Melissannde

I like bariatriceatings recipes, but have stopped recommending the site as I have reservations about some of the things she posts seems to have been stolen from other sites. For example: Cabot cheese had a recipe and photo - it was found on her site with the same photo and a recipe tweak. It's since been removed. I do still use it (my bad), but just can't tell others about it.

Let the nurse/doctor decide. They are the experts at this and can judge much better than you can at this point. When you've "matured" as a bandster, you will have a better idea of if you need a fill and how much of one. Now that I am two years out, they ask me if I want one and we discuss how much of a fill I will need. Just for a record, I came out of surgery with 3cc's in my band and had a really easy time adjusting to smaller meals. My "bandster hell" period was really short because I had a starter fill. My first fill was 1cc and all of them since have been .5cc or .2cc. I like increasing slowly too, it gives me time to adjust. Hope this helps a bit.

http://www.recipesecrets.net/forums/ (they have a low-carb section) Look for the Asian Glazed chicken Drumsticks.. they are SOOOOOO good. I used thighs and splenda instead of drumsticks and sugar.. came out so tasty & tender. I'm getting hungry just typing about it. www.cookinglight.com world according to eggface blog (her "bites" are good stuff.. she does have lots of liquids, which aren't usually good for a bandster once past healing.. YMMV) hungrygirl.com (she has some awesome "swaps", just be judicious as not all of her stuff is low-carb) Have fun

To the Original Poster: Larger people tend to lose faster. Sorry to tell you that, but it's true. Just be glad that you don't have 190 to lose versus 90. I've lost 195 lbs in 25 months. The first 100 came off the first 7 months. Like the others, I eat low carb & low fat. I do eat some fruit, but the lower sugar ones like apples & strawberries. I don't eat pineapple or bananas. I avoid HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) as much as I can.. it's in everything!! .. even ketchup. Lean Protein is what I mainly buy.. 90/10 or better. I did not eat out for the first year after banding to make sure I had a very good idea of what portion sizes are and to avoid the higher fat foods that restaurants often serve. When we do go out, we avoid buffets. I look up recipes on the web for lower calorie versions of things we like. For exercise, the first 7 months the main thing I did was walk. Started walking down our long driveway and back. Every day I added a few more steps till I got to where I was walking a mile. Then 2 miles. After I had lost 100, I ventured into a gym and haven't looked back. Just find some sort of movement that you enjoy.. it doesn't have to be a chore or painful, but it does need to be something you can stick with (and it's OK to change from one activity to another.. just don't STOP).

Good report. Thanks for updating us.

A one time occurence after surgery is nothing to worry about. I would worry if it happened regularly AFTER returning to a "normal" food intake. A saying I once heard applies "When you hear hoofbeats, think Horses, not Zebras". Meaning consider the most common cause before the more exotic. Of course the opposite would apply if you lived in Africa. LOL. Hang in there.

The band has been called a fickle b*tch by more than one person. There can be no apparent rhyme or reason why it's tighter some days than others. I've learned to quit arguing with it and feed myself according to the tightness of the day...as long as I'm not having pain with trying to eat normal foods, and I'm not throwing up, I work with the fill level I have. You'll have to do some detective work. The yogurt might have been cold enough to tighten your band. I've had that happen. Were you distracted and eating too fast, was there stress going on, was it your TOM, were your bites bigger than usual? If you do get an unfill, you might ask if they will only take out a fraction of what they last put in. The only unfill I've had has been .2cc and it did the trick. Amazingly with only that little bit taken out, my hunger returned. I pushed through it with extra water/crystal light/etc between meals. Just a heads up in case you get an unfill. After about 10 days or so, the hunger level settled back down. If you want to try to work through this w/o an unfill, try drinking something warm before your meals (even soft foods like yogurt). The warmth tends to loosen the band a bit. Now that I have a good fill level for me, I find raw broccoli to be challenging. Cooked is fine. Raw carrots I have to chew to mush. You might or might not be at that stage yet. Every fill is a learning experience. Hope this helps a little. Good luck to you.

My surgeon says centrum chewables are fine for bandsters, that childrens vitamins aren't appropriate for adults....even if you take two of them. BA & Celebrate make multis for bariatric patients, but unless your having deficiencies of some kind, they're probably over-kill for most of us as we don't malabsorb.

