ElfiePoo

You and I obviously look at life in different ways and will never see eye to eye. I look at my doctors as just one more resource...kind of like the internet, medical books, etc. I take their advice and choose whether or not to accept it in part or whole...or at all...and I let them know why. It has nothing to do with 'not' trusting them. I trust them...but I also know that they are just as fallible as we are and prone to illogical bias. Years back I had a doctor who wanted to put me on birth control pills to regulate my cycle following a miscarriage...despite the fact that all of the warnings said that the risk of cancer was higher among overweight women who had a family history of cervical cancer and no live births. Against my doctor's advice, I chose not to take them. That is an 'informed' decision. To follow her advice just so I could 'sue' her when I got cancer is kind of silly. When people come here and see that there are various ways of doing the postop diet, they may choose to go against what their doctor is advising. For example, choosing to phase foods back in as others are doing vs. a 30 day liquid diet. That is their choice and nothing wrong with it...as long as they are making an informed decision. I am not counselling anyone to go against their doctor's advice. I *am* counselling them to take charge of their own care. To do the research and challenge their doctors at what seems to be unreasonable and/or illogical methods. I would further counsel that if their doctor is the type to say "because I said so" or has a God complex, to find a new one post haste. It is possible, however, to disagree with our physicians while still trusting them. I have that kind of relationship with mine and we get along just fine. .

The fact that there is a wide range in 'advice' regarding postop diets suggests that there is no real reason for one person being on solids in a week and another still on nothing but liquids a month later other than the personal preference of the doctor. Communicate with the doctor, definitely...but make sure there is logic and reason behind what you're told and not just 'well, we've always done it this way.'

I've given up trying to figure out why one day I'm too tight and another I can eat anything. I just go with the flow and pay careful attention to my chewing. If I have a day where I'm too tight and things are constantly sticking, I'll switch to things that go down more easily and then pay close attention to the 1 cup per meal guideline so I don't inadvertently eat too much. .

No offense taken here. I'm quite 'content' after a shake...as content as if I had eaten a meal so it works for me. Again, though, other than Breakfast when I can't eat solid food, the shakes aren't Meal Replacements. I do still 'eat' my two main meals. My only point to this thread was to remind people to get their Protein in. If you don't like shakes, other good mid-meal 'snacks' are a couple ounces of hard cheese, a hard boiled egg or anything that focuses on 'protein'.

Congratulations, Scotty!

It varies by doctor. I was on each postop stage (liquids, mushies, etc.) for 2-3 days and back on solid foods at 2 weeks. .

Congratulations!!

I'd just mix a whole shake and if you can't drink it, put it back in the fridge. I never heard of a doctor limiting you to 2 oz. Perhaps this is for, as Betsy said, those have have difficulty drinking. They want to make sure you're getting at least 2 oz every hour. If you can drink more, not a problem. .

Week 3 and no loss. No biggie. I did this before and then dropped over 18 pounds over the next 3 weeks. Maybe we'll do it again? In any case, I'm still down 45 pounds and not gaining it back! I must be losing inches at least because even my husband suggested it was way past time to get some new pants because these are just ridiculously large. So I think I'll take the day off and go shopping (blech) this morning. It's another gray and rainy day here...my favorite kind of day. I'm told I'd love it in Seattle. For the first time the pain in my arm started when I was sitting straight up...and was so bad I was seriously thinking of calling the doctor for some pain meds. The patch just took the edge off but I slept pretty badly last night. I am so looking forward to when this idiotic pain stops. Dottie: In case you didn't see the thread I made just for you...Happy Birthday! Christie: I think your co-workers should provide a couple bodyguards for the first girl that breaks your son's heart. When my son was 18, a young woman (I won't say lady because she wasn't) wrote my son a snarky little letter telling him she was breaking up with him because he was a 'good boy' and she wanted a 'bad boy'. I wanted to go beat the stuffing out of her but then I realized he had a lucky break. He's now 26 and married for almost 3 (4?) years to the loveliest young woman...the daughter I never had. HB: You pulled a muscle in your 'butt'? Ok...I will not laugh I will not laugh I will not laugh. Bahahahaha! You know I'm laughing with you...it's just the image. :smile2: My condolences for the snow. It's unseasonably spring-like here...lots of rain and I hear we're heading into the 50's this week. While I'm loving it, I will *not* be pleased if my lilacs start blooming too early and then die when it drops below freezing again. That must've been really scary sliding down your drive! I am so glad to hear you weren't hurt!! Chains...I'm thinking chains. Bob: You were kicked off facebook? Dang...and I thought getting kicked out of a drive-in theater was the ultimate! What can I say...we were 18, it was the evening of our high school graduation and we were apparently rooting too loud for the shark in Jaws. :thumbup: It's not raining right now so I think I'll trot my little vegie dog down the road and back. Have a great day everyone! .

