GayleTX

SOCALGAL......what are the symptoms of a slipped band? And how do they determine if that is the problem? :thumbdown: I had a complete unfill about 6 wks ago (had just gone in for routine fill and dr said my pouch was dilated, needed to rest, emptied my band)......but it feels like it has more restriction now, even after 3 weeks of liquids and 3 wks of normal foods, than it did before. I even PB'd last wk. and I haven't done that in a year (since I learned to eat right!). I go back next week but I'm concerned there is a problem of some sort - slipped band? Any other ideas? TIA!!

sfeiner.... cheddar cheese soup on fitday shows it has 20% fat (about the amount we need in our total diet for balanced health) but it also has 20% protein (which we need, of course)....one cup has about 265 calories - not bad for a meal. So when we're out and need a 'safe' meal to eat in public without worrying about getting stuck, guess the soup is a pretty good choice.

If you'll post your food when you eat it on something like FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate, it will automatically count your calories, protein grams, fats, etc. Keeps you honest with yourself and teaches you food values. Even after two years I use it every day. If it goes in my mouth it goes on fitday!

Heck, no, I didn't cheat. I knew it as for a reason (to shrink the liver and remove the fat from around it to make the surgery easier - in some cases to make it even possible!)........ and I could think of nothing worse than being put on the table, the doctor taking a look at my innards, refusing to do the surgery and sending me home. Can you think of anything worse than having everybody back home say, "Pssssst......did you hear about Gayle? She was TOO FAT for FAT SURGERY!!? Dang! How humiliating would that be!!???? So, no, I didn't cheat. I used good Protein shakes and vegetable broth and SF Jello and SF pudding and lots of Water and tea. Once you get the carbs out of your system (4-5 days) the craving gets better and you can do it!!

If you do decide to have surgery in Mexico......please do yourself a favor and locate a fill doctor in your area who will accept Mexico patients - most will not so you need to find someone who does, someone who is likely to be in your area for a long time, someone with experience. Without a good and dependable fill doctor, your band is useless - and your chances of success are not good.

It's very helpful to detox your body from carbs. It keeps your blood sugars from bouncing up and down and making you think you are hungry when in reality you are just having sugar spikes and drops. After 4-5 days the cravings for sweets/carbs is much less than it normally is and you don't feel deprived when you pass them up. That's pretty much the way I've lived for 2 years now and very seldom feel hungry or deprived. I would never have believed it in a million years because I pretty much lived on carbs pre-wls. Now head hunger or emotional hunger is another thing, but detoxing does help you a lot to control your wanting to eat the evil cabs (mostly white stuff.). Give it a try!

Why just soup? This is a perfect time to get creative and have fun with your protein supplements. I make lots of coffee latte's and coffee w/chocolate protein ... shakes with different flavors of protein powders and SF syrups and crushed ice.......and chai tea with a vanilla/cinnamon protein....and RTD protein in hot tea or coffee....or SF instant pudding with protein in it.....or SF jello with some fruit flavored protein powder.........don't limit yourself to just soup! :cursing:

I don't know anybody that can eat that many carbs and still lose weight......even if they are working out and even if they are good carbs! I'd cut the carbs in half and see wht happens...and that's still a lot. How much fill do you have in your band? Are you trying to do this without a fill at all? A cup and a half (12 ounces!!) of chili at one sitting sounds like you need to have more restriction.....most bandsters I know can't eat more than 4 ounces of any kind of dense protein at one time. And one more observation......in the wls world you started out as a lightweight. People who start out at your weight usually lose a good bit right away and then struggle with the rest. You just don't have the 'easy fat' to lose like some of us do. Those of us who had 200 lbs or so to lose talk about 'the first 100 is easy, then...". In your case, it's more a case of "the first 30 lbs is easy, then....." Best wishes to you........

Just make sure the Protein powder you are using is designed for bariatric patients and not for body builders! Many of the protein powders athletes used are loaded with carbs because that's what they need........we don't need that! Check your label and make sure what you're using. Another good way to give variety to shakes without adding calories is to use the Torani or DaVinci sugar free Syrups. You can find them at WalMart or TJMax or on websites such as netrition.com or bariatriceating.com. DaVinci Gourmet – Flavored Syrups, sauces And Tea Concentrates gives lots of wonderful recipes for shakes.

snowbird......I agree - I don't worry about calories - no more than we can hold as long as we are eating healthy and putting protein and good carbs first and ignoring the desserts there is no way we are going to eat too many calories. That's the beauty of the band and brain working together!

The consumer reviews on Magic Bullet are really bad......while they work they are great but they don't hold up and the customer service is non-existant. You might want to read the consumer reviews on amazon.com before making a decision. :thumbup: A number of bandsters I know (including me) have used a Hamilton Beach Personal Blender for 2 years, several times a day, and they are still going strong. They are very simple, very sturdy, crush ice nicely.....they are about $12 at Target, etc.:girl_hug: Another product I've found invaluable is my little Black Decker food chopper....about $10 at WalMart....I use it to chop up chicken and tuna to make it almost smooth for chicken/tuna salad and the onion, peppers that go in it. I went thru 3 others before I found one that would actually carry the food down and chop all of it, not just what sat on the blades. As a bandster with good restriction, you don't need big chunks in your food!!

I find that my safest order most places is shrimp (from the appetizer menu)..... battered and fried, 4 medium shrimp are about 100 calories - boiled or steamed is much less - and they are pure protein (my husband will order soup instead of a salad and I eat it if it's something 'legal'.) At a Mexican food place I'll order guacamole and a couple of beef tacos - then I just eat the insides of the taco. At Subway I order a cup of brocilli cheese soup. At a hamburger place I order a small hamburger and just eat the insides with a fork or, if available, a cup of chili. At a buffet, I'll get tuna or chicken salad, olives, pickles, cheese slices, soup, etc. I never cheat (well, I might taste of hubby's baked potato or ice cream) and I've never left anywhere hungry! We can do this!!:wink_smile:

For some reason that made me laugh til I cried. We just can't win, can we??!! Idea!!:: Wonder if you could get 'reconstructive nose surgery' insurance approval for side effect of weight loss surgery?? LOL!! And, I agree....you look lovely and you've done a wonderful job in becoming a loser!!

I had to laugh when my psych eval came back as "patient is depressed." Well, no kidding!! That skinny little shrink would be depressed, too, if she saw what I saw when I looked in the mirror!.

Can you ask your doctor to make a notation on your medical records that you do have the high chol. and triglycerides? You don't have to be on meds for it to be a co-morbidity I (had discontinued the meds because of the side effects but it was still on my medical records that I had the bad lab readings). Talk to him and tell him you need his help in getting qualified. It might cost you an office call but it would be worth it if it helps you qualify.

The Slim Fast Protein bar (at least the one I looked at) is not really a good choice for weight loss.......it has 20 total grams of carbs (18 net carbs) in it!! And that's half of what we should have in a whole day. The sugar and the carbs cause a quick rise in blood sugar....... then a quick fall - and when it does it gives us a feeling like we are hungry. Look for a Protein Bar that has very few carbs in it and lots of chewiness to it......it'll be better for your body and keep you full for a while. My favorite is Rock n Roll bar.....tastes similar to a PayDay candy bar - lots of peanuts and chewy center....it has 25 carbs but only 2-9 net carbs (and that's what we have to look at).

Don't feel like you've been cheated by not getting a Nut. Most of the veteran bandsters (and I've been on line with them for over 2 years nwo) say they've gotten better guidance on line than they ever did with their surgeon or Nut either one. Surgeons are surgeons and most Nuts are not registered dieticians......the Nut duties are just their 'assignment' in the doc's office. And even licensed dieticans don't the specifics of our needs.....we are still experimental rats in this brave new world. Many doctors and nuts (and the #%%$ infomercials!!) tell banded people to 'eat like they always did....just eat less" and you'll lose weight. Well, it just ain't so! And even if you did lose weight that way it still would not be a healthy way to eat.......we didn't get fat eating healthy or we would never have gotten to the point of needing wls. Post-op life requires a change in our habits.....the surgery just makes it easier to be compliant to the new way of living and eating. Most of the successful bandsters I know....and there are many of them....eat by the same guidelines as the RNY post-ops eat. And their weight loss and their health improvement are just as impressive as the RNY's. We may lose a little slower but we can get there by following the rules: The guidelines for RNY's are pretty simple: *80-100 grams of Protein per day (forever!!) Always eat your protein first. And you'll probably need to use protein supplements to reach that goal because our pouches are small. This maintains muscle mass and keeps your hair healthy and increases your metabolism. Even a normal person (non-wls) needs 9 grams of protein per 25 lbs. of ideal body weight...and we need more. *Less than 30-40 carbs per day. And those must be the good carbs (veggies, Beans, etc) NOT the evil white carbs (starches such as rice, Pasta, rice, corn, potatoes, sugars). Once you get your body detoxed from the carbs, the cravings will almost disappear and you won't 'suffer' and feel deprived. (I never would have believed that but it's true!!) *At least 64 oz water/tea per day. No drinking with meals or for one hour afterward (it washes the food out of the pouch and makes you hungry much sooner than necessary). *Take a good Vitamin, get your exercise, get your fills when you need them (the band gets looser as the fat melts from around your stomach). One thing that has helped me learn food values is posting my food intake every day on fitday.com (some people use thedailyplate.com or sparkpeople. com, etc).......it is a wonderful tool to keep you aware of what you are doing every day, gives you reports over periods of time, and it wonderful to see that little line on the weight graph going down, down, down!!! Even after 2 years I still post my food every day.....if it goes in my mouth, it goes on fitday. Find some good protein supps you love, get creative with them - they'll take the place of Desserts, treats, lattes, etc; research wls recipes and keep good food in your pantry at all times. You have a great tool and if our minds and hearts cooperate with it, we can be successful.....we can be LOSERS!!

