS methods. The lapband is also more time consuming after surgery and may not be profitable for some docs? Doctors are human too and moving towards more profitable procedures in this high cost healthcare environment could be a wise move for their practice. And don't discount that your doctor may be right and is advising you correctly?

Eating too much food does not automatically stretch or dilate your pouch. Seems like some of us have very little feeling in our upper stomach and esophagus. Since food passes through your stoma within a minute or less, you could conceivably eat 2 or more cups of food as long as the food was band friendly and passed through the stoma. If you fail to chew properly and eat too fast you could pack your pouch and esophagus with too much food causing them to dilate. But, for most of us, that would be a very painful stuck episode. That's why I say I believe some patients can't feel that uncomfortable feeling that most of us feel when we eat poorly. I can't imagine I could dilate my pouch without a lot of discomfort and pain. jmo

So, I looked up 5 and 20 cent AU diameters. For we here in the states, that equates to approximately 3/4 in diameter filled, to 1 1/8 in unfilled. Can we assume you mean the band itself has an opening the size of 5-20 depending on how filled it is? But, to visualize this would also mean we have to include the thickness of our own stomach lining which will be different for all of us? Folds within the stoma also complicate the equation? Stomach lining thickness must equal about 5-10 millimeters which would leave the stoma on an unfilled band at approximately 2/3 inch. Not a lot of room for food to pass is it? Sorry for over analyzing this but I like to have a mental picture of what the heck is going on down there.

That can't be you? You're younger skinny sister maybe? You must be proud and accomplished?