May your day be filled with warmth and sunshine. May all your meals be small but filling. May you not PB, slime or get stuck today. Have a beautiful day! .

LOL...dinner was at 6. Since you didn't make it, I invited my mother-in-law. .

My morning shake is around 330 because I mix it with 2 scoops of powder to bulk up the Protein and with 2% milk. I used to add half a banana, but now (with restriction) I find that's too thick for the mornings. I don't worry about the high calories in this shake though since it is a Meal Replacement and that's a respectable number of calories for a meal. My 3 mid-meal shakes though are readymade EAS shakes that are only 110 calories with 3gm carb. .

As Betsy said, most physicians are not trained in nutrition...and nutritionists, as a general rule, tend to spout whatever is popular knowledge. For years the food pyramid was taught as gospel by nutritionists. Now it's upside down...and being taught as gospel...until something shakes up their little world and they teach something else. We are unique individuals and there is no set way of eating that works for all of us. It's up to us to find what works for us and our body's needs. As for Protein shakes, my doctor didn't care how I got my calories as long as I stayed between 1200-1400 a day without feeling hungry or deprived. I drink a protein shake in the morning mainly because I can't eat solid food. I'm too tight. However, that boost of protein and then the mid-morning shake get me to lunch. I'm not hungry at lunch, but I eat anyway. Generally 2-3 oz of protein and 1/4-1/2 cup vegies. Very occasionally, I'll have half a cup of Soup and 1/4 -1/2 of a sandwich on toasted thin bread (the only kind I can actually eat without getting stuck). The mid-afternoon shake helps get me to dinner where it's much the same as lunch except I add 1/4 cup of carbs (rice, Beans, potatoes)...if i can even eat them. In my case, those mid-meal shakes are not Meal Replacements. They are *in addition* to stabilize my blood sugar (diabetics should not go more than 3 hours without eating) and get my protein *and* calories in...because without those shakes, my calories would be around 1000...and that's too low. .

...the value of Protein. I always have a double scoop of Protein shake in milk for Breakfast (55gm protein), and a low carb/low cal ready made protein shake (18gm protein) mid meals and one in the evening. I'm never hungry. Well for the past two days I've been so busy I 'forgot' my mid-meal Protein shakes and, for the first time, about half an hour before my lunch and dinner, I had some serious stomach growling hunger and I went to bed hungry as well. Making a note to make sure I get those extra protein shakes in! .

I can't believe it's Sunday already! It seems like only yesterday that I took my husband to the airport. While he's been busy helping my son and his wife move into their first new home in Florida, I've been enjoying an unseasonably warm week here in Michigan by spring cleaning my house. I have a few last minute things to do, but I've been up since *5 a.m.* (stuff their Daylight Savings Time) and am moving pretty swiftly through my list of chores before I head to the airport. The rest of my day will be pretty relaxed as I have my potatoes in a pan of water just waiting to turn on when we get back from the airport and my crockpot of stuffed peppers will be ready when the mashed potatoes are done. Salad is already made up in the fridge, as is the homemade blue cheese dressing...and my braided herb bread just came out of the oven. It's been a long week but a very satisfactory one. Cocoa: Congrats! No toaster...how about a gold star? JM: Congrats on the 'no crisco zipper'! Bob: Congrats (I think) on getting stuck. No kitty snuff! Denise: Have a great trip and glad you got an aisle seat. At least now you'll only have to worry about one elbow in your ribs. I have a facebook page if anybody wants to be 'friends'. Mine is Melody Parker Upham but if do the friend thing, send a personal message with your Band name cuz my friends truly are my friends and family. I've had a facebook account for years but never did anything with it until about 2 months ago when all my friends and family said they felt I had abandoned them. Guess they think this is a way of 'keeping up' although from appearances they do little more than use FB as a way to play games. Yes, I did get sucked into Farmville. Ok...my timer just went off. I'm making a second loaf of herb bread for my mother-in-law and it's ready to be shaped and raised. Have a good day everyone! .

