Melissannde

That's my recipe... well, I posted it.. I didn't create it. :smile: Glad everyone is loving it so much. ::grin::

Btrieger is right, not enough calories can stall weight loss. Also, if you're so tight that all you can get down are "slider" foods which are typically higher calorie, that can also stall weight loss. The third thing that can be happening is that you might be at a plateau, where weight isn't moving, but your body is reshaping. But I think Btrieger has the right suggestion.. get a small unfill. I've had a .2 unfill before. 1/2 cc might be too much, but your doc will have the best estimate of the amount that should come back out. You want enough removed to help you feel better, but not so much that you lose appetite suppression. Good luck.

I had a .2cc fill in April that made it hurt to eat.. I was PB'ing .. having to drink hot tea to be able to get ANY food down. I went and had the fill taken back out. Immediate relief.. and in fact, had to fight hunger for a few days by pushing fluids until things settled back down. Waited till July.. got the same .2cc's back in again. Now it's near perfect. Just a little bit tight, no PB'ing. So, my advice... if it hurts to eat, if you're having to drink something warm to be able to eat solid foods.. think about having some taken back out. Of course it's your decision.. but I didn't like it hurting.

Nope, you're not weird, or at least you're not alone. I've had that experience too. In fact, that's why my doc won't give fills any closer than 4 weeks.. because of his experience of fills sometimes taking 2 weeks to make themselves known in some of his patients.

Try nutritiondata.com

If you're too tight in the morning to eat.. and this is a problem for you.. try drinking a cup of coffee or tea, then try to eat. I know of one bariatric nurse who is very successful and banded over 10 years and breakfast is the one time she says she breaks the rules and drinks with her meals. Steelcut Oatmeal is better for us than regular or instant oatmeal. It can be made overnight in the oven or crockpot.. google for recipes. Another easy breakfast is hungrygirls egg in a mug. She uses eggbeaters in her recipes.. I find that 1 whole egg plus 1/4 cup egg white (or separate one egg and discard the yolk) is about the same volume and works well. HungryGirl.com Lots of folks will only use eggbeaters or eggwhites because they don't want the cholesterol. My numbers are excellent as to HDL & LDL and I want the Omega3's in the eggs I use (eggland's best). If I'm in a huge hurry, I drink Muscle Milk LIGHT in the rtd boxes (vanilla or strawberry.. chocolate tastes nasty) or make a Syntrax nectar Fuzzy Navel drink. One other breakfast I like is Dannon plain greek yogurt (5.3oz cup) with 1/4 cup Bob's red Mill Muesli and 1/8 cup blueberries. The Muesli is a little high in carbs, but I only eat this when I have intense workouts planned ( I workout most mornings). Hope this helps a bit.

I'd ask if they have an ultrasound machine to help find the port. They had to use that on me for the first several fills.. I've lost enough now that it's not necessary. Best of luck on Monday.

Call your doc's office and talk to the nurses or dietitian/nutritionist. They can help you and should not scold you. I think usually what the bariatric professionals mean by "no snacking" is no junk food. Healthy Snacks, with controlled amounts of calories should be OK. I went through this early post-op, though mainly at night. I took a container of yogurt to bed with me and ate a spoonful when I woke up with hunger pains. I think you need to eat something with more Protein in them than crackers. How about a Light & crisp Wasa cracker with a wedge of light laughing cow cheese? A container (5 to 6oz) of low fat plain greek yogurt with 1/8 to 1/4 cup blueberries? A small to medium apple (organic if possible) with a weight watcher's string cheese stick. Try to keep the calories under 150 and the protein high. And include the snacks in your overall calorie count (if you are counting.. some don't. I do). Hope this helps.

Do you need to use a machine? Can you lie down on the floor and do regular crunches? I do understand that some folks have trouble getting on the floor.. I've been there myself and still have issues when my knee is hurting.. I'd think at 7 months out you'd be OK for crunches.. start gentle and at low weights and work your way up slowly. You could always consult your physician or ask a trainer who is familiar with banded folks.

Let's see.. what do I fix for the family and me? Saturday: Stuffed Poblano peppers. (took 90/10 grnd sirloin, browned with onions, mixed with quinoa, bell peppers, tomato sauce..use this to stuff the peppers, which were cut in half long ways). Some sort of veggie.. probably broccoli as we love it. Sunday was "Beer Can Chicken" and a huge pan of stir-fried squash, zucchini, garlic & onions. The stir-fry was done using spray Olive Oil Pam. Monday I went to support meeting, so wasn't home for supper. I don't know what the family ate. (my kids are college students living at home, so they're capable of feeding themselves.) Tuesday: Baked Catfish, Steamed Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower Wed: Spaghetti sauce made with 93/7 grnd turkey. Whole wheat Pasta, tossed salad. I had my sauce over grated Zucchini. The rest of the family had the pasta. I think I might have tasted 3 noodles. Tonight: Leftovers.. DD & DH had 'sketti. I had a big snack at 5pm of mango chipolte salmon & wasa crackers & a handful of baby spinach and I'm not hungry again yet. DS isn't home from college yet.. so I don't know if he'll want chicken, stuffed peppers or will have spaghetti. I very rarely fix rice or pasta.. when I do it's wild or brown rice and whole wheat or dreamfield's pasta. I basically cook low fat, low carb and if the family doesn't like what I provide, they know where the Cereal is.

Syntrax nectar.. but I mix it with crystal lite or Powerade zero. You can order it through netrition.com or from the syntrax website. They have lots of flavors and if you write the company, they used to have a really good price on samples.. worked out to $1.00 per flavor. Welcome To Syntrax - A Leader in Sports and Nutrition supplements For a quick grab & go Protein, I like Muscle Milk LIGHT in the rtd boxes. vanilla Creme & strawberry Creme are good. The chocolate tastes like the nasty chocolate in childrens' Cereal to me. Another one I like is unjury. UNJURY is Medical Quality Whey Protein Isolate. Best Tasting Whey Protein powder. Most Trusted Whey Protein Powder Supplement. Taste the difference

I don't have the DVD's, but have two friends who do have them and they also take the classes. They say that the DVD's are useful .. especially if you are a perfectionist.. because they go over the steps very slowly and you can take your time to learn them. The DVD's that I'm familiar with are kinda pricey.. around 100.00.. so to me, since I'm not afraid of making mistakes or looking silly.. the classes are a better option. It's all on how motivated you are. I have a Wii Fit that I asked for for last Christmas.. still haven't gotten it out. I should, but I enjoy the companionship at the gym too much. Hope this helps.

Going 4 hours between meals is very good. I often have to have a small snack before suppertime. Hard to go from noon till 6pm. Things like an apple with string cheese, wasa cracker with light laughing cow, plain greek yogurt with 1/4 cup fresh fruit. Yesterday I had 1oz ww reduced fat cream cheese on light wasa crackers with blueberries. Wow.. that was very tasty. Try to keep your snack around 150 calories or less. One thing that might help .. and I admit that this is a head game, but it works for me.. is to stop using the word starving. We have an abundance of food in this country.. we don't starve. We can get very hungry, but relatively few of us are truly starving. :smile2: As to the OP question.. "Will I be insatiable until my first fill". You are likely entering the period where the swelling has gone down from surgery and hunger starts making itself known again. Commonly called "bandster hell". Almost everyone goes through this, some worse than others. It is normal. I staved off hunger to some degree during this time by taking walks and drinking extra Water (or other low calorie fluids). Other techniques are to take a nap or get your hands and brain occupied doing something else. Hard to eat when playing the piano or crocheting. ::grin:: Depending on various factors, amt of fill, the way you react to it, type of band, etc. your first fill may or may not give you the "dimming of appetite" that is commonly misnamed as restriction. And even if you do get appetite dimming.. it may not be immediate. Early on, it was often a week or two after a fill for it to make itself known. Now that I have a really good fill level, I feel the effects the next day. Hang in there.. this is a process, not a race.

I made low-carb lasagna a couple weeks ago.. used zucchini sliced longways for the noodles. It was pretty good. Used 2% mozzarella and non fat cottage cheese (I don't care for Ricotta). Also put spinach & mushrooms in the lasagna. Kids ate it up.. even the DD who "doesn't like spinach" LOL

Abdominal distention can be a sign of gynecological problems (ovarian cancer among other things). Please get it checked out asap.

Jazzercise is something I would definitely try if it were offered in my area. I've checked and there's not one convenient to me.. but maybe it will happen one day. We've gotten one new gym and are supposed to get 2 more.. so who knows? :rolleyes2:

I'm sorry your instructors don't take the time to demo steps. 10.00/hr is high. I took an out of town class over the labor day weekend and it was only 5.00. My gym charges 1.00/class on top of regular membership fees. This is to help defray music, instructor training, etc. I think I'd keep looking for another place. You can find lists of classes at Zumba.com. However the Xbox Kinect thing sounds like a viable alternative.

Yes, I no longer feel full in my abdomen. It's more of a satisfied feeling now. I often still want to eat MORE, but my band says un uh.. no way. She who must be obeyed is in charge.. LOL

