December Bandsters

[NN32 0]

Hey all. I was banded 12/7 and seem to be in the midst of a plateau, I guess. Saw the nutritionist yesterday on my 3 week anniversary, and her weight calculation was only 7 lbs. It is so disappointing. When they weighed me before surgery I was 235. WHen I got home after 1 day in hosp. with all the IV fluids, I was 244. Today 227. I have no problem with food, and in fact have a bit of a binge problem. Once I start I cant stop until I dont feel well, but I am still eating much less than I would have before the band. I fear I will be one of the statistics that lost a few pounds and thats it. Peple are watching and I feel overwhelmed. I am going to support group 1/3/07. Any advice. WHat are people eating 3 weeks later, as I am basically on soft well chewed foods, and have minimized the carbs substantially. Also working out. Weights and glider at least 20 minutes a few nights a week. Help...I feel like I am loosing the battle already:think

[thininde 0]

Hi NN - I was banded 12/6, and was just cleared for pureed food, tuna fish, yogurt, stuff like that. Don't beat yourself up about weight loss, everyone loses differently, and diff rates. It's important that you are working out and sticking to the diet that was recommended by your doctor.

[bkwalling 0]

don't feel u are losing the battle because until we get a good fill the lap band isn't even working right so don't lose hope

I haven't lost any weight in 3 days I am ill but we can't just watch the scale we will lose the majority of our weight after some good fills

[thininde 0]

I agree with bk, my doctor told me that after my first fill I will really begin to see a change in our weight.

[sweethot143 2]

surgeon said aok for mushies!

[beversman 0]

NN32 - you are probably also building muscle mass... dont forget about that.

You need to get out the tape measure and watch the inches fall away... even when the pounds seem to be staying.

You can still tone up and lose mutilple sizes even if you aren't moving the scale as much as you would like. :-)

You are doing fine. Dont worry

[KariWI 1]

Hi all

NN- One of my goals is to stop the "scale mentality". If I eat healthy, exercise, and use the tools that I have in my bariatric surgery notebook I will get to where I need to be both mentally and physically. Our society as a whole is so impatient ( I include myself in that). We chose the lapband knowing that we were not going to drop the weight like gastric bypass patients but that we wanted to learn how to keep it off during the process of losing the weight. As I read the threads everyone loses at different speeds and some feel restriction from the very beginning and some not until the 3rd or 4th fill. It is a journey for all of us, some of it we have to do alone but always with the support of friends and fellow lapbanders. Wow did I get philosphical or what. Didn't mean to get "preachy" to anyone, I am the last one to be able to do that but we are all works in progress.

Beversman- You didn't mention how your incisions looked when you went to the doctor. Some of the things you eat my surgeon already called mushies like oatmeal. I have 2 more weeks on mushies and I'm trying to get creative so I don't get bored of them.

StephC- Sounds like you have a great surgeon!!! That is a wonderful support system.

Paloma- There are instructions on how to add a ticker under the preop thread I think. I have found two sites where you can build your own and then paste the url to your signature. One is tickerfactory.com and then other is choosing2lose.com.

bkwalling- Sorry your neighbor sabatoged you with Milky Way. Forgive yourself and go on from here is all you can do. If you learned how to handle her the next time she swoops in then it was a experience to help you along the way.

[StephC 0]

I know it can be frustrating but we are all still healing and shouldn't even be worried about weight loss. I know thats alot easier said then done. The other thing is if you are eating 700 calories your body is in starvation mode. Kick it up to 1000 or 1200 for a few days and then back down to about 900 and see if that doesn't do the trick. I know I feel like I'm eating alot more and the scale isn't moving anymore. I'm determined not to get on it until next dr visit in 2 weeks. My doc also said after the first fill then we will talk about weight loss but for now just let my band heal.

For those of you on mushies what is a typical day? I have an egg with rye toast (I know technically I shouldn't be eating the toast yet) or oatmeal then lunch is something simple like mashed potatoes, canned fruit, and cottage cheese (today I had a scrambled egg with the fruit and cottage cheese), then supper has been almost what the family has eaten. I had tuna casserole last night, along with peaches and cottage cheese. I should slow down on the cottage cheese but its the LF kind and has so much Protein and I like it. I have something before bed too - I can't think right now what I had last night, maybe some frozen yogurt, but I think I'm eating 4 small meals a day from 200-250 calories. I have to say I never feel FULL - satisfied and the other thing is I think my pouch holds more then 1/2 cup! I havent' measured but it seems more like a cup before I even feel satisfied. I made oatmeal the other day and I made 1/3 cup uncooked - so I guess that makes about 2/3 cup and I didn't eat it all. I haven't written it down and figured out the calories (just in my head) and the doctor said after the next visit when I move to regular food he will have me track my food, we'll see if I lose and thats how he will judge my fill. He said some people don't need a fill for 3 months (I know thats not me!).

I went to work today - I was there at 9 so I didn't take the time to eat Breakfast, just drank a half cup of sugar free cappiccino around 11 my stomach started to growl like - woman I am hungry! But then it passed and I finished work and didn't eat until I got home at 1:00. But when I did eat I wasn't starved like I had felt earlier - kinda strange.

Resist the PH demons!

[Grumpy_nyc 0]

Hello all December Bandsters.

I had my LB on 12/26/06. I was very excited but very nervous at the same time. Mine was a combination of LB and repair of a hiatal hernia which makes my pain even worse now. Today it was the day to remove the gauges that cover the incisions. I'm left with small white strips over the cuts which are going to fall on their own, according to my doctor. Sorry to be so graphic but I'm sure everyone here who went through the surgery has experienced the same. After I took the gauges out I have this "funny" feeling that I should be sitting up straight because the incisions will open, or try not to move much for the same reason. Not sure how easily they can open but has anyone else experienced the same?

[PALOMA 0]

Thamks Stephc and KariWI I will defiinately try those. About those pizza urges my kids favorite is pizza so I totally understand so the other day I grabbed a slice and just scraooed the sauce and cheese and believe me it hit the spot so maybe that will help When i did this I was only 2 weeks out and I didn't get sick but I only did like 2 little bites just to kill my craving i'm on mushies and went to KFC today and had a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravey and corn it's this really good bowl thing that has chicken, corn and tiny piedes of chicken yummmy!! it was really good had about 5 bites and totally stuffed but hey now I have dinner these last couple of days i've been doing alot better on the Water thing which to me I think has been the hardest.

NN32 Hang in there my brother was also banded on 12/07/06 and has not lost any weight either were both banded the same day with the same surgeon and have both had totally different experiences i have lost about 19 lbs. so he is also very discouraged but were all different so I think i'll be platoing pretty soon but we'll see what happens. good luck everyone and have a great New Years !!!

[bkwalling 0]

Paloma U Are Doing Awesome

Grumpy - I Hope U Get Better U Will Time Is The Best Healer

Trust Me I Am Nearly Two Wks Out And Almost My Old Self

Kari Thanks For The Kind Words About The Neighbor She Is Nuts

Steph What I Eat On A Daily Basis I Will Be Two Wks Post Op Monday And I Have Been On Mushies A Few Days

For Breakfast Two Scrambled eggs

lunch About One Cup Of Soup Mostly Cream Of Something Soup

Supper Is Usually Shredded Turkey Mash Tators

I Also Every Other Day Have A Protein shake Instead Of eggs For Breakfast I Do Not snack But Only Because I Feeeeeeeeeeel Fuullll All The Time I Have A Hard Time Eating Enough Protein But My Doc Said In About Two More Wks I Should Be Feeling Hungry When I Was On liquids I Was Starving To Death But Mushies Are A Welcome Change Anyhow I Have Head Hunger And Crave pizza Nuggets chicken Wings Nachos Salads chips Hot Dogs Did I Say pizza Oh Hamburgers Such As Big Macs And Thickburgers Anything Sweet Okay I Just Kidding Now But I Am Sure I Made My Lovely Fellow Bandsters Head Hungry

