2muchfun

Lower your expectations. If you only lose 4-6 lbs a month you are doing great. Don't expect to lose 100 lbs the first 6 months. If you do lose more than 4-6, bully for you. But there will be setbacks and surprises along the way. Hopefully none that you can't deal with but expect a plateau in losing weight here and there, expect to be incredibly hungry after the first 3 weeks post-op(Bandster Hell) and report back here on how successful you are. tmf

We have the same Breakfast. It's hard to find breakfast foods the band likes. Have you seen the jimmy dean turkey sausage crumbles? Already cooked and ready to add to your omelette. I figure the calorie count for this omelette is around 180 wouldn't you think. And it's filling! I try to have tuna or chicken salad around for lunch or a quick snack. Load it up with red and yellow peppers, jalapenos, dill pickle relish, celery. Still around 200 calories. Dinner is a crap shoot(not literally). But, I have to cook for me and my wife so lots of salads, hamburger steaks, meatloaf, seafood, vegetables, some fruit thrown in. tmf

Here's a thread with lots of ideas and many replies. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/35614-share-ideas-what-did-you-eat-today/ tmf

First, you need to be more specific? What do bandsters in their 3rd week eat, or what do bandsters in the green zone eat? Or in-between post op and green zone? BTW-If you click on the forums tab at the top left and scroll down to "food and nutrition". You can find anything you want regarding diets, foods etc. tmf

It's so refreshing to hear from a newbie not in panic mode. tmf

Not all doctors follow your doctor's guidelines. I was on liquids 4 days, pureed 4 days and then soft foods from day 9 on. All on doctors orders. tmf

Burping for me meant I was getting close to full. If you are sick of liquids, here's something that is nearly liquid. Egg drop Soup. It's pretty much just broth and an egg. It goes down like liquids but since there's a little texture, it satisfies. If you go to the grocery store, in the asian Isle is a mix that makes 3 cups. It's mostly chicken broth powder and some other spices. But it's not bad. tmf

1. Giving up drinking w/meal: I still sip here and there. Sometimes it's the only way to get a meal down. But, drinking a lot of Water with your meals can have a fattening effect some nutritionists say. I miss the drinking but I don't miss the pounds. I prefer being able to tie my shoes than struggling to tie my shoes. I prefer walking distances with littlle pain vs lots of pain. I prefer to live to see my grandkids get married vs assuming room temperature. My quality of life is enhanced so much more than before LB. I'm not thin yet, but I'm getting there and where I am now is so much better than where I was 7 months ago. 2. If you go on a trip, you can still eat like Jeff said. Just not as much. And here's the best part. If you want to pig out, and don't mind putting on 10-15 lbs, go to your doc for an unfill. I don't recommend it but it's crossed my mind. Be thin for 44 weeks of the year and pig out for 2 and then lapband for 6. You can literally have your cake and eat it too. 3. Probably fail? Ask for your limitations and they are yours. I'm not going to try to cheerlead the band, I'm just saying that you overstate the downside of the band and seem to be ignoring the incredible and wonderful benefits and opportunities the band offers to those who make the commitment. Maybe you're not ready? I know I was and I had no doubts and now, no regrets. Only you know? tmf

That's a great point Kass. If you are losing and aren't gaining, it's a win-win. tmf

My oh my, sometimes it's all I can do to push my own butt out of the couch and go for a bike ride or workout in the gym. But I do, I gotta. tmf

Most doctors have a nutrtionist on staff or available. I lost 12 lbs in the first 4 months. My nutritionist really helped me find where I had gone wrong. Talk to your doc and his nutritionist. tmf

When your band is tight enough to provide restriction, some foods may not pass through easily. For many of us, bread, chicken and steak get hung up in our pouch. This causes other food to back up behind it and can be very uncomfortable until our pouch massages the food through the band portal(stoma). tmf

No, it's a forum for people to come to and get ideas. Aren't you paying attention? Lighten up! You take yourself far too seriously. tmf

I agree, why not drink before you eat? And does food really stay in our pouch for an hour, or even 30 minutes? I don't think so. But, I follow the rules, most of the time. That damn cork effect can have me sliming at the sink like a ghost from Ghostbusters. tmf

You know, you're an average to good loser. You're losing about 4 lbs a month. But it sounds like you may have lost more than 7.5 lbs, maybe closer to 10 or more if you count the the muscle you must be adding. It doesn't show since it's replacing fat and since muscle has less density, your clothes fit better. Congrats, you are doing it right and at some point the scale will move slightly more, unless you're trying to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger tmf

Sounds like your mind is just now figuring out that these types of food will no longer be tolerated? When you get that urge, come to this site and read how all the people who fell off the wagon and ate brownies are still fatso's. Don't be a fatso. Eat good food. When you get to your goal weight, splurge and eat a cake. It won't be the end of the world. Some people even give themselves a reward once a year by eating ice cream. I'm not recommending it, I'm just telling your mind that yes, Yovanca can still eat cake and ice cream but she chooses not to at this time. tmf

