Longhorn

I just made some spinach/cucumber/celery juice that has 7 grams of Protein and 80 calories. The recipe calls for 4 oz spinach, 1 cucumber, and 1 stalk of celery and it made about 12 oz. It tasted mostly like cucumber. I made it for the veggie goodies because I don't care for eating them, so I was a little surprised to see how much protein was in it. Turkey chili is pretty high in protein, too: 1 cup has 160 calories and 22 grams of protein. Wolf Brand Chili I like the Low-Carb Slimfast shakes: 190 calories and 20 grams of protein, even more than the "High Protein" Slimfast.

I have just over six to go to dip to 199 point something. I doubt I'll make it before the end of the month but I'm hopeful I'll make it by Valentine's Day.

My surgeon is considered "conservative" but he gave me 3ccs at my first fill (1cc already in the band from surgery) and 2ccs at my second fill. However, it was six weeks from surgery for my first fill and five weeks until the second (couldn't get an appointment for four weeks.) It's four weeks until my next fill.

Denise: Do you see the "Members Area" at the top left of your screen? If so, the New Posts link is there. Or you can click on the "LINKS" button at the top of the screen and there's a "New Posts" link on that menu.

Thanks, shortgal! I've printed off dozens of recipes and can't wait to try them. The juicer makes it pretty easy. Yesterday I had apple/carrot/celery juice and loved it! Mr. Longhorn went to the store and bought carrots, celery, cabbage, spinach, cucumbers, apples, oranges, grapes, and pineapple to get me started. I notice a lot of recipes call for beets so we'll get some of those next time. There's a year-round Farmer's Market on Saturdays that I want to start going to for fresh, locally-grown produce. I've never been excited about produce before! :girl_hug:

My body seems to "try on" a new weight and then waits awhile before it buys it. Maybe it's on a layaway plan. :girl_hug:

My first fill was 3ccs in my 10cc band, added to the 1cc that was in there from surgery.

Today I had: Breakfast: glass of juice made from one apple, two carrots, and one stalk of celery in my new juicer! :girl_hug: Slimfast Optima Lunch: Low-carb Slimfast and Luna bar Dinner: one BBQ chicken wing one small piece of cheese bread one small square of thin crust pizza (ham and pineapple) Special K Protein Water 932 calories, according to The Daily Plate

It sounds normal to me. The first day of tightness may just be swelling. I'm at 6ccs in a 10cc band and I'm not having any trouble with food passing but I am less hungry on much less food. It sounds like another fill or two for you.

After my first fill, my doctor said one day of liquids. After my second fill Friday, he said liquids for the weekend and back to solid foods tomorrow. I couldn't feel any change after my first fill but I do with this one.

I have 6ccs total, 2 at my second fill on Friday. I have also been on liquids this weekend but I did eat a few solid foods. I felt a little tight last night but not today. However, I feel like I have hunger restriction because tonight I had a chicken wing, a small piece of cheese bread and a small piece of thin crust pizza and that was all that I could eat. I could have easily eaten more before this last fill. I don't want to feel physical restriction either but I do think it's possible to eat carefully to avoid the negative consequences but benefit from the band by getting full on less food. I only hope this lasts awhile. :girl_hug:

The discussion on this thread has helped me decide how to handle weighing. Initially, I wanted to only weigh at the doctor's office but I'm just not patient enough to wait for four or five weeks at a time. And I couldn't seem to stop myself from weighing daily. So now I'm going to weigh each morning and only record the new low weight. A weight that is higher than that is merely a fluctuation (though some fluctuations have been known to last for a week or two, at least in the past.) But I think this approach is better for my psyche. :girl_hug:

I've had a couple of beers and it was fine. But I'm just not tempted any more to have diet soda, even after I saw the commercial today for the new chocolate-cherry diet Dr. Pepper. I just don't see any reason to add a bunch of chemicals back into my system. I don't drink coffee but I am enjoying the cappuccino Slimfast Optima in the morning. I don't know how much caffeine it has, if any.

You just gave me an idea, Kristin! I got a juicer and made some apple/carrot/celery juice this morning (and it was yummy! ) I froze the pulp but I think it would be good to add some pulp to oatmeal! I'm going to give it a try, anyway. I'm using up some Meal Replacement oatmeal (similar to Medifast or Optifast) that I bought last year but then I want to try the Weight Control oatmeal. Do you know how much Protein is in it? I can always add unflavored unjury if it's on the low side.

Well, I was only going to go by official weigh-ins at the doctor's office (which I discussed to the nth degree in another thread. But since I can't seem to stay away from the scales, I've decided to weigh every morning but only record a new low weight. My new low right now is 206 (down three from the my appointment on Friday.) It will probably go up over the next severals days but I won't record another change until another new low appears. I used this approach when I lost weight on Medifast (and was a staunch defender of daily weighing! :grin:) four years ago and I got used to the slow losses. It's better for me mentally to consider the new low my true weight and any higher weights as aberrations. :biggrin:

Shortgal: I think a lot depends on what the surgeons sees when they are inside. If the band fits snugly, they're not going to leave much in there but if it's too loose, they will. How much we have in our bands really means nothing as far as how much restriction we have. I got the impression that my surgeon has a sort of schedule that he adjusts depending on what I report. He put 3ccs in at the first fill (plus 1cc in there) and didn't even have me drink water! And I felt absolutely no restriction. How did he know that? This time, he added 2ccs and he did have me drink before I left the office. He does want to give me time to adjust and he said he's only had a couple of patients who were overfilled, even though he doesn't use fluoroscopy. He also told me he can tell a lot by how much pressure he feels when he injects the saline. It sounds like both a skill and an art!

Since I've got a new recordkeeping policy, I'm going to update again. 1. Momto1plus1.......241...............238..............229...........9 2. TxArcher...........360........Last week, 357......???...........12 3. Hungryforchange...227.5..........225...............215.5.......10 4 shortgal ............. 198............195................192...........3 5. Hollyberries.........298............293................285........... 8 6. Tyman311..........167...........168................150............17 7. Trixie.................264...............255..............244......... .11 8. plump_princess.....237.............233..............227........... 6 9. Foofy ................249............244...............237............7 10. wnt2lose..........236............233.8...........225.............8.8 11. BarbBee...........284.............278.............272..............6 12. Longhorn..........211.............206.............199.............7 13. Steph...............203.5..........197..............188.5.........8.5 14.kristin1031..........256............ 249..............240...........9

I feel like I have some initial restriction after my second fill on Friday. I'm on liquids this weekend but I had a Luna bar and some American cheese slices last night and I felt it going down! It wasn't pain but I was uncomfortable for a couple of minutes -- a definite reminder that it's time to be more careful about following the rules. I'm also feeling less hunger. I hope it lasts! I'm up to 6 ccs in my 10-cc band.

I swore I wouldn't weigh myself except at the doctor's office. If I had done this, here's how my journey would have gone: Initial consultation: 228 Pre-op visit: 226 -- down 2 pounds! One-week post-op visit: 218.5 -- down 7.5 pounds! Four-week post-op visit: 212.5 -- down 6 pounds! Nine-week post-op visit (projected): 208 -- down 4.5 pounds! Instead, this is what happened: Initial consultation: 228 Pre-op visit: 226 -- down 2 pounds! One-week post-op visit: 218.5 -- down 7.5 pounds! Three weeks post-op (at home): 208 -- down 10.5 pounds! Four-week post-op visit: 212.5 -- up 4.5 pounds! Five-week post-op (at home): 207 -- down 5.5 pounds! Six, seven, eight weeks post-op (at home): 212, 215, 213, 211, etc., all of which are over 207. :frown: Nine-week post-op visit (projected): 208 -- still one pound more than 207. Instead of feeling successful, I feel like I've gained weight! Here's what I'm going to do -- I'm going to move the scales to an inconvenient location (rather than my bathroom!) and I'm not touching them again! At least, not until I'm in maintenance. If that doesn't work, I'll have my husband hide them in his shop.

Hi, Jill! You reminded me of how I lost weight every other week when I was on Weight Watchers years ago. It was so predictable, it was a joke! I think that on some level, I expected the band to be magic, even though, intellectually, I knew exactly how it worked. And why would I lose weight that quickly when I couldn't lose weight AT ALL on 1400 to 1600 calories a day? At least for now, my body clearly is holding on to every ounce of fat and it is taking a very low calorie diet to make it budge. The band is allowing me to do that without suffering and I truly am thrilled by that. Congratulations on your loss and may it keep coming for all of us! :biggrin:

Kristin: You're absolutely right and at 19 pounds in 11 weeks, I'm right on the average. I think I got it in my head that it would be 1 or 2 pounds a week AFTER the initial loss. :wink2: So when I only lost 3-1/2 pounds in 5 weeks, it was a little depressing. It's funny because I wasn't hungry -- I didn't diet, per se, so I wasn't suffering any but I knew I was eating way less than usual so it can be a little discouraging. But as you can see in my response to Linda, I'm over it. Since I'm back to weighing myself every day, I was down to 206 yesterday, which would be three more pounds since my doctor's visit. One pound of that is probably clothes and I won't be shocked if the 206 doesn't stand. In the past, my weight loss has been like a ball bouncing down the stairs: it lands on a new stair but bounces up and down on that stair for a while, then finally bounces on a lower stair. I think I'll start recording my weight by using the new stair and then not recording it again until I hit another stair. It helps me ignore the bounces. :mad: Y'all are my rocks! Thanks! :biggrin:

Thanks, Linda! I think I've finally decided that there's nothing wrong with weighing every day, that I've just got to get over caring about what the scales say. I need to look at it as a part of my day like brushing my teeth or taking my Vitamins. I can be pleased when I see a new number but this time, I know that a pound or two of "gain" really is just fluctuation because I can't not lose weight with this band! I'm not trying to defeat it, I'm stepping up my exercise, and I'm eating less than ever on a prolonged, consistent basis, and that has to result in losses eventually. Maybe it's my second fill and the fact that I met with the physical trainer but I'm feeling more relaxed and optimistic and patient now. And there's no reason to really care how long this takes because I'm not suffering at all, which is the big difference with most diets. There's no reason for me to long for this losing phase to end based on hunger or deprivation because I'm not experiencing any of that. That's the band working! Of course, if I allowed myself to be hungry or deprived, I'd probably be losing faster but that would just lead to more frustration so I think I'll opt for comfort. I appreciate all of the thoughtful responses because it has really helped me sort some things out in my head. I think a lot of this is the old diet mentality and I've got to get used to the fact that it's different this time. And it's not fair for me to suggest that others shouldn't be thrilled with their losses. My gosh, where else can they virtually jump for joy about every little pound than this board?!! It's my problem, not theirs, if I allow myself to get down over the successes of others. So we'll continue to support each other -- happy for the losses and understanding when it's slow. Thanks so much, Sweetie! :biggrin:

I'm now at 6 ccs after a 2-cc second fill on Friday and I do have restriction for now. I'm on liquids through today but I had a Luna bar and two slices of American cheese last night and for the first time, I got a little uncomfortable as I felt it slowly pass through the band. I didn't wait long enough between bites. I'll be good today and tomorrow I can return to solid foods. I've been chewing a lot more and taking smaller bites ever since surgery but now I finally need to remember to wait between bites. I'm actually excited about it! :biggrin:

I can tell you why we can't drink for awhile AFTER we eat: one, because the Fluid can increase the chance of food getting stuck, and, two, because the liquid will move the food out of the pouch more quickly so that we get hungry sooner. We want the food to stay in the pouch awhile to help create the sensation of satisfaction. I have also asked why we can't drink BEFORE we eat and no one has come up with an answer so I'm looking forward to the responses!

I met with the doctor on a Friday and had my surgery one day shy of two weeks later. These are the appointments I needed: 1. Nutritionist (in the surgeon's office) I lucked out and was able to see her right after my consultation with the surgeon. (Day 1) 2. Psychological evaluation: I was able to see her the following Tuesday. (Day 5) 3. General Physician: The surgeon's office wanted his approval, plus they suggested I get as many labs done there as I could. I was able to get in the Friday after my consultation and got all of my labs done there, saving me some money. Plus, I was able to use some labs I had done over the summer. (Day 8) 4. Hospital pre-op visit: I got in the Monday before surgery. (Day 11) 5. Surgeon pre-op visit: I saw him the day the Tuesday before surgery. (Day 12) 6. Surgery (Day 13) I teach at community college so I can't easily take off from work but I do have some free time during the day and I don't work on Fridays. I was lucky that I was able to fit the appointments in during my free time or Friday. I was most worried about the labs and thought I would spend the day going from one lab to another so I was quite pleased that I could get them all done at my GP's office. I know that some folks have more tests and evaluations to get done that I did but they often have more time, too. Good luck!