waitingpatiently

Happen to me too!!! It finally slowed down at about 7 month mark. But I just had abdominalplasty 10 days ago and its falling out again. For me, it must be more of the stress on the body than anything to do with food. My diet has stayed the same over these last couple of weeks.

I haven't ever seen sugar free yogurt but kroger sells a brand called carbmaster and it only has 2-3g sugar (depending on flavor) and there are lots of different flavors! Might work for you.

Way To Go !!! You are doing awesome!!! And looking great!!! Keep up the good work!!!

This list is comprised from the input I received under a thread I posted called Help Me Stock My Pantry, as well some of the things I have and will use as I progress through the different stages. Don’t feel that you need to purchase everything on the list. I wrote everything down and placed it in this document for you to print off and take to your doctor or dietician. They can mark off items they don’t want you to have or even add additional ones for you. Remember these are just suggestions. You need to know what YOUR doctor allows and at what stages. If you are unable to print the list or would like a copy for shopping please feel free to inbox me. My member name is waitingpatiently. Good Luck everyone. Stay motivated and focused and success is right around the corner. Digital scale Blender (consider the ones that you can blend using a travel mug) I bought this one at walmart for $79 http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&ic=48_0&Find.x=0&Find.y=0&Find=Find&_ta=1&search_query=ninja%20kitchen%20system%20pulse&_tt=ninja Heating Pad Insulated Cooler (to carry premade food when out and about) Small Plastic Food Storage Containers (2oz and 4oz) Chewable Calcium Chewable Daily Vitamin Gas X liquid Tylenol Benefiber (I mix this with the kellog’s Protein mix below) http://www.walmart.com/ip/Benefiber-Kiwi-Strawberry-Flavored-Fiber-Drink-Mix-Stick-Packs-24ct/17325206 Metamucil Clean and Clear ChapStick ___________________________ Stage 1 Clear liquids Protein Power: This is just going to be trail an error. Looks like the most popular are (Unjury, Jay Robin, Premiere, NewWhey) Consider purchasing a unflavored variety to add to Soups and juices Premixed Protein drinks –for when you are out and about Canned chicken broth (the night before your surgery, consider simmering it with some veggies like carrots, onions, potatoes, even some of your favorite herbs. I would leave all the veggies in the broth until the next day. Then have someone strain them off, saving the broth for you) Mrs. Dash Seasoning (for seasoning broth) Favorite Soups Consider lower salt versions (use the larger size cans of Soup if they make them in your band. Then mix a couple of cans of chicken or beef broth with your favorite soup. Simmer and strain) SF Jello (both premade for convenience and boxed for when you feel like making it) SF Popsicles Pedialyte Popsicles Kellogs Water ready protein mix (link below) http://www.walmart.com/ip/Special-K2O-Strawberry-Kiwi-Protein-Water-Mix-4.7-oz-10ct/10891803 SF Water Flavors (Crystal Light, Great Value,Mio Etc) Gatorade G2 or Propell Hebal Tea Diet Fruit Juices NSA-Carnation Instant Breakfast Mix Skim Milk _________________________ _________________________ Stage 1-Full Liquid -All of the above+ Cream Soups (thinned with water or skim milk) (consider sprinkling ½ scoop of unflavored protein power into soup and blend…watch the temp of the soup….the protein power may clump at high temps.) Lipton Cup-a-soup Cream of chicken soup/broth SF pudding (premixed for convenience and boxed for later) Yogurt (thinned out) (light or greek) blend well Baby Foods (add a jar of baby food fruit with your Protein powder and thin with water or skim milk) ________________________________ ________________________________ Stage 2-Puree Baby food meats Chicken (pureed) Fish (pureed) Favorite Soups (pureed) Cottage cheese Egg Substitute oatmeal (thinned) Grits (thinned) Cream of Wheat (thinned) Applesauce other Fruit sauces Canned Fruit- juice packed Fresh Fruit (pureed) Cooked Vegetables (pureed) Instant Mashed Potatoes Peanut Butter Cheese (hard low carb) ____________________ ____________________ Stage 3-all of the above+ Boxed Cereals (high protein) Saltine Crackers Meatloaf (moist) Baked Potato Mac & Cheese Refried Beans Chicken salad Tuna Salad Chicken Stew ____________________

I was banded about 14 months ago and have lost 83 pounds and have almost reached my goal weight of 149 pounds (I'm 153). I'm now focusing on correcting the physical scars that was done to my body (ie.. sagging skin) with plastic surgery. I have had the abdominalplasty (2 weeks post-op) and now I'm preparing for a breast reduction/lift in 48 hours!! (June 5). I hope after this I can put this behind me and live my happy healthy life!!!

