Mayasgram

Bring a skinny liver, and a good attitude, you are going on the journey that will change your life. You will not wake up skinny but you will be on your way. Write down all the reasons you are doing this in a journal just for your eyes and be really really honest. You will need this when the tough times come and come they will, days when you just want to give up then you can read it and check off the things you have accomplished. Good Luck and you will need all the things the others suggested but for the long run you will need what I told you even if you forget something they said....

WOW you are just so angry..... that has got to becoming from a lot of pain. I feel so bad you have had to go through this but this karma stuff and wishing you could be there when their bands fail WOW. People speak from their own experience and it looks like yours just sucks but she didn't make your band so why be so angry at her. I hope you feel better and justified but you are just venting a lot of stuff that is just not necessary. You're attempt to educate us was lost in your tirade. I suggest everyone just drop it attacking someone is not helping your bad experience and it is time to just let it go hope everyone feels vindicated I feel a little sick. And to be honest I don't think anyone that differed with you could ever be your friend.

I was awake enough to say was my liver skinny and listen to the Dr . laugh yes, I stayed overnight slept all day probably meds . Went to a motel next day slept a lot. Came home on second day after and did not enjoy the 70 mile ride. Wore my pj's for 5 days and slept a lot because of meds again. Needed meds for the Gas pain which no one warned me about thought I was going to die not really but it did hurt. I am retired so I could do this no 3 boys tearing around the house anymore and besides it was a cold spell here in Fl so everyone hibernates when it goes to low 60's.

I have found that it doesn't go down for me, others say it will if you walk around and raise your arms. I just bend over and let it slide out . Good luck to all of you NE folks we in Fl. know how this feels . No power is the hardest.

Eating out of fear............. well I have to admit in the begining due to my past failures I was afraid of failing again . Having a heart attack is scarey, not being able to breathe when walking half a block is scarey, Not being able to snuggle up to a hot fudge Sundae when I was hurtin was scarey and just having the fat girl to depend on was real Scarey. so you are right in the begining there is a fear factor. ..................BUT................ Now having faced those fears and being on the other side I eat out of KNOWING AND BELIEF , I know if I eat right I will stay healthy and I know no one ever died from not eating a bag of Cookies , I eat out of love for myself . I am finally treating me good and not like some giant garbage can and I am not afraid to leave the retired fat girl in charge anymore.

Mean girls???? Called out?????? Are we in Jr High???? Oh come on , everyone realizes that some bands fail it just makes sense that things happen. Having said that it is probably due to people eating to much in many cases judging from the post we see on this forum not every case but most. For those poor folks that are experencing pain and more surgery from band defects I think everyone here wishes you well and feels your pain ,. It has to be so disappointing. If you followed all the rules and this happened to you it just isn't fair and hopefully you will feel better soon.

keyshab.... love it and I agree. Our Fat is not a secret People talk.... I would rather they were talking about my efforts to gain control over my weight then talking about my fat and how I have such a pretty face if only she would blah blah blah. Maybe the fact that I was a teacher for 25 years has something to do with my telling people . But like you said if I can change one life then I have done my job, I just don't believe in the jolly fat person.. I was not jolly on the inside and if I can save one person from that pain I"ll tell them how.

Just because you can eat it ..doesn't mean you should .. You said you know so STOP. If you eat the amount they tell you to eat you will not be hungry.. Your head may be hungry your mouth may be hungry.... Everyone is different but 5CC IN A 10CC is more then enough fill for me. Anything over that I am be PBing everything... Sometimes when we are learning the band we think it will stop us from eating it doesn't work that way. And if you get to that point with overfilling it is not pleasant to have reflux coming through your nose. Eat what they tell you, stop when you are not hungry or it is gone and drink fluids 30 mins later and as often and as much as you want . Then eat the next meal when your stomache says you are hungry, It is a new process and you need time to learn it. Stay out of 7 11 or at least stay away from the hotdog counter.

CG what a girl , you are so right a lb. is a lb. I guess 1 lb of muscle just looks so much better then 1 lb of FAT. Just like tan fat looks better then white fat think about it. Fat knees well I just looked and one day they were gone, I do do water areboics I don't like to sweat ya know... Southern women glow......

I've been following your post and replys from others . I notice how many times you all use the word trust.....who you trust and who you don't and why. A year from now you will have learned lots about trust and if you trust your Dr. you will feel like a different person and the things you do now to feel protected will not be necessary, and you will look at life and the people around you in a different light.

