GoddessNar

I have an appointment on April 11. I don't know if they will give me a fill then or not, however. It just depends on how everything looks. It's not too much time to wait. I think I can make it, but I might be here a lot.

For a while now, my band has been too tight. I'd been having all sorts of problems with it, so I finally went to a doctor. They unfilled me most of the way (I have .5 cc left) and are waiting for the inflammation to subside. I did clear liquids only for a few days, and I'm on full liquids until Monday. I can start solid foods again on Monday. I'm excited, but I'm worried that I won't be satisfied with the recommended 1/2 cup of food at a time. With almost no restriction, I'm afraid I'll be hungry and tempted to eat something I shouldn't. I almost feel as though I'm starting all over again. I just hope this works and the next fill will be just right. I haven't lost any weight in a while. I'm hoping to finally break through this plateau and start losing again.

I'm in Jonesboro now.

Howdy, all. Without going into too much detail, I have sound that productive burping causes stuff to collect in the pits of my tonsils. Have any of you experienced this tonsil stone problem? Anyway, I went after a nasty set of tonsil stones with my toothbrush (yeah, I know - ewww!) and now my poor tonsils are irritated and swollen. This happened once last week as well. I got tightened a few weeks ago and am still finding out which foods I can no longer tolerate. Does anyone else have experience with this nastiness?

On April 4, 2009, I was banded by Dr. Alp Bozbora at Hizmet Hastanesi in Istanbul. Weight loss has been slow and so far I'm only down about 50 pounds, but I'm still very happy with that. I shall continue working on it. I would like to thank the people of lapbandtalk.com for answering questions and giving me the courage I needed to go through with the procedure. Happy Spring to all! B.

I get the hiccups and that's my signal to stop. If I eat another bite or two, it hurts and those bites usually come back up.

Like many people, I love cookbooks and thinking about food. I'm even writing a cookbook of my own, believe it or not. And yes, I do still miss certain things. I can eat pasta and bread sometimes so that's not a problem, but I miss...Big Macs. Yeah. I can't eat them, though. They hurt my stomach like crazy. I miss Coke too, but those things are not good for me and I know that. I also know that I still have a long journey ahead of me. I need to lose at least another 45-50 pounds. It's been almost a year and I've lost about 50 but I really need to step up my game. You will find that there are little substitutions that will satisfy your cravings in time. I can't even FIND good Mexican (or any Mexican, really) here, but tonight I made a batch of chili with soy crumbles so it's lower in fat and had a nice bowl of it. Little substitutions do help.

This is a helpful article, I believe. I'm going to bookmark it and see what I can apply to my daily eating plan. Thanks!

You realized what you were doing and you stopped. You can and will do better tomorrow. We have all been there, I assure you. Also, you don't have to go broke in order to celebrate the holidays. There's nothing wrong with a few handmade decorations or gifts. Let your creativity come through and I'm sure you can think of something that won't cost very much at all. *hugs*

Same here. I can usually eat comfortably in the evening. Breakfast is almost always a no-go unless it's liquid, and lunch varies from day to day. Today is a no lunch day. I just tried a couple of bites of my Chinese beef and veggies and no luck. I'm sure I'll be able to eat dinner this evening though, or at least have a snack later in the afternoon.

I accidentally had a sip of orange Fanta over the summer (I thought it was Hi-C) and it HURT! My doc told me not to drink carbonated beverages, probably because the gas will stretch the pouch. Either way, I don't plan on trying it again. I was in pain for a couple of minutes just from that little drink.

I didn't go all the way through this thread so I don't know if someone already posted this. If so, I apologize and please excuse the repetition. I recently came across a website that has free workouts, both mini workouts and full length ones from 10 minutes up to 45 or in some cases longer . It's ExerciseTV You can download the workouts but that costs money. If you just stream through your computer it's free and they have a lot of categories - dance, Yoga, Pilates, kickboxing, sculpting, cardio, etc. I don't know about you all, but boredom really affects my exercise routine. I lose motivation when I get bored. With this website ,there are so many different workouts to choose from that I shouldn't get bored for quite some time. Not everything is suitable for me, so I watch a couple of minutes and if it isn't too far above my fitness level, I back it up and do it. Now you have another resource! :drool:

I just made some of this today, to take to a party tonight. Red (orange, really) lentils cook very quickly and make a very creamy dip. 3/4 cup red lentils 2 cloves garlic 1 Tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste) dash of cayenne 1/2 tsp ground cumin salt to taste lemon juice, also to taste Cook the lentils and drain any excess moisture. They cook in about 15 minutes or so. Put everything in the food processor and blend into a nice, smooth consistency. I like it even better than traditional hummus. I made a layer dip. First, the hummus. Then I added chopped cucumbers and green onions. I'll take tomatoes and black olives with me to add at the last minute. Finally I topped it with plain yogurt mixed with fresh dill and a little salt. This isn't for me, since I'm still not on full solids yet, but I did sneak a few bites of cucumber. I figure they're soft and mostly Water. The hummus ROCKS. Goin' to a party where I can't eat any of the food or drink any of the drinks. Oh, well.

