isaviolinist

NICE! Can't wait until I'm in the 1-whatevers lol. I have 8 pounds til onederland and its so close I can taste it. Can't wait. Congrats on that awesome achievment!

Yay congrats! Thats a great NSV

Garden burgers are veggie burgers. Here is my edamame burger recipe (like a garden burger, but more Protein and the main ingredient is edamame instead of a lot of different veggies): http://violinistwithaband.blogspot.com/2010/10/edamame-burger-recipe.html I swear by this recipe. My fiance (who would eat prime rib 3 meals a day, 7 days a week) said he prefers it to a regular red meat hamburger. Try it out!

Just quickly before I head to bed - your stomach was swollen after surgery which is why you felt the tightness. Now its probably getting less swollen around your band, so the tightness is subsiding. I'm not really sure I understand what you mean about the bruise, but there will be a lot of bruising in different areas after a surgery. But if its something that is concerning you, definitely give your surgeon a call.

I get hiccups after the fact too. Little bit annoying, but I guess a good reminder.

The red meat and pork wouldn't bother me since I don't eat it anyways, but the rest is...wow. What is the reasoning for such an unbalanced diet? I wouldn't do well with that. Im obsessed with quinoa, which is the only grain that is a complete Protein. Its a superfood. Crazy that you can't have that because it falls under the category of starches. Plus, I do love my sweets, and I LOVE baking. I just don't eat the whole pan of Cookies now - but its nice to know that I can bake and not go crazy. As I said before, if someone told me grains were off limits until I lost X percentage of my excess weight, I would be running the other way. Well, good luck with that diet! Its definitely Atkins-esque.

I find it really strange that there are doctors out there that would say things like no grains until you've lost 75 percent of your excess weight. Does that include whole grains? A balanced diet (including grains), for me, is key to feeling healthy and losing weight steadily. When I start feeling deprived, I start going crazy with the bad stuff. If a surgeon told me no grains until I lost most of my excess weight, I would find a different surgeon. Re: the list of No's, for 10 days post op, I actually think its pretty normal. I didn't eat solid foods until over 4 weeks post op so almost everything on there (except for milk? whats the deal with that?) seems okay to me. For food suggestions, I don't eat poultry, red meat, or pork, so much of my diet consists of seafood and tofu. Tofu has carbs (although its a very healthy food), but seafood is extremely high Protein without the crap thats in red meat or pork, and packed with protein. I would avoid meaty fishes like swordfish, but flaky fishes (salmon, cod, sole, sea bass, walleye etc) are great and band-friendly.

I know you how feel. Sometimes I just can't stop eating everything (and anything). Its like an alien takes over my body. I have decent restriction I think so whenever I'm on a binge, I eat sliders. I actually started with a therapist yesterday who specializes in Binge Eating Disorder. I love my band, and it has helped me tremendously, but I need my brain/emotions to catch up with my body. Maybe try speaking to someone? Is there a eating disorder therapist on staff at your doctor's office or bariatric program? I wish I had started therapy before I got my band, as I think I wouldn't have gained back 50 pounds. But everything is a learning experience. Good luck!

I don't have a card and if I did, I don't think I'd ever show it. Firstly, I don't want to discuss private details of my surgery with a waiter. Secondly, it was my choice to have this surgery. Why should a restaurant be forced to bend rules for me? Especially when Im perfectly capable of wrapping the leftovers up and taking them home. The thought of showing a card to a waiter makes me really uncomfortable. On the other hand, it's probably not a bad idea to have one in case you are in an emergency and you need to be taken to the ER. That way the doc will know your situation if you're unable to verbalize it.

I'm starting to get some email notifications now. I don't know if I'm getting all of them, but a few. I don't have aol. I use my university faculty email.

I went without any restriction for 5-6 months and lost a lot of weight. My surgeon has always said that you don't want to get addicted to adjustments. I didn't really get what he meant when he first said it but it makes sense now. If it aint broke, don't fix it. If you're doing great, and you're not starving all the time and you're losing weight, just go with it. Then if you start to get hungry, have an adjustment.

I haven't been banded for quite 2 years (almost a year and a half) but about 5-6 months in (and 80 pounds down) I started slipping into bad habits and eating foods that slid right through (ice cream, primarily). I gained 50 pounds back doing that. In September I decided to get back on board and have lost almost all the 50 that I gained, but today I actually had my first appointment with an eating disorder therapist so I can try to address some of my issues with compulsive overeating. For me, I think overcoming my emotional issues with food will be the only way I'll have long term success.

