ErinR

I am passing on a file from a fellow bandster and his experience with this same thing. It is long, but really informative! (I hope he does not mind) I hope this may help a bit. I was just banded on the 19th and am also a night eater so I am hoping once I can eat that this will help me too. Good Luck! :: <TT>Subject: my revelation (LOOOOOOONG post, but worth reading!)</TT> <TT>NEWER POST:</TT> <TT>HI again, folkses! Wellll, I promised I would post regarding the significant</TT> <TT>something that I learned last weekend, tomorrow, but I'm at work with not too</TT> <TT>much to do today and need to look busy, so I'll type this on wordpad and cut 'n'</TT> <TT>paste into an e-mail! >;o)</TT> <TT>When I was in Tijuana last Saturday getting my fill, Dr Kuri showed me that my</TT> <TT>restriction was in fact adequate on the flouro. Being the stubborn cuss I am, I</TT> <TT>asked him for a small top-up anyway, because I've been HUNGRY for the last three</TT> <TT>or four weeks, and my weight loss has essentially stopped. (Please see my post</TT> <TT>ABOVE for the continuity) I could eat a horse; hooves, tail, shoes and all! I</TT> <TT>have had some meals in these last three weeks or so that would AMAZE any</TT> <TT>bandster! An Example: one dinner was a McD hamburger (bun and all), a Del Taco</TT> <TT>bean burrito, and a Del Taco taco-supreme (WITH the tortillas). Any ONE of</TT> <TT>those should have been enough, but in LESS than 20 minutes, I ate all 3, with NO</TT> <TT>golfball!!!! I felt like my band was WIDE open. I wasn't even particularly</TT> <TT>careful about chewing well. I felt each bite I took go through the stoma within</TT> <TT>SECONDS of swallowing it - it wasn't staying in the pouch, and I wasn't getting</TT> <TT>filled up! - Logical conclusion: My band is too loose. Maybe I have a tubing</TT> <TT>leak, or a bad port. Maybe I just lost too much weight and the fill I got on Jan</TT> <TT>9th wasn't enough. - I dunno, so it's off to see the wizard, and I wind up</TT> <TT>telling Dr Kuri what I have just related to you all.</TT> <TT>Dr Kuri asks me what I eat for the whole day, and I tell him. I have ALWAYS been</TT> <TT>too tight to eat solid food in the morning and ANY attempt to do so resulted in</TT> <TT>me looking at my Breakfast again! I always had 20 oz of hot tea and then 8 to 10</TT> <TT>oz of lowfat milk with a scoop of unjury Protein in it, instead. lunch isn't</TT> <TT>much better, but I could get a Protein Bar down if I took my time and went slow</TT> <TT>- DINNER was the only meal loose enough to be able to eat solid food.</TT> <TT>When I told him that, Dr Kuri was HORRIFIED! He told me to make LUNCH my biggest</TT> <TT>meal of the day and to have a very light supper (dinner - whatever you want to</TT> <TT>call it...). I have heard this advice before, but I had always discounted it as</TT> <TT>"cultural bias" because that's the way Latin American countries customarily do</TT> <TT>it, and then they sleep off the big meal in the afternoon siesta before</TT> <TT>returning to work. A very nice custom, but not conducive to the way things work</TT> <TT>here in the states!</TT> <TT>Welllll - I was wrong! Dr Kuri explained the reasoning behind it to me and it</TT> <TT>made sense: the big meal doesn't pass out of the pouch before you go to bed - a</TT> <TT>large portion just LAYS there in your stomach while you go to sleep. The stomach</TT> <TT>isn't designed for prolonged food storage. It is designed to help break the food</TT> <TT>down and mix it with the acid then send it off to the intestine quickly. When</TT> <TT>the food just sits in there, it irritates the finicky thing and makes it swell</TT> <TT>up, so when you get up in the morning, you can barely drink WATER! Because you</TT> <TT>have to wait for the swelling to go down, you get insufficient nutrition during</TT> <TT>the day. So, by evening you are HUNGRY again and you get your maximum hunger at</TT> <TT>just the same time as your band finally opens. You then overeat, which causes</TT> <TT>the whole cycle to start over again! By having a larger meal at lunch time, you</TT> <TT>are still fairly full by dinner time, and you can get by with a light meal - say</TT> <TT>a bowl of Soup or some such, that passes out of the pouch completely before you</TT> <TT>go to bed. Result: no overnight swelling and you can eat breakfast again the</TT> <TT>next morning!</TT> <TT>Sounded good in theory; Lets see how it works out in practice.... I wanted to</TT> <TT>wait to post this info till I had had a chance to try it out and could report</TT> <TT>ACTUAL RESULTS! Well, the results are - Dr Kuri was (as usual) Right!!!!! I have</TT> <TT>been able to eat breakfast again every morning since I started following his</TT> <TT>advice (note: for this to work, you HAVE to start with a big lunch, then a light</TT> <TT>dinner, then sleep, then the next morning's breakfast will go down!), and my</TT> <TT>weight loss has resumed. If anything, I'm almost uncomfortably full all day</TT> <TT>without eating NEARLY as much as I was before I tried this and was still hungry</TT> <TT>within an hour or so even then!</TT> <TT>I took a banded friend with me who thought she also needed a fill because weight</TT> <TT>loss had stopped and she was able to eat the whole house, including the</TT> <TT>linoleum, in the evening, too. She got no fill, but DID get the same advice from</TT> <TT>Dr Kuri as I did. She has been trying the same regimen as I have, with similar</TT> <TT>results; weight loss started again, no more HUNGRY feeling all evening, and the</TT> <TT>restriction provided by the band is again adequate to the task.</TT> <TT>I now believe that MANY American bandsters are in the same situation and for the</TT> <TT>same reasons as I have just discussed. And, MANY others are OVERTIGHT and</TT> <TT>suffering reflux from getting too tight a fill to try to deal with this very</TT> <TT>problem! Instead of getting another fill when you are already at your sweet</TT> <TT>spot, when the loss begins to slow and stop, and the hunger returns, LOOK AT</TT> <TT>YOUR EATING PATTERN!! If your big meal and/or problem time is in the evening,</TT> <TT>this is very likely what is affecting YOU! Before getting another fill and</TT> <TT>becoming overtight, try altering your meal pattern as discussed above - give it</TT> <TT>a week or two and try to really follow it carefully - I'm here to tell ya, IT</TT> <TT>WORKS! What the heck - if it doesn't, you can always still go get another fill,</TT> <TT>but hey; it's worth a try isn't it? (Not to mention being a </TT><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place><TT>LOT</TT></st1:place><TT> less expensive!)</TT> <TT>What have you got to lose besides a hundred pounds or so... ?</TT> <TT>polarbear Mike, Hesperia CA</TT> <TT>Dr Kuri, </TT><st1:date Month="5" Day="8" Year="2003"><TT>5/8/03</TT></st1:date><TT>, 378 at surgery</TT> <TT>427/250/227-180 (-177 so far)</TT> <TT>BMI 53/32/22 (50 at surgery)</TT>

