NWgirl

The chest pain is a sign that some foods don't want to go down so well, so be cautious and extremely mindful when eating them. I have found as my band was tightened that eggs tended to disagree with me, although I can eat them sometimes- something with the consistency doesn't allow me to chew as well as I need to so that they go down properly. I also found that breads can be iffy. If the bread is toasted or thin, it works better, but super soft breads or thick breads end up gumming together in my pouch and cause unnecessary pains. Another tip I was told from my nutritionist was to time meals for 20 minutes and when the 20 minutes is up, stop eating.

Good for being proactive! I definitely recommend learning as much as you can about the band before you actually get it. I had the "eat, sleep, breath" motto in my research stage and I think it has helped me immensely.

The only time people usually get denied is if they fall below the BMI threshold defined by their insurance (usually 35-39.9 BMI with two comorbidities or 40+ BMI with no comorbidities). I would ask whoever will be submitting your paperwork if they will be using the initial weigh-in or the last weight for submission to insurance. Don't be afraid to ask these questions, they are actually really important!

Definitely not thinking you're hungry- this is the mindless hungry I would have given into pre-band but does not mean hunger. I have seen someone on the forums post this about hunger: if you are hungry, you will open the fridge and eat whatever is there. If you're not actually hungry, you will search the fridge for the "perfect" thing. I know I'm hungry when I start to feel the grumbling in my stomach. My stomach actually growls too, but is not much louder than pre-band. When my stomach growls, I am at a place where I should have eaten earlier and I am ravenous. This is also a time when I am weaker in my decision making, so it is always in my best interest to have something healthy either prepared and ready or a healthy snack (think Greek yogurt and light string cheese) so I do not eat something I will regret later.

http://www.healthchecksystems.com/bodyfat.htm 25-31% body fat for women is normal. BMI and body fat are two different numbers.

So?

I am not in Texas, but have heard many people from that area use True Results. If you go to the state specific forum listings (from the main page, scroll down to the state section), you can probably get better recommendations.

I bought a bike to ride to/from work because I've been failing on the exercise front. Whatever it takes, right?

I was told no gummy vitamins (not as high in vitamin content and can cause issues). My surgical handbook recommended Centrum chewables, which I have been taking for a couple months. Prior to the Centrum, I tried the O-Purity band multivitamins but found they were too sweet. Just make sure to discuss with your nutritionist/surgeon what they prefer you take. It is important to take multivitamins because it is a lot harder to get all the proper vitamins from such a small diet.

My Aunt was banded about three years ago and did get the flu badly about 1.5 years ago. She did throw up a lot and had some band issues (not sure on specifics anymore) but all is well now. She said that she know keeps an anti-nausea med on hand just in case.

I was hungry on day three, but it's very important that you continue the clear liquids. Make sure to drink all of your protein and if you are feeling hungrier, drink some more. Also, sometimes being dehydrated can feel like your hungry, so make sure you are drinking enough liquids in general.

FYI if you don't like what someone posts, you can make it so you cannot see their posts.

Last week I was in Trader Joe's and was perusing the frozen foods aisle (I'm really a lazy cook) and found steel cut oats in a 2 pack. They cost a few dollars, and I was curious so I decided to give them a go. They reheated well and tasted yummy. I ran across a blog post (http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/2011/11/oatmeal-freezer-pucks.html) and decided to make my own pucks for cost saving measures. I used Bob's Red Mill Quick Cook steel cut oats and have to say the pucks turned out yummy! I prepared two full batches (8 servings split into five muffin pan slots) and let them freeze for about three hours. At three hours, I pulled them out of the freezer and was able to use a butter knife to slide around the edges and pop them out. Next time I will be adding raisins and splenda brown sugar mix when I cook them. Calories are about 225 per puck.

I was told to use the following equation as a Protein minimum: weight x 0.3= protein in grams