Don't look at the band as though it's a panacea for your weight problem. You will have to work at this. It's not easy giving up years of eating habits. Some bandsters go into this thinking the band will do it all. Not true. Keep reading here, go to seminars, support groups. If you do this right, expect to lose 2-6 lbs a month. If you slough off and eat candy, expect to gain weight. tmf

I didn't get any restriction till fill #3 but fill #6 got me to the green zone. I have no idea how many CCs are in my band since it really doesn't matter(my doc doesn't know either). tmf

I swear I'm going to create a default answer to this question that pops up 2-4 times a day. You are still in the healing phase. You probably won't find that your band is a good tool until you get enough fills to find restriction. Until then: It's still just a diet till there's restriction! You may be one of the lucky ones and don't need fills, never hungry and lose weight easily. NAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Here's a phrase you may not have heard in the seminars and nutrition counseling sessions. "BANDSTER HELL" Your band has very little saline in it now. Your Dr did that on purpose because you are in the healing phase. He will fill it as time goes along. Until then, you have a large hole between the upper pouch and lower stomach. You will feel like there are days that you can eat anything you could have eaten prior to surgery. And you may feel like you are hungrier than before. Make good, healthy food choices at this time because you may be in "Bandster Hell" for some time to come. Congrats and welcome. tmf

Ashleigh, Every comment is right on. If you want to see a scale victory, cut out Pasta and flour products of all kinds, cut back on fruit, absolutely no sugar or sugar sweetened products and limit your intake of dairy products. Back off of ingredients like soy sauce. Watch the sodium intake. No need to avoid it entirely but try to cut your salt intake by 25%. No processed cereals. oatmeal in small quantities. Obviously I'm trying to direct you towards lower carb food choices. No need to go all Atkins on us but if you are consuming a lot of the products I mentioned, you will retain Water and water equals weight. You can eat a fat free chinese meal with lots of veggies but throw a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce on it and you've just gained 2 lbs(water of course). It's hard to avoid salt when we're giving up our favorite foods so it's easy to add salt to make some foods more palateable. Don't. tmf

Honk, you are such an exercise freak! I like it! tmf

The jury is still out on this one. Each Dr is different and most come down on the side of no drinking. Some recent studies indicate that sipping while eating is OK. Small bites followed by 45 seconds and then a small sip is acceptable to some docs. You should follow your Dr's orders but as you go along and learn to communicate with your band you may find it advantageous to sip here and there. I find that with some foods and only on some days, I need to use Water to aid in moving some foods through my band. I'm still learning when and what foods I need to add water to. I'll do some research and see if I can find that study. Here's a comment from Dr. Simpson's website: Drinking and the Lapband After your body has accepted your fill and has normalized, you can drink small swallows of non carbonated fluids while eating. Drinking this way will moisten food and may help to avoid food sticking in your band. Warm liquids tend to open the band, and cold ones tend to tighten the band. We recommend you drink a lot of cold liquids before dinner (most people find the band is tighter in the morning). tmf

My answer to "does this get easier" would be probably not. At some point your fills will give you enough restriction that you will find that some foods, no matter how small and how much you chew, will not be friends with your band. Oatmeal, yes, always. chicken, steak, breads, maybe not? I have read where some people reach the green zone without a lot of restriction. As Jean McMillan says, it's not restriction we seek, satiety is the holy grail. If you can reduce the amount of food you consume enough that you are still satisfied(but avoid the "stuck" syndrome) and still taking in fewer calories than you burn, that would be the ultimate green zone. I'm in the green zone but it's a struggle every day. I'm going to go back to my Dr and request a very small un-fill. Good job Carolinagirl. tmf

TLove, Are you serious? Chill out. You are doing great. Read my post above. Only lost 26 lbs? When have you ever lost that kind of weight before? At least now you have the tool to keep it off. tmf

We fatties hold a lot of excess fluids in our bodies and the first weight to disappear is excess fluids. Most of your loss this first month is water. If you are consuming less than 1400 calories a day you may also have lost 6-8 lbs of fat in your initial 44 lbs. I apologize to veteran bandsters but I'm going to repeat the math behind weight loss again: You must burn 3500 more calories than you consume to lose 1 lb. Most of us burn about 2000 calories by just breathing and watching TV. Add some exercise to that and maybe 2300 calories burned a day? If you eat/consume 1200 calories a day but burn 2300 calories a day, you will have burned 1100 more calories than you took in. 1100 X 30 days = 33000 extra calories burned in a month. Divide that by 3500(remember, this is what you need to burn to lose 1 lb)= 9.4 lbs lost in one month. This is not a scientific fact because we all burn calories differently and of course, no one is perfect and few of us workout every day. One or two bad food days per week would bring this number down to maybe 6 lbs lost? So, you've flushed out much of the excess water and now you are working on fat loss. Losing water is good too. That's less weight on your joints. It's very common to plateau at this stage for weeks at a time. Cross your fingers you aren't typical. Good luck and congrats on your success. tmf