Clynn

Can you eat or drink anything, or does it come back up? That's usually the first indicator that there's a problem.

Thank you AngieB for responding. I so appreciate it. I just didn’t even realize that I could be messing up on portion size now because of no fill, especially since I have no restriction. I am actually so disgusted with myself for not realizing what I had done when I drank the soda. It honestly didn’t register until the end of the movie. I was just so happy to be at the movies after months of not going (I am an avid movie lover) that I was more focused on that. I am going to have to always be on guard now when it comes to putting any type of food or drink in my mouth. That is proving to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Apparently so much of my eating is out of habit and routine. I had no idea until now. Again thank you for your insight. I feel a little better about it.

Do you know if the fluoroscopy will show me or not if I have done any damage? I really have no idea what it is going to show.

Unless you've been getting stuck or feeling otherwise sick you're probably fine. The people who slip their bands KNOW there's a problem. One woman felt things go wrong immediately after eating chicken while on liquids. Learn from your mistake and adjust your habits accordingly.

It's also common not to feel restriction until the first or even the second fill. Before your first fill your focus should be on healing. Once the fills kick in then restriction will happen and the band can do its job.

To my knowledge, no one who has been banned from the forum has had their account reinstated. They can however make a new account and start fresh. Stormy, if you're being harassed by other members, let us know about. We're a bit limited with PM's however due to the Private in Private Message. Since there's no way for us to peek into that system it's easy for things to turn into a he said/she said situation with us caught in the middle trying to do the right thing. For this reason we had toyed with the idea of disabling the PM system, but this idea proved exceedingly unpopular.

If you look in your inbox you will see next to the sender name an option to block. Don't bother arguing or appealing to their sense of decency - those types of people have none. Block & move on.

You can drink as much water as you can comfortably get down except for the hour after eating. If you drink too much, you will get uncomfortable so wait a few minutes before taking another drink. Listen to your body and it will tell you what it needs on this.

WHAT'S THE HARM?

TWO PEOPLE I KNOW THOUGHT THIS SAME THING, BOTH WERE BANDED AT THE OCC, BOTH LOST THEIR BANDS

THAT'S THE HARM

Bingo! I'll throw a third into that ring. He lost his band because he was too tight and within six months gained back all the weight he'd lost. Statistically those who lose their bands have a much diminished chance of success the second time around.

Alternatively - look around the forum for the girl who had to have the majority of her stomach surgically removed because she was too tight. OCC has also done plenty of emergency surgeries from people whose lives were in danger. There was a news story posted on the forum a few months ago about a woman who had died because she ignored the signs her body was giving her that something wasn't right.

You'll find plenty more horror stories around from people who were too tight and exhibited the same attitude of "Hey, what's the harm? I'm losing weight" right before reality came crashing in on them in dangerous and expensive ways.

Your doctor can prescribe some anti-nausea medications. They are cheap and can sit in your fridge for some months in case you need them. Many band patients keep them around as a precaution whether anyone is sick or not.

If your doctor had you under flouroscopy and didn't mention pouch enlargement than that's not what it is. Pouch enlargement or a stretched pouch are pretty easy to see under flouro. Most likely it was water retention, stress, or irritation which caused a little swelling and caused you to experience more restriction which in turn caused you to become dehydrated.

There's many things that could be and it may or may not be band related. Talk to a doctor.

My first solid food was salmon.

thanks for the update! that sounds yummy.

I am still sitting at a plateau, but I am not being religious about the food. The diet that goes with it sucks rocks.

I have been watching what I eat and tracking things on Sparkpeople.com - which helps. I have noticed though where I give myself the shot, my stomach is flatter - so I don't know what that means...maybe it is eating my fat? LOL

Obviously what is happening is that you are slowly deflating where you are poking the holes. People are like balloons right? Ok maybe not.

But yeah, I have no doubt now that the diet is essential to making this work. Doubling my meat portion didn't cause any problems but adding some fat or sugar sure brought things to a halt right quick. I read on some websites that coconut oil is the only acceptable fat. I bought a jar at the supermarket yesterday and it is some weird stuff. It doesn't smell overpoweringly of coconuts and is almost the consistency of wax. I had to melt it before I was able to use it but after a week of not cooking with any oils it sure made my shrimp and onions taste delicious. I have to go easy on it though because it is a bit spendy.

Today marks a week of the low calorie phase and I'm down 8 pounds. Sometimes the diet is easy and sometimes it is very very hard, not because I am hungry necessarily but because there's very little variety of foods. I went to the grocery store yesterday and that was TOUGH being surrounded by all those foods that were off limits. When I got back I just couldn't stand it anymore and had a cup of cheerios. Then at weigh in this morning, guess what, no weight loss for the day. I'll just have to keep myself out of those situations where I'm tempted because it really takes very little to bring things to a halt. However, at this point I certainly feel it's all been worth it. I've lost more in the last week than I have in the last year.

On another note, I've fallen in love with Stevia. It tastes and feels like real sugar which is something Splenda just couldn't quite accomplish. I'm allowed the juice of 1 lemon per day and bought a bag of them from Costco so every night I make fresh squeezed lemonade out of lemon juice & Stevia and it is very refreshing.

