honk

I think you need to see another surgeon.

The key is as you mentioned staying on a super restrictive diet forever. It sounds like you have lost weight only to regain it. I had to wait 7.5 months from my first meeting at the surgeon's to having surgery. I hate waiting! But at least I knew that the 50 pounds I lost were going to be forever. Some people need open heart surgery, hip replacements, or insulin pumps. We need a stop button for our stomachs. I was born without one.

I am 26 weeks post op and averaged am doing 1.3 pounds a week. Since my last fill 3 weeks go where I either hit or approached restriction I've lost 8.5 pounds which is 2.8 pounds per week. I tend to be one of the those plateau for 2 weeks and then lose 2 pounds.

mollyw30, I agree that each day is a new day. Dont waste energy on the past. I do not agree that if you can eat it you should. Some people do gain weight after going back to mushies/solids. If you measure your food and get some exercise you will hopefully either plateau or perhaps loose between now and your first fill. I would recommend removing candy from your house. I also don't keep crackers around. Once you are on solids eat hummaus with veggies which are a much better carb.

Does the band do the dieting for me? The band does not diet for you. As you do research on this site you’ll see people referring to their band not letting them eat things. What they really mean is that some foods are not passing from the small stomach above the band to the rest of the stomach below. I believe myself to be at or near restriction (meaning I can go about 4.5 hours before feeling hungry). I can eat any food I want. Some people get a full sensation from their 3 oz of Protein and cup of veggies. I have more of a “I’m no longer hungry so I’ll stop eating”. A few minutes later I do get more of a full sensation. The band once you are at restriction (which took me 6 months of fills, though some people get there faster) will help you eat less. Thin people eat things like pizza, nachos, chicken fingers, and ice cream; they just eat much less than we do. Personally during the weight loss phase I avoid these types of food because they are high in calories and fat. Before you are at restriction this will be about will power the band won’t be helping. I think denying yourself yummy foods for ever is setting yourself up for failure. Is it okay to have mostly healthy stuff at a birthday party but have the cake? Sure Just be judicious in your food choices. And all I have to do is exercise? There are those on this site that do not exercise. I would say most bandsters do some form of exercise. You mentioned wanting to optimize your weight loss I would say the way to do that is to find something you don’t mind doing and put it on your schedule. Am I a bit of an extremist and plan to go 7 days a week; while sometimes only making it 6. Probably. I am a slow looser even after being very conservative with my food choices. Where would I be if I didn’t exercise? Or is there rules I need to follow daily? Do I count calories? If so how many do I do a day? I really hope your doctor is going to give you a food plan guideline. My doctor does not believe in counting calories. The nutritionist says if I am going to count to stay around 1200. I am to have 3 oz of protein per meal plus veggies. They’ve never said how many. Some people say ½-1 Cup. I highly recommend buying a digital food scale that you can zero out the weight of the plate then add the protein. You can buy them a walmart or target. Do I need to join a weightloss program? Some people do I have not. Do I get a lot of protein? How much? 3 oz per meal. 60-90 g per day. My nutritionist said I could add a low cal Protein shake if I needed to add protein (Premier chocolate ready to drink at costco 160 cal 30 g protein. I'm trying to get all the homework done so when I come out of the surgery I'll know exactly what I need to do. Do as much research as you need. I am a huge researcher. I want to know everything so I can prepare. There are some very good live surgeries on YouTube. Not at all gross there is no blood (since they use a cauterizing tool it singes the blood vessels). It shows you why it’s important to shrink the liver. They flip it out of the way. And you see how they attached the band, by sewing one part of the stomach to another. This is why you need to stay on the post op diet. Your stomach has stitches! You don’t want it moving around for a couple weeks.

ThisMumRocks, Hi. I also have a knee problem. I highly recommend lap swimming. I use a Water proof mp3 player that I bought on Amazon. Makes a world of difference. In the sixteen months prior to the Lap Band Seminar I lost 30 pounds. From 1/10 to today (sugery 8/13/10) I have lost 86 pounds. This weather in NE is killing my knee. Between the bitter cold and doing 3 hours a snow removal mulitple times a week; I am not a happy camper.

