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Thanks for the advise, I do have written dietary instructions. I had no idea for instance that there is a cut off for calories. I have barely lost any weight. My surgery was July 26th and I have barely lost anything. . I seriously feel like a total failure.

You are grazing!!! I do that too! Restriction will definitely put a stop to it! The fact that you are finding enough things to keep your calorie intake low, and not causing yourself pain, is admirable!!! When the band tightens down, and you feel almost miserably full for hours at a time, you lose the urge to snack and dine all day long. Hang in there!!! Kat

Yes, it's sad but true... The FDA doesn't require manufacturers to say their products have calories in it if it's under five. As a result, they will tweak their servings so they can get away with saying the magical zero.

I didn't have a guideline for fat grams so I can't help you there. I hated the fat free stuff because I found it had more carbs and sugars to make it taste good. I had to eat 4 meals a days consisting of 15grams of protein. I know I could not have gotten all my protein in with just 3 meals. I struggled with 4 meals a day. I wish I better advice, but I'm stumped. It's tough to hit the calorie goal with 3 meals a day. It's especially tough when you have to get in protein. Can you tolerate any of the protein supplements?

Hey there, I was banded on the 24th of Nov and had my first fill last Sunday. Well, I have only lost about 10-14lbs depending on the day..lol. So I was wondering what a day of food is for you? South beach? Lo-calorie or lo carb or what and I am a blonde so can anyone out there PLEASE give me some sample menus of your day/week. I have copied some I have seen but y'all in particular and others who have been banded since this past July I am curious and need some success tips and motivation! catie

How much protein are you taking in? are you staying hydrated? Are you exercising? Many questions to be answered. sometimes the body will require a certain amount of protein and a certain amount of calories before it will start to loose the weight. I have to hit the mid 70 percentile in grams of protein before my body will loose weight.

Date of surgery? 5/14/12 How much weight lost? 29 lbs since pre-op diet with 16.4 being since surgery. I've also lost 14.25 inches throughout my body since surgery. How many calories intake per day? My MFP goal is 850. I'm usually within 100 calories either way of it. I don't eat more than it unless I exercise & then sometimes I eat a little into my exercise calories. I'm still on full liquids/pureeds right now. How much Protein per day? My surgeon wants 70-100 g per day. Currently, I have been getting 50-80 usually depending on what food choices I make. I'm trying to make better choices recently for more protein & less carbs because I've been getting 100-150 g of carbs & I'm only supposed to be under 60 g of carbs. I'm not stressing over it too much as long as I'm getting the protein, but I've heard from others that weight loss slows some if there are too many carbs. It's hard not to have the carbs if I have grits or cream of wheat or creamy Soups though since I'm still on full liquids/pureeds. I'm getting better at lowering the carbs as I move to more solid foods. I'm also planning on changing my Protein Drink to one I found that is only 2 g carbs per serving instead of my current one that has 11 g of carbs per serving. Plus, the new one has 34 g of protein instead of 28 g. What supplements do you take? Celebrate Multivitam Bariatric Advantage calcium citrate chews B12 Iron Biotin Prilosec Are you exercising? Yes. I have been getting in the pool for 30-75 minutes at least 3 times a week (sometimes more) since I was about 2-1/2 weeks out because my surgeon said it was okay as soon as my incisions healed. I'm planning on starting to go to the gym again next week in addition to the pool. I will probably do at least 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week & add in some weights. I still have some sessions with a personal trainer that I had paid for back in January that I'll start using again too & those are an hour of weights.

I had the same problem after surgery. My trainer thought it was blood sugar related also and suggested Gatorade when it hit me. I don’t think it did, just taking a few minutes to recover did. I am 8 mos post-op now and have no problems with it anymore. I think it was some kind of body adjustment to surgery or calorie reduction. Good luck with it!