I choose the band because I'm a control freak! The sleeve and bypass took the power away from me. There would be not turning back. The band is there to help me. I will say I do not feel I have any food addictions. I have a condition called pcos and it really slows my metabolism down. In fact I'm at my goal weight and still can't eat over 900 calories a day or I'll start to gain again. So the the band makes it possible for me to be full and satisfied on that. But one of my best friends had the surgery about the same time, struggles because she does have food addictions and the band gives her a little too much freedom to eat her comfort foods with ease. So I think if I had her issues, I might would have considered something different. Good luck with your decision!!! The most important thing is that you are ready to change!

For me it's not so much about what I eat, but about how I eat it. I've been stuck a few times but it hasn't been on a certain food. Instead it's been because I was eating too quickly and not chewing or in a group talking and not paying attention. So it sounds like you are very in tune with your band, keep that up and you shouldn't have any issues.

I have lost 83 pounds. I'm 5'5" and 153 pounds. I would like to lose about 5 more pounds if possible. That would put me at a normal BMW. But the surgeon says I still have about 10 pounds of skin left on my backside and shouldn't worry about loosing any more. I just can't wait to look and feel normal again. The next step:I'm scheduled for a breast reduction/lift on Wednesday (June 5). Then hopefully I can start putting this behind me and just live a healthy happy life.

Tell me QT, how long was it before you felt normal. You know, No more pain and could do what you wanted without pain returning. I'm not quite 2 weeks out but still look a little uneven.

Yes. I'm only a week out so it still feels that way. A large area around my belly button to my public area still feels numb. Think of how your mouth feels after novocaine but on a lot larger scale. It does feel hard to me but my husband says it feels natural to him... So I guess it is just where the nerves have been cut and are healing.

Unfortunately mine was not covered by insurance???ž I think if a policy covers plastic surgery at all (many DONT), they very in what they will consider as medically necessary. Most require documented back problems, rashes, hernias things of this nature as well as the sagging skin must hang below the pubic area. Some even have a clause saying a specific weight loss that is required.

Absolutely!!! I feel like a teenager! My poor husband can't keep up!!! But he said its fun trying.

The band was the best thing I have done for myself in a decade!! I love: 1. watching the water completely cover my belly by 6-8 inches!! 2. being able to hike an 11 mile trail (it about killed me, but I did it) 3. the reactions of friends and family that havent seen me in a while 4.i love the self confidence it has given me 5. i love being just a normal sized person in a crowd 6. I absolutely LOVE when I feel my husbands hand trace my side and I feel it dip in at my waist instead of it bulging out.---thats my favorite.!! 7. I love the transformation not only phyically, but emotionaly and spiritually as well

Thanks for sharing with us! It really helps those of us that are a few step behind you to prepare for the next step. I'm scheduled for a TT 1 week from today and for some reason I'm so scared!! I keep trying to prepare myself but the best help is seeing those that have had it done and were just as scared, but are so happy the took the plunge. I keep telling myself I will feel the same way and I just have to (like your blog said) be brave! thanks again! I'll keep lots of pictures to share withyou guys a few step behind me.

