missmudd

Banded Aug 2012 (10 months) and down only 17 pounds with another 42 to go. Thought I would be farther along than that! A little upset but not totally discouraged.

Yoga is awesome!!! It makes my band feel tight for the rest of the day every time I do it! Congrats!

You lost 28 already??? Wow. That's great. I am out of surgery 10 months and not down even that far. I have trouble comparing my loss too. Laurel

Who knew!! I downloaded a couple Yoga apps to my phone and have been doing them sporatically over the last few months. But in the last 2 weeks I have completed 8 Yoga sessions and have noticed a crazy side effect... My band feels tight! Tight like it is a week after a fill. Feeling full is a sensation that is over powering now kind of like when I was first banded. Of course, it could be that my abdominals are getting tighter around the band and that is causing the sensation. I have also been told that Yoga raises awareness to your body signals. Maybe I am being a better listener? Either way, I am happy for the side effect as it is helping me use my tool better. Thought I'd share. Have a great Friday!!! Laurel

Oh I so needed to see this!!! You're not alone on the slow weight loss part. I started at 194 and am 9 months out, only 16 pounds down. I have another 38 to go. So that is only a 1.78 pound loss per month! Progress, right? I don't have the same tightness issue as you. I learned a trick, well not a trick really, that helped me to stick to the 1 cup portion size at every meal. I dished up in a measuring cup, spred it out on the plate, divided to 4 equal sizes, worked on one quarter of the plate every 5 minutes. So really small bites, lots of chewing. I watch the clock when I eat like this and am full, truly full, at the 17 minute mark. Then I quit and dump the rest. See if that works for you. Also, don't eat Breakfast first thing in the day if you aren't hungry. I made that mistake and got stuck everytime. Try eating at 9:30 in the morning and see if you have better results. Watch those calories BTW, I researched true weight loss percentages by the FDA studies done on gastric banding. The average is 2 years to lose 60-70% of the excess weight. Could be why the rate of loss seems so minimal to us lighter folks.

I have that problem too Shellee!!! But last night I noticed the hiccup thing and gave the rest of my measuring cup to the dogs LOL And I didn't end up hungry after about 3 hours so it must be my body giving me the 'it's okay to stop now' sign. I'm so glad I asked this question!

Fiiinally got to the green zone where I am *satisfied* for 3-4 hours. Woot!!! So I was cruizin the forums reading others' posts and found a link to Dr Simpson on Restriction and found his information very VERY useful. He says, "food that I spread out over 20 minutes. (Methodical, no? LOL) So while i'm trying my hardest to work with this tool, I'm wondering if stopping at this so-called soft stop would make it work better. Curious if others have a Soft Stop too? and what is yours? Laurel

That is awesome!! I too have a large band and just now, today, have 7cc in it and hope this will get me to the green zone. Since they filled it that way during your surgery, I'm sure they checked the fit and thought it safe Good luck to you!!! Laurel

Soooo, since I made this post nearly 2 weeks ago, I am down nearly 6 pounds!!! Changes made are eating MORE at a meal and feeling FULL. Yay!! Turns out I was eating about 1/4 - 1/2 cup at a time and then snacking all the time. The snacking was what would equal out to about 1.5 cups of food for a meal. No wonder I never felt full or lost any weight. Thanks for the tips. I needed a portion check and now have a measuring cup in my bag LOL. Counting calories happens 5-6 days a week now instead of 2 or 3. What a change! Thanks for the help. ~Laurel

G2K on the measuring cups! My definition of restriction is I feel satisfied, not hungry, and i'm not hungry for several hours. But this is not what is happening, i'm not in the green zone.

I'll toss a measuring cup in my bag then. I really don't want to cause problems for myself later on. And yeah, I'll have to quit with the drinks with calories. I was a diet soda drinker, hard core, and can't have the carbonation now.... This has been a struggle. I also don't drink fruit juices. BUT i did find that sweet tea really quenched the thirst this summer. I'll switch that to the non-sweetened version because I do like the tea. Just can't stand water. Crystal light is okay - I'll get more of that

Do you keep a measuring cup in your bag? A lot of the eating is done away from the house.

Soooo frustrating! Seriously, not a single pound. Not strict on counting calories. I manage to do that about 3 days a week. The problem is that I don't feel full or satisfied... I have 7cc in my 11cc JJ band. When is it that restriction will kick in??? I can feel it after about 1.5 cups of food but it's gone from the pouch not long after my meal and i'm hungry again. Maybe I need another fill already? Changes i've made: avoiding soft foods and dips in general, there are too many calories. Skipping Breakfast at 6 or 7 am because i'm just not hungry, so why eat. I eat at 9 or 10 instead and it's a Protein. dinner is half a plate of meat, carb, and veggie, and half the plate is vegetable so I keep it all in proportion to that. Now that i write this maybe it's what i'm drinking that is getting in extra calories. Ugh, what a process. But I do wonder if I need another fill if I can eat nearly 1.5 cups of food in one sitting? Or am I going to wake up one miraculous day and I get restriction? I'm struggling with the learning curve... Laurel

I had 4 ccs and no restriction. Just got back from my 2nd and now I have 7 cc in my band. But I had also gained 3 pounds after my first fill. However, I had no restriction whatsoever. I could eat a whole plate of food at meal time over 20 min and feel satisfied. My doc said i'm only supposed to be able to eat 1/3 plate of food over 20 min and feel stuffed.