KristyT

slow down there chica LOL its great to lose weight fast, but it is healthier if it comes off slower, you didnt gain it all in 4 months so take it slow, dont set too high of expectations for yourself because if they are not met you will get discouraged, you are doing a fabulous job but go easy on yourself. I just went to smoothie king and got the strawberry gladiator smoothie stuff and i cant wait to try it. congrats on your excellent weight loss

well i seriously doubt he would know if you contacted her or not, I dont even think he remembers our names to be honest with you LoL, he is in such a huge hurry that he doesnt get to know you as a patient. always rushing. but if you do talk to her and she gives you any good insight, let me know so i can contact her too. good luck

I have been banded for about 4 1/2 months now and I have read blogs, forums, internet searches and tons and tons of youtube videos and the different rules really baffle me? I hear all these rules of protien first, so many calories, low carbs, no drinking for 30 min, no drinking for 15 minutes, no drinkinhg for an hour. only 1/2 cup of food, only 3 meals a day and no snacks, so many ounces of protien, chew , chew, chew and chew some more and eat slowly and so on and so on, you get the picture. My surgeon had me do 1 week pre op and stated to me it was to shrink the liver, I was given no specific amount of calories, portion size or protien for after surgery, was just told to do liquids, then full liquids then mushies then solids, I went to my dr for my first fill and he gave me 3cc, i was steadily losing 1 lb a week after surgery, still no specific rules on calories but they do give me a paper every time I go that states, no liquids with meals, no liquids as meals, if you have to ask yourself is this a liquid then it is probably a liquid and dont eat it as a meal, take only 20 minutes to eat your food, if you are taking more than 20 minutes to eat your food then you are trying to out eat your band, weigh once a week and eat only 3 meals a day with 2 snacks if needed, wait 1 hour for drinking after meals. this is the only rules I have. so I go home after my first fill and still not much difference, continue to eat but make good choices but eating alot like 2 cups at a time of food, go back to the surgeon about 6 weeks later and still averaging about 1lb a week weight loss and at this time I am ready to get this thing tight so i can eat less and he looks at me and says well you are losing weight, a fill is probably not what you need right now. and I say well I am eating alot and he says well kristy, how much do you think you are suppose to be eating and I say a half a cup and he says NO, you are suppose to eat until you are full then stop. he says if a half of a cup fills you up then fine but if it takes a whole cup then eat a whole cup. and then he asks me what I had for dinner last night and I say chinese food, kung pao chicken and he says how much of that did you eat and I say all of the chicken and a few bites of the rice, and he says why did you not eat more of the rice and I say i heard to avoid rice, breads and past because they are bad for you and they can get stuck and he says NO that is not true, he says to me when you eat rice, bread and pasta it swells up and this will fill the pouch up so he tells me i need to be eating more bread, rice and pasta, so now I Iam really confused, and then he tells me I am losing 1lb a week without eating rice and bread so he gives me a very small fill and tells me to eat more bread, rice and pasta to fill the pouch up. so I leave the office and say okay. I notice no difference in my fill as I am able to eat everything I want and it goes down fine, so I attempt bread, rice and pasta and it goes down just fine so I eat it. I have to be back at surgeon in 8 weeks and this left me with no restriction over the holidays and him telling me to eat rice, bread and pasta. so, what do i do? I eat rice, bread and pasta over the holidays, i go back to the dr on jan. 10, 2012 and I had only lost 2 lbs and he was not pleased. he says what happened kristy? we are now going backwards. and I say well I did what you said and i ate bread, rice and pasta and he says well what did you eat for dinner last night and i say chicken and he says how much of that did you eat and i say all of it, and he says in a stearn voice, how did you eat it and im like ummmm i ate it, he goes you chewed chewed chewed and took 30 minutes to eat it didnt you and I was like NO i ate it, i chewed it normally and swallowed it then he says well what are you able to eat for breakfast and I said 2 scrambled eggs and a piece of toast and he throws his hands up and says "NO way in hell should you be able to eat 2 eggss and toast" and im like omg this dude is nutso because as you see earlier he told me to eat til i was full. so then he says Im going to give you a fill so you cant eat that much. and he gives me a fill of 1.5 cc for a total of 5.5cc in my 10 cc band and sends me on my way and he tells me to call him if i get heartburn at night. so now here in the present, I finally notice restriction and there is NO way in Hell i can eat 2 eggs right now as one egg barely goes down, i am having stuck episodes and I get full very fast. and i lost 4 lbs after this 3rd fill from last week. in essence though my dr says not to chew chew chew, he says when you do that it liquifies the food allowing you to eat more and that I should just eat normal and then swallow. he tells me i can eat whatever I want but smaller portions, he doesnt require a certain amount of protien or calories. but as I can tell, as long as you are losing weight with him he doesnt want to adjust you but then if you dont lose weight he gets on me for not losing. so I am still very confused. I am nervous about going to see him if i dont lose weight for fear of being "scolded" again and I am also fearful that when I need to be filled he will not fill me unless I am not making progress. anyone have thoughts on any of this? I would be greatlly appreciative for any insight with your rules and your experience with your surgeon.

