Time for my unfill

[little t]

I have thought about this for a while now and I would like some feedback from others that have been in my shoes. While I was losing weight, I worked out like an animal and ate like a good bandster should (for the most part). I have exceeded my goal of 145 and this morning I weighed in at 138. I stopped excercising as soon as I hit 142 since I was not trying to lose weight, but I could not eat enough to sustain my weight. I am to the point now that I have not had any serious excercise since July and I eat lots of candy and chocolate in order to not lose more weight. I miss excercising and I do not want ot have to eat chocolate bars to maintain my weight! Good Lord! Did I just say that! My former self is mortified! I know that I need to get fluid out of my band and I have an appointment in Roanoke to get an unfill. My question is this: How much fluid should I have removed? My thought is, "Take it all out!" I believe that I could maintain my weight, enjoy life and not have to PB like I do. I have to take gas-ex and when I eat now, I ALWAYS have to blow my nose from the build up of flem (TMI...I know). I am going on a cruise this January and I would really like to enjoy myself! The last cruise I went on I was newly banded and I ate like a pauper! NOT MY IDEA OF A GOOD TIME!

I figure that IF I cannot maintain my weight, I will be able to figure that out by January. In that case, I can get a fill after my cruise. What do you all think?

[redgrldj]

I believe that Jachut went through the same thing.. I cannot remember the name of the thread, but she had an unfill not that long ago. she wanted to be able to eat more because of her running..



I have thought about this for a while now and I would like some feedback from others that have been in my shoes. While I was losing weight, I worked out like an animal and ate like a good bandster should (for the most part). I have exceeded my goal of 145 and this morning I weighed in at 138. I stopped excercising as soon as I hit 142 since I was not trying to lose weight, but I could not eat enough to sustain my weight. I am to the point now that I have not had any serious excercise since July and I eat lots of candy and chocolate in order to not lose more weight. I miss excercising and I do not want ot have to eat chocolate bars to maintain my weight! Good Lord! Did I just say that! My former self is mortified! I know that I need to get fluid out of my band and I have an appointment in Roanoke to get an unfill. My question is this: How much fluid should I have removed? My thought is, "Take it all out!" I believe that I could maintain my weight, enjoy life and not have to PB like I do. I have to take gas-ex and when I eat now, I ALWAYS have to blow my nose from the build up of flem (TMI...I know). I am going on a cruise this January and I would really like to enjoy myself! The last cruise I went on I was newly banded and I ate like a pauper! NOT MY IDEA OF A GOOD TIME!

I figure that IF I cannot maintain my weight, I will be able to figure that out by January. In that case, I can get a fill after my cruise. What do you all think?

[PhotoNut]

Well, I haven't been in your shoes yet but I hope to be someday soon. You have great shoes, darlin! Here's my two cents anyway..

First off.. healthy people stay healthy by eating well and exercising. Giving up both of those things is a recipe for sure disaster. Thin people can be unhealthy people. Things like cholesterol levels are equally as important as the numbers on a scale or a dress size.

You worked hard to get yourself to a healthier weight, now its time to redefine your exercise and nutrition goals. Perhaps focus on strength training with some cardio added to keep your heart exercised. All cardio will bring weight loss, so do some weight resistance to keep your muscles long and well-toned.

If you cant eat enough to maintain your weight, definitely get an adjustment. But my advice is to try to do things in moderation, rather than jumping from one extreme to another. Your band will help you maintain your weight loss while you continue to learn how to successfully live the life of a person at goal weight. Since you have told us that you've been eating chocolate to keep from losing weight, I'd say its fairly safe to guess that you haven't yet mastered the ability to make the best nutritional choices. :P (don't hit me)

Get a slight adjustment. Loosen that band enough to be able to eat a healthy variety of lean proteins and veggies. Keep up the protein shakes if you need help in maintaining 60-100 grams of protein per day. Exercise three times a week, with focus on strengthening. Develop good habits that are going to keep you healthy for a long time.

It's not over just because you're at goal weight. Maintaining good health is something that EVERYONE has to do on a daily basis. We ex-fat people are no different.

Love ya girl. I really do. :)

[Stitchy]

Near the end of getting my fills, my nurse said adding .5 cc was quite a big fill, so I would unfill maybe .25 to see how you do. I certainly wouldn't have it all taken out at once. Just asking for trouble IMHO.

["Just Jess"]

I am to the point now that I have not had any serious excercise since July and I eat lots of candy and chocolate in order to not lose more weight. I miss excercising and I do not want ot have to eat chocolate bars to maintain my weight!

:faint:WHAT?!

hahahaha --- girl, what a problem to have!!!!!!!!!!! did you EVER imagine you'd have THIS problem!? haha

my 2 cents: get unfilled in the same manner you were filled in. little by little. i know my doc does the 1-2 cc at a time with 2-4 weeks between, as needed for adjustments. can you do something like that? take out a little - see how you do? then take a little more if needed, etc.. etc.. it's like walking backwards from the beginning of your journey! how cool! :)

good luck to you, tami - i hope to someday be in your shoes as well!!!!! love ya!!! xo, jess :love:

[LindaV]

I agree with everyone else--moderation! Depending on the size band that you have, removing .2 or .3 ccs can make a huge difference--just like it can with a fill.

I would suggest getting very small unfills until you reach a point where your calories in vs. you calories out puts you at maintenance.