The Latest on Nutrition and hair Loss in the Bariatric Patient by Jacqueline Jacques, ND Nutrition and Hair Loss A common fear and complaint of bariatric surgery patients is postoperative hair loss. While for most of us as people, our hair is important as part of our self-image and body image, it is not very important to our bodies. For this reason, nutrition can have a great impact on hair health because when forced to make a choice, the body will shift nutritional stores to vital organs like the brain and heart and away from hair. Hair loss has many causes. The most common type of hair loss after weight loss surgery is a diffuse loss known medically as telogen effluvium, which can have both nutritional and non-nutritional causes. Whether you are aware of it or not, for most of your life you are always in the process of both growing and losing hair. Human hair follicles have two states: anagen, a growth phase, and telogen, a dormant or resting stage. All hairs begin their life in the anagen phase, grow for some period of time, and then shift into the telogen phase,which lasts for approximately 100 to 120 days. Following this, the hair will fall out. Typically, about 90 percent of hairs are anagen and 10 percent are telogen at any give time—meaning that we are usually losing a lot less hair than we are growing, so the hair loss is not noticeable. But sometimes this can change. Specific types of stress can result in a shift of a much greater percentage of hairs into the telogen phase. The stressors known to result in this shift, or telogen effluvium, include the following: high fever, severe infection, major surgery, acute physical trauma, chronic debilitating illness (such as cancer or end-stage liver disease), hormonal disruption (such as pregnancy, childbirth, or discontinuation of estrogen therapy), acute weight loss, crash dieting, anorexia, low Protein intake, Iron or zinc deficiency, heavy metal toxicity, and some medications (such as beta-blockers, anticoagulants, retinoids, and immunizations). Nutritional issues aside, bariatric surgery patients already have two major risks of major surgery and rapid weight loss. These alone are likely to account for much of the hair loss seen after surgery. In the absence of a nutritional issue, hair loss will continue until all hairs that have shifted into telogen phase have fallen out. There is no way of switching them back to the anagen phase. Hair loss will rarely last for more than six months in the absence of a dietary cause. Because hair follicles are not damaged in telogen effluvium, hair should then regrow. For this reason, most doctors can assure their weight loss surgery patients that with time and patience, and keeping up good nutritional intake, their hair will grow back. Discrete nutritional deficiencies are known to cause and contribute to telogen effluvium. One should be more suspicious of a nutritional contribution to post-bariatric surgery hair loss if any of the following occurred: 1. Hair loss continued more than one year after surgery 2. Hair loss started more than six months after surgery 3. Patient has had difficulty eating and/or has not complied with supplementation 4. Patient has demonstrated low values of ferritin, zinc, or protein 5. Patient has had more rapid than expected weight loss 6. Other symptoms of deficiency are present. Iron Iron is the single nutrient most highly correlated with hair loss. The correlation between non-anemic iron deficiency and hair loss was first described in the early 1960s, although little to no follow-up research was conducted until this decade. While new research is conflicted as to the significance of ferritin as a diagnostic tool in hair loss, it has still been found that a significant number of people with telogen effluvium respond to iron therapy. Optimal iron levels for hair health have not been established, although there is some good evidence that a ferritin level below 40mg/L is highly associated with hair loss in women.1 It is worth noting that this is well above the level that is considered to be anemic, so doctors would not be expected to see this as a deficiency. Zinc Zinc deficiency has been tied to hair loss in both animal studies and human cases. There is data linking zinc deficiency in humans to both telogen effluvium and immune-mediated hair loss. Zinc deficiency is a well-recognized problem after biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch, and there is some indication that it may occur with other procedures such as gastric bypass and adjustable gastric banding. In 1996, a group of researchers chose to study high-dose zinc supplementation as a therapeutic agent for related hair loss2 in patients who had undergone vertical banded gastroplasty. The study administered 200mg of zinc sulfate (45mg elemental zinc) three times daily to postoperative patients with hair loss. This was in addition to the Multivitamin and iron supplements that patients were already taking. No labs for zinc or other nutrients were conducted. Researchers found that in patients taking the zinc, 100 percent had cessation of hair loss after six months. They then stopped the zinc. In five patients, hair loss resumed after zinc was stopped, and was arrested again with renewed supplementation. It is important to note that in telogen effluvium of non-nutritional origin, hair loss would be expected to stop normally within six months. Since the researchers conducted no laboratory studies and there was no control group, the only patients of interest here are those who began to lose hair again after stopping zinc. Thus, we cannot definitively say that zinc would prevent hair loss after weight loss surgery, and further study would definitely be needed to make this connection. A further note: The tolerable upper intake level (UL) for zinc is set at 40mg in adults. This study utilized a daily dose of more than three times that level. Not only can these levels cause gastrointestinal distress, but chronic toxicity (mostly associated with copper depletion) can start at levels of 60mg/day. Information related to this study has made its way to many a support group and chat room—even to doctor’s offices—with the message that “high-dose zinc will prevent hair loss after weight loss surgery.” Patients should be advised that high-dose zinc therapy is unproven and should only be done under supervision due to the associated risks of toxicity. A lab test to check for zinc deficiency would be best before giving a high dose such as this. Protein Low protein intake is associated with hair loss. Protein malnutrition has been reported with duodenal switch, and in gastric bypass to a much lesser degree. Little is known about incidence, as only around eight percent of surgeons track labs such as total protein, albumen, or prealbumen.3 Limited studies suggest that patients with the most rapid or greatest amounts of weight loss are at greatest risk.4 With surgical reduction of the stomach, hydrochloric acid,5 pepsinogen, and normal churning are all significantly reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, pancreatic enzymes that would also aid in protein digestion are redirected to a lower part of the small intestine. It is thus likely that maldigestion rather than malabsorption is responsible for many cases. Some studies have also implicated low protein intake.6 Research also indicates that low levels of the amino acid l-lysine can contribute to hair loss and that repletion of lysine stores may both improve iron status and hair regrowth. In a study of anemic patients with hair loss who were supplemented with 1.5 to 2g of l-lysine in addition to their iron therapy, ferritin levels increased more substantially over iron therapy alone.1 Biotin Many individuals believe that supplementing with, or topically applying, the nutrient biotin will either help to prevent hair loss or will improve hair regrowth. To date, there is no science that would support either of these presumptions. While biotin deficiency can cause dermatitis, hair loss is only known to occur in experimentally induced states in animal models or in extreme cases of prolonged diets composed exclusively of egg whites.7 Other Other nutrients associated with hair health include Vitamin A, inositol, folate, B6, and essential fatty acids. Hair loss can also be caused by systemic diseases, including thyroid disease and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and is influenced by genetics. Conclusions Hair loss can be distressing to bariatric surgery patients, and many will try nutrition themselves to see if they can prevent it. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that early hair loss is preventable because it is most likely caused by surgery and rapid weight loss. Later hair loss, however, can be indicative of a nutritional problem, especially iron deficiency, and may be a clinically useful sign. Educating patients about the potential for hair loss and possible underlying causes can help them to make informed choices and avoid wasting money on gimmicks that may have little real value. References 1. Rushton DH. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2002;27(5):396–404. 2. Neve H, Bhatti W, Soulsby C, et al. Reversal of hair loss following vertical gastroplasty when treated with zinc sulphate. Obes Surg. 199;6(1):63–65. 3. Updegraff TA, Neufeld NJ. Protein, iron, and folate status of patients prior to and following surgery for morbid obesity. J Am Diet Assoc. 1981;78(2):135–140. 4. Segal A, Kinoshita Kussunoki D, Larino MA. Postsurgical refusal to eat: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or a new eating disorder? A case series. Obes Surg. 2004;14(3):353–360. 5. Behrns KE, Smith CD, Sarr MG. Prospective evaluation of gastric acid secretion and cobalamin absorption following gastric bypass for clinically severe obesity.Dig Dis Sci. 1994;39(2):315–20. 6. Moize V, Geliebter A, Gluck ME, et al. Obese patients have inadequate protein intake related to protein intolerance up to 1 year following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Obes Surg. 2003;13(1):23–28. 7. Mock DM. Biotin. In: Shils M, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, eds. Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999:459–466.

no liquid diet pre-op. Post-op, it was a gradual process moving from soup to mushy... been 2 years, I don't recall the exact process, but by 2 weeks I was allowed soft solids such as egg salad, chicken salad.

I don't ever feel "full" anymore.. that feeling is gone. What I feel is satisfied. It takes a while to get used to the difference. I used to feel full in my lower stomach. Now I think I what I was actually feeling was stuffed. If you keep seeking the full feeling, you could possibly end up stretching your upper tummy above the band and that's not a good thing. And it may take a fill or two or three or possibly even more to get the "satisfied after eating my small meal" feeling. Until then, drink lots of fluids between meals. If fluids don't hold you.. have a low calorie, high Protein snack. examples: apple w string cheese, small container cottage cheese, low carb yogurt (many yogurts have way too much sugars and defeat the purpose of eating them.. read labels carefully), wasa cracker w/ light laughing cow cheese. Dr. Simpson explains it way better than I ever could: http://drsimpson.net...estriction.html

I can't do thick crust pizza, but thin/crispy works. I like to make a bandsters pizza using the "flatout" breads. www.flatoutbread.com has recipes.

I've had that happen.. but it didn't start for me until 2 years out.

Fantastic! And the loss will keep on coming.. believe and achieve!!

I've been banded just over 2 years and no problems other than being too tight for a few weeks and that was easily fixed by having a little Fluid taken back out. I know at least 2 other people who've had their original bands for 10 years or more and have had no major problems.

The best stuff I've ever found is by Syntrax (www.si03.com), called nectar comes in many different fruit flavors, such as Roadside Lemonade, Pink Grapefruit, Fuzzy Navel, Lemon Tea, Crystal Sky (kind of a fruit punch), etc. They are 90 to 100 calories a scoop, 23 grams of Protein and NO CARBS. They also have what they call "sweets" in flavors like strawberry, chocolate Truffle, and others. You can buy them directly from Syntrax or BariatricAdvantage.com or from Netrition.com (where I order them from). If they sound interesting, but you're not sure.. go to the syntrax site, find their email and ask them about samples. They will usually send a first time customer a collection of all the different flavors for 1.00/packette. and no shipping.

btw.. burping is one sign I get that I'm starting to get full.

It sounds like you might be too tight.. or you might still be swollen from the stuck pill episode. As long as you can get in some fluids and some soft foods, you can probably make it through the weekend, but I'd call the doctor's office on Monday to see what they think. You want to be able to eat dense Protein. I know you're on soft things right now because of the stuck issue and that might be all it is.. that you're still some swollen from the combination of the recent fill and the stuck pill. But you don't want to have to stay on soft things for a long time as they tend to be higher calorie and they also tend to not dim our appetite nearly as well as dense foods. Keep taking it easy over the weekend, try drinking something hot (tea, coffee, Water with lemon or even thin soup) right before eating. This is a time that you can let the no drinking for 30 minutes before eating slide for a bit. The warm liquid should relax your stomach/band just a little and help things. If you don't get better by Monday, please call your doc.

At a month out, you will likely cause no problems with your band or tummy. However, remember that alcohol does lower our inhibitions and increases appetite. I know a bariatric nurse who says that alcohol consumption can slow weight loss for up to 3 days. Personal choice. Myself I rarely have alcohol. Usually my husband will have something and I'll have a sip and that's enough. YMMV. Have a great time at your inlaws.

Well, I wouldn't do potatoes if I was hungry because they are high glycemic and while they may fill you for a little while, when your blood sugar drops again you'll be hungrier than you were before you ate them. Refried Beans with some light laughing cow cheese melted in them are good. I used chunky Soups and ran them through the blender. Get some unflavored Protein powder (unjury.com) to add to soups & other items. Did your doc really mean baby food or perhaps they were saying food that was soft enough to feed a baby? If they really did mean babyfood.. try babyfood meats. They might have more protein and hold you longer. In between meals (after you wait the 30 min or whatever you have been told) drink lots of fluids. That will help some. Call your doctor's office on Monday (sorry this is so late on a holiday weekend) and ask for help. They should be able to give you some suggestions. It is totally normal to be hungry right now.. the period after the swelling from surgery goes down and before you get appetite suppression from the fills is tough. Some call it bandster hell. Do the very best you can to follow your doctor's guidelines. We've all been where you are now and made it through. You will too.

What hummingbird said. If you can't keep liquids down, I'd advise calling your doctor to get advice. Getting dehydrated isn't a good idea.

I just wear compression exercise gear. UnderArmor is a famous brand, but there are others.

I wish I had been given ursodial. I lost very rapidly and have some tiny gallstones as a result. My surgeon wants to take my gb out, I don't want to have it done as my attacks are very seldom (last one was July 4, 2010) and I can manage well by eating a reduced fat diet (not 0 fat). There is non surgical treatment for gallbladder attacks via diet. I haven't ventured there yet, but if I start having more frequent attacks, that is what I will try before surgery.

I avoid white carbs (bread, potatoes, rice, Pasta & corn), but eat other veggie carbs.. broccoli, Beans, onions, carrots, etc. I avoid processed carbs as much as I can .. crackers, chips, etc. This is a personal choice. Perhaps something for you to discuss with a nutritionist or dietician? Hopefully your surgeon has one of those working with the practice?

You know, my doctor has never set a goal weight for me and I'm not sure I'd want him too, he's too thin. LOL. I set it for myself. I'm 5'5" and my first goal is 170 and I'm going to see how I feel and look at that weight (almost there.. 188 now) and then decide if I want to take it any lower. According to the BMI charts, I should weigh a maximum of 150 to be healthy. I'm afraid I might look ill at that weight. I'm also over 50, post-menopausal and I want a little bit of padding on my hips to protect them if I should fall. I've already had a tiny bit of bone loss from losing weight (not as much stress on the bones), even with lifting weights and starting to do some running. I am also pear shaped, carrying most of my weight on my hips and backside. I have lost quite a bit from my breasts.. down to a C cup, where I used to be a DD. While my ribs don't show yet, I could see that happening if I got to 150. I could benefit from plastics, not sure if I'm going to do them. I am starting the ps interviewing process soon. My advice is to nod and agree when the doctor sets your goal weight and then do whatever you think is right for YOU. Don't worry about it at this time, just go for the weight loss and decide as you go along where you want to end up. You may end up agreeing with your doc or you may want to take it lower. If you don't like yourself at 150, you could always regain. Best of luck to you.