Newly banded, How often can you eat??

[Laura P 0]

I was banded 2/19, I'm now slighly over 2 wks out, on puree stage. I was told "eat only when hungry", "stop when feeling full", "only 2 oz at a meal". I also was told that lapband may need 3-6 meals a day, Snacks optional. Here's where I'm getting confused. I eat my 2 oz meal, feel satisfied until about 2.5hr later. I start to feel hungry again, I start to get real crampy, and end up having diarrhea. Once I eat I feel better again until the whole process repeats itself. I was wondering, does anyone else have this problem? How often can I eat? Is there a maximum intake I can have (staying within my list of approved foods)? Should I be having more "snacks" which really dont satisfy me? I am meeting my 48-64oz Fluid requirement in between.

[Astrasmom 1]

I was banded 2/19, I'm now slighly over 2 wks out, on puree stage. I was told "eat only when hungry", "stop when feeling full", "only 2 oz at a meal". I also was told that LAP-BAND® may need 3-6 meals a day, Snacks optional. Here's where I'm getting confused. I eat my 2 oz meal, feel satisfied until about 2.5hr later. I start to feel hungry again, I start to get real crampy, and end up having diarrhea. Once I eat I feel better again until the whole process repeats itself. I was wondering, does anyone else have this problem? How often can I eat? Is there a maximum intake I can have (staying within my list of approved foods)? Should I be having more "snacks" which really dont satisfy me? I am meeting my 48-64oz Fluid requirement in between.

The diarrhea part is normal. Most new banders go through this because your body is getting used to the new diet.

As for the feeling hungry part, that's also normal. You are entering Banders Hell which is the time from banding until your first fill. Your feeling hungry because the swelling is going down. You will find yourself having to run on pure will power right now. Try your best not to give in.

Are you using Protein supplements inbetween your meals? My nutrionist told me that it was ok to up my 4oz shakes to 8oz shakes as long as I sipped them slow. That seemed to help me. I had 3 meals and 3-4 shakes inbetween. If you time them 2 hours apart you should be ok. In place of the shake if you don't feel like having that you can have a small snack. I would suggest Fat Free Cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese. Something with Protein so that you aren't hungry.

Example:

7am - shake

9am - Breakfast (egg, yogurt...)

11am - shake

1pm - lunch

3pm - shake

5pm - dinner

7pm - shake

[Chele6378 0]

During pureed I pretty much ate when I was hungry. If my stomach was making noise, I at something with Protein...usually yogurt. I'm not a big fan of shakes and they really give me the poops!

My pureed days went like this...

6am (that's when I get up for work!) Yogurt to take meds since they have to be crushed

8am - scrambled egg

10 am - oatmeal or a SF Jello snack

12 pm- Soup cream of something

3pm - yogurt

6pm - dinner...puree dinner with the food processor. Whatever I made for the family - I put it in the food processor.

8 pm - if I need a snack, SF pudding or a glass of milk would be a decent snack too. If I was low on Protein for the day, I'd do a shake or carnation instant Breakfast.

During the pureed stage, it got pretty boring! Alot of repeat foods.

I hope that helps! Good luck! I promise - it gets better!!

[Laura P 0]

Thank you both for your replies. This is definitely bandster hell! I'm finding the more frequent meal/snack breaks are definitely helping to lessen the cramping and bathroom stops. I also tried an oatmeal as my last nighttime break and it helped me get thru the night, got a full 8 hours sleep!!

[MollyG 0]

Wow - thank you too! I was banded early February and I've been lost. Sometimes I eat more than the 2 oz and sometimes I eat more often than every 2hrs...I'm trying though. It's easy to stay on track at work, but harder on the weekends.

[BetsyB 9]

The diarrhea is, indeed, normal. It will taper off.

As for bandster hell--well, yep. It's hell! I'm only now beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, restriction-wise.

How often you eat is dictated by a couple of things. You can go with what your doctor "prescribes," if s/he does that sort of thing. (Mine did.) Or you can listen to your body--but with caution.

If I ate whenever I was hungry, I never would have stopped eating. I'd STILL be eating far more than would allow loss. Why? Because I was hungry all the time at the beginning. (Face it: a couple of ounces of food just isn't going to sustain you for many hours, if your stomach empties at almost the same rate it did preop.)

But my doctor is a three-meal-a-day kind of dude. No Snacks. And that isn't particularly liveable when there is no restriction. (It does help build good habits, though incorporating healthy Snacks is not exactly inappropriate, either.)

I've done my best to stick with three meals a day, but I do give myself permission to have between-meal snacks when genuinely hungry---as long as they are nutrient-dense and primarily Protein. I stick to things like string cheese, a Babybel cheese, Parmesan crisps, or a bit of Greek yogurt with unflavored Protein, vanilla, and Splenda stirred in. Nothing that adds tremendously to my daily calories, but enough to bump up my protein a bit and tide me over in a satisfying, healthy way.

Despite lack of restriction, my loss has been really quite good--so this works for me. As I approach good restriction, I find that the snacks are falling by the wayside; by the time I get stomach-rumbling hungry, it's usually only 1 to 1 1/2 hours from mealtime, and I can talk myself into waiting.

One thing that helps tremendously is adhering to the no-liquids-for-a-specified-period-after-eating rule. For me, that's 90 minutes. (My surgeon is TOUGH!) If I wait that 90 minutes, then I have an awful lot of Fluid to push in the time frame remaining between meals. Focusing on that helps take the focus off food.< /p>

It gets better--truly! And things do become more intuitive and more manageable. At the beginning, we devote SO much time and effort thinking about food, but just a little later on, a little good planning/thinking about your daily schedule, and you're good to go :biggrin:

[Laura P 0]

Thank you all for your feedback. This weekend I attempted 3 "meals" and did 3 additional in-between "snacks", all with Protein. If I stay ahead of the 3-3.5hr mark, I found I avoided all the bad cramping and running to the bathroom. I also found that if I have any protein shakes....the cramping starts all over again along with the more frequent diarrhea. I think I'll stick with any real foods that will provide the protein. I'm not liking the consequences of having Protein Drinks right now! I've been making my tuna/chicken salad in my food processor and tolerating it very well and it holds me a bit longer than yogurt! My treat for dinner is some pureed turkey breast with a spoonful of mashed potatoes with a teaspoon fatfree gravy over it. I actually feel like I'm eating "real food" and am enjoying it! I cant wait to get to the next diet stage..one week to go!! My results are showing now too....I'm down total 35 lb since my highest and first appt, and down 21 since last preop visit! Its nice motivation...as is having all the support on here!

[DodgerFan 0]

My docs says while 3 meals a day is the goal, it's not expected during liquids and mushies. He said eat as often as I need to, just watch my calorie intake.

The nutritionist and other office staff are constantly reminding people not to expect things to start being "normal" (for a bandster) until proper restriction is met. Likewise, they don't expect patients to follow the rules of a properly restricted bandster until they are.