flowers

Weighing eggs??? I was only told to soft scramble them or soft poach a egg. If its scrambled, to use a fork on it to break it up. First time I ever heard of weighing your eggs.

I got them in the hospital too. I asked the doctor and he shrugged and said "well its a little straw" lol.

The meal plan usually around Sept is free, so its very popular then. I am sure you can share food unless you go to a sit down type restaurant. The fast food stuff you can use as many of your credits and share food as you like. Try the dis board, its very good about disneyland, the best one and you can find out all about the meal plan. Dont know if I can post the addy here or not? The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com - Powered by vBulletin

Its not like you are banded and instantly so tight you cant eat. I did lose 9 lbs dieting a bit and walking pre surgery. Iv now had a fill, 2 weeks ago, bummer, it didnt give me any restriction, and some folks say it could take up to 6 fils to get to my sweet spot, that not everyone feels restriction right away, first few fills. I only wish it was as you seem to indicate, that I cant eat everything now. Its all will power baby since my surgery, no help from the band. There isnt any food I cant eat. Iv been having turkey bacon and a fried egg in the morning for Protein, and they told me after my fill I wouldnt be able...guess what, my fill doctor was wrong. You could have no restriction for months and months, depending on timing of things. You dont need a one last dinner, lots of time before you cant eat. The only thing is for a month after surgery you probably wouldnt be allowed to eat anything worse than mushy food.

Ratios didnt help me since I didnt know which foods to eat, and why. GI = glycemic index. Each food has a rating and you want to eat foods, I think foods rated 60 or 70 or less? I forget the details. Foods that take longer to digest go into your lower part of the stomach and enzymes are produced telling you that you are full that are not produced if you eat foods that digest fast. You can google just about any food and find out its glycemic index and books. I came up with The Low GI Revolution, by Dr Jean Brand-Miller and others, she has written a few really good one. Rick Gallops book on the low gi method of eating etc. Try the first author at your library, she is good. I googled "gi index for cherries" and got Glycemic Index for: Cherries Food: Cherries Glycemic Index: 22 Glycemic Index Rating: Low All you really need is a computer and google what you want once you understand which foods are low gi ratings. If you have less ratio of foods like veggies it doesnt matter but get in your protein, lots of fish.

I know some who even got pre fills, but my surgeon was dead set against it. I asked him twice, but he said he was afraid it could cause leaks, no dice. I dont know the temptations you will have on your vacation, but on a cruise, they have all those desserts to die for and bacon and potatoes for breakfast, hard to say no to everything. I gained 7 lbs on one cruise and I just cant do that again this time, that was the start of regaining over 80 lbs I had lost before and if I backslide that much I get discouraged. Im telling myself at least I have my band, some suggested not getting my band until after my cruise and just eat on the cruise and then get the band to start, at least Im started and got the surgery behind me and the 30 days of no real food (sorry mushys dont cut it in my book)

Not trying to be Debbie Downer, but more reality check, I had a fill, 1.8 cc in a 10 cc band and I still feel no restriction. You too may not feel any more restriction after the first fill than I do, nadda, nothing. She tried 3 cc's which was too tight, the barium wouldnt go thru to my stomach so she pulled out all but 1.8 cc, which I think was too far the other way. Color me dissapointed 'cause she only is in that location every other sat and first she has a wedding and then I have a cruise (with no restriction ) .... so I cant get another fill until sept 27th, and I was banded july 9th. Assuming you will feel restriction after the first fill may be setting yourself up for dissapointment, it sure did me. I came home so depressed when I found I could still eat anything.

I lost over 80 lbs doing low gi, but then I kinda blew it when my dad's heart went out of sync and then he broke his hip and then he was in rehab and I was going back and forth for months and he almost died twice. I put all the weight back on and a little more. It works if you stick to it, but I dont think you can get the nuances from the south beach book is why I suggested also reading low gi diet books. For instance, potatoes are a no no, but if you really really crave one, boil a new red potato. Baked potatoes have more starch, only boiled and the newer and smaller the less starch, the lower the gi. Rice, pick a whole grain chewy rice and boil and boil and pour off water and keep boiling at least 20 minutes. If its a chewy type brown rice it will still be good. Instant rice is totally out. pasta, again, small small portions if at all, then the opposite is true, dont overcook, its gets more starchy and again whole grains only. Whole grain cereal no sugar, everything you can you need to switch to whole grains, and its a side dish not the main dish, like you dont have a whole plate of spagetti, its a side to your protein. One of the books breaks foods into red light, green light and yellow light foods, red always no, yellow are maybes, watch them and green you can have all you want. unsweetened yogurt or yogurt with artificial sweeterns is the lowest gi food on the charts. good for snacks or breakfast (except I hate it). the books on low gi to me helped me understand what I could eat a whole lot better than telling me to eat so much of which foods and a bunch of receipes.

Iv been told productive burping. i.e. more than gas is coming up I believe. Sounds nasty to me too, but I admit I do have more gas than I had before being banded.

