jre1974

No not really. I've just been eating what I'm supposed to and staying away from the junk...I haven't even started exercising yet. I think my success so far at the weight-loss is only due to my failures before surgery; if you know what I mean :redface: I weighed in at 403lbs before surgery, so I have quite a bit to lose.

I'm 8 weeks out and 67lbs down.

I have 4cc right now, so I'm not at optimum restriction yet, but so far, i haven't found anything that I can't eat. As long as i take small bites and chew it very well, I'm fine.

I also gained a bit the first week i was on normal foods... I think this is somewhat normal. The good news was that the following week i had a pretty good loss, so i just chalked it up to a change in my diet that my body reacted to. Its hard i know; but just give it time. Once your body gets back in "sync" you will start dropping again...good luck...

Walmart has a protein powder that has 52 gram of protein in one shake (double scoop). I usually have one of those for breakfast and then i don't really have to worry about my protein intake for the rest of the day. I average around 80-95 grams a day.

I was told that if you can get it through a straw, its a liquid.

My wife, who is NOT banded, has been using one for about 2 months now and she really likes hers. She's lost about 10-15lbs by using it...I think it would be very helpful in helping you track your activity and food intake...

This is pretty common for people who are losing weight and burning a lot of calories...here's a link I just found on the topic.. Bad Breath, Oral Health and Weight Loss

I would suggest trying a Protein shake over Ritz crackers or eggs. They seem harmless, but there is a reason why the doc put you on liquids. You have to give your stomach time to heal. If you're going to cheat, at least cheat with some liquids. I guess everyone is different, but I was having trouble swallowing Water for the first 4 days, let alone trying to suck down a Ritz Cracker...:biggrin: I am now almost 7 weeks post op and I can tell you that the protein shakes, as well as some Soups, are what I've been living on up until two weeks ago and i started eating soft foods. It sucked at times, no doubt; but it has paid off like a charm. I've lost 57lbs since surgery and every time I get hungry I just try to think about the pay off...Its worth it.

I am also a stomach sleeper, that's why I went out and paid a fortune for a real nice recliner before surgery, and planned to use it as my bed for a few weeks; but that didn't work out...I woke up the first night and my butt was asleep and I had to get up. I finally ended up sleeping in bed by the end of my first night and haven't looked back. I had absolutely no pain after my surgery, so it wasn't a big deal. The only "pain" I had was when I tried to lay on my side, I could feel the weight from my stomach fat, pulling down on some of my incisions...so I grabbed a large body pillow and sort of cuddled up with it and this took the stress off my stomach and I was able to sleep very well....The second night i said screw it and slept on my stomach anyway...other than a slight "tender" feeling when I first laid down, it was fine. That went away after a few minutes and i was sleeping on my stomach from then on...

I'm not a breakfast person either and I am usually headed out the door in a hurry; so i just grab a slim fast shake on the way out the door. That normally holds me over until late morning and I may eat a protein bar or something small to hold me over until lunch. This way I'm sure to get plenty of protein in for the day and i get it in before I start eating actual food. This way i can eat pretty much whatever I want (within reason, you know what I mean) and I'm not worrying about how much protein it has.

I don't think there are any ways to cheat in a healthy way. I can also say that most of your hunger is probably in your head. The best thing that I have found to do is that I just keep moving...My wife loved it when I was going through my pre-op diet because I was constantly up and cleaning the garage, or organizing the storage closet, or weeding the flower beds....The point is that I kept myself busy and that kept my mind on something other than food. If I was sitting around watching TV, I felt like I needed to have something in my hands to eat. So thank God for DVR...I recorded a bunch of my favorite shows and watched them all after surgery when I was laid up. I have also done the liquid diets and was very successful in losing the weight...unfortunately I gained it all back after the diet was over. What i found while i was on the diet however, was that if I got hungry I'd simply drink another shake. The Optifast only has what, 180calories? The important thing is to not cheat with regular food. Even if it is something that you THINK is healthy. As I said, there is no such thing as HEALTHY cheating, but if you absolutely feel like you need something or you're going to eat; drink another shake...The point right now is to drop the weight before surgery and to prepare yourself for what's to come. Good luck

I had a similar experience, but i think it has something to do with the fact that my clothes were always a bit snug before because i was about to burst out of them at any moment...so after losing 50-60lbs, my clothes were lose, but i still was not fitting into skinny clothes just yet...I don't know how you wore your clothes before surgery, but that was what happened to me...

I have to stop eating immediately if i get the hiccups because that means I've either gotten stuck, or am pushing the limits...I don't get them often, but they always precede a problem...So yeah, i also vote that they are band related...

As long as you are losing weight, you are succeeding... Even if you're losing 1-2lbs a week you're losing and that's what's important. Think about what 2 lbs a week will mean after one year. Thats 104lbs...So I wouldn't get too hung up on what other people are losing. I've lost pretty big, but the doc says its because I have a lot of muscle mass under all my fat that makes me burn the calories much quicker than some...To answer your question, at the end of two weeks, I was down 32lbs... I am now 6 weeks post op and I'm down 60lbs.

