nurse_b11

So I feel like I can eat a lot more. Does that mean that my band is stretched? I dont eat until i feel stuffed anymore, havent since my surgery in January. but I feel like i need more to make me feel satisfied. Does that mean its stretched or just time for another fill? My doc wont give me another fill yet. I have lost 70 pounds and thats too much to him. Although ive been the same weight for the past month to two months now. But i just wanted to get other peoples opinions. Thanks

Thanks girls. I appreciate it.

So where to flippin begin since I posted last. My grandma (who raised me and is more like my mother) passed away Feb. 14th. It still does not seem real. I have cried and cried and now I feel guilty because I can't cry anymore. My diet went in the toilet for the last couple of weeks. Dealing with her being in the hospital and never leaving her side the whole time she was sick. She went to the hospital by ambulance on Thurs. We recieved a terminal diagnosis on Fri. They did dialysis for two days to make her more comfortable. She came home on hospice on Sunday then passed away Monday morning. I trie dmy hardest to be strong for her and I never actually broke down. I think I really should at some point but just can't. However I have lost 35 pounds and I haven't been in for a fill yet. Its been about 6 weeks almost 7 weeks now. I don't really have much else to say. I am going to try to get back on counting my calories and writing down my food again tomorrow. I am also getting a memorai tattoo sometime this week for my grandmother. Not much else to say right now so I will post later.

I moved. I am pretty sure I mentioned that before. I live in BFE now, lol. And our internet service sucks. It takes 15 min to load one page if it even loads at all. We are looking into the new satelite interenet but its kinda pricey. I havent lost anymore weight since I posted last. I kinda got off track. But I am working on getting back on track and have been counting my calories again. School is going okay. I am just ready to be done with it. It still seems so far away. I am trying to keep my mind occupied because if I dont then I start thinking about my grandma. Which I think is a bad thing because I am putting off dealing with the death. I know that it happened but it still doesnt seem real. Its been almost a month now. I have almost called her to talk to her I dont know how many times. *sigh* Its tough but I am moving on like she would want me to. This one will be short today because I have a test in an hour and I need to go review with a friend before the class. Thanks for all of the support from the people who read my blogs.

The hardest thing for me is portioning my food appropriately when I am not at home. I have to use the smaller plates. I grew up where I was told I had to clean my plate and its hard for me to leave food on my plate. So I start out very small portions and then IF I am still HUNGRY I eat a lil more. I was also concerned that I was eating too much. My doc said I can have about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups per meal. I eat 3 of those a day and a snack bar or something like that in between if I get really hungy. I have not had a fill yet but I think I might go in for one next week. Its been almost 2 months since my surgery. It a whole new way of eating. I agree that you dont really feel FULL anymore. Its more of a satisfied feeling. Good Luck.

Okay so this is getting really annoying. I have posted 3 blogs that have disappeared. =( Anyway, I have had a rough last couple of weeks. My grandmother is really ill and was in the hospital for a few days. Her liver is screwin up big time. I have gotten her into a different doctor because the one she was seeing is a quack and shouldn’t have a license. I am the only one close that can take care of her. And I’m pretty sure she is ready to give up. But I don’t want her to yet. She has to see my babies, if that ever happens, and see me finish RN school. DH was also sick. He has chemical pneumonitis and Reactive Airway Disease. He couldn’t breathe and went to the ER. They wanted to admit him but he refused and took an AMA. So they gave him breathing treatments, that we couldn’t afford, and steroids. So other than that drama. I have lost a couple more pounds. I talked to my doc, who was on my floor seeing another patient, and he said that 1 pound a week is plenty of weight loss. So that made me think about how much weight I have been losing. I started counting my calories on a website and I am sooooo not taking in enough calories. We are supposed to take in like 1200-1800 right? I am not even sure but its hard to reach that with how little I am able to eat. I know that my diet says that I am supposed to eat 3 times a day and nothing in between meals but that’s just not possible. I am eating very small snacks every couple of hours. That has helped me up my calorie intake quite a bit. I am down 2 more pounds which I am very happy with. In a couple more weeks I can go in for a fill if I need one. I think I am doing pretty well without one, lol. But anyway I have to go to class now. Its not for another hour and a half but the roads are icy and people don’t know how to drive and parking is DREADFUL at my school.

