KartMan

I thought this was going to be one of the toughest things because I have always been big on drinking during the meal. Really though, it hasn’t been too tough. Maybe it’s because the portion sizes are so small that I don feel the need to drink while eating? I always set the timer on my phone for one hour as soon as I eat the last bite to remind me when it is ok to drink. I do cheat a little though, I drink a big glass of water right before breakfast to loosen my band up a bit. I find that without pre-breakfast water I can’t eat anything. Even with this water, I am able to stay satisfied till lunch so I don’t think it has hurt my weight loss.

MoonBeam, I had some of those same fears too, but so far it has been a very positive experience for me. I lost about 10 lbs on pre-op then about 25 more by the time I got my first fill. I had some restriction post-op, a little more at the first fill (was able to eat about 1.5 cups of food). I now feel like I have hit my sweet spot on the second fill a few days ago (at 4.5cc now). Now I can only eat a few bites of food per meal, this morning that worked out to almost a whole scrambled egg with a sprinkling of cheese. At this point, the hardest thing is learning not to put so much food on my plate because it will just go to waste. Actually, another thing I am still working out is how to get enough nutrition in because I know those few bites are not enough to keep me healthy. Luckily, I like my protein shakes so I have been having those between meals.

Sorry, I probably could have been a little clearer. I went from 0cc at banding to 3cc on the first fill and a total of 4.5cc in this last fill. I did have some restriction from the beginning though and have had minor bouts of PBing and sliming since the first fill.

Did you notice that most of that stuff is filled with sugar and carbs? I find that if I splurge on sugar it is hard to stop (at least for that day). I’m not a doctor so don’t quote me on this stuff, but the way I understand it sugar causes an insulin surge which makes us feel even more hungry. I am an advocate of giving myself a little treat on occasion (for me that is about once every 10 days), I just really have to think about it before I do it. I try to do it later in the day so that I can go to sleep if the cravings really start. Also, I try to have a snack only after I have eaten a meal so that there is less room to binge. Don’t beat yourself up over a single episode, just don’t let it become a habit. One of the things I do now is cut back on calories a lot the day after any sort of splurge, this usually negates any scale issues. This is so much easier to do with the band!! Pre-band, I never would have been able to cut my meal in half or substitute a meal with a shake – now it’s easy.

I asked him that and he said regular food is ok, just don’t push it too hard which is why I stuck to chili and eggs (both of which have been good to me so far). I’m not really worried at this point, I think it will ease off a bit. I do find that I have to chew even more and eat even slower than before.

I am not a doctor, so I certainly don’t know what the right quantities of calories and Protein are (and I’m sure they are different for men and women). I do know that when I go over 1500 I don’t drop weight and when I get less than 60 grams of protein I feel weak and also don’t drop. At times when I can’t get the time for a meal I mix in one of the EAS Myoplex shakes. I think the dark chocolate tastes pretty good and it has 300 calories and 43g of protein, which is a pretty good chunk of what you need for the day. I haven’t tried the bullets. As for stretching, your portions seem pretty tiny, I don’t see how it could be a problem. Only 9 pounds in 3 weeks? Give yourself some credit!!! That is 3 pounds a week!!! There are non-banded people out there that would kill for those results. Dr. V9 uong wrote an interesting article about this recently http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f197/weight-loss-plateau-92870/

I would say it looks like you might me eating too little. My quick count is; bfast 83 calories and 6 grams of protein lunch 233 calories and 9 grams of protein dinner 314 calories ad 17 grams of proton That is only 630 calories and 32 grams of protein. I try to get in about 1200 calories and over 60 grams of protein. I would ask your nutritionist to give you a guideline on those. I don’t really like to eyeball my food and say that each meal should be a cup or whatever, I try to break it up by calories and protein – for me that works out to about 400 calories and 20 grams of protein per meal. I find that if I am short on protein I don’t feel as full and the scale doesn’t move the next day.

