Oregondaisy

Debbie, when I was given the mushie list, it included everything except beef. I wasn't supposed to eat beef until after 6 weeks past surgery. You do have to be careful not to eat the wrong foods ( according to my surgeon) because you can damage your stomach and band without even knowing it until further on down the road. I can't remember when you said you were banded. A couple of the things I ate a lot on my mushy list were string cheese and turkey breast luncheon meat. It doesn't necesarily have to be pureed foods, but they are supposed to be soft foods. Cottage cheese and egges were on the list, but I despise both of those.

As far as a special diet goes, my doctor said to eat 70% Protein, 30% fruits and veggies. I know for me, if I eat carbs, I crave carbs. I try not to eat them in any form, other than the little bit in veggies. There is a South Beach thread going on, and the South Beach diet does fit in well with all the bandster rules. The fruit I eat are frozen berries, because they are supposed to have the fewest calories. There are some people on a different board, that are going to WW and following the points. I know I could never count points. I also make sure I drink at least 64 oz of Water every day, and I put benefiber in the water. I was really having constipation problems before I started doing that. For treats I eat sugar free popsicles and fudgesicles, sugar free Jello and Dannon Fit and Lite yogurt that has 60 calories.It's made with Splenda. I would be curious to hear what everyone else is eating, because I certainly am not losing like I would like to. I blame my hormones on slowing my weight loss down. The main reason I cut out the carbs (other than dr.'s orders) is I totally crave chocolate if I eat carbs. It's all I think about, once I start eating too many carbs.

I just read some of the past posts, and the struggles we are all having. It doesn't make sense that meat gets stuck and it's so hard to eat, but junk food goes down just like we were never banded. I know for me, the only thing that helps me is to just eat protein and veggies, and very little fruit. The more carbs I eat, the more I crave them. It gets really old, that's for sure. I get really sick of eating the same things over and over again. But I know for a fact, if I eat something I am not supposed to have, I will gain a couple of lbs that it took me a month to lose. It very discouraging, but I know I didn't pay $10,000 and take out a 2nd mortgage on my house to not lose this weight. I have to keep remembering that.

Wow! You really have had a horrible year. I am so sorry. We hear about the hurricane victims but this actually makes it a lot more real. I hope you will stay here on this thread and keep us posted on how you're doing. We are here for you!

I am so sorry to hear about your mom. That had to be really hard to go through. I don't know what to say to ease your pain, other than I lost my mom 4 years ago, and it's really hard to think about not being able to talk to her anymore. We are all here to support each other, and let us know if there is anything we can do to encourage you.

:)I am doing fine with my South Beach Diet. I have a cold and haven't been on the computer much. I stayed in bed most of yesterday. I would like to read your journal and see how you are managing to stay under 1200 calories. I don't have that problem. I need to eat less calories. I need to get a food scale and measure my portions. I am sure I would lose better if I knew what the correct portion size was. Is that how you know how many ounces of meat you're eating, when you say 3 oz of chicken, etc? Please make a link to your journal, since you said you didn't mind us reading it. I am sure it will help me. thank you!

Bjean, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me here. Are you saying if you take a shower, then you skip breakfast? Or are you saying a hot shower makes breakfast go down easier. I am sorry I am so brain dead. I call it meno fog:phanvan

I don't know. I had nothing but liquids for the first 3 weeks. The last week that I was supposed to be on liquids I did cheat a little. I had a piece of turkey breast luncheon meat, and a piece of grilled fish. Both were on the mushie list. The liquid diet took away my craving for sweets. I was very heavily warned by the dr. and the nurse about damaging the band and the stomach if I didn't follow doctor's orders. It made me afraid to cheat. He said probblems wouldn't show up right away, but could later on down the road.

Welcome!!:welcome2::welcomeB: I am always so happy to see someone new join this thread. It's completely different for those of us over the age of 50, than those youngsters trying to lose. It comes off so much easier for them. I have never thown up or slimed, if that helps you at all. My surgery was a piece of cake. I have had problems with food getting stuck, but I have learned to chew and chew until it's completely liquid in my mouth. I always ate too fast anyway! I am happy to report that I finally lost 2 lbs. I am so afraid I will mess up this weekend. It took me a month to lose these 2 lbs but one bad weekend, and I will gain it back.

I am glad I made you giggle!:biggrin1: I read all about the complications too, after my surgery was already scheduled and thought "what am I getting myself into" That's why I am afraid to get another fill. I don't want to start puking but since the weight loss stopped ever since I went back to regular food, I am really discouraged. I think the problem with my food sticking was from not chewing well enough, so I am not afraid to get another fill now. I haven't had anything stick in about a week now. Yay!

I use spark people too. I need to get a food scale though because I have no idea if my portion is the same as what they have listed.

I am 54 and 5'2'' too. I started the day of surgery at 215, so we are really close. It's harder to lose for those of us that don't have as much to lose as some of the others. I have high hopes that this will be the answer for me. I had to pay myself, so I made the decision and got banded right away before I gave myself a chance to change my mind. Good luck. I hope you join bandland soon!

Thank you too! That is encouraging. I was really afraid with the HRT I really wouldn't be able to lose. I am looking forward to getting another fill so I can have smaller portions. I know how much I am supposed to eat, but I too usually eat more than I am suppoed to. I look forward to being like some of the other people I have read about on here, that get full from just a few bites.

I wouldn't think I would be putting on muscle at this point because I have been doing this for the past 3 years. I joined the gym to try to lose weight, but never lost anything. The gym does have a new trainer. I do plan on talking to her. I know you aren't supposed to do the same exercises forever but I don't know anything else, except for the machines I use.

Susan I am really sorry to hear about that. I am so afraid of that. I have had chicken get stuck but I have never thrown it up. I always have some sort of sauce on it so I think that helps. It is really painful when it gets stuck! I hate it:angry I felt really full today, which is a new thing for me. But I have caught another cold and I am really mad about that. I have no energy to exercise. I had a bad cold a little over a month ago and went on antibiotics. I hope I get over this one fast.

BJean, Can you tell me what you normally eat? I am afraid I am eating the wrong things. 40 lbs sounds wonderful to me! I would be so happy to lose 20 more. I don't have unrealistic goals for myself because I am 54 so I don't expect to get down as low as I was as a teenager. The whole thing of being in my 50's and being on HRT scares me because I have heard it's really hard to lose if you are on hormones.

I was banded on 12-29 and had my first fill on 2-12. I have 1 1/4 cc in a 4C band.

Normally I have a can of low carb slim fast for breakfast. I do that because it's easy to mix the benefiber in there. I was really having problems with no fiber in my diet. For lunch I usually have a couple slices of low fat ham with about a teaspoon of (on each slice) low fat cream cheese rolled up. Yesterday I had about 3/4 of a cup of ground turkey with some BBQ sauce on it. Sometimes for dinner I have a lean cusine or a WW meal with a protein and a veggie. I never buy the ones that have any carbs in them. In the evening I usually have a sugar free popsicle. I always have at least 64 oz of water. I have a 32 oz bottle that I fill twice and sometimes have a couple of extra glasses. I have to be careful not to drink too late cause if I get up in the middle of the night, I can't get back to sleep. I lift weights and do 30 min on the elliptical machine and 15 min. on the treadmill almost every day. I take Mondays off because that's the day I work full time. I feel like I should have lost something by now, beside the 20 I lost during the liquid stage. I had my first fill on 2-12, and haven't lost anything. It's discouraging. I hope when I get my next fill at the end of the month, something changes. I have 1 1/4 cc's in my 4C band.

