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How many calories are you eating daily? You may need to either drop or add some calories to shake your body up a bit. Are you weighing your Protein? If not I would start. My doctor says 3 oz. Eat only that 3 oz of protein and then low fat/cal veggies until full. Are you exercising? I know it sounds harsh but I do at least an hour a day 7 days a week. You may need to shake up your exercise routine. Do different exercises or mix up your routine so you don't do the same exercise everyday.

Preop and during healing phase I used my $15 Hamilton Beach blender. Single serving size with travel mug. Yes $15 at Walmart and Target GREAT on ice cubes which is shocking for the price. Digital food scale is a MUST. You can and will underestimate how much protein you are eating with out it. Again you can get a cheap one does'nt need to be something from Bed Bath and Beyond or anything. Does your dish set have sandwich sized plates? If so start using one to eat off of; it will be half the size of your usual plates.

Are you weighing yor Protein? If not I recommend getting a digital food scale (walmart, target); and measuring out 3 or 4 oz. Eat that first and then low fat/cal veggies until full. If you are not measuring you WILL eat too much protein. It took me 6 months of fills to get restriction (10.6 cc's). I am a slow loser even though I exercise 7 days a week (minumum 60 minutes) and eat very conservatively.

I am at restriction and have chicken twice a day!! White meat at that. Some people also keep their bands WAY TO TIGHT which causes more stuck episodes.

I can eat bread except for cheap white bread to clumpy. Bread and peanut butter are not a good food choice. Lots of carbs and fat.

I'm at restriction and can eat bananas but I don't particually like them.

I think a lot of us don't go to the gym because1) we have A LOT of bad memories of gym class, 2) we are embarrassed to be seen working out. My answer is I don't do any classes that are on land; where it is easier for a large group of people to watch me (though I do use cardio machines). I do Water aerobics where most of your body is covered by water. My opinion is people can't complain that I'm fat AND complain I look bad exercising. One or the other but not both. I have a piece of advice. I used to be petrified to join a gym becuase my experience with them was that I had to be weighed by a trainer before my "free " learn how to use the machine sessions. I was mortified because I did'nt want some hot guy knowing how much I weighted. My answer to this is get a letter from your doctor saying you are healty enough to exercise. If they want to weigh you give them the letter and say you prefer not to be weighed. They do work for you not the other way around.

I am at restriction, no problem with chicken breast.

My doctor wants me to weigh my protein others are told to eat by volume. I highly recommend a digital food scale. I am at restriction but still weigh out my protein. You are guarenteed to underestimate the weight of the meat.

Solids at week 5.

My first concern is you can't eat solid Protein. My doctor would say you are still to tight. And the fact that you vomit. Knock on wood I have never vomitted in almost 2 years. I wonder if you are eating sliders more than you realise and sliders tend to have higher calorie counts. Because they slid you eat more of them because you are'nt feeling full and your calorie count is higher than you realize. Are you weighing all your protein? It should be 3 oz solid or mushie.

7 days broth/stock and Protein shakes; 7 days smooth Soup like tomato and protein shakes; 7 days smooth soup and cottage/ricotta cheese, 7 days smooth soup and canned chicken or tuna, egg whites; finally to solids. My doctor did not approve mashed potato I'm guessing because of the carbs. If you were going to have mashed make it sweet potato as it's nutrition is better.

1. How long have you been banded? Since 8/11/2010 2. How much weight did want to lose? 127 Pounds 3. How much weight have you lost? 69. Please see Below. 4. How happy are you that you have been banded: scale of 1-10 (1 being regretful, 10 being elated) 9 At First Consult I was 332 lb. I had already lost about 50 pounds through diet and exercise. Day of surgery I was 282. So I had already lost 100 pounds. I had no Water weight to loose at this point. Everything I had to loose was fat. Many bandsters the first 10 pounds is water weight (which is true for anyone loosing weight. I have another 60 to go. My experience is I would loose a lot of weight. Start to feel good about my self and then allow treats and rewards. I work out all the time I can start to have a candy bar every day. Then. I work out everyday I just don't feel like it today. Which turns into 2-3 days and eventually I stop going. The band helps me stay on path. I may have a family party and have one meal that day that was pretty unhealthy and ate more than I should have. The band however helps me still only eat a relatively small amount of food. And I may not be hungry for dinner that night anyway. Ever notice if you eat badly yesterday, today you say what's the point of eating healty today? I ate horrible yesterday? The band stops me from overeating today. I have been seriously working on my eating habits now since 1/1/2010. I don't know if ever in my life I have maintained healthy eating habits for that long. The band isn't meant to be a "diet". As in something of limited duration. It's meant to be a new lifestyle/relationship with food which I hope is permanent for me.

