parisshel

Small storage containers...you'll have lots of leftovers. (Or, just be ok with tossing stuff.) Blender, immersion blender, masher thing.

I was banded a week before you and have only lost 14 pounds. I've just begun adding intentional exercise (vs. just walking) so I hope to see some better weight loss. Otherwise, I stick to 1200 cal/day and follow my post op rules to the letter. I am making peace with the fact I'm a slow loser. What I love however is how good I feel...I no longer go to sleep hating how out of control I was around my food, nor wake up thinking about what I'm going to eat. (I mean what "crap" I'm going to eat.)

All that to say that rather concentrating on what I find is a very slow loss, I'm concentrating on how much mental weight has been lifted from my head. Thank you, lapband, and your ability to help me help myself.

PS: My band is empty for now, but I've got my first fill coming up on May 15th.

I fly internationally quite frequently and I'm really surprised to read a doctor said no eating before, during or after a flight. My flights are 12-14 hours long! I'd keel over if I didn't eat before, during or after! Maybe for a short domestic flight that rule is feasible, but I'm going to check with my surgeon (who also does a lot of internationally flying) before my next longhaul.

I think it is perfectly normal to question the idea of voluntarily placing a foreign object inside your body...it is indeed pretty science fictionlike when you think about it. That said, many people have plates, screws, etc in their bodies (I have a rebuilt ankle made with titanium!) so it's not all that exceptional.

So I look at my band as I view my ankle--without these foreign objects, I'm "broken". But with them, I'm in recovery.

Banded March 20th; first fill May 15th. Wish my current loss was faster but it's a loss so I'm not going to complain. I'm enjoying my way of eating (small portions, no breads, Pasta, anything that might get stuck) but I miss raw vegetables. I haven't yet reintroduced salad stuff as I've read many people have issues with lettuce, raw carrots, etc.

Otherwise, I'm pleased with my decision and have no regrets at all so far.

Well done! You can truly see the weight loss!

My girls (15 and 17) have known from my very first consultation. The younger one was scared something would happen to my during the surgery so we talked a lot about that, using facts, statistics and comparing the risk of surgery with the risk of mom staying fat.

I'm 5 weeks postop and my kids are teenagers, so the world turns around them and they don't even remark on my eating habits except to complain that I eat too slowly. They do remark that it looks like I've lost some weight, which is nice. But otherwise it's no big thing for them.

I'm open with everyone now about my Lapband, so my children knowing about it and possibly talking to others about it is not an issue for me.

I would consider the above advice, however, about what you want to teach your kids about honesty and owning your decisions. For me, keeping this a secret would cast a spell of "shame" on the whole thing (secrets = something we are ashamed of) and I want my kids to look at my decision to take back my health and look better as something positive, not something shameful. There is absolutely no shame in having WLS. Au contraire!

I'd love to be part of this. I have no real-life support group where I live; my surgeon/ the hospital did not have one so I only have LBT (and people IRL but they aren't bandsters). I'm overseas but my phone line gives me free calls worldwide.

No yet, I don't really have to do the pre-diet, since I'm under 35 BMI, but I'm planning to do it anyways, and you are totally right! sometimes I feel that this is the last chance to get some things that I like...how awful

I went through this prior to my surgery. But the day I got banded, the food funeral stopped. And I don't miss it one bit, seriously. I'm only one month postop, but I've never had a moment where I miss being able to eat "like that" since my band.

Keep reading this board; read only successful weight loss blogs, read successful maintenance blogs. Stay away from "diet blogs" where the writer never loses weight and always looks for pats on the back--it will justify your off-plan behavior. Poke around this site and read the posts of people who have taken off their weight/maintained their weight...let their good habits rub off on you! Studies show that surrounding yourself with people (virtual or real life) who have done this successfully will help keep you on the straight and narrow.

Hmmm. Pork is a dry meat and one I know I stay away from. I've never figured out how to cook pork chops so they stay moist.

I'm totally with you here. Even though I know intellectually this is the norm, I still cannot understand how I cannot see more of a loss at this point. One month post-op, I stay at or under 1200 cal day of real, post-op approved foods (protein first, fruit, veg, no bread, Pasta, etc). I really hate to say this, but one month on Weight Watchers would have had me with a similar loss, and without surgery. That said, I could never sustain Weight Watchers in the longterm, whereas I know I can work the Lapband for life.

But I read these blogs/posts where other bandsters banded around my date are dropping weight like crazy and I don't understand why them and not me. And then I get that crazy radio in my head that says that I'll be the ONE person for whom this band does not work.

I purposefully keep my band in the forefront of my mind, but no, I can't "feel" the physical band. (I'm one month postop.) I am aware it is there when I eat or drink (my stomach now makes noises it never made before) and of course it lets me know when I need to push back from my plate. So I wouldn't say that I forget I have a band, no. Also, my incisions still make themselves known when my dress, shirt or waistband rubs against them...no forgetting there!

I'm four weeks post op and my rules are not to use liquids as meals. It sounds like your post op rules are different---are you eating "real" foods yet? I think the fact I am not starving is because I'm eating as if I already have a fill, i.e., no more than 1 cup of food at mealtime, and I have to eat the Protein first (before the veg or fruit). This is what keeps me full.

If you've been cleared for regular foods, I'd think that eating Protein would help with your hunger more than eating creamy Soups and Water.

Totally normal post-op. Embrace it! Your appetite will wake up soon enough and you'll long for these days when your weight just falls off of you (for a week or so).

Ha! Just had to say I love the typo in your subject line.

Congratulations on becoming a Bandster and you did the right thing IMHO by taking the two weeks off. I really was grateful not to have to go back to work quickly...my energy was all over the place post op.

Look at you! Well done!

Agree with tmf above. I'm almost 4 weeks postop. My postop loss stablized about 1.5 weeks ago; hunger started rearing its head. My portions started creeping "just a tad larger" (but nothing like before).

I did not want to wait until my first fill to start the weight loss back up again. So I made a deliberate decision to eat "as if" I had my initial postop restriction, (or as if I was already in the green zone). I had reader of other LBT members doing this very thing.

And the scale starting moving southward as of two days ago.

Be strong. You can survive these bandster hell days. Ride out the hunger, especially the night hunger which I find easier to ride out because I can just put myself in bed (away from the kitchen!). Seeing the scale move down is very motivating and can help us make it thru Bandster Hell.

Here's what I stay out of:

-Discussions about religion

-Discussions about how to raise your kids

and

-Discussions about which diet is the "best"

So, when a sleever told me that she'd "never choose a lapband", I just said "Hmmm." No reason to try and have her see why and how I made my choice. Like religion and child-rearing---my choice. You don't have to agree with me; I'm the one who lives with the results of my choice.

I was not told to discontinue caffeine; in fact coffee was served to me in the hospital post-op.

What I have found, however, is a big POW from the caffeine in my morning coffee. I suspect it is due to how little food I have in there in the morning. Really, my one cup was giving me the shakes. So I switched to a decaf...and, no shakes!

Okay So I'm not banded yet have three weeks to go and all my head keeps saying is I need sugar. I know the band is a tool for my stomach... how do you all get over the mind asking for sugar?

Could it be that you are craving this because you are thinking you will have to avoid sugar post-band? Kind of like a food funeral? I know prior to getting banded I ate a lot of sweets--out of nervousness over what I was getting into, as well as just thinking "OMG I'll never be able to eat these again?" (Crazy, I know.)

I didn't fight it because that last thing I wanted to be doing before getting my lapband was indulging in my old diet mentality--swapping something that I perceived as "light" for what I really wanted.

Are you taking any new medications or vitamines--even natural stuff? You could be having a reaction to a new substance.

I'm 3.5 weeks post op and cleared to eat most things, as long as I take small bites and chew chew chew. But still, I was apprehensive about going out to eat. I'd read so many posts about people getting stuck when in a restaurant, or always scoping out where the restroom was in case they had to leave the table to bring something up.

But we had lunch out today and everything went really well! I'm so pleased! My restaurant experience was fantastic, notably because with my band, I don't have to be counting points or agonizing over the choice of restaurant (do they have low-cal options, big salads, a fruit plate, etc?) I so thrilled to be out of this "special diet" mentality (all while making band-appropriate choices, of course).

The biggest and greatest difference between eating out with a band and eating out while following a "traditional calorie-limiting diet" is I had no sense of deprivation before, during or after the meal. I ordered chicken breast with a balsamic vinegar reduction sauce, and a baked potato. I cut up my chicken into little pieces, swirled them around in the lovely sauce, and spooned out a bit of the potato from its skin. I could only eat 1/2 the portion (and portions where I live--in France--are small to begin with compared restaurant servings in the States) and it was perfect. (I gave the other half to my BF to avoid comments from the chef. This is not a good longterm strategy, however, because my BF does not need to be eating both his meal and 1/2 of mine.)

I left the table feeling completely satisfied and, more importantly, I really enjoyed what I ate. I didn't have to order the "lowest calorie option", nor pester the chef with a million requests ("no oil, no butter, just poach the chicken breast in Water for me please ").

If I ever had any doubt that I made the right choice for myself when I chose Lapband surgery, today's experience proved that this decision I made was a positive, life-enhancing one. How wonderful to eat a small amount, feel satisfied, and not leave the table saying to myself "Why can't I eat like everybody else?" Because with the band, I can. Just smaller portions.

My question is, and I need help understanding, I get my band in March, so I am learning, if you get banded and go by what your Doctor say's, why do you need to pay more money to join some find of diet program? For me diets got me in to this mess to start with. So can you help?

My feelings exactly. My very first blog post speaks to this....WW is what got me to my Lapband. Last fall, when rejoining WW for the zillionth time, I just stepped back and said I cannot do this anymore. Sure, WW got me to lose weight but never to keep it off. I was also very turned off by their lipservice to good nutrition but at the same time pushing all their packaged goods and fake foods filled with sodium and so very processed. Message to WW: you can't be all about healthy eating and good nutrition and at the same time sell your fake plastic foods. That's a real conflict of interest.

I did however benefit from the group support. Which is why I love this site; it is my group support.

But I was delighted to get banded, come home and through out all my WW materials. Never again!