Rebecca Cain Salpacka

For those of you who have hit the "green zone" I am curious as to what your average calorie intake is for the day..also, what is your typical portion size for a full meal? and do you find you still lose, even if you dont exercise? according to the definitions i keep seeing for green zone...i believe this last fill on the 17th has put me there..i see nutritionist on the 3rd and will see if she agrees between my previous fill on 9/27 and the fill on 12/17..i was eating 1 cup of f ood per meal 3x a day with a healthy evening snack...this is where my nutrtitionist said i should be...just prior to the 12/17 (approx one week before) i seen that i was getting hungry sooner, and needing a bit more food so thats why i went for the fill. I am now only able to eat less than 1 cup, but find myself on some days...eating that portion 4x a day and no snack. my calories rarely go over 500, if thye do its cuz i picked a less than healthy option i.e high carb or high fat, which end up also having high cal...i havent wroked out at all since the 17th, but have lost 5 lbs already. im going back to the gym this morning, im all ready to go out the door but wanted to post this and see what those who are green zoners, typical day is like as far as food and exercise. i know i may be losing without exercising, but i can clearly see that im not toning like i was..so i have to get back into the gym thanks for your responses Have a great New Year

prior to this fill when i was doing full cup per meal i was still under 1000, i avg 5-7 lbs a month loss, with exercise. this last 2 wks no exercise, about 500 cals and lost 5 lbs. I have tried to do over 1000 cals, but the only way to do that when im eating a cup or less of food, is with high fat high carb foods..cuz unfortunately i cant find high cal foods with low fat and carb that i like lol im happy with my speed of weight loss...im confident it will stay off...i was just curious as to what others are at so if i do need to change it up, i have some ideas

when i was doing a full cup..i was doing about half cup of Protein and often carbs which i know i shouldnt have..but even then i never hit near 1000. Can I ask what kinds of food u eat that u get that many calories and still keep fat and carbs down so u still lose? thanks

Okay...since the minute i was able to start solids after my surgery....ive ate baked boneless skinless chicken breast, either breaded and baked or unbreaded and baked...never had a prob with getting stuck. Same with turkey breast. However, since my last fill (on dec 17th) when i tried the chicken breast i got stuck after two bites, i just this afternoon tried deli turkey breast and got 1 slice down (1.3oz slice) and it got stuck and even caused PB. Now, at my sisters I had chicken leg that ws cooked on the grill, pulled off the skin and had no prob eating it, christmas day, had dark meat of the turkey that was cooked, and no prob, pork cutlet baked (darker meat) no problem..oh and i was also able to eat 3oz of ribeye steak, which in the past, occasionally would get stuck. I thought this to be very odd since yesterday was 8 month bandiversary for me and this last fill was the first of this happening for me. I am ok with eating the darker meat, im still getting the Protein Im just curious to see if anyone else has seen a difference in the white meat versus the dark meat....in no case was the meat dryer in one occasion then the other, if somehow we overcook or something and it seems dry, i wouldnt even attempt to eat it lol thanks

hmm never heard of that...ty will look into that

just curious Cheryl...what do you have to get your protein? do you use a powder? drinks?

Missy explained it perfectly. occasionally if something gets stuck..u will feel like u have to burp, but when you do, food can come back up into your mouth ... its not a good experience at all...those are called Productive Burps or PB's as you will see referred too here in the forums. The PBs are less likely if u keep your food chewed up well and eat slow...but they can happen, and almost every bandster will experience it...its good to experience too cuz its what helps u learn what you are able to handle and what you arent, as well as help teach u to slow down and chew well. im 8 months since my surgery and im just now, eating as slow as the docs say you should lol....

ive tried over easy..but trying to stay away from whole eggs cuz of the fat...i tend to get a "scolding" from nutritionist and the surgeon when she does my fills lol. i have to have toast with over easy eggs tho lol so when i had it i got half piece of wheat toast and half the egg so now my Breakfast is usually 1/2 cup of Cereal or i will do a Protein drink if i know i wont get much protein in my other meals that day

since this last fill..eggs are a nono for me, i did eat about half of one the other morning but that was it and i got stuck. i also cant do doughy bread. I have def had to take smaller bites and eat even slower (it would take me about 30 mins to eat just over a cup of food) now it could take me 45 mins or more and having to "reheat" my food cuz its ice cold, to barely get a cup of food down. 1 cup is what the nutritionist says i should be having 3 times a day...im eating more like 1/2 to 3/4 cup 4 times a day...but have dropped nearly 6 lbs in the 10 days since my fill...i know that just because its the first week of such a drastic drop in calories. im alsmot certain this is the green zone tho...im not real sure...cuz ive heard diff definitions of what the "green zone" is. We will see what the nutritionist says next thurs when i see her.

I use bbq or lite ranch dressing to dip the chicken tender in but as i stated before, its already pretty moist the way we cook them. i guess each of us are diff with what cuases issues and what doesnt lol

59.2 lbs since surgery. 72 lbs total. Its been great having steady loss of 5lbs or so a month so to have 9 lbs this last month, is amazing. My recent band fill on the 17th put me to 8.9cc, and I have seen a huge difference. Surprised honestly because I admittedly havent done nearly the wroking out that I should have been doing. Thats gonna change tho...i need to start toning up. Hope everyone is doing well and are ready to have an AMAZING and Safe New Year!