myfitnesspal is great website to track what you eat, but if he doesnt require a pre op diet, you might want to check out some of the preop diets, i lost almost 8 lbs in one week from my preop diet and i have seen others lose up to 20 lbs. you can google lap band pre op diets and follow one of those. my preop diet was all the sugar free popsicles, pudding and fudge pops i wanted. i got 3 choices a day of 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of yogurt or 1./2 cup of cottage cheese, all the free water, crystal light i wanted. and 1 cup of raw vegetables a day. and 2 low calorie , low sugar protein shakes. thats what i did for a week. good luck to you

i was wondering about the comment you mentioned regarding gastric bypass for diabetics? I was never really given an option or discussed which WLS would be best for me. I am diabetic and I have fibro and pcos and was told about the lap band. I am wondering if they stated in the show rather the lap band or the gastric by pass was better for diabetics? guess it doesnt matter now seeing how I have already had the lap band performed LOL but was just curious. thanks

Glenda, I know right, I did the same thing, I checked your profile and i said ohhhhhhhhh she has same dr. Im glad to know that he is telling others the same thing, but oh how he confuses me so much.. lol I was wondering if you have talked to the nutritionist or thought about it to get some insight also? pls keep in touch and let me know how things go. good luck

wow, the rules just keep getting more and more different. I did not have to do this, was put on a preop diet for 1 week, then clear liquids for 48 hrs after surgery, full liquids at 72hours for another 5 days, then mushies for a week then back to solids in 2 weeks. was told to eat what i could and stay hydrated. i think i would go insane if i had to do all of that, trying to do liquids was bad enough but follow what your dr says because they obviously know better than we do. good luck to you

AMEN holly dolly, I was going to type the same thing. the surgery is not that bad and it is normal to have cold feet when having a surgery but think about what will happen to you if you dont have the surgery. try asking your dr for something to calm your nerves and stay positive, try writing all the great things down that you are going to be subjected to because of the surgery. write down goals like sexier underwear, great looking legs, skinny jeans ahhhhh the skinny jeans LOL just try to stay positive and think great things not negative ones. god bless and good luck

oh amee... let me tell you LOL I had this same thing happen to me, I had lots and lots of restriction after I had surgery lasted about 6 weeks then bam. I could eat a house. some people have restriction after surgery due to swelling this is why they dont usually put any fluid in the band during surgery. if this continues for you then fabulous you wont need a fill. but if it goes away watch out bevcause you will be eating like a champ again and thats when you need to get adjusted. good luck to you

Trisha, I have fibro, diabetes and pcos. exercising as never been an option for me because it either hurt too much or I just didnt have the energy to do it. I found some great video tapes for chair exercises that are non painful. I also recently ordered tony littles easy shaper which was only like 30 dollars on home shopping and it comes with a dvd that has chair exercises using the resistant band and I was able to do that and felt great. I liked it because it has beginner, intermediate and advanced. I of course did the beginner but am setting a goal to try for 3 times a week. hope some of this helps you. good luck

that is great and I must say I laughed when i read everything taste better with bacon and cheese LOL I am going to make one of these list myself, thank you for paying it forward, good luck to you. I also watch videos on youtube, I have made a few in the very beginning but stopped doing it, I might go back and try again. thanks

sunshine, when they say chew chew chew that is for when you are tight and eating solid foods like chicken, beef jerky and other hard things to get down. the reason they say chew it good is because if you put a piece of chicken in your mouth and barely chew it then swallow it is going to get stuck and you will "slime" it up. my dr says dont drink protien shakes or any other liquid as a meal but I agree with shelly being that in the morning I am very tight and have a difficult time eating before about 2 pm so I tend to drink a shake in the morning to get some nutrients in my body. before I was adjusted I didnt drink the shakes i just ate and i dont drink them for lunch or dinner only in the morning now when it is difficult to get food down. i was on solid foods by week 2 and had a little restriction left from being swollen from the surgery but then that went away, i got 3cc fill at 6 weeks but it did nothing for me, i still could eat alot, another fill of 1cc at about 10 weeks and still nothing, my 3rd fill on jan 10th 1.5 cc now a total of 5.5 cc in my 10 cc band I have restriction, I am now eating smaller, chewing meats better and having the protien shake in the morning but only to get somethbing in me. this is very very confusing because there is so many different rules but i think we all need to do what is right for us and what works for us, you will learn as you go along as I am still learning and only been 41/2 months since banded. this is a great site with lots of information. hang in there and keep up the good work all

thank you shelly, I just got on myfitnesspal to start tracking my daily food intake, I am going to try the higher protien but I also have to have low carb because of diabetes, the fitnesspal said i should have 1200 calories a day, that is about what i have been having unless i have snacks which i usually do then i tend to have about 1300 calories a day. i usually get plenty of protien in but finding low carb things is difficulty due to diabetes. thanks for the input

hey, i got on that fitnesspal and it is great, add me as a friend on there, my email is kristytaylor07@yahoo.com looking forward to doing this with you

very very good for you, small goals is what we need to succeed and always congrats to our non scale victories. wtg

i was told alcohol was not a no no just to be careful with it because it could absorb faster, I had to give up my drinking days due to diabetes long before the surgery was done. my problem is snacking, I like to snack and I feel I need to have something right before i sleep or I cant get to sleep right. bad bad habit. guess i need emotional eating therapy lol good luck