I agree with Reverie. A lot of posters talk about not being able to eat certain foods. I wonder if they are in reality to tight. I would say I am very close to restriction if not in my sweet spot. I can eat any food I want. I just choose not to. You want to know how I control gravings? On the occational weekend after an hour work out and a small healthy lunch out I go to costco and see what they are giving away. I am 95% full and can reject foods that don't interest me and have 2-3 things that do. Stuff I can't keep in my house like crackers. And the other thing is they don't give you very much. I am not going to feel guilty about half a cookie every other week. I was not on a pre surgery liquid diet because I was loosing weight on my own program. I did move to 2 Protein shakes a day with a small healhy lunch. The day before surgery my mother and I went to Not Your Average Joes and SPLIT a lunch. I feared from everyones postings I would never be able to eat bread again (and they have a great onion bread with spicy parmician cheese and olive oil dipping sauce). Guess what I can still eat it.

Have you been overweight your whole life? Have you lost weight before only to regain it? I have. Three times age 12, 17, 30 I lost well over 100 lb and gained it all back and more. They need to get the message that you are more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than having this surgery. If you needed to have gall bladder surgery or or suffer crippling pain(trust me I know); would they tell you to live with it? If you needed a pace maker would they tell you to think yourself well? Probably not. I started exercising and working on my eating habits because I had horrible knee pain. I lost 30 pounds. That did no however stop me from having a stroke at 39. The way I see it I dodged a bullet. Four months later I went to a seminar. Due to the blood clot I ended up having to wait 7.5 months to have the surgery. I did'nt do any of the last supper stuff I went on a strict diet and lost 50 pounds. One of my sisters ask me if I felt I should have the surgery since I had lost so much weight. I reminder her that I am an excellent dieter but that I can't sustain it forever (my idea of dieting is complete denial of all things fun and tasty).

Costco has carried Premier Chocolate for a while and I think it's pretty good. They recently started carrying vanilla. They were sampling it the other day and it was good as well.

I second finding liquid Tylenol or store brand. Take it every four hours on schedule don't wait for the pain to get worse. I took it on a schdule for the first week. I do NOT recommend moving ahead on your doctors diet schedule. It can damage your stomach/band. I would recommend spacing out your food. So have broth (add "Italian Spice" etc) and then wait an hour or so before having your protein shake (are you allowed shakes, most doctors do). I can't tell you how happy I was to move from clear liquids to full liquids!

I started using the treadmill at the gym (slow and no incline) four days post op gradually increased the time. At 2 weeks I returned to lap swimming. Freestyle stroke, nothing that would pull the abdominal muscles. Highly recommend swimming; great for the overweight because it is easier on the joints. I use a water proof MP3 player which I LOVE. Makes the time go back so much faster. NSV, I recently moved to a regular swim suit from the kind with the "fat lady skirt". But don't worry I still a fat lady!

I am at 10 CC's. Depending on how solid the protein is I can go about 4.5 hours before I am hungry. When you eat do you get either a full sensation and stop or feel full after a few minutes? If so how long before you feel hungry? After you measure the food, eat, finish are you still hungry? Or do you get hungry after only a hour or two? If you are hungry immediatly after eating I would say you need a fill even if you are loosing. If you are getting hungry after only a couple hours I don't know if my doctor would give you a fill since you are loosing almost 3 pounds a week.

I actually think you need to switch your calorie budget around. If you are having 1 cup of milk with your two cups of coffe that's 100 cal. right there. Your Protein shake depending on the powder could be about 400 calories (powder 250, milk 50, yoghurt. As for lunch two slices of cheese is about 200 cal and 16 g of fat. I would eat more chicken (3 oz) add veggies and skip the blue cheese dipping sauce. I really like laughing cow cheese only 35 cal maybe 5 g fat. Personally I don't keep dessert in my house. You mentioned not having it every day; but does that mean 1 day a week or 6? I would leave dessert for special occations or parties. I used to make No Pudge brownies but would eat the dough raw. My problem was I would make 2-3 servings worth one after the other so even though it was a healthier dessert it was more than I should be eating.

<br /><br /><br /> I agree with Heather, there are times that I respond with a reality check. Normally this is in regards to people expressing behaviors that are likely to cause them physical harm. Some examples: I ate a Big Mac two days after surgery (not making that up), It's been 3 days since surgery and I'm starving so I ate nachos and chicken wings now I'm sick!. Not long ago there were several discussions about drinking alcohol after banding. Personaly I find that to be counter productive to dieting. I have never been a drinker so my responses were regarding calorie content. Some posters however made it into a morality discussion.