I know i made a mistake by telling my mom and a couple of friends of what i was thinking about doing. My mom promtly told me (out of love i know) "Why don't you try counting your calories?" You know i have been there done that over the years and redone that again! I love her but my first thought was "hummmm ...wonder why i never thought of that?:guess " I have been doing alot of reading and studing on the internet and i know i want to do this if the insurance and doctor will back me. But i also know that like Ceradad said about his wife my husband is going to be the one to give me problems. I know he wants me to lose and worries about my health but he will say this is too risky. I have other health problems that my weight doesn't help, i have fibromyalgia/ Rheumatoid arthritis, and i am borderline diabetic. I think for my health this is the answer and i'm willing to make the changes .I think my doctor will back me up 100% cause this man has seen me do Curves, weight watchers all the diet pills hes precribed with bad results. I figure i will call the insurnace after i see what my doctor says weds. Thanks all of u i feel some better about. But why did i think the band had to be removed? ???:cry

Read the link in my sig. Skip down about half way. Basically your BMR has lowered as you've gotten healthier. It's leveling out with your calorie intake, so you either need to lower your intake or, preferably, increase your activity. Meaning up the intensity of your workouts.

What's your caloric daily intake now? You've heard of muscle confusion, right? Basicly changing your workout every few days so your body doesn't know what to expect, and never gets stagnate. Well you can also confuse your metabolism. Say you consume 1000 calories a day, what you can do is boost your caloric intake to 1500 calories for 3 days, then slam them back down to 1000/day again for 5 days or so, then boost for 2days then back down. This method will boost your metabolism. It's not something you want to do long term. But for up to 3 months to reach a goal it really works well. Also if you're just in a stall, save this till you think your weight loss has ended & use it to kick off those last few lbs.

Been reading alot of posts . Some make me thoughtful, and some give me hope. But some make me giggle.....NPO is latin for: N nothing P per (latin for by) O os (latin for mouth) Which is loosly translated to mean: nothing by mouth. The danger in anesthesia is that as you intubate a person and they have food in their stomach they could aspirate the stomach contents. Hence anesthesia keeps you NPO after midnight for surgery. I see that there is a great range of pre-op restrictions to food some liquid for 1-2 weeks and some just a reasonable diet and NPO 24 hours before the procedure. I think the doctors that restrict calories 1-2 weeks prior to procedure are being kinder to the pt. I went from 3300 yes 3 3 0 0 cal per day to 600/day post op. It was like hitting a freight train of hunger. It left me very weak and tired after surgery. Now .....back to today's posts.... love em!

So this is my first post. I've been researching and contemplating bariatric surgery for a few years now, but it's only recently that I decided to put my foot on the road and start the journey. A little background: I'm a 38 year old woman, 3 kids, and husband, cat mom (hoping to bring in a dog soon too, hehe) I've been overweight all my life. All 3 pregnancies were with gestational diabetes, but I managed without meds, and that has been the only time I've ever lost significant weight. Actually, prior to my first pregnancy, I cut out soda, and stopped relying on hamburger helper/boxed meals for dinner, and went from 255 to about 230. My weight over the years has fluctuated between 200 to 230. My biggest problem now is diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 2 a few years back. I'm on metformin, which my body doesn't handle well. In 2015, I lost my mother, who was over 300lbs and had diabetes to complications from diabetes. It has really scared me, enough that I've had anxiety issues since, and what's really pushing me to find a way to lose weight. After all my research, I'm aiming for the sleeve. I've been to my program's orientation, and met with the Nurse Practitioner. I now have loads of appointments, and a goal of losing 12 lbs by January 24. It feels like a lot, only because my timing is poor and I'm doing all this through the Christmas season. While I'd like surgery in March, I'm actually thinking May would be better since my older kids would still be in school, but my husband would be home (he's a professor) so that he can take care of my 3 year old. I could try to time it right so that it happened over his spring break too, but that's going to take the stars aligning just right, lol. Anyways, I feel like I'm taking on a whole bunch of stuff at once, and I'm not sure how to handle it all. My husband is a good man, who listens, but as he says "I'm not a therapist and other than listening, I'm not sure how to help you." I've got an appointment with a therapist, but not until January, so I'm on my own. So I guess here's my questions...how do you keep focused? I have little direction at this point, and find my confidence wavering. It's always a stressful time of year for me, and while I realize that I have to change how I handle stress, I feel a bit "thrown into the fire" by doing all this now and not say...next month, when I'd have more time to learn more ways to deal with everything. (Another back story, December goes like this: Christmas Eve, Christmas, my oldest' birthday, my youngest birthday, and 10 days later but within the 12 Days of Christmas, my middle child's birthday.) I find the site here too big so I'm not sure where to read in order to get more positive stories and other helpful information. I read a few books, but I guess I'm not ready to invest in any sort of emotional eating books. I'm counting calories and watching what I eat, and trying to exercise more, but really, that's not enough to keep me focused completely. So what other resources do you use? Sites with good articles and information, positive stories of success, etc? And finally, on a grosser note, and a rather...embarrassing question to ask, but how are bowel movements after surgery? I mean mostly on the long term, but I ask because one of the biggest factors to not just simply "losing weight with diet and exercise without the surgery" is I can't handle the thought of being on metformin for the rest of my life. Even at 1000mgs, the loose BM's are horrid and painful and interfering with my every day life (with my current primary care physician pushing for me to move up to 1500mgs despite my protests). I have this worry that I'll still be dealing with intestinal issues after surgery. So if you have had the surgery, and were on metformin, did you get off of it? If you've had intestinal issues in the past, have they continued after surgery? Sorry for the novel!

