rmbj0721

When my doctor told me I could potentially get down to 190 from 300, I thought, yeah right! Had I been able to drop 75 pounds I would have considered myself a success story with the band. Well, 190 was 25 pounds ago. I am 6'2 and currently weigh 165 pounds and would actually like to put on some to get back to 200 which I feel is my ideal weight...I know I don't win any sympathy points for that! I am going in tomorrow to have some more fill taken out (I also had .3cc removed in December). I have only had 2 fills since my band was placed in March of 2009 totaling 4cc's. Every few weeks I experience an entire week where it's like I can't get any food down and it's as though my band has become inflamed or something. Honestly, I'm a little concerned about what the doc may see under fluoroscopy tomorrow. The point to my story is that if we do follow the band rules we can reach our goals, and in some cases beyond! :thumbup:

After doing my homework prior to the procedure and my surgeon making it very clear to me that if I had an addiction to non-diet soft drinks or milkshakes I should not expect to lose any weight I knew going in to this I would have practice some common sense with my new "portion control tool". Even when it comes to sweets, I have problems consuming most starchy foods such as cakes and pie crusts and I can only eat a cookie or two before my band goes to work and the restriction causes me to stop eating. Everyone is going to have different experiences but my point to being able to "eat what you want" is that my portions of "real food" have been cut by 75% and although I don't eat a lot of it, my portions of junk food have also been reduced by 75%. Not too terribly amazing that the net effect of that has been weight loss.

There seems to be a lot of discussion among bandsters about people who feel guilty about WHAT they eat and other people who are measuring out their food, people who are terrified of the holiday food temptations, etc. The reason lap band works is because it forces you to adhere to a portion control program that alleviates the need of having to rely solely on willpower. I was banded in March and I eat whatever I want, only much less. I have lost 37% of my total weight or 115 pounds and have exceeded my goal weight. In fact, I now have a problem I always dreamed of...how do I stop losing weight?! Since day one, I have not worried about what I eat and have tried to put the band to work for me...and it's worked. For those of you who have been banded recently, the weight will come off. It started slow for me but escalated quickly after my 2nd (and final) fill this past May. So, this holiday season everyone needs to relax a bit and let the band work for you. If it's not restricting your intake, get a fill. Get to your sweet spot and enjoy your new life and the holidays!

I celebrated reaching my goal weight this week. I have lost 100 pounds! I was banded on 3/12/09 and have had two fills. My high weight was 297 and I am currently 195. I currently have 4cc's in my band and my last fill was in May. I have gone from wearing a sized 48 pant to a 34 pant. While I don't advocate this, I have lost my weight without doing any additional exercise. It really feels good to not be carrying the additional weight around any more. I still enjoy having my morning protein shake for breakfast, typically a high protein lean cuisine meal for lunch, whatever my wife makes for dinner (in appropriate amounts) and a skinny cow ice cream sandwich for dessert. I find that my restriction comes and goes...sometimes I can eat half a cheeseburger and sometimes I can only eat two bites. I think part of my success has been weening myself off carbs. It's a good thing that bandsters have trouble eating breads, tortillas, rolls, etc because that was my down fall. Enjoying life and wishing the rest of you the same success.:confused:

There's a difference between vomiting and bringing food back up when you have the band. I don't think it's considered vomiting when you bring food back up that hasn't even reached your stomach yet. I can easily bring food up for as long as 45 minutes after I eat that is sitting in my esophagus waiting to go through the band. It's the convulsions and spasms that come with true vomiting that are bad for the band.

Hi. You and I were banded on the same day. I have also had two fills with my first being on 4/13 with 3cc's and my second being on 5/18 with 1cc. At this point I do not feel the need to have any additional fills. I struggle with the same thing you are talking about. For me, I think when I am really hungry I start off eating too quickly. Although my first few bites are fine, once things begin to slide down the pipe they eventually back up and it hurts. I'm able to continue eating sometimes after a break while other times I have to bring my food back up. I have no problems drinking liquids whatsoever although I can no longer gulp anything down. I still spend some time occasionlly at the kitchen sink bringing food back up although I seem to be getting better at my food choices (avoiding bread, noodles, etc). I am on a good track for losing (down 50 lbs) although I occasionally wonder if my band may be too tight especially after reading the stretched pouch posts! I do frequently wake up with a heartburn feeling and sometimes have it during the day. Since I am doing well overall, I have a fear of going back to the doctor and them telling me if they don't take Fluid out my pouch will stretch. I don't want them to remove fluid! I know that if fluid comes out I will surely gain some weight. Surely there are some more obvious tell-tale signs for your band being too tight that other bandsters can enlighten us with!? Someone, please help us out here!

Just thought I would share that as of last Sunday I have lost a total of 50 pounds. I started my pre-op diet on February 22 and was banded on March 12. I had my first fill on 4/13 which consisted of 3cc's and my second fill on 5/18 consisting of 1cc for a total of 4cc's. I really felt like I needed another fill two weeks after my first fill but I can honestly say that I do not see the need for another fill at this point. I still feel like I have a lot of restriction. I eat pretty much what I want (except most breads) but much smaller quantities. I average 1,200 calories per day (I am male) and I do my best to get 90 grams of protein per day. I track my calories at livestrong.com. My member name is rmbj0721 if you want to check out what I eat. I have also attached an Excel chart showing my weight loss progress. Although I don't advocate this I don't engage in any formal excercise programs. I am hoping to lose between 25 and 35 more pounds before I reach my goal weight. :thumbup: Weight tracker.pdf

Thank you for your feedback. Seeing your success really shows that you all know what you are talking about. I do want to clarify a few things. For breakfast I have a EAS protein shake with half a banana and 1 cup of milk. In total, it's 36 grams of protein and 291 calories. I am not a breakfast person (never have been) and this seems to work best for me. I make certain that I log everything that goes in my mouth during the day so I am confident that my calorie count is accurate. The 1,500/day calorie average is not a recommendation from my doctor, it's just what I seem to be averaging and given that the recommended daily allowance for a person my height / weight is 2,700 I thought I should certainly see a difference taking in almost half that amount. I get very little "empty" calories with exception to the low cal pudding, chips and the half cup of Blue Bell I eat in the evenings. I never drink full sugar sodas or juices...always crystal light or something comparable. With exception to protein calories, isn't a calorie a calorie regardless of what it consists of? Regarding exercise, my walks are definitely just strolls...nothing to get the heart rate up. I just don't have the motivation to start a strict exercise program at this point given my schedule. I know that would certainly allow me to lose more weight but I could have done that before I had the surgery. Cutting 50-75% of your daily calories (in my mind) should allow a person to drop pounds and that is the primary reason I had lap band.

I was banded on 3/12 and have lost a total of 27 pounds since I began my pre-op diet on 2/23. I had my first fill of 3cc on 4/13 and lost a few pounds that first week but I’ve lost nothing since then. I definitely feel like I have some restriction with some foods but not as much with others. For instance I struggle to get grilled chicken down (and some of it often comes back up) but I can eat an entire taco salad with no problems! Although reluctant, I started tracking my calories on thedailyplate.com and I am averaging 1,500 calories per day (I am male, 6’2” 270 pounds) which includes roughly 100 grams of daily protein. I engage in moderate exercise (I chase two kids around that are both under 3, evening walks with the family and I mow my yard weekly). I have a weight goal of 250 by the end of June (which is just 2.5 pounds per week) but I am thinking that may not be realistic at this point. What do I need to do to jump start this weight loss? Do I need more protein or just patience? Is my body in shock, holding on to what it can? For breakfast I typically have a protein shake. For lunch I typically have half a sandwich with some chips and a low cal pudding. For dinner I typically get most of my calories with a sensible meal and usually a little dessert afterward. I can’t imagine why I would not be losing weight on only 1,500 calories per day…or am I still getting too many calories? Are any of you noticing that you are only able to eat 4 to 6 ounces of food, which is equivalent to filling a baby food jar? I feel that I am able to eat far more than that with most meals. I appreciate the feedback.

