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I've stalled for months... but usually that is due to becoming careless about exercise or food choices. The last instance was an indicator that I needed another fill. Before WLS what are now "stalls" would have been periods major weight gain! I can go on autopilot for several months without gaining a pound, and that is a good feeling! I've actually been able to diet to a slightly lower weight that were I am now at almost 2 years out of surgery, but I was not able to maintain the weight over the winter months and eventually gained and lost on a yo-yo course. The band at worst provides stability and the weight stays off. At best, I see a few pounds being shed every few weeks.

I had my gastric sleeve surgery on 5/6 and had been doing great until 3 days ago. I started having a constant ache in my stomach with constant burping. I have tried tums hoping it was just indigestion, but that did not help. Everything I try to eat or drink tastes weird and I do not want to eat or drink anything because I also get more discomfort when I do. I have been able to force down enough water, but protein and any other pureed foods, jello, or broth has been a struggle. If anyone has experienced this and has some tips on how to get through it that would be greatly appreciated.

I was banded on Dec 6th and will be back to normal food on Monday. I've started to eat "normal food" again, e.g. Today I ate Turkey and very well cooked vegetables and chewed it up really well. (The vegetables were pretty much mushy ). I even allowed myself a little Christmas cake and a glass of wine! I am still shocked in how little I can actually eat. I usually eat all day on Christmas day and feel stuffed and sick. Today I ate just the right amount and felt great! Who knows why all these Dr's have us on different diets. I guess their experiences are different and hopefully they are only looking out for our best interests. I've lost about 26 pounds since surgery and feel really good. So will continue doing what my Dr tells me and of course common sense.

My question would be what does your doctor consider mushies. My first week of mushies was yogurt or cottage cheese. Oatmeal would not have been approved by my doctor nor eggs. Both of those would either be second week of mushies or solid. My recommendation would be to stick to less dense foods for now such as cottage cheese, ricotta or yogurt.

Hi! I'm a new sleever, march 5th I have a few questions for everyone. 1) I can't seem to eat slow enough. I take too big of bites or just shovel it in. I can see that I'm slower then the husband and kids but not slow enough. I end up sick at dinner. Almost always. 2) is one is coupled with 1. I don't stop eating in time...so i get over full....and it leads to vomiting. I've tried measuring out my food. I guess I should measure even less. My brain is having a hard time comprehending that I can't eat a whole egg I guess. Did anyone else struggle with these problems? What did you do to fix it? I was also wondering if anyone knows how many calories I should be looking at 5 to 6 weeks post op? Thanks for any replies....I hope to get my crap together! I hAte throwing up! Allie

I'm thinking split pea Soup for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure why this feels Thanksgiving - maybe because it was one of those left over meals my mom always made. A Thanksgiving themed Protein shake is also a must - pumpkin, Kale, banana or Sweet Potato Pie made with cinnamon bun whey protein. Any other ideas / recipes?

Why 4-5 weeks? Seems long to me I was banded yesterday and they said liquids for a week, then mushies for a week, then soft foods , then real food......be careful! And don't rush it but check with your dr

Well, this the longest I have gone without any weight loss. In fact I'm up a pound. I am trying to up my calories a bit for awhile and then bring them back down, just to fool my body. This is so frustrating....I was losing 2 or more lbs a week for a long time, and now in the last 10 days, I have gained 1lb. I'm tighter then the past, so, I'm going to use a little hot water to help in the morning. I am thinking about just changing my food routines as much as possible to get things going. I'm going to pretend like the 1lb gain is muscle this week. There now I feel much better.

How far out from surgery are you? While I was on clear and full liquids, I like the ProtiDiet liquid beverage concentrates. They taste better to me than Isopure. You might also want to try bone broth. My NUT said that bine broth has more Protein than regular broth. While on liquids, it's hard to get enough protein without using supplements, but it gets easier as you progress to more solid foods.

I love Fridays I hate Fridays too. Why? Because this is the day that I don't keep track of my calorie and protein intake. Why do I do this? Doctor's orders, she doesn't want me to obsess, and also not to eat the same thing every day (which I do), so that it confuses my body (I kind of imagine my body going "hey what the heck? Eggs? Veggies? Omlette? Where's my chobani??????") trust me I feel the same way, I'm having chobani withdrawls. I hate Fridays..... I'm so tempted to figure out how many calories the egg white omlette is, but I can't. It's only ONE day a week. Four days a month. DARNIT! The MD and I are going to have to talk about this.... On another note, I realized I cannot keep any snack food in the house. Last night on my way home from work, I just got really stressed thinking about the future and how I have no control of it and I hate it (yes if you haven't figured it out by now I'm kind of a control freak). I was on my phone with the dbf while I was getting ready for the gym and I said "I cannot wait for this vacation because I need a week to really figure out what I want in life" so then of course he thinks it's about him (which to be honest, it is) and thinks he can read my mind and knows what I need to figure out (but darn he was right). And of course I got stressed out. So I went to the gym. 40 minutes on the elliptical, with cramps, thought I would feel better. Nope still stressed out. Go home, have dinner (portobellos mushroom pizza, peas, and a little bit of hot antipasto) still stressed. And of course when I'm stressed where do I go? THE KITCHEN!!!! and sitting right there is a bag of trail mix. I usually only have an 1/8 cup of serving before bedtime. And here I am sitting on the couch hand to mouth with trail mix. Then I realized wth this isn't going to solve the problem, and I throw the 6.99 bag of trail mix out. Along with any other snack food (which there wasn't a lot to begin with). Until I get my emotions in check, no snack food in the house. Tonight, I'm going to dbf house for Chinese. I'll probably have shrimp chop suey. This weekend will be spent cleaning the house (how the heck does one cat shed so much?), laundry, then dbf comes over and I'm trying a new recipe-taco pie, which I just realized I didn't get the ingredients yet at the grocery store DARN! Sunday I am just vegging out to catch up on my DVR. 43 days until Key West....sigh Have a good weekend! XOXO, Andrea

Wow wish they would put the band in my head ever week or so I can stop thinking and eatting. Iam a year out..I dont keep anything bad in the house so the most I do is over eat yogurt but in the course of the day in can be alot of calories even on good food. This all started when I had to have the band emptied twice and worked my way up but it never was the same. I am up and down 6 lbs and I am happy at this weight but still would like to get to my goal. I am going in for alittle more put in the bsnd and back to the gym (thats been the real problem I think) so I will hang in there.

There weren't really a lot of bad indulgences, except alchohol. Oh, and peanut butter cookies (it was so good being so bad!) My main problem, I guess, was that I ate almost all processed foods. Those little pots of Chef Boyardee dinners, although they're not many calories, they're certainly not HEALTHY! Probably loaded with sodium and other preservatives. Glad to be back home and back to my fresh grilled fish daily. I eat so much fish, I'm gonna grow gills!

That's too bad. Wonder why he took it all out? Do you still have some restriction from the band? Just make good choices, you are probably going to eat more but choose good foods to fill up on...eat healthy. Good luck to you!

Hello everyone, I am a newbie to the site but am post op three years in September. My starting weight was 370lbs and 8 weeks ago I was 282lbs. I was thrilled but really struggling to eat. Something was blocking and I was choking at night while sleeping. Pretty scary to be woken up out of your sleep because you are choking on your own saliva. Anyway I went to the doctor and they immediatly emptied me out. It was such an incredble feeling to not have any restriction. They wanted me to be empty for a week or two to make sure I was ok. But I was supposed to still be careful with my food intake. Well I went haywire right away eating everything I have not been able to eat for the last two years.(pasta, bread and fast food). I did not go back to the doctor for three weeks and in that time I gained twenty pounds. They gave me a partial fill and told me to come back in a month or so depending on how I was feeling. Well it is a month later and I am dreading going back. I have gained another twenty pounds. I put on almost half the weight I fought to lose in just two months!! The worst part is I am so upset with myself, my cloths don't fit me, I threw out all my "fat" clothes and refuse to buy a larger size yet I cannot stop myself from eating. I now know what it feels like to be a drug addict. I am eating secretivly in my car figuring if nobody sees maybe I won't gain any weight. I am in a real bad place right now and need help. I am so glad I found this site, I believe it is a step in the right direction. So upsetting the jeans that were falling off of me 8 weeks ago I struggled to button this morning. I just hope I can get back on track. I know I have to go in for another adjustment but I am so embarressed by my weight gain I am afraid to face the doctors. So Sad JimmyXXL