So I’m now a little over a year out and wanted to share a few reflections on my journey so far. Please know that this was my journey….yours will be different. But I thought maybe you might find something that will help you along the journey, like I did from all those that shared their stories for me. Warning its very long!!! Sorry about that. I just have so much I want to share with you guys!! A little background. I started this journey March 19,2012 at 236. I was never heavy until after the birth of my 3rd child. I was very sick with that last pregnancy…… contracted a rare and deadly pneumonia that put me in the ICU for weeks. This damaged my lungs and it seemed like it was all downhill from there. I’m just now feeling “normal” again. That was almost 15 years ago. For me this journey was more than a physical makeover. It was a physical. Emotional, spiritual make over. There was not one area of my life I didn’t dig into. I will save that for another post. For now let’s just stick to what worked for me. Pre-op What helped the most was educating myself. I LIVED on this site the last few weeks before my surgery I prepared myself mentally for everything. I created a Stock My Pantry List that I see still gets around on this site. It helped me tremendously and gave me something to do (controll). This part of my journey was very much like I was nesting for a baby. Cleaning, cooking, and organizing everything in preparation of being out of commission for a couple of weeks. If you want a copy of the Stock My Pantry list….fill free to inbox me and I’ll be glad to send it to you. The best advice received during this stage: Follow doctor orders no exceptions! Post-Op No matter how much I prepared for the surgery….I still was unprepared. You see there were so many people that had such a quick recovery; I just knew that would be me! I have a very high tolerance for pain….Well I guess not!!! I did have several other things done at the time, but OH MY!!! Prepare for the worst and hope for the best! I had two hernias and adhesions removed along with the band..so maybe that was the difference…but I didn’t feel good for at least a week. Best Advice: The 4-6 weeks is for healing….so focus on that not weight loss!!!!....And stay off the scale!!! MY Journey I have been asked several times what made the band work for me, while others struggle so much. I’m a rule follower and a little OCD so if I get something in my head I can’t let it go. So I really never doubted I could get the weight off….I knew I could (I had done it several times before), but my problem lied in keeping it off. The band alone will not do this for you!!! The one thing I have learned is that utilizing the band and making it work for me was very much a head game (demanding your body to co-operate!!). I never thought of myself as “Addicted” to food. I could see how that element would make the process even harder. I might even consider a different WLS. It took 8 fills for me to feel anything!! If I hadn't been so determined I could see how it would have become very discouraging. And I still think I need another fill, but I’m waiting till after my abdominalplasty /Breast Lift that is scheduled in less than 4 weeks. This process takes time. You must be vigilant and dedicated to the process. For me, I have a condition called PCOS. I never realized that it was this condition that made it so hard for me to lose weight until my daughter was diagnosised with it at about the same time I had my surgery. I saw her struggling to lose her 50 pounds. Her doctor did well at educating both of us. I knew I had PCOS)( they told me that was the reason for my infertility 20 years earlier)….but I guess back then they didn’t know as much about it as they do now. I just thought it was an infertility issue….I was skinny (120 pounds) and Physically fit back then. After I had my family, I put it out of my head…it never dawn on me it was the source of my weight issues 20 years later. So with that new found info I was able to educate myself on the condition and put in place significant diet changes. Here is where some controversial ideas come in play. REMEEMBER this is MY journey!!! This worked for me. If you have similar issues, it may work for you….that’s why I’m posting it. But it may not work for you. You see there is a large group people that believe we are all basically the same…you know a calorie is a calorie…..and that we all basically need the same amount of them and that our bodies need the type foods. I STRONGLY disagree. I think we are ALL different….none of us are the same. We all have unique set of genes that determine how our bodies will respond to different foods. That’s why two people can follow the exact same plan and have extremely different results. I agree that the majority of people fall right in the middle in calorie needs however there are a large portion of people that fall on the outside of those averages. Some of us could NEVER consume 1200 calories a day and still lose weight!! Most people could…not me. While there are others that could consume their 2500 calories a day and never gain an ounce (I doubt there are many of those on this site-haha). Others could follow the food pyramid and all would be fine…not me. My body hates carbs…(I LOVE them). Others follow a strict High protein/low carb diet and just become sick. It’s no wonder why we give up!! I decided to be successful, I had to figure out what was right for me. So what was right for me? Well, I knew that in general before surgery I doubt I ate 1500 calories day normally. And I knew that I was gaining about a pound a month. So after post op, my nutritionist wanted me to eat 1200 calories a day with at least 70g of Protein no limits on carbs. At first (being the rule follower I am , I went along with the plan)The only exercise during this time was a 30 min walk about 3 days a week. I knew that this wouldn’t produce much loss, but I gave it a try. As I thought…I actually gained a pound by my 8week visit). I then (on my own) reduced my calories to 1000. My nutritionist didn’t agree with this but she told me to give it a try. Next visit I did have some loss but it still wasn’t where I wanted it (about 0.5 pound a week). I told her I was listening to my body and it needed something different. *I changed the calories to 900/protein at 70 gram/ and set a limit of PROSSED carbs to 30 a day (the nutritionist about flipped) *I Changed my 30 minute walk 3 days a week to a 15 min walk every day ( I wanted to establish a exercise routine but didn’t want to spike my appetite and want more calories) BINGO!!! This was the winning combo. The weight fell off at about 2-3 pounds a week. This lasted for about 5 months of steady weight loss. At my 7 month check in I was down about 50 pounds. My nutritionist was convinced!! She now supported my plan. But I also noticed that as I lost I the amount I was losing was going down too.Why? I was doing the same thing. Why would it change? It didn't really matter why...do it did mean I had to switch it up again. On reflection I kind of figured out that it was the same with other methods.Just like weight watchers point program…when you are heavy you get extra points…but as you lose they take away points. They have to take the points away to keep you losing weight.The same is true here. As I lost, my body required fewer and fewer calories just to move…my body was becoming more efficient. At the end of the 5 months (7 months after surgery) I was back to the 1 pound a week. (I was now 180 pounds and 7 months out)At this point, there wasn’t much I could cut out in the diet area…so I knew it was time to get sweaty!!! But I knew that exercise was out of the question on 900 calories a day!! I wanted to lose another pound a week so that was 3500 calories and I could go to the gym 5 days a week (it’s just math….that means I had to burn 700 calories each day at the gym. increased my calories to 1100 and started hitting the gym) ) Yes… I was hitting the gym hard!! About an hour on the Eiptical and 15-20 min on weight machines!!!! Yes I know that is an extremely low net calorie intake….but this is what I needed to do to get the weight off. I wasn't going to die from lack of food! There was still plenty of reserve!!!! No it wasn’t easy!!! Yes I struggled!!! Yes I cried, But I did it!! I ate a huge amount of healthy foods like spinach, celery, cucumbers, cabbage,broccoli, green geens ( I call these "free" foods VOLUME CONTROL things I simply eat because I need to take up space… I also ate tons .chicken, berries, nuts, tuna not to mention the countless low calorie protein shakes….I never went hungry….if I was hungry I ate. I might have been what I wanted to eat, but I gave my body the nourishment it needed. It wasn’t a exciting diet in fact I ate almost the same thing every day. I just kept telling myself “I could do ANYTHING for 20 more pounds…once I get it off I could return to a more enjoyable diet”. And it worked!! Off came the weight again!! At 2 pounds a week!!!BY January 2013 (10 months out) I was at my personal goal of 160 pounds!!!(76 pounds lost!!!!) When I asked my doctor If I needed to lose more he said absolutely not!! That the 15 pounds that I have left was all skin and he put me in the success file! Now he has taken my diet plan and is sharing it with his other PCOS patients. That made me feel good. Now, I’m a little sad. I always thought I would be able to return to that “normal” range for calories…that I would be able to eat at least 1200 calories and maintain…but that’s not the case for me. I maintain now. But my numbers aren’t pretty. I have figured out that my “Base Metabolic Rate” is more like 900 calories (and that is with a pretty good amount of muscle mass) if I don’t exercise and I hate exercise. But I like to eat…so now a days I simply add whatever calories I burn at the gym to my daily calorie intake. I try to go to the gym 2-3 times a week and burn about 500 calories each visit so to keep it simple, If I go to the gym 1 time a week then I can have 1000 calories a day for that week; 2 times a week=1050 calories a day weekly; 3 times a week =1100 calories a day weekly if I don’t hit the gym I get the whooping 900 calories. These are my numbers. Like them or not I had to accept them. And they are pretty accurate. I’m now at month 13. (3months into this final phase) and I’m simply maintaining at 158-160 pounds. Lessons lerned *You are unique!!!You must figure out what your body needs and respond to it . And most likely its not going to be what YOU want it to be. But you need to accept it and deal with it. I wish my body liked carbs…..I miss them a lot!!! It doesn’t mean I NEVER have them. I just need to be mindful there is a price to pay for having them…so I keep them to a minium. Nowadays I allow myself some healthy/nutral carbs but nothing like the average person eats. For me My diet is 900 calories a day (+exercise), 70 grams of Protein/ 60grams of healthy/natural carbs * gave up almost all processed foods * I try to exercise 2-3 times a week * If a plan isn’t working, mix it up until you make it work After re-reading this it may sound like this was just easy for me. I want everyone to know this was the absolute hardest thing I have ever done. I could have not did this without my family willing to give me the support to put myself before all of them for a while. Instead of me coming last in everything….I was first!! They worked around what I needed. That’s what families do for each other. I have always been there for them….this time they were always there for me. To a husband that was firm with me and would accept excuses from me (but yet hugged and encouraged me the whole way)….to a daughter that was my cheerleader….to another daughter that was my inspiration and motivator to a son that simply kept telling me how pretty I was. I will NEVER be that other person again!!! It was I life makeover!! It even made us a stronger family...We as a family lost over 150 pounds!!!! Good luck everyone!! Inbox me if I can help you in anyway.

Great Job!! Keep your head in the game you can do it!!!

Carolinagirl-Its good to see you too. I havent been on much lately. I'm getting ready for abdominoplasty in 10 days!!! I think Im more worried about that than the Lap band surgery!! 50/50-Thanks! Looks like you are well on your way!! You have done a great job to only be out a few months. Keep your head in the game and the taste of success will be in your very near future!!!

I agree with lovethenewme. Spanx or something like that works great. You can get them at any anchor store like jc penny,bell, sears, and even some smaller stores like Cato. Spanx has their own website too, but you may want to try some on before you purchase them. I have found that getting a good fit might require a few attempts. Hope that helps