reverie

Read about "eating around the band" and you'll understand why I said what I said. Nothing about the band makes you put the fork down, only you can. I could eat ice cream all day if I wanted. Anyone can eat past the full feeling; it's not hard, I've done it plenty, hence me saying the band cannot MAKE you stop eating; only you can. It's up to you to understand your sense of being satisfied. The band will give you that feeling, it's up to you to listen to it. I guess an extremely tight band can make one "stop" eating, but again, slider foods go down very easily and the full feeling rarely occurs with them.

Welcome and good luck My advice is to look around the forums/browse the various sections here. You'll find a lot of good information/tips.

Last supper syndrome is common. The only thing I can suggest is to remember that being banded does not mean there will be foods you cannot eat anymore, if anything you won't be able to eat the same amount of food, but there is no food that is considered "off-limits." What you can and cannot eat depends on how tight you choose to keep your band. Mine is unfilled/relatively loose compared to many and I can eat most things; sometimes I get myself into trouble when I don't chew/eat too fast otherwise I can/do eat what I want, just smaller portions. ie. pre-band I could eat bowls of rice; now I eat 1/4-1/2 cup, measured out by weight.

Walmart sells a similar product as do most health stores; try looking in GNC/Vitamin Shoppe/Vitamin World. They generally sell them in singles. I've never had one but I'd imagine they'd be better mixed in with water to reduce the sweetness.

Maybe look into buying Nature's Best Isopure clear protein drinks. They come in all sorts of fruity flavors. You can also buy a vanilla protein powder and add your own fruits/SF syrups. There are plenty of protein shake recipes online.

Thanks!! Best of luck on your journey

They are delicious I buy them packs at a time; highly recommended especially if you like almonds as they are the main ingredient.

Congrats and good luck. Happy healing!

I went to my nutritionist once pre-op so that I could be approved for surgery. I believe I emailed her on and off, but otherwise the distance + money to see her wasn't worth it, so I never went back. I figured testing the waters/reading on my own was enough. Most nutritionists are set in their own ways and have the idea that one diet fits all, when that's the farthest from being true. Maybe find a nutritionist that deals with bariatric patients? I will say mine was a bariatric patient herself so she was more knowledgeable in that sense.

Congrats!

You're losing inches therefore nothing is wrong. When you stop losing inches AND the scale stops moving, consider yourself at a stall. Believe it or not, losing inches is the better way to measure your weight loss as it proves wholeheartedly that you're losing FAT. The scale can be down 2lbs, but who is to say how much of it was fat and how much of it was water weight, muscle, or just a daily fluctuation? Embrace your inches lost, truly.

Your body takes 6 weeks minimum to heal. Stay off the scale or drive yourself crazy. Your body isn't going to shed pounds after it just underwent a highly invasive surgery. You may feel good on the outside but internally you're still healing; proper healing requires nutrients and calories.

I had a week of liquids then a week of soft foods then normal food; I think. LOL

I stick to around 1 cup of food, sometimes cup and a half. Not a lot but it's not 1/4 cup either.

Adding exercise into your routine when you've never really worked out before can halt your weight loss. You may need to eat a bit more, depending on the type of exercise and how strenuous it is. How many calories do you net per day? Also, are you weighing your food or eyeing it? I've found this can make a huge difference. Also, you may be at the point where you're losing inches for awhile and not weight. This is pretty common and is actually the better/best measurement of weight loss. The scale is more measurable yes but when the clothes start fitting looser, you know you're doing something right as you're losing fat and not body mass, mass consisting of both fat and muscle. I say give it some time; wait it out. Maybe put the scale away and focus on giving your best during your workouts. Good luck!

She can try filling the empty skin with muscle otherwise the only true way to get rid of excess skin is surgery.

You will get more restriction when you have more fills but the fact remains that the band isn't going to reach out it's hand from your stomach and keep the fork/spoon away from your mouth. The band CANNOT and will NOT "make" you stop eating less. Yes it makes you fuller quicker and when you overeat the sensation is not the most pleasant, but nothing about the band will keep you from eating. Only you control what goes in your mouth; not your band. Self-control is key as is willpower, without it the band does you no good. My 2 cents.

Congrats! amazing loss.

