When there's an up, there's usually a down

Soon after my last post, I had some difficulty with the lap-band. For about two weeks I was able to eat very very little, much less than recommended. Most of you will think, "Well, Duh! Isn't that the point? Eat a lot less to lose weight?" Incorrect. When you eat too little you go into starvation mode, and then have very little energy to get around, and even less energy to make good eating choices.

I was not tolerating hardly any food at all, not sleeping well, vomiting every day at least once, getting very little rest at night, and not energetic at all. In fact, I thought I was sick. I put up with it so long (2 weeks) because I thought if I could just make it a little longer, I would lose more weight and the band would not be so tight. But after two weeks of pain, hunger, discomfort, and general malaise, I'd had enough. The last straw was choking and gagging the night before, to the point that I had not gotten any sound sleep.

I knew I was too tight. I knew it and resisted it, because I didn't want the doctor to remove any fluid. When I called, of course the nurse said come in right away. So I made an emergency trip to Reston, Va to get some fluid taken out of the band.

There was immediate relief, I felt like someone had released all the pressure in my chest and taken off the 50lb weight. The doctor only removed .2 cc (ml), still leaving .2 cc that he had injected the last time. So I was restricted, but not overtight. Now I know what it feels like to be too tight, and the relief that comes when you have it at just the right level.

The clincher was that I had lost 9 lbs in 2 weeks, way too much than the recommended 1-2 lbs per week. Which makes my total weight loss, people, to about 53 lbs!!! This is a major milestone! I've lost over 50 lbs! If I feel this great now, I can't even visualize what 50 more lbs will feel like...