So back at the start of October, I had a fill of 1.7cc...which took me to 7.7cc in a 14cc band. for the first full week I couldnt keep anything down, even was having trouble with keep Water down. On the 7th day, i called doc and insisted she squeezed me in THAT day and do an unfill...she let me come in, but once she had me drink the white chalky stuff and seen how it went down, she insisted i was still too loose, NOT TIGHT! well that made no sense to me at all since i couldnt keep anything down...so i pushed and pushed and she agreed to do an unfill...asked me how much and i said .5cc. well up til about a week ago, this was working fine for me. Now however, i am finding myself needing a small snack in the evening again (which i had not been doing since the unfill) and im eating slightly more than the cup of food, 3 times a day, that im suppose to be at (which as been all ive needed since hte unfill) So im thinking i need to get the .5cc put back, but admittedly im letting my "pride" i guess you can say, get in the way...i dont feel she was right that i was too lose with that .5cc in...but maybe i shouldnt have had an adjustment at all and not been so damn stubborn lol. I know i shouldnt let something like that stop me from getting an adjustment, but its the only thing holding me back from calling...is it possible that i did the right thing but having the unfill, and my band has just loosened up since then? I have lost 12 lbs since the unfill on 10/2 so 9 wks ago.

i know we shouldnt eat just anything simply because we could...the last week or so that i have been able to eat more, i havent every time..even tho im still hungry (physically not mentally) after my 1 cup of food. only a few times did i put a few more bites on my plate...and even then, i would still be hungry...but willpower kept me away...which isnt always successful as most of us on here know. I am not saying my doc doesnt know what shes doing, but I lost 8 lbs in the 8 days that i everything was coming up...so something wasnt right and the doc did say i was right for being concerned and at least coming in, before i got on the table, she was almost certain my band had slipped and that was why i was having probs...but that wasnt the case.

trust me the first few days i thought i may have been eating too fast and such..except i was eating one bite fine, wait cpl mins and eat a second bite and it would get stuck and come up...and even if i just had some water between my "meals" it was coming up, not just burping but actually coming back up...so that wasnt the problem.,,and it continued that way for a week..i almost went sooner to get unfill but was trying to wait it out cuz tons of posts on here that i read were saying to give it at least a week before jumping the gun..so i did.

i just called and made appt for the dec 17th...i already have appt made for my next appt with nutritionist, which is on dec 14th..so once i speak with her if she agrees i need the fill, based on my food diary and what not, then i will do it...if she thinks im good where im at, then ill cancel it. The more i think of what can happen if i dont get it done (meaning gaining back any of what ive lost) the more i realize i need to do this. The surgeon is often at the bariatric center when i go to see nutritionist, so if i see her in passing, ill let her know im coming and why, and that way the "uncomfortableness" of facing her will be in passing rather than when im laying there while shes doing the fill lol

Down 50 lbs since surgery 4/26 and 63 total since March 1 (when i was at my highest weight ever) So for the last two months, ive lost 5 lbs each month. I cant complain I suppose, but I really need to change some things that I know I am still doing wrong, so I can get that closer to 7 or 8 lbs a month. I am very excited tho, that I have gone down another size in both my tops and bottoms...and I also bought my first pair of jeans in over 10 yrs, and I must say, I look DAMN GOOD in them lol. Ok, well i wasnt sure I did, but I have had tons of compliments when I wore them, so I guess it must be true lol. I hope everyone is having much success, and if you are hitting a bump in the road, DONT GIVE UP! You can get through this, it may not be easy, but it is POSSIBLE! The pics below are two days before surgery, (white shirt) and 11/21 (jeans and purple shirt)

I am, but i know i can be doing more..everytime i have a good week where i go to the gym at least 3 times...the next week something keeps me from going, like this week, im down with a sinus infection and have fever for 2 days...another time i hurt my ankle..so its always something. i def know what i need to do to kick it up, its just a matter of DOING IT~

Cheryl, thats amazing that you lost 112 lbs with only 2 fills...wtg

im down 45 since my banding (4/26) and 58 total since March 1 The fill I had just before my 5month post-op visit ended up being too tight, so i was back at the doc on 10/2 and had .5cc removed. it made a huge difference. since then I have been eating just about 1 cup food per meal (which is what my nutritionist wants me to be eating) however, some foods i can eat about 1.5cups. I try to stay away from those and just eat the ones that satisfy me with the smaller portions. I was hoping to have lost 8 lbs in the last month (2 per week) but 5 lbs is still good, and i know that had i got to the gym more this week (only made it there once) and didnt cheat and have ice cream a cpl of the days this month...i would have been at least 1-2 lbs closer to that 8 lbs. So i cant blame anyone but myself. I now know what i need to do this next month (and from here on out) if i want to up those weight loss numbers. I am suprised that 6 months after the surgery, I am still "learning" what and how to eat. I knew this wasnt going to be something i mastered overnight..but I still thought i would have a better grasp and better control over my eating by now. Good luck to everyone out there...i am very happy with my band and with what I have done so far...and its good to know that i can still change things up and do even better in the future, if i just put my mind to it.

good luck. Listen to your doc and your recovery should go smooth. Then listen to them about your eating, especially the first few weeks. you will have positive results!