Bandster Basics

Bandster Basics
with Amy Workman
This article is from the blog of U.S. gastric banding patient
Amy Workman. You can find more from Amy on her blog
Once Upon a Time In The Land Of Cheese and Sunkist
Sometimes we forget when we were first beginning. Do you remember the first time you
Googled ‘LAP-BAND®’? Or the first time you logged into the forums... frantically searching for
before and afters...looking at successes and getting pumped...stumbling upon a horror story
and then getting scared? Do you remember the stupid questions you asked? I remember
posting on lapbandtalk.com something like - “Is one cup of Wendy’s chili bad for you?”
Well, I am going to try and remember back to when I didn’t know much about the band
and what information would have been helpful. Here goes...
•••
I started at 327 pounds. My doctor, the wonderful and handsome Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, told
me the band is not always the best choice for someone who is a grazer. They find the band
is actually more successful for men, because men tend to eat in volume (sitting down for a
huge dinner and getting really full, vs. eating and munching on little things all day)
Some doctors say the band will not work as well for those of us who are, or were, really
morbidly obese. I disagree, and there are plenty of us out here who are proving them wrong.
Did you know the band may not work for you? You could have the surgery and not lose
much weight at all. It is not a sure thing. But, if you work with the band...it can and will work
for most of us.
What does “work with the band” mean?
Every doctor has a different regimen they want you to follow. Every doc is different, as is
almost every patient. Some say no pop/soda, some say it’s fine. Some have a two week
liquid pre-op diet and scare you about not shrinking your liver enough for surgery and not
being able to operate (thank you Dr. Friedman). But, you will have to do your part with the
band. You will have to watch what you eat. You will have to eventually exercise. You will
have to make healthier choices and just be better. I know you are saying WHAT? That
sounds like a diet to me, and I fail at diets! The band is a TOOL, not the Alpha and Omega
of your weight loss journey. You can ‘cheat’ the band by eating sliders and soft food. I, for,
one could eat Cheetos all day long and the band would sleep right through it. But with the
right restriction, your band prevents you from eating that large pizza, the extra value meal,
the entire bovine.
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It is about trying to find a tool that
works to give you some power, give
you your health.
You have to find a doctor that you can have a relationship with.
They have to be open with you and you have to be open with
them. You HAVE to go see them for fills. You have to follow up.
You have to be a good patient and ask questions.
What can you eat once you are banded?
At this point in my journey, I can’t think of one thing I can’t eat.
However, there are some things that I try to stay away from
because they are difficult with my band. Example: Bowtie pasta it doesn’t go down well, then it just sits in my band and expands...
causing me to PB (get to that in a second)
I can’t eat a sandwich, or a hamburger with a bun, but I could eat a
roll if I tear off little pieces at a time. Hot dogs give me problems for
some reason. Dry chicken or reheated meat (with the exception of
a hamburger) often gives me problems as well.
I still drink soda, I still drink beer. I love soups. I can eat veggies.
I can eat fruit.
get somewhere private (hopefully) and let it come up. What comes
up is this weird slime/foam combo. It doesn’t hurt. Hopefully that
makes whatever is stuck come right back up.
Sometimes though, it takes a little more work. Sometimes that one
piece of food I didn’t chew enough will be down there for hours.
It’s sort of like dry heaving until that piece comes up. There is a
tightness in the chest...a pressure. It’s not fun.
I will say that not everyone gets stuck or PB’s. Most of us would
agree that when we do get stuck it’s our fault. When we eat without
being present, we don’t chew, and we eat too fast.
Restriction and Tips for Eating:
Unless you are extremely lucky, you will not awake from surgery
with perfect restriction. Some docs put a little liquid in your band to
start with, others wait. I had to wait 6 weeks for my first fill. It took
me several fills before I had good restriction.
Ask your doctor what his or her fill policy is. Some docs are super
restrictive with their fills. They only fill on a schedule. They don’t care
whether or not you have restriction.
You will know you have restriction when you have it.
Restriction will keep you full and satisfied for 3 to 4 hours at a time.
Restriction does not restrict your brain. You may still mentally crave
things. You will have to learn the difference between head hunger
and physical hunger this is very hard.
When you do have good restriction, you will have to change the
way you eat. This is easier said than done. You should be taking
small bites. For example, if you are eating steak, you need to cut
that sucker up into pea sized bites then you need to chew. Then,
set your fork down and wait a few seconds. You should eat sitting
down. You should pay attention to what you are doing. You will
learn that things like eating in the car are rarely going to end well.
(Always have your Emergency PB kit in your car. A couple of bags,
some paper towels or handy wipes. Trust me)
Eating after being banded is about going slow. It’s about chewing.
Most docs want their patients to avoid “slider meals.” Meaning that
eating a bowl of soup for lunch or yogurt for breakfast isn’t going to
keep you full or satisfied because it will slide right down. You want
your food to stay in your pouch and slowly drop down.
