AirKuhl

...this is one of the reasons I never volunteered the information about my surgery to 99% of the people I know. Not because I'm trying to hide anything as I freely tell anyone who asks me how I lost weight. It's just that I spent literally over a year of focused research to decide the best option for me. A random comment from someone who has no idea what my issues are or what this surgery is really about is a waste of air.

You'll know right off the bat. I would call it uncomfortable as opposed to painful but YMMV. Just stop eating as soon as you feel any discomfort and wait a bit. It takes time to get used to eating in a whole meal what used to be just a few bites before banding. A quick look online shows a can of Spaghettio's have 360 calories, 74g of carbs and 12g of Protein. That's a LOT of simple carbs. You would be much better off with a can of Chunky chicken and Vegetable Soup, with 186 calories, 26g carbs and 14g protein. It's also a larger amount of food overall and IMO much more satisfying to eat. Consider this a hobby. Learn how to read labels. Some foods in the grocery store seem almost identical, but one will have 3x the calories and 4x the carbs as the other brand. There are some good sites to start researching. Eat This, Not That - The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution From Men's Health CalorieKing - Diet and weight loss. Calorie Counter and more

Surgery Thursday, back to work Monday (desk job).

Cracker Barrel doesn't publish nutritional information unfortunately, but this is on their website as suggestions for people watching calories, hope it helps someone: Turkey sausage is offered as an alternative to regular sausage. Entree salads are available on the menu. Grilled chicken and Grilled Fish are available as meat selections for Country dinner Plates. Promise® spread is available as an alternative to butter. Egg Beaters® are available on the Breakfast menu and can be substituted on any breakfast at no additional charge. oatmeal is available on the menu. Apple Bran Muffins are available as a bread choice. Decaffeinated Hot Tea and coffee are available as additional beverages. Fresh Bananas and Raisins are available. Low Fat Milk and Skim Milk are available. Our orange juice, grapefruit juice, and apple cider are all pure, with no additives or added sugars. Special K, Wheaties, and Cheerios are included in our dry Cereal offering. Fat Free Thousand Island, Fat Free Ranch, Fat Free Honey Mustard, and Fat Free Italian dressings are available. Sweet & Low, Splenda and Equal are available on each table. Low Calorie Fruit Spread is available. sugar free Syrup is available. Diet Root Beer as well as Diet Coke are available. Boiled Chicken Tenders are not printed on the menu, but are available upon request. No Sugar Added Apple Pie and No Sugar Added vanilla Ice Cream are available.

I hear ya. I was fine with minimal carbs until I started working out. Now I MUST eat some carbs for fuel before the gym or I run out of steam. Don't need much, a 90 calorie Special K bar is enough. I try to look for carbs that have some Fiber to them, like whole fruit or at least an oatmeal or "zone" bar.

I eat normally, whatever we as a family decide on. Cooking, restaurants, bread, Pasta, pancakes, pizza, rice, whatever. Been that way since a week or two after banding. Some are easier than others, some I really need to make sure I chew extra well. I try to make good decisions and avoid simple carbs like white starches as much as possible, why waste my limited space on that crap? Still can't quite deal with scrambled eggs though. :confused: The quantities I eat are small. I eat less than my 10 yo daughter. A huge meal for me is a whole can of Chunky Soup, I'll eat that for dinner on days that I work out, a whopping 300-400 calories? I used to eat 300 calories per bite, lol. Hardest part for me is throwing away a lot of food when I eat out. I grew up as a "clean your plate, there's starving people in Africa" kid. But now I'll get a sandwich at the cafeteria at work, eat half the filling, 2 bites of the roll, and maybe 3 french fries. When I throw the container in the trash it feels like it weighs the same as when I got it. :cursing:

In general, Protein sources do. Lots of great recipes and ideas in these food and cooking sub-forums. Aside form the obvious meat sources, I'll eat some cheese on crackers instead of just the cheese, I'll eat less because the crackers help me feel full for longer so I'll eat less overall. Greek yogurt is one of my go-to foods. I like grilled veggies as well, make sure you chew well. Try to stay away from the obvious foods that the band doesn't help you with, things that get very liquid once swallowed, even if not when first eaten. Ice cream, chocolate, candy, sugary drinks, high calorie liquids like smooth cream based Soups and so on.

