Betsyjane

You don't have to get all the head stuff right now. It will come over time.

I've never heard of such a thing! I'm so sorry you had to go through this, but I'm glad they found the cause. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Swimmer-I didn't have significant restriction until my third fill. Everybody's different. And my Dr. has us back of solid food within days. Every doctor's different. This is the stage called Bandster Hell. It'll teach you patience. Spend your time learning about your band and practicing eating like a bandster when you can. Fake it til you make it.

I loved how I felt on phentermine, and it worked...until it didn't work and I gained more than I had lost. That's how it goes. I got the band for the long term, because short term yo yo-ing was literally killing me. I also spent enough money on the band that I'm not spending it on alli and I'm not buying into any other weight loss fad. If I never lose another pound with the band, I'm happy. If I reach my goal weight, I'm ecstatic!

Gayle, we sound like birds of a feather. Great post.

I'm sick of sugar AND artificial sweeteners. Is there a protein that is just tasteless that could be added to water or soup or something????

yOU BET! cOME JOIN US. We have dinner together once or twice a month either in Humble or Atascocita. We just met 2 days ago...it's usually Monday nights. What's the earliest you could join us in the evening? Keep an eye on this site to see when the next meeting will be...... We had a great time last Monday.

I also found a new natural in other ways. I no longer take diabetic meds, and my osteoporosis has completely reversed itself. So no more pills = more natural, I think. I can also see my feet, and cross my legs!

Yes!!!! For all the times I've dieted and failed, I developed tremendous self blame. The core of it for me was believing that as a successful woman, I should be able to do this too. But I couldn't. It is so complex, this obesity. I do believe that after carrying weight for so long, my brain has changed...and my body...and my chemistry....and all that garbage about being able to change morbid obesity with diet and exercise is just ignorant. What I found is that I carried that self blame all the way through the first month after surgery. And then slowly, I changed. I found that I was able to let go of self blame, even for days that I screwed up on the lap band plan. I found that the band was a good friend. On days that I was good, I lost weight. On days that I wasn't, I didn't gain! My band pateintly waited and maintained my weight until I got back on track. What had been impossible before was just hard work now. And that was fine with me! For me, I had to experience the gentle successes and the days of being just a flawed human being, and the patience and peace that I've found, before I could get a real vision of success. I am now as grateful for my maintenance days as my losing days, and it feels natural...something that I wasn't able to be before.

On the other hand....you'll be good and ready for the challenges ahead...and you still paid less than the self pay folks. Hope all goes well.

Oh, by the way....I had no restriction until my third fill, then went through a bout of having a stretched pouch, and then GERD. Also had an ice cream fetish. I do well and I lose. I screw up and I stabilize. I guess I'm not a fast learner, but I've learned to love my plateaus and how forgiving my band is...and how patient. My one year anniversary is coming up and I didn't get all my weight off...but I can only live one day at a time...as a super flawed but fairly lovable human being. (Besides, I'm not great at predicting what my band will do. Just got back from a week in Vegas eating those buffets and at Bobby Flay's...and lost a pound. But when I was sick with Lyupus and eating practically nothing, I didn't lose. I've givien up thinking I have ultimate control over my world.....just doin' what I can.)

People come here for support when they have problems. The rest of folks are usually out living their lives and don't post as often. So it seems like there are lots of complications when the incidence of complications is actually low. I don't call PBing a complication exactly. It's more a learning process. A swift punishment, er, reminder when I'm not following the plan. I no longer take meds for diabetes. I no longer test as having osteoporosis. I can cross my legs and see my feet!

Hi folks. I never had the noises, but my Dr. puts people onto solid food really quickly, so that might be the difference. The CO2 eventually just absorbs into your tissue and dissipates. In the meantime if it hurts, don't hesitate to use whatever pain killers your Dr. recommends. No need to suffer for the cause. I found a heating pad helped too, but GaxX didn't and walking was of marginal help. Painkillers for me!

