froggie456834

I told my doc about this, and he seemed perplexed and couldn't offer any advice. I get stomach aches from a number of the protein shakes out there, and I don't know why. Sometimes I even get diarrhea. Naturally, it makes me not want to ever drink protein shakes. Has anyone had this problem and found one that's gentle on your stomach? The only one I have found so far is Slim Fast Low Carb, but that's expensive and my doc doesn't like it anyway.

I just wanted to offer a few words of encouragement. I have a 10 cc Realize band and have had numerous fills. I got my first fill and felt nothing. 2nd and 3rd fill, the same. I honestly don't remember how many I've had. Each time after a fill, I would play by the rules for a little while and give up because I was eating much, much more than the 1/4 cup my doc said I would be able to eat. I was eating as much as my husband, who has never had surgery. This went on for a long time because my doc forced me to wait 8 weeks between fills. I became very depressed and felt like I failed, which was reinforced every time I went in to his office. The nurse would question me about my eating habits, and I would explain I would follow all the rules for 2-3 weeks after a fill with no results, and then eventually revert back to my old ways when I saw no change in my appetite. She would act as if the band would work if I just ate right all the time, and I would always leave wondering, "Why did I get this surgery if I have to stay on a strict diet with the same appetite I had before?" Even my mom seemed to blame me. I ended up going on antidepressants because I was crying so much over little things that shouldn't bother me. Finally, I got to 9 ccs. The doc said there was only one other patient of his that had that much, and he's never filled beyond 9.5 ccs. He was thinking there was something wrong with the band and scheduled an EKG. I went home and stayed on liquids for a while, like I always do. I started out strictly adhering to my diet, but I expected the same thing... failure. However, suddenly I felt like I had a band. I felt the restriction. Things were getting stuck sometimes... bread and scrambled eggs were tricky for me, whereas before I could eat anything in almost any portion size. That was on 3/9. Since then, I've lost over 20 pounds. I canceled that EKG. Encouraged by the fact that I could feel restriction, I ramped up my exercising at the gym to speed up weight loss. I am pretty good with my food most of the time but allow myself little treats (like a little bit of chocolate or some chips) perhaps once a week so I won't feel deprived. I just got an adjustment because I started feeling a little less restriction after my weight loss, and now I'm up to 9.5 ccs. I don't know why it's taken so long, but it was so awesome for me to finally go into his office and feel successful. It was great not to have the nurse grill me like I'm lying about what I'm doing. It's also nice that I'm not "perfect" with my eating habits 100% of the time but I'm still losing at a satisfactory pace. My clothes are falling off of me... it's time to get out my skinnier clothes, FINALLY! I just wanted to share this with anyone in my position, because the question that was bothering me was, is there any chance that, 8 months after surgery, the band will start working like it should after it seemed to fail so long? The answer is YES, it can.

Does anyone think antidepressants or antianxiety meds are helping them make better food choices? If so, what meds are helping? I was taking Xanax to get me through a tough time and when I stopped, I found myself tempted with food in ways I didn't care about before. I restarted the Xanax after a week. My doc is switching me over to another medication (Busiprone) so I can get off Xanax (which can be addictive), but I'm worried I'll make bad choices again once I stop the Xanax. I'm also on 10 mg of Lexapro. Or maybe it's all unrelated to my food choices?

I was getting very discouraged because I had 8 ccs in a 10 cc band and still no proper restriction. I couldn't overeat to the extent I did before but I could still eat as much as my husband, with no restrictions on types of food, like bread, etc. I felt like I was being blamed each time I went in for a fill, even though I always followed the band rules for a couple of weeks after each new fill but never felt restriction. My last fill was very encouraging - 9 ccs. I suddenly have some of the issues other bandsters have with bread, and I can't eat as much. He said I should be full on just a 1/4 cup of food, and I would say that that is no where near being true for me. I eat more like 3/4 a cup or maybe a cup of food each time. However, that's it... I don't need any more and I don't even eat between meals anymore. I have steadily lost weight for the first time since my surgery and it has made it easy for me to follow the rules. I am so glad I didn't give up!! I probably need a little bit of adjustment but otherwise everything has changed... I am optimistic again and just generally happy all the time. It makes a difference to have hope!

I'm in the same boat with my doc - he wants EIGHT weeks between visits. I have not yet had restriction, and had my surgery in July '08. However, you are doing much better weight loss wise... I have lost a whopping 15 pounds. So you can imagine how disappointed I am. I have 7 cc's in my band and am hoping the next one will do it for me. I am going to bring up to him next time that I want to switch docs and see what he says.

Has anyone tried both for any length of time? I'm tracking on both for a few days because each has its weakness for me so far.... -- Daily Plate has more foods pre-entered than Spark People, at least of the restaurant variety -- Spark People is much more user-friendly when it comes to the layout of the page, finding where you need to go. I don't have to know much to get around the site. Anyone else have observations to share? I plan on deciding on one pretty soon b/c it takes too long to do this twice for everything I eat!

