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If you choose (chews?!) the right foods, the additional chewing time can be a pleasure as you savor the flavor. Some of our old food friends will not pass the test. :wink_smile: If you keep in mind that the opening in your pouch may eventually be about the diameter of a pencil, that might be a good motivation. Easy to plug that drain! Orea

People just don't understand the difference between the band and the bypass. I tend to tell them that it will help me lose 1-2 pounds per week, as if I were doing something like WW. I might add that it can take months to get the band adjusted right for the process to start. Educating the world, one person at a time! :thumbup::wink_smile: Orea

My surgeon's dietician says, chew to applesauce consistency. I think that is a helpful guideline. Yes, you need to work on this. Four chews per bite ain't gonna do it. I had my first postop appointment and am cleared for pureed foods. He said ti add one food at a time. I came home and had 1/4 cup of LF cottage cheese. It didn't taste good at all, and I love good cottage cheese, so that was a disappointment. I need to find a better brand. Speaking of eating too fast, I downed that quarter cup in five minutes flat, even eating with my baby spoon. I need to work on pausing between bites. And not getting so hungry! Orea

The first six weeks is for healing, not losing. If you do lose, ti's great, but not everyone will. The band doesn't work until it is properly adjusted, which is different for each individual. It may take 2 or 3 or 6 or even more fills for the band to start reducing our appetite the way we want it to. We need to keep the faith, do our best to follow the rules, and develop patience. If you follow most of the rules most of the time, you'll be 50 to 100 pounds lighter this time next year. Hold that thought. Hugs, Orea (Off to my first postop appointment!):cry_smile:

Tonight for dinner I took some of my chili and ran it through the blender, then diluted it with V-8 to make a full liquid of sorts. I was in heaven! Tomorrow is my postop appointment, after which I'll be cleared for purees. Woohoo!

Joiful, I bought that book and sent with with DH on his last business trip. I was SO tired of seeing him come home each time fatter than ever. He has been losing alongside of me! His 3X shirts that I bought him last year are hanging on him. That chili has been a big part of his success, too. :-D In fact, I am making a new batch today. Don't feel you need to follow it exactly, make it your own! Mine is never quite the same twice. Orea

I can't say what foods will be friendly to the band, but I can list some of the foods that were my mainstays while I was dieting BB = Before Band. Kashi GoLean -- the plain stuff mostly, not the sweeter Golean Crunches, though I had them a bit, later in the process, without a problem. I got so de-sugared, that I could taste the sweetness of the plain variety! This is about the only cereal that didn't leave me hungry an hour later. Triscuits -- Love the taste, love the whole grain content. Don't make me crazy like Wheat Thins do. I could count out my portion, enjoy them, and stop. With Wheat Thins, I found myself eating three servings instead of one. They left my life immediately! Yoplait Light -- great to have around for snacks or meals Orea's Ground Turkey Chili 1 lb 93% lean ground turkey 1 onion, diced 2 ribs celery, diced 1 green pepper, diced a small zucchini or yellow squash if you have them (optional) 1 26-32 oz. can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce a can of tomato soup, optional 1 28ish oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed 1 14-16 oz. can corn 3/4 t. chili powder or to taste 1/2 t. cumin or to taste About 1 T Splenda or equivalent sweetener or to taste, to cut the acidity of the tomatoes if you don't add the soup. You need to measure the volume when done to determine how many one-cup servings there are. The calories vary between 200-250 per one cup serving. Very satisfying meal. I often have 6 Triscuits with it. I used to eat big salads, but I'm looking forward to when I can have a small one with whatever veggies I can tolerate and some lean meat or cheese. I'm dreaming of a nice one with chopped summer tomato, green pepper, and sweet onion with feta cheese and a red wine vinegar-olive oil-garlic salt dressing. YUM Can you tell I'm ready for mushies?! Orea

In a year or so, you'll be slender and gorgeous -- and he'll still be a neanderthal a**h*le! Pity the woman who falls for hiim next, for he'll discard her when he tires of her, too. Or when she starts to show some age. Talk about shallow and immature. If there is justice, he'll fall for someone someday and get dumped for a similar shallow reason. I'm so grateful that my husband of 34 years has truly loved me "through thick and thin". He deserves better than I have been able to give him due to my weight hampering me, but I plan to do better when I can. But he does know that no one will ever love him as much as I do. :-) And that counts for a lot. Orea

