LapBandFan

Well we got some good responses so far from you all. How about we do follow up on this thread with each other? Weekly sign-ins would be great although a daily thread would be fine withe me too as I need daily and sometimes hourly encouragement....

At my highest weight I needed to loose 170 pounds and have lost 130 of it so far. I have hit a plateau for a while now. I know I need to increase exercise and decrease snacking between meals. Any more suggestions? I am gonna sit down real soon and make out a list of all the NSV and maybe that will help motivate me and others too.

Glad to meet all you other 100 pounds + fellow bandsters, to all you who have lost 100+ Congratulations Way to go..... For all you who still need to lost 100+ - you can do it!! Let us encourage one another.

Hope to hear back from all you 100+ club members really soon!

Well I have been Enlightened.... I have been keeping a food journal to keep up with calories, fat, Protein, Fiber, etc, at fitday.com and putting every single thing that goes in my mouth on there. I have been Enlightened with a rude awakening! :straight I had hit a plateau and was getting all depressed and sad wondering why I had stopped losing ---- well, I was eating way more than I needed for a day. More in between snacking than I care to admit to and poor food choices for Snacks, too much fat and calories.

Just wanted to share how much I feel that fitday.com will help me pass my plateau. I had to have this slap in the face of brutal honesty to wake me up. I am like a kid who has to be told what to do sometimes, but please pray for me that I will continue to keep the food journal and pass this plateau!

Thanks for your prayers!

My new motto- If I bite it I write it (in the food journal)

Well, I am 37 years old and have bought my very FIRST pair of bluejeans! (Hold on to something tight, the earth might be moving where you are - I am in he process of doing the happy dance!!)

I have always been a big girl and never ever thought I looked good in jeans and still don't actually look good in them, but at least I feel comfortable in a size 18 now! I never would bring myself to buy them to wear because I never felt I would look decent in them.

Might not be a big deal to alot of folks, but that is going in my scrapbook as soon as I get my hubby to take a picture of me wearing them!

Thanks for listening to me and my silly NSV.

You go girl! That is a HUGE NSV. I am very proud for you. My advise is to keep a list of all your NSV as you go along for it helps to look back at all these great little miracles when you are at a plateau in your wt loss (like I am right now).

Have a great day and ENJOY the new freedom of skirts with no stockings!

Laura, Yes, I have gotten the "stuck" golfball feeling without the slimes. That is your signal to stop right then of course. You won't get this unless you have eaten to big a bite and did not chew it well enough. Just chew chew chew until the food in your mouth is mush before swallowing food and take very small bites and eat slow. I have had a slip with replacement of band and I want to help in anyway I can to advise people who are new to the band. Feel free to send mea private message any time you are scared. You are smart to go back to mushies for a day. Good girl!

Take care and good luck with it.

Here is some encouaragement and tips/hints I got from a fellow bandster regarding my plateu in a private message; hope this helps you.

"It sounds as though you need a pretty massive overhaul in your diet and exercise regime. Try doing completely different exercises than you're doing now. Something that will work a different group of muscles. If your body gets into too much of a rut the exercising will not really do anything any more - so a varied exercise regime is best for continued weight loss.

Try mixing up your low carb diet with more fruits - unless that is something you're already doing. Its hard for me to give diet advice not knowing much about what you currently eat. But often times it's that the body is in starvation mode from not getting enough good carbs. Eating some sweets fruits every day (get organic, they taste better) can help that.

Also, have you gotten another fill recently? If you feel you're too restricted for another fill then you may need to modify your eating habits more so you can get another fill. In other words, learning to chew REALLY REALLY REALLY well (you'll find that only "pure" foods taste good when you have to chew 100 times for each little bite). And also learning that you can't eat things like bulky salads for lunch. There are adjustments that need to be made as you get more fills".