AFter 25 years of being on several meds for diabetes.....I'm off EVERYTHING! (also off all blood pressure, gout, heart, depression, etc etc etc). I had to start cutting back on my diabetes meds within just a few weeks....kept getting too low....I was completely off within 50 lbs. But I eat no sugars, no starches, keep my carbs below 40-50 most days. I feel so much better it's unreal...part of it is my weight loss but I'm sure part of it is getting all those 'chemicals' out of my system. Hope things go well for you!!!

Why are you doing that to yourself! Yuck! There are lots of other good 'human' food you can eat during Mushies Stage: Pinto Bean Puree Bean soup Potato soup Hummus pudding Scrambled eggs with cheese... or if that texture doesnt work, a single egg omelet with cheese Cottage cheese pancakes, sweet or savory pumpkin custard mozzarella sticks applesauce Cottage cheese with SF flavored syrups] oatmeal And good thick Protein shakes will fill you and get in the protein you need.

Big mug of coffee with Nectar Cappacino protein Big mug of coffee with Whey Gourmet Truffles Chocolate protein 42 gr protein (nearly half my day's goal)

Big Trouble......so glad you've already found Protein supplements you like and are getting creative with them. That's a key to successful weight loss and staying healthy. There's no way we can eat enough protein to reach the 80 plus grams a day we need with our little pouches. However, I would caution you to watch out for those bananas.....a whole banana is lots of carbs and sugar and is going to sneak a lot in that you don't even realize. The banana calories come mainly from carbohydrates, i.e. starch and sugars. An average banana will have 30-40 grams of carbs and that's about the amount we need in a whole day....and it's the wrong kind of carb, at that, not complex carbs like greens, Beans, etc. For flavor variety you might want to collect some of the great SF Davinci or Torani syrups....they come in dozens of great flavors. Keep up the good work!

Good for you!! That sounds like real progress and also sounds like you've got a fill doctor that is doing things right! BTW.......thanks for the follow-up. It gets really frustrating sometimes when people come on and post something and a lot of people take the time and express their concern and offer help.......then we never hear another word. So thanks for sharing your good news and your excitement about Bon Jovi! Wow!!

One more thought, Cortney (gee, can you tell people just love being asked for advice!!)......it might be interesting for you to use the food tracking tool that we use as wls patients.....only use it right now and eat as you normally eat (not trying to be extra good, just regular stuff) and see how your numbers come out. I thought I understood calories, etc. until I did that and OMG!!! I had so much to learn about food values. I was living on carbohydrates! That's about all I liked so that's what I ate......I didn't eat a lot of food....but boy was it bad food even tho I cook at home, etc. The band has made it so much easier to eat right......I have very little interest in food (shocker!!) so I just eat what I need to eat to maintain health. Go to FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate and record your food for a few days. See what helpful changes you might can make on your own - you'll probalby be asked to lose a few pounds before surgery anyhow, so that would be good practice for you.

It often takes a couple of weeks for a fill to 'kick in'.....so don't panic yet. Give it time.....but in the meantime - I agree with the others.....McDonald's is full of evil things that we shouldn't even be exposed to much less put in our pouch! The white carbs just make us crave more and make it harder to be a good partner with our band.

Hi, Cortney. Life has got to be hard for you and the future probably doesn't look good either, does it. I would think that the lapband is something you might want to consider, but don't make the decision until you and your mother both research it thoroughly and understand all the lifestyle changes that it requires. Many doctors and infomercials make it sound like with the band you can continue to eat like you always did.....you just eat less. That's just not so. Your food intake needs to be basically a South Beach diet., heavy on the Protein. The wonderful thing about the band is, you just don't care that much about food.....you really dont have a lot of trouble controlling your eating habits if you keep your band adjusted. You have to go for fills (adjustments) probably the rest of your life. The band is a wonderful tool but it requires many adjustments in your eating habits - you need to commit to using protein supplements probably the rest of your life to remain healthy and to keep from losing your hair (don't let people tell you the protein supps are yucky....there are some wonderful ones on the market). You will need to realize that there will be no over the top partying (i.e.drinking)......vomiting is to be avoided at all costs because it can cause band slippage which leads to serious complications. You will need to be able to handle the pressure from friends to eat the same crap they are....pizza, hamburgers, etc. With the band that bread and pizza crust just won't go down - even if it would it's empty calories....you don't need it. Please research and talk to your doctor and see if he will support you in this. Mine didn't and I had to find another doctor. Doctors have their own prejudices just like us 'real people'...don't assume he knows best always unless he has some legitimate reason based on your personal health or body. Most insurance companies require evidence of prior doctor-supervised diets over a long period of time before they will approve the surgery. Find out what your insurance company requires before you get very far along. You need to attend a few seminars presented by surgeons and ask lots of questions. If you are going to be moving away from your town, see if there are fill doctors in your new town that will do fills for others doctors....or be sure you can come back there easily for them. They are necessary!! I hope you can find a solution to your weight problem, whatever it may be. I wish I had not had to be fat all my life and develop all the co-morbidities that so negatively affected my quality of life. Best wishes to you, sweetie.