HeatherinCA

They want your diet to be as normal as possible, that means food 3x a day. We are learning to eat properly. Ultimately you aren't supposed to drink your calories. But yea, really I don't see a problem if it works for you.

You just have to force yourself, there is no magic fix... yea maybe try getting an app, or signing up for something like FitDay.com. If you don't want to do low carb, don't do low carb.. I don't. I like carbs, if I don't eat them, I will just cheat and eat them anyways haha

Yea it's body shape.. I weight 240 and I'm wearing 16's... But, I've been this weight and wore 20's before. I've also been 200 and wore 16's I have noticed lately my body shape is changing all around, and my skin is changing.. it's all weird haha.

Definitely a staircase! haha. Walking down very carefully. I've been doing pretty good, finally down a few pounds, and a few I had gained-ish.. I was just in such a rut... I exercised 6 days last week, and plan to this week. Man, it's hard to stay focused. I'm having a LOT of family that is really sick right now, with numerous family members.. it's really hard not to eat out of stress and sadness. But, I'm trying to be good, and even if I'm not the exercise is helping me (also helps me cope and clear my head). My victory of the week, is I'm the weight on my drivers license haha. Also I ate the same thing that made me a little "stuck" a few weeks ago, and it did it again, not as bad this time, but I could feel it going down. LOL we never learn i guess! I'm thinking because it was hard beef and bread and thats what did it. I'm between and 18 and a 16 in pants, I have some 16s but the are totally uncomfortable, and my 20's are almost falling off. Gotta lose a few more so my 16's fit good!

Man I hate bras haha, this is tempting.

For me, I just have SO much burping gas ALL the time anyways from the band, I don't really want soda adding to it. I think it would just be really uncomfortable. Besides, I feel better not having soda and chemicals.. don't feel like it was helping me any.

I like Sushi! I eat it it's a good amount of food I find.

The bands SOLE job is to control your hunger. At 9ccs how hungry are you? Could you go 4-5 hours without eating, that should be your gauge. The band won't ever stop you from eating. Some people have trouble getting food down, that is a side effect, not the purpose of the band. There is no such thing as a sweet spot. The sweet spot is when I can stick to my damn diet long enough to lose weight . I can eat whatever I want as well... I certainly can eat too many calories, I know for a fact I ate probably 2,000 calories yesterday (yea, I admitted that). So of course the band won't work if I continue to eat like that. Basically we are on a big diet. You are probably eating just enough to cancel out the exercise.. you need to burn 3500 calories to lose one pound.

It's normal from the trauma on your body. I've been losing mine for about 2-3 months. It's been less lately.. I have a lot of hair luckily so it's not noticeable.

It's different for everybody really. As long as you watch your calorie intake you should be good. The band isn't gonna do that work for you. You have to control how much you eat, and make sure it's healthy and Protein rich. I will say this, the 1/4 cup of food thing is a total myth lol, maybe for the first couple of weeks. But over all you eat more than that, It's about 1-2 cups of food per meal. (everyones body likes different things)

I feel like mine have shrunk a tad, I wear an 11, I'm finding some are too big now. I feel like I probably wear a 10.5 which doesn't exist haha

I know it's hotter than hell here too. Gym works.. or I like work out videos. Leslie Sansone, or if you are brave some Jillian Michael's haha Good luck I just kicked my butt back in to gear. It's hard! But we can do this. It's a long process, but just gotta hang in there, besides, what other option do we got!? This is a last resort!

If you are hungry after 2 hours, then you will need a fill. You should be able to go 4-5 hours when you are filled properly. You aren't doing anything wrong, you just don't have enough fill to control the hunger yet (you'll know when this happens.. it just dies haha). Don't worry about the volume of food, worry about the calories . The band isn't supposed to really restrict the amount of food you eat. BUT, when you aren't hungry, you can be satisfied on less food. This is what I eat typically. Mind you, my band is not temperamental, and I don't have any stuck issues. I pretty much just keep it under 1200. I feel it helps me when I get sort of in a routine, if you change it up all the time you are constantly counting calories Breakfast 2 eggs (prepared with cooking spray) 1 bagel thin 1tbs cream cheese or oatmeal lunch Egg white salad (trader joes has this, it's 100 calories for a whole tub!) or chicken salad or some type of Protein 1 cup Watermelon Crackers or a bagel thin or a Lean Cuisine dinner Usually a lean cuisine/healthy choice entree 1 cup fruit Dessert/snack Something around 100 calories, ice cream bar, or pudding or something. Or maybe almonds if I'm craving during the day. But I really don't need to snack. It's about 1100-1200 calories.

