ElfiePoo

I have to say I'm on the fence. When I had my band surgery, there was a woman in my room who'd just had work done on her torso (belly, boobs, etc.). I couldn't help overhearing her docs postop plans which involved months of special restrictions...I think 5-6 months. That, along with some very recent reminders from the death of two friends (one from band surgery) who died of 'complications of surgery' (blood clots), one younger than me by 6 years and I'm not sure my wrinkles are bothering me enough to go through another surgery. Then again I have close to another 100 pounds to go and I'm already dealing with folds of skin at the backs of up upper thighs, knees...and let's not forget the belly and boobs, so I may change my mind. At that point it may be more than just 'cosmetic'. Like a previous poster, I'm just making sure I have the doctor document all the problems I'm having with my skin as a result of the loose skin...just in case. .

Sadly, too many WLS doctors lead us to believe that the band works by physically restricting how much we can eat. It might happen that way for some people but for many of us that never happens. The band's major job is to put pressure on the vagus nerves which in turn tell the stomach to stop producing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Some get enough pressure with just the band. Others need varying amounts of fill. So my question is, what makes you believe you don't have enough restriction yet...the fact that you are actually physically hungry all the time or very soon after a meal...or that you can still eat too much? If the former, then it's time for a fill. If the latter, then the band is already doing it's job and now it's up to you. Probably not what you wanted to hear. I didn't either. I was waiting for the band to physically stop me from overeating. It never did...not even when I was overfilled...but it does stop the hunger. I can eat a small (compared to what I used to eat) meal of 3 oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of vegies (sometimes 1/4 cup of rice or potatoes if I'm having a hungrier day) and not be hungry for 4 hours or so. If you want to get back on track, and are having difficulty, perhaps first start with eliminating wheat and sugar (they usually go hand in hand) from your diet. For most people, after about a week or so, any cravings to eat just disappear. After about a week, start dropping your carbs (I track mine in Fitday.com) until you're below 60 and those carbs should come from vegies. You can do this. You may not have lost anything for 17 months but the fact that you're not still piling on the weight says you're obviously doing something right. Now you just have to tweak it so your body will start losing again. Good luck.

Melisannde, Thanks for the tip on the Carbmaster yoghurt. I love yoghurt but gave it up due to the carbs...and I've just never gotten to the point where I like Greek yoghurt. .

I would have to disagree with the hunger part...assuming your band is working properly. Oh sure, I do still get hungry about an hour before a meal but that's normal hunger. What I don't have anymore is the constant ravenous hunger that made me eat 24/7. .

Even when I was overfilled, I could eat more. Some people do get physical restriction. Most seem to get it at the cost of a long list of foods they can no longer eat, and/or frequent stuck and sliming episodes. According to my surgeon, the band works by putting pressure on the vagus nerves, which tell the stomach to stop producing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. .

Heather, If you can eat a reasonable meal and not be hungry for 4-5 hours, then you already are at your sweet spot. .

HB, The quilt is beautiful! Love the colors! Melody

Sounds like you're still mindful and not just binging and I'd call that a success! 'Sunny florida' (she sighs wistfully and enviously as she looks out at several inches of snow and more coming down.). .

Morning peeps! I think I finally found an activity for me that I'll keep up with on a daily basis - Tae Bo! Normally, I'm not even 5 minutes into whatever activity I'm doing and I'm checking the clock, appalled that only 5 minutes have passed because I'm so booooored. So far, the only time I'm checking the clock is when I finish (reach the point where I know I'll overdo it and pay for it in crashing blood sugar levels) and look to see how long I lasted...and it's 30 minutes! It's amazing fun, but I will admit that I can't keep up with him when he kicks into that high gear. I'm just still too out of shape to move that fast and not just flail my arms and legs. So while he's double timing it, I'm just making a point to do the moves right...and I'm still getting cardio. Yesterday I did 30 minutes in the morning and then 30 minutes in the evening (just cuz I felt like it). Love it! Apparently my body has decided to hit another stall after 2 months of losing. I would've thought my holiday 'food vacation' would have kept that from happening, but oh well. I've been consistently on plan since New Year's so hopefully, I'll start to see that downward slide on the scale soon. My son is getting married on May 15th and I really really want to be below 200 pounds by that date. One would think I could lose (even at my age) 20 pounds in 5 months (she says hopefully). .

I have a 14cc band as well and was told that most don't reach restriction until 7-8cc. I was up at 8.75cc and still looking for restriction (when I misunderstood and thought it meant it would 'physically' restrict how much I could eat). Now I'm at 6cc and happy there because I am not hungry for 4 hours or so after a meal.

