2muchfun

Another food group that I personally miss is pasta. Pasta such as mac and cheese, hamburger helper, lasagna, spaghetti with Italian sausage all are high in carbs and fat. They require little chewing and seem to "slide" through my band with ease. The sliding is the key word. Sliding through the pouch gives little stimulation to the vagus nerve and leaves me hungry for more. I still have them maybe once every 2 months but prior to being banded they were a weekly meal staple.

Most docs and most all bariatric surgeons understand the ups and downs of weight loss. If they don't get it by now, they should find a different profession. If your doc has any compassion or an interest in his patients well-being, he/she will understand your issues and encourage you to get back on the bandwagon. There have been several accounts of some A-hole doctors who think that scolding their patients motivates them. Stupid docs. But, they're in a small minority so go in and expect to be hugged and encouraged!

Most docs and most all bariatric surgeons understand the ups and downs of weight loss. If they don't get it by now, they should find a different profession. If your doc has any compassion or an interest in his patients well-being, he/she will understand your issues and encourage you to get back on the bandwagon. There have been several accounts of some A-hole doctors who think that scolding their patients motivates them. Stupid docs. But, they're in a small minority so go in and expect to be hugged and encouraged!

Ibuprofen thins the blood and thins the stomach lining. A tight band could erode that lining and eat into your stomach. That's why they don't like us taking nsaids. I've heard of some doctors allowing their patients to resume taking nsaids but you better check with your doc. I here you about the miracle drug. I have bad knees and I've cheated a few times and taken ibuprofen. It's truly a pain reliever. tmf

Don't think of losing weight as if it were a given symmetrical line going down for each day you burn more than you consume. Your body is a reactive machine and will retain fluids if it's TOM, or you consume processed flour/sugar, or too much sodium or simple carbs. Fluids can create plateaus that last months. If you're exercising, you will retain some fluids due to your body rebuilding torn muscles. If you exercise, you can lose fat but gain weight. Weight vs. fat are two different animals. Burning fat cells and replacing them with muscle cells will make many weight scales stop moving or even increase. This is a long long journey and one or two weeks or even months here or there are inconsequential in the long run. tmf

Sipping Water or any Fluid while you eat allows the food to travel right through your stoma and defeats the purpose of the band. Some of us sip water or wine with meals occasionally but we wait until the food has passed through the pouch and into the stomach. Each bite takes about one minute to pass through if you follow the rules. I recommend newbies learn to eat without fluids until they have more control over their eating habits. tmf

I've found that by cutting out much of the processed foods I ate prior to being banded helped a lot. Cut back on most Breakfast cereals, breads, Pasta, sugar, refined flour and sauces/dressings. I'm not saying you can't eat them ever again, but cut back as much as you can. These foods have little nutritional value and cause huge spikes in insulin production and causes appetite swings and cravings. Like the others have said, eat Protein rich foods like chicken, fish, lean beef and pork. Fill up on vegetables and salads after eating your protein. Good luck.

Usually the 6 month supervised nutrition program is overseen by a doctor or nutritionist? Better make sure you're doing it right? Someone here on the forum just recently had to start all over again because her doctor didn't follow the rules to the T. Is this a 7 month mandate by your doctor or insurance carrier? Many people don't lose much at all during the 6 month supervised program. That's why we all need the help of a lapband. Wouldn't need WLS if we could diet successfully. And most of us didn't have to diet 7 months before surgery. Some have a 2 week pre-op diet but I didn't have one.

It took me 6 fills to reach the green zone. Keep getting fills to you feel satisfied with less food. 30 lbs/5 mos is average.

Seems like most patients who state their band slipped don't know it slipped till the surgeon looks at the band with a fluoroscopy. Usually, they can't eat much, have a lot of acid reflux, heartburn and seem to feel miserable. Almost all slips occur months or years from surgery.

I eat fruit every day. Cantaloupe, apples, grapes, pineapple, blueberries. My band likes them all. But of course, you need to track how many calories you're consuming so don't over do it?

First, FYI, you hijacked this thread. Don't take this the wrong way but you'll always get more response if you start a new topic with your own heading. That way, hundreds will see your post and may respond where here, only a handful are following this thread and your responses will be few. You haven't filled in your profile so it's hard to advise you? Have you lost weight? The foods you mention are typically difficult for many of us to swallow. Do you think you've mastered the eating small bites and chewing to a complete mush before swallowing?

Relax everyone. What you describe is very normal. It can take many fills before you feel satisfied with less food. The stoma(hole between pouch and stomach) is usually wide open in the beginning while you are healing. Food of all kinds can pass through with ease, unless, you have additional edema from the surgery. You will be in "Bandster Hell" till you receive a fill that suppresses your appetite with less food. It's nearly impossible to have a slip or pouch dilation at this stage unless you insist on eating pot roast, pizza or dry chicken to the extreme. Convulsive vomiting can cause a band slip too. But these are extreme examples and it sounds to me like you're just having a normal journey as most of us have experienced. tmf

If you chew your food properly and take very small bites, this bolus of food would resemble soup. If you can eat soup and not regular food, you might be a little too tight or you may not be following the eat small chew big rule? You may not be eating small bites and may not be chewing enough? It's a difficult task for most all of us to overcome since we got where we are/were by eating too much, too fast.

I can gain 5 lbs of Water simply by eating too many processed carbs, sodium or a combination of both. Look at what you're eating? If it's high in processed carbs and sodium, that's the villain. It can still be low in calories but excessive simple carbs and sodium can make you retain water. 12 lbs in one month is a lot and you may have lost a lot of excess fluids last month and now you're retaining fluids? tmf

First, your doctor should have given you a program to follow? You should follow his dietary plans. If not, click on this link and go to page 24 for a list of items that Peachtree suggests. Good luck! http://www.peachtreebariatrics.com/docs/Gastric-Band-Patient-Manual.pdf

It may take over 6 fills before you feel enough restriction to feel satisfied with less food. It took me 3 fills before I started to feel a little restriction and 6 fills to reach my green zone. Meeting with your nutritionist is very important. My 3rd fill and a meeting with my nut started me on my journey.

Chili Con Carne is a slider food. It's one of those foods that usually pass through the stoma with ease. Try eating fish, chicken or ground beef and see if you feel any restriction or early satiety? I didn't feel restriction till fill #3(4 months out) so hang in there.

Working fine for me today!

I remember when I made my mental commitment and how thrilling the whole thing was but how darn long it takes to get to the point where you start shedding the lbs. Congrats!

I especially love this comment. I think I knew it all along but denial helped me avoid facing my addictions. Do you also find that foods that you used to love now taste bland? I once loved hamburger helper doctored up with fried onion crisps, jalapenos and extra cheese. I had it about a month ago and ugh! Not going back to that again. Back to Salmon and salad. tmf

For me it was feeling satisfied with eating less food from the git-go. With each fill I felt I could eat less and I was fine with that. Then, the 3rd fill and some foods struggled to pass through my pouch and stoma. I've always equated getting food stuck as a sign my band is doing it's job but I'm not following the rules. This is a signal for me to slow down, chew more, and that, to me is restriction. BTW-It took 3 more small fills for me to find the green zone. tmf

If you feel like you've learned over the last 5 years regarding how to eat nutritious and healthy foods you may do just fine? I sometimes wonder how I would do now that I've fallen in love with veggies and fruits if I had to have my band removed? If you have insurance or the financial means you might look at the sleeve? Seems to be the WLS of choice for revisionists? I usually agree with Guy but not this time? This forum is the place to tell all how you were successful and why you weren't? Most slips are unexplainable but sometimes there are reasons for a slip and if a bandster can educate us all as to why or how it happened, it could prevent someone else from making a mistake? Quite often it's something as simple as a stomach flu where violent vomiting is the culprit. At any rate, sounds like you were once successful so I'm confident you'll succeed with or without your band.

I lost 12 lbs(5.5 kg) the first 2 weeks and then nothing the next 14 weeks so imo, you're doing very well.

Nausea can be overwhelming after surgery and a 2 hour drive aint gonna help? Although, one day later could be even worse. Usually right after surgery you're so medicated you won't feel a lot of pain and 24 hours later reality could set in. Or, you could be like me and I went back to work(I work from home) in my office the same day and never really had any pain, nausea or discomfort. We all react differently to anesthesia, gas, pain meds etc. I would say that if you get out early enough, go for it but have a back up plan to stay in a hotel between the two cities just in case?