Melissannde

go ahead and get the band and get through the post-op period where you do have to stay on modified foods for a bit (liquids then soft things then regular). You don't have to start "using it" (getting fills) until you are ready. This is not the way most people approach it, but it is one way. I am not deprived at all. I've always been able to eat anything I really wanted to eat. I just eat less. In fact now, when I look at the 3oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of veggies I think it looks like a lot of food. I couldn't imagine thinking that before banding. Before banding 3oz & 1/2 cup sounded like starvation. Now when I see my dh & kids serve their plates I'm shocked at how much they can eat. Get the surgery, get past the healing stage and then take it from there. Try not to talk yourself out of this over food issues. Or are you feeling something weird about your surgeon and/or staff? If that's the case, you might want to interview another surgeon right quick.

Are you eating too fast because you are letting yourself get too hungry between meals? A couple of ideas to try: Have a small, high Protein, low calorie snack between meals. My favs are a small snack size container of cottage cheese (with or w/o fruit), an apple and a piece of string cheese, a slice or two of deli meat rolled around a pickle. Just try to keep the snack around 100 to 150 calories. Try having a hot drink (coffee, tea, Water with lemon) just before your meal. I know many docs say no drinking 30 min before food, but if you're having FBS (first bite syndrome) this is something to try. The hot drink tends to loosen the band just a tad. Not enough to make you too hungry, but enough to let your meal go down w/o issues. Cut your food into small bites before you sit down at the table to eat. Put your fork down between each bite. Get a minute timer and use it to time your bites. Use a "lube" to help the protein go down. I like mustard or a low cal bbq sauce. No carb ketchup would be a good choice if you like ketchup (I don't). I just measure out a tablespoon and include it in my calorie count for that meal. Anything you like would be fine, as long as you are really using a small amount. Call your doctor's office for more ideas. If your doctor has a nutritionist or dietician on staff.. ask to talk to them. Mine has nutritionist lead meetings once a month.. and this is separate from support group. Good luck.

I chose the band because 1) I had not heard of the sleeve at the time I was making my choice 2) I've had cancer and did not want a surgery that caused malabsorption. I've been very lucky that surgery was probably the cure for my cancer, but if it should come back, or if I develop a different cancer, I'll be able to tolerate chemo/rads much better with an intact gut. I know of a woman who ended up with "short gut syndrome" from the aftereffects of radiation.. and her life was miserable (her words not mine). Not saying that bypass would lead to that .. but it's something I thought about when choosing surgeries. My surgeon says that bypass IS reversable, just a rather difficult surgery. Exercise not only helps with weight loss.. it also tones the muscles. Toned looks better than flabby any day of the week.

My nurses use ultra-sound to locate the port. Ask if that is an option.

Yep. Not unusual at all. I came out of surgery with approx. 3cc's in mine. Just consider it a head start.

Are you taking a multi-Vitamin daily? If you are and you're taking children's versions.. they may not be enough for you. Getting back to the doc and getting lab-work done is a good idea. I have to go to my PCP for that, as my surgeon isn't big on that type of follow up. If you're working out at the gym every day, take a look at what you are doing. If your gym has trainers, talk to one of them about your routine.. see if they can give you some advice. I know that at my gym, they greatly discourage doing weight training two days in a row. Cardio can be done daily, but weights shouldn't be done any closer than every other day. As to the foods, are you keeping a food journal? It can be on paper or online. I like dailyplate.com, but there are lots of other places and many are free. One of the many benefits of keeping a food journal is that you can print out a few days worth to take in to your appt so that your doc can see your choices and give advice. Also can support you when you really need a fill. Hope you feel better soon.

It's really individual, depending on how tight your band is. I had no issues eating late until just recently and I've been banded 20 months. Now, I have to be sure that if I eat right before bedtime, it can't be anything dense otherwise I'll have reflux. If what and the time of day you're eating is causing issues (reflux, no weight loss, other problems), make a change. I know a few bandsters who make a habit of drinking a cup of warm tea before bed to sorta "flush" the pouch so that the issue of reflux is greatly reduced. I don't know if this answers your question.. but hope it gives you some food for thought.

fried catfish or really any fried seafood. Not that I can't eat it.. I just choose not to 99% of the time.

you might also look into When Your Body Gets the Blues It might be a helpful addition to other therapies.

One more.. DaVinci also makes a s/f Peanut Butter syrup. I'm having a cup of coffee with some in it right now. oh so good. Sometimes I'll have coffee with s/f chocolate & s/f pnut butter syrup.. tastes like I'm drinking a reeses cup. Again, if you can't find local.. netrition.com to the rescue. Amazon also carries some s/f syrups, but I think netrition probably has better deals once you factor in the shipping.

Have you discovered PB2? It's peanut butter that has had all the oil removed.. comes as powder and you reconstitute it to the thickness that you prefer with Water. With all the oil removed a HUGE amount of the calories are gone.. instead of 190 cal in 2 tbpns.. there's like 45 or so. Protein is reduced a small amount (5 g instead of 7) but I think it's a worthwhile trade off. If you can't find it in a local health food store, you can order it from netrition.com. It comes in regular and chocolate. Love it.

flax seed has omega-3's.. not sure how much you'd need to use to get the equivalent of the supplement. You DO need to grind flax seed (coffee grinder works great for this) and use it within 15 minutes of the grinding for the maximum benefit. I like it added to things like yogurt, cottage cheese.. etc. Cold pressed flax seed oil is also usable, but it's messy. I'd prefer the seeds.

I recognize that recipe!! (posted it some time ago..lol) I have to be careful with that soup.. I like it too much and can easily over do it. I've talked to our nutritionist about eating soup....and she advised 1) do thick soups 2) eat any "broth" part of the soup first. When at home, I make our soups thick, and serve my portion with a slotted spoon. I made black bean and pumpkin soup this week.. it was very good.

Option 1: leftover turkey taco meatloaf muffin (3oz) (my recipe) & whatever veggie I find appealing. About 180 calories & 17 gram protein Option 2: 3oz Smoked Salmon, 1 wedge WW or laughing cow cheese, veggie of choice. about 180 calories, 26 gram protein Option 3: Simply Gourmet Turkey Mignon, veggies. about 220 calories, 33 gram protein Option 4: Lean hamburger patty, mixed low carb veg. 182 cal, 17 gram protein. Option 5: John Soules sliced chicken breast fajitas & non fat refried Beans, 2% cheese, tomatoes: 122 calories, 18 protein Option 6: Rotisserie Chicken, broccoli. 190 calories, 19 gram protein Hope this helps.

Totally agree with the above.

I hope you don't mind if I answer here too. I've never had pain with my band.. once I got over the immediate post-op period. I do have a weird stretching/pulling sensation at times in my back, but it's not pain. No one knows why I feel this and I can't relate it to eating, exercising, or any behavior. I've had an upper GI to make sure the band is in good position.. it looks fine on xray. Just my anatomy I guess. I guess the stretchy/pulling sensation is the only way I "feel" it. Most of the time I could almost forget it's there. Port area isn't painful, again, once past immediate post-op stage. It is the area that is usually the most tender and usually takes the longest to return to normal. My first fill was a bit of an ouch because I was still tender. Since then they've been pretty much a breeze. I lie down, they swipe the area with an alcohol wipe, quick stick.. sometimes I have to do a mini "crunch" .. inject Fluid, remove needle, sit up, drink Water. At the beginning before I lost so much weight, they used an ultra-sound machine to help locate the port. I know some doc's use flouroscopy.. which can be bad & good. I personally don't want that much extra radiation or expense. As I understand what the sweet spot is.. is where your appetite is satisfied on a small meal and you stay satisfied for a reasonable amount of time (3 hours or longer). I think it's probably the same as or very similar to the "green zone" that you'll see on the lapband site. Hope this helps some.

With only 3cc's, it's very understandable that you're struggling. I came out of surgery with approx. 3cc's. I have pretty good control at 5.5, but it took a long time to get here.. a half cc at a time. Yes, everyone is different and some people have good control of their appetite at 3cc's, but usually it takes a bit more. If you have a 10cc lapband, I believe the average to get satiety on small amounts of food is around 4 to 5 cc's. The realize band I think I read somewhere it was about 7cc's. Since they're taking you up slowly, I would think you probably have the 10cc lapband. Or you could even have the 4cc band (don't know the name of it). But if you had the 4cc band, you really should be pretty good at a 3cc fill, so I'm thinking 10cc Lap. Just observations, not definitive. It really doesn't matter what band or how much fill.. it's whether or not your getting appetite dimming. Glad you're getting regular fills. It will get better.

Depends on what you call Snacks and how you deal with them. I allow myself healthy snacks.. such as an apple and a stick of string cheese, or a small container of cottage cheese with 1 tbspn bacon bits (sounds weird, but tastes good) or a package of 100 calorie almonds (emerald brand makes them.. can find at Walmart). I try to make sure there's Protein in whatever I snack on.. and under 200 calories. Prefer 100 to 150. I know others who use the Chewy bites of Calcium as a snack. IF you can control how much you have.. chocolate, esp. dark chocolate is not a bad choice. The problem is the amount and frequency. :thumbup: Hershey's dark chocolate kisses are only 20 calories each. If you can portion yourself out a few.. you could have a little bit before bedtime (unless you find that eating before bed makes you gain.. then you'd want to do something different). Another strategy is to practice delaying tactics. Tell yourself.. I didn't plan for that item (chocolate, chips, bread.. whatever it is that's haunting you) today in my food plan. I'll have it tomorrow. When tomorrow gets here.. put it off one more day. Last suggestion: Figure out the amount of calories in the item that you want to have. Then make yourself exercise AT LEAST long enough to work those calories off. I did that to get over my craving for McD's sausage biscuits. After I had spent 40 minutes on the treadmill.. my legs were telling my mouth "It just aint worth it!" I'm sure someone else will come along with other ideas. If you are a book person, look at Judith Beck's "The Beck Diet Solution". It's not about a diet.. it's how to deal with all the negative behaviors we have and how to change them. She also has a website & I think a newsletter. Best of luck to you.. Just finishing the last of my morning Water so now I can go eat lunch (late start today..)

I basically lost nothing (2lbs) during liquids & soft foods. Once I got back on solids.. I dropped 20lbs in 9 days. Hang in there.. it will happen.

keep going back for fills. I was going almost every month for the first year. Also, I know you said you could eat more than a cup.. and I hear that you're not doing this all the time, that you said that just as an example.. but let me encourage you to keep to your small portions, whatever your doctor recommends. Mine suggests 3oz of Protein and 1/2 cup low carb veggies. Avoid the high glycemic carbs (white bread, anything made with white flour, white potatos, white rice, any color of corn, white pasta), substitute whole grains if you must have some. I do better to keep them out of my food plan, UNLESS I'm going to exercise. Eat your portion, then move away from the table and do something else. If you're still genuinely hungry in 20 minutes.. have some more veggies. Get as much of your fluids in as possible. I try to drink 64oz of just Water a day.. this does not include anything else (coffee, crystal light, Powerade zero) that I might drink. 32 oz tween breakfst & lunch and 32oz between lunch & dinner. And call for that fill. The band works best when you have the proper amt of Fluid in it for YOU. Can't go by what is a good fill level for someone else...

Donna, I noticed you're in Athens, TX.. not all that far from me. Where did you go to have yours done? Locally or did you travel to the big D? I've heard some good things about a doc in D...

Today for lunch I'm having a "Simply Gourmet Turkey Mignon". I buy them at WM, 3.78 for a box of two. I bake them with some sliced squash or zucchini.. wonderful. each mignon is 3oz, 170 cal and 21 gram Protein (i think.. don't have the box in front of me). They are a tiny bit high in sodium, but unless you're hypertensive.. they're fine. Very tender and flavorful. I too find dry chicken to be an issue.. so I don't do grilled any more. But baked chicken... if I bake it covered.. is just fine. Last night I had turkey taco meatloaf.. with 1 tablespoon of Butler's Texas Gold BBQ sauce on it (could use ketchup if you like it.. I don't). Don't be afraid to use small amounts of things like ketchup, bbq sauce, mustard, dijonnaise to help things get past the band. You do want to read labels and avoid things with lots of sugar or HFCS.. I'm doing low-fat and no "bready or potato" type carbs. I don't count vegetable carbs at all. Low fat as I have gall-stones and don't want surgery and besides.. I just don't need to search for fat. It finds me!! I think it stalks me. ;D

could you try saute'ing the spinach? I love spinach & mushrooms thrown in the skillet and heated until they're wilted....