I practically live on Creamy Tomato Soup...I started doing some of the thicker, creamer soups like potato soup and even some clam chowder, but I'd always put them through the blender first to blend up the chunks...those were good and a bit more filling, although the sodium levels in the potato soup and clam chowder are very high, so I wouldn't suggest eating those at every meal; it may cause you to retain some Water...Basically, if you can drink it through a straw - its good to go... :thumbup: Good luck

It took me about 3-5 days for mine to come in...The doc wrote me a prescription for the machine and i took it to a medical supply store and they ordered it and when it came in, they called me in and set it up for me and showed me how to use it.... I rarely use the thing though...I'm a stomach sleeper and i keep knocking it off...so I just stopped using it...My sleep apnea is MUCH worse when i sleep on my back; even with the BiPap machine...so i've given it up...

I was the same way for the first two week...I averaged about 300-500 calories a day the first week and then about 500-700 calories a day the second...i am 6 weeks post op and I'm doing 1200-1500 a day now...I just couldn't eat anything the first two weeks. now that my stomach has healed up a bit, i am able to eat more kinds of food. Not much of it, but theres a better selection anyway... As for being too low, I wouldn't worry too much about it just yet. Your body is still recovering. I dropped 32lbs the first week of my surgery because i was taking so little in...into the second week though, i was starting to feel light headed and started making myself eat/drink more. I wouldn't worry about it right now...as long as you are eating the right kinds of foods, you'll do okay. Beware though at about week 3 or 4 you'll get your appetite back... :thumbup:

You really need to stay off the scale. I try not to weigh myself more than once per week. When I do it is always as soon as I wake up in the morning. I find that that is the time of day that I am the "lightest"... if that makes sense. Our body weight tends to fluctuate throughout the day depending on your food intake, water/liquid intake, sodium intake etc....So pick one day a week to weigh-in and do it first thing in the morning. I bet you see a difference. Keep your head up :thumbup:

I'm not a breakfast person either, so I usually just drink a protein shake for breakfast. I use the Whey Protein mix from Walmart (forget the brand name) and it has 52grams of protein per serving. So I get most of my protein intake for the day taken care of at breakfast, and whatever else i eat during the day easily brings me up to the 70-80 grams range...usually more than that actually...

I'd be interested to know as well...i am doing a bit of traveling this summer as well...

What I was trying to say is that if you keep eating stuff you're not supposed to be eating, such as pickles and wraps after only 2 weeks, you're going to have some problems... I wasn't trying to be mean, I just prefer to speak plainly...I feel that many of us on this site, including myself, have had too many people "enabling" us over the years by saying its okay, when its not. I prefer to be blunt so there is no misunderstandings...that was all I was attempting to communicate with you, is that if you keep eating the stuff you're not supposed to, you are not going to be successful. If the doc says to be on mushies then you need to stick it out and stay on mushies. If your having a hard time getting your Protein in you can go to walmart and get their whey protein mix and it has 52gm of protein in an 8oz serving if you mix it with 1% milk... that's what I do. I get a majority of my protein in for Breakfast with a shake and then survive on Soups throughout the day. This gives me a sense of actually eating food and i am getting somewhere between 75-85gm of protein a day on average with very little effort thanks to those shakes.

Sounds kind of simple, but if you're not hungry; why are you eating? And it doesn't take any longer to make a Protein shake or grab a slimfast, than it does to make a chicken salad wrap....Don't get me wrong; I am the same way...Hunger never had anything to do with how much I ate. I just ate because I loved food...but I am 4 weeks post op and haven't allowed myself to binge like I used to. I paid for this surgery out of pocket and have no intention of failing...I have lost 40lbs so far and I attribute that to following the liquid diet that the doc put me on. If you keep it up, you're going to be one of those posts that say, "I'm 2 months post op and have only lost 2 lbs....what am I doing wrong..." i know its hard, but if it were supposed to be easy, you wouldn't have gone through all of this trouble would you? you have to fight through the urge to eat; especially when you're not hungry... good luck... :thumbup:

I had real bad Acid Reflux prior to surgery as well...I was also on medication, and have been for years...I am 3 weeks post op and haven't had one episode of heartburn or reflux, and I stopped taking the meds the day before surgery...so yes, so far, so good... good luck.. :thumbup:

Please don't take offense, because I say this will all seriousness and support....but it sounds like you have some emotional issues that need to be worked out before you spend more money on another surgery, that will probably be no more successful than the band was for you. I know we hear/say it all the time in these forums, but the band is just a tool, and if you don't use it correctly, it isn't going to work for you. So I'd say that it wasn't the band that failed you; it was you that sabotaged yourself. Once you come to grips with whatever emotions you're dealing with, you're going to be in a better place to make WLS work for you. Good luck and God Bless...