Does anyone else use this? I signed up yesterday, since I now have a little less restriction than normal (in order to let my stomach recover from too much restriction). It will calculate your daily calorie needs based on height, weight, and your goals. I chose "lose 2 pounds a week", and "light activity" for my exercise. The site gave a rather high calorie count, however, so I plan to stick well below that. One feature I like is the fact that you can add users' recipes to your food log. There are some tasty-sounding recipes on the site, and everything is calculated for you.

I got my second fill today, but it's too tight. I can't even swallow my own saliva. I know several of you have been in my position before. I am going to go back to the doctor tomorrow morning to have some of the fluid taken out. Right now I'm carrying around a "spit bottle" with me. Ew. Is there anything I can do to get a little bit of relief until tomorrow morning? I'll see the doctor at 10, but it's only 7 pm here right now and I'm driving myself crazy by counting the hours. I've been listening to my stomach gurgle incessantly for hours ,been spitting like an old tobacco chewing man, and feel really pinched and tight in my abdomen. Help?

I saw my surgeon today and he took out the 1 cc he put in yesterday. Things were still too tight, probably due to swelling, so I asked him to remove one more cc. Now I have 2.5 in a 10 cc band, whereas I used to have 3.5 I will go back in 9 or 10 days and he will put me back up to 3.5. I just hope I don't gain a bunch of weight in the next 10 days. The next day or two will be liquids only, though, to give my poor stomach time to rest. I had some juice on the way home and am feeling better. No more spitting into a bottle!

Well, Ruby, you were right. They couldn't do a thing for me. They drew blood, gave me some fluids so I wouldn't get dehydrated, and told me I have to wait to see the surgeon at 10:00. Five more hours to go. I hope removing 1 cc will help. I have 4.5 in a 10cc band. I had 3.5, and that's what I need to go back to, I think. Guess it will still be a couple of days before any swelling goes down. I just want to be able to swallow again! And for this damned gurgling to stop!

I'm going to the ER. I have to go to another hospital, though, because no one will speak English as the hospital where I had my surgery. I just hope I have enough cab fare to get to the one I'm going to right now. I woke up about 45 minutes ago and vomited and I'm pretty sure there was blood in there. That's not good. I'm not going to wait until my 10:00 am appointment. It's 2:00 now and I must take care of this. I'll update.

Thanks, guys. :thumbup: I hope taking some saline out is all that needs to happen. I waited a few hours and tried sipping something warm, but it came back up. There just won't be any swallowing until I have at least 1/2 cc removed, maybe even the entire 1 cc he put in today.

My tastes have definitely changed. The thought of fast food repulses me now. I tried to eat part of a fast food hamburger the other day and just could not do it. It was disgusting, plus it hurt.

I got my first fill yesterday. The surgeon told me he put in 4 ccs. I can't tell if I really feel anything yet or not. I was only liquids only yesterday and I haven't really eaten enough yet today to see if I have any actual restriction. I do feel something, though. We'll see.

I read somewhere in the forum that Downward Facing Dog is a good position to try if you get something stuck. I don't have restriction yet, but as I posted earlier, a bit of food that was either too squishy or not squishy enough got stuck a couple of days ago and I tried the Yoga position and it provided some relief.

I already miss soft, chewy bread. I don't have restriction yet (supposed to go on Wednesday the 20), but the other day I took a little bite of bread and it hurt. Even without restriction, some things just don't go down the way they used to. The doctor told me I could have toasted bread, so I have a couple of small pieces of melba toast at breakfast and that's fine. But still! I miss pide!

Let's see if my crappy internet connection will let me post this time. Mushies are going to be a problem for me, I think. I've been looking at the suggestions that everyone has provided and I can honestly say that some refried Beans with melted cheese and salsa sounds heavenly right now, but I can't get those things here. We have no: refried beans (gotta find something like pintos, soak, cook, and mash them) Ricotta cheese cottage cheese applesauce most canned fruit (pineapple is available now but it's terribly expensive) salsa oatmeal low-fat or nonfat cheese (or most cheeses I'm used to seeing in the grocery stores) I guess the Turkish palate just isn't that adventurous. Oh, and forget about frozen dinners like Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones too. I don't know what I'm going to do. Put doner kebap in the blender? :cool2:

That's a good idea. Tahini is pretty high in fat, but it's not really a bad fat. I only used a tablespoon in this recipe. I only have a little blender here. My food processor is buried in my mom's house back in the US :tt1: This was actually pretty runny at first because it was still hot, but it firmed up in the fridge.