lisacaron

OK so did you start the thread? Lets do it! My trainer has me do these at the gym..but with "mountain climbing" where you hold the plank and bring up one knee and then switch leg to leg.

@@Apryl1957 You are only 3 weeks out of surgery, and your body still is swollen inside and adjusting to having the band. Your doc is aggressive with the food choices. I was on a liquid diet of Protein shakes for 2 weeks after surgery and then mushy/blended foods for 2 weeks then soft foods for 2 weeks and finally solid food. Give yourself a chance to heal and choose foods that are mushy to soft. I also want to tell you that the choices you are making as stated above are not conducive to weight loss. Try to make some high protein choices and steer clear of the potatoes and ice cream. They are high in carbohydrates sugar and fat. Go for some Soups, or chili. You can put them in the blender for a quick spin to make them even thinner. If you can tolerate soft foods and your doctor is OK with that, try some eggs, or flaky fish. Meatballs are great but mush them up and go easy on the sauces and gravy. Try some Greek or other yogurt. sugar free low fat pudding you make at home with non fat milk. It will take some time but you will get the hang of it.

@@Susan58 when that cheese got stuck, did you bring it back up or did it eventually make it's way past? If you brought it back up by vomiting then I would say yes you could still be swollen. At 8 weeks out your body is still healing and adjusting to being banded, causing trauma by bringing up food could cause the body to react by swelling again. When you have an episode like getting stuck the best thing to do is to go on liquids for a day or two before moving to mushy and soft foods. Try going back to full liquids and Protein shakes for a day or two, try some ice pops to help with the swelling and hydration. If you are having a problem with liquids, then you need call your doctor to get in sooner than later and ask them to check the placement of the band for you to make sure that everything is OK. Take care and let us know how you are doing.

@@micmt There have been many advances in bariatric surgery and some surgeons will even work in tandem with gastroenterologist. Speak to your doctor and see if that is the case. As @@CowgirlJane said losing weight is one of the best things you can do for your body. If you have been having digestive issues, having WLS could actually be helpful in clearing some of that up for you, since your diet will change exponentially and you will be living a new life style in accordance with the surgery and rules that follow. Before my surgery, I had 5 polyps removed and I was diagnosed with early stages of Crohns.The flair ups I would have prior to surgery were debilitating. Since WLS I have (knocking on wood) not had any digestive flair ups and I have been feeling great. Don't be afraid to talk to your doctors, especially if they can help by bringing in another doctor to work toward your ultimate goal. Best of luck to you!

@@blacktxbelle I agree with what @@2muchfun said. If you can learn to listen to your body and the signals you are getting now, then you are going to totally rock it once your banded. The band will help with sending those signals to the brain that you are no longer hungry and or have had enough food. Knowing that, and being able to recognize and understand these feelings prior to banding will make listening to your band and your body that much more harmonizing. Best of luck to you, you sound like you are off to a great start!

@@Mikee57 your doing great my friend! We always want to push ourselves harder and lose faster, but just know that all the weight you have lost this time unlike WW you will be able to keep it off and not gain it back. The scales are moving in the right direction and as they all said above the numbers do add up in the right kind of way!! It took me a little over a year now to get into that green zone, and I just have a tip toe in there. I don't want to be too tight that I can't enjoy life, but have enough restriction that I am able to activate my band with solid foods and feel satisfied. You have so much going on, and your doing amazing!

@@Jenn Cooper don't worry, you will make it through to your next Dr. visit. you have made it this far, you know what to do and when it doubt go back to the basics. During the pre and post op you had a regimen you followed to get through each phase. Take a cue from that and prepare your foods, the times you are going to eat them, what they will be measure them out. Add some movement into your day, and let your body be your guide. Question when you feel that "hunger" where it is coming from and if you are truly hungry and need the fuel to get you through have a light snack in between till you get to the next meal. It's only hell if we make it hell, use the time to bond even more with your band. Listen to the signals you get from it, when choosing foods to eat make sure they are solid dense foods that you have to cut and chew, so that they activate your band to send those (we are not hungry anymore) signals to your brain. You can do it!!!

