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Hi there... well I'm back, with an extra 20kgs (of luggage). Perhaps my shopping kept the calorie intake evened out. I did manage to gain 3kgs in 10 days in the US. No doubt a lot is just excess food in my system, and Water weight - and it will come off quickly now I'm back to healthy food options. No doubt there are good places to eat - I suppose you just need to know where to go, and I didn't really have the resources to find those (and don't drive when in the US). I guess it also depends on where you are. Had a fab time though - I love my friends over there - makes business a lot of fun.

For starters, don't panic. Life happens. It should be enjoyed! The 4 pounds could well be Water retention from eating out on your trip. Dehydration also leads to water retention, as backwards as that sounds. I always come back from a trip bloated. So, you extended your enjoyment once you got home. Pat yourself on the back for recognizing it. Bandsters who have been successful in the long-term have learned that we do not have to be perfect. We just have to do well the majority of the time. You were skiing while on a trip, that's total calorie burn! You might do some post-trip food journaling and see if you really did 4 pounds worth of damage. 4 pounds is 14,000 calories. Did you really eat that much excess after what you need to maintain your weight and all you expended skiing all those hours? If not, it is water retention. I know it is hard to remember everything you ate after-the-fact, but it might bring you some perspective. Doing liquids to de-tox is not a bad idea. Anything to break the cycle you have fallen into. Going back to bandster basics is always a great fall-back for us! Also, consider if you might need a fill. Maybe you don't. But when I start grazing, that's when I start thinking perhaps a fill is in order. Congrats on your losses so far! You've done great!

the doc told me today that I should be at 40 pounds lost! What gives?!?! My stats are: 5.4 (height), weigh 223.8, I'm 30yo,female. In the past 4 weeks (exactly 4 weeks from surgery), I've lost 22pounds. But at my checkup today,the doctor said that I should be at 44pounds lost already. I am eating like 600 calories a day, nothing more. I'm not getting in my Water as I need to be, and my Protein isn't where it needs to be either. Im getting my riding bike out and I'm going to ex erode some that way, I just don't get mow I can eat 600 calories a day, and o ly lose 22pounds!!!!!!!! Any advice please.

There is a great pumpkin mousse recipe that is getting me through the holidays. This time of year I crave pumpkin pie so much. 1 large pkg sugar free vanilla pudding 2 cups skim milk 1 cup pumpkin 1 cup fat free cool whip 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning Mix pudding, pumpkin, and seasoning together. Once blended fold in the cool whip. Then let it chill. I like to seperate it into 1 cup portions & then when I am ready to eat one I crumple up 1 low fat graham cracker and add TBSP of whip cream. I can't remember but I think it is about 175-195 calories/ serving including graham cracker, and it is so delicious. Hope this helps!

'Tis the ice cream season. And Labor Day it'll be brats and burgers. And Halloween it'll be trick or treat. And November it'll be Thanksgiving. And all of December it'll be sweets, sweets and more sweets. And January it'll be the Super Bowl (the highest calorie day of the year). And February it'll be Valentine's. And March it'll be St. Patrick's Day. And April it'll be the stress of doing taxes. And May it'll be Memorial Day barbeques. And June Ice Cream Season starts again. Unless we live under rocks, we'll always have temptations. YOU DID GOOD!

This is a great article. I think each person has to determine (HONESTLY!) what works best for them. There are folks for whom snacking will just lead to grazing and it is best for them not to go down that road.. For others, snacking is great as it helps them get the appropriate Protein and calories. What I really like about this article is that it gives the reader tools to determine what is indeed best for them. Good Job!

I could be really wrong about this, but I get the distinct impression you don't know how much Protein / calories you're really eating. Advice from someone who reached goal (87 pounds) at 8-1/2 weeks post-op: Start counting your protein grams. And as long as you're doing that, count your calories -- at least for a while. You could be right that you're getting enough protein. Or you could be wrong. So why guess? P.S. You're losing weight like a house afire! I lost 10.4 pounds the first month post-op.

Really sorry to tell you this...cause all the presurgical hype contradicts it... BUT... I was so hungry after surgery, I could have gnawed my leg off. Freaking bone-deep desperate hunger. It was horrible. The good news,..is that by the time I was eating about 1000 calories a day (at three weeks out)...I didn't feel much hunger at all, and have not had much problem sticking to lower calories than I ever have in my life (1200 during loss, 1400 now for maintenance) But those first few weeks were tough. Won't like. Starving Children in Africa kinda hunger. I know what they told you about Ghrelin, etc... And I promise your hunger will improve quite a lot and that it'll take less to satisfy you eventually.....but I feel your pain. Your hunger is real. Some people draw the hunger card. Some get the nausea card. Some get the "everythign tastes like cardboard" card....it varies a lot.

I don't eat yogurt, all of it has too much sugar, the nutritional value doesn't make sense. I will never allow peanut butter back in my house. Too calorie dense, too little nutritional value and too easy to snack on. PB2 is no better it has sugar. I was buying pure peanut butter powder but my local grocery stopped selling it, and I haven't bothered to order more. Coffee ( I live off Coffee) Hot Sauce Penzey's Spices (lots of sugar free high quality spice mixes, most store brands have carbs) Flavor God spices EatMeGuiltFree Brownies (everything else they sell has bad macros I like the blondies) Halo Top Ice, haven't purchased any in about 6 to 9 months but I like it A White fish you like Stevita Stevia in liquid (only sweetener I will use) Water Drops Stevia always keep a protein bar in my purse.

I got banded on 9/14. A month before the surgery, my surgeon's nurse put me on the pre-op diet (before I even had a surgery date). I took a week off the diet, then was on it again for another two weeks. So for a total of three weeks before surgery, I subsisted on two Protein shakes a day, with a small protein and veggie meal for dinner. I was ok with that. It is now 11 days after surgery, and I just cannot bring myself to drink these things anymore. I don't start pureed foods until Monday, and I am freaking out because I have no variety in what I eat. I want something with some texture! The only foods I get with any calories are cream Soups, pudding, and Protein Shakes. I am getting to the point where the thought of drinking a shake makes me want to gag. They're gritty and artificial tasting. I wish plain milk had enough protein to get me by. I could drink that all day long. The Protein Shake I'm currently using is Isopure dutch chocolate. I mix one scoop with 8 ounces of milk. I drink two shakes a day, but yesterday I couldn't bring myself to drink the second one. I did manage to drink one at lunch today. What else can I try? I just need to get by until Monday, when I can start eating some pureed meat and not have to drink this junk anymore.

so i have been sucking on suger free hard candies to help with my craving for sweets after meals. im not sure if it helps or not really, it may be just continuing the cycle for the craving..my biggest question is...is eating sugar free candy ok or will it affect my weight loss. i probably have 3-5 a day, depending on the hard candy i have the serving size is different for a few of them but i never have more than 30 calories which i add into my count....what do you think? do you eat sf candy?

My program does not specify a particular caloric goal, either, just the basic protein goals that all programs have (or should have.) Some programs state a blanket 6-800 calorie goal for everyone which is certainly a good minimum to provide something approaching tolerable nutrition during the weight loss phase, The protein is essential as you body has no other way of getting the basic amino acids (the building blocks of the proteins) while carbs/sugars it can convert from you fat stores (and protein/muscle if you are really active and demanding upon your body,) while there is almost no end to the fat that we have on board! Most of the essential vitamins and minerals we can get from supplements during this phase when we are malnourishing ourselves, tho long term we do need to get back to (or adopt if we weren't there before) a well balanced diet to maintain ourselves with a minimum of supplements as real food sources tend to be better than artificial ones in most cases. If you can be satisfied in the 6-800 calorie range, that seems to be a good range to live in for this time, though many do well at somewhat higher levels depending upon their weight loss goals (need for high caloric deficits,) activity/exercise levels and individual metabolic rates. Even early on I was running in the 900-1000 cal per day range as a comfortable level and I have allowed that to creep up to around 1100 as I have added more balanced nutrition to my diet, but I'm working on the last 20lb towards goal at five months out, so I have more margin to play with than someone who still has 100lb to go. Carb goals vary by program - some are dedicated low carb while others emphasize more balanced nutrition avoiding the simple sugars and otherwise empty calories (junk food). I don't control to either fat nor carb grams but to overall caloric intake as it is the basic caloric deficit (calories burned minus calories consumed) that drive the weight loss; other factors like the low carb/ketosis game that is popular these days are minor in comparison (though if one has diabetic issues, the low carb diet of 30ish g is often prescribed for that on a temporary basis, irrespective weight loss concerns.) If you keep the calories and protein in check, the rest will tend to work out reasonably well during this phase. I am typically running about 80-90g carbs (still low for the calories on a classic balanced nutrition basis, but the protein emphasis that we have skews things some,) with about 35g fat and 10g sat fats; most of the basic and essential nutrients are at satisfactory levels except for potassium which is hard to get enough in with our limited volume (and even harder if one is carb restricted) and near impossible to supplement without prescription but that's being monitored.

I never took bariatric vitamins and my labs were always great. For the first four weeks after surgery I did Wellesse liquid multi-vitamins, iron, and calcium. I took double doses of the vitamins and iron. After about four weeks I switched to Trader Joe's High Potency chewable multi vitamin -- again, a double dose for the first year. It is FAR cheaper, lower calorie, and lower carb than those bariatric specialty vitamins that are masquerading as candy and loaded up with artificial crap. I also switched to Citracal Petites for calcium and whatever the drug store had on sale (not slow release) for iron.

Surgery day I was 250 lbs I'm starting week 7 and I am down 17 lbs . I have stalled for 3 weeks and I think I just might be coming out of it. Having such low calorie intake and body is still in healing mode. ( Body uses energy to heal ) . Make us all week and tired. In a funk kinda thing.. look for the small wins. They will help you smile and feel better. I just cut a new hole in my belt to make smaller because my pants fall down. ( Second time doing this) woooo hooo! I now can reach my shoes with out a shoe horn. Didn't even notice that. My wife told me me she saw me do that. . sweet!!! The little wins are very important. So look for them and enjoy your journey. Celebrate it !! Wishing love and good health on your weight loss journey!!

I went through the same thing and my surgeon told me to increase my calories/protein and sure enough I started dropping again. Your body is trying to hold on to what little intake your feeding it. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I 100% promise you that you are not gaining fat. It is not scientifically possible for you to gain fat on that few calories. To gain a pound of fat, you have to ingest 3500 more calories than you burn. Likely you are retaining water for some reason. It could be too much sodium. It could be sore muscles. It could be hormonal. You really really really should just stay off the scale in these early weeks. You are going to drive yourself crazy.

Agreed! I was banded on 11/18 had my first fill on 12/19... 3ccs in a 10cc band,,, I also can still eat pretty much anything but I'm counting calories to help... I'm getting my second fill Tuesday hopefully I'll have more restriction!! And yes it's normal for your appetite to increase before your first fill

I'm down 36.5 lbs since the surgery. This morning I was under 270. Yay! I seem to be losing faster since I edged my way up near 1200 calories. I was very much stalled after that initial 30 lbs fell off. Once all the swelling and fluid came off, I was like.. What now? I think my body just said "look Andrea, give me some more to eat, especially since you insist on burning off at least 300 calories every other day at the gym." Guess the body knows what it wants. Since I go to the gym after work, its nice to have a little something in the tank so that I'm not so tired. I've been lucky in that I do not get nauseated if I go longer than four hours without food. But sometimes I think that trigger would be helpful, so that I remember to eat something. Half a lean cuisine, some cheese.. something. I have lunch at 12:30 (scheduled because my job sucks). I get off work at 5:30. If I'm lucky, I get to the gym by 7. So that half of a lean cuisine at 5pm is helpful. Speaking of the gym, I'm going to need new work out clothes. Everything I wear to the gym is too big - especially the tops. I think it would be most unfortunate if my pants fell down while on the treadmill. Gonna have to put out feelers for cheap cute but still plus size workout clothes that are not from Old Navy (because what they have on line is not that cute right now...)

I use 'Lose it'. It tracks protein. You can scan in the bar code of your food and keep it in the food list to be used again. You can also modify previous days entries snd create your own food totals for dishes you make yourself. The only thing I've found that many programs have is that if you put in your exercise, the program will add additional calories to your total daily calories so you can end up eating more. That might not be clear so here's an example. On Lose it, I adjusted my daily calories to be 1088. If I exercise before eating breakfast and have burned up 200 calories and log this into the program, then the program says I can eat 1288 calories. I think my fitness pal does this too. I solved the issue by noting exercise on my calendar and using 'lose it' to track my protein grams, carb grams and calories.

I made a goal in 2007 that I wanted to get to 195 by December of 2007. That would have been 13 pounds from my surgery date weigh in. When I last journaled in Nov I see that I was at 198. Oh so close and I think that's why I thought I could do it on my own. Didn't need anyones help, I was working it and it was working. Oh what I know now. I met my goal this morning of 195!!!:thumbup: I would have told you a year ago that writing in a journal really didn't make a difference. I'm here today to tell you that it does. I don't count calories, I just write down what and when I eat and how much water I've had. I listen to my body when it tells me it's satisfied, not full but satisfied. I bring snacks and water w/me where ever I go so I won't be tempted. But if I want a peice of candy, french fry, buttered popcorn or what ever - I have some, not a lot and don't feel guilty about doing it. I've always known that exercise is a great help but I do believe that for the first time I've found my "sweet spot" on an exercise program called Zumba. Thank you everyone who has responded to my blogs, been there in chat and who has posted. You all have done so much for me!

I absolutely agree Holly. I am only 7 weeks out and I've only had one fill, but I fix my plate (measure everything out) and that is what I eat. Am I still hungry after my food is gone...sometimes yes, but I have had my meal so I don't eat anything else. I try to hold off between meal hunger with water/CL Tea, but when that no longer satisfies that urge to eat, then I will have a small snack. Usually nuts, string cheese, 1/2 a Protein bar (snack/light meal 10g protein ones). So far I have been successful. I eat less than 1200 calories everyday. I use myfitnesspal to monitor my meals/exercise. I have lost 19 lbs since surgery (6/19) and 32 lbs since January (my heaviest). You have to do what works for you within the guidelines given to you. After my first fill, the PA told me I am on my own to decide if I need fills or not. There is no schedule. So now I really have to pay attention to my band. So far, I'm OK with where I am. I don't ever want to be too tight. I have only 3cc's in a 10cc band. I'm going to stay here for a while to see how I'm doing.

Like TarHeel and Bham I was also banded on Dec 18th but in 2007. I find it very encouraging that you were able to drop 100 pounds and I am very happy to see your success. I have about 50 pounds left and I am ready for the challenge. I had my first fill last week and although I have little restriction I do feel enough to keep me from blowing my diet out of the Water with a 1500 calorie meal but I don't get a real feeling of fullness on a small cup of food.

Well, I would agree with you. I dont think I quite have the metabolism of a snail, but something sure doesnt add up and I'm glad I have my band. I weigh 140lb at 5ft 10, quite slim, yeah, but a healthy weight, near the bottom of my range. I eat about 1800 calories a day to maintain that weight - so I'm not complaining,that's an OK deal. But I need a lapband to stay within that calorie range. I also run an hour some days or do a spin class and a body pump class the other days. I'm very active. All the charts say I shoudl be eating 2,500 to 2800 calories a day! At the very least, you'd think I coudl eat the 2000 to 2200 recommended for the average woman. But there's no way I can eat that much and not gain. I'm not sure where the weight gain would stop, whether I'd be heavier but still in the healthy range or whether I'd become overweight again, but I dont care to find out either. I certainly know I got obese on somethign like 2,500 a day - I wasnt a binge eater, didnt eat amounts that seemed huge compared to other peple by any stretch of the imagination. What I wonder though is which came first? Did I get fat because my metabolism was slower than it shoudl be or am do I now need to stick to a fairly limited, low calorie diet to maintain my weight precisely BECAUSE I have lost a lot of weight through long standing calorie deprivation? I suspect it is the latter. Once you've cut calories as low as we tend to do for a long time, you cant eat like a normal person ever again. Your body is just conditioned to run on much less. I certainly eat less and do more than my 120lb sister.

You will find thousands on this site who have lost weight with the sleeve. Now, your case is unique and there may be some issues with scar tissue from your RNY and the reversal of it that make your sleeve surgery not as straight-forward as it would be for someone who had never had RNY. I've read some accounts from people who went from lap-band to sleeve not having as much restriction because scar tissue from the band effected how small their sleeve could be and the shape of it. Sleeve definitely provides restriction. I would argue that it provides more restriction than RNY, because with RNY, your pyloric valve is bypassed, meaning food can pass straight through your stomach into your intestines. With sleeve, the pyloric valve is intact and continues working as normal and hold food inside your stomach for longer so it has proper exposure to your stomach acid to break it down before allowing it to pass into your intestine. Also, with sleeve, the fundus is removed. The fundus is the top part of your stomach that is very stretchy and stretches to accommodate more food as you eat. With RNY, the pouch that is made includes some of the fundus, so your pouch is able to stretch more as you eat than a sleeve is. The main thing you will be "losing out" on with sleeve versus RNY is malabsorption. Since none of your intestine is bypased, you will fully absorb all of the calories and nutrients from your food. Edit: In terms of diet and food consumption, the two surgeries are very similar. You will always want to put Protein first. You will eat several small "meals" and Snacks per day to get all of your protein in. You have to avoid eating and drinking at the same time. You have to avoid carbs and slider foods. You have to avoid drinking your calories. It sounds like you were doing well with that with your RNY, so there is no reason to suspect you would have any trouble once you're sleeved.

When I couldn't face another protein shake day, I drank Swanson Sipping Broths, 45 calories and 9 grams of protein. When I was really craving something more "solid" I mixed Healthy Request Cream of Chicken with 1% milk, heated it and strained the chunks out of it, Once, when I felt I was going mad, I had my son go to Panera and get the Summer Corn Choder, which I blended and strained...yum!