It's not about how much you can or can't eat. It's whether or not you're hungry after a reasonable meal. I'm at my sweet spot (no hunger for about 4 hours after a meal) and, if I wanted, I could still eat half a pizza. That shift in thinking from the band restricting the amount I eat to the band eliminating hunger is what finally led me to successfully losing weight again...slowly, but losing. .

If my husband was so tactless as to make such a remark, I would tell him that this isn't about being able to brag about whether or not I weigh the same as I did in college, but about attaining a healthy weight for my body. Why would you allow someone else to make you feel like a failure? You've already lost 40 pounds...and, honey, even if you never lost another pound that makes you a winner already. Tell your husband to mind his own weight and you'll mind yours. .

Good post, the only thing I would change is regarding the shoulder pain. The shoulder pain, if it continues weeks after surgery is caused by some part of the band rubbing against the diaphragm and is not necessarily caused by eating. I'm over a year postop and my shoulder pain occurs mostly when I'm lying down or riding in the front passenger seat of the car (puts me in just the right position). It never occurs when I'm eating. .

Now that I'm not overfilled, I'd agree. When I was overfilled, a meal wouldn't go by that my husband and soon would look at me and (apparently by the expression on my face) ask, "Stuck again?" Since we sit down together as a family for meals, I cook the way I need to eat and, as a result, my family eats healthier now as well. I also now only fix enough for that one meal. In the past, there would always be leftovers because I'd cook extra 'in case' someone would be hungrier. Now I understand that normal people eat normal amounts and then they're satisfied. So I fix normal amounts...and nobody has ever walked away from the table hungry. I do occasionally bake french bread or my special artisan type crusty bread because they like it, but I never eat it. I also will 'occasionally' (*maybe* once a week on Sunday) make a dessert, but I never eat it. Wheat and sugar are taboo to them. .

That has got to be the single most difficult thing for me to deal with. Certain types of carbs (wheat and sugar particularly) are poison to me. When I was in my mid 20's people could not believe I weighed 200 pounds. First because I carried my weight well and had a tiny waist (despite my size) and second because I just didn't eat like a 200 pound person. I wasn't a junk food eater and I didn't eat volume. One of my roommates, a good friend who spent a lot of time with me, as well as being a co-worker, said many times I should have my thyroid tested because there was no way I could eat so litle food and be that overweight. Oh, and I also went backpacking in the Rocky Mountains almost every weekend during the nice weather carrying a 28 pound pack. During bad weather, I cross country skied. Despite that, I weighed 200 lbs. It has taken another 30 years to realize that my body does not metabolize certain carbs well, no matter how little I eat of them and, if I want to take this weight off for good, I need to eliminate them from my diet permanently. .

Putting aside the fact that smoking is just not good for you...is your doctor or insurance company refusing to do the surgery if you're still smoking? If it's the doctor, just find another one if you really thing you aren't going to be able to quit. It's better than lying to your doctor. if it's the insurance company, well you may have to just suck it up and go cold turkey. My doctor merely mentioned in the seminar that if anyone smoked, it would be in their best interest to give it up but it wasn't a prereq to having surgery. .

You all may be dealing with phrenic nerve pain. Basically some part of the band is rubbing on the diaphragh which causes pain to one of the vertebrae (can't remember which) but it refers the pain to the left shoulder. Fun fun...not. I'm a year post op and still have it. .

I'm not quite sure how these doctors expect an adult to get enough nutrients in 1/2 cup of food...let alone assuage the hunger that you will inevitably have to deal with. I was fortunate enough to have a surgeon who also has a band so had personal experience in living with it. If you can do it...more power to you, I guess...but if you can't, then the next best thing is to eat a reasonable, balanced meal...3-4 oz of Protein, 1/2 cup vegies and 1/4 cup starches (if you're still hungry). If you find you're still hungry between meals because you aren't at your sweet spot, then eat a hard boiled egg, or an ounce of cheese, or some other type of protein. Even a low carb low cal Protein shake is better than dropping into bad food habits. Bottom line - you need to make this work for you. .