Yes you do.......you have to and you can do it. You now have a tool to help you so use it. I found out food is not my world. Let the other people feed their face, I will talk and get to know people and enjoy their company. There is a skinny person in their someplace and you and I will find that person. Good luck to you, Judy

I had my second fill on Oct 17 and by fri when I had real food, i have a lot of restrictions I have already almost vomoted three times as I don't feel full and keep eating then wel it feels like it's al going to come back up. I know this is what I wanted (to be able to only eat alittle not to throw up or gag) but when I first experiencied it I was sad. On sat was out with frinds and they wanted pizza . I figure I will eat ½ a slice enjoy it and be ok. Well no I had breakfast about 3 hours before and apparently it had not digested yet. I took one tiny bite and is was ok , I took a second and felt like I was going to throw up on the table on my friends So I stop eating and wait for it to pass… apparently you could see my discomfort as my friends keep askinging are you ok Now the last thing I want to do is talk while trying not to throw up. I finially manage to say Im fine just went dwn the wrong side…my friends response was to get me a glass of water…which I can't drink … I pretend to and it does finally pass So now I am sitting looking a almost a whole slice and I don't want it at all I kind of pull it apart , pretend to eat some and push most of it under my napkin I felt sad that I could not eat with my friends but at the same time happy that I wasn't hungry Noone there knew about my band so I couldn't say anything …this is the hard part about hiding the band I still am not going to tell anyone else (other than doc only 2 friends know) I spoke to the office this morning and they say it's normal I ate too much too fast They recommend going back to liquids for a day then mushies for at least a day before I try real food again. if not come back and they will take some water out but at 5 ½ cc in a 10 cc band I should not be that tight On the bright side I am not hungry at all I knew this would be hard but mostly concentrated on the mental part And the not eating things I love but know are bad for me not my body's response to all this . I know it will get better in time but it is harder than I thought

My dr did not want clear Protein until day 5. As much Water as you can and Clear liquids . Then full liquids in week two so full Protein drinks. My dr supplied a chart and for a woman 5'5" (me) I should get 87 gm a day. I round this to 90. I bought unflavored powder and add it to everything to try to get more. I was sleeved 6/17 and am on soft foods. I now get 60 gm from 2 drinks a day and track the rest in the small meals I eat. You have to drink all the time. You do not want to have to go get iv fluids. Good luck to you. This month is hard... I've been stalled since 9 days out but I think it might be over soon. Keep on!!!

BG, I was concerned that I haven't seen your post, and was worried you had another weird kind of complication. I also gained this week a whooping 4lbs! I went to northern CA. for a girls weekend and ended up eating/drinking as before. Absolutely no restriction, I hate to admit it, but I actually ate fast food, McDonalds and TacoBell. (I usually never do that) I came back home worried to death that I totally screwed up my band, like stretching completely out. Also, my weight loss has not been like yours, maybe a total of 14 lbs. since surgery. Anyway, I am in the same boat and we WILL GET BACK ON TRACK! My 2nd fill is on the 18th. Barbara

One thing about tracking your calories and nutrition...you find out what you're really eating...in my case, carbs. My little daily nutrition pie charts that pop up on FitDay have been showing one huge pink piece of carb pie! Now, I wish that pie chart would carve a huge hunk off for complex carbohydrates...not all carbs are bad after all. What about that apple I snacked on this afternoon? How about that steamed asparagus I ate at dinner? I can't help it though, I see that giant pink pie piece and I see STARCH! It's all those times I did so well on the Atkin's diet. I'm a professional carb counter (wish I could win at food poker with this skill). OK, carbs...I'm a few weeks from a pre-op diet and there will be no fatty liver for this girl...you're goin' down!