LooLoo, Yes, been there and done that (still doing it actually) I have been plateaued at a loss of 133 pounds now for 7 months and am very tired of waiting to get restarted on the weight loss. Please read my post I placed here about my plateau and the responses from other bandsters who encouraged me.... it is at this link:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9365

Good luck to you and please feel free to send a private message to me any time. I enjoy talking to others and gaining tips and hints about our journey.

Hello fellow Tennessee bandster! Welcome to bandland! Vinesqueen is right, without a proper fill yet, you will not feel restriction yet. Just eat small amounts often to keep from getting hungry as bad. I would drink high-protein, lowcarb slimfast chocolate shakes and they would stick with me for a while and kept me from getting as hungry as often during the liquid part of the diet.

Hang in there, once you get your adjustments going, you will start feeling restriction, however, the hunger for me never went away but it just don't take near as much to make the hunger go away after you start getting your fills/adjustments.

Good luck to you!

You will know! Trust me. I have the larger VG band and it took me 3 fills to get where I needed to be with restriction. Just keep on doing what you are doing and eating until you feel satisified, that is the safest bet. If you push it to feeling "full" you will have a heavy golf-ball feeling in your chest, that tells me I ate too much, which is very uncomfortable. Don't want to go there, trust me. Good luck with it.

You need the following amounts for a balanced diet

Calories - 1200 - 1500

Protein - 50-60 grams per day

Fiber - 20-30 grams per day

Calcium - 1200 -1500 mg per day

Water - 64-100 ounces per day

Exercise - at least 45 minutes per day

Having been banded for 1 yr 7 months, I wanted to add my 2 cents worth.... I love scrambled eggs as well and it was like Heaven when I got to start on real food again. I never have had a PB on the eggs, but do be careful. I make mine moist by adding fat free mayonaisse to them or maybe some salsa, that way they are moist going in with less likely chance of getting stuck.

Good luck on your WLS journey....

just adding my 2 Cents worth. I do not drink with my meals whatsoever, as one, it is painful when I have tried in the past and two, if you eat some and then add something to drink after getting your pouch partially full of food, you increase the pressure on your pouch which over time could lead to pouch dilation and slippage. So as for me, I don't want to risk that again (I had revision for slippage) and will just opt to not drink even sips with my meals and wait one hour after to drink anything. I usually pop in a breath mint after I eat to get the taste out of my mouth. Hope this helps...

Here is what I need this daily food thread, you people are so great and supportive. I am gonna make sure I do the fitday.com every day. It has woke me up and made me realize how much off course I have been in guessing about my daily intake. Here is my intake so far for today....

Foods Eaten Today:

Breakfast:

cheese slice, kraft deli 1 slice

turkey deli meat sliced 1 serving

lunch

Bush Baked Beans, barbeque 1/2 cup

1 fatfree oscar meyer weiner

saltine crackers (2 crackers)

Thanks for starting this food thread....

I have BC/BS mass and it was great for me. I had no problems as I met the necessary BMI and had 2 doctors who sent letters of medical necessity for me. Overall, they did what they said they would do on their part. Good luck!

Cindy,

I had slippage 10 months out from my first band, I could eat anything fine, my only symptom was extreme gastric reflux but only at night when I laid down. I never felt anything different and was able to eat anything. So slippage has pretty much no symptoms on some folks. I will pray you are just too tight and that an unfill will fix you right up. Take care.

I think it would be great to form a forum/board just for people who need to lose 100 + pounds to include those who have lost 100+ pounds. I bet you would get some good responses.

Be nice to confer with others who have lost 100+ pounds when we hit plateaus, etc.

I weighed in at 210 pounds today Praise the Lord!!! 100 hundred pounds of weight loss!

Way to go!! I am doing the happy dance for you, did you feel the earth shake? It was not an earthquake, just me doing the happy dance!

It is a great feeling huh? God has been so good!! Take care and keep up the good work.

I use the Low-Carb Slim Fast shakes in a can, they are very good with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate flavors. They use splenda for the sweetner. Very yummy and loaded with Protein.

