MistyD65

I had an upper GI about a month before my surgery, then again the day after, to check that things were moving through my band. No lower GI, thank goodness.

3 hours after 1/2 a Protein shake? Yeah, I think being hungry is a given. Even with restriction, which you probably don't have yet, a protein shake is going to pass right through the band. If you can, you may try splitting your shakes up more and having them more often. My doctor has his patients drinking 2 ounces of a Protein Drink every hour while awake, then 2 ounces of other fluids every 15 minutes as desired. I did that for about a week, then started drinking 4 ounces at a time, not so often. And LOTS of water! Hang in there. This is the famous "Bandster Hell" between surgery and first fill. Things WILL get better!:thumbup:

I'm afraid if you weigh every day you are setting yourself up for discouragement. I admit I did weigh every day the three weeks after my surgery, while I was still on liquids. But once I moved to real foods I started weighing once a week on Friday mornings. Your body weight is going to naturally fluctuate each day due to many factors, so weighing daily isn't really a good indicator of how you are doing. Don't expect a drastic change with your first fill. From what everyone says, it can take several fills before you reach that "sweet spot" of restriction, where the food in your pouch takes 3-4 hours or more to pass through the stoma into the stomach. And it will do nothing for "head hunger". I've been fighting that this weekend. I know I'm not really hungry, but I find myself wanting to eat because I'm anxious about a few things. And I am NOT going to let myself start turning back to food for comfort. That's how I got here in the first place. I'm having my first fill tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, and a little nervous too. I've not had any troubles with PBing at all, and I want to avoid that, but I know that with each fill comes the chance that something you've been eating with no problem could become a problem food. So I'm going to do liquids for at least a day or two afterwards, or whatever my doctor tells me to do. Then I'm going to be REALLY careful as I add back soft foods. Keep the faith! You've only been banded for a short time. And stay off those scales!

Not getting enough calories can be as bad for weight loss as getting too many. Do you know how many calories you are taking in daily? I've seen many people report that eating in the upper range of recommended calories each day got them off of a plateau.

Sweetie, you are not even a month post-op. This is the time fondly spoken of as "Bandster Hell." It's not a time of weight-loss so much as it is a time of healing and letting the band "settle in". True, some people do enjoy a quick drop of as many as 20 pounds during the first week or two, but almost everyone either gains some or stays the same once they go back to soft, then solid foods. I think what has helped me tremendously is having a sample meal plan to follow. (I'm starting my 2nd full week of soft foods after having been on liquids for 3 weeks post-op.) Suppers are 3 ounces of a soft, easily chewed meat or fish, plus 1/2 cup of vegetables; lunches are 1/2 cup of tuna, chicken, egg, or ham salad, or cottage cheese, with 6 crackers or 1/2 cup of peaches; breakfasts are a scrambled egg or 1/2 cup oatmeal, sf/ff yogurt, cream of wheat, or cold Cereal with 8 oz skim milk. I get my first fill tomorrow, and I hope it's going to help me stay satisfied for a bit longer. Right now, I'm getting hungry about 2-3 hours after a meal - usually closer to 2 hours. Just hang in there. It takes some time to get this new tool of ours to its ideal setting, but it will get there! You are not alone. :thumbup:

I was on modified full liquids for 3 weeks after surgery...basically clear liquids plus protein drinks. For the first week I was only getting about 300 calories a day. Once I realized that, I found a protein drink with more calories and added that to the other two I was using, rotating between the three. I was able to get up to about 500 calories, and there I stayed for the next two weeks. I'm on soft foods now, and I've yet to hit the 1000 mark; I think 950 is the highest I've been so far. But I'll be adding more foods in the coming weeks, so I should be there without much trouble.

I think the question of whether you will gain weight back is going to depend on how much you eat, and the food choices you make. I'd say if you want to make sure you don't gain, be extra mindful of your portions and watch out for fat and carbs. On the other hand, this new amount of restriction may be just right. Keep up the good work!