Sky, A few years ago I lost a lot of weight on Atkins (also high protein/low carb) and thought it was the best diet in the world and the weight flew off. I thought, man I could do this the rest of my life. The problem is, you can’t (or at least I couldn’t). The carbs started sneaking back in, and when they did the weight came right back. The difference for me now that I am banded is that I can stop with small portions. I eat a very high protein diet, but I am able to have carbs too – I just am not able to eat that much because the band stops me. I find that I can eat most foods, but in much smaller portions. I am learning what is harder to get down and to chew a lot and eat slowly. But it doesn’t feel like a diet and I never really feel hungry. The hardest part is portioning my meal before I eat. I take what I think would be a normal sized portion and can only get down about ½ the food before feeling stuffed.

I get corrected by my better half far too often for misuse of "well" and "good". Me - "I did good on my diet today honey!" Her - "No, you did well on your diet today you mOron".

This is too funny.:drool::laugh: Now you are trying to use the same argument skeptics use about Christianity against the Moslems. A lot of folks (me included) think Judaism and Christianity were derived from earlier Egyptian and pagan belief systems. I see no reason to doubt that Islam has a similar foundation to the other two, especially since they (Moslems) do acknowledge that they share the same God as the other two. The thing that is hilarious in this is the hypocrisy of it all. “Their God is not my God because he is based on myths and Idol Worship and mine is real”.

That is entirely dependant on what you believe. Moslems believe in Jesus. They believe he was "one" of God's (Allah’s) prophets, they do not however believe was the son of God. Christians believe in Jesus as well, however they believe he was more than a prophet - they believe he was God's son. Most religious scholars (even coming from different perspectives) understand that the Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all referring to the same god in their scripture.

Seriously??? Do you even read what you write? All those people died because they rejected God? Even if you take just the first one (and in so doing you are in my opinion taking a huge leap of faith that it was even possible), you are saying that they all died because they ALL rejected God. Everyone on the Earth at the time of Noah rejected God and had to be killed? All the little nephews and nieces of Noah rejected God and had to be killed? All the orphans and widows of they days wars at the time of Noah rejected God and had to be killed? All of the people in the far away lands from Noah rejected God and had to be killed? Really? Do you really believe that?

For me it has been chicken and eggs too, but those are staples for me so my diet is skewed towards them. I find that when it happens, it is because I am not paying proper attention to how I eat. If I am talking or distracted, the food goes in faster, gets chewed less and swallowed sooner. My advice to me and you... Chew, focus, chew, take smaller bites, chew, slow down, chew. Oh and chew some more. BTW, it happened to me this morning again. I was having an omelet with my kids and chatting with them. I got about half way into it and felt a major stuck situation coming. It was the worst one I’ve had so far. I slimed and PBed for an hour before feeling comfortable again. The bright side is my calorie content for Breakfast was probably half what it normally is, j/k I definitely don’t want to loose weight that way. Another thing I have decided is to skip the rule about drinking before a meal, well at breakfast at least. In my first several weeks I would drink 16-24ozs of Water in the morning prior to breakfast and I never got stuck. It also did not effect my weight loss or feeling of satiety between lunch and breakfast. Since getting filled on 4/1 I have attempted to follow the rules and not drink prior but I find I am too tight in the morning. So for me, I am going to go back to drinking before breakfast.

You do know that "Allah" and "God" are synonymous don’t you? I’m not saying I have any faith in any of these religions myself, but as believer you should understand that the god referenced in the Hebrew Torah (Yahweh/Jehovah) in the New Testament (God), and the Quran (Allah) are all one in the same.

Sorry, I misspoke. Not reborn, I meant to say that I do not believe that he was resurrected (the belief that has developed into the celebration of Easter).

Mine was supposed to be empty, turns out it had a tiny amount (0.6cc). My doc said it its better to start out empty so that the stomach wall can heal where the space the stitches. Even though I had essentially no fill my food portions were down considerably and I lost between .2 and .6 lbs per day. I went in a few days ago for the first fill. He tried to take me to 3.6cc but I couldn’t get the water to go down so he backed me off to 3.0cc and I feel great. I have cut my 400-500 calorie meals (3 meals a day) down to 300-400 and have not felt hungry between meals. I do feel as though I need to be a lot more conscious of chewing now.

Also, remember to breathe deeply even if it’s a little uncomfortable. Short shallow breaths can contribute to pneumonia, which you definitely don't want.

I never said that I believe he existed, but it seems due to references in other historical literature besides the bible that he did exist. That era was full of prophets and theologians, so it is of no surprise to me that one young Jewish man questioned his own religious upbringing and grew up to be Jesus. This is where I veer off from believers though. My assumption is that he was real, he was a prophet, and he developed a loyal following. I seriously doubt there is any credible evidence outside of the bible that he preformed any miracles, was ever reborn, or was the son of a virgin. The virgin birth is fascinating though. There seems to be some historical evidence that Mary was a virgin, but the term virgin had a very different meaning than it does today. This theory dispels the whole concept of the Immaculate Conception.

I never really doubted that Jesus existed, or that he was a prophet, and every indication is that he was a great man. I do doubt that he actually performed any miracles or was the son of god (if there is one).

Ok this may be TMI but did anyone have to do #2 a lot after a fill? I had my first fill this morning going from 0.6cc to 3.0cc and have had to go to the bathroom 3 times already today. I haven’t gone like that since pre banding and eating 3000 calories a day. I didn’t eat anything unusual yesterday, in fact it was a smaller than normal portion day for me (about 1000 calories).

I was banded 2/18/09 and have kept it pretty boring but satisfying for me. I like the foods, so the lack of variety has not bothered me much. I have kept it simple mainly because when I eat this stuff I already no the calorie and Protein content. Breakfast about 300-350 calories 2 eggs scrambled with diced onions, tomatoes, and about 1/3 chicken breast with ¼ cup shredded cheese on top lunch about 300-500 calories 1 to 1.5 cup of chili (with Beans and meat) or some other high protein thick Soup Or 1/3 to ½ diced chicken breast sautéed with onions, tomatoes and sprinkled with 1/8 cup cheese also ½ cup of refried beans with 1/8 cup of cheese dinner about 300-500 calories Pretty much the same as lunch I was filled today so I will be hopefully modifying these portion sizes down a bit.

Whoa now, there you go again. Time is NOT calculated by the coming of Jesus. Time is calculated by a precise scientific relation of the Earths rotation around its axis (hours and minutes) and its relative position around the sun (months). BC and AD are frames of reference on the Julian and Gregorian calendar (but not used at all on the Hebrew, Moslem, Hindu, American Indian, etc. calendars), but his birth and death have little relevance to the way time functions. In fact, BC and AD are not all that precise since the historical record doesn’t really show exactly when Jesus was born. Even the bible is conflicted on this topic. Matthew says he was born during King Herod's reign (Herod died in 4 BC) Luke says he was born during the reign of Cyrenius in Syria which began in AD 6. Which is right? Which part of the bible should we have faith in? This little example is a great illustration of the many inaccuracies and inconsistencies contained within the bible that make it hard for many of us to believe in it. The four gospels are often considered the most important part of the New Testament, yet they actually are riddled with inconsistency, omissions and historical inaccuracies such as this one. Where do all those bibles go anyway? I'm not sure people are reading them, if they did they might be even more confused than they were before they read it.:thumbdown:

People love to talk. Some people like to talk about other people. I know you feel hurt, but you opened the door by talking about it at all. I have been quiet about my surgery too. But I realized that once I told one person outside of my inner circle the word would get out. The percentage of the population that have had WLS is still pretty low, so we are still a bit sensationalized in what we have done - that makes people talk. Just tell her that you prefer she not talk about it, or at least if she does need to talk about it she should get her facts straight. But you cant expect her to give up gossip altogether. In fact, I would guess the more you dwell on it the more the chatter will continue. If you really want to confront, you could tell her that at least you did something about your weight and that maybe she should do something about her “insert problem here”.:biggrin:

Hmmm, You should be careful with that train of thought. By that same reasoning David Koresh and Jim Jones may have been god too. They told their people that they were, and their people followed them to their deaths. In the case of Jones it was some 900 people. You can't use actions of the followers to validate the “facts” about god or jesus.

Or to eat a cow :tongue_smilie: