Clynn

I love it. That's going in my signature.

The ups and down are normal for weight loss. It won't be a straight line. The amount you should shoot for is down 2 or 3 pounds in a week. If you're making that, who cares what you're eating!! If you're not making that then it's time to either adjust what you're eating or get a fill. If you need a fill, you need a fill. Arguing with yourself won't get you anywhere. Pb'ing is not a sign of sufficient restriction and should be avoided at all costs.

No, liquid won't stretch out your pouch. Drink however much you want. I actually find that a big glass of water before bed helps wash out any remaining food in my stomach from the day and makes for a more comfortable night and less irritation in the morning.

I've pretty much given up banana. It seems no matter how much it gets chewed or mashed it still gives me problems. Other fruits can also give me a problem depending on how fibrous or how tough the skins are. Usually I just settle for a fruit smoothie made with splenda.

If you look in the lower left hand corner of each post, there is a button labeled report. This will send all of the moderators an email about that post and give us a link to it so we can find it quickly.

Ok, so unfortunately there is no troll-away but there are a few things you can do when trolls hit the forum. 1) Don't get into it with them. I really can't emphasize this enough. You are dealing with someone who is either a) mentally unbalanced, or just looking for a fight. Either way, arguing is only going to encourage them. Think of it like raccoons. If you leave food on your back porch, even just a little, they're going to keep coming back looking for more. Cut them off cold turkey and eventually they'll get bored and go bother your neighbor. Also keep in mind that if a post gets deleted, any posts which quote the original post will also get deleted. 2) See it? Report it! When you report a post or topic that report goes to all three moderators. Chances are one of us will check our messages soon. The moderators are the only people able to make a meaningful response to troll-ness by either deleting the post/topic or banning the user altogether. In the end, you really can't argue with the person whose finger is on the button. One final note: Disagreeing with someone will not draw the ire of the moderators upon you. I for one love watching intelligent debate. Someone crosses the line into troll-ness when the attacks become personal or they are intentionally trying to upset people. Those are things I will not tolerate.

You're eating your protein first but are you getting enough? I believe your daily intake should be about 65 grams throughout the day (all at once doesn't count). Lots of people have reported losing their hair for about 6 months after surgery, but then it comes back lusher and thicker then before once their bodies got used to the new way of eating.

Keep in mind that cameras are taking a 3 dimensional image and compressing it to a 2 dimensional image. It's the same reason people say the camera puts on 10 pounds. There's also lighting, posture, and how much your clothes are flattering your figure from one photo to the other. There IS a difference but the camera is a poor judge.

No one is as clever as an addict after their next fix. I think this applies to us as well. Some people eat and eat and then throw it up. They kinda slip from overeating to bulimia. This is bad not only because it's a very deadly eating disorder but also frequent vomiting will cause your stomach to "muffin top" around the band. Go in for a flouroscopy with that and the doctor will immediately know exactly what you've been doing. The other method of commonly over-eating is to eat foods which are affected by the band such as milkshakes or other high-calorie liquids. How many times people have lamented here that the healthy foods are difficult but the horrible foods are easy and oh so tasty.

The line in the sand is if you cannot get liquids down. It does not take much time at all to become dehydrated and to avoid that, it's time for an emergency unfill. Otherwise just take it easy for a few days. Be sure to get your calories and your proteins in liquid form during that time so you don't make yourself ill. If after a few days of liquids you're still hurting or unable to get solids down then it's time to get the doctor involved and get some saline taken out. A few thoughts from reading your post though. The skins on hot dogs can make them tough to eat. I almost always have to skin them or else they get stuck. Hebrew National hot dogs seems to be the only ones I can get down without altering them. Also, some people find they are more restricted in the morning than the rest of the day, and some people especially have trouble with coffee, though that seems to be limited to espressos.

I had a pair of pajama pants that looked great and were very comfortable and airy material. I bought them many many years ago even though they didn't fit (no idea why). Finally got to be able to wear them a few months ago and then a week ago discovered my dog had used them as a chew toy. The clothing gods were not smiling on me for that purchase.

