AngieB

Hey L - I posted this article to my facebook page......great share! You rock!

Hey Cindy - good to see you post. How's the pregnacy going? How's your fill doing? Fill us in!

I say eat meat while you can! HA! No but really, our family eats chicken, turkey, fish or all kinds; scallops, shrimp, talpia, mahi mahi, ect....yum! All softer easier to chew and healthier for my family. I use to eat read meat, but the band has changed by eating habits. I was moving away from red meats before the band, but now we don't by ANY. It's has become our preferrence. Sorry for all my typos and that, but I didn't re-read before I posted.....I figure you all get the jest of it....

Note...I also want to say that the soft pb is more like one bite to many, like the food can not set in my stoma and is in my esophagus instead...that need to come back up. It is important to not play the one bite to many game often as it will stretch out your esophagus. Your esophagus is not meant to stretch it is not like your stomach. The tissue is different. It is simply the harder tupe your food travels too. It is not meant for storage. When I have the throwing up hard pb it is my bodies way of getting a stuck particle of food unlodged from the band. Hence the ol' heave hoe."

Got your attention didn't it! Wow! Let me tell you, the band teaches you so much along the way. When I first began to come to this board, I would read about how members cut there mean in small pieces. It seemed so....I guess unreal. Like really.....you cut your food up real small....?? That small. Guess what, I do that now. It took me a while to get to the tiny pieces. Slowly but surely, we transform. We chew chew chew like crazy. With more restriction each time comes the new learning curve to eating. It's not drastic, but one episode, and BAM it gets your attention. I am a bit over a year out and I have not had the "heart attack" like chest pain feeling I read about. I have had a tightness in my chest, and a few time I felt like I have a weird pulse in my chest too. My biggest struggle was the one bit to many game, that I would loose......The good thing about me is that I tend to bring up the "one bite to many" and the rest remains in my pouch or stoma. I have freinds who bring everything back up. That would suck! I've also learned the severity of productive burping. For me, if I have a PB, I tend to have a "soft PB's." A soft PB to me is when I go to the sink, lean over and the blop of slim/food particles come up. Vuala! Done. Then, there is the HARD PB. This is when I actually heave like I am throwing up. With the hard pb I normally feel like everything comes up. There is a slight level of discomfort in my band area. When I have a soft PB I don't go on liqiuds for swelling. The hard pb I do not continue to eat hard protiens, I go to either mushies or liquids to give my stoma, band a break. Gotta take care of "Hope" so she can do her job. Swelling and inflimation can cause more troubles then good. Sorry.....I tend to go off on a ramble from time to time...HA! Hang in and on, as this journey will teach you tons! Welcome to the land of the band!

Oh my goodness, I am soo glad you shared this embarassing moment. I am sorry but it is funny and what make it worse is it did happen in a mens prison. You are so right, we all need to laugh at ourselves. What an awesome embarassing moment.....at least it was cuz your butts getting skinny!!!

Excellent post Lindsay. I did my calculations and it is sad....but realistic to what I will need to do to get my belly fat off. I appreciate you bringing this info here for us to educate ourselves!

Drinking - as I understand it, drinking while eating does a few things.... A. Washes food through the stoma or pouch. B. Puts more pressure on the band which could lead to slip or enlarged stoma. That is how I understand the drinking thing. Food should be in your pouch so it can send signals to the brain saying you are full.....beverages wash the food through. You seem to have had success with eating and drinking. I as a general rule follow the no drinking rule nearly to a tee. Hope this helps -

OMgoodness.....I gotta say this. You might be a bandster if you have two starburst candies.... Took a drink of my CL a few mins later.....and could feel it in my esphogus (sp) ended up leaning over and letting the liquid come back up....the starburst clogged my darn drain! LOL Nice.....

Girl you get me all mizzy in the morning....run my make-up. Ugh. I soo love you - and not in the creepy stalker way. Girl I miss you and I need to call you so we can catch up. I am going threw Carrie with drawls and it ain't pretty! LOL Glad you stopped by to check in. I am soo looking forward to seeing the 3 month pics! Muah!

THREAD JACK! lol I got a Dance DVD....I feel like such a tard doing it...I know I will get better, but let me tell ya what....it is a work out. I was carrying my 2 yr old while dancing....it was great! Sweat was deff there!