I'll check back in in another week.

Most often when people are losing their hair it's because they're not getting enough protein. How many grams are you getting per day?

You may want to just hold off on the surgery until after the run. Since you'll be on liquids for a month you may find yourself getting winded easier and not as up to training. You'll certainly be out of training 1-3 weeks if you want to heal properly. Besides, why let all that exercise only fulfill one function? If you get the surgery soon after the run it will count as part of your pre-op preparation.

The BMI charts are bollocks. They call NFL linebackers morbidly obese. As you get older, your ideal BMI goes up so it is not a one size fits all situation. Also if you've been heavy your entire life, your bone structure has adjusted for that and bulked itself up a bit. More accurate than BMI is body fat percentage. Since it's more difficult to calculate the flawed BMI model is often used for on the fly weight assessment. I forget exactly what percentage of fat is ideal but when I had a body fat test done I was told 170 was my ideal weight.

One more thought: if you feel your stomach is irritated and maybe the thumping is throbbing, try putting an icepack on your belly for a bit. I've found that always helps me when I'm too tight.

This is probably the most posted question/concern and therefore here comes the most posted answer: don't worry about loosing weight until you get some fill in. Your bod has just been through a major trauma & crash diet. It's hoarding every calorie it can. Work on healing and after that, work on being healthy.

I have read that stress can cause ones band to get tight. I think that's whats going on, Tho I'm not stressed but have been crying since yesterday. I had to put my dog down, And it's heart breaking he was 9yrs old.

I'd say that counts. I'm sorry for your loss hon. I have two dogs myself and had to put my rabbit down recently so my heart is breaking for you. I'm sure your band problems will clear up if you just go easy for a bit. I hope you feel better all around soon.

Do you go to Marysville Washington for your fills? They have flouroscopy now for an extra charge.

Well I am 3 days into the low calorie phase. Gained a pound on the fat loading stage which I completely expected except with the way I was eating I thought I would have gained more than that. This morning I weighed in at 208 which puts me at net - 4 pounds. The diet is pretty strict and a bit tough. Last night I felt a little lethargic so I made some eggs and felt better. I decided today to double my meat servings. We'll see if the weight loss continues with that but I don't see why it should be a problem.

I'm willing to bet an unfill would take care of this. Start with that and go from there if your symptoms don't get better. Is it that you're throwing up or that you're sort of burping up stomach fluid? I've had the latter a couple of times when I'm too tight and an unfill has always taken care if it immediately.

Keep in mind this is a lap-band forum, so knowledge and opinions may be a bit skewed in that direction. Here is a link to a sleeve forum http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/

My mother has a friend who had a band, then after she reached goal she switched to a sleeve and is quite happy with it. I don't recall if she had her band removed because she was having problems. Of course I have a band and am quite happy with that. There are pros and cons with both sides and you need to make the decision on which one will work best for you, your lifestyle, and your habits.

*Clynn - If you need some stevia, PM me your address and I will drop a bottle in the mail for you. I make mine into simple syrup (1 cup stevia to 1 cup hot water - store in fridge)

TTFN

Thanks for the offer. I've been asking around and I think I've found a few local places which look promising.

Hey Clynn and LisaLaw!

Do you have to go through a detox? Did a little research and a couple of places require (purchased) supplements and whole body detox before you actually get started.

Nope, which is good because I don't put much stock in detoxes and probably wouldn't have done it anyway.

Or were you just told that because someone wants a grandbaby.......hmmmmmmmmmmm

I KNEW it!! I thought my pills tasted awfully sweet this month! Almost like candy . . .

Ok I have become thoroughly intrigued by this idea and decided to give it a shot (no pun intended btw). I've been at a plateau for the last year and a half despite fills, *puke* unfills, eating right, and upping my exercise. Very frustrating to say the least.

Today was shot number 1 and I weighed in this morning at 212. The needles are tiny like what they would use on an infant. I got myself in the stomach where there is lots of lose skin and didn't feel it. Today and tomorrow are what's known as gorging days where I'm fat loading. This helps the HCG sort of saturate my system and primes the pump so to speak. Friday on are the low calorie days and it's very restrictive on what types of food I can eat. Some vegetables are even off of the ok list and it says I need to be very cautious about what I put on my body such as lotions or makeup. Oils can be absorbed by the skin and cause the HCG to be less effective. Since it's a month long there's some wiggle room for trial and error so long as I'm aware of what I'm putting on/in me. Another thing they stressed is to be mindful of seasonings. Garlic salt was used repeatedly as an example of what is not allowable as it often has high fructose corn syrup or other sugar. Stevia as a sweetener is preferred. I found some packets at the grocery store but not the clear stevia or flavored stevia I was looking for. Anyone know where I can get some?

I'll let you know what happens. Due to the fat loading I fully expect to gain a bit today and tomorrow. Oh and one of the first questions I asked was if it would interfere with my birth control pills. The answer was no it would not.