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I am having my surgery on the 10th! I am really looking forward to it. I am drinking the liquid diet if only high Protein shakes and broth. I wasn't given a calorie count ever. I am a bit confused because things are so different. After surgery they said day 7 start eating chunky and no mushy foods but I see many are mashing food. Is that because it's easier to deal with??

Do you feel guilty if you eat a not so healthy food, even if it keeps you in your calorie range???

You can't always judge loss by what the scale says. If your clothes continue to fit more loosely and you feel more energetic every day, then you are probably turning some fat in muscle with exercise, even at your slow pace. Adding more intense exercise will increase the amount of calories you are burning, so you will have to start losing again- there is no other way around it. Good luck!

I have the Fitbit One...and love it. It helps me to see when I need to pick up my pace with exercise, and keeps me honest with calories on a daily basis. I have seen the ones you wear as a bracelet, and was not impressed. My son has one, and it looks good on him. I have small bone structure with my extremities, and it was far too cumbersome for me. Also, unless you want to look like you are off to the gym all the time, not the "fashion statement" you might want to choose. Others mileage may vary...

Y'all need to get a myfitnesspal account. Then you can track your food /calories / exercise and also see what everyone else is eating too. I have a couple of hundred friends on my account from here. The app is free..give it whirl. You've got nothing to lose but weight. My name is the same there as here. Look me up. There is also a thread here with names of people that have accounts. Look it up too.Good luck!

Welcome back. I've had ups and downs. I also had a baby post sleeve. I have always felt liquid diets aren't the way to go - at least not all liquids. Not at our point. I'm 7 years out now. I did do a green smoothie thing a few years back, post baby, to jump start my loss for ten days. Two smoothies during the day, protein snacks like cheese, raw nuts, hardboiled eggs and a lean protein and veg dinner. By the time ten days were up I was ready to stick to protein first and I lost that weight easily. As easily as I can. I am a notoriously slow loser. It took 14 months to shed 27 pounds. I'm also quite tiny, though - 5'1" and 118 now. So don't be discouraged. Just do it. And sensibly. It's going to be slow, and frustrating, yeah. But you want this. It's worth it. You sliced out 85% of your stomach for it. Your sleeve will work for you if you drop you calories and carbs and up that protein. Best, and I'm cheering for you. Cheri

The temptation all of us lifetime dieters have is to restrict food even further when you don't see the scale move. Don't fall into this temptation--eating less calories will make things worse. If anything most stalls come when people are staying under 600 calories. If you are doing any activity at all this is way too low. shoot for 800 to 1000 calories to rev your body back up. Many people early on in this surgery have broken stalls by eating more and getting your body out of starvation mode.

LauRN, my first fill did help for a while. But I am now 16 days out and have already lost my restriction. I've lost about 6 lbs since the fill, but I GAINED 2 this past weekend. I have no idea how I gained when I was at like 1000 calories a day and exercising. I am going to contact my new doctor to see how far apart they like to space the fills and hopefully get more in there. I am really struggling with the diet failure right now. I want to say screw it and pass the ice cream! I have resisted thus far, but the scale better go down again real soon!

I have totally given up Diet Coke. For those that know me...know that I ALWAYS have a diet coke sitting next to me and that I am ashamed to to say that I can go an entire year without drinking a bottled Water but drink 10-12 diet sodas a day. This is what I did to quit 3 weeks ago. I stopped Diet Coke completely because of the carbonation. I thought that I would ween myself by drinking coffee. I was mean on day one...I even cussed someone out by phone (bill collector) and this not my way of doing things. Day 2 - I was still a little irritable had maybe 2 cups of coffee...but I stopped drinking coffee to. I had a slight headache for a day or two...not a major one. I have been drinking bottled waters...but I doctor it up with crystal light or Hawaiian punch flavors. No sugar or calories. I now drink 6-8 bottled waters a day. I have my surgery on April 3rd. I was told absolutely no carbonation and that is what kick started me.

