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I was kind of the same way on pre-op. No hunger and didn't drink all my shakes. They wanted me to have 3/day but I only really needed 2 to get all my Protein in.

I was told it was more important to hit my fluid goals than my protein goals those first few weeks. You absolutely must stay hydrated or things will not go well. If I got one shake a day in I was happy.

Hey girl I had this EXACT same problem and had to drop a quick 5lbs in a week time. I cut out all carbs and drank protein shakes and TONS of water. I walked 30min a day. Also, if you want to go this far and lose some pounds by clearing your bowels go to the store and purchase Magnesium Citrate which is in the laxative section. My surgeon made me drink that stuff the night before surgery to clear my bowels and OMG that stuff works so mak sure you drink it early and you're near a bathroom. That is just one way to kind of trick the scales if necessary.

I am a year out. and I still cannot eat early. I have my Protein mix with my coffee to start my day. I have to be up SEVERAL hours before I can actually eat food.

congrats... the whey protein shakes are what are mostly prescribed, but talk to your office about how many grams thay wish for you to have per day.. i hav heard from 60-90 per day. mine prefers us to get up to 90..

My doc is pretty specific - 70 grams protein and 30 grams carb - all from a liquid protein diet for 2 weeks. I think that comes to around 700 calories max. Good luck

Hello, Our stories are similar. I was sleeved about 6 weeks ago on 26 April and got very sick after and ended up back in the Emergency Room with pnuemonia. I have also had a slow recovery and have lost only 21 lbs since surgery. I am drinking 100 oz of Water and trying to get 100 g of Protein each day. I also swim 1 mile 4-5 days a week and I dont understand why the scale is not moving quicker. My doctor has said to keep calories below 600 and carbs under 40. Something I was not counting carbs/calories of until yesterday was the Vitamins and Calcium pills. I was surprised that each of them had 3 carbs each and I am taking several of them per day. So started yesterday counting those in my daily totals and will see if that makes a difference. Dont have any advice but I am in a similar situation as you. all the best!!

@@ly8325 Hello and welcome! It depends on your post-op diet but I drank the premier protein ready made shakes from SAMs (you can find them at Walmart and other places too) coconut water and isopure ready made drinks at only two days out.

ok first 6 weeks lost 20 lbs and was ok with that, even a slow loss is ok.....but no move ment on scale for almost 3 weeks..........I have played around with calories, carbs, proteins I just am so disappointed and worried its not going to work.........

I have been trying to get all the protein in. I drink alot of fluid. But my legs feel tired. I may not get 60 grams of protein and not walk as much as i should. I feel good. And 12 days post op. but if i am up on my feet for too long i start to feel fatiqued. What is up?

I too was disappointed with my follow up appointments. Everyone was super nice, but I have still not met the actual dietician, always a nurse. Several of them had the procedure done, but I don't feel like I am loosing like I should either...I would like to ask the dietician a few questions. I haven't lost a lb or inch in over a week! I actually went up and then back to the original place, and my BMI is very high, so I thought I should loose quickly. The nurse said I was on the right track, and my body was thinking it was starving so it's holding on. She said likely it will start going back down. I haven't had a single thing that wasn't high in protein or on the list, so I am quite frustrated. I got 2 books (1 from my Dr. and 1 from the hospital) and they don't say the same things about food. She said to follow my Dr. book, but it doesn't go into much detail. It is so confusing and a little frustrating. I keep telling myself that I am heading to be a skinny me, so I need to figure out what works for my skinny version. Did anyone else "stall" for a week or 2? No NSV's either...I haven't lost a single inch in over a week.

You've been sick, and on antibiotics. Your body is storing everything it can so it can recover. I also recommend the same thing to people that experience a stall. Up your Water, and calories. Even if it's just 50-100 calories per day with a string cheese or more greek yogurt, something to shake things up. If you're active, then you very well may not be getting enough calories. I hate the word "lightweight" just as much as I hate the word "heavyweight", but your starting BMI was a full 13 points lower than mine, and it's true, statistically, I will lose faster than you. It sucks, but it's what seems to the be the trend. Can you have sugar free puddings, what about thinned out cream of wheat with an egg white tossed in for extra Protein (it sounds gross, but it doesn't change the taste or the texture)? Hang in there, the scale will move. Shake things up, and as difficult as it seems, stress actually causes the body to produce more cortisol which in turns causes no loss. It's the "fight or flight" thing.

I had noticed several posts on this subject the last month or two. I was lucky to have a very good NUT advising me in the early months of this process so it was drilled into me to keep portions small, so I didn't always relate to this problem/issue. I was on a week long business trip last week. I was in workshop/meetings 4 of the days and of course had 5 hour flight to and from as well - and all the food related challenges that come with airports and flying. What was hard is that I couldn't do my usual mini meals. Food was basically offered 3 times a day and the content of it was not within my control. I did carry Protein bars. So, what I experienced was interesting, and may be useful to others as well. Because I went so long between meals, I was really pretty hungry by the time I ate. I felt that I ate way more then usual at meal times. I was eating off fullsize plates, not my mini plates I use at home. It was one of those "surprised how much I COULD eat" I noticed an increase in bathroom issues, I noticed a little bit of an upset stomach, I noticed symptoms that I have seen people post about that I don't normally experience. hmmmm. I also noticed that my hunger increased. So, what I did a good job of was staying low carb. The day they had pizza and salad - I had salad and Protein Bar. I ate from a Breakfast buffet, and had basically meat and cheese or a greek yogurt. The day they served sandwiches, I only ate some of the bread, but basically ate the insides - that sort of thing. What I did poorly was eating too many peanuts and high calorie Snacks when traveling. I ate too big of meals, and didn't eat often enough on the workshop days. I only worked out 2 of the days, but that is because the work committments ran into the evenings and I was pretty tired. Lesson for me, to apply to my day to day life? Portion sizes and eating frequently are very very important. Going back to my home routine immediately resolved my stomach upset/acidy feeling - it was from too big of portions I think! Luckily, I didn't let myself get on the carb craving cycle (that has happened to me before) so transitioning home has gone pretty well. Anyway, for those of you experiencing this feeling of eating too much, perhaps consider going to the eating 4-6 mini meals a day and do the tricks about eating from a teaplate, using appetizer utinsils etc and see if it doesn't help you get back to the more petite portions. My own approach is to use a very small plate, and to make sure the food doesn't touch even on the small plate. This, combined with eating more frequently, keeps me from overeating . I would be curious to hear if other find that they just feel better too - the larger portions didn't hurt, but, I think were mildly uncomfortable which i experienced as an acidy kind of feeling. I had a small loss, but more importantly, I was able to not gain even after eating so weird and hopefully learned something that will help me when I move to maintenance. This was not my first business trip post sleeve, but I think it was the first one where I really learned about my eating needs in these situations. Oh, and the amazing part, I didn't crave the pizza like I would have in the past, it didn't even smell good to me... it really helps to keep the carb monster somewhat contained - really reduces or eliminates cravings.

There is a whole list of protein shake recipes under the food and nutrition forum (shakes and protein I think). You can add things like sugar free syrups, coffee, peanut butter, bananas, strawberries, etc. to make them yummier.

Which have you tried? I purchased the plain Protein isolate which was pretty impressive. No taste, no smell, mixed well with Crystal Light and Water, also mixed well with milk. Also purchased the Dutch chocolate Cake mix. Best mixed in milk, just OK in water. Let me know which you have tried, how you mixed it and was it tasty!

I've been tracking my calories and protein the good old fashioned way...paper & pen. Calorie intake around 1100-1300 (based on dr recommendations following metabolism testing) and exercise (elliptical for an hour 5 times a week). Water intake 100oz/day. Protein intake 60-80g/day. So I see on the boards that a lot of people use & recommend myfitnesspal.com for tracking. Thought I would give it a shot....surgery was 5/4/11 and I've been stuck at 10 pounds pre-surgery loss and 10 pounds post-surgery loss (in first month and none since) and I've had one fill (that provided no restriction/hunger control). My question is....after you've entered all of your data (age, weight, goal, exercise, lifestyle) and it gives you a recommended calorie goal for the day.....who follows that and if you do, have you had success? Based on my input (lightly active) and current exercise, it recommends I eat 1950 calories a day. WHAT????? I know that what I've been doing is not dropping any pounds so I'm wondering if I should slightly eat more and meet the dr recommendation and the myfitnesspal.com recommendation in the middle and see how that goes? Needing feedback...thanks!!!!

The way I've been taught about the band, we are not to eat to fullness, but eat our measured portions (3oz Protein, 1/2 cup veggies). Many people are told to eat till they're not hungry. If I were given that guideline, I probably would've eaten the house down. Could it be that you misundertood your doctor's instructions? Perhaps what they meant was to experiment on what TYPES of food you can tolerate, not the amounts? from a recent post on the Smartbandsters email list: For you newbies: if you want to test the band: eat a small portion of protein and produce. Stop. Go get really busy doing something else. You will probably forget about eating. Your band is working. See how long you can go before you get PHYSICALLY hungry again. If it's 3-5+ hours, your band is working. Don't try to test it by seeing how much you can eat. We already know you can eat more than you should. Don't try to test it by eating things you shouldn't. They may go down or they may cause you a major problem but it's not worth risking your band over some gummy, sticky, or stringy food you don't need. That said, even if you're careful it might happen anyway because it takes a long time to change a lifetime of eating habits. PRACTICE slowing down, cutting your food into toddler size pieces, chewing more, and making WISE choices. This really does work. Also read Dr. Simpson's post.. it's not about restriction: http://drsimpson.net...newsletter.html

oh i am so depressed....got the band on 15th march 2011....i was 204 lbs then.i went down to 176, now my wt is again increasing.I am 186 today!!! I live in India am a vegetarian. It is so difficult to follow a high Protein diet here. Why do we need protein to loose wt? I am feeling quite low today. I dont exercise much due to arthritis. but nor do I eat much.I must be having 1000 cals daily.

Try adding non flavored benefiber powder to your protein shakes ect.

