Crispaholic

I have a 10ml band and now have 6.5ml fill only on the 5th of January I am having heartburn when I eat and after...is my band too tight?

Thank you for the response.....I am scared to call my nurse as she will just take some of the saline out and I don't want it as I want to actually lose weight this time and I am already 7lbs down

I feel depressed I have lost my job and the life I thought I would have post band had not happened.... I am now 14st 6lbs and feel like shit.....I seem to be able to cheat the band....or more like cheat myself.... I suffer social anxiety when I am out eating and cannot cope with the stress of eating out with friends....however when I am home I can eat..... I have stayed away from the chips and fast food...I missed bread rolls with cheeses, salad and onion....I seem to have become a terrible eater..... I am back on Monday to my nurse...I have 6.25mls in a 10ml band...she is now saying I may have to get it all emptied if I do not lose weight as the band does not work for everyone...depressed.com

Thanks for all the support....I think thats why I came back on ..... My friends don't get it as I am slim on the bottom size 12 but top heavy so men love it ....skinny legs and arms but all chest..... I am not big but I feel huge in my head...... I know I get bored and eat.....my whole eating habits have changed from being a bulk comfort eater to eating sweet things which I never ate.... Its unusual for me as I got operated in England with a BMI of 35 costing me E7,000 because they would not operate in Ireland with a BMI of under 40 plus its E18,000 to get the operation privately in Ireland.... I have gone to therapy and I can trace my bad eating to moving as a child and having my mother sick in hospital during the teenage years....but I am an adult now and know its up to me to lose it.... I am going back to the nurse on Monday and she is very nice....but did say it may not just be for me.... I think I thought the band would change my life....when it is me who can only change it....

I seem to have a love hate relationship with my band....I am 3 years post op and I am now at 5.5 mls in my band.....I am staying around 13st 12lbs ( 194 lbs ) at 5ft 6 ....I was 173lbs at my lowest.....now my cholestreol has gone up to 6 and i suffer social anxiety when I eat out....I am afraid I will get sick when I am out.....does anyone have any advice....

Thanks lellow.......I think I have become obsessed now with my band....I was letting it get in the way of my weight loss.....I was afraid of being afraid of being sick....if that makes sense.....my natural reaction is to throw up instead of letting the food work through the band....so I have actually become an unhealthy eater....I used to have more healthy balanced meals in variety prior to my bad but well ate massive portions.....its coping with getting my head around the temporary pain / or waiting for the food to pass that I need to address Thanks for all the support....I had not been on for a while ...but returned again like the 'prodicial bandster' to be embraced by you all

Thanks Elcee.....you helped me before and it seems you are helping me again....I just panic so I think I avoided the harsh foods....and sat over and fought with my food....I used to love to go out to eat now I nearly need a Xanax to stop myself from worrying and getting anxious....my cholesterol has also jumped from 4.3 to 6!

I would be starving in my head but not physically....I would want to eat everything but knowing I can't .....your restriction will kick in when you eat the thougher foods....

Just wondering if anyone thinks that the Hospital Group sucks with their aftercare....it is virtually impossible to get an appointment and their nurse seems to be always busy....they are now sending their patients from Dublin to Belfast for urgent defills.....or fills as they have no staff in their Dublin office......

I got a fill in Feb and all has been fine since....I am over 2 years post op I was not what you would have called big when operated on but all is fine now....managing to keep the weight steady....which is making me happy....Sam or Mary from Belfast or Cork where doing the fills .....not too sure who is doing them now in Dublin

You will gain for a week or two.....but give it a month before you start weighing....plus muscle weights heavier than fat....so watch what exercises you are doing... a marathon runner is so thin but a sprinter is huge and full of muscle....swimming is great for losing weight without bulking up.....

Well 8 lbs down in 10 days since I cleared the house of junk and started tracking again.....definitely tracking .....makes you realize what you are eating....and more importantly forgetting to eat at regular intervals.....by tracking I know to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and light snacks....I have not felt hungry....Thank God back on track

I have hit a brick wall...after nearly 2 years since my operation....I have changed all my eating habits...but I have started eating all the easy high calorie foods....I started getting anxiety when out...as I kept getting anxious when food would not go down and waitresses would keep asking if everything was okay..I also needed to know where the bathroom was in case I wanted to throw up...I just feel annoyed with myself ..can anyone help with some tips on what foods will make you feel satisfied without making you feed like you have the massive pain in your chest....I have put on 16lbs as I avoided the harsh foods.....I have started all over again as I am not happy with this blimp.....Tough times don't last but tough people do

I had that problem....what I did was suck on an flavoured ice cube.....you are to drink 15 minutes prior to eating so you feel fuller when you eat and drink 45 minutes after eating....I forget sometimes and drink and then vomit....so sucking a flavoured ice cube

Well I confessed I am a food addict....but food is not going to win...like you I had surgery...2 years on the 1st of July....God I forgot my anniversary .....just realised it now.....and lost slowly...regained and losing again....I did what Elcee on here told me to remove all the temptation out of my house...if I want some thing sweet now I have to actually go and buy it....its a life struggle ....so I have gone back to the weight watchers tracking and smaller portion sizes....I cannot do the small plate eating...it just does not look right so I fill the other side of my plate with iceberg lettuce so I trick myself to thinking I am eating loads....crazy as it sounds but it works....also drink lots of water prior....I have also started to eat raw carrots ....for me its just a case of having something in my hand to eat not actually what I eat....as the song goes...One day at a time

