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One Man's struggles with weight loss and his lap band

Entries in this blog

 

No Pouch? My Schizophrenic Band

It's frustrating.   Nearly 2 years have passed and I've lost only 30 pounds. Now I'll admit that I haven't been vigilant about getting fills. I only have about 5 cc's in my 10 cc band. But there's a reason I don't get more. It sucks. I have no idea at any time how my band will react.   One thing is consistent -- it is always the tightest in the morning. I've actually felt a bit uncomfortable when drinking a V8 quickly in the morning. Other times, it seems like it is almost not there.   I don't understand it. My expectation was that I would be able to eat small meals and get the sensation of fullness. That has never happened. I don't know why but I think that it is possible that my doctor put the band too high so that I don't have a pouch to fill. If I eat something that doesn't want to go down it hurts. Sometimes not a little -- a lot. I have to wait. I eat my meals in 2 to 3 times the speed of my family members. If I stop eating early I do not have that sense of fullness and I never have.   I fear that if I have more put into my band that I will simply experience pain on a more frequent basis without the benefit of feeling full or satiated.   There is no way to tell when my band will choose to act up. Sometimes I can eat a teaspoon full of food and it will make me feel like I almost cannot catch my breath. Other times I can eat as much as I want.   I have resorted back to traditional dieting (Atkins, low cal) with about as much success as I had before the band -- that is to say little to no success.   This all leave me wondering if there are other people who have not felt the benefit of fullness that they were anticipating.
IrishHurler

IrishHurler

5
 

Magic Broccoli Soup

Well, maybe not magic, but it certainly did the trick and I don't feel like I've just run a half marathon.   Earlier today I was feeling light headed and ill. I had felt weak since the surgery on Monday and have been just dealing with it. My doctor told me I was to be on liquids this week -- mostly broths and jello, that sort of thing.   Simply put, I was not getting in the nutrients and calories I needed to allow my body to heal. So I veered slightly off program tonight. It started out with me making a chicken stock. I baked a chicken for 70 minutes at 400 degrees. The idea behind the overcooking was I wanted the chicken to be golden brown and the skin to be carmelized and a little dry when I followed it up by boiling it in water. That way I could get a richer, better tasting broth.   But there was that frozen broccoli in the freezer....   I decided to change things up. It's been 5 days since the surgery. I made the broth, then I mixed in some chicken, some broccoli and some broth and blended it together with the hand blender. It made a creamy soup that kicked ass. I ate about 3/4 of a cup and within a few minutes I was no longer light headed or dizzy and I felt good. Actually good. In fact, the best I've felt since before the surgery.   There was about 2 talespoons of chicken in what I ate tonight as well as 3 tablespoons of broccoli. The rest was broth. Do I feel guilty? Not really. I've been vigilant and I believe what I did tonight will put me on a healing path.   I have gone 6 hours without pain meds and I'm very pleased with how I feel. I think I wasn't getting the right stuff in me and now I'm all set to start the healing. Before, I just felt like I was treading water.   Now the healing begins.
IrishHurler

IrishHurler

3
 

I am Invincible !

15 days post-op and I'm relieved.   Why? Because I was starting to be concerned -- concerned that this surgery meant I would no longer be the strong guy. I would no longer be able to do hard manual labor. Today I pushed it. Yes, I know, doctors orders and all that and yes, it was in the back of my mind.   But today I had some heavy pieces of a tree that needed to be moved. I split them and tossed them in a wheel barrow and hauled them down to the curb. I know -- bad, bad man. But this was more than just a household chore for me -- this was me being able to tell whether I would ever be able to do hard, physically taxing tasks and I completed them without ripping my guts open.   Well, maybe not completed. A small dose of sanity crept in and after I hauled some of it down to the curb I took an hour break. Then I moved more down to the curb and I think I'm done for the day. There will be other days to finish the task but it felt good to be able to accomplish this task -- really, really good.   The day before I went in for surgery that was one of my major concerns. Will this surgery compromise my ability to do what I identify as a mans responsibilities. Will this surgery essentially neuter my ability to be a good provider and do what needs to be done around the house. That day I worked to split and stack about two cords of wood. It felt good, but I was worried that it may have been a last hurrah.   Nope.   I'm not going to push it anymore today. After all, I do recognize that my body still does need some rest. And while we're on the issue of rest, I was able to sleep in my own bed last night. Yeah, that's right -- my own bed. It was really, really nice. As much as I appreciate the comfort that the recliner gave me for the past two weeks, to sleep in my own bed was a major milestone.   I'm looking forward to more milestones as the days, weeks and months progress.
IrishHurler

IrishHurler

2
 

Food Journal here?