I have spent the past hour or so reading blogs and catching up on the lap band community. As I was reading it came to me that we have all been given a wonderful opportunity to have the support of thousands of people. People like us, who can over advice from first hand experience and learn from all of our successes and failures. I never introduced myself when I started blogging, I just started pounding away spilling my thoughts and feelings on the page. So her goes, my name is Diane, I am 55 almost 56 this November. I am married, have two children, a boy and a girl and 3 grand children, a dog, Lexi ( She is posted with me in my picture) and a cat, Sassey. I love animals and if I lived in the country would have many more than I do, animals love us unconditionally and don't care if we are fat or thin. How and why did I chose lap band? I have been what you call the professional diet queen. I am 5'1" and have struggled with weight gain after the birth of my first child in the late 70's. I lost the weight and just gained it back with the birth of my second child. I lost that weight and did pretty good until I went to nursing school and packed it right back on. In those early years I could keep it around 180 or 190 but still thought I was fat, but I never realized what fat was until I hit my 40's. That is when I really started to plump up, I reached a high by the time I was 50 of 260's and believe me on a 5'1" frame that is a lot of weight and my knees began to tell the story a few years ago. Three years ago my right knee went out, swollen, painful, difficult to walk, etc. I went to the doctor, they x-rayed and MRI. I had some beginning stages of osteo, thinning of the cartilage on the inner part of my knee joint. The doctor injected with steroids, last about 48 hours and then I did the weekly injections to rebuild the cartilage. It puts the cushion back between the joints. That lasted about 8 weeks. Then the dreaded conversation came up, Diane you need to drop a few pounds. I knew this already, I had two bouts of pneumonia over the past two years, my BP was out of control, and I was having sleep apnea. Oh by the way I forgot to mention I have been a nurse for almost 30 years. You would think as a health care worker we would have better health habits. But no, we probably are one of the most unhealthy group of people because we are always taking care of others and not ourselves. I am very stubborn, duh so I refused to wear a CPAP for the sleep apnea, and when I saw the metal they would put in my body as a joint, I said no way. Off to Jenny Craig I marched, I joined for 500 dollars, bought my meals at 120 plus a week and lost down to 195 lbs. Then it became too expensive and I just knew I could do this on my own, portion control and 1200 calories, a piece of cake I thought. NOT!!!!!!!!!!! I plumped back up to 248 lbs within 2 years of stopping Jenny Craig. So that is how I got to lap band. Live a life of pain and not enjoy life or get off your butt and do something about it. As for the nursing, I am a critical care nurse, so you would think I would know better and make better choices. Oh well that is the past and this is the new me. I involved my family in my journey, I made my appointment for the information meeting and took my husband with me and told all of my family. I figured if I was going to make this a life style I better include the persons in my life so they could be supportive. I thought about not telling the people at work, because sadly I was one of those people who thought weight loss surgery was a cop out. Boy have I changed my mind. so once I scheduled my surgery I told all of my peers at work I was having Lap Band surgery on the 28th of October. Now a very good friend of mine at work, Ron, looked at me shocked and said" your not fat enough to have weight loss surgery." I could have kissed him but instead, I stopped and said, "Ron, I am morbidly obese. My BMI is 47.5. I have to lose weight or I am not going to get to enjoy watching my grandchildren grow up. He looked shocked and said, I had no idea you weighed that much. Thank god for the Ron's and the Paul's(my husband) who love us whether we are skinny or fat and see us for something more than how we look. I will tell you I was scared, I think my biggest fear has been that I will fail, fail to loss and keep it off. But that very fear is my driving force, I will not gain this weight back and I will be successful. The difference for me know compared to back in the dieting days is I am choosing to change my life style with a gentle nudge from my band. I always lost weight on the planned programs I paid for, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, South Beach etc. But when I stopped paying I gained the weight back. Lap Band is a permanent solution to me because as long as i listen to my band, make healthy choices and exercise I will be successful. I know a lot of people struggle with weight loss and the band but in my opinion we fail because we fail to change our behavior. When I don't lose weight now, i sit down and look back at what I am doing. If I am honest with myself, I am snacking between meals, eating past satisfied and not exercising. I chose not to eat sweets, potato chips(which I love), I stay way from carbohydrates, pasta, rice and potato's. Not because I can't have them but because I like them to much and they make me feel over stuffed. I love pizza, can I eat pizza yes, should I eat pizza no. It is full of carbohydrates, so I look for alternatives that satisfy that void. This truly is a journey and you learn about your body and your inner self along the way. For me this journey is not about being skinny it is about learning to make the right choices, developing a healthy life style and spending quality time with my family. So now you no my story. I was banded October 28, 2010. I weighed in at 248 on surgery day and as of today I weigh 180. ( I have been stuck here for several weeks) I started in a size 24 and now wear a size 14. I have lots of shrinkels but who cares, I consider those my battle scars.

I take viactiv chocolate chews (20 calories). They are really yummy.

Totals for the day C 1351 P 87 Calorie burn 765 Water 64oz. =} Had I not drank 2 juices to bring my blood sugar up the calories would be a 180 less.

That may be a bit high on calories (not to mention sodium) I can't "see" the label from this PC...what are serving size/calories/sodium?

Janey, I think at this stage adding a Protein shake in there for good measure couldn't hurt...you need the protein, and it's what 60 calories per serving??? If it helps you feel satisfied, whooppee!! Also, for a desserty-breakfast, have you tried cottage cheese with Splenda Brown Sugar and cinnamon? yummy.

Ok, Tiff,thanks for Looking! I have tried to look around, but get way too many hits on 'sleeve gastrectomy' + Stretching. I will keep looking :-) Thanks Christie, I need to go look at your blog again and get some ideas. I bought a foreman grill last night, sort of the middle of the road models and did some breasts on it last night. I made them with some of the packaged gravy, which isnt bad calorie wise, 100 cals for a cup, and it makes it slide down a bit easier. With some peas and some instant mashed. The family appreicated our first real meal again since my surgery. I was thinking of doing up some more breasts today and chopping them up for chix salad. I need to figure out how to keep the calories low in it tho. Anyway, hope everyone has an awesome day! Lisa

It's tough when we lead hectic lives. I completely understand, but I've tried to go through even some of the fast food options that fit the bill a little better for me. If you need to grab quick and easy, try hitting the Taco Bell "healthier" options such as the chicken soft taco with no sour cream or ranch sauce. Some Taco Bells offer a grilled chicken taco with a corn tortilla opposed to the flour which will cut calories, and up the Protein. Even if you get the flour tortilla the chicken option is better than their beef as they use the lowest quality, highest fat ground beef of all the mexican drive thru. Try to cut condiments such as ranch, and mayo, choose mustard, or salsa. I went through some of the most popular fast food/drive-thru menus published online to give me an idea of what is the "better" options available. Most of these establishments have the nutrition facts right on the web so it's a bit easier to sift through what will work better for us. I purchase Butterball ground turkey that is 93% lean, but when I really look at the calorie, protein and cholesterol counts of both turkey and lean beef, they are pretty much identical. And, let's be honest, ground turkey tastes like cardboard. I know it's supposed to be the better alternative, but when I cook with it, I only use it in casseroles, and things that pretty much disguise the cardboardy taste. My husband and son are the furthest thing from picky, but even they aren't huge fans of ground turkey. I prefer venison and bison, but venison is hard to come by in Florida unless we go hunting, and that's nearly impossible here, and ground bison is outlandishly expensive. I only buy ground turkey when I have a coupon for it. For the hot dogs, the turkey franks are a better alternative with less fat, and calories. For me, I forget to eat still, and honestly I run myself too thin sometimes, and have to grab something easy. This is the salad I grab at Panera Bread, I can only eat part of it. If I eat most of the chicken, I can only eat 1/3 of the lettuce, I can eat more of the lettuce if I skimp on the chicken, it just depends on my mood. In my losing stage, this is exactly how I ordered it. No dressing, didn't eat the corn, and here's the nutritional comparison. Losing stage take off the dressing and the corn, and see just how many calories, fat and carbs are cut. Panera Bread - Nutrition Calculator I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the chicken cuba hot panini, I cut the mayo, and only eat 1/2 of focaccia bread. That cuts over 1/3 the calories, and A LOT of the fat. I can only eat 1/2 of this sandwich, and I pretty much peel off half of the ham off my half I eat for lunch. I don't think they allow substitutions on the hot paninis for bread choices, but their other sandwiches can be subbed for a better bread choice. Here's the nutrition facts for that sandwich. Panera Bread - Nutrition Calculator I love the nutrition calculator that Panera provides because I can pull stuff off of and see exactly what I'm getting. You can add substitutions, and play with it to make it "better" for us. I'm just trying to give you some ideas on what I do when in a pinch. Of course, being prepared and making stuff at home is the best choice because you control exactly what goes in. But, for real life situations, and hectic schedules, just making some tweaks in menu choices can really help cut the stats on convenience foods. If you're still losing, being active, working out, your calories are probably okay. Just try to watch your fat and carbs, and feed your body "right" and it will reward you.

