BetsyB

It's not a stupid question at all---I think everyone has it, and the answer is hard to pin down. I did not experience anything resembling "full" until after my second fill. And then, it was a sensation very different from preop full. For me, "full" is signalled by a chest sensation that isn't pain, but perhaps warning of pain if I continue to eat. It often is followed by a single hiccup. The hiccup is a bit more of a warning--a real DO NOT PASS message. Since surgery, I've weighed and measured my food. At first, that was the only way I knew I'd had "enough." Because I was still hungry all.the.time. Even now, just after Fill 3, I measure and weigh my food. When I get to about the halfway mark, I start really pausing after each bite to "listen" for this sensation. When I get even a hint of it, I'm done. If my food is not measured (like in a restaurant), and the message is sent very faintly, then I can (and have) ended up past the point of full--and that is no fun. It takes practice. You'll learn your body's cues.

Preop, I had pulmonary function tests, blood work, an ECG, and psych testing. Now I'm going to say something you won't want to hear--please know it's out of concern and kindness. If your BMI is high enough that your insurance wants you to lose weight prior to banding, do you think it would be in your best interest, safety-wise, to step back, work really hard with your doctor, and get your BMI down to the level they require before surgery? (This would give you time to quit smoking, too). I know the wait is horrendous. And believe me, I know the impossibility of lasting weight loss without surgery--I know. But insurance companies aren't just saying no to save money. (Well, they are--but their "no" is based on their knowledge of surgical outcomes. And when the "no" means, "no--the surgical risk is too high," it might be really good to do everything possible to minimize the risk.) I wish you great success with whatever choice you make, and we'll all be supportive no matter what. But please, choose surgeons carefully. Make sure yours has lots of experience with patients with higher BMIs. And do everything you can to reduce all other surgical risks--because you want to come out of this healthier.

Welcome, Snowy Congratulations on making this very big decision! I hope you have good luck on the insurance front, and are on your way to banding! Even if there is an insurance-mandated period of supervision, don't be downhearted---the time can be really useful for preparation for the surgery. I'll share my responses to the questions you've asked. are the fills painful? Not really. They're like any other injection--briefly uncomfortable, and done before you know it. did you have much pain when you woke up after surgery? Not nearly as much as I expected. I expected the experience to be similar to other abdominal surgeries I'd had, but really--it was much better. BUT, immediately post op, yes--I felt pretty cruddy. Fortunately, the pain was very easily managed. Getting up and moving around right away really helped a lot. do you vomit after eating and if yes why? No. I don't. I eat very slowly. I take very small bites and chew them well. I don't drink with meals. I made this a habit before surgery, and I practiced it before restriction was even on the horizon. did you have to eat liquids for one month or one week? No. My surgeon's recommended eating plan moves patients to pureed Protein three days after surgery. I've been eating "real" food since then. (I didn't even have an all-liquid preop diet. But this varies tremendously from doctor to doctor.)

I use the Inspire proteins from Bariatric Eating. They foam when blended (I think that's just the nature of the beast), but they don't need a blender to dissolve well in liquid.

Congratulations--great job!

Start with visiting a surgeon's seminar (or two or three). Once you've chosen a surgeon, his/her office will be able to guide you. My supervision involved checking in with the surgeon each month. My insurer had specific parameters for loss during that time period. There was no specific diet that I had to follow during that time--just had to reach a certain specified number of pounds lost. (For those with 3-month periods, a 6-pound loss was required; for those with 6-month periods, a 10-pound loss was required. Good luck!

I agree that most North American physicians know very little about nutrition. Mine is one who does--but he also is in the "no snack" camp. His eating plan is far more stringent than most I've seen described by others. It also works. And that's the aim--getting the weight off. There is good rationale for including snacks. There is good, but different rationale for excluding them. Making radical changes to the way we eat can reap benefits. Short-circuiting our "fat" thinking is as valuable, in many ways, as fueling our bodies at smaller intervals. My doctor's thinking is this: our bodies have ample stores of energy---that's why we needed surgery. We need to draw on those stores---and that's why we don't snack. We are asked to commit to this during the weight loss portion of our journeys. It makes as much sense as any other approach. And it has to be noted that his patients' success rate is higher than average. A small side note about blood sugar: our bodies, when healthy, really do maintain it within very tight parameters; snacks are usually not necessary for this. They do, however, reduce between-meal hunger and, IMO, that makes compliance with an eating regimen more likely to occur. (Which is why--even though I adore and respect my doctor, I do include protein shakes as snacks 1-2x/day.)

Yes, it's normal; some fluid remains in the tubing & port

I think you're asking whether it's normal to not have restriction with 5 ccs. And yes, it is. I mean, there's tons of variance among people--some get it with less, some need far more--but at 5 ccs, I was beginning to get a hint of restriction (I had times when I felt it), but it was not consistent. Some people need their bands to be filled right up to the max; others do not. You've got tons of room left in your band, so you don't need to worry about not getting to the right spot before you run out of space Savimama, I think it's probably fair to say that, no matter what our doctors' approaches, all of us are geared toward slow, steady loss (because that's what the band promotes), and striving to learn how to live with our losses. If one thing can be said about this surgery, it's that there are as many opinions as there are surgeons.

From what I understand, it's completely normal. It's really difficult to pull out all of what's in there; some remains in the tubing and port (from what I've been told).

I was told to get walking immediately---cardio of any kind was fine as soon as I felt up to it. For weight/resistance training, I was green-lighted after the 4-week check.

dees-only-girl, it sounds like you did one of two things: ate beyond "full" or you have something stuck. It does not sound like there's band slippage or anything dire. So that you don't push past "full," start paying attention to signals like the "slight burning" you felt---and also to the body sensations that occur just before you reach that point. Your body will start sending new signals to tell you it's had enough---for many of us, they are not at all like preop "full." I measure my food, and after I reach around the halfway mark in amount, I start really pausing after each bite to "listen." The cues can be really subtle, but if I eat beyond them, I do experience discomfort (even though I've not yet reached real restriction).

Blech! I don't like 'em. But aside from that, they're not made of the most bioavailable protein. Even if your body can absorb 40 g at one time (which, if you need it, it probably can), you'd be better off using a whey protein isolate supplement that will be more fully absorbed. (You'd also be better off finding one that tastes good! I like the Inspire whey protein powders from bariatriceating.com. They contain ~25 g/serving of whey protein isolate, which our bodies "like" better than the protein blend in the shots.)

My doctor doesn't require liquids for the first day (unless necessary), so I was right back in the saddle with regular food.

I am a month into eating "real" food (my doctor doesn't define phases in the same way, but I'm eating solid Protein and vegetables), and do not have good restriction yet. I'm close, and I can tell it's on the horizon---but I still don't reliably get "all done!" signals or stay satisfied for longer than an hour or two. For your question about what to do with an egg--again, it depends on what your doctor recommends. For mine, scrambling, poaching, cooking it any way that it was still soft--would have been okay. harleyhottie--It sounds as though your band might be a little tight. Call your doctor, describe what's going on, and see if s/he wants to to a tiny unfill. It might make a huge difference. (Also, if your questions are getting overlooked, remember that they're more likely to be seen if you start your own thread rather than bury them in responses to someone else's question. More people will see them that way.) If you're like most people, you probably should expect a period of time when you weigh and measure food because your band does not yet give you the "enough!" signal, or keep food in your tiny little pouch long enough to send an, "I'm really satisfied!" message to your brain. You may be lucky and get good restriction quite rapidly--but by and large, it requires a handful of fills to really get there.

Wanna be fit @40, you're not a failure--you're hungry! Believe me, I empathize! I promise you, it gets better. Our group has a very stringent eating plan, compared to other doctors. No wonder you're hungry! Every day you do well is a big victory! And a bad meal---one when you've overeaten? Well, it's just one meal. It's not a measure of your potential long-term success. You will get restriction, and it will be so much easier to stick to the prescribed eating regimen then. You'll get Fill #2 next week, and I bet you'll feel LOTS better. If not, they'll get you in early for Fill #3, too. (I go in tomorrow for mine.) ETA: No--you did not damage your pouch. You can eat anything because your stomach, albeit divided into a small pouch and bigger portion, is emptying almost as fast as it did before surgery. You put food in, and instead of lingering in your nice new pouch and telling your brain, "I'm full," it just passes right through to the larger portion, which says, "FEED ME!" When you get better restriction, the food will linger in the pouch, send the "All done!" signal to the brain, and then very gradually empty. And then, my friend, you will not have trouble with overeating. Now, enough self-flagellation!

Today was smoked salmon and chile lime cole slaw

Mine's The Governor. (Like the devices attached to cars' ignition systems to prevent people with blood alcohol too high from driving.) The Governor tells me when I can't "drive" because I've had enough (food)

I weigh my food, rather than measuring. I have 3-4 oz. Protein for each meal. 1x/day I add 1/2 cup (okay, I lied--I do measure!) nonstarchy veggies. In a couple of weeks, I'll add a serving of fruit/day, too. A couple of hours before Breakfast (I get up early!) I have a warm Protein Drink. Sometimes, at night, I have one, too. But otherwise, no Snacks most days. If I'm hungry enough to gnaw the arms off the furniture, I do grab something like a string cheese, though.

It varies so much from region to region. With an extended tummy tuck, that's not really outside the range of what I've been told to expect. (The surgeon I think I'm going to use, in Houston, is in the 19,000-20,000 range for these surgeries. Another, in Pittsburgh, is a tad higher, and a third and fourth, in NY and LA, are WAY higher.)

Gauging by the nurse's lack of alarm--and by everything I've read and experienced myself--I think you very likely can stop worrying about this. Port site pain is a nagging issue that many of us experience. It just takes a while for our bodies to get used to having that object in there! And when we change positions, etc, there is pulling and tugging that kind of aggravates it, particularly soon after surgery. I really don't think the level of activity you described would in any way threaten your band. Let your doctor know about it when you see him. If you're really worried, call back and ask to be seen sooner, for peace of mind. Good luck!

Yep, the surgery disrupts the hair growth cycle. Pregnancy does, too. In both cases, if you're getting enough Protein and taking your Vitamins, most of the hair lost is hair that would have been lost, gradually, over the time since surgery. (Ordinarily, we shed ~50-100 hairs/day. After surgery, we hang on to those hairs instead of shedding them daily; then, BAM! They all come out, seemingly at once. But most of what we lose is hair that would have come out gradually and less dramatically over time if we hadn't had surgery.) Do make sure you're getting enough protein. Biotin can't hurt. And if you're losing a lot, I've heard that a salon regimen of Nioxin is really helpful. (Have a hair person set you up with the right regimen for your needs.)

Hey, Bob--maybe when you're in the doldrums, you should post anyway. It might make it easier, in some small way. You don't have to be perpetually positive. Let us bolster you a little when you're down. (I'm in the up $200 camp.) Bobbie and PhD, glad to have you here. Leigha, I forget what I was going to post to you. Good lord, I am losing my mind. Oh--yes! I am looking forward to having more-accessible nutrition information, and I think it will be a real eye-opener for the American public, in general. Gloria-I am doing the no-hands thing. It has made a difference to me this week. For some reason (I'm betting PMS), my band is playing tricks on me--and instead of being tighter in the morning, I am ravenous as I approach dinnertime, but tight as a drum & finished with the meal almost before I start. Customarily, that approaching-dinnertime time is the time when I pop something in my mouth (while cooking, serving, whatever...) Not stuff I shouldn't have, but something from my measured portion, but eaten inappropriately. Well, with a fickle band, that didn't work very well! So the no-hands thing has helped me feel much better and actually get some dinner in me! I go in for Fill #3 in the morning--and am looking forward to it. I am really approaching good restriction, I think--but am not quite there yet. I hope to eradicate the mid-day ravenous-ness. It's now officially Spring Break. Well, for Preston. We celebrated by getting him the second in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. I am so thrilled he's reading this--he's gone from a kid who likes reading well enough, but wasn't particularly inclined to do so unless he had to, to a child who voraciously reads 600-900 page books. I knew that if anyone could do it, Larry McMurtry could do it. Okay, I guess I need to stop procrastinating. Winter seems to be returning, there's wind gusting around my house, and my poor Truman, who enjoys wind flapping his ears, is telling me, "Oh, no you don't, woman! Put on your shoes! We're going for a walk!" Have a great day, everyone!