2beskinny

I think I am doing the same thing...hesitating as I inch towards onederland. I have definitely engaged is some self,sabotaging eating. Today I weighed 202, even on the first day of my TOM. Now I am gettimg excited. I set a very achievable goal of onederland by halloween. I guess there are no excuses left!

The band diet varies greatly from patient to patient, however, one thing that is fairly consistent is LOW CARB, high protein (and of course low fat). Here's the issue carbs...it is the easiest/fastest macronutrient for our bodies to convert to energy (the sugar from a goooy glazed donut hits our blood stream as fast as drinking a glass of regular coke!) Protein takes the longest for our bodies to break down and convert to energy. Since the body takes it's time with the protein, it turns to our energy stores a little quicker (which means more rapid weight loss). This is a great concept except that our bodies also use our MUSCLE for energy, not just our fat stores. It is so important to keep your "muscle stores" replenished so that we don't lose it all in the name of a lower number on the scale. Also don't forget that more muscle mass = higher metabolism, too. I'm not fooling myself that I'm going to look like Jillian Michaels some day, but I lift weights 2-3x per week and do 40-60 minute cardio sessions (run/elliptical) at least 5x week. Sometimes I do it at 5:30 in the morning or 10:00 at night if that's the only time of day I have. It's another part of the equation that we must solve for ourselves...how bad do you want it? I have not been perfect on my diet...in fact I am kicking my own ass these days about the reasons why this has been the case and I am re-committing to my eating plan. Through all my food plan ups/downs, exercise has kept me from sliding backwards and still (slowly) moving in the right direction despite my numerous slip ups!

I know you originally asked for replies from people who have received rapid fills like you have, I however, have not either! This seems very contrary to the treatment that most of us are receiving...what is your doctor's experience? Have you asked him why he feels it's ok to fill so frequently before solids are introduced? My doctor uses "eating meat" as a gauge to tell if your fill is too tight. If it were me, I would ask the doctor about his treatment options. Maybe he will tell you that there is new research out there saying this is a better way...I hope you can enlighten us! I would certainly ask a lot of questions based on how drastically different his method is.

I doubt that the fast rate will continue for long periods of time, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it for now. Just enjoy it while it lasts :smile:

I was hearing a lot about quinoa, too. Then I looked at the nutrition label...1 cup has 222 calories, 8 grams of protein and 39 carbs. I think it's a better choice that rice or pasta because it does contain some protein (not tons in my book), but don't forget about those carbs if you are going to eat it!

You can definitely lose without exercise, but depending on your age, genetics, etc. it may not be a pretty sight when you are done However, depending on your age, genetics, etc., even with exercise it may not be a pretty sight! My point is, we can't control our genetic code...we can control exercise which will make you look your BEST regardless of genetics. Like the Nike ad says....JUST DO IT! I was fortunate enough to get banded prior to major health concerns setting in like diabetes (my mom is a Type II) and high blood pressure. I noticed that my blood pressure (which has always been on the low side) was creeping up. It never reached a level where medication was necessary, but I knew it was inching in that direction. Also, I have a low resting heart rate and that was also inching up. Now that I am doing regular cardio again...my last BP was 106/68 and my resting heart rate was 52 (I'm back!). Don't discount the positive effect that exercise has on your heart! You don't have to kill yourself...just walk a little faster for 20 minutes...get your heart beating a little faster. As you lose and become more fit...you might actually surprise yourself and want to do more :thumbup: Good luck!:smile:

Last night I had my first "real" salad (ordered at a restaurant) for dinner. It was a huge & yummy southwest steak salad. I only ate about 1/3 of it and took the rest home. However, it went down VERY easily, although I was extremely careful. Today, I had some more and same thing, soooo easy to get down. Do some of you think of Salad as a slider food? I only used about 2 tsp. of dressing so it was not extremely wet either. Even the steak (very tender) was a breeze. Another question...what about Pasta? I made homemade chili and and served it over some pasta for my family. Was only planning on eating the chili, however, I ran 8 miles in the last 24 hours so I thought I could use the carbs. I had about 1/2 cup. Wow - it was nothing to get down. Now I'm wondering if my fill has loosened up again and it's time for another one (I have dropped some more weight) or if I just ate some things that are very easy to get down. What is your experience with salads/pastas (hey, I know pastas are a no-no, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has eaten a little pasta post-band :biggrin:, well maybe not Betsy :crying:, haha!)

Oh yeah, one more thing that might be helpful. My doc specifically says, "I want you to be able to eat meat." That was a gauge he gave me to tell if I was too tight. The issue, you might be fine to eat meat if you wait it out :smile:

If you can get liquids down (meaning liquid protein as well, not just water) you are ok to wait it out a little and see how it settles down IF you have the patience for it. I think you will loosen up, but it might take a couple of weeks! I was definitely too tight (could not get liquids down), had the fill backed off and it felt fine IMMEDIATELY. Now I'm two weeks later and I think I have loosened up a bit more. 2 more weeks till next fill...I'm hoping that's "the one." I can still get stuck pretty easily where I am right now, but I think it has to be pretty tight to be effective, IMO. I can still eat basically what I want as long as I'm careful. Good luck!

