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To having a Lapband…. Well there are Dr. O’Brien’s eight golden rules. 1, Eat three or less small meals per day 2. Do not eat anything between meals 3. Eat slowly and stop when no longer hungry 4. Focus on nutritious foods 5. Avoid calorie-containing liquids 6. Exercise for at least 30 minutes every day 7. Be active throughout the day 8. Always keep in contact with your aftercare specialist And there are the basic band eating rules. 1. Small bites 2. Chew until mushy 3. Eat slow (wait about 1 minute between bites) After this it starts to get foggy, many doctors with many different opinions and advise. There is: 1. Don’t drink while eating 2. No carbonated drinks 3. No straws 4. No NSAIDS 5. No alcohol So what do you do? Who is right?? Every doctor is different. An example is let’s compare my doctor and my good friend CalorinaGirl’s doctor: Drinking while eating: My doctor says it’s fine as long as you wait the minute between bites & sips. CG doctor says NO drinking while eating and wait 30 minutes after you eat. Carbonated drinks: My doctor says if you want that’s fine but he sees most patients prefer not to because of the discomfort in drinking the carbonation. CG doctor says NO. Straws My doctor says if you want and it doesn’t bother you, fine. (I use a straw on occasion). CG doctor says NO. NSAIDS My doctor says Yes. CG doctor says NO. Alcohol My doctor says count the calories. CG doctor says prefer not, but if so use sparingly. I would say that both CG & I have been successful with our banded journeys, we both follow our band rules (doctor’s orders) and have seen the results. So who is right????? YOUR DOCTOR IS RIGHT! That is the person you put your money and life into so why not trust them? My point is this journey is not cut and dry, black and white. This journey is what you make of it. Trust in your doctor and listen to them. Make your choices based on that.

Beginning weight 296. Surgery weight 286 (lost 10 lbs on pre-op diet), 3 days post op weight 273. (13 lbs since surgery - total 23 lbs lost) Recovery and healing is going good. Liquids...liquids... and more clear liquids. I can actually take regular size drinks now instead of baby sips. I don't gulp and do take one or two swallows at a time.. but it's feeling wonderful. I'm having less and less pain at my incision sites and can walk around and do light (very light) housework for 10 to 15 minute stretches at a time. I'm able to get in 50g of protein (unsweetened and unflavored powder in 12 oz. water each time). I'm drinking 80 oz of water, around 30 oz. of beef, chicken or vegetable broth, 100% juice jello, gelled broth, and an occasional zero vitamin water. I'm not a fan of sweet protein shakes. I don't mind them, and I'll drink one occasionally and they taste great, it's just that I'd rather have something not sweet. I like fruit and fruit juice okay, but prefer savory, salty, creamy, sour and sometimes spicy tastes. Anyway, that's why I got the plain protein powder to mix in water. I found it on Amazon - Now Sports brand of Whey Protein Isolate. I'm glad I only have two days left of clear liquids. I'm craving something more "full". I look forward to fruit smoothies, creamed cottage cheese, yogurt, and creamed soups. I can use my protein powder in any and all of my "full liquids" so I'll be sure to get my 80 grams per day goal met that way. I'm keeping my food journal and going to make it a habit. I'm still feeling very optimistic and positive and happy every day. I'm so glad I did this!!! When it comes time in my sleeve diet progression that I can add all of the ingredients, I plan to use my morning smoothies to get a great nutritional boost every day. I may have one for a snack each afternoon too. I have a magic bullet so I can make a small powerful blast of nutrition. I'll put in fresh frozen spinach cubes (using fresh spinach blended with a small amt of water then put into ice cube trays to freeze), with a couple frozen strawberries or blueberries, banana chunks, peaches, pineapple, etc. (usually I pick two fruits, sometimes three) Then I'll add barley grass powder and veggie/fruit concentrate powder, chia seeds, protein powder and epa oil. Occasionally I may put in a tbsp of fresh peanut butter, almond butter, avacado, coconut oil, or cocoa powder. Yum.. I can't wait. I've got several soups frozen in individual serving size all ready for when I start my pureed stage... plus frozen cooked chicken left from when I made all my broth... and I'm going to get my crock pot going when it's time to make more mushy veggies and things to puree. Awww.. now just to be patient with myself as I walk day by day in the moment and do what I need to do to get to each new goal. That's the hard part. I love the planning, list making, preparing, etc. The fulfilling part of reaching goals is so motivating. Every time I get to mark something off my "to-do" list, or write down a goal accomplished or realize I need to begin working on the next phase - I just smile and remind myself that YES, I can do this... I AM doing this...and I am going to keep moving forward. The challenges, set-backs, revising, unexpected interruptions, changes and knock downs are there to make me stronger. I usually don't see it that way in the midst of the "problem" or "issue" or "failure" and can get downright depressed and feel sorry for myself. But that's only temporary. Failure is NOT final. Success is mine because I keep getting back up and shaking off the bad stuff - I'm stronger and more focused than ever.

