Chunk

I clearly remember scaring myself after easily eating a huge four egg omelet, biscuit, and some other stuff. Until you get filled, maybe a couple of fills, you should have very little restriction. Talk to your Dr. if you are concerned. Remember, it is reversible. Just having it in without having a fill, is like having no band at all.

I have not told anyone. My wife knows, but that is it. I just tell people that I get heartburn if I eat too early in the morning, and in the evening I might mention that I am not all that hungry. People don't pay much attention. My own mother had her stomach stapled about 10 years ago. I eat with her all the time, and she is clueless. Just figure out what you can eat most easily, and order that if you have too. Also, don't order or make yourself a huge meal.

I have been doing some mountaineering, and tried to summit Mt. Hood in Oregon. I was feeling great, but right about 9,500-10,000 ft. I became ill. It may have been the altitude, and frankly I am hoping it was, but I think it is more likely that I felt ill because my band was constricting on my stomach. I guess there is only one way to really know, try again.

Tell your husband that a mental health professional said your being useful to others can provide an excellent outlet that meets several of your needs. Add that if he would like to get you off the computer, he should do something to woo you away. I suggest he romances you with a nice date: consider a walk in the park, mall, or just down the street. This message board is a community where bandsters can find and provide support to one another. Sharing your feelings with others whom you can relate is very threaputic. Just be careful that you are not denying your husbands needs by being on-line.

My heighest weight was 320. I had surgery at exactly 300 lbs. I currently weigh 220 and my goal weight is 200 even.

I snowboard and hike around Mt. Hood. I have not been in a plane since my band, but have been from sea level to about 8,000 ft. within just a few hours but did not have any unique experiances with my band.

My first bites are always painfull also. I suggest having a glass of warm before you eat - coffe works nicely, or consider warm tea. Also, the holding your breath bit works well for me also, but I would be careful to not agitate your band simply because you can.

Every time I have had a fill I feel like it is way too tight. This lasts for a couple of weeks and then the band seems to loosen up a bit. My doctor says that my stomach swells from the irritation and relief comes as my stomach swelling is reduced. I would suggest waiting this out for a couple weeks and see if things change. While your doing this you should appreciate handsome weightloss. Good luck to you.

You should not be able to eat breakfast in the morning. If your band is as tight as it should be, you shouldn't be able to eat until about noon. In the morning I have a protein shake and that's about all I can get down. If you are currently able to eat breakfast I would suggest seeing your surgeon about a fill.

I am very excited to announce that as of today, I have lost 100 lbs! I spent the past two days hiking around Mt. Hood, and then played a soccer game on Sunday. Tight band, lots of exercise. Only 20-25 lbs to go!

I recently converted my garage into a gym. I spent more than $15,000 on my stomach, so I figured a few grand on a gym was a reasonable accessory. I bought a top of the line NordicTrack treadmill (a serious powerhouse), a new stationary bike, a new elliptical machine, a home gym (bench and cable system), swiss ball, dumbbell set, and most importantly a 21' TV with a DVD player and cable. Awesome! I am having a lot of fun working out, and because it is close (in my own home), I can use it often with great ease.

Greetings fellow Washingtonians, My bad was placed by Dr. Srikanth in May of this year, and I have had several fills with Dr. Fox at SWLC in Tacoma. I was not required to do a test diet. I did have to get lots of labs done. Unfortunately for me, at the time I elected to have the surgery I did not have insurance and so I had to pay cash not only for the surgery, but the testing too. I decided to have my surgery at St. Francis because the hospital appeared much cleaner and new than the other one, and because St. Francis included some of the testing with the surgery. Overall the hospital was fine, the staff certainly were fantastic. My only gripe was that I had to wrestle with the hospital billing departmant about a billing error in which SWLC had not paid St. Francis and St. Francis was hounding me. The issue was handled by SWLC, and I have no complaints. My one concern about the WLC is that they give some extreem nutrition advice that I have decided not to follow (no milk, no more than 4g of sugar per meal, eat only an ounce at a time, the list goes on). I would highly recommend that you see a nutritionist seperately in order to determine your body's nutritional needs. Dr. Fox and Srikanth look good when their patients loose lots of weight, not when their bodies are healthy. I don't mean to sound as if they are just in it to make themselves look good and make money (I hope they do), but that some of the dietary rules they set out for their patients are overly simplistic and fail to meet everyone's needs. For example, I am a 26 year old male, and thier diet/nutrition instructions were the same for me as they are for every other band patient, young and old. If I were to do it all over again, I would happily choose the WLC in Tacoma. Good Luck.

