Jodi_620

I have never kept a food diary and I don't count calories/fat/carbs, weigh or measure my food. I just eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I average about 3/4 cup per meal sometimes eating a little more. I focus on lean Proteins and fresh fruits, veggies and dairy and watch my carbs. Breakfast is a.) Egg Beater omlet with lean meat, cheese, veggies b.) oatmeal cooked in lowfat milk with berries, raisins, dates or nuts. c.) Cold Cereal with fresh fruit and lowfat milk lunch is typically lean Protein with salad greens or protein leftover the dinner the night before. Favorite Lunches: a.) Salmon patty with mayo, shredded lettuce diced tomato on top b.) Chili c.) chicken breast diced on a small chopped salad Dinner choices are endless, we pretty much have whatever I and DH are in the mood for. I make all the dishes that I made pre-band, some dishes had to be reworked to lower fat and carbs and/or eliminate foods I can't tolerated anymore. For instance, I can't eat thick crust so I make a thin crust pizza from low carb wrap bread. I do not make potatoes, rice and Pasta very often because we do not want all that starch in our diet and I try to stick with fresh lean meat and a side of veggies, or meat and veggie stews. We even have takeout every once in a while. Personally, because I knew it would be best for me long-term, I did not want to go into this with a "diet" frame of mind. I chose the surgery because I wanted to eat like a normal person and not have to obsess and track every morsel that goes in my mouth. I choose healthy foods, avoid eating between meals and avoid the processed carbs (to cut back on head hunger) and the band controls the amount I eat and the hunger. I'm not saying that counting, tracking and weighing is not the way to go, just that it is not for me.

It is normal to have no appetite after surgery. The length of time depends on how much swelling you have. Unfortunately, I got my appetite back at around day 7 but I have seen others on this site that didn't get theirs back for a month. Don't wait until you are dizzy, get some nutrition in at least 3 times a day, take your supplements and enjoy this blessing while you have it 'cause it ain't no fund when the hungries come back and you still have weeks till you can eat solids or have a fill

That is port site pain and perfectly normal. This area causes the most discomfort. Your port and the tubing is stitched to muscle and there is a lot of nerve tissue in that area. It gets better every day but it took several weeks for it to heal completely. Just listen to your body and if there is any pain when exercising or lifting don't continue.

I started losing right away and it has stayed steady.

What you can and cannot tolerate varies by person and by restriction. I can eat pretty much any meat most of the time but when I am really tight after a fill, I have to be extra careful. Some days I am tighter and can tolerate less. Sometimes the meat is too dry and I can't get it down as easily. I can eat most fruits/veggies except the fibrous ones like celery, asparagus stems and broccoli stems, apple skins, peach and plum skins and dried apricots. I can not tolerate doughy foods like thick pizza crust or soft breads. As long as you follow the rules for how to eat, you will learn to gauge what you can tolerate and when you need to take it easy. Where exactly do you feel the pinching feeling?

It is normal to gain 5-10 pounds during this stage. Watching what you eat will help to avoid that. Eat lean Protein and veggie based mushies. Like sil said, avoid the carbs. You will not have to stay on a liquid diet to lose weight, you simply need to start using your band. But first you need to allow yourself time to heal. Once you start getting fills you will start using the band. Just be patient.

Sorry to hear that you have an unsupportive doctor. I have PCOS. I was being treated for it and my thyroid disease through my Endocrinologist. My primary doctor was also aware of my condition. Both my Endocrinologist and my Primary Doctor supported the surgery. Not only has the surgery been a success dispite having PCOS but I was able to go off the Metformin and I no longer have any symptoms of having PCOS.

There are three possible causes of hair loss due to weight loss surgery. 1.) Not enough Protein. Be sure to get around 60G of quality protein per day. Try to get it in every meal you eat and if necessary supplement with powders and shakes between meals. 2.) Nutritional Deficiency. Make sure you are taking a high quality daily Vitamin. You may also want to add a Hair, Skin and Nails supplement. They have a ton of B Vitamins and Biotin which is good for hair, try to find one with around 3000mcg of Biotin 3.) Stress. The stress from a sudden change of diet and a surgery can cause your body to go into survival mode. It can temporarily shut down non-essential processes like hair. It will eventually recover on its own. If you cover all three above you should be fine. The timeframe for both loss and recovery is usually 3 months. So your hairloss usually starts at around 3 months and will start to recover around 3 months after you fix the cause.

How is your weightloss? I was terribly itchy as I was losing weight mainly in areas where I carried the most weight, stomach, thighs, breasts etc. I would leave marks from scratching so much. I think it was due to the skin shrinking back due to the melting fat. It has lessened since my weight loss is not so rapid anymore.

It is awful, isn't it? Sliming just happens when a piece of food cannot pass through the band opening. It can happen with a food that you have been able to eat in the past and it doesn't necessarily mean you can't eat that food again. You probably had a piece that just didn't get chewed enough or maybe a clump of food that tried to pass through and it blocked the opening. I had a couple sliming episodes due to stress-stress will instantly make me tighter and if I am eating at the time...

My restriction sometimes changes from day-to-day. Stress, timing, hormonal changes, allergies/flu are all factors that can change your restriction level. Make sure that you are calm and have time to sit down and focus on your meal. Avoid the dry, doughy foods. Make sure you are eating slowly, taking bites about the size of the nail on your index finger and chewing well. If all of that checks out, look at the other possible factors mentioned above. If all else fails see your doctor.

