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I'm moving ever closer to having restriction. I never have reflux when I lay down for the night (or ever) and have never (knock on wood) had a PB or frothing. I have noticed that if I eat a meal (and not overeating); having measured out the protein and had small amount of veggies, that if I go swimming soon after it seems like the food it repeating. Is it because I'm flat on my stomach and moving around? I swim pretty rigourously for fat chick.

We all have triggers and foods that call to us. Today my family would be called working class poor but when I was a kid we were just poor. Throwing away perfectly good food was a sin. If I buy something, I end up not liking if it will keep until I see my mother I don't throw it away. There are things since being banded that I have thrown away because I was out of control like honeynut crunchy Peter Pan Peanut Butter. If it's in the trash I won't take it out. I am going to chastise you for the Combo's purchase. Did you eat them right away or save them for a later time? If you were in the store and just could not go a minute longer with out eating; than choose a lesser evil. Even many convenience stores have apples and banannas. Or crackers (a personal demon) that would not have had the fat value. For Christmas my sister and niece made home made chocolate bars. I had a piece of one at her house. The two they gave me in my stocking I sent to my mothers for a party we're having next week. I figure counting her's we'll have four bars (larger than Snickers) that we can cut up. One thing I've discovered is that I need to plan for hunger incidents away from home. Premier RTD chocolate Protein shakes are good for that; 11 oz 160 cal, 30 g protein. I very much believe in the rule that if you eat correctly 80-90% of the time then you can have the occational treat. There are things however that I can't keep in my house because I just can't stop at a couple bites (Ever notice we don't tell an alcoholic to just have one beer. We know they can't do that.) Sorry to be long winded but you need to either throw everything away tonight or plan that it is going to work with someone tomorrow so it is'nt around.

I have had Wendy's Chili in a pinch and it's pretty good. I never would have thogh to put sour cream on which I guess is a good thing! Also most fast food places have grilled Chicken options which if you took the bread off (though personally I have not trouble eating bread) would also be a good option. Many places have a $1 side salad which with low cal dressing should be okay too. One of my weekend favorites is Grilled Chicken at KFC. I take the skin off and have corn on the cob and mash/no gravy as the sides. I pull the biscuit apart and only eat the crunchy outside. I think KFC is actually more band friendly than Boston Chicken becuase the chicken portion is only 3 oz; BC is twice the size.

FYI the Premier Brand RTD Chocolate protein shake (Costco but you can buy it online) is only 160 cal for 30 g off protein. My Nut. approved for pre work out snack since I often have large gaps between lunch and dinner with gym in between.

FYI the Premier Brand RTD Chocolate protein shake (Costco but you can buy it online) is only 160 cal for 30 g off protein. My Nut. approved for pre work out snack since I often have large gaps between lunch and dinner with gym in between.

Hello. I use Dymatize Nutritian Gourmet Vanilla (buy at Vitamin Shoppe) 1/2 a scoop in my greek yoghurt that I have for breakfast. That bumps my protein for breakfast to about 25 g. My personal favorite is Chobani fat free with fruit. Since fat free greek yoghurt is pretty sour I add splendra (as well as flavorless benefiber). I also add about 10 grams (measure with protein scoop of Kashi Go Lean for some Crunch (I use the high protein version).

Oh Nate I feel your frustration. I am now 4 months out and just now am getting restriction. I have a 11 CC band and am now have 9.4 in the band. Knock on wood I think I am starting to hit the green zone. I do an hour of cardio a day and would say I eat diet friendly foods 90% of the time; and when I do eat treats I try to do the least damage. My doctor's program had a 3 group sessions on eating moderated by a Psychologist. It really helped to discuss my food issues and to hear others discuss there's. One thing I was really guilty of was really swallowing without tasting. The second the fork left my mouth I already was getting the next bite. I did'nt savor anything. As for your gf's baking I get it. I think you need to have a heart to heart with her and say that you can try her baked goods maybe once a week maybe more like once a month. Having done that you have laid the ground work to say you can have half a scone. I am a baker so I know she probably likes to make things and until now you've been a great customer. If you look at your daily calorie budget (My nutrionist says 1,000 a day); then each meal is 333 cal. One scone esp with butter would equal one meal. While I am a fan of fun in moderation it's hard to get you protein an other nutrition on the remailing 700 cal.

I had a eval with a Nurse, Nutritionist, and a Psychologist before meeting with the surgeon. The nurse said I needed to loose 30-34 pounds prior to surgery. While I did loose that weight prior to surgery; when I met the surgeon and he felt my abdomen and said he could do the surgery even though I had only lost 20 pounds at that point. FYI some doctors do a percentage of your body weight so one person could need to loose 30 pounds while another only 20. I really recommend watching a surgery on YouTube (a real one not the cartoons). There is no blood so it's not gross. A big reason for loosing weigh/the presurgery liquid diet is to shrink the liver. In the surgery video they fold the liver over on itself; so you can see if the liver was not pliable there would be a problem. I had to attend 3 group sessions on eating habits; which was really helpful. The big thing to remember is that at least half of the battle is mental with the band. I needed to address some of my food issues which include crackers, Cookies, sweet childrens Cereal. One thing that was big for me was feeling like I was trying and loosing weight but loosing it for good. That after I had the band I would have help keeping it off. My doctor said since band patients loose on average up to 60% of their excess weight; the more you loose before surgery the lower your goal weight could be. Requirements depend on your doctor/insurance. Because I was recovering from a mini stroke I had to get approval from my neurologist, hemotologist, have blood work, heart ultrasound, meetings with Nurtitionist, 3 group therapy sessions on eating, appointments with the nurse and surgeon; classes on post surgery eating, presurgery meeting with Anesthesiologist.

