2muchfun

If you're still hungry after an hour or two you probably could use a fill? Or, is it your eating demon egging you on? It's hard to tell the difference from head hunger and real hunger sometimes? "When a craving doesn't come from hunger, eating will never satisfy it"...Dr. Michelle May

The growling may decrease as time goes by but it may always be with you. One of the side-effects of the band. It usually has nothing to do with hunger. It's just there.

Where in your throat? If it has anything to do with the band, it would happen around your sternum area and not your neck area? Bread would have disolved by now so you might want to call your doc?

The tube from your port goes inside your body. You can't feel or see it. You're looking at something else I would think? Distended stomachs are common with the band. Should only last an hour or two though? tmf

Many of us had no pre op diet at all. Usually the pre op diet intent is to shrink your liver and if you lose weight too, it's just icing on the cake. tmf

It's really quite simple how this works but I know it's frustrating to not see results on the scale. We've all been conditioned to think lower numbers on the scale = less fat. But that's just not the case. 4 months is a long time to not see any results but if you keep at it, soon you should see some lower digits on that scale. Check out this video:

There are many emotions approaching surgery. Fear of the surgery, fear of failure and the strongest fear is, our emotional attachment to food and the eventual loss of our security blanket. The majority of failures in any WLS is the latter. Make darn sure you're ready to accept the fact you will not be successful if you don't deal with this demon. tmf

Don't take this the wrong way but you've hijacked this thread. That means that you injected your own topic within someone else's topic. No problem, we all goof around within a topic but you should start your own topic/thread in one of the forums. I say this because if you ask questions about your own issues within a thread, only a handful of people will see it. If you post/start your own topic, hundreds will see it and respond. You'll get much more exposure this way. What happens if you eat Soup? Do you fill up fast or can you eat a lot of soup? I ask this so we can know that you are eating small and chewing big? If you're getting stuck on soup, you may be too tight? If Soups pass right through the band, and you can eat 8 ozs or more, you may not be chewing your food enough? We bandsters are stubborn about our old eating habits and it can take many of us months or years to re-educate ourselves to eat properly. tmf

I lost 12 the first two weeks and then nothing for the next 14 weeks. My 3rd fill gave me enough restriction to feel satisfied sooner/longer. I also was able to cut back on my calories due to the extra satiety. I kicked in my exercise program and lost 38 lbs over the next 5 months. It will happen if you give it time and follow the rules. I read some of your other posts and you're going to have to get your caloric intake down to 1200 or less, and, you must exercise. Even at 1200 calories and no exercise you may only lose 1-2 lbs a month. If you arent tracking your calories, you're probably taking in too many. Fat people don't have a good eye for eyeballing sizes and calorie content. tmf

10-45 minutes. Never longer than one hour.

^5 ^5 tmf

Fabreze in your cubicle?

Hockey mom, you missed the point. The point is to follow your doctors orders. I used your experience as an example for newly banded patients who might think they too can get away with cheating maybe one or two weeks out of surgery. No one here gives medical advice. We all speak from our own experiences and observations. I have read comments from other patients who did cheat the first week or two and had to have a revision. I'm simply warning others not to gamble with their future. I too could probably have eaten as you did at 2 1/2 weeks and believe me I wanted to. I imagine I could have gotten away with it too. But some others who are experiencing prolonged swelling issues may not be so lucky and I simply used the opportunity to caution others not to attempt it. And I think I also pointed out that we all slip up here and there with overeating, and most of us get back up and start all over again. You will too. tmf

For those of you who are newly banded or to be banded, what Hockeymom did can be very dangerous to your health and to the newly sutured in place band. Picture the band as a ring around your stomach sutured into place by a few threads. 2 1/2 weeks is about the time when the surgery has almost healed but not quite. Filling your pouch with too much food can move the band or tear the sutures. Even though the swelling has gone down, the stoma(portal) is smaller than before surgery and most new bandsters are still eating and swallowing large chunks of food that could get stuck and ruin the surgery. It takes months of re-education to learn to eat properly with the band. As far as what she ate, it happens to most all of us, but not until the healing is over. We all make mistakes as we travel down this new road and no reason to feel guilty, it's just one day, but try to make it a day after you've healed. tmf

You're far enough out of surgery to know better but so am I and I still get stuck. Distraction is my enemy. I ate some peanuts today and I felt one slip through the backside of my mouth and down my esophogus while I was rummedging through the veggie drawer.. I stopped eating and just froze in anticipation of the certain huge stuck episode to come. I lucked out and it passed through. Whew, dodged a bullet that time. tmf

"what if i fail ?" What if you succeed? "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.".....Unknown Forum member.

I didn't experience the pain but I've read where so many others have. It's a daily topic here. It's OK to move around and do normal things by now. No heavy lifting of course. Just try to get as much Water in as you can. We all store much more than we need but if you get too dehydrated it can be dangerous. Carry your water bottle with your everywhere. Chew on ice too. the ice also helps reduce swelling and adds to your Fluid intake. Sorry, I was constipated so I'm no help on the diarrhea. tmf

Don't take any more aspirin. Nsaids will thin the blood and if the nut scratches the stomach you could cause an ulcer and bleed. Try a teaspoon of some kind of oil. Grease up the lining of your esophogus and pouch so that the hard object can slide through. If the object is in your pouch, stomach acids are breaking it down as I type but it may take a few hours for it to break up and pass. I've also heard that some people drink a carbonated beverage. A swallow will do. The carbonation expands the pouch causing pressure on the lodged food to go up or down? I've only tried it once and it really didn't work for me but it does make some sense. Others drink papaye juice but I've never tried that one as it doesn't seem to make much sense to me but for others it's worked. Good luck and go to the ER if you are in too much pain. tmf

Sounds like you are stuck and for me the only thing that works is time. Walking seems to help. If the food is lodged in your stomach, the acids will break it down in a few hours. If it's lodged in your esophogus it may take longer. One time I was stuck so bad, I stood on my head and the liquids in my stomach must have pushed the food away from the stoma and then the food seemed to find it's way through at a different angle. Some people recommend drinking carbonation so that the pouch expands and the food either is forced through the band or back up through your mouth. I tried it but it was very uncomfortable, so if you're sensitive to pressure or pain, maybe not a good idea? Some folks are in so much pain they go to the ER and have Fluid removed from their band so the chunk will pass. What did you eat to get lodged? Good luck.

Mdg, everyone here has battled weight all their lives and tried all the diets. Cheznoel is right. Buy Jean McMillan's "Bandwagon" or Alex Brechers "The big book". And, read as much as you can here every day if you have time. tmf

I can't compete for distance since my bike is more of a mtn bike and I do not ride the roads. I stick to only bike and walking trails of which there are hundreds of miles here in Denver. Ride Time: 59:52 Stopped Time: 6:24 Stopped to check out a garage sale Distance: 10.74 miles Average: 10.76 mph My oh my was it windy here today. Fastest Speed: 22.43 mph Calories: 681

How ya doin today?

6 oz is great. Just make sure it's lean protein and low fat/cal veggies and you'll lose weight.

You may appear skinny compared to the 40+ BMI patients these surgeons see every week. I wouldn't be concerned with getting approved since it's up to the insurance company if you qualify. The doctor doesn't make any money if he doesn't perform surgery.

You're only 2 1/2 weeks out of surgery, it's far too early to be thinking about not losing or plateauing. Even eating only 800 calories a day, at this stage you would only lose 1-2 lbs a week.