WASaBubbleButt

Did you actually see your pre op labs for yourself?

About the crackers and lunchmeat... I'm kidding! Well, kind of. What crackers? The high calorie buttery kind like Club brand? Or just plain saltines? Lunchmeat... the high fat kind or the good quality kind? I'm not really sure, is there a quality lunch meat?? Honestly, I don't know. What do you think about tuna, mega veggie salads, seafood, veggies for Snacks, Kashi's cereal, veggie chips, dried fruit, fresh fruit, salmon, orange roughy, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed bell peppers, home made Soups w/salad, Pasta sauce over spaghetti squash, grilled chicken breast, nuts, chili with ground turkey instead of ground beef, ... there are lots and lots of food choices. But I think you are realizing that the foods you happen to enjoy and are fast and easy are pretty well loaded with fat and calories. As for what food choices you choose, again... you have to decide how you want to approach this. Regular foods in smaller quantities, low carb, high complex carb, low fat, etc. It's personal choice, it's whatever works for you.

It's standard to unfill you and put you on liquids for 3-6 weeks after a slip. I believe the stats are 80% of the time this will fix the problem. The sutures may or may not tear away from the stomach but the thing is, it really isn't the sutures that hold the band in place anyway, it is the adhesions that your body forms over the band. Going on liquids for 3-6 weeks is similar to the post op diet and it gives your body an opportunity to form new adhesions. Give it time, statistically speaking, this should do the trick.

Call your doc, or go to an ER. Between possible infection and being dehydrated, this could be of concern.

I don't know if there are groups for people geared her age but I can tell you there are a slew of nurses that are banded.

Usually with thrush you get either a white coating on your tongue/throat or white patches. It's kind of gross and you likely have a bad taste in your mouth but Diflucan does well.

I totally agree with your thinking. It really does seem to come down to coming to terms with what has become a reality and dealing with it head on. No more excuses, no more justifications, just digging in and doing it. I think that by the time most folks are banded, they've come to these realizations. I know I did.

Maybe I didn't pick the right product from GNC, I was looking for GNC Cookies & Cream. Maybe they have more than one??? Ever seen Special K Cereal? They have a challenge, eat Special K for a week and lose weight. It's 1/2 cup of cereal. Who eats a half cup of dry, air-y, flavorless cereal?? Nobody, we eat a few cups of cereal of that type. What should you eat... that depends on what kind of food plan you prefer. I prefer low carb merely because I feel better on low carb, adequate protein. But I also stick to 600 calories daily. That makes most people cringe including my doc. But it's working for me. Others like low cal/high complex carb, some prefer low fat, some prefer to count calories, some prefer to eat anything they want within reason. So it really depends on what you like.

Straight forward! LOL!! That's a nice way of putting it. Truth is, I'm really a very nice person but nobody can tell from reading my posts. It's true, I know my writing style. My friends have even tried to help me match my writing style to my real personality and they were about to pull their hair out. Regarding exercise... studies show that if you exercise for 8 minutes (all in a row) or 4 minutes twice, you get exactly the same benefit. It doesn't matter if you break up your exercise, you'll get the same benefits regardless. The idea is to work up a sweat. Just as soon as you need another shower for the day, you've done well.

Is this the same stuff I posted a link for earlier? If so, that product is designed for people trying to gain weight. If you'll look at the paragraph that I quoted, look at the very last sentence. Here, I just found it: >>This special blend of carbohydrates includes 83% complex carbohydrates (maltodextrin and fiber) and only 17% sugar. Each serving of this highly specialized sports formula boasts 66 grams of quality protein and 146 grams of carbohydrates when mixed with 2% milk. It also features a blend of essential fatty acids including some healthy unsaturated fats, medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are quickly absorbed for energy, and no trans fats. This combination of protein carbs and fat help to provide the extra-calories that you need to put on the added pounds you want.<<

She... I just ran your stats through a calorie web site to determine the number of calories you need just to maintain your weight daily. This provides energy for breathing, walking around, lite exercise, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. You have to consume around 2400 calories daily just to maintain. If you want to lose you have to consume less than 2400 calories daily give/take 200 calories. With restriction I'd stick to around 1000 but that is going to mean cutting back quite a bit.