Awesome! Congrats to you!

I also really like fitday. Some others I've found are:: http://www.nutritiondata.com/ (AWESOME site!!!), Yahoo also has a real nice site with good links :: http://health.yahoo.com/centers/weight_loss/index Good Luck!

I was also banded on the 19th and just entered my 'full liquids' stage (puree). My biggest issue so far has been the gas pain. The heating pad did no good since it sorta 'leashed' me to the couch etc., but I did find that the self-stick 'Thermacare' heat pads you can buy in the first aid section of the grocer worked awesome! I got a pack of the shoulder ones and I can sleep with it on (no worries about electrical problems while I sleep!), walk around, whatever! They have been a lifesaver since I have 2 little boys needing Momma's attention! ::Jill S-- try some beef broth! I am also a salty type person and MAN! did it sure hit the spot! It is considered a clear liquid so you should have no problem. I added in a quarter of an onion when I cooked it (just for added flavor) and just removed the onion before I ate the broth. It was super filling and had that nice salty taste I was needing! (I think the 'Knorr' brand tastes the best)

Hi Patty, Just wanted to post a link for you for your daughter. NYU is currently doing a study for children ages 14+. (free surgery!) Check the website and then click under 'research' and 'clinical trials'. Good Luck to both of you! link:: http://www.thinforlife.med.nyu.edu/ (as for the significant other thing. I am being banded on the 19th and my husband and I have had many talks about how this will change our relationship, but all we can do is pray and plunge ahead!!!)

I really liked the 'Nectar' brand. You can find it online or in some supplement stores. I really liked the 'fuzzy navel' (i.e. peach!) and I would mix it with some Crystal Light Lemonade and have peach lemonade! Yummmmmy!!!

I am using Dr Kuri in TJ, and due to my high level BMI (53) he required a 2 week pre-op liver-shrinking diet (LSD). This is because the liver when fatty is very fragile and it bleeds a lot. The liver is pulled over to the side during this surgery and if it is fatty it can be damaged. The liver shrinking diet is 0-very low carb which forces your body into ketosis (fat burning!) and reduces the size and fat content of your liver. My LSD consists of Protein, protein and more protein and 0-40 (net) carbs. Mostly Protein Bars and Protein Drinks. I also have had some pure protein solids (i.e. lean meat and cheese). Many Docs in the States require a weight loss in the beginning to satisfy insurance requirements (which is usually a 10% reduction in weight) Good Luck on your upcoming surgery!