skinny minny

Hi there lap banders, I've just joined the forum today and really need some help and advice! I was banded 9 days ago in Belgium and after 5-6 days of feeling full after tiny amounts of food and having loose bowel movements with severe dizziness, I suddenly feel really hungry all the time. I can now manage a full plate of Soup with 5 small crackers all at once and even managed a Belgian chocolate with some prawn salad (very well chewed) the other day. I'm only supposed to be on liquids for the first 10 days after surgery and feel upset that I cheated and managed to eat salad and chocolate. I am crying all the time and feel very depressed right now! What is really worrying me is the fact that I haven't lost any weight on the scales, despite having no more than 500-700 calories a day. My hands and fingers also feel numb but I don't know if this is poor circulation or the after affects of surgery:sad:. I just feel really diappointed that I'm still feeling hungry and haven't lost any weight but maybe I'm still not eating enough and my body is holding on to the fat because it's in starvation mode? I've realised that most of my eating is emotional and the band is preventing me from overeating but I feel a bit lost right now as I can't use my old coping strategies anymore, i.e food!! I'd love to hear from people out there that have went through similar experiences. Did you stay strictly on liquids for the first 10 days or have any lapses? Did you feel depressed? Thanks in advance to anyone that reads this and replies!

Hi folks, Just looking for some advice from all you experienced banders out there. I was banded on 28th July and have an appointment on 3rd Septemebr for my first fill. At first, I was confident that this date was okay as some days I was finding I was really hungry and could eat more than I wanted to. However, over the past 5-6 days, I am finding that I have good restriction and struggle to finish my meals. For example, tonight for dinner I could only eat one tablespoon of pureed cauliflower cheese, about 1/2 a tablespoon of mashed potato and 1 tablespoon of mashed carrot and suede. I was stuffed for hours after this. I also find that drinking liquids makes me feel stuffed too. So what do you think guys? Is 3rd September too soon for my next fill or should I wait a few weeks to see how I feel then? I have read on this forum that the need for a fill can come on very quickly, sometimes in 2 to 3 days. I should also mention that although I have lost weight in inches and my clothes are much bigger, I have lost only 1 pound on the scales since my op. I must also confess that I'm scared to have my first fill as I don't want it to be too tight and make this whole experience a thoroughly torturous and unpleasant one:eek:. I still want to enjoy food but just much smaller amounts of it! Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks in advance Louise a.k.a skinny minny xx

Hi fellow bandsters, Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who replied to my thread. Your advice was invaluable to me and gave me a much needed rational perspective on things. I've been much clamer over the past few days but I tried orange juice last night and my stomach has been sore and swollen all day. Has anyone had similar experiences with orange juice? I haven't had much hunger over the past few days either. I'm learning that this is a long journey and every day is different, but that's okay. I'm also realising how much I let family members dictate my mood and now that I can no longer sublimate my rage with food, I have so much anger!!!:thumbup: Think I'll have to take up karate or some other contact sport. It's scary to feel so much emotion but the band is showing me how much I depended on food to deal with my emotions!! It is a really profound journey we are all on and I'm so glad I found this forum as we all need to lean on each other sometimes. Once again, thankyou xxx