MerryHearted

Oh, Penni, I'm so sorry! Hang in there.

I agree with mothernature, eating around the band doesn't necessarily mean soft food syndrome. It can be eating more often / snacking, eating higher calorie foods or lots of starches instead of your Protein & veggies, and drinking liquids with your meal which flushes the food through. Giving in to head hunger, for the most part. I hate hearing the words "lazy", "not trying", etc. -- nobody is perfect and the goal is to follow most of the rules most of the time. Being too harsh with yourself when you get off track usually makes you give up rather than forgive yourself and keep plugging away. This is a learning process, not an instant transformation into perfect eating.

LOL Victoriana! I just popped in and saw your message. Looking forward to seeing you on the 20th. Hopefully I'll be at the correct Starbucks -- this is the one that you enter from the mall parking lot, right? It's across from PF Changs? I know there are a bunch of Starbuckseses in Bellevue.

$1000 per fill??! I'm in shock -- a fill takes about 2 minutes to do. Utterly ridiculous.

LOL -- that's great that you called her on her non-existent bon-bon. Congrats on the success of your performance!

My doc says there's no need to stop drinking 30 min before a meal -- water runs right through, so it's not taking up an pouch space. You can drink right up to the point where you start eating.

My doc had me on ibuprofen & liquid vicoden for the first few days. Then only vicoden as needed. I really only needed the vicoden for 3-4 days. There was no problem with swallowing the ibuprofen pills -- they even gave me pills in the hospital right after surgery with no crushing or anything.

I've seen my normal tendencies for weight loss trends, which is what I expected since as Alexandra pointed out it's just eating less calories. For me that means I rarely lose 1 lb at a time -- I lose in 2 lb increments it seems. It's often a stair-step thing, where I don't lose anything one week and then 2 or 4 lb loss the next week. I've got the same daily fluctuations up & down as well. But as far as my old trend of stopping after a couple months -- that hasn't happened because I'm still eating less. (i.e. I just could never stick with a diet long term, but with the band I'm able to do it)

I'll be there! Putting it on my calendar now.

What a fascinating article. I loved how at the end they pointed out that if your BMI was over 25, the decaf raises your HDL but if it's under 25 the decaf lowers it significantly. How strange.

Would love to but I'll be in California on Tues. I'll catch you in December!

I'm thinking the thinner women just don't understand what it's like to be truly obese. And maybe they thought they were being supportive by telling you you are fine as-is. (we'll love you no matter what your size, sort of thing). Just don't let them tell you it's a moral issue. Best wishes on your surgery Thursday!

I'm guessing practically everyone slips up on the liquid protein diet pre-banding... if they have a 12-hr "fasting" rule for the blood tests, make sure you follow that though, as it will affect certain tests. (if you're even having any blood tests! What kind of pre-op testing are you having?)

I'm in! I'm in California the week of Thanksgiving, but let's get together in December. I'm guessing it's the last couple weeks of the year that you'll be in town? Want to have coffee with the MS Bandsters? (we actually have an alias now at work, pretty quiet tho) -Renee in Bellevue

I've heard of lots of bandsters who drink carbonated stuff at a slow pace. I guess you won't know until you try. Personally, I haven't missed the carbonation. Yet, anyway. I would think any pouch-stretching potential would come from consuming a lot of carbonation and quickly. I mean, if you're just sipping at a beer, I don't see how the gas from that could stretch your pouch. Wouldn't you just burp whenever the gas built up in there? But then again I'm no health professional.

Wow, Keri! What a difference! You look great! My goal was to lose 20 lbs. I started at 262 and ended at 244, for 18 lbs. Considering I didn't even have my first fill til halfway through the challenge and my band was wide open, I think 18 lbs was pretty good. The competitive person in me is a tiny bit disappointed, but in all practicality, 18 lbs in 10 weeks is great. Count me in for a challenge over the holidays! I really need the accountability to not overindulge in holiday goodies. Plus I'm going on a cruise in 2 weeks!

Although I have a membership at the gym, I have been working out at home lately. I've just been cycling through the Walk Off the Pounds dvd's. I'm looking forward to losing more weight and getting beyond "beginner" type videos -- right now I'm just too heavy and out of shape to be able to do things like The Firm. Step Aerobics are out too, my knees hurt just thinking about it! The good thing is, even with mild/moderate exercise like walking or Walk Off The Pounds, my weight is slowly dropping. I *know* it's easier to work out when I am thinner. (not the mental part of getting my butt off the couch, but the actual physical workout part)

Try posting under your State folder and ask for a referral for a pcp who is banding-friendly. If you are in WA state anywhere near me I'll give you the name of my doc. or -- maybe check with your surgeon's office and see if they can recommend a doctor in the area (or if they have a support group you can ask some people there for a pcp suggestion)

And if it's soup, it's probably going right through your band. One of the things you need to avoid once you are on solids is "soft food syndrome", as you'll end up eating too much. (as well as drinking with your meals, which will wash the food right through as well). Until you are on solids and have a fill (or more than one fill), you need to monitor your own portions and make sure you're not eating unreasonable amounts. (i.e. aim for 800-1200 cals a day) Following your own doc's guidelines of course... yada yada

I've always heard that you should eat between 800-1200 cals a day. 400 is too low to maintain long term. Try experimenting with it. Although you will eventually lose more if you are eating that little, even if you appear to be on a plateau right now. Also: 4-5 lbs a week is a LOT of weight. It seems unrealistic to expect to continue to lose that much weight every week. Now that you've lost 50 lbs, you have less body mass consuming calories. Your calorie deficit is not as great now. It's normal for weight loss to not be consistent from week to week. So you might just find that next week you are down again; your body might just be adjusting to having lost 50 lbs so quickly, or maybe it has to do with your menstrual cycle / hormones. Good luck!! (and congrats on losing 50lbs -- that's awesome!)

I was told people tend to not lose when they drink, mainly for 2 reasons: 1) the calories in the alcohol 2) impaired judgement -- have a drink before dinner while you are out to eat and you tend to eat more or not make the best food choices. I've just been avoiding it because of the calories. (and partly because my favorite drink is rum & coke and I've chosen to stay off pop for good) But I don't think an occasional glass of wine would hurt anything.

Mine said to do anything that was comfortable, just no swimming for 2 weeks. They pointed out that anything involving abdominals probably wouldn't be comfortable right after surgery. I'm not sure why a recumbent bike would be a problem...

The scale probably will show a rise of 2-4 lbs once you switch to solid foods, just from solids being in your body (poop, for example). Otherwise, exercise is the key to keeping your metabolism up. As soon as you feel up to it, make sure you start exercising, even if it's just walking. I did Glucerna drinks while on liquids, plus a little juice and a daily latte and SF Jello, juice popsicles... it adds up pretty easily to 800-1200 cals per day.

I asked the same questions in my pre-op appts and was told pretty much the same as the previous responses -- that number is an average, meaning there are some who lose less and some who lose more. Don't forget that built into those statistics (I assume) are those who have had complications of one type or another and haven't lost because of that. That's something like 3% of bandsters for erosion and slippage. I don't know what the % is for port issues that prevent getting proper fills. For those who don't have complications, the band is there if you want to work it and lose 100% of your excess weight. There have been a ton of people at my surgeon's office who have. I'm finding now that I'm banded that it's easy to eat too many calories by choosing the wrong kinds of foods. And it's definitely easy to slack off on exercise. So I wouldn't be surprised if I stall for awhile sometime during this journey.

Wow, I'm down 18 lbs since this challenge started and we have 1 week left... I might just make my goal of 20 lbs. Challenge start weight: 262 This weeks weight: 244