What you are doing is working and muscle weighs more then fat. But just in case you are not happy at the end loss of 100lbs then look into Lipo or plastic sugery. I hate my arms... hate to excercise and surgery is just not worth the cost or pain at my age so I have decided that I will not go sleeveless.... and I live in Florida.. I guess I look at my face and it is not moon shape anymore and I have one chin... I look at my stomache and I can look down and see my feet.....my butt has disappeared and I don't have fat knees... fat knees who has fat knees I did. so with all I 've lost I guess having bat wing arms is doable , I wouldn't trade them for the solid fat ones I had before. What I am saying is look at how much you have lost and how hard you are working and be happy . If in the end you can't get rid of those hips all the way then you have surgical opitions or you can just learn to dress for them and live with them. Good Luck you are doing great....

While I was going through the process for me 18 months only very close friends knew I didn't tell relatives they were all out of town anyway. Just before surgery I told my sister all I have left of my sibs. She was concerned but supportive. After surgery people obviously knew and I was like this is what I did. I mean it was no secret I had a weight problem it was after all out there literally. I followed the diet to the letter and so of course people noticed that when I didn't have my face in my plate but picked and chewed and stopped slurping down those Diet Cokes. This is what I think and FOR ME it was true............I was afraid of telling people because I was afraid that I would fail once again... after all that was my track record in the past..... And I did not want to open myself up to that judgment or my shame. Well I did not go through this process for other people I did it for me . And I was not going to fail .... because I was going to do it someone elses way the Drs. and I actually let them cut me and put a band around my stomach to give me a tool to help me. After the initial talk and questions..... people went back to there own lifes . The only ones that had questions were those folks that were searching for weight loss answers for themselves. This is just me I understand your not wanting to tell the grandparents if they would be negative but I would also be wary of the trust issues you have opened up. They may feel lied too and they were regardless of the color of it and this might be a time when you will need to be open with your reasons for doing that. Good Luck on your new path and your decisions are yours to make and you will get there .

Not only do they move your organs around they pump you full of gas ?air to get in there and do what they have todo. So you are swollen and much as we want we don't even look a little bit skinney. I remember when I had our first son and I looked down and there was all this skin where my lap had been it's kinda like that. But your days coming so hang on sweetie it only gets better.

I think the hardest thing in the begining is learning the difference between enough food I am not hungry and being full/stuffed. Preband I ate until I was full like don't take another bite you are stuffed. What I have learned with the band is it takes very little food to satisfy your stomache hunger. In the begining eat what they tell you and take small bites and chew chew chew take your time 20 mins was my time .Note I could have inhaled that amount in 2 mins before the band. Then ask yourself is my stomach full. If you say yes then stop eating. If your stomach says yes and your mouth says no then what you are missing is that party in your mouth. Well thats one party you have gone to to many times so the party you want now is a celebration at the scale. The store where you get to shop now and the jeans you never thought you could wear. Now thats a party.

Sorry if I upset someone with my previous post. You thought I was showing off. I am sorry you are suffering . For some people the loss of food is truly like losing a best friend. I think anyone that is honest will tell you that they grieved food and went through a period of thinking OMG what have I DONE.. Life is about to change big time and is scarey and only a person who has been banded can relate to those feelings. I went through those feelings. I went through years of failure with my weight and feeling like a failure because I didn't have control over a Hardies breakfast cinnamon biscuit. After waiting 18 monthes for the band and jumping through every hoop the insurance company put out there I got banded. And I made the decision that I was going to follow directions and do what I was told whether it made sense or I liked it. I am not a rule follower this was not easy, I had to recognize that my ideas had gotten me to WLS. It was a struggle to give up my will and submit even my diet coke............. But I did it and I am proud ....not showing off. When you have tried every diet, plan and pill, patch and Jenny Craig throws up her arms and gives up on you and you finally get it and lose it you are happy/proud/celebrating. I think my message is if I can do it with my rebellious heart then you can too. The weight loss begins in your head not your mouth or stomache honestly. And I know in every fiber of my body from my past behavior that I would not have it together without my band . And my band taught me more then food restriction it helped me grow as a person that stopped eating her feelings. And I want that for every person who has ever felt the way I felt.

The best thing about my lap band is I don't have to take any pills anymore. I have trouble with my vitamin so I do a liquid. the calcium is huge so I do a gummy. You gals that are still taking pills for bp be careful it doesn't go to low after you lose weight, I was on vacation this summer and this great big muscle guy went down like a sack of potatoes because his pressure had dropped so low after weight loss, so please monitor it ..

