Awkward customer

I have a 14 cc AP band - and it is filled with 10mls. I had more fills than that, but some of the fluid disappeared into the tubing and the consultant assures me this means I only have 10ml in the band. It wasn't until 10ml, 7 months after the operation, that I felt real restriction.

I have done very well on the diet over the past week - and have restriction. I am not stuck. But I feel that something I ate is just sitting in my stomach and not going anywhere. I have had hardly anything to eat today as it is - just some low-calorie prawn cocktail, 2 boiled eggs and a handful of cherry tomatoes. But I feel that something has been there for hours and is not going anywhere. it is not blocking my stomach - I guess it is just sludge not going anywhere. What should I do? Drink more water?

to tell you how many calories to have to lose weight: HOW TO: Calculate Your Daily Calorie Needs

Since I was banded I have only swum in my leisure centre and not used the gym part. That's because I am worried about using an abs crunch with the band. something like this: You kind of bend over the bar, and it trains your abs. Would this be a risk for ripping the stitches? Note I am 7 months from my op.

I suppose it - I was thinking i could still rip it all apart by accident.

I have a large 14cc AP band - and did not have proper restriction until my last fill 3 days ago - 7 months after my operation. Now I feel I have the proper restriction, but am worried about eating too little, and being unable to lose weight as a consequence. I am having every day: 2 boiled eggs: total 166 calories 1 large banana: 115 calories 1 special K Cereal bar: 89 calories 2 baked potatoes with some cheese on: a supermarket packet for the microwave, a total of 460 calories of the two Actually I have to eat the 2 baked potatoes in stages, as they are too much for me. That's 830 calories, plus as many cups of coffee as I want, with semiskimmed milk and 2 sugars I am probably getting 1000 calories a day. But it feels enough. Now I have found something that seems to be working, I aim to eat the same thing everyday, however boring. Am I getting enough Vitamins? the banana is fruit and the egg is Protein? Thanks: I am a 330 lb man, so the above would seem to be a small diet?

Jason and others, this is what I was recommended to eat. Yes it mentions low-fat Proteins, but does not emphasize them. This is from a leaflet from my consultant and is what is recommended in the UK. Successful eating with a band, divided into Green (eat freely every day), Amber (eat with cautions, eg weekends only) and Red (avoid or eat only for treats). They said Green foods should be 85% of the total. Amber foods: 10% (just 2-3 times a week). Red foods: 5% (try to avoid). Also keep the band active every 4 hours with a Cereal bar, banana or piece of fruit. GREEN * Low-fat Protein --Chicken/lean meat --Fish --Quorn (artificial vegetarian meat) * Low glycaemic index GL/GI foods --Basmati or wholemeal rice --Baby new potatoes, jacket potatoes, sweet potatoes --Porridge (but not instant porridge) --Pumpernickel or wholemeal pitta bread --Rye bread --Beans, pulses and lentils --Wholemeal Pasta * Fruit in natural form --Citrus fruits --Apples --Pears --Bananas * Fresh vegetables, except squashes, avocadoes and parships * Airdried homemade popcorn without butter or sugar * Low-fat cereal bars if used as an alternative to Breakfast * Dark chocolate (minimum 70% solids) with no sweet filling AMBER * Higher sugar fruits --Berries (a portion is 12, or 6 strawberries) --Melon/watermelon --Mango, papaya, cherries, grapes * Soft foods and ready meals that can be eaten with just a fork --Mashed potato --Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, fish pie --Creamy pastas --Haggis * Crispy foods --Multiple crackers --Biscuits [=Cookies in American English] --Crisps [=potato chips in American English] (Snack-a-jack ricecakes are better) --Packet popcorn --Cheesy biscuits * High sugar vegetables --Squashes --Parsnips * Sugary or nutty cereals --Muesli or children's cereals --Crunchy nuts --Anything with sugar, frosty or honey in the title RED * Fatty proteins and fatty vegetables --Nuts, seeds, avocados --cheese [if necessary have the Low-low brand of low-fat cheese] * Modified fruits --Juices (including home-made, organic and no added sugar juices) --Smoothes (including home-made etc) --Tinned and dried fruits, jams * Sugars (including natural) --Honey --Sugar --Milk/white chocolate --Toffee --Hot chocolate and coffee shop "Christmas special drinks" * liquids (Soups if replacing a meal) --Slimfast shakes or equivalent --Alcohol --Fizzy drink --Milk as a stand alone drink (lattes, Cappuccino, hot chocolate), although OK to add to tea/coffee * Fats --Creamy pasta sauces --Oils, including olive oil, mayonnaise, butter --Pannacotta, creme brulee, pecan pie --High fat gourmet ice creams --Cheese spread

Jason, I just want to lose weight. Period. Something that makes me feel full reduces my need to consume more. As for the fancy "nutritional value" - well I think a lot of that is overrated. As long as I lose weight, I'll get healthier, regardless of whether I skip a few Vitamins or not. My weight is a greater health risk than my Vitamin intake. Goodness knows I've had a lifetime's worth of Protein in my life! LOL! Now: if you're saying that a high protein diet **will help my weight loss** - then I'm interested. I'm interested in anything that helps me lose weight, but not bothered about nutrients as such. As Shurmeka said, protein could keep me fully for longer - this is what I'm interested in, not the nutrients.

