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From my point of view I would begin a daily exercise regimen for your entire family. Such as an evening walk or family bike ride. This will set a great example of a healthy lifestyle for your children and perhaps be able to turn things around for your daughter. I would also make fast food off limits. Clean out your fridge and your cupboards of all unhealthy processed food and only stock healthy nutritious Snacks and meal fixins. You will be surprised how much easier it is once the junk is gone. Now I'm not saying that you or the kids shouldn't have a treat every once in a while, I'm just saying don't keep it in the house. I love my band and it has motivated me to make the commitment to start a healthier lifestyle. I have lost 57 pounds since April 1st of this year. I feel great and I am in the best physical shape of my life at this very moment. I do believe that if I had the same commitment to diet and exercise prior to banding that I may have been able to achieve the same results. However, I lacked the will power prior to banding so it took something as drastic as banding to find the will power inside myself. My entire family has joined with me on this journey and has made the choice to eat healthier and exercise daily. What a difference this is making in my husband and children. I wish you much success on your journey and applaud you for your desire to find healthiness for you and your family. Good luck to you!

Your story was mine for the first 3 fills. After fill #4 my restriction came with a vengeance. AND it was only .5cc's more! Plus it took effect almost 3-4 weeks after he gave me the fill. So you should be paitient after a fill, because alot of the time there is a delayed response. That is why they schedule fills at least a month apart. I believe I am at my sweet spot now, however, with my hard head I still eat too fast and too much. Once I can regulate the small amount of food I really need, I will be fine. Good luck!!!

hey guys, my dm was doing well post op (when my intake was zilch)...but i've been having fasting levels around 140...and my weight loss has stalled...i'm calling my endocrinologist and bariatric dietician.... but wondering if anyone has experience with this phenomenon/// also i've got to ditch my glucophage...even cracked in to 4 pieces and with little restriction it gets painfully stuck....i'm gonna try januvia + glimiperide 2.0mg did today and felt a little shaky hypoglycemic at lunch....will keep you posted amanda

For those of you who drink a Protein shake in the am, how long does it hold you? Since my last fill I am tight and in the mornings I don't really feel like eating something solid, so I decided to give the Protein shakes another try. For the last two days I have drank the Slim Fast High Protein, it has 180 calories, 20 g of protein, 2g of carbs, 2 g of Fiber. The shake taste pretty good and it doesn't give me indigestion like other protein shakes have done so a plus plus. However, about 2 hours after I drink it I am hungry. I drink it around 7 am so by 9 I am starved, but I don't want to eat my snack (greek yogurt) until 10 so that will last until my lunch at 12:30-1. How do the shakes work for you?

Someone, I think it was Ghost, posted a recipe to make protein pudding. I think it was to use slim fast instead of milk in the sugar free fat free dry pudding mix, but I can't remember for sure. Does anyone have this recipe?

Oh Kari, I'm sorry this is happening. I can not give you and advice but I can send you a big ciber hug and prayers that it will go away fast. I'm sure others will chime in. Hang in there

I travel all the time for business and carry a store with me! When we stop we go to a retaurant/ diner where I get something decent, or if fast food has to happen...... taco bell beef burrito supreme sucks right out of its tortilla. In and out you can order your burger protein style and they will make it wrapped in lettuce with no bun it is good! Fries go down great they are evil, I really have to use will power to stay away from them! I always have on me some or all of these when I leave on a trip: Luna Bars nuts fruit avacado string cheese While I am on the road sometimes these work as a meal. I used to travel with my magic bullet till I broke it and had protein shakes in the hotel, I loved it and need a new one!

i like the herb-ox chicken broth by hormel. and they're individual packets so you can make one cup at a time in the mocriwave. and if i'm not mistaken, the low-carb slim-fast has more protein than the protein one? i could never find a protein shake i liked though. so i drank slim-fast for some meals and to get protein at the beginning.

ok first of all -- BRAVO!!! 100 pounds in a year! that is so incredible and inspiring, ESPECIALLY because you said you did all that in the first half of the year and have been able to successfully maintain that weightloss for the past few months. so a huge round of applause to you girl, seriously! im gonna respond to the post you wrote on my visitor wall in this message board because you asked for my advice and i feel like i have to explain myself a lot more than this website will allow to fit in a visitor message! :wub: wrapping my head around being "skinny" is really hard, and im sure it is realllllly hard for you too, at least that is what i gather from what we have talked about in the past. one of my first memories of clothing sizes was in 5th grade wearing a size 12 (of course i worked my way up to a size 20 by the time i was banded). well the first few months i dropped weight consistently, and can say i had it down to a science because every day i have been writing down everything i eat in my online calorie counter. i bought my first pair of size 12 pants at the end of march.. but in the 2 months since then i did not really lose any more weight. i was overstressed and that had an effect on my band of course-- like everything does-- and at the beginning of may i had my band completely unfilled after my doctor was worried my stress had caused a slip (i could not get any food and eventually any liquid down). a week later i had an upper GI (had to swallow the barium liquid so they can look at me through an x-ray), and my body had already healed itself. this i could have told the doctor anyways-- because i DEFINITELY am hungryyy! but that is great news because it means i can slowly put Fluid back in my band. but unlike a year ago, when i would have felt hungry and gone out to eat a 4th or 5th or 6th meal at some fast food place, something has finally clicked in my head. i am so thankful for my band (JUST LIKE YOU OBVIOUSLY SHOULD BE!) because without it, this plateau would not have happened--- we both know i would have gained the weight back, then been depressed about gaining weight after all that hard work and eventually gain MORE weight. thankfully, with my band, i know i cant let myself down. this is why i have continued to write down everything i eat, even when i know i am going waaaay over the calories alotted for me for the day. i know sometimes i make poor food choices or say i shouldnt have eaten that or drank that... but because i am aware of what i am putting in my body, i know exactly what i have to do to lose the weight i want in the time i want to do it in. we are also in the same boat exercise-wise -- i have also found my motivation again! a few weeks ago is actually when i will say i started up. we both know how much i was exercising back in november-february, but school work made my life too busy, especially because i wanted to hang out with friends in my free time. but like i said-- i guess something clicked in my brain. i want to be healthy and fit and active more than anything, and while this band will certainly put me in the right direction, nothing and no one aside from me will get me to my goals. even when i dont have time for it, i HAVE to make the time for it. it takes a half hour to get in a solid workout, thats all. and then an hour to quickly shower and dry off/cool off, which i can do while watching tv or doing homework anyways. the hospital i went through assesses your physical fitness with a personal trainer in their physical therapy center before surgery, and when i first met him back in november, we became pretty good friends. i can obviously exercise without his help, but i called him and decided to "hire" him as my personal trainer for the summer (he hooked me up with a sweet discount because he knows im self-motivated so i wont be a tough client for him). i am so excited to work with him and get off this final weight. it is great to have someone else excited for me to lose weight and get fit too, and who cares about my well-being so that i won't injure myself doing so. i already feel so strong and powerful, and i have always loved that euphoric feeling that comes with exercise. i worked out really hard this morning and a few hours later i was still a little red even after a shower, but i saw an old mentor who was just gushing "jane-- you are absolutely GLOWING! you are so skinny now too! are you in LOVE or something? is there a BOY in your life?!?!" hahaha wellllllll that is certainly not the case, but its good to hear that my after-exercise redness makes me look like i am GLOWING and in love! ha i really want to give you solid advice-- like "do this" or take this magic pill and suddenly you will find the motivation in yourself to eat better and exercise on a lazy sunday. i want you to let go of your fears and let yourself get skinnier and healthier like you DESERVE to be. but obviously, i cant do that. all i can do is offer support and motivation like you do for me. and it sounds like something has finally clicked in your head too. year one is done and you have proven you were a successful bandster, and now it is time for year two-- the year for you to REACH YOUR GOAL and be healthy and happy and MAINTAIN IT! i have absolute faith that you will be there by next summer. alright. ive written a lot here, haha. but i hope this is all stuff you wanted to hear, and i hope that this summer we both accomplish our short-term goals! the past two weeks i have turned my plateau around and am losing again, finally. my size 12 express jeans are getting too big now, would you believe that? im smaller than the ten-year-old me!!!

I had that too, I still get it, usually it's from either eating too fast or eating too much... Thats what I have learned

I am so frustrated beyond belief.. I got a call this morning saying I had to be bumped up an hour and didn't need to be there until 1:45pm.. OK I figured.. It was meant to be, I can take care of things around the house, even though I was already starvinggg:( I planned to leave at 12:15, it's a bit of a ride.. At noon my phone rang, and I though uhh ohh.. What is going on?! My surgeon had to cancel.. He wouldn't have enough time to get me in:( This is all so wonderful I thought.. They called last Wednesday and moved me up from this wednesday to today (Monday).. I was so stressed, I wouldn't be able to get in any time at work, my husband had to change his days off, as well as my Mom and sister.. Well, as it turns out, it all fell into place, everyone got their time off changed.. I though "wow, this is really meant to be, I will be ok, plus it's better- I get to go in 2 days earlier".. Sooo.. fast forward to today... My husband is battling with his boss to get wednesday off, of course because he took today and tomorrow off already.. My Mom can't take it off, and now my older sister is going to try to be there.. I feel like I'm in a whirl wind:( Anyhoo, enough complaining, I just had to get it out.. Thanks for reading.. ~Kerri

So today makes one week since I have had my surgery. Honestly this week has went by really fast and I am definitely healing. It does still hurt to sit/stand/bend down but it is getting better each day. I move back into the dorms tomorrow and classes start on Thursday. A lot of new worries come about with going back to school. Just little challenges I guess. My first request to lower or drop my meal plan was denied so they want me to pay 3000$ a semester for meals that are I will not be eating because of sheer volume and lack of healthy options! A little bit mad about that but I am working on that problem now getting in touch with different people. I'm interested to see how all of my friends are going to react when I get back, even the ones that know about my surgery. There was mixed reactions from the people I told most supportive but still a few "why would you need to do that"s. Soooo basically tomorrow and the rest of this week should be interesting to say the least. Hopefully will get back on here at some point. Until then.... Mary

If I eat too much or eat too fast, I feel like I'm having a heart attack -- excruciating pain right in my chest. Well, I've never had a heart attack before, so I'm assuming it feels like excruciating chest pain. It sounds like you may just be trying to eat too much. Congrats on your weight loss, though! That's awesome!

PB (Productive Burp) happens when you don't chew well enough, eat too fast or eat too much. The food can't get into the pouch and comes back up (some burp it up, some hiccup it up). It is not like throwing up because there is no stomach acid just your food in the same form as when you swallowed it. Sliming happens when food gets stuck in your band. It usually happens when you do not chew well or swallow something too big (like a pill). The food cannot pass from the pouch through the band and gets stuck. Your body produces mucus to try and dislodge it and that mucus backs up into your mouth. It is a thick clear slimy mucus that you have to spit out.

I can't see the value of eatting 1/2 cup of soft food the rest of my life! Sure, I can get some Soups down and sometimes late at night some real food, but I am not interested in a "quick-fix". This is going to be something that I am going to live with for the rest of my life. I have lost 5 lbs the past 11 days and I just think that is too fast too. I want a 1-2 lb weight loss per week. Am I crazy? I read some people are begging for restriction, but good grief, I would like to eat real food just not so much of it! I am at 1.6cc. I was at 1.cc before my fill. I am thinking of asking him to remove .2cc to put me at 1.4cc. Any thoughts?

Eating too big a bit or too fast will cause this as well. Sounds like the potatoes got stuck. Hope you are feeling better.

Nothing wrong. That is what life is going to be like from now on. It means: 1) you ate something that you should not. I have this problem when I try to eat a french fry or white bread. It has been long enough now so that I can eat 4 or 5 French fries, as long as I chew it with lettuce for vegetables before I swallow it. The food that you find that you can just never eat varies by person. 2) You did not chew thoroughly enough. 3) You ate too fast. It still takes discipline to eat what you should. I can have a taco salad from my local Mexican restaurant, and have no problems at all, .. and eat a larger portion of it than I expect o. I can eate a piece of pizza as long as I chew it very slowly, and chew with a few pieces of lettuce before I swallow. At one point I actually ordered a pizza on a cold winter day, tired, no groceries in the house. I was able to eat one piece of pizza out of it, and froze the rest individually. When I reheated it, it did not stay down. I defrosted it at room temperature, and reheated it at a high degree of heat in my oven, but did not work. I don;t understand that, but .... I don't order pizza. Pizza is truly a treat under the right circumstances, nice and hot, not leftover, etc. Now that it has been a few years, I find that I am going back to what I ate before, which is higher in carbs. I have whole grain, no sugar Cereal with unsweetened soy for Breakfast. Much higher in carbs than the Meal Replacement beverage. I feel like this is the downfall of the whole "let's get banded" craze. ... folllow up afterward. It would be grand to discuss what is appropriate to eat, and what is not appropriate to eat in this forum.