You can do Protein shakes with low carbs. My Protein Powder is 2 g carbs which you could mix with Water (some doctors require that). I made mine with fat free milk which would add carbs but also protein. Premier brand ready to drink shakes are 160 cals, 30 g Protein, 5 carbs. Many bandsters use this brand available at costco and Sams (Costco currently has a $5 off coupon). As mentioned look at the carbs. Some ready to drink shakes have lots of carbs and thus lots of cals. For example Muscle Milk light is lower in cals Regular Muscle Milk has huge cals. Slimfast (even their high protein version) don't have enough protein for bariactric patients. Look for no less than 20 g in Protein Shakes and no more than 200 cals in premades. I like Vitamin Shoppe because I feel their clerks understand their products. I know it's really embarrasing but you might want to go in look for a female worker and say "I'm having weight loss surgery. I need a low fat/cal/carb Whey isolate protein powder. What do you suggest." They can tell you what brands have Isolate (not all do) and what flavors people like. If you buy a container and don't like it; you can exchange it for something else. My brands are Gold Standard, 100% Whey Double chocolate, Dymatize Nutrition Elite Gourmet vanilla. I live alone and find Costco worth the membership price. For post op I bought Pacific Brand smooth Soups there for great price. Get my Premier Protein shakes, great prices on blackberries, Walnuts (for my morning yogurt), cherries, mini bell peppers, and great pharmacy prices.

Nice twist for protein shakes. Freeze fat free milk (if your allowed it) into milk cubes). When mixing your shakes in the blender add 2/3 cup milk and 2 milk cubes; and some regular ice cubes. When you blenn everything together it makes a nice shake/frappe. I'm almost tempted to make one this weekend since I had an ice cream craving yesterday. (I'm almost 2 yrs post op).

My doctor says if you can't eat 3 oz solid protein you are too tight.

If you have a Costco Membership they have a Kirkland brand zero calorie drink which is half the price.

Once you are on solids romaine lettuce leaves are great for making sandwhiches. Saves on carbs.

I realize this food list come from your doctor but some of the things seem odd to me. Pita, crackers, cheese, canned peaches seem like solids to me. I mixed canned chicken and tuna with low fat laughing cow cheese which is soft spreadable cheese. If you were to add half a scoop vanilla Protein powder to greek yogurt it makes a pretty thick texture which would be a good mushie food (once on solids you can add high protein kashi go lean and walnuts). I also add splendra since greek yogurt is pretty sour. Chobani is my favorite.

AlleyKat managers who don't understand boundries? Say it ain't so!

Had surgery late Thursday, so Friday, Sat, Sun, M-F, Sat, Sun. Back to work Monday to desk job where I worked from home. I work In HR and think you should be up front with them that you are having a medical procedure (you don't have to tell them what). That while you don't want to take excessive time off you also don't want to come back to soon and end up not being as effective as you want to be. I would recommend 5 business days.

Try to remove all fat from your diet. Not sure why but the gall bladder deals with digesting fat. When you eat fat the gall bladder goes NUTS and that is what causes the pains.

I also take Vitafusion fiber gummies.

Brandi, please understand you will be able to eat your favorite foods again. Though if those favorate foods are fried chicken I would say to give them up. The 4 weeks after surgery are sucky but you will eat solids again. I promise. My doctor wants me to be able to eat a wide variety of foods just not to eat huge portions anymore.

You can do it!!! My doctor didn't have a preop diet so I picked my own. For most of the month preop I did a Protein shake for Breakfast and dinner and a low fat/cal protein based lunch. Regarding protein powder: look for whey Isolate (better type of protein that my doctor prefers. Little more expensive but worth it) look for less than 120 cals for about 24 g of protein, less than 5 g of carbs and no more than 3 g of fat. I made mine with fat free milk (another 90 cals but about 8 g potein). I made milk cubes which when making the shake in a blender gives a nice icy texture like a milkshake (or what we would call in NE a frappe). You can also add sugar/fat free pudding powder, as well as sugar free coffee syrups to change up the flavors. I did add frozen fruit but you could leave that out if you want to save the 50 cals (and carbs). Hamilton Beach makes a great single serving blender which mixes in a travel mug. Super convenient and $15 at walmart and target. If you need a snack choose something protein based like grilled chicken breast strips or low fat cheese sticks. I highly recommend Water based exercise. If I can walk out in front of the high school swim team at 365 pounds anyone can go swimming! Water proof MP3 player is fabulous (available on Amazon).