Dear heart: Your story is not unusual. Think of it as part of the journey rather than a failure. The band is there to help you lose when you do the right things, and to stabilize you when you fall off the wagon. It waits for you to get back on track, and that's a relief for lots of us. You know, I hadn't thought of this before, but since we can all be such liars to ourselves and other people about our food issues, it may not be helpful to be in a weight loss group where you have to lie. I'm guessing that's part of why you came to this site. So you could be honest. Congrats for doing that. Maybe the next thing is to begin to get an inventory of where you are. You've done well with that in your original post. Do you eat ice cream at a particular time of day? Is that the time that you might want to substitute exercise? Do sugars set you off on a binge? For me, artifical sweeteners even set me off, so I've had to just get away from sweets of any kind, other than my morning Protein shake. Do you hate to cook and need to have Lean Cuisine sitting around for those meals? I cook once a week....some meats and veges, and then during the week I pile them into a lettuce wrap, or Soup, or a salad, or simple meat and veges...all seasoned differently. And when I get sick of it, I eat out and I have one special thing I order at each restaurant that I know is a good fit. I also have a rule that I eat strictly at home, but whenever I'm out, I order whatever I want and just let the band provide portion control. Keeps life interesting. If you are lonely, you might want to do womething about that...support groups, a community center...whatever. I guess if you want a fresh start, I'd start with defining the challenges and setting up a very specific set of goals and then only tackling one at a time, forgiving yourself for each transition. We're only human, ya know. And we're in this journey for life, so in the grand scheme of things, "losing" a year to weight maintenance is no biggie, as long as you decide how to move on. We're with you, my friend.

I had Lana's number somewhere...Does anybody still have it? I thought I'd call her. If you have it could you email me at giddyyuppie@aol.com Thanks.

It's not a waste of time to lose 60 pounds! Since the average loss is 50 % of the pounds you need to lose, are you somewhere close to that? If so, then to lose more is to do better than average..... Also some peoiple get up to 7 fills before they feel that "sweet spot" of restriction, so more fills really might be necessary. You'll also want a fluoroscope done so you can make sure your pouch isn't stretched. What I do at plateaus is to go back to basics. I keep a calorie/protein/fat/carb log for 3 days and see where I might have cheated. I check my bites, my chewing, my eating without distraction slowly, etc. and see where I'm messing up. If I'm not messing up more than occasionally and I'm getting my exercise, then I figure it's time for a fill any time I can eat more than I should.

The last plateau I had was broken by eating totally different food for a few days and shaking up my system. Don't know why it worked, but I just ate whatever without thinking about it and then could go back to good food and losing.

We loved Wynn. I can't imagine going anywhere else now. I love buffets! A bite of so many different things.....yum. Anyway the buffet at Wynn has 19 different chefs manning 19 different cooking stations making their dishes or whatever you'd like...from seafood to Asian to Italian, etc. Kobe beef, Chilean Sea Bass, you name it..... Big gambler that I am, I took my $20 to the Blackjack table, lost almost all of it and then came back up and when I had my $20 back, I quit. I kept playing the same $20 the whole time we were there, and came home with it! Also saw Cirque de Soleil and the Blue Man Group. See ya tomorrow.

Just got back from las Vegas. I love buffets. Picking a bite of a bunch of different foods makes for a great meal.

The down side of living in a small town! One person starts talking about pregnancy and the employers know about it... Your first appt.....start keeping stuff, even your receipt and a business card from the doc. You can make your baby a scrap book....

How is it going without meds? I wonder if job interviewers are detecting some manic stuff and are shying away from it. Can you tell when you are getting manic and when you are on an even keel?

EAS Carb Control chocolate.

Just got back from Vegas. We fell in love with Wynn and ended up staying there. Had a great time.

Oh don't listen to her! Go 90. Pass Liberty. In DAYTON, you'll see thatyou turn right and go under the road and then left...a dog leg that putsyou on 1960. Keep going west. Pass Huffman/2100. Go over Lake Houston. And then what Barbara said...... KittyGlitter...come join us anyway! We mostly talk and don't eat much anyway. I'm off the Vegas this morning. We're going to see Cirque de Soleil Love, the one set to Beatles music, and the Blue Man Group. Other than that...who knows....we might get remarried in an Elvis chapel...ya never know. A week later and we could have seen Elton John. A week earlier and we could have seen Bette Midler. I'm just in total amazement that Dave is taking the time off work! And other than the price of the shows, I'm forever amazed at how cheap it is to do Vegas...at least for us non-gamblers. Oh, and we're doing the buffet at Bellagio. I've found that I love buffets. One tiny bite of a whole bunch of great things suits me well.

Has anyone done this? I'm wanting to get rid of my saggy jowls.....