As to the port. Mine is realllyyyy deep and the nurse has to really look for it. Even at goal I don't think it will stick out. I think that's why the doctor puts it so deep. I am a stomach sleeper. It will be hard to sleep on your stomach the first week or so but not a problem long term. A lot of people talk on her about he "Band stopping them from eating bad foods". That's really not true. The band is'nt a mind reader. I can eat any food. Until restriction I had to measure and only eat that amount and stop. Even being at/near restriction I still have to measure and don't get a full sensation until I stop eating. We are not overweight because we ate small portions of healthy food. I ate realatively healthy food but I ate way to much of it and did a lot of snacking. I would absolutely do surgery again. I was very scared about the surgery but for me it really was not bad. I was a bit freaked out by the people posting how horrible their pain was. I had pain in the port area certainly but I was back at the gym on day four.

I'm not sure what the eat with in an hour is about. Also I am near restriction and I have my premeal drink less than 15 minutes before I eat. Water after all is going to go right threw the band. Admittedly I work from home and dont' work out in the morning so my schdule is not as set as yours. I get up have my chewable vitamins and fiber, have my coffee, and couple minutes later have breakfast (greek yoghurt).

Sounds similar really to the way Bickfords (East Coast version of IHOP) makes their omlets. I rather have my veggies cooked inside the eggs rather than have them layed in the middle and the egg folded over.

Depending on your preop diet your body is going to be starving post surgery once it starts to feel better. Like the couple days after you've had the flu and you feel like you can eat a horse. The fact is yes this is a life style change and we need to develop a new relationship with food. This does'nt come overnight. Did you surgeon require any eating therapy sessions? I had to attend three group sessions where we discussed emotional eating, and food triggers. This will also be a diet until you have restriction. Yes the dreaded four letter word. If you haven't already done so review your food consumption preband. For now cut our things like fried foods, pizza, keeping dessert in the house. For me it was anything that went crunch: Breakfast Cereal (huge for me), crackers, baked lays (yes they are lower in fat but if you eat 5 servings at a time that's bad). I'm not saying you can never have fun food again it just needs to be a treat (birthday parties etc); not a every day or even every week event.

I am hungry after work outs but I also go to the gym before breakfast or dinner. Try drinking a large glass of water/crystal light/vitamin water zero. First it may constrict the band; second it will fill up the large stomach. That usually helps me.

I lap swim hour for an hour daily. Except for the days that I spend 2 + hours doing snow removal. Will it ever be Spring!!! I have greek yoghurt for breakfast with half scoop vanilla protein powder. For lunch and dinner measure 3 oz protein.

I live alone and my kitchen table is full of mail etc. I eat on the couch but I also measure out my food and that's it. No seconds.

How many calories are in your Protein? They can range from 120 to 250! 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter has about 200 calories. So depending on the protein your snack could be around 500 calories. I would recommend buying PB2 online. They defat the peanuts then grind them up; the powder is sig. less in calories and fat. My Nut recommened pickles as a snack because they are low in cal. but if you are trying to stay away from salt I would give them a pass. I know a lot of bandsters have oatmeal for Breakfast. And while on occation I will make some myself I think you should try to find a higher protein breakfast and eliminate your Protein shake snack. I really like greek yoghurt with half a scoop vanilla Protein Powder, and a protein scoop of kashi. Ends up being about 220 cal with 26 g protein.

Also run a search on this site and using google for recipes for shakes. But be careful to follow your doctors rules. People who are post op could be adding fruit or Peanut Butter and you probably shouldn't. <br /><br />I highly recommend the Hamilton Beach personal blender. The food container is a travel mug so only one thing to wash. I also make milk cubes which gives the shake a frosty texture. Also Fat/Suger free pudding powder and Davinchi Suger free syrups add a lot. Oh and add splenra it makes them taste so much better.

I second that Premier ready to drink are quiete good and are low cal high protein. For Whey isolate I like Dymatize elite Vanilla, and Gold Standard Double Chocolate. I find Vitamin Shoppe to have better prices than GNC. I joined a free customer club and got a 20% your entire order coupon at the end of the year. I stock up on Vanilla because now that I am on solids I half a scoop to my greek yoghurt at breakfast. I would go to a Vitamin/health food store and try to get a worker who knows Protein. My doctor calls for Whey Isolate. There are different kinds of Whey so you need to specify Isolate. It will be more expensive but it's better for your body. Ask them what flavors people like. Ask what about their return policy. Specialy stores will normally let you return someting for store credit if you find you hate it. I bought protein online (bariactric advantage I think) becuase people swore by it. I did'nt like it at all. Gave it to my mother.

I really like Pacific Brand Sweet Red Pepper/Tomato (sometimes found in the organic isle, comes in a box); and Progresso Tomato Basil (Tried the the regualar tomato and did'nt like it). I also added Mrs Dash No Salt Chicken flavor spice to the soups before heating. The spices reconstitute and add alot of flavor.