SaraJaneQ

Well, this is where its all about willpower. Lets be honest, you will be able to eat things like Cookies even with restriction. You need to make the decision to not eat them. I am just under 6 weeks out myself. So far no cookies but I did have a small Peppermint Patty. An occasional small oops isnt going to kill you, but I stronly suggest you find healthy low cal Snacks availble. Four oreos is a pretty bad choice - One and a slice of turkey woulda filled you up (probably better as the Protein takes longer to get through your band) and would not have been so high in calories. Good luck with learning to make good choices - it is a struggle for all of us. They gave us a tool but didnt fix the habits that got us this way in the first place!

Hey all...its a gray nasty day out there, but Im still hoping to get up the enthusiasm to meet up with a bunch of you at 6 tonight at St. Raphs. Gosh would I love to bring a big ole coffee with me, but I guess my water bottle is a slightly better (if less comforting) choice!

The premixed EAS ones are the best to me too, but they get kinda pricey. I have tried a lot of shakes that I just cant get over the smell, but designer whey protein is pretty good that way. Also, if you like coffee, you can mix in some instant coffee or something like the international delights powders and it will mask the smell a bit.

Im with Jennifer. Its impossible for us to guess if the band slipped. You were indeed naughty! But my doc says you have to be pretty darn naughty to make the band actually slip. It sounds like you got stuck (been there, on scrambled eggs of all things!). Getting stuck does not necessarily equal slippage. Take it back a step, go with liquids/mushies and let things heal! You will have follow ups with your doc and you could always bring up this incident - they will check it out if they are concerned.

According to my calendar, the group for the first six months or so meets a week from today. Anybody attending?

My honest advice is to go visit a surgeon who does several different procedures. I honestly do not know about/understand all of your medical conditions, but it may be healthiest for you to do a surgery that you lose weight more quickly with. That said, one of the great things about lap band is that they can keep adjusting it, so can hopefully keep you at goal with little exercise better than other surgeries can. Good luck do you - but the best advice I can give is to see your doc - only they can really know what would work best for your body.

Hey all, I have been banded for three weeks now. I lost 10lbs the first week, 3 the second, and none the third. I am not particularly upset by the lack of loss this week - my body is healing, but I journaled my calories most of this week now that I am on mushies and found that I am only getting between 500 and 600 calories in a day. That seems awfully low. I want to avoid my body going into starvation mode and hording calories. I was wondering what calorie goals successful bandsters live by. It seems difficult to me to get in too many calories (from healthy food of course) on the portions we should be eating, but I am wondering if maybe I need to add a protien shake or a fourth "meal" to my diet to be doing the healthy thing. I DO feel tired a lot, but I don't honestly know if that is lack of fuel or the fact that my body is still healing. So....any input guys? Do you have a number of calories you try to stay around for your daily intake? Thanks in advance for your help! sj

My doc says yes, but some docs are concered about caffene. I imagine herbal tea would be just fine, but every doctor has different rules.

Jaime, I can't even venture a guess why chewing salad would make you gag. BUT, do not let this one episode dissuade you. Try the chewing thing on more normal after band food (protein!) and see if you still have a problem. If you do, it could very well be in your mind. Chewing your food properly should not make you gag. My only thought is that maybe the shreds of carrots or lettuce were the problem. Good luck! sj

Yes Ma'am. Small world, huh?

Hey Heather, I most certainly did go to MHS. Patty, Dr. Valin has his own practice at St. Raph's. There are two practices there, but both use the Diana/Chris combination. I only have lost about 10 lbs since surgery - the first 20 were preop. I can't imagine 30 in week...ouch!

Hey Jeremy, Ill take a stab at most of these. Do you feel the port? Well, there are two parts to this answer. I can put my hand on my tummy and feel my port. I expect I always will. I can also feel it inside every once in a while if I stretch or lay on it, but I am only ten days out. Friends who have been banded long says that they do not feel their port from the inside now that they are healed. I am still on liquids, so I can't really speak to being "full", but I can tell you that I get to a point where I clearly feel satisfied. I get halfway through a cup of Jello and usually my body tells me it does not need anymore. Generally, pills need to be crushed or opened during liquid phase unless they are very small. Your doc may have you temporarily change meds too. My acid reflux was controled(ish) by two prescriptions and right now I am on one chewable OTC and having no reflux. My doc swears that there are no long term restrictions. Im a nervous girl, so I will probably protect my port for a long time, but nope, my doc says no worries. The pain is different for everyone. When I woke up from surgery I had an AWFUL backache. But just a normal really bad backache. I got myself up to walk about a half hour after going to my room and was in and out of bed at least once an hour that first night. By one week out I could just about sleep on my tummy again (at a week and a half out I can mostly sleep on it, but if I lean wrong my port aches a little). I took my prescription pain killer my first day home but since then I just take tylenol. now thats ME. Some people hurt worse, but it seems to be unusual that people are in real agony, just different levels of discomfort.

Well, this depends on your tolerances and doc's orders but I have to take bitter nasty prozac. I take about a teaspoon of my liquid tylenol (but if you are on anything liquid the doc prescribed I am certain that would work too) and stir it into that. The medicine is thick enough that it actually gets suspended in the "syrup" and the liquid medicine has enough artificial flavor in it that I can not taste the prozac.