My Christmas was great :cursing: and I hope yours was too (or whatever holiday you’ve been/are celebrating)! Today is our "Jammie Day" playing games and staying in jammies as late as you want. I’ve got so many wonderful new memories and more insights about the role of food in my life,:embaressed_smile: but I thought today I’d share my Christmas Eve. That’s the night we exchanged ornaments with each other. Poor Mr.SA! I know he feels such pressure to get just the right ornament for me as he knows what a Christmas nut I am. I think he feels more pressure for this little gift each year than any other and I’ll admit I probably add to that pressure since I am so sentimental about my ornaments and put so much thought into this tradition. It’s the only gift we all exchange on Christmas Eve so all eyes are on the ornaments. I started the exchange by giving out the ones I’ve told you about already (see my 11/19/08 blog “Inspiration in Skinny Photos” here) …the snowglobes with photos and another photo ornament each. They had a laugh over the photos I chose…my DD even noticed that the photo of me was a great one and she commented on how nice I looked (skinny honey, the word is skinny:laugh:)…and then I gave out several Disneyland Paris ones from our trip in May… I even had Mickey head glass ones that I personalized myself with their names/year and the DLP logo. I also gave Mr.SA some wooden German Steinbach ornaments (he grew up on an Army base in Germany so he has a small tree full of them). The kids gave me some beautiful ones they handmade that I’ll treasure. Then I opened mine from Mr.SA…it’s PERFECT:w00t:…it relates to something I collect (old kitchen tools) and I have a little tree that sits on the end of my kitchen counter that it will be perfect on…he told me he spent months on eBay trying to get this one before he finally did. The only problem? He gave me the same ornament two years ago. No, I didn’t tell him...and I thought I kept a poker face:smile2: as I thanked him profusely, but he asked if I already had it…I think he guessed when he saw the kid's faces. It’s already hanging at the top of my kitchen tree and the kids see it every day as they sometimes eat at the counter. :crying:Poor guy, I felt so bad for him!:sad: I kept telling him how perfect it was and how much I appreciated the thought, but I couldn’t console him…I tried reminding him how stressed out we’ve both been and how many things I’ve forgotten lately, but he was sooooo disappointed. I then thought about my “ace in the hole” :idea:(my mistake) and was hoping that would make him feel better. Remember my blog about my DD’s nativity set (see my 12/17/08 blog “I Believe in Santa” here)? Well, what I didn’t tell you then is that baby Jesus was the only thing missing from the set when she received it (who knows why). My Mom had bought her a lovely new replacement Jesus many years ago, but you could instantly tell it didn’t go with the original set (even with the pink light shining on him)…made of different materials and especially the scale. Baby Jesus was just a little bit too large for the rest of the set. This year I made it my mission to find the right replacement. The entire set, or individual pieces rarely comes up on eBay, but I kept my eyes peeled. I watched a few sets go by for over a hundred dollars (remember, this set was an antique). Then I finally found one in really bad shape with the stable and a few broken sheep, but low and behold…a baby Jesus:thumbup: I recognized him instantly from my Mom’s set. I sent emails back and forth with the seller several times making sure he was in good shape and explaining why I was so interested in just the baby Jesus. Well she wouldn’t sell or mail JUST him, fair enough, I’d have to pay for the whole stable, broken sheep and all. I won and paid way more than I wanted to, but I felt I’d never get another chance like this. It arrived and baby Jesus was in great shape. He was still wired down to a bundle of glued together straw under him for his cradle. So, back to this point in our Christmas Eve…I now suggested we do our annual ceremonial placement of baby Jesus in the manger (see 12/6/08 "Traditions..." blog here). I asked whose turn it was to carry him in (hoping it was my DD), but DS1 said it was his turn, so I showed him where baby Jesus was hidden. We sang ‘Silent Night’ as DS1 placed him and at the end of the song my DD looks at him and says… “Hey, that’s not my baby Jesus?” “I know.” I said smiling. “I wanted to surprise you with the right replacement one and after a year of looking I finally found him on eBay.” Then the laughter begins… “He’s HUGE!” they all shout at once (my DD is crying with laughter:lol: at this point). Yep, I had to explain I bought him not even thinking that an antique set might have had different scaled sets:huh2: so I asked the seller about everything but his size.:der: Baby Jesus is as big as Mary...maybe bigger...he's HUGE! Even Mr.SA was laughing now…I hope he sees EVERYONE makes mistakes and it’s really the thought that counts.