Hi all. Man here. I got banded on 3/12 and had my first fill this past Monday with 3cc added. I had some initial restriction after I had the procedure but after a few weeks I noticed I was able to eat respectable amounts that weren’t going to allow me to lose any additional weight. I can definitely tell I have more restriction now after my fill but I am having a hard time determining if what I am feeling is food getting stuck or if this is my “new full”. After I eat I notice it feels like food is backing up in my esophagus and my chest gets real tight…is this my new full?? This may be TMI but I even feel like I could probably bring the food up if I had to and being on the verge of throwing it up if I take another bite. If I take this as my queue to stop eating and once the food has time to “drain through the funnel” I find myself feeling hungry again pretty quick. I had a bowl of chicken noodle Soup for lunch today with a fat free pudding and felt very satisfied at the time but now I feel very hungry! Am I not eating enough? Do I need to try eating more at meal time but just more slowly? Am I not chewing thoroughly? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Hey shannybp, how are your gas pains? I can still really feel mine. Sorry if this is TMI, but if I could only have one large full body fart I think I would feel so much better! I actually switched to the gas-x gel tabs as they have twice the active ingredient in them than the strips do. I had my post-op appointment today with my surgeon and I confessed to him that I have been cheating on my 1 week post-op diet (not sticking to Clear liquids only this week). He said if I am handling the Soups and Protein shakes okay that he is not worried about it and I can start introducing mushies next week as long as I am up to it. My incisions are healing very nicely so I think he is confident that I am bouncing back quickly from this. I am not going to try anything chunky yet but it sure is nice to be able to eat soup...6 weeks ago I would have called that crazy talk! I really do seem to have some natural restriction...after 5 bites or so my chest tightens up and it feels like a swallowed a tennis ball or something...amazing. My surgeon confirmed that this is my "new full". I don't think I am anywhere close to needing a fill at this point. It's not a full feeling like I remember it being but it's certainly uncomfortable enough that I want to stop eating...hey, whatever it takes, right! I haven't lost any more weight since surgery day but I am honestly not worried about it right now. I got a McD milkshake today and only drank about an 1/8 of it. It made me sick at my stomach so I through the rest away. I have trimmed my calorie consumption considerably so I can't imagine I won't start losing weight at some point. For the record I only drink milkshakes a few times a year..this was just a simple treat for me...my downfall is southern cooking! The only other side effects I am having 5 days post-op is occasional heart/chest burn and nausea. Other than that I am doing great and glad to be back at work so I can start thinking about other things. Later. :lunch:

Hey gang. I'm guilty for taking in a lot of great information from this site but not giving much back so I thought I would finally post something. I was banded by Dr. Gonzalez at TLC Edge in Plano 3 days ago. All in all, things are going well. I have been very pleased with Dr. G...he spent considerable time with me and my wife at my pre-op app't and answered any and every question we had! Op day: got to surgery center at 6:15 am, did paperwork soon thereafter and vitals were being done by 7:15. As far as I recall they were wheeling me back to the op room around 7:45. Next thing I knew it was close to 11 am and I was waking up. They seem pretty eager to get you going so you don't sleep around all day I guess. Anyway, got home around noon and began having some thoughts such as wow, this wasn't bad afterall! I even had a healthy appetite and talked my wife into going to Pei Wei to get me a bowl of hot/sour Soup (I do not recommend this). For the record, I did not cheat once on my 2 week pre-op diet so I was ready to eat something with some substance. I ate a little bit of the soup after putting it through the blender and proceeded to sleep a good part of the day away. Most notable side effects upon waking up were minor pains in abdomen from surgery, considerable gas pains (in shoulder and back) and really uncomfortable burning sensation in my chest. Some nausea too. Day 1: Slept well last night and seem to be recovering well although still have gas pains and burning sensation in chest. Will I ever be able to burp again? Only took Advil today for pain. Napped considerably...I think this may be a little more serious than I originally thought...do people really go back to work the next day? No appetite whatsoever. Drinking sips of Gatorade but not feeling like I am getting enough hydration. Day 2: Slept horribly last night due to napping good part of the day yesterday. Horrible tightness, burning in chest and gas pains are really getting old (it even hurts to breathe in deep). Got up at 3 am and tried sleeping on the couch although still very uncomfortable. Tried walking later in the afternoon, got half way down the street and thought I was going to be sick so had to come home. Spent some time at the sink feeling nauseous but nothing ever happened. Took nausea medicine and that seemed to help. Wanted a milk shake...drank 4 sips and through rest away. This was definitely the worst day yet...nausea, stomach upset, gas pains, crankiness, etc., etc. Not so sure this was the right decision. Ate bowl of bland potato soup later in the day and held it down well. Don't recommend watching Tribal Thunder with Ben Stiller...major waste of time! Day 3 (today): Slept much better last night. Took my liquid pain killer before bed time and it helped me get through the night. First a.m. thought...I think today is going to be a better day. Still have some burning in chest although disipated some and gas pains continue. I still feel like if I could have a really productive burp that I would feel much better...no luck. Currently working on drinking an 8oz Protein shake which I am hoping will give me a little more energy today. It is going down well and so far I am feeling good. Think I'll talk the wife into going and walking around Lowe's today. Planning on going back to work tomorrow. My three day's experience tells me to take it sloooow. While this is a minimally invasive procedure, it is a serious one with serious internal implications. I am going to be doing a better job of following the recommended post-op procedures and looking forward to eating real food again soon. Good day all! Dallas, TX – banded by Dr. Victor Gonzalez on 3/12/09 - TLC Edge Pre-op: 295 Op day: 284 Current: 285 Goal: 200 Ht: 6’2”