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Bad Bad idea in my opinion. All I've ever seen is patients who take those drugs, lose some weight, then gain it all back PLUS MORE afterwards. Some develop serious side effects as well. Just work your sleeve program, write everything down to be sure your protein/fluid/calorie intake are as prescribed, track your exercise, and only weigh yourself once a week. Eventually when your body is ready the weight will come off. Stop being so hard on yourself.

Isopure zero calorie Protein powder is great. The strawberries and cream and the unflavored is great. You can put it in the