MistyD65

Last Friday - 279.8 Today - 278.6 1.2 lbs lost!:tongue2: I really didn't expect to lose anything this week (my first full week on soft foods), but I did *finally* start walking on the treadmill. I'm going for 2 15 minute walks a day just to get started, but will quickly move to doing the whole 30 minutes at once. I get in a little over a mile in that time. I go for my first fill Monday! Yippee! Keep up the great work everyone!

Just make sure you are fully aware of the hard work that will still be ahead of you once you are banded. You still have to make changes to your eating habits as well as to your mental processes concerning food. I got the band not so much to help me lose weight, because I know I can do that, but to make sure that this is the last time I HAVE to lose this weight. Yes, the band will help with weight loss, but 95% of the effort is still going to be mine. Research, read the posts here on the forums (both the happy and the frustrated ones), take a good look at yourself and what you are ready to do to make this work, then make your decision. Best wishes to both you and your sister-in-law!

I was actually excited when I felt it, because I took it as proof that my band is there and doing what it is supposed to!:crying:

Yes, I was thrilled by the response! Looks like 10 of us so far. It's really hard to think of a place to meet...I figure we'd probably prefer to avoid a restaurant, seeing as how we are all at different points in our journey. I thought about a library; most of them have meeting rooms, but that seems kind of...umm...formal. lol I'm open to suggestions. Please, give me suggestions!:crying:

Snooty Dippinchunks???? EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW:confused_smile:

Choopie, I haven't had my first fill yet, but I think I may have experienced something like you describe. It has happened twice - once when I had my first "real" food after being on liquids for 3 weeks, then again after eating with my family on Labor Day. The first time was after eating a cup of baked potato soup at a restaurant - and I'm sure it was a full 8 ounces or more of thick soup. The second time I had a 3 ounce hamburger patty and 1/2 cup of potato salad (plus a bit more, because I tasted it as I made it). After eating, I felt a pain in my stomach, kind of like having a catch or "stitch" in my side after running. I never had any sense of nausea or feeling like I was going to PB. Just the pain and feeling really full. I came to the conclusion that my pouch must hold about 1 cup of food, and with both of those meals I had filled it to the brim. I really didn't think I had any restriction yet, but maybe I do. The pain isn't bad and it goes away after a while, presumably after the pouch has emptied. I have my first fill Monday, and I'm going to ask my doctor about it then.

:sad:Let's move beyond personal attacks. I apologize for putting into text my opinions about drstan's punctuation and grammar. I should have stuck with my first instinct and kept it to myself. We have no way of knowing what all is REALLY going on behind any member's keyboard. Yes, the title of this thread is inflammatory and extreme, but it was no doubt written out of exasperation and frustration. Perhaps, if it was possible, drstan would go back and modify the title. We are all passionate about our bands, and jumping to defend them and their effectiveness is admirable and understandable. Confront the misconceptions, but let's leave direct, personal attacks out of it. Please.

I wonder if "liquid tape" is the same as what my surgeon calls "synthetic scabs"? If so, it will eventually come off by itself. And boy, those steri-strips are tenacious little boogers. They held fast through lots of showers until my surgeon removed them on my 11-day follow-up. Left my skin pretty irritated for a while afterwards, though.

Lack of punctuation doesn't count as "typos". And there's nothing anal about using proper grammar and punctuation; they make posts much easier to read and understand.

Yeah, I experienced that feeling too, and wasn't able to get past it to the good stuff. But here's hoping!

I would not have even considered lap band had I been only 35 pounds overweight. Be that as it may, I do think quite a number of people approach this surgery lacking the understanding of the lifestyle changes they MUST make after surgery to be successful with the band. This forum, or a similar "warts and all" group, should be required reading before a surgeon will even consider banding a patient. I also think that some of the advertising for gastric banding, and even the seminars I've been to, make it seem like you get banded and your worries are over. Ideally, everyone considering gastric banding would take the hype with a grain of salt and do some individual research, looking for the bad as well as the good. Talking to multiple Bandsters would be good too, to get a wide representation of what life after the band is like. Then, and only then, they could decide if they really understand and are ready to make the lifestyle changes required to make the band work.

These are the Protein drinks I used. Maybe this information will be helpful to you. :thumbup: Protein Blitz Fruit Drinks by Designer whey. Serving size - 20 oz; Protein per serving - 30 g; sugars per serving - 1 g. $3.29 each at Vitamin Shoppe. Flavors - Grape, Orange Mango, Punch. Tried them all, LOVE them all. They taste like Kool-aid or Hi-C to me. The protein in them is a whey isolate, so they are clear drinks. A very nice change from all the milky things out there. These are a fairly new product. My GNC didn't have them at all and didn't know about them, but Vitamin Shoppe has them. DESIGNER WHEY - Protein Drinks Lean Body RTD Protein shakes by Labrada. Serving size-17 oz; Protein per serving - 40 g; sugars per serving - 0 g. $3.49 each at Vitamin Shoppe. Flavors - Strawberries and Cream, chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Bananas and Cream. I tried both the Strawberries and Cream and Chocolate Ice cream and they are really good. They really taste like melted milkshakes to me. The Strawberries and Cream is very new, so it might be hard to find. Labrada Nutrition Pure Protein shake by WorldWide Sport Nutrition. Serving size - 11 oz; Protein per serving - 35g; sugars per serving 2 g. $2.79 at Vitamin Shoppe. Flavors - Frosty Chocolate, strawberry Cream, Cookies and Cream, Vanilla Cream, banana Cream. I tried the Frosty Chocolate and Strawberry Cream. They were ok...not nearly as good as the Lean Body, but I keep a couple in my fridge because of their high protein count. They have 3.18 g of protein per ounce, Lean Body has 2.35 g of protein per ounce, and Protein Blitz has 1.5 g of protein per ounce, if you want to compare ounce to ounce. WorldWide Sport Nutrition - Products (click "protein" on the Products page) Muscle Milk RTD. Serving size - 17 oz; Protein per serving - 34 g; sugars per serving - 7 g. Lots of flavors. I tried the Chocolate Malt and Chocolate Milk. Didn't like the Chocolate Milk, but I LOVED Chocolate Malt.

Excellent Michelle! The more the merrier. So far you are the 7th to respond affirmatively for next Saturday 9/13 at 2 pm. We'll decide on a place by the end of this week. Welcome aboard!

My nutritionist told me 1200-1400 calories a day, depending on my activity level.

I made tuna salad with the Tostitos Spinach Dip too...very yummy!

Hi Bandster Buddies! Let's plan a meet-up for next weekend. How does Saturday 9/13 at 2 PM strike you? Depending on how many want to attend, we may need to think of a place besides a Starbucks, but we'll cross that bridge after we get an idea of our numbers. This'll be a Katy-Cypress area meet-up, but anyone from anywhere is welcome. :blushing: I'll send this out in an email to those of you I have an email address for. Hope to hear from you soon!

It is normal to feel no restriction before your first fill. But it's up to you to control your portion sizes and the amount you eat right now. Don't try to eat til you are full...eat the amount of food you've been told to by your surgeon or nutritionist, make sure you are taking at least 15-20 minutes to eat, then when you have finished that amount of food STOP and notice...are you hungry anymore? Not "are you full" but "are you still hungry". There is a difference. When I finish my 1/4 cup of tuna salad and 12 low-fat wheat thins, do I feel like I could eat some more? Yes, I do. Do I want to eat some more? Yep - I love food. But am I still hungry? So far, the answer has always been a definite NO. And THAT is the question I am having to train myself to use - "am I still hungry". The other two will almost always be answered yes, unless I have stuffed myself until I am uncomfortable...and that's how I got this way to begin with. When I hit the "sweet spot" in my band restriction I imagine, from what I read from the long-timers, that the feeling full part will come. But in the meantime I'm getting through "bandster hell" by sticking to the food plan I've been given. By golly, I'm gonna make this work! You can too!

Also, as you lose weight, the fat pad between the band and your stomach will shrink, causing you to need a fill to keep the same resistance.

