willowcat

One of my favorite quotes: "The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least" --Goethe. Easier said than done though! Ha! good luck on finding a solution that works for you.

It's sad that cookies and ice cream go down easier than chicken and vegetables!! Love it! Wouldn't it be funny if it were the opposite way around?! Haha!

Tried that--HORRIBLE!!!--I told my doctor I'd rather be fat and depressed than ever take that again!!!!!

It's been a week since I came back here and asked for help for my long list of no-no foods. Thanks to the collective wisdom and insight of this group, I figured out my problem--ME! Haha! Tiny bites, one minute apart (need the app Eat Slower to do that, though--agh!), chew until ENTIRELY liquified, and eat SMALL portions. This week, I've (successfully) crossed many of those foods off of my no-no list. The only foods that one can easily "stuff and swallow" (thanks Jack!) end up being the REAL no-no foods of cake, cookies, ice cream, etc! Many, many thanks to all! .

Thanks for everything Princess Grammy! . PS. The profile pic is my cat, Jenny.

My antidepressant is Zoloft (sertraline generic). It is very caustic and was a real source of many problems--as it irritated the opening from my pouch to my stomach and caused swelling and pain. Cutting the pils in half only exposed the caustic insides faster. Full-sized pills just sat there and did damage. I finally got my doctor to prescribe the smallest pills possible with the number of pills to equal my dosage requirements (hope that makes sense!). Insurance didn't want to give me so many pills a month (240 little pills a month instead of 30 regular-sized pills a month), so I had that hoop to jump through. After that was resolved, I discovered that eight, little pills taken at the same time (gulp) was as bad as taking one larger pill--traffic jam--duh! So now I take my pills with my morning smoothly (move the pills along quickly--no loitering allowed--hah!) one at a time. I tell you all of this because, yes, there can be problems with taking medications and the band, but there can also eventually be solutions. Keep track of what's going on with you and your medications--how you feel and when. Be a squeaky wheel, if needed, and get help from your doctor. good luck!

I was banded in June 1996 and through much trial and error have slowly weeded out foods that are certain to cause problems: all fruits (except bananas), any vegetable with a skin (including legumes and beans), lettuce, kale, cabbage,any vegetable that requires a lot of chewing (raw carrots for example), crackers, scrambled eggs, any dried fruit or dried meat (like jerky), fish, rice, pasta, anything that will swell or expand later (ground flax for example), avocados, potatoes (unless they're mashed), mushrooms, popcorn, ground beef, lean cooked meats, tortilla shells...off the top of my head. I can eat dairy products (milk, cottage cheese,yogurt,cheeses, pudding), easy over eggs, puréed soups, oatmeal, nuts,and almond butter without ever having any problems. I purée fruits and greens in my magic bullet in my morning smoothie so that I get some healthy antioxidants...the rest of the day it seems I mostly eat dairy products. I don't have much fluid in my band--anything less and I get hungry too fast, so I'm really not wanting to unfill. Any suggestions for foods that work for you (that aren't also on my no-no list)? This is getting old.

Thank you--I'm so glad I came here and posted my question--y'all are tops! Four meals later--with all of your advice and the help of an easy-to-use app (Eat Slower), I've greatly expanded my food choices: roast beef, turkey breast, lettuce, English cucumber, roasted beet, cooked carrot, rye bread! Tiny bites, one minute apart and chew, chew, chew. My eyes continue to be bigger than my stomach...I'm a great cook and I love everything about eating good food. I guess I wanted the diet to be "over"--surgery or no surgery. And yet another layer is excavated...

2muchfun--I totally suck at dates--haha!--must have something to do with getting older--thanks for catching my mistake! I was banded in June '09--total brain fart! Everyone else, thank you for your replies, advice, and feedback. Having such a long list of no-no foods I realize now is not "normal," I not only totally suck at dates but I am TERRIBLE at eating slowly (thanks Jack for sharing your journey around that). I have had a barium swallow and all was well so I'm going back to square one and work on my chewing again--one minute between bites?! Really?! I can hardly stand 30 seconds between bites! I guess chewing and waiting will have to be my new meditation...the Zen of chewing! Haha!

Marathonman and Lauriegee, thanks for getting the ball rolling with your initial posts. All good thoughts--many hit a nerve. I'm up 30 lbs from my lowest (not goal) and realized just a few days ago that I've been taking for granted the amazing gift I received when I got this band. It's selfish and ungrateful of me to not use my band properly and to not exercise. Marathonman, you're right about not letting work be an excuse--if I'm getting so exhausted at work that I "can't" exercise, then something needs to change--at work. I don't have the luxury of youth like you do (I just turned 50), but I had my own variation of the same self-lie: "Everyone gets heavier as they get older, and besides, thin, old ladies are more wrinkly and don't look as good as women who have a little padding to fluff out the wrinkles". Good grief! Also,, I tend to be a perfectionist, so if it can"t be done right...you know how it goes. My new self-talk that I'm working on is "Don't let the Perfect be the enemy of the Good.". I subscribed to this thread and am looking forward to hearing about and sharing this "Phase 2" with others in the same boat!

