Smiley

I was allowed to start exercising this week as I am still recovering from my TT and Arm Lift. Prior to these two surgeries I was doing the elliptical 3 or 4 days a week for 30 minutes and some days would throw in some weights depending on time. On Friday I did a spin class for an hour. The elliptical is really good for your knees as it low impact, but be warned, you have to build up to it. You can't just hop on and expect to go for 30 minutes or so. Start out doing 5 minutes a day and build up as you will really feel it in the front of your thighs. If I don't get up and exercise on Monday morning, I am pretty much out of the exercise loop for the rest of the week. Occasionally I will allow myself to take a Wed. or Thur. off, but not too often. At this point the key it to get up and get moving regardless of what you do - just do something that you enjoy and can stick with. Some gyms offer a couple of free personal training sessions which I would recommend you taking advantage of to learn how to use the machines properly. Have Fun!

I was told to not drink with a straw. If you were drinking the capri sun straight from the package with the attached straw that could have been some of the problem as you were taking extra air into your stomach.

Duct tape can fix anything. The floor drain in our bathroom at work was emitting a bad smell and no one seemed to be fixing it. So, I took my duct tape in and covered it up - doesn't smell anymore. :-?

I don't recall feeling extreme fullness, but then again I was scared to eat too much. I only had to do 7 days of liquids and then got to start mushy foods for a week and then a week of soft foods before I progressed to normal food. Take it easy on your food choices as you are still healing and want to give you band every opportunity to succeed. I honestly don't remember my first meal of real solids.

You can eat, and you should eat, but you should not overeat. Pay careful attention to when you are satisfied, not necessarily full, but satisfied. Make sure you are staying on top of your protein and calcium (milk has 8 grams protein per cup). Focus on the small bites and chewing well even though you may not need to because of the unfill. Better to maintain your band habits than to have to go back and relearn them after the bundle of joy arrives. Just think how much more energy you will have to raise this baby because of the positive lifestyle changes you have made and will continue to make!

As previously suggested, now is absolutely the time to tone up those arms. If you can drive or have someone to drive you, here are my suggestions. 1. Get a good book and spend the day at the park reading. 2. Volunteer at a local hospital to rock babies. I live in KC and from what I understand the local children's hospital is always looking for people to help with this. 3. Go to a nursing home and visit with people. It doesn't matter if you know them or not, so many of them are lonely and will talk to you as if they have known you all their life. 4. Go to the local dollar theatre. Movies show all day long, just take your own popcorn and drink. 5. Volunteer to fold clothes at a local clothes closet. There are a lot of other things that you could do, I just can't think of them right now. Volunteer opportunities abound and most places would be thrilled to have your help if even for a few weeks.

Sweet! I went to my ob/gyn yesterday and he was very complimentary on my TT and Arm Lift, but then asked if I knew what was next. I was clueless to what he was referring to, so he said it would by my breast - I said no, my inner thighs. As long as I have a good bra the girls can just keep hangin' in there.

I think you are due for a slight unfill. This happened to me back in December and they took out a very small amount, like .1cc and it was amazing the difference it made in how I felt and I still lost weight. I am going to call tomorrow as I think I need a slight unfill again. My band isn't necessarily too tight for normal eating, but I am taking a bunch of meds. at the moment and I think I have irritated it because pretty much everything hurts so I am going to have a slight unfill for peace of mind until I am done with all of these meds.

You should change your forum name to Zip Tied.

I was banded 2/29/08. As of 4/30/09 I had lost 70 lbs. This was also the day I had a Tummy Tuck and Arm Lift which took another 8 lbs. off although the scales have only recognized 6.5 lbs. of it. However, I must admit that not exercising for the past five and a half weeks and allowing myself a little leeway has probably been the reason the other 1.5 lbs. have not been recognized. I was given permission at my appointment last week to start exercising again so I started yesterday morning and am expecting the weight to start coming off again. I have replaced pretty much everything in my wardrobe in the past month. At my largest I wore size 22 or 24 pants and 2X tops. I am now wearing size 12 pants (sometimes 10's), and the majority of my tops are a Medium. One of the most important things you need to remember is that even though you will find many similarities with other individuals on this forum, you are not identical to any of us. Therefore, while it is definitely a good thing to seek advice and support here, it is really not a good thing to compare your weight loss success with others. Each one of us is different and the "Results Not Typical" phrase could easily be applied to each of us because what is typical for one person will not necessarily be typical for another one. I am not a "typical" member of this forum in that I was not banded at the OCC, but I have found this forum to be one of the most active ones in operation. I was banded here in Kansas City at Weight Loss Surgical Center and had the benefit of free monthly visits to the clinic for the first year which almost always included a barium swallow to make sure everything was fine as well as a fill. I must say I don't envy anyone who has to decide on their own when it is time for a fill. I had that yearly doctor's appointment today and he was very pleased with my progress and his nurse couldn't get over the changes that have occurred in my life in the past year. I have had nothing but support for both my lap band and plastic surgery from all of my doctor's as well as other people I have chosen to inform of my decisions. If you are out of the 21 day liquid phase, you definitely need to start eating solids. Start with easy mushy foods and gradually work your way up to regular solids. If you don't get the proper amount of nutrition you will find yourself in nutritional trouble and that will not be fun. Congratulations on your loss so far and I know you will continue to be a "loser".

I had some pretty severe pain in the area of my port back in the fall and it ended up being scar tissue. Luckily the scar tissue has shrunk now and I really do not have that pain anymore. My port has been kind of sensitive and sore lately, but I attribute it to the binder that I am still wearing. A week from tomorrow I get to run around binder free and am expecting the soreness to start to dissipate at that point. What did Dr. Malley say?

I think the decrease in restriction that you are experiencing is pretty normal. You probably do need another fill, but most doctors make you wait 4 weeks in between fills. Maybe you could schedule another one 2 weeks from now to fulfill the 4 week rule and also allow yourself time to find out if your band might tighten back up a little bit. You definitely do not want to be too tight.

I had knee surgery 12 years ago and about two days after the surgery my eyes resembeled those of a chain smoking alcoholic. I called the doctor and he said I was probably having an allergic reaction to the ointment they put in my eyes during surgery. Personally I would not suggest wearing your contacts during the surgery, but then again I don't even take my glasses with me because I can see almost as well without my glasses or contacts as I can with them. If you absolutely can't get along without them you should at least be prepared to take them out before the surgery and put them back in afterwards.

What part of the country do you live in? There may be others on this forum that live in the same area and could suggest a fill doctor or two.

Please be careful chugging liquids period. My fill doctor warned me that even though liquids go thru pretty well, the tighter you get the slower liquids drain and by chugging them there is the potential to stretch the pouch. I guess it is kind of like a water balloon - put enough harmless water in the balloon and it will expand. He had had two people the previous week with a stretched pouch because they had been chugging liquid.

Speaking of scars, I discovered today that until the end of June (I think) Walgreen's has a buy one get one free deal on the Nature's Bounty brand of vitamin E oil. For my lap band scars and other small scars I had always poked holes in vitamin E capsules, but having a scar from hip to hip and one on each arm from armpit to elbow I decided to get the bottles of oil as opposed to making messes with the capsules. The price was 2 bottles for $8.99 plus tax.

I hated those 3-4 lb. gains and losses that played mind games with me. Lucky you for being 5' 9". I was in the lobby at my plastic surgeons office the other day and someone asked if there was anything they couldn't do. I said yes, they can't make me taller. I am 5' 4.75" and feel lucky to be that tall as my mother is only 5', but boy how I wish I could be 5' 7". Of course if I was 5' 7" I would probably want to be 5' 9" - such a vicious circle.

I agree with Lisa, you are absolutely not a failure. For whatever reason the band and your stomach did not get along, but you had absolutely no control over that and therefore did nothing wrong. Any chance they would put the band back in at a reduced price, especially since it was not your fault that the band got and stayed too tight? Might be worth asking the question. Hold your head up high, there is an answer out there for you. Keep us posted and if I find a few extra thousand dollars laying around I will be sure and send them to you.

Thanks for the responses! I was at Walgreens with time to spare today so I looked on their shelves and found the new adult gummies. It was $9.99 for 50 gummies and the directions said to take 2 a day. I don't have a Costco card, but will check out Sam's next time I am there as the ones at Walgreens did seem kind of pricey. I had two tonight and they tasted just like gummy worms/bears. I liked liked liked! It will be nice to be able to chew something in the mornings as opposed to taking a pill, especially since I will be taking three pills every morning for the few weeks until I can get my iron, B12 and D levels back where they need to be. Who needs breakfast when you can fill up on pills - legal, non-addictive ones of course.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I read some of those posts and had to stop because I couldn't take it anymore. I am not going to say that for all of them they are eating incorrectly, but that may be the case for some. For most of them, I am thinking they are simply too tight. Getting sick on almost everything including liquids and waking up at night coughing are both signs of being too tight. Not to be rude, but I think most of the people on that forum need to stop complaining and fanning each others flames and schedule an appointment with their doctor. If they cannot get a good exam and face to face understanding talk with their doctor, they need to seek out another doctor. I have been banded for 15 months and probably have not thrown up more than 7 or 8 times. In fact, I had not thrown up at all until about 10 months after the surgery. For the times I have thrown up, in hindsight I was always able to recognize that I swallowed without chewing well enough, swallowed to much, or was eating too fast. Of course a couple of these times were due to a pill I had tried to swallow that was too big - Ouch! I personally think you are overreacting, but after reading the posts I can understand why. Make sure you know the symptoms of having a band that it too tight and such, and address the problem as soon as you realize it. Finding solace in the fact that other people are having the same detrimental issue and are disgruntled bandsters is not good thing. Stick with those of us on this forum and you will do great and hardly recognize yourself before long!

I was told to eat soft foods which are foods you can smash with a fork such as baked chicken, cooked carrots, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, etc. I was also told to try one new food at a time to make sure that it agrees with you.

I wasn't allowed to have that problem because I only had 3 weeks from the time I scheduled surgery until I actually had it. I had to lose 3-4 pounds in that time frame, so I had to get busy on the weight loss immediately. One thing I have learned is that I can have anything after the band that I had before the band, just in moderation. Granted, it should have been in moderation before the band, but that was not always the case. I still order the same thing at restaurants that I used to order, except I only eat a fourth or a third of what I used to in one sitting. So, by taking leftovers home I actually get to enjoy my chosen meal a couple of more times. When I say I order the same things, I was never in to ordering the heavy stuff or things that are smothered in gravy, fried, super huge and such. I do switch some of the sides now for steamed vegetables and have discovered that I like steamed vegetables, which I never would have known pre-band because mashed potatoes without gravy (don't like gravy) sounded so much better. I still order hamburgers on occasion as well, I just remove the bottom bun and pick as much off of the top bun as I can while still allowing me something to hold on to and protect my hands from the mustard and ketchup. The weird part of this is that I can totally tolerate bread, but I simply choose not to. Now is the time to start practicing what your new bandster lifestyle will be like, so put your chubby little fingers back in your pockets and walk on by with the thought in your head that you could have some of that, but you are too good of a person to eat "that" kind of food. Snobbish? Yes, but so what, you are on the way to developing a new you and by golly the new you is going to look good!

WOW! You look great at 202, I don't think I looked that good at 175. I am so jealous that you were able to make this life change at the age of 29. I would have loved to have been able to do this 7 years ago and can only imagine how different the last seven years would have been, but at least I was able to do it last year. Congratulations and keep on keeping on!

Sabrina - You look great! You are no longer the big girl in the picture - YEAH!!! Carrie - I understand what you mean by not "mind feeling" smaller. Hopefully you have taken pictures along the way. I did pictures every 3 months which helped some, along with sending them to people who only see me once every year or two. For some reason their comments did more for me than the comments of people that saw me every day. After my TT and Arm Lift was when I really started to "mind feel" smaller and started acting like it. It was at this point that I was no longer a smaller version of the old me with the same rolls in a smaller size. I now had a completely different shape - FLAT - albeit swollen in the stomach area and nothing was flapping on my arms. I am already wearing sleeveless outfits even though my scars have the potential to show because I don't care as the scars are better than the flab was. Hang in there, your mind will catch up with your body!

I have had two people tell me that they have seen television commercials for adult gummy vitamins. Have any of you seen these commercials? Anyone have an information on these vitamins? I am all about giving them a try as I don't do so well with vitamin pills anymore and the thought of liquid vitamins makes me gag. I'm not really wanting to spend money to try regular chewable vitamins either because I probably wouldn't like them. Gummies however, especially if they are like regular gummie bears or worms are right up my alley and if they are truly like candy, something tells me I won't miss a day of taking them.