MistyD65

My nutritionist told me 1200-1400 calories a day, depending on my activity level.

I made tuna salad with the Tostitos Spinach Dip too...very yummy!

(Cross-posted in "Looking for Bandsters in NW Houston") Hi Bandster Buddies! Let's plan a meet-up for next weekend. How does Saturday 9/13 at 2 PM strike you? Depending on how many want to attend, we may need to think of a place besides a Starbucks, but we'll cross that bridge after we get an idea of our numbers. This'll be a Katy-Cypress area meet-up, but anyone from anywhere is welcome. I'll send this out in an email to those of you I have an email address for. Hope to hear from you soon!

Hi Bandster Buddies! Let's plan a meet-up for next weekend. How does Saturday 9/13 at 2 PM strike you? Depending on how many want to attend, we may need to think of a place besides a Starbucks, but we'll cross that bridge after we get an idea of our numbers. This'll be a Katy-Cypress area meet-up, but anyone from anywhere is welcome. :blushing: I'll send this out in an email to those of you I have an email address for. Hope to hear from you soon!

It is normal to feel no restriction before your first fill. But it's up to you to control your portion sizes and the amount you eat right now. Don't try to eat til you are full...eat the amount of food you've been told to by your surgeon or nutritionist, make sure you are taking at least 15-20 minutes to eat, then when you have finished that amount of food STOP and notice...are you hungry anymore? Not "are you full" but "are you still hungry". There is a difference. When I finish my 1/4 cup of tuna salad and 12 low-fat wheat thins, do I feel like I could eat some more? Yes, I do. Do I want to eat some more? Yep - I love food. But am I still hungry? So far, the answer has always been a definite NO. And THAT is the question I am having to train myself to use - "am I still hungry". The other two will almost always be answered yes, unless I have stuffed myself until I am uncomfortable...and that's how I got this way to begin with. When I hit the "sweet spot" in my band restriction I imagine, from what I read from the long-timers, that the feeling full part will come. But in the meantime I'm getting through "bandster hell" by sticking to the food plan I've been given. By golly, I'm gonna make this work! You can too!

Also, as you lose weight, the fat pad between the band and your stomach will shrink, causing you to need a fill to keep the same resistance.

I'm still before my first fill, but I've not had any trouble with chicken. It should not be so well done that it is tough and dry, but I don't think anyone is suggesting that we eat undercooked meats. I have read that microwaved, reheated chicken is sometimes hard to eat because it does tend to get dry that way. Small bites and chew til applesauce consistency - if you can't chew it up that well it might be better to spit it out.

I had a 3 week, modified full liquid post-op regimine. Basically clear liquids plus protein drinks...not even soup (aside from broth). Energy level was an issue, but I soldiered through. :thumbdown:

I have found that I can't "eat until I'm full, then stop" because I don't really know what "full" is. In the past, full has usually meant stuffed and uncomfortable. That's how I got this way to begin with. When I finally started soft foods, after being on modified full liquids for three weeks, my nutritionist gave me a sheet of soft diet sample meal plans. Breakfasts are either a soft scrambled egg; 1/2 cup of oatmeal or cream of wheat;1/2 cup sugar-free, fat-free yogurt; or 1/2 cup cold Cereal with 8 oz skim milk. Lunches are either 2 oz of chicken, ham, or tuna salad with 6 crackers; 1/2 cup fat-free cream Soup with 2 oz string cheese; 1/2 cup cottage cheese with 1/2 cup peaches; or 1/2 cup egg salad with 1/2 cup peaches. Suppers include 3 oz of one of the following: baked salmon, stewed chicken, baked turkey, grilled tuna steak, lean ham, or grilled tilapia fish; and 1/2 cup of spinach, green Beans, mashed potatoes, carrots, or pears, or a small baked potato. I had a kind of an epiphany the other night, after finishing some chicken and mashed potatoes. I wasn't hungry anymore, but I felt like I could still eat some more, and I wanted to. That's when it hit me - I'm no longer hungry, so I SHOULD NOT EAT ANY MORE, regardless of whether I feel like I can or want to. I think that's one of the differences between people who don't have weight problems and people who do - "they" stop eating when they are no longer hungry; "we" stop eating when we've had all we want. And I think that's a big cause of complaints for us new bandsters before we reach our restriction "sweet spot" - we can still eat too much. The tool hasn't really started working like it should yet, but we still want to try to rely completely on it, rather than starting to make the necessary changes in our diets ourselves. It has helped me tremendously to have the sample meal plans so I know how much I'm supposed to eat. I only put that amount on my plate, and when it is gone, I am through. And I am always no longer hungry when I finish. I have to stomp on the "but I want more" feelings because they are still there, but I know they are not coming from hunger. I hope this makes sense, and maybe helps someone, because coming to that realization was really an eye-opener for me. I'm hoping it's a sign that I'm making the mind-shift to being a person who eats to live, rather than lives to eat! Oh, and I lost 25 pounds after my surgery, but after adding soft foods last week I gained .8 lb. Sure, it was disappointing to not see a loss, but I was prepared for the fact that I would probably put some weight back on as I started eating real foods and until my first fill. I'm not happy about it, but I accept it as part of getting started on this journey!

Last week - 279.5 lbs This week - 279.8 lbs .3 gain, but I started soft foods on Wednesday, so that's to be expected I suppose. Also, I'm not exercising like I should, but now that I'm gaining energy from getting more calories I'm going to change that! Keep up the great work everyone!

I actually don't use saltines. I prefer low-fat Wheat Thins-type crackers and Wasa and Kavli flatbreads. Lots of good fiber and whole grains in the Wasa.

Eyespy, my doctor recommends 1200 mg of calcium citrate a day, 600 mg AM and 600 mg PM. I found the Twinlab chewables at Vitamin Shoppe, which may be the same that you are talking about. Each wafer is the size of 5 quarters stacked together, and to get my RDA I take 2 1/2 at a time. They taste like weak Sweetarts to me, so it's kind of like getting candy. lol Calcium is a large molecule, so any method of delivering the amount required is going to be large. Oh, and the bottle recommends to take with a meal, which conflicts with your doctor's instructions. I'm sure it has something to do with absorption. For Vitamins, I've been doing the Centrum chewables, but I've ordered some JuicePlus Chewables (my nutritionist recommends them). We'll see how those are.

I'm able to have crackers and pretzels in my soft foods stage. They are pretty easily chewed into an applesauce consistency.

I am not aware of the band around my stomach except in relation to my eating. I don't feel like there is something constantly squeezing my stomach, like you might feel a belt around your waist. And I also don't feel my port, although that will probably change as I lose fat in that area. I feel as "normal" as I did before the surgery...as far as normal goes!:biggrin:

My doctor's plan is: Stage 1: Clear Liquids ONLY (in the hospital) Stage 2: Modified Full Liquids (Day 2- Week 3) this stage is basically clear liquids plus Protein drinks. Stage 3: Soft Foods (Week 4- Week 10) Stage 4: Solid Foods (Week 11 and onward) I was only averaging about 500 calories a day during stage 1, getting anywhere from 60-70 g of protein daily. Days 6-8 after surgery were the hardest. At that time I was only getting about 300 calories a day, but I found a higher calorie Protein Drink to add into the mix of drinks I was using and that helped. I didn't think I'd be able to make it for 3 weeks, but I did, and I'm grateful for that time away from food. The Inamed LAP-BAND literature suggests a thin liquid diet for the first 2 weeks, pureed foods for weeks 3-4, soft foods at 5 weeks. It also says that it may take a month or more for the "new stomach structure to heal completely and the LAP-BAND to sit in the right position." I didn't realize it at first, but during the surgery the stomach is kind of wrapped around the band and stitched to itself, making a sort of casing for the band - like a casing for elastic in clothing. This is one of the big things that needs to heal. If you don't mind watching surgeries, there are a couple of gastric banding surgery videos on You Tube. I found the one I watched to be very interesting and informative. Anyway, hang in there, follow your doctor's instructions and get ready to use your new tool!

I looked back through this thread and saw two people who seem to be in your area, crazycatlady. Check out Greythope and Rachelb123's posts on page 1 of this thread. Looks like there was a group meeting in the Woodlands back in April. It may still be active. You might try sending them a Private Message.:tt2:

I was on clear liquids + protein drinks for 3 weeks and today I moved to soft foods!! I had a bowl of potato soup and it was soooooooooooooooo good. That one more week will fly by Mary. And your stomach and band will thank you for giving them such a good healing and settling in period.:thumbup:

If you go to the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Forum, then to the sub-forum "LapBandTalk Forum Frequently Asked Questions", there is a section about abbreviations! Here's the link: Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum - FAQ: Lap-band Abbreviations I've found it very helpful! :cursing:

Hooray! I'm so glad you got that straightened out. I've read more than one instance of someone having a fill and having no problems for weeks, good restriction without too much, then all of a sudden finding themselves too tight. Our bodies are doing strange things inside when we aren't looking! :w00t: When I went for my first post-op appointment, I made sure to ask my surgeon what kind of band I had, and its capacity. I've got a 4cc Allergan (Inamed). The vast array of band capacities is amazing.

That made me giggle. Was that a Freudian slip or intentional?:thumbup:

I've never in my 43 years swallowed gum. I seldom chew it for longer than 15 minutes anyway - once the flavor is gone, it's outtathere. About the only time I chew it anymore is when I'm flying. I did buy a pack of sugar-free gum a week or so after my surgery because of the bad breath from the ketosis I was in. It made me feel my breath was fresher, at least, even if it wasn't.:smile2:

Oh Gloucester!! I'm so sorry! We wondered where you were. We were at the Starbucks on 290 and Spring-Cypress...between Barker Cypress and Fry Road. Hopefully, as we start meeting, we can all exchange more contact information and avoid something like this in the future. And there WILL be a future! I've heard back from about 10 people that they couldn't make Saturday's get-together, but want to be informed about the next one. Let's look at the first or second weekend of September (6-7 or 13-14). And if anyone wants to get together before then, my time is pretty free right now. Just drop me a PM and I'd be happy to meet you for a chat!

It will get better! You are only a little over a week past your surgery. I slept in my recliner for a whole week after I came home because I was afraid of turning over onto my stomach in my sleep, since I usually sleep that way. And I KNEW that it would hurt. By the end of the second week I could sleep on my stomach, but I had to be really careful with the actual turning over...that was still pretty owie. Now, 3 weeks out, I don't give it a second though. I still get a twinge every once in a while, but nothing terrible. And I wore elastic waist pants almost all the time the first couple of weeks.

Request duly noted! :) BrownBear and I met today and chatted for over an hour! It was great. Can't wait to meet more of you.

I have to remind myself sometimes that the scar isn't just "skin deep". The incision went down through the skin and muscle to the abdominal cavity (please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no student of anatomy lol). So even though all I can see is that scar on my skin, there's healing and closing up going on much deeper. And even 3 weeks out, I still sometimes get reminders of that fact...ouch!