I think I've only been "full" 2 or 3 times since I started soft foods on 8/27. Each time I ate right at a full cup of food. I felt, in the band area, a pain like a "stitch" you get when running. So, I've been assuming that's what the pain was - hitting that full mark, or maybe even a bit over it. If I only eat 1/2-3/4 cup, I'm fine. And I haven't been trying to eat til I'm full; instead, I'm following the soft foods meal suggestions that my nutritionist gave me. All of the meals appear to have between 1/2-3/4 cup of food. When I have finished the meal, I'm no longer hungry. I sometimes feel like I could eat more, and I often want to eat more, but I know that since I'm no longer hungry, that I've had all I need. THAT'S the big change I'm having to make, and I'd probably say most of us have to make - only eating as much as we need, not as much as we want.:shades_smile:

Once you reach the restriction "sweet spot", your Lap-Band will cause you to feel full on a much smaller amount of food than normal, and that food will keep you feeling satisfied longer because of the time it takes to pass through the band and into your stomach. It will not, however, take away the desire to eat. Some people can't seem to overcome that desire and find ways to "eat around the band" - eating things that go through it easily, like ice cream, milkshakes, high-fat Soups, mashed potatoes. That defeats the helpful properties of the band. There is also the issue of "head hunger" to face, and that is probably the hardest to get past. I resisted any kind of WLS for a long time for the same reason you mentioned: If I'm going to have to change my eating habits even after surgery, I should be able to do it on my own. And yes, I have lost weight on my own before, but I always end up putting it back on, and more. After the last cycle of doing that, I decided I needed a tool to help keep the weight off, and Lap-Band is the tool for me. There was a wonderful post last week by "super moderator" Jack that you should read: The Art, Science and Philosophy of Livinging with the Band. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/art-science-philosophy-living-band-74427/ Perhaps it will shed some light. Best of luck in your choices!:lovechoc:

(cross posted in Katy/Cypress Area Meet-up) I checked on reserving a meeting room at the Cy-Fair College Library on Barker Cypress at West Road for next Saturday 9/13 at 2 PM. Unfortunately, they are booked until 4. We can either change the meeting to 4 or come up with another place to meet. Either way works for me! (I've sent this info out via email too!)

I checked on reserving a meeting room at the Cy-Fair College Library on Barker Cypress at West Road for next Saturday 9/13 at 2 PM. Unfortunately, they are booked until 4. We can either change the meeting to 4 or come up with another place to meet. Either way works for me! (I've sent this info out via email too!)

All the stores I've ever bought anything from (all 2 of them lol) opened the packages and installed batteries to make sure that they worked, which is a good idea since you can't take that stuff back!

Last Friday - 279.8 Today - 278.6 1.2 lbs lost!:tongue2: I really didn't expect to lose anything this week (my first full week on soft foods), but I did *finally* start walking on the treadmill. I'm going for 2 15 minute walks a day just to get started, but will quickly move to doing the whole 30 minutes at once. I get in a little over a mile in that time. I go for my first fill Monday! Yippee! Keep up the great work everyone!

Just make sure you are fully aware of the hard work that will still be ahead of you once you are banded. You still have to make changes to your eating habits as well as to your mental processes concerning food. I got the band not so much to help me lose weight, because I know I can do that, but to make sure that this is the last time I HAVE to lose this weight. Yes, the band will help with weight loss, but 95% of the effort is still going to be mine. Research, read the posts here on the forums (both the happy and the frustrated ones), take a good look at yourself and what you are ready to do to make this work, then make your decision. Best wishes to both you and your sister-in-law!

I was actually excited when I felt it, because I took it as proof that my band is there and doing what it is supposed to!:crying:

Yes, I was thrilled by the response! Looks like 10 of us so far. It's really hard to think of a place to meet...I figure we'd probably prefer to avoid a restaurant, seeing as how we are all at different points in our journey. I thought about a library; most of them have meeting rooms, but that seems kind of...umm...formal. lol I'm open to suggestions. Please, give me suggestions!:crying:

Snooty Dippinchunks???? EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW:confused_smile:

Choopie, I haven't had my first fill yet, but I think I may have experienced something like you describe. It has happened twice - once when I had my first "real" food after being on liquids for 3 weeks, then again after eating with my family on Labor Day. The first time was after eating a cup of baked potato soup at a restaurant - and I'm sure it was a full 8 ounces or more of thick soup. The second time I had a 3 ounce hamburger patty and 1/2 cup of potato salad (plus a bit more, because I tasted it as I made it). After eating, I felt a pain in my stomach, kind of like having a catch or "stitch" in my side after running. I never had any sense of nausea or feeling like I was going to PB. Just the pain and feeling really full. I came to the conclusion that my pouch must hold about 1 cup of food, and with both of those meals I had filled it to the brim. I really didn't think I had any restriction yet, but maybe I do. The pain isn't bad and it goes away after a while, presumably after the pouch has emptied. I have my first fill Monday, and I'm going to ask my doctor about it then.

:sad:Let's move beyond personal attacks. I apologize for putting into text my opinions about drstan's punctuation and grammar. I should have stuck with my first instinct and kept it to myself. We have no way of knowing what all is REALLY going on behind any member's keyboard. Yes, the title of this thread is inflammatory and extreme, but it was no doubt written out of exasperation and frustration. Perhaps, if it was possible, drstan would go back and modify the title. We are all passionate about our bands, and jumping to defend them and their effectiveness is admirable and understandable. Confront the misconceptions, but let's leave direct, personal attacks out of it. Please.

I wonder if "liquid tape" is the same as what my surgeon calls "synthetic scabs"? If so, it will eventually come off by itself. And boy, those steri-strips are tenacious little boogers. They held fast through lots of showers until my surgeon removed them on my 11-day follow-up. Left my skin pretty irritated for a while afterwards, though.

Lack of punctuation doesn't count as "typos". And there's nothing anal about using proper grammar and punctuation; they make posts much easier to read and understand.

Yeah, I experienced that feeling too, and wasn't able to get past it to the good stuff. But here's hoping!

I would not have even considered lap band had I been only 35 pounds overweight. Be that as it may, I do think quite a number of people approach this surgery lacking the understanding of the lifestyle changes they MUST make after surgery to be successful with the band. This forum, or a similar "warts and all" group, should be required reading before a surgeon will even consider banding a patient. I also think that some of the advertising for gastric banding, and even the seminars I've been to, make it seem like you get banded and your worries are over. Ideally, everyone considering gastric banding would take the hype with a grain of salt and do some individual research, looking for the bad as well as the good. Talking to multiple Bandsters would be good too, to get a wide representation of what life after the band is like. Then, and only then, they could decide if they really understand and are ready to make the lifestyle changes required to make the band work.

These are the Protein drinks I used. Maybe this information will be helpful to you. :thumbup: Protein Blitz Fruit Drinks by Designer whey. Serving size - 20 oz; Protein per serving - 30 g; sugars per serving - 1 g. $3.29 each at Vitamin Shoppe. Flavors - Grape, Orange Mango, Punch. Tried them all, LOVE them all. They taste like Kool-aid or Hi-C to me. The protein in them is a whey isolate, so they are clear drinks. A very nice change from all the milky things out there. These are a fairly new product. My GNC didn't have them at all and didn't know about them, but Vitamin Shoppe has them. DESIGNER WHEY - Protein Drinks Lean Body RTD Protein shakes by Labrada. Serving size-17 oz; Protein per serving - 40 g; sugars per serving - 0 g. $3.49 each at Vitamin Shoppe. Flavors - Strawberries and Cream, chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Bananas and Cream. I tried both the Strawberries and Cream and Chocolate Ice cream and they are really good. They really taste like melted milkshakes to me. The Strawberries and Cream is very new, so it might be hard to find. Labrada Nutrition Pure Protein shake by WorldWide Sport Nutrition. Serving size - 11 oz; Protein per serving - 35g; sugars per serving 2 g. $2.79 at Vitamin Shoppe. Flavors - Frosty Chocolate, strawberry Cream, Cookies and Cream, Vanilla Cream, banana Cream. I tried the Frosty Chocolate and Strawberry Cream. They were ok...not nearly as good as the Lean Body, but I keep a couple in my fridge because of their high protein count. They have 3.18 g of protein per ounce, Lean Body has 2.35 g of protein per ounce, and Protein Blitz has 1.5 g of protein per ounce, if you want to compare ounce to ounce. WorldWide Sport Nutrition - Products (click "protein" on the Products page) Muscle Milk RTD. Serving size - 17 oz; Protein per serving - 34 g; sugars per serving - 7 g. Lots of flavors. I tried the Chocolate Malt and Chocolate Milk. Didn't like the Chocolate Milk, but I LOVED Chocolate Malt.

Excellent Michelle! The more the merrier. So far you are the 7th to respond affirmatively for next Saturday 9/13 at 2 pm. We'll decide on a place by the end of this week. Welcome aboard!