Exercise doesn't prevent excess skin; nothing does. It depends on how overweight you are, how much you lose, how long you've been overweight, etc. I don't agree with neglecting cardio however. HIIT is great for burning fat as is most cardio. However, lifting weights is important as well as it helps you build muscle/lean body mass. The more muscle you have the more your body burns even when you're doing nothing. Weight lifting is good if you're doing heavy weights. High intensity with low weights is useless with my opinion. If you want results definitely lift heavy. Remember though lifting weights won't cure/prevent excess skin. Yes you can build muscle to fill the skin but other factors do apply.

Pretty common after surgery. Call your surgeon and ask for medication; mine prescribed me some before I was released though I never used it.

Before I got closer to goal it was anything with high carbs, especially Pasta and rice. I was known to scarf down bowls of rice pre-band. Nowadays I truly eat everything, pasta, rice, and cereal included, portioned.

Even though you and the surgeon don't have the same vision/goals, the fact is that doing cosmetic surgery on someone who is still considered overweight/obese is high risk. Some plastic surgeons shy away from working with those who aren't within the "normal" BMI range, or at least close to it. From what I have read, as I am just now looking into surgery, most surgeons want you within a normal BMI and no more than 20lbs from your goal weight. When you still have lbs to lose, getting a truly noticeable result from plastic surgery is hard, as the more you lose, the less mass you have, and the saggier your skin gets. It makes sense from an appearance standpoint as well as from a risk standpoint. But, if you're happy at that weight, then stick to it and maybe look for a bariatric plastic surgeon who specializes in weight-loss patients.

Make sure you are weighing your calories and tracking everything you eat. While your goal is attainable, it is pretty high. Maybe set mini-goals instead so you don't feel as if you've failed if you dont lose 100lbs by November. Keep exercising. If you're working out do some HIIT AND weight lifting. You burn just as many calories, if not more calories when you lift weights. More muscle mass = more calories burning when you're doing absolutely nothing

Congrats!

