ljv52

Hi Deb, Good luck to you, I wish you all the best. I would trust the doctor's at Mercy Capital to advise you on whether or not lap band surgery would be safe for you. I have had a very good experience with my lap band. I was banded on 1-27-09 and have lost 35 lbs. since my pre-surgery diet begain on 1-13-09. I exercise regularly and have been dieting because I want to lose the weight. I have been restricting my fat intake and trying to keep to under 10 fat grams per day. I use low fat and/or non fat milk, cheeses, etc. I eat a lot of Beans, black beans, pinto beans, and tuna and salmon for Protein rather than higher fat meats. This has worked out well because I'm still not on regular food -- still on mushies. So my weight loss has been quite good but I expect it will start to slow down to about 2 lbs. a week. I keep a food/exercise journal on www.thedailyplate.com which is a very good resource. You can start to use that before you get a surgical date if you want. My surgery went very well, I was up and walking the halls in the hospital the same afternoon/evening and had no complications or difficulties. I had very little pain and liquid tylenol took care of any discomfort, which was very minimal. I did a lot of research on the lap band before I made the decision and decided it was a good tool for me as I am able to lose weight on diets, but have a difficult time in keeping the weight off after I lose it -- that's why I believe the lap band will work for me -- it will help keep my portion sizes down after I lose the weight. It's still work to lose the weight, but it's a tool that does help you succeed. I wish you all the best and if you have any further questions, will be happy to try to answer them. I would also recommend you come to the support group meetings on the second Tuesday of each month at Mercy Capital -- it's in the same room as the original seminar you attended there. I attended in February and found it very informative. Linda

I am also just starting my lap band journey (banded 1/27). I have rods and screws in my back, bad knees and bursitis in my left leg. I started water aerobics before surgery and was able to continue one week after surgery (my doctor cleared me). I take 3 classes a week. I also ride a recumbent bike 20 mins. along with circuit training 3 days a week. I am getting much stronger already and believe I'll be able to increase my bike 5 mins. per day per week starting this week. I have lost 35 pounds since started the pre-surgery diet. Water aerobics is great for those of us just starting out and/or those with existing injuries. I'm also 57 so if I can do it, anyone can.

I just made this and it is quite tasty, so thought I'd share. 1 can white chicken 1/2 c. chopped onion 1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilis 1 teas. taco seasoning 1 large can black Beans, undrained 1/ C. chicken broth 1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken Soup 2 oz. 2% velvetta cheese Cook onion with chicken broth, rotel tomatoes, taco seasoning and black beans for about 15 mins. until onion is soft. Add chicken, cream of chicken soup and cheese. Stir to mix well. Can be pureed before serving, or serve as is. Also good served with dollop of fat free sour cream. Makes about 4 servings, 3 grams of fat per serving. :frown:

I love curry! Thanks for that suggestion -- sounds yum. Linda

Yes, I'm aware they aren't "low fat," but they are a good, soft protein source.

Hi everyone. Long, you are a great inspiration, congratulations on your 100 lb. loss. I am just started to eat pureed foods. I had two week pre-op liquid diet and now two weeks post op. I am enjoying some real food, but can't eat much (for whcih I'm thankful). Not getting on the scale until tomorrow, trying to weigh in just once a week, but it's hard. Doctor gave clearance to go back to water aerobics, so will be adding that in starting Wednes. Thanks to you all for your advice and guidance. Linda

Yeah, but I'm an old fashioned girl and like my own meatballs.

Hi Pen, Glad to hear from you. I have been using the Gas X strips, but I'll try to remember to take them right before and right after. Like you said, it wasn't painful, just difficult to handle (especially at work). I am feeling restriction. I was totally full after I ate the eggs this afternoon and was satisfied until I had dinner around 6:00 tonight. I had my first carb -- I cooked a red potato and put some fat free butter on it and low fat sour cream and pureed it -- it was heaven. I also had one of my ham balls, and that filled me up. Either it's in my head or I really do feel restriction. So far, so good. I hope it continues. Hope to hear from some of the other Jan. 27 people. Linda

Hey, how is everyone doing? Let's not lose touch with each other, afterall, we are lapband sisters. I have had such horrendous gas since my surgery. I decided it must be the protein shakes because I also had terrible gas before surgery. I mean this is out of control and it was difficult to go to work. So, I switched to pureed foods on Friday and guess what? Most of the gas went away. So, I'm now trying to avoid protein drinks on the days I work. But have been experimenting with mushies. Today I finally had something that tasted good -- I made egg beaters southwest style -- they have some onions, peppers in them, they have a little spice and I added a little sprinkling of 2% velvetta cheese! God, I thought I died and went to heaven. I tried pureed refried beans the other day and they didn't taste great to me. I spent most of the weekend printing recipes off the recipe section here and stocked up on some ingredients today. I am making ham balls (and Iowa staple) and they are soft enough that I can have one pureed tonight and I'm really looking forward to that! Other than that, I've had some pureed soup and of course, sugar free jello, pudding and yogurts. I'm trying to stay low fat -- I want to continue to lose weight -- so I'm watching the fat content. Hope you are all doing fine and keep us posted on how your doing and how your feeling! Linda

There's website called Hungry-Girl.com that is all about diet foods. They preview foods, give reviews., etc. I really enjoy the site and thought perhaps some of you would also enjoy it. Today there was a fantastic product previewed there, a product so new it's not even in stores yet. They are called Portion control flavor sheets. If you go to www.portioncontrol.net you will find them. They season your meat, fish or poultry but also provide you with a guideline as to what 3 -5 oz. of meat looks like. I ordered some because I am just starting my lapband journey and I think these will be helpful to me and I thought some of you might be interested. If you order, use coupon code FM15 for a 15% discount. I also got free shipping on my order. Linda

When I first moved to Iowa 4 years ago, I ate these for the first time. They are very delicious and very, very soft. If you throw one in the food processor with some sauce and pulse it, it is mushy enough for mushies and tastes so good! I've adjusted the original recipe to remove some of the extra fat grams. 1-1/2 lbs. ground ham 1 lb. lean ground beef 1 Egg, 1 egg white 1/2 can fat free evaporated milk 1 package lower fat graham crackers (not the whole box, just one package in the box, about 12 double graham crackers or so), crushed Crush graham crackers in zip lock bag with rolling pin until fine crumbs. Mix everything together and form into large balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. If you keep your hands moist while rolling, they roll much easier. Spray a large 13x9 baking pan with Pam and lay balls in pan. Sauce 2 cans lower fat tomato Soup 2 tsp. dry mustard 1-3/4 C brown sugar (or use equalivant of Spenda brown sugar blend) 3/4 C. apple cider vinegar. Mix all sauce ingredients together and pour over ham balls. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour, remove cover and bake 1 hour more. Makes about 2 doz. large ham balls. Leftovers freeze well. Kids also love these! My 2 year old granddaughter is in love with them! Enjoy!

Katy, yeah, it WAS ground sirloin, now that I think about it. Probably would go down easy. Linda

Katy, I feel so sorry for you and pray for you to have resolutions to your problems soon. I know here in the states, if your surgeon calls for the appt. they will sometimes get an earlier date than when the patient calls. If I were you I think I'd tell my surgeon that you would appreciate him trying. Or call them back and tell them if they have a cancellation, to call you, sometimes that works too. Glad you are not near to the awful fires, hope they prosecute the fire bugs -- the loss of life is terrible, not to mention the billions in property damage. Good luck to you Katy. Linda

I've also heard that mashed cauliflower is a good way to thicken soups and make them "creamy" rather than adding flour, butter and milk. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to.

I'm originally from Ohio and this reminds me of a childhood favorite -- we used lean ground beef made into a patty and topped it with onions, potatoes and carrots and seasonings and baked it. Much more calorie friendly with chicken. Can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing!

I just made these delicious salmon patties which are appropriate for pureed foods or mushies. 1 10 oz. can salmon (no skin or bones, I used Members Mark from Sam's), drained 1 whole egg, 1 egg white (beaten together) 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 tsp. parsley (or 1 tbls. fresh chopped parsley) Black Pepper Progresso Italian bread crumbs and Panko italian bread crumbs Chop onion in food processor, add salmon, beaten eggs, parsley, pepper and 1/4 cup Progresso Italian bread crumbs. Pulse until well mixed. Pour a couple of tablespoons of Panko Italian Bread crumbs (or use Progresso as well, I like the crunch from the panko) onto a paper plate. Form into 6 patties and roll patties in bread crumbs. Heat 1 tsp. oil oil in large teflon skillet over medium heat -- when hot add patties and brown about 3 mins. on each side. I didn't add any additional oil and they still browned nicely on both sides. Serve hot with tarter sauce. Tarter Sauce: 4 Tbls. lowfat Hellman's mayo (1gram fat per 1 tbls.), 1 tsp. dijon mustard, 2 tsp. lemon juice and about 1/2 tsp dill relish. Mix together and serve with patties. You could also make tuna patties by substituting salmon for tuna. I am 13 days since surgery and could barely eat one of these for my meal, but it was very tasty after liquids for 3 weeks. Including tarter sauce, per recipe there were 19 grams of fat divided into 3 servings (2 patties each), comes to about 3.1 grams of fat and about 12.4 grams of Protein per serving of two patties. The only fat I am not counting is from the 1 tsp. of olive oil.

I just made these delicious salmon patties which are appropriate for pureed foods or mushies. 1 10 oz. can salmon (no skin or bones, I used Members Mark from Sam's), drained 1 whole egg, 1 egg white (beaten together) 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 tsp. parsley (or 1 tbls. fresh chopped parsley) Black Pepper Progresso Italian bread crumbs and Panko italian bread crumbs Chop onion in food processor, add salmon, beaten eggs, parsley, pepper and 1/4 cup Progresso Italian bread crumbs. Pulse until well mixed. Pour a couple of tablespoons of Panko Italian Bread crumbs (or use Progresso as well, I like the crunch from the panko) onto a paper plate. Form into 6 patties and roll patties in bread crumbs. Heat 1 tsp. oil oil in large teflon skillet over medium heat -- when hot add patties and brown about 3 mins. on each side. I didn't add any additional oil and they still browned nicely on both sides. Serve hot with tarter sauce. Tarter Sauce: 4 Tbls. lowfat Hellman's mayo (1gram fat per 1 tbls.), 1 tsp. dijon mustard, 2 tsp. lemon juice and about 1/2 tsp dill relish. Mix together and serve with patties. You could also make tuna patties by substituting salmon for tuna. I am 13 days since surgery and could barely eat one of these for my meal, but it was very tasty after liquids for 3 weeks. Including tarter sauce, per recipe there were 19 grams of fat divided into 3 servings (2 patties each), comes to about 3.1 grams of fat and about 12.4 grams of Protein per serving of two patties. The only fat I am not counting is from the 1 tsp. of olive oil. :thumbdown:

