TheCurvyMermaid

I do! I'll totally own that I gave in last night, and stood in the dark kitchen eating Nutella out of the jar with a spoon, hoping my roommates wouldn't "catch" me. I can eat almost anything as long as I take it slow. I can usually keep myself on track with will power, but I falter some days. The head-food issues don't go away just because you're banded, that's for sure!

Do you ever get overwhelmed by how far you have to go? In my case, I've lost 40 lbs in six months (which is great, don't get me wrong!) but I still have about 75 lbs to go to get to the top of my healthy BMI range. It seems like an awfully big mountain to climb, and I'm prone to self doubt. I'm not talking about quitting or giving up, but I frequently ask myself if I can really pull this off... I've lost and regained this same 40-50 pounds so many times before, and I've never been able to crack 230. The last time I was under 230 was my sophomore year of high school, 17 years ago. Also, I just had to have a little bit of fluid taken out of my band because I was having heartburn and reflux issues, along with getting stuck. I have less restriction now, and I can certainly eat more if I want to, and I'm afraid I'll self sabotage. Have you been there? How do you beat back your self doubt and the enormity of the task ahead?

Add me too, please! JustSing

If you're on the desktop site, click on the "community" tab. Once you've done that, one of the menu options is "find members" . Then search by username, and click "add friend" once you're on their profile.

Hi Renee, I don't have anything that small (yet) but have you tried checking second hand stores? Goodwill, Savers, Deseret Industries, or whatever is in your area? I understand trying to shop for clothes on a tight budget. I buy the majority of my clothes second hand. Good luck to you!

I have a hard time getting enough fiber, myself. I'm drinking more water, eating bran cereal and Fiber One bars, and adding chia seeds to my water. They are high in fiber, protein, and Omega-3s. The texture is a little odd, but they work well in crystal light, or ice tea. They plump up in water, and have kind of a tapioca/gel texture, but they go down really easy with the band. You can also add them to soups and stuff. My band nutritionist turned me on to them.

I'm "JustSing"

Central Vegas girl here. I was banded in June of '07, but had a lot of trouble and got an unfill a couple of years ago. I gained back everything I'd lost after falling off the wagon, and then a course of steroids for a back injury. I started over from scratch three months ago, and I *think* I'm more or less in my green zone, though it varies day by day. I'm down 28 lbs so far.

I had an allergic reaction to the Dermabond too. It wasn't horrible, but it was itchy and unpleasant. As near as I can tell, for me, it seems to be an adhesive allergy. The hydrocortisone was a good first step, but it's good you talked to your doc. I find I'm only sensitive to adhesives on more sensitive skin. I can wear a bandaid on my finger with no problem, but when I get a fill, I remember to take the bandaid off my belly after an hour or two, or the skin starts to get irritated. Just something to keep an eye out for going forward. I hope you get some relief soon!

I bought my FitBit One two weeks ago, and I LOVE it! I almost got the Flex, but decided against it because I'm not crazy about having things on my wrists because I type on a laptop so much, so the One was a better fit for me. I'm looking for friends too, so please feel free to add me. My details are in my signature.

Thank you for posting this. I needed to read that today. <3

Hi Shelly! I'm almost 5 years post op, and I started over three months ago, right back at my surgery weight. There are a number of us going through the same stuff and working on keeping each other motivated here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/165378-starting-over-5-years-after-surgery/ I originally lost about 50 lbs and gained it all back, and I started over from the ground up too. You *can* get back on this horse. Just go back to the beginning, refresh yourself on the ground rules, and keep at it! =)