The more the merrier! I wish we had more active people in this thread! Melody

No doubt there will be a nap in my future today. I think I 'might' have had about 3 hours sleep (and not restful at that) last night. Fortunately, I don't have to do anything today that requires much thinking or energy other than making egg rolls for my son to take to his 'game night' at a friend's house this evening. All I have to do is make the filling and put the egg rolls together. They're going to cook them tonight. Good thing because I love egg rolls and don't know if I could resist 'eating just one'. My tossing and turning woke up my husband and he mentioned that he found a blog that mentioned a friend of ours who died last March unexpectedly. Right after she died her adult children announced on her facebook page that she had died but were quite secretive as to the reason and, of course, nobody wanted to pry. However, she was only 62 years old and in fairly good health so we couldn't help wondering. Well, the blog my husband found was written by another friend of hers and it did tell what the reason was. Apparently she died of complications from lap band surgery. I was shocked. We hadn't seen her in years because she lives on the west coast, but she was not overweight the last time we saw her. I know she was a heavy smoker and tended to be an L.A. 'party girl' for much of her life (married to an actor) so perhaps that upped her surgical risks. At any rate, events such as this and my son's mil dying at the age of 49 from a blood clot after surgery to her knee, make me even more determined to try and wait out this shoulder pain rather than resort to surgery at this point. Call me chicken. Off to do some Tae Bo and hopefully wake up a bit more before tackling the egg roll fillling. Then perhaps I can get a nap in while it's cooling. Have a great day everyone! Melody

HB: I'm so sorry your job is stressing you out, but on the bright side, at least now you aren't easing that stress with food (since you're losing weight rather than gaining) which would only create more stress. Isn't it funny how our body image is a warped version of the reality. When I weighed more, I never thought I looked that fat. Now that I weigh less, I think I look just as fat as I used to. I'm not sure how we fix that. Stacey: If you can eat a reasonable meal and not be hungry for 4 hours, then you're at your sweet spot (according to my surgeon). I used to never feel at my sweet spot because I kept looking for physical restriction. Now that I understand, I'm almost 3 full cc's below where I was before (when I was still looking for that sweet spot) and have found my sweet spot...and if you're like me, still able to eat the quantities you did pre-surgery...yep, it's going to be all up to us. The bright side is that the self-control is at least doable now that the hunger isn't driving us, yes? To both...yes, the pain has been not as frequent, or as painful. There are a few exceptions like last night, but rather than go into surgery again, I think I'm going to try and wait it out and see if weight loss doesn't resolve it. Melody

2:30 a.m. and the shoulder pain is back with a vengeance. It actually hasn't been too bad lately. I've still had it at night every few nights or so, but not so bad I couldn't find a way to make it stop. Tonight, however, I'm in hell. I tried a hot shower to help with the tightness in my neck and shoulder (from tensing at the pain) and then some camphor type stuff you put on aches but so far nothing has helped. I figure at some point I'll be so exhausted, I'll even be able to sleep sitting up in a chair. <yawn>.... Melody

I am a diabetic and at the time I got my band, I was eating 6 smaller meals per day just to keep my blood sugar stable. Due to the extremely low carbs post surgery, my meds were cut in half. Now a year later, I'm off them completely. I'm a Type II by the way. Unfortunately there are a lot of doctors out there giving out a lot of advice and none of them seem to agree...which is why I use the brain God gave me and take their 'advice' as just one more piece of information in deciding what I'm going to do. It's my body and I'm the one who has to live with the consequences. As a diabetic, it's the Protein that's going to keep your blood sugar stable and the carbs that will give the most problem since it's the carbs that (generally) cause the production of insulin (assuming you're type II). I'm curious as to why the doctor handling your meds isn't suggesting you stop taking them or lowering them drastically with consistent low blood sugar readings. .

I'm a Type II. Her doctor is telling her that she can reverse her Type I diabetes with a gastric?! That just doesn't make sense since Type I (if I understand correctly) is a diabetic whose body is not producing insulin. Having a bypass will not change that. Also, depending on her healing ability (a problem with many diabetics), something as invasive as a bypass may set up a whole series of recovery problems. Just something to think about but many bypass patients are undergoing additional surgery to get the band because even though they're limited on what they can eat, their hunger doesn't go away because their stomach is still producing excess amounts of ghrelin. If you go back and read a few of my posts, I'm always explaining what this is and why the band seems to be the most effective surgical method long-term. Even many vertical sleeve patients are starting to get the band (for the same reason). .

It could be gas since it's still so soon after surgery...but it could also be phrenic nerve pain from the band rubbing against the diaphragm (referred pain to the shoulder). I'm 1 year postop and still have it on and off whenever I'm lying down. Sometimes just an irritation. Sometimes, like tonight, enough to keep me awake. .