jmegirl

I'm concerned as to why you're only on 2oz per meal. Are you having 6 meals a day? You can't consume less than 800cals per day and expect to lose weight, because at that point your body will go into starvation mode, your metabolism will fall out of whack, and your body will hold onto every calorie you give it, for fear it won't get any more for awhile. Once you reach solid foods, you should be eating 3 normal meals a day (basically 1/2 cup to 1 cup of food at a time) and you should definitely be getting most of your protein from solids rather than protein drinks. Then again, every doctor is different.

Well....I feel better than I did yesterday. But I still feel yucky. I may be visiting a doctor this afternoon. Though I don't have a PCP so typically I just go to an Urgent Care. I've been told that's the worst place to go when you've got a flu, so I may talk to some coworkers and get a referral to a local PCP. At least my throat isn't on fire today! Gosh, I could hardly drink Crystal Light yesterday, it was that bad.

Weigh-in for this week: -1.4 Yay, I'm almost back where I started 4 weeks ago, hahaha. Move over ladies, I'm gonna sit on the loser's bench this week. Though technically, I've lost this same pound about 10 times since surgery.

If you want to be generic about it (and nothing about the Lap Band seems generic in the slightest) - I would say between 1000 to 1200 calories a day, and at least 60g of protein a day. Those are the numbers I've read the most. Of course, you can't eat all 60g of protein at once - your body can only use 20-25g at a time, so you have to break it up into 3 different meals. And as far as calories go, by changing your calorie intake every other day (by no more than 200cals/day) you are keeping your body from getting used to anything, thus keeping up your metabolism and assisting your weight gain. Now, I've got no concrete evidence about this one - but I've read several on this site who say that works for them. Along with exercise, of course. They say 900cal one day, 1000cal the next, then maybe 1200cal, then back to 1000cal, then up to 1100cal, etc etc.

Yup, they're everywhere! Pre-Op, Post-Op, November 2008 - all over the boards!

With regards to this portion of your post, I have to say that I used pizza and ice cream as examples based on this part of his statement: She's eating the unadvisable foods, she's eating "too much" of them, she's having liquids with her meals, and so on. Personally I think pizza and ice cream are unadvisable foods. That doesn't mean I don't crave them nearly every day. Sometimes I even dream about them, LOL. Also, I'm sorry about the name calling. I just really get frustrated when people fail themselves after going through all that they did to get the band. The band doesn't fail you, you fail the band, and that really bothers me! I shouldn't have used some of those words, but they're out there now.

Don't take people's weight loss tickers to heart. Almost everyone includes their pre-op weight loss in their tickers. So it might say 30lbs lost and surgery was on 11/15 (or whatever) but I guarantee you it's not all post-op weight loss. Personally I think your ticker should show how much you've lost since surgery, but a lot of people like to show how much they've lost overall, and for some people who had a really strict or really long pre-op diet, it can be very misleading!!!

First, I agree 100% with Hoosier Tom's post. In fact, if it's possible to agree 150%, then that's where I'm at right now. Of course it's about "structure and discipline". What else would it be about? You can always cheat on a diet - band or no band. Unless you're locked in a room and someone else is feeding you exactly what you need to eat every single day for the rest of your life, then you will need to learn structure and discipline, first and foremost, in order to be successful wth the band. Of course we all have emotional problems when it comes to food - that's why we're all fat! But making the decision to get the band should have been the first step towards self-healing as far as emotional eating goes. And once you have the band, if you find yourself slipping back into old habits, it's up to you to get help. Don't look for sympathy elsewhere, because that won't kick your ass back into gear. He got a lap band because he needed help losing weight. So he got some help, had surgery on his stomach, addressed his problems with emotional eating, got himself some good structure and discipline, and he lost all that damned weight! And he's proud of it! And who wouldn't be proud of it???? People on this website are way too nice sometimes if you ask me. "Oh it's OK, you'll do better tomorrow, cheer up honey!". No, that's not how it is. When someone says they've been eating ice cream every day for a month, you don't tell them it's OK, we've all fallen off the wagon, and you'll be fine tomorrow. You tell them to get off their ass and recognize that they did this to themselves for a reason, and they need to reevaluate that reason and put their ass in gear heading in the right direction! We all had SURGERY for crying out loud. SURGERY!!! To help us correct the problem with eating too much and eating too often...SURGERY!!!!! So why in the Holy Hell would one sabotage himself or herself by eating bad foods? Are you an idiot? Do you like the pain of surgery? Do you like having to crush your pills because you can't swallow them whole? Do you like not having any types of carbonated beverages - ever again - for the rest of your life? How about not drinking through a straw? All the changes you have to make in order to have the band, not to mention all the things you have to go through to get there, and the money (for some of us, LOTS of money) that you spend on the surgery - I for one can't understand why someone would go through all of that only to chuck it all and make poor decisions. I'm not saying it's wrong to have a bowl of ice cream or a slice of pizza. Hell, once you've reached your goal and are simply maintaining your weight, you can probably have it once a week! But while you're still losing weight, you need to kick yourself in the ass every day and remind yourself of all that you went through. You went through TOO MUCH to be washing it down the drain with bad food choices. Structure. Discipline. If you want to be successful, you have to have structure and discipline. OK, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. Have a great day everyone!