It probably varies with the individual. When I say I'm tighter in the morning, it's not something I can actually feel. It's just something I've observed from eating. If I try to eat solid foods in the morning, I get stuck. So I do a Protein Shake because it doesn't get stuck. .

Bread has been a problem since surgery, although I can eat a small piece of very crusty french bread if I tear off all the 'soft' parts. Rice and potatoes...no problem although 2 Tbs usually fills me up when I eat them *after* I eat my 2 oz of Protein and 1/4 cup of vegies (sometimes 1/2). Pasta I have to avoid because it is a slider food for me. Even now when I can barely eat more than 3/4 cup of food, I could sit down and eat several cups of pasta because it just 'slides' right through. .

Prior to restriction...yes. Once I had restriction...no. The reason is that if I take even a sip of water with my meal, it immediately causes a stuck sensation. I'm guessing because it's moving things around in there. In any case, within seconds it came right back up. The thought of 'oversploding' is enough to put me off liquids with my meal. I used to drink right up until my first bite. Now that I have restriction I can't even do that because the water stays in my pouch long enough to cause problems with that first bite. So I stop drinking 15 minutes before I eat. I have a 20 oz Dasani water bottle that I fill with either water or Crystal Lite. I just make sure to drink one bottle in between Breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner and one in the evening. That, combined with my 4 Protein drinks (breakfast, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, evening) and my cup of green tea in the morning give me all of my fluids and then some.

This site is a bit misleading. Following this '5 day test' will not tell you whether or not your pouch is stretching, still working, etc. It's just a way of getting your eating habits back on track if you find you're slipping too often. In the past, I've done this with success. I've also done a Master Cleanse program for a few days. I've even fasted for a few days. They all work and, contrary to what some people think they are for, *none* are meant to lose weight because as soon as you start eating again, that weight is back because it was just Water weight. I no longer have this problem since I've gained restriction because the band doesn't allow me to slide into the bad habit of eating too many carbs because, since my last fill, just a small amount of rice or potato fills me up (like 2Tbs). However, I know from reading this forum that some people have a problem with sweets...which the band doesn't really help with...and a 3-5 day 'cleanse' of any kind helps get back on track. .

Interesting, because all the anecdotal studies (and that's about all there are) on Atkins shows that cholesterol problems actually improve. Perhaps these people were doing a perverted form of Atkins. The media was pretty big on hyping this perverted form during the Atkins craze about 10 years ago (or so) by showing people who were eating 6 eggs and a pound of bacon for Breakfast and slathering butter on everything. That is not Atkins. Atkins was very clear that bacon was limited to 1 slice per egg and also very clearly said that you cannot eat all the fat you want because you will stop losing due to the high calories in the fat. He was also very clear that after 2 weeks, carbs should be reintroduced into the person's diet...but in the form of vegies rather than potatoes and bread. I lost 70 pounds on Atkins...and have kept it off now for 7 years despite not eating quite as low carb as I did then. My good and bad cholesterols improved while on Atkins. Sorry if it sounds like I'm on my soapbox, but it irritates me when people bad mouth a low carb diet or even Atkins because if they did them in the correct manner and didn't just do them as an excuse to pig out on as much meat and fat as they can stuff into themselves, they'd not only lose weight but their cholesterol, diabetes, etc. would improve dramatically. <kicking soap box under table> .

Ketosis is not necessarily a bad thing either...unless you already have problems with your kidneys. The Atkins diet deliberately puts people in ketosis by restricting carbs. If you peed on a little test strip, the deeper the purple, the higher the ketones...supposedly. I found that just by increasing my Water intake, the strip didn't even turn slightly purple...but I was still in the same state of ketosis. I am a diabetic and my physician, who specializes in diabetes, has no problem with me shedding ketones in my urine as a result of a low carb diet. However, her rule of thumb for all her patients who do extremely low carb (under 60 per day) is that you not only should be drinking 64 oz of water per day, but you should be drinking an additional 8 oz for every 25 lbs you are overweight. The reason is 'dilution'. .

