jasonweinberg

i had a plateau at around the third week too. be patient. it'll come if you eat right and exercise. they had me on just walking for about a month but as soon as you feel comfortable doing higher calorie activities go for it. plus, you most likely haven't even had any fills yet and aren't fully restricted yet anyway. its a process and it takes time...

my dr.s are obsessive about tracking my blood work. i'm surprised yours aren't more pro-active particularly iron which can be an issue. when i was first on the realy low calorie regimen they put me on after my surgery i was very tired especially in the afternoon. i stopped using my cpap machine completely a while ago and seem to be sleeping just fine without it. i would definitely talk more with both your dr. and your surgeon's office and look for answers..

my program expects at least 60 i shoot for 80 usually. lean meats (mostly chicken sausages and ground turkey) yoplait fiber one yogurt, fat-free cheese, arnold's double fiber bread, and the occasional protein bar or protein shake. i don't generally have any problem getting my protein.

egg-beaters, kraft non-fat cheese and a half an al fresco chicken sausage makes a nice mini omelette. one slice of arnold double fiber bread dry. delicious, fills me up and high in protein and fibe.

obviously we are looking up baked potato nutrition in different places because where i am looking it up show 4 g Protein (which is actually more than i thought), 24% Vitamin c and fiber 3 g. i am not calling them evil and for someone eating 2-300 calries a day eating one (or two) is no big deal. but if you are on 1000 or less calories per day eating two of them seems pretty silly. i too probably over-reacted a little when the focus of some of us on making at least 60 g of protein a day (which really is not a high amount for someone on a low calorie regimen) was belittled to some extent, but really, does anyone really think the diet listed provides adequate protein?

calling them "very high" in those nutrients and having a "ton of fiber" is a stretch. baked potatoes have those things, yes, but you can get them in much higher amounts with much fewer calories and carbs in many other foods. in my opinion, high carb high calorie foods bring very little to the table, so why the hell eat them? i value every calorie i consume and want to get a return on everyone of them i ingest. seems prudent to me.

fine. if someone wants to waste half their daily caloric intake on something that "makes them feel full" but has very little nutritional value. that is there perogative. but if you put your daily intake in a public forum asking for advice, don't get defensive when people give it to you. and i don't know why people seem so "offended" by a high protein low carb diet and need to some how dis it as having something to do with dr. atkins when in fact it is what my surgeon and my nutritionist recommend and it has worked for me fabulously. as for chicken getting stuck, try ground chicken or ground turkey. it'll never get stuck, especially if you chew it properly (which you should anyway). but then again, if you want to waste 460 calories a day on two baked potatoes, go ahead. its no skin off my nose.

the baked potatoes are a crazy waste of calories. almost half your intake on something that is high carb and lacking in Protein? not a smart choice. and as for those of us focusing on Proteins being on a "modified atkins diet", we do it because it works. i too eat a slice of fortified whole wheat toast with my eggs in the am, but have cut way back on my carbs as well as my calories and it has unlocked the door to weightloss for me. i haven't had a fill yet and am not yet resytricted so everything i have lost is straight up do to diet and exercise. i focus on lean meats and other high protein foods as the mainstay of my diet, eat my vegetables, and avoid carbs and sugars. sure, other foods have some protein in them, but focusing on high protein foods helps keep me full longer and feeds my body as i exercise. it works. i don't feel any need to "mainstream" my diet to fit in with others if what i am eating works for me. i do take daily multi-Vitamins as well, and would recommend it to anyone on a weight loss regimen.

awesome! i hope to join you before long.

i wasn't able to start even soft solids for 4 weeks after my surgery and was also specifically told not to eat any protein bars for 8 weeks. my surgeon is defintiely cautious, but then i haven't had any problems (other than hunger).

just curious. never been particularly prone to pimples. four weeks out from surgery and i've been having a fair amount of them around my body. most are on my stomach but they have also popped up on both of my legs. has anyone else had this happen to them? is it changes in diet or is it some kind of result from the surgery.

i was able to drink my protein shakes right away. but my regular appetite came back on about day three.

coffee for breakfast is a bad idea. eating in the morning helps control your appetite later. i'd also reccomend smaller meal portions and healthy snacks rather than only eating 2-3 times a day.