Did you end up getting an unfill yesterday or are you maintaining with what they put in on Monday?

Today I've eaten way too much of this stuff: Peppermint Bark Recipe : Paula Deen : Food Network I hate the Holidays!!!! :tt1:

LOL I can't help but laugh with you. I had that same silly idea about my pre-op diet - I was going to start it one month early. HAH yeah right. I had my last suppers right up until Go Time! :tt1:

Thanks for the well wishes! What a beautiful family you have! And what a hunka hunka man you got there :tt1::whistle: The pup and kids are just precious, and I love the name you all picked out!

YAY!! Congrats!!! Dr. K is such a wonderful, kind, and gentle man :tt1:

Well, sort of. I started to feel that familiar scratchy throat, and I was sneezing, so I thought I was getting a cold. But it never came to a head, so I think it was just allergies at that point. I started feeling sick exactly 2 weeks post-op. And I've been sick ever since, some days worse than others. Like I said, today pretty much makes 3 weeks of this darned thing. I'm sure my immune system was weakened post-op, and with my lack of nutrients being on a liquid diet, it probably just made me more susceptible to the flu. But to carry on this long is just cruel and inhumane!

Haha, I've been sick so long, I'm starting to think I'm allergic to my band! :tt1:

Thanks! I think I'm gonna make some good ol' fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup tonight! Hubby is out of town, so I can curl up with my soup and my cats and do absolutely nothing, haha.

Wow, way to go!!! You're obviously doing something right. What am I doing wrong??? I wanna be a success already, daggonit. Patience is not a virtue I was blessed with. :tt1:

So ladies, all you professional Bandsters out there - what do you do when you have a bad cold/flu and need medication? When you go to the doctor, they are inevitably going to give you pills for your ailment. How do you approach that? Is there a liquid-form to what they'll give you for a flu? I've had this flu for 3 weeks this Thursday, and this morning my throat is on fire. I can't remember in all my 26 years my throat ever hurting this much. Add to that the stuffy head, sinus headache, and constant sneezing - I'm miserable. I can hardly talk - my throat is that bad. I've told myself I'll finally go to a doctor tomorrow if my throat still feels this bad, but I'm worried I'll pay all that money to see the doctor (my insurance isn't that great) only to find that there's nothing he can prescribe me that isn't in pill form. Any opinions ladies?

So how are you today? Did you get in to see the doctor? Let us know how you're doing!

Well, I'm all tapped out for suggestions. But I'm really glad you ordered a sampler pack - I'm sure you'll like them all, they're really good. Nuts and raisins are fine as long as you've moved onto solid foods. If you're still on mushies, then I'd hold off on the nuts and raisins for now.

So, can I be excused from weigh-in until....December 30th? I don't usually hate, but let me tell you, I've got some serious hatred for my scale right now.

Well, I think I was a hottie back when I was 19. I was 175lbs (at 5'8) and wearing a size 12 from NY&Co and I felt like such a beauty. So that's really my goal - to get back down to 175. If I can get lower than that, fabulous. But I'm not really expecting it. I haven't worn a size 10 since 6th grade!!!!!

Did you make the pudding like that before or after I recommended it? I'm glad you liked it!!! It's the perfect afternoon snack for me - it just means I've been buying more milk than usual, haha. You should try making oatmeal from scratch, using the plain oats you buy at the store. Mix in a scoop of protein powder (your choice of flavor, but this is where chocolate tastes gooooood), a packet of Splenda, chopped walnuts and raisins/dried cranberries. Then of course, add some water and cook it like you would normally cook oatmeal, only you'll need a little extra water since you added protein powder to the mix. It makes a really hefty portion though, so cut the portion in half and only use half a scoop of protein powder if you've got really good restriction.

It's not a protein drink, it's a protein powder that you mix with milk to make your protein drink. The brand I buy is called Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Protein Gold Series. They've got all sorts of yummy flavors!!! And they're all about 24g of protein per scoop, about 110cals and 5g carbs. Optimum Nutrition at DPS Nutrition - The Nation's leader in Discount Nutrition

Speaking of pudding, I have something fabulous that you ladies must try. I've been getting SF Instant pudding mix (mainly the White Chocolate and Cheesecake flavors). I mix it up with 2 cups of 2% milk (as the directions tell you to) but I also add in one scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream protein powder (24g per scoop). :angry_smile: The pudding thickens in 5 mins since it's the instant kind. It's soooooo damn good, OMG you have no idea, LOL. It's a protein-filled way to snack! Of course, since you add the protein powder it makes the pudding thicker than it normally would be. I basically split one box of pudding into two small containers, and that usually serves as my afternoon snack before heading home from work. This way I don't go home starving - that leads to eating too much, haha. Pretty much any flavor of the SF Instant pudding and any flavor protein powder will work! My husband does SF Chocolate pudding mix with Rocky Road protein powder. But I'm not as much of a chocolate fan, so I stick to the Cheesecake flavor mostly, that's my fave. :frown: