SteveFrett

Hey Rookies.

As i often do, i was thinking of ways i can help guide you thru some of your frustrations and questions.. been reading alot about food getting stuck. Primarily because you're eating bread still. Not going to lecture you about it, But rather give you a trick to try. take a small glass of Water, and take a bite size piece of bread, the one you are considering eating. put that bite size piece into the glass of water, let it sit and watch. This is exactly what is happening in your Pouch, Not Stomach, remember you have a smaller stomach and the remainder is sorta like a catch basin. You'll see how much thatsmall piece expands to a large piece in seconds. so if it's that big in the glass, imagine your pouch. I know it's hard to avoid bread. But if you are going to eat bread again I tell you all. you have Options.

1. You can get the Ultra thin sliced bread, (Arnold's makes white & wheat) and toast it. If you are going to eat a bagel, Remove the inide Dough just eat the crust. You're going to discover Crispy & Crunchy are your Allies Soft & Chewy are Foes. Triscuits, Wheat thins, Saltines.. the possiblilites are endless.. Just Think Outside the Box. roam the isles of super market, you may discover something you never knew exsisted that can be an Allie

Hey Dori,

Congrats to you too!! Funny never did meet anyone who did like hurling yet.. sure hope I don't too... Yeeesh. ..REBEL, that's it.. now the El bandittos are going to have to mess I up!!! o_O. .I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you've kept it down.. booooyaaaah to you! Nothing wrong with making use of the blender & sm-arts! Oh this coming from the Original Band Maverick . All names and likesness has been copyrighted :-P

Hey Jake, welcome my banded brother from another mother! CONGRATS on your goal to Flo the inner fat kid. Wow,lotta peepz getting busted up while working out. Sorry to hear bout it. Have to think, been 6 years out now.. definitely hit plateau, as far as lasting months... longest I can recall was 1 1/2 months of zilch.... it can be due to weather, where do you live Jake? Humidity doe's it often. You said you haven't gone Godzilla, are you under more stress then usual? That too can be factor. Funny part is I went thru more than enough for 2 people my entire time, and did the opposite, dropped lbs faster than a bulimic b***h. . About 15 lbs every two weeks. Hit me up on private message, we can talk more and see how I can help deal?

Hello fellow bandittos,

Some of the wonderful Ladies and Gentle peoples have been wanting some recipes, I have decided to do one Better, I have Many Secret Recipes from the big name Resturants. chilli's T.G.I. Friday's, Olive Garden, Outback Steak House, Applebee's just to name a few. anyways I have posted in my blog i will post one or two new recipes every few days. I tell everyone to modify it so you can enjoy these dishes still at home for you and Families. So keep in mind you will probably need to change some ingridents but still get same results as if you ordered it at resturant. so Best of Luck And please give feedback both pos & neg.

Oh .. P.S. The Recipe today is Chilli's Quesadilla Explosion salad.. ENJOY!

Hey Jen,

I've made that mistake too once, I recommend a meatloaf pan, like the one they drill us with on infomercials.... why do they even bother anymore, every damn thing they advertise is in just about every store? Anyways.... it helps keep meat out of grease & fat. .not that Turkey has alot to begin with. .. but if not a dark Pyrex dish or roasting pan will do.. key is keeping it covered, helps meatloaf retain moisture. Let me know how it came out Jen.

Hey, uh.. good question. .. think there's a tab or some dude bar dodad that shows current blogs. . Haven't posted anything yet, will let you know.

So now that you have a sample secret recipe and understand that anything can be substitued or added you think would improve it Go for it. Just make sure you eat small portions when you make anything.

so check my Blog ocassionaly to see what i added. special requests taken .. with exception of NO BURGER PLACES!

until next time, Peace out from the former fat kid!

Steve

Hi llene no i don't watch either my carbs or protien intake, I eat such small portions of everything, and if i see myself gaining i cut back.

Thanks, no date set yet still trying to dig myself out before i take the Nestea plunge, What about yourself, anyone special in your life? No actually I met her after i was banded, I was still married at the time i was banded, I filed for divorce a year after i had the band done. No my band had no bearing on my marriage ending, That happened a long time ago, but made peomise to self to try to make it work as best i could for as long as i could for my Son's sake. I'm sorry You mentioned you just got your masters. Gongrats to you as well! What is your major? Where did you attened college in Long Island? Ah no problem I figured i give you an option if you were unsucsessful in finding a dr. for now. Oh yeah i got real lucky with my Dr. she is awsome. Hey did you ask your surgeon if they could forward you to someone in Milford? May be worth a shot if you haven't already.

Ok so I said I was going to Blog the recipes.. This is Not a Famous,Secret Recipe, this one this one of my Own creation.

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

3 lbs of ground Turkey

1 cup of ketchup

1/3 cup of Worshire Sauce

1 cup of seasoned bread crums or seasoned Panko bread crums

2 large eggs

a Pinch of MIld Chili powder or any chili powder you have or can find.

a Pinch of Thyme

a pinch of parsley

combine all ingridents in large mixing bowl, mix until all ingridents have combined together, place the meatlof in a baking pan, cover with foil and place in oven. Cook for 1 hour with Foil covered and then remove foil at last 15 minuets of cooking time. As an Option you can baste on Ketchup, Mustard, Tomato sauce atop of the meatloaf before you cover it with foil and add more to it after foil is removed if desired. Now Please feel free to add, remove, anything other than the Turkey to your creation. You will never tell the difference between turkey and beef. Again i would like feedback of both kinds.

Enjoy!

Why not just post secret recipes i know is okay to eat for everyone? I'll Blog a few new recipes every few days. Soups, chicken Entrees, Beef, Meican, Italian. I try to cover all groups and styles but again YOU MUST make the nessasary changes and substitutions, to what you know you can eat without having issues afterwards. Some may not work for you, some will.. Again these are ACTUAL FAMOUS RESTURANTS RECIPES, I will not disclose my sources but i will say it has been a long but still working progress. I will give all a Sample Recipe for T.G.I.Friday's Jack Dainiels Glaze. I'm sure you all have had to had tried it at some point in time. Anyways This Glaze goes with EVERYTHING, Fish, Pork, Beef,Chicken works well as a glaze to baste on, during and after or as a side dipping suace, Please Give me Feedback Both Positive & Negative Please. Ok so her it is;

T.G.I.Friday's Jack Dainels Glaze

1 head of Garlic

1 tablespoon of Olive Oil

2/3 cup of Water

1 cup Pinapple juice

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 1/3 cups of Dark Brown Suger

3 tablespoons of Lemon Juice

3 tablespoons of minced White Onions

1 Tablespoon of Jack Dainels Wiskey ( doesn't have to be J.D. any Wiskey will work.)

1 tablespoon of Crushed Pinapple

1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper

1. cut about 1/2 inch off top of garlic, cut roots so garlic sits flat, remove paper skin from garlic, but leave enough so cloves hold together. Place Garlic in small acsserole dish or baking pan, drizzle olive oil over garlicand cover with lid or foil. Bake in Preheated oven at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Remove garlic and let cool down until able to handle it.

2. combinewater, pineapple juice, teriyaki, soy and brown suger into a Medium saucepan over medium/high heat,. stir occasionally until mixture boils then reduce heat until mixture is just simmering.

3. squeeze the sides of the head of garlic until the pasty roasted garlic is squeezed out. Measure 2 Teaspoons into the saucepan and wisk to combine. Add remaining ingridents to sauce pan and stir.

4. Let mixture simmer for 40 -540 minuets or until sacuse has reduced by about 1/2 and is thick and syrupy. MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T BOIL OVER.

This will make aprox. 1 cup of Glaze.

LOL well can't replace ground beef.. Beans are Protein, cheese, you can ask them to go easy with cheese or have no cheese, when i go i get dorito tacos minus the lettuce, and drown it in mild taco sauce , still burns but not as bad as fire! How bout I make a list of places i have secret recipes for??

Ugh, you and the damn Bell... I don't have any secret recipes for them , what is it from them you want to duplicate? What the hell is your name again??

Hi my fellow banditos...

I have been thinking about the Resturant recipe dealio... decided i'm going to revamp it just a smidge.. Instead of ME making the substitutions YOU will be making them. I will gladly give you the ACTUAL RESTURANT RECIPE as if they were to prepare it, You will replace the things you can't have with things you can. AGAIN keep in mind this is not ment to be made a part of your regular diet, unless it's super healthy of course.. But to kill the craving you're having for that particular dish. There are no Substitutes for McDonalds, Burger King or any Buger joint.. it it what it is , you can replace ground turkey or chicken but no magic food found yet that tastes like it that won't make us fat... Unless you go Veggie Burger.. Pasta is another that can't be swapped. It too is what it is flour, yeast... Carbs.. I have seen Rice noodles, Tofu Noodles but I am not that daring to try them. I have my own trick to pasta! HA HA HA ... Another thing is be careful of Hot & spicey.. I LOVED Spicy food, was able to eat brimstone like it was candy.. Nowi look at a hot pepper and my throat burns.. I still cook hot for others but i can't do it anymore. If you are going to use bread, be sensible only have one slice or Toast it so it wont get stuck going down. But moving forward recipes will be given in original format. Please tell me Resturant, I will tell you recipes I have for them if I do..

Boars Head does carry a line of low sodium meats and cheeses. I can give you the actual resturant recipe and you can do what i did, go over ingridents and make substitutions from there. Hard to tell what is available by you. Have you ever shopped at Trader Joe's http://www.traderjoes.com/stores/index.asp they have a few stores in the N.C., they are a glutten free food market. You mentioned bojangles, i looked thru my recipes and unfortunatly they are not one i have anything for. I think what i said , give you the resturant recipe and you change what you want to change. sound better? I can help with ideas for replacements.

Woah!!! Let me set record straight while I Dodge the rotten fruit being thrown at me..... guess I must be doing something wrong too because 6 yrs banded, and I still mess up too at times as well. ... we all make mistakes! Do I sometimes forgot and eat something I shouldn't, I'd be a bold face liar if I said no. My comment was meant to tell us all to Think before we eat.... not trying to say anyone is Stupid... so drop the torches & pitchforks, call of the villagers ...geesh.

I know I come off as some crazy lunitic, but it's just me. I'm sarcastic but not in a harmful way just my warped view of life. I enjoy helping others, gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, Oh wait that's something else that does that.. LOL... Seriously Ibasicly decided i can't eat what i loved to eat before so, now I make the things that caused me to become the FAT KID to all everyone else... All part of my evil plan to make the entire universe FAT KIDS! HA HA HA ...

LOL I was told i should write a cook book called The Former Fat Kid's Resturant Secrets.. See You're using your Noggin.. Burgers unfortunatly can't be substitued god part is if eaten without a bun and in small bites, You'll see it's not taboo now. Most will find it the only source of beef they may be able to handle. But crumbled up or made into a patty it's the same. It's realy simple if you think about it. bread is made of Flour, Yeast. water.. What else is made from same ingridents, but is a totaly different texture? Crackers, Now again walk down your local supermarket isle, how many different types of crackers are available? Thousands! People say I miss Subway.. Again you can go get cold cuts , but have them shave the meats, Turkey, Roast Beef chicken Breast, Bologna.. not going to name every meat in a deli case but you get the Idea.. And again replace the bread with a cracker. Put a small amount of meat and a small piece of cheese bam... Instant mini sandwich. But I must stress this to ALL.. This is not to be a everyday option. Wisdom in the wrong hands can be leathal.

Hi & welcome to ALL the newbies on the Forum,

I have been reading and have been forwarded some of your Posts and Blogs and thought I should make a post so you can save yourself the trouble of having to post.

I can't stress to all of you the importance of sticking to your diet steps! Many of you are at different stages but all seem to be having the same problems.

For those of you whom are at Pre-Op stage. If your required to lose weight before, now is the time to start. Everyone has been asking can they have lets say their "Last meal"

the Answer is Yes, But don't make it a week long event. Pick ONE DAY/NIGHT eat whatever it is you want to devour before they put the inner fat kid in a straight Jacket. To many have been going wild. Party's over.

For those who are in the liquid Stage... People it's not Rocket Science.. it's liquids... if you can't determine what's a liquid, i seriuosly think you need to go back to elemetry school. I'm not trying to offend anyone Please don't take what I say like that. It's more a sarcastic way of saying THINK!

Now those in the first fill pending stage.. Yes you have a Band strapped around your stomach but , it has yet to have any saline injected, so Yes your going to be able to eat alot, not as much as before, OBVIOUSLY! So don't take not having a fill yet as "Free Ticket" because your going to discover the unpleastries that come with trying. If your due for a fill go! Remember one thing everyone, the only person your hurting is yourself. I knwo it's hard not to eat, your stomach is growling, and with all the day to day stresses we face it makes it that more harder to resist. But do yourself the favor, if you feel hungry inbetwen meals SIP Water , DO NOT drink with a straw it makes more gas and will be even more painful. and never chug anything!!!! I will tell you all a tip: anything cold will cause your throat to tighten up and restrict you. Anything Hot will do the opposite it wil lhelp relax your throat. so keep that tid bit in mind.

anyone else who has been filled more than once and has been banded for a year or more, and still makes foolish mistakes, i say this WHATSA MATTA U?

doing everything right, diet is perfect. again Rebecca, takes time. you won't see it so much in begining becuase it's so gradual but your on the track keep up the great work!

Yeah reached goal few yrs back. How's it going so far for yourself winsane?

Oh, well again Rebecca, each person is different too, some take longer to shed the weight, but you've even said it,clothing is loose, summer time is also tough too. What are you eating for solid food?

I also want to say I don't condone doing this as a way to cheat, i merely offer to those who want to have the option of having old favorites but in a healither and capable way of eating them. And obviously i can't convert every fast food resturant entree, can't change a hambuger! or chicken but the cut of meat can be modified. Many supermarkets are starting to carry Shaved Beef, Very Delcious! for those who struggle with Chicken, A key is the moisture in the meat white meat as we all know is dry, but if cooked properly will be as moist and juicy. the proper way is to cook on low heat and for long time. keep skin on chicken, helps keep moisture in bird while cooking again your deli counter or section will have extra thin or shaved cut meats such as ham, bologna,turkey, use a triscut, wheat thin, cracker as alternative for sliced bread. Sorry If i repeat myself but just want to make sure i am making my self clear and that you all understand what i am trying to say.

My biggest preoblem was I ama damn MAverick, always a fussy eater befire nver one toeat fish, veggies, my diet was fast food. so how does one who lived on fast food change their eating habbits, I did the liqiud diet and soft food as i was supose too, but once the green light hit for real food... that's when the real challange began! I tried eating Mcdonalds only to find out the Buns were killing me so i treid without bun, still no good. Must be all that Processed crap they used instead of beef. So I gave up on that same for Buger King. So when the burger crave hits i make my own burgers. like i said the leaner the beef the better, i still don't use a bun just cut it into small pieces,dip and down the hatch. but chew it good, small, slow bites. Steak is an expensive alternative, Fillet Mingion! i will say the serloins,T-bones and prime rib all must be of a good marblized grain a good mix of white and red in a marble swirl is what your looking for, the more marbling, the more tender the meat. the eaiser it is to eat. Pasta was another b***h fo me, Being Italian, bread was heard enough to say ciao too pasta.. Ok this is what I can handle don't go by me trial and error is only way.. Ravioli is hard but two or three tops depending on size and how stuffed it is.in replacement of spagetti, I have Angle hair or Capalinni, again small amount. But I did find a fool proof way, Now my MOm woill be rolling over in her Grave , Sorry MOm but gotta do what I gotta do to eat , she understands, but is pissed no doubt! Spagetti O's yep , your plain jane can of spagetti O's what i do is add salt, pepper, onion& gralic powder, Oregano, basil, grated cheese into pot with O's mix up let cook for few minuets and TA DA pasta that has a better taste than Tomato Soup with noodle rings swimming in it. It's Delicious. i also buy the boxes of pastina, or stars, even alphabets so i can practice my spelling while i eat, LOL and either use my own home made sauce or jar of prego, ragu, your favorite, and so same with pasta like O's . I still have my Pasta but suited to how i can enjoy it. I also never followed a calorie intake, as you all do. so measuring portions will also have to be considered as well.

Your not alone Rebecca, your in good hands with these ladies! Just watch out for that Carolina girl, LMAO kidding! Seriously what she and Dolt said is most important and the truth. I was banded 6 years ago, lost 160 lbs and maintained my weight, it's hard but as time passes you become more adapted to it.