nfl1

Our support group does a few clothing exchanges. While the RNY folks go through clothes a lot faster than me/us, I volunteered to be the collector, and whatever's left after each group exchange, we split the clothes between the Salvation Army and our local Women's Opportunity Center (that helps women who are going through divorces, fires, entering the workplace for the first time, etc). It's like Christmas every time we do an exchange.

We have a weekly meeting, with 2 "focused" on RNY and 2 for Lap-band. In our area there are more RNYers, than bandsters, and we find that fewer of the band folks keep coming. It's been about a year that I've been going (I go to all that I can), and I've loved meeting a lot of people who "GET" it. Most I would never have met outside of group. When I am not able to go, I find I'm not as mindful as when I need to give a weekly check-in intro at meeting. You do hear a lot of the same stuff over and over, but I asked a lot of questions in the beginning and loved having people who understood (not the doc, nutritionists, psychologist, etc.) give me answers. And hearing lots of different opinions...so now I like to help based on my experiences and still get support back.

Thanks everyone, that's what I was figuring, but wasn't sure about the air. I haven't had any problems with the few that I've had, but wanted to check the consensus

Hi everyone, I am about 10 mo. out, and wanted to chew gum to take some of the obsession away when I want a snack... I know early on post-op gum is not good but what about now?

I used a few (2 200 at a time) for a bad tooth infection and didn't feel any problems, I stopped after a few days when the antibiotics kicked in.

I found heat, liquid tylenol to help a lot, and for me Gas-X didn't help at all, but the chewable Maalox or Mylanta DID. I was burping with every step, and after drinking/eating, so these two helped dissipate all the gas I had - not sure how, but it did.

I haven't found that yet. I was banded in January, so what I felt was "normal" then. We've gotten snow and frosts already, and I didn't notice a difference. I'll try to pay attention during our next cold snap.

I lost a lot in the beginning, we have a 2 week pre-op liquid diet, a 2 week post-op liquid, then a 2 week mushies diet before trying to introduce regular food slowly - I spent another week on mushies because i had trouble at first with real food. I wonder if my doc's schedule helps to get us really ready to change eating (though it was hell to go through). While I did then loosen up on what I ate after that, ie I don't do fat-free or sugar free everything, and eat regular cheese, etc., I was set up to eat a lot less and be aware of what I was eating. Since then I've lost slowly, slower than my co-horts who've gotten the band after me, but I have only done swimming a few days a week rather than mega work-outs or treadmill. I rationalize that I am trying to do a "diet" that I can keep up for a lifetime vs. losing fast in the first year and then wanting to change to have more flavors, etc. One thing I DO believe in is not paying attention to the numbers - we don't own a scale, I only weigh at the pool/ locker room or doctor's. Even when I was not losing pounds, I WAS losing inches - so maybe if you begin to measure yourself regularly - you might feel better, clothes fit better, etc. even if you aren't losing pounds. If you start to exercise, your muscles will also firm up somewhat and help to feel more energy and stamina. I love being able to walk around work, do stairs, and NOT huff and puff. So, over 9 mo. I'm up to 50 pounds lost, I had about 35 (from start of pre-op) by June, so it's slowed down a LOT. (banded 1/20/09) But I don't regret anything so far.

Jess3620 - you describe it SO well - that's me to a T! I'm out about 9 mo (1/20/09).

I eat a lot of veggie soups and meat stews still, and don't consider them a slider food. I see ice cream, candy, crackers, snack foods as my sliders!

Are you tracking the amount of protein and liquid that you are getting each day? People in our group who get the right amount of protein keep losing, but those who are not tend to stall...even with or without exercise. I think our nutritionist wants 75-80 g of protein and 48-60 oz liquid each day - I found it hard to do, but was glad I did! Adding extra non-fat dry milk powder to soups, etc. helped me to get more, but we had 2 weeks of liquid and 2 weeks mushies before getting to real food.

I feel like I've been falling off, doing more snacks than I should (cheese, crackers)... and it's my busiest 2 mo. of the year at work, so no time for the pool (I'd been doing 30 laps 3 days a week). With the snow this week, I am worried about the winter! I've been considering doing the liquid diet for 2 weeks to jump start my brain - have others done this? I did great on the pre-op and post-op diet, with no cheating, not sure what happened now that I'm 7 mo. out and 50 pounds down. (Won't make excuses, just want to own up. I had to fly to FL for 2 weeks, almost lost my Dad, but did well down there, it's when I got back that was the problem.:confused:)

Thank you! We actually moved my partner's mom, who has dementia, to live with us 10 years ago (she was 79 then), and while it's tough, and sometimes emotional, it's something we'll never regret. Her husband was already gone though, and one of her friends called to say she was not taking care of herself (paying bills, taking pills, cleaning, etc.). So, after my trip to see Dad (who's 87) she looked much more mobile to me - LOL, despite the walker and oxegyn tubing! Good luck, keep an eye on him even by phone, it means so much. I was a daddy's girl too - hence my patterning my food use and obsession after his.