???? you said you do not have restriction, so your modified Atkins diet is just that - an Atkins diet. But I am looking for food that works well with the band and makes me feel full for a long time - the advice I have got in England is on what foods to eat that are the right texture - not runny foods, but solid foods - and that baked potatoes are just the right sort of thing to make you feel full for a long time with a band with proper restriction. If I wanted to go on an Atkins diet, I would not have been banded. The point is what food works well with the band, and of course I need to get nutrients and vitamins too. A lot of these protein foods are just the right stuff to get stuck in your band. I can't eat tuna - it just sits there in my pouch - it doesn't make me feel full, it just makes me think there is something in my stomach that is never going to be digested. chicken - I am worried it will get stuck.

Zeniada - that's your barcode!

Thank you for the suggestion - yes I'll have to vary my diet more and I'll try the yoplait yoghurt. I will try chicken, but now I have been filled very tight, I am worried about eating anything that is not diced very small indeed...

It seems like all the US bandsters are told to get lots of protein - but The Hospital Group in England has never mentioned the subject to me...

no - I'm not taking Vitamins - maybe I should. It's great to no longer need too much food. I used to buy cereal bar packs, and eat all 6 bars in one go, as a snack. Now 1 is enough and I wouldn't want to eat the whole pack!

my band has started working over the past month - after 5 months of waiting for it to kick in. But I had a horrible experience yesterday. I spent 10 days in Ireland on holiday and had 2 eggs for Breakfast everyday and salmon and baked potatoes every night, and nothing else, and felt pleased to have stuck to my gastric band diet plan so well, with the help of the B&B landlady. On my last day, I was waiting for a transport connection to Cork port to get a boat to England. I went for a Chinese for the first time in a long time. I ordered Kungpao chicken and rice. They brought a huge plate - a plate that would once have failed to satisfy me - but I could only eat two spoonfuls. I had to leave nearly all of it, but I had stuffed the 2 spoonfuls in knowing I needed to get a taxi to the port within 20 minutes. I felt like it was stuck and wanted to be sick. But I got in the taxi - and after repeatedly trying to keep the food down by breathing carefully, I had to ask the taxi driver to stop on the side of the road for me to be sick. Wasn't I embarrassed! I felt much better after vomiting though... Is it possible that a long period of keeping to the right food for the band has caused my band to tighten slightly?

I had my op on Feb 11th, and now have 9.5mls in the 14cc band. Actually I have had around 11mls of fills (including the 5mls put in during the operation), but apparently some of the Fluid dissipates into the tubing, and when I have a fill, the consultant sees how much she draws out before putting it back in, and she has assured me I only have 9.5mls in officially. I am getting some restriction now - the scales only started to move 5 months after my op. I haven't got the full restriction, but I can feel it is not too far. I have only had the "wrong food" once since my last fill (a Chinese takeout), but it took me a couple of hours to eat - and it was completely cold by the time I finished it. It was silly to have it, but I was fed up of the same food every day, and am now back on the right stuff. I eat 2 boiled eggs for Breakfast every day - that is Protein and works well with the band. If you have boiled eggs for breakfast, you should feel full until lunchtime. For my main meal, I eat chicken and pasta: wholemeal Pasta (eg 0spaghetti) a few ounces of chicken breast fillet, diced (cut the fat off if any) half a red pepper, chopped up half a jar of the tomato-based pasta sauce, low-calorie version (called Dolmio Light or Ragu Light in England) I fry the chicken in 5 calories of oil (using OneCal spray) and then put the pepper and pasta sauce in, and in ten minutes the lot is ready. It is a low-fat and filling meal. If I am hungry: I have a banana. I also sometimes have a handful (just literally what one hand will grab) of oven fries (the lowest fat version by McCains). Another thing I treat myself too if I need to is half a bottle of red wine. I have coffee - with skimmed milk. And I have nothing at all to eat apart from the above. Oh, and lots of zero-calorie juice, diluted with Water.

