Baba Wawa

I made this for my family last night; served it with costco rotisserie chicken. It was a big hit! 1 1/2 cups cooked broccoli mashed 1 1/2 cups cooked cauliflower mashed 3 cups cooked quinoa Mix veggies and quinoa together, place in 9x13 pan that is sprayed with nonstick coating. cheese sauce: 1/4 c butter (or olive oil) 1/2 onion chopped fine 1tsp ground garlic 3 tbs flour 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 3 cups milk (I use 1%) 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Melt butter in a heavy 3 qt saucepan over med heat. Sauté onions in butter until translucent. Add cayenne pepper and garlic. Add flour, stirring constantly, until it bubbles. Add milk, whisk into flour mixture. Stir often as it thickens, about 7-10 min. Turn off heat, add salt and pepper to taste. Add cheddar cheese. Pour sauce over the top of quinoa/veggie mixture slowly, allowing liquid to seep into it. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 350 about 30-40 min until cheese is golden brown and casserole is bubbling. Serves 12 Nutritional Info: 168 calories 7.3 gr fat 18 carb 9.5 Protein 183 mg sodium 3 gr Fiber

I went 15 months without "complications". My history with the band is documented in my blog and visible to all. You can mess your band up by overeating, causing yourself to vomit, taking NSAIDs. You can fail to lose by eating around your band, eating slider foods, Cookies, chips crackers. BUT, and it's a very big BUT (no pun intended) you can do EVERYTHING right and still have complications and/or failure to lose. There are so many variables to the band equation (surgeons, PAs, individual anatomy, conditions, diseases, etc) that affect your ability to lose weight with the band and keep it off. ID like to also point out that while posting about complications is regarded as some as "negative", "complaining" or "bashing", those of us who have done so are either looking for others who've had similar issues to help resolve our problems or to make newbies aware that these things can happen and help others recognize them early on to avoid much bigger problems. In no way is sharing ones experience honestly, intended to be a negative, complaining, bashing post by most people. I want to add that the risk of complications is found at http://www.lapband.com/hcp/en/risk_information/ Patients can experience complications after surgery. Most complications are not serious but some may require hospitalization and/or re-operation. In the United States clinical study, with 3-year follow-up reported, 88% of the 299 patients had one or more adverse events, ranging from mild, moderate, to severe. Nausea and vomiting (51%), gastroesophageal reflux (regurgitation) (34%), band slippage/pouch dilatation (24%) and stoma obstruction (stomach-band outlet blockage) (14%) were the most common post-operative complications. In the study, 25% of the patients had their band systems removed, two-thirds of which were following adverse events. Esophageal dilatation or dysmotility (poor esophageal function) occurred in 11% of patients, the long-term effects of which are currently unknown. Constipation, diarrhea and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) occurred in 9% of the patients. In 9% of the patients, a second surgery was needed to fix a problem with the band or initial surgery. In 9% of the patients, there was an additional procedure to fix a leaking or twisted access port. The access port design has been improved. Four out of 299 patients (1.3%) had their bands erode into their stomachs. These bands needed to be removed in a second operation. Surgical techniques have evolved to reduce slippage. Surgeons with more laparoscopic experience and more experience with these procedures report fewer complications.

I lost slowly but steadily the first year-15 months, but developed a motility disorder which caused maladaptive eating and stalled my weight loss. My band was unfilled last June and I've lost 20 lb since then. Things are improving with the motility issues and hopefully that will continue.

Restriction isn't determined by how you feel WHEN you eat, but how you don't feel AFTER you eat. The band won't stop you from eating too much, too often or too fast. That's up to you. You really need to just measure and weigh your food 1/2 to 1 cup of dense protein and healthy carbs, eat that amount taking 20-30 min to complete your meal and see if you're hungry (physically) in less than 4 hours. If you're not hungry less than 4 hours after your meal, your band is doing its job. No fill needed. My band was emptied almost 9 months ago and I still go 4-5 hours between meals and often forget to eat.

It really doesn't take a lot of work, just shopping for the right types of food. Easy Peasy!

I felt this way. I think because it's "elective" surgery, we think its not "necessary". I had a lot of pre op anxiety with my Lapband and I'm having it again as I consider removal/revision surgery.

Average of 1-2 lb per week is ideal. That means one week you lose 0, the following 4 weeks you lose 1, 2, 1.5, 3.5 = 8/5 = 1.6 per week or 83 lbs a year. When was the last time you did that?

What Jack said.