Thanks for the great suggestions and kind words! My dad is doing better, and trying everything he can to get us to move him from the nursing home back to independent living, but he moves to assisted living on Monday! We never thought he'd even be able to use a walker to use the bathroom on his own - and we know it's the monitoring of diet, blood sugar and insulin... or he'll be right back there...seeing him over the years was how I really had to change my life - I was following him, and I want more out of life than just food - meal to meal and nothing else!

Ditto, thought it was just me

My doc has us on 2 weeks of liquids, so we didn't "graduate" to purees till week 3, and by then it was easier after 2 weeks practice (though the food was cold by 30 min).

It's Atkins Dark Chocolate Shake Royale, and is So much better to me than any other of the choc shakes or powders. 15 g protein, 160 cals, 1 g sugar

I FEEL you! I keep a small amount of dark chocolate m&ms around for when I MUST have some, but keep it to 3-4. I get my chocolate through the Dark Chocolate Protein drink, and my chocolate Viactive chews (calcitrate made me PB, so back to the chews went I)...so I do get some chocolate daily. I also keep sf choc pudding around. Fudgsicles never did it for me, even when I was a kid. Good luck!

It took me 6 fills, and I'm at 6.5 in a 14 cc band...finally I feel some restriction and it's great! But, the first 4 times it was tough to keep working it, I'm glad I kept believing!

I only drink the Atkins Dark Chocolate Royale, and occasionally the strawberry. I can't eat in the AM until about 11:30 or later, so the shake is my breakfast.

We have a wonderful support group in Ithaca, NY, with 2 weeks a month for lap-band support and 2 weeks a month for RNY. In the past 2 months we've noticed that more and more RNY folks are attending our lap-band meetings, which is fine when everyone needs support, but the topics and conversations are very different (esp. if new folks considering surgery are there). We see that many lap-band folks don't continue coming much longer than 4-6 mo. after surgery. If you have a successful group in your area, or if you don't and wish there were, and you are 6+ months out - what would keep you coming to the support group?? A few of us really want the meetings, and focused on our topics and concerns, and want advice & suggestions from all of you. We'll be brainstorming next week...so please, any ideas will be much appreciated!

Great ideas - thanks!

Thanks! Great suggestions - we do clothing exchanges a few times a year, but hadn't thought to suggest getting an exercise person to show different at the desk or on the couch type exercises, or to meet at the grocery store! Our leader has been through RNY, and is very supportive of us, and wanted ideas of what else lap-band folks might want? I'd love a cooking class or showing different portion sizes with a quiz (like on the Biggest loser last episode!)

Another thought - if you are working out that much, are you getting enough protein that you need to lose weight? I can hear Bob/Jillian from the Biggest Loser - you are NOT eating enough! Then once they get the right balance for work outs and eating, the weight comes off!

A friend of mine and I were talking about this after our support group last night, as all the lap-band folks in the group but 1 have had 0 complications since surgery (a variety of 4 mo. to 2 years) whereas the bypass people all but 3-4 have had complications. We were renewing our happiness over deciding on the band, because we feel like WE are now back in control of our bodies and lives eventhough it's taken awhile (9 mo. for me) to get good restriction and for her she's 6 mo and still needs some fills. Rather than having our bodies and the bypass controlling our bodies! I went on a 6-8 week stall in July-August, but now am back losing weight again with my last fill (I'm at 6.5cc in a 14 band), but it's 5 pounds a month not the 10s lost by bypass folks. I agree with everyone about not getting discouraged or comparing ourselves to bypass pals, because we chose the band so we didn't "shed" weight, we can keep our skin and muscles toned a little better and perhaps not need such drastic plastic surgery. Some of the RNY folks in my town in the last year have lost between 238 and 225 pounds!! (Most are in the 100-150 pound range 1 year out) I look at them and say, at 240 pounds - they've lost ALL of the current me, and are finding it hard to STOP losing. we won't have that problem.