Yeah, my writing style strikes again. Writing has never been my forte, never. I likely flunked writing in elementary school. I can't get what is in my head to a computer screen, never have been able to. I come off sounding like a witch and that's not my intent at all. Sorry about that. If you are drinking the product that I provided a link for, that is not a regular Protein shake. That is to GAIN weight!!! It has 17% sugar, 145 carbs and that is per serving. I couldn't even find a source that listed calories, likely because the manufacturer is ashamed. It just isn't a product to be used to maintain muscle during weight loss, it's for 17 year old boys that want to go out for football and gain weight. The label even explains it is for gaining weight. Example, that product has 145 carbs.. that's a weeks worth of carbs for me! Literally, a weeks worth of carbs. The stuff I drink is 2gms of carbs, 120 calories, and 23gms of protein. The stuff I asked you if you were drinking has 66gms of protein and considering we can only absorb 25 or so gms of protein at a time, the rest has to be burned or it turns to fat. Fat free products, do you know that they usually have sugar instead? Fat is what gives a food much of the flavor. When the fat is removed they have to flavor it with something so they use sugar. Lots of people get fat on fat free products. They don't realize they are exchanging fat for sugar. Let's face it, the more sugar we all eat, the more sugar we all crave. Crab cakes and granola.. I have no way to run that through a website I use. For comparison purposes, check out NutritionData.com NutritionData's Nutrition Facts Calorie Counter. It's a GREAT site!! You can put an entire recipe in there, divide by the number of actual servings and it will give you a food label. For folks that come here and believe they are keeping calories down I usually run a days menu through there and people are shocked at the number of calories, fat grams, etc. they are consuming. Campbells chili... read the label lately? Those products are usually loaded with fat and calories. If you are eating tiny quantities it's fine, but on a regular basis check the labels. I'm going to run your stats through another website that tells how many calories you need daily just to maintain your current weight. I'll bet it's more than 1100. That's why I know you are consuming more calories than you believe you are. And btw, most of us have the same exact issue and especially in the beginning.

Darl'en... this is new to ALL of us! If we all knew this we wouldn't have gotten fat to begin with. Look at me, I'm a nurse, I *should* know better and I didn't. We ALL have a learning curve, we ALL eat foods and swear (while sincerely believing) we are eating good quality foods and low calories. We all do/did that and if any fat person tells you otherwise, they aren't being honest. Face it, you are the same as allllll the rest of us. Seriously, it's true. There is SOOOO much to learn about diet, exercise, and then top it off with banding ... that's an entirely new world of information. It's overwhelming at first but soon it becomes a lifestyle and let me tell you, when you start losing weight... a lot of weight, the motivation kicks in and you just can't get enough of the new lifestyle. It's no longer much of a challenge, it's a way of life and best of all, you will LIKE it! Nobody believes that until they experience it. But I promise, there will be a day when you are typing these very words to another newbie and you will be trying to find the words to explain how true this is. You know the newbie won't be easily convinced but you will know it's true and you'll be the one trying to come up with the right words. Give it time, you'll see. As for exercise, I damn sure didn't start at 100 minutes daily! I started out at 10 minutes daily because that's all I could do since I was so out of shape. But if I can do it, anyone can. It just takes time.

Okay, GNC Cookies and Cream, is this it? GNC - GNC Pro Performance® Mass XXX - Cookies 'N Cream >>This special blend of carbohydrates includes 83% complex carbohydrates (maltodextrin and fiber) and only 17% sugar. Each serving of this highly specialized sports formula boasts 66 grams of quality Protein and 146 grams of carbohydrates when mixed with 2% milk. It also features a blend of essential fatty acids including some healthy unsaturated fats, medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are quickly absorbed for energy, and no trans fats. This combination of protein carbs and fat help to provide the extra-calories that you need to put on the added pounds you want.<< What brand of yogurt? What brand of granola? How much granola? What brand of crabcake? What brand of cheese? How much cheese? What brand of Asian chicken salad and how much? What brand of honeyglazed seseme sticks? Give me brands of everything you have been eating that created your plateau. I'm going to show you that you are eating way more than 1100 calories by running it through a website that will create a food label for you. There is just no way you can be eating all that and keeping calories at 1100, fat grams on the low side, low sugar, (bandster foods), etc. If you really are eating 1100 calories daily you'd be losing weight weekly. What are your stats? Your weight, how tall are you, gender, age, start weight, current weight, and even goal weight.