It's an individual thing. In some countries, drinking with meals is part of the program. In the US it's generally not. If I'm at a social occasion, I will drink as I nosh. At a dinner party, sometimes the host will have certain wines to drink with each course, I enjoy that experience, too. At home, I don't usually drink with meals, but recently my GI doctor had told me to drink with my meals because of a motility disorder. It doesn't seem to affect how much I eat or how long I'm satiated.

Way to go! Hope the added fill does the trick!

I really appreciate all my band has done for me. Not that it's been easy, I did the work, stayed focused and exercised discipline. Unfortunately, my heart (and GI tract) are telling me its time to quit fighting and wave the white flag. Time to see my band surgeon and seriously discuss my options for removal/revision. I've lost 90 lb, but my digestive system just isn't working correctly, 9 months after having all fill removed. Time to make the call and determine the next step.

I follow the 30/30/30 plan for 1200 calories: 30% calories from Protein, 360 calories = 90 gr protein 30% calories from good carbs*360 calories = 90 gr carb 30% calories from good fats**360 calories= 40 gr fats 10% calories for whatever I want...120 calories * good carbs, veggies, low glycemic fruits (berries & melons) whole grains ** good fats, avocado, olive oils and naturally occurring fats in foods and grains. You can see that you can adjust your calories downward and still meet your nutritional needs. For a 60 gr protein plan the total calories per day would be 800.

The eggs on average are 2 oz each, the sausage patties are the unknown, but lets assume 1.5 oz each. That would be 6.25 oz dense protein. Not too much in general, but I'm surprised you're able to eat that the day after a fill...

What Missy said. Sounds like you're too tight. Even a half cc coming out can make a huge difference. Call your doctor.

This is not a good choice. In my mushy stage I ate the following foods: Retried Black Beans with cheese melted, southwestern black bean soup, puréed with finely ground 99% lean turkey, poached eggs, egg salad, tuna salad, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, instant sf pudding with my protein shake powder mixed in. There is no benefit to eating graham crackers...turns to sugar and stored as fat as soon as you chew it. Not sure why puréed is coming out weird??

Just want to add, that this specific warning didn't exist when I got my band. I have IBS and today it's a contraindication. Sleeve is the surgery I would choose today.

Contraindications: The LAP-BAND® System is not recommended for non-adult patients, patients with conditions that may make them poor surgical candidates or increase the risk of poor results (e.g., inflammatory or cardiopulmonary diseases, GI conditions, symptoms or family history of autoimmune disease, cirrhosis), who are unwilling or unable to comply with the required dietary restrictions, who have alcohol or drug addictions, or who currently are or may be pregnant. This is from lapbands site http://www.lapband.com/en/learn_about_lapband/safety_information/ I don't know if FM is inflammatory or auto immune, but I know that many have developed FM post-banding. Ask a lot of questions.

I'm truly confused by your numbers, (Most do this when blood sugar is 130 or so). Most people don't pass out at 130 BG. It's a bit high and an am reading of 126 or higher indicates diabetes. Hypoglycemia occurs at BG <70. I'm T2 and my levels have been managed since I was put on my supervised diet. My A1c went from 7.8 to 4.9. The only time I was hypoglycemic was after surgery, about 2 weeks, had am BG of 65. Nutritionist suggested a pre bed snack 100 cal 1/3 Protein 2/3 quality carbs. This helped and haven't had a problem since.

As far as I know, an endoscopy must be done by a gastroenterologist.

The most important thing right now is to stay hydrated. Just make sure that you are getting enough fluids. SF Popcicles, water, etc will hold you over. I relied on cream of wheat, cream of chicken soup (blended) tomato soup for the first week, then my appetite kicked in a bit. Call your doctor if you feel like you're not progressing as you should.

Betsy, how are things going now? Better, I hope. Hang in there...we're all individuals and respond in our own way to the stress of surgery. Keep us posted, please

Cuties (clementines) are fine, oranges, not so much.

I'm wondering too???

Not sure what happened! It's not on my Pinterest any more either :-/ Basically it's chopped onion, zucchini, tomatoes, olive oil, sliced onion. I'll try to find the original...

The second point is one that comes up often here on the forum. People who are in a plateau don't see a plateau as a success when if not for the band, they would be gaining weight and that's not a success. Great point! We can be so focused on "ideal weight" (somewhere most of us haven't been in decades) that we fail to give ourselves credit for maintenance. I don't look at maintaining a 90 lb weight loss as a plateau, but as a maintenance phase. My body seems to need these phases along the way. I know I'll lose the last 30-40 lb in the next losing phase or two.