Fenton

Good Lord, Annie! After hundreds of posts whining about gas pain, your first meal with your fill is BAKED Beans??? Whadday got, a DEATH WISH??? Congrats on the fill! I've been wondering whether or not to go forward with the fill right away. I have some restriction, and I don't know if I want to eat even less than I'm eating now. But I have a feeling that I'm slowly starting to slide - not because I feel hungry, but because of bad eating habits. Yesterday I had some Mystery meat from the halal cart in front of my office, but I may have had too much, and I certainly ate too much of the pita that came with it. And then later in the day I had a cookie. And in the evening, because I'm worried about my Protein intake, but don't want to go back to Isopure, I made an omelet with parmesan, spicy (fat free!) black bean dip, salsa, carnitas and a low carb tortilla (est calories about 450 - luckily the cat stole most of the tortilla while I was on the phone). I think I did about 1600 cals for the day, which isn't the end of the world, but I worry that I'll rationalize and continue to slide down that slippery slope. I guess I'll see how I'm doing for the next couple of weeks before my fill session.

Yay, Evelas, glad to hear it! Maybe slowing down on how quickly you take liquids will help? Or maybe you're already sipping reallllllllllly slowly anyway.

Bratz - that must have been very scary! I'm glad you're OK. I'm sure you're going to keep a really sharp eye on your Fluid and calorie intake from now on... Penny! When I saw "Rugmanforever", for just one exhilarating second, I thought that another dude had joined the Shamrocks!!! But I bid you welcome, even if we're unlikely to be bonding over power tools and the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated any time soon... Nice to see you here, Elsie. You really can't sweat the randomly malevolent wanderings of the scale needle. If you manage your intake, and exercise, your body will go in the right direction. It's particularly hard in the early days, when we're all switching out our different shakes and broths and Protein beverages and cream of wheat or NEVER cream of wheat... And Nice to have you back, mrodr! (No chance that's, like, a contraction of "Mr. Odor"? No? I thought not...)

I actually do have a dumbell set, but I worry that I'll somehow hold the damn things improperly, and end up tearing out all my muscles. And then I'd be sad. But I guess that at really low weights, even poor form probably can't do that much harm. I LOVE to dance! But I think it'd make too much noise in the downstairs apartment. As well as filling my cats with a spicy paste of shame...

Food and travel writer. Best job in the world.

Remember, Lisa: walk and drink!!!! And come back quick and tell us about what's going on with you, ask us for advice. We'll tell you to walk and drink!!!

Kristin, I agree with you - almost all the Protein stuff is sweet, not savory! My nutritionist suggested drinking your drinks as if you're sipping hot tea; apparently, some people use a "sipping cup" to regulate their intake speed.

Y'know, I'm astonished to report that it hasn't itched at all.

I'd have to say that the times I HAVE felt hungry are the days (or hours, sometimes) after I've strayed a little - had too much food, had something a bit carbier than usual. All of a sudden, I feel that vague, gnawing voice of hunger that has been weirdly quiet for a while now...

Busy - yes, I've been a food writer for more than a decade. But, as I said, I have a weird mix of careers.

sueangel - I know what you mean about colleague's expectations! They want to see weight loss, and FAST, dammit! I think you'll find you have more restriction than you think - that you won't feel as hungry as you used to. And that healing stuff is KEY: if you play loose with the rules, you run a much higher risk of having your band slip, and needing to have surgery again.

Wait! I SO don't want to derail the thread! Thanks for your interest, guys. I'm happy to talk about my book in private messages, but it's not part of our weight loss thread!

So I checked my weight again today, and was down another 3 lbs - the bump and plateau seems to have finished for the time being. Yay. I wonder when it'll come back again. I feel like I'm really in the groove of weight loss, now. I know that much of it is the residual restriction caused by my banding, but that's three weeks ago now, and I'm making decisions like NOT to have a mini hot chocolate, or NOT to have a dessert. Because I'm in the weight loss groove. Why can't it always be like this? Last week, I had to do a photo shoot. I should explain that I have a bizarre mix of different careers, one of which is writing. My first novel came out in the US in November, and next month, it comes out in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Holland (and, eventually, Bulgaria). I'm being profiled in a British magazine, and they sent a photographer, and I spent the afternoon with him striking poses. Now, every second of every day, I'm acutely aware of my size; to have to be posing for this guy, and knowing that his photos would be broadcast across the United Kingdom (and be seen by some people who knew me when I was thinner - second confession: I'm English) was kind of excruciating. I wish that there was some way to slow time down on some things (book tours, photo shoots, TV appearances) and speed them up on others (the whole weight loss journey), so that I could present a better self to the world. I know there's nothing intrinsically wrong with me - or with being overweight - but I doubt that I'm the only person here who feels acutely self-conscious, and who'd rather hide until it all goes away. When my next book comes out in 2009, I'm going to be a lot slimmer, with more energy and more self-confidence; I'm really looking forward to selling the hell out of that book!

Oh, GREAT, Amanda! NOW you tell us about liquid bandage!!!

Hey, Rick - thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep at it, and when I get down to, say, 375, will start in at the gym.

I wonder how well the iSopure Clears will freeze - the Protein probably will stop them from really going solid. But you could add ice and Splenda-based fruit syrups, like the DaVinci syrups, and make a slushy out of it. I'll have to experiment for summer. When I was doing Atkins, I got an ice crushing machine for making SnoCones with - v. successful. Wishin, when it hurts too much to sit or lie, and you get relief from standing, your body wants you to walk.I guess the action of the muscles on your stomach squeezes the gas out of you or something. Either way, it sounds like you're on the mend - it'll only get better. Jencys - what a pain in the neck! Probably the last thing you want to deal with when you get home... It took me a couple of weeks to feel like myself. One thing, though: my sleep has got a LOT better. I don't know whether it's because I'm so tired that, when I get to bed, I completely CRASH, or because correcting the hiatal hernia has cut down on reflux-y problems, but some nights I'm even sleeping 8 solid hours. My big mistake is to allow the cats in - the night before last, the big one jumped onto my port site at about 3:30AM, all 20 pounds of him. SURPRISE!!!

(Kathy - I can't take credit for the banana/coffee thing!) I think I was pretty bloated for about 5 or 6 days. I'm assuming it's all the gas they pump into the belly, but maybe it's just the guts slowing down a bit because they're stunned from the operation. Harley! WTG, girl! That's really fantastic! And Ajoneen, I'm going to take a page out of your book and 1. Try and lower my calorie intake 2. Slow down with the meals. I think I've been running around 1500 cals a day; I weighed myself and am down 2 lbs since Monday, which is good, but I think I should be doing better. Although, in truth, I don't know what's appropriate. I'm a big boy, maybe I shouldn't try to take it down much below 1500. I certainly want to keep up my exercise. The other thing is: I'm still wolfing my food down. I completely ignore Paul McKenna, and I sit and watch the news or something on TV while I eat - my life is so damned busy that I'm always multitasking. I'm going to have to get better about switching off the TV and focusing on what I'm eating for 20 minutes to half an hour... Thanks for the great example, Ajoneen.

You know, there are few things in the world I like as much as well-prepared eggs. My Mushies instructions referred to "blended scrambled eggs", a notion as horrifying to me as "puréed toddler" or "flambéed puppy". I make my scrambled eggs the French way - eggs, a little milk or cream, salt and pepper, sometimes a dash of Dijon mustard or some grated parmesan, the cook the lot slowly over low heat until they barely start to thicken. Often I use truffle salt or a shot of truffle oil to make them even more luxurious, but DAMN, I love me some scrambled eggs! Lynn, I agree completely with you. I think it's a great idea to attack them with the notion of the hernia repair, but they probably know that's just a couple of extra stitches - it's not like the sort of operation other people have to repair regular hernias, so I wouldn't hold out hope. On the plus side, though, you got insurance to cover a lot of your ride - you didn't have to hop on a plane or anything. And on the even more plus side, you've had an operation which will radically change your life - including giving you much more of it. Much more life, I mean.

hungry4help: indeed I do appreciate your dinner - I think Tom Valenti, the chef at Ouest, is great. I'll be having some of his cooking next week at a food & Wine event honoring the year's Best New Chefs - it's actually going to be a trial of my willpower: it's the 20th Anniversary of the program, and so they've got some of the best of the best for the last two decades offering food, including a whole bunch of the TOP CHEF people. I had something delicious today, too: a lamb burger with goat cheese and zucchini pickles and spicy tomato sauce. I didn't eat the roll, and only had a couple of fries, but it was immensely satisfying. I was impressed by the fact that I felt pretty sated for the rest of the day - perhaps I do have more restriction than I thought. Indeed, thinking about it, I rarely feel hungry. Kathy - it sounds like we had similar ordeals in the hopsital. Yuck - zero fun. Stellabella - just keep walking. I have to say that you guys seem to have done better getting relief with your GasX than I did; for me, only walking was able to relieve the gas pains. If I had them in the night, I'd sit up, lean left, right, forward, whatever it took to get me to burp, and maybe stretch my arms a bit. I sure hope that the gas pains babies feel aren't as bad as what we get. Although I think much of our experience post lap-banding relates to the gas they use to inflate the belly during surgery. Rhonda, what food did your doctor give you the go-ahead to eat? Or do you mean "mashies"? It was nice to eat food, even baby pabulum-type food, after weeks of Slimfast Optima. Glad to hear everything's going well. Finally, Lynn, that's awful that the insurance people aren't covering your overnight. If the MD felt it was indicated, the insurer should've coughed up the dough. But as they say, those insurance bastids didn't get rich by giving away money... I'm sure it would be worth asking your doctor to see if they can appeal it. But I figure if you apply after the surgery (?), you're in a weaker bargaining position. I mean, it's not as if, if they refuse to pay, you can go and give back your operation...

Dragonfly Girl: these are last-minute jitters, and only natural. I suspect that there isn't THAT much difference among the bands, that it's largely a question of marketing - my surgeon got HIS band 7 years ago, and has maintained his slimmed weight ever since. Which is impressive, because his ancient band is probably made of, like, reeds bound together with mud. Yay Special K! I took some acid reducer spontaneously for about the first week post-op, but I wasn't having any reflux problems - probably because they took the time to fix my hiatal hernia. I wasn't given a blood thinner, although I'm pretty massive - I'd bet that reflects the surgeon's experience more than anything else. As far as preventing blood clots, keeping well hydrated and keeping moving are really important - it comes back to the old mantra "Drink, walk, drink, walk, repeat". And yay Charity and Lynn - good to hear that things are getting better...

Note to Shamrocks: When you're feeling a bit hungry, when you're on mushies and unrestricted, it's probably not a good idea to watch TOP CHEF. Plus: Yay Hope, JDub and Busy!

Annie! Snap out of it! This is entirely up to you. The reason your dietician gets upset - and it may, in part, be that she is, in fact, a Nazi - is that when you eat the wrong foods, you risk damaging the band. And, of course, it isn't the band that get's damaged, it's you. If you eat too much food, or food of the wrong consistency for your degree of healing, you run a serious risk of the band slipping from position. If the band slips, you'll suddenly have REAL problems - do you want to have that surgery again? I don't care how well you did with the surgery, no one wants to be put to sleep again to have the band replaced. You're in a difficult stage now - you're basically just dieting. The more you eat, the more you'll want to eat. You've got just one week left before the band gets filled! Hang in there, cut down your intake and just last until your band becomes a second conscience, stopping you from overdoing things... You can do it. So do it.

I am deeply and passionately in love with my new blender! Being a guy, I splurged and picked up an Oster Professional Blender - it feels like you're starting up a 200 hp engine on your counter! But what is REALLY cool was the Oster Mix'n'Go Cup (I don't think that's the real name, but it's something doinky like that). It's a heavy plastic cup which is double thick with air between the two layers of plastic like a Thermos, so Soups or shakes stay hot or cold for a good while. But what's cool about it is that you unscrew the top of the cup, load it with eg Slimfast Optima shake, banana, Peanut Butter and Protein Powder, then screw on the BLADE attachment of the blender as if it were the cap of the cup, then turn it upside down and plug it into the blender. Then you blend the contents, unscrew the blade attachment, and screw on the normal lid, and you're good to go with your perfect shake. It's great! Indeed, I shall make my lunch shake in a minute and carry it in to my office for consumption... Congratulations to all the new bandsters! You've listened to us whine, now it's our turn to listen to you whine. And we're going to tell you to STOW IT, because you've already listened to us and you knew what to expect!!!!

Thanks, Wikimikebceo! <tm one stop band info> Hmm. I think that, because of my high BMI, I probably have the higher profile port. Now I'm imagining losing weight and having my port look like a yogurt container sticking up under my skin...

Ay yi yi! There is Much Discontent in the House of the Shrinking Shamrocks!!! I hope everyone's issues resolve quickly! I'm pretty sure they will...