ParrotheadCathy

LapHappy -- First on the agenda....go back to the doc! Over this period of tim, you likely have had a slight decrease in the amount of fill in your band. For lack of a better explanation, call it evaporation. Then start journaling. Nobody sees that journal but you so please be 100% honest about everything you put in your mouth. It will help you see what your weakensses/weak times of day are. That's the first step to getting back on track. RiceChex ... not sure about IBS and lap band, but I'm betting there's somebody on this site that has experience! Why don't you post a separate thread so that people immediately see your issue. That way you'll have a better idea of what you're going to need to discuss with your doctor. But the above comment still applies!

130 grams is alot. I try to have no more than 15 grams per meal (that's roughly a slice of lite bread). 130 grams is the equivalent of almost 9 slices of lite bread! That's almost a whole day's calories!!

DRY meats can be a problem. It's an avoidable one but it will require a little adjustment on your part. Steak...if you like it well done, that's over. It's just too darned dry. If I cook it myself, I take it to medium rare. If I order it out, I order it rare which usually gets me medium rare. chicken....please don't buy boneless skinless chicken breasts! LOL. They have no taste, they're expensive and they cook up dry...really dry. Buy split breasts that still have the bones. Cook them with the skin on but don't eat the skin. That protects the chicken and helps keep it moist. Baste it with chicken broth while you cook it. meat marinades are good too...and there are a heck of a lot of them to choose from. Fried food? Yeah, you can eat it but it's bad for you...greasy, carb laden....there are better choices out there. Yeah, have some as a treat occassionally but don't make a habit of any fried stuff! I was told no carbonated beverages, so I gave up my Diet Coke addiction and I'm better off for it. Beer? Yeah, I've had a few. Just let them get a little flat and don't drink them fast. You'll know if it's a problem because you'll feel pressure from the gas. The simple truth is that the band doesn't MAKE you make good food choices. It restricts how much you can eat -- and that is permanent. French fries? yeah, I can eat them and I do sometimes. They go down really easy, LOL. But you and I both know french fries are not healthy so they shouldn't be a weekly part of your food plans. Consider them a treat. I had some fried shrimp a couple of weeks ago. They were sooooo good, and I think I enjoyed them more because I hadn't had anything like that in quite a while. I sometimes have problems with soft bread. Toasted is not a problem. But if you take some bread in your fingers and kind of mush it up, it makes a tight little dough ball and that's why I have a problem with soft bread...it creates a lump that gets stuck. I was never, ever a sandwich person anyway, so that's never been an issue for me. Not everybody has a problem with soft bread, though. Any and all liquids pass through your pouch quite fast. That's why you are not supposed to drink anything with your meal or for about 30 minutes after....the liquids pass through so quickly that they would wash your food out of the pouch and into the lower part of your stomach and remove any chance of you feeling full.

Bottom line is, if you're obese, your PCP or OBGYN has talked to you about weight loss. May have pressed you to make efforts, offered diets to try, whatever. If you have a history of regular doctor visits, you have the basis of that history in your doctor's files and a letter from that doctor with expanded information from you incorporated will likely be enough!

Just because you can eat more than you've been told you should doesn't mean it's okay. A Subway sandwich is way too much bread! You need to be eating 3 oz or so of protein and then vegetables. Not 45 or so grams of carbohydrates.

I've been told by my doc to not drink Protein shakes because liquid passes through the stomach rather quickly and as a result there isn't a prolonged feeling of satiety. So I stopped drinking Protein Shakes completely and I am doing much better, especially in the mornings when I would find myself starving to death at about 10:30 AM. What Proteins do I like? Low fat cottage cheese has plenty of protein. Low fat cheese. eggs. Any meat (cooking methods chosen to accommodate what works for me), such as lean ground beef patties grilled (no more done than medium rare for me) but no bun. Greek yogurt (I don't like regular yogurt). Solid protein takes a while to be digested so it stays in your pouch longer, so it makes you feel full longer. Ditch the shakes. I was hooked on them, especially for breakfast because of the convenience. But taking the time to prepare solid food pays off by you being full longer.

Jenlaws, that's a new one on me. No pork or steak for a year? that's a HUGE part of my routine diet. As I said earlier, with steak I order it rare (which often gets you medium rare-ish in a restaurant) and that's no problem for me. At my house, pork tenderloin is a fave...I put it in a dish with seasonings, some mirepoix (which you can buy frozen in the vegetable department -- it's celery, onions and carrots), chicken or vegetable broth, cover the dish with foil and bake it until done. Very moist and reasonably tender (not fall apart, but tender). A filet steak is a small portion, very tender naturally and if not cooked too much can often be cut with a fork. That's more than I can say for a lot of chicken, LOL. None of us would tell you to go against your doctor's orders but I would consider confirming that one year thing. I can see where pork chops or "regular" steak as most of us know it might be a problem but.....

I just saw my internist this morning for a check-up. He confirmed what I suspected ... I have a hernia in my belly button. He says it's most likely not new, but that losing weight made it more obvious. At any rate, he says I should be fine for the short term and that he would prefer not to send me on to a surgeon until I'm down to at least 190 (which is like 17 pounds away). So has anybody here had this type of a hernia and had surgery to repair it? What am I getting into with this?

Thanks, all! My internist says he won't even refer me to a surgeon until I am under 190 pounds, which is about 20 pounds away. So we'll see what they say when I break into the 180s.....

I think this is one choice in life that can be a lot harder when you're young! I'm old enough to be your grandmother but I can tell you that at 17 I was very concerned that my friends approved of my actions and even my ideas. When they didn't, it made it hard to stick to my guns, so to speak. Your overweight friend doesn't want to be the only fat girl...think about how you would feel if the positions were switched. Your other friend? Yeah, she could be concerned that you'll become her main competition but she could have other feelings too. Concern about you having surgery and not really knowing what to think about it. Concern that whatever changes take place, they could change the quality of your friendship. It's not all that different for me, at my advanced age, LOL. I have several friends who are around my starting weight (294 pounds) and one in particular didn't have much to say to me for a while. I finally got a chance to talk to her when nobody else was around and once we talked, she was okay. My thinner friends, thankfully, have been supportive. I hope you and your friends can reach a comfortable place and that they can support you in your journey!

Stitches are tough. You probably didn't break a stitch but one probably did pull and cut into skin which caused the bleeding. That, in turn created the hematoma under the skin. I'm betting your doc is going to want to see it to make sure all is okay, so call him!

Well, Neesh, there IS full liquid post-op. So if you cheat pre-op you may only (only??) wake up to find your banding has been postponed. Post-op, if you cheat with solid food you more than souble your chances of your band slipping. Almost all of us had to do a pre-op diet. I was lucky in that mine wasn't all liquid, but I did exactly what my doc said, including drinking 2 nasty whey Protein shakes a day that tasted like crap no matter what I did to them. I was never told my pre-op diet was to lose weight. It was to shrink my liver to give the doc more room to work in. So get your head in the right place and do it fast! Good luck

Nandra, the bottom line is obvious once you think about it. Youve been on liquids. liquid digests very quickly and passes right through your body. solid food takes a bit of time to traverse digestion in the stomach and then absorbtion in the intestines and then out of the body. So the physical weight of your food increases when you start eating mushy and then solid food. Then you will start losing. Remember having a stomach virus, how you lost a bunch of weight? Same principle.

I definitely agree with Stacy!! People are hoping you will say that some product that's been advertised really works so that they can lose weight without dieting. If you don't want them to know you had the surgery, that's your business! I had no problem telling, but that's just me. When you tell them you're making the right food choices and exercising, they lose interest because that's not some magic, secret solution to the problem of obesity. And, truthfully, there aren't any magic, secret solutions and they KNOW that. So just keep saying what you're saying because it's the truth. And if they watch what you eat, they'll see the truth of the statement.

Sammy, if the meat is dry it is many times more likely to get stuck. With steak, I order it rare (which means I get around medium rare) and with chicken I don't order it unless there is some sort of a sauce involved like salsa or whatever or unless it's cooked in a style that have broth. At home, I cook my chicken in a piece of foil with a tablespoon or so of chicken broth, some veggies on top, season the whole thing. Wrap the foil up tight, put the package on a pan and bake at 375 until the chicken is done. You get two things .... all your food is cooked together and you get to throw away the means of cooking. And, yeah, that chicken will be really moist!

I'd been on depression meds for about 10 years. My doc stopped them as of the day of surgery and I haven't taken any since. I feel better than I've felt in many years and, yeah, a lot of it is from the weight loss itself but a lot is also in the change the weight loss brought to my self image.

I'm with 123crod! I could never chew anything 40 times, LOL. Just chew it up so that it's not chunky, so that you're not on the verge of inhaling your food and swallowing it nearly whole. Exercise. Google "chair exercise" You will get a lot of stuff and some of it will be good stuff. No, it's not a substitute for whole body efforts like walking, but it can be a workout. Do you swim? If so, go to the Y and swim! That is 100% nonload bearing, will not impact your knees at all. I have a friend in Chattanooga who was in the same boat as you pretty much. She'd had 1 knee replaced but had continued to gain weight and the ortho surgeon told her he wouldn't do the other knee unless she lost weight. So she gets approved for lap band surgery BUT the hospital said they don't do surgery on anybody with a BMI above 50. So she had to diet and exercise to lose 24 pounds. This is a woman who was walking with a walker, for pete's sake, LOL. But her daughter, who is a body builder, found "chair exercises" for her and got her some good Protein shakes and succeed she did. Had her surgery in April. No more walker, and she's getting really close to the knee surgery now. She walks some, on level ground but she is still doing her chair exercises and goes to the gym to lift weights and swim.