Nykee, I would encourage you to begin logging the grams of Protein, fat, and carbohydrates you are eating. A good way to do this might simply be to visit nutritiondata.com and enter the name of the foods you frequently eat so that you can learn about their nutritional value. I have found this to be very helpful to me as I have changed several of the items in my fridge. Remember: a gram of protein is 4 calories, and a gram of carbohydrate is also 4 calories, a gram of fat is 9 calories. The calories of a typical diet should be composed of 20% calories from protein, 20% from fat, and 60% from carbohydrates. You and I like the same kinds of foods; unfortunately, they don't provide us with the quality nutrition that hotties like us need. Play with your food a little more: try sushi, have a Bocca dinner, experiment in the kitchen. The point is that there are lots of wonderful foods that taste great and are super nutritious. By the way, I noticed that neither of us are eating much. This means that every bite needs to be that much more nutritious. There's just a little room for junk in our stomaches (and I usually try to fill mine with vodka). I love milk. It is one of my favorite foods. Sadly, unless the milk is skim it brings a lot of fat into our diets. Now fat is not a bad thing - unless it hangs over your belt or keeps you from seeing your toes, but as we all know too much of a good thing is bad. Also, watchout for the cheese. It is another personal favorite, but I have switched to mozerella and cut back because there is just too much fat in cheese. Saturated fat should be avoided and anything hydrogenated is a big no-no. A good rule of thumb regarding hydroginated fat is, if its baked and crispy look out! (think oreos, many chips, snack foods) Everything I eat comes from a can or a box. Most everything in a bag is junk - so be cautious. If you ever find yourself sitting on a couch in the dark with a bag, run. The bag is a suave lover who first warms your heart but leaves you with stretchmarks. As for the box and can, they're not the best either, but lets face it - we wouldn't eat anything we did cook anyway, right? Enjoy your food, get some Vitamins, balance your diet, and keep up the fantastic work.

Greetings fellow bandsters and bandland visitors, I have been keeping a daily log of my food intake and found that it has been very helpful to me. Also, after reading so many questions from would be bandsters, I have decided to share my daily food intake for 30 days. Hopefully this diary will be beneficial to others as it will surely help keep me accountable. I am carefully measuring my food on a digital scale and the ammount of calories burned at the gym is based on my F12 Polar HR monitor. I was banded in May of '05 and have had three fills. Thanks! I am a 26 year old male, weighing 240 lbs. November 14, 2005 12:00 Split pea Soup, 16 oz. 240 cals & 16g Protein 1:30 coffee, 2 creamers. 40 cals & 0 protein 5:00 Subway tuna deli with cheese, 1 sandwhich. 370 cals & 15 protein 8:30 Quesadilla: cheese (2 oz.), walnuts (1/2 oz.), avocado (35 grams), salsa 2.5 oz.), sourcream (1 oz.). 570 cals & 21 protein 9:30 Protein shake: powder (1 scoop), skim milk (8 oz.), bananna (1 fruit), benefiber. 350 cals & 32 protein 10:00 V8, 5.5 oz. 30 cals, 1 protein Exercised; 35 minutes on an eliptical machine, Average BPM 155. -650 cals Totals: Caloric Intake - 1571 Protein - 84

Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided that I am not going to post my food diary in this forum. I found an online diary at myfooddiary.com. For $9 a month I am recieving nutritional support and information which I am finding very helpful. I would encourage all of you to check it out and see if you think it would help you. Because I would like to be helpful to those who have questions about the band and want to know what we bandsters are eating, please feel free to send me a message and I will copy and paste you a few days of my food diary. Good luck to you! P.S. I will try to delete this thread but am not sure I know how. If anyone else can do it, that would be fine with me. Thanks!

I am thankful that the sweets have never really held me captive with their tasty allure. However, I do enjoy an occasional dip in the pool of sugary bliss. That said, I have found sugar free chocolate and other s.f. candies that provide a cozy respite from my hectic day. Give it a shot. Also, with this low carb fad happening you should be set in terms of finding low sugar foods.

I am eating between 1100 and 1700 calories a day. More recently, I have actually been trying to squeeze down an extra meal throuhout the day. I know that is probably not a popular notion, but my nutritionist gave me a lecture about eating only 1200 calories a day. I have to really work to eat 1700 cals, unless I am eating junk food. chocolate, ice cream, and other soft foods grease right through my happy little band. I am working on balancing my calories so that I am eating a healty balance of fats, carbs, and Protein. If you are concerned about needing another fill my advice is this: relax. Just figure out how much you should be eating and see if thats where your at. If your happy with your level of hunger (and don't forget that hunger is good, after all without it we might never enjoy eating) and don't need more restriction then viola! If on the other hand, you are eating too much and always hungry ask your surgeon about another fill. Just be sure that you are not filling up on garbage. Remember: Garbage in, Garbage out!

Generally I am unable to do breakfast. More recently, my band has allowed me to choke down a Protein shake around 11am. I think if I wake up earlier I can probably eat earlier, but I haven't really paid much attention to it. To me breakfast is a noon time event. For breakfast I eat: Cottage cheese, Protein Shake, two scrambled egg whites, yogurt, or a 16 oz. porterhouse steak. What, you can't eat a steak at 8 in the morning. Geesh... you'd think the people in this room all had gastric bands. :-)

Crackhead? Recently I have hired a personal trainer, nutritionist, and visit my p.c. physician regularly. What everyone except my surgeon tells me is that I need to eat no less than 1700 calories a day. They say that ammount will allow me to get all the nutrition and calories I need to live a healthy life. As for carbs, my nutritionist wants me to get 50-60% of my calories from carbohydrates. As for me, I think my surgeon is a wonderful surgeon. He is not a nutritionist. In fact, the more weight I lose (regardless of how healthy I am) the better he looks, the better his statistics look, and the more he can sell his services. That said, I am recieving my nutriton advice from my nutrtionist, exercise guidance from my trainer, and general supervision from my primary care physician. With regards to exercise, my physician recommended that I get a heart rate monitor and use that at the gym in order to monitor, control, and guide intensity. My trainer and nutritionist want me in the gym four times a week. Keep in mind that all this guidance was for me: 26-year-old male no medical complications issues. Even with regards to weight, I am doing well enough now that my nutritionist commented that I don't look fat. My point (besides expressing happiness) is that I am in pretty decent shape and so my caloric goals, gym schedule etc. are appropriate for me, yours may be substantially different.

November 16, 2005 12:00 cheese and Broccoli soup, 8 oz. 200 cals & 6 Protein 3:00 Cottage cheese, 6 oz. 150 cals & 20 protein Spinach with bleu cheese 200 cals & 4 protein 5:30 Veggie pizza, 1 slice. 450 cals & 19 protein 8:30 Half a cheese quesada and refried Beans, 8 oz. 400 cals & 20 protein Exercise: None. Caloric intake: 1400 Protein: 69 Review of the day: I ate too much today. This had a lot to do with my meeting with several clients and eating with them; however, the decision to eat was my own. I am not getting enough protein and need to focus on drinking down my shake.

Novemeber 15, 2005 2:30 Black bean soup, 2 oz.: peperjack cheese (1 oz.), sour cream (1/2 oz.). 300 cals & 19 Protein 3:30 Skim milk, 8 oz. 90 cals & 8 protein 7:30 Gardenburger patty with 1/2 bun. 190 cals & 10 protein 9:00 Cheese, 1/2 oz. 55 cals & 3 protein 10:30 Lentil soup with cheese (2 1/2 oz). 445 cals & 28 protein 11:00 V8, 5.5 oz. 30 cals & 1 protein Exercised; 20 minutes on elliptical and 15 on treadmil, average BPM 155. -650 cals Totals: Caloric intake: 1110 Protein: 69

If you don't want to be tempted to drink beer don't read this! Okay, I am in college and as such feel it is my obligation to have an occasional beer. That said I have discovered a band friendly beer (and at the same time come to realize that I am a bona fide alcoholic). First of all, I really enjoy a cold dark beer. The taste is scrumdidlyumptious and the carbination is much less. Step one is to pour your beer into a glass in a manner that causes a large hear to form. Second, allow the head to fall then gently stirr your beer (this can be done conspiculously with a fork or discreetly by swirling your beer casually). Last, if the head fails to fall - touch your finger to the tip of your nose then swirl it in the head. Believe it or not the oil from your skin will cause the head to fall, and viola you have an ice cold band friendly flat beer. Too bad there isn't a method for getting rid of the calories.

I can't eat meat. I have had to become a vegitarian since my surgery. I suppose I could get away with some meat such as bacon bits or other meats, but since nobody knows about my band I just figured I would become a full-fledged vegitarian. The problem for me is that many vegitables also give me trouble. I had a severe PB after eating bamboo shoots from green curry. Whatever I eat, I have to chew it very well. Recently celery gave me some reall trouble. I am hesitant to eat new foods, especially in public. Good luck.

Outstanding! If you are concerned about your rate of weight loss talk to your surgeon. Also, you should definately be eating more than 400 calories a day. If you are taking your protein shakes your calorie intake should be much higher. Check out some of the protein shake recipies others have posted, here is mine. Consider this shake only if you really are looking to add some nutritious calories. Remember, more calories means less weight loss. 1 scoop of chocolate flavored protein powder, 8 oz of milk, 1/2-1 tablespoon of peanutbutter (or sugar free peanutbutter syrup), a bananna, and a sprinkle of benefiber. This drink is high calorie, high protein, and chock full of good fat (monosaturated fat - good for your heart). Also, the banannna gets me a fruit and has lots of fiber. Yummy, yummy. I think this shake totals about 450 calories with peanutbutter, and 350 without. This high call shake might contribute much needed nutrition and energy. Are you hitting the gym yet? I reserve this shake for days I go to the gym. I figure since I love the drink it is a reward for my hard work, and my body loves all the protein, calcium, fruit, peanuts, and vitamins. Good luck. (From 320 to 240)

I can't tell you which surgery you ought to pursue, only that I am very satisfied with my band. For me, knowing that the band is reversable and adjustable has brought much comfort. I have lost a lot of weight (about 50lbs since May). Most of the weight fell off quickly after my operation. By late summer I stopped losing weight. My surgeon explained that after a fill, the stomach becomes irratated and swells just a tiny bit. As the swelling reduces, restriction is lessened. After each fill, I lost significant weight quickly and then leveled off just a bit. Eventually, the band will be filled to my desired restriction (I think I am there now, but I will know better in a few weeks). Also, I was not excited about having my stomach or intesting cut and feared what whould happen in my old age if my intestins failed to accept nutrition readily.