shortgal

Yes, I'm happy with my weight lose so far. Just wish it was by restriction instead of by dieting. At least I know I must be getting close to restriction by now. Thanks for the encouragement!

CONGRATULATIONS LONGHORN! :thumbup: Reaching those milestones are such a mental boost. I was in the 180's and then suddenly back into the 190's.... BOO! This has not been happening to me. I've been losing slowly, but losing, never gaining. Annoying, but not too worried yet, as I know I totally need a fill! And I know I have NOT overeaten, even though I could easily. Have to get "things moving" so I just had a piece of whole wheat "double fiber" bread with Peanut Butter. This is in addition to all the benefiber I've been adding to my Water. Had no idea waiting to get restriction could take so long though. Hooray for you!

I've been stuck a couple times, mostly about a month after surgery. About day four after my third or fourth fill, I got a piece of chicken stuck, I was talking and forgot to chew well. I PB'd once, I had a blackberry stuck and after a few minutes and a tast of pineapple juice, up it came. Yogurt I have to eat slowly or else it back up a little and I gurgle. Lately, I've had no problem getting almost anything down! I defintely need a fill!

So true Kat, the less we weigh, the less calories we need to maintain that weight, so of course we need even fewer calories to lose additional weight or exercise must increase to compensate. that's why the less you weigh, the fewer "points" WW allows you.

If you get in enough Protein and avoid the carbs, you should notice an icrease in energy. The carbs will drain you of energy fast. Try to keep the protein evenly spaced throughout the day, not just one big dose once or twice daily. I get monthly B-12 shots but that is because I have a low count. I don;t think it will do mcuh for you unless you really need it. (my count was low before being banded, not as a result of being banded)

For the lady in the Netherlands... perhaps you could contact the Dr in Belgium ( his name has been on this forum) and maybe you could take a long weekend to go see him, if he takes other Dr's patients. If you don;t have many Dr's in the Netherlands then perhaps a different Dr. can help. Try a "search' on the forum and see if you can find his name. Our bands do get looser as we lose weight but it's not good to be so tight that you can;t eat good healthy solid food. Yes, counting calories and eating "solid" healthy Protein food and not drinking for one hour after a meal could help you. Eating soft "slider" foods will not stay in your pouch and will not keep you full. Avoid carbs like bread, Pasta and rice.

Thanks. I'll be watching this thread. As mentioned in my previous post I don;t have good restriction but I left out info about popcorn. I can eat half of a microwave bag with no trouble at all. So far, I've only been stuck on something a couple times and that was mostly in the first couple weeks after surgery and once just after a fill when I took a bite of chicken too quickly.

I agree with Wasabubblebutt about the fills. I think it is totally outrageous that I could have a heart condtion and had triple bypass surgery and if I moved to a new location, I could find a new cardiologist to treat me, but if I have a lap band and move a Dr doesn;t want to touch me. Seems to me the heart patient would potentially be much more risky to treat than a post op banded patient. Forget about the Mexico thing for one minute, suppose I had a US surgeon do my lapband and I moved to a new state, who would do my follow up and fills then? I can understand a Dr wants to be paid for doing the fills, but it shouldn;t cost anymore than any other office visit to a specialist. A fill is not rocket science and as WASA pointed out is cheap and quick to give. A special needle and saline! Many Dr.'s are absolutely taking advantage of the overweight person for their own greed. Hopefully as more people are banded, this will change and we'll be able to go anywhere in the US to get the care we deserve.

I think something that might be overlooked as far as caffeine NEEDS, is that pre-band we might have been eating more carbs, which makes us drowsy, so we need the caffeine for an energy lift. But post banding without so many carbs we have the added energy and maybe don;t need the effects of the caffeine????? I was never a big coffee drinker and did not use soda either but I find I go to bed later and wake up earlier and am less tired throughout the day and I think that's because of fewer carbs and more Protein.

Not so fast Sades... I gained two pounds today! Have no clue why, except I haven't had a good poop in five days! I put 1 tsp of benefiber in every bottle of Water I drink... which is two to three tsps a day. That is half the recommended amount, so I guess I'll have to start upping it. I can't wait for my next fill (one week from today) and a week ago, I only wanted .5 cc, now I want 1cc. Seven months to the wedding and only 5 months until I really have to buy my dress. Time is wasting. Dropping a few pounds quickly is just what I need. Longhorn: Good for you! It must be so wonderful to have that "not hungry" feeling. I still count down the time to my next meal!