Grazing is doing you in! I hate to say it, but that has to stop in order for you to be successful. You should be eating three meals a day, at least 60 grams of Protein per day. Limited carbs, and those carbs should be whole grain carbs. If you graze, you never, ever get full. "Full" should have you satisfied and with little or no desire to snack for at least 4 hours or so. By eating whatever, whenever, your band cannot do its job. You need to track every bite that goes in your mouth and I suggest that you note the time of day because you are not abiding by an appropriate eating plan. You have to be honest with yourself. Nobody else is going to see your journal ... but you have to admit to yourself what you are actually eating. I suggest a couple of things. You need to discuss your problems with your doctor. blood in acid reflux cannot be good. Mispositioning of your band? Again, that can't be good. Was it misplaced at surgery or has it slipped? Do you need an unfill of some small amount? Next, I suggest counseling. Yes, counseling. Find someone who deals with eating disorders/issues. You need to get to the bottom of the WHY you have continued to eat this way rather than the way you were supposed to be eating. Counseling NEVER hurt anybody. There's a lot to be learned and perhaps some enlightenment about the whys of your current (and long standing) issues. No matter what route you pursue, stay in touch and perhaps others have some other good suggestions.

The denial letter should state clearly the basis for the denial. If not, there should be a number on the letter that you can call and ask for an explanation. It could something as simple as something was left out of the package by the doctor's office or something as difficult as for whatever reason you don't meet one of their requirements. But you're not going to know unless you re-read the letter and, probably, make a phone call. Let us know what the results are and maybe someone will have some suggestions when we have more information.

The vanilla, when ice cold is pretty good. I like it on cereal ...

Cassie, go to www.tickerfactory.com It's pretty self-explanatory. Pick weight loss ticker, select the "stripe" and then the indicator. You will have to select a PIN. Make sure it's something you can remember because to update your ticker, you can double click on it in any message you've posted, enter your PIN and update your current weight. When you're done, there is a window that you must copy the URL and paste it into a signature block here on LBT.

With most insurance policies, there is a requirement of a BMI of 40 if there are no comorbidities and a BMI of 35 with at least 2 comorbidities. The "accepted" comorbidities are high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and maybe high cholesterol (I can't remember for sure on that one). Some insurance policies do require a supervised pre-op diet, but I had heard than many of the insurers have dropped that now. Only a few are left. Some do require a history of being overweight for 5 years prior to surgery but if you've been going to your doctor (like the OB-GYN every year), there is a written record of weight, and as long as there are no gaps you could take care of that if it were a requirement. Time line for approval? That will depend in large part upon what pre-op testing the surgeon requires. Note that if they require a sleep study to absolutely rule out sleep apnea, schedule that as quick as you can. That held me up for 2 extra weeks because the doctor didn't have an opening for me right way.

food allergies are pretty obvious usually. An allergy to, say, strawberries or whatever can and often does result in anaphalactic shock. I've been through immunotherapy for environmental allergies (yes, it works!) but I'm not so sure it works for food allergies. But even if it does, the reality is that immunotherapy requires a HUGE commitment on your part. I had to get shots (three injections per visit) once a week for almost 2 years, then every other week for another year, then once a month for YEARS. I was being immunized against cats, dogs, birds, dust mites, several common molds, dust, oak, elm, ragweed ... Interestingly, they would not inject me for cats and dogs in the same arm?!?!? I thought that was funny. Intolerance, like lactose , is a little harder because that cannot be treated like an allergy. Lactose intolerance is the result of maturing. As you grow older, your body actually loses the ability to produce the enzyme needed to process lactose, which is a milk sugar. The loss of this ability varies from person to person. LactAid is an oral replacement for that enzyme. And that's what I know about allergies. I'd be interested to know if immunotherapy actually applies to foods, though!

The pre-op diet differs dramatically from doctor to doctor. Some require NONE. Others require as much as a month of liquid only. And there's every combination you can imagine in between. My pre-op diet consisted of two whey-protein shakes per day and two lean meal that consisted ONLY of 3 oz of lean Protein and a steamed or raw vegetable. No carbs like bread or potatoes or whatever. And the shakes were a product that I bought from my doctor's office. The goal is not necessarily lose weight but to shrink your liver before surgery so that the doctor has as much room as possible in which to maneuver when he is putting the band in place. My pre-op diet reallyl wasn't bad at all. I had a protein shake for breakfast, food for lunch and dinner, and a protein shake late in the afternoon as a snack.

The only reason it would be a problem is if the antibiotics are large pills. You could ask (1) if the pills can be crushed (some medications do not work properly if crushed, so always ask) or (2) for a liquid antibiotic.