2muchfun

Yeah, nearly naked guys is not my idea of good viewing. The breast augmentation photos are much better

You'll need to be more specific? View responses to your posts/topics or other forum members topics? Can't you just go to the topic and view replys? What operating system do you use? People who use iphones, kindles, Samsung Galaxy and Ipads may have a different view than someone on a PC?

You should finish filling in your profile? Tummy Tuck gallerie: http://www.realself.com/male-tummy-tuck/before-and-after-photos

Your manual should tell you this and your nutritionist should also know.

Do you or the doc know why and how this happened? It's one of the many fears many of us have? tmf

Ask for a fill sooner. All they can say is no.

That is unusual. Most docs require a few days of Clear Liquids and then 3-14 days of liquids followed by mushies. My doc required 4 days liquids(never clear), then 4 days of mushies. Better double check those orders? tmf

That reminds me of a comment someone made that we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to others on the forum, but compare ourselves to who we were yesterday. You've lost so much and have much to be proud of. tmf

Here's a comment from someone else who had lapband surgery: " In my case, the most fearful thing I had to do in order to succeed with my band wasn't switching to skim milk, surviving a liquid diet, or giving up bread. The most fearful thing was giving up my emotional attachment to food. In the nearly 5 years since I was banded, I've made a lot of progress with that, but the attachment is still there. It forms one of the innermost layers of my turtle shell. Working on that layer will probably be a lifetime job for me. At times I'm not even sure I truly want to get rid of it altogether. At times I'm afraid that if I shed my shell completely, I won't be able to survive. On the other hand, I seem to be doing fine without that thick old b***h layer. So I'm going to pay attention to my dreams rather than my fears and pray for a miracle. And why not? It can't hurt to try!" "Pay attention to your dreams rather than your fears" No need to dwell on the past. This is your future.

The site? What's to know? Just click on anything. No one's going to bite you. If you need help, click on my picture, send me a message of what you are trying to do and I'll point you in the right direction?

I think stretching(dialating) our esophogus or pouch is always on most bandsters mind? Especially for those of us who find it hard to slow down and take small bites. You could help those of us on the forum if you could expound on how this happened so that we don't make the same mistake? I don't have any advice for you since it's never happened to me. I have heard that the unfill is one technique that is used to shrink the pouch back to it's original size. I think there's also a video in youtube where a doctor surgically repairs a dilation. tmf

Slider food. Processed and high Glycemic Index food. I loved the stuff before surgery but it's no longer in my pantry. tmf

I follow her last comment. I drink before and after I eat. Early on after surgery, I craved Water or fluids with my meal but I got over it and now it's not necessary for me. Once in a while I might have a glass of wine with my meal and sip as she suggests. I believe that it's still a good idea for new patients to adhere from using the method Helen recommends. I think it takes time to learn how to eat and chew slowly. Patients who haven't learned this lesson could abuse the sip rule turning a regular band friendly meal into a meal of slider foods. They would not enjoy the effect the tool can give them thereby not seeing the scale go down. That's just my opinion of course, no scientific data to back it up. tmf

Read some of your past posts. I see you are over one year out? Yes, you may have hit that plateau. What else are you eating other than 1 or 2 shakes? How many calories are you consuming a day? Are you hungry still? To break up a plateau, I always recommend that it's a good idea to shake things up and change up your calorie consumption. If you're only taking in 800, boost it to 1200-1400 for a few days to fool your body out of a starvation mode. Likewise, if you're already at 1200 a day, drop it to 800 for 2-3 days. Change up your cardio and try something different. Maybe even take 2-3 days off to let your muscles recover and heal? Just don't do the same thing every day and expect different results. tmf

Your profile says Jan 3rd 2012? Is that right or is it 2013? Plateaus are common and 2-3 weeks isn't really a plateau unless it's 1 year and 3 weeks? Your band won't work for you till you get a few fills and find some restriction. tmf