Is there a food journal here? I ask because what an awesome tool that would be.   Today I've got 400 calories of a shake in me and about 90gm of protein.   I called the dietitian to see if there's an alternative to eating only shakes. She cleared me to have either 3oz of chicken breast or 3oz of whitefish at night as well as a half cup of broccoli. That will be about 300 calories.   That's something.   She also told me I could have a protein bar with a shake at lunch. Really -- what's that going to do for me? Clear me for a couple cups of broccoli or green beans instead and I'll be good.   So I started looking at labels. I'm supposed to have around 100 gm of protein. Done. I'll get some more with the chicken tonight. But for now, I'm going to change things up.   I had a cup of green beans with about a quarter cup of chicken stock over it. How many calories? Less than 100.   That puts me at 500 for the day -- well below the 1200 she wants me to have and I still have room with my calories for dinner.   Here's the crazy thing -- I won't have my pre-op dietary visit until Thursday. That does me no good now.   So I'm going to follow the diet aside from my little foray into temptation (who would have ever thought a cup of steamed green beans was a temptation?) and if I'm still hungry, which I'm hoping won't be the case, I'll figure out how many calories I have left and fill it with a protein shake.   Here's my issue -- I'm not a sweets guy. I don't like chocolate and strawberry shakes. I'm a savory guy who needs some volume to feel full. I'm really, really looking forward to Thursday.   The good news is that I can be honest with them and tell them I didn't go off track unless they consider a cup of steamed green beans off track. :w00t:
IrishHurler

IrishHurler

3
 

1st Day of 2 Week Pre-Op Liquid Diet

I'm not a happy camper. I just want a steak. Or maybe a couple eggs.   This protein powder is the pits. All of them are like sweet little milk shakes or they taste like something that came out of the wrong end of a cow.   I'm 310 pounds and I had about 1300 calories of protein powder today. My stomach is growling. My mood is in the pooper. I'm having to make a conscious effort to be my normal, happy go lucky positive self and I fear it's just not working.   Working through it is going to be tough. I've got 13 more days of this and I'm going to go to bed hungry tonight.   A friend of mine who had gastric bypass 5 years ago gave me a bunch of samples of his protein powder. To my dismay, none of them are flavored with meat and potatoes. Can someone please make a savory chicken wings protein powder?   The best ones I have found so far are the EAS vanilla and chocolate and the Body Fortress Strawberry and Body Fortress Cookies and Cream. Again, I'm not a desert guy. Sweets don't do it for me. These things appear to be tailored to people who like sweets. The other ones I tried were horrible.   This is going to be a LOOOOOONG two weeks.
IrishHurler

IrishHurler

6
 

2nd Day of Pre-Op Diet

Well yesterday sucked but today is starting out pretty good.   I haven't been hungry yet and it's 10:30 in the morning. I usually get really hungry at night so if I'm only getting 1200 calories, I'm going to hold off on having my morning shake for a while. Also, my mood isn't sour as it was yesterday for having put up with the shakes-only diet. Truth be told, I did end up with about 1300 calories in my shaker. Plenty of protein... more than enough really to meet my basic needs.   I'm going to try to take a zen approach to these next few days. I've heard the first few days of the pre-op diet are harder so I will take an "it is what it is" approach.   Keeping busy appears to be the best way to handle this. Distracting myself from food, which my body was telling me I needed, is a bit like using that funny high voice to get a puppy excited to play with you rather than chew on the leg to that new table.   I found a few protein powders that don't totally offend every cell in my body. Body Fortress makes a few that are pretty decent -- strawberry and a "cookies and cream" mix. EAS has their vanilla which isn't bad but isn't good, but their chocolate is pretty much like chocolate milk.   My wife's boss had a RNY Gastric Bypass surgery so he's become quite the connoisseur of protein powders. He describes most of them as tasting like a**.   I discovered I don't have any workout shorts that fit well and don't look tight on me. I skipped the Y last night in part because I would look a little goofy in what I have and I don't like wearing sweat pants. So it's time to head off to the big mans store and grab something. I may check in later.
IrishHurler

IrishHurler

1
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