thinin10

You def. sound like you need a fill. My dr. office is pretty aggressive about fills.... They had me schedule a fill appt. now every month for the next 3 months...If I don't think I need it I can cancel it. A bit of background. I had my surg. on 9/2. I had 4 cc's in at surgery. I had my 1st fill on 10/21 under florescopy and they put in 3 ccs. WAY too much. I woke myself up puking and it hurt to even try to swollow water.. so they took out 1cc after 2 days of misery. That's probably why I delayed getting a 2nd fill...but I can in 2c of food now so I know I'm ready so having that done this coming Thursday. They gave me this little graph to veiw and I am to get a fill set as soon as I hit the green zone of sensations... did any of you get that graph? I have to say though I am a bit disappointed in how slow I"m losing. I was 14# down pre op and over 13 weeks post op and only down another 29#. I am working out at least 4 days per week and active every day. I KNOW I am losing inches... even when I went 3 weeks with nothing on the scale my clothes continued to get looser and looser. I try to remember that when the bloody scale does not move for weeks on end but it is indeed hard. I need to get online more often... reading these threads people having the same issues I am really helps. There is only 1 person in our clinic support group that has been banded besides me.

I have to correct a statment that was made on here. somebody stated you have to be an aggressive swimmer to burn 550 cal per hr. ... not so... you burn also based on your wt/bmi. I do water aerobics 2-3x per week and at my wt. I burn 564 cal per hour and I also do laps another 1-2 days a week and I do a nice steady sidestroke... get in a mile in about 15 mins. and I can't recall the burn right now but think that is 597 or so an hr. as well. If you go to the livestrong.com site/ myplate.com... put in your wt. and go to theadd excersise area.. it will tell you YOUR calorie burn per hr. based on your bmi. It might not be as perfect as those pricey armbands..but it's good. At my wt I burn about 170 calories and hour just being a pulse in a chair... it's different for everybody. My dr. is super supportive of water aerobics and activity to suppliment my other workouts... and I LOVE the pool. On the weekends when I have time to do both it's such a treat to know after working myself into a lather on the machines, that I get to get into the pool. I am just back in the pool now post op and so happy ! I am in bandster hell right now but at least I know I cont. to tone since I can feel it. I also can't work on my core yet til 6 week mark but can do it in the pool so I don't lose all the abs I built up pre surg.So hit the pool and enjoy your work out... it doesn't have to be all pain and sweat!:smile:

I am 4.5 weeks post op. I lost 9# the 1st 2 weeks and only 1.25 since- nothing for the last 2 weeks! Here's history: 5-600 calories liquids x2 wks. 800 cals. per week 1st week purees 1100 calories per day most days for 2nd week purees. to dr. NUT told me no more then 800 cals. per day. EVER til I've lost all my wt. and this is a standard. I am working out 5-6 days per week 1 hr. per day. . I have built back up to this (1 hr. per day 6-7 days per week pre op) and this week 1 hr. per day all week. Monitoring my food religiously and being totally honest on it... using livestrong site. getting in my water. 3 small meals and 1 small snack per day. no late nite eating (but dinner prob.later than it should be but that's my wk. schedule). She told me to cut out virtually all carbs. I don't want to be back on the protein diet..been there- done that. I asked how many carbs per day.. what % of my calories? how many... would not say...just to cut them out as much as possible. Any ideas why my wt. loss has died? I am getting in 850-900 per day now..can't stay at 800.. UBER hungry all the time Anybody else experience this? I am SO frustrated and I KNOW I'm not cheating and doing it right. I"m keeping my eye on the end game...staying the course.. but it's SO hard and it's making me feel like a failure.! :thumbup:

Thanks all. janetsjourneytothin....sounds like you might have experienced what I am at 4-5 weeks? How long did you stall... did it change after the 1st fill or still take awhile? Were you at this level of calorie intake as well and do you remain there? I know I've seen other posts stating you need to pull your body out of starvation mode to get it to lose. I just don't want to go against the advice of my NUT if some time will yeild the the results. I guess one of my fears is that if I stay at starvation mode for a year or 2 til my wt. is lost... what happens when I do start eating more normal.. say 1200 calories per day... will I blow up like I have in past years after trying a starvation like diet? Can't thank you enough for the site recommendation. I am going to jump onto that right now. I'm a pretty great and creative cook- yes... tooting my own horn on that- so I'm really good at creating meals to fit the medical/cal needs... in fact had a dream about meatballs last night and figured a way to keep them low cal, juicy and loaded with protien and fiber so have some ground turkey thawing now... I'll keep you guys posted on the recipe once I do them up and ensure they're good. thanks again all!:thumbup:

It's not til 10/16. It was set at the time they set surg. for 6 weeks out. I was told they're changing the protocols and will start doing 1st fills at 4 weeks but my doc.is booked so even though we looked at moving it up... no availalbility. Don't you think it's wierd though that band or no band not to be losing at that level of calorie intake/ calorie burn? I know the fill will help with the hunger but can't see where it will make me lose faster... will still be taking in/ putting out the same. Are you getting the same eating /calorie advice from your NUT?

I was doing the bariatric advantage but found them grainy and chalky. I am doing celebrate bariatric ones now. One of the girls in my support group was "auditioning" all the different ones before surg.and suggested them. The calcium come in hot cocoa and I thought that would be SO gross but on her advice tried them and I love them.. I just ordered their iron ones since they are guaranteed not to stain your teeth (some of the chewable iron can) so can't attest to them but they are reasonably priced. Frankly the calcium is going to get aweful pricey since I have to do 1.5 servings per day to get in all that they want me to take in (2k mg. per day). The multivit.itself from them that I got is blackberry flavored... not the best but growing on me...again though...lots of more cost eff. ones as noted on some of the other posts. I just got all gung ho before surg.and ordered a TON of these so need to get thru them. I do love the hot cocoa calcium plus though!

Don't worry... it took. You have no restriction right now til the 1st fill... the restriction you felt at the onset was just swelling. I am 3 weeks out as well (well will be after tommorow). I think I MAY have dropped 1# this week and I'm being good. I am hungry a LOT... drinking lots of tea at nite to keep from eating and work and chores to keep busy with the rest of the time to keep my mind off of it. for me... I cut back on working out a bit during this time. I will get my levels up- but not the time til I get a fill and that's based on what I have read on this site. I have learned SO much here. 1st... your wt. loss tends to drop off til after 1st fill since your body goes into starvation mode on the assigned diet .. hence the work outs being kept to 1/2 hr. at a time vs. 1-1.5 i was doing pre op. next... I didn't understand why the wait for the fill and the strict diet til then. One of the folks here explained that to eat too much makes your pouch work too hard... which makes your freshly stitched band move around so could unseat it/ make it slip. That was GREAT info. I had not gotten from my doctor and has been the impetice to keep me on track til my 1st fill. Hope that helps. Read thru the strings... you'll see you are SO not alone in your hunger and frustration. :biggrin:

I'm the type that has to be very diligent about fiber and I"m less than 3 weeks post op... but trying. I have been putting wheat germ in my yogurt each morning ( I tried flax seed but the flavor- ick! - also - dr. said to avoid seeds too...). I shoot for 20g. per day for now on soft foods. I have a type of bean/ lentil soup or main dish (soft of course) for at least 1 meal per day and my eas myloplex lite shake as 5g per so that helps as well. I'm not a huge meat eater to begin with but finding I might end up going vegan to ensure I get my fiber in given such a small space for food. Beans seem to be the only way I'm going to come close to getting my fiber in every day.

band-groupie: Great post- thanks. I was never told that about why liquid,soft foods etc. I thought it was to shink our stomachs, get us used to how we should eat and chew. I had no idea it would effect the stitches. GREAT info. I wish the dr.s would explain some of that stuff better- or moreover- their staff (who sees there doctor post op??).

I'm doing the same thing right now.. making the mistake of comparing myself to some of the "super losers". The avg. wt. loss is 1.5-3# per week so you are SO on target! There's 52 weeks in a year... think of where you will be at the end. I am trying to do that myself and no compare myself to the mega losers or gastric bypass people. I have a girl at work that came up to me- and asked me VERY loudly how much I had lost on my 1st day back at work. I would def. keep this a secret on a do over.. How RUDE is that!?!? Somebody on here said they didn't tell since they've seen how poeple watch everything somebody eats when they know... I'm starting to relate to that. I don't even go out for lunch with the group now to ensure I don't have to deal with that! Sorry , got of topic... can you tell how irked I am!? You're doing great!

I am 2.5 weeks post op. I could not comfortably sleep on my side for about a week ( I sleep on my left side-same side as my port). I haven't tried gummy Vitamins since it was asked about in pre surgery class and we were told a big NO on those. I was a bit excessive about my workouts pre op but not as much yet. I still find I get tired out more easily... but just getting my Iron in now today so that could be factoring in. I had done 6-7 hours of work out per week preop and plan to work that back in but for right now I'm at about 3 hours per week tops. I still get waves of hunger- the afternoon being the worst for me but I have not yet had a fill so there is actually no restriction on me yet and the swelling is gone that was serving as some restriction. I plan on just being rather hungry til my 1st fill at 6 weeks... an experience I have not had for FAR too many years. I think with the areas of the body you lose wt. in and the excess skin thing... it comes down to genetics/ your body. I am so soon out that I get nervous about this as well... right choice.. will I do well etc.but I have all the right tools to do well and am confident I will. I think the biggest adjustment for me was to realize that there are no real changes right now... this is a slow process..l'm not going to be thin overnight etc. I know we all know that logically going into this but I have to admit... I think I expected to feel differently-to somehow feel a change- and I don't. Which is good... but again... maybe a tad anticlimactic after a 9 month battle to get approval. Good luck. I have found some wonderful information on these threads, wonderful support and SO many great stories.

I've seen others on clear liquids for 2 weeks. I was just on liquids for 2 weeks so had cream soups... and I put wheat germ in it too to bulk it up, pudding, but admit to sneaking in some laughing cow cheese on occasion when I felt the hunger was overwhelming- it's a some creamy cheese. Remember that you have no restriction til the 1st fill as a norm so scary as that is... you can eat what you want. The restriction you feel is the swelling. The diet is to get you acustomed to how you should eat from my understanding,. For me... I did bit of the soft cheese on occasion, bulked up my soups... and also switched to thicker soups- split pea etc. and drank LOTS of tea.... seemed to help- especially in the evening- to curb the hunger. Do you get to have protien shakes too?

make sure you're getting in your iron. My nutritionist said 36mg normally and I need 50 (I was getting in only 18 at that time). I found getting up and working out helped- beleive it or not. I drank a LOT of herbal teas also to fill in the hunger and that seemed to help... with a bit of milk and sweetener. Did not give me more energy but helped with those almost sick hunger pains. Can you try going back to work 1/2 days for a week or so with a dr. slip... I wouldn't imagine the dr.slip needs to say why right? Good luck and keep us updated on how you're doing!

dreak22: Thanks for the advice! I will wait til the end of this week and see if I do a drop towards the end and if not, I will call my dietician and get the ok. I do know from past dieting that doing 3 tiny meals with high protein and only good carbs of 200 with 2 snacks at about 100-200 calories or so worked great for me... so I was not taking in much more than I am now, but eating every 2.5-3 hours. I think If I don't drop this week I will indeed get the ok to do that. It feels great to know this is a common problem. I've learned so much from this site. Thanks all. Oh:biggrin:... and I do log what I eat on line. I use the livestrong/my plate site. I can track food, water, nutrition, calories, excersise with a burn rate customized to my wt.and there's a journal spot too so I can track how I'm feeling, when and why.. Great site but it does move SLOW. thanks again all.

I don't know if this would be a factor or not but... After reading on the threads I came to realize there are different sized bands. I have to admit to being more than a bit disappointed that I had not been informed of this preop. I asked my surg. consultant (does ANYBODY ever see their dr.after the 1st consult and a nod to you on the date of surgery... I swear... I could have sent any fat chick in with my ins. card and he would not have known the difference! ok.. I digress!). ANYHOW... I asked to find out what size mine was and how much it could hold. I was told before surg. that the new bands can allow almost indef. fills and up to 16 fills. Not nessiarily the case (unless they do it 1/4 cc units). There is a small that holds 4ccs and a larger that holds 16ccs. I'm not sure if there are inbetween ones or not. I have the small one so hoping it affords enough restriction as time goes on. My point is, could it be that your band is the wrong size for you and therefore simply does not offer enough restriction ? It might be worth looking into? Good luck!

Took me about a week to have one as well but I swear... felt better than sex! Last "real" one I've had though...the liquid in - liquid out" statement is oh so true!

I have a desk job as well but feel you need a week just to rest up , get the gas an anethesia out of you. I was tired a lot my 1st week and did not really feel myself til into the 2nd week. I was working out but really did not feel that with it. It's both a major surgery-laprascopic or not,and it's a major life change.. if you can take a couple weeks of to adapt, rest and try to aclimate yourself to your life changes... I for one think you should. STD will cover this time if you have it. I have freinds who did the full 6 weeks and they have been very successful. It had nothing to do with the dr.s competency, but rather, the drs. stated that they should use this time to incorp. the changes in their life they needed-eating habit-speed,excersise,prioritize etc. It's not a nessesity but it would be great for anybody with the opportunity.

I am SO glad I found this thread! I am 2.5 weeks post op. I dropped 5# the 1st week, 3# the 2nd and only 1# so far this week. I am averaging about 700 cals in per day and avg of 300 per day post excersise and the scale is NOT moving now. I'm afraid though if I spike up my calories to lose that I'll get back into eating mode and then it's all over but the crying. Besides... how do you get your calories up without breaking the "golden rules"of no eating over 1C per sitting and no snacking unless your meals get 6 hrs. apart? If I eat ... I"m bad... If I don't eat... it's bad... How confusing!?

I'm a bandster of course and I RTW 1/2 days at 2 weeks and feeling fine.. frankly if my days weren't so long I could be full time BUT, I have a desk job and I am assuming you will be doing hoyer lifts and the like? I am on a 20# restriction for 6 weeks. I work out every day, but not released to use my core muscles yet. There is, however, a girl in my support group that had surg. the same day I did and she was bypass. She is in her last year of nursing and starts back this week or next and she's doing great. We talked at our 2 week post op appts and she, however, unlike me, feels she must wear her belly binder to help. I would talk to your doctor about it or try to set it for a semester break if you have one... sounds like you have 6 months to play with.

Melinco is spot on correct from my read of the rules as well. I believe you can use FSA for health clubs as well.

I agree with all that talk of tracking. I have not had my 1st fill yet either, just 2 weeks post op but I think tracking helped me SO much pre op and is now. I use the livestrong site./ my plate. It's slow but it's wonderful. It tracks the nutrition but also water, excersise (and the excersise has everything you could imagine on there- and it goes by YOUR weight... not some silly graph on a piece of equipment). Another thing, it has a diary on each day as well... so you can journal at the same time so if you slip, you can track it to a mood or stressor.:thumbup:

Welcome stacia! You can get ahold of my anytime you want. So what group are you going thru?

HI all. I'm a new bandster from MN. Any other Minnesotan's out there?

Voodoo. I feel your pain. I looked at surgery 10 years ago when I 1st heard of the lapband and found out my husgands ins. had it excluded as well. After 10 years of losing/gaining, I finally followed up. I found out that the ins. plan thru my employer covered it- I called , verified all the info, and then Jan. of that next year, took out the ins. thru my co. and put my copay that would be due away pretax from my checks. Even with that I got denied 2x and had to file an appeal. It was SUCH a pain and brought me to tears more than once. Hopes up and down. Finally after almost exactly 9 months of red tape, I got my surgery. Voodoo do you have the option of taking out ins. thru your own employer/ covered thru your work? Sluggo. I know it's easy to just say forget about it to the ins. co. but DON'T. It's a numbers game. I can assure you somewhere they've got a report that benchmarks how many people give up at each level of denial. If we as a group don't push,then they win... they will keep doing these unethical practices of denying on frivolous grounds since it's cost effective for them. Chubbers are growing by the day in this country (no pun intended) and we need to make ourselves heard and push for fair insurance covg and rights. We all pay stout preimiums for coverage and deserve to have reasonable and nessisary medical procedures covered as our primary care physicians dictate- not a board of directors ! Ok.. that's my soapbox speech for the day! And I work for and ins. co. too! :thumbup:

jachut-your post was so perfect! I agree totally. I have been using agave necter for a sweetener and it does not cause an insulin response as other sugars do. My nutritionist is ok with it but offered Stevia as an alternative - and it's natural- in fact I grew it in my garden last year and I'm in a hard zone 3. I don't like the truvia brand but stevia itself is ok in small does (it can leave a bit of an after taste). It tends to be a bit hard to find though in my experience and I have no researched it to find out if it would have an assoc. insulin response (that creates the subsequent hunger issues). It is sugar free though and agave necter is 60 calories per tablespoon so you must use the later sparingly. I just figured now was a great opportunity to go fully organtic and healthy like I've always wanted, but could not afford in my consumed quantities!:tt1: