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Yes! Don't give up! Restriction is just around the corner. I had a little restriction after surgery, and a bit more after the first fill. Now I have 7 CCs in a 10 CC band and, for me, it is perfect. It is like the difference between night and day. NOW I feel like I actually have a Lap-Band. Now I don't think I should stop eating. I simply can't eat anymore. After, for example, half a sandwich I'm full. I chew pretty thoroughly and I start to slow down between bites about halfway through my 1/2 sandwich (or whatever). In that waiting time between bites, I can feel whether or not it's okay to take another bite. When it's time to stop I can tell. If I don't stop at that point, I will get a very sharp pain in my chest. If I go past that (which has only happened once or twice), then it gets really gross. Sliming, etc. You can read all about that on this forum. But the big deal for me is that it's not hard to stop eating when it's time. I'm full, I feel good. I'm done. That old drive to overeat no matter what the cost doesn't come into play. It's a different sensation, and for me, right now anyway, it's working great. I've had good restriction for about 5 weeks and I couldn't be happier with it. Good luck to you!

Oh Thank Goodness I'm not alone! I am 12 days post surgery and I am so scared because I find that I haven't had to puree my foods as much as I thought I would have to. I dont have any problem with feeling full or wanting to snack. I am eating good Proteins, veggies/fruits and just chewing chewing chewing. I even had some green Beans and beets that were not pureed but smashed and it all went down well. BUT I am so afraid that I am either not eating the right combination of food or maybe eating too much. I do measure and/or weigh each of them and have not snacked or cheated in any way but I am GAINING weight... At 10 days post op, I had lost a total of 26 pounds but in the last 2 days I have gained almost 5 pounds. I wonder if I am retaining Water, am I eating too much or not the right combination of foods. I also wonder if its because I went 8 days on liquids and then it took a few days for my body to bounce back and catch up.

Hey everyone, 1st of all, the surgery has changed my life! Being 204 lbs at 6’0 tall is life changing! I haven’t been this weight since college in 1992. I have a football players body so broad shoulders big build. Everyone has commented how great I look. I had my surgery on 10/6/19 Heres the problem: For the last 6 weeks I’ve stopped losing weight. I’m stuck at 204. my stomach isn’t happy with pure protein. Right around Thanksgiving, I started noticing that when I ate protein of anytype my stomach would growl and seriously cramp and be upset until I could mix carbs in with the protein -then my stomach would be satisfied. Then I started eating a lot of rice. Sushi 4-5 pieces is satisfying with salmon and yellow tail with rice under it and I’m satisfied. Then I went into my unhealthy eating habits. I eat a lot of candy everyday....realizing I have a disease, I threw out all of the candy today. I threw out all of my trigger foods. I threw out all of the chips I was eating. All of the junk food is gone from my house. Please understand, I have a mental disorder called an eating disorder. My stomach hasn’t stretched. I still throw up eating too much, I have a small pouch, I’m still in the honeymoon phase, and even eating lots of junk each day lots of candy each day 4 months after surgery I haven’t gained any weight but I stopped losing the last 6 weeks since New Year’s Day. Im going back to pure protein light veggies then a little carbs. I will muscle my way roll my sleeves up and start losing the weight. I want to lose 20 lbs and have a BMI of 25 but my wife, co workers, friends, family all say stop losing weight! You look like a cancer victim. At basically 200 lbs and big broad shouldered football looking dude with a shaved head everyone says enough, but I’m worried with my bad habits that I arrested and threw away today, that eventually I will start gaining weight. Ps my Dr. Said that since my body type needs 2500 calories a day to maintain that I would get to my target weight quickly, which I’m close to. I also know when I get my veggies and fruits in, my candy & chip cravings disappear. Any advice? Is it time for therapy? FYI, Kaiser my provider has horrible non existent opportunities for therapy, the wait list is 4-8 months to get in to see one. Maybe a weekly support group would help? Mark -worried

Anyone else experiencing this? I'll lose 10 pounds, stall for 2 weeks. Lose 10 more and stall for 2 weeks. I have noticed though that my bust waist and hips measurements going down and clothes fitting much looser. My dad even calls me "Slim" now...but still far from it. Just curious if this is normal or if anyone else is doing this? Cindy

I have no idea how to avoid appetizers. I am struggling with them too. Here in Torino instead of having dinner out we often just have an "aperitivo" or appetizer. You just pay for a drink (between 7 and 10 euros) and you can eat all what you want from the buffet, or the waiters keep bringing stuff. There are any kinds of appetizers: from small amounts of pasta to pieces of sandwiches, crisps, fries, cheese, salamis, anything you can imagine. No proteins, if you don't count the cheese on the mini pizzas! It was born in Milan then many cities adopted it too. Gosh, it's a nightmare, but it's a very common way to have this type of "dinner" with friends (because it's cheap and doesn't really require dressing up for a restaurant). I haven't learnt how to manage it either. Yesterday I had a glass of wine (I drunk a couple of sips) and a mini pizza. I did feel guilty, thank goodness I was full straight away! I don't have a solution but I share the same kind of problem!

Good luck Fran. I'll be driving down the Ohio Turnpike on the way to Cleveland Clinic for a procedure for my wife. At 10:00 I'll say a prayer of hope for you, though I know you'll do just fine, and you're gonna love your band. Now that's no small offer. Last time I prayed I burst into flame. LOL.

hi my name is samantha. im 19 years old and i live in nyc. i just got my insurance approval and will have my surgery sometime in august. im so excited! well i just wanted to introduce myself. good luck to everyone!

When mine was so bad all I could tolerate was Popsicles which as you know has no nutrition whatsoever but that's all I could eat for about 8 to 10 weeks.....I'm good now 7 months post-op..stay strong you can do it and this will pass... Sent from my SM-N910V using the BariatricPal App

I highly recommend Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds DVDs. (no affiliation) I have 11 of her DVDS that are in rotation, along with others (Jillian Michaels, Jari Love) Start doing 5, 10 , 15 mins or so, whatever you can do, and before you know it you'll be doing 3 miles. It took me 6 weeks to get to 3, it's a gradual process. Before I hurt my back back in January I could do 6 miles. I'm 57. No athleticism required for WATP. Love them. Great for really hot or cold days. HTH & Good luck!

Wish u had read this thread 10 mins ago just threw a scoop in my decaf coffee. Yuck!

I'm 19 days post op and the liquids are going great but pureed/soft, just started soft today, is a bit tougher. I'm getting better at recognizing being full before I'm too full. It doesn't take but 2oz/4TBS of food to feel this way. I get heartburn every evening about 7pm or so. I just chew a Rolaids and it goes away. It is difficult for me to eat but hopefully with time that will get easier. Anyone have any suggestions? I really love this site and all of you going through the same thing. It really does help me to not feel alone! Thanks to all of you!

Thanks everyone.... I've been browsing the before and after pics thread. That's helped lift my spirits a lot. I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with my daughter.... I was 175 post baby and the weight crept up to 215 over the course of maybe 6-8 months post partum. I've been a sliding scale ever since. I try to lose and I'll drop 10-20 pounds and gain it all back shortly after. The first 10 pounds is easy.... but it took me forever and a day to lose 20 stinkin pounds, and with all the hoopla about '10 pounds a month is healthy', thats discouraging to hear when you're working your a## off and can't lose anything. My doc suggested the lap band to me because I've tried so many times and always lose hope after a few months of nothing. Honestly, I just don't have the will power. I have hypothyroidism and POCS which both make it hard to lose weight, so combine that with a low self esteem and whaddya get.... failure and hopelessness. I'm nervous as crap about even considering the lap band... I mean the thought of not being able to pig out on my birthday is not a pretty picture to me. I can stick to a diet pretty well, but a cheat day every now and then is what keeps me going! I'm still thinking about it... lots of questions... I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now. It's been on my brain every single day. It's a scary thought, but it sounds like it's worth it. I think I need some encouragement from folks who have been there. My mom and husband are backing me up and are talking to me about all kinds of stuff, but they don't know what it's like.

A place for us to share progress, or lack of progress, and frustrations and joys.... and any advice to get through these holidays and all of the temptations.

typically i begin with 20 minutes of cardio (elliptical, bike, treadmill with incline) then i begin my weight training for 40 minutes and that includes doing 3-4 sets on each weight training machine. a set includes 10 repetitions on each machine. i usually do 3-4 sets on each machine. i hope this helps!

Hi all. I am post op (11/19) and just joined a gym (24 Hour Fitness). I cannot afford a trainer so I was wondering if anyone can tell me their workout plan or routine? So far I have been doing treadmill for 20 minutes and then I go to different weight machines to work my muscles. I swim for an hour and a half twice a week replacing the workout above. I am obviously looking to lose but also tone. Any advice??? Thank you. Kacey B.

8 weeks out. My full liquid stage was only days 1-3 post op. I was instructed beginning day four to have two shake meal replacements and one puréed protein meal. I was told to weigh that purée meal on a kitchen scale working up to 4oz over a 10 day period. It took me two weeks to be able to reach that quantity and I was getting in only about 30-40 oz of water each day at that point.

Thanks so much!! [emoji3] The 68 I lost preop helped jump start me. VSG 10/11/17 HW = 360 SW = 292 GW = 220 3/7/18 CW = 211.6 (6'5") [emoji256]

6 month follow up exercise eval & appointment today. I'm at 95% excess weight lost!!! Almost a 150 pounds down!! I never would've dreamed I could be at this point. Never! My Before & After pics say it all!! I just need to tell y'all to stick with the program and do what you need to do. Even for the days that you get discouraged. The result is worth it with better health!! So thankful and happy!! [emoji16] VSG 10/11/17 HW = 360 SW = 292 GW = 220 3/7/18 CW = 211.6 (6'5") [emoji256]

I had the gas pains really bad for a full week...then 2 days of shoulder tip pain...that was REALLY bad...i would last about 10 minutes and go away for a couple of hours...I did take the gas-x strips and the chewables...a heating pad helps...walk walk walk. However, to sleep I had to take the liquid pain meds and I would wake just in time for the next dose. hope this helps...it will go away though

I'm 3 days post op. I haven't tried many. The only ones I can seem to handle are the Special K proton shakes but there's only around 10-12 g of protein for one. The large amounts of protein tend to hurt my stomach and I'm not sure why. I can only get down half if I'm lucky and then I end up throwing it out.

to gain 4.6 lbs in a week, you would have had to have eaten 16,100 extra calories - that is, calories above and beyond what your body needs. So unless you've eaten that many extra calories this week, then the "gain" is likely due to water retention or very full intestines. In either case, it should be gone in a couple of days. and yes - you do have to monitor your food intake for life, unfortunately. I gradually put on 10 lbs over the course of a year because I wasn't monitoring myself as closely as I usually do. Working on taking that off now (have lost 7 lbs of it it so far - YAY!). This is a lifelong battle.

I am 17 months post-op on RNY. I lost 20 pounds pre-op and 80 pounds post-op. This occurred during the first 7 months. Then I went into a maintenance mode where I stayed within 2 pounds of my lower weight. A couple months ago I contracted a stomach flu and lost another 10 pounds and decided to maintain my weight at this newest level. I am 150 pounds. I weigh myself each morning when I get up with an accurate scale good to 0.2 pounds. I am led to believe that at about the year and a half mark, my stomach will heal. As it heals the stomach will begin to absorb 100% of the calories instead of 70%. This is just what I have heard and since I have not reached a year and a half, I cannot say this from first hand experience. This could present a problem. In the maintenance phase, one can eat within a range (for me this is 1000-1500) calories per day and not gain weight. I generally consume on the high end of this range. I am happy. But if my body becomes more efficient, it might mean that I will have to drop my calorie intake down significantly in order to maintain my weight.

Not only do I have the lap band but I work in surgery and see patients all the time have this procedure done. I have run across old and new threads about all three being months post op. Well here is the thing and I hate when people get frantic because they dont know what is wrong and want to take their band out or get the by pass done just sayin. I am 10 months post op. I often had and have shoulder pain but shoulder pain comes from over eating. Everyone has a nerve in their stomach that runs from the stomach to the shoulder when you have over eaten and the band presses on that nerve you will have pain. If you are havng this problem then whatever you are eating cut it in half. You also might have inflammation in your stomach so give it a rest of 72 hours. Go back to the diet you had when you came home from the hospital and start over. For gas and bloating my culprit was cinnamon in my coffee and spices and talking while eating, chewing gum, after I stopped all that the gas and bloating stopped. Also start drinking some probiotics dan active, eating activia yogurt, and use gas x until the symptoms stop. You probably are going back to your old eating ways at some point and you just cant. We have to stay on the diet, follow the diet or else you start having side affects you didnt have before. But dont talk about taking out your band until you have tried what you were doing before all that started. Hope it helps I really do.

Soups were my ticket. Any and everything, just pureed real well. My favorites were smoked ham with lentils, chicken veggie and turkey chili. Family had them in their whole form and I put mine in the bullet for a 10 second spin.