Oh On The Mush Stage Did Yall Try Ice Cream Wal Mart Had sugar free And I Am Wondering Can I Have It I Emailed My Surgeon No Response Yet

[PALOMA 0]

Bkwalling I have no idea about the sugarfree Ice cream from Wal-mart but I've been eating it they have a lot of different choices of sugar free Ice Cream and there not bad at all I first started with just the popsicle kind but I now that i'm on mushies i've had the sugarfree iccream sandwiches made with the splenda sugar and they are really yummy . I totallly agree with all the cravings for real food but come on I know we can do it. You know i have to admit yesterday I took my kids to mcdonalds and ate my sons left over double cheese burger just the meat patty bad idea after2 bitesI was in the bathroom and sick for the next hour so bad really bad choice it's very hard with 4 kids. But it's these kind of experiences that really help

[siyah 0]

So I was banded Wed. around 4:00PM and spent the night resting a little in between drinking Water and a very painful first trip out of bed. I loved the morphine drip and did really well in the hospital. i walked a lot, got all my Water in and only felt nauseated once. The nurses were wonderful and massaged the gass pain from my upper left shoulder/arm/chest area. (Common) I now do it and it works great to get rid of the pain.

THursday I came home, played scrabble with a friend and then went to bed for four hours. I got up, made dinner for my husband, stayed akake until 11:00 and then slept until 6:00.

This morning I made him breakfast, puttered a bit and managed to walk to walk the dog for 45 minutes! I was pretty tired after that so i watched a movie, took the narcotic pain killer and slept for 4 1/2 hours. now I am up and think we are going out to a movie.

The pain lessens each hour. Getting water in today is hard. I really have to practice not gulping and not taking air in with each swallow. I've gotten one Protein (23 grams) in today, and all the supplements, though I have bad diarrhea. (normal?)

No redness and the pain seems normal. I haven't been able to bring myself to peek under the bandages yet- maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for all the kind words!

Siyah :clap2:

[beversman 0]

I bought an elliptical machine today.

I made potato Soup and ate some today. I feel like I am going to gain weight. I am only eating about 1/2 cup when I do eat.... hhhmmmmm

Breakfast - Matrix Protein shake

lunch - 1/2 to 3/4 cup potato soup

- sugar free popsicle

dinner - 3 TBSP potatoes 1/4 cup shreded chicken

why do i feel guilty? why do i feel like im gaining weight?

i know, i know --- take my own advice "this is not a time to be losing weight. it is a time to heal."

easier said than done

I suck.

[StephC 0]

B-man you do not suck! You're doing great! Do you like your new machine? I asked my daughter about it and if I would like it and she said no - you wouldn't use it. LOL ok then

I'm going to repeat myself but this is what I ate today.

No bkfst

1 scrambled egg, rye toast, cottage cheese and canned peaches

went to dinner - cajun seafood alfredo - ate about 1/4 of the huge plate - cut up the shrimp and loved the scallops and the noodles were very soft

went to son's for his b-day - had sliver of cake

had 1/2 cup of chocolate yogurt before bed - except I didn't go to bed yet.

On the one hand it doesn't seem like much but then on the other hand I think I'm eating alot - I don't snack in between because I'm really not hungry.

So Paloma - have you ever gotten sick before this? I never ever have felt nausated except right out of surgery and they gave me something for it. Did you throw up. You need to be very careful about that you could hurt yourself. I haven't always made the greatest choices but nothing has made me sick. Do you have a fill yet?

Grumpy - I felt the same way, that I should sit up straight. Did you take a shower yet? Once you shower the strips will start to fall off.

Siyah - good to hear you are doing better - take it easy for a few days and you'll be back to your old self in no time. Gasx, heating pad