ZinNH

I had the band put in back in 2008. I spent a miserable five years. I was banded at 263, and didn't lose more than 15 pounds. I could eat a teeny piece of scrambled egg, have it get stuck, and spend the day sliming until it would finally get unstuck 12 or 14 hours later. I ended up developing a wicked sweet tooth. I couldn't eat healthy food, so I started eating slider foods- stuff that would go down easily. I sank into a deep depression, because seriously- I went to the extreme of having weight loss surgery and was STILL a failure!
I gained back the fifteen pounds that I lost, and i had it removed in 2012. I ended up maintaining my weight for a few years, then hit age 40 and ballooned up to 305. Last year I stumbled back onto WLS sites, and that's when I discovered that it wasn't ME who was a failure- it was the band. I couldn't believe how many other people had stories just like mine. I literally read hundreds of stories where people suffered just like me.
I was sleeved two weeks ago, and already I can see a huge difference. I could go on and on. My only regret is not doing this earlier. And I wish I had discovered earlier that I wasn't the only person having trouble with the band. The mental anguish was almost as bad as the physical discomfort.

I'm supposed to be crushing my blood pressure medication, but it just tastes so bad that I can't do it. It's a small pill, and I've had no trouble swallowing it whole with a sip of my Protein Shake in the morning.

I haven't had surgery yet, but I have lost over 40 pounds so far. I'm a little bummed that nobody has noticed- but, I just remind myself that nobody commented when I packed on 40 pounds either!

I was sleeved two days ago. Minor pain where my incisions are. I'm still in the hospital with an IV, so the IV site still hurts a bit. I am starving.
I don't miss food. A few months ago, I read a book called Never Binge Again, and it really helped me work through some of my food addiction.
The real test for me will be when I am at home and work, where everyone is eating stuff I can't have.

Hi everyone, just wanted to update. I QUIT soda immediately after having some ugly medical results come back. I've been off it for about a month. I also dove in and tried Keto, had great results.
Now that I feel like I've got a good handle on things, i'm trying to adjust a little bit to more of a low carb (40 a day) vs keto and seem to be doing well. changing my mindset was the key and i'm definitely headed in a good direction!

I'm sorry you are feeling out of control with your weight.
Set up an appointment with your surgeons office. Get their opinion if you have stretched your stomach. They can help you get back on track. Another option to consider is counseling/therapy. It will help address your mindset with weight loss.
food choices and grazing will cause significant weight gain.
Grazing is the consistent, day-long consumption of low value food items, in other words: snacking. For example, mindlessly finishing your child’s Breakfast Cereal, stopping at mcdonalds, popping two donut holes into your mouth at the office, eating a Protein Bar mid-afternoon and a strawberry Greek yogurt with granola at night.
The best way to address grazing after bariatric surgery is to employ preventive measures prior to the onset. That said, many patients will not succeed preemptively and must therefore deal with the problem of grazing only after it presents.
Should you find yourself in the habit of grazing after bariatric surgery, the obvious resolution is to break the habit. This is no doubt easier said than done, but consider all that you have achieved to this point.
The first step is to ask for help. It is unlikely that you can resolve your maladaptive eating alone. So simply ask for the help. Use your support network and those professionals who are currently among your inner circle.
Begin to monitor yourself closely. Write down or log your food in MYFITNESSPAL all that you eat or drink for a period of three days or so, and then compare your notes with the nutrition plan from your bariatric surgeon’s office to note how much they do or do not correlate.
Learn the different types of hunger, specifically head, eating out of boredom and physical hunger.
In addition, cut out all junk food. Sit when you eat, and mindfully enjoy the meal. Eat meals that contain Protein and Fiber in the form of fresh and lightly cooked or raw fruits and vegetables because they make you feel full. Drink plenty of Water over the course of the day except at meal time.
WIshing you the best,
Jenn

I would say there can always be a reason to delay surgery. I want to be alive to enjoy these things. Being overweight increases your risk of missing out on those things you mentioned .. if your not here anymore. No one can tell you what to do. Everyone has different priorities. Opinions etc. But myself. I'd have the surgery and just get it over with .. just me.