I think the answer depends on how tight you want your fills, as to what the chances are of those things happening. Im not tight yet (to say the least). The only slight problem I had was with some cantelope, a slight choking feeling. Im sure as the fills get tighter this will happen more often if I dont chew things up well. So, far I dont need to.

yes, ok, so its been approved since June 2001 in the U.S. unless you were part of clinical trials. Not every study started the same date the band would have been approved, so if a study takes a year as I said, and its a 5 year study, it makes sense what the nurse who wrote a book and leads the seminars for many Dallas lap band surgeons would say not all 5 year studies have been completed. The band has not been approved in the U.S. for 10 years, 7 years total plus 2 months. Thats why some insurances balk at paying for it. It hasnt been around long enough for really long term studies. I keep saying it has been around more than 5 years but hasnt been around 10 years yet, it hasnt. If you know someone who got theirs in the U.S. 10 years ago, thats unusal. That means they got it 3 years before it was actually approved by the FDA who isnt know for moving very fast on approvals. And the FDA is likely to get worse as there are some drugs approved without really long term studies that have come back to haunt them lately with bad side effects. The lady who gives these seminars had her band a few years and dropped 140 lbs and get really thin, and then she started to have a problem with reflux so bad the band had to be removed (just as a example of a side effect of having the band that can occur years later). Im glad I got my band, and Im sure you are too, but finding 10 year studies or results is difficult.

I dont think one small drink would hurt, but folks say you will feel it more after dieting and being on liquids. If you have one just to be social and carry it around a lot, I cant see harm in that, but I wouldnt make it a habit and drink very sparingly. Put lots of ice in the drink for instance. If this is a special party, be sociable, take a few small sips to be part of the group, but I wouldnt do any serious drinking. If you go to partys a lot, this isnt just a one time occassion, then I might rethink my answer.

yes, but not that much longer. Not long enough that the 5 year trials which often take another year are all out for review. Thats why some insurance says they wouldnt pay for lap band and they will pay for by pass, because there are still some 5 year studies they want to see they claim, per a nurse who gives lapband seminars. I didnt mean to say it had been only 5 years, I said the 5 year studies are just coming in.

My fill doctor uses fluro each and every time and a barium swallow. That being said she way underfilled me. 3 cc. was too tight, the barium wouldnt go thru to my stomach, so she took out all but 1.8 cc, which was way way too low. It might be great, but they might also underfill you and not want you as tight as you want to be. I sure needed more of a fill than I got, and she had all the equipment there.

Almost all the by pass folks I know gained it all back and then some. With the band we can go get another fill and adjust things, they cant. They cant eat rich Desserts without getting sick and cant have certain alchoholic drinks, its no panacea either to have by pass. People do think all weight loss surgeries are the same, I admit I didnt know the difference either until quite recently lol. So, Im one you would be angry with. I had someone ask me when I got to goal, if they take out the lapband then?? Like its all over, once you lose you dont need any help maintaining? .... to be honest, just being on a diet, makes me a little cranky.

Another board Im on a nurse who works with lapbands said you can fill a 4 cc band up to 4.6, because of the tubing. Someone with a 4 cc fill said they are still hungry and she recommended filling it more than 4 cc and said its common where she works. You probably do need another fill.

I woke up from surgery hungry. They only gave me two huge bowls of Jello and tea etc. I could have eaten Mexican the next day after surgery, it was so hard not to when I was in the airport and couldnt eat anything where I was. Some people are swollen after surgery for a couple of weeks and some of us werent and are hungry. Buy cans of Protein shakes and sip them whenver you are so hungry. They may not be wonderful, but at least they will fill you up. Im too lazy to make the shakes in a blender, so I bought cans ready made.

I think once you get filled to your sweet spot, the hunger pains will die down, but the question is, will you stop eating. To me thats harder than it sounds. I have a little hiccup and feel full, but I want to eat more. I think I like the stuffed feeling even. As the saying goes, ice cream slides right down, the band wouldnt stop that. I have the Realize band, and still have fears than if I hit another bumpy part in life I will go back to comfort eating. I think the band will help me some, but Im not sure its going to help me all I need either to be honest. I dont like protein shakes either lol. Im not trying to discourage you, but I think you are going to have to work at it, especially "head hunger" as folks call it here, where you still want to eat because your head wants to eat, not because you are hungry, thats harder to deal with than anything.

With other forms of WLS, you could stretch out the pouch and then regain all the weight back. I know lots of folks who got by pass and are still way too heavy. Some put on all the weight and more and some I dont know where they started, only that they are obviously still way too heavy (heavier than me) and they had by pass. If you are going to sabotage the surgery, maybe you should wait until you are ready to work at it. I assure you its work to lose. By pass is not assured to lose the weight and keep it off.

