2muchfun

What are you eating? And how much are you eating? I saw this blog post yesterday and it may answer some of your questions although it may not be what you want to read. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/blog/6837/entry-23410-the-gut-wrenching-truth-get-used-to-it-cause-its-the-way-it-is/ tmf

I agree, give it a week or more to see how your body adjusts and you'll also want to see how solid food and your pouch get along. I had a fill one week ago and so far solid food and my pouch are at odds with each other, sometimes. I may need a slight unfill but I'm finally enjoying the satiety/restriction. tmf

Sounds to me that you are where you want to be? tmf

I like to think of the green zone as the time when your band is adjusted(filled) to it's utmost potential. That's not to say it's filled 100% but the band is working in harmony with your body, mind and stomach. It's the place where your pouch/stomach is telling your body after a small meal, "OK, I'm satisfied now". Some may call it restriction but what we truly seek is to be no longer hungry i.e. satisfied. It's where there is no or very little discomfort eating food, it's where we are losing 1-2 lbs a week. It's a balance we all seek but it's also a moving target as we travel towards our goal. tmf

Likewise, if you don't want to be called on the carpet for posting untruths, don't post. People come here for support, not lies. I'm sure most people view your posts and scoff, but there are some bandsters who are struggling and posts like yours could be very damaging. I'll be watching! tmf

Read the post above yours. That's the author and her url is on her post.

Heather, I was banded back in November and no one pointed out the obvious one thing you pointed out. Hope I didn't harm anything because I wasn't an A+ student the first 30 days. All seems to be well now but seems like so many valuable insights come from this site. So many Dr's and staff are oblivious to important information that could make this journey so much easier. tmf

Gayla, Boy do I feel scolded. I speak the truth. Where, unless you just tuned into this site, you make comments that are not true and should know better. If you think you can come here and make comments that are totally false and no one will call you on it, you now know you can't. The facts are on my side. The lapband can work for many people "They are selling a "golden ring" that does not exist. Expectations for extreme weight loss with just the "tool" of LapBand does not exist." Literally hundreds of people who have had success with the band have posted and made comments on this site. For you to unequivably state that extreme weight loss does not exist is a false assertion. Why say it when it's obviously not true? You only undermine your own argument and make yourself look foolish. There are dozens of way that the band can fail. There are thousands of people who have had success with the band. Yours failed for you and I can take your word that it wasn't your fault and you didn't fail the band. It's OK to be angry and we all can sympathize, but don't denegrade our efforts simply because you had a bad turn of luck. tmf

There are many places on the internet to find food nutritional values. Fitday.com is good source and it's free. Google "food nutritional values" and you should get 12 million hits. At this point I wouldn't worry so much about the quantity of Protein. Most any meat will have protein as well as Beans, milk products etc. It may take a month or more to find your satiety levels so take it slow and easy. Start with 2-4 ozs chicken or fish and then veggies. Venison can be very dry so I'd hold off on this one till you see how your body handles soft food like fish and chicken. This is the period where you are blindfolded in a maze and you are trying to find the finish line. Don't fret because if you listen to your body's signals you will make it through this period with flying colors. It sounds like you haven't been much of a student of nutrition over the years? I highly recommend you buy Jean McMillan's book, "Bandwagon". You won't regret it and it's chalk full of great advice from a fellow bandster. tmf

Gayla, you are so wrong. The ring does exist and exists for thousands of patients. You and your doctor are just flat wrong. But it's good to have whiner's like you visit the boards to bring everything into perspective. tmf

You will hear this phrase often as you tune into this site. "Bandster Hell" is where you are. Most of us experience this until you get a fill that gives you the restriction that will slow the advancement of food through your pouch. Until then, it can be like you never had surgery. For me, I was in BH for 4 months and 4 fills before I finally got some kind of restriction. You may be lucky and get restriction with one fill. For others, 13 or more. Welcome to your new journey. I recommend you read the magazine article from Jean McMillan titled "Restriction, the Holy Grail". Look on the right side of this page for "Recent Magazine Articles". Click on the "View All" button. tmf

Prepare yourself to start an entirely new regimen if your fill works like my 5th and 6th fill did. Got my 6th fill last Friday and I do believe I'm entering the green zone and out of the green mile. I don't get stuck like I did from fill 2-5. I seem to know when I should stop eating(not that I obeyed)(paid for it though). Satiety lasting longer. Hope this one works for you.

