2muchfun

It takes me so long to eat a plate of food I'm sick of looking at it after 30 minutes. That's cured me temporarily but I'm sure if I was around relatives who can eat and do eat everything they want and my band was loose, I'd fall back into the same old routine. Slow down your eating routine and see if that satiates your appetite? tmf

I probably shouldn't answer this but I don't count anything. I'm eating less but eating healthy. I still lose weight. Everyone will be different. Men seem to need more calories than women. Since I've cut out most white food(flour, sugar, dairy) I really don't worry about carbs. I seem to be able to eat meat with no problem so I eat 4-8 ozs per dinner meal. You'll find that some bandsters find it helpful and in some cases vital to count grams of everything. I just don't want to live my life that way. I spend far toomuch time obsessing about weight loss as it is and calculating every gram of fat, carb and Protein would take toomuch time and cause toomuch stress. From my point of view. BTW-I do allow for some whole wheat thin breads or low carb tortillas, one hershey's bliss dark chocolate, 2 8 oz skinny latte's and some sprinkles of low fat cheese for my morning omelette. I just do it in extreme moderation. tmf

I allow myself 2 alcohol beverages a week but it's usually only 1. Alcohol reduces your inhibitions and can lead to binging. Hershey's and Dove make these small dark chocolate bites that have about 40 calories each and I have one every night. tmf

This might help. Click on the link to the Peachtree band patient manual: http://www.peachtreebariatrics.com/docs/Gastric-Band-Patient-Manual.pdf

I ate hot food before and after my surgery. I love extremely spicy/hot green chili. I love to make Pad Thai or stir fry and I add sriracha garlic/chili sauce to my asian meals. I also add jalapeno's to my eggs and omelettes. Hasn't bothered me a bit. tmf

I really really love these kind of stories. tmf

You can drop 10-15 lbs in two weeks if you go on a strict low carb diet.

I have but not with little pills. Big pills sometime hang around my pouch and have burned the lining of my pouch. Makes it difficult to sleep when it's happening and is noticeable when I consume food the next day. But, it goes away in 24 hours. Still, you don't want to cause an ulcer in your pouch as this is the main reason for erosion. tmf

My Doc had me drink liquids the day before surgery. That's all. tmf

You eat junk on purpose? Look to the right and read SteveFrett's post. tmf

Your comments come as no surprise to me. I have been concerned since my first "stuck" episode along with sliming and PB'ing after my 3rd fill. I too still struggle with eating slower and taking smaller bites. I had .25 CCs removed a month ago due to excessive stuck episodes but still struggle with the stuck episodes along with PB'ing. Your comments come as a shot across my bow and I'm so glad you posted. I'm getting better at this eating thing, but it's a slow learning curve for me and all newbies and long term bandsters should heed your warning. If there is a list of reasons we eat too fast I'd like to add distraction as one of my major causes. I had my grandkids here for 5 days and the distraction caused me to get stuck every day once or twice. Thanks again and I'll pay much closer attention now. tmf

I agree with Jen. Need more info? You should fill out your profile so we won't have to ask in the future? If you lost 7 lbs, you lost about 5-6 lbs of Water. Or, you ran a 10K race every day and consumed only 1000 calories. It's not unusual for a new patient to lose 15-20 lbs the first month of being banded or in pre-op dieting. tmf

Meow, if you click on her picture you can see her profile and surgery date. Re: hungry..When the swelling subsides after surgery the band won't be offering any restriction until you get a fill or two. At this point you are really on your own. As B-52 says it: Until there's restriction...It's just another diet. tmf

I went to work the next day but I work from home. If I had to go to an office I'd say 3-4 days tops. But I was still groggy for about a week from all the meds they pump into your body. Anesthesia, antibiotics, saline etc. tmf

I aint braggin, but my doc let me have mushies 4 days out and soft foods 8 days out. It's his regular routine and after reading so many posts just like this one, I love my doc. tmf

I ran across this comment on another post or site? Anyway, I often wish I were so thoughtful and could express how I'm feeling as well as this guy did. "Sometimes to get where you want to go, you have to do what you are afraid to do. You must be brave and push forward. Miracles occur when you give as much attention and energy to your dreams as you do to your fears. 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!" tmf

5 Day Pouch Test http://www.5daypouchtest.com/ Check it out. Could be the way to narrow down your options? tmf

Well, you're splitting hairs here. Yes, sipping is recommended. Gulping, no. But I can gulp and I'm in the green zone. Too bad you didn't post this sooner. The support group meets at N Suburban in Thornton tonight. Kelly Elliott is the moderator and she's incredible. She's my nutritionist and is the same for 4 doctors. You don't say when you got filled? Who filled you? Johnell? Call his office in the morning. You may be filled too much. What foods are hurting you? Getting a fill requires that you learn how to eat with each new fill. It trained me to keep eating smaller and smaller bites and to chew a lot more. tmf

Yup! You're a failure! You must be the only person who's ever cheated on the band. So disappointing since all the other posters here have never cheated and always eat what we're supposed to eat. Might as well give up now. I think I hear a caramel fudge drumstick calling my name, gotta go! LOL, JK, Lighten up, it's one day out of the rest of your life. You'll have more of these(unless you're a perfect bandster) but call that RN up and demand a fill. tmf

There was this chinese restaurant in Boulder Co that had some kind of special where if you bring in 8 or more people, order this house special, they would start bringing out platters of food. Each platter was different. They would keep bringing different platters out until we didn't finish one. Then the party was over. I just recall eating from 7-10 different platters plus a mound of rice and Soup. OMG, it was so good but I remember going home and could hardly breath. And I was thin at that time. Probably close to my goal weight now. Oh, the good ole days. tmf

Seems like 1200-1400 is my magic caloric intake number. tmf

I suppose we're all different but for me, it was a "stuck" feeling. That would be after a few bites of food I would feel pressure in my diaphragm area that could be mildly painful. Usually there would be slime(thick saliva) associated with a bad stuck episode. I also feel a lump in my lower throat or the bottom of my esophogus. This feeling should go away in 10-30 minutes. I can't eat or drink anymore until the pouch massages the food through the band. You should know that restriction is a good thing but it's not the real goal. The real goal is satiety with less food. Restriction is simply a red flag that we have eaten too much or to slow down. Restriction is a signal and when you learn how to use it, you can become satisfied with less food. Satiety is the goal. tmf

If he's only placed 100 bands he wouldn't qualify as a surgeon for me. Maybe his inexperience with the band is why he has to adjust so many? tmf

E gads, I just bought some workout DVDs from Groupon. Shawn T's Rockin Body. 7 Videos of people dancing. I hate dancing. I thought the videos were going to be from his insanity program. They suck big time. Sorry, I just had to vent. I look forward to someone posting something useful, and not like my diatribe. tmf