Hey, Banders!We’re into the long, lazy days of summer – but there’s plenty going on at LapBandTalk.com! So why don’t you use this newsletter as a reminder to get on over to the boards? It’ll help you stay on track or motivate you to get back on board if you’ve gotten off track a little. Here’s what you’ll find in this newsletter. Burning question: What’s the Big Deal about Protein? Member Spotlight: Meet TanyainNY! Bander Challenge: Record Your Diet! Become a Board Expert: How to Get More Involved We hope you’re having a great summer and feeling great about meeting your weight loss and healthy lifestyle goals. Enjoy the newsletter, and of course please contact me any time with suggestions, comments or any other feedback. See you on the boards! Sincerely, Alex Brecher Founder Breakfast should be high in protein to give you a good start for the day. But why is protein so important? First, it’s an essential nutrient for your immune system and as a part of your muscles, skin, bones and other body tissues. But it’s even more important when you’re losing weight so fast, like you are after your lap-band surgery. When you lose weight, you’re losing body fat, of course. But if you’re not careful to get enough protein, you’re going to lose a noticeable amount of lean body mass, too. That means you’ll lose some muscle mass and your metabolism will slow down. Another benefit of protein is that it actually helps you stick to your low-calorie post-surgery diet so that you lose weight faster. Protein takes a longer time to digest than carbohydrates. That means that eating a high-protein meal will help you stay full for longer than a high-carbohydrate meal without much protein. So don’t forget to hit your protein at each meal! Aim for one to two servings per meal, and if you have a snack, include some protein. What are the best sources of protein? Stay tuned for the answer coming up in a future newsletter! If you have a burning question that you’d like to see answered in the newsletter, just send Alex a PM over in the forums. It can be about anything - lap-band problems, food, fitness, weight loss, health…just let us know! Member Spotlight – Meet TanyainNY! TanyainNY from Cooperstown, New York, has used the lap-band to turn herself into a wonderful success story. Tanya is a registered nurse whose weight was a poor example for her patients. Like so many others, Tanya decided to get banded after she felt ashamed of asking her 6-year-old son to move to the dining room table to play board games instead of being able to sit on the floor with her children. Tanya got banded in December of 2009. At 5 feet 5 inches, her starting weight was 270 pounds. Now, she’s down nearly 100 pounds, only 20 pounds away from her goal weight of 155 pounds. This 39-year-old mom has the energy of her 20-year-old self. She does it all, from bench-pressiing and squatting with the big boys to taking muy thai kickboxing classes. This self-described gym rat has even become a Zumba instructor, and she competes in running races. Her next venture is to master the art of riding her new motorcycle. Tanya’s diet has been transformed along with her body. She no longer depends on “white foods,” such as Pasta, chicken and cheese. Now, her diet is a variety of healthy foods, including two salads a day and plenty of fruits, vegetables and protein. Her friends now come to her for nutrition advice! She’s loving life and taking full advantage of every opportunity! Congratulations on all of your success, Tanya, and thanks for being in our Spotlight! We feature a different LapBandTalk.com member each week in our Member Spotlight section. Let us know in the member spotlight forum if there’s someone you want to learn more about or if you want to be our spotlighted member! Nominating yourself isn’t bragging. We all want to learn more about you if you’re willing to share your trials, triumphs, tricks and tips! If you’re shy, just PM Alex with the message that you want to be in the spotlight. Thanks! Bander Challenge – Record Your Diet! Each newsletter, we challenge you with another Bander Challenge. It’s a chance to push yourself a little outside of your comfort zone or get you thinking about ways to make your weight loss journey even more successful. The challenge can inspire you to try things that you’d never thought about but that can make you more successful and confident in your weight loss journey. The challenge is completely non-competitive, but we hope you’ll post your results in the Challenge Forum so that other members can be motivated by your own challenge actions. Study after study proves that the most successful losers – and maintainers – record their diets. If you don’t already do it, now’s a good time to get into the habit. This newsletter’s challenge is for you to record your diet for three days. Include what you eat, how much and what time you had each meal and snack. You can also put in details like how hungry you were before you ate and afterwards, whether you ate exactly what you’d planned, and whether you were eating with people or alone. Did you learn anything new about your diet? Is there anything you can change so that your choices are healthier? Let us know how it went in the Challenge Forum! There, you can always look back at the previous challenges and post your results. It’s never too late to try something new. Better Boarding Tips – Getting into the Swing of Things For some members, jumping right into the conversations on the board feels natural. You know exactly what to say and have no trouble asking for help and providing your own support. For the rest of us, it can be a little tougher. We may not always know what to say to someone who needs help or how to reach out for support when we need it. How can you improve your social boarding skills? Practice! The more you post, the more comfortable you’ll feel. Start by filling in your profile, if you haven’t already. Head on over to the Introductions Forum (you can get there from the front page) and welcome a few new members. Then browse the forums until you see some topics that call to you. You might be able to answer some member questions about food choices or some of the pros and cons that you’ve experienced with your weight loss surgery. You’ll soon feel like an old pro with so much practice, and the other members will sure appreciate your input! That’s about it for this week’s newsletter. You can always find the old newsletters in the newsletter forum if you ever miss one. Thanks as always for your support, and we’re looking forward to seeing you out on the boards! Take care of yourself and each other, Alex ============================================================== If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, you may unsubscribe by going to your Control Panel and clicking on the Newsletters tab, or clicking on the following link: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/index.php?app=core&module=usercp&tab=newsletter

I think you may be a tad too tight. At least I had a very similar experience when I had too much fill. Everything I tried to eat gave me pain. A very tiny unfill of .2cc fixed it for me. The amount of fill that you have doesn't really matter all that much. I know someone with the same band as me.. she's tight with 2cc's. I'm at a good level with 5.5. You could try drinking something hot (tea, coffee, Water with lemon, hot crystal light) right before eating. This will loosen the band just a little bit and might make it easier to eat. When I was too tight, I even sipped on hot tea during my meal. The key word is sip.. tiny ones. Not big drinks. The danger with being too tight is that you can fall into the habit of eating what's called "slider foods". These things are OK on a very short term basis, but over time, tend to be higher in calorie and less satisfying to fend off hunger, so we eat more of them.. with a result of reduced weight loss.. or even regain. I don't purposely change the amount I eat. I measure out my 3 or 4oz of Protein and 1/2 cup of veggies. I try to eat that and if I get too full before it's gone, then it gets put away for later. If I can finish that amount, then I'm done for at least 20 minutes. IF I am still feeling hungry after 20 minutes I'll let myself have more veggies. However, I eat my veggies fairly plain.. w/o butter or cheese. Usually only some lemon juice and/or salt on mine. Most of the time, the 20 minutes gives my stomach and brain time to communicate and they figure out I really have had enough. Hungry in 2 hours? I make sure I've drank 16 to 32 oz of water (not Powerade zero, crystal light, tea, etc... water). If I haven't, I get on that. Still hungry after water.. then I can have a small high protein snack. Apple and cheese stick is a favorite go-to. Also the small snack size cottage cheese. yup yup. I had the same experience. I hung out on yahoo bandster boards from fall of 08, reading and practicing bandster behavior until banding in March of 09. There's things that you just don't get till you're one of the club. :mad2: You're welcome. I hope it was of some use. Call your docs office and talk to one of the support staff.. see if they want you to come in for a teeny unfill or have some other suggestions to help you over this rough spot. Good luck!!