@@CherieRyde The pre-op diet is not so easy with kids and family around. The best thing to do is to ask them to support you. For the next couple of weeks maybe they can go out to eat. Have Dad take the kids out for some fun and fast food for a few days if you can. If you totally must make dinner for the family, have a nice bottle of Water at the ready. Get yourself some Mio drops, or some crystal light or what ever you like and mix it in and drink it down as you cook, or make a nice cup of coffee get some of the sugar free flavored creamers and enjoy it while making dinner. Another great deterrent is a piece of minty gum or brushing your teeth right before you start cooking. Nothing tastes so great with toothpaste in your mouth. I found that for me the best way to stay on target was to schedule something every single hour. So if I was up at 7 am I was having my coffee at 8 some water at 9 I was having a shake or some yogurt 10 some more water 11 shake or sugar free pudding 12 some water 1:00 some healthy choice low sodium Soup 2:00 water...etc. Always filling that space with some water, it helps you for later when you need to get the hydration in, because for me I am NOT a water lover at all!! If I needed a chew I would have a piece gum and chew and pop bubbles I had my phone set to remind me of every hour what I was going to eat/drink and I stayed on target. Good luck!! You'll make it!

@@clownbaby you are doing AWESOME! Don't let your Mom or anyone else discourage you! You have all the right answers. You didn't gain it over night and it won't go away overnight. I won't just vanish in the night, WLS doesn't come with a fairy godmother who can wave her wand and turn us into Victoria Secrets models strutting the runway of NYC in nothing but our wings and bra's. (actually sounds like a bit of nightmare to me and I'm not shy!) Being banded your 100% right you are going to lose the weight slowly, you have to do the work right up front from day one with the band. With many of the other surgeries the weight comes off from day due to the mal-absorptive factors in the surgery and then it's really hard for the person to maintain and/or keep losing after a few months when the body adapts to the new regime. Your body type and your genetics as well as overall health are going to play a big part in how you lose as well. These bodies we have are pretty amazing at overcoming and adapting to what we throw at them and into them! Keep doing what your doing cause it's working great. Have your Mom attend a support group with you so she can get more education and understanding about what your going through and be an even better support for you. I'm sure you know your Mom means well, we all do...we just don't always approach our children in the best way I have 5 boys...and it's a bit of a river dance to talk to them all on their level and not get my head bitten off!

I will give you all one caveat to planking if you have wrist trouble or carpal tunnel do not do the straight arm plank.Use your forearms to brace you and take the pressure off the wrist. It provides the same amount of core contraction but saves the impact and compression of the nerves in the wrists.

@@scubasteph The first thing is congrats on your new band! The second thing is don't stress...take a deep breath and relax cause you are right on track. In the first few days to weeks after surgery you are going to be very swollen inside and the idea right now is healing. You don't want to force yourself to eat or drink anything right now. You want to rest and heal up. If you can take many many tiny sips of your Protein drink. Use a medicine dose cup. You are very much "babying" your band right now. You would not feed a newborn a half gallon of milk and neither can you feed yourself that right now. As you soon will see that as you are putting liquids in they will come out and soon enough the #2 problem you mentioned will right itself. Your not putting much in so...give it a chance. Feel good and let us know how your doing!!

@@futureformerfattie I'm sorry that you have not had better support from your Doctor's office. With WLS and especially with the lapband follow up support is so important. You are still very new to the band and your body is still adjusting as mentioned above. Give yourself a chance, the lapband does not work the way other WLS work there is no malabsorbtion component to it so what ever you put in is going in and staying in and working through you system the way it always did. The only difference is that now you have a smaller opening at the start of your digestive track which slows down the process of food as it passes through the stoma. If you are eating foods that pass easily through the stoma you are not engaging the lapband. The foods will slide right through and you won't even know you had them and you won't be getting any signals from your band to you brain to tell you that you have eaten enough, and or are not hungry for more food. My first question to you would be what are you eating? You want to choose solid foods that take some time to cut and chew and swallow. You want to use a fork and knife when eating and put those down after eat bite and chew chew chew. It should take you 20 minutes no more and no less to eat your meals. If you are still eating after 20 minutes you are eating into the next meal, if you are finished before 20 minutes are up then slow it down. Download a timer or use an egg time and pace yourself as you eat. Plate out your foods using smaller plates, don't over fill, slow down cut and chew those bites and when your 20 minutes are up get up and get away from the table or the food. After an hour drink some Water, and if you are hungry again 2 hours after you have had a meal and had some water, ask yourself if you are truly hungry, does your body need the fuel? Or are you overfilling the gas tank? If you need it eat it. Have a light snack and see how long you go till your next meal. If you find you are not able to go 3-4 hours between meals you may need a tweak to your band and more fill. You will get there. 30 pounds is nothing to sneeze at and you are not in a stall, you just are learning how to work in harmony with your band and like any good long term relationship, even if it is love at first sight it will take work to make the relationship last and thrive. Best of luck to you and let us know if we can offer any advice or support, that's why we are here

@@Weightogo123 You may still be a bit swollen in there especially if you were having trouble before and then had some Fluid removed. I'm sure you went back to liquids for a bit after having the fluid removed. My doctor usually recommends when putting fluid in or taking some out to have liquids for 2 days at least, then move to mushy for a few days then soft then back to solids. It will usually take me a good week or more before I will go back to eating solid knife and fork foods. I had only one incident where I had to have fluid taken out and that was because I was sick at the time and didn't want to put my band at risk. So I went in and had 2cc taken out. They put them back in slowly .5 at a time over the course of a few months so my band and my belly had plenty of time to settle into it. Sometimes I think my Dr. are overly conservative and then on the other hand I am also grateful that they are because I think that it's possible to move too fast with a fill and not give the belly and the band a chance to settle into the fill and that could be a bit of what's happening now for you. My advice would be to give a few days on liquids and soft and then if you still can't progress back to solid foods without them coming back up give the Dr. a call again and have an x-ray check and maybe even a tad more fluid out if needed. Let us know how your doing!!

@@ddsweighin228 Why were they not able to take out all of the Fluid? If you are not able to eat and drink why would they put more back in? It sounds like you possibly have a large amount of fill in the band and your stoma is irritated and you are quite possibly swollen inside which would cause food and drink to be restricted from passing easily through the stoma where the band sits. It's a good idea to have the barium swallow done to see what is going on in there, and I"m sure the Dr. won't be putting more fluid in if your swollen and still having trouble eating and drinking. Good Luck and please let us know what the doctor says when you go for the swallow.

@@Fiddleman Great that you are an active guy! If you want to keep being active get yourself to the orthopedist and have them check out this knee problem for you. Delaying with something like that is only going to make matters worse. You don't want to cause damage if you don't already have some. They will be able to schedule any tests that you might need as well as give you some ideas of what exercise to do to strengthen and help your knee heal from what ever is paining it. Let us know how it goes!

@@laur21 the Premier Protein is pretty good. Make it really cold and that helps. Don't smell it or over think it. If you like smoothies blend it up with some ice. Once you are banded you are going to need to be on this diet probably for at least a few days if not a few weeks, so it helps to find something you like now because you don't want to be gagging on shakes or anything else after surgery. There are some product like

Ah, I understand. I asked because if you were newly banded I wouldn't want to interfere with the Doctors diet protocols. 30 pounds down is great, I know it doesn't feel like much but it really does take time to get to know your band and how to work it. When was the last time you saw your doc for a fill or an assessment? Maybe give them a call and get back in there to see if you need some Fluid put in and try a "reset" go back to band basics and created a good structure from there that works for you. The beauty of WLS is that we are not stuck on a diet, but we need to structure a meal plan for ourselves. I have my fitbit set to go off on alarm at 12:30 to remind me that I need to make lunch and eat it. I get engrossed in work and then I am starving later and can either eat too much or too fast and cause a problem for myself. So now I make sure to have a plan before that happens. Often times I don't have the time or take the time to make lunch so I'll have to hit the cafe here and today it's a cup of turkey chili and a small green salad with little raspberry vinaigrette dressing and feta cheese. My mornings are usually a Protein bar because I am on the go from 6 am till about 10-11 and that is an easy unwrap and go with a cup of coffee. My main meal is usually lunch, if I hit the gym after work my band is tight and a full dinner doesn't sit well or have enough time to digest before bed, so I'll have a shake and/or a bar for dinner or something small at the diner like eggs. Myfitness pal and spark people have some good ideas and can help you structure some meal plans, or put them into your smart phone to keep a solid time frame and structure that often helps me as well.

@@*Lexie* Your doctor has you lose the 15 pounds on a "special" diet in the begining to show that you are committed to sticking to the after surgery rules and to the way your life style is going to change. They asked the questions they did because there are some who do follow the pre-surgery diet and think they can do this all on their own and they don't need surgery. Your answer was right on point. If we could live on a liquid diet forever and lose all our weight we would have done that years ago. Most of our diets failed once we stopped "dieting" and the weight came back with friends to spare. Having WLS is a life style change. A permanent one that you have to be ready to be committed to for the rest of your life. I understand why you feel defensive, but you are not a bad person and you have not been bad because you are overweight. You are part of this special group of people who are all affected by obesity and doing something about it. You are a survivor and a winner, and no one more then you needs to understand and appreciate that and all the work it takes to get there! Congratulations!!

@@nyree74 did you have a nutritionist as part of your medical team when you were banded? How long have you been banded?

@@Rollo So the key here is not to eat until you are "full". You want to stop eating when you are no longer hungry and satisfied. If you are eating until you feel stuffed and full then you are over eating and you don't want to stretch out your stomach. If you do that you can prolapse the band and cause some real problems for yourself. A good rule of thumb is to take 20 minutes no more and no less to eat your meal, putting the fork/spoon/knife down between each bite, chewing and swallowing the bite before starting on the next one. When you plate food use a small plate and don't pile it high. Eat what's on the plate and time yourself so it takes you 20 minutes to eat it. Slow down if your finishing too quickly, and once your done with the plate of food in 20 minutes. Relax and access your hunger level again in an hour. Have a glass of Water, or beverage and then if still hungry have a small snack. Do some research on portion sizes and you will get the hang of it.

@@CupofJojo I don't think it's a bad thing not to have a "desire" to eat. I do however worry about your health and nutrition if you are not taking in the proper amount of nutrients. Is it that you don't eat because you have no want to eat or simply can't eat? Are you having a want to eat unhealthy foods vs nutritious food? If you can eat without complication than I would try to plan the healthy meals and sit down and eat them at regular intervals even if you don't "want" to eat them do it to fuel your body and maybe make an appointment with the psychologist to see if it's a mind thing or something more physiological that is going on. If you have complications with eating or eating certain foods, then I would advise you to call your doctor and ask to be seen for a follow up exam. Being healthy means fueling your mind and body, and I'm sure you didn't have this surgery to be weak or ill. We are here for support, let us know how things go.

@@Ivowtodoit all that was said above was great advice! The big thing these first few days is to keep hydrated and try to get some Protein in. When your feeling ready take a few sips of your shake. Use a tiny medicine cup to take sips so your not gulping and causing more air and too much Fluid to go down at once. Most of all give yourself some TLC and allow your body to heal from this major surgery. That's your job right now..healing. Weight loss and fills and all that will come later.

@@sevenb07 coffee can cause more acid production and you definitely need a bit more Water if you are only getting in one bottle a day. I know I have a similar hate for drinking water. I use mio drops in my water and I love the sweet tea one that helps me get more Fluid in through out the day. I also will drink some decaf, but that still can cause extra acid production. If you are having reflux at night, I would let your doctor know they can also give you something to help that. Sometimes it's because we eat too late or right before bed, it can also be an indication of a too tight band...but if none of that is the case for you and it's just extra acid the docs can tell you what to take to help calm that and stop that reflux in the mornings

I agree with you @@AZDee WE ARE WORTH IT!!! It doesn't matter what it is, WLS or new hair cut or new clothes after we lose our weight we have to do the right thing by ourselves to be happy and healthy. It's not always easy but it is always worth it. My husband and I just signed up for year of personal training and you know...it's EXPENSIVE and yes there may be some plastic surgery needed down the road and you know what we are worth it! We have taken care of our family's our children our parents our jobs and we don't do much in the way of things that take care of "us". So this time we put our health and vitality first and spend the money and booked the trainers, now I just need to rocket fuel to get through the work outs !

I agree with the enjoy part CG. Both you ladies look pretty young to me and having a good time while out with friends is not a bad thing especially when your young and recovery is not so brutal Life is short, that said please be responsible with your enjoyment and take others and yourself and your body into consideration. Don't drink and drive or drive with someone else who has been drinking! You know friends don't let friends drive drunk...OK PSA over. Make sure that you are hydrating since alcohol can severely dehydrate you especially in the sun and cause you to feel sick and dizzy as well as causing some Water retention later that may make you heavier and bloated. Keep track of the calories, so you know if you are gaining where it is coming from and then you can always modify accordingly and have a GREAT summer!!!