I know some Dr.s in the US are doing more band revision surgerys' with the band slips instead of removal as the first option. I can send you a video on this if you would like. Also, band removal is MUCH cheaper than placement. I was happy to know that fact. I would definatly check on what your insurance would cover on an emergancy basis. You are fortunate you can eat and drink. Some can not after a band slip and have no choice but to have surgery as it is life and death..... Sorry for you and your band.......((HUGS)) Angie

Nicole - sorry to hear about your weight gain. We bigger people have issues with putting weight on lightning fast. It's like our bodies have fat memory and BAM! Not sure if you were able to practice restraint, but sometimes we fall back into the old patern for a range of reasons. Sadness, comfort, because we can actually eat again....I can only imagine how you feel, and I am ((HUGGING)) you right now. I had no idea Dr. O was doing Sleeves....is this something new? I really thought about the sleeve and if a revision is EVER nessecary for me, I would go that direction as well. Still pleased with my band, and the non evasiveness, but oh my goodness the things I have realized about myself since being banded! Please don't be a stranger, we all have our ups and downs. Keep us posted on you decision and progress! Much love to you! Angie

Hey! How are you? I have no idea about the dosage, but it had to post to you since I seen you on here! I'd love an update on how you are getting along. : )

OH LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL! Okay so check it out. In a chinese rest. eating with a girl friend. (sharing a meal. ) I get stuck....on damn rice! So I excuse myself....someone is in the bathroom....I walk through the CROWDED Rest. I am sure I looked like a deer in the head lights..... I get outside just in time to round the corner and vuala! Up comes.....you know....slimmy crap, with a huge heave hoe to follow...yeah, I am sure the people driving in the parking lot were really impressed. Not bad food....just bad PB! LMBO @ myself....how terrible. Fun times!

Hi everyone! I am still around. Sorry I am not a big poster anymore....living life...but I read and do respond to PM's and emails all the time. I know it would be good to hear from the people who are not at goal yet and are slower to loose. If you are in this catogory, please know you are not alone....there are many of us here.....we don't post as much, but we are here. I responded to an email today, and decided to share it here. I am so grateful to be on this journey with each of you and I do enjoy all of your posts! ((HUGS)) Angie Hi ! So good to hear from you. I have adopted a different approach to the lapband. Given that I was not one of the faster losers, I decided to practice a level of acceptance and go with it. In the beginning I didn't exercise much. I have a few weaker body parts that give me troubles. So for most of my first year, I simply worked to get to a level of restricition and change adapt my eating habits to suit the band. So, in my first year, I lost 50 lbs! I don't think that is to terrible for not being active. Now that I am down a 50% of my weight I am ready to work at it a bit. Currently I am walking over my lunch hour. I get in 2-3 miles a day. I am able to mow my lawn again and do much much more than I could previously. The foot I broke, does burn and ache a bit and my lower back hurts and radiates to my hip, but I am able to walk more now and feel great for that gift. In the beginning, I did limit my portions, but I did not give up any foods. I ate a slice of pizza if I wanted pizza. I did this because I was going to enjoy the foods I like while I was able to. I didn't have the mind set of loosing all the weight in record time. I went in thinking if I did it slowly over 2-3 year period I would be elated. I tell you this so you can get a glimpse into my frame of mind. Weight loss has been slower for me, but I eat what I want. I don't treat myself like I am on a strick diet. Restriction does help, and is AWESOME, but it is just a slice of the pie. So much factors in to loosing weight with the band. It can be discouraging, I went though my down times. Especially when the weight came off so so so slow. What I realize now is that I have a tool for life, and I am blessed to have it to help me. I think of Hope, I named my band, as my partner. She helps me restrict my portions, and I do the rest. Which is choose what foods to put in my body, get moving and stay focused on the goal ahead! I have to look at this as a positive, otherwise it would really get me down. The one thing I want to say is I have food issues, so this year.....has been an adjustment for me. In a glimpse the band has been helping me remove food as a major thing in my life. The smaller my portions got the more I took my focus off of FOOD. For example, eating out is WAY LESS attractive to me. Before I would get real excited about it...now....I go with the flow. I don't even care where we eat anymore....it is just less of a priority to me. I am a chatter so don't worry or feel nervous you can ask me anything....: )

So thrilled for you RCR! Let the fun begin!

As long as your mom is going....I say take her. Make sure to bring the swimming suit and some activities to keep her entertained. Most of the channels are spanish, so a lap top with movies would be awesome! I am a mom and I WOULD take my family with me. It is a culture.....another country. The hotels are nice and have restaurants. I went back to the hotel after my surgery.....I did not over night at the OCC. I went shopping the next day with a group of banders and my mom. We had a great time and didn't for one minute feel unsafe. We did not go out at night.....but during the day we had a blast. ANY CITY HAS CRIME.....ESPECIALLY THE BIG ONES. That is my two cents!

Kim - what a drag! Good thing you noticed the BC and got it out! I bet holding down the couch is hard to do! Happy Mothers Day! How's your drainage today?

Margaret! Welcome back. Wisdom teeth...ugh, I know dry sockets....ouchie! This board is amazing and it's been over a year since I joined on the crew here and I still check in regularly. Great bunch of friends, not to mention all the information and support! I have missed you! I've always loved your way with words! Glad to see you.