JustWatchMe

After I was banded I was on full liquids for six weeks. I was hungry. They sure started you on solids pretty fast. I was less hungry when I had high Protein liquids and didn't eat between meals. I also made sure not to drink for half an hour or more, even after a liquid meal. It's a huge adjustment for us who are used to eating until full. It's a process of retraining our bodies to recognize satiety on less food. It's very hard until the band is adjusted, but it gets much easier after that. Hang in there. Up the protein if you can. Also, call your nutritionist and s/he may have some ideas for you as well. Good luck!

Didn't finish the day well at all with my food and drink. I probably undid all the good from the last couple of days. Not too happy with myself tonight. Tomorrow my daughter comes home for spring break. dinner is prepared and ready to put in the oven when her plane arrives. I will eat moderately and keep portions in check one day at a time. Tomorrow I will focus on drinking more Water. Hate this full feeling at bedtime. Ugh. Why why why!!!??? Aarrrgghh.

I wasn't restricted on what type of liquids after banding but I guess your doc is different. Isopure makes a clear Protein drink and Ensure Clear is also a Protein Drink. That said, hang in there. I was on full liquids for six weeks post op. It sucked but I lost fifty pounds in that time. I started exercising and got my weight loss off to a good start. If you follow your team's advice, you will be in great shape once you start your fills. Once your band is adjusted properly everything gets easier. Don't give up. The light is right around the corner!

I got the band in 2007. I quickly lost 48 pounds, and just as quickly gained every pound back. I kept them for 4 years. Then, I got my head right and decided it was time for ME to do some work myself. I decided to go low carb and started running. (I do not run now due to serious knee injury, but this is about my weight loss).I lost 80 pounds within 10 months and have kept all but a fluctuation of 10 pounds off. I am currently up about 8-10. Here is the deal, you will not lose if you look at the band as a way to magically lose weight. I promise, I tried! It is only a tool. I have learned that it's purpose for me to to keep me from feeling hungry. I mean this, I am a BIG eater. I have been known to eat an entire pizza in a sitting, or a half gallon of ice cream inside of a day's time - and Im a girl!!! This is what I do, when you are in a good fill level, this is what will happen to you too: I portion out what I am eating, I always give myself an amount that looks way too little, but tell myself I can have more if I want after I eat. I eat that small amount and find that truly, I would have a difficult time swallowing more down. Then, I am done. I make sure I don't drink for 30 min. or more. I seriously don't get hungry for at least 3 or more hours. This is what the band does for you. Have you noticed the doctor's office always asked the same thing? Are you drinking with your meals? Are you eating Protein first? ARE YOU GETTING HUNGRY BETWEEN MEALS??? Because the feeling of restriction isn't the biggest things, its' the feeling of hunger - or the absence thereof. Get the fills you need, and when you can honestly cut your portions and not be hungry, you are in your green zone. It's not about knowing you will barf if you eat too much. Now, this is where it gets tricky, if you're like me. I like to eat just for the heck of it. So I have to really say, sure, I want a snickers, but am I even hungry? Asking myself that has gotten me out of many binges. And I am a binger. I hope you have read my entire post, because honestly, it took me many years after being banded to learn what I needed to learn. I hope you do better than me. I went from a size 22/24 to a 10 - for for 4 whole years after the band, i was at the highest. I have been a size 10 for 2 years. Even not being able to run hasnt caused me to gain. I needed to read this post today. Thank you and congratulations on your long term success.

Four ounces of prune juice will help the constipation. And walking.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Just sending support. I hope they figure it out.

carolinagirl, don't know if you're checking in, but I miss your posts. My sympathy in your time of loss.

I want to give up chewing gum. I chew gum because I have coffee breath. I recently went from caffeinated coffee to decaf only. Today I stayed away from the coffee entirely and drank bottled Water. My breath is better and I survived without the gum. It's also got to be healthier drinking water than coffee. But I don't know how long I can do this. So "I wish I knew how to quit you", Gum, Coffee, And movie crapcorn! What's the monkey on your back?

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I'm here. I ended yesterday on plan. Today I am in a lot of knee pain which should subside by tomorrow or Saturday. That shot in the right knee was a killer. Limping a lot so no stairs for me today. I started work early and got bacon and sausage from the Golden Arches. It was good and will hold me. I'm at a different office location today so my lunch break is uncertain. I brought my Buddig beef and a cheese stick so I can eat when I need to. I forgot my Water bottle though. I went to my CoDA meeting last night and I can't overemphasize how beneficial it is to talk out emotional issues instead of eating them. Anybody who is curious can check out coda.org. Tonight I'm going to get myself a manicure. Because I deserve it, dammit. I'll post later in the day. Have a good one and take care of your mind, body and soul today.

Congratulations! Isn't it great? Please post about your trip to Thailand !

Sounds scary. I'm glad they were able to figure it out and give you some relief. If it's any consolation, being hungry in the weeks following surgery is very normal. Until your band is adjusted properly, hunger will definitely be there. Good luck to you and post often!