Well, I had my band on Feb 11th, and am about 2 lbs lighter now than I was then. The £6000+ package I paid for included 2 years of aftercare, but I wish I had not taken their aftercare. You get nonsense phonecalls from dieticians, who don't know their jobs. I was told to snack on cheese and crackers (low-fat cheese, but still very high in fat), and eat paella, fish in breadcrumbs and fruit and fibre Cereal, all of which I did, but none of which filled me up, and I found if I cheated with fish and chips etc I could still eat just as much as before. I told them I had a problem with portion size, which I hoped the band would help me with, eg I can eat 6 fish in batter in one go. I don't always do that, but I can eat a lot in one go. Their answer, "you need to adjust your portion size". Er,,, yes, but you could have told me that before I paid £6300 or what ever the price was. As I still didn't have restriction, I have been for a number of fills, and at one fill, there was no X ray machine and they couldn't find the port, and after stabbing all over my stomach (which I regard as assault, battery and actual bodily harm), decided that they couldn't do it, and just sent me home, as if my travel expenses were neither here nor there. I have now been transferred to Colette in their manchester clinic - I find her about a thousand times better than the other person, and she managed to find my port. Also, she told me only to have cheese and crackers once a week, and never to have paella, fish in breadcrumbs or fruit and fibre cereal - the 100% reverse of what the mickey mouse dietician had told me. I still don't have proper restriction. I could easily eat fish and chips right now, but I am feeling more positive after meeting Colette and trying her foods out. I have boiled egg in the morning. I find 3 boiled eggs fills me up until lunch time. They are full of Protein, and much better than what I was having (the fruit and fibre they told me to have). New potatoes, baked potatoes, low-fat Alpen bars - these are all producing a greater feeling of fullness. So I am hoping it will get better from now on. Unless you are seeing Colette, I would say the THG aftercare package is legally fraudulent. If I don't get proper restriction after a few more band fills, then I want to explore legal options. Colette told me not to have Tesco pizzas any more (they were not very high in calories, carefully chosen not to be an oily pizza: it was the Tesco Pizzeria Barbecue chicken, 385 calories and 5g of saturated fat per half-pizza), and so I have followed her word, but before then I was easily able to eat a whole pizza in one go - and then still be hungry - and I don't think that should be possible on a band. To say "you shouldn't be eating that" is not a sufficient THG response. I regard this company as essentially negligent.

Well my only regret is that no one explained to me that the band would take many months to tighten and that it could be months before it started to work properly. So if it takes 3 or 4 band fills before you reach your full restriction, you should rest assured that is normal.

you can get it done much cheaper throughout Europa in Belgium (search for info about Dr Christiaan de Bruyne). 4000 euros I believe. About £3600. I initially thought it would be better to get it done in the UK - if anything went wrong I could sue an English doctor more easily. But in fact, it would be better to have the freedom to purchase your aftercare from whoever you wanted. So it would have been better to go with the Belgian option.

Can I add, you need to eat the right foods for the band to work. If you eat solid-type foods, you should be full and probably physically unable to eat more. If you eat Shepherd's pie and runny ready meals, you might as well not have the band, as they don't stay in the stomach pouch and make you feel full. So you have to eat the right things. That's why I said 3 boiled eggs for Breakfast. It is exactly the right consistency. In the afternoon I make a chicken Pasta meal. Wholewheat spaghetti, a few ounces of chicken, diced and fried with 1Cal fat, then some peppers chopped and put in with the chicken, and then half a jar of low-fat Dolmio on the chicken, and in ten minutes it's all ready to eat. Very low in fat, and filling. I don't have much else - maybe a banana or two the rest of the day, and some coffee.

If you've paid and you are due, I can't advise you - but I would if I were you go ahead with the procedure in Dolan Park, where I was too. Just try to see Colette during your band fills. She goes around the country to clinics, so you might be able to see her. It is far from automatic the weight loss - even though many people on this site seem to have had a fairly automatic experience. I think it depends how big you are for starters - and if you have the large 14cc band, it takes many fills to get restriction. I haven't got the full restriction yet after nearly 6 months, but I feel I am nearly there - maybe next time will do it.

You should be OK with the band if you don't like sweets. In fact, liking sweets would have been a problem with the band, as it would imply you liked food that would slip through the band too easily. You can have Pasta - I cook myself chicken, peppers and low-fat Dolmio/Ragu tomato sauce (the prepared sauce that goes with spaghetti), and wholewheat spaghetti. You can have baked potatoes. You can have most types of chicken and fish. The band is for proper food.

Ask her to put something mushy for you on the menu!

I was banded in February, and I am 2lb lighter today than then, having put on weight in the middle, and now starting to lose it. I have have numerous fills, some of which Fluid has gone into the tubing and so is no longer counted, so I have 9.5 mls in a 14cc band. But I did lose 7 lbs over the past five weeks - after recent fills I felt fuller more quickly (although not unable to eat more). Today I was filled again, and the consultant said she expected the real restriction to kick in now. you may need to get up to 9 or 10 mls before the restriction is really felt. Even if you are not experiencing it after 4 or 5 months, it doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong. I think bigger people take longer to get restriction, but that may not apply in your case, and in any case you were very recently banded.

yes, I have never had success with digital. I am using EKS Chrome and Black analogue scales - they go up 435lb.

After having a band on Feb 11 and losing no weight on it, I have been handed over to a new consultant, who recommends totally different food, with an emphasis on baked potatoes. I am still feeling my way (yes, I know, it has been months) - but I have finally found that 3 boiled eggs in the morning (=6 weightwatchers points) make me feel quite full up for a long time. Some people on this forum say they physically cannot overeat - I am afraid I am not that lucky. I could easily order two pizzas and eat them, and I was not expecting that to be the case with a lapband. But I am finding that a very specific list of food (a very short list in fact) can work well with the band and make me feel full up. I don'ṫ think this is how the band is meant to work, or at least not how it is advertised - which would make you think as long as you avoided ice cream and a few "slider foods" that you would be unable to overeat. But having worked out that few high glycaemic and solid foods make me feel fuller for longer, I might have hit on a way of working with the band....