i spent the night in the hospital and enjoyed the care and the morphine drip. the hospital staff was awesome. i live more than an hour away so they recommended i stay at a place attached to the hospital (no care though just a place to stay) and i was fine there and enjoyed my stay. i would have stayed there longer but my mom was watching my daughter and my daughter wanted me home. there was no reason to stay, except peace and quiet. my recovery was easy and uneventful, and i had no oozing or issues with any of my incisions.

i think the idea behind not giving fills unless it is "necessary" is simply "if it ain't broke don't fix it". the band is in there and can be filled at any time. for me, getting banded threw me off my regimen a little and i was actually losing weight more steadily before my band. still, i know its there, i know i'll get fills and restriction, and i'll lose the rest of the weight, reach goal and keep it off and the band will be a big part of that. its there, even if i am not using it right now.

i went off my meds on the fourth day and drove on the fifth. it actually turned out to be a very long day for me. be sure you've got your "meals" planned for the day. i was very glad to be home at the end of the day and actually took some more meds and didn't drive again for a couple of days.

a stat-split study simply means you spend half the night without a cpap and half with. and the previous commenter is right sleep apnea might help convince the insurance to pay because treating for sleep apnea adds up. my weight loss has helped my sleep apnea tremendously. i'm kind of surprised tour surgeon didn't request a sleep study in the first place but maybe it was because you were self-pay...

i just take a multivitamin but my nutritionist does suggest focusing on a high calcium diet because she says it helps with counter-acting fats in your diet or something..

i'm coming up on four weeks out and supposed to be on a 600 calorie goal which has been really hard. i was supposed to be on liquids for two weeks but went to mushies two days early. i also started going over 600 calories at that point because i had developed such a huge hunger. i was supposed to be on mushies for two weeks but went to soft foods after 9 days. i haven't "cheated" on anything bad, just moved my schedule up and went over 600 calories with some regularity. now on soft solids my hunger is much more under control and i am actually doing pretty well keeping close to 600 calories. monday i hit four weeks and my program only requires one week of soft foods but i think i will stay on it for another week so when i get to the last phase (re-introducing everything) it will be at the originally scheduled time. i feel fine, and am losing weight. still 4.5 weeks from my first fill.

i was only interested in the lapband. you certainly can lose weight quickly with the lapband i have seen many that do. i lost weight pretty damn quickly before surgery as well, losing 56 lbs. in 3.5 months. i'm 3.5 weeks post op and down 75 total. at this point, as much as i have enjoyed losing weight and am looking forward to losing the rest am starting to really see a lot of loose skin which is really unattractive. of course my primary purpose for losing weight is health, and i am already so much healthier it is mind-boggling to me, but looking better is certainly a part of it. i've got 47 lbs. to go to goal and even though i haven't even had my first fill yet i am feeling that losing the last 47 lbs slower than i lost the first 75 makes a lot of sense to me. i don't know how much you have to lose, but to me losing it too fast can almost be a bad thing...i will probably lose it faster than that, but right now i feel like i would be happy to lose 2 lbs. per week for the next 24 weeks to get to my goal. i got my band as much for long-term maintenance as i did for weight-loss.

our program has absolutely no gum whatsoever in writing (and emphasized) as a part of our program. the reason given is simply the risks of accidental swallowing and it getting stuck in your band.

the first thing i ate was hommus and now i had to stop buying it because for whatever reason it tastes soooo good to me that i have trouble stopping when i eat it. i've always liked hommus but now its almost an obsession! the other foods i am eating now i can control better...

i stopped using mine and i had been using one for a decade. i was finding that it was blowing air into my stomach and making me burp over and over so i assumed my pressure was too high. i do kind of miss the comfort of using it but am sleeping all the way through the night without any problems. i have an appt with my pcp in october and we'll see if he wants to send me back for another sleep study. i was curious what the titration machine was too. i thought you needed a full sleep study to determine whether changes in pressure were necessary.

my program recommends a minimum of three 10 minute walks per day until you can start other more strenuous forms of exercise.

my surgeon and his team are definitely pro-bypass in almost all cases. i was only interested in the lapband and just went ahead with it. having said that, my surgeon and his team have been fantastic.