Gailnnr I will be thinking of you tomorrow. I hope your surgery recovery is as easy as mine was! ( I hope everyone's recovery is as easy as mine was) BJean, I am 5'2" also. I have been exercising regularly for the past 3 years. I joined a gym and started exercising my brains out in my last attempt to lose weight. I never lost anything.It was the "lose 2 lbs during the week, and gain it back on the weekend sydrome" I have the exercise habit now, and feel extremely guilty when I don't make it to the gym. I have high hopes that I will start losing again, when I get another fill. I am always afraid I will be a banster failure. It's scary to get filled and not know whether or not it's going to be to a point where I am pbing all the time. I know a lady that couldn't hold anything down. Right now I have problems with food sticking, so it scares me to get another fill, but I sure do want to get some of this weight off! I know it's harder as we get older, and I am so afraid I won't be able to do this.

Crabcake, if you are worried about the recovery part of this, I can tell you I had absolutely no recovery what so ever. I got banded and the next day I was out walking 3 dogs. I never had any pain what so ever. I know others have had more trouble recovering, but I have had dental work that was more painful. I wouldn't have even known I had surgery, to tell you the truth. I had it on a friday and went back to work on Monday. the hard part for me is expecting to lose weight and not having that happen. I have had one fill, but I am having trouble keeping off the 20 lbs that I lost while I was on liquids for four weeks. It's really discouraging. I am sure that taking hormones has something to do with it. I am looking forward to talking to the dr. at the end of the month.

You sound just like me. I lost the 20 when I was on liquids for 4 weeks and now after my first fill I am having trouble keeping that 20 off. It's really discouraging.

I really need help. I am really discouraged. I am having trouble keeping off the 20 I lost during the liquid stage. I know it's harder to lose as we get older, but I didn't pay $10,000 to not lose. I am afraid to get another fill with the way food gets stuck. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I am drinking over 64 oz of water. I am looking forward to seeing my dr. at the end of the month. I hope he has some answers for me. I plan to do a lot of cardio tomorrow morning because I don't have to be at work until 1pm.

HI all, I wish I was like you and hardly thought about food. I do pretty well in the day time, but in the evenings, all I do is think about sweets. That was the way it was before I was banded. The only time it went away is when I was on liquids. I am getting really discouraged.

Hi Debbie, I am 2 months out and I have a little stitch sticking out too. My surgeon said it was very common. He told me he could cut it off if I wanted him to. I was afraid to have him do that though. I thought he might accidently nick my skin. He said it takes 3 months but they will disolve. You're right- 4 weeks on liquids is really hard. The first week was really hard because I wasn't used to it. The next two weeks were really easy. I was used to it, and I wasn't hungry. I enjoyed not having to worry about what to eat. I mostly drank low carb slim fast. Sometimes I would have the high Protein Soups that I bought at the dr.'s office. The 4th week I was really tired of liquids and I really wanted to eat. I cheated a little bit and had some foods off the mushy list a few times. There were people on here that only had to do 3 weeks on liquids, so I justified it by telling myself that other doctors only make their patients do 3 weeks on liquids. I didn't have to do any kind of presurgery diet though, so it was just the 4 weeks after surgery on liquids. Then 2 weeks of mushies. Now I am trying to decide if I should have another fill. I really hate it when food gets stuck. It's quite painful. Plus I haven't told everyone about my surgery, so when food get stuck in front of other people, it's kind of a pain in the neck. I just have to remember to eat really slowly and chew very well. I hope you'll stay on this thread. I really think it's easier to relate to women closer to my age. I know menopause plays a big part on this "harder to lose that other people" business too. On some of the other threads, they are talking about how their band feels tighter when it's that time of the month. Glad you posted here!

I don't know if I qualify yet. I have only lost 2 lbs since moving off from liquids after my first fill, for a total of 20 lbs. I haven't lost anything in the last month. I am 54 and I have heard that the older you are the slower you lose, plus I am on hormones. I have also heard you lose really slowly if you are on hormones. I am afraid to get any more fill because food gets stuck often. I have never pbed though. I just need to take smaller bites and chew more. I have 1.25 ccs in the band that holds 4 or 5. Surgeon said 5 but someone else told me there is no such thing. I really would like opinions on whether or not I should get any more put in there, since I get food stuck so often. I certainly didn't pay 10,000 to not lose the weight and that's what I am really afraid of. Thanks for any help or advice you can give me.