Jodi_620

When I met with my psych pre-surgery, she asked what my goal weight was and I said 150. She said I was setting the bar too low but to me at the time the idea of being 150 thrilled me and I couldn't even imagine reaching that goal. I reached that 150 within 7-8 months and realized I could do better. At 150 I was 1.7 BMI points above normal weight. My second goal was 137, a strange number I know, but that put me exactly in the middle of a normal BMI, figured that gave me wiggle room to stay within normal. Once I reached that I was very happy with myself went into maintenance. In maintenance I am somewhat mindful of what I eat (for health reasons not weightloss) but if I want cake or candy a beer or some fast food I go for it. I keep up with my exercise and get a rare fill if I need one but that is about all I focus on. But with my last fill I was still able to settle in at 126. I teeter from 125-130 depending on what I ate and my cycle and I am quite comfortable here. I wouldn't want to be tighter or eat less than I am now, I am able to enjoy my food and maintain a decent weight and that is good enough for me... I would like to hit the 120 mark though if only for a brief while just to say I did. In the beginning it is hard to decide what your goal weight is but once you reach the right weight for you, you'll know it.

Is it that you can't eat these foods or that it is not easy? At restriction food is going to go down slowly and take some work (chewing and eating slowly) but that is the idea of the lap band. If you are taking small bites, chewing well and eating slowly and absolutely can't get these foods to go down or stay down then I would say that you may be too tight. Either way, you shouldn't revert to slider foods just because they are easier (chips, ice cream, broth). eggs should not be an issue at all, though I am often too tight to eat them in the morning. meats cooked tender should not be an issue. Non-fibrous veggies should be fine. Soft fruits too. Beans are a healthy and easy to eat food. If you are like me you may start out your day tight and get looser as the day goes on. For Breakfast I have fruit smoothies or yogurt or occasionally I can tolerate oatmeal. For lunch I do Soup, chili, fish and other soft solids. Then for dinner I can tolerate the denser foods.

I hate Protein shakes too and I vowed never to drink another one once I was on mushies after surgery. The thought of them makes me gag. Although if I had to, I could handle the Naked juice protein fruit smoothies. The push for protein by my doc was more because of fast weightloss, basically you need to keep up your protein intake so that you do not lose muscle along with the fat. There could be other reasons why you are shedding. I have had four surgeries now and I have lost hair after all of them so I know it was not about protein or weightloss, it was due to the anesthesia and general shock from surgery. If that is the case for you, you should seeing a slowdown of loss soon then regrowth. Also, make sure that you are getting a lot of Vitamin B and Biotin. If you can't eat meat, eat Beans, nuts, tofu, eggs, fish. I add beans to most of my meals, lots of Fiber and good source of protein.

I recommend avoiding the caffein as long as possible. Make sure you are getting enough nutrients and taking your Vitamins. Drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated. And exercise works wonders for energy!

The band did its part by keeping me from feeling hungry or overeating. My part was to choose the right foods to avoid the head hunger and carb addiction and to stay healthy. I eat fresh unprocessed meats (avoid the sausages, deli meats, hot dogs and other meats with additives), fresh veggies and bakery fresh unprocessed whole grain bread. I try to avoid the foods that come in a box, jar or can because most have additives and chemicals that keep you craving. I kinow that is not entirely possible but less processed food the better not only for weightloss but also for better health. I watched my sugar and starches and went for leaner meats and colorful veggies. I was never told to stick with the 1/2 cup per meal limit past the healing stage, thank goodness for that! I didn't do the intensive calorie tracking and diary keeping either. And yes I weighed myself every day; it did not cause any problems and it helped me to learn how what I ate and how active I was the day before affected what I weight today. I chose healthy foods, made sure I was getting my Protein and veggies and said no to junk food as often as I could. ( Avoiding processed foods makes you less hungry for the junk anyway.) I am told to eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I did just as my surgeon said and ate slowly, chewed well, stopped when I was full and ate 3 meals per day. When the weightloss would slow and I was eating more or hungry between meals it was and indication that I needed a fill and I would get one. I kept active in the beginning but no real exercise then about 9 months in started going to Curves. Curves moved to the other side of town so I now do the gym 3 times a week and walk on the other days.

My insurance didn't require any supervised diet for approval and I was just a few pounds within BMI weight to qualify so I did not want to lose too much or I might not have been aproved. So based on that I did not diet until I was approved and was put on the pre-op diet.

I go less which is not an issue to be concerned with. If you are constipated then you need to fix it. Occasional constipation can be treated with non-stimulant laxative but the best and most important for your long-term health is to increase fiber in your diet rather than use quick fixes like laxatives, in other words get to the root cause of the problem for better health. Those fiber powders gave me severe gas so I try to get fiber naturally by adding more whole grains and high fiber veggies. Yogurt helps add Probiotics which are good for digestion and prunes are a good natural choice if you can tolerate them. A good safe laxative to use is Miralax. It takes a few days to get things moving but my doc said it is the safest choice. And of course drink plenty of fluids. Dehydration will cause constipation.

No the reason for not adding these foods too soon is not about stretching your pouch It is about allowing your band to heal in place so that it does not slip. Until the sutures heal completely there is a chance that eating foods like this will cause more stomach churning leading to the band slipping slightly in which case the band might not be as sucessful for you and could even slip drastically and need another surgery. You really should stick with your surgeons plan.

