2012

I used stevia and sugar free creamer in my coffee every morning. The only time I was told to stay away from coffee was 2 weeks before surgery and 2 weeks after.

And really work on getting your liquids in, like Water, because this will help a little.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and suggestions Jungle Jim's (awesome place if you ever get the chance to visit, it's in Ohio) just opened up not too far from me, so I think I'm going to hit the bakery and get something small, so in essence it will be bites.

Just one piece I checked out sugar free options at the grocery store and the carbs are quite a bit. Any suggestions?

Awesome job!! I hope to see that next year myself

Where are you at with surgery? Are you on all liquids? If so, liquid in, liquid out. And that's a good point about the shakes, whey Protein made me sick as a dog, I found that Zoic drinks don't make me sick and Pea protein works, but the taste is so, so. And depending on what you are eating, too many sugar free products can cause diarrhea. If I have just 1 too many sugar free candies, that makes me sick, so now I have 1 piece at the most a day.

I'm really happy for you, good luck!

Woohoo! Do you find it weird to walk through all of the bakery Desserts and not pick up a thing? I found that amusing when I went grocery shopping this weekend, pre-band, it was nothing for me to pick up some Cookies, cake, or pie. Now, I didn't even crave it, and kept on walking to get the healthy stuff .

No, not yet, but I definitely bookmarked it. Lots to choose from, but the buffalo chicken looks really good. I was going to make it this weekend, but ended up eating some shrimp and a salmon burger from Kroger. It would be nice if she has a low carb cake, the B-day is coming up next weekend .

Thanks for the tip, nice site, and there's actually nutritional information, that's usually the hardest part to find on recipes.< /p>

This is not a fun question , but are you regular? Could it be that kind of problem? Bandsters don't do this as often since we have a hard time getting our veggies, Fiber, and eat less food. I know I don't feel good when I'm not, so I keep up on taking a probiotic and this helps a lot. Some on here take regular stool softeners or fiber supplements, but I'm not getting into that setup, never worked too good for me in the past, not doing it now.

I love posts like these. I want to wear shorts again and buy in the normal clothing side. And to get back some self confidence again!

Try taking 2 cups of spinach, 1 cup of almond milk, and 1 yogurt (I use greek to get my protein) and blend away. It keeps me full and you get in some veggies. The v8 spicy juice is pretty good too.

Good luck, everything will go just fine!!

Hi Marfar, this guideline came from my nutritionist. They want me to do 60+ Protein a day, 25-35 fat, and 60 or less carbs, and I'm not supposed to count calories, but when you journal, you see them . I have been consistently losing weight averaging about 2 lbs a week. I am a carb lover, but to tell you the truth, when I do this amount, I don't crave them like I used to and I don't crave the sweets, it amazes me. Give it a go and see if it works for those last 15. I know some people on here don't do the low carb, but it seems to work for the time being.

Is it just me, but has anyone noticed you are more irritated or cranky when eating the low carb? I'm only supposed to have up to 60 carbs a day, which I keep to and I suppose that falls in the low category, but not sure what my deal is. It may just be my job, lol

I eat it quite a bit and have no problem. Sauce always helps too if you are concerned it may get stuck. Love it and nutritional value is awesome! You can check out Youtube, BandedWendy has it a lot too and she's at goal.

I had that problem the week after surgery and I used Milk of Mag and that worked, I was starting to get really worried and you don't want to be straining after having surgery on your stomach, may be TMI, but hey, it happens. I took Probiotics before surgery that kept me regular and after surgery, when I was allowed to (2 weeks), I got back on them and they keep me regular. They don't work overnight, as for that 2 weeks I could not take them, I could definitely tell, but I'm now 2 months out from surgery and back on track. The Pearl probiotics are really, really small so no problems with taking them now or in the future with a tighter band. Just another option to add to the list. Oh and like the above commenter said, my nutritionist said about the only thing sugar free candy is good for is if you are constipated, lol.

I second Firefox, it's working okay for me. I had some problems the past week logging in, but that seems to be working now too.

Great job, now the hard part is over (well you know what I mean ). That gas pain can be a killer, walk around as much as you can, try a heating pad, and alot of people on here suggest gas-x strips. I did the walking and gas-x and it took about 6 days for the shoulder to stop, but it does lessen as the days go by, it will get better.

Awesome job, woo hoo! I've been guilty of not exercising. I've been doing good on eating by keeping a journal with the one fill to watch myself, but if I stay up late, I get really hungry and have a bit of a hard time controlling myself. 2nd fill this coming Saturday, hope it helps.

Maybe try a heating pad?

Since surgery (July 9th) I have had weird, random pains come out of nowhere that I was thinking something new was wrong with me every week and I'm not a hypochondriac , but I think I just needed to be patient and let myself heal. Now I feel normal again, it will get better.

Where is your port located? Left or right side? If it's the left, it's probably the port area, they are attaching the port to muscle and it's going to be tender for some time. If it gets really bad, head to the ER though, better to be safe than sorry.

I did not experience much pain in my port area, but I did experience soreness on my left side, opposite of the port placement, and they told me I pulled a muscle, It lasted for about 2 weeks and I'm happy to say it's gone, so I guess it was a pulled muscle.

Lauracat, can you please elaborate on the types of Calcium? Do you mean that one can contribute more to getting Kidney stones than the other? My nutritionist told me to take calcium citrate, and I'm curious.

I could not burp for some time after I had surgery and I thought it was because I had hiatal hernia repair in addition to the lap band, but now that it's been about 2 months since surgery, I can burp just fine. I know that does not help you much, but you may not be able to burp due to swelling since you just had surgery. I know the gas is horrible and if you don't have the shoulder pain, consider yourself very lucky, because this is usually where most people feel the gas pain. All you can really do is walk around and kind of deal with it for now, sorry, but it does get better, I think most of mine was gone about 5-6 days out. Also a lot of people on here suggest the gas-x strips, which I did use, and I suppose they helped, but since I have nothing to compare this gas they pump into you for the surgery, which is what you are dealing with, I can't really say if they did help.