HeatherinCA

Yep, kids menus are all mac & cheese and fried chicken strips, grilled cheese... I just eat a portion of a regular meal, and take the rest home or trash it or someone else eats off my plate. Or yes like said above lots of restaurants have the lower cal menus and those are normal size portions. I don't know about everyone else but I don't eat like 1/2 cup of food, I still eat a fairly regular amount. Obviously not the overinflated portion, but I eat enough to warrant purchasing an entree.

Yea, just breathe, and take a step back. Lower your calories a little bit? I know it's generally between 800-1200 to lose weight. It's easier to eat less calories, than to burn them off. You have to burn 3500 excess calories to lose a pound. It's really hard to burn 10,000 excess calories a week to lose 3 pounds! Unless you are extremely heavy, then little activity burns way more calories. Also you just had surgery a month ago, the first month is generally healing... and then you get back on real food it slows again. My weight loss didn't really start until then.

Yea you just gotta be careful! Just watch your calories, make sure you eat filling protein rich foods.

Aww I'm sorry! Just try to focus your energy off food and on to something else? I know the head hunger is the worse. If your body isn't hungry though, you don't need more fluid. It'll just make everything will just get stuck. Just pay attention, and stick with it, you can do it. Just think about how skinny you can be when your husband gets back home

No pain really. I mean nothing worse than a regular shot. It's the most awkward experience though having then stick a needle in your stomach! haha

Maybe reevaluate what you are eating? Count calories for a while to see if you are indeed under 1200 everyday. It can be deceiving sometimes! Also exercise.. 5 days a week. I know it's easy to get off track.

Not everyone can do it. It's still a diet, it's still lots of exercise, it's still no junk food as with ANY diet, weight loss plan, or surgery. There is no quick fix or everyone would be skinny, the Bypass and the Sleeve aren't quick fixes either. We all have severe food addiction problems, we have to tackle that to lose weight. No matter how we decide to do it.

Seems like a lot of people here have gone to him. You aren't having it at a hospital...? a center of excellence?

What did you eat exactly? Things like chili or oatmeal shouldn't be getting stuck... I would think pureed foods is what you'd be on 2 weeks after surgery.

Mine was 5.5ccs.. every doc does it different. I had fluroscope.. so that can help too because they know if it's too much or not

You won't ever feel full after 1/3 cup of food. You are supposed to eat 1 to 1-1/2 cups of food per meal the 1/2 cup thing is for when you are healing. I never feel really "full" I mean vaguely, but I never have the stuffed feeling. Are you really hungry, or is it mental? If you are just be patient, the hunger will go away over time. Also it takes a few weeks for the fill to take effect.

60+ grams of protein a day, I'd usually drank 3 or 4 a day. I know the 35g ones sound good, but maybe do 3 or 4 20g ones, so you can space it out better? Just try not to focus on it, the first few weeks are hard.

I don't have any hunger, my band is about half full.. i can go like 5 hours with out needing a meal. Do I still want food? Yes. Can I eat it? Yes. It's all mental, our battle with food addiction. Yea, the band doesn't stop me from eating. I can't eat like TONS of food, but I can certainly overeat by quite a bit if I chose to.

Yea I lose about 1-2lbs a week, if I had to do liquids for some reason it goes up a little bit. But generally no more than that. Just make sure you eat around 1200 calories a day and exercise, thats all.

I'm at 260 today, so down 6 pounds, dunno if i'll reach my goal, but I'm pretty happy with this so far!

mine is about 6 inches up from my belly button, kinda under my breast bone.

Yea maybe start over with liquids.. mushies..etc and just get focused on your goal! But I would go check and make sure all is well with your band with a doctor since it's been so long.

It does curb your appetite! It depends on your doctor though. My first fill was 5.5ccs which is a lot apparently.. a lot of doctors go 0.5ccs, or 1cc at a time, in which case it'll take longer to curb your hunger.. I'm at a point I can go 5 hours without eating. I'm not sure if I will need more, I'm thinking maybe a tad more in the future. It takes a few weeks for the fill to take full effect. I think if you get very little Fluid in your fills then you go every few weeks.

The Isopure fruit flavor bottles they have at GNC are pretty good if you get tired of chocolate. Just throw in a packet of SF Kool Aid or Crystal Lite to make it taste better

The fullness feeling is different. I'm just not stuffed like I would be before surgery. Exactly the thanksgiving analogy.. it doesn't feel like that generally. Like when I stand up after dinner I can feel the food and it feels good, but it's just not overstuffed. It's more about being satisfied. You don't exactly feel full, you just "don't want anymore" it's hard to explain. 1/2 a cup maybe enough food, but it's not satisfying. Realistically you eat about 1-1/2 cups of food in the long run. I have like a 3oz piece of chicken, and maybe a 1/4 cup of a side dish for a general meal, or for Breakfast I'll have about a cup, cup and a half of oatmeal. To start off when you are healing it's about half that.

Yea, Center of Excellence. Have it at a hospital not a surgery center. Ultimately, I'd just make sure you feel comfortable with your surgeon. It's a fairly simple procedure.. You want bariatric surgery to be their main practice. So they know what to expect, how to do fills properly, they know about nutriton etc...

heating pad was my best friend! Walking helps the gas pain, and sip lots of Water. Just keep hydrated. Also when you have to move, like to get up from a chair or lay down take a deep breath, that helps the pain as you move. The pain sucks for the first few days. Make sure you fill the prescriptions for pain meds.

I wouldn't worry too much, it's probably more to prepare you for what's to come... I just had liquids for a week. i didn't have any other diet. Just don't cheat on the liquids!! That is to prepare and shrink your liver for surgery But after surgery you have to watch everything you eat and watch your calories and make sure it's 1200 everyday, or you won't lose any weight. So it's good practice.

I think the way the band is portrayed by the media and such is wrong... it's way different that I expected. I think people are looking to feel full (like full to a regular non banded person would feel after eating a meal), with very very small amounts of food. But that simply doesn't happen with the band. Maybe it does with the sleeve because your stomach is physically smaller? For me the band controls hunger, that's it. But half the battle with food addiction is it's all in my head, I just eat for the sake of eating, not because I'm hungry.