Go girl! We are the same age...love to see success stories in our age group. I can't wait to wear size 10 jeans again I actually have ONE pair of 14's that I can wear again...feels awesome! My doc says 60 carbs a day max. It's the thing I struggle with the most...I usually end up around 100, but those are also the days I have 100 grams of Protein to go along with it. He did concede that since I'm exercising so much I might be able to get a away with it. I am losing, so I'm going to try and be happy about it and not feel like I'm "failing" something...that is a dangerous feeling for me :crying:.

My sister has two girls, one was a bit heavy as a child and one was not. One time someone very rudely commented to my sister about the fact that one of her daughters was heavy and one was not. She told them with a very straight face, "We give her all the Ho-Ho's." They are 2 years apart and ate the same diet

Curious about something...when folks talk about PBing, does that happen completely on it's own (i.e., without a finger to gag yourself to get it over with)? What about when people talk about throwing up? Are you talking about a full-on vomit of everything? I can feel the start of feeling a little stuck and stop eating. The feeling is not too painful, and subsides on it's own rather quickly. I think that's the new full signal. Other times, I go a little farther than that feeling and end up with lots of saliva, etc. It's rather unpleasant. I don't sit around and suffer - I go to the bathroom, gag myself and quickly get rid of the offensive feeling (sorry for the gross factor, but I really want to know). For those that wait out the real unpleasant feelings, do you eventually PB on your own? Is what I'm doing harmful? Not very much comes out (mostly saliva) and I get immediate relief. Is that better than waiting it for my body to do the same thing on it's own? BTW, I'm not too tight, just still learning how to eat more carefully :biggrin:.

I miss alchohol, although I have felt empowered a bit since giving it up. My doc says no-no for 4 months post-surgery. I am compliant with one exception. Football parents go out together after high school football games. I have a tradition of doing a shot of tequilia with a certain group of dads after a win. I just couldn't break the tradition and I don't want to call attention to myself as no one knows about my banding. Umm...we are undefeated so far . Well, it's Friday and I'm looking forward to another shot of tequilia...1800 Silver, chilled, is my favorite:drool:. I usually stick to beer and wine, but I will not return to beer. I am a wine snob wannabe, so I plan to start enjoying wine again at Thanksgiving.:biggrin:

Yup...that's exactly what happened to me. I had an endoscopy done because I had a stricture in my esophogus that my surgeon wanted to check out to make sure I was still a good candidate for banding (I knew what being stuck felt like long before banding!) He used a balloon to fix the stricture and everything has been A-OK since then. I asked him if he saw a hernia and answer was no. During surgery, however, he saw one and fixed it! I was surprised, but glad. I used to have TERRIBLE heart burn at night (pre-band). I have not had ANY since surgery and it's been great. I think it is probably a combination of better food choices and the hernia repair.

I don't think of 2 weeks without loss as a plateau :smile2: I frequently can go 2 weeks, not lose, and then have a big drop. I guess it's just the way I lose. Eat a higher calorie content for a couple of days, then drop back to your normal calories - keeping the body guessing is always a good idea. The change up you can throw at it is your exercise. Add an extra cardio session for 2-3 days in a row - that will also get the scale moving. I run, do elliptical and weights for my exercise. A few weeks ago I took 3 zumba classes (in addition to all the other exercise) and was very pleased with how the scale responded! Adding a nice long walk at the end of the day is also a good way to do that. Good luck!

This is really the thread I needed to read this morning. I have been dealing (again) with the strong urge to binge at night...I'm fine all day and then night comes and it's crazy. I have learned that I need to save calories for an evening snack, but it is soooo hard to stop. Last night I ate 2 poptarts (I don't even like poptarts that much). This morning I felt so awful for doing that. I was so surprised at how easy the first one went down (I've been having to eat very carefully since my last fill) that I think I ate the other one as an experiment to see if I could actually eat two. Now I'm afraid that I have figured out that junk food really does slide on through! Anyway - thanks for all the posts on this subject. I have 3 teenage boys (18 and almost 16 yr. old twins) and lots of junk food in my house. I think I actually do pretty well considering the amount of food THEY can eat (not me!) My husband never even looks at it - could care less! I am trying to be more like him :smile2: In case you are wondering, they are all football players and can eat a boatload and never gain an ounce! (I often think it's like they are babies again and need to eat every two hours). Thankfully, they have their father's metabolism and not mine!