Nutritional stats for them one canned shake:

Calories - 190

Protein - 20 grams

Carbs - 6

Fat - 9 grams

I am looking for some carry-with me low carb snack ideas, any suggestions? Thanks.

Thanks for your encouragement Vinesqueen and LaMadam. Guess I need to quit focusing on the scales so much. I am comparing me to the first year of surgery and was losing about 15-18 lbs per month that first go around before my revision surgery.

Thanks again, and I will try to focus on how my clothes are feeling loose and the NSV that are still showing up.

This board is great for support, thanks so much for listening to me whine!

I have been on a major plateau now since July, only losing 7 pounds since my last fill on July 6th.

Does the Dr. Fox's Plateau buster diet really work?

I joined the YMCA and have been walking 40 minutes on the treadmill and working out on the weight machines for 25 minutes 3 times per week. I try to drink 64 oz Water per day, but still the scales go nowhere!

Any suggestions? Thanks

I meant to say too, you need to not drink anything with your meals whatsoever in order to maintain the full feeling longer and do not drink any liquids for at least one hour past your meal, this is how I maintain the full feeling for 2.5 hours. It is just one of the band rules that work for me.

130 pounds gone forever and counting....

Hey, I too have a VG band and am currently at 6 cc with wonderful restriction after only about 1/2 cup solid food which is great! When eating solid foods please chew thoroughly and do small bites. As far as how long it takes for the food to pass through....if I just eat solid foods and no liquids whatsoever in the foods (like no Soups, stews, chili liquids etc) the food stays in my pouch about 2 and half hours. If you are still able to eat as much as you say, you still must not have enough restriction. Because after eating the 1/2 cup solid food I mentioned, I feel satisfied not FULL in my pouch which feels like it is in the center of my chest actually. You should not get the golfball feeling only if you have eaten too big a bite or wrong type of food. You may need to ck with your surgeon about getting another adjustment with more in your band. Good luck....

Hey, I too have a VG band and am currently at 6 cc with wonderful restriction after only about 1/2 cup solid food which is great! When eating solid foods please chew thoroughly and do small bites. As far as how long it takes for the food to pass through....if I just eat solid foods and no liquids whatsoever in the foods (like no Soups, stews, chili liquids etc) the food stays in my pouch about 2 and half hours. If you are still able to eat as much as you say, you still must not have enough restriction. Because after eating the 1/2 cup solid food I mentioned, I feel satisfied not FULL in my pouch which feels like it is in the center of my chest actually. You should not get the golfball feeling only if you have eaten too big a bite or wrong type of food. You may need to ck with your surgeon about getting another adjustment with more in your band. Good luck....

I've been banded a little over four months and with the help of my fourth fill (I'm at 6cc in a VG band) I've finally felt some restriction. Finally had my first PB thanks to sausage on a stick at Schlitterbahn waterpark last week.

Here's my question: I now sometimes get the feeling of being "stuck" if I take too big of a bite or eat too quickly, but then I can feel the food slowly pass through the band and I'm fine. I can still eat large portions of food (eating hard Protein first) if I eat slowly and take small bites. How long should it take before the food passes through your pouch? Am I still not tight enough? I don't do well with doughy foods now that I've had my last fill so I thought that I was where I was suppose to be.....but last night I ate an entire steak and then some salad and felt comfortably satified. (This was no bandster sized steak, I assure you!)

What does it feel like when you do get full with proper restriction? Does your pouch just feel full? Is it when you get the golfball in your chest? Does your tummy just smile and say "thank you very much?"

Please help me understand....

Thanks

The anxiety you are feeling is very normal and the extra eating is normal too. Please see my post and others regarding your questions at:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=5291

Congratulations and good luck to you! Will be praying for you!

Are we supposed to report weekly weights here? I am part of the challenge and was wondeirng. Also I went to Jonathan's website and I am not listed? Do I need to resend him my stats? Thanks