My doctor sounds like CG's. I always say listen to your own doctor and dietitian because they all have their rules and ideas. But we all know don't cheat on your before and after surgery diets until you are told you can have the food.

I am very proud of you for writing, "what not to do". I was told no driving for about 2-3 weeks after surgery and being a passenger for not more than 1-2 hours for 3-4 weeks. It is sad you learned the hard way. Just remember about not lifting anything either until the doctor gives the ok. Each doctor has their own views. Feel better and stay cool in this terrible weather.

I ate breakfast fine today. I had 1/2 a cup of oatmeal with whey. I made lunch and dinner and guess what I did?? I left it at home. I get to work and I have nothing healthy to eat so I go the whole day with just sipping water and chewing sf gum. I get off work and order a steak sope (its like a small round taco but not really a taco). I didnt eat the shelling because I am scared of stretching my band. SO I am taking small bites and chewing well. I was so hungry that I kept eating until I started getting a little pain my stomach. literally right below my boobs. I was amazed at the small amount of food that I consumed sent me over the edge. now I feel like i have a food baby. my band only has 1cc in it so idk what I did wrong. I wonder if that was a sign that i was close to being full or if it was a sign that i was full. it was my bad day at work that led to my stress and the fact thAT I DID NOT TAKE A BREAK TODAY. in other news i find it amazing that everyone is noticing my weight loss. My friend said it looked like i had lost 100 lbs when i really only lost about 66. that makes me happy and gives me the strenght to continue. I know i can do this. since I am still new to this and learning how to work with my band I take this day as a lesson. double check my purse for my lunch. lol or always keep a protein shake in my purse.

Wow I overcame my plateau sooner that I thought! So how did I do it? Easy I changed my exercise routine and I started jogging. I tried my Zumba DVD my coworker brought me but I don't like it. Maybe I will try Zumba on the Wii or something else. Last Thursday I met with my Dr. and I found out two things. One I beat my plateau and two I didn't need a fill. He told me I was going a great job and keep it up. So I felt pretty good when I left the office. However I thought I was going to gain some weight back because this past weekend I went to Chicago! I pack my blender bottle, put my protein powders in my snack size Ziploc bags and I portion sized all my snacks just in case. I did pretty good but I didn't have time to research any restaurants because My mom decided to take me, my sister and my nephew to Chicago at the last minute! Too funny but we needed it. So how did I do? Every morning I was in the hotel fitness room working out for 30 minutes. I had my protein shake for breakfast, Chia seeds for a snack and salad for lunch. But dinner was a whole another story! Saturday night we went to Medieval Times! Oye! Thank goodness for my 18 month old nephew and to go boxes. So what did I eat? I had the soup the quarter of the chicken and ate the one rib they gave me. I gave my nephew my potatoes, bread, other half of my chicken and my apple turn over. My sister said I did a good job so I was happy with that. As a precaution I worked out for another 10 minutes when we got back to the hotel. Sunday was scary because I was eating food I haven't tried on the band. My Mom wanted a Chicago style hot dog so we ate at Portillo's. I was never a hot dog eater before the band but since I was afraid to have a Chi town style pizza so I had a hot dog with no bun. Did my band like it? Yeah I did pretty good I just chew chew chew chew and chew! Chicago was amazing and I lost 2 oz during my time there! Thanks for reading!

One of the reasons it's so confusing is that every doctor has a little different take on things. The one hard and fast rule I was told when I started was 60 grams of protein a day. Fall below that and you risk health problems and (for me) hair loss. The calorie thing is what varies the most, I think. One reason is because it's different based on whether you are pre-op, post-op or well into your journey and past the post-op healing stage. My surgery was 7 years ago, so it's not real fresh for me. But I remember my doctor telling me to shoot for 600-800 calories a day. Now, I am trying to keep it at 700 net calories per day (intake minus exercise), which usually amounts to taking in 1000-1200 calories per day, depending on how much exercise I do. The best thing that ever happened to me was My Fitness Pal. It's an app that helps track calories and exericse. Because it's on my phone, I can quickly and easily keep up with what goes in my mouth right then, rather than trying to remember later. Plus, it has a very large database of foods already in it so I don't have to try to figure it out. It does all the math and tracks protein, sodium, fat, cholesterol, etc all at the same time. Like I said, I've had my band for 7 years and I have never in my life - before the band or after - met with a nutritionist. I didn't realize that was kind of weird until I joined this site and everyone was talking about meeting regularly with their nutritionist. Hopefully your doctor will have you see someone for that, so they can give you concrete guidelines to make life easier, rather than trying to figure it out on your own. If it's not offered or required, ask for it! I wish I had! Shelly

Yep ditto on sharing your whole story. I was due for surgery on the 22 now its the 23. Learning what exaclty to expect really helps and one learns a bit more from each new story.