Amanda Mae

I almost forgot .... check out this website - the idea of cooking your meals in a cupcake tin is brilliant!! it definitely helps with portion control! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/forum/2490-the-clothing-exchange/ the recipe forum on here also has a lot of great info!

Congratulations on your weight loss so far! As long as you are feeling okay your previous lunch sounds okay - you probably aren't going to notice too much restriction until you start getting fills .. that's why several people call it bandster hell Stick to the basics that you know - fill your plate with Protein and veggies and only a little carbs - eat the protein first, veggies second and carbs last - I get to go back on solids this week and plan on fish, chicken, broccoli, maybe a baked sweet potato - as much of it grilled as possible!

I found a powered multi-vitamin at GNC that has 10G of protein in it - I use it as one protein shake a day and get all of my vitamins - they had chocolate and vanilla - I found a few containers that were set to expire in 6 months and they start marking them down.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can't wait to experience that myself.

I have to agree... I have had some complications because I didn't listen to the band. It was telling me it was too tight but I thought .. "oh .. i'll just lost a little extra a little faster by leaving it tight" - WRONG!! I lost weight alright but in the end the band won the battle... I recently had to have a second surgery because of a slip - this time around the Band will be the Boss (to use your words) and it will guide me ... like Knaroz said it's a tool for weight loss not the easy button.

I am curious to see what responses you get - I have never heard of that. I have been banded just over a year and recently had a slip they removed my band and put a new one in. I hope someone gives you some feedback!

Hang in there!!! this can be a very frustrating time but don't rush it. You may even gain some weight between now and finding the green zone. I was there with you and ended up slipping my band because I wanted to lose weight faster and faster - the band isn't designed for quick sudden weight loss like gastric bypass - just keep reminding yourself of that!! Keep up the good work - like everyone else said 14lbs in three weeks is great!

Wow - I have to say one of the best things about LBT is the support you receive! Your responses have been even more motivational for me to think that people can learn from my mistakes. Thanks for all of your support! There are some days I just sit and read the posts and it really helps to keep me on track!

The last two weeks have been particulary difficult and have really given me an opportunity to reflect on the last year of having the band. I wanted to take the opportunity to get my thoughts down in writing but also share my experience. I'm not a fan of long posts - for those of you who read this thank you and your feedback is welcome - for those of you who don't - I don't blame you! I was banded on April 11, 2011. For the first six months things were great!! I was losing weight steadly, getting my fills every 6 -8 weeks and was rolling right along. In October 2011, I had to have my gallbladder out - again no major problems. From there things seemed to start getting problematic. In early November, my band was too tight and I had some Fluid removed; December held the same results - more fluid removed. It seemed like I was going to the doctor every two weeks to get more fluid removed and was continually getting sick - i wasn't getting any answers on why the band kept getting too tight. I would expalin that I was coughing at night until I would get sick - even throwing up brownish liquid at points. Hindsight is always 20/20 but the doctor had the nerve to suggest that maybe I had an upper respiratory infection. I had upper GIs done to check for slipping and it didn't appear that was the problem. Mid-February 2012 I went in for my regular check up and had gained some weight so the doctor decided to do a fill - he put in 3cc in one visit!!!!! I immediately went back as soon as they opened the next day but my regular doctor was in surgery all day - one of his associates tried to remove fluid but after 6 - 7 attempts with no lidocain to numb my stomach I had to ask him to stop. I went to the emergency room and met up with my surgeon in between his surgeries and he removed more fluid - this was a Wednesday. By the weekend, I was throwing up blood and horribly sick - I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck. There are two offices in our area that do bariatric surgeries so i called a completely different group of doctors. I explained the situation i was in and they asked me to come immediately to their office - this was early March. My band was completely emptied in March and I started over with the new doctor. We went with an empty band for a few weeks to let my body settle down. Then we slowly started adding .5cc at a time every two weeks. The new doctor numbers your belly before he does a fill - that is nice!!! He was also insistent that I drink a Protein shake everyday - the first doctor said NO Protein shakes - there are too many calories in them. The same problems started again - anything more than 1.5 cc in the band and I was getting sick. So ... last week I had another upper GI - the new doctor explained he was going out of town for a couple of days but that on Monday, April 30th to come to his office to review the results. Sunday, April 29th I get a call at 9:30 in the morning from the doctor - I couldn't believe a doctor took the time to call me at home on a Sunday. He was concerned because he was reviewing my upper GI and my band had slipped. I told him not much had changed from the previous week - I was keeping down fluids but that was about it. Well... This past Tuesday, May 1st - I had my first band removed and a new band placed. I also found out that during the first surgery I had a hernia repaired and was never even told!!! I am on the liquid post-op diet right now, I get to start purees tomorrow, and after my follow up on Monday we'll see how I can progress onto mushies. I have reached out to several different support groups on here and facebook over the last week trying to decide if I should get another band, give up on weight loss surgery, or change to gastric bypass. I have met some amazingly supportive people and I have met some exteremly negative ones as well. The one thing that it definitely forced me to do was look in the mirror and be honest with myself and the question was - did I do everything right, follow the rules, could I have done something different to prevent the slip? So what did I learn in really being honest with myself? I rushed myself off of the post-op diet last year which made it more difficult for me when my band was tight I wasn't always honest with the doctor on how often i was getting sick because I didn't want him to take fluid out I was using the band as a starvation diet not as a tool to help me eat healthier I have to have a doctor I can be open with and trust What I am doing to differently this time? I am following the post-op diet exactly as the doctor laid it out - NO CHEATING!!! My doctor and I are going to have a very open and trusting relationship - he needs to know everything that's gonig on Eating the right foods is key to success - weight loss is never going to be easy for me- it never has been - the band is to help me - it's not a cure all I am going to participate in the support groups at the doctor's office and build a support network - I don't have to do this on my own Well - if you took the time to read this - thank you - writing it alone has been very therapeutic for me.

Congratulations!!

the more you can move around and try walking a little at a time the better it will get. They have to blow your body up with gas during the surgery and you need to get it out of your system.

Use the pain meds they give you for the next few days .. no sense in suffering if you don't have to! Take it easy also - I rushed myself and didn't give myself the time to recover that I should have.

One of my favorite's was a "snicker" shake - put a little bit of sugar free butterscotch pudding and some peanut butter into a chocolate protein shake .. yummy!!

Spring cleaning is in full effect - even my husband's closest wasn't safe. I found a gray sport jacket that he's never worn - still has the tags on it if anyone is interested The brand is Cross & Windsor - the tag says I paid $39.99 on clearance the original price was over $100