2muchfun

It has been a year since I saw you. Be fun if we could all go to Red Robin again? tmf

Yes. And too much, too big and not chewing enough.

You just had surgery on your stomach. Of course it's going to react? Why would you be bummed? What did you expect? tmf

My preband nutrition consultation cost me $75 and my 6 month BCBS nutrition counseling cost $40 for each of my 6 visits. The 6 visits were useless as like M1a said they just tell you things you should already know. However, I've seen so many banded people post here who are totally clueless about nutrition so I wouldn't say it's useless for everyone. 4 months after being banded I was not losing weight. I went in for my 3rd fill and the nut was there so I had a consult. She's a bonafide expert in bariatric surgery nutrition. She pointed out foods that were the antithesis of foods I should be consuming to lose weight. I immediately started losing weight after the fill and the visit. At this point in your journey it may not be necessary to visit with a nut. Just follow your doctors orders but if you find that you are in a plateau or stalled for 1-2 months, you may want to sit down with a nut and work it out. tmf

Being an Atkins fan I'll take a look at these at the grocery store next visit.

You can't expect to lose weight like a robot. It's not like every day we lose .25 lbs if we burn 900 calories more than we take in. As we exercise we replace some lost fat with muscle. Losing fat is the goal and there will be weeks or months where we don't lose weight but we lose fat. Circumstances can allow our bodies to retain fluids. TOM, sodium intake, meds, stress and excessive carbohydrates can make us retain lbs of excess fluids. It's very easy for an obese person to retain 10-20 lbs of Water. 2 weeks before and after surgery we lose a lot of weight and most of that is water. Don't expect it to continue! tmf

Polar H7 bluetooth transmitter. About $63. I use it with my Iphone 5 and the polar free app when I exercise indoors and I use the H7 with the cyclemeter app when I bike. tmf

Comment from another forum member who I cannot remember his name?: "In my case, the most fearful thing I had to do in order to succeed with my band wasn't switching to skim milk, surviving a liquid diet, or giving up bread. The most fearful thing was giving up my emotional attachment to food. In the nearly 5 years since I was banded, I've made a lot of progress with that, but the attachment is still there. It forms one of the innermost layers of my turtle shell. Working on that layer will probably be a lifetime job for me. At times I'm not even sure I truly want to get rid of it altogether. At times I'm afraid that if I shed my shell completely, I won't be able to survive. On the other hand, I seem to be doing fine without that thick old b***h layer. So I'm going to pay attention to my dreams rather than my fears and pray for a miracle. And why not? It can't hurt to try!" Dream a little. Fear not!

We have 4 too. Bred many in the past but no longer. The female is just a b***h I think. She loves me and she's definitely my cat but she's camped out in my office for 1 1/2 years now and won't come out. They got along fine for 8 months then Beau got too big for her and she's not into playing like he does. Sorry folks for the cat dialogue. I'll go now. tmf

I've never seen them and I'm nearly an expert on the Atkins diet. Well, expert on the original one where you can eat a slab of bacon for Breakfast and a 24 oz porterhouse for dinner(no I never did indulge in that). It depends? Are the foods processed? The idea behind the band is for solid food to be chewed and swallowed so that as it goes through your pouch it stimulates the vagus nerve to enable you to feel satisfied sooner. Processed foods usually are slider foods. Like lean cuisine or smart ones. Low in calories, high in sodium but they slide right through your pouch and usually won't satisfy your hunger for long? If you are able to eat these atkins pre-packaged foods and feel satisfied you can lose weight. I'd recommend you only eat them when you're in a hurry or for lunch at work and only if you can't prepare nutritous foods in advance. jmo tmf

One slice once in a while won't harm your journey. Once slice every day is a different story but sounds like you already know that. Tomorrow my daughter will be 24 and two of our cats will be 13. Yay!! Happy Birthday! tmf

There are so many different pre-op diets you'll have to tell us what it is? Wait, your profile said you had surgery 2 days ago? Pre or post op? tmf

BTW- I like your handle(name). Can you come to my house and make peace between my 13 yr old female siamese and 2 year old male siamese. He just wants to play but she's not into it at all. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread

You probably don't want to hear this but I was where you are for 4 months. It's called "bandster hell". I'm no longer there but it was worth it for me. Once you can eat solids you can fill up on veggies, lean meats and fruit so it's not quite so bad. tmf

I was never afraid of the surgery(although it sucked more than I thought it would). I was afraid I would have to give up the foods I had become addicted to. They're different for all of us. For me, fast food, bread with butter and cheese, fried chicken, mashed potatoes smothered in fatty gravy and so on. But I don't miss it and I still sometimes have those foods. But, they don't taste as good as they did before so the cravings left immediately after surgery. Unknown forum member quote: " In my case, the most fearful thing I had to do in order to succeed with my band wasn't switching to skim milk, surviving a liquid diet, or giving up bread. The most fearful thing was giving up my emotional attachment to food. In the nearly 5 years since I was banded, I've made a lot of progress with that, but the attachment is still there. It forms one of the innermost layers of my turtle shell. Working on that layer will probably be a lifetime job for me. At times I'm not even sure I truly want to get rid of it altogether. At times I'm afraid that if I shed my shell completely, I won't be able to survive. On the other hand, I seem to be doing fine without that thick old b***h layer. So I'm going to pay attention to my dreams rather than my fears and pray for a miracle. And why not? It can't hurt to try!" I think change is difficult for many of us. Especially when it comes to our binky(food). Sounds like you have your head screwed on just right so good luck. tmf

Do you have restriction? In the green zone? Learning to eat slow, small and chew chew chew has been my most difficult task in this journey. It's hard to do and I still struggle to this day. Got stuck this morning and probably 3 other times this week. And I know I need another fill. If I follow the rules I never get stuck but I seldom feel satisfied. Sound familiar? I too fight the head hunger main ring bout every afternoon, late. That's why I believe I need another fill so that I can stay satisfied longer and maybe not even think about food. Good luck. tmf

Work comp? Wha happened? You fall down?

That's slime as in ghost busters slimed! Slim is what you will be very soon Must have been a huge pill? I have one I take every morning and so far so good. I keep expecting it to get lodged in the stoma but not yet. I try to take it with lots of Water before and following. tmf

I looked into this and there's no real information as to how they perform their miracles? But there are a lot of negative reviews mostly in TX. tmf

Sporting events, concerts, movies, plays, skiing, biking, hiking, museums, historic home visits, antiquing. Many of these offer food but it's junk food, fast food and it's easy to explain away the fact that your body is a temple and only healthy nutritious edibles will cross your lips

Relax, it takes some of us months to finally get restriction. Like Missy said, it's normal. It sucks, but it's normal. Took me 4 months to finally get enough restriction to start losing weight. It will come, just be patient and follow your Drs orders. tmf

Stop taking pain meds if you can? They just caused a lot of problems for me. Pain meds can slow down or even stop your digestive system causing excess fluids to stay in your stomach and digestive track. But that's just me. tmf

I see where you also threw up back in November? Is this normal for you and why are you throwing up?

Maybe he knows something we don't know but his approach is rather unorthodox. I won't advise you stray away from his instructions but If i were you I would do some research and ask him why he's advocating his approach over hundreds of other doctors who mostly adhere to a very different eating strategy? Double check with him and make sure you didn't misunderstand his strategy? tmf

OMG..I just read some of my posts from last March. I can't believe what a whiner I was? I scold some bandsters who post on the forum for whining and I was the king. Hope you're doing well. I stopped losing back in August and gained about 8 lbs back. Sort of waiting on Spring and Summer to kick start my exercise routine. I hate working out indoors and sometimes the biking weather is find but the wind is awful. Still down 40 lbs but have 35 more to go and hoping to lose most of that over the summer. Dan