Are you this drama filled IRL? Do you expect total strangers to drop everything immediately and answer your queries ASAP? Might explain why people leave you alone. Not counting the complaint in this thread you posted 4 times and 3 times people replied within hours. The fourth time you didn't ask anything so no one replied. The windmill's thattaway, Don Quixote.

I recall that the average is 50% of your goal in the first year. Work out the numbers and you'll get the average lbs per month for you specifically. That's the average, some are quicker and some slower. The % means more than the pounds. A 45 BMI person will seem to lose much more weight than a 35 BMI one. There are people on this forum that lost almost as much as my total goal in just the pre-op diet. And never get discouraged, this is not a diet, it's the rest of your life. As long as weight is dropping at whatever pace, you are going in the right direction.

I eat dessert once or twice a week. Reese's Peanut Butter cups, ice cream, apple strudel, whatever. I'll have a few drinks once a week or so too. Life's too short to not enjoy yourself occasionally. If my weight loss is slower than it otherwise would been then that's fine. Still losing, still feeling great. This is not a diet, this is me for the rest of my life. I have no intention or desire to not enjoy myself.

I fly all the time and never noticed anything band related. You'll be fine.

Grats!!! 100lbs is my goal, I'm 80lbs after 9 months, hope to hit my goal at 1 year. These last 20-30 lbs are tough. :-)

I have to call BS on this one. I can't imagine that much pressure building up without the gas either going north or south. I don't drink soda but I drink beer and never had any discomfort. I probably burp a bit more than normal and that's it.

I eat cereal all the time. Carbs are not automatically evil. You really have to read the labels though, The difference between healthy and unhealthy cereal is huge and which is which is non-intuitive. For example, granola looks and sounds healthy but it probably the highest calorie cereal you can eat. I use a very small bowl that holds less than a cup which helps. There's really no such thing as just "carbs" for nutritional purposes. There are really good ones, bound in lots of fiber with a low glycemic index that's very good for you and provide much needed energy and raises your metabolism. And then there's white sugar, white starch and HFCS. Eating an apple and drinking a glass of apple juice might have the same calories and carbs, but they will effect you very differently.

Greek yogurt with cinnamon and Splenda, smoked almonds, dill pickles, chocolate Protein drink, small amount of Pop chips, a few Triscuits with bleu cheese, beef Jerky. I'll occasionally splurge with a small amount of expensive top quality dark chocolate, eaten as slowly as I can possibly manage.

This is exactly what happened to me. 60lbs in 6 months, then nothing for 2+ months. Now I lost 20 more in around 2 months again. Plateau's are very normal, don't get discouraged. They will pass. My own personal non-doctor theory is that your body adapts to what you are doing after a time and stabilizes. As fat people, our bodies are remarkably likely to go into conservation mode and adapt quickly and efficiently. Which is great in times of famine, not so much in modern society. IMO you have to shock your system every once in a while to break that stability and start losing again. Have a splurge weekend and eat whatever you want, but just for that weekend. Then start fresh with renewed determination. Stop exercising for 4 days, then get back in it more than ever. Try different exercises. Find some new healthy things to eat and change things around. Go low carb for a few weeks, then low fat, then switch back again. Most important (for me anyway) is to stay busy! I only seem to get hungry these days if I'm sitting in front of the TV or computer. That tells me it's head hunger not real hunger. Learn to play an instrument, garden, paint, swim, anything to get your mind off of boredom snacking. Good luck.

I rarely weigh myself, I go by belt loops. Nothing wrong with a scale as long as you don't get stressed by the natural up and downs your weight goes through. Also, when I finally started working out I gained a couple of pounds after a few weeks but went down 2" in my waist. Muscle weighs 120% as much as fat. I'd rather look lighter than be lighter.

I handle it by drinking right up until my food arrives. I can drain a large unsweetened ice tea between the drink order and the entree arriving. Makes it easy to not drink for an hour or so after eating. Neither my doctor nor myself understand why some doctors say don't drink before meals, he encourages it.

Easy. Smile, nod and ignore them. There is only one person in the world that will ultimately determine your success or failure and that's you.