I am now 19 days post op and have been doing great. I got on the scale this morning and I have gained 4 pounds! WTF? I don't know what I have done wrong. I haven't changed anything. Last night at work I kind of advanced myself to a regular diet, lol. I ate a very small "sandwich". I had a small strip of lettuce with about a teaspoon of pureed chicken salad, a small square of Colby jack cheese and a small amount of mustard, 3 whole grain chips and about a tablespoon of salsa. I did great with it. Went down and stayed down. Then today I had about 2 oz of grilled chicken and about 3 oz of broiled seasoned veggies (carrots zucchini and green beans) then for supper tonight I had 8 oz of low-fat chili with beans and about 1 oz of shredded cheddar cheese. I don't think I have done too bad since advancing myself. Has anyone else experienced a weight gain when returning to regular foods? I am such a worry wart and want to do everything right with this band and use it to the best of my advantage. My doc's protocol is that his patients wait 6 weeks for a fill. So I have 3 more weeks to go until I can have a fill. Am I stressing too much? Its very discouraging to see the scale trying to creep back up on me.

Thanks for all the advice. I did contact my doctor and he said that was fine with what I was doing. I kinda figured, after I freaked out, that it was probably water weight. I am staying away from the bad stuff still. I will stay away from chicken a lil while longer though, unless its pureed like in my chicken salad. lol I am drinking a lot of water at least 64 oz if not more. I have a water bottle permanently attached to my hand. And um no I hadnt used the bathroom beforeI weighed the last time

I am really worried about eating real foods in a couple weeks. I know that I need to eat lots of protein like chicken and beans. What is a typical menu for a day for someone? I am really scared about stuff getting stuck.

Thank you. That helps a lot. Why are eggs a pain. I thought that since they were a "soft" food that they would be okay. Do you have to weigh your food? Should I get a food scale to carry around with me, lol?

Im so glad you didn't have the horrible gas pains that I did. Glad your doing well. Keep up the good work.

Alrighty then its been 13 days since my surgery and not much has changed. I am still a lil sore around my port site but I am feeling great. I have lost 10.5 pounds since surgery and a total of 26.5 pounds all together. My pants already fit more loosely, lol. I am trying to not become a compulsive weigher and weigh myself all the time. But its kinda hard not to, lol. Im picking up my cross stitching again and keeping busy with homework (trying to stay ahead of the class) to keep my mind off of food and weighing. I had a good night at work Sunday. Fri and Sat were hell nights lol. I got my homework done for Psych and my book for Ethics FINALLY came in the mail yesterday. So I kinda started reading that last night but by the time I got home it was like midnight. And I had to get up early to come into town for class this morning. So Im gonna try to read some more. I am already 3 chapters behind because of the stupid bookstore. Ugh. Im so tired of college. My husband got his first check from his new job yesterday and he is sooooo proud of it. I dont blame him its much more than he's ever made for that amount of hours. I have made a wish list of things that I NEED to help me on my WL journey : Ipod touch (to listen to when I walk/ workout) and a WII (to workout with when I cant get to the gym). so far thats all I got, lol. I am so excited. I can't wait to go shopping for smaller sizes. Although I do believe that I will be shopping at the Salvation Army and consignment stores until I reach my goal weight, lol. Well I better go read some more. More to come Im sure.

Thats awesome! Your are so lucky. I am almost two weeks post op. I get to advance on Wed to pureed foods.

Congrats girl. Good luck and you will be in my thoughts today.

Thanks girls.

What a night! My first night back on the job and I lilterally walked into a mad house. OMG! 6 months and I never ever had a night like last night. It kinda made the time go by a lil faster but then I also felt so behind the rest of the night. But other than my diet changing on Wed to pureed foods, nothing new to report on that. I am walking like I am supposed to and I am following the diet like I am supposed to. I am trying not to become obsessive about weighing on a daily basis. Thats a bad idea for me, as I get discouraged pretty quickly. So I will weigh again next Wed and see if I have lost anymore. I am calling my doc's nurse on Monday and asking her a few more questions. Like just making sure its okay for me to advance my diet. And when I need to come in for a fill. At my last appt with him he put on the paper that I use to check out of the office that I am to come back as needed. Well how do I know when I need my first fill? Oiy doctors can be so vague sometimes. I also work with the doctor that did my surgery so I see him pretty much every weekend I work. Joy. Although he disses the unit I work on like crazy. I don't get that at all. Men are so confusing. Yesterday my husband ate McDonalds in front of me. He felt bad but he was hungry and I don't blame him, I mean the stuff is fast and cheap. I had a yogurt. I don't crave the food. I have such a rebelious personality that I only want it because I can't have it. Am I going to ruin all the hard work I have put into this diet for a double cheeseburger? H-E-L-L NO! But anyway better get back to work, lol

I was told Protein Protein Protein. My diet is sugar free and fat free full liquids. I plan on staying that way simply because the detox from caffiene and sugar was so rough on me. But i would ask your doc what they prefer.