You don't have to permanently give up anything. There may be some things you never tolerate very well and some things that are hard to eat sometimes, those food items seem to vary from person to person but honestly there is nothing I can think of that I absolutely can't eat. I can only eat a little bread, my restriction fluctuates so when I am tight bread is not worth the effort. I can have carbonated soda every once in a while (but I avoid it when I can) and enjoy a beer at the hockey game when I want. My only serious stuck episode was on watermelon and that just completely turned me off so I don't eat it anymore but I probably could. As for eating out, now that I am at goal I often do so without any problem. I can always find something that works for my band, the only problems are the portions; I can only eat around 1/3 of what is typically served in a restaraunt.

Congrats on your first fill! (not as bad as you imagined, right?)

Hmm...three is my magic number too!

LOL, that is cute. Gotta love our little critters

I got my second fill one week after my first. I don't think I really saw any restriction until about my 3rd fill though but a little at a time is best.

Getting stuck should not be your indicator of restriction but rather of how you are eating. Having a new baby to care for I am guessing that you are often eating in a hurry, sometimes distracted and perhaps a little stressed? All things that will make me get stuck no matter how tight or not tight I am. You may need to work on those things to solve the getting stuck problem then get a fill to solve the stalled weightloss prolbem.

So my DH pointed something out that made me think of this thread again. OK, so I have a German Shepherd dog who enjoys my lap band for the benefit of finishing my food after a meal since now that I am banded I often cannot clean my plate. He is a well behaved dog that does not sit at the table and beg but my getting up from the table with my plate was alway his indicator to come and get it. But yesterday at lunch time my DH mentioned that the dog jumps up when I hiccup because he knows that means I am finished. I wasn't sure he was right about that but I looked for that reaction at dinner last night and sure enough when I hiccupped the dog came running.

Just curious, did your doctor watch your TSH levels and did you have any adjustments in your medication while losing? When I first got the LB, I told my endo about the surgery and he told me that he wanted to track my TSH because it was very likely that my Synthroid dosage would need to be lowered as I lost weight and he was right, I had to be adjusted down two times during my weightloss period.

That was something I noticed after banding as well. I used to get daily headaches, not bad ones just dull annoying headaches. I had to take tylenol more often than I liked. But headaches are rare for me now. I used to also always wake up with an achy back and that no longer happens. And going up and down stairs without the aching and cracking in the knees and ankles is a wonderful improvement too. Like Willem said, you will discover many pleasant health improvements as time goes on.

It sounds to me like you could use a fill. How much you need in your band varies from person-to-person so I never pay attention to how many cc's I have compared to someone else. I just pay attention to my current restriction level. The two indicators are, Are you satisfied on small meals without getting hungry before the next meal? Are you losing weight/not gaining? If you say no to one of these then it is time for a fill. I would get a fill, probably just a slight one but guage it by drinking water to see if it goes down not by cc's in the band; water should go down slowly but go down and stay down. And because you have to travel so far, after you leave the office hang out for a while sip a little more water and wait until you are sure you are ok before traveling two hours back home. Wouldn't want to be overfilled, that is miserable and would be even worse with such a long travel distance.

Yes, Google "protein powder" and you will find many products both flavored and unflavored, I just Googled "protein powder UK" and found without much searching that Amazon UK has it. So you should be able to find something. Good Luck!

My ability to eat bread and many other supposedly difficult foods changes with restriction which changes from week-to-week and even from morning to evening. For the most part it just doesn't go down comfortably enough to make it worth the effort but every once in a while I can have a little. I could never do subway, way too much bread...way too much everything really. And I also can't do the typcal processed spongy bread from the bread aisle, I get a hearty bread from the bakery which is healthier anyway. 1/2 slice is usually enough. Pasta is never an issue.

Restriction (fills) will decide how much you can eat. 1/2 cup has never been enough for me, I eat around 1 cup and always have. That amount satisfies me and has given me success at weightloss and after three years the band is still working. Stretching comes from eating all the time and constantly keeping your pouch filled to capacity. Ideally you should be eating three meals a day and allowing your pouch to empty out before you take in your next meal (only eat when you are actually hungry). If you graze all day adding food to the top as it slowly trickles through the band then eventually you will stretch your pouch.

Nope, not the only one. I know other bandsters that have this as well.

Sure it can restart your weightloss, that is the great thing about the band. It is adjustable and there for you when you are ready. I recently let things slide, not for a year but for several months and gained back some weight. As the pounds came back I started to get down on myself and started to try and talk myself into being too ashamed to go back for a fill where they would see that I was backsliding. But I sucked it up I went in and got a fill and lost the regained pounds and then some. My advice, review the rules and take the fills slowly until you are where you need to be...and please don't be down on yourself.

When I go tthe band three years ago a guideline for many insurances was that you needed to be at least 100 pounds overweight. in order to be covered and many surgeons wouldn't even do it unless you were so this new view on it is all new and strange to me. I have lost a little over 100 pounds and know other who have lost more with the lab band. I think that if you are determined and you follow the rules you can do it just like others have. Don't let anyone discourage you.