meyouus

I take a slice of corned beef from the Deli, a slice of Lorraine Swiss cheese, 1/4 cup of coleslaw and one "line" of 1000 Island dressing and roll it up. Voila, a rueben without the bread! My NUT saw this on my food journal and it made her hungry, so she went home and made the same thing! NUT approved, yay! Also...Turkey Breast from the deli with cheese of your choice, rolled up. Maybe put a "line" of Lt. Mayo in it. Strawberrys are great cut up with sweetener on it, or do what I do...Cut them up and mix with a little strawberry Banana Yoplait yogurt. Dip carrots, cucumbers or whole wheat pita chips into hummus. I buy Imitation Seafood/Lobster and mix it with a little mayo, celery salt, garlic powder and onion powder. It's awesome and you can make several portions out of it. Crap, now I'm hungry... LOL

One thing that will help tremendously is to tell your husband to not bring such trigger food into the house, at least during your struggling phase. You have a young fanily that needs to eat as well, but you don;t need to fall off the wagon every time there's bad food around. If the family eats a meal that you should not eat, then be prepared to make yourself an appropriate alternative meal for yourself. There are alot of Mom's and Dad;s on here that have to do this. You can do it too! My husband and I recently went to a friends house for dinner. This family eats nothing but junk food and everything that is not on my particular diet, so I brought my own food so I wouldn't make the massive mistake of choosing to eat their junk food. They were very accomodating and understood. You just have to surround yourself with cupboards, refridgerators and freezers full of all the yummy stuff you CAN have! Be prepared for such a food "attack". You can do it, you did it before. I wish you the best... and take carolinagirl's advise!

Hey Steve, it's PKB! ....then let me put in a request!

carolinagirl - LMFAOffffffffffff! Thank you!

Five years ago, I had my band put in. I now know I was not ready for it, my NUT and LPN agree'd today. They see a new "me". It was the coolest thing to hear, as I agree that there is a new "me". It was just nice to hear it from my posse after 5 years! They remembered what a mess I was back then. How I got through the psych eval I'll never know. I 'thought' I was ready, I really did. Newbies thinking of getting banded...THINK very clearly about the seriousness at hand. You MUST change your lifestyle, not just watch what you eat. It's so much more than that. Lots of people lose weight with the band but it's not just about losing weight. It's about putting healthy foods in your mouth, to live to a healthy ripe old age. Protect against heart attack, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. None of that mattered to me 5 years ago, but I can tell you it matters now! It took years of intense therapy with the BEST therapist I've ever had to help me come to grips with my ongoing food addiction, and adjusting to my new lifestyle with my new "old" band. It's all new to me, caring for myself. It was awkward to even write that. I care enough to DO the diet, not try. I care enough to allow myself to be human. And when I choose (yes, I said choose) to make a momentary bad decision by eating something not on my diet, I will take responsibility for what I've done, dust myself off and get back into the diet again. No more "if I'm down I might as well stay down." I follow the South Beach Diet, journal all that goes into my mouth and am directly accountable to myself and my nutritionist. I lost 14 pounds of fat this past month, yippie yahooey! That's a big thing for me. They don't know how much, if any restriction I have as my file was so large and old, they thinned it down and don't know, but I know I left them 5 years ago with no restriction. They say, "no matter, you're doing great!" You know what? I AM. Blessed be you that has read my long post. I must have had a lot to say. I hope it helps someone or makes someone smile. My "Smiley's don't work, otherwise I'd post a big, wide grin! Muwah....

I noticed that a lot of folks use Protein shakes, for various reasons. I was wondering if I do try the shakes for Breakfast, will that be enough to fill me and support the role of breakfast being the most important meal?

Just saw my NUT today and she said not to do Protein shakes as a meal in the morning. UNLESS I know I won't be eating that meal. She said that I need to fill up with food Proteins in order to fill my stomach and last till my scheduled snack. She likened the shake to a slider because it just goes straight down. But I will try one one day, I'm just curious how it tastes! :-)

Hey, I would LOVE an online mentor, buddy. But I'm too shy to ask. Maybe I will ask on of you...maybe. :-)

Wow! That's wonderful! I can't imagine how happy you are right now. Go ahead, do your happy dance! You deserve it after all of your hard work...