7/24 - 10 weeks out, 30.5 pounds down, from 271 to 240.5 Well, I'm truckin' along, and although it SEEMS slow to me, I just realized it actually hasn't been all that slow since I got my first fill. I just looked back at the calendar, and my fill was 2 weeks ago, on 7/10. On 7/10 I weighed 249, and I now weigh 240.5. So, that's a little less than 10 pounds in 2 weeks!! That's actually fantastic!! Wow, all of a sudden I'm counting how many weeks till we go to the beach for our summer vacation, and calculating potentially how far down I COULD be if this restriction holds out!!!!!!! I could be a svelte 210 pounds by then if I play my cards right! Ahhh!! Can't even let myself hope for that, because I don't want to end up feeling discouraged. I've been telling myself that I'd be happy if I could be somewhere in the 220's by September 6, which is the day we leave for the beach. Haven't seen the 220's in several years. Haven't seen 210 since I met my husband in 1999. Under 200 - haven't seen Onederland since I was in college in the early 90's!! The last time I was able to squeeze into a woman's size 12 was when I was in either 9th or 10th grade, and I was able to wear one specific pair of my mom's jeans. They were a size 12, and I have no idea why she had them, because she has always been a size 8 her entire life. But for whatever reason, she had these jeans that were a size 12, and I BARELY fit into them, but I could button and zip them, and that's all that mattered to me. It made me feel so good about myself for that brief period when I could wear them. Funny how you remember things like that. So, getting into a size 12 again someday is going to feel like a HUGE milestone for me. Anyway, so since I got this fill 2 weeks ago, I have noticed that I experience what many other bandsters have described on LBT - my restriction seems to fluctuate day by day, sometimes hour by hour. It's weird, there doesn't seem to really be any rhyme or reason to it? Some days I can eat breakfast and lunch, albeit carefully, but with no problems whatsoever. Some days I can hardly get yogurt to go down without a whole lot of gurgling and noise and burping (non-productive) and other fanfare. On most days, I've found that it's much easier to eat dinner than lunch, and breakfast, forget about it. By the time I get all my pills and vitamins down in the morning, I'm full and don't have any time left for breakfast anyway. That makes me feel guilty, because I know it's bad to skip breakfast, but I really can't help it. Sometimes I'll bring a yogurt along to work with me, and I can eat that at my desk, although it takes a while. Several times I've tried to eat lunch and ended up having to throw it away. I know that SOMETIMES it's because I take too big of a bite right off the bat and don't chew it enough, and then whatever it was gets stuck, and then I'm just done - can't put anything else on top of that bc that will just make it worse (learned THAT the hard way) so I just have to give up and wait till the next meal. But sometimes even if I'm following all the rules and being very conscious about it, even the smallest most chewed-to-liquid bite won't go down easily at lunch time. It's very strange! Every few days I find dinner is challenging as well, but most days dinner is easier than lunch. Mind you, I'm measuring my food intake in bites now, not cups. Lord, I never thought I'd say that. I'm amazed at how my sense of portions has changed. I still have food envy when I watch my husband take a gigantic bite out of some big juicy cheeseburger, or gobble down a bunch of crispy crunchy salad vegetables. (never thought I'd say THAT either! LOL) But when putting food onto my own plate I've gotten very, very good at taking the smallest possible servings of things. And then after I eat, I'm constantly worrying in my head that I've eaten too much, that I'm ABLE to eat too much, that I'll never lose any more weight if I eat this much, etc. And then I remind myself that I only ate, for instance, one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, or something like that. It's weird how your brain processes this phenomenon. Mostly what I've read on LBT is from people saying that they are still ordering the Extra Large Value size of everything, even though they can only eat a small fraction of it. With me it's been the opposite. I automatically order or plate-up the smallest portion, but then have some sort of dysmorphic thing happen where I panic I've eaten too much. I think part of the problem is that I never really feel hungry anymore - and I also never really feel full. That is to say, I never get the feeling of full that I got pre-band.....which was a sickening, oh-my-God-all-I-want-to-do-is-unbutton-my-pants-and-lay-on-the-couch sort of feeling. I regularly ate up until I felt that way at dinner time, almost every night. Not so much at lunch, because I had more distractions from food during that time of day, I guess. I wouldn't say that I MISS that awful stuffed to the gills feeling.....but maybe psychologically I miss having a full belly feeling?? I don't know. And I can't really say that I have ever really recognized true stomach hunger - certainly not pre-band, bc I ate all the time. And not so much post band either. I don't know, maybe I'm just not skilled enough to recognize the feeling yet? So, without being able to discern those specific feelings - hungry vs. full - I think I have a tendency to panic and to STILL think that this surgery is not going to work for me after all (present evidence disregarded) and that I'll end up sabotaging myself, despite my best efforts, as I have always done in the past. I know I've got to work on that. In my ideal world, I wouldn't have to think about, worry about, panic about, plan endlessly for, or obsess over food a-n-y-m-o-r-e. I dream of a day when I can just live my life - and eat whenever it's appropriate to do so to feed my body. Period. I think I'm on my way. I'm amazed to no longer be compelled to nightly binge sessions in front of the TV. I'm incredulous that leftover cookies or bbq chips from weekend cookouts will stay in my pantry, unmolested for weeks. Pre-band, these foods would have literally called out to me over and over again, every time I was in my house, until I either devoured them, or in a fit of fortitude stoicly dumped them down into the gargage disposal so that they couldn't torture me any more. Now, I FORGET that they are even in there. Now, that's not to say that I don't still have a weakness for junk food, and believe me, if it's in a basket somewhere at a party, I'm definitely going to eat some of it. But I don't feel like it has a power over me anymore. That is really quite remarkable. This band certainly requires it's share of sacrifices, but so far, I'd say I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Thirty pounds, no longer weighing me down, gone forever. Amen!