isaviolinist

Hi Jillian! Congrats on your surgery date How exciting! As far as the piercings, my surgeon's office had you remove all piercings before surgery (including ears). I think it was actually "remove all jewelry" specifically...but that includes any piercings. For the preop diet, I think that's also a question for your surgeon. Do you know for sure that he doesn't have a preop diet? If not, I would call and ask. If it turns out that he does have a preop diet, he'll tell you what it is (and then follow that). If not, you should check out other peoples' preop diets that have been posted here to get an idea of what others did (if you want to do one). For me, it was all liquids: 3 slimfast shakes a day, clear broth, sugar free fat free pudding, etc. I kept it under 800 calories a day. I didn't have any solid food...I know some people do shakes during the day and then a high Protein, low carb, low fat sensible dinner at night (like a piece of grilled chicken or something).

Little bummed that I didn't lose anything over Thanksgiving. I was definitely eating a lot, but I burned minimum 1000 calories at the gym every single day (including the day before Thanksgiving, the day of Thanksgiving, Friday, Saturday and Sunday). At least I maintained. Determined to make next week count. Really want to reach my Christmas goal (Ill be in Hawaii actually ON Xmas, so if I can't weigh there, I'll weigh when I get back on Dec 30).

I don't know if crabcakes are really a mushy food but the recipe for breadcrumbless-crabcakes on BariatricEating are fantastic. We eat them usually once a week. Here it is: http://www.bariatriceating.com/BEhealthnutrition/recipes/crabcakes.php I use light mayo, egg substitute, add red pepper, and if I use the butter, I use light butter and put 1/8 tablespoon on each before I bake them (just divide your butter into 8 equal portions and then dot each portion on top of each crabcake).

Hm - for post op diet, I think I did measure things that were liquid. I also counted the calories I was taking in everyday. That's probably a good question for your doctor though. I don't measure protein shakes now - I just drink the whole shake. For soups, I do measure, but its so I know how many calories I'm eating. Otherwise, I will just keep eating and eating the pot of soup until its gone.

I love walking so much!! Definitely a great way to start exercising. To me, walking doesn't feel like exercising - it just feels relaxing. And it gives me the opportunity to clear my mind. I'm so glad that I started walking. Its getting freezing cold out - so I'm either going to have to bundle up really tightly or start walking in the mall, but I love walking. Give it a try!

this recipe looks delicious - I'm going to try it out tomorrow. Thanks for posting!!

I just installed a Safari ad blocker and there are no ads anymore and the site is SO much faster. I'm also liking the layout of the website much better now sans advertising. Much easier to navigate. It was pretty crazy to see what the heck was going on with all the ads.

I just installed an ad blocker for Safari (and I may install one for firefox too...I use both browsers) and there are NO ads anymore. Not on the sides or the top or within text boxes - nothing. And the site loads WAY faster. Try it.

Thanks for pointing out the My Settings thing. I'm also sad that I don't get emails. Hopefully that will change now. Does anyone know what an inline notification is? That was one of the options in My Settings, and I'm just wondering if I should uncheck all of the boxes for it. I don't want to get multiple notifications for things (which is whats happening now).

Congrats!! I love fitting into clothes that I couldn't wear previously. Even clothes that I bought that became too tight - I love getting back into them. Congrats!!! Keep up the great work

If you're meticulously watching your calories, and working out then you're not doing anything wrong! One thing to consider: if you've just started working out and you hadn't really been doing too much exercise beforehand, you may be gaining some muscle. Even if you're just working out a little bit, you're using muscles that you probably haven't used in awhile, and as you gain muscle, it may seem like you're not losing (or you're even gaining). But muscle is what you want; and muscle burns more calories than fat.

To mimick what others have said, the first few days were terrible. I remember I stayed in my apartment for the first 3 days or so until I HAD to go out for work. Just made it easier to deal with. After those first couple of days though, it got much better. And I say it over and over, but I LOVED seeing the pounds melting away rapidly. I think that was a big motivator for me to stick with it (I had a 3 week preop diet).

I post lots and lots of recipes in my blog. I love cooking - Im super passionate about it. Check it out: http://violinistwithaband.blogspot.com/

I'm not a fan of the new layout either, and I also noticed the increased ads. I love this site so I'm going to stick around, but I loved the old layout. It wasn't super fancy, but it was easy to navigate. Maybe we'll get used to it. When facebook changes (constantly), I always think about how much I hate the new layout, but then I get used to it...we'll see!

Hey Cangel - so sorry to hear about that Im glad you caught it though - sounds like it should get taken care of now. Try to adjust your mindset from thinking that you'll gain all the weight back. I don't think you'll gain it back! You just have to stick your mind to it. I'm glad you caught the infection early though!!

The new layout is going to take some getting used to I think. Just click on the "View New Content" button on the top right side (underneath the blue bar) and you should get the new posts.

This thread has made me so paranoid lol. I've always been concerned that my band is going to set off something at the airport (it never has) but now I'm scared that the new machines are harmful to it or something. I'm flying 9 times in the next month and a half and I hope nothing weird happens!

thanks for posting this. I am a foodie, and enjoy cooking and eating different foods. As of late I've had thoughts about will I be able to enjoy cooking the way I used to, will I still be able to enjoy variety? I am definitley someone who cannot eat the same thing everyday. I really like to mix it up and try new things. I think I enjoy cooking WAY more now than I did before banding. Before, I would just dump whatever into the food regardless of its nutritional value (or rather, lack thereof). I knew it was unhealthy. It might've tasted decadent at the moment, but later I would just feel sick. I remember (before banding) I made this lobster mac and cheese with a corn bread butter crust on top. There must've been 10 pounds of the fullest fat cheese I could find in there, plus an extra pound for the top, and the corn bread was SOAKED in butter (probably an entire stick..I can't remember, but it was a lot). While I was eating it, I was like "Wow, best thing ever". An hour later I felt SO sick I almost vomited. I couldn't even enjoy it, it was just so rich and full of fat - my body was like "that's not gonna fly". I love that my food tastes fresher and lighter these days. I can actually enjoy the flavors of the individual ingredients (or appreciate the blend of flavors, as the case may be). As for variety, this was my dinner menu for the past week: - Red and Napa Cabbage salad with homemade peanut sauce and tofu and shrimp skewers - Seafood Paella Espania with Quinoa (instead of rice) - Baked whole wheat mac and cheese with spinach and tomatoes (I didn't need 20 pounds of cheese and butter to make it delicious, and best of all, I didn't feel disgusting afterward) - Salmon stuffed with brie and asparagus with a homemade pesto 'crust' - Spicy Shrimp and Tofu Thai Red Curry hot pot - Baked scallops in a garlic, thyme and white wine sauce - Jumbo Lump Maryland Style Crabcakes (without bread crumbs...makes it low cal and band friendly...the bread crumbs make it tougher to eat and sometimes it gets stuck for me) In the past week I also made sugar free red velvet cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting and a crustless Peanut Butter pie (so rich and yummy). I love experimenting with baking too (removing fat, trying different sugar substitutes, reducing flour, using fat free ingredients, etc.). I'll always have a sweet tooth, so low-cal, healthier Desserts are really important to me. I post a lot of recipes on my blog - so if you need ideas, check it out!

Hm - what kind of exercise do you do? Do you ever switch it up? Sometimes our bodies can get used to a particular kind of exercise and it just sort of adjusts. Maybe add in something new like walking? Or if you constantly use the treadmill, maybe do some elliptical training. Or if you're doing a steady speed and resistance, maybe try interval training? You may also be gaining muscle mass. What is your doctor's calorie recommendation? I know a lot of women who are not banded who try to cap their calories around 1200 for weight loss. Maybe try to change your exercise and reduce your calories a little? If you really want to eat 1600 a day, maybe stagger...one day eat 1500, the other day eat 1700. I think maybe your calorie intake could be part of the problem though.

OMG I LOVE tuna casserole!! I made it with Quinoa the other day and it was DELISH!

One other thing that you could do (if you can) is have skin folds taken so you can know what your body fat percentage is. I have skin fold measurements taken every 6 weeks at our fitness place. Its super motivating. Even if I think I should've lost more scale weight, the body composition assesments let me know where and how much lean mass I've gained and how much fat mass I've lost. Pretty cool and WAY more accurate than scales or BMI.

Bread-crumbless baked crab cakes for dinner tonite!!! Can't wait :blushing:

I definitely understand. You aren't losing a friend, you are just improving what is currently an unhealthy relationship with said friend. Its kind of like starting family therapy. Sucks in the beginning, but in the end is worth it.

This happens to me regularly. If you're not eating any differently, staying within your calorie range and there is a calorie deficit, then its often water retention. If you're exercising a lot, you are probably gaining muscle which could be part of it. Also, sometimes if you don't have a BM before weighing, it can effect it. Its my time of the month and I was up 1.2 pounds this morning. I attribute it to bloat and water retention. If you weigh everyday (I do), its fine as long as you know your weight will fluctuate day to day. The downward trend is what's important! Don't be discouraged :blushing: although I empathize - I sometimes get discouraged too.

Hi everyone - just wondering if anyone else experiences this? I think this is really the first time I've actually gained weight during my period. I generally always experience a loss before hand (which happened this time...over 3 lost pounds in the 3 days before), but I usually don't gain and this morning the scale said I was almost 2 pounds up from my lowest before my period 3 days ago. Im trying not to get stressed out but its a little upsetting...I've been doing my regular workout (cross training or 55 minutes on the elliptical and walking) and have been sticking to 950 calories or less. Any reassurance or advice is greatly appreciated!