TheCurvyMermaid

Central Vegas girl here. I was banded in June of '07, but had a lot of trouble and got an unfill a couple of years ago. I gained back everything I'd lost after falling off the wagon, and then a course of steroids for a back injury. I started over from scratch three months ago, and I *think* I'm more or less in my green zone, though it varies day by day. I'm down 28 lbs so far.

I had an allergic reaction to the Dermabond too. It wasn't horrible, but it was itchy and unpleasant. As near as I can tell, for me, it seems to be an adhesive allergy. The hydrocortisone was a good first step, but it's good you talked to your doc. I find I'm only sensitive to adhesives on more sensitive skin. I can wear a bandaid on my finger with no problem, but when I get a fill, I remember to take the bandaid off my belly after an hour or two, or the skin starts to get irritated. Just something to keep an eye out for going forward. I hope you get some relief soon!

I bought my FitBit One two weeks ago, and I LOVE it! I almost got the Flex, but decided against it because I'm not crazy about having things on my wrists because I type on a laptop so much, so the One was a better fit for me. I'm looking for friends too, so please feel free to add me. My details are in my signature.

Thank you for posting this. I needed to read that today. <3

Hi Shelly! I'm almost 5 years post op, and I started over three months ago, right back at my surgery weight. There are a number of us going through the same stuff and working on keeping each other motivated here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/165378-starting-over-5-years-after-surgery/ I originally lost about 50 lbs and gained it all back, and I started over from the ground up too. You *can* get back on this horse. Just go back to the beginning, refresh yourself on the ground rules, and keep at it! =)

Well, it sounds like you learned your lesson, no? Seriously though... ouch. I feel your pain, and even after years, I still screw myself over sometimes by eating too fast, or eating the wrong thing and get that feeling like I'm being stabbed in the chest. My nutritionist said that the GI tract (Esophagus, etc...) is basicly a big muscle. If you drink cold liquids, you'll contract and be tighter. If you drink warm liquids, it will relax some. I usually drink my Water at room temperature. Cold is unpleasant for me most of the time. I generally take my pills one at a time, and I even break some of them in half. With one of the medications I take, the 200mg pill was too big for me to comfortably swallow, so the pharmacy gave me 100mg pills instead, and I take two instead of one. It's a bit of a learning curve. Anymore, I take aleve, because I only have to take 1, rather than taking a couple of Tylenol or Advil. I take chewable Vitamins instead of the regular big ones. When I was really tight, I even crushed or dissolved some of my meds, but you need to ask your doctor or pharmacist about that, because some pills are time released and crushing them screws things up. Be gentle with yourself and good luck.

Yes, what Jackie said. Any time I've had to do an unfill they tell me to do liquids for at least a day until the swelling goes down. Depending on how bad it was, you may want to do mushies for a day or so after that. Hope you feel better soon, I've been there!

I feel you. I've been losing VERY slowly. Based on my calories and activity, I really should be losing 2+ lbs a week, but in the last 7 weeks I've only lost 8.5, in spite of adding cardio and weights. I've been eating about 1300 calories a day, and burning around 400+ daily when I excercise. I haven't been eating the calories I burn back, and some folks have told me that's why my weight loss is so slow. I'm upping my calories to 1420 (based on MyFitnessPal's recommendation) and I'm going to try eating my excercise calories and see if that helps.

No problem! As far as the protein stuff goes, this recommendation is mostly for later. My nutritionist says WLS patients should get 90g+ of protein a day, and you should not have more than 40g at any one time. Once you're properly restricted with your band, It's pretty much impossible to get that much protein down unless you're doing some kind of a protein powder. What I'd suggest is this: go to a good vitamin/supplement store like GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, or even Whole Foods (though you'll pay more) and pick up a bunch of different single serving size packets of different brands and different flavors. I like the Jay Robb and Spirutein brands. Neither of them is overly sweet. Syntrax tastes pretty good to me, but it might be too sweet for some (Especially the Syntrax Sweets line.) The thing is, it's largely a matter of taste. What I like, you may not, and vice versa. You've got to find one (or several) that you can eat on a day in, day out basis. Buying the single serve packets will cost more up front, but that way you can find ones that you like, and you're not stuck with a month's supply of something you have to choke down every time. (I've done that a couple times. Once with a zero carb Isopure dutch chocolate... yuck! It was like choking down chocolate flavored grit!) I do a 40g Protein shake first thing in the morning every day. If you're like most people, you'll find that you're tighter in the mornings, so your first meal of the day will usually be liquid. My favorite is to do 1 1/3 scoop of Jay Robb vanilla, 1 cup non fat milk, and 1 tbsp Peanut Butter. It comes in at about 40g, and 330 calories. Greek yogurts are also great. There are a number of brands with no fat and anywhere between 10-14g of protein per serving.

My doc didn't have me do a pre-surgery diet at all. My impression was that the practice I went to only does that with very obese patients. (I am 5'9" and weighed 283 at surgery. I'd actually *gained* about 7lbs before my surgery having a few too many "last meals.") Other people I've talked to gave me the impression that their surgeon made all of their patients follow a pre-op diet with a lot of liquid meals. Bottom line, it probably won't really hurt you, but it's probably best to follow your doctor's instructions as well as you can. Have you thought about trying unflavored Protein powder to keep it from being too sweet? You can always add a tiny bit of low sugar fruits to get a little flavor. Check into Designer whey and unjury Proteins. I know that Unjury carries a chicken broth flavored Protein Powder. Maybe that would be a little easier to get down. I don't know how it would be, but maybe if you added the chicken protein powder to non fatmilk, it would be kind of like a creamy chicken Soup?

Hey folks, I've got a question for you. I know everyone is different, but I'm just wondering for you, how many calories a day do you eat? I'm 5'9" and 255 lbs. I started working out about a month ago, doing cardio. I've added weights in the past couple of weeks. I'm currently working out about 4x a week, and building up to 5x. Now, MFP suggests that I eat a net of around 1400 calories a day after excercise to lose 2lbs a week, but that seems higher than what most WLS patients are encouraged to eat. I've been eating about 1300 calories a day, and not eating the calories I burn through excercise, and I wonder if I'm shooting myself in the foot by not eating more. Is it slowing my weight loss? I'm currently losing about 1-1.5 lbs a week, but it seems like I should be seeing better results than that. I'm just wondering, for you, do you eat the calories you burn through excercise? If so, do you find you lose better if and when you do? Again, I know everyone is different, I'm just looking for some feedback. Thanks! Stephanie p.s. I'm also looking for more friends on MFP, so feel free to add me. My username is JustSing If any of you use fitbit, feel free to add me as a friend there as well @ http://www.fitbit.com/user/25YKDP

My nutritionist and also the PA at my band office said it's a bad idea to go under 1200 calories, but I don't know if they're taking calories burned through excercise into account. From what I understand, going under 1200 calories can cause the body to go into starvation mode and hold on to calories, but I've heard other people say they've been given guidelines from their doc ranging from 600-1200 calories a day.

I get shoulder pain in my left shoulder. From what I understand, it's from a the vagus nerve, which runs from your digestive tract up to your brain. It's common for people who have any kind of laproscopic surgery to get some shoulder pain. For a lot of people, it goes away in the weeks following surgery, but yours may not. For myself, it's something that never left me, although I usually only feel it if I overeat, or if my band is way too tight. You might find this thread helpful: http://www.bandingtogether.com.au/community/topic/9133-pain-in-shoulder-after-eating/ This is the best description I've found: "Hi Kylie, as you know, you can get shoulder tip pain after surgery, but I might be able to shed some light on your 'after eating' shoulder pain. There's a nerve called the vagus nerve that goes from your abdomen up to your brain. It has a number of branches throughout the body and has a number of functions, but basically it goes from your digestive tract up to your brain. It sits against your stomach and has a role to play in telling you when you're full (among other things). When they put the lapband around your stomach, the vagus nerve is trapped inside the band (it's meant to be) and so when food passes by the band it also stimulates the vagus nerve and your brain thinks you're full. Now, why do you get shoulder pain? As the vagus nerve travels up to the brain, there's also a fairly big branch of the nerve that sits in your shoulder. I suspect what's happening to you is that each time you eat, you're getting 'referred pain' from the part of the vagus nerve that sits against your stomach, to the branch of the vagus nerve in your shoulder. That's why it doesnt matter how slowly you eat, the vagus nerve against your stomach is still getting stimulated each time food passes the band. Why do you feel it in your shoulder? Because nerves are funny things and we often perceive nerve pain as coming from one place when in fact its coming from another place. What to do about it? Nothing. Most referred pain settles down after a little while." I hope this helps!

I've done something similar, but used herbed light feta cheese instead of mozzarella. Sounds great!

You can get them already prepared in the Mexican section of most grocery stores, but I like to make my own. You can certainly make them from dried pinto Beans, but I usually skip that step and buy canned whole pinto beans. I like to simmer them with a few cloves of garlic and part of a jalapeno (or a serrano if you REALLY like the heat.) after they simmer for 10 minutes or so, mash them a bit with a potato masher and let them simmer a bit longer, then turn off the heat. They'll thicken some as they stand. My (Mexican) roommate's mom takes a medium sauce pan, adds about 1/4-1/3 cup of oil, then fries a corn tortilla in the oil along with garlic to flavor the oil, then pulls out the garlic and the tortilla (before it burns). It flavors the oil, and then you follow my directions above, using a large can of beans, aprox 32oz. Don't make them that way though, it's super unhealthy! LOL! Any way you make them, be mindful of the calories. I only eat them as a side to some carne asada or marinated chicken, or in a small taco salad. (Lettuce, ground beef, salsa, refried beans, low fat sour cream, and a tiny bit of shredded cheese for color.)

Target or Walmart. They make calcium chews as well.

The Bariatric Advantage ones taste icky to me. As a bandster, you don't have to worry about malabsorbtion in the same way that someone with a bypass or sleeve would, so you may not need something as potent as a bariatric supplement. (They can also be pricey.) Centrum makes an orange flavored chewable, and a liquid, but I personally don't care for the flavor or the gritty texture. I'm currently taking Viactive, which is a chocolate chew. It's 20 calories, but I don't mind it so much because it tastes more like a candy than a Vitamin, and it's only about $7 for a 60 day supply. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but it works for me, and I don't have to worry about a pill getting stuck.

Not to mention that a lot of ERs don't have the right kind of non coring huber needles to do an adjustment without damaging your port, and that's if you can find someone who even knows how to do an adjustment. I've got a 10CC band too. I was at 4CCs without much restriction, and got .6 put in and was in a huge amount of pain and could barely get anything down. They took out .3CCs, and now I seem to be just right at 4.3CCs. Definitely get some Fluid out. It isn't worth the misery!

Absolutely. Stress will affect it for sure, and getting stuck or throwing up can can make you get tighter as well. I find for myself that I tend to get tighter just before and during my period, which I've heard can be due to Water retention. Bottom line though, if you're too tight, uncomfortable, having problems eating or drinking, experiencing acid reflux or heartburn, it may be time to get a little bit of an unfill.

Hi folks! I've been MIA for a bit too. I've had lots going on and not a lot of time for updates. On the weekend of May 4th, I drove out to Anaheim with two of my good friends to do the Orange County AIDS walk at Disneyland. The walk is in the park before it opens to the public, beginning at 6:30am. The only bad thing is that we got in to Anaheim super late, and had to be up hours before the sun to get to the park in time. I only got about an hour and a half of sleep! Ugh! Still, it was totally worth it. I raised $200, and our little team raised over $5600 all together, and I'm already making plans for next year. We met up with a bunch of my local friends who were also walking, and had a blast doing the 5k through Disneyland and California Adventure. So, fast forward a bit to where things got really interesting with my band. After the walk we figured we'd better get some coffee and breakfast. We'd already done 5k+ on an empty tank and had about 15 hours of Disneyland ahead of us. I'd decided that the day wasn't about losing weight, it was about getting enough fuel for the day, especially since I'd only slept about an hour and a half the night before. Imagine how frustrating it was to barely be able to eat! We stopped at a little cafe for breakfast, and I got a breakfast entree I thought would be a safe bet, an egg, 3 slices of bacon, sliced potatos and a biscuit. I gave most of my potatos away to my friend, and I barely got down the bacon and two bites of egg before I felt stuck and thought I was going to lose my breakfast. I had to leave my friends at the restaurant and walk it off, franticly searching for a restroom, but I managed to hold it together and get past it, and even got a little of the biscuit down once I returned to the table, but I knew it was nowhere what I was going to need to fuel an 18 hour day of walking. My friends both know what was up with me and my band, but it was still embarassing and physically painful. That's how the day started and it didn't get much better. We got rootbeer floats around 1:00p, and I didn't even feel bad about it, since I could barely eat. I ordered a chicken salad at dinner, and managed to choke down about half a cup of shredded chicken and a little watermelon around 5:00, but the greens were out of the question. Later, we stopped for beignets and hot chocolate around 7:30. I thought what the hell, gave it a shot and got two whole beignets down without a twinge! WTF, lapband? Either way, I was just glad I got *something* down because I was crashing hard and knew I needed calories, and I really didn't care where they came from at that point. We got out of the park at around midnight and stopped for McDonald's on the way back to the hotel. Normally, I don't eat that crap, but I knew I needed something in my system, or the next morning was going to be rough. I got a tiny regular cheeseburger, tossed most of the bun, and it still took me almost an hour to choke it down. Ugh. Not fun, my friends! Still, we had an absolute blast at Disneyland and DCA, and we played at the beach for a bit the next day before heading home, and I had the best clam chowder I've ever had at a little pub right off of Manhattan Beach pier. Yay for soup! That pretty much sets the stage for what all of last week was like for me. I was super tight, barely getting my food down, battling severe heartburn and acid reflux, and even worse, I started aspirating in my sleep and had 4 nights where I woke up choking and caughing. It was NOT a good time. Things finally started to ease up this weekend, thankfully. The cause of all my misery was simply getting my period. I hope I'm not oversharing, but since this is something directly band related that I know some other women have issues with, I thought I'd put it out there. As near as I can tell, when I get close to starting and get the bloating and water retention going, it makes me super tight. Makes sense though, right? All of your tissues soak up your water, including your stomach, and it's a lot like having had a fill that's too tight and brings along all of the fun side effects. Yay. So the week was pretty much an excercise in restraint, careful liquids and mushies, managing the crazy heartburn and reflux, and trying not to get stuck or throw up, which I knew would only make me tighter. I got through it, and it's eased up some, but I'm still on the tight side. I hope that if I keep being careful things will calm down a little more. I hate being so uncomfortable, and I don't want to get myself into a situation where I have to go get fluid taken out. Do any of you other ladies experience this? I'm going to pick up some water pills and give them a shot next time around and see if it helps. In happier news, I started going back to the gym regularly in the past couple of weeks, and I've met with a trainer a couple of times. She set me up with a fitness gameplan including cardio and weights. Unfortunately, my doc forbids treadmill and eliptical because of some chronic foot issues, and I've been doing a recumbant bike instead. It kind of sucks, because I know I'd be burning a lot more calories with a different cardio routine, but it is what it is, and I'm determined to give it my best shot. I gave myself a couple of days to recover from the walk, and then got back to work. I'm working on toning and building some lean muscle, which should help the scale move along better, I hope. My weight loss has really slowed down in the past 6 weeks. I'm only down 7 lbs since the beginning of April, but at least the scale is moving, even if it's slower than I'd like. I'm hoping that's due in part to my body composition changing some, because my body fat percentage has dropped more than my weight, but it's still alarmingly high at 51.2% I've been doing pretty well at tracking all of my food and excercise on MyFitnessPal, and I purchased a FitBit tracker last week to help me be more aware of my activity. If any of you want to add me on MFP or Fitbit, my MFP handle is "JustSing" and my Fitbit profile is here. I need more friends and more motivation, so add me! http://www.fitbit.com/user/25YKDP So, that's me in a very large nutshell. Keeping at it, doing my best a day at a time. Keep the check ins coming and have a good week, everyone!

Tanqueray, every day is a new day. I'm glad you found our little group too! All you can do is to put one foot in front of the other and do the best you can. If you slip up, and you will, let it go and don't beat yourself up, just get back on track. Good luck with the new doc, sounds like ditching the jerkface is a good move.