Its not clear to me how many kids and what ages. My kids were 17 and 13 when I had my surgery, so they were pretty self sufficient. This was my experience -
Surgery Tuesday. Home Wednesday. Made dinner Friday. Did anything around the house that didn't involve lifting more than 10 pounds starting on Friday. Drove Friday. Went to gym to ride recumbent bike Saturday. So, they ordered out Tuesday night. Wednesday, my hubby grilled burgers for them. Thursday, one of the girls made spaghetti with a jar of Pasta Sauce from the grocery store.
Since school will be out, i would think your troops will not be meeting. you should have assistant troop leaders - tell them to plan something for that time because you will be recovering from a procedure if you are meeting between Christmas and New Year's.
I was back at work on Monday (I'm a desk jockey) and doing everything but laundry at home (I could switch stuff from washer to dryer and fold, but I couldn't carry up and down stairs) until I was cleared for lifting at 3 weeks out.
You probably don't need more than a couple of days of casseroles in the freezer. I was 55 when i had my VSG. It was way easier than either of the c-sections I had with my kids. Just sayin.

I'm four years out, does that count?

To the OP, you ask for advice, are given sound advice and refute what is said from an experienced 'sleever'.
I understand you want to follow your surgeon's plan, then don't question your situation when you are following the plan.
I agree that 100gr of carbs, even good carbs are going to slow down the weight loss. The majority of veteran sleevers while losing aimed for 20-50 a day. But not 50 in the beginning. If you eat 3oz of Protein, you will maybe get an ounce of green Beans in which is 4 carbs and that is about it - you will feel restriction. Cottage cheese has a few carbs - 4oz has 8gr and 12gr of protein.
Your body will use the food you ate for fuel first, always and if you have been even slightly insulin resistant it won't burn the fat stores unless there is no food fuel for hours. Protein heats up the metabolism and makes the body work harder to burn fuel, carbs are easy quick fuel takes very little effort.
I am sure your surgeon is a good surgeon, but everyone is different in how their body reacts to food fuel. I cannot eat much fruit and lose weight, when Weight Watchers started allowing up to 5 fruits a day without counting points - SLAM - I lost maybe a half pound a week and gained on some weeks. Non starchy vegetables do not have the same effect - but WW swore it wasn't the fruit. As soon as I went back to an older plan and backed off on fruit - maybe one a day or none, then I could have better losses.
So the advice is to experiment and track what and how much, use a scale and a free app like Baritastic, myfitnesspal, or Lose It. Play around with the numbers, one size does not fit all. And good luck, we want everyone to win at this.

You're not doing anything wrong, except perhaps believing in the unrealistic expectations that your surgeon has fed to you.
Here's reality: most sleevers don't lose 30 pounds per month. Once you accept reality and stop comparing your progress to others, your weight loss journey will progress more smoothly.
I lost 15 pounds the first month, 12.5 pounds the second month, and the rest of my losses were single digit (1 to 7 pounds monthly). It took me 17+ months to lose 100 pounds.
Also, weight loss with a sleeve doesn't occur in a predictable pattern. We lose weight, then stall and plateau, then may even gain before losing again. You won't lose every week.
I guarantee you will gain if you continue down the road of eating bananas and other starches so early in your journey. Carbs lead to Water weight fluctuations.

1 gram of carbs will store anywhere from 3 to 4 grams of water weight in your body. So if you eat more carbs than your body utilizes in one sitting, those carb grams are stored as glycogen in your liver and muscle, resulting in water weight that contributes to a bigger number on the scale.< br />
To reduce these weight fluctuations, curtail your carb intake. Focus on real Protein. Stay off the scale.
Good luck to you.

I'm supposed to be crushing my blood pressure medication, but it just tastes so bad that I can't do it. It's a small pill, and I've had no trouble swallowing it whole with a sip of my Protein Shake in the morning.

Congratulations! I appreciate the effort you made to come back and share your success!

Rayelen, I'd take it a step further and say I think everyone should be in therapy -- so worthwhile.

I had my surgery on a Tuesday and was discharged Thursday. I went back to work on Monday with no problems. I have a desk job with a little bit of walking. I was tired but fine. I did take a nap after work every day that first week, but I was glad that I went back to work because it kept my mind off of everything! I didn’t tell anybody at work that I was having it done, so I didn’t want to take too much Time.
With all that being said, if I wasn’t feeling up to it, I wouldn’t have gone back. Surgery is one of those things where you really won’t know how you are going to feel until it happens!

I had my surgery on a Tuesday and was discharged Thursday. I went back to work on Monday with no problems. I have a desk job with a little bit of walking. I was tired but fine. I did take a nap after work every day that first week, but I was glad that I went back to work because it kept my mind off of everything! I didn’t tell anybody at work that I was having it done, so I didn’t want to take too much Time.
With all that being said, if I wasn’t feeling up to it, I wouldn’t have gone back. Surgery is one of those things where you really won’t know how you are going to feel until it happens!

I was sleeved two days ago. Minor pain where my incisions are. I'm still in the hospital with an IV, so the IV site still hurts a bit. I am starving.
I don't miss food. A few months ago, I read a book called Never Binge Again, and it really helped me work through some of my food addiction.
The real test for me will be when I am at home and work, where everyone is eating stuff I can't have.

Hi All,
Was just released to all activities and normal food today. Hit a stall at 4 weeks but just kept working the plan. Down 43 pounds in total. I feel good most of the time but do get a little tired after walks. Of course I am in Florida and it was hot until this week. Enjoyed Chic-Fil-A grilled nuggets for lunch today with a little applesauce. Food is not driving me right now. I just work on Proteins and 64oz of Water every day. Water is tough to get in!
Hope everyone is doing well.

I just had a sald for the first time with eggs, fat free shredded cheese, budding light lunchmeat,
And cherry tomatoes. Let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious!!! Im post-op 8 weeks, and didnt realize how much i missed salad. And guess what? No problems eating it. I just had to share, cant wait till i can try steak...Yeah!!!
What foods do you really enjoy eating, now that you can?
Surgery date 8/29/2017
SW:244
CW: 217
GW: 145
Sent from my SM-G928T using BariatricPal mobile app

I think it's like when you plan a big party, or a wedding. You spend a year planning and prepping and getting excited about the big day, and then the big day happens, and the next morning you wake up and say, "now what?" We plan so much for surgery, that once it happens, we don't have anything to fixate on any more. After surgery, you're just waiting... waiting to heal, waiting to feel better, waiting for the number on the scale to go down.
i don't have any advice, but I understand how you're feeling. I've started planning a vacation that we are going to take in a few months, just to give me something else to be thinking about.

Definitely work on getting over any food addictions that you have now. And start exercising if you don't already. I was walking/jogging 45 minutes a day up until the day of surgery, and I think it had a lot to do with my easy recovery.

I was doing really well with my protein and and my Water but not seeing the scale move made me turn to food (carbs). I do track everything on my fitness pal. Today has been the worst day so far...horrible eating and just lack of care for myself. Thank u for your insight though...I really do appreciate your advice and comments.

Sent from my SM-N910C using BariatricPal mobile app

Do you have the option of seeing a therapist? Talking to a professional really helped me start to get over my food addiction. Then I read a book called Never Binge Again, and that made all sorts of light bulbs go off for me.
I think we all worry that we are going to fail, so now is the time for us to fix our mindsets, so our sleeves can help us more!

also try to remember to look at food differently. Eat until you are no longer hungry. when we were growing up we were always taught to eat until we are full so we considered that the right way. If we eat only when we are hungry and stop when we are no longer hungry, I found I had much better results.

I’m 5 days out. I don’t believe the different surgery would have made a difference in your cravings. The surgery doesn’t change that. Your tastes in some foods will change though so that may help. You would have the same worries at this point with either surgery.