I have a 10cc band and I would say I am almost there after 2 fills. 3rd fill will be October 18. I can definitely feel restricted if I eat the proper foods, but I don't think it lasts as long as it should. Sometimes I cheat and can tell that the bad stuff is able to slip right through. (Then I make up for it with exercise!) I am learning to listen for signals and I am learning what post-banded "full" feels like. It's not the same as pre-band. All the full feeling is high up - not low like before. I have to admit it is a feeling that, to me, is not as satisfying as being full pre-band. I am, however, satisfied with being able to fit into some of smaller clothes and feeling like I am getting back in shape! Trade-offs and adjusting to a new way of life...that's what it's all about for me.

Is she really a lapband patient? I thought she said vertical sleeve or something like that???

I gurgle all the time! It started after my first fill and would only be a short little one after I drank something. After my 2nd fill, it happens all the time, even when I eat something!!! It's a little embarrassing if I'm in a quiet room with other people (not too often). Who cares - small trade off in my book - just a reminder that the band is working!

OMG - way too young for WLS. No wonder she wasn't successful! We all know how important our roles and choices are in WLS - I don't think you have the maturity at 14 to accept responsibility for all that. I wish her the best of luck now and I hope that there is some sort of residual effect left from her surgery that may help her. I watched each contestent get on the scale and I was checking for belly scars...I saw a lot of them, but the only WLS they mentioned was the one who had it at 14. I wonder if some of those other scars were WLS???

Jen - I think I know that feeling about eating one more bite. Last night I had a small sensation of that stuck feeling and I stopped eating right away. It was great that it all subsided and I realized I really was not hungry anymore. It is about listening differently to our stomachs, now! I do think that is the cue to stop!!! Melissa - I think I also wanted to eat more which was contributing to my stuck episodes. I too am learning to obey her heiness, the band! I guess I am a bit like one of Pavlov's dogs right now...I am getting trained to stop eating or suffer!:rolleyes2:

Would like to know from the bandsters "at their sweet spot," how frequent are your stuck episodes? I think that I am actually pretty restricted right now as I can get stuck easily and I know it's happening too frequently. I know that it is resulting from eating too fast/too big of bites. It has just not "sunk in" for me that I am to this point. It's only been a week or so since my last fill/unfill, and I am still surpised when I can't eat something. I will learn, maybe I'm looking for a hard knock here to jolt me into reality that I have to be more careful. I know that frequent stuck episodes is not good for the band and can lead to complications. I also feel that I have varying degrees of "stuck." Sometimes it's just a feeling and I stop eating and then it subsides within a few minutes and it's painless. Problem is, when it goes away, I still feel like eating more. Is that actually a full feeling that I am mis-reading? I can't say that I feel very satisfied, though. Other times it's a full on, got to "get it out" feeling accompanied with all the slime, etc. That has happened about 4-5 times this past week. I have also found that without all the food I am eating traveling to my lower stomach at once, the "full" feeling I am used to really does not exist anymore. Do you find that is true for you as well? I think there was a thread on here about "what does full feel like?" maybe I need to gain some insight into that, too!

Rebecca, I feel your pain! I keep losing/gaining, then losing a little more. Net effect is still a loss but I always bounce around so much. I guess until better restriction kicks in, we are at the mercy of how "good" we are on our diets :smile: I have been rockin' it on the exercise, though. It's not easy and I have to talk myself into every day, but I have been doing it most days. I believe it has helped me a ton. If I've had days where I'm not so great on my diet, ramping up the exercise helps shed the water weight and also serves as a motivator to better the next day, which I usually do :wub: And so it goes until the next breakdown in the eating area! I'm trying, however, not to beat myself up over it too much as I feel like this is real life, not some perfect dieting world that we gained access to once we were banded. It is still hard work and our results are the direct outcomes of the choices we make. I LOVE this site, too! I come on most days are reading about others struggles/victories really keeps my head in the game. My third fill is Oct 18. I'm hoping to hit the sweet spot at that time. I had to get some removed after the 2nd (coudn't even drink water) and now I can feel it loosening up even more and my hunger is returning as is my ability to eat more than I should. I am, however, still WAY more restricted than I was. I am battling with getting stuck a little too much because I just have not learned the art of taking small bites and chewing longer. Each time I've been stuck, I know that was the reason. I will get better. This is all a learning process! Best of luck to you and other July bandsters:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I've been married for 22 years and my husband does not know my weight. I keep thinking I will tell him, but havn't found the right moment. I have told him my BMI, so if he really wanted to figure it out he could. I just can't say the number because I'm always heavier than him. He's very fit and is a life-long exerciser. When I know that I weigh less than him, I will probably gloat about it :thumbup: On surgery day, the nurse recorded my weight in the chart (husband was around the corner). Then the anesthesiologist came by and was going over some things and asked me my weight right in front of him! He had a great bedside manner and had already made a few jokes with me, so I flat out told him, "I don't tell my husband how much I weigh, you have to look it up in my chart!" He just laughed at me and when he found my weight, he really cracked up because I guess he didn't think it was too bad (219 lbs). He had 7 sisters and told me I was crazy :scared2:. It's just a mental thing with me - maybe it would be liberating to tell him, finally! Haha, it's not like it's a big secret and he can't see it on me!