Very few stairs for me today, because my knees were hurting. I got my cortisone shots in the late afternoon and now they're sore from that. Back to doing stairs tomorrow. My food, on the other hand, was really good. I really, really wanted to overeat today. But I realize that it was definitely emotional hunger. Realizing it and refusing to do it are two different things. I had a nice big kale salad for dinner and one piece of breaded pork tenderloin for Protein. I played with the idea of going to the movies just to snack, but that is so self destructive. So for today, I am going to a CODA meeting. My relationship with my mom remains very complex and dysfunctional. When I came home from work today, she acted as if her tirade of yesterday didn't happen. It's like living in crazy land. At the doctor's office today, my blood pressure was sky high. The first reading was 188/109. The second reading was 169/99. I'm sure it's because of not only the high sodium foods I've been eating, but also the stress I've been under lately. Between the divorce proceedings and dealing with my mom, I feel like a rubber band about to snap. I was so proud to get off of my second blood pressure medicine many months ago. I sure don't want to go back on it. I'm still on one medicine for blood pressure. Tonight I'm also feeling a bit humble. I haven't been to the rheumatologist for my knees since September. And from my last visit until now, my weight has only gone down 5 pounds. 5 pounds over five months. That's truly shocking to me. I have 50 pounds left to goal. I really wanted to be closer to my goal by my one year surgiversary, which is in 10 days. I am very aware of the tremendous progress I've made this year. But most of it was in the first seven months. It's time for me to get serious about exercise and changing the types of food that I eat. I haven't logged into MyFitnessPal in many days because I stopped logging my food. But when I went into it today, looking for something interesting to eat for dinner, I got an eye opener. I've been rationalizing that since I don't binge, I'm doing just fine. But the types of foods that I am eating are still high-fat, high-calorie foods. Maybe that's okay for people who don't need to lose 50 pounds, but I do. This last 50 pounds is not going to come off by itself. If I don't exercise, and I don't change the types of food I am eating, I'm going to either stay the way I am, or worse, gain it back. I've also been rationalizing that I cannot afford to join a gym because of this expensive divorce. Well, I had better suck it up and join one. Clearly, walking outside in winter is something that simply didn't happen. If I join the YMCA, or another gym, and bring my workout clothes to the office with me, I can hit the gym on my way home from work. Many years ago, when I was single, I did exactly that. And I successfully maintained a twice a week jogging schedule at the gym that helped me lose 130 pounds. I don't think my knees are going to let me jog, but I can certainly walk a track. Well that was a long rant. Sometimes I just need to yell at myself a little bit. In a healthy way of course. Off to my meeting. No more eating for me today. Carry on, Warriors!

Just checking in with my peeps. Where is everybody? I've been having a rough week at home with my mom. Trying to put it in perspective and looking forward to my daughter's spring break this coming weekend. One day at a time!

What I mean is liquids only seems to reset it and it requires less food once resumed to make me feel satiated.

All of you are warriors. Keep up the fight. I am too. I had a mixed day with the food. It went fine up through lunch but I ate a carby dinner which didn't do me any favors. I went to an FA meeting. Not my cup of tea. It was very different from my OA meeting in tone and content, which surprised me. But I gave it a try. I'm living with my mom while I am going through this divorce. My girls are living here too, but they're away at college at the moment. My mother is becoming increasingly angry day to day and it's getting very hard to take. She's lashing out at me and to avoid taking the bait, I spend a lot of time out of the house at 12 step meetings or at the movies. Anybody who says food addiction is not as serious as alcohol or drugs has not lived with a food addicted raging parent. Enough whining. I got my stairs in and because my knees have been hurting so much lately, I scheduled my cortisone shots for tomorrow. I was bummed about that, but then realized it's been six months since my last shot in just one knee, compared to pre WLS when I had shots in both knees every four months. So that's progress. If I hadn't fallen on the ice three times this winter and then twisted my knee badly attempting Zumba a few weeks ago, I could probably have waited another month. But it is what it is. Tomorrow high Protein and low carb and lots of Water. I did drink a lot of water today. Carry on, Warriors!

Don't give up!!!!

Im a bander so I won't give advice except: Don't ever ever ever give up on yourself. You are worth recovery !!

I love this post.

For me just resting my band makes it feel tighter. I think it's okay. Just ease into solids and chew thoroughly and slowly.

My dinner of Soup and salad didn't hold me. Stomach growling at 9pm. I ended up eating artichoke salad late in the evening. Not a good choice but better than wine. The oil bothered my sleep, so lesson learned. We are expecting lousy weather today and tonight including freezing rain. However, I'm excited to be going to the FA meeting after work. Today more Protein and less salad. Lots of Water at work. And my stairs.

My port site wAs lumpier and more sore than the other incisions. Call your team if you're worried. Rule of thumb is that each day you should have less pain , not more. If that's not the case, call them. Congrats on your surgery!!

How did it go? Hope you're feeling well. Post when you can!

Good luck!!

@@s_suther, I've never heard of FA. Just googled it and there's a meeting nearby tomorrow. I will check it out. I was in OA 25 years ago and lost 130 pounds. Met my husband, got married, dropped OA, and gained 150. In 2014 I got WLS, dropped the abusive husband, filed for divorce, went to CODA and back to OA, and dropped 100 pounds so far. Not sure what opinion you want but you have a plan and a good support system, and that's a formula that works in my book.