isaviolinist

To mimick what others have said, the first few days were terrible. I remember I stayed in my apartment for the first 3 days or so until I HAD to go out for work. Just made it easier to deal with. After those first couple of days though, it got much better. And I say it over and over, but I LOVED seeing the pounds melting away rapidly. I think that was a big motivator for me to stick with it (I had a 3 week preop diet).

I post lots and lots of recipes in my blog. I love cooking - Im super passionate about it. Check it out: http://violinistwithaband.blogspot.com/

I'm not a fan of the new layout either, and I also noticed the increased ads. I love this site so I'm going to stick around, but I loved the old layout. It wasn't super fancy, but it was easy to navigate. Maybe we'll get used to it. When facebook changes (constantly), I always think about how much I hate the new layout, but then I get used to it...we'll see!

Hey Cangel - so sorry to hear about that Im glad you caught it though - sounds like it should get taken care of now. Try to adjust your mindset from thinking that you'll gain all the weight back. I don't think you'll gain it back! You just have to stick your mind to it. I'm glad you caught the infection early though!!

The new layout is going to take some getting used to I think. Just click on the "View New Content" button on the top right side (underneath the blue bar) and you should get the new posts.

This thread has made me so paranoid lol. I've always been concerned that my band is going to set off something at the airport (it never has) but now I'm scared that the new machines are harmful to it or something. I'm flying 9 times in the next month and a half and I hope nothing weird happens!

thanks for posting this. I am a foodie, and enjoy cooking and eating different foods. As of late I've had thoughts about will I be able to enjoy cooking the way I used to, will I still be able to enjoy variety? I am definitley someone who cannot eat the same thing everyday. I really like to mix it up and try new things. I think I enjoy cooking WAY more now than I did before banding. Before, I would just dump whatever into the food regardless of its nutritional value (or rather, lack thereof). I knew it was unhealthy. It might've tasted decadent at the moment, but later I would just feel sick. I remember (before banding) I made this lobster mac and cheese with a corn bread butter crust on top. There must've been 10 pounds of the fullest fat cheese I could find in there, plus an extra pound for the top, and the corn bread was SOAKED in butter (probably an entire stick..I can't remember, but it was a lot). While I was eating it, I was like "Wow, best thing ever". An hour later I felt SO sick I almost vomited. I couldn't even enjoy it, it was just so rich and full of fat - my body was like "that's not gonna fly". I love that my food tastes fresher and lighter these days. I can actually enjoy the flavors of the individual ingredients (or appreciate the blend of flavors, as the case may be). As for variety, this was my dinner menu for the past week: - Red and Napa Cabbage salad with homemade peanut sauce and tofu and shrimp skewers - Seafood Paella Espania with Quinoa (instead of rice) - Baked whole wheat mac and cheese with spinach and tomatoes (I didn't need 20 pounds of cheese and butter to make it delicious, and best of all, I didn't feel disgusting afterward) - Salmon stuffed with brie and asparagus with a homemade pesto 'crust' - Spicy Shrimp and Tofu Thai Red Curry hot pot - Baked scallops in a garlic, thyme and white wine sauce - Jumbo Lump Maryland Style Crabcakes (without bread crumbs...makes it low cal and band friendly...the bread crumbs make it tougher to eat and sometimes it gets stuck for me) In the past week I also made sugar free red velvet cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting and a crustless Peanut Butter pie (so rich and yummy). I love experimenting with baking too (removing fat, trying different sugar substitutes, reducing flour, using fat free ingredients, etc.). I'll always have a sweet tooth, so low-cal, healthier Desserts are really important to me. I post a lot of recipes on my blog - so if you need ideas, check it out!

Hm - what kind of exercise do you do? Do you ever switch it up? Sometimes our bodies can get used to a particular kind of exercise and it just sort of adjusts. Maybe add in something new like walking? Or if you constantly use the treadmill, maybe do some elliptical training. Or if you're doing a steady speed and resistance, maybe try interval training? You may also be gaining muscle mass. What is your doctor's calorie recommendation? I know a lot of women who are not banded who try to cap their calories around 1200 for weight loss. Maybe try to change your exercise and reduce your calories a little? If you really want to eat 1600 a day, maybe stagger...one day eat 1500, the other day eat 1700. I think maybe your calorie intake could be part of the problem though.

OMG I LOVE tuna casserole!! I made it with Quinoa the other day and it was DELISH!

One other thing that you could do (if you can) is have skin folds taken so you can know what your body fat percentage is. I have skin fold measurements taken every 6 weeks at our fitness place. Its super motivating. Even if I think I should've lost more scale weight, the body composition assesments let me know where and how much lean mass I've gained and how much fat mass I've lost. Pretty cool and WAY more accurate than scales or BMI.

Bread-crumbless baked crab cakes for dinner tonite!!! Can't wait :blushing:

I definitely understand. You aren't losing a friend, you are just improving what is currently an unhealthy relationship with said friend. Its kind of like starting family therapy. Sucks in the beginning, but in the end is worth it.

This happens to me regularly. If you're not eating any differently, staying within your calorie range and there is a calorie deficit, then its often water retention. If you're exercising a lot, you are probably gaining muscle which could be part of it. Also, sometimes if you don't have a BM before weighing, it can effect it. Its my time of the month and I was up 1.2 pounds this morning. I attribute it to bloat and water retention. If you weigh everyday (I do), its fine as long as you know your weight will fluctuate day to day. The downward trend is what's important! Don't be discouraged :blushing: although I empathize - I sometimes get discouraged too.

I also generally use smaller forks and I put my dinner entree on my small salad plates. For some reason, when I put the dinner on the smaller plate, psychologically it is more satisfying to me. I'm not sure why - just is. And it also prevents me from putting extras on my plate. When I make a meal, I usually make a protein and a veggie or sometimes a carb/veggie combo (like a soba noodle edamame carrot salad or something). When I use the smaller plate, I generally just take the protein before taking something else. If its a really small portion of protein (like my crabcakes are only a 1/3 of a cup size), sometimes I do take some of the veggie, but with the smaller plate, I can really only take a small amount (like 1/4 cup). It prevents me from loading my plate which prevents me from overeating. The smaller forks and spoons are definitely helpful. Plus its pointless to use such a huge plate when what I'm eating more than fits on the smaller plates. Just takes up more extra room in the dishwasher. :blushing:

Hey I'm so glad that you are feeling better!!! Yay!!

I love these threads. I love cooking. For dinner tonight I made baked jumbo scallops (they were huge!! I could barely eat 2) with garlic, rosemary, lemon, white wine, and some brie baked on top. Delish! And for dessert I made this Peanut Butter pie from BariatricEating.com (love this site!). I made it without the crust, and instead spooned it into individual cupcake liners and actually froze it slightly so it came out in delicious 2 oz portions of peanut butter custard "ice cream" (its SO rich...I ate two 2 oz servings and was pretty overwhelmed and beyond satisfied). I changed a few things about the recipe - I used fat free cream cheese, fat free cool whip, chunky peanut butter instead of smooth (makes a great texture within the mixture), and only a 1/4 cup of splenda (which I thought was plenty, and then you don't get that slight bitter aftertaste from the splenda). If you love peanut butter, this is a great recipe. The way I made it, a 2 oz portion has 167 calories, but you could spoon the mixture into 1 oz portions too for even more control over the calorie intake. I love to cook, and post a lot of my cooking on my blog. Check it out: Violinist With A Band

Hm...I hate to say it but I'm not sure if I've ever really had totally proper restriction with the band. Sometimes I can eat ANYTHING and sometimes I can barely eat one bite without the throwing it up. The majority of my weightloss has been from me anally counting calories and now, exercising (and when I stopped both of those things, I gained weight back). How many calories is 25 points? For me, this isn't a diet because I'm not restricting a particular food or macronutrient (i.e. no carbs, no fat, or whatever other crazy diets are out there). I'm eating foods that I like and that taste good (one would be surprised how many healthy foods there are that taste absolutely amazing) but I am exerting a certain amount of will power. I could easily eat 3000 calories a day (there's over 1000 calories in a pint of Ben and Jerry's, I could easily eat 3 a day...probably more) but I know that my calorie cap per day is between 900-950. So I just have to stop there. I guess another question - are you actually physically hungry or is your head hungry? Much of the time when I have a desire to eat, I am definitely not hungry but my head is trying to compel me to eat. Not really an easy thing to deal with, but its definitely a good thing to be able to recognize within yourself.

I love fitday!

Wow I've actuaLly never heard of weight being listed on a DL. What states ask for this (because I want to make sure I never move to any of them lol)?

Hey Cara! Glad you got the link to work. I was in my car when I saw that you had posted that the link was broken and I was scared that someone erased the spreadsheet like they did the other one Anyways, to answer your question, I'm crosstraining 4-5 days a week, doing 55 minutes of interval training on the elliptical for the days that I don't crosstrain, and everyday I take a 2.5-4 mile walk (I love walking. Doesn't feel like exercise and it gives me a chance to clear my mind). I'm sticking to 850-950 calories a day and food logging everything (I use fitday.com). Things were slow for me toward the end of October so I changed things up a little (varied my calories, changed the balance of my macronutrients for a few days, changed up my exercise a little, and started drinking tons of water/fluid). That seemed to work. What is your daily calorie intake like and what is your exercise routine? I'm writing from my phone so I don't know how much you lost this week, but I think any loss is a great loss! When I have a week where I only lose .5 pounds or something, I try to remind myself that its just great to lose whether its .5 pounds or 5 pounds.

My goal is 145. I'm almost 5'3. I chose this based upon my body composition. At my last body comp assesment about 4 weeks ago I had 141 pounds of lean mass (muscles, bones etc anything that isn't fat). Because you do lose lean mass as you lose weight, my practitioner estimates that when I'm at my goal of 22% body fat, I will have 130-133 pounds of lean mass. I felt that 145 was a reasonable goal (which would be between 12-15 pounds of fat mass) and would put me at a REALLY healthy range, body fat percentage-wise. If I can continue losing past that (without destroying muscle) I will, but I want to hang on to as much lean mass as possible. When I get to 145 ill reassess.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by the vitamin taste (are you tasting the whey?), but unjury is a really good tasting protein powder I think. I know they have an unflavored one (you could add it to something like coffee maybe) and they also have a chicken soup which is yummy. I know that there are protein drinks that come in fruity flavors too (they would be meal replacements).

Yay!! Sometimes that stupid thing is so stubborn

Hey looks like it was a pretty good week, for the most part! Yay! Sophie - just wanted to say that a few weeks ago I went through 2 weeks or so where I just didn't lose anything and even gained about half a pound (I didn't change anything...was still keeping to my calorie goal and exercising everyday). Then, I got on the scale and was down 2 pounds in a day. And then this past week I lost a pound a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Sunday I think was 1.2 pounds down). I think sometimes our bodies just go through weird stalls for no reason at all. I was getting so discouraged :-( But then, often we'll lose a crazy amount in just a day. So don't get discouraged -- just stayed focused on healing up!! Congrats on your surgery and weight loss so far!

Probably not a bad idea to give your surgeon a ring :thumbup: I will say that for weeks after surgery (even after everything else was feeling great), I would have a searing pain near my port if I moved in the wrong way. Nothing really felt like it was coming out of place - I never heard a rip or a pop, it just took longer to feel better than the other places. Sometimes I felt like I was going to just keel over from pain when I got that searing sensation. I was just careful of twisting and turning and sitting up during those weeks. I hope you feel better!!!