Marathonman and Lauriegee, thanks for getting the ball rolling with you initial posts

Another option is just to have it totally unfilled...if you haven't had a slip or something then you should be back to "normal" and it should feel the same as having "that thing" taken out

Can't eat scrambled eggs. Something about the way the pieces are kind of rubbery and smooth. I never can chew them down to a paste. A chunk always manages to "slip past the goalie" and that's when the trouble starts. Now, iI can eat eggs easy over, but since the egg white is thinner and the yolk is runny, I can do a much better job of chewing and i don't have any problems. Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

Doctors are just regular people. Some went into medicine because they cared about helping people, and some went into medicine for the prestige and money. Some people are opinionated know-it-alls, and some are supportive and kind. So it goes for doctors. Sorry you got a lemon. Good for you for moving on. Life is too short to spend it with the sour people. Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

I remind myself that wanting and needing are not the same thing. I set the timer and make myself slow down--i can't take the last bite until the timer rings (12 min). I think about the food in my mouth--how it feels, how it tastes,,how well it is/isn't chewed. I suffer through the emotional discomfort. All of these things work on a good day. Some days are better than others. Some sre worse. Wanting to eat huge amounts could be about so many things other than food--if you want to go there. It could be about needing to nurture yourself, zoning out, treating yourself. I'm wondering if you're really wanting large portions of any kind of food? Would you eat large portions of a food you didn't like just so you could have a large portion? Or is it only foods you enjoy that you want large portions of? Have you been without food at sometime in your life? Do the large portions feel comforting? Safe? Head hunger comes from the head. The only way to conquer head hunger is to go to the source--your thoughts,feelings,beliefs, emotions. It's a long process and a journey you may never completely finish, but it's essential if you are going to be able to use the band to its fullest. Good luck. Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

I think it may just be that some of those fibrous foods just aren't making it through the band. I've had the band for 4 years, and I also just go ahead and pb rather than suffer through the pain. I'm stll trying to figure out what I can and can't eat--and it changes! Sometimes I can eat a food just fine and have no problems and then on other days it just won't go down. I think there are many variables involved. One thing I do know though Is that it's not uncommon for 90% of the food to go down just fine with the other 10% not going down so well. For example, popcorn will go down just fine--except got the kernel husks. Hours later I'll be in pain, go pb and all that comes up is kernel husks (sorry for TMI). I've nicknamed it the "sieve effect"--the little bits go down but the bigger (more fibrous?) bits don't and must come up. I haven't decided if that means I can't eat popcorn--though I don't like the "sieve effect" so I generally stay away from popcorn anymore. Maybe you're experiencing the "sieve effect"? Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

Yes, Americans have a distorted idea of portions. I've seen some interesting graphics showing what was considered a "normal" serving of various foods in the 1940s and 1950s compared to current ideas of a "normal" serving--very eye-opening! Between my own distorted perception of "normal" portions and 40+ years of gulping my food (I'm a bad chewer!), every day is a struggle to learn new "normals". Measuring my food sometimes is the only way I can do it (and setting a timer to make me extend my eating/chewing time)! Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

I understand where you're coming from and I respect your desire to make the most of your band. Yet I can't help thinking that you're really not making the most of your band. You read all the time that the band is a tool. It seems to me that a tool is most useful when it's being used. Obviously what you've been doing so far has worked for you--congrats on your lovely weight loss so far! Your self-control (eating just a cup of food and then stopping) is amazing! It might be time for a little fill though if you're getting hungry. Or maybe you just need a little snack between meals? If money isn't an issue (when isn't it?! Haha!), getting a little fill and then getting a little unfill if that's too much is always an option as you try to find the "green zone". I agree that you shouldn't suffer with hunger--we all know how that doesn't work! Your comment about "saving the band" reminds me of my grandmother's "saving" the good. china. Life is for the living; if what you're doing feels like Living, then you're on the right path. Good luck. Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

Sorry you're in pain. That doesn't sound normal to me. Just my non-medical opinion. Maybe your abdomen pain is just a coincidence and not actually caused by your band--correlation without causation? Whatever the cause, I don't think you should continue trying to soldier on through the pain. Not being able to sleep because of pain sounds like some serious pain. Good luck. Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

Wonderful! . I remember the first time I realized that the towel went all the way around me. Something so simple--and "normal" is very exciting! Congrats on your NSV!!! You're on your way! Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

Went to the movies today--with plenty of room to spare! Yea! People without a weight problem have no idea. Coincidentally, the very nice lady next to me asked if she could put up the arm between us. I totally understood her need for the 2 1/2 extra inches gained by having the arm up, Before the lapband, I bought two seats (2 in coach was cheaper than one in 1st class) on a plane trip to go to my grandmother's funeral. The money was so worth avoiding the pain and the embarrassment of trying to manage in an airline seat. Now I fit just fine. Both are major NSV for me! Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

After the update to the site, all of the groups just seemed to disappear! H-E-L-L-O... any other June Journeys 2009 out there? How's everything going?

Happy bandiversary kdee! Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk