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I had a meeting similarto Jam's. Also discussed the diet progression post op.

I had about 200 to lose. Forwarned is forearmed. I went to two seminars at the first they said everyone would be expected to lose 15 pounds. There was a big groan that went up from the crowd. As it was the doctor I went with required that I lose 10% body weight which was 34 pounds. My surgery had to be postponed for other health reasons so I ended up losing over 50 before surgery. It is doable!

Perfectly normal not to have restriction yet. Not to bring you down but I did not get any for 6 months. My doctor says there must be min of 3 weeks between fills. After 3 weeks you may want to call and see if they will do another fill. If they will do one you may have to ask to come in if they have a cancellation since they'll probably be booked.

Okay, now I have some questions and some concerns. I know very little about weight watchers. You mentioned being on a new programm that is carb based. Already that seems like a problem. I am not a carb hater and there are people on this forum who would faint at the idea of having yoghurt for Breakfast like I do. If WW is truely carb based then it needs to go. I find it odd that it is however; unless you are confusing their theory that veggies are almost a non food and are'nt considered calories at all (I'm simplifying I know) with being carb based. You mentioned having frozen diet meals. Again, not intrinsicly bad but yes they are high in carbs usually potato, Pasta, rice. You must focus on 3-4 Oz of Protein and then eat have say 3/4 cup of veggies. You mentioned meat being trigger for weight gain for you. Meat is not a intrinsically bad either (not looking to discuss the ethics of eating meat). 3 oz of grilled chicken no skin is a world away from boneless Buffalo chicken wings (fried, and the sauce's main ingredient is butter). It also sounds like you need to stop the 100 pack stuff. It's called the halo effect "It's only 100 calories so I can have dessert", or "It's 100 calories so I can have 2". If you have 1 a day for 35 days and don't burn off those calories it's still a 1 pound gain.

Do you have Marshalls or TJ Maxx, they are discount clothing stores that carry returns/overstock from designers and stores like Macy's.

Try keep a couple different flavors of gum in your desk so you have a choice of flavor. Hard to eat and chew gum at the same time.

I swim every day and my doctor's office has never told me to hold of exercising. Not sure if it's because I swim so am not drinking lots of water during the work out.

For now I would'nt really worry about carbs. Esp. regarding non fat Greek yoghurt. I add half a scoop vanilla whey isolate, 1 tsp benefiber, some Splendra (very sour without, I buy Chobani non fat with fruit). About 200 cal, 26 g protein. Now that I am on solids I still have greek yoghurt for breakfast but now add 1 scoop kashi go lean cereal. During mushies I also made egg whites and at the very end added 1/8 cup cottage cheese.

Keep taking your meds, walk around as much as possible. I would call and ask them if you have any liquid in the band (they are'nt going to think to offer that info up unless you ask about it). Everytime someone writes a story like yours they have some fill. Once it's taken out they are much better.

Stop comparing yourself to your friend. I am a slow loser. I am very strict about my food consumption and do an hour of cardio every day. Averaging 1 lb a week. That said I highly recommend buying a food scale and measuring out 3 oz of Protein (that's what my doctor orders). To me 6 oz sounds like way to much. You will not be full on 3 bites. Period! Sounds like your friends band is too tight. How on earth could someone eat 3 oz of meat in three bites? Never mind having some veggies. Second I think you need to make more of a conserted effort regarding exercise. You might call me a gym rat because I go 7 days a week. If I don't give that as my goal instead of going 7 days with a very rare 6 days in one week; I could easily talk myself into 1-2 days.

Kind of off topic. My sisters and I are going to a how to put on make up clinic (my mother does'nt really approve of make up so we never learned to put it on.). Well I've never put a picture on LinkedIn or Facebook because I did'nt want people to see how fat I was. I'm going to get a new outfit for make up day and take a picture to post on those sites.

I second Premier premade from Costco they now have both chocolate and vanilla. Super convenient. For powder I like Gold Standard Whey Isolate Double Chocolate (I buy it at Vitamin Shoppe). Store like GNC and Vitamin Shoppe will usually let you return for store credit if you get something you don't like. Also the clerks are really good resources for what flavors people like.

Jennie, I would speak with him about the problems you are having. I totally get this is hard believe me! Are you on Optifast or something similar or can you buy your own Protein powder? If you are buying powder they are not all created equal. They can range from 100-250 cal for 25-30 g of protein; and vary in carbs. I bring this up because if you chose protein super low in carbs and calories then perhaps you could make them with fat free milk (which sure adds carbs but also ads 8 g of of protein). Also I add suger/fat free pudding powder, suger free chocolate syryup, or Davinchi suger free syrups found in the coffe isle. There are ways of making the shakes taste better. Now some tough love. And a disclaimer. I am not a medical professional and you should always follow your doctors orders. If you are going to "cheat" know you are going to "cheat" and plan ahead. The planning ahead part for me has become one off my top 5 post banding eating rules. You mention being so hungry you eat bad things. My psychologist calls that irrational hunger: so hungry you can't control what or how much. She said never let yoursel get that hungry. You will choose inappropriate food. On this preop diet (high protein low carb); if you are going to eat would'nt it make sense to have grilled chicken breast strips (like premade ones from the store) instead of chips or crackers? If you don't plan ahead though you can't buy chicken breast from the vending machine at work. Now for some chearing up. You did really well dieting in the last year. My nurse described surgery as follows: think of your torso as a over filled suitcase. When you lose weight it's like taking some of the clothes out. When the doctor goes in he has to feel around through a lot of stuff to get to the bottom where your stomach is. The less stuff in the way the easier his job. So by losing 40 pounds you've made his job easier; he's just looking for some more help!

FYI my doctor calls for 24 hours full liquids (tomato, squash soups, and protein shakes), then 24 hours mushies (I do pureed soup and canned chicken mixed with low fat laughing cow cheese, for breakfast I do fruit greek yoghurt with half scoop vanilla whey isolate protein powder). Lesson learned. Next time I would try a program like the one above. Knock on wood no post fill issues for me.

Kind of depends on what the doctor has ordered. Mine had two weeks of mushies. The first was cottage cheese and ricotta, The second week I could add canned tuna and/or chicken. I would ask for clarification. As for week one I made an italian bake low/fat free cottage, ricotta, some parmesian, some smooth spagetti sause baked in the oven. In week two I could also add egg whites. I would make the eggwhites and and at the very end add fat free cottage cheese. So yummy. For canned chicken I added low fat laughing cow cheese (each wedge is 35 calories). Also because it's cheese you can heat it up in the microwave.

I would be brutaly honest with the Nut. When I started my journey I was told I had to loose 34 pounds. I was worreid becauase I had been eating better after I had suffered a stroke 3 months earlier. I was already exercising every day; so how was I going to lose that much weight? In addition to the Nut. I also had to attend 3 mindful eating group therapy sessions. Does your doctor have something like that? If not I would find one (preferrably run by a psychologist rather than an over eaters anon group. Those meetings really helped me see that while the types of food I was eating weren't high in fat/cal; I was just eating wayyyy to much. Also I realized that I did a whole lot of snacking more than I would have thought. I identified food triggers. There was a time that I would have four open bags of low fat chips, rice cakes, etc. I live alone! Anything that goes crunch that did not come out of the ground is a problem for me. I had to cut those things out of my food rotation.

Most doctors submit your weight from the first consult (which was with the nurse. I did'nt meet him for another 5 weeks). Most doctors demand that not only you loose weight on a liquid preop diet but perhaps before that. I think you need to speak with the surgeon. My surgeon required I loose 10% body weight before they would schedule surgery.

Your body is a bit traumatized. Even though I swim daily; if I do the elliptical I feel it in legs later. It's a different muscle set that's not as used to being used. As time goes on it will get better. You may want to start of slower; 1.5 hours is a lot for someone who has not been working out.

I'm not a crier but I get super stressed. Some people talk about getting a sedative presurgery. I got one but not until I sat in preop for 3 HOURS. There was a problem in the surgery before me. They would'nt give me a sedative until I spoke with the doctor. I could'nt talk to the doctor because he was in surgery.

Good for you! You're right it probably won't continue at that rate. We all have 5 pounds or so of Water weight. My doctor put me on a crazy 500 calorie diet and claimed I would loose 1 pound a day. I was exercising an hour a day. In 5 days I lost NOTHING. With no cheating. I had however been on my own diet for 2 months and had already lost 20 pounds. If you have the ability try to get some exercise in. If you live in a cold part of the country and don't belong to the gym; go to the mall. Great place to walk esp on a week night after 8:OO hardly anybody there.

Keli26, reading your post makes me think perhaps you should cut down on the carbs. I am not a carb hater and don't consider my self a low carb person really. For Breakfast I think you should focus more on Protein and less on carbs. You mentioned having Cereal. Unless it's a straight oatmeal you are probably not staying full for very long. I realize WW meals are super easy for work. My concern is whether you are really getting 3-4 oz of protein. Some of them are only 6 oz to begin with. Often they are rice or Pasta based so again very carb centered. You mentioned eating less then preband. That's great. But you also noted perhaps what your eating are not the right choices. I highly recommend getting a digitial food scale. You would be suprised how small 3oz can really be. I measure both lunch and dinner protein every day. This keeps me honest. When the food is gone I'm done eating. Are you at restriction? It took me 6 months. My doctor does'nt want me to get stuck. In fact if I'm having several stuck episodes he thinks the band is too tight. Being banded is at least a 50% mental battle. I don't demonize certain foods but I don't eat them on a regular basis (even at small portions). It can help to ask yourself "If my doctor saw me eating/chosing this would I be embarrased?" If so walk away.

One question I have is it the flavor or the texture that you don't like about milkshakes? In the Northeast of the US we have two terms: milkshake and frappe. A frappe is thicker and is made with ice cream. For protein shakes I would make "milk cubes" out of fat free milk. I would use a blender adding 2 milk cubes for 1/3 cup of the milk and a couple ice cubes. Gives the shake a frosty texture. Also some nice add ins for small calories are suger/fat free pudding powder (that's American pudding. I know British pudding refers to dessert in general. Not sure what you would call it. We keep it in the baking isle. The instant kind you make with just cold milk). Also suger free syrup which is used to flavor coffee (Davinchi brand here in the US).

Even unflavored protein powder however is not neccessarity flavorless. I would talk to your doctor about the nut. level they want. For example if they want you to do very low carb you may have to add the protein powder to a broth rather than a pureed tomato soup.

After surgery I used those protein bullets, boy was that bad! In general though post band my gas is much worse. I only eat 3 oz of protein per meal so I'm certainly not eating huge quantities.

One thing I heard about raw food eating is that it can be a concern for the very young and very elderly. Something about raw dairy which if it did have some kind of microbes (not being pasterized) that their systems have trouble fighting. But that is only for a more high risk population. If that's not a concern for you family why not.