ElfiePoo

So I'm down 4 lbs last week and 2 this week. After that 1 lb per week, I'm amazed! I expected to lose nothing after last week's 4 lbs. I'm so close to Onderland and really think I'll make it by May 15th (son's wedding) now! Woohoo! Allow me a little vent here... Why do some people feel the need to bash Atkins? The only difference between Atkins and what most band doctors recommend is that they do low fat and low carb and Atkins allows higher fat (about 60% compared to 30% in a low fat diet). If people can't stick to Atkins, then where is the rationale that the low carb, low fat diet that most band surgeons prescribe is somehow more sustainable long term? Do people even hear the nonsense they spout? .

Jackie: We may lose slowly...but we're losing! I used to live in Maine. I taught school in a one room schoolhouse out on Frenchboro (off Mt. Desert). Loved the weather on the island. Never really too cold or too warm because of the ocean. Loved it. Deb: I have a son and daughter-in-law who live in Largo and a bil and sil who live in Tampa. I think I'll take my cold winters over your summers! CIS: I've given up figuring why the band will all of a sudden tighten or loosen after months. I just go with the flow. Hopefully you'll be back at your sweet spot soon. .

I know just as many people who've done Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, yada yada. They did it temporarily and enthusiastically and gained it all back and then some after the stopped doing it. So by that criteria, *EVERY* manner of losing weight becomes temporary and a fad. I've been a member of various low carb lists for about 18 years or so and yes, I know quite a few people who've been doing Atkins successfully for decades. I've gone to a number of their real life get togethers and have seen in person how successful they were at taking off the weight and keeping it off. My son's future mother-in-law has been doing Atkins consistently for 30 years. She started out at 420 pounds. It took her almost 3 years to lose all the weight and she has maintained that weight for 27 years...doing Atkins. At the time she was on blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetic meds. She hasn't take any for more than 27 years. The only reason people don't stick to Atkins is the same reason they don't stick to any 'diet'. The only difference between Atkins and the diet that most lap band doctors prescribe is that they advise low fat as well as low carb. Otherwise there's no difference. So I guess the band doctors must be prescribing a fad diet, hmmm?

It gets better. I'm about 15 months postop and I rarely notice it anymore. .

In my state, when you get your license renewed, they don't take the old one. So I have my licenses from the last 20 years. I happened to pull them out the other day and was horrified! I had no idea I looked as bad as I did. In one, my face was as round as a balloon with no neck! It's now stuck to my refrigerator door as a reminder. Every time I look at it I want to puke. .

Tally, The band, even when it's overfilled, won't stop you from grazing and eating just to eat. That part is up to you. My Breakfast is either 1 egg and 2 slices of bacon or a low cal/low carb Protein drink...depending on whether I'm tight in the morning. lunch is 3 oz of protein and 1/2 cup vegies, dinner is the same but I might (not always) also add 1/4 cup rice or Beans. I don't do wheat products because they seem to rev up my insulin production, causing cravings, and I don't do artificial sweeters (or sugar obviously) because they give me cravings for other sweets. I do about an hour of cardio at least 6 days a week. Right now it's Tae Bo because it's fun and if it isn't fun, I won't do it. The biggest thing I've discovered is that I need to keep my hands busy. Even sitting and watching tv at night. If I just sit and watch tv, I get a serious compulsion to graze. If I do needlepoint or quilting or something else that keeps my hands busy, I don't seem to have the slightest interest in eating. You haven't failed!! The band helps by removing the hunger...but we still have to work on changing a lifetime of bad eating habits...and that doesn't happen overnight. Just don't give up! Every time you fall of that wagon, don't go off on a regretful binge or wait until after the weekend or after the holiday, etc. Get right back on. Recommit. You can do this! .

My surgeon has his patients do 3 days on each phase of the postop so by 2 weeks we're back on solid foods. .

Before making a decision to get an unfill, I'd give it at least a week...and be kind to your band during that time. It may be that you have some temporary swelling from the fill. So go back to Protein shakes for a day or two, if you have to, since every stuck episode will only compound the problem by irritating the band area, creating more swelling. Then gradually start adding softer foods back in. Remember to take small bites and chew well. If a bite goes down hard, put your fork down and wait it out if you can. Generally, if something goes down hard and I know I took a small bite and chewed well, I push that item away and don't attempt more bites. If you're still having problems a week after being kind to your band, then you might need a slight unfill. .

Hunger may be a sign that you need a fill since that is what the band does...control hunger. First, make sure you're eating enough. A reasonable meal, according to my surgeon, is 3 oz Protein, 1/2 cup vegies and 1/4 cup starch (maybe...and even then I do only rice or potatoes or Beans because wheat products seem to rev up my insulin production). On that note, if you aren't eating a low carb diet (30-60gm per day), you might try that. I find that when my blood sugar swings (both as a hypoglycemic and now a diabetic), I'm starving. So now, my priority is always in keeping my blood sugar stable. Second, make sure you're drinking enough. I start my day with a mug of hot decaf tea before Breakfast. Then I make sure to drink 8z of Fluid before each meal and mid-meal. I find that a hot mug of tea or broth mid-meal sometimes keeps that 'hunger' at bay. If you're still hungry, you may need a fill. .

My boys used to crawl out of bed at noon and eat 'breakfast'. Their definition of breakfast was 'the first meal of the day'...no matter what time it is. I'm an early riser...usually up by 6 a.m. I don't eat breakfast until around 7 or 7:30 and then lunch is 5 hours after that and dinner 5 hours after lunch. It's just what works for me now that my band is at its sweet spot. Since my last fill, I'm too tight in the mornings so I have a low carb/low cal Protein shake. Lately I've been having one mid-morning as well. Since lunch and dinner are similar (3 oz protein, 1/2 cup vegies, *sometimes* 1/4 cup of rice or potatoes), my calories are pretty much spread out across the 3 meals. .

Responding to a couple posts. Atkins is not a fad diet. It does work long term. Of course people gain weight when they go off it...just as they gain weight when they go off Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or any other WOE. It's not just about burning more calories than you take in. It's also about the type of calories you're eating. Why do you think band doctors are recommending low carb diets? Because they *know* that you will burn those calories faster than the higher carbs which your body is struggling to store as fat. Carbs have a stronger impact on the insulin response system than Protein and fat. No offense to the poster above who said they were on Atkins and eating less than 10 carbs, but if you're eating 10 carbs a day for 3 months, you weren't doing Atkins. Just trying to keep the record clear about Atkins. This WOE gets a lot of bad press from innocent comments such as this. I also did Atkins 9 years ago (thought it was 7 but just found a journal showing it was over 9!) for about 3 months. I found my critical carb level (the point where I stopped losing) was around 35 carbs per day. I'm extremely sensitive to carbs, although recently I've discovered it's not all carbs...just those in sugar and wheat products (bread, crackers, etc.). I never put that weight back on, most likely because it coincided with a point in my life when I became more physically active and have stayed active. The important thing to remember about Atkins is that (1) if you aren't eating vegies, you aren't doing Atkins and (2) drink at least 64 fl oz of Water per day because your body is in ketosis. Not a problem for healthy kidneys, but as my doc said at the time, it's still good to flush those ketones out with water. .

This is why I only weigh once a week. My weight can fluctuate as much as 4-5 pounds in Water weight from one day to the next. Not worth the stress since stress acts on our cortisol levels which affects how our body handles fat. .

Don't panic. Band slippage is *rare*. More likely, you just had a delayed reaction to the fill. I feel nothing (usually) after a fill for 2 weeks and then bam...I'm so tight I'm back to drinking Protein shakes. If you've been urping things back up (like your pasta), you may have compounded the problem with swelling. So stop eating solids and go back to complete liquids - Water, broth, etc. Be kind to your band. If you're having difficulty with water, make it hot (like tea) and sip slowly. Many times this will help loosen the band. As long as you can get water down, you should be fine until Monday. You may even find that it's getting better by Monday because swelling is going down. Our bands get tight for no reason. We just have to go with the flow. When they tighten, it's just a case of backing off the food as much as we have to until they loosen up again. .

Yes, they were having difficulties Friday evening. When I came on at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, there were *lots* of posts missing. When I got back on late Saturday morning, they had rolled everything back to February 2nd. .

The whole point of the band being better than bypass or sleeve is that it is reverseable...which, to me, means they can take it out. Whether or not your insurance will pay for it is another thing. However, if it is causing panic attacks you might, through documentation, get enough evidence that the insurance company will pay for it. Maybe. .

Vomiting is *not* good. If your band suddenly became tighter, you've now compounded the problem with the vomiting which most likely has caused swelling and even more tightness. My .02...I would go completely to liquids (and mushies if you can get them down without vomiting) for a few days to a week to get rid of any swelling. Then, if you're still having problems, get some type of unfill. It may not need to be much. Remember, you're not trying to get enough fill to physically restrict how much you can eat. That way leads to an overfill. What you're trying to do is get enough of a fill to get rid of the hunger after a reasonable meal. Good luck. .

I was wondering how you were doing. Apparently the LBT has been having a few problems and it looks like they've reset the system back to Feb. 2nd...so a lot of the responses are gone. I don't know what a 'rasher' is (slice?) but until my last fill, my normal breakfast was 2 sl of bacon with 2 eggs fried in just a bit of butter. It made all the difference in my hunger levels through the morning. You can't have milk in your coffee but you can use heavyweight cream or half and half (both have less carbs). I think cream is too greasy, so I use the half and half. In the newer Atkins books they allow artificially sweetened drinks like Crystal Lite. I go by the '72 version and avoid artificial sweeteners. A note on the reagent strips. They're a waste of money. On Atkins, you need to make sure you're drinking 64 fl oz of water per day. If you do that, those strips won't turn any color even though you're in ketosis. Also, what I don't see on your menu are vegies. Even in the induction phase of Atkins, you're supposed to eat vegies. I don't know about later versions, but in the '72 version that includes 2 cups of salad a day which can include leafy greens, celery, cucumbers and radishes. After the 2 weeks it includes any low carb vegie (asparagus, green Beans, etc.). If you're not eating vegies, you're not doing Atkins. That's ok...but it's not Atkins.

LBT is really screwed up. I came on at 1:30 a.m. this morning because I couldn't sleep and discovered that the LBT was back online...but missing hundreds of posts made on Friday. I posted a few things and then logged off. Now I come on and it looks like they've reset the system back to Feb. 2nd. Hope they figure out what's going on soon. .

Hey Zen, My e-mail address is melody@dmci.net. If you have trouble finding me, let me know. Also, when you friend me, remind me who you are because I don't always make the connection between screen name and real name. I'd love to be our FB friend!

Seriously...help me understand the thought processes. One assumes if you decided on the band that you did your research. You understood all of the steps along the way...that this was surgery and there would be a time of healing, etc. How can someone have regrets the day of surgery or even the day after? Is this temporary pain really so bad that you regret making a decision that has the potential for changing your life? How can someone have regrets before they've had their first fill? Sure...frustration that it takes so long to get to restriction where the hunger is gone...but regret at even having the band? That's a bit like buy a car and regretting the purchase before you even got behind the wheel. Or is this all part of the "I want it all. I want it now" mentality that made us fat in the first place? C'mon people...PATIENCE...because I promise you, if you don't find an inner source of patience and acceptance that this is a lifelong process, you'll fail at the band as well. .

Morning folks. I think I'm going to take a short hiatus from the LBT. I may be back in a day or so or longer, but in the meantime, y'all know where to find me on Facebook. Take care.

I've been banded for 15 months and since my date of surgery (some was lost prior to surgery), my weight loss has averaged out at less than 1 pound per week. I had a several month stall due to an overfill and then problems related to swelling due to the constant pbing and stuck episodes. For the last couple of months, my weight loss is a consistent 1 lb per week. .

You're apparently confusing me with someone else. I *never* put people down (except for one or two nasty stalkers) and if you are seeing my responses as 'harsh', well you're reading your own emotions into my responses. Please remember that without the body language, it is easy to misunderstand the person's tone of 'voice' and insert your own perceptions. People can post anything they want, but it is assumed they are asking for some type of feedback. My response is based on understanding where they're coming from. However, since this thread has devolved into something more akin to personal attacks rather than people responding to my OP, I'll leave it at this. Readers will either understand that the OP was an honest attempt at understanding...or choose to believe whatever they like. Something I have little control over. Done... .

ROFLMAO...good one jachut. .

I used Neosporin after I showered, on the advice of my doctor.