I have tried almost every diet out there and have lost 40 to 60 pounds on some of them. I was never able to keep up with it for more than a few months and I always gained the weight back and then some. It was sooo hard in the beginning. For me it was two weeks liquid protein pre-op, two weeks of liquid protein only post-op then two weeks of mushies. I didn't get to chew anything for six full weeks Now 10 1/2 months later, for the first time since I was a toddler I am in the normal weight range. There is no doubt that I will reach my initial goal very soon and even surpass it before I reach the 1 year mark. The band has helped me to completely changed my whole outlook on food and eating. I am not struggling every day like I did on those other diets so there is no doubt that I can keep from gaining it all back. The hardest part is where you are now. Just keep reminding yourself that although it seems to be forever, it is just a short period in your life, in the end it will be SOOOO worth it.

Not a March 09 bandster but just to ease your mind...You probably just used a muscle that is sutured and not healed yet. This is normal, it takes a full six weeks to heal. Listen to your body, don't push yourself...if anything causes pain stop right away (as if you would keep doing it). The port site related pain lasts the longest because there is so much nerve and muscle involved.

Most of us know just how you feel. Just take it one day at at time. It will get better when you reach the mushie stage and better at every stage after that. Before too long this will all be a distant memory and you will be saying that it was all worth it. Till then, take in as much liquid Protein as you can handle and keep busy.

I have it every morning because I am almost always tighter in the morning. A cup of hot tea 30 minutes after each meal usually gives me relief. I often also have it throughout the day but not as bad, typically moreso for some time after a fill. This sensation is what I personally consider to be good restriction. Or it can sometimes be an indication that I have eaten just a little too much. Try eating just a little less than you normally do until you find your comfort zone and have a hot drink after waiting the specified amount of time after a meal. I have a hot drink before I eat my Breakfast just to loosen things up a bit. I am not sure when you were banded but if that doesn't work and you are recently banded it may just still be swelling. If you have already had a fill, you may be just a little too tight.

No, you can not feel the band around your stomach. But you can and will have sensations related to having the band. When you are tight or stuck or PB the pain or discomfort is usually felt in the esophagus and sometimes it can become irritated or swollen if you eat wrong or are too tight. If you eat too much or get stuck the food can back up into the esophagus.

I think waiting to drink during the liquid stage is just for the practice. Liquid passes right through the band anyway. You should not drink with your meal once you start on mushies. There may be times when you need to take a tiny drink to wash something down but I don't guess you will be making a regular habit of eating nasty tasting or too hot food. Taking a tiny drink from time-to-time won't hurt you, but doing it regularly can hinder weight loss.

Yes, there is usually a fee for consultation. What I did was go to the free seminars that I think most surgeons have. I went to three different seminars, chose my surgeon then had the consult with just him.

Yes, it is quite necessary to be able to find the port for fills. It was hard for me to feel it at first because it was deep in the fat. I would lie on my back and lift my feet in the air which helped the ab muscles to push it forward so the doc could find it and give me a fill. Now that I have lost most of the fat from my stomach, I can feel it and almost see it. It seems to be higher now too. But the band itself is behind your liver you can't feel it with your fingers nor can you feel it with your stomach.

There is some pain but I have had two surgeries now and it is never as bad as what we build it up to be in our heads. The first 2-3 days is the hardest and it gets better every day from there. You do not feel the band in place, that area of your stomach has no nerves. You will have pain where the port is but with medication it is completely managable.

Nah, it just looks like it has been pretty slow around here this week...guess everyone is out enjoying some Spring weather.

Good points. Identifying hunger is hard for a lot of us at first because let's face it, those of us who are overweight rarely allowed ourselves to experience true hunger because we grazed all throughout the day. In my journey I have been able to group it into three types of eating triggers. Learning how to identify them goes a long way to contributing to your sucess. 1.) True hunger. Tummy rumbling-need food hunger which seems simple enough but is still hard to identify for some who mistake digestive gas or noisy digestion (that we all have a lot of after surgery) with stomach growling. It does get easier to identify though. You should only eat when you are truly hungry. A good way to identify it is to eat only three meals per day and keep track of how long it has been since you last meal. 2.) Head hunger. Caused by seeing, smelling or hearing about food. Or cravings which can be triggered by emotions, hormones or irratic blood sugar levels. The more you feed this hunger the bigger it (and you) wil get. 3.) Dehydration hunger. This is that empty feeling in the stomach that we often feel and for most of us, the first instinct is to fill it with food. But this empty feeling usually means that we are dehydrated. Just understanding what we are truly needing goes a long way to help deal with it. Drink a good amount of Water or other sugar free non-caffeinated low cal beverage and you will probably be satisfied.

Only you know for sure if this is for you and if you are ready. I ate for comfort too, I ate when I was sad, mad, happy or bored. I grazed all day long. I took my time and had this surgery when I was ready and the band has helped me to be a normal eater. The band does not do it all for you though. You have to be ready and strong enough to do you part to make it work. There are plenty of posts on this site about people who went into this thinking it was some magic wand that would wisk the fat away and they either failed or had to step up and do their part to make it work. Although the surgery itself is pretty safe there are some that have had complications afterward and you can find those stories here too. As well as many stories of people who continued to struggle with bad eating habits. Last minute fears are also very common. I wanted to run out of the hospital too. All-in-all, I would say that you just were not ready yet. Do some more research and read about the possible complications. Go here: Lap-Band Complications - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum. And fully understand that the band will help you to feel full but you will need to find the strength to make good food choices and deal with emotional eating. And if and when you are ready then go for it.