What are "jacket potatoes" ? I would assume that means baked potatoes, but don't know. We are told to avoid white carbs .. potatoes, bread, rice, Pasta as they tend to be high glycemic and will tend to make us hungrier sooner. That being said, I have learned that new potatoes (aka red potatoes) are fairly low on the GI/GL list and I will have a small one now & then with green Beans. If the OP can eat baked potatoes and not have them spike his blood sugar and make him too hungry a few hours later.. GREAT. Everyone has to do what works for them as an individual. One of the bariatric nurses I know and I value her advice as she has been banded 11 years and has done very well.. says to be successful with banding...follow most of the rules most of the time. Persistence, not perfection. In My Opinion...If something is working for the individual.. weight loss is adequate and they are not hungry more often than 3 or 4 hours..great. Otherwise, it may be time to look at diet or exercise and make some adjustments. The original poster was wondering if they were getting enough calories. They also said they were drinking unlimited coffees with semiskimmed milk & 2 sugars. I would advise starting a food journal, either on paper or online (I like The Daily Plate on LIVESTRONG.COM - Calorie Counter, Weight Loss, Food Calorie Counter, Nutrition Facts | LIVESTRONG.COM, but there are many others, fitday, caloriecount.about.com, fitday, fatsecret.com) and make sure to include EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth. :rolleyes2: You might find that those coffees are adding in more calories than you think. If they truly are only getting in 1000 per day, that might not be enough for long term weight loss at the OP's current weight.

Tracking/Journaling your food intake is always a good idea IMO. I use the one at The Daily Plate on LIVESTRONG.COM - Calorie Counter, Weight Loss, Food Calorie Counter, Nutrition Facts | LIVESTRONG.COM. It also has a fitness/exercise logging function. I have found though, that calorie burn calculators are by and large extremely optimistic. If you have the funds available, I would advise investing in a HR monitor or some other device that helps determine YOUR individual workout calorie burn. Some good options are a fitbit, bodybugg (and it's clone GoWear), hr monitor watches (several models out there.. Garmin, Omron, Polar. I have a Polar). Before I got my HR monitor, I would chart my workout time at 1/2 of what I actually did. 60 minute workout I would claim 30 minutes.. this was to offset any over estimation that exercise calculators are notorious for making. I was very surprised to find after getting my watch that even cutting the time in half, sometimes the calorie burn that the site estimated was still too high. Perhaps this is just a problem with the dailyplate site. I haven't had the time or inclination to check with other sites. Just a heads up and giving my experience. One other thing that has helped me as the loss via scale has slowed down is to start keeping track of my measurements monthly. I also have clothes that I check ever so often to see if they fit again..

For the longest time, I bought too much. Things would spoil before we could use up everything I bought. Even having a freezer didn't help. Try shopping the perimeter of the store...That usually means Veggies, Fruits, meat, Milk, Other dairy, etc. Other aisles that are OK are the canned vegetable aisle and sometimes the coffee/tea and canned meat/ Soups aisles. You want to avoid (or go very quickly and not stop if possible...lol) the aisles with breads, cereals, sugary things. Hang in there.. this is a process. And be more gentle with yourself. :rolleyes2:

I do Zumba a minimum of 2x a week and sometimes 4 & 5 x a week. Lots of fun and depending on the instructor and how energetic I am, I burn between 200 & 300 calories per class (according to my HR monitor). YMMV. You may very well burn more. Some of the steps are a little complicated, but a good instructor will take the class through a few warm-up steps before starting that particular song. There are steps I just cannot get.. either because my brain can't process it that fast..LOL.. or because the move is too hard on my older joints. When that happens I modify the move to something I CAN do..usually jogging in place. Go and give it a try. It is a lot of fun and most of the time there are a few new people learning at the same time you are.

If you are eating low or no fat, go back to full fat foods. Try adding some powdered milk to certain things to enrich them. You don't have to add a whole meal all at once, just bump each meal up a little bit. Gradual changes, baby steps. The other thing I just noticed is that you are only 20lbs from goal... Do you think that your goal is realistic and perhaps you should think about revising it? One other thought.. if you really can't increase your calories, try decreasing your exercise.

I am not a statistic. :thumbup: I still have a good ways to go to reach my goal.. and my goal (approx. 170) will still leave me overweight by most charts. My thinking is 1) I've been obese long enough (20+ years) that my bones are likely heavier than the non-obese, therefore skewing the numbers. 2) I am post-menopausal, and therefore advisable to have a little (NOT a LOT) of extra padding on my hips to protect from hip fractures. 3) I have also shrunk 1/2 inch over the years, again skewing the numbers. 4) I am working on becoming an athlete (lifting weights 3x week, cardio 6x week, and am thinking of starting running) and athletes often have BMI's that show them as overweight or obese. My surgeon showed charts & graphs at the seminar that showed that over 5 years, the results from RNY & banding were essentially the same. The RNY's lost faster, and for about 2 years then leveled out. The Banded rate of loss was slower and steadier and continued on past 2 years. I think you can use the band as a tool to do whatever you want to do.

Yes, not enough calories. Also the trainers at the gym I go to say not to do weight training every single day. They advise that for optimum results, lift weights every other day.. this gives your muscles time to rest and repair the tiny tears that lifting causes. It's fine to do Cardio daily though. One other suggestion.. I too have lost quite a bit of weight and now the scales are barely moving. I decided to start taking my measurements monthly. While the scales are somewhat disappointing .. the inches are coming off. A dress I couldn't wear in May, I could wear in June.. and I hadn't lost all that much. Congrats on being so dedicated to working out. I think you just need to change things up a bit. If you can afford it, consult with a trainer.