Betsyjane

Here we go again. Yes, people struggle. It usually does not become a lifestyle and "The truth about the band". What you describe about yourself sounds like an overfill. Please listen. I doubt if anyone here has forgotten their early banding days, and yes, those topics are covered for folks on this site. This is about the difference between learning from sturggles and an ongoing struggle that you talk about as if it is the norm. It is the norm for people who are too restricted and need a slight unfill.

I'm glad the negatives are here, but I prefer them expressed and requests for help. I think we're all bristling at the heavy handed post. On the good side, the original poster has gotten lots of feedback that can help her with her band. So the thread came out OK anyway.....

Slimfast CArb Control is good, but it's not a clear liquid. Isopure at GNC and on ebay is a clear liquid with no calories and mucho high Protein. I'd go for some of that right away! Protein will help so much! Frankly you aren't eating enough to sustain a gnat yet. It will get better.

I think maybe this thread should be The Truth About When to do Something Different With Your Band. I don't mean to be facetious. It truly is a clear set of warning signals that a person is too tight. In that way, it's an instructional thread.

I really had to confront that I ate when I was bored...and that TV is boring! I had to confront that I go in a trance when I eat, and start to eat mindfully. It's a real learning experience, but you go through it bit by bit, like peeling back an onion. You learn patience with yourself, and you just learn until in starts to feel natural.

Harley Girl.. I have just started to get that "mature bandster" feeling where I don't obsess so much about it and just do portion control. I'm heading where you are..... It's peaceful.

Here are some examples. As a binge eater, I used to be able to sit in front of the TV and go into a trance and stuff my face for hours. Now I try to eat without the TV on, but when I slip....grab a can full of mixed nuts and sit in front of the TV like an automaton, I am truly stuffed after 8-10 nuts, if that many. And I am putting the can back. As a sugar freak, I used to be able to eat everything and anything. Now if I screw up and go get ice cream at Dairy Queen, I know I can still get it easily through the band, but instead of feeling defeated by my lack of self control, there is no self-hate. It's just a mistake and I'l do better next time, and I go to the gym and work off the calories. As a grazer, I used to be able to eat all day. As a bandster I should also be able to theoretically. But much of the time I'm full and not interested. And if I do graze, it's more likely to be a bite than a plate. I have my perfect days too, but I think it helps to know the realities...that we aren't perfect, but that things just don't get catastrophic anymore.

Hey, if we could lose the weight without the band pre-op, we might not need the band! I don't get that pre-op diet thinking at all. For goodness sake, don't blame yourself! We're all obsessively morbidly obese and out of less extreme options! I have never been comfortable with calling my band a tool. It's my best friend and at times my annoying friend. I have never been successful with weight loss, ever. I'm a binger, a grazer, a sugar addict, a couch potato....and I'm losing weight. It is harder than I thought it would be...and it works better than I thought it would. IT basically turned the IMPOSSIBLE into just HARD WORK. I can live with that. I think part of what makes it a tough concept is that we have all done hard work on ourselves before and failed miserably. The band gives us success for our hard work. Shoot...even when I screw up royally, I just stop losing until I get myself back on track. Before the band, I would be yo-yoing up to new high weights when I screw up. I figure the band just gives us what normal people have...the ability to work hard to change our health.

Hi newbies! Welcome to the journey.

Are any of you feeling more, er, normal lately? I think I'vr started passing into the "mature bandster" phase. I still struggle and learn, but I'm less obsessive about it. I seem not to need to think about my band all the time...and some days, I don't think about food a whole lot.....

It's been interesting to me what a learning curve I've had with the band. You've PMed me about your education and your business accomplishments, and that's wonderful. The band is something new for you, though. It's something new to learn about. That doesn't diminish your accomplishments in any way. It does mean though that you are still more in the role of student than teacher. Your original post was a bit inaccurate for a lot of us, but was presented as fact. I believe that is what has caused some alarm. One of the things to think about is that with an appropriate fill, you should be able to eat slowly and chew well, and get between .5 and 1.5 cups of solid food down per meal. If Soups are your only option, then you may be too full. Living with a too tight band increases your risk of eventual pouch dilation, and it makes for an uncomfortable existence. There's a lot to learn....

Well, speaking for myself, I don't need more of a fill because I can eat meat, steak or anything else. I'm chewing well and know my band well by now so we live in relative harmony. I don't spend time over the toilet. I don't have a lump in my esophagus, and I know "MANY MANY" bandsters who could say the same. Bye all. I'm headed to another thread. Not interested in getting any additional condescending private messages....

Although you read the date wrong, please be careful about critiquing others' weight loss. Everyone is different and needs encouragement.

I have been banded since November. I chew my food well. You don't have to wait until some saline leaves your band. You can request a slight unfill so you can eat. You are new. Please keep reading this site and keep educating yourself.

Wait a minute! You represented the band clearly as presenting these problems in a n ongoing way. That's not fair! I've had each of the things happen that you talk about, but as individual instances only. Frankly, if you can only eat soup, you are too restricted. The fluoroscope can't show you your experience...only you know that. I am restricted. I am losing weight. I eat chicken, fish, occasional bread, meat...you name it. You certainly don't speak for me or anyone else I know!

I think adjusting to your spouse getting a band can really be traumatic, especially if a lot of your relationship revolved around food or around his feeling safe about you when you are big. We think a lot about what we have gone through making the deicision to be banded, and the spouses really don't have anywhere to turn to think it through. fRankly, if he leaves you because of your band, that's not why he left you.... I think as hard as it is to focus on him when you need the support, it might be worth a bit of reassuring him, telling him you love him, etc. My husband decided to be supportive by going on a diet, and promptly lost 20 pounds...show off! People just don't understand obesity. I hear a lot about family members who buy into the infomercials....just eat right and exercise...or you are lazy! I finally decided I would only tell people about the band if I had the time and energy to educate them fully so they would make a minimum of stupid comments to me....

Anybody else want to go? If not, let's put it off a week.....

I'm not perfect. In fact I often have to relearn what I just learned. I've been eating wrong/behaving wrong, and physiologically fat for a lot of years. It may always be a learning process for me, and that's fine. It's an interesting journey. And I knoiw what you mean about not failing again. The lap band was my last ditch solution. I was emotionally and physically devastated by my inability to keep weight off. Remember too that after you get the band, you will still have bandster hell to go through...when you haven't yet had a fill and you can eat elephants and feel totally guilty and defeated about it. At least for me, that was true. So I was sure I was going to fail yet again. Until the restriction is right, you're still mostly living like you have no band.... It'll definitely teach you patience! Good luck and let me know when you get you band!

It's a great point. Almost everybody succeeds in losing at least half of their unnecessary weight. But like any support group, people come here when there are problems so it always looks disproportionally like there are lots of problems. People who are cruising along are out living their lives. I'm beyond the half way point in my loss...got there in 6 months. I wouldn't trade my band for anything. I really think that no matter what you've been told, you just dont' know the band until you get to know yours personally and it's an interesting journey. Along the way, I've learned that I eat out of boredom, and TV is boring. I automatically eat to numb myself to stay seated to watch TV...so I don't watch much anymore. I learned that I have to eat mindfully, with little distraction, and with great reverence, or I fall into old habits of eating too fast and too big a bite, and my band beats me up for it. I've learned that when I screw up and eat the wrong things, I stop losing weight but I don't gain any! How cool is that. My body just stalls out and waits for me to get back with the program. In the old days, I would have yo yo-ed right back up the scale. I've learned patience...well, some anyway. I've learned that th scale makes me nuts, so I weigh infrequently and go instead by the fit of my clothes...just like skinny people I know! I've learned not to blame myself (usually), and to take life a little lighter. I'm beginning to react as an overweight person but not an obese person. And someday, probably this year, I'll need to learn to be a not-overweight person. I love that it has gone slowly...Actually I've often hated it, but I've had so much to learn that it's been nice to have the time, and to get to know my body again. There are so many little things. I'm too restricted in the morning to eat anything so I have a Protein shake. Just the experience of ONLY eating that for Breakfast has been amazing. My eyes and my head say I'll starve without plates of food, but I don't...and my tummy stays flatter...and sometimes growls. And I like that. Ah I could go on and on......

Lana-are you going to Tai Chi tomorrow night? I'll be there for the 7PM class.

Cyndie, LanaJane, Bikergrammy, Barbara, KittyGlitter.....You guys out there? Are we meeting for dinner Monday night? How about 6:15 PM at Black Eyed Pea in Humble? KittyG, can you join us?

Laugh if you will. I think I have found the perfect Protein shake Breakfast. (Hey can you tell I'm feeling better...I'm gabby again!) EAS or Slim Fast carb control chocolate shake in a blender with 1 spoon of instant coffee, fresh fruit, frozen smoothie fruit, ice, Any whey extra protein, chewable Vitamin, chewable Calcium, and a dollop of Flax Seed Oil. I know...sounds gross, but it gets rid of a lot of requirements at once and takes half the morning to drink it.

I do instant coffee IN my morning protein shake...along with ice and fresh fruit, extra whey protein, and my chewable vitamin...all in a blender...

Barbara-I just read something here about a woman who had chronic esophageal irritation or sensitivity. She didn't feel it, but she just couldn't handle a fill. I should have copied it-sorry. The Dr. told her to cut out salt and put her on a diuretic. No info about whether it worked yet.

Barbara....Are you thinking that your esophagus swells and that that is the sensitivity? I wonder if there's something that can be done for that...... Hi KittyGlitter! I have this standard t-shirt that I wear to bum around in. It's been fun going down through the sizes... Today I bought a size smaller than I am curently wearing, and it's not too bad... It's too snug, but not bad at all. I'll get there soon. Now, they do run large in size, but get this...IT"S A MEDIUM!!!!!!! Oy. I don't remember what decade I ever wore a medium.....and I don't really yet, but it's close.... Hey Lana, if you are out there, I'm going to Tai Chi Thursday if you want to meet there..... Hey BikerGrammy.....How did you like the DVD?