The band has only been used in the U.S. for about 5 years, so even the 5 year results and tests are still coming in. Add to that the band has been changed over the last 5 years, like the adjustment around the neck now can be adjusted and the older bands could not. (not sure Im using the right words). Like if you lost a lot of weight and the band around the neck of the stomach became too lose, now they can go back in and tighten it without replacing the band. (the band itself costs $2,000 for the doctors to purchase it I was told). Another thing the Realize J&J band is even newer, is it out about a year now? So, when you look back at older style bands and then try to figure out how to apply the stats that are available, the results are only guesses. I may not have all the dates exact, times flies when you are older. lol To find people to talk to that have had the band for much more than 5 years you would have to find bands put in, in foreign countries.

I got one at my local library. Also found 2 very excellent books on low gi eating, that really explained why the diet works and which foods to eat better. (south beach diet is a low gi diet, based on how fast foods digest in your system 100 being sugar itself). I had trouble following the diet until I read the books written on low gi (which I also got at my library).

I went to Juarez, they pick you up at the El Paso airport, so unlike Cancun you are flying into a U.S. country. Its about 20 minutes or 30 over the border, but takes longer coming back as you have to wait in the customs lines. Medicaltourism did it with Dr. Naketa, some misunderstandings have arisen that Im still working out, like Im asking for the Operating Report, some fill doctors require it. I wasted $200 and 5 hours driving to my first fill and didnt know I really should have something in writing and they gave me a teensy fill for a 4 cc band when I knew I had a 10 cc band, waste of $200 and 6 hours of my time. Mine was $6,500 and the surgery went beautifully, no problems, not much gas, I came home a day early in fact, I felt so good, but you will feel like a outcast with fills doctors. Some charge extra, some have a waiting period to see you and most wouldnt see you at all, heard lots of excuses why not. The $200 fill doctor is the cheapest in my area and I have to drive quite a ways to see her and the first fill was a total bust and cant go back for 6 weeks. So, to sum it up, the surgery went fine, but finding a fill doctor and getting fills may be more of a hassle than you expect and higher prices than for U.S. banded patients, which irks me.

I feel like Im hungry a lot, so I have a SF popsicle or something. I do hear once we get filled to our sweet spot the desire to snack will dim. I hope so. (man I hope it gets easier lol) I am telling myself there is no time limit, so it doesnt matter if I lose like a turtle or lose fast, as long as I get to the finish line. We have a saying on my cruise chat board where some of us are trying to lose, "one day, one pound at a time". I need to take that to heart. Im too impatient with everything. sorry, I didnt mean anything by my post either, just frustrated, want the pounds to come off faster.

Are you yelling at me??? Two of us said we never heard of a doctor requiring a 6 lb loss. You are over reacting HUGE. Excuse me, dont say something and then yell in caps because someone replies to you when you said you are having trouble losing the 6 lbs. If you are talking to me about not working on losing weight, you couldnt be more wrong. A bad day I eat a 35 calorie fudgesicle. I set my alarm for 7 am so I have time to walk a mile to two miles in the morning in the Texas heat. I did this thru the 18 days of over 100 degrees we had. Plus I walk another 1 - 2 miles at night. One day I missed, something rubbed and was bleeding, but Iv walked almost without exception for 2 months solid, since before my surgery. Most days Im at the 3 1/2 to 4 miles mark, Im insulin resistant and pushing 60, so it is harder for me to lose than most people. I dont eat any carbs except rarely and watch my sugar levels, dont over do tomatoes and other fruit. You were the one posting you had trouble, and I was trying to encourage you to stick with it even if you were a slow loser like me. I do wish I had some resistance/help from my band, but for you to go off on me saying I expected something to be handed to me and I wasnt working at this, you could not possibly be more wrong. Im moving as much as I can without getting blisters and will keep upping the distance and did some inside gazelle in between my long walks. Oh yea, I am throwing in bits of jogging to get that heart rate and metabolism up. No one yelled at you, we were just surprised at your doctor's requirement, so color me surprised and maybe frustrated I am not losing faster when I am working so darn hard at losing and my fill doctor didnt fill me enough, there was some miscommunication. Im doing my diet 120%, I dont have a inbetween speed. Believe me your comments are miss-placed. You know nothing about me or my efforts. I was trying to sympathize with your slow loss, Im there now too.

Sounds like you are yelling at me because I said everyone is different. I didnt have a pre-opt diet even though on my own I lost 9 lbs. I also was not on liquids for 2 weeks. I was on liquids for 3 days after my surgery. I started mushys like chicken salad 3 days after my surgery. My doctors orders and I had no trouble. My doctor actually said try them and see how you react. I was just saying you cant generalize, every doctor allows something different. I was eating food like she said 3 days after surgery, if she meant putting the crackers into the soup so they were mushy. I did wait as I said until 3 1/2 weeks to do real food, only a few days early. Some people dont swell up like others, some have more pain and my post op diet was liquids for 3 days and then mushys, so I was allowed crackers in soup way before 2 weeks by my doctors orders. You really cant generalize what everyone can and cant do or what they were allowed as a post op diet. There are also some who have a prefill during surgery so they have to be more carefull afterwards than others, its all different for each person.