I am not tight in the morning, but during my time of the month I am tighter than other times; which is good because the week before I am starving and I have to watch my calories carefully. Each person is different, a lot of people complain of being tight in the am, for me I am not at least not right now, when I get more fills I might get that way.

maybe its water. Did you eat a lot of salty foods over the weekend? 1 pound is 3500 calories above and beyond what you burned. 7 pounds seems nearly impossible for someone with a band. Watch your sodium for a couple days then weigh again. Frustrating... I know. When I gain 2 I wonder "how the hell is that possible"!

I second MyFitnessPal. The database is huge, and you can even scan in barcodes from items at home or the store to upload the data if it’s not found on the site. I’ve used it for years and it’s a daily tool for my food tracking. There are also daily goals you can breakdown by macro or calorie which is so helpful. They do offer a paid version that has a lot of bells and whistles, but the free still has so much.

The best thing to do is take a look at the things you can control and change in your life. -How many calories a day are you eating? -Are you getting in all your Protein? -Are you sticking to a cup or less of food per meal?

First, I'd start tracking calories for at least a couple weeks. Most who don't track calories are shocked at how much they're actually consuming when they do start tracking them. Keep in mind the band isn't supposed to make you feel full. It supposed to make you feel satisfied, or no longer physically hungry, on less food for longer time periods. Don't expect that same full feeling we had before surgery- that is not what you're supposed to strive for. Have you been to a nutritionist? If not, that would be another smart step to take. A nutritionist who deals with bariatric patients can help you set up realistic food guidelines for optimal weight loss. It's possible you don't have adequate Fluid in your band yet, but if you want to lose weight I'd still stick to a cup or less of food per meal and count calories in the meantime.

I found a cool calorie calculator online at: http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-goal.php You put in your age, sex, current weight, goal weight and height and it calculates how many calories per day to reach your goal weight, but it was averaging it on a loss of 0.5 (half) a pound a week., tells you how many weeks it will take to get to your goal weight at this amount. Of course, if I am serious in my attempts, I usually will lose more than 1/2 pound per week, but I guess that is something to go by anyway if you wanted to try it. Thanks.

I had my sleeve done November 30 2012. I have lost 34 pounds since then. kinda slow for my expectations... I was seeing all these stories of people loosing like 30 pounds a month for the first three months so I was very excited of that possibility. but I have only lost 15 pounds a month this has brought me down.... I eat healthy, 15-20 carbs per day, watch my fat intake, and calories. I guess I just need some inspiration to pick me up to get back on the wagon. Ive been lazy when it comes to working out, and I know that if I tried harder it would happen faster. HELP!!! I need some encouragement!!

Thanks guys!! I really needed some outside opinion. He said this adjustment is really hard on him. I'm also having issues eating and drinking so I'm super bitchy when he walks around with I've cold coca cola! Now I'm wondering if the food is bothering me or is it really he's so happy and I'm suffering a little?? Also, I'm pretty scared to eat and I feel like he's always trying to feed me food. Yes, my calories are super low, but I feel like I'm in control that way. Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

First I would like to say "Everything IS alright and everything WILL be alright!!! Don't beat yourself up First thing to fixing any problem is "acknowledgement" and you got that part out the way and now that you know you have falling a little off track we will simply get back up dust yourself off and try again "greatness is never to late"!! you know the format to success so lets start back over on the basics "Rome was not built overnight" we can work together to get back on track "you do better when you know better" when you get back on track you will be an inspiration to other because you have gone down that path and hopefully you will prevent others from traveling that same rode "everything happens for a reason. So with that said THE BASICS awaits you 1200 calories a day of "soft food" preferably "healthy choices" meat and vegetables YES!! lets count calories how fun "I think" (lol) also if you have tossed out the Protein Shakes lets get back to those twice a day your body has the format and tools its just time you reinforce it!!!! No one is a failure here in "GEORGIA PEACHES " this is a forum of hope, support , encouragement and help!!! FELLOW SLEEVER YOU CAN DO THIS BECAUSE YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE I BELIEVE IN YOU!!! :) :wub: BEST WISHES,