Not sure what I can add that hasn't already been said. The quote above is completely untrue. If someone really told you that, they are either incompetent or lying. There is no such thing as a zero effort weight loss solution. People can and do gain weight with the lapband, RNY, gastric sleeve, you name it. It's a cliche, but these are all simply tools to help you lose weight. You will NOT lose weight without trying. You have to want to lose it and put the effort in. The band requires a good fill to be really useful. Too little and you eat too much, too full and you end up cheating on "easy" foods which typically are fattening. At some point, you WILL have to become more active. I don't know anyone who has hit their target weight, regardless of system, who did it without becoming more physically active. As you lose weight, you will get more energy which will make it easier and even enjoyable to be active, so hang in there. But at the end of the day, YOU lose or gain wait. Not the band, surgery, meal plan or nutritionist. Only YOU can control your destiny. So get on with it. I know you can.

I appreciate where you are coming from and I know your intentions are good. For the record I agree that eating red meat CAN increase chances of many health issues. Or if you want to be picky, things like choline, excess Iron and saturated fat. The WCRF (World Cancer Research Fund) recommends no more than 17.6 oz. of red meat per week to avoid these issues. BTW, note that all of these questionable substances are also found in many other foods including vegetarian sources. My point is simply that for me, the risk is worth it. EVERYTHING in excess has risks. Eat too much Tofu? Cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's, thyroid dysfunction. You seem to be extremely health focused and risk-averse, which is commendable. I indulge in a wide variety of risky activities, from eating medium-rare pork to racing cars to riding motorcycles to eating unidentifiable street food in third world countries to the occasional cigar, bourbon or recreational herbal inhalant, lol. I'm OK with that. I'm physically and psychologically in the best health of my life right now despite all of the above. All of these risks are completely dwarfed by the damage overeating was doing to me. I guess I'm saying that for me life is more about quality than quantity. Anyway, more power to you and I sincerely respect the disciplined way you approach the betterment of your health. You are doing a good thing by raising all of these alarms. People should at least look into these things and decide for themselves. I concede that you are doing it the "right" way and I encourage readers to strive to match the standard you have set. It's just not for me. :tongue:

Teflon does indeed emit fumes when the pan is overheated. Never fry bacon or heat oil to the smoking point in a teflon pan, or stick it under a broiler. It's fine at saute temps. I have a parrot that hangs out in the kitchen and he's healthy with 15 years of using non-stick pans. I'm more concerned about uncoated aluminum pans as aluminum has been directly linked to early onset of Alzheimer's in some people. Never cook acidic foods in uncoated aluminum. I do 90% of my cooking in stainless steel and cast Iron.

Hmm, I usually just burp long before I feel any discomfort. Not sure how it could stretch unless you can't burp for some reason. Anyway, empty calories or artificial sweeteners are a good enough reason for me to avoid soda.

I agree that you should limit most artificial sweeteners, potentially nasty stuff in excess. Sucralose (Slenda) seems to be OK because it actually is sugar, except one of the angles in the molecule is such that your body can't absorb it. Stevia is a natural plant extract but it has a distinct flavor so try it and see if it works for you. Splenda fudgicles are good but it's hard not to eat too much. My go-to for sweets is about a cup of Fage 0% fat greek yogurt flavored with about a teaspoon of local honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon and a dash of vanilla. Filling and delicious for around 150 calories, along with around 15g of Protein.

Sometimes you just gotta eat out. One thing that helped me is I bought that book "Eat This not That". That was a REAL eye-opener about how many calories a lot of fast foods have, and how some of the ones that sound like healthy choices are really the worst ones on the menu. Ever just order an appetizer, thinking you're being good? There are 2,000+ calorie appetizers out there. Ever order the grilled chicken instead of the steak? The chicken might have 3 times the calories and sodium because of the sauces they use. Ever let your kids get the Mac-n-cheese kids meal? In one place, one kid-size portion has more calories and sodium than 3.5 full boxes of Kraft Mac-n-Cheese. Or Starbucks drinks with 160 grams of sugar. That's over 1/3 of a pound of sugar. Hardest part of eating out is arming yourself with information. If you can't find a book, a lot of chains have nutritional info online if you dig hard enough. Find it, download it, print it and keep it in your car. Good luck!