mattie7632

Yeah I know what you mean about the chocolate cake, but really it is easier to make better choices now. While you read a lot of bad stuff on the forums, and you will undoubtedly have bad days or stages, even when I cheat and eat "too much" of bad choices, I still can't eat as much as before

I want whoever is preparing these meals to come to my house!

That is absolutely correct. I won't say it hasn't happen since being banded, but what you explained below is now a rare occurrence. I simply CANNOT eat that much, even with a mere fill of 2 cc's. It's odd, but what they tell you about Protein is exactly right. If I CHOOSE to have a piece of chicken, I will get full pretty quickly and not even think about gorging or wanting that donut. But if I helped myself to a plate of Pasta....well you can forget it, I'd be jonesing for the donut too. Don't get me wrong, I CAN cheat, and I CAN eat too much if I really want to. But stick to protein most of the time and that, at least for me, is the key

To some degree, the band DOES control my head hunger. Not always, sometimes especially when stressed, my head takes over and I still make poor choices or eat too much. But MOST OF THE TIME I have control whereas before, I did not. And I am losing, slowly but steadily.

You know what, my husband can change his eating habits and lose 15 pounds in a month. I have changed my eating habits and lose 1-2 a month if I'm lucky!! One thing I'd find out about yourself is this: Does simply changing how you eat allow you to lose a lot of weight and quickly? Or do you have to work a lot harder to lose even moderately? If you are like many men who can lose so much quicker than a lot of us women, maybe you will find the band works wonderfully. The band has caused me at just 3 months out to change my eating habits tremendously. If you can lose from a lower caloric intake alone, well my bet is you will be fine with the band

Well, I finally figured out what MY food demon is, STRESS. I wasn't sure if I was the emotional eater or what, but now I figured it out. For the past 2 months since being banded, I've been very good and made some good lifestyle changes. A week ago we got some upsetting news about my brother and within a day I saw the correlation. It was as if I someone took my band out. I found I was making bad food choices, snacking when I wasn't hungry and eating too much! I knew instantly that I've been using food to cope with stress my whole life. Stressed out? Have a cookie. Worried about that deadline? Have some nachos and get to work....You get the picture. Now that I have this knowledge, I'm just not sure what to do with it or how to avoid letting stressful times ruin my progress going forward

They're great ideas Actually last night I cooked up a bunch of healthy stuff and stocked up on the greek yogurt hoping that I'll run for the Protein if I get weak

That's total BS. Plus you don't call the "Federal Governement" about a HIPAA issue same as you wouldn't call the Federal Government about any other law or statute you wanted to clarify! You should call back and leave a message for the nurse or doctor to call you directly and give you the results. If you leave it up to the receptionist you'll just be jacked around forever......p.s. I hate medical office politics. I have more stories, and not good ones, I could pass along! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

4 weeks? That's crazy, I was fine for that in days! Of course, no craziness allowed-dont' want to cause internal damage!

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LOL, good one

Well I say you're a success

I myself have not heard it put in such a way. Today I don't seem to have "restriction" at all, it's taking will power .......btw, saw your personal quote--you were banded in 2006 and have not had any success?

Love it. "War against Weight" Isn't THAT the truth!!!!

Since I posted this my restriction has "come back". So bizarre !

Glad you saw the psych, proper meds can make all the difference in quality of life

Spartan, I agree with most everything you've posted here. As a matter of fact, you don't strike me as a bandster, you seem more as someone on a medical team. Anyway.....Any surgery that slices and dices or disects or reroutes is more "invasive" in my book. I didn't say the surgery itself was more dangerous than any other surgery. You said something like "the surgery picks you, we don't pick the surgery"....I don't know what other's experiences have been, but my doctor didn't tell me what he thought was best for me. He asked ME what I wanted...and when I said I was looking into the lapband, well that was that. Your post stated that we should see endocrinologists, psychologists, etc. to determine the best surgery for our specific metabolic, eating or other disorder. I'm not disagreeing with this at all, but do you seriously believe the majority of surgeons are going to get into all that? Medical care is a business just like any other and working closely with doctors for several years now, I know that the goal is to retain the patients, not delay or hinder procedures Thoughts?

It's hard to say. Did your lapband doctor give you any kind of test for depression? Depression can be a serious illness and if you feel it is disruptive in your life, a psychiatrist is the one to see for proper medication management. There's 2 sides to every coin, and maybe your doctor feels he knows you enough to say treatment for depression is not needed. Who knows, but if your inner gut is trying to tell you something about this doctor, my experience says listen.

Yeah, some people use this site as an outlet for their rage and just can't wait to add their ugliness to a post. Most people here are cool though, and post good info

How do I know my band passed the test? Because I went to CHEESECAKE FACTORY for dinner, that's how! And ate pretty much like a healthy bird, and was completely positively satisfied. Didn't even have the desire to get cheesecake, and that in itself, is extraordinary. Who in their right mind doesn't get Cheesecake from the Factory???

I add a scoop of light cool whip or a squirt of canned whipped cream, mix it up and, bingo! You have a tasty mousse!!! It's nothing like "greek yogurt" once you've done this

Not to mention it's like $8 a piece! Holy cow, I about barfed up my few bites when I saw the bill!!!

Yes, I can feel mine.

As crazy as it sounds, I don't think you're getting enough calories. I too eat significantly less, but also figured out that if I don't eat ENOUGH, I won't lose. The only times the scale starts to move is if 1. I eat at least 1200-1500 calories and 2. It is spanned into 5-6 times over the day. Otherwise the scale stays exactly the same. It actually takes quite the discipline for me to be sure I'm eating all the time and not skipping any meals.