I love my morning cuppa (and it loves me…see?)…so much so that I drink it up until 2pm (my cutoff for being able to function, yet also sleep at night). This week I started to cut back my caffeine consumption in preparation for surgery. I don’t drink any pop (or in other parts of the country, soda), so that’s not an issue. Coffee is the first of my ‘food friends’ (translation ‘evil food addictions’) I will be saying goodbye to, probably not permanently (I’ll confirm that at my pre-op class), but at least for now and a while to come. I’ve seen ‘facts’ about caffeine effecting the LB here on LBT including; causing band slippage, causing ulcers, changing the lining of your stomach, appetite stimulant, appetite suppressant (it’s in many diet pills), and diuretic. I don't know what's true, the only one I believe right now is the diuretic (and some here on LBT say that’s not true), so I'll follow my docs orders. Post-band until I can get all my water in daily (and some say you have to drink extra water if you drink coffee), I’ll be forgoing coffee. I’ve had to give this friend up several times before; once as a test to see if my migraines improved (nope), and once before another double surgery as I was afraid going off ‘cold turkey’ at the hospital would give me migraines. So I’m being smart and stepping this down gradually (and I’m on Migraine meds now). Week 1 and I’m surviving on less. Are you aware of this, or perhaps you haven’t had your coffee yet? March is…drumroll please…National Caffeine Awareness Month (sponsored by the Caffeine Awareness Alliance…yes, there is such a thing…who knew?!). They want you to know that…with as little as 200 mg of caffeine, you can experience typical addictive symptoms such as irritability, restlessness, tension, insomnia, excitement, and gastrointestinal disturbance. So pretty much they want you to JUST SAY NO! Now where’s the closest Coffee Rehab Center, because I’m going to be in withdrawl and pretty irritable by next week?! Hello, my name is BG, and I'm a coffee addict.

Oops, I didn't mean to post that last sentence. What I was going to say was, I had to go to the radiology dept. for my first fill. Did they do yours on X-ray? They actually fill the band and watch it on x-ray and they had me drink some barium to see if everything is functioning correctly. Then he withdrew most of the saline out leaving 4cc. The next fill I will have done in the doctor's office without xrays. Like I said to you I hope you feel more restriction, because I don't. I didn't even need to say on a 2 days of full liquids afterwards. I did one day and introduced food on the second. I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't any discomfort as well. Barbara

Since you've had problems that are now resolved, why risk it again? Food intolerance at the mushy stage is a sign you're too tight. Call your MD and get seen.

June 14, 2008 Down 4 pounds in 24 hours is quite amazing to me, however, I realize that the pounds are going to just drop off here at first. Yesterday was my first day on a Pre-Op two week diet. I had 1 Slim Fast Optima, 1 Weight Control Quaker Oatmeal, a serving of grapes, 1/2 an apple, 1 can of vegetarian vegetable soup, one 8 oz glass of skim milk with a packet of Carnation Instant Breakfast (no sugar added) mixed in, and 1 cup of no-fat cottage cheese. Oh and of course plenty of water, which I love. Actually, it wasn't so bad. I kept myself busy with reading, computer work, laundry. That's the key. I need to redirect my life. I'm looking into starting my own web site so that will take some time. This morning I got up at 7:00 and took a walk with the dogs. We walked down to the pond, which is a little ways away, downhill. The dogs loved the water and romped and played. So they got their exercise too. The trudge back up the hill was a killer, but I know it will get easier with time. If I consider my alternatives, (heart attack, stroke, diabetes, death), I rather like this hiking up and down hills. The Slim Fast tasted better this morning: Strawberry Cream, which I thought would be delicious, turns out NOT to be. Plus I had a yogurt, Activia, which I didn't get in yesterday. All the foods I mentioned are all that I will eat for the next two weeks. This was given to me by the dietitian. Why, I bet I lose 20 pounds even before surgery! The dietitian explained to me that the reason for this diet is to help the liver to lose weight. Fatty tissue built up around the liver is not good and hinders absorption of proper nutrients. I know there is more to it than that. I will need to research that again. So, I'm off and running. Well, actually, not running yet. That will come later, I hope.

So this weekend will be my first long (4 days long only) trip/ vacation since my surgery. I'm heading to NYC with my friend for a little shopping and site seeing. I'm kind of nervous cause of the whole food thing. I know I need to keep my Proteins up and will have to stay fully hydrated the whole time. I hope I'm not gonna gain any weight though. Gonna try and buy clothes in a smaller size then the size that fits me so it will fit for a while :-) do still wish I could buy some Garett Popcorn for myself but I'll just buy it as a gift for someone LOL.