Getting stuck for me ....is eating and all of a sudden feeling a tight feeling in the centre of my chest between the breast bone....bread for me is one of those foods that gets 'stuck' for me....the bread goes down fast then I get a tight feeling in my chest....pain....if I don't vomit....the pain stays ...then you feel the bread move down slowly and the pain goes......I can physically feel the bread move

Thanks LBT Addict.....I have gotten my planner and have 21 days marked in it....I am going to measure down to that date which is my cousin's wedding...I am approx 185lbs which I am sure most people would love to be ...was approx 214lbs when I had the surgery 2 years ago.....I am really getting motivated again....as I have always put off being truly happy....saying I will do this when I get to this weight.....etc......I have 2 lovely dogs who I walk every day.....and I joined the gym again.....did not like how I looked in my swim suit but when Your words of encouragement have really helped

I am a Food addict......I am ashamed to admit it that I put myself through an operation to lose weight....and after 2 years has gone up and down and back up.....its all my fault....when I got over restricted I turned to high calorie slider foods..living on chocolate because of the fear of vomiting in public.....I was always a bulk emotional binge eater prior to surgery..would eat normally and then when I felt down...depressed....or just not in control of things I ate and ate....which only brought me back to square one to the sadness and beating yourself up because you did not have the figure of a supermodel....I was not big but always over weight from my teens......now I have battled the band and cheated myself by developing a mad sweet tooth......eating chocolate as the band caused me not to be able to eat bread, salad etc...... I have decided to bin all my slider foods and try tolerate the good foods....I have also decided the things I learnt in weight watchers of tracking still need to be adhered to and followed on a daily basis.....I think in my head I thought the band would be the 'Miracle Cure' to my emotional food addiction.....it is not......it can be bad if not managed properly......Day 2 of my new start......

Thank you all....its tough....in Ireland therapy is not so common.....I did go to a psycho therapist here for 2 years....and basically I was told you are the master of your destiny.....so don't eat the bad things......I was never allowed sweets or crisps as a child...we did not have fast food or Drive Thru's ....so when my mother got sick in my teens we had to eat fast food as my father did not cook.....definitely crave carbs having PCOS.....love anything Italian.....don't eat meat as a vegetarian....missing bread.....pasta.....and pizza...would have eaten lots...I am a size 12 which is good....I think I have to have the will power now....and get back on track....thankfully I have this site as support

Will the Hospital Group ever get a nurse resident in Dublin....there is no continuity of care....you may have Mary from Cork....Sam from Belfast as your nurse....since Cora left the Dublin office I have had three different nurses including an Indian nurse who is now gone.....not impressed as they only read your file when you are with them....and have not a clue of your history or progress to date....fed up having to tell it all over again to a new person....Hospital Group get your act together!!!!!

A lot of people will react that way.....but its those closest to you that can be the most hurtful....it is your journey and not his so people can become a bit tired of it all being about you.....I like Eleanor Roosevelt's quote.....no one can make you feel inferior without your permission......you don't need reassurance you have done the right thing....just self belief.....that's all that matters....otherwise you could become 'put down' by other people's negative thoughts....which do impact on your self esteem....chin up!!!!

Thank you Jean for such article.....I have been getting down with not losing weight.....as I read your article....the light bulb went off above my head....everything you wrote about applied to me....feeling much happier now after reading your article....and will get back on the wagon

I definitely have anxiety eating out now....I think its the fear of the uncontrolled vomiting if I eat something harsh....plus I panic when food sticks....I am trying to eat out rather than avoid it....luckily my sister comes with me....she had by pass surgery so she can empathize and reassure me.....I have realized I still need to watch what I eat ....luckily I have not put on weight in 2 years....and I am not big like my mother and her 5 sisters....so the band is keeping me from getting big like them.....I just need to work with it now and stop fighting it....I am now 189lbs so I am looking good....more positive thinking....thank you so much for your advice....it really helps me

Thanks Geology rocks.....but I actually got .5ml put in yesterday as I could eat loads.....I know I have been trying to eat the same amount of food I had prior to the operation....just over a longer period of time....I just get stressed eating in public....I just feel more comfortable at home....so I just have developed an irrational fear of eating in public.....I think I went from being a savour comfort eater prior to the operation to a sweet tooth eater after the operation....trying to get back on the programme again...thanks for the advice

I had my band fitted July 2010.....i was just so glad to get it done....I was 15st 2 lbs ....went down to 12st 6lbs....could have gotten down more but I sabotaged myself....got over filled and could not eat at all...so ended up on chocolate as that was easy to get down.....the fills and getting the sweet spot is the key to your success.....you will lose weight....I am in a size 12 now....when I was a size 16 trousers and size 18 to 20 top....I am going back to get a fill in the next forthnight .....so looking forward to that....get some celebrity slims shakes for the days after your surgery....you will not really have restriction until your first fill as the don't really put in any after the operation....you might have some but that's usually the swelling....I did not find the operation painful.....you may get some shoulder pain but that is trapped wind when they are doing the keyhole surgery....I would have loved for them to have a place in Dublin when I got mine done...I flew home the day after my operation.....you will be fine....give me a shout if you need anything.....I feel so much more confident now.....went a bit mad buying dresses when I started to see the weight drop....I was a slow loser as I have PCOS so its harder to lose the weight....but still well worth it As for the dietican.....I think they are all crap....I cannot eat bread since my operation ....I use to live on toast etc but cannot eat it anymore....got use to that.....you just eat normally but in smaller portions....it took some time to retrain my brain....and you will throw out food......