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It's generally not Pasta and potatoes that make people put on weight. It is the sauces that they cover them with and the huge quantities they eat. If you live outside of the USA then is both normal and acceptable to still eat potatoes and pasta post band and most of us that do so still lose weight. Potatoes are very nutritious and a good source of potassium which is important - low potassium levels can cause all sorts of issues. Cutting out carbs works for some people but it is not the only way to eat post band and a lot of people forget that. If I think about what made me fat I think it was chocolate, cake and Cookies..........

I got to do 2 shakes per day and some veggies at night. That was it.

Well done and I think you are right. With a positive attitude like that you will achieve your goal.

I don't have problems eating popcorn. In fact if anything it can be a slider food.

Post surgery blues is very common. And with something like a band a lot of people have the OMG what have I done feeling as well. It does get better, I promise. You should be able to drink fluids without a problem but don't gulp too fast as that can cause a problem. If you continue to have problems drinking contact your Dr. It is possible that you have some Fluid in your band and that combined with the post op swelling may be making you too tight. If this is the case then the Dr will remove the fluid until the swelling has gone down. Just keep hydrated by sipping slowly but often.

The question is :- if you couldn't stick to the preop diet how will you manage to stick to the postop diet? If you decide postop that it is just too hard or that you will substitute something you run the risk of doing a lot of damage. I would be more worried that you are not ready and committed to make the change that the surgery requires than I would be about the liver. You have to realise that the band is a tool that works when you work with it. I would take a good hard deep look at myself and work out what I wanted and if I was in fact ready.

I'm not sure about this poster. I am sure I have read an almost identical post somewhere before.It seems as though this has been copied and just tweaked a bit but I could be wrong. Just something seems slightly strange but maybe it's just the cynic in me coming out.

I also don't understand why they would unfill it completely unless for surgery as in Jachut's case. I have heard lots of people say that it is hard to get the restriction right again after a complete unfill. It seems to do something to the band - a bit like when you blow up a balloon and then let it down and blow it up again. I would be stocking the fridge with healthy Snacks e.g crudites or making big pots of veggie Soup. Stuff that you can fill up on that won't cause weight gain. And I would probably also take the opportunity to fill up on the healthy foods that can be hard to eat when you have decent restrction e.g fruit salad, salad sandwich, steak. Good luck, hope it all goes well.

Clothing sizes are not what they used to be either. I am happy because I wear a size 8 pants (US4) which makes me feel really good. However the other day I was going through a bag of clothes from about 20 years ago.(No I'm not a hoarder but I do keep my good stuff) 2 of the skirts were marked size 10 and I used to fit in them easily.They didn't even come close to doing up around my waist which made me feel fat and miserable. So that probably means that the size 8s I wear now are the equivalent of a 12 or even 14 from when I was younger. (That probably does make sense as I am not slimmer now than I was then). It's amazing how a simple number can affect your mood.

There is another side of this as well. Now that I have "come out of the closet" about my surgery I feel that I have to maintain. ( I haven't told everyone but amongst those I have told a few know someone that has had it done and failed). To gain back any weight would just prove the theory that so many have that WLS doesn't work. I have heard so many negative comments about how surgery doesn't work, or how after 5 years you put all your weight back on, or how someone had surgery and didn't lose etc that I feel I have to prove that it can and does work. Those people that have had a friend that failed with it also now know that the weight loss is not automatic. That there has to be some kind of effort on your part and that if there is then you reap the rewards. I am now 2 years 5 months out. I am hoping that I can maintain so that at 5 years out I am still a success and can prove all the naysayers wrong.

If you have been dieting for a long time you may recall that all diets used to have a 1000 cal (4200KJ) per day limit. They then changed to 1200 cal and only recently it seems has a 1500 cal recommendation come in. For many , especially females that are short 1500 cal is way too much for weight loss. This would be closer to a maintenance level. I have tried high Protein previously and have never been able to stick at it for more than a couple of days. I would think that it is perfectly possible to gain on a high protein diet. Some people take it as a licence to gorge. If you are eating masses of cream, butter , fat , fried foods then I am sure weight loss will not be automatic. In theory it should be but theories don't always work which is why they are theories.

My face is much thinner and I no longer have multiple chins. I do think it is true though that each person has their own hard to lose area. For me it is my stomach. That is not to say I haven't lost weight there because I have but it is still a lot bigger than I would like it to be. It all comes down to where you are genetically predisposed to store your weight. Some people are pears , some are apples. I am most definitely an apple. These days though I am a much smaller apple - if I buy pants then a 4 will normally fit the butt and hips but I sometimes have to buy a 6 to make sure I can get them done up around the waist.

Sometimes it's not as obvious as you think, especially if you still have weight to lose. People avoid saying something in case you haven't lost weight and are happy with your weight as that could be embarassing.

Please , leave out the even if your 48 bit. It is good to feel sexy at ANY age. We are certainly not old or past it at 48. I'm the same age as you (soon to be 49) and I love looking sexy. I love my friends telling me how young I look. I love being able to wear my 22year old daughters clothes. The thing that makes any person look their best is probably high self esteem and feeling good about themselves. Feeling great makes you look great. ENJOY

Never thought of naming it but maybe Porteous

This has nothing to do with what you eat or how much you work out. It has more to do with where you were carrying the weight before, your age, how elastic your skin is etc. I have spent most of my life with double or sometimes even triple chins. They are now all gone , however the skin on my neck is looser than I would like it to be. Yes it could even be the beginnings of a turkey neck. But I am almost 49 and I figure I can't look like a 20 year old for ever. And I would swap the double chins for a turkey neck any day! If you do know of exercises that prvent or fix it then please let us know!

Being able to save money by doing your own pedicure.

I have never had the misfortune of experiencing that. I can eat sweet stuff and still feel fine. The only exception was after my daughters Deb which was alcohol free so we had to drink cordial, woke up the next morning with a headache worse than a hangover.

I am sure that they are both effective. The Realize band is marketed as a low pressure band. What I have noticed from reading this board is that typically people that have a Realize band need more fill before they feel restriction.

Go to a different Dr. This may not be band related. It could be an ulcer, gall bladder problem etc etc.

Now that explanation finally makes sense. Are you able to post a link to the video?

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I am an Aussie and as far as I am aware Aussie Rules is our local football - AFL! Have never had any of my Dr's explain things this way before. Not sure what you mean by food feeling as though it is sitting on top of the band. I think that may be how it feels if I have eaten too much or too quickly. There are lots of studies about how the band works. The latest theory is that some kind of pressure on the vagus nerve is what makes you feel full but I think the theories are just that - just theories. None of them seem to have conclusively worked it out yet. Maybe the reason you are hungrier is because you are eating sliders and if this is the case taking Fluid out so you can eat more satisfying foods should help. I certainly don't time myself or eat 1 bite per minute. What I do do is try to make sure eat bite is sitting comfortably before taking the next. Sometimes I go too fast and it is uncomfortable which is a signal that I need to slow down. I still don't believe that each bite goes through the band within a minute. If it did then how come sometimes I can PB hours later? Think about it - when you get stuck you don't normally just bring back the one bite that got stuck - it is more normal to bring back a lot more too. However thinking about each bite seems to be fairly sensible. Try it and see what happens. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't

I have never read this before but it is really good. Thanks for posting it.

No, you need to follow your Dr's instructions exactly. And make sure that you keep it dry. Antibiotics and other creams are unnecessary and can impede the healing process.