Here is what I eat everyday.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Breakfast:<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><v:path o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype><v:shape id=_x0000_i1025 style="WIDTH: 0.75pt; HEIGHT: 0.75pt" alt="" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata o:href="http://assets.sparkpeople.com/myspark/spacer.gif" src="file:///C:DOCUME~1OwnerLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml101clip_image001.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape>Slim Fast Low Carb Creamy chocolate, 1 serving190 calories Lunch:<v:shape id=_x0000_i1026 style="WIDTH: 0.75pt; HEIGHT: 0.75pt" alt="" type="#_x0000_t75"> <v:imagedata o:href="http://assets.sparkpeople.com/myspark/spacer.gif" src="file:///C:DOCUME~1OwnerLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml101clip_image001.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape>GNC Protein Drink, 1 serving140 calories (I blend it in my Magic Bullet with 4 ice cubes, 1 heaping scoop of Protein powder, 1 tsp instant decaf coffe & 4 oz of Water. It tastes just like a frapucino!!!) Jello - Jolly Rancher sugar free Gel Snacks, 1 serving10 calories Dinner:GNC Protein Drink, 1 serving140 calories (blended same as above) V8, 5.5 oz30 calories<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> 8 glasses of water daily. I have 16 oz glasses, so I do 2 before lunch & 2 after lunch if not more. Some days I have a cup or two of clear Egg Drop Soup or chicken broth or broth strained from Veggie Beef soup. They only add 50 calories max. <v:shape id=_x0000_i1027 style="WIDTH: 0.75pt; HEIGHT: 0.75pt" alt="" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata o:href="http://assets.sparkpeople.com/myspark/spacer.gif" src="file:///C:DOCUME~1OwnerLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml101clip_image001.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape><v:shape id=_x0000_i1028 style="WIDTH: 0.75pt; HEIGHT: 0.75pt" alt="" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata o:href="http://assets.sparkpeople.com/myspark/spacer.gif" src="file:///C:DOCUME~1OwnerLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml101clip_image001.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape>CALORIE Total: 510<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>

I am a 38 BMI and my doctor is requiring 7 days of low-carb as a pre-op diet. If my BMI were higher than 40, he'd just be requiring 14 days of low-carb. The purpose of the pre-op diet is simply to shrink the liver to make surgery easier for the doctor, since the liver must be moved and pinned out of the way in order to get to the stomach. A fatty liver could slip and slide and not stay out of the way, making surgery difficult. This is why a pre-op diet is a good thing! A low-carb diet is one way to shrink the liver fast. A liquid diet (like Optifast) is also another way to shrink a fatty liver just before surgery. Trust me when I say that every doctor is different in what they require pre-op, but as long as you stick to what your doctor says, then everything will be fine. :wink2:

That is exactly how I've had to view this operation. I call myself a serial dieter. I would go on all sorts of wild and wacky diets, fasts and alternative regimes and stick religiously to them for months only to have a weight loss of only 5 or 6 pounds, nothing like the losses I should have had. And I would inevitably fail because I would see all the effort and willpower I'd shown and not been rewarded by weight loss. So I'd say "screw this, I want to eat like a normal person" and within a week or so, that loss would be gone. I explained it to many people as a hike up Mount Everest. You get your supplies and Sherpas ready and say goodbye to everyone at base camp. You hike all day and feel you've done well and set up camp for the night. Next morning you wake up and there you are back at base camp again! Morning after morning you wake up after a successful climb and still find yourself maybe at the foot of the mountain, but still not getting anywhere. After a while, you give up as your Sherpas are getting tired (and secretly think that in the middle of the night you are moving them back!) and you feel like an idiot. With the band I feel that I haven't been allowed to ever give up. And although I still seem to be only making slow progress up that mountain where people who started after me are further up to the top, I can finally see that I am inching forward. I've never stuck to a regime before where it is so slow. But I feel that I don't have a choice and this is my last hope. I'm not letting go of it. Doddie and I are what Doddie calls Turtles. Slow and steady wins the race and we'll get there but won't compare ourselves to anyone else and will be happy in our own victories. Good luck tomorrow! Mary