I'm still before my first fill, but I've not had any trouble with chicken. It should not be so well done that it is tough and dry, but I don't think anyone is suggesting that we eat undercooked meats. I have read that microwaved, reheated chicken is sometimes hard to eat because it does tend to get dry that way. Small bites and chew til applesauce consistency - if you can't chew it up that well it might be better to spit it out.

I had a 3 week, modified full liquid post-op regimine. Basically clear liquids plus protein drinks...not even soup (aside from broth). Energy level was an issue, but I soldiered through. :thumbdown:

I have found that I can't "eat until I'm full, then stop" because I don't really know what "full" is. In the past, full has usually meant stuffed and uncomfortable. That's how I got this way to begin with. When I finally started soft foods, after being on modified full liquids for three weeks, my nutritionist gave me a sheet of soft diet sample meal plans. Breakfasts are either a soft scrambled egg; 1/2 cup of oatmeal or cream of wheat;1/2 cup sugar-free, fat-free yogurt; or 1/2 cup cold Cereal with 8 oz skim milk. Lunches are either 2 oz of chicken, ham, or tuna salad with 6 crackers; 1/2 cup fat-free cream Soup with 2 oz string cheese; 1/2 cup cottage cheese with 1/2 cup peaches; or 1/2 cup egg salad with 1/2 cup peaches. Suppers include 3 oz of one of the following: baked salmon, stewed chicken, baked turkey, grilled tuna steak, lean ham, or grilled tilapia fish; and 1/2 cup of spinach, green Beans, mashed potatoes, carrots, or pears, or a small baked potato. I had a kind of an epiphany the other night, after finishing some chicken and mashed potatoes. I wasn't hungry anymore, but I felt like I could still eat some more, and I wanted to. That's when it hit me - I'm no longer hungry, so I SHOULD NOT EAT ANY MORE, regardless of whether I feel like I can or want to. I think that's one of the differences between people who don't have weight problems and people who do - "they" stop eating when they are no longer hungry; "we" stop eating when we've had all we want. And I think that's a big cause of complaints for us new bandsters before we reach our restriction "sweet spot" - we can still eat too much. The tool hasn't really started working like it should yet, but we still want to try to rely completely on it, rather than starting to make the necessary changes in our diets ourselves. It has helped me tremendously to have the sample meal plans so I know how much I'm supposed to eat. I only put that amount on my plate, and when it is gone, I am through. And I am always no longer hungry when I finish. I have to stomp on the "but I want more" feelings because they are still there, but I know they are not coming from hunger. I hope this makes sense, and maybe helps someone, because coming to that realization was really an eye-opener for me. I'm hoping it's a sign that I'm making the mind-shift to being a person who eats to live, rather than lives to eat! Oh, and I lost 25 pounds after my surgery, but after adding soft foods last week I gained .8 lb. Sure, it was disappointing to not see a loss, but I was prepared for the fact that I would probably put some weight back on as I started eating real foods and until my first fill. I'm not happy about it, but I accept it as part of getting started on this journey!

Last week - 279.5 lbs This week - 279.8 lbs .3 gain, but I started soft foods on Wednesday, so that's to be expected I suppose. Also, I'm not exercising like I should, but now that I'm gaining energy from getting more calories I'm going to change that! Keep up the great work everyone!

I actually don't use saltines. I prefer low-fat Wheat Thins-type crackers and Wasa and Kavli flatbreads. Lots of good fiber and whole grains in the Wasa.

Eyespy, my doctor recommends 1200 mg of calcium citrate a day, 600 mg AM and 600 mg PM. I found the Twinlab chewables at Vitamin Shoppe, which may be the same that you are talking about. Each wafer is the size of 5 quarters stacked together, and to get my RDA I take 2 1/2 at a time. They taste like weak Sweetarts to me, so it's kind of like getting candy. lol Calcium is a large molecule, so any method of delivering the amount required is going to be large. Oh, and the bottle recommends to take with a meal, which conflicts with your doctor's instructions. I'm sure it has something to do with absorption. For Vitamins, I've been doing the Centrum chewables, but I've ordered some JuicePlus Chewables (my nutritionist recommends them). We'll see how those are.

I'm able to have crackers and pretzels in my soft foods stage. They are pretty easily chewed into an applesauce consistency.