lovecats85

I went thru that too - being worried, etc. When you are newly banded your mind plays tricks on you - you think you ate like a cow b/c you had 8 ounces instead of 4 but before your band you'd eat a whole large pizza. You are fine. Just eat what you feel like eating. As long as you are eating mushies and not stuffing it in even after you feel resistance you are fine. I could eat a good 1 1/2-2 cups of mushies sometimes, other times only 1/2 cup. All foods are different as far as how they full you up so you cannot judge it solely on amount. Just eat reasonably and if you are hungry later go eat more. 99% of people have NO restriction before a fill.

I freaked out at the thought of never having bread again before I got banded but now I never even want it. I hardly eat any refined white flour like bread so I guess my cravings have just kind of gone away. I also look at is at something that will easily get stuck so it's not even worth the trouble to eat it. Every now and then I have a bite - like I went to a fondue place and had one peice of bread with fondue and just chewed it to death and it was fine. But really, I never want bread anymore.

I drink coffe, cappucino's, latte's, and all kinds of alchohol. My doc says we can have anything, even carbonation, but carbonation makes my tummy hurt so I dont have it. I don't know what she's saying about the caffeine, but alchohol should be avoided strictly b/c it's high calorie - but whatever, some people induldge in ice cream, I induldge in a margarita from time to time. I had my 1st alchohol drinks 3 weeks after surgery and I was fine.

That sounds more like stuckage - I think "restriction" is just feeling like you can only eat a little bit chewed very well and get full quickly. When I get pain like that it's usually stuckage, blockage, etc that usually resolved it self with a burp or time.

Isopure - it mixes clear, tastes so good, has 60 grams protein per serving. At GNC.

Ok, Dr Barker called me back - he is so sweet and nice and he said obviosuly I should wait until the reflux settles to get another fill (Maese wanted to give me another fill this morning!!!) and he said I can go to SCOR or his office and that I should do that if I am unhappy with Maese. He said take nexium, see if it settles, and then get another fill when i feel better if i want. Isn't it nice to have a doc that just answers your ?'s with out any BS like Dr Maese. Dr Barker would never ever be rude to me - he is the best!!!

thanks so much for the advise! I am thru with Maese! I called surgery center or Richardson and they can do my fills there and bill my ins as a flouro and it's ok b/c Dr Barker does surgery there now too!!! Yeah, no more ObNOXIOUS Dr Maese!!! Ok, So i am just going to wait and see what Dr Barker says about whether I need an unfill or nexium or what.

Ok, so I have been feeling like maybe I was top tight since my fill on Thursday (PB’s a little, had some sliming, REALLY sore throat this am possibly from reflux, etc), so I call Dr. Maese’s office and they said if my throat hurt to come in. So I leave work and I come in and he makes me swallow the barium and he’s like "it’s going right through, you actually need more fill, blah blah blah" and I was like "my throat hurts" and he just went off about how I wasn’t going to lose weight, I needed more fill, I’m not having reflux (I burped when I drank the barium b/c I have been burping a lot and he said he didn’t "See" my burp on the flouro even though I think I know I burped), and he had his nurse do a swallow to show me how I should look if I was tight enough and yelled at me for eating potatoes and went on and on about how skinny his nurse is and how she weighed more than me to begin with, etc. Basically I couldn’t get a word in edgewise and all I was there for was my throat. He doesn’t’ understand that I care more about not developing Barrets esophagus than I do about looking good in a bikini. Sure I want to lose weight but I would rather it be slow then feel the way I feel right now. I just really cant stand his egotistical rude A-hole attitude anymore, but I have no choice but to go to him b/c my insurance will cover fills from him b/c he bills it as a flouro (and Dr. Barker doesn’t have flouro so he cant bill it that way). Does anyone in the Dallas area have a doc that does fills under flouro for patients that weren’t banded by him/her. So, anyways, my throat still hurts so bad and I am waiting for Dr Barker to call me back. I’m going to tell him I just can’t see Dr Mease if the 2 of them are going to keep telling me different things - Barker says get .2 cc’s fill at a time, Maese wants to fill me up to the brim, Barker says eat 6 small meals per day, Maese says don’t eat after 5 pm. I’m so annoyed with this. If he would have just given me small frequent fills like I asked I’d be fine, but no he has to jam all the fluid he can in there and ignore my medical symptoms and just yell at me or go on about how hot I’ll be when I lose the weight. Then I asked him about nexium, he said sure take nexium, I asked should I crush it? He said "you’re so open you could swallow a whole steak." Ok, can you not just answer my ? Like a respectable doctor??!?!?!?! GRRRRRRRR. I’m so annoyed. And, shouldn’t he take some fill out if a patient requests it - he refused to take any out and wanted to put more in!! Oh, what to do?

nevermind! I called Dr Maese's office and they said COME IN AND GET SOME OUT RIGHT NOW. So, off I go.

I have been debating on whether my new fill is too tight. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13740 And last night I was able to eat a little potato salad and a bit of pasta salad and a few bites of ice cream. I didn't feel any reflux but I woke up this AM with the worst sore throat. How do I tell if it's a sore throat from reflux or just a cold (b/c my nose is kind of stuffed up so maybe I had drainage while I slept). My throat feels raw.

I'm going to wait a few more days - I just getting worried b/c I hear people talk about fills kicking in after a few weeks - if this one kicks in anymore I wont be able to drink water!

I did one week liquids, 2 weeks mushies, slow progression to solids after that. My liquid wasn't so bad b/c I could have blended creamy soups. I would "cheat" by putting a bite of real food in my mouth, chewing it up for the taste, and then spitting it out, not swallowing it. Helped with the cravings when my naturally super skinny hubby was eating pizza and sauasges!!

I drink 2-4 times per month. I drank again 3 weeks after banding. I drink margaritas, mixed drinks, even shots (although sometimes I have to take 1/2 the shot and then another 1/2 the shot). I definatley get drunk alot faster now. 3 weeks after banding I had 1 1/2 drinks and I was GONE!!! Anyways, I can't drink carbonation - my doc says we can but it makes my tummy hurt if I even have one sip so no more beer but I drink the rest of it with no problem. Last weekend I met 20 freinds in Austin I hadn't seen in years and we were out at the bars all night and I had a margarita, 2 amaretto sours, a shot, and a vodka sour. I know it had 2387282849 calories, but other than that it went down fine. Just make sure you don't drink so much that you will throw up (bad for the band) and make sure you don't over indulge in those extra calories too often! Cheers.

Ok, so I got filled on Thursday and I was doing my day of liquids fine on Friday. This morning (Saturday) I drank some ice tea when I got up and had a smidge of reflux but it went away. Then for lunch I tried mushies (I was at a buffet restraunt taking defensive driving so it was a good chance to try lots of mushies and see what worked) so I had a bite of egg, a bite of mashed potatoes, a bite of ice cream, a few bites of soup, a bite of pudding. Ate lunch fine. Then tonight I decided to have some potato salad (which was a staple for me in the mushy stage after banding) and I got chocked up. Then a few hours later I tried some spinach dip (which was also a mushy staple that I never had any probs with before) and I'm getting choked up. Now I'm eating ice cream and it's soothing. My questions is this, normally I am tight when I 1st get the fill and loosen up a little over time - normally I am also tight in the morning and loosen up at night. So, how long should I wait for this fill to loosen up a little before I get an unfill. Should I stick it out? What should I do?

good for you - i am opposite - wide open during my time of the month

Do you just need fills? I was at Dr maese's office today and he was filling a girl that was from Florida.

I don't know about fat, but I think 1200 calories is a good amount - takes 1500 or less to lose weight, but less than 1200 can slow your metablism down. Check fitday.com and they will give you graphs, charts, etc - everything you need to figure out what's right for you.

ok, between the ebay thing, the dumpster divers website, and the creepy urband legend of "progress to mushies", I'm just a little freaked out!!!!

This is creeping me out bigtime. Penni, please let us know what you find out. I am so weirded out by the whole thing!

Hotties!!!!!!!!!!

I dont remember - I was pretty assured from everyone on here that I didn't need a last supper b/c I would be able to eat most things again. However, if you end up like me it's a good you had tater tots now b/c tater tots DO NOT go down now!!!

I've been doing fitday.com and it looks like about 1/2 of what I eat is fat! I'm only eating 1200 calories per day though. I guess I will try to cut down on the fat some too.

You go girl! That's an awesome list!!!

I am over 1/2 filled and can still eat 1 1/2 cups food at a time but I'm only hungry 2 times per day, maybe 3 sometimes. Sometimes it takes alot of fills, some people just a little. Everyone is different. Don't worry though - at your stage I could eat ALOT too. They say the "sweet spot" is where you can eat, not feel hungry that much, and still lose." I think I'm almost there b/c I'm not hungry between meals and I am losing (slowly, but still). As far as what you can eat - maybe anything. Some people can't eat rice - I can, some people can't eat bread - I can, I can't eat chicken easily though. Basically you can eat anything that you chew up to mush so that it could got thru a hole the size of a Pencil/straw,,, but every bandster is different and it's trial and errore until you find out what works for you. Don't worry right now, you just need more fills and time to heal. I lost weight for 2 weeks after surgery and then I stalled out for 10 whole weeks while getting adjusted. And I am going for another fill next week! You're doing great maintaining. Also, remember that exersize can help you lose.

My surgeon said to do a liquid diet for one week pre-op but that if I couldn't stand it and had to eat (which is NORMAL to feel that way!!!) that I should just have one small meal per day and I was able to do that. I think it's ridiculous to set people up to fail by demanding that they can't eat - I think my doc did it best by allowing for a sensible "cheat" so that I didn't go cheat by spurlging on everything in sight which is how fat people get when we try to starve ourselves (hence the fact that we always re-gain MORE weight after a diet).