PattyGirl66

yea, I think its important to eat a variety of food so we don't get bored of eatting the same things over and over again. Believe me I am on a hunt.
Oh, a good friend of mine on here says she mixes tuna with babybel light soft cheese. I will be trying that as well, so far I got several recipes on hand...

I love breakfast,its my favorite part of the day...Now since I am banded I can't do breakfast 'right away' because the first thing I do when getting up is drink tons of water so my belly is completely full. As I sit here and type this I am waiting for 12 noon to roll around so I can eat.I usually give myself a half hour after I drink water to eat anything. No, I will not skip it because I only eat 2-4 ounces per meal and need my nutrients to stay healthy avoiding becoming sick, thus avioiding in the future to be tempted by unhealthy foods by 'skipping' meals.

I love homemade fruit smoothies, packed with Protein.. Every morning I have one. Not only is it healthy,but I am getting in the important nutrients in naturally..
Here is my morning plan:
4 fresh strawberries (I alternate with 1/4 cup fresh blueberries)
1/2 of a small banana
1/4 cup of low fat vanilla yogurt (this stuff is packed with protein)
1/4 cup of skim or almond milk (I perfer almond milk)
1/2 scoop of Protein Powder (unflavored)
(ice cubes optional)
**be creative, you can add peaches, mangos, etc.. remember to always remove the skin from these fruits!
Calories: 178 / Protein 16 grams

Hi Everyone,
I have told you about the Protein Blitz Protein drinks that are non chalky and clear. I have got my order in last night and today I tried it. I have to say this is by far the best tasting Protein Drink I had since purchasing sooooo many (chalky ones) that I have a hard time getting them down with the after taste and leaving my stomache feeling horrible. Its been over 4 hours since I drank Protein Blitz (grape flavored) and I feel good. If I have to describe what it taste like, I would say a grape flavored sugar free ice pop!.
Okay, cost- for a dozen 20 ounce bottles if you go to the Vitamin Shoppe website they charge $32.00 for the case (free shipping). If you go to the Protein Blitz website you are going to pay a hevty $47.88 a case. So worth it buying these if you can't get down those chalky Protein shakes.
Tast great over ice, and someone suggested they make ice pops out of these. Packed with 30 grams of protein each bottle!!! I am going to order more they come in fruit punch and grape flavors.
I took a few pics so you can see how clear the drink is (I served this over ice)
Enjoy ...
Product Label

New from the Makers of Designer whey
30g of Protein
1g Carbs
0g Fat
Protein Enhanced Beverage
Grip it Good&Grape™
7.8g BCAAs
Lactose Free
100% Unique - US Patent Pending - America's #1 Protein

I love breakfast,its my favorite part of the day...Now since I am banded I can't do breakfast 'right away' because the first thing I do when getting up is drink tons of water so my belly is completely full. As I sit here and type this I am waiting for 12 noon to roll around so I can eat.I usually give myself a half hour after I drink water to eat anything. No, I will not skip it because I only eat 2-4 ounces per meal and need my nutrients to stay healthy avoiding becoming sick, thus avioiding in the future to be tempted by unhealthy foods by 'skipping' meals.

Ingrediants:
1/4 cup of 2% cottage cheese
3 Tbs. of a fresh avacado (blenderized or hand forked) depending how soft the avacado is
2 Tsp. Guacamole Seasoning
Directions:
Add 1/4 cup of cottage cheese, add 3 tbs fresh avacado, sprinkle 2 tsp. guacamole seasoning.
Calories : 130 / 7gms Protein
Enjoy!

*** Perfect for mushy stages, or any part of a meal ***

Hi Princess,
This is quite normal! Your body is in the healing process so you should be worried about that instead of losing weight right now. Many factors, body Fluid, that time of the month, salty foods, etc.
The weight will come off, just be patient!
Best of luck you are doing great

Hi Princess,
This is quite normal! Your body is in the healing process so you should be worried about that instead of losing weight right now. Many factors, body Fluid, that time of the month, salty foods, etc.
The weight will come off, just be patient!
Best of luck you are doing great

Hi Princess,
This is quite normal! Your body is in the healing process so you should be worried about that instead of losing weight right now. Many factors, body Fluid, that time of the month, salty foods, etc.
The weight will come off, just be patient!
Best of luck you are doing great

On the 2nd month and lost 14 pounds in a month The nurse said that's the most she has seen in one month usually only 2 pounds she said. Happy Dance for ME.

I really enjoyed the mushie stages, as odd as that may sound. I still do mushies inbetween a few solids. My mushy's contained:
Ricotta cheese (part skim)
Cottage cheese (1 or 2%)
Avacados (mashed up well)
Mashed Potatoes (white)
Mashed potatoes (yams)
Laughing cow lite creamy cheese
babybel lite cheese
**BY using just these recipes and the cream of soups you can create your own meal***
Also, if you go to the food link on this site you can see many people have created some pretty good mushy recipes, including me
Enjoy....

well, not sure if my ins will cover the (after effects of losing weight or if i can even afford it--maybe after i win lotto) but i will take saggy skin and a saggy butt then being nearly 350 pounds anyday.

Hello All,
So yesterday was an especailly trying time for me. I had a headache from the time my feet hit the floor, and it seemed like everytime I turned around, I was catching myself falling asleep. Is anyone else this tired? The broth has gotten boring to me so I have just stuck to the coffee (black), water/crystal light, and the shakes. I finally ran out of strawberry, and I'm sitting on the chocolate and vanilla. The banana flavor is blah (nasty), so I figured the more I drink of it, the faster I can rely on my supplyof the good stuff til the end.
I also had my pre-op appointment yesterday. Everything went smoothly. As a word of advice, do ALL your pre-registration paperwork online and ahead of time. I got there yesterday, sat down, wrote a check, and within 5 minutes I was off getting my bloowork, urine sample and X-Rays done. Also, arrive early. My appointment was at 3PM, but I got there at 2:15PM and was out by 3:15PM. Majority of the wait came from the X-Ray assistance goofy off and not paying attention to a patient in the waiting room.
Also, for those of you who may not know, you may be eligible for a discount if you pay for surgery at the pre-op appointment. The total cost of mine was $13,000. At 80% (Cigna), the remaining balance was $2,600. Might I remind you that this was AFTER I had paid or met my yearly deductible throuhg co-pays, etc... So keep that in mind. Had I not, I believe they would've only paid up to 70%. 10% more makes a lot of difference. Because I offered to pay at the pre-op appointment, I got an additional 25% discount from the hospital as a "good faith" effort for paying in advance. But I will get credit for the whole $2,600 towards my out-of-pocket expenses for they year. How? The although I paid the hospital $1,950 (After a discount of $650 was applied), they will report to the insurance company that I paid $2,600. Cool huh?
Also, ask the anesthesiologist for a set of bath sponges that you will use the night before and the morning of the surgery to sterilize your skin of bacteria and infectious diseases. There has been cases of flesh eating diseases in recent months from people who's had surgeries; and chances are they are not going to test you to see if you are a carrier, so C.Y.A and ask and if they don't provide one ask for one. Mine provided me with one.
As of this morning, I have lost a total of 30 pounds (pre-op). It hasn't been that bad, but there has been plenty of temptation. I encourage you ALL to follow your diets to the "T". Reason why my doctor has me doing this is not only to shrink my liver, and shed some fat before surgery, but to also help me recover faster. From he's told me and the nurses at the hospital, all his patients have recovered the fastest with little to no complications. I guess I'm happy my doctor is so strick. So "DON'T CHEAT!", it's not worth the longer recovering past what you already have to go through, and you don't want to wake up with no band because your system is still filled with gunk!
As always, thank you for all the responses, and I hope that you all haivng a great journey! Have a great weekend!
V/r,
DeShawn Johnson

Domika,
Don't get discouraged, as your peers have stated you are in the healing process so new out from surgery and you should focus on recovery only. As per the others, your healing times is between 4-6 weeks. I am in my 5th week and have lost weight steadily till this week I have not lost anything, nor gained. I know what I need to do and up my calories and fat grams so that I can burn fat. You don't have to worry about that yet because you are so new out. I suggest worrying about Protein and fluids at this point this is crucial in order for you to heal properly.
I on the other hand know my body is not going to survive on only 400-500 calories per day so I am going to up the ante this week and see what happens. I am moving around a lot more and it feels good to not be in so much pain doing so
Hang in there!

if you are breathing, talking, typing, and can swallow..you are fine!
Just becareful next time

I have thrown my scale, right back under the bathroom sink....LOLOLOL

Are mirrors and scales telling you lies? Don’t let them sabotage your weight loss and peace of mind.


THE MIRROR LIES
I don't know about you, but I have trick mirrors in my house. In fact, trick mirrors lurk everywhere, in public restrooms, department stores, hotel lobbies and on several walls of my health club. These mirrors never tell the truth. Like a funhouse mirror, they tell me I'm fat, thin, old, young, ugly or beautiful. Rarely do those messages match up with reality. If you have trick mirrors in your world, do not believe their lies!
You know I'm kidding, right? The trick isn't in the mirror, it's in my brain. Because of decades of denial, self-hatred, weight fluctuation, aging, envy, societal messages (the fast food server asks me, "You want that super-sized?" while I study the skeletal body of an actress on a magazine cover), and random electrical impulses skipping crazily around my brain, I cannot accurately process data from my reflection in the mirror. This isn't unique to obese and formerly-obese people, but it's a special burden for us because as we work so hard to lose weight, we are even hungrier for positive feedback than we are hungry for food.
For this reason, I suggest that you save your Before photos and one Fat Outfit (no matter how much you hate them), keep records of your body measurements (because sometimes you'll see progress there when none shows on the scale) and document your weight loss surgery journey with monthly photos. Last Monday I looked at myself in my bathroom mirror and thought, "Damn, girl! You look good!" On Tuesday, after a weigh-in that showed no increase or decrease, I looked in that same mirror and thought, "Damn, girl! You are porking up!" At moments like that, it is a great comfort to try on my fat clothes and feel them slide off my body because they're so big, or to set a Before photo alongside a Now photo and be reminded of how far I've come.
THE SCALE TELLS THE TRUTH
But not the whole truth.
The scale weighs your clothes, shoes, fat, muscle, bone and water weight. This data will vary throughout the day as you eat, drink, exercise, urinate and defecate. You can buy fancy scales that will give you readings for total body weight, fat and water weight, and all those values will fluctuate every day. You can't let those fluctuations make you crazy. Recently I tracked my weight every day over the course of a week. It went like this: up, down, down, down, up, up, with a net gain or loss of zero. When I'm trying to maintain rather than lose weight, I'm happy about that. When I’m trying to lose weight, seeing my weight creep up and up as the day goes on does absolutely nothing positive for my weight loss effort.
On the day when my early-morning weigh in showed a 3.6 pound increase, I could have let that information spoil my day, but instead I copied my British friend, Kate. I shrugged and said, "Silly cow." My body weight is just one piece of information about me. It does not tell the whole truth of my worth as a human being and a WLS patient. The scale doesn't remind me that I had lost 1.75" from my bust, waist, legs and arms when I measured myself that week. It doesn't remind me that I exceeded my weekly exercise goal by 75 minutes. It doesn't remind me that I met all of my nutritional goals, wrote 20 pages of my book manuscript, had a job interview, gave medication to my dogs, listened to my husband rant after a bad day at work, took one of my dogs to visit the nursing home residents, or any of the other things that are important to me.
I realize that the scale is our primary tool for measuring our progress as we lose or maintain our weight, but you can't let it run your life. When an inanimate object starts to dictate your thoughts and feelings, it's time to lock it in the trunk of your car or have someone hide it from you. As Kate says, keep the scale where it belongs: beneath your feet, not in your head.

if you are breathing, talking, typing, and can swallow..you are fine!
Just becareful next time

The lump is the port

Perfectly normal. Your body is healing right now. Give it time, the weight will eventually start coming off.

I hope you get it all figured out with whatever is causing your issue......
As for the dumb Dr.'s band comment.........
Maybe you should have said, "Why in the world would I go through a major surgery for weightloss only to go through another surgery to put the weight back on.?"

Thank you everyone! It wasn't easy at all, pure willpower! I just had to keep talking to myself. This is only the beginning as I know I will have many many more temptations ahead of me.

OHHHH NO, you are deff not the only one, I gain anywhere between 5-8 lbs. blah blah blah!

Thank you everyone! It wasn't easy at all, pure willpower! I just had to keep talking to myself. This is only the beginning as I know I will have many many more temptations ahead of me.

Every year my Mother throws a Labor Day BBQ. This year was very different because I am banded (5 weeks post-op). I actually started on solids this week.
I made the usual potato salad and Pasta salads for the event (without eatting it). Usually when I make my salads I would have a bowl of each.
When the food was served I kept busy, I even stood in the pool with my granddaughter a little longer while everyone ate so I could mentally prepare myself . I ate a half of hot dog (no bun) I had bought over a few crackers and a slice of laughing cow lite cheese.
When dessert was served there was a large variety of cheesecakes set on the table, i took a very small fork full from my husbands for taste and served myself some fresh fruit.
I survived my first family outting with tons of food and managed. Yes, I am not going to lie there was temptation. I knew this was going to be the first in many temptations to come. While I sat at the table looking at all the food, I thought to myself how much I would of ate last year.
I will try hard to continue to not let food be the center of my world, at least for now I conquered one!