I love peanut butter and I eat it. I just try to keep it in moderation (and if I don't, I just make sure I don't eat over my calories for the day). Although I didn't eat it plain until a few months post op. If I were to eat an entire spoonful at once or something it would get a little stuck (but would wash down faster than something like bread, for instance). Like the above poster mentioned, I REALLY like PB2. I don't really mix protein shakes anymore (I buy ready-to-drink) but when I was, I always mixed in peanut butter. Then I discovered PB2. Mixed into a protein shake it has the same taste as regular peanut but so low calorie/fat. Great for sauces too.

I just replied to this in another thread. I relied solely on will power for the first 5 months of having my band. I don't remember how many adjustments I had (maybe 4?) before I felt any kind of restriction, but it was 5 months. Eating all the stuff that you're eating puts you at greater risk for complications. I would be really honest with your doctor tomorrow at your follow up about how/what you've been eating and just see what he/she says. What were your postop instructions? For most its: 3-7 days Clear liquids, then 2 weeks full liquids, 2 weeks mushy foods, and then slowly back onto solids (so at 6 weeks you would be fine eating beef and meat and other solid foods). I didn't have my first adjustment until 6-7 weeks out of surgery. My doctor wouldn't do an adjustment until 6 weeks minimum.

Do you have a postop diet? I would be careful with all of that stuff. For most people, at one week out, the diet is still full liquids - no meat or cheese (unless you liquify them I guess)...ice cream is a full liquid but I would be careful with it. And ice cream will slide right through the band regardless of how much restriction you have. When you eat (anything...but especially solids), your stomach churns. Because the band was just attached to your stomach, it hasn't healed and there is a greater risk for it slipping off with all of that churning. I can't imagine eating meat (I don't eat meat anyways...but you know what I mean) at one week post op.

I can't really imagine myself thin but I don't think it means that I won't be successful. I just try to focus on the small victories and the changes I can see today.

I would probably just leave the ticker where it is and then update it when you get to 179 on your scale. I only update my ticker based on my scale, as everyone's scale is calibrated differently. I don't think its a big deal to leave your ticker and then update it when your scale catches up (so when your scale reads 178.8 or lower, update your ticker).

I would like to know definitively how to change this as well. I thought that I had, but it didn't work. (there is nothing in my spam box, either)

I had a 3 week preop diet and lost 20 pounds.

I log everything that I eat (I use fitday.com). Literally anything that enters my mouth, I write down. And I turn in my logs weekly to my practitioner at our fitness center. I always say, when I'm not logging, its because I don't want to think about what I'm eating. Good luck with your logging - I bet youll find it helpful!

Lol I just saw this thread come up and I was like "Hey I have been wondering about that too!!". Then I realized it was my thread I forgot that I had posted it haha. Anyways, thanks for the input. Its frustrating because I often lose 2-3 pounds in the 2-3 days prior to my period. Then I gain some of it back :-( So its like a serious high and then a massive let down. But it does seem like the consensus that people gain weight during their period. I'll see what happens during the next one....

Yay!! Congrats to you!! that is so great Can't wait until I can fit into a size 6 or 8!! (I can't even imagine fitting into a 10). Nice work!

I blog too - my blog link is in my signature Love blogging - along with food logging and LBT. They all REALLY help keep me accountable.

Hi Tricia Welcome to LBT. This forum is a great collection of peoples' experience with the band, both good and bad. So read up on here and you'll get a decent variety of different experiences from all different kinds of people. Here are answers to some of your questions. For the cravings, lapband did and didn't help with this. There are many carbs that I don't have cravings for anymore (bread specifically). I haven't eaten a sandwich on bread almost since I was banded (I think I had a sandwich on flat bread once before I had any restriction but thats the last time I can remember). I do have a bite of crust (if its really hard) when we go out to dinner now and again but I can take it or leave it (and usually I leave it). Before banding, I loved to eat hoagies and things like that, but I don't care about it anymore. I also don't have big cravings for Pasta (with the exception of mac and cheese) or rice (I used to eat sushi and maki a lot but I dont anymore and am fine with it). HOWEVER, I STILL have serious cravings for sweets and Desserts. I also have eating issues at night (always have) where I just crave anything. I'm thinking of going to therapy for this however - to try and sort out some of my head issues. The band will not help you out with your head issues surrounding food. The recovery, for me, was really easy. The port pain took the longest to go away. I was up and walking around the day of surgery. I walked a few blocks the next day. Getting up and down took some effort the first week but it wasn't horrible. And actually I didn't have the bad gas pains most people talk about. I did think it would help me before I was banded and I still feel that way. I lost 80 pounds really fast and then regained a lot of the weight shortly thereafter. I've lost most of the weight I regained but even the process of gaining and relosing was a learning experience for me. I have a much deeper understanding of my relationship with food. And I also know that I NEVER want to go back to that place of regaining weight that I lost. For me, even with all the ups and downs, unpredictability, extensive follow-up care, I really feel that the band has saved my life. But its a personal decision that everyone really must make for themselves.