Tina, I truly don't know how you are getting by with a 1/4 cup. I would have never been able to do that and I just don't understand it. If liquids go through the pouch what's the difference of the amount? I could see when you're on regular food that the amount would matter, but I just don;t understand the liquid part. You're being VERY good, sticking to it. No wonder your weight loss is great. I'm sure you'll be happy moving to the next phase.

You don't mention how old you are, how long you've been overweight and what methods you've tried previously to lose the weight. Having surgery is a big and permanent step, so I think it's wise to be sure you have given a REAL attempt to lose the weight with other traditional methods first. We know diets like weight watchers and south beach don't work for everybody, but SOME people do have success with them, if you commit to them and add exercise. If you have given those methods a real chance to succeed and have failed many times, then I would say learn everything you can about the lapband before proceeding. And please do NOT think that getting banded will be the easy way out, you will still have to work hard WITH your band to be successful. Good Luck.

I can eat most of those foods, some I just don't like or haven't tried (like corn or coconut). For Bread, I eat it rarely and if I do it's whole wheat and usually toasted. Dried fruit has too many calories. Pasta and rice will go down, but I don't eat them often, too many carbs. As for skins of fruit, I have eaten apples,plums, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. I have had several fills. I didn't do the survery because I am not at a good level of restriction yet, so I don't know how I'll be affected by these foods until I reach a better level of restriction. But after several fills, most of the foods are agreeable with my band.

Well, just when I thought yesterday was discouraging... this morning I weighed myself and I have lost nothing since last Tues. I have counted all my calories, tracked all my Protein and stayed under 1200 calories everyday. Yesterday I was under 800 calories! I have not started exercising yet. I guess that's my next big hurdle. Whenever I have dieted in the past, this was always the most frustrating part for me.... to diet all week long and lose NOTHING! I have been putting a lot of my social life on hold, out of fear that since I'm only using willpower, I'll cave in and eat too much. How long can I avoid going places and doing things? No wonder people get overfilled! Thanks for listening... I'll go vent to the poor hubby now. I'm sure he can't wait to hear this.

I am totally confused. Most people as they get closer to goal lose slower and why can you only eat one week out of the month without feeling sick? What kind of sick do you get and why? If it's because of your level of restriction, I do not understand why you are so tight that you can't eat and then you lose weigth thru starvation. That's not very good for your health. Before you go see the nutritionist, I would log what you eat for a couple weeks, so you can review that with her/him.

I'm not sure how you know another fill will mean you can't eat anything. A fill can be as little as .2cc to be helpful. And if you're not going to count calories or track Protein intake and eat around your band, then SORRY, but what kind of results do you expect? Yes, weight watchers would be a very good start, but you'll have to track your points (which is just like tracking calories) so you'll still have work to do. I think when you are REALLY sick of not losing and tired of being overweight, you'll get serious. Weight watchers could be just the jump start you need.

Sades, You and I are just frustrated with having to rely on willpower. I envy those that have some restriction as well. I wonder if the fact that jill has the omniopaque type solution in her band makes a difference, while we just have saline??? I am doing all liquids today. I am sticking to my "diet" but the scale is not moving, so that's when I do a liquid day. Went clothes shopping today... didn't go well. At my height, I need petites and they only go up to size 16, which is smaller than a plus size 16, so I figure I have about 12 to 15 pounds to get there! And there are almost no petites in plus size to choose from. In one large Dept store, they did not have one pair of petite pants in size 16 plus. And NOW my weight loss has stalled! Discouraging day to say the least.

Your band might just be tighter than other people's band. Following surgery there can be swelling and this is one of the reasons that Dr's recommend liquids after surgery for several weeks. You can get Protein in broths and a quick dose of protein by drinking an Isopure CLEAR drink, 160 calories 40 gms protein. Even if you hate the taste surely you can get one bottle a day in and then supplement your diet with other fluids you like. Your band will lossen as you lose weight and/or post op swelling goes down. How solid is the protein you're trying to eat? Cottage cheese is a soft protein, some mashed up Beans etc. After 12 days, most Dr. would not advise solids protein. It's too early to doubt your decision, you're still healing. Hang in there!

We are all so different and the amount of fill for one person doesn't match what someone else needs. I think all the November people are getting closer to a good level for each of us and I think it's about time! I put my next fill off by an extra week because we are going away for the weekend. right now I know what goes down and I didn't want to worry about trying everything all over again, while I wasn't home. My current fill level gives me some extra willpower, but I am not satisfied between meals long enough even on very solid food. I wish I had hit my sweet spot sooner!

I hope we all make good choices later as well, I just know that I haven't hit the six month mark and don't want to judge too quickly until I'm there. She did say she got right back on track the next day and don't we all know people that have been "normal" weight their whole life, that binge occassionally and then get back on track? That's what keeps them normal weight. But yeah, if we let ourselves get too carried away, we could easily go right back where we came from. If we want this weight to stay off permanately, we really need to make better choices, long term. Even at the six month mark, we'll still be new at this new tool and the new requirements it takes. And trust me, when I read the post I was thinking the EXACT same thing. I hope I have the same comittment three months from now, that I currently have at three months out. I just wanted to say that the newly banded, might not be the best ones to judge her admitted mistake.

I know we cringe when we see someone that says they ate 2 eclairs at one time, BUT it's easy for you, after being banded only 6 days, to not completely understand the mind set or level of restriction a person that is 6 months out of surgery. Our motivation and possibly some surgery swelling, which gives us restriction can be more powerful right after surgery. Mine was. Commitment is great, but as we all know it can fade, just like many previous diets we have tried, where our committment is strong on Monday and fades by Friday. I totally agree more restraint is needed to be successful with the band and the person that posted that had a pretty bad day, but it's hard to walk in another's shoes. You and I have not yet reached the six month mark, so I'll reserve judgement for now. Good Luck with your journey and hope you beat that coffee monkey on your back. And if it's all "in our minds" why do we get bands?

sounds like you are too tight and you're losing weight through starvation. Where was your Protein in the day's food you listed? How can you be working out every day without getting adequate nutrients and getting the protein you need. The "pouch" is meant to keep you satisfied by holding solid food. In the day's food you listed you didn't have any solid food. How can the Dr. tell you what YOU feel inside YOUR stomach or what should go down your throat? Most likely with the level of restriction you have, you'll lose weight and the band will loosen some and you'll be able to eat a little better. This might be what the Dr. is hoping will happen with some waiting time. But that is not the intent of the band or how it should work. I know I need some more restriction, but I can eat chicken, beef, eggs, Cereal, salad, apples, cooked veggies and I hope I can always eat these foods.

Kim in MD, I've read the long term stats, but it seems that many of the people on the forum do not meet, but rather exceed the first year stat. Perhaps it is their level of motivation, exercise, williness to diet until restriction, or their Dr.'s possible more aggressive fill schedule. Long term, I can totally see how the stats change. We all become complacent and some old habits can come back and the weigh rebounds a bit. This is what the long term weight graphs indicate. I guess if a patient has alot of weight to lose the percentage of weight loss the first year will be higher as in your example of a person that needs to lose 200 pounds. I was basing it on a person with less weight to lose.

I am really working on this issue lately. For years, just eating without thinking was the routine and we never listened to any signals except a full belly. I do not want my band to be so overfilled that nothing goes down, so that I simply lose weight by starvation. I do want/need some restriction, but I hope to be able to eat healthy food like chicken, beef, eggs, fruit, cooked veggies, salad, etc. If I am over restricted then I'll resort to soft foods that don't keep my pouch full. I am learning to drink a bottle of Water first if I think I'm hungry and some days I can eat a reasonable portion and though I could eat more, if I stop and wait a half hour I realize I'm fairly satisfied with the portion I've had. This is a whole new way of eating and getting used to it won't happen overnight. I expect to make some mistakes along the way. The only time now I get the "old" full belly feeling is if I have a lot of water to drink. I am happy to say that when I went to a party today, I ate only Protein and salad for the meal and I had two small bites of the cake and one bite of some other dessert thing. Huge victory for me to not eat the whole piece of cake!

Drinking after waiting the one hour after your meal is strongly encouraged after banding. I have 3 -16oz bottles of flavored Water ( like Propel) during the day and a cup or two of tea and a 10 oz glass of liquid Protein. I feel well hydrated on that, but you could have more if you want, as long as you don;t drink with the meal or within the hour after a meal.