Hahah.. funny post... but NO WAY!!! I work at a gym and all of the trainers love helping out. You are NEVER too fat to lift a weight muscle burns more calories than fat, so even if you dont loose pounds but gain muslce your body will be burning more. Trainers know what their talking about, i think you would find it beneficial to try it out. Any hey, if you decide it isnt for you now, just wait and then purchase more sessions!

I did not have a drain. And I ate food way earlier than you. Lol it's all dependent on your surgeon and their practice. I have a great one! My surgery was a breeze. By 2 weeks PO I was on purée/mashed and by 4 weeks my lifetime diet. My weight loss has been consistent and I take in 6-700 calories a day with ease at 2 months PO. Down 39 pounds. Just because it's not what your dr did doesn't mean it was the wrong way to do it.

i went out today and bought akins advantage protein shakes, sugar free jello, sugar free pop sicles, 60 calorie soups, bottled water, crystal light etc i'll pretty much be living off of these for the next 10 days. i am so worried, i keep doubting myself...what if i cant stay on track? what if i dont lose the weight? what if they cancel my surgery??

So as a runner, this is something I *really* struggled with. I did not want to lose anymore weight, but as I was training for a half marathon (now training for a full marathon), the scale kept creeping down. The first thing I did is replace some of my meals/snacks with more calorie dense foods. cheese and nuts are great sources of extra calories, while still getting your Protein in. I also had to add in one or two extra "snacks" per day. I had been eating 5 times a day. I now eat 7 times a day most days. I also, finally caved in and started having a carb-only snack. Before my runs I will have a Clif Bar or a piece of whole grain toast with Peanut Butter. I also got a FitBit Blaze so I could more accurately track my calorie burn through the entire day (had just been using a heart rate monitor while running). And by logging my food for a while (don't have to anymore) I was able to make sure my calories in vs. calories out were pretty balanced. So far so good. I got to my lowest weight of 10 pounds below goal, but I have been sticking there for a while now.

My first thought is I should dig up a picture that shows how I really look. And then my second thought is, why the hell would I want to do that? :) Thanks, Hon! I just did an hour (and 300 calories) on my recumbent exercise bike so I'm feeling pretty darn good about myself right now! :whoo:

This is my problem too. It amazes me that so many people are able to overcome this once they are banded. I'm not. My insurance doesn't cover the therapy I need and we make way too much money for the sliding scale therapy. I'm just out of luck. I'm back to counting calories because I don't know what else to do.