Barb, Congratulations -- March 10th is right around the corner. Doctor appt. went well. I've lost a grand total of 31 since I started the process, and couldn't feel better. Dr. Smolik says okay to go back to Water aerobics and I have no restrictions at all on exercise, which surprised me. I plan on going back next Monday, for now just been walking. I started some pureed food today -- so far, so good. I'm a little scared about eating after being on the liquid diet for almost 4 weeks. Good luck and keep me posted! Linda

I'm surprised your doctor's office didn't provide you with a list of full liquids. Mine did and on my list are non-fat yogurt and sugar free/low fat puddings and jello.

Hi Barb, Welcome and the best of luck to you in getting that insurance approval. What insurance do you have? I have Alliance Select. They didn't make me jump through too many hoops. Hope it goes smoothly for you and your approval comes through soon! As I said in my last post, surgery went great and I feel wonderful. I have absolutely no hunger. I've lost about 15 lbs. since I started the pre-surgical liquid diet (I go for dr. appt tomorrow so will find out my weight officially then). I already have improvement in many of my life quality issues -- my lower back and hip pain in my left leg are already much better. This keeps me motivated to stay on track. My history has always been that I can lose weight and stay on a diet, it's when the diet is over. I was so excited to discover the lap band as a tool I needed to know that I will have help in keeping the weight off. If the weather is good I plan on being at the support group meeting next Tues. at 5:30. I live in Oskaloosa, so if weather is bad, I won't be making the drive. Keep me posted on your progress. Linda

My doctor's office says that if your urine is light yellow, you know you are getting enough Water. As Tiare said, just keep a bottle and sip, sip, sip all day. Linda

Hi to all! I am just one week post op and already feel so much better than I have in a very long time. I had 2 weeks liquid pre-op and now finishing up week 1 of 2 of post op liquid diet. I have lost enough weight already to have a better quality of life already. I've spent the past 10 years after major back surgery miserable and in daily pain in my lower back. The last 5 years I have had brusitis in my left leg so badly I was unable to walk or stand more than a few minutes at a time. I've had countless cortisone shots in that leg, and nothing ever helped. Every few months it would get worse and more painful. I was starting to have to take Vicadin on an almost daily basis the past year or so and my leg would still wake me up throbbing when I was asleep. If you can believe it, I haven't had pain in my leg for the past several days. I lost 30 pounds since last summer and 12 or so since I began my pre-op diet. The pain in my leg is almost completely gone. I also already have more energy than I had even the week before surgery. I read in the Lapband Companion Handbook -- "you won't be better next year, you'll be worse." That really inspired me because frankly if I was worse next year, I would be in a wheelchair. That got me through the fear of having the surgery. I've also had pretty bad bladder (leakage) problems the last year which have already improved greatly as well. food does not taste better than being pain free feels. Janet, thank you so very much for both your story and the break up letter. I've printed them and will keep them in my lap band notebook for future reference. Thanks and good luck to everyone. Linda

Hi Twiggy and congratulations on your success! I live in Iowa and when we have snow/ice storms, I turn on the music channel and just dance for awhile -- it's better than nothing.

Hi everyone! I was banded 1/27 also and had an easier time than most of you seem to have had. I feel lucky after reading your posts. I'm sorry some of you are having so much pain. My surgeon prescribed liquid Vicadin which I used only once. I did get up and walk a lot the first couple of days. Don't congratulate me on being wonderful, though. I HAVE to get up a lot because I have urination problems and have to pee a lot. But i think it helped me. As for the diarrhea, I too have had it since I got home on the 28th. I called my surgeon's office on Friday and was told it is normal, but that it should be stopping soon. Today is the first day it hasn't been "constant" but I am still having episodes of diarrhea even after taking some small diarrhea pills. Makula I can't trust any farts either! LOL. Best of luck to you all and hang in there! Linda

Hi everyone. Just wanted to check in and let you know I'm doing great since I was banded on Tues., 1/27. I didn't have as much pain as other people have described. I am thinking it could be because my doc had me on liquid diet for 2 weeks before surgery (and I never cheated) and of course, I walked a lot also, which I know helps. Anyway, no real problems -- enjoying my feeling of fullness -- and looking forward to my journey. Happy Birthday Janet -- your edible arrangement was a great gift -- much better than flowers. Someone at my office had one too and they very nice. Long, so glad you posted those pics -- you look great and are an inspiration to me!