JenniferJS

WHEW! Ckiki...thanks! You and the others give me such hope! Yay for restriction!

Christy, your support always put a smile on my face I've been great about not drinking with food today. I've learned that popping an ice cube in my mouth after I've finished with my food REALLY helps. Good luck, girl, and talk soon!

Hi Dana - I tend to agree with you about the drinking with food allowing it to slip thru the band more quickly, therefore eating more...but then with a later post....I start to get worried about the stretching...not sure who posted that, but I'll read it again. I guess its a debated subject....I'll just stick to not drinking with meals and forgive myself for the small bit I did do.

Shelby, you are soo funny! (to...um I mean blessing!) haha But yes, you are right, most of us are addicts and the others probably just haven't admitted that part yet. Overeaters Anonymous meetings helped me to realize I am a compulsive overeater. I want to heal mentally, physically and spiritually. Great post and thank you for the support!

I'll look into getting more B-6. I DO need to weigh the foods I eat. Thanks for the reminder!

I lost and gained the same 50 lbs for about 10 yrs. Then the last five years - stable weight - well it kept slowly creeping up each year. No diets worked. I am a compulsive overeater so a diet I started in the morning was completely blown by 11am! Hugs to you!!

I am trying to reply to each of you but I keep getting "forbidden" error messages! wtf....If this goes thru then I'll reply as I intended. Thanks everyone!

Jenelle - first off, pretty name! I like it! I really appreciate your kind words. I am getting my fill this coming MONDAY! 3/2/09 I'm excited, scared, etc. So we are getting are fill the SAME DAY! However, I'm getting mine here in West Palm Beach, Florida (where I live). I cannot really afford to go back to the OCC like I'd love to! Good for you, tho! Awesome! You must tell me all about your first fill experience, ok?? We CAN do this! Hugss...Jen (Oh and I have this really strange thing about wet shower walls - I cannot stand to touch them, even on accident! It is the only weird 'phobia' I have! lol - no idea why! So no bubble baths for me!)

Ahhh Ramona, thanks! I appreciate your support. I WILL STOP DRINKING WITH MEALS, promise! I knew it was bad, but I'm still not quite sure if it will stretch my pouch or just wash the food thru too quickly to keep the feeing of fullness. OR BOTH? Hmm.. But thanks again, I will look forward to my first and second fills to get me jump started again. I appreciate this board so much.

Thanks for the input!

I am down 15 lbs. Just under 10 lbs was pre op loss. The post op liquid diet provided the other 5 lb loss. I've read on here that it is normal to not lose before your first fill. I've been able to eat pretty much everthing and in any quantity. The coordinator (Lori) and others have said that there will be very little restriction and I will be able to eat pretty normally during this time {after the liquid diet ends and before you are allowed your first fill}. I'm not too worried about strectching my pouch, as no one (clinically involved) ever said or provided information saying that was a concern during these few weeks. But in the back of my mind, of course, I think I'm failing this band just like every other attempt at weight loss in the past 20 years. I see some on here that have lost 10 additional or even 20 additional pounds before their first fills. I am so jealous! I feel completely normal except the few times I feel food in my esophagus but it just takes a few minutes for it to finally pass thru. I have had the saliva build up and have to spit for periods of time. This can happen with my first bite of something so its not that I'm stuffed to the gills. Its not always. More often than not, I can eat pretty much the same as before banding. Yes, I'm making decent food choices. Not perfect but not gluttonous, either. I want to hear from everyone but I'm especially interested in people like Lisa and others who are at maintenance or with very little left to lose. Were you just gung ho from the beginning? Just dropping weight even before your first fill? Are the people who didn't lose before their first fill the ones who are only at 30-40% of their weight loss goals? One other issue - I am drinking with my meals! I know its a huge no no...but its almost impossible to get in your liquids if you are to wait 30 minutes before you eat and an hour after you eat. Thats 6 hours of no drinking a day! (1.5 hours of no drinking due to meal time limitation on liquid intake plus 30 minutes meal time itself x3 is how I get 6 hours.) I am drinking because I am thristy and it is hard to ONLY have solids...how do you guys deal with that? I guess I"m washing food thru my band and that is why I can eat normally? As well as no fill? I just want to feel good again, like I did the first 5 weeks (2 weeks pre op and 3 weeks post op was WONDEFUL!) I feel back to "big ole Jen just eating away!" OH AND I KNOW THIS IS A TOOL A TOOL A TOOL A TOOL AND NOT MAGIC! Please do not reply with that. So far I feel ZERO ASSISTANCE from this tool. I hope others are nodding and saying..yep, I've been there...but now filled, I'm dropping weight and feel silly for having such little faith in this band...

I am down 15 lbs. Just under 10 lbs was pre op loss. The post op liquid diet provided the other 5 lb loss. I've read on here that it is normal to not lose before your first fill. I've been able to eat pretty much everthing and in any quantity. The coordinator (Lori) and others have said that there will be very little restriction and I will be able to eat pretty normally during this time {after the liquid diet ends and before you are allowed your first fill}. I'm not too worried about strectching my pouch, as no one (clinically involved) ever said or provided information saying that was a concern during these few weeks. But in the back of my mind, of course, I think I'm failing this band just like every other attempt at weight loss in the past 20 years. I see some on here that have lost 10 additional or even 20 additional pounds before their first fills. I am so jealous! I feel completely normal except the few times I feel food in my esophagus but it just takes a few minutes for it to finally pass thru. I have had the saliva build up and have to spit for periods of time. This can happen with my first bite of something so its not that I'm stuffed to the gills. Its not always. More often than not, I can eat pretty much the same as before banding. Yes, I'm making decent food choices. Not perfect but not gluttonous, either. I want to hear from everyone but I'm especially interested in people like Lisa and others who are at maintenance or with very little left to lose. Were you just gung ho from the beginning? Just dropping weight even before your first fill? Are the people who didn't lose before their first fill the ones who are only at 30-40% of their weight loss goals? One other issue - I am drinking with my meals! I know its a huge no no...but its almost impossible to get in your liquids if you are to wait 30 minutes before you eat and an hour after you eat. Thats 6 hours of no drinking a day! (1.5 hours of no drinking due to meal time limitation on liquid intake plus 30 minutes meal time itself x3 is how I get 6 hours.) I am drinking because I am thristy and it is hard to ONLY have solids...how do you guys deal with that? I guess I"m washing food thru my band and that is why I can eat normally? As well as no fill? I just want to feel good again, like I did the first 5 weeks (2 weeks pre op and 3 weeks post op was WONDEFUL!) I feel back to "big ole Jen just eating away!" OH AND I KNOW THIS IS A TOOL A TOOL A TOOL A TOOL AND NOT MAGIC! Please do not reply with that. So far I feel ZERO ASSISTANCE from this tool. I hope others are nodding and saying..yep, I've been there...but now filled, I'm dropping weight and feel silly for having such little faith in this band...

Yes, please keep us updated! I am going for my first fill on 3/2! Local doc without fluoro. I had the same concerns as you really (minus the fatality...I think!).

All this first fill talk got me thinkin'....need to schedule mine! So I called Dr. Kenneth Larson here in West Palm Beach, Florida (where I live). I go on March 2nd for the consult and fill. It is $285. ($!50 surgical consult fee and $135 fill fee) If I go later for follow up but do not get a fill for whatever reason, the visit is $100. That sounds about right from what Ive read. Do you guys agree? Oh and NO FLUORO! Should I be nervous? Kendra, the nurse at Dr. Larson's office, said that surgeons are trained to do fills blindly. She also said that 95% of fills are done with no xray...I didn't ask if that meant 95% of their patients or 95% of lap band patients everywhere. (I tend to think THEIR patients...as I read so many people get it WITH FLUORO under xray.) If there is a problem, then they bring me to the radiology department of the hospital they are next to for my fill under fluoro. I don't want to travel an hour south to Margate, Florida. Plus that Dr. wants to charge me $500 up front to become a patient then a few hundred for my visit and fill. Oh and Kendra said to not expect much help with my food intake or appetite on the first fill. She said a 2nd fill could be done a few weeks later...I'm kinda worried about the money being laid out twice..but it is what it is... Regards, Jennifer