It has been a year since my band placement and my doc finally told me what he thought I should weigh, which is 139. Insurance charts say 120-125. I don't know where I will be ending up, but the losing journey will end when I don't want to cut calories and exercise any more than I am and the scales stop moving. I am actually more concerned about maintaining than losing since I have always been either gaining or losing, never maintaining a stable weight. Mimi

With my insurance, there were a few things I had to have done before my doctor could do submission for surgery approval. I had to have my psych eval, 4 meetings with my nutritionist, 4 meetings with my surgeon, the EGD, and lose some weight (my insurance didn't ask for a specific amount, just weight lost). They didn't give me a specific order to do those things in, they just had to be done. I'm now pending approval from insurance. My dr does not require a two-week liquid diet preop for most of his patients. He only requires a liquid diet the day before surgery. They do recommend a high protein, low calorie, low carb diet.

I read the link. Thanks. I understand what it is saying. I have heard of other people having a "stall" around this time. I just haven't heard of anybody gaining during this time. I guess that is why I am concerned. I think that I would have been okay if I had just stayed at 381 this week & not gained. I have been in the 380's more times than I can count over the past few years, but have never been able to make it below that. This gain is just fueling my fear that my body won't let me go any further. No, I couldn't eat enough calories to gain right now if my life depended on it. I know that it is not carb related either. Can vitamins effect weight loss. I haven't started mine yet as I am asleep more than I am awake. My body is just exhausted. I sleep a solid 14 hours every night. By the time I get up, it seems too late in the day to start vitamins.

Take your vitamins and KEEP weighing. It is very good to know where you are at in case you need to adjust your routine(Like in this case). Keep drinking your water and the weight will move. During my three week stall I gained 3 pounds and thought WTF!! I now stick to 600-700 calories and low carb, woohoo!! Keep going, no worries, you can do this!!

Aren't you all nice to post to my thread! Thanks as far as insurance goes, my Nurse Pract. told me they would handle the insurance stuff. She had me send my last 5 years of recorded weight history from my pcp. So of course, I called right away and had them fax it to her. Hope she got it!! I did call BCBS and they said the surgery VSG is covered under my plan, but that I needed a written letter from my PCP stating my attempts at losing weight and his opinion for medical necessity. So he typed it up and gave it to me and I brought it to my consult appt. I hope that is all they need, but I suppose I'll have to wait and see. So on to this battle to lose 10 lbs before surgery date. I am trying to change my eating habits (low carb, low sugar, low calorie) - I've increased my Water intake (really increased it!) and I'm trying to not drink with meals and chew slowly. This is a hard concept to put into practice, I must say. There are times in work when I am soo hungry. I truly think this is the worst of it - the pre op phase. I wish I could jump to the liquid 2 week before surgery time right now. So I'll let you know what happens by the end of this week, as I plan to call Lahey by Thursday to see if the surgery date has been set up and if they have moved on with the insurance stuff. Thanks everyone!

Well it's been about a month since I started thinking about LB, and a couple weeks since I really got serious about it and started my journey (hoping to get banded 3/09). I have to admit - I have succumbed to the "last supper" syndrome and have been letting myself eat more than I usually would because I am feeling like I "can't" or "won't be able to" eat this stuff after the band. Even worse is that it was my birthday last week so perfect excuse for dinners out and cake (yummmm) :cool2:. The best part is that I've been boozin it up too, and I can tell, my ankles are swollen like sausages (I'm sure my hormones are helping with the swelling too). I love love LOVE beer and wine but know how many dang calories are in there. :laugh: In any case - NO MORE LAST SUPPER! What the heck is wrong with me? I'll just have to lose MORE weight if I keep eating like this... So yeah, no more, I am back to eating healthy and will go to the gym twice this week, dangit! *sigh* It sounds weird - but I can't wait for the psychologist. I don't have what I consider "serious" eating issues, but obviously I have some challenges with control, etc. and would like to get started on those mental/emotional things while I prepare to get the physical tool to help me lose weight once and for all. I know I'm not crazy - any tips on how to stay away from last supper dilemmas? :thumbup: