High Anxiety

Hi there,

I had my surgery this past Nov on the 22ND .

1.  I was a volume eater no portion control at all .

2.  No my doc will not fill the band during surgery because you are swelled anyways from surgery

3.  Every doc is different.  Mine does not believe in drastic fills.  He does .5 cc's to 2 cc's at a time.

4.  Pre Op Diet no I did not follow it to a T close . I was allowed 2 protein shakes a day and 4 oz of meat and 1 cup of veggies at dinner.  I put a salad with my dinner with a tab bit of dressing and I also drank milk right before bedtime if I was hungry . 

5. I was allowed to exercise 4 weeks post op

6.  I do Richard Simmons sometimes, but I just signed up for Zumba so I do that four times a week now and toning 3 times a week

7.  No I did not give up carbs and sugars . Me personally I believe if you keep yourself in check and moderation you can eat anything you want.   I keep my carbs between 20-40 a day sometimes I will hit 60 a day but I'm allowed 60 carbs a day per my doc .  I was never a sweets eater and I never put sugar in my Ice Tea anyways so that has not bothered me.  I don't go out of way to eat sugar but I don't avoid it either.  Moderation not deprivation

8.  I was horrible at puree stage . I could not and would not puree my meat. It was gross and nasty .   I lived on mashed tators and refried beans for about 4 days of the puree stage and my doc said since I was doing well I could move up to soft foods.

9.  As you can see I have lost almost 29 pounds and 16 inches since my surgery.  I am at a standstill right now I'm up about 3 pounds and retaining water because it's about that time of the month so I am expecting a big loss after I get done with my period especially with the exercise I'm doing right now and staying within my calorie range.

10.  I also skipped my first fill and as of right now going to skip my second one on the 24Th of this month if I keep going the way I am right now .

You should lose lots of weight doing Zumba.  I tried it a few times, but I found it dfifficult to do Zumba with its Latin rhythm and regular eight beat exercise at the same time.  I'd like to ask you or anyone elso who knows, why  doesn't the doctor fill right after surgery and how do they determien how much to fill in subsequent visits.

Oh gosh I'm all over the place doing Zumba lol I laugh at myself during the workouts Im pathetic but oh well  lol. Everybody else is tyring to figure it out also so they are not paying attention to me .

Some docs do but alot wont.  After surgery you are swollen up so that will give you some restriction right there or It did me.  My doc just does not like to do that .

When they ask you questions when you go into your fill you need to be completely honest with them dont lie to them.

We talked about this in support group meetings.  There are times people get a fill when they really dont need one and then it can cause problems of them being to tight when they shouldn't have gotten one in the first place.

You will need to learn the difference between head hunger and actual physical hunger.  If I went into the docs and said give me a fill because of head hunger my gosh I would be in there every day lol. 

That is the most important about fills when you are actually physically hunger, not because you want to eat, or you think you should eat, or your bored and want to eat .

If you get hungry within 2 hrs after eating then you need a fill .  I skipped my first fill so I have no idea how much my doc would have put in me.  It all depends on the doc and how aggressive he is on fills.  My doc is not aggressive on fills and he dont have alot of patients coming back for unfills he does them slow and not much at a time . He very rarely goes over 2 cc's at a time most of the time it's anywhere from .5 cc to 1 cc's .

But on the other hand if he thinks you are not doing your part on this journey he will not give you a fill at all.   Example if you are not losing weight he will ask about your exercise and if you are not doing enough he will say okay bump up your exericse, keep a food printout on what you eat and come back in two weeks and lets go from there.   There has been several he has done that to in my support group meeting and come to find out they was over eating or not doign their exercise and once they started to do that hmm the weight started to come back off again :o)

The way I understand it, the fill makes your band tighter which would make it harder for food to leave your stomach, Right?  If that's the case, why would someone who is overeating want a fill?

1. What were your issues with food prior to the surgery?

Volume & sweets. The band addressed the volume, but the sweets became "slider" foods and actually more difficult to deal with post banding. (i.e. felt pushed towards them when having restriction issues)

1. Do they fill the band during the initial surgery?

My surgeon did not fill my band during surgery.

1. How do they determine how much to fill the band?

In my experience, it depends on the method of fill. My first 3 fills were done under flouroscopy, so they had a visual of the restriction level and it took 3 fills to getr to 5cc's.

Then I switched my follow-up surgeon to a local surgeon. He does fills "blindly". He adds a little or takes out a little depending on what I tell him I am experiencing restriction wise. I swallow water after the fill and we "count" how long it takes for the pouch to empty. Feels a lot like guesswork to me. I don't like it.

I personally would prefer to have fills under flouroscopy, but it is not possible in my situation.

1. Although I have a diet, I’m interested in whether you strictly followed the diet and if not in what ways.

In the beginning I followed the diet strictly. But as I started to have issues with my gallbladder, and finicky restriction, I started having problems with chest pressure/pain, and stuck/salivating episodes with chicken, meat etc. I found myself drawn more and more to slider foods which eventually halted my weightloss.

1. How soon were you able to exercise?

One month.

1. How much and what type of exercise did you do after your recovery?

Honestly in the beginning I concentrated more on my diet, and I lost 100 lbs within the first year. When I did start exercizing I really enjoyed the couch to 5K program. by coolrunning.com.

1. Did you completely give up carbs and sugar?

I didn't. But I am currently on a very low sugar low carb diet to get back on track. I feel to be successful you really need to commit to watching your sugar/carb intake.

1. How did you find recipes for the pureed phase of the diet?

Gosh that was 3 years ago for me. I used LapBandTalk for support. Lots of great recipes on there. I also just winged it. I ate a lot of refriend beans.

1. When did you notice a significant loss?

I lost 20 lbs pre-op on my month long low carb diet. I lost quickly in the beginning, flattening out around 7 months post-op with a total of 84 lbs lost. I lost a total of 100 bls before I had difficulties with restriction and re-gained 60 over the next two years. I am getting my port fixed next week and hope to get back on track.