OK, I've had a Realize Band since July 2008. I'm not happy. I initially lost about 15 pounds just from post-surgery, but once the swelling went down, I never felt restriction. I'm at 7 cc's in a 10 cc band, and I don't feel the level of restriction I imagined based on what I heard from others. I don't have any problems with anything going down. I can't eat multiple plates of food as I did in the past, but still I can eat a huge amount of food. I don't have a leak in my band (my dr. checked last time). My doctor (Dr. David Geller of Norton Suburban Hospital in Louisville, KY) will only see me every 6-8 weeks so I have plenty of time to forget I even have a band while waiting for the next fill. I go through periods where I motivate myself to eat less and eat the right foods all the time - but this has as much success as I did before when I was just doing Weight Watchers. Honestly, for me, having this band and trying to lose weight is no different than other weight loss methods. I know other people are having different experiences. If it took you a while to get REAL restriction, or if you have filled and filled and never got restriction, I'd like to hear it, esp. if it's with the Realize band. Right now this is making me feel like a total failure on top of the failure I was feeling for having resorted to getting the band. Going into the office doesn't help, either - the nurse is always like, "Are you measuring your meals? Are you counting your Protein?" and the answer is, well, yes at first, but then I don't feel restriction helping me eat less and eventually I stop... and she has this "tsk tsk" attitude. Apparently switching doctors is extremely hard, because the local doctors I've called won't take a patient they didn't do the surgery on... HELP! I feel like I went through this for nothing.

Uggh... I can't imagine the frustration I would be feeling had I paid out of pocket. With my co-pay and other expenses I've paid over $1000 which was hard, but nothing compared to people with no insurance support. I really hope you have better luck than me. I'm kind of lucky, in a bad, round-about way, this holiday... I came down with the flu right before we took off for the relatives 600 miles away. I decided to stay behind, which is probably the best thing considering I just had a fill 12/22 and was supposed to be on liquids until today. My son is now 600 miles away enjoying Christmas, which is sad, but I can stay home, recuperate without fear of infecting him, and not have to explain to everyone why I'm not eating - they don't know about the surgery. My husband's family is all skinny and rich so it's always awkward for me anyway. I am so looking forward to my weight not being an issue in my life... if that will ever happen.

I had the surgery over a month ago. Unfortunately, there's no fill in the band with no appointment until Sept. 25 (their office is busy). I have absolutely no restriction at this point. I can't tell that I've had surgery and find myself forgetting all the time. I have just the scars on my belly to remind me, because I'm now at the point where I can eat the same amounts of food I did before. My food choices are beginning to get worse and I feel out of control. Can anyone offer me any advice? Please tell me this is normal.

I had the surgery over a month ago. Unfortunately, there's no fill in the band with no appointment until Sept. 25 (their office is busy). I have absolutely no restriction at this point. I can't tell that I've had surgery and find myself forgetting all the time. I have just the scars on my belly to remind me, because I'm now at the point where I can eat the same amounts of food I did before. My food choices are beginning to get worse and I feel out of control. Can anyone offer me any advice? Please tell me this is normal.

Well, my doctor said don't drink 30 minutes before or after a meal. I do drink a decent amount of water throughout the day (not sure if I make the 8 cups a day standard or not, but I sip it constantly). I was doing everything right, but I feel like I slipped & now I'm breaking every rule. I drink with meals, I ate pizza for dinner, had ice cream today, etc. I know how to eat right, but suddenly it became hard to make myself make those choices, and I feel scared like I'm never going to be in control of my eating again. I'm not sure how to get control. I'm going to document all my food choices tomorrow and hope that keeps me on track. I feel like the littlest things throw me off...

I started mushies this weekend and am wondering if I understand this right. In my rules packet, my doc says only 1/4 cup food at a time. Does this apply to when I'm still on mushies and have no liquid in my band? After my two bites of food, naturally I'm still starving! I'm also wondering how on earth I am to get any variety in my diet other than the two bites of scrambled eggs or whatnot. And I misunderstanding the rules?

I was also banded on that day and just started mushies. Now that I know I don't have to limit myself to 1/4 cup of mushies, I'm just fine. I eat pretty small portions but have stopped losing weight like I was when I was on liquids. I'm just wanting my first fill, which won't be until Sept. 23! (I have a busy doc!)

Just wanted to update this thread - the dietician says they don't expect me to eat only 1/4 cup of mushies. I can eat until satisfied in this stage (they don't expect weight loss). When I have band restriction, they say I need to follow the 1/4 cup rule. Apparently the materials they gave me are the same they give gastric bypass patients, so it didn't differentiate on when I should eat the limited amount. Regardless, I'm eating very, VERY little... yet actually I gained a 1/2 pound over the weekend. Fun!

OK, I am following my post-op diet very well, but I'm growing a little concerned about my tendency to go overboard with dieting. On diets, I tend to grow more and more strict with myself as time passes until I'm eating only "perfect" foods ("perfect" defined as zero fat, very few calories, high nutritious content), and very little at that. Of course I want to be eating healthy foods, but my standards get so high that suddenly things that are probably reasonable don't seem good enough, and I burn out on healthy foods. It gets me in this cycle of deprivation that I eventually counter by overeating extremely unhealthy foods, even foods I don't like too much, yet I think I want them just because they're unhealthy. Repeatedly I've done this in my life. So it seems like it's happening again. In paying attention to how I'm eating now that I'm about a week and a half post-op, I'm realizing that I'm growing less generous with my food intake. Today I got about 600 calories of extremely high Protein healthy liquids (which doesn't translate into tasty food), and I don't want to allow myself anything more. I know I should be getting at least 800. I'm actually SCARED of allowing myself more, like I'm going to lose control and eat all the food in the house. I would really like to reach some happy medium where I balance a healthy amount of calories with a blend of healthy foods and foods I actually like to satisfy me & not make me feel deprived... I feel like I'm setting myself up for a junk food spree. Anyone else deal with this? Hope I've made sense.

My doctor required that I get tested for sleep apnea before surgery. So I did - and was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea. I was told to bring my C-PAP to the hospital, but the thing is, I never actually got one. I hate that machine. I was hooked up to it during my overnight sleep test and slept horribly. I was told to contact a company to rent my own and never did. I know I'll have to pay lots of money out of pocket to get one, but I also know that when I lose some weight (I'm 240 right now) I won't need one anymore. Did they ask you for your machine before your surgery? I don't want to get one and hope it's not going to cause a problem the day of surgery, which for me is July 29.

I knew this would come, but I'm just so hungry for real food again. Specifically, I'm missing my favorite foods, most of which I may never get to have again because they're "sticking" foods. Much of the time I'm fine, I don't think about food to this degree, but this afternoon I took a nap and instead of getting up when I woke up, I just sat awake and tried to remember how my favorite foods tasted. I think I'm obsessed with tasting food to the point where I've thought about trying a bite of something and spitting it out. This is where my addiction to food comes in, I know. There's nothing to be done, really, I just wanted to talk it. I decided to fight the feeling by exercising, which I'm about to do. I know, yay, go me. But the feeling is there and for the first time, I'm sad... like I'm in mourning.

Hi everyone, I had my surgery two days ago and have been tracking my calories via the Realize site. How many calories should I go for? Today I got something like 763, with 90 grams of Protein. Seems like a really low # but I'm getting my protein in, for sure. Any advice?

One thing that disappointed me after banding is the huge amount of swelling in my belly. I mean, I look pregnant - I'm beginning teaching in the new school year in two weeks and the kids are definitely going to think I'm pregnant. How long did it take your swelling to go away? Did you use Spanx or something to minimize the look of it?

My surgery was yesterday, and I'm kind of surprised that I weigh more now than I did pre-op, like seven pounds more. Did any of you have the same experience?

Lisa - I use protein powders to get in my protein. For breakfast, I had Isopure protein powder (50 g protein) mixed w/milk. For lunch, I had chicken broth along with Unjury chocolate (20 g) mixed w/milk. Dinner was juice and ice mixed with unflavored Unjury (20 g). The protein powder alone was worth 90 g - I didn't even count the milk, broth, or Jello I had for a snack. I wish I had known it was so easy to get protein in when I was pregnant. I was told to get 100 g a day which I thought was impossible.

Lonedaisy - I'm hoping for a forty pound loss by xmas, but I'm starting at 244. IF you're starting higher, I wouldn't say more is out of the question. Good luck!

OK, this is totally basic - what is PBing - what does it actually stand for? What's the difference between that and sliming? I was just banded yesterday.

I have a friend who gained weight to qualify for surgery. This was after six years of WW membership (with losing, gaining, losing, then gaining). She was near her heaviest ever (a weight which would have qualified her), but not there, and she didn't want to wait until she just magically became that weight again to qualify, so she gained about 14 pounds in time for her assessment to qualify. She totally doesn't regret it, as her issue with food is every bit as real as someone twice her weight. If you know this surgery is right for you because you've exhausted all options, do what you need to do to qualify, because in a perfect world there would be no hoops to jump through.

I've been waiting for surgery since February and this is the first time I've been anxious about it. I'm scheduled for Tuesday. What surprises me is how long some of you have had to be on liquid diets pre-op... I only have to do a two-day clear liquid diet, starting today (Sunday). It's weird how the doctors have such different methods.