Lindsey, I am only a little over 2 weeks post-op so probably not the best expert but I did get alot of chest pains about a week out. I just assumed it was either gas or overeating or reacting to something. I walked alot, used a heating pad, took my pain meds (something I didn't do the 1st week). I still get pain in my left shoulder late in the day at work. I think its either from being overly tired or drinking too much/fast. I am finally coming to realize that day by day I am having different experiences with my body - Tuesday and Wednesday I itched inside like mad, Thursday that was all gone. I would just take it easy today, rest, walk, etc. Be careful about what you eat. Sip (not gulp like I tend to!). Hope you are feeling better in the morning. Celeste

Hi Contessa V, I am also getting banded in the Toronto area but not at swlc. My doctor wants me to do 2 weeks on Opti-fast shakes only. I start on tuesday and my surgery is on the 26th. Best wishes.

I gotta get this off my chest and this is the only place I think will understand. So about 3 weeks ago I got my first fill. Doc gave me 1cc. I was tight but not too tight doc said "see ya in two months but come back if you think something is up". Ok, So about two weeks into it I notice I can get down about 1.5 to 2 cups of food at a sitting. Humm. I decided to head into the office to get a fill. The doc added .75 cc's on thursday week 2. I lept off the table and headed back to work not stopping drink some Water before leaving. I pick up a cold slimfast on the way back to the office had a sip and it felt it gurgle through. Took another sip and it got stuck. Humm. Ok, give it some time I said, toughed it out for an hour at work pb'ing and sliming the entire time. Apparently, I was so tight I couldn't swallow my own spit. Literally. BUT, I had to go home to meet the moving estimator as I'm going through the nightmare that is selling and purchasing a new home in a different state. The entire time the estimator is there I'm pb'ing and sliming into a cup. I felt so bad for the guy, he was genuinely concerned about me because was I was really writhing in pain but I had to get this estimate done. I called the office and headed back to my doctors for a unfill writhing in pain as I drove the 45 minutes to get there in rush hour traffic. He unfilled me completely and said come back in a week after things settle down. Soo.. I got a week of shore leave with no restriction. Yes. I indulged a little. Ok, fast forward to this past thursday, I go in for a fill, he adds 1.5 cc's. This time I sit in the office and drink some water. I can tell almost immediately it's too tight but thankfully I was still there. So he takes out another .5cc's. Now I'm back to where I was. The then asks me how much do I chew my food? I say as much as possible so it's a sorta a chewey slurry before I swallow. He tells me I'm chewing to much which is why I can eat more than a cup.:phanvan :phanvan Huh? Ok fine. I head out the door. The next morning I try some scrambled eggs. I don't chew as much. Some of it gets stuck. I pb for 3 hours before I say phuck it, leave work and start heading for the emergency room because he is in surgery. I'm writhing around in pain on the baltimore beltway when I cough real real hard from deep within my abdomen, all of the sudden up comes a chunk of egg and all is better. I swallow my spit again. I get to the er, cry on my wifes shoulder who met me there and go back to work without a unfill. I was able to get through this past weekend. Things definately feel tight, I can only eat about 2-3 bites at a sitting but then 2 hours later and I feel like I can gobble food down without issue. Feel like I'm back to mourning the loss of food again because I had a week of shore leave and I haven't been feeling satisfied. :faint: is exactly how I feel. Also, does anyone else notice jaw pain when they pb or grinding of teeth during the day? Is that a ex smoker thing? d@mn I'm tired.

Too bad slim fast doesn't make a protein shake. I like their shakes at least the carb control ones. They were pretty good.