snowbird

I used to eat Quaker QSmart bars--lots of protein and little sugar. I don't know if they still make them, though.

I've lost hair with pregnancy and with diets prior to my banding. I think any stress to the body can cause it. Mine has grown back, although it has always been thin to begin with.

I'm curious about the "no coffee" rule. Did your doctor say why? Because of the acid? Because of the diuretic effect? The no carbonated drink rule I understand, since it creates gas and burpiing in your stomach, which could cause your band to shift when it is new.

Sweet potatoes are yummy and they do have beta carotene, but they are higher carb than white potatoes. As I progress on my band journey, I do eat white potatoes occasionally. However, now I have 1/2 of a potato rather than the whole one I had before.

Keep in mind that the reason you are supposed to stick with liquids isn't that you are unable to get solids down, but because you are supposed to let your band heal in place where it is stitched to your stomach. "Having problems" isn't a good indicator of when you should progress to solids. No yelling, but a bit of a lecture!

I haven't done it, but yes, I think you have the picture right. I keep an anti-vomiting medication around all the time for emergencies. I have had Norwalk virus twice prior to being banded, and I really don't want it with the band!

Many lap band patients have them. My husband and I both had hiatal hernias repaired during our lap band surgery. Very easy to do, apparently.

My neighbor (whom I know very slightly) DID ask what I weighed. First she asked how much I lost, then what I weighed, and then asked how much more I wanted to lose. When I told her, she commented, "If you lose THAT much more you will weigh less than me, and I will be very jealous!" I just shrugged. What can you say? It doesn't really bother me; I think it's kind of funny. It's like if she belched loudly; I just say to myself, "how rude!" and laugh. She's nearly 60 years old; I certainly can't teach her manners at this point.

I would go into your doctor's office and face to face ask to discuss a payment plan you can live with. It's harder to be mean to someone face to face than it is on the phone. Since this is partly their fault, or at least they were involved in the process that resulted in mispayment, they should be willing to work this out for you. Unfortunately, doctor's offices do get stuck with unpaid bills, and so they tend to be really inflexible at first. Keep that in mind and show them you are sincere in trying to work out the problem, and I bet they will work with you.

For some reason people like to give us former fatsos the "don't get too thin!!" line all the time. As if most of us are in danger of that! I think it's because they are so used to seeing us heavier that we look thinner than we are to them. My reply lately has been, "I weigh 160. Do you weigh anywhere near that much?" Of course, that only works on the people who do NOT weigh anywhere near that much. When your weight has changed drastically, you often suffer from an inability to really gauge what you look like. I still look the same in the mirror to myself as I did when I was 70 lb heavier. I thought I looked okay then (I didn't) and now I don't think I look okay (but I probably do.) So you certainly don't sound silly to me. Like others said, BMI is probably a decent indicator, although my doctor told me that since I had been heavy since childhood, my bones were probably heavier than average and I should make my goal the high end of the BMI "normal" scale.

Could be some dehydration; are you drinking a lot of fluids? Here in Arizona it is absolutely essential to keep your fluid levels up, since you aren't getting as much fluid with your food anymore.

I've got something similar going on. I feel that with my weight loss I am going through menopause again. I have been having hot flashes after being free of them for about a year. I think that the strain of surgery itself also causes some psychological pressures. It will pass. We'll get through this and come out stronger on the other side.

Ahh, but it's all so relative. If you had told me six months ago that I would be wearing size 8 pants I would have fainted with joy. Now I'm in 8's I feel like I still need to lose at least 15 more pounds. So dare I say size 6???? I really do think there has been an incredible size inflation over the past 20 years. When I was in my 20's I dieted down to 132 lb and wore a size 12. ONCE i fit into a size 9 dress back then. Now I can wear size 8's almost all the time, and I weigh 160. I think the clothing manufacturers have made everything way larger over the years.

I got some pain pills and took one, not because I was in pain but because I was afraid I would be. I never took another; didn't need them, and didn't like the loopy side effects.

I've found I can maintain my weight without trying too hard with my band, but not lose weight. That takes dedication to eating less and eating better. If I don't lose, I KNOW why I don't lose. It's because of what I am eating and how much I am eating. I can try lying to myself, but my scale won't go along with it!

I don't think the weight loss is really the point. Your body needs water, and it is harder to get it when you are eating much less. It doesn't have to be in the form of clear water, but tea and coffee are diuretics that cause you to lose water, not gain it. You do need to keep your fluids up, or else you will not feel well, get weak, get constipated, and generally suffer a lot more than you need to. Of course, severe dehydration can kill you, but I am assuming you aren't getting to that point! If you don't like plain water, drink crystal lite or something similar without a lot of sugar. Just be sure to keep up the fluids other than tea and coffee.

Check the sugar content of your liquids. Trying to keep as high protein and low sugar as possible will help with the hunger pangs.

If you hurt yourself you would probably feel something. I wouldn't worry about it. In the immediate post op period if I did anything too strenuous, I would know it right away.

According to my surgeon, it's the weight loss. He requires a 5% weight loss prior to surgery, and suggests liquids if you are doing it for only a week or two, or lean cuisines for 3 weeks, or Atkins if you have time to diet longer. As long as you lose the weight, he doesn't much care how.

I just started laughing when I read I was too over the hill for lap band. I had my surgery in October. I never needed a pain pill, I was up walking a couple hours after surgery, and have had virtually no problems. If only I had known I should have just given up and killed myself, since I was so old my life wasn't worth improving. I would love to talk to this person in a few years and see if his/her feelings have evolved.

Start out slow, and don't push yourself too hard at first, but just increase very gradually. If you do it so much right off you will hate it and not want to continue. I started riding my bike last summer, just a mile at a time, and I'm up to 10 miles a day now. I have bad knees so I stop when my knees start aching, but I'm not tired at all now, unlike when I started a few months ago.

Not sure we are going anywhere all that interesting, but the more the merrier.

Well, if you look at a chart on how many calories you burn doing a particular exercise, you can see that isn't such an unbelievable thing. I am sure you will probably hear from the exercise gurus to the contrary, but I happen to think your nutritionist is right. You will hear a lot about metabolism rates, but I'm not sure about the scientific accuracy of those claims. I do exercise by riding my bike, but it is less than an hour a day. It makes me feel better, but I question whether it is what has aided my weight loss. I know it is not directly related to times when I lose or periods when I don't lose. Weight loss is dependent upon burning more calories than you take in. If you are a four hour a day fitness fanatic, then yes, that is going to help you lose weight, because it will increase the amount you burn. Plus, that's four hours you probably aren't eating! However, if you exercise and then go eat high calorie foods, chances are the exercise benefit will be cancelled out by the food intake. Exercise makes you feel better and look better. It tones the body and can give you an incredible feeling of well-being. Those are my reasons for doing it.

We're the tag team of LBT.

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be because we and nearly all the patients who went to our surgeons had positive, successful experiences. If we were making them up, maybe we couldn't keep our stories straight and they would change from account to account. But as we are telling our own personal memories of what we experienced, our stories stay the same. What a surprise, indeed. I don't think you and the truth are even remotely acquainted.