I had 3 impacted wisdom teeth; what a nightmare! Anyway, you could be bloated from the perscription pills. Are the cough drops suger free? I know I was on liquids the week following my wisdom teeth removal. Are your food choices low cal and low fat? Looking back I wish I had known about protein shakes when I had my teeth removed.

I find the higher the resistance the more tingling I feel in my feet when using the elliptical. Also I am right handed and must push harder with my right foot becuase it hurts more than my left foot. Additionally it is weight bearing and the more weight I lose the less my feet tingle. You could consider lowering the resistance but exercising for longer.

Off topic, yes going to the gym is addictive! Yesterday was a #$%$#%# dealing with the snow storm and doing snow removal; but it was'nt my daily swim. Normally at night I am tired and fall asleep so nicely. Last night was okay but I did'nt have that "good tired" feeling.

Cook egg whites in a frying pan and at the very end add in say 1/8 cup fat free chive cottage cheese. Soooooo yummy after 2 weeks of liquids.

Your biggest concern may actually be your doctor. I had to loose at least 30 pounds from the time of my first consult to the surgery. You may want to consider doing a liquid diet between now and your next weigh in. Whey Isolate is what most doctors recommend. Gold Standard Brand (Whey Isolate Powder) from Vitamin Shoppe is pretty good 120 cal, 24 g protein, appr. 2 g fat, and low carb. Run a search for add ins that make the shakes taste better ie suger/fat free pudding powder, etc. I made mine with Over The Moon Fat Free Milk so total about 210 cal's per shake (which also ups the protein). Also exercise daily whatever you feel comfortable doing (walking, swimming).

Also if you are really desparate you could check convenience stores for Ready to Drink Protein shakes. Yes they would be liquid instead of mushie. You might want to keep pouch of tuna/chicken in your desk in case of emergency in the future. Also you could keep a Ready To Drink Protein shake in your desk for last resort. For the grocery store Greek Yoghurt is good because it is high in protein.

A little smaller but not much and that's after about 110 pounds lost.

That's great. In the two + years that I've loast 110 pounds (82 preband) my blood pressure went from 160/90 to 112/72.

khath0620, I think it is a good idea to drop the alcohol. Remember it is a lot of calories for nothing more than a buz. I don't drink so this is easy for me to say; but I would rather eat a good cookie than have drink (yes I know alcohol does'nt have any fat!). Will you be bringing food to these parties? If so you might consider bringing shrimp coctail (expensive I know, and some bansters have trouble with shrimp); becuase they would be a good high protein, low fat option for you to eat.

With the snow yesterday I did'nt get to the gym. Two hours of pushing the snow blower is exercise right?

This is how I handled Christmas. Admittedly I work from home so I only keep appropriate foods in my house, and don't have to deal with food in the worksplace. At my family's Christmas I let myself eat a little of things that I only get at Christmas. For example my mother makes old school homemade Chex Mix. She only makes it at Christmas and I she did'nt make any for me to take home. So I ate some at the party and that was it. Someone on here commented that it's a holiday not a holiweek. I think that is a good mentality. Denying yourself all treats is bad for you emotionaly and sets you up for failure. The important part is seeing them as treats and that you can only have them at special times.

If your fill was on 12/15 you should easily be able to eat solids. My doctor has me back on solids on the 3rd day. It sounds to me like you are too tight. Pudding is a mushie so it should definatly be going down. If pudding wont go down than chicken is definatly not going to work.

JAMILLAH E, Yes I was in the bathroom all night in the hospital. The second night when I was home I also was in the bathroom. I did notice however that when I weighed myself day three I was the same weight as the day of surgery. Some people say they gain 10 pounds and it takes a week to flush out the fluid. So hopefully you are getting rid of it now.

Extraonme, I think the issue is that the pouch is pretty small. A regular stomach is a much bigger area thus has more volume to accept the bubbles of the carbination.

Prior to surgery I was doing an hour a day of lap swimming. Four days after surgery I went to the gym and progressively lengthened the time and increased the incline on the treadmill. While I prefer the eliptical I find it to be more intense; and you have to pull yourself up to get on the machine. I think that could be hard on your abs which post surgery will be hurting. I would do the treadmill (most gyms have tv's to keep you entertained) for the first couple weeks before trying something more agressive.

My doctor says it can take two weeks before the fill has "settled". So you might have more restriction and then is subsides or it hits after a couple weeks. It could be that now that everything has settled you are a little to tight. I would speak to the doctor's office.

I drink my coffee black with Splendra. Yes fake suger is bad but Splendra is supposedly less bad. Years ago I gave up cream in my coffee. As long as it has sweetner I can give up the cream. Also you can try flavored coffee which you might be able to handle black no sweetener.