Here's the form I used. It's a combination of the ones I've received and input here. My PCP said I don't need to do the daily log, she's never had insurance ask for it, so I'll be taking that off. *I took out some lines for writing, but you'll get the idea...insurance wants to see that you are being EDUCATED on more than just diet, so have them take good notes (Bottom section-we discussed my family history this month and how important that is to be aware of, and I typed a list of my family history to include). DIET & EXERCISE PLAN FOR PATIENT: _____________________________ DOB______________ Visit #: __________ Date: ______________ Current Weight lbs.: __________ - GOALS ACHIEVED FROM _____/_____/_____ : - Patient Self Assessment: Nutrition: _____________________________________________________ Exercise: ____________________________________________________ Sleep: ___________________________________________________ Accountability: _______________________________________________________ - GOALS FOR NEXT MONTH: Nutrition: Pt. to Follow ____________ Calorie Diet Fluid: No Caffeine, No Carbonation, No Calories, Between meals only Quality: Emphasize Protein, Low Sugar, Low Fat Regularity: 3 meals per day, Eat every 4-5 Hours, No grazing, Slow meal down to 20-30 min. [*]Exercise: Pt. to Exercise at least ______________ Min. per Week sleep Pt. to Achieve 7-9 Hours per Night [*]Accountability: Keep Food/Activity/Sleep Log Support Education Stress Reduction - COMMENTS ON PATIENT’S PROGRESS: __________________________________________________________________________ - OBESITY HEALTH EDUCATION/GOALS-Post surgery, behavior changes, history, comorbidities, etc.: ___________________________________________________________________________ MD Signature ____________________________________________________

Preparing for pre op starting tomorrow. (21 days to surgery) I know everyone does Protein powder/shakes. So when purchasing your protein shake/powder do you check the ingredients? I spent a couple hours shopping around. I'm not in the USA or Canada. We do have many GNC products but the ingredients scare me. Even for the chewable vitamins: I've noticed corn syrup, sugar, words I can't pronounce. So I went to a health store. I purchased one Protein shake that was highly recommended: Ingredients: skimmed milk, Water, micellar casein, flavouring, stabilizers(E471, E407, E412), acidity regulator E500, sucralose and coulor (carmosine). Protein: 21.6 g Fat: 0.9g Sugar: 10g (bad!) And The powder I chose: Pure whey Protein vanilla Ingredients: whey protein concentrate, lecithin, flavourants and sucralose. Per 2 scoops powder with water: Protein: 30.6g Fat: 2.5g Carbohydrates: 2g 155 Calories My question is what ingredients do I avoid. How many is too many carbs or fat per drink. Can you please look at your ingredients on your Vitamins and shakes, it's very difficult to find the right options and I'd love any feedback.

Hello Floridays, I am 4 weeks post op and was told by my nutritionist to eat around 1200 calories a day. I'm sure that I'm not eating that much. I would say more like 1000. I will go in for a fill on Feb 1st. I do hope for some more restriction with that fill. I am having to use some willpower for sure but trying to keep my Protein high so as to help with hunger. By the way I live in St Pete. Dr. Huguet did my surgery, How long have you been banded for? Hope to hear from you soon.

Yea kelly, you don't exactly have a way with words. Hope - Be supportive of your friend, that is what real friends do. Being that she is so young she can either head down a lifelong battle with obesity, or she can do something to change her quality of life, something many of us wish we had the option to do at a much younger age.