Good luck--I can't wait to have this particular problem!

[little t]

I would love to eat more meat! But, I get so full so fast! I do not want to drink protein shakes for the rest of my life. I would rather eat a lean steak. When I was getting my fills, he would give me 2 cc's at a time, so maybe that will be ok. I just really need to eat more food! I want more than anything to get back in the gym, but when I do play a match of tennis, I will lose another pound! It happened to me 3 times already. I need to stop this nonsense!

Jess, there was no way I ever thought that I would have this "problem"! What a problem to have huh?! Kinda like the people that are worried about having enough FDIC coverage at the bank! What a problem to have!

I go in on October 13 and I will talk to the doctor to. I am sooooo looking forward to this!

["Just Jess"]

good luck, girl!!! we all need to have problems like you!

hehehe ;) love ya!

[Jachut]

Try it and see. That's what I did. I've gone up and down a bit weight wise but I havent packed on the weight.

I'm alarmed that you have stopped exercising. Exercise is your number one weapon over time, against regain. If you stop, your body softens up, you lose muscle, you're way way way better to unfill a bit than stop exercising. And we dont only exercise for weight control, we do it for a long and healthy life too. Get back into it, you'll look better, feel better.

I'm finding it much harder to maintain my weight, over time it is going to creep up. But its not instantaneous, I've had time to try it out, think about it and remember that I *was* a bit too tight. However, next week, I'm having half of what I had removed put back in. That was a perfect level for me, but I needed to drop back to 2.8 to settle everything down a bit and see where it all stood. When I was at 2.9, it was perfect, and I thought I'll try just a bit more, I want to get REALLY skinny, lol, Mistake. I got the phlegmy cough when I ate, everythign hurt just a bit, I had a plane flight at the same time as I had my period and I couldnt eat anything much for an entire week, and it never really settled back down. My mistake was that last .1 fill that took me to 3. But teeny tiny amounts make a big difference at this stage.

So I havent gained, but its harder to maintain and I want a bit more help than the band is giving me right now, but boy, if I'd stopped running, I'd hate to think. I eat healthy, but I can eat a LOT now.

At a guess, I'd say having 2.8 in my band allows me to eat 2000 calories a day. Despite running 40 minutes or so a day, 2000 calories is too much for me to maintain 69kg. It doesnt mean I'll shoot up to 85 of course, but my body seems to want to weight about 73kg at this level of restriction and intake. However *I* dont want to weigh 73kg. Its not much, I know, but at that weight, the muffin top and the jiggle are starting to come back. So I'm not talking hardly eating, I'm just talking not having to weigh, measure and think about it every day. I hate that. I just want to eat what I want and stay the same weight! And I'm finding myself plagued by true in between meal hunger too now. Its amazing how much difference .1 can make.

But we shouldnt need to be miserably tight to maintain and i think its sensible to play around a little and see what is the least you can manage with.

By the way, I know ONE person, who has been totally unfilled and maintains. One.

[chrispygal]

Tami I had .25 cc's taken out and I can eat anything now, and am hungry enough to do so. Apples, bread, sandwiches, steak, pork, pizza - you name it. There is not one thing I found I cannot eat and I rarely feel restriction or the signals to stop. I just stop because I know I'm supposed to. .25 cc's more and I had the runny noise, had a hard time eating anything, and was never hungry. I miss my restriction but probably mostly because I'm still working on losing weight. If I were maintaining, this would be a great restriction level because I am loving being able to eat healthy foods again. So I guess you could say I agree with Jess. Take a little out at a time and see how you do.

[HeatherGurl]

Hey Tami~ :)

Guess what? There are probably more people than you think that have this problem.

I don't even remember how long ago it was now, but I think a couple of months ago I was unfilled to 1cc. Before that I THINK? I was at 1.5. I had the same problem as you... I keep on losing but all I did was eat ice cream or candy or junk. I was CRAVING REAL food. When I went for my unfill, I was at 172 lbs. I HATED to get unfilled because I wanted SO bad to get UNDER 170, but I was miserable.
Since then, my weight has gone up to as much as 185 lbs (that's my jiggly, muffin top size Jachut :) ) But, guess what? I had a HORRIBLE bladder infection a few weeks ago that I had to take antibiotics for and I knew I had to eat right so the pills wouldn't upset my stomach.
As of right now, I am eating healthy, drinking my water... and guess what? I am at 172 lbs again as of this morning AND I can EAT:)

It's such a BIG guessing game, but it already sounds like you know what you need to do. I guess your question was how to unfill? Don't take everything out all at once. I did that one time and gained 20 lbs in 2 weeks. :) I went crazy and ate anything and everything I could.

I haven't been exercising as much here lately, but I've been cutting out my ice cream since I have been lazy in that department.

Best of luck to you, the battle for all of us will never be over. That's why we have each other!

[little t]

Thank you all so much for your advice! Ok. So I have made up my mind. When I was getting fills, I was getting 2.0 at a time, so I will get 2.0 taken out. The next morning, I will get back into the habit of going to the gym at 6am and get back into cardio and weightlifting. I am so excited for this to happen!

[bgrand]

After seeing Tami last night...........she is not too thin and looks great. She really is teeny, tiny!!!!!
Check out the pics on the Tami's new body thread. Of course, we are waiting approval!