kstartaylor

I can eat pretty much anything. I do avoid plain rice - got stuck really bad with that. I do eat the rice that comes with Q-Doba in a naked burrito. I do eat bread but not very much or often. If we go to a sandwich shop I will eat a little of the whole sandwich but then end up pulling out the meat and cheese. We also have a mexican restaurant that we go to every week. I get the carnitas burrito and pretty much just eat the carnitas inside. I really try to eat the protein first in my meals and then if I still have room I will eat a little of everything else. My family was amazed by my thanksgiving and christmas plates. Compared to all of them, I looked like a bird. Also it takes me a lot longer to eat my meal. For breakfast I have yogurt and granola or Kashi go lean cereal (only after a cup of coffee to loosen things up). For lunch, I usually go out but always have left overs. Dinner is just whatever the family is eating. Tonight was pizza - had one slice. I used to be able to eat 4. Sometimes in the afternoon I have a couple pieces of cheese with crackers.

A little story here. Last week I went in to my Dr and got a fill. I had been at 4.5cc since May and had been losing at about 1.5 lbs a week. Since the end of October I had not lost anything. I thought that maybe with the holidays I was eating too much. So I made an appt to get a fill, thinking that would help with the holidays and get me losing again. I had 1cc added on Friday. Well I spent the next 3 days throwing up. I couldn't keep Water or anything down. I was up all night, having to get out of bed every hour or 2 to vomit. It was the most miserable hell ever . Fortunately my Dr had given me his Cell phone and i was able to call him on Sunday and get in to see him. He took the fill out and I had almost immediate relief. I still had to be careful for a day or two with food since I had a lot of swelling for all the throwing up. Morale of the story is be happy you are losing, being too tight is horrible. I think our bodies go thru periods of plateau's, it's natural. I had gone a week or two in the past with out losing and then would drop 3-4 lbs. With the holiday's, I know I am drinking more so that may be why I didn't lost for a while or maybe it really was just a plateau. I have lost 5 lbs since the episode but it definately was not worth it. My Dr does think I may be at the max for fills, which is strange to me since I only have 4.5 cc in a 10 cc band. We may try another .5cc fill in January or February, but to be honest after what I went thru last weekend, I'm not sure I want to.

I have been on Antidepressants for years. I have tried zoloft, prozac, wellbutrin, effexor and now Pristiq. Some of these caused weight gain, well probably most of them. The Effexor was probably the worst. I had other side effects from Effexor. Since being on Pristiq, which I know is just an updated version of effexor, a lot of the symtoms have gone away. So they must have somehow improved on the drug. The pills are small enough that there is no problem getting it down. I am on a fairly low dose, the lowest I've been on in years.

Being Able to cross my legs is what I love!!!:smile2:

I think this is why the lap band is so helpful. I have the same problem where I won't lose for several weeks and then all of a sudden I will drop a couple of pounds and then nothing again for a couple of weeks. In the past I would have given up on the diet and quit. The lap band makes us control our eating.

I was also banded on March 1st and have lost 22 lbs. So 40 lbs is great!!! Wish I could say that. I have gotten 2 fills and have 4.5 cc's in my 10 cc band. The last file gave me pretty good restriction because things started getting stuck and I had to be much more careful how and what I eat. I kinda feel like I need a little more fill but not much. My body is weird, I will drop 4-5 lbs in a week and then nothing for a couple of weeks. Very frustrating. I'm just happy that I am losing, it may be slow but its going in the right direction. :scared2:

I would like to say 20# but that's probably not likely since I am going to the Highpoint Furnitire market Apr 14-21st and will probably drink there. So I'll aim for 10#'s.:thumbup:

Wow you guys are so strict on your eating. If I had that kind of will power I would never have gotten the band. I basically eat what the family eats only way less. Last night my DH made Bisquits and Gravy (the kids love this). Instead of having 2 whole bisquits with gravy I only had 1. Before the surgery I always finished my plate and sometimes had seconds. Now I take a lot less (probably a cup worth) and sometimes don't finish that. If we eat out I get a doggy bag or try to split a meal with someone. My whole goal with the band was to control my portions. I'm not a snacker nor do I have a sweet tooth. So my problem really was just the portions.

I also had my first fill a week ago today. I have not noticed any difference. I haven't really timed how soon I get hungry but boy when I am hungry my stomach is growling and grumbling more then I ever remember. :tt1:

I woke up this morning and my stomach no longer looked like I am 6 months pregnant... I feel so much better today, like I've turned a corner...

I am getting hungry but I'm able to control it so far. When I do eat, I am still getting full on much less. I have been snacking some but trying to eat lower cal snacks like a yogurt or a suger free jello.

I was actually given Crystal Light in the hostipal after my surgery by the nurses.

I also had my surgery on March 1st. My throut was sore for 3-4 days and the roof of my mouth was itchy, kinda like you get when you have allergies. As of now it is feeling better.

I was banded on March 1 2010 in Lone Tree Colorado (subburb of Denver) by Dr. Frank Chae. The whole process was very smooth. They took some blood for some last minute tests. Then the Dr., Anestesiologist, Nurses and Dr. Assistant filed thru one by one for the next 30 min. I was then taken into Surgery. It took about an hour for the sugery. Eventually I was transferred to a regular room in the hospital and given lots of Ice ships and some Jello. My throut hurt quite a bit and did for several days. I did have some shoulder pain from the gas. My insisions were quite painful but the morphine helped. They kept me on an Liquid IV and Antibiotic's most of the day and night. I did have the option to go home but decided to stay the night. My DH stayed with me all night. :thumbup: The next morning I got breakfast (broth, decaf coffee, and jello). The nurses kept measuring my urine output which was quite high since I had been on the IV all night. I had to go to the bathroom a lot. I have been home a week now. The first couple of days the insisions were very painful - it hut to move pretty much. I did have perscription painkillers which I used the first 36 hours but wanted to ween off of them as soon as possible. The gassiness is still bothering me and I feel like my stomach is still extended from the gas. :thumbup: I'm looking forward to feeling 100% so I can get on with my life.

Hi Everyone - I am new to this forum. I have met with Dr Chae once on Oct 1st 2009. It took me ahwile to get the money and courage to attend Kelly's nutrition class but I finelly did that on Nov 22nd. After that I tried several times to reach Susie both by e-mail and the phone. I finelly called Kelly and she told me my next step was the Physc evaluation and gave me Dr Kaplan's number. Got that done on Dec 22nd. Now I'm trying to figure out if they have submitted to insurance yet or not. After unsucessfully contacting Susie, I did call Jan (the ins coordinator), she had not recieved my file yet and suggested I call Dr. Chae. Ok - I talked to him on 1/7/2010 (last Thursday). He indicated he would find my file and get things going. However here it is a almost a week later and I still have not heard anything. I have left a couple of messages for Jan. I did talk to Pam and all she said was that Dr. Chae was working on it. Have no idea what that means and neither does anyone else. As I was typing this Jan did call me back just to say she did not have my file to submit to insurance so she will have to check with Dr Chae. I guess, I'm just wondering if I'm nuts to be using Dr Chae for this surgery when his office is so disorganized. I've read a lot of the posts here and it appears that everyone has trouble contacting his office and it has been going on for quite some time. I'm afraid to change surgeons at this time since it may slow it down even more. Thoughts anyone???