I could probably post in this in success stories but I like post-op better At one year out I'm down 116lbs. This time last year I was sitting in the recovery room with my mom with a lady from some other floor puking up her guts in the next bed over. Let me say the beginning of my journey was NOT pleasant. From being written the wrong prescription for my medicine (somehow they wrote my script with the wrong name) to the nurse telling me I can't use Gas-X strips because they contain sugar (post-op instructions for someone who had gastic bypass) the first day was pretty much hell. We got to the hospital at 5:00AM and didn't get home until midnight. It SUCKED! My surgeon had to call in a prescription at a 24 hour pharmacy at 11AM at night. But, I will say that has been the only horrible part of my journey. Otherwise, it has been flawless and so smooth-sailing. I didn't get stuck until about 6 months in -- thank you dry turkey meat! I've found that I have gotten stuck a bit more often than I did in the beginning, but that's probably due to the fact that I like to experiment with food, and I have yet to master eating slowly. Maybe one day. My first goal weight was 120lbs but I've since upped it to 125lbs; last I weighed I was 130.6lbs, so not exactly at goal, but so close I can feel it! I never imagined losing 100lbs in a year, let alone 50lbs honestly. Pre-op I was lazy as no other. I went to work, came home, sat on my laptop, and ate. Nowadays my schedule is pretty much the same, except I workout for a good hour and a half+ now. I am well aware of what I put into my mouth, I hold myself accountable, and rarely do make excuses to not exercise. This is my journey, and not everyone will take the path I took, that's the beauty of it all. I chose no fills and to workout/track my food. Some may go this route, some won't. It's all about what works for you. Hopefully this is helpful to people who are pre-op and post-op. I find that I am coming here less and less so hopefully some of you soon-to-be band-vets stick around to keep everyone in check These forums have been so helpful to me since day one and the wealth of knowledge here is great. 15 things I've learned along the way: 1. The scale isn't everything. Yes we all want to see the scale move but there is so much more to weight loss than the scale. Inches lost are important as are the beloved NSVs (non-scale victories.) Focus on how different you feel as well, both mentally and physically. When you do hop on the scale, limit it to once or twice a week, not every day. (Unless you're in maintenance mode, then every day may be most helpful.) 2. Exercise is a must do. Start off slow and intensify as you lose. Once I got out of surgery and was cleared to walk, I walked. I probably went around the hospital floor 50 times, in the same boring circle. I'm sure the nurses thought I was nuts. From that day on I've exercised my butt off, literally. I started with walking to doing indoor exercises including the Beachbody programs (Slim-in-6, Insanity, P90, P90M, and P90X.) I will also be doing RushFIT at some point in time. 3. It's okay to cheat; in fact, it's part of "dieting." I allow myself cheat Snacks every now and then to keep myself sane. It's been proven that ignoring a small craving usually only leads to a larger much more unhealthy binge. I have been a long-time Reese's lover so I'll treat myself to one when I want. I even eat ice cream everyday almost. Note: I've only started this as I get closer to my goal, I didn't do this all along. 4. Weight loss isn't always steady. Though I lost 1-2lbs pretty steadily for months, I hit many plateaus. There was 2 weeks where I lost nothing. There were weeks when I lost 5lbs+ in a week. In fact there were times when I gained, not much, but a gain on the scale nearly sent me up the wall, and it still does. 5. Water is tasteless but so useful. I really haven't drunk anything but water since surgery, with the exception of a few sips of things here and there. Water keeps me full when I'm not eating and it keeps you hydrated! I use Crystal Light to spice things up a bit. 6. Protein is a lovely thing. Protein protein protein, mmm, protein. I've learned that protein is a must have if you're losing weight. This doesn't mean you have to go all out on your protein levels a day, but aim for 60g minimum. I personally eat my weight in protein, but this is my preference and has to do a lot with my exercise and weightlifting. I've always been a chicken eater/lover so I stick to eating just that most of the time: chicken, turkey, and sometimes fish. 7. Food tracking keeps you well, on track. Tracking what you eat helps keep you mentally sound, or at least it did for me. Track everything you eat each day and each meal. This way you're able to see your intake levels for calories, carbs, protein, etc. and adjust accordingly. 8. Carbs are NOT the enemy. When I first started to lose I stayed away from carbs. This was simply due to the fact that my trouble foods seemed to be carb filled: Pasta, rice, corn, and bread. I was eating about 30-40g of carbs a day post-op. I will say that it worked flawlessly and I lost plenty because of my carb-cut, but I do want to say that carbs are not the enemy here. Nowadays I eat carbs like they're nothing. Why? I workout; carbs are the fuel I need. However I will admit to making low-carb recipes all the time and of course still carb count. It is, and always has/will be about calories in vs calories out. In the end carb reduction = calorie reduction. 9. Everyone loses differently; don't compare yourself. I remember looking at forums and seeing how some people lost slowly and how some seemed to drop very quickly. The point is that we will all lose at different rates. Don't compare your weight loss to another's as in the end we're all just looking to lose; who cares about the pace. 10. "Junk food" can be made healthy. Yep, that's right, healthy junk food. I still eat pumpkin pie, Cookies, ice cream, and plenty of other things deemed to be "junk." There is a lovely thing known as healthy foods and ingredients, and with them you can make junk food quite healthy. Pumpkin pie? Got it. Ice cream? I'll take a few scoops. I still like to think no food is taboo. 11. Being banded is about portion control not for ridding your diet of certain foods. I am one who truly believes that having the band doesn't mean you have to say goodbye to any food. Though I cut out some food when I first started, for my own good, I have added in pretty much everything again, including rice and breads. This time however they're portioned properly. I can't and don't eat bowls of rice/pasta anymore. 12. Set mini-goals. Of course the main goal is to lose weight and reach our goal weight, but set mini-goals along the way to keep you positive. I often set goals that went along with holidays. (ie. a had a goal weight for Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, etc.) 13. Hold yourself accountable, but don't beat yourself up. Know when you cheat or go-off track and take it from there. Don't beat yourself to death mentally. One bad day won't kill your weight loss efforts. 14. Keep your eyes on the main goal, though it may seem like it's taking forever to get there, you'll get there, sometimes faster than you ever imagined. 15. Be happy for every pound you lose no matter how small it is. If you're 165.2 one week and one 165.0 the next, be happy, be proud, and realize that even though it's a small loss, it is still a loss. As long as the scale is going down, don't complain.