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I'm very concerned. I am 3 months and 4 days post-op. I had the sleeve. I feel great! My surgery weight was 244 and tiday it's 187! I have dropped 3 clothing sizes! But my concern....I DO NOT TAKE IN ENOUGH CALORIES AND PROTEIN!!! Arghhh! I try ti eat. I push ti eat. I weigh out my portions. But i get 2 or 3 bus in and I'm done. I still can't tolerate some smells and some tastes of foods. I can't tolerate meats (this includes beef, chicken, and turkey). The highest amount of calories I have consumed a day has been 500, protein maybe 50. I'm losing weight fast but now I can actually feel my bones like when I sit out lay down. Any suggestions? Or am I being paranoid?? Sent from my LG-US996 using BariatricPal mobile app

Sounds like you're right on track. For the first 4 weeks after surgery I was supposed to eat 2 oz per meal, consisting of full liquids/purees. 2 tablespoons is generally 1 oz (or 1/8 cup), so you might not be eating quite enough - although you may be getting full on 1 oz this early out. My nutritionist wanted me to have 75-90 grams of Protein a day, so you're on the lower end of that guideline, but that's pretty good for 3 weeks out. Your protein will likely increase as your restriction decreases and when you can move to more dense Proteins. If you're feeling "hungry" after 30 minutes, are you drinking with meals? Or taking anything for reflux? You may have acid issues that seem like 'hunger.'

Same as what I eat now, but in much smaller quantities of course Dense protein: Eggs Tuna (Any fish, really) Shrimp (Any shellfish, really) Lean red meats (occasionally) Chicken Turkey SOME dairy (IE REAL cheese, REAL butter, but in limited quantities) ONLY get your carbs from veggies, and limit starchy veggies (asparagus, cauliflower, potatoes, etc...) stick to mostly green veggies and salads. Stay away from iceberg lettuce and try to do romaine and spinach for salads as much as possible. NO SUGAR (Or as little as you can possibly get away with) Snacks: Cheese, almonds, Jerky, low fat, low sugar greek yogurt Drink TONS of water! I GUARANTEE you will lose what you need to lose and then some if you religiously stick to this and track calories. Good Luck!!

8 years ago I was miserable, hating myself. 270 lbs and growing. I decided to have the lapband and never looked back. My earlier posts tells the story of my journey. This year I'd like to talk about.... This year. After losing the weight..... The next big hurdle and probably the biggest in my book.... Is dealing with headhunger. It has been the most difficult part of the journey. I have everything I want in my life... So why do I eat sugar (mainly) or sometimes eat obsessively. I've been working with a therapist and I have to say, I'm learning to "sit with my feelings" and not eat over them. I've had periods of great success and periods of not-so -much success. I'm in a good routine now, working out, still using Protein shakes in the morning and eating healthy meals for lunch and dinner. I'm trying to keep this routine which allows me to stop thinking about food 24/7. I am truly happy with my decision to get the lapband and the road my life has taken ever since. Surgery is not a magic pill. I worked very hard to lose the weight and maintain. People that don't know about weight loss surgery think it's the easy way. IT IS NOT! It's a tool to help us. This year I went to to get full checkup on my band and all is working well. I hope to keep this going as I feel like I need one of these tools for life. Anybody thinking of any weight loss surgery, gather info and make your OWN decision with your doctor. Not one surgery is perfect. Nor are any all bad (saw lots of band bashing going on when the sleeve came out). For me it's been great. But I understand if some had problems, the best thing is to take another route. Anyway I hope some of the other March 2007 Bandsters check in

Your protein looks great. I'm surprised that you can eat all that though. At 3 weeks I couldn't even finish one egg in 30 minutes. I think I struggled to get in 400 calories at that point. I'm now almost 3 months out and just upped my calories to 800.

I'm 11 days post op, in week 2. I'm eating the following: Breakfast: 3 tablespoons cream of wheat w/ 1 teaspoon of SF rasberry jam (no seeds) Breakfast snack: 3 tablespoons cream of mushroom Soup w/ 1 tablespoon of melted shredded cheese (and 1 scoop of Protein powder) Lunch: 1/2 Pure protein High Protein Bar lunch snack: Going to eat 3 tablespoons mashed potatoes w/ 1 tablespoon of homemade tomato sauce I'm using for the family's spaghetti & meatball dinner tonight Dinner: Working on that / probably cream of broccoli soup w/ 1 scoop of Protein powder What do you guys have? What about fluids? What do you guys drink to keep those fluids up? I know we can't / shouldn't eat & drink at the same time, so what keeps you filled up & meeting your daily intake? I'm expected to have 32 oz of Fluid for now. Not quite there yet, unless you count my little 'liquid' meals

There is an Isopure in glass bottles that is a translucent non-dairy type, more like koolaid. It is no-carb and 40 grams of Protein in a bottle. Maybe you could try those. For me at first the Protein shakes were too much volume, the thinner Water consistency of the Isopure was better. Also try different temperatures. I couldn't drink cold at first for about a week. I got much more in at room temperature, then I could drink cold again about 12 days out.

Isopure tastes pretty good to me and the protein has helped me feel better. I tried the milk based protein at first but I couldn't keep it down.

Hi All, I am new to this site and I am looking for some advice and wondering if anyone out there can set me straight. I am a 29 year old female who lives in London and decided over the summer to have the single incision LAP-BAND®® surgery as I did not want to obese anymore, be the largest member of my immediate family and the largest lady in my office (I am 5'3, size 22/24 and weighed until recently 18 stone). I contacted Healthier Weight and have booked to have surgery on 21 November in Manchester. I had strong objection from my family who felt I should just diet and exercise (my family is a mix of sizes) but I still booked the surgery and had a consultation with Dr Ashton in London. I have only told one friend who has also had the LAP-BAND®® surgery in Australia and she does not regret it and my partner has said he will stand by me whatever I decide. So I was all set and went on a 3 week holiday in California with my partner with the idea to start the pre-op diet when I returned which means starting tomorrow, but I am now in complete doubt as to whether I should go ahead with the surgery. I have been overweight my whole life and diets don't seem to work for me. However, I know that I don't look that large and on returning from the USA, some of the women there are a lot bigger and just seem to get on with it. I don't know whether choosing the LAP-BAND® is just the easier option, have I given diet and exercise a proper chance. Will I be able to stick to the pre-op and post-op diet especially with the Xmas period coming up? But on the other hand I know that doing this surgery is the best way to ensure that I have a healthier life. I am able to diet and exercise for a couple of months max and then fall off the wagon. I want to be healthy and I want to be slim and not have any problems when I decide to start a family but is surgery the way to go? If anyone could offer any advice or let me know whether they also struggled with the decision it would be much appreciated. :w00t:

Yup, I've made it to the four-month point. About 105 lbs down since the start, about 65 since surgery on August 4. I can confirm that it does get better each week! I feel like I hit a turning point in terms of getting closer to feeling "normal." I'm still cautiously introducing new foods and fine tuning my sense of fullness so I stop before I get uncomfortable (or sick.) I learned a good lesson this past week about why you must eat all your proteins first: I was having a meeting in a cafe and was hungry for lunch so I ordered a kale salad. It was my first time having raw kale, with regular dressing on the side, but I was thrilled when I was able to eat it, no problem. However, I remained incredibly full for the rest of the day, and unable to eat anything else. I guess it just took a looooooonnnnngggg time to digest. I also have healed other physical issues well enough to take a fitness class. When I was about 5 years old, I was kicked out of a ballet class because I was too fat (this was well before the days when everyone had a chance to participate!). So the first class I took now was a Barre Conditioning. It felt like a little redemption. I may be a ballerina yet!!

I had my surgery on Monday as well. I was told to start the protein shakes when I got discharged. Its very hard to get all the protein in though. I've been drinking about 1 shake per day; half in the morning and half in the evening, with broth inbetween. Yesterday I bought some nectar unflavored protein to add to my broths and jello, doesn't change the flavor at all. And popsicles have become my best friends lol

Of course! The Doors! And of course I would get it just a bit wrong BTW, tmorgan813...I've read some of your posts. You have a great attitude and a great sense of humor! Surely we'd be having protein shake chats on a regular basis if you were my neighbor

I use a blender/shaker bottle instead of an electric blender to make my shakes, and they are not at all frothy if I am using Unjury protein powders. However, other protein powders I've tried develop thick froths no matter what. I can't stand the foam either. Have you tried using a shaker bottle instead? Also, what liquid do you use? I wonder if that makes a difference. I use unsweetened and unflavored almond milk.

So this weekend didn't go as well as I hoped for in terms of dieting//working out. Saturday would have been day 2 for my diet & working out for my pre-op diet but I woke up with a really sore throat that morning & I couldn't really get out of bed until I had to for work. I worked late that night and then had to drive back to my parents house to start my winter break from college! Yesterday I was still not feeling the greatest so there wasn't alot of exercising on Saturday & Sunday besides work but I did pretty good with the eating part, I was definitely reasonable with the choices I made so that's a plus in all this. So today I woke up feeling much better so I started again on my diet & work out. I'm doing my 3 protein shakes a day & then a Lean Cuisine, or another meal similar, for dinner. Lynn, my nurse that is awesome, told me that I need to do 90 minutes of exercise a day to have weight loss so that's what I have been doing. On Friday, which was day 1, I did 60 minutes on one of the bike machines & then I did 30 minutes on one of the olyptical machines at my schools fitness center. Now that I am at home & don't have access to an actual fitness center I'll just be using our treadmill that we own. Today I started on the treadmill & had 45 minutes completed & I was really getting into it & I had my iPod blasting & then the machine turned off out of nowhere! Now it is not working, oh boy. My brother suggested that I use our Wii Fit games that we have cause those are work outs too I guess? So I'm going to look into that as well. I hope everyone else is doing great & is enjoying this time of year! Luck & words of encouragement are always appreciated! Until tomorrow... missKAYLA :cursing:

So this weekend didn't go as well as I hoped for in terms of dieting//working out. Saturday would have been day 2 for my diet & working out for my pre-op diet but I woke up with a really sore throat that morning & I couldn't really get out of bed until I had to for work. I worked late that night and then had to drive back to my parents house to start my winter break from college! Yesterday I was still not feeling the greatest so there wasn't alot of exercising on Saturday & Sunday besides work but I did pretty good with the eating part, I was definitely reasonable with the choices I made so that's a plus in all this. So today I woke up feeling much better so I started again on my diet & work out. I'm doing my 3 protein shakes a day & then a Lean Cuisine, or another meal similar, for dinner. Lynn, my nurse that is awesome, told me that I need to do 90 minutes of exercise a day to have weight loss so that's what I have been doing. On Friday, which was day 1, I did 60 minutes on one of the bike machines & then I did 30 minutes on one of the olyptical machines at my schools fitness center. Now that I am at home & don't have access to an actual fitness center I'll just be using our treadmill that we own. Today I started on the treadmill & had 45 minutes completed & I was really getting into it & I had my iPod blasting & then the machine turned off out of nowhere! Now it is not working, oh boy. My brother suggested that I use our Wii Fit games that we have cause those are work outs too I guess? So I'm going to look into that as well. I hope everyone else is doing great & is enjoying this time of year! Luck & words of encouragement are always appreciated! Until tomorrow... missKAYLA

I keep seeing people talking about a liquid diet for a certain amount of time prior to the surgery. When I went to the doctor to get the final approval and to meet the surgeon, I asked about the liquid diet. I asked her if it was necessary. She told me that I could if I wanted to, but to just make sure I don't eat anything a certain number of hours before hand. What is the purpose of the prediet? What are suggestions because I have tried some of the protein shakes adn have found I can't digest them. They give me really bad gas or diarrhea. Because of being lactose intolerant, even with lactaid, I cant do slimfast. any help would be great.

I was on 3 shakes a day for a total of 600 calories a day during my 14 day pre-op shake phase. Prior to that I had to have a six month - monthly weigh ins before the doctor got approval from my insurance company. my doctor had me on 800-1000 calories a day (I always stayed under 900 calories, 80 grams of Protein and 45-75 carbs (I tried to stay under 50) carbs and I lost weight each month persistently even though I had fun days. 1200-1500 calories a day seems very high to me for a pre-op phase. It seems like a good amount of calories for maintenance phase especially if you are exercising. One thing though, everyone picked their surgeon for a reason and I think listening to your surgeon's advice, but did your surgeon set you up with a nutritionist first? My suggestion, which cannot hurt you and will give you the results you want would be: Drink 64 ounces of Water a day - Walk as much as you can and the most important thing is to avoid as many carbs as you can. Keep carbs under 6-7 grams of per serving and as high a protein as possible. Why not try TWO Protein Shakes a day, sugar-free popsicles & sugar-free Jello as Snacks and eat a sensible dinner - "protein - plus vegetable". The shakes & vegetable and sf stuff will give you the amount of carbs you need for energy and the least carbs you have the better your liver will be for surgery. Best of luck. Sorry I had to edit this I hit send too fast.

How are your protein, water, and caloric intake? If I'm short on any of those, I get very weak and dizzy. Just a thought. Feel better soon! Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

i use nectar truffle. to add Protein to coffee you need to add the hot liquid slowly. protein will act like a raw egg that you are adding to something hot. so slow and make a paste first than add the hot liquid

I'm sure I'll be an anxiety-ridden mess once this settles in and hits me, but right now I am so excited. I finally have my surgery date (revision) set for May 22nd! I start my pre-op diet this weekend (basically, as soon as I get to the grocery store). I was actually hoping to be doing all liquids (I find it easier than having to navigate the weird world of food), but I'm doing two shakes, one Protein bar, and one "sensible meal" a day. Should be do-able. My schedule has suddenly become jam packed with support group meetings, pre-op testing at the hospital, a surgery education appointment, an appointment with my surgeon to discuss pre-op testing results, an IVC filter placement date and all the rest. I have the feeling I am going to be a very busy girl until surgery...ha!

I'm on day 4 and feel great!! More energy, don't feel heavy! I admit my stomach feels empty and it growls at times but I'm not starving! I'm on 4 protein shakes, 1 protein bar and 1 protein soup a day. Tons of water. I do get sleepy earlier at night. And it gives you diahrea

My husband is so worried about this surgery. When I first told him about my decision he sort of gave me a guilt trip. He said I should try exercising and dieting and all this stuff. Since I am a self pay he mentioned other options of course. I told him that my mind was made up and that I need support because I was scared enough. Now that the time is getting closer he sees that the surgery is next week, he is so frightened. He stayed up last night starring at me because he said he was scared of what could happen or the complications maybe. Now I find myself trying to comfort him. My anxiety level has sky rocketed big time and now I have to worry about comforting my husband. Anyone had this problem?

Try looking for soy protein powders. Medifast is made from soy and has multiple flavors. I have a lot of left overs from doing that plan and even though it isnt as much protein in one drink (its closer to 12 grams per serving) at least its a liquid protein u can make with water.

My face became red and I was burning up (it subsided after about an hour). I HATE Isopure. Any suggestions on how to get Protein if I'm going to have allergic reaction?

Oh my gosh... yesterday I was finally allowed to go from all liquids to MUSHY's!!!! You would have thought I'd won the lottery or something, it's ridiculous to be this much in love with food, I tell ya! But after having liquids like forever, the taste of 6 green beans and 6 tiny scalloped (box style) potatoes was like HEAVEN!!!! Yes, a tablespoon of food filled me up. I did take about 5 "sips" of water BEFORE I ate the food. Still trying to remember not to GULP the water. Man... my chest tighten up and I was like woooooo! Okay, sip sip sip! But I guess if I do it enough it will finally sink in! For breakfast I did get in my protein shake so that (green beans and potatoes) was my lunch for a late afternoon snack I had a couple crackers w/ peanut butter (oh to taste peanut better again... yummy) and then very late for dinner I had about a tablespoon of cottage cheese and peaches and that was it for the day. AND I was satisfied. On MY scale I'm down 28 pounds (nude) but at the doctors w/ my heavy gym shoes and winter clothes I'm down 23. Okay, maybe my scale is off, but I'll take either one. This is only 9 days since my operation!! I saw the dr. office Wed. the nurse checked my stitches and said they are healing nicely. Two days ago I stop my pain medicine all together and I feel pretty good. Walking much better, though light headed if I stand long probably co's well, maybe I not getting enough protein in, but the nurse said not to worry about that til week 4, right now she said we're just trying to get you healed. I was thrilled to see my doc just before I was leaving. He came out of his office to give me a hug and said "She'll be a rock star before you know it." (I had to laugh. I REALLY like Dr. Watkins a lot. I was SOOOOO grateful he repaired my hernia (also finding a 2nd one I didn't even know I had) during my lap band surgery. My port is now right above my belly button. He said mine is different than most people because he put it where the hernia was. Not sure how that is going to change things for me or not, but "right now" even when I get sick (tell ya about that in a minute) I'm LOVING my band and sooooooo glad I made this decision to go through with this surgery even after all the negative I was hearing from friends. Mom told me last night, not everyone is going to be happy your loosing weight - so do this for yourself and she told me that she was proud of me. That made me feel so good! I have the best parents in the world! Now about the "getting sick" - well I tried to take "Alive" a multi vitiamine for woman and man, I took one bit of applesauce (I had mixed it in there) and I was straight to the bathroom. I was like Oh Lord please don't let me vomit (esp. since my stitches are still healing) but I did a little, but it wasn't too rough - my body cramped up in my stomach (prob. co's I'm low on water) so I just stretched and that went away. NOt sure what vitamine I can take but that one went into todays TRASH! I haven't started my 30 min daily exercise yet. I think I'm going to wait until after week 4 (my own personal choice) I forgot to ask the nurse about that, but I do notice it feels like I can BREATH BETTER!!!! Like there's is not so much weight on my chest or something???? So right now I'm in a happy place. Thank God for my lap band!!!!