I agree that the weight loss should only be 1-2 lbs a week because with the band that is the average thus a slower weight loss but life time change of retraining your brain, what I dont get is all the different rules. first he says to eat til im full then he doesnt want to give me a fill, so i eat til im full, dont lose any weight and he scolds me and fills me, so I guess what Im getting at is what is right to eat? how much should I be eating for a meal. I suppose seeing the nutritionist is a good option and I just ordered a book about the lapband and weight loss for success, hopefully this will help. I also have the god awful diabetes and PCOS so this doesnt help any, I try to eat low carb with protien but hard to lose weight with both of these co morbidities. any suggestions on what to be eating daily? Callie - I was at a stand still for a bit also before he finally adjusted me, some surgeons just seem to be stricter about adjustments. Im getting discouraged though because my surgeon seems to be so wishy washy. let us pray LOL

this is a question for your surgeon but I would say 4-6 weeks to allow the band to heal completely for a contact sport. as far as what could happen, nothing that I know of. I do know of one person that fell and hit her port area on the corner of a table and it became infected so she had to get another port but nothing else that I have heard of. I would say just protect yourself and talk to your surgeon, good luck

lillie this is very normal. the reason why you have no restriction is because after the surgery you are swollen so you feel some initial restriction but there is no saline in the band. I lost 6 lbs from the preop diet then in 4 weeks had only lost like 4 and 4 weeks after surgery i was eating like a champ. went to the dr got my first fill of 3 cc, didnt really notice any difference, was still eating like a champ, chinese meals, egg rolls pizza, no stuck episodes, nothing, went to the dr and he gave me another fill with 1 cc total of 4 cc in band, went 2 months through the holidays and still eating like a champ, trying to make better choices but still eating ALOT. went back to dr 2 weeks ago, he was not happy with mylack of progress over the holidays i had only lost 2 lbs in 2 months, he gave me my third fill another 1.5 cc with a total of 5.5 cc in my 10 cc band, I am now experiencing stuck episodes, smaller portions and no longer eating like a champ LOL I have to go slow, watch what i eat, no breads and i lost 4lbs last week. so dont get discouraged, it takes about 3-4 fills to get to your sweet spot where you actually feel restriction. you are moving along just fine, my dr told me the first 6 weeks after lapband is about healing not losing weight. a good surgeon will adjust you slowly to get you to where you need to be. you will get there, good luck.

you can definitely lose as much weight as you want through the lapband, it just depends on you. mortality rate for lapband is 1 in 2000 mortality rate for gastric bypass is 1 in 200, the thing about the bypass that i would not like is the dumping syndrome, I dont have time to stay on the commode all day long. with the lapband I have retrained my body on how to eat properly because that is what the tool does, my indigestion is gone, my bowels are regular and I can still enjoy all the foods I like just in smaller portions. the advantage of the bypass i would say is the weight loss if very rapid where as with the lap band it is slower for some. the lapband is reversable and the bypass is not. you should do some research and compare the 2 and then decide for yourself. I cant really compare because i dont know much about the bypass other than the things I have read but the lapband is good for me because I feel like for once in my life I am in control of the food that I eat. good luck to you and your decision

it took 3 adjustments for me to finally get full on small amounts of foods, I was eating like a champ after surgery and after first 2 fills. i have total of 5.5 cc in my 10 cc band and i have good restriction. as far as lean cuisine meals go, I love those meals but I am diabetic and pcos and the carbs are just way to high in those frozen meals, they make my blood sugar spike up. its really hard when you have to find things that are low in carbs, low in sugar and low in calories, might as well just eat meat.. LOL

My opinion is, if they dont like the lap band it is because they want to continue over eating and pigging out and the band does not allow that. other thing is alot of people think the lap band is a quick fix it all and it is not. the weight loss is slower than with RNY but you learn to eat healthy, make better choices and change your life style, what exactly were the negative things they were saying about the band? and 312 is not too big for the band. I was 272 and only 5'3 tall so I looked as wide as i did tall lol the band does not fix you, it is only a tool and you have to learn to work with it. post the negative things they were saying and see what responses you get to that. good luck and pls dont be scared, if you are ready then you will be fine with what ever decision you choose