I will just introduce myself. My name is Chandra and I am from Texas. I am 22 years old and I graduated LVN school in May of 2010. I have been working at my first nursing job since July 2010. I love my job. This is definitely what I was put on the earth to do. I am going back to school for my RN. I have 4 more pre-reqs to get. I am registered for Psych and Ethics which start on Jan 18th. I have been overweight my whole life. When I was 18 I was diagnosed with PCOS and told I would never have children. That led to a depression which led to even more weight gain ontop of what I had already gained. (which was the reason I went to the doc in the first place) I began thinking of the lap band in 2008 when I had my gallbladder removed and my surgeon said that I really really needed to lose weight if I was going to consider children. Well I have a very difficult time losing the weight due to the PCOS. I began the approval proccess once before in mid 2009. Then I lost my insurance and my job. So that put a halt to that. Well now I have a better job and good insurance. I started my proccess back in October 2010. I saw my surgeon and the nutritionist. Then I had my psych eval. Had a couple more appts with the nutritionist and a few days before Christmas I got a phone call saying that my insurance approved me. After the holidays on Tues the 4th I saw my surgeon again. I scheduled my EGD (required by my surgeon) and my surgery. I signed all my consents and then started my liquid diet the next day. So far I am on Day # 4 of the one week liquid diet. My EGD is scheduled for Mon the 10th and my surgery is on Wed the 12th. I am soooo nervous and excited at the same time. I am ready for my life to change. I have been married to my husband for almost 5 years. He is very supportive and excited for me as well. I will be staying at the hospital that I work at, lol. I just moved as well. So everything kinda happened all at once, lol. Moved on the 7th EGD on the 10th Surgery on the 12th School starts on the 18th *SIGH* So the liquid diet thing really isnt that bad. Im drinking my protein drinks and Im really not that hungry. I just like crunchy things and so just the crunch and chewing is what I miss, lol. The sugar detox was awful. I had a constant headache for the first 2 days. Now I am much better and I havent cheated at all! YAY! I even resisted pizza when my co-workers ordered it Fri night. Well I guess I will just update as the week goes on. I hope to hear some feedback from people. I am really anxious to hear other people's success stories. I know that I have a lot to look forward to and its awesome that such online support exists.

lol Thanks to you both. I am so glad I am doing this. For me this was never a vanity issue. It was always about my health and feeling better. I mean ya it will be nice to buy smaller clothes but my main thought was always my health. And that's what will keep me going. My main focus.

OMG! Tomorrow is the day. I am nervous, excited, scared and soooooo ready for it to just be over with, lol. I'm ready to eat real food again, no matter how small the portion, lol. I'm not really hungry with the liquid diet just need something to chew, lol. Gum just doesn't do it for me. I have to be at the hospital at 8am and I think I am scheduled for about noon. I can't wait. I have already lost 12 pounds just being on the pre-op liquid diet although that was on Sunday, not sure what it is now, lol. I will post when I get a chance to tomorrow.

Thank you so much. I didn't even realize I had comments otherwise I woulda said something earlier, lol. Everything went really well and I am back at work. As soon as we get our income tax my husband and I are getting a WII I love the dance stuff and even the other games that get you moving and doing stuff. Good luck on your journey as well.

Okay so Im day 4 post-op and Im a lil scared and nervous. I am drinking my protein drinks ( I bought that big tub of powdered protein from Wal-mart) 4oz twice a day. I am drinking water but since I havent been hungry since my surgery on the 12th I am uncertain about when I should eat......well drink. Tonight for dinner I had liquified chili, lol. Sounds gross but was actually very good. I also had a cinnamon roll flavored yogurt, Yum!!!!! I went to a restraunt tonight with my DH and BFF and watched them eat some awesome food, lol. The place didnt have any soups or anything so I just sat there drinking my water. I am still a lil sore but Im walking and doing everything the doc told me to but Im worred about eating in a few weeks. Does everyone get back to eating normally, just smaller portions? What is an example of someone's diet or day? I am worried that I am not doing something or that I am doing something wrong. I have my post op appt on Tues but I think that I am gonna have to change it because my classes start on the same day. I know that I should have some questions to ask him but I am lost. I don't have any to ask him. I weighed myself today and I lost 3 of the 5 pounds I gained with the stupid air they put inside me for the surgery. So other than that I am just ready to eat normal food again. I need to chew something, lol. And gum just doesnt cut it for me. Oh well if anyone else has any post op stories to share with me I would greatly appreciate it. Im gonna go for now and get ready for bed.

Yeah my diet is a lil different than that. 1-2 weeks post is full liquids. 2-4 weeks post is pureed/soft. 3-6 weeks post is soft/regular with trial and error. No bread, rice pasta or fibrous veggies. Thanks for the well wishes. This is an awesome forum for advice, lol.

Rosey- Thanks Squishee!- The diet that I was given for after surgery was sugar free, fat free liquids. It said anything I can put in a blender as long as it is at least paint consistency. Of course I am not putting just anything in a blender, I had some chili the other night, liquified, lol and it wasnt too bad. I have eating yogurt and puddings. I am a lil afraid to experiment with certain foods and a blender, lol.