2muchfun

Watered down yogurt isn't on that list. Yogurt drink is on the list? You should do what your doctor tells you to do? If he put fluid in, he may want to take some out. Follow your doctors orders!

The boiled cabbage diet. I didn't do it, I hate cabbage. My friend did it for a week and swore by it. He lost 6-7 lbs but he's clueless to the fact that most of the weight loss was from excess water he was carrying. One more? SENSA! What a joke. Supposedly it dulls the taste of food so it's not so appealing? It just made me want to eat more and more.

1-4 week plateaus are very common especially if you are exercising. Exercising builds muscle tissue which offsets the fat you are losing so don't get discouraged. You should feel it in your clothes fitting looser.

Microwave dinners are very high in sodium and can cause you to retain fluids. You say you lost but gained? How much and over what period?

Longest incision and there's a hard lump about the size of a Hershey's bliss cube under it. It's easy to find as it's the only incision that should protrude a 1/4-1/2 in. or so.

Doctor knows best

Mine didn't. It's unlikely you'll lose much over the 6 months unless you're usually successful with diets. If you are, you shouldn't need WLS. Dropping below 35 is highly unlikely but if you can do it, again, you shouldn't need WLS.

You're way too tight. imo I couldn't live like that but as long as it works for you?

Great string of pictures. Super job!

At the very bottom of this page is a link "Help". Click on it.

Sliming and PBing. imo

Good post but I've given up on the profile request. So many new members are here via cell phone apps and kindle now. I have a kindle I use occasionally and it's just not the same. I can't upload pictures, view pictures and have no idea how to access my profile. But you're right, more information is better.

You guys are just showin off now! :wub:

I never feel starved. I sometimes feel deprived but maybe only once a month when I see a particular pizza ad. We still have pizza a few times a year but not weekly like before. I can eat about anything I want but I don't. I'm satisfied with so much less food now. Deprivation and constant hunger are why diets don't work. This works for me. "Sometimes to get where you want to go, you have to do what you are afraid to do. You must be brave and push forward. Miracles occur when you give as much attention and energy to your dreams as you do to your fears".

"Fat" loss is based on calories in vs. calories burned. But we all retain fluids or build muscle to replace the lost fat as long as we exercise. So it's not always going to show on the scale. So, you can lose 2 lbs a week in fat, but lose very little weight if you replace that lost fat with muscle.

I think the visit with your nutritionist is essential? A good nutritionist/dietician can nail down your real caloric intake and make suggestions on how to make the food you prepare work for you and your band. Make sure the nut is familiar with bands? In the meantime, try to stay away from slider foods? Find a way to track your calories every meal, every snack?

sometimes Goodwill has scales for real cheap.

Eating too fast is so difficult for we bandsters to give up. Years of eating too big, swallowing without chewing adequately and too fast is a hard habit to break. And like the other posters said, bread and lettuce are difficult foods for some of us to tolerate. But, the silver lining is, you're closing in on restriction aka green zone. This means your band is starting to limit your intake. Just slow down a little and look for those satiety signals. tmf

Just be honest and call around? There are docs here in Colorado who would fill you with insurance or self pay. Pick up the phone and make some calls. tmf

I took a few days to have a bowel movement. I'm very sensitive to pain meds. They stop my digestive system cold. So, for me, I had to give up pain meds but it wasn't all that bad.

If you eat solids and don't chew well or take big bites, the food could have a difficult time passing through the band. When you keep eating at this time, food backs up into your esophogus. You'll feel slight pressure in the beginning and then it feels like there's a golf ball under your sternum. Mostly discomfort and not a lot of pain. Usually doesn't happen until you've had some fills and have some restriction. Rarely happens to patients on fluids or shakes. tmf

What foods are you eating to survive? Surely not just shakes? What food gets stuck a lot?

Just low calorie, band friendly diet should work.

Very normal reaction. It's saliva in your esophogus to help stuck food slide through easier. Too much flem/saliva and you can regurgitate it. If there is food in your esophogus, you may be able to bring some of it up. So, sliming and/or PB'ing is simply bringing up flem/saliva and stuck food. I would think that if this occurred too often, your esophogus might develop some distortion. Once in a while probably not. tmf

You may be having a stuck episode. It should pass in an hour or so? Then go back to liquids for at least 24 hrs. Call your doctor if it persists. I don't mean to kick you when you're down, but eat very small, chew chew chew from here on out. Tuna is very dry unless you mixed it with mayo? But it's still dry and can clog the band. Good luck.