Receiving fills will help you feel more satiated and may cut down on the head hunger. Make sure your band is working for you. Try to find healthy Snacks if you're a grazer. It's better to not graze but if you must, eat healthy. I munch on pickles, cucumbers, beef Jerky, chicken salad, apples, cutie oranges, pears, blueberries. tmf

Weight falls off easily the first month. Much of it is just water. I read some of your other posts and it sounds like you still don't have restriction? Losing weight is simply a matter of burning more calories than you consume. You should track your calories if you're not already doing so. You should look at some of the calorie calculators available to know how many calories you need to maintain or lose weight. I plateaued from week 2 post op till week 18. It took me 3 fills and a visit to my nutritionist to finally get the scale to go down. A nutritionist can tell you where you're going wrong. Good luck. tmf

Cloud, you have some misconceptions about how the band works. Take some time and watch these videos from a renowned bariatric surgeon. Part 1 part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Sometimes it's great to be a guy

I lost 12 lbs the first two weeks and then nothing for the next 3.5 months. Then I saw my nutritionist. She gave me a lot of advice because I was eating some of the same food you're eating. Soups, crackers and oatmeal are slider foods and should be avoided if you want to avoid feeling hungry. Set up an appointment with your nut and by all means, stop eating a box of junior mints? Maybe one or two mints, but never a box. tmf

You are not alone. I found this comment on another site and I find it to be so true: " In my case, the most fearful thing I had to do in order to succeed with my band wasn't switching to skim milk, surviving a liquid diet, or giving up bread. The most fearful thing was giving up my emotional attachment to food. In the nearly 5 years since I was banded, I've made a lot of progress with that, but the attachment is still there. It forms one of the innermost layers of my turtle shell. Working on that layer will probably be a lifetime job for me. At times I'm not even sure I truly want to get rid of it altogether. At times I'm afraid that if I shed my shell completely, I won't be able to survive. On the other hand, I seem to be doing fine without that thick old b***h layer. So I'm going to pay attention to my dreams rather than my fears and pray for a miracle. And why not? It can't hurt to try!" Your addiction won't go away in less than a year and maybe never. But as long as you keep up the fight, you're making headway. tmf

You'll be in "bandster hell" until you get the fill that gives you enough restriction for the band to work it's magic. That may be 1 fill or 6. No one knows. Till then, like our esteemed forum member B-52 says, "Until there's restriction...It's just another diet" tmf

Go to your profile at top right of this page. Click on your name and then click on settings and then click on notifications. You can't delete threads. Only the moderator can do this. If you access this site from anything other than a windows based computer, the above instructions may be invalid. tmf

My 2 bits? Seems like there are many posts similar to yours. I can't help but wonder if you never learned to eat like a bandster? Going 10 months without a fill is a long time. If you went back in for a fill, was it because you could eat anything you wanted? Not trying to be judgmental here. But if you can drink fluids, eat soup, but you're having difficulty with solids, are you not taking small bites and maybe not chewing enough? If you take small bites and chew properly, the bolus of food is pretty much soup when it hits your stoma. If you don't chew enough, the chunks won't pass through and you could be bringing up food too large to pass through the stoma? Are you getting stuck, sliming? Do you throw up from your stomach or from your pouch? And, are you throwing up or PBing the food? Sorry to ask so many questions but I had this epiphany(or so it seemed) this morning about why so many people post they get a fill, can drink fluids but can't keep food down? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I'm a simple man ya know? I know for me, back in April and May, I thought I knew how to eat right. But I didn't. I think I know now but I don't always follow the rules and still get into trouble. Some bandsters could think they are eating the right way but in reality, they aren't. And that could be why so many go back and forth for fills and unfills? tmf

You should google it since it's rather complicated. The short answer is if you don't eat any carbs, simple or complex, Your body will turn to it's fat reserves for energy. One of the side effects of going on a no carb diet is that you lose a lot of excess Fluid weight and this doctor wants the patient to trim her liver down by going on a no carb diet. Ketosis is the state where you have used up all your stored carb energy and your body is burning the fat for energy. Your body secretes ketones which can be measured with ketostix to see how deep in ketosis a patient is. Told you it's complicated tmf