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Melissannde, Awesome article! THANKS!!

Sorry for the broken link...here it is again: Recipes Forum

bbock, I was like you said, wondering about the benefit of the band...I was still hungry and increasingly frustrated for the first two months...the lapband is not a miracle cure for obesity. People who do not know, think it is cheating and not real hard work to lose weight when you have the lapband. The reality is very different. It is hard work. The hardest thing is to convince your brain that you do not need as much food as you took in before. You need to control your portions. Fight cravings and start to exercise. The only thing that the band did for me is give me a painful reminder when I forgot to eat less. As you restrict (fill) your band, you take in less and less of food...if you eat too much...it comes back out/up. And in some cases you can have a slip of your band if you throw up too much. Which is bad, because you need to go under the knife again to fix it. Anyway, check the posts here, you can find recopies for all kinds of food...depending on your current phase....it helped me a lot. You need to take small bites and chew well. You will soon learn to enjoy every little bite...enjoy the food you eat...and you shouldn't have issues with stuck food. http://www.lapbandta...-and-nutrition/ You can DO IT! Good luck.

I can’t eat anything other than mushy stuff...everything else I spit up...I follow all the rules, chew the food well, small bites, only one cup per meal...and no drinking right after eating...yet I spit up constantly...pasta, eggs, meats, etc. I have only been filled three times and am at 4.5cc out of 10cc. My last fill was only half a cc. While I was at 4cc I was able to swallow and with some discomfort at times I could stomach most recommended foods. But since the extra half cc, I can’t eat any variety. It’s like I am stuck in the second 24 hr after a fill - liquids and mushy stuff - and it’s been two weeks! I did loose 6lbs over this time - strangely eating mostly crab and ice-cream - since nothing else stays down. I have an appointment tomorrow - with x-ray - as I am worried that my band slipped. I had made an appointment for last Friday but on Thursday things got better and I was able to eat some rice and chicken all day....so I canceled...but the next day I was spitting everything up again. Is this normal? should I request that half cc be removed? am I doing something wrong? anyone experience this before?

Two weeks ago I had my third fill - added .5 cc - so currently I am at 4.5cc. I followed instructions and for first two days I only had liquids and then mushy food. Since then, I have been spitting up almost anything non-liquid I try to eat. I follow all instructions - small bites, chew well, no liquid right after eating, etc. The only food that goes down with almost no spitting up is crab. I have been to Joe's Crab Shack 6 times in last two months....3 times in last two weeks!! I am going to go broke if this keeps up. I am getting frustrated - wanting to taste other food - can’t stand cottage cheese and soup anymore. Last week I started to get worried about all this and made an appointment with the doctor...but the day before the appointment I was able to eat three cups of rice and chicken...so I canceled...thinking it was just swelling earlier and I am good to go. Am thinking it was a mistake to cancel. Since Friday I lost 5 to 7lbs and am constantly spitting up most food. So, made another appointment for tomorrow - will have x-ray - to ensure my band did not slip or something like that. If it has not slipped, I will ask for that .5cc to be removed...or at least .25cc. The only thing keeping me from bashing my head with a wet noodle is that thus far (since June 29), I lost 43lbs.

ah - so this does not sound like a slip? thanks! i have no idea...i thought that if you cant eat then this means the band slipped forward. Will know tomorrow morning.

Hey August bandsters! Hang in there! the first 3 to 7 days are the toughest. For me it was only 3 days of pain, desire for different foods and scary uncertainty. I even asked many times "what have I done to myself?" As the first week post-op was up, I was already happy and was totally confident. You can do it! keep yourself occupied. and the time will go by faster until you are back to normal and start enjoying your weight loss.

Awesome! I had exact same experience...my pre-op diet did the same thing - two weeks before my surgery, my blod work was not good and they were talking about rescheduling until i lowered my HbA1C. Keep up the good work and be healthy!

Being able to clip my cell phone to my belt (instead of hanging it from my pocket) Being able to carry my daughter throughout SeaWorld (without so many breaks - what a difference 43lbs makes!!) Being able to fit on certain rides at amusement parks (would get so embarrassed when the security bar would not lock down)

Clohse, I had pretty much the exact same worries and experiences. The fill does not hurt as much as you think it will. I am allergic to needles...yes i will admit to the world here and now that I have blacked out two times when poked with a needle before. I was not looking forward to the fills... To my suprise, my first fill did not hurt at all!! what they do is they make you lay on your back and lift both arms above your head - then you barely fill a pinch - especially if your port is close to the skin. You may feel a little pressure as the fluid is pumped in or out...but its not biggie. Hope all goes well and good luck!!

Seeing defined arm and leg muscles again. Being hit on again (dont tell my wife!) Mowing front and back yard same day without passing out (not that this ever stoped me before). Off all meds (diebetes, high blood pressure). Playing paintball without getting shot in the butt so much (it was a big target)

Shonette, I am sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I know exactly what chest pain you are talking about...I am at 4.5cc and going for doc visit tomorrow to x-ray and talk about removing at least .25cc as I am spitting up most all my food. Hope that the rest of your weight loss experience is filled with nothing but joy and sucess!!

Thank you all - unfill it is! I was just worried that it slipped. But it sounds like you guys had this before...I will post bacik with the results.

Today i had my second filling. I am currently at 4cc. This time the needle poke hurt a little. Next filling in 3 weeks. I can't wait. Lost another 2 lbs. I was worying that I was doing something wrong and not loosing any weight, but the doctor told me that was normal and i should start loosing a lot more once they get me fully filled - or whatever amount they deem sutable for me.

that is so true, thanks!

So far so good! Lost 27lbs...that is not all that much, but the great part is that i have kept it off so far AND I loose more every day.

Thank you all for the encouragement! I did expect to loose more weight week by week since i lost 15lbs or so right after surgery - then the weight loss slowed down dramatically! Yes Kayakguy, I did notice the non-liniar weight loss average...just past week i lost another 6lbs when the weeks before that it was just 1 or 2 lbs. I feel better to know that this is normal/expected.

No one has said anything yet, but I too noticed that my face is starting to look older...I can only imagine that it will be more apparent when I drop to my target weight. I guess, if I was thin, this is how i would look anyway....so I am slowly getting used to it...my wife and I both are happy to finally see the muscles on my arms and legs looking more defined...thats a good one :thumbup: i knew i had them... my wife told me to mention coco-butter - when she was pregnant, she was worried about strech marks and that she would end up with hanging skin...and we applied lots of coco-butter...apparently it has some tightening properties...not sure if there are any for face tho.

Loved this one! Try substituting the crab with Salomon (might have to debone it)... thank you!

Wendell, thank you so much for great info - you pretty much answered all my questions that i had when coming here today... Just one question, when you say it can take up to 4 weeks for "Delayed Action"...do you mean the swelling? I had my second fill last week (5 days ago) and i still am having trouble with mushy food. It feels like i am still a bit swollen.

So sorry! Will defiantly keep you in my thoughts. Hope your surgery goes well and that your band can be saved. From what I understand most band slip cases are due to over eating and vomiting as a result. My doctor said that it can happen after only one incident...or it may never happen...but the risk is there. I am unsure if there are other possible causes, but I got "yelled at" by my doctor for spitting up my food...mostly because I started solids too soon after surgery and my first fill.

Thanks Marw. Yes, they did offer me the numbing shot...but i refused...i figured, why get stuck twice? The fill was a walk in the park...i didn't feel a thing. My port is very accessible they said and i was out of there in 30 minutes (including xrays). I ended up ging in a lot less nervous than pre-blog post. After reading the forums and your reply, i was not that worried. THANK YOU ALL!