shortgal

Once you finish your meds and problem is resolved, try eating 10 to 12 radishes or 1 package each week. My husband has not had an attack since he started that. Once you get the "crystals" in your joint or toes, they stay there and just seem to flair up and get aggravated. Let me know if it works for you, too! P.S. in the old days, Gout was considered a "rich" man disease, as it seemed to be related to alcohol, red meat and a rich diet.

GNC stores sell the Isopure Clear

Well besides what I listed above for my food today, I can add: dinner: Lean cuisine, more almonds AND one packet of the stupid "weight control" oatmeal. This is the most I have eaten yet! Tomorrow, I am doing liquids, if I can only make it until dinner, I'll have to hope that's enough, but I have to stop this, now! Now I'm asking myself questions. Like, did the last fill actually go in the port? If I can't get a grip on this, I'm calling and asking to move up my appt! I think I am now officially the slowest loser in the November group and I'm about to cry. This is not what I want the band to be about!

My doctor gave me a list of food and Protein sources for each stage of the post op diet. There are at least two Isopure. One is a CLEAR pre-mixed drink with 40 gms of protein and one is a powder. I was told NOT to use the powder for several weeks post op, but the CLEAR pre-mixed drink was an acceptable way to get protein in. Many people on the forum do not like the Isopure Clear. I don;t mind it over ice and very cold. They have several flavors. Even if you don;t love it, if you can tolerate it, it's a great way to get a lot of protein in, especially in the few couple week post op. I just suggest you don't buy in large quantities until you know you'll drink it. Even at seven weeks post op, I drink a bottle occassionally to get extra protein in or on days after my fills, when I must be on liquids for two days.

Jill, I've had three fills and I'm supposed to be around 4cc's, but I am so hungry and meals just aren't filling me. they put in 2ccs first fill and then 1cc second and third time. Getting very frustrated now as my willpower has totally given out. I have a full week until my next appt. So afraid I will gain before then. I want to do a day of just liquids tomorrow and have done that weeks previously to help scale go down, but I don't know that I can do it this time! I watched the Barefoot Contessa earlier on food network and I was actually mad that she is fat but seems happy! LOL. I don't want to "waste" the weeks until I get good restriction, so I've been trying so hard to be good ( and have been) but I'm losing it!

I just bought some of the weight control oatmeal but it has more calories than the regular kind... what's up with that? I am having a very difficult day... craving all day long. B'fast: 3/4 c Special K low carb Cereal with 1/2 c skim milk. Snack: 10 oz of Isopure CLEAR 10 Almonds Lunch: Homemade Chix soup with some small noodles, carrots and potatoes PLUS one non fat sugar free yogurt. Snack: 1/2 of an EAS Protein bar ( hated it, but ate it anyway). Dinner: Don't know yet, but I'm hungry! This is going to be a long week until my appt NEXT TUES! I'm thinking I need to do a day of full liquids and stay under 900 calories. Can I do it???? When will I get restriction?

Once you get the gout under control, eat radishes and you can drink some black cherry juice to help prevent future attacks. The radishes will of course be lower in calories and sugar. This works! My husband has had gout attacks and tried the radishes and it works. He now eats some regularly and no more attacks. Don;t know if it will clear it up while you're having an active attack, but it did for my husband with NO prescription RX. It's most likely the extra Protein you're consuming, especially red meat!

You definitely need to get a handle on expecting rapid weight loss after the first two weeks, because looking at your BMI whiich is low, you should expect to lose slower than someone with a higher BMI. It's just the way it is for most of us!

SADES: Ditto for me. I have been relying on willpower for at least the last month and just don't feel like I can hold on longer without a fill that works. I know once I get the fill that works, it might be short lived, but even a week or two of restriction would be a relief. I watched my family eat pizza this weekend and resisting is not easy ( but I did). I have another week before my next appt. UGH!

SkinnyJill: You found it! Thursday there'll be a week 3 Thread! I doubt I'm going to be happy by Thurs tho' b/c this fill did not give me restriction. I don't think the scale will go down for me this week. This waiting for the first real good restriction is very frustrating! I feel like time is just being wasted until then.

SkinnyJill. Don't forget to post on the WEEK 2 page of the Valentine day Challenge. This thread is the original and cindy is posting a new thread for each week of the challenge. We don't want your stats to get lost, especially since you're doing so well!

LONGHORN: For making your own juice, I've read that adding a small apple will help the flavor of juices made with veggies. Try searching online for juicer receipes. Great idea for getting your veggies in. I've been reading about everyone in the other thread, so nice to get to know you all better.

I was so hopeful at my last fill that I would get some restriction, but nothing. Fortunately, my dr. does not make me wait more than 2 weeks before I can get another and I'll be at that appt right on time! I just can't rely on willpower anymore. I'm not going crazy on food or anything, but if I don't get my calories under 1000 for at least a couple days a week, the scale doesn't move. I know this isn't supposed to be a race to lose, but the slow down of weight loss is mentally depressing. I'm ok with slow and steady, but a stand still is just awful and from the posts, I can see others feel the same way. I hope next appt helps, but I said that last appt!

Well, we have our challenge going to help keep us motivated, but I thought it'd be nice if we shared a little personal info about ourselves so we know each other more than just how much we want to weigh! Share as much or as little as you'd like. Here's me: I am 56 and live in FFld County, CT. I am married, have two grown children. A daughter 30,dental office manager, married and living in Las Vegas, her husband is a firefighter. A son 29, engaged to be married late Sept, lives in Mass. works for a biodiesel fuel co. as the transportation co-ordinator. I have NO grandchildren yet. I trained about 20 years ago as a dental assistant and worked for over 8 years as a surgical assistant and office manager for an Oral surgeon. I later began working as a medical receptionist in a primary care office 2 to 3 days a week. I left that position last April and now am unemployed by choice. I also manage our rental properties. We have three houses in RI close to the beach. We rent to university students from Sept to May and then weekly from June through Aug for beach vacationers. I field the e-mails, (that's why I'm online and on computer all the time), handle the leases, summer rental agreements, advertising, and bank accounts for the houses. We are very busy last the two weeks of May as our students leave and we clean the inside and yards of the houses and repaint etc. as needed to prepare for the summer season. It's a lot of work, but we, both my husband and I enjoy it. My husband works for Cadbury/Dr. Pepper as a district sales manager. His territory is mostly CT. Mass, RI. His office is at home, but he travels most days to his customers and has occassional overnight trips. Hope that wasn't too long! Hope to hear from more of the November Valentine day challenge people!

A lot depends on your pre-op and post op diet. The fast you went from liquids to soft food, I think the slower your weight loss will be until you get some restriction. You could count calories and track Protein intake for a few days to see what your intake is. If you're above 1200 calories weight loss can be slower, depending on your starting BMI.

Lots of good info, Thanks. I must have had a lot of swelling initially, because I had nothing in my band at surgery yet felt some restriction for a few weeks that gradually diminished. The last two fills didn't do anything! Hope the next does. It should, because my weight will not be a lot less at next appt vs. last appt ( unfortunately).

Kristin: You are so focused! Way to go! I have NOT gotten my a** in gear exercise wise, but I have remained committed to small portions and no treats. My biggest problem is the lack of Fiber and the results of that. I am feeling sluggish becasue of it and have decided to start adding small amount of benefiber daily to my Water.

Great to hear about your lives. Everyone has such an interesting family or job. I forgot to mention we have a golden retriever "Sonny". He is a senior citizen now at over 14 and having some trouble with stairs now, but he's been a great dog. He's the last one standing of the four pets we had at one time. We a cat and then acquired a small Lhasa poo "Sweetums" and then another cat and then the Golden. It will be very hard when we have no pets, but I'm very undecided if I want to start with another puppy. I'd love have another small dog, except for the inconvenience when we travel. WENDY: How great you have your husband as a "band" partner. I confess I am jealous many times when my husband eats something delicious in front of me. LONGHORN: sounds like you are on track with getting a trainer and another fill. CINDY: We just got back from the Cape. Our son is getting married Late Sept. on the Cape and we went up this weekend to find a rehearsal dinner place. His future in laws currently live in NY, but have a home in Dennis. The reception is at Ocean Edge in Brewster. We just got to see it this weekend and it's beautiful. KRISTIN: Can't believe how well your weight loss is going. You seem very focused and you're lucky you've had great restriction. I don't think this last fill did it for me. I'm so surprised when I read posts that people say they had 4cc put in their band at Surgery. I am just at 4cc after seven weeks! I did have one mild "stuck" episode this weekend, but most food is going down too easily. I'll know how I did tomorrow a.m. when I weigh myself! GO NOVEMBER NYMPTHS!

I think CanadaGirl said it well. I would add that post op the GBS patients lose so quickly that they are very happy when they visit the DR as they are getting fast results. Then their appts taper off and trust me GB patients can gain weight back as well and well the Dr doesn;t know they have gained and maybe aren't as happy. Both methods have pros and cons and my Dr let us each decide for ourselves which method we were most comfortable with and that makes sense to me. But Dr's are humans and they can be influenced by factors just like we patients are and they end up with their own opinions, too! Get informed and get the facts and decide what's best for you! P.S. Whether you lose fast or slow, you most likely will have excess skin after losing 100 pounds.

Please call your doctor today and talk to him/her about this.

Way to go, Pandagirl. With that type of commitment, you should be very successful with your band.

Whenever I see someone your age ( 19 right?) post with these kind of questions, I cringe. I have to ask, in your short years, is it really possible that you've given other methods of weight loss a SERIOUS try? Surgery is a BIG step and shouldn't be taken lightly. Have you tried weight watchers or Atkins or South Beach type diets? I mean REALLY tried, not like one week. Now I'm not saying I'm against WLS surgery in young adults, but I think it is truly important that they understand the lifestyle changes necessary for the band to be successful. You also do not mention how many pounds you need to lose. With a serious weight loss attempt, most young men lose weight very well. Will it bother you if you can never eat a steak again? Or a piece of white bread? Some banders can, some can't and it's hard to know in advance which one you'll be. While you're reading all about the lapband, why not try to follow a banders normal diet for a few weeks, so you can kind of "try it on". Keep your portions smaller than usual, always eat Protein first, then veggies, then small amount of carbs. Also try not eating white bread, because after banding you might not tolerate it well. Also, don't drink liquids with your meal and then after the hour wait, hydrate well. Last give up carbonated drinks. Follow this for one or two weeks and ask yourself if you want this long term, because at 19, it will be long term. Gastric banding can be a great tool, but it should not be considered an "easy, quick, fix". Please learn all you can before making your decision.

I started menopausal symptons a few years ago. Before that my period was very regular and then my hormone levels must have just plummeted. I was having hot flashes like crazy. Some would last 10 minutes and I had up to four an hour! I wasn;t sleeping well and it was just really interfering with my life. I was also afraid to get an RX. I finally went to see my Dr and got a Prescription for a patch. I read the side effects and freaked out, so the RX sat on my desk for two weeks or more. Well, I had a really bad night and lots of hot flashes and just decided to try the patch. I knew I could stop it if I wanted to. Well everything improved and then I lowered the dose of the patch. That went well, too. At the time of my band surgery, I didn;t want to have a patch on, so I left it off and it's been off since. Seven weeks! I still get some hot flashes and I still have more trouble sleeping. If I feel it gets really bad, I'll get back on my patch. At my next GYN appt, I think I might ask about a low dose pill instead. I'll decide based on symptoms.

Hi Kellie, the best person to help you, is YOU! Learn all about diabetes and how to manage it. It can sometimes be cured or you can have better management of it through diet, depending on the type you have. Some diabetics can get off medication they're taking just through watching their food intake and lowering their weight. Learn and read all about the lapband. There are many web sites, books that you can research and read about both. when you are better informed you can talk to you doctors (and your parents) about choices available to you. Good Luck.

Did this inability to eat good foods start within 2 weeks of a fill? Maybe you need a little taken out? You should be eating Protein first, veggies second and small amounts of carbs, if you have room. Protein: start on soft protein, tuna, soft chicken like rotiserrie style, ground turkey made into a burger or meatloaf. Any soft protein that you like. Then add some soft cooked veggies. And see how those things work. Mentioned above in a post, is yogurt, look for sugar free, non fat, sugar free puddings etc. How about some oatmeal at b'fast or a scrambled egg?