What You wish you Knew

[Maranda 0]

99% of my Questions have been answered. I have one that I am curious about.

Is there something you know now, that you didnt know before the surgery that would of been nice to know about? Something or a topic that has yet to be mentioned or mentioned very little.

Kinda like "what to expect when you are expecting.. the band"

[bandpal 7]

I wish I knew how much my life would change for the better... I would've done this years before! Good luck!!!

[hootiebelle 0]

Only my opinion but I wish I knew how much trouble it is to eat some days...It is a fickle thing the band one day you can eat and sometimes you cant...very fickle:w00t:

[wickedme 0]

I asked this question at a group therapy session and Hooties answer was a big topic. It was hard to hear some of the stories, but gave me a much more realistic expectation of what COULD happen and how to deal with it. Out of 15 people or more only one was really struggling at 9 months out, but the doctors had decided her 4 cc band was just too small... I am anxious to see what she is going to do, hopefully I will get to go today to find out...

[Sue Magoo 71]

Hi:

I wish I'd known that the port can be placed in different spots. I love where mine is and it doesn't show at all even though I'm close to goal. Mine is just below my rib cage in the middle.

I wish I'd known that they can use glue to close the wound instead of staples.

Best wishes to you. I love, love, love my band.

Sue

[kizzie 1]

I wish I had known just what 'restriction' felt like! I thought I would just feel 'full' after eating the right amount. I didn't realise that I would get these golf ball feelings in my shoulders after eating anything solid. I am 8 weeks post op and have had trouble with solids since beginning them. I have no fill right now *as I was completely closed up due to infection and fill) It has been two weeks since they took out my fill, I can drink with no problem and even gulp but as soon as I touch solids I get the golf ball.. I have to eat like a finger nail size of food at a time for this not to happen, I am getting used to cold meals and getting so fed up of taking so long to eat that I end up leaving most of it on my plate and taking a Protein shake instead!!..

BUT with all the complications I STILL LOVE MY BAND.. I have managed to lose 30pounds in the first 5 weeks (the last 3 have been very slow!!), I couldn't have done it otherwise!...

[jbflorida 1]

I agree--the band is FICKLE!

I "knew" we had to eat slowly and take small bites and chew forever. But I didn't really know this until I learned the hard way (pain).

It's a different way of eating for the rest of my life--still, no regrets.

Wishing you the best.....JB

[brown bear 0]

I think it is interesting that different people have different complaints. I have heard about burping, gurgling sounds from the mouth, and flatulence as well as flipped ports requiring more surgery. These seem to be problems for some and not for others, so you cannot know if you will be one of the lucky ones or not.

[HeatherO 7]

I wish I knew . . .

. . . some Protein shakes can taste horrible. I should have gotten a sample before I bought a very expensive barrel sized canister of Protein shake that has been gathering dust in my kitchen closet for six months now.

. . . ready to drink Isopure clear shakes were tolerable to drink and helpful for Protein intake directly after surgery since they fit in as a clear protein.

. . . I did not realize logging all calories and protein on fitday.com would be so helpful during the early days.

. . . I thought the journey really started when I was banded, but the help did not really come until after my second fill. I did not have realistic expectations of the unfilled portion in the early days where you are soooo hungry but can not eat anything much. I also did not realize that so many people had weightloss stalls (or some even gain)at this point.

. . . I did not realize that weight loss comes in fits and starts. It was only easy and steady directly after surgery during the liquid phases. In general for me it looked more like this 202, 202, 201, 198, 202, 199, 202, 200, 199, 199, 198, 200, 198. I now have a rule that I don't change a ticker value unless I maintain a maximum weight for at least three days.

. . . I didn't realize that plateaus can be easily broken if you know what to do, so I suffered a little more in the beginning than necessary.

. . . I didn't realize that my TOM means an automatic weight gain(3-5 pounds in the beginning and 1-3 pounds now) that comes and goes in about a week.

. . . I did not know that losing weight rapidly floods your body with hormones so that your TOM can be drastically worse than normal (not to mention that you can be verrrryyyy moody as well). However, six months out and I think I have stabilized somewhat.

Perhaps the general tone sounds like complaints, but it is not. All of the good far, far, far outweighs the bad. If I listed all the good, I could go on for pages and pages.

I love my band and I can not tell you how much better I look and feel at this stage of the game. Congratulations on selecting a most interesting journey and change in lifestyle.

[joyful me 0]

I wish I knew . . .

.. . . I didn't realize that plateaus can be easily broken if you know what to do, so I suffered a little more in the beginning than necessary.

I have not heard this. And as I am sitting atop a terrible plateau I would love to hear more!

[HeatherO 7]

I wish I knew . . .

.. . . I didn't realize that plateaus can be easily broken if you know what to do, so I suffered a little more in the beginning than necessary.

I have not heard this. And as I am sitting atop a terrible plateau I would love to hear more!

For me I just have to do something completely different than what I was doing. If I was working out 30 minutes a day, I can spend a few days at 1.5 hours or vice versa. If I was eating really low calorie (800-1000), I would switch to higher calorie for a couple of days (1000-1300) or vice versa. If I got on a routine of eating the same kinds of foods everyday, I would pick something new completely off of my normal menu for a few days. For instance, I went on a sushi kick for a couple of days once and that really helped. It usually takes a change for several days to take affect, but it definitely works for me.

No matter what, cutting out things such as processed carbs also helps in that I know I have to avoid these things as well. These will plateau me faster than anything if I start eating them on anything more than I very rare basis.

A combination of any of these things seems to shock my system into losing again for some reason. It seems like any big change in any direction works like a jump start for me. If I don't change things up (like I did in the beginning of banding) and just stay the course, my plateaus could go on for weeks. Now I never seem to have any issue lasting more than a week.

[pjd3253 0]

Why could I not eat yesterday but could eat a pretty big Breakfast today - could not eat at all last weekend without throwing up but today feel like I can eat anything - I need an explanation - Thanks!

[wickedme 0]

Heather,, awesome info and advice. I have heard about switching it up from some friends who are gym fanatics and have done so before when trying on my own.. thanks for the reminder.. What I have been doing as of late has only progressed me to a 2 lb loss.. I talked it out with my nutritionist today and we decided I needed to eat some high Protein (not banded Yet) mid afternoon because not only was I starving when I got home from work, but exhausted.. Then I felt horrid and shakey, and it is a time when I could have issues with grazing and picking.. I am deffinately going back to the gym when the kids go back to school on the 27th too.. I'm having too many difficulties walking the pavement by my house because of leg pain and really need to use the treadmill and recumbant bike to switch things around.

I use sparkpeople.com to track calories and exercise, it also lets you imput ingredients in the recipe section to figure out serving size,, and add your own food w/ nutr. values to it.. If you check it out read the story on how it all started, its interesting..

[brown bear 0]

I have heard other people say that stress, sinus drainage, and hormones can all affect how much they can eat. Yesterday was the first time I have had that problem and I have no idea why. I keep Campbell's soup-at-hand at work in preparation for those days.

[vannie4 0]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you