BB, Everyone responds differently to fills. My first and 2nd fills were done 2 weeks apart and I had 3cc each time with no effect. I have a 12cc band by the way. Not sure why they're making you wait 3 weeks to get a fill though. I mean sure, you may have some swelling from the stuck episode, but if you are able to eat to excess, then the swelling can't be bad enough to prevent a fill. Maybe not so much though.

IL: By now you'll be gone, but I know you'll probably still find a way to read this thread, so have a great time! All this warm weather has had me soooo wanting to do a road trip to anywhere! Betsy: You and Mark are in my prayers. I have to agree with you about not isolating one's self from the 'break room'...although I'm finding that eating with others is a bit of a challenge since I sometimes forget and take too big of a bite because I'm too busy concentrating on the conversation instead of my meal. Hopefully, it will one day become habit so I won't have to think about it. Jens: I remember the days when I'd wander out to my office in my Pj's...but then the business grew too big and I had to get a warehouse. Granted, it's only 5 minutes down the road, but it still means I have to get up, get dressed and go to work just as if it was a 'real' job. My other job involves psychological counseling on a part-time basis at the local prison and, obviously, not something I can do in my own home...nor would want to. :laugh: In any case, finding the motivation to go to work is never a problem. I'm a bit of a workaholic. A few years back, though, I had to do a serious shift in priorities where I would work 'less' so I had more time to spend with my family. IL: In response to your list, I posted something awhile back about making our mealtimes something we do 'intentionally'. Breakfast is a shake and I have it while posting to the lap band forum...but my lunch and dinner are prepared and laid out at the table with my best china, placemat and candles. I have a beautiful CD of cello music that I put on in the background which helps me to slow down and savor my meal instead of rushing through it so I can get back to my 'day'. I do this even when I'm eating alone. Cocoa: They let you have coffee in the jury box? Wonder if they'll rethink this in the future. :blushing: Seriously though, I can relate. Sounds like something I'd do. CC: I'm sure everything will be fine. Good luck! Leigha: I am so jealous! Our trees aren't even 'thinking' about blooming. I know nobody's feelings will be hurt by not being mentioned. If we all commented on *everyone* *everytime*, we'd never get anything accomplished! Have a great day everyone! .

Another NSV moment...going into your primary doc and not dreading getting on the scale and then hearing her 'gentle' disappointment that I'm still not taking care of my diabetes (read: losing weight) as I should. My doc is this soft spoken, gentle Indian woman who just makes you feel as if she genuinely cares about you and your health and I love her to death. She's been about for maternity leave since just after my band surgery so she was quite pleased to see I'd lost 35 pounds since my last visit. Interestingly, her office assistant had a gastric sleeve done the same day I had my band. She's down 100 pounds. You know, I thought the sleeve would be similar to the band since they aren't rerouting your insides around so there's no malabsorption, but she's the 3rd person I've talked to who had the sleeve and who are dealing with major fatigue and immune type illnesses. Wonder if it's because their weight loss is not as gradual since they're not spending months getting to restriction. Dunno...but I'm more than ever glad I went for the band. I took my son to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's after my doc appointment yesterday and, in the past, we'd split an appetizer, then each do an entree with the all you can eat salad bar. This time I had their appetizer sized lump crab cake and the salad bar even though my salad consisted of this tiny little pile of spring greens with a couple garbanzo beans and blue cheese dressing. When my crab cake arrived, there was a tiny little pile of spring greens on the plate...the same size as my salad! Shoot, I'll bet they would've let me put a bit of blue cheese dressing on it and I could've saved myself the $2.99 for the salad bar! Making a mental note for next time. The piles of snow are almost gone here due to the mid-40's temps and last night's rain. My fingers are 'itching' to dig into my gardens but we're still almost 2 1/2 months away from when it's safe to plant anything. I am so seriously thinking of building a greenhouse. Well, I need to stop in at work this morning and pay some bills and then I have the rest of my 3 day weekend off. I think I'll surprise my little piglet dog and take her for a walk. Now...where'd I put that leash? .

Well, you're still here...so maybe not. :blushing: .