Southern Leo

You can not eat six bites and be full for five hours that is so not right. You should be able to eat 4 oz and not be hungry but the average time between meals should be about 4 hours 5 at the most. Are you excersising. The band is not going to do it alone you know. You have to excersise and my friend had three fills before she lost one ounce. I have been at a stand still for almost six months Im not discouraged. Isnt the lap band a diet? Yes dont you hit a plateu with every single diet? Yes. You cant let this thing control you. You have to control it. Get up tomorrow and start over fresh with the same diet you had post op for a few days then add full liquids then go to solids. Its all trial and error you can not let this thing take over your life you have to take control over it. Chin up and you will do it.

Hello,
I hope things are going well for everyone. Does anyone know how to do a spread sheet for us? I am lacking in computer skills. Help would be greatly apprciated! The spread sheet could include our names and weekly weigh ins for each Monday in January. Maybe it could also have our goal for the month?!
I have my first fill tomorrow! Wish me well!!
Joan

My post op instructions ENCOURAGE drinking from a straw to help with slow sipping rather than drinking too fast.
Joan

At my first consult the nurse commented that someone my size they often recommend bypass. When I said I only wanted the band she said that's fine it was my decision and that they have had people with the band loose more than the "average". In general I also did not see bypass as an option for me as I had a minor stroke 16 months ago and I knew my hemotologist would not support the invasiveness of the bypass. While I am still trying to be patient it is important to remember that weight loss is slower with the band. Preband I lost 50 pounds and in the 4 months since 25 more. I am just now starting to have restriction. Some people get restriction after 1-2 fills I was not that lucky. After 4 fills I am just now getting restriction. Does your doctor's program include meetings with a pscyhologist and/or group therapy sessions on "mindful eating"? I found these sessions to be really helpful. When I am eating or deciding whether I need a snack I say to myself "Am I really hungry?, or "Remember to savor eat bite. Chew mulitple times." Before this behavior modification I used to take a bite hardly chew and swallow. Now I savor all the flavors before swallowing. Try taking one raison or cranberry and chew it for 10 seconds. You will be astonished how much flavor you will notice from ONE raison. Much more than you notice when you eat a handful but only chew twice.

Hello Everyone my name is Lisa and I get my band on the 27th Im so nervous but excited at the same time. I have not told my family i am doing this other than my husband. I don't want to hear negitive feed back. I am ready for the new me! I do keep thinking about all the things I wont be able to eat and it makes me want to go eat at all the places i love This is going to be great journey I can't wait to see myself by summer this is going to be the greatest thing I have ever done for ME! I can't wait to get a closet full of new clothes. I want to lose about 100lbs maybe 120 how cool it will be and to go to my high school reunion that i have avoided and see the people that I havent seen in years. I look forward to the energy that i am going to have and get out and play with my kids. My husband is afraid that I will leave him after this I think that is why when I brought this up a year ago he was so against it. What doesnt help is his best friend of 25 years wife left him after 27 years of marriage after she had her surgery. I told him i wasn't going anywhere and that im not starting over (training lol) with anyone else. I am taking care of me... Good luck to everyone next week. Protein Shake glasses up everyone here's to the new us ! Bring on the new thinner us 2011!

Ok so I have bought all the powders highly recommended on this forum including Syntrax fuzzy peach nectar, optimum nutrition gold standard whey (Cookies and cream) and another one by optimum nutrition called hydro-whey which is good also, and it's not that they don't taste good, its just that I cant drink even 8 oz before I start to feel gross, sick, bloated and gassy.
So, I remembered I went to a really good naturalist a while back when I was having issues and she ran the "ELISA" testing on me which tests not for acute allergic reactions (called IgE antibodies), but delayed intolerances/sensitivities (IgG antibodies) which can range from anything to gas, bloating, cramps, to muscle/joint aches to neuro issues like mood swings/irritability.
So, I looked at the results which I had not reviewed in quite awhile, and it says I have severe antibodies (>5x the normal amount) to milk products and moderate antibodies (>3x the normal level) to eggs, yolk and white.
Now my mom argues with me that I could always tolerate milk and eggs fine before surgery, but I always tell her it's not that I tolerated them, but I really didn't care if I spent a half hour on the toilet if it meant that delicious pint of ice cream (I know, true confessions), and I also made the point that I think I took A LOT more of the offending substance to affect me so that I did care (because my stomach was much larger), and I usually didn't get to that quantity. And my third argument to her, and I have no clue if this has any credibility, but I did tell her that maybe I didn't notice it that much b/c I was eating so much other crap, bread, Pasta, oats, fruit, veggies etc. etc.
and when I first got the results back for "milk" sensitivity I just thought "oh I can take a Lactaid and I will be fine", but then just learned yesterday that milk intolerance is NOT the same as lactose intolerance. Lactose is only an intolerance to one part of the milk-the sugar, which is called the lactose. but milk is made up of whey (which is the watery stuff, and makes up 20% of the Proteins found in milk, and casein, which are the lumpy white globs seen in sour milk. Therefore "milk intolerance" is very different that "lactose intolerance." and unfortunately there is no way to avoid symptoms like with lactose intolerance, you just have to avoid milk products.
sorry if you already knew all that, but I found it interesting b/c alot of people who get tested and have a "milk" allergy or intolerance just think they are lactose intolerant, which is what I did.
so then there are the eggs, which I don't have as high of a sensitivity level to, but I would like to avoid.
which leaves soy. Now I do have a history of breast cancer in my family, and I know soy messes with your thyroid and also mimics estrogen (and my doc thinks I may be estrogen dominant already), but I also know that for the next couple weeks, I have to get my Protein in somehow, and this seems to be the only way, because the only Proteins I know of are milk Protein concentrate/isolate, egg white, whey isolate/concentrate, (which is made from milk), and soy isolate/concentrate. My antibody level to "soybean" came back completely negative. I also I don't think by taking soy protein for a few weeks until I can eat solids is going to give me breast cancer. I think it is long term use that many professionals advise against.
So, I really don't know why I gave all that info, (maybe it will help someone else, and I had also been asking for whey powder recommendations and I wanted to explain why I am all of a sudden now asking for soy). But because the only powders I didn't mind the taste of were recommended by users on this forum, and I know NOTHING about the world of soy protein isolates/powders, maybe there are some soy lovers, vegetarians/vegans who can give me some good tasting ones?
thanks and merry christmas/happy holidays and for those of you that are a day or two out, today is day 4 for me and I am just today starting to feel "normal" again, less bloating, etc.

Julie, that's good news that you're seeing your doctor. As I said initially, if the problems are that severe and consistent, then you need to figure out what's wrong. The band is a mechanical device. If it stops working, then it needs to be fixed.
Good luck!
Dave

Thanks everyone for your responses. Everything, yall said makes total sense. I am glad I asked because I was starting to get worried about the cruise in June.

I plan to focus on having fun...fun I have not been able to have because I've been so overweight and out of breath. Rather than be overly concerned about eating every hour.

I walk 30min. twice a day, 7 days a week....I am losing on average 10 pounds per month! I eat between 1100 and 1400 calories! Hope that helps, and good luck!

I totally understand what you're saying. But, sometimes I look at other people eating that big hamburger and think, wow how do they do that? And sometimes, it's kind of sickening to see what people are able to do to themselves eating that way. I am soooo glad I'm banded!

For ready to drink Premier chocolate Protein Shakes sold at costco are pretty good 160 cal, 30 g Protein.< /p>