Hi! I have so many thoughts and feelings I want to express or ask about, so I hope this post makes some sort of sense. I was banded 5 years ago. I stayed with the program for about a year, maybe a year and a half, I don't remember. I had to keep going in for fills and unfills, never truly reaching restriction. I was so frustrated, I gave up and got unfilled. I recently went back to my WLS clinic for the first time to get back on track. They put me on the South Beach diet for four weeks, when I go in next to speak to my surgeon. When I was there, they said that my surgeon is having great success with the VSG and that they feel it might be the best route to go. I weigh 323, my highest being 362. My doc wants me to get down to 130-150. I have two comorbids: obstructive sleep apnea and osteoarthritis that led me to have two knee replacements this last year. I am 46, 5' 4". I'm trying to do all the research I can to decide if the VSG is really for me. (before I speak to my surgeon) So far, so good. But, I have questions and fears. The fact that this surgery is relatively new makes me question the surgery's future outcomes, that's not how I want to put it, but the words escape me. Going from band to sleeve sounds, from what I've read, to be a very complicated before and after surgery process. It sounds incredibly painful and requires a great deal of down time. My husband works during the day, and probably can't take more than two days off for me. If he HAD to, he would, but his work would be pissed. I'm afraid of the pain people talk about. When I had my knees done, I was doped up pretty well and didn't feel much true pain and I was in rehab for a week right after. But you guys make it sound horrendous, well, some of you. Is it THAT aweful and painful? How long does it last? With my new knee's, I can't have any infection in my body, or they'd have to replace the knee altogether. I mean, antibiotics are there for me, but asside from the normal chances you take with any surgery, would something like a leak cause infection? Speaking of leaks...they scare the hell out of me. It sounds like fixing them with surgery is also a major hell to go through. I read about the stats of leakages with VSG, but it still worries me. Is it enough for you to overlook and have the revision anyway? I have to talk to my surgeon about all these things, I know, but some everyday people input really helps. I've heard of several pre-op diets that sound aweful, are they? I can bite the bullet, I just want to know. Post-op diets, how bad are they? Can one survive on liquids alone for so long??? Btw, I'm not a diet cheater. Do you like your revision, or the experience of one? Like I said, I have many questions and feelings. If you could help me to better inform myself it would help SO helpful. I'm still doing research anyway, if I could find actual stats and info on the net. But you all are more experienced, obviously, than me and I'd love to hear what you have to say, good or bad. Thank you so much for reading my novel!

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by the virtual elimination of grehlin. What is grehlin?

I am having the worst time trying to decide about staying with my Band or revising to the sleeve. One day I'm on one side of the fence, another day, the other. I mean, if I give the band, and myself another chance, maybe I can do it. I thought I was seeing my WLS Clinic last week, seems it's actually in 3 days. What a talk I will have with them! I've been on my surgeons recomended South Beach Diet for a month now, lost 10-12 pounds with no exercise. But, I have thrown up a few times. I still eat too fast, and don't chew as much as I should. Something that seriously needs to be addressed regardless of the choice I make. I wake up and wonder if I can do it this way the rest of my life. Not the diet, the band. I'm fine being on the diet. I've read that many people on LBT have lost 100 pounds on the band, but I need to lose at least 170. Can that be done? IDK. The sleeve sounds too good to be true, honestly. Leaks, I will discuss with my surgeon. I mean, you still have to eat slow, chew, chew, chew with the sleeve. I've heard people have been able to eat whatever with the sleeve, but my heart and veins want to be healthy as well, so I'd still follow the SoB diet the best I can. And I really don't know if I can or want to go through yet another surgery this year. I'm surgeried out. On the flipside, I just know I have to lose a great deal of weight and the sleeve seems to fill that need. I was reading LBT a while ago, and folks were talking about the life expectancy of their band. It was only introduced at the turn of the century, so not much data to show the permanency of it. And many people have complained that their band had eroded or slipped, or whatever. But most have not. I notice that a lot of people fail with the band because they failed the band! I did. But I learned from my mistakes and am now doing quite well. But again, the massive weight loss... Oh, I don't know. I'm so on and off the fence. Banders and Sleevers both claim they have the best. What is best for me, I don't know.

helpmomofteenagers and smilinginside, I tossed my card a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly what it says. But it, for me, was a credit card sized laminated card that was written by my WLS Clinic that said that I had had bariatric surgery and that the restaurant "should" be willing to let you order off the childrens menu, or the lunch menu. It gave the name and address of my Clinic.

Yeah, I guess I'm guilty of it all at some point. It took a lot of tough band love to relearn how and what to eat. As a food addict, I will always struggle. Some people just ADORE bread and can't or won't live without it. But, in your post you mentioned ways to eat it better, right? It'll help many I'm sure.

I have a question... Is it low carb?

A long time ago, my husband used to call it the P.C.E Factor. The pizza Crust Expansion Factor! He never ate the crust because it expanded in his (normal) stomach and made him feel full too fast. SteveFrett, that was a great delivery of an often overlooked point. Why people still eat bread amazes me.