Exercise is a habit like anything else. When you force yourself to do it, it's not so bad in a short time. I used to absolutely hate it but now I don't mind it and feel better when I'm doing it. I used to swear under my breath as I felt like Fred Flinstone (running like hell and not going anywhere) on my treadmill. Now I look forward to it. We all have to do things in life that we don't like. I don't like paying bills every month but it's just one of those things that has to be done. Same with cleaning the house, laundry, etc. You just have to do it even if you don't like it. I get bored on my treadmill so I got a DVD player for that room and I watch movies. I splurge on Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, books, DVDs & more and eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices for movies that I'll like. If I am watching a 2.5 hour movie and I'm tired and want to quit I won't let myself watch the end of the movie unless I'm running/power walking. I got a blue tooth thinger for my cell phone and I chat on the phone while I power walk, I read books, I fill my time so I'm not thinking about being bored. I meditate, I do all kinds of things to keep my interest. It's really no big deal now. And this thing about no time? No such thing. There is ALWAYS time for a bit of exercise. Even 20 minutes is better than nothing, 30 is good, 45 is ideal - daily. Really, the bottom line is that you can spend lots of time looking for the right exercise and tons of research "looking into" various methods but the key is to just get out there and get it done. It's like a treadmill, I've seen people research for months on the various treadmills and brands out there, they go to stores every weekend looking for just the right one. All they are doing is keeping themselves so busy with mindless busy work they can't possibly make time to get out there and get their large back side moving. Just get out there and do it. Get a treadmill. If you can't afford one, go to a gym. If you can't afford that then walking outside is free. Too hot? Go early in the mornings. Get up an hour earlier, go to bed an hour later, take the family, make it family time. Just get out there and get it done.

Why are you drinking a Protein Drink with your breakfast? It could really be one or the other, you don't need both. Remember, you can only absorb about 20-25gms of protein at a time and what you don't use turns to fat unless you burn it off. Honeyglazed seseme sticks, granola, ... how can you possibly be under 1100 calories daily? I'll bet you are consuming a lot more calories than you realize. Even with 1100 calories daily you would be losing weight. You do "lite" cardio, "minor" strength training... Maybe kick it up a bit? I shoot for 100 minutes of hard cardio daily plus other things.

Many times we don't realize how many calories we are sucking in until we track it. I used Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate but others also like FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal. Many times if you start tracking every calorie that goes into your mouth you'll be shocked at the number you are consuming. You shouldn't need Snacks banded, remember... loving to snack and munch is what got us fat. You can't really question why you are not losing if you are eating throughout the day vs. like regular people... 3 meals daily. Sure, sometimes you get a little hungry and a SMALL snack isn't always a horror, but if you aren't losing weight it is a horror. Give us an example or two of a daily menu for you and maybe we can come up with some little hints to help.

Most docs tend to suggest Immodium but perhaps your doc has some reason for wanting you to stay on Pepto. Call him tomorrow during business hours and ask if you can't use Immodium.

What is your typical daily menu? Most people who aren't losing tend to eat more calories than they realize. Might want to track it on FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate for a few weeks and see what you come up with. You might be very surprised. But the thing is, you have to be honest until it hurts. You have to log every single bite of food that passes your lips and you have to track every single minute of exercise as well.

Seroquel isn't an old drug and it isn't rarely prescribed, it's used all the time. I totally agree about the weight gain, lots of people complain about that. It does make weight loss more than a challenge.

I just looked to see what I would be at with a BMI of 25. That's the high end of normal weight. When I get there I'll probably create a new goal.

It probably has nothing in the world to do with the surgery. Just possibly a plain old regular sore throat.

PS... this one doesn't even know the sizes of various bands either. 9.5 band?? Knowing fill amounts before meeting the patient? Yeah, I don't think so.

Look carefully at the "doctor's" posts. It's not a doc. It's probably a receptionist type person that fields phone calls for an actual doctor. People have faked being docs here before and I remember a 20 year old that attempted to convince us he was a lawyer. When we pointed out his other posts to him where he also claimed to be a patient coordinator, an office adm, and now a lawyer at the ripe old age of 20, he finally left with his tail tucked between his legs. This one isn't a doc, read his/her posts from the past.

NutritionData.com NutritionData's Nutrition Facts Calorie Counter