brianjg

Recently I've been doing a workout on the treadmill that burns a lot of calories and I think it will leave you pretty satisified...although it may not interest you if you're also running. I use a treadmill that has an incline capability. Put it up to a really high incline...start at maybe an 8 or so if yours goes to 15. Then set the speed so that you are still walking, but right before you would have to start jogging (this is about 4 mph for me). After a few minutes, do a minute at a lower speed and less of an incline...then go back up to a higher incline than you were at before. Repeat. It's kind of like an interval workout. I go for about 50 minutes (around 3 miles). I'll do 10-15 at high resistance, than back it down for about 3 minutes and repeat. I burn right around 1,000 calories in 50 minutes.

My mom always used to make these no-bake peanut butter/chocolate Cookies at home, and they were one of my favorites. I just switched the recipe up a little bit to make it LB friendly. The recipe is half of the "normal" and makes about 16 cookies, feel free to double it. Use no-sugar added cocoa (Hershey's makes it or look for baking cocoa). Also, I used reduced fat Peanut Butter and instead of butter I used Brumblen Brown (spelling?) yogurt butter spread (1/2 the cals of butter). All in all, these are pretty tasty and not terrible for you. Ingredient/Cals/Prot: 24 pckts Truvia/0 /0 1/4 c skim milk/22.5/2 4 tbsp cocoa/80/4 1/4 c PB/760/28 1/4 c yougurt butter/180/0 1 1/2 c oats/450/15 Total/1492.5/49 Per cookie (16): 93 calories and 3 grams of Protein Boil sugar, cocoa, milk, butter and salt for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and oats and vanilla. Use a tablespoon to place dough out on waxed paper. **If you want, you can go ahead and add the PB and the vanilla before you boil it, it doesn't make a lot of difference. Tip: 24 pckts of Truvia = 1 cup of sugar (For those that don't know, Truvia is a zero-calorie natural sweetner derived from the Stevia plant, I like it better that Splenda. Tip 2: Instead of cocoa powder, you could try choco Protein Powder to make these a little more guilt-free.

I do mine in Fargo at Meritcare with Dr. Fabian, I'm not sure what there referral policy is, but he did my surgery and I would highly recommend.

I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I'd update everyone. First of all, it sounds like everyone is doing great! I started at 352 at my first diet visit at the beginning of Jan. I had surgery on 3/9 and was at 324. Today I'm at 298 and I am REALLY excited not to have the 3 in front anymore. So post-band I'm at 26 pounds in 6 weeks. This last week I didn't really lose anything, so I must have hit a plateau, or have just started eating more. I've been hitting the gym 5-6 times/week and am up to a good 45 minute cardio workout. I''m just now starting to lift some weights due to the post-op restrictions. I can't get a fill until 8 weeks after surgery and unfortunately at my earliest date my doc is out of town, and then I'm heading to Vegas for a week. So, May 18 is when I will have my next appointment. I would like a fill sooner cuz right now I can eat more than what I would like. Hopefully I can meet my goal of 100 lbs by August 22.

This is a "soft" type recipe, but for those who need it to be softer, go ahead and throw it in the blender. Easy chicken Tacos (crock-pot style) 5 chicken breast (I use the frozen boneless skinless ones) 2 cups chunky salsa 1/2 large onion 1 can black Beans 1 can chopped green chilis 1 packet taco seasoning salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder Shredded cheese Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, cumin, and garlic powder and cut in halves. Place them in the crock-pot with all the other ingredients, chop the onions really fine and drain the juice from the beans. Add about 1/2 cup Water (or less depending on how watery the salsa is). Cook on low for 3 and 1/2 hours. Shred chicken with a fork and then continue to cook on high for another 1 and a half. For the lap-banders, just sprinkle some shredded cheese and maybe some low-fat sour cream and enjoy. For those with non lap-banded family/friends, place on tortillas (fried with the filling are awesome) and all the normal taco fixings. This is probably OK for those maybe 1 month out, and you could always puree it if you don't think it'll go. It works great for me at 5 weeks, but I only had 1 week of puree. Tip: I mix everything up the night before and let it marinate in the fridge.

My surgeon recommended one day of clear liquids, two days full liquids, then one week of pureed foods (where I had my surgery they actually give a TV dinner type thing called Tre Puree for that week). He did say, however, that anything pureed would be fine for that week. How are your apetites after surgery? I can't bring myself to eat everything the nutritionists guide recommends and am lucky to get down a couple protein shakes and a few tablespoons of pureed stuff, not to mention the water.

I was banded on the 9th. It hasn't been too bad, a little bit of pain, but nothing that the narcotics they give you don't take care of. I was at the hospital at 5:00 AM and out by about 3:00 that day. The biggest pain is the larger incision where the port is, I can't really feel the others. Today I've had some "gurgling" and a little bit of loose stools, but gas-x strips have helped. I would also recommend getting some liquid tylenol. Oh, and a heads up to a few things that might be on a guys mind: yes, I did have a catheter placed but I was out when they put it in and out when they took it out, so I wouldn't have even known except I was a little sore down south. Also, they did shave my hairy belly.

Hey fellow bandsters! First post for me here. Well, I'm 21 years old, senior in college, and I was just banded yesterday! I'm feeling OK, a little bit of pain when standing up and bending, but nothing that the pain meds and sleep can't handle. The only incision that hurts is the larger one, and I think that is where the port is. I haven't had any gas pains that people talk about. I didn't need to stay overnight, first day (yesterday) I was on clear liquids, and today and tomorrow I am on full liquids (although I haven't been feeling ready to eat, so I had some broth, SF Jello, and one optifast shake). I'm supposed to start the pureed stuff on Thursday. Anyway, just thought I would stop by and say hey and let some people know what they're about to experience!