Pati, you have a great attitude. You'll do well! Congrats on your upcoming surgery. You are a week behind me. :-) This is day 5 for me and I am actually starting to feel like myself again. <doing the happy dance> Pati, if you have some rough days early on as I did, remember me and tell yourself it won't last long. Hugs, Orea

I envy you the pool! I used to love to walk in ours when we had one. Oh, and don't forget cottage cheese! I'm having DH pick some up for me tomorrow in anticipation. :-) Orea

My understanding, which I practiced some beforehand, is that we need to learn to look for something different than what we used to call, "full." When I was eating my protein and produce in slowly and in small bites, chewing thoroughly and paying good attention, I learned to distinguish a space where the hunger went away. I called it "satisfied" and I learned to consider it enough. It really helped that I had been off of sugars and simple carbs for over a year which really took the edge off of what I consider my "crazy hunger." This was how I lost the weight preband. Slight change of subject to vent: I'm really pissed that the doctor put me on the Optifast for two weeks preop. It is filled with sugar and all my old raging hunger has come back with a vengeance. I can't tell you how carefully I guarded my relatively sane hunger state. It took me a month just to get over the worst of the cravings (as opposed to what most people report takes maybe four days.) It took me months more to reach that state of relative sanity where my blood sugar was stable enough for me to diet successfully and lose the weight. The 60+ pounds I took off, 50+ was this year wasn't good enough. I sincerely doubt my liver was that big any more. No, I had to drink those damn sugary shakes and undo everything I worked so hard for so I could get the surgery. Let me add that I felt miserable the whole time and got hungrier as the days went on. I went from feeling healthy and better than I had in years, to mood swings and utter misery. My husband took my before pictures during this time and you can see it all in the expression on my face. When I see that man again, which won't be this week, I'm going to tell him just what I think about this. I could just cry for what he destroyed, it was the first food sanity I found in years of searching. So Wednesday as soon as I am cleared for mushies, I'll start back at square one with protein and low starch veggies, and hope maybe it goes faster this time. Maybe, just maybe, my body will remember the good old days and adjust faster this time. I'm crossing my fingers. Orea

I agree that it is confusing and even tempting that every doctor has a different protocol. When I get tempted to stray, I remember what my mentor, Jessie Ahroni says: "Do you really want to be the one to tell your surgeon that you broke his rules because somebody on the Internet told you it was okay?" That says it all for me. As for pizza, I love it dearly. But my understanding is that breads are difficult for most bandsters and also not conducive to weight loss. I knew this when I chose the operation and I choose to do my best to lose weight until I get where I want to be. Which is more important, tiny pants or pizza? We each get this kind of choice every hour of every day. Let's make the most of our opportunity. Hugs, Orea

I was told to choose 2T. Protein and 2 T. pureed veggies or fruit for a meal. Here are some ideas from the classes I took: refried Beans with a little sour cream and salsa mash up a hard boiled egg with a little light mayo for a soft egg salad ground up chicken, ham, or tuna with a little light mayo soft fish beans or bean Soup soft cooked veggies of your choice. If you can mash it with a fork, it's good. applesauce pureed canned fruit of your choice a little oatmeal with a tablespoon of smooth Peanut Butter stirred in I don't get to start this until Wednesday, can't wait! Hope this helps. Orea

I'm five days out today. I'm starting to feel better, but the first few days were pretty rocky. I still tire easily. I still need naps at unexpected moments, but I'm getting a little better every day. This is the tough part, and we will get through it. We won't feel like this forever. We made a wise decision in the interest of our health and our quality of life, long term. This is pay in advance. We get our payback later. Be good to yourself, and allow yourself time to heal. Not everyone bounces back. I know I didn't. Almost every seasoned bandster I know, loves their band and wouldn't part with it for the world. Hold that thought. And, think also about how you'll feel this time next year when you are 50-100 pounds slimmer! Gentle Hugs, Orea

I was told not to eat more than 4 ounces max. at a time on pureed/mushies. And to only eat protein and veggies and fruits, no potatoes and starchy foods. I don't know what you were told, though. And I don't know if I'll be able to hold myself to that after I am cleared for pureed foods on Wednesday. Don't expect miracles from your first fill. It often takes two, three or more fills to start to get the results we all want, as I understand from reading other bandster group posts. It's gonna take some patience, but we are indeed in this for the long haul. Orea

I hope she finds a man who deserves her. :-)

Momffive, when you responded to Jeter, you "subscribed" to the thread. It may seem like they are all writing to you, but I don't think they are. You can unsubscribe and you won't be getting notes about all of the responses, if you prefer. Jeter, they've said it all. (Family or not, people like that have no place in my life. What they say and how they act says everything about them and nothing about me. Surely everyone who knows her, sees her pattern of lies and trashing people and takes it with the respect such trash deserves.) Blessings, Orea

What has really gotten me over the years, is the people who seem to believe that overweight = stupid. I was about 21 and 5'2" when a gyn at the army medical center said to me, "You know, if we cut you in half, we'd have two 95 pound girls!" Clever, wasn't he? Obviously he thought so. I was young and "nice" then (not so much either now), or I would have replied, "You'd have two 95 pound halfwits!" Around the same time, a dietician there said to me, "You know, 190 pounds is a lot for you." Gee, I thought it was just fine. Flash forward to last fall when I had my first appointment with the dietician at Kaiser Permanente to start on the bariatric surgery requirement protocol. She had the nerve to look at me seriously and say: "You know if you have this surgery, you'll have to eat less." I shot back, "I thought that was the point!" (You see that 32 years have made me more...forthcoming.) I left Kaiser at my first opportunity and started my band journey over rather than deal with her idiocy (and a few other related reasons). But my point to all of you is this: What these stupid, insensitive idiots say, says everything about them and nothing about you! It's abusive behavior and not your fault. Hold your head high and be the best person you can be. They can and probably will rot in hell if there is any justice in the afterworld. :smile: Hugs, Orea

To jump in late, Joiful, I wasn't even allowed 2000 calories when I started with CalorieKing.com last March at 364 pounds! It was closer to 1850 and their goal was to have me lose 1 pound a week. Lots of carbs won't get you where you want to go. Lean proteins and produce are the key. If you don't like breakfast proteins that are traditional, try some that aren't. Or have your lowfat milk in a warm drink of choice and eat later, especially if you find you are tight in the AM. I've got to find myself a full liquid, my body is screaming for food. TTFN, Orea

It was painful at first, but what got to me when I got home, was the nausea and sleepiness from the pain meds. I slept the first few days and gagged at all of the food commercials. I'm better now, getting hungry but also feeling gassy when I drink my full liquids. I still need naps, so I'm not completely up to speed by any means. The pain by now is minor. I only took Tylenol liquid once so far today. I could do without the diarrhea from the liquid diet, but this, too will pass. :biggrin: I'm still not getting all of my prescriptions in, much less my vitamins. I'm prioritizing my blood pressure meds, and the rest I'll add in gradually as my tummy is up to it. I really enjoyed my Cream of Wheat today and later I ran some soup from the Chinese restaurant through the blender and it tasted quite good. Even with the liquids, I am finding I feel better with only a half cup at a time than with more. I'm off for another liquid meal and then probably early to bed. Oh, by the way, I've been feeling alternately chilly and then hot. It's like my body is having trouble controlling its temp. (I don't have more than a few tenths of a temperature according to my thermometer.) Did anyone else experience this? Hugs, Orea

If you keep trying to eat and not succeeding, you will just get more and more swollen inside and more irritated. Go back on liquids for a day or two until your irritated stoma settles down. Then proceed to a day or two of mushies. Then start eating cautiously again. Good luck! Orea

Hi, Butterflies. Sorry to be so long checking in, but I've been sleeping most of the time since I got home. The pain pills just knocked me out. I called Dr. Tran today and got a second anti nausea med, and he said to move to liquid Tylenol as the pain med could be making me nauseous. But the new nausea med can also make me sleepy! If sleep really can make you beautiful, I ought to be gorgeous by now. It has been a challenge trying to sip liquids and stay hydrated, but I am doing the best I can. I find the broths go down better than the sweeter stuff, but I'm trying not to overdo it. I've had no shoulder pain, some gas pain, a little incision pain but not a whole lot after the first day. They wrapped my abdomen in a binder, and I'm leaving it on as long as possible. I haven't gotten on the scale and frankly I don't care what it says at the moment. This is a time for healing, not necessarily losing. Though I am eating so little I'm probably losing, too. More later. :-) Orea

My understanding of bandster eating is 3 ounces of lean protein, and half a cup of non starchy veggies or fruit. My mentor says no one ever got fat from eating veggies. If you still have room after that, a little of a high fiber complex carb. This will provide you with the nutrition you need and not overfill your pouch. Measure out your portion and when it is gone, stop eating and go do something that will divert your attention. :-) I'm showered and dressed and ready to head for the hospital. See you all on the flip side! Orea

Sandy, you've got it! :wink2: I'll post as soon as I can. We are on the threshold of a new life! Hugs, Orea