stinaNYC

I know what you mean, Rainer...it took me a long time to get it through my thick skull that the days of sausage and eggs with toast and home fries were gone, gone, gone. I think we all sorta want to retain some sort of eating ritual or "memento" from our pre-band days as a way to make the switch to this new life easier. The simple fact is that, if you have really good restriction, chances are you won't be able to have Breakfast anymore...at least not in the way you remember it. Personally, I can't eat or drink ANYTHING until around 11:30 AM...breakfast is just GONE for me. It used to be my faveorite meal of the day. That realization made me so sad, but then I stopped and asked myself "Why is the *act* of eating breakfast so important to me?" When I realized I had no real answer for that above and beyond "Because it's what I've always done!", it was easier to stop trying to force the issue...because "what I've always done" is what made me all big and fat in the first place! So, all this to say...PUT DOWN THE BANANA!!!! :eek:

One of the staff at my doc's office offered this bit of information about morning tightness: Trying to eat breakfast can be troublesome. Early to mid morning the Lap-Band feels much tighter. This may be due to circadian rhythm and cortisone secretions, so skip breakfast. If you are able to tolerate a Protein shake to get your day going, by all means, please do. It might be helpful to thin out the Protein Shake by adding Water or skim milk to it.

Thanks so much...I feel much better now! I was really worried...and grossed out, to say the least! :eek:

Hey, bigmarathoner...I take whatever the gym offers up. It's sort of a combo of sun salutations and free-standing poses...nothing too cerebral, but I do take two different classes- one emphasizes stretching and the other is more strengthening. I actually started taking yoga as a way to get myself back into exercising after I got the band (which, like, took about A YEAR...i know...so lazy!). I had absolutely NO idea at the time what wonders yoga does for your ass! Seriously...I love my ass so much now. And just yesterday I did the Crane pose (i think that was it)...the one where you sorta balance your knees on your hands and triceps. Dang, that was hard, but then I realized "Hey! I have triceps?!?"

I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience as me. I have very good restriction right now, and had a skinny latte from Starbucks about 4 hours ago. Just now, I had some Water and it felt like there was something else rolling around in my pouch. I gently brought up some of whatever it was...lo and behold... ...this is where it gets gross... ...little pebble-type things came up! They weren't hard...they were mushy and sorta looked like brown pop-rocks (the latte had mocha syrup). After...yeah, I did this...smushing it between my fingers, I concluded that they were from the milk of the latte that just got stuck or something. There had to be about a tablespoon of them in my pouch. I've also had this happen once or twice before with Protein drinks. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I be concerned?

I brought the issue of caloric intake up with my doctor and explained to him that I was concerned that I was plateauing for so long (like 8 months) with the substantial restriction I had (I was at 2.0 in a 4.0 cc band, which is a lot for me). I told him I thought that maybe I needed to eat more so that my body would get out of starvation mode. His answer suprised me completely. Those studies and guidelines on the Basal Metabolic Rate really don't apply to people like us...the extremely overweight and morbidly obese. Our bodies' physiology when it comes to fuel consumption, storage and usage are different than those of "normal" people...the ones on whom these studies are conducted. He put it bluntly...the obese use fuel differently, and all those guidelines are bunk for us. Occasionally bumping up caloric intake a little bit may help, but at the end of the day, if you're gaining weight, you need more restriction to eat fewer calories. Which actually makes sense, if you think about it. Haven't we all heard how much easier it is to lose weight quickly when we're larger/heavier...how the last 20-30 lbs are always the toughest? That's because our bodies simply don't need all the calories we put into them...that's why we're fat! When we restrict calories as larger people, it's forced to use the stored fuel as energy, making us weigh less. If our bodies, which don't need that much fuel, are stalling out on weight loss, it's probably because we've reached some sort of equilibrium bewteen the calories we put in and the stored fuel remaining in our bodies. Bumping up the calories over the long haul will make us store that excess again. Restricting calories will set us on that downward path we want...just as it did in the beginning of our band journey. And if you think about some more...that sorta makes us more efficient "machines", right? We're like a car that burns less fuel to run! Sorry for the rant. This stuff just facinates me. (BTW, I agreed to more restriction after an 8 month stall and subsequent 10 lbs gain. .8 ccs and one week later, I'm down 11 lbs. Guess my doc was right!)

Wow...how awful that must have been for you! I hate it when things just linger above the band. Feels so frikkin weird! If an old LAP band vet may offer some advice...if you ever have anything that's *that* stuck again, there's a way to "PB" without actually burping or retching and stressing the band. It's a nifty trick I learned by accident in Yoga class. Staying a few minutes in the "downward facing dog" or "down dog" position lets gravity do its job on whatever is stuck in there...I call it the "tip me over and pour me out" method. You're literally in a position where your esophagus is inverted, and the food has no where else to go but in...and then out...of your mouth. But I'm glad you've got it fixed now!

I make a slow-cooker eggplant parmasian and the eggplant just melts in your mouth. Bread the eggplant, add sauce and cheese like you would for a normal parmesean receipe, and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Count me in as another Indian/Pakastani food lover. I find that since I was banded (I'm 20 months out) I cannot tolerate vindaloo, but I can do with any spicyness up to about a level 6. Anything higher irritates my pouch and makes my opening swell up to the point where food can't pass. On the Water issue...I don't sip water to make the spicyness go away, BUT I always try to have sliced cucumbers around (which really help to cool off the mouth). Or, I will chew a mouthfull of Naan just to soak up the spices/oils and then spit it out into a napkin (gross, right!).

I'm going to be the person that everyone throws heavy objects at...I didn't exercise for the first year after I was banded and still lost 90 lbs. All my weight loss came from food modification. It was only after I reached one year that I started to workout...ironically, I haven't lost much weight since then! I know it's because I'm gaining muscle (I weight train 3 days a week, do yoga twice a week and pilates once a week), so I'm not trying to tell you not to exercise because the scale won't move downwards. My doctor was very up-front with me before I had the surgery...he told me that exercise is very good for you, but it's not the deciding factor in one's weight loss. It helps minimally, but ultimately it's about calorie intake. My advice? If you want to be active, you don't have to knock yourself out...at least not every day and not at first. Walk, do yard work, maybe even dance in your living room like a maniac when no one is home to watch! But you don't have to be Tami Lee Webb (of Buns of Steel fame) in order to lose the weight.

I use and love Cinch powders...they aren't as high in proteins as the others mentioned, but they also aren't as chalky tasting. Plus, the have Leucine in them...it's an amino acid that bonds to lean muscle and aids in retaining muscle mass while losing weight.

From my experience, it really depends on what kind of rice you eat. The white rice they serve with Chinese food is impossible for me to eat, even if I have sauce. WHole grain and wild rice? Totally fine. I don't know for certain, but I think it just has to do with the way it is cooked. I think steamed or microwave rice might be more difficult that baked or slow-cooked rice...the method of cooking I think changes the consistency of the grain, making it more difficult for us with bands.

Okay...here I go with my first attempt at posting pics! The first was taken for my package to be considered for the band. It was taken in late November 2005- 3 months before surgery. I was about 280. I would gain about 15 lbs before I went on the liquid diet. The second was taken tonight...20 months and 90 lbs after surgery. Please pardon my icky hair...I'm getting ready to go to bed! 3 months before surgery: 20 months after: