La_madam

3 weeks of liquids for me before I was allowed mushy foods

Cindy Cindy Cindy A fill 6 weeks ago and you have lost 22 lbs and you feel like a faliure. Do you realize it is an average of 3.3 lbs a week..That is fantastic, that is NOT faliure by any means. Many Many would love to be in your shoes right now with such fantastic weight loss.Ok so you struggle, Ok so you binge, but your losing, the band is doing its job, now you need to focus and do your job to help your band. We all have bad days, the good thing about the band is even with those bad days it is better then a bad day pre-band where the scale would of gone in the upward direction. Tomorrow is a new day, wake up , start your day with Protein to help curb the hunger and the cravings, keep telling yourself today I'm going to get through it, I'm going to make good food choices, just for today..One day at a time..YOU CAN DO IT>>>One day at a time is all you can do. Be strong

Read this, I hope it helps, it is normal to see a weight gain or no loss when you go from liquids to mushy, you will also see thesame thing most likely when you go from mushy to solids. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9148&highlight=struggling+bandsters

Refried Beans is also a good mushy food that can be eaten all by itself with lots of melted cheese..Mmmm Cottage cheese is also a good mushy food and you can add things to it to give it variety, like yogurt, applesauce, cannedpeaches or pinapple they are both soft when canned. As far as spinachdip & hummus you will be so thrilled to eat those things without the crackers or bread, trust me! My first PB was a Triscuit too Jack OUCH!

The Governor of Lousiana knew alot of the people had no means of getting out and when she made it a mandatory evacuation she should of gotten the buses in there then instead of after the fact.

Here is a list of Iron rich foods that also may help. I concentrate on eatingf alot of iron rich foods. List of Grains Rich in Iron: Iron (mg.) Brown rice, 1 cup cooked 0.8 Whole wheat bread, 1 slice 0.9 Wheat germ, 2 tablespoons 1.1 English Muffin, 1 plain 1.4 oatmeal, 1 cup cooked 1.6 Total Cereal, 1 ounce 18.0 Cream of Wheat, 1 cup 10.0 Pita, whole wheat, 1 slice/piece, 6 ½ inch 1.9 Spaghetti, enriched, 1 cup, cooked 2.0 Raisin bran cereal, 1 cup 6.3 List of Iron Rich Legumes, Seeds, and Soy: Sunflower seeds, 1 ounce 1.4 Soy milk, 1 cup 1.4 Kidney Beans, ½ cup canned 1.6 Chickpeas, ½ cup, canned 1.6 Tofu, firm, ½ cup 1.8 Soy burger, 1 average 1.8 to 3.9* List of Vegetables Rich in Iron: Broccoli, ½ cup, boiled 0.7 Green beans, ½ cup, boiled 0.8 Lima beans, baby, frozen, ½ cup, boiled 1.8 Beets, 1 cup 1.8 Peas, ½ cup frozen, boiled 1.3 Potato, fresh baked, cooked w/skin on 4.0 Vegetables, green leafy, ½ cup 2.0 Watermelon, 6 inch x ½ inch slice 3.0 Dried apricots Spinach A Sample List of Foods Rich in Iron: Blackstrap Molasses, one tablespoon 3.0 Dates or Prunes, ½ cup 2.4 Beef, Pork, Lamb, three ounces 2.3 to 3.0 Liver (beef, chicken), three ounces 8.0 to 25.0 Clams, Oysters ¾ cup 3.0 Dark meat Turkey ¾ cup 2.6 pizza, cheese or pepperoni, ½ of 10 inch pie 4.5 to 5.5

I am severly anemic and I take a pre natal viatmin even though I'm not pregnant., it has helped tremendously. Do you have a hard time taking pills? I have to break it into 3 pieces to take it then it goes down.

When there is a will there is a way, my husband is like yours he belives in cash...I sold my convertible mustang to have my surgery since my insurance would not cover me.. Now 16 months later 95 lbs light from a size 22 to a 10 I kind of wish I had my convertible to tool around town in but honestly I'm glad I did it, the band has been the best thing I have ever done. My goal was to be fit at 40 not fat at 40, Im 39 mother of 3, business owner and almost in the normal BMI range instead of the morbidly obese range. Keep the faith & have hope

I'm glad you are OK and acted responsibily and went to the ER. it is better to be safe then sorry. You did the right thing..

This is not a race issue, this is the media hyping it up. Where is the media coverage of St Bernards parish, Blackmans Parish and several other parsihes in LA and parts of Mississippi which are prodimentaly white. In all of these places there are peopole who are still stranded in the rubble of their homes and have gone without water or food for days and have lost everything , they may have not had the flooding like New Orleans but their homes have been reduced to sticks. It makes me sick to even hear race be an issue , this is a humanity issue Period!

Soft food syndrome is what it is called..softer foods go down easier and most junk foods are soft foods. Chocolate, dips ice cream are all soft foods...This is why it is important to eat the harder proteins like chicken, we will eat less of it, it will keep our pouch full longer. The softer foods go down easier and go through the pouch easier. I tell people all the time when they say they have no restriction that sometimes restriction can come with the foods you eat. I can eat chips cookies all day long but it is when I eat the hard proteins like chicken that I have the restriction. You are not alone with this, we al lare baffled by it but it iswhat it is..keep eating the hard proteins, it is what will make the difference.

Lisa how close are you to a grocery store or a 99 cent store. I ask becasue right now at my restaraunt I'm having a fundraiser over this 3 day weekend for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, I plan on sending the money raised to the Red Cross but I was thinking if I could get to a grocery store or some place to buy toiletries, diapers, underwear socks etc..in Las Vegas ( would need a ride) I can spend that money on that and you can send it with everything else, it would be great to know the exactly where the money went Or would it be easier if I went to Wal-Mart or Target and got gift cards to send? Let me know Oh and I heard on one of the local radios stations this morning that one of the things they need is plus sized womens clothing so it will be great to send the leftover clothes from the clothing exchange.

My question is where are the other Countries that we always help in time of need? When one of those other country has a disaster we (United States) are the first people to help.

Untied Health Care does cover the band..I know this for sure. Whether they cover you with such a low BMI is another story but it is worth a shot. I had a friend who just recently was banded here in CA and had United Health Care but she did have co-morbitities and a higher BMI, Give it a shot, you wont know until you try. Good Luck

Aww Trish, I'm sorry you won't be able to make it to the bash, I was looking forward to meeting you.

Great Idea!!!

What insurance do you have?

Also if you want to donate here is a very easy way to do it, Yahoo has teamed up with the Red Cross to make is easier to get through since the Red Cross phone lines are constantly busy. 100% goes to the Hurricane Katrina fund. They need money more then anything right now to get the supplies that are needed to help these people. We all may not have much to give but we all have more then what they have right now. If each of us just donated 5-10 dollars it will help. Every little bit makes a difference. I have all ready made a donation and am having a fundraiser at my restaraunt over this 3 day weekend for the Red Cross with cash donations. I know all of my customers will help to make this a success. They all know me and know what kind of heart I have. On Tuesday after the Holiday Weekend I will donate all of the money to the Red Cross http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate2/

Missy glad you had a good experience and are happy, that's all that matters. Good Attitude to have about your Dr. Dont let others get to you with negativity about your Dr. Congratulations on your new band, here is to a happier healthier new life I wish you lots of success

I googled Dr. Grossbard.didnt see anything bad, in fact all was good..Did not see anything non reputible

I think the same thing!

Jaxson where in TJ did you go and to what Dr.? I'm curious about this one I'm sorry but you sound more like you work for Dr. Joya then an actual patient, if he is that good then why are you here selling him like you are? That is usually a job of a patient co ordinator posing to be a patient. We see it all the time here and on other boards.

But if a fat person asks..will you tell? I work in a very public setting, I own a restaraunt and Iam around people all the time..I have alot of regular customers most of them are overweight.They have watched my progress over the last 16 months When they ask how I lost my weight....I tell and I get very excited when telling.. and by doing so I have sent 5 of my customers to Dr. Ortiz for the surgery.

Where others may not agree with me..I think Ortiz is great! I'm very happy with him and the aftercare I have recieved from him, he has gone beyond my expectations that is for sure..its great to hear U.S docs singing praise for the MX docs and some are finally taking the MX patients on as patients as their own.

she has posted it on every thread..same message over and over again..someone stop her!!! !