I get my filles through fill management NW in Arilington Washington. If you Google them thier web page will show up.

I think it is the number of posts.

You don't need to keep your abdominal muscles completely still, normal movement is fine. Just don't go doing any abdominal exercises or lifting heavy objects. Getting out of bed, walking, and sitting up is not going to cause a problem.

Looks like someone was listening. Enjoy!

Seattle would work fine for me. It's just that I have school most of the year and a job all year so mid-week meetups are not an option. I would have come to this last one but I already had other commitments.

If this doesn't go away soon you should get in touch with your doctor. I'm willing to bet there's lots of things that can cause this and not all of them are nutrition or band related.

Your experience is pretty normal. Watch what you're eating but at the same time don't be too hard on yourself. Things not really start happening until your 1st or 2nd fill. 1) Band slippage is usually accompanied by vomiting and the inability to get foods or liquids down. You'll know pretty quick when that's the case and should seek care immediately so that you don't become dehydrated. 2) The port is sutured in place but not quite as securely as the band due to the tissue it's being sutured to. My port has moved around quite a bit with my weight loss. Some people have had their port flip over and have had to have surgery to get this corrected but the surgery is pretty minor with just a local anesthetic. It's not common for that to happen though and not an emergent situation when it does - more of an annoyance.

Like your signature, when you update your avatar it updates your old and new posts as opposed to just the latter. You can just look at an old post of yours rather than creating a new topic. Looks nice though.

That is untrue. If you get an infection which endangers your life or well-being, doctors have to treat you NO MATTER WHAT. IF you are turned away from a hospital because of the nature of an infection which endangers you or inability to pay without them referring you to someone who can help you, you will own that hospital. The tricky part comes from the in-betweens like what if you need an unfill or start having complications which are non life-threatening. For that eventuality you need to either have a doctor researched locally who will provide aftercare to Mexican patients or have the cash and other resources on hand necessary to head down to TJ at a moment's notice. Dr Ortiz will give you numbers to call when you check out of the clinic which includes his personal cell number. There are several posts on the forum where people have told about calling that numbers and receiving an answer even in the middle of the night. Call the bariatric surgeons in your area and find out if they will do aftercare for you if you're banded in Mexico. Also you can probably find support groups from them as well. Bandster support groups are a wealth of knowledge for who to go to, who to avoid, and many tips and tricks for bandster life. Oh and your actual questions. Obviously these refer to OCC which is the only Mexican clinic I've had contact with. If you're going to any clinic do your homework thoroughly: 1) The standard of care is excellent. At OCC I'd certainly say it was above and standard of care of received in the states except from my old General Physician (who was super awesome bTw until he retired) 2) Follow up is also awesome. They make themselves available for appointments, advice, and are easily accessed through email or phone. 3) Yes, you will have to sign waivers but don't all doctors do that before surgery? Also, why go to someone you expect to screw up? Go to someone you'll be confident will do a good job the first time out.

We got about 20 minutes down the road when we looked at each other and said, "Ooops, forgot the ice cream. Maybe if we don't tell them about it it will still be there next time we come visit since they don't use that freezer." It seems we were mistaken.

Actually, I ate whatever I wanted, I just didn't want anything. Honestly I thought I made a pig of myself.

When I went down for my first fill 8 weeks after surgery my family decided to turn it into a vacation and spend a couple of days at Disneyland. Since I love roller coasters and planned to do them as much as possible in three days, I asked the fill doctor if it would be a problem. He told me nope, and I've been doing roller coasters, bumper cars, and water slides as much as possible since then. The usual rules apply of course: be aware of what your body is trying to tell you and take a break if things start to feel uncomfortable.

If I remember correctly, liquids don't count in the 1/2 cup at a time. While you should sip when you drink, don't worry about it stretching your pouch. That's not going to happen with liquids.

Hopefully I'm not crossing the line by posting this here but. .. The Arlington ladies are looking to add a testimonial section to their website. If anyone wants to add theirs go ahead and pm it to me and I'll pass it along for consideration.