Yes, the first like 4 days you hurt so bad! The pain was far worse than I expected. Because it's your stomach, everytime you move, or get up, or sit down or go to the bathroom it's very painful! Also I was pretty worn out. The car ride home from the hospital was the worst ever (It was about 80 miles from home). Not to mention you aren't eating anything so you are a little weaker than normal, your can't really shower or get dressed properly.. I started going out day 5 and I felt ok. Day 2, definitely not.

Myoplex Lite, Choc or vanilla. They are all fairly gross though aha and all taste kind of the same. I'd also get some Isopure at GNC since it's fruit flavored.. something different. I don't, and never have done bars. Too many calories for me, unless you are replacing a meal. I get enough Protein from food.

I feel your pain, I feel like I was poorly informed before I had surgery.. even though I did research.. nothing really properly explains how the band works. All it does is control your hunger, the rest is up to you. Sure if you can eat tiny amounts of food and stay low calorie then don't count calroies, but I know for me, I could easily eat 2,000 calories in a day, with my band. So I have to count them. If I had known that, I'm not sure I would of gotten the surgery. I was under the impression I could eat like 3 bites of food so I'd lose all this weight, false! There is no way to lose weight that is a miracle! I wish there was. Did your mom eat junk food when she had her stomach stapled? Probably not... You can try using it as a tool? You spent all this money, mind as well see if you can work it out! Check your hunger levels, if you aren't hungry, don't eat, if you can go 4-5 hours with out physically needing to eat, then you don't need a fill. Try to eat less food and see how you feel, make healthier choices...I mean come on you do have to be realistic, even if the band was a miracle worker you STILL couldn't eat McDonalds and not exercise. Skinny people don't do that! That's why they are skinny. I know I know you don't want the mean responses, but you have to be realistic too! What do you want people to say?

There is no "full" feeling, and you will always be able to eat normally unless food just starts getting stuck, but that isn't healthy. You just have to control what you eat. See, the thing w/ the band is you can eat less, and you won't be hungry, your band and your body doesn't know how much food you've eaten. The hunger hormone just isn't released, your body is satisfied with less food. I know I could probably physically eat half the food that I do.. and not be hungry. I just choose to eat more. I like volume. It's alllllll willpower, it's all mental. I found some willpower the last 2 days! Stuck to my diet, and exercised woohoo. Let's hope this sticks. I was trying to blame everything on my parents, and them eating out a lot and eating crap (since I moved back home), but that's dumb, I make my own decisions, if they want to ruin their diets then they can go ahead. It's hard, because they eat out of stress. Which is clearly where I learned it, but it's so frustrating.

I liked tomato and butternut squash also cream of chicken, and sounds weird but the campbells nacho cheese soup is good haha

6 months today! 56lbs. Wish it was more, but I'm totally sabotaging myself.. gotta get back on track! My life has been nuts the past few weeks, and I'm turning to food, like I know I shouldn't ugh. *sigh* Yea, I can eat anything. Personally nothing gets stuck for me. Guess I'm lucky haha. If you wanna do it, try toast first. If you are getting stuck on other types of food I wouldn't try it. It's a weird feeling!! Didn't like it.

Listen to your doctor #1. #2, it takes about 6 weeks before weight loss starts, regularly. You are healing right now.

I'm the same way. We just have to hold ourselves accountable. But it's hard!

food doesn't really sit in the pouch anyways for more than a minute or so.. don't worry. Just keep track of your calories I eat a good amount of food too. Trust me, it'll be really uncomfortable if you over eat WAY too much. Also yes, the fills will help with your hunger, that is their job.