Stephy, I'm in the finance business and I didn't think of that. ^5 to you. tmf

Jean, I agree about the refresher course. I sure wish I would have read your book "Bandwagon" before my surgery. I think I would have handled many of the problems and concerns that I had shortly after surgery when I entered bandster hell and stayed there for nearly 4 months. Reading the book now, I'm not sure I would have really understood many of the challenges I was about to face. But it's so good to be able to read now and understand. Many "aha" moments! tmf

Great bedside manner huh? My Doc is shorter than me and wouldn't dare do that. Sorry to be macho but you don't have to take that S***. Stand up to him and tell him you deserve to be treated with respect. If you made a mistake he should just tell you and you'll understand. tmf

I agree on the fills and how each one is like a new paradigm. My last one was last Friday the 11th. #6 for me. So, now foods that passed easily a week ago, get stuck or fill me much quicker. It appears as though this one might place me in the green zone and I'm very excited to see better results. tmf

I highly recommend you read Jean McMillan's article "Restriction, the Holy Grail" in the magazine article section on the right side of this page. Click on View All: http://www.lapbandta...-holy-grail-r51 The oz and cup measurements really shouldn't be your only guideline. Satiety should be your goal. Once you feel satisfied it's time to stop eating. Pay attention to the signs. If you've eaten 2 ozs of meat and feel full and satisfied it's time to stop. If you can eat far more than the oz and cup measurement guidelines, you may need a fill or need to find nutritous foods that satisfy. tmf

You'll have to ask each Dr what their protocol is. Each Doc can be different. I had one Dr visit 1 month before surgery, 1 nutrition consult 3 months before surgery, 1 hospital prescreen 4 days before surgery, 1 Dr appt 35 days after surgery. But my Doc is fairly lenient about appts, fills, pre-op diet. tmf

I think we all have different definitions of "slider foods"? For me, Soups, ice cream, booze, hamburger helper, tuna helper, creamy soups, noodles with alfredo sauce, chips, Cookies, cakes, pies washed down with milk? So, yes you can really get your fill of calories with slider foods. As far as your other question: If you eat too little and take in too few calories(800?), you risk getting sick and other complications. It's not worth it. Your body will react so much healthier if you can keep the calories in in the 1200-1600 range. Of course, exercise plays a large key here. People who cannot eat anything may have a mechanical problem. A small unfill can remedy many of these problems, or a complete unfill. There are so many other issues that can come up(i.e. gerd) there's not enough time there to go over them all. As with any forum, people who have a problem will come here to vent or seek advise. They are a small minority compared to the thousands who have had surgery and remain on the sideline and never visit sites like this. I highly recommend you order Jean McMillan's book, Bandwagon. Google it, it's worth your time and money. tmf

No worries. You have all the time in the world to get back on track. I bought some Protein powder, chocolate flavor, at Vitamin cottage. It tastes OK but I believe you'll have to give up on finding a Protein Drink that tastes like a Wendy's chocolate shake. It ain't gonna happen. This phase goes by so quickly it will be just a memory in no time. tmf

I just ate tomato Soup, egg drop soup, cottage cheese/applesauce, squash soup, chicken noodle soup, Protein shakes(lots), yogurt, mashed potato's, oatmeal, refried Beans. It wasn't all that bad although I was in bandster hell so I did get hungry every day. tmf

What kind of post op care are you talking about? Shouldn't be any as long as you follow the rules and you have no complications. Fills are usually done in a Dr's office and take about 5 minutes. Most of us have never stepped back in a hospital for any post op care unless there's some kind of complication and that's not often either. If your insurance will pay for your fills with a different Dr no problem. If you are self pay, still no problem.

Dhales, I was drinking a beer or 3 every week, latte every morning(1% milk, splenda), bread, an occasional light ice cream. I compromised and cut out the beer, 3 latte's a week and no light ice cream. I also found some other things to cut back with such as only 1 slice of turkey, slim slices of cheese for sandwiches. Mostly I just started to rid my diet of excess calories. Seems like I should have been doing this all along? But, I figured it's only a few calories here and there but when we added them all up, it was 300+ calories per day. 300 X 30= 9000 calories per month or nearly 3 extra lbs. I kicked up my exercise routine a little more and the combination seemed to work. I'm still consuming 1300 or so calories every day so I'm not feeling hungry thanks to the band. Hope this helps someone? tmf

I went 3 months and lost no weight. I got fill #5 in March and also sat down with the Dr's dietician/nutritionist. She made some observations on why I'm stuck where I was and what I could do to start losing weight. She was right. I lost 16 lbs in 6 weeks just by getting rid of some silly pet foods I was hanging onto. Take your journal of foods eaten to your dietician and see if she/he can make some suggestions. I've found my Dr. is clueless now that I've had my surgery. I really rely on my nutritionist now much more than my doc. He's only good for fills at this point. I'm sure not all docs are this way but mine is. tmf

Protein shakes are the ultimate sliders. They satiate only for a short time. tmf