waitingpatiently

I love this site!! You guys are great!! Thanks for all the different ideas...I will try to hunt some of them down this week!!

Thanks for the idea...I haven't found the soy chips around here....but I will look again at kroger. I'm trying to really watch my carbs (works best for me)...so this may be an option as well.

I went on a cruise 4 weeks post op with only 1cc in my band. There was no restriction so thats probably not going to be an issue. I was worried that I would undo all my hard work....but it turned out ok. A few things to consider. Breakfast was the hardest for me.....It seemed like everything was either all bad carbs or full fat items... There were not healthy options other than fruit. In hind-site I wish I would have thought to just order breakfast to the room for my husband and I could have just had a Protein shake.----I think breakfast added an additional 200-300 calories a day to my totals. lunch was hard because we did the excursions and what was offered was always cheap quick foods like rice hamburgers and sugary drinks like kool-aid. I wish I would have thought to just have brought a healthy Protein Bar and a couple healthy Snacks and just skipped their stuff altogether. When we were at sea, lunch on the ship was fine because there was always salad and a grilled protein of some sort. Dinner-Instead of the buffet, we opted for the restaurant instead....The food was always excellent and the portions were smaller. I skipped the appitizer and would just take a bite of my husband and daughters Desserts. I made a point to walk the ship once in the morning and once in the evening.

I had 2 hernias repaired, some adhesions removed and the band surgery and I definately felt that I had additional pain. Took me a good 2 weeks to feel half way normal again. I guess it depend on where and how big the hernia is. And your pain tolerance....I consider myself to have a high threshold of pain and I was unprepared for the amount of pain....so prepare yourself for the worst and hope for the best....That way you aren't surprised like I was.

With no restriction, its getting harder to drop these pounds as I get loser to my goal....Decided to drop it back slightly to 6 pounds. Name, real or screen~ Waitingpatiently Goal weight for July 31st~183 Weight on July 1st~189 Age~40 Dietary goal for July~keep the carbs low Exercise goal for July~its all about the abs this month--need to loose the belly fat Personal goal for July~ more time with my Bible Date banded~3/19/2012 Total weight loss since banding/pre op diet~47 pounds What is your favorite 4th of July activity~ bbq with friends

I'm only 3 months out and have a spinach salad about every other day with no problem.

My dctor said 6 weeks....but I'm 3.5 months out and still have quite a bit of discomfort when I try to do a little more. He told me it may always be like that, that I shouldn't worry about "messing it up" so I continue on...but boy does that port site get sore.

For me, there is a diference. Its hard to explain. When its dinner time and you are hungry your belly is growling so you fix your dinner plate (probably bigger than you need because your brain is telling you its starving)and begin eating.....at some point (most of the time) your stomach stops growling but you keep eating weare programed to finish the plate. Here lies the difference. If someone had made your plate for you and lets say given you 1 tablespoon less of each item....would you have noticed? Probably not because you weren't hungry anymore...you most likely would be satisified with the slightly less food. We are programed to eat more than we should to finish the plate. Our brains are used to seeing a plate full of food...when we show up to the table with a little of this and a little of that it thinks "well of course I will eat all of that it is just a little amount of food" when in reality it still is probably more than we need. I would suggest to really analyze how much you are putting on your plate...try cutting your portions back. You may find when your plate is empty you are satisfied on fewer calories than you thought. You aren't waiting for that "Push the plate away, I'm done feeling"....just the "Hey my stomach isn't growling anymore" feeling. Hope that made sense.

STAY OFF THAT SCALE!!!! It does you no good to be stepping on the scale everyday in these first few weeks. Your body is trying to heal NOT loose weight. This is a great time to be making new good habits like exercising a few minutes each day, not drinking while eaing and following yur post-op diet. Just stay off until at least the 4week mark....and when you step on the scale it will most likely show a weight loss. It takes time for the body to adjust to what you have done to it....but it will get the message and start giving you what you want. Hang in there these first 6 weeks were the hardest for me.....but it does get better.

My doctor says he only sees about 15 % with slippage but that the majority of those are from patients who got the surgery more than 5 years ago when technique and product were new. and where the surgery was done by a general sugeon rather than a specialized Bariactric surgeon. He said if he had to put a number on those that have the newer band put in place by his office the slips are less than 10 %.

I only have 4cc in a 10 cc bandand sometimes I wonder if I really even have a band.....maybe he just pretended to put it in to collect the insurance money....jk of course......It just takes time. but we will get there.

Good Morning eveyone!! I had my 3 fill yesterday. Thats 4 cc in a 10cc band so hope that will give me some restriction.----I met my June goal to loose 8 pounds. It was hard fought, the scale gave me what I wanted to see this morning. So my weight today is 189!! only 24 more pounds to go !!

Thats awesome...what a great story. Congrats!!

I can tell you from personal experience that you come to this site in different stages. Before I had the band, I lived on here...I asked every question I could think of and read every success story I found.---stayed away from the horror stories. The first month after the band I lived on here as well...everything was new, I asked my questions and came to the group for encouragement to get through the awfull 6 week post op diet----everyone was so awesome!! Now that I'm several months out...I only check in a few times a week. And since things are going smoothly, I rarely ask questions. My point is, as sad as it is....I can see myself not relying on the site as much anymore....and won't probably be as active as time goes on..................But I will tell you this...the first time I'm unsure about something....this is the first place I will come!! And I think that is the same idea that others have. They kind of drift away when everything is going smoothly.....but they come back when they need advise or are in crisis. So don't worry too much about something going wrong. Your odds are the same as everyone elses....5% of us will have a slipped band and less than 1% of us will die from a complication....Those odds are pretty good compared to those of living a life trapped in an obese body. Just be proactive....Its kinda of like a person allergic to bees. Most of us wouldn't run to the ER because we were stung. But if you are allergic to bees and are stung, you dont wait arounnd to see if the symptoms will go away, you rush to the hospital. Same with the band. You know what you are looking for....so if think something is going wrong....don't wait around!! seek help ASAP!!

Thanks Again Lisa for keeping up with the numbers!!

I haven't seen those. I will have to look around for them.----And Yes....it is definately filling....holds me for hours. Yep the calorie count comes in at 185 so we are just about the same....cool

I agree with you about the medicaid....I'm all for helping out my fellow american...but not for the rest of their lives!! So i guess it becomes a discussion as to how long a person should be allowed to stay on medicaid? And should it not just be the basics? Should it be a better plan than most of american have? I don't think so. I actually changed jobs one time simply because I needed better health benefits. If a person is handedeverything they need, a home, food, insurance....what is the incentive to do better. Now medicare is different. We pay into medicare through our payroll taxes. Because peoples insurance is usually linked to their employer when a person retires or becomes disabled they need to have something to take over. They have earned it. Then discussion turn to is lapband a elective surgery? Or is it a neccessary treatment? I say it is a treatment. If a person is successful on lapband, it will actually save the tax payers money. One avoided triple bi-pass heart surgery will more than pay for a lapband surgery and all the follow up care. Think of all those that have had LB and avoided becoming diabetic and all the money that is paid to treat a diabetic patient....same with heart disease. I think all commerical insurance company should be made to cover it. It has been proven to be a successful treatment.

I like the New whey shots that you find at walmart. They have 42 grams of Protein in 3.8oz. I split the bottle in half and mix it with 2 crystal lights and 32 oz of Water. I nurse on it between meals. They come in kool aid flavors like grape and watermellon. I sometimes will blenderize ice into a snow cone consistence and pour the mixture over it....makes a great slushy. I mix the watermellon with cherry lemonade and the grape with grape and the acai berry with blackberry.---good stuff As much as I like them, I will tell you that I find the protein powders hold off hunger better...maybe because they are thicker....I don't know....but if I have to wait a while to eat...I pick the powder ones first

I try to follow a low carb diet i usually have my first meal at 11:00am. I usually start with a egg white omelet. 6 Tbs egg whites 1/4 cup frozen pepper/onion blend ( i cook theses first with the sausage before adding it to the omelet) 1 jimmy dean turkey sausage patty chopped 1/2 oz cheese 1 tsp bacon bits lunch 2:00pm grilled chicken spinach salad or a Protein drink 1 cup spinach, 3oz grilled chicken, small amount of carrots, onion, apple, gorganzola cheese, almonds I make a dressing using 1oz vanilla carbmaster yogurt and 1Tbsfrozen apple juice concentrate. dinner 6:00pm Veries a lot..... Usually 3oz of beef, pork, or chicken followed by either green beens, or roasted squash Some quick meals that I like to have on hand Oscar Meyer turkey weiners ---only 40 calories each!! Johnsonville Turkey and cheese sausage---120 calories each Carbmaster yogurt !! only 60 calories and 4 carbs

SharronK---This wouldn't be BCBS of PA is it? Just wondering. This sounds very similar to what my girlfriend is going through. No one can figure out what else they want. The surgeons office said they (insurance comp) won't reveal what the problem is. And when they ask, they are sent the same copy and paste handbook requirements...but both the surgeon, the nutirtionist and and the GP doctor say they have done everything they are requiring. If this is the same company, I'm going to tell her to file a complaint too. This is crazy!! It just seems like they have to tell you what they want!! Good luck.

Nice to see the scale move again!! 192 this morning. Thats down 2 pounds for the week, Only 3 more for the month to go....might be tight. But I'll give it a shot.

Hi Andi, I think what you are going through is normal. Until we find restriction....we are very much still on a diet. This doesn't mean we are doomed to suffer and wait for restriction. I created a very safe enviroment for myself at home. There are no Cookies, chips or ice cream to be found. Its a no temptation zone. ---And yes I have a husband and children....and yes that means there are none here for them either. That was a big deal the first few weeks ..but now that my son has lost 25 pounds and my daughter another 20...everyone is on board now. ---We might break this cycle after all!! Exercise...that awfull word!! I exercise every day at the same time...even if its only for 10 mins. I work best when I stick to a routine. Most of the time I figure I'm already on the dang machine, I might as well stay there and watch an episode of Big Bang Theory and burn 100 calories. It doesn't mean I like (never will) but I don't like being obese either so I just do it.---and pout like a small child the whole time!! Diet: I think for most people, the food pyramid works...they are able to eat a little of just about everything and lose weight. This wasn't me. I have found that my body loves the low carb/ high Protein diet. I'm a little more strict than most. I keep carbs to about 40g. and have lost on average about 2 pounds a week. Untill 2 weeks ago....at the advise of my nutritionist I upped my carbs to 60g. kept the same calorie level of 900. At the end of a week the scale stopped completely...The first time I haven't lost anything!! To say the least, I am working this week to get back down to less that 40 carbs....but now that I have had them for the last week.....I am craving them something awfull!! Feels like pre-op all over again.--so if you aren't following a low carb diet...you might want to give it a try...see how your body responds Lastly, I would suggest you join myfitnesspal. I would weigh all your food and record everything you eat. Some times we forget what 3oz looks like. Until you find that elusive green zone....do everything else in your power to make this work. Follow the rules (no drinking 30 mins before or after meals), exercise daily, find a food lifestyle that your body responds to. Stay postive.And remind yourself that this is a journey not a race. Good Luck!! Inbox me any time if you want to talk.

Feel free to add me...same username: waitingpatiently