AlysonRR

My doctor encourages us to try to get all our Protein and calories from solid foods, so I didn't use Protein shakes in the mushy phase, and I rarely drink them now. Occasionally I'll be running late and need an on-the-go meal so I'll throw together a Protein Drink, but it's probably happened only 2-3 times in the last 8 weeks. I also use Protein drinks for two days after I get a fill, and it's recommended to go back on liquids for two days if I have a PB or vomiting issue (so far so good). I agree with the previous poster about adding sugarfree syrup - I like Da Vinci syrups and found them at a local discount grocer for about $3.50/liter. They certainly improve the taste of the protein powder! My new favorite recipe, discovered during my two days of liquids last week, is 4 oz sugarfree Oregon Chai Concentrate plus 4 oz Silk soymilk mixed with a scoop of All the whey vanilla powder. I drank it cold with ice and it was quite nice :-) Good luck as you move along in the process!

B: Mini pita with egg, 1/2 oz cheese, and morningstar veggie sausage patty L: Quiznos steak sammy D: Out at a sushi restaurant: sake, 1/4 c crab salad, 1/4 c edamame, 2 shrimp, 1/4 c seaweed salad, 2 small cream puffs

My doc wanted to see a weight loss pre-surgery, but it wasn't a rigid number. He put me on Medifast for two weeks (the office provided the Medifast foods) and told me he'd like to see at least a 10 pound loss. My understanding is that a low carb, high Protein diet promotes the loss of fat around the liver, which is desirable before lap band surgery. It sounds as though your center wants to see that you have the discipline to get through the harder parts of recovery. Possibly not such a bad idea - the band helps with portion size and satiety, but the weeks since surgery ("bandster hell") have involved a lot more dieting than I expected. I have to say that Medifast wasn't too difficult. I think the combination of low carb/high protein (promotes satiety), the one "lean green" meal each day, and the knowledge that I only had to do it for two weeks really helped motivate me. It was nice that I didn't have to pay for it, too... It's definitely fast - I was 13 lb down in two weeks - so it might be an option for your pre-op requirement. Good luck on your path to the band! It's been totally worth it to me - I've lost 20% of my excess weight so far and I'm at my lowest weight in the last 4 years, and looking forward to a more active future!

I'm pretty sure Dr Neal's office in Olympia does fills for other doctor's patients, and they use fluorscopy: Pacific Surgical Good luck!

Yesterday (still on post-fill liquids): B - Vanilla Designer Whey mixed in 4 oz Silk fiber vanilla milk and 4 oz sugarfree Oregon Chai concentrate (mmm) S - 1/2 portion Chocolate EAS with sugarfree English Toffee DaVinci syrup L - 6 oz Pacific Foods Ginger Cashew Carrot soup D - Chocolate EAS with a banana and sugarfree Coconut DaVinci syrup Today (definitely feeling restricted): B - 1 envelope Kashi vanilla oatmeal S - light mozzarella string cheese L - baked ricotta, ~3 oz portion (ricotta, eggbeaters, parmesan, tomato sauce) S - Special K iced tea protein drink D - 1/2 cup chive cottage cheese

I have a 14ml band. I felt some restriction for a couple days at 5ml fill, and now am feeling restriction again at 6.8 ml. I didn't want to answer the poll, though, because I'm pretty sure as soon as I lose a few more pounds I'll need more fill to increase restriction again :-)

I didn't have very much restriction from the 1st fill of 5ml - maybe a couple days? But I'm feeling pretty restricted from the 2nd fill which brought me to 6.8 ml. I'm still on post-op liquids and I can feel it trickling down... I'm going to be interested to see whether there are foods I can't manage now.

Sara - My surgery was done by Dr William Neal. He performs surgery in Olympia and Bremerton (where I went), and perhaps Shelton as well. Fills right now are done in Olympia, but they're trying to add a fill site in Bremerton, too. At least half the staff are banded so you can always talk to someone who has direct experience - besides that, they're very nice. Dr Neal's office has been certified as a Bariatric Center of Excellence and he's done quite a few surgeries so I was comfortable trusting his expertise. He's very straightforward and kind. Here's the website: Pacific Surgical There are weekly information sessions, and Dr Neal is one of the docs who will be at the Splash this weekend. Hope that helps - good luck with your decision!

Tiffany - I get on the scale every morning and of course I'm happy if the number is down. But I can vary up to 5 pounds from day to day, presumably based on Water retention as well as actual weight. If all I was looking at was the number each morning I'd probably be frustrated on the days I'm up. So I made an Excel spreadsheet with my daily weight and made a line graph - it's much more encouraging to realize that the general trend is weight loss, even though there are fluctuations upward. Also, when I felt as though I was on a long plateau (though looking at the graph after it was over it's possible to see my weight was still trending downward slowly) I measured myself and compared those measurements to ones I took before starting on the band process. Knowing I'd lost 25.5 inches made the relatively flat weight loss seem a lot less important! So my advice would be to look at the general trend :-) Good luck!

I had my first fill ~6 weeks after surgery, and my second 3 weeks after that. I'm scheduled for my third in another 3 weeks.

I got a second fill today so I was fasting this morning and I'm on liquids for the next two days. B: nothing but water... L: 1/2 cup pureed clam chowder S: 2 oz Muscle Milk vanilla w/cinnamon sugarfree DaVinci syrup (man, I don't like Muscle Milk at all!) D: chocolate EAS with peppermint SF DaVinci S: Special K iced tea

Jess - My understanding is that you don't get the good stuff out of the flaxseed unless you grind it, so I grind it. I've had larger nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans) several times since being banded, and I eat sesame seeds without a problem as well.

B: Kashi vanilla oatmeal and a morningstar farms veggie sausage patty L: Mountain bread sandwich with avocado, turkey, and spinach D: not really a meal, because I succumbed to carb cravings and ate a couple servings of goldfish crackers. Not going to beat myself up - tomorrow is another day - can't wait for restriction, though!

I was banded 12/18 but I did my pre-op measurements on 12/3, just before starting two weeks of pre-op Medifast. My husband just measured me again, and I've lost 25.5 inches since 12/3!!! I'm measuring 14 places (neck, upper arms, lower arms, thighs, calves, chest, bust, underbust, waist, hips) and I've lost around 35 lb. I haven't started exercising yet, but I will soon because I want to see those numbers keep going down!!!

My favorites were, in no particular order: fat free refried Beans with a little sour cream cottage cheese with chives scrambled eggs (or eggbeaters) eggbeaters omelet with cheese Fage yogurt with a little honey tuna/crab/or salmon mixed with mayo and a little relish crabcakes baked ricotta (ricotta mixed w/a little eggbeaters and parmesan, topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella). The idea of pureeing meat kind of grossed me out...

This happened to me after lap-band surgery. I often get skin or internal yeast infections after I have antibiotics, but this is the first time I've ever gotten thrush... I was first given Diflucan, an antifungal pill, for five days - the skin and vaginal infections went away, but not the mouth or intenstinal yeast. Then I was given liquid Nystatin that I rinsed my mouth with then swallowed. That finally did away with the thrush (yeast) in my mouth and intenstinal system (causes stinky pee and diarrhea). I think it's possible that low carb eating will help decrease yeast overgrowth in one's system, but for some antifungal meds are needed.

Yea, Alex - thanks so much for adding it back!!!

I took pictures before starting the pre-op diet and again just after my first fill. I don't know if I'll ever share them - I wanted to be sure to see differences, so I wore an athletic bra and lycra capris - every bulge is visible! But yes, I can tell a difference, particularly in my face. I'm looking forward to my second fill next week as I've plateaued. Thanks for the comments!

Take a look at the Kashi oatmeals - they have a little Protein (could up it with Protein powder and/or milk) and a good portion of Fiber which might be satisfying. Cottage cheese (I looove the chive flavor) has a similar texture to oatmeal but more protein - if oatmeal goes down okay, maybe cottage cheese will, too. Or Fage yogurt - lots of protein and really different texture (creamy, not liquid-y - more like sour cream) compared to regular yogurt - I flavor mine with a tiny bit of honey or a squirt of sugarfree Da Vinci syrup. I get Fage at Trader Joe's or at a local natural foods grocery. Good luck!

I was pretty sure it was gone, but I was hoping to hear that it would be back. Like most people, I have limited time, and there are a huge number of forums here. I'd like to only see posts from the dozen or fewer forums in which I'm interested when I click "New Posts". Can we get the forum filters back? Please?

Yesterday: B: Morningstar veggie sausage patty, egg, reduced fat cheese, light English muffin L: Turkey/avocado/bacon/spinach on Mountain Bread whole wheat (a new find - a flat bread from Australia that holds together much better than the low carb tortillas and has 14g carb and 3g protein - I got it at Trader Joes) S: South Beach Diet snack bar D: Fage yogurt, honey, Kashi GoLean Today: B: Fage yogurt, honey, Kashi GoLean L: Turkey/avocado/spinach on WW mountain bread S: Apple with almond butter mixed with ground flaxseed D: Morningstar veggie sausage patty, egg, half English muffin

B: cheese/chive eggbeaters omelet with laughing cow light swiss and cottage cheese L: blackened salmon on Caesar salad D: (dinner at my mom and dad's) goulash, homemade noodles, Caesar salad, pinot gris

bump because I want that capability again :-)

This is one from last week, and I'm pretty sure I posted it elsewhere, but as of last Sunday night I've lost 25.5 inches since my pre-op diet began on Dec 3rd (a little under 8 weeks - 6 weeks since surgery). Each thigh was down 2.5", bust -3", hips -3.5", and waist -3.75! I was thrilled because I wasn't losing weight at that point, so it was nice to see that there has been dramatic change even without the scale. I don't squish into the steering wheel when I drive, and my seat belt is easier to put on. I'm only using a cane or walking poles on longer walks, not when I'm grocery shopping. The pants I bought at 280 pounds but wore tightly at nearly 350 are now feeling a lot more comfortable. (I'm making the lycra happy, )

I like weighing every day because I'm learning that how I *feel* I'm doing doesn't always correlate to how I'm doing. I'm learning that I can fluctuate ~3 lb from day to day so I'm tracking trends instead. More data makes the trends more obvious and I don't stress as much over a couple pounds difference like I did when I weighed weekly. But as others have said - I only update my ticker when there's a new lowpoint - I consider all higher points temporary