Sometimes though...food may get stuck and then you get “sick”,
which leads me to The Dreaded PB.
A couple things may happen if a piece of food gets “stuck in your
pipe.” You aren’t going to die. It’s not like it gets stuck and you
need the Heimlich. But if a piece of food gets stuck, ain’t nothing
else going down until it moves or comes up.
The first thing that may happen is a productive burp (PB). This is
not throwing up. When something gets stuck, your slobber starts
to build on top of it. For me, when this happens, I get a weird
sensation in the back of my jaw. If I wait long enough, I will have to
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You probably shouldn’t drink with your meal or for 30 minutes after.
Liquids can help push your food down, thus cheating the band.
How much weight will I lose? How quickly will I lose it?
Now you know there is no one answer for this. I hate statistics.
17 more pounds lost and I will have lost 100 per cent of my excess
weight, and I am not alone. It can happen.
However, there are so many factors that go into how much and
how fast. Genetics, age, diet history, personal support, family life,
exercise. Some weeks I lost 7 pounds. Some weeks I gained 5.
The weeks I gained, I gained because I ate poorly and cheated the
band. The weeks I lost, I made healthy eating choices. There are
some weeks, even when I WAS doing the right thing where I didn’t
lose. It can be frustrating, I won’t lie. But you can’t give up. You will
have to keep upping your game. At some point, even with the band,
you will either have to adjust your food consumption or exercise.
Isn’t the band ‘cheating’ at weight loss?
Shouldn’t I be able to lose weight by eating
less and exercising more?
Cheating what? Cheating early death? Cheating sleep apena?
Cheating high blood pressure, sore joints, diabetes? I say
CHEAT AWAY then. There is no shame in weight loss surgery.
It’s not about will power. It’s not about failing. It is about trying to
find a tool that works to give you some power, give you your health.
I tell whoever wants to know or will listen about the band. I have
heard “Oh...well...I thought you did it the hard way”...or “hmmm...
that must be nice.” There ain’t nothing easy about the band. It
makes some things easier, but it is still work.
Will my relationship fall apart if I have the surgery?
We all hear the stories of what happens when someone has weight
loss surgery. The divorce rate and separation rate is a little higher
for us. There are several reasons. One, for some of us, when we
lose weight, we become a different person - or the person we
would have been if our bodies hadn’t been our enemies for so long.
Our expectations may change, we may want more. Or, our partners
may not be able to deal with the new us. Or, as in any relationship,
sometimes it’s just time to move on. I don’t think having weight loss
surgery should make you fear losing or changing your partner any
more than the normal person. There are tons of Bandsters out there
still happy and maybe even happier with their significant other.
Sometimes though, even though we can’t see it or don’t want to
admit it, we have settled. Once you start to shed your cloak of
security or denial...you realize you deserve more (too bad we don’t
realize that to begin with. Long story short, people change and
grow with or without weight loss surgery)
It was a tremendous catalyst for
change. I can’t think of one negative
consequence of the band.
Do fills hurt?
Mine never do. My doc has never done one under fluoro. He gives
me a numbing shot and then the fill.
How many fills do you have to have?
To get restriction, it took me 4. My first year I had around 6 fills.
My second year, I had 2.
Will you ever have the band taken out?
Lord, I hope not. Even now that I am at goal weight and weight
loss is more of what I do instead of what the band does for me
it’s always there. It’s my safety net. It will keep me from ever being
327 pounds again.
Why did you choose the band over other options?
I was 28 when I decided on the surgery. I didn’t want my stomach
cut apart. I still wanted to be able to absorb my nutrients. I wanted
to be able to eat sugar and other things without getting physically
ill and I liked that the removal of the band was a possibility if
something went wrong. I liked the idea of being able to control my
restriction. I liked the idea of slower weight loss (vs. gastric bypass)
It gave my skin and my brain a little more time to adjust.
Did you know there are different brands
of lap bands?
I have the Allergan LAP-BAND®. Ask your doctor what your choices
are, and the differences between them.
Were you worried about the loose skin?
Barely. I figured I may look like a saggy, deflated sack after I lost my
weight, but I would rather be deflated than morbidly obese.
Would you do it again?
In a heartbeat, my friends. In a heartbeat. It was the best decision
of my life. It was a tremendous catalyst for change. I can’t think of
one negative consequence of the band.
Are you worried about complications?
No. But most days I am not a worrier about things that may or
may not happen. I heard recently the stats for band slipping are
about 5 per cent and for erosions about 1 to 2 per cent. Slipping,
for example, can be avoided most of the time and according to the
docs are easy to fix. Erosion is of course a little scarier. But I hope
that by always paying attention to my body, my band, and how I
am feeling, I can avoid it or if it ever happens catch it early.
Some content was edited to fit the page.
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