Belinda B.
End is in Sight!
Jul 10, 2014
I've logged my food on MyFitnessPal for over 6 months without fail!! I'm so impressed with myself! Yesterday I had a band fill with Dr. Paul Guske, my first in 2 years. I was bad and didn't go for my annual check in on my Realize Band, but I wasn't having any issues and until recently I wasn't having any hunger issues. With my weight loss this year, my bad was looser and I got 4 CC or was it .4, I don't remember now, should have written down, in any case, it's tighter!
With every band fill, it's like a whole new band to figure out. With some fills after eating or drinking, I then would make gurgling noises; others little burp sounds - both embarrassing. I hope with this fill, no bad sounds will occur, or at least nothing new. I'll have to see again what foods I can tolerate. Up to now, I've been able to eat anything I want, but I avoid stringy foods (such as pot roast, shredded meat seems build a net to trap what comes behind and causes me to get stuck.) I appear to be back to tight mornings, so I’ll have to watch what I eat for breakfast and when.
They changed their recommendations for eating after a fill. It used to be liquids for that day, soft/mushy foods the next day and then regular eating on the 3rd day. Now, they say clear liquids day of fill, then follow with 2 days of Full Liquids, then the next 2 days of "Blended Diet", which would be the term for mushy food, then Day 5 "Diet as tolerated" or in other words, regular solid food. This change I can only guess is due to people having issues with their band- too many people have had issues with band erosion. This is possibly due to not being gentle enough after fills and causing irritation. I asked my surgeon about the band issues; he reassured me that mine was fine. Most of the issues were due to poor selection of patients for the band, people eating too large of portions causing pouch stretching and pressure on the band. Of course, surgeon skill is also a factor. How and where they place the band can make a huge difference. He said he only had a few revisions; those were on people who had needed to lose 200+ lbs and who should not have gotten the band in the first place. They learned more and know now about who should or should not get the band due to the unfortunately poor experiences too many have had.
My surgeon repeated his recommendations for eating 800-900 calories a day on a high protein diet. I asked him, “how long would I eat that low”, and he said forever. :( I have struggled with this number as it seems so contrary to popular nutritionists and "expert" advice. I know bariatric patients are OK'd to eat that low, but for life?? I'm eating about 1100-1200 now. Geez, that is low.
I asked his opinion and he said that he thinks I should weigh 134-144 lbs, and that with the excess skin I'll end up needing to have removed (I want plastic surgery,) I should lose about another 40 lbs and then the surgery will remove approx. 5-10 lbs of excess skin/fat. The end is in sight!