Hi hun. I was banded almost a month before you. I had the same exact question as you...HOW LONG!? As I searched this OCC forum it appeared everyone was a little different. My experience was at the end of the 21 liquid diet - the gas pain was pretty much gone. I took about 2-6 gas-x strips a day. I'm pretty sure they helped. BUY THEM ASAP! Of course, everyone will say WALK! I would pace my house with my left arm up and over my head. Just know that it will pass. Its GREAT to not have it! I remember getting it SUPER bad in my left shoulder - weird how gas travels into the nooks and crannies like that, right? I thought gas was an abdominal thing only... Try all the remedies people mentioned..you never know what will help you most. Oh and I'm getting my first fill in a few weeks...I hear from this board that after fills you can get the gas pains back Dang! Ah well....life with the band and it's little issues are better than my ever enlarging body before the band. Be well, Jennifer

Good job girl

Some have voiced their opinions that my reply was spot-on/appropriate - some have taken it as nasty/sassy. I apologize and have NO desire to become a 'troll' or whatever the word is. I respect you all and will make an effort to read the posts differently (i.e. trust that the person is not being condescending and remember that type written words can be taken out of context). crazycoolbutterfly - I wrote that a death had occurred in the original poster's life and that she made a poor food choice while dealing with that. I applaud your weight loss, committment and contributions to this forum.

Very informative, thanks, Pammie!

Making statements like "if you can eat at night, you can exercise" are awfully haughty. If someone snacks for 2.5 minutes in between folding laundry, serving a family dinner, spoon feeding an infant and god knows what else...that isn't exactly the same as having the time to go for a 20-30 minutes run! Wow! Assumptions... Also, admitting to eating a fastfood cheeseburger and getting "if you can eat a cheeseburger, you can eat whole wheat grain turkey..." - wow again! A death, come on! Some days that whole wheat grain barley tofu spread is not gonna be there. Not to say that preparation is not key, but a death, folks! I'm surprised by comments like these. I should probably take a shower and relax. And maybe just follow the OA motto, as well. "Take what you like and leave the rest." Have a good night. Jennifer

I was wondering why some people split the bullet...so that makes sense (trying to limit your protein to 25g at a meal). I don't have a ton of restriction. I guess. It is hard to judge when you don't know what restriction should feel like. But I know that my first few days after surgery - it was so hard to get water down. Well, not exactly hard, but I felt it go down and sit at the top of my stomach (or so it felt). I felt very very full with just broth or water. So I'm guessing that is what restriction feels like. I know it was restriction due to swelling from the surgery, but that is what I'm going by. Today, I have cheated and ate a few bites of chocolate cake and it was not going down too good. I spit up saliva (was that a pb?) I am happy that happened, cuz that cake was off the chain good! lol but thankfully I couldn't eat but a few bites. I skipped dinner and had 2 small glasses of red wine tonight. I am probably under my protein for today. Guess that is where a protein bullet would come in handy. I hope I don't get flamed for the wine/cake tonight. It was my first 'cheat' since before starting my pre op diet days.... I do take the band seriously and don't want to 'eat around the band' or whatever. But I also don't want to walk away from every single delicious looking item, either. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Hi again...I will definitely start to measure. I may be way off. Thanks again.

Thanks vangirl! Makes sense.

Ohh okay..good to know. I did fiddle with it a bit but I guess not enough...thanks.

Hi Mona- What happened when you ate 'too much protein in one day'? I guess I was generalizing when I said "Apparantly we need about 50-60 grams of protein a day (it varies if you are male, female, vigorously working out, etc)" - but I did try to include the reasons why it may vary. I will be eager to hear how your visit went and what Dr. M says...thanks!