I'm used to the canned sweet three bean salad they sell in the supermarket, but no more. I do be=asically what you do, but I add a pack or two of Equal to sweeten it up. I hope it doesn't gross anyone out!

I chose the band, no other options were available for me at the time. However, five years into the band and having failed the band and myself (I'm in psychic and diet recovery), it's been suggested to me to do the sleeve. After reading almost every post on VST, I was scared away! There'll be no cutting of my stomach. Besides, you have to do all the work yourself with any WLS, the surgery doesn't do it for you. I'm wondering, from the post's I've read, if surgeons are keen on suggesting the sleeve because it's new, a surgeons toy to practice on. IDK, the band works if you change your lifestyle and dietary choices. Do a lot of research, have faith in your gut feeling and go with it. Good luck!

Yes. And to top that, in order to get my notifications, I have to leave the site and come back, then they open.

Hello, my name is Polly. I've already introduced myself in the, well, "Introduce Yourself" thread, lol. (My Smiley's don't work) a while ago. But let me sum it up. I'm 46, 5'4" and 323#'s. I was banded in 07, unfilled and free by mid 08. My highest weight was 362, but started right before surgery at 290 something. I've lived the past 5 years without a fill or medical attn. Eating like an obese person the whole time. I'm in therapy for mental and emotional issues, and one day a month ago, I decided to call my surgeon (clinic) and make an appt. I saw them 3 1/2 weeks ago and have been on the SoB diet. I've been doing real well and have lost 11#'s. With therapy on my food addiction as well as many other issues, I find I feel much different about following the SoB diet, as well as looking and feeling about life as something that I care for. I don't think I cared enough the first time around. I tried what I thought was my best (it wasn't) but gave up because I was failing my band and lifestyle. The two go hand in hand. I'm in a better place, the right place. The addiction to food as healer of all psychic wounds and victories is still there. I crave lots of things and feel like I'm going to go nuts sometimes, but I don't. Cravings will be with me Band or not. I go in to see my surgeon or his LPN, IDK, in a few days to assess the state of Polly. I had to have both of my knees replaced within the last year because my weight coupled with osteoarthritis all but disintegrated the cartilage in my knees. People my age don't generally have knee replacements. In order to keep from getting two new knees before 15-20 years is up (the optomistic lifespan of the knee prosthetics), I HAVE to lose at least 150#'s, preferably 173#'s. The weight MUST come off. And sooner better than later. Until yesterday, I was SERIOUSLY going to ask my doc for the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. VSG. I've been on the site (at the bottom of this page) for three weeks. I read it all. I wanted the VSG because I need to lose SO much so soon. But, after two ridiculously life depleteing surgeries and recovery, I can't do another major surgery like that. And the risks outweigh the benefits, for ME. It would be too much for me. Even my surgeons LPN suggessted the VSG. No doing, I'll try to make the band work with me this time. Has anyone other than Mis73 (You're so cool!) achieved that amount of weight lose in a year to a year and a half? It's not a deal breaker or deal changer, but I need to lose alot in order to protect my knee's and help me walk normally again. Can it be done? I'll try anyway, but I'd LOVE to hear from someone who has lost this much on the Band. Just can't find you! Oh I pray lots of people will reply to this, I need input badly.

Ooh, I'm so happy I got all of your responses! And I'm happier to hear the success stories you've made for yourselves. I'm happy to see anyone succeed, with big or small successes. You can't take them for granted. It's good to see that with changing your lifestyle, eating patterns and what, when, where, and why you eat...that it brings such success. I'm relieved to know that I don't have to go the VSG route to lose a large amount of weight. Relieved! I'm just wondering, once I get filled and restart this process, just how *much* exercise I'm going to have to do to lose weight. I don't mind pushing myself, just don't know to what point. To be successful, you have to tackle this at all levels, right? Well, time will tell. Thanks again for giving me proof that you *can* lose over 100 pounds!

It's been suggested to me to have the VSG. I'm researching it and reading all of your post's. Question about leaks. - How do you know you have one? Are you hospitalized right away to fix it?

I noticed that a lot of folks use Protein shakes, for various reasons. I was wondering if I do try the shakes for Breakfast, will that be enough to fill me and support the role of breakfast being the most important meal?

elcee, The SoB diet is The South Beach Diet. I call it SoB for short. It is the diet required by my surgeon and nutritionist. My surgeon feels the diet fits his particular criteria for how and why to eat. It originated in South Beach, Florida by the creator, such-and-such Agatston. :-) Je's a Cardiologist who felt the need to address the millions of people who eat all the wrong things. He suggessts high Protein, low sugar, lowering the "right" carbs and not eating the wrong ones, good fats, no white flour, sugar, etc. You can find it online at http://www.southbeachdiet.com , I think.