Well, it sounds like you learned your lesson, no? Seriously though... ouch. I feel your pain, and even after years, I still screw myself over sometimes by eating too fast, or eating the wrong thing and get that feeling like I'm being stabbed in the chest. My nutritionist said that the GI tract (Esophagus, etc...) is basicly a big muscle. If you drink cold liquids, you'll contract and be tighter. If you drink warm liquids, it will relax some. I usually drink my Water at room temperature. Cold is unpleasant for me most of the time. I generally take my pills one at a time, and I even break some of them in half. With one of the medications I take, the 200mg pill was too big for me to comfortably swallow, so the pharmacy gave me 100mg pills instead, and I take two instead of one. It's a bit of a learning curve. Anymore, I take aleve, because I only have to take 1, rather than taking a couple of Tylenol or Advil. I take chewable Vitamins instead of the regular big ones. When I was really tight, I even crushed or dissolved some of my meds, but you need to ask your doctor or pharmacist about that, because some pills are time released and crushing them screws things up. Be gentle with yourself and good luck.

Yes, what Jackie said. Any time I've had to do an unfill they tell me to do liquids for at least a day until the swelling goes down. Depending on how bad it was, you may want to do mushies for a day or so after that. Hope you feel better soon, I've been there!

I feel you. I've been losing VERY slowly. Based on my calories and activity, I really should be losing 2+ lbs a week, but in the last 7 weeks I've only lost 8.5, in spite of adding cardio and weights. I've been eating about 1300 calories a day, and burning around 400+ daily when I excercise. I haven't been eating the calories I burn back, and some folks have told me that's why my weight loss is so slow. I'm upping my calories to 1420 (based on MyFitnessPal's recommendation) and I'm going to try eating my excercise calories and see if that helps.

No problem! As far as the protein stuff goes, this recommendation is mostly for later. My nutritionist says WLS patients should get 90g+ of protein a day, and you should not have more than 40g at any one time. Once you're properly restricted with your band, It's pretty much impossible to get that much protein down unless you're doing some kind of a protein powder. What I'd suggest is this: go to a good vitamin/supplement store like GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, or even Whole Foods (though you'll pay more) and pick up a bunch of different single serving size packets of different brands and different flavors. I like the Jay Robb and Spirutein brands. Neither of them is overly sweet. Syntrax tastes pretty good to me, but it might be too sweet for some (Especially the Syntrax Sweets line.) The thing is, it's largely a matter of taste. What I like, you may not, and vice versa. You've got to find one (or several) that you can eat on a day in, day out basis. Buying the single serve packets will cost more up front, but that way you can find ones that you like, and you're not stuck with a month's supply of something you have to choke down every time. (I've done that a couple times. Once with a zero carb Isopure dutch chocolate... yuck! It was like choking down chocolate flavored grit!) I do a 40g Protein shake first thing in the morning every day. If you're like most people, you'll find that you're tighter in the mornings, so your first meal of the day will usually be liquid. My favorite is to do 1 1/3 scoop of Jay Robb vanilla, 1 cup non fat milk, and 1 tbsp Peanut Butter. It comes in at about 40g, and 330 calories. Greek yogurts are also great. There are a number of brands with no fat and anywhere between 10-14g of protein per serving.

My doc didn't have me do a pre-surgery diet at all. My impression was that the practice I went to only does that with very obese patients. (I am 5'9" and weighed 283 at surgery. I'd actually *gained* about 7lbs before my surgery having a few too many "last meals.") Other people I've talked to gave me the impression that their surgeon made all of their patients follow a pre-op diet with a lot of liquid meals. Bottom line, it probably won't really hurt you, but it's probably best to follow your doctor's instructions as well as you can. Have you thought about trying unflavored Protein powder to keep it from being too sweet? You can always add a tiny bit of low sugar fruits to get a little flavor. Check into Designer whey and

My nutritionist and also the PA at my band office said it's a bad idea to go under 1200 calories, but I don't know if they're taking calories burned through excercise into account. From what I understand, going under 1200 calories can cause the body to go into starvation mode and hold on to calories, but I've heard other people say they've been given guidelines from their doc ranging from 600-1200 calories a day.

I get shoulder pain in my left shoulder. From what I understand, it's from a the vagus nerve, which runs from your digestive tract up to your brain. It's common for people who have any kind of laproscopic surgery to get some shoulder pain. For a lot of people, it goes away in the weeks following surgery, but yours may not. For myself, it's something that never left me, although I usually only feel it if I overeat, or if my band is way too tight. You might find this thread helpful: http://www.bandingtogether.com.au/community/topic/9133-pain-in-shoulder-after-eating/ This is the best description I've found: "Hi Kylie, as you know, you can get shoulder tip pain after surgery, but I might be able to shed some light on your 'after eating' shoulder pain. There's a nerve called the vagus nerve that goes from your abdomen up to your brain. It has a number of branches throughout the body and has a number of functions, but basically it goes from your digestive tract up to your brain. It sits against your stomach and has a role to play in telling you when you're full (among other things). When they put the lapband around your stomach, the vagus nerve is trapped inside the band (it's meant to be) and so when food passes by the band it also stimulates the vagus nerve and your brain thinks you're full. Now, why do you get shoulder pain? As the vagus nerve travels up to the brain, there's also a fairly big branch of the nerve that sits in your shoulder. I suspect what's happening to you is that each time you eat, you're getting 'referred pain' from the part of the vagus nerve that sits against your stomach, to the branch of the vagus nerve in your shoulder. That's why it doesnt matter how slowly you eat, the vagus nerve against your stomach is still getting stimulated each time food passes the band. Why do you feel it in your shoulder? Because nerves are funny things and we often perceive nerve pain as coming from one place when in fact its coming from another place. What to do about it? Nothing. Most referred pain settles down after a little while." I hope this helps!

I've done something similar, but used herbed light feta cheese instead of mozzarella. Sounds great!

You can get them already prepared in the Mexican section of most grocery stores, but I like to make my own. You can certainly make them from dried pinto Beans, but I usually skip that step and buy canned whole pinto beans. I like to simmer them with a few cloves of garlic and part of a jalapeno (or a serrano if you REALLY like the heat.) after they simmer for 10 minutes or so, mash them a bit with a potato masher and let them simmer a bit longer, then turn off the heat. They'll thicken some as they stand. My (Mexican) roommate's mom takes a medium sauce pan, adds about 1/4-1/3 cup of oil, then fries a corn tortilla in the oil along with garlic to flavor the oil, then pulls out the garlic and the tortilla (before it burns). It flavors the oil, and then you follow my directions above, using a large can of beans, aprox 32oz. Don't make them that way though, it's super unhealthy! LOL! Any way you make them, be mindful of the calories. I only eat them as a side to some carne asada or marinated chicken, or in a small taco salad. (Lettuce, ground beef, salsa, refried beans, low fat sour cream, and a tiny bit of shredded cheese for color.)

Hey folks, I've got a question for you. I know everyone is different, but I'm just wondering for you, how many calories a day do you eat? I'm 5'9" and 255 lbs. I started working out about a month ago, doing cardio. I've added weights in the past couple of weeks. I'm currently working out about 4x a week, and building up to 5x. Now, MFP suggests that I eat a net of around 1400 calories a day after excercise to lose 2lbs a week, but that seems higher than what most WLS patients are encouraged to eat. I've been eating about 1300 calories a day, and not eating the calories I burn through excercise, and I wonder if I'm shooting myself in the foot by not eating more. Is it slowing my weight loss? I'm currently losing about 1-1.5 lbs a week, but it seems like I should be seeing better results than that. I'm just wondering, for you, do you eat the calories you burn through excercise? If so, do you find you lose better if and when you do? Again, I know everyone is different, I'm just looking for some feedback. Thanks! Stephanie p.s. I'm also looking for more friends on MFP, so feel free to add me. My username is JustSing If any of you use fitbit, feel free to add me as a friend there as well @ http://www.fitbit.com/user/25YKDP

Target or Walmart. They make calcium chews as well.