I agree with everything you have said. Maybe I am a little more wait and see with the call the Dr. I live an hour and half from my Dr. and in 3 years have only had to call 2 times after hours, one time the PA met me in a gas station bathroom halfway to Disney to take out some fill. The last time I was so stuck I was vomiting blood . Those were time I knew I was in trouble . But I have had twinges and pains and I just let those go as a wait and see. Maybe I am this way having raised 3 boys and a husband who faint at the sight of blood and think a cold is terminal. This site is a good site I don't think telling it like it is is snarky. I read about people eating like they use too and , wanting food 2 days after surgery and I say..... Really you want us to rubber stamp that. I really want everyone who does the band to lose the weight and I know how to do it and I am not going to sugar coat it . My Dr and PA are straight talkers they told me they would help me get the weight off if I would do what I was told to do. I did.... it worked ....and I am in a place I haven't been since I was in my 40's. I take 0 pills from 7 pills I feel great and I'm kinda cute. .I could not go to my Drs support group because I had to drive 3 hours round trip to listen to a bunch of whiners talk /mourn all the food they couldn't have. I spent 35 mins of my life listening to someone go on and on over a slice of pizza .They were stuck on the negative and I was just so happy to not be able to need that food in my life anymore. Today I eat anything I can get down and realize it is just food ...

Love that gurgle it means my band is working......................

I couldn't eat a whopper or a big mac now . Every night when I sit down to eat I take to much and end up eating 1/2 0f it . It has become a joke at our house my husband will say are you going to eat that and I say no . Waitresses constantly ask me is the food alright because there is so much on my plate. And I use to be a founding member of the clean plate club. Now I crave organic lettuce, spinache and grape tomatoes. If I want something I eat it but rarely all of it just a taste is okay. I learned how to eat all over again at 59. And fast food just isn't good to me or for me I can not eat bread what do you get that isn't in a bun not much......

Okay because you are a newbie and I wish someone had told me... I am going to get gross . PB ing is emptying your pouch...when you do this it will taste more or less exactly like it did going down... Vomiting comes from below the pouch and has been mixed with bile or digestive fluids this taste pretty bad. Like what we've know in the past. The below the band vomit is of concern because in the begining it can cause tearing of stitches internally and later slippage .The pouch PB ing or pouch emptying while not necessarily good because of esphogas eroision is not going to slip your band. Your band is tighter in the AM then later I often get a gag reflex with anything in the early AM. I hope this helps you best of Luck to you...

Everyone is different , depends how fat your liver is and even the Dr doesn't know until he goes in and sees it. So suck it up eat what they say , your liver will shrink as that fat leaves your body. While this may seem hard nothing would be harder then to wake up and here them say we couldn't do the band your liver was to fat. Every lb. you take off is one more you won't have to lose later and that what this process is all about.

It is slime and it means food is not passing through the band and your body produces it to get the food down. If it happens in the AM your band is always tighter , If orther times eat slower and chew more . If you continue after this maybe take out a little bit.

If you are that tired... how about Sleep..... no one eats when they are sleeping. You don't need a list, all you need is a comfy spot and close your eyes. Statistics prove sleep deprived people gain weight...

FAT PEOPLE LIVE TO EAT .... THIN PEOPLE EAT TO LIVE...It is a choice and you make it everytime you eat. This poor me I can't eat this or that will destroy you. This is something you choose to do, you do not have to eat lettuce leaves the rest of your life but you can not order 2 meals and good Lord why would you want too?? There comes a point when you are so full that you can not even enjoy the taste of the food, you are just shoveling it in and feeling stuffed and sick and you end up hating yourself ... who chooses this ?????????? When your head switches over is when you stop saying I Love food and you start saying I love Me more .. Food does not love you back but the more you excercise control over food the more you will love and be proud of your self.. Those of us who have made it know this with all our hearts and because we know how very good success taste we want it for all of you that have not made that connecdtion yet. It isn't easy but it is worth more then anything monet could buy and it certainly taste better then any food you have ever put in your mouth..

As a former fat person, I think you have to work smarter , harder and be more accomidating and if you add a good sense of humor it helps big time...... having said this I am not sure if I was successful because I did those things ...... or because I mentally felt I needed to do those things because I felt badly about myself and if I didn't respect me why should anyone else. So let me say this the added confidence that came from being thinner and liking myself (Because at last I had succeeded in achieving something that had beat me for years) my career opportunitys were magnified. I think I came across as more secure in putting myself out there. I reported to a female boss that was severly overweight she had the most brillant mind I had ever encountered, she was a valuable asset to a whole community of service organizations and she did ok for herself. Though if I heard it once I heard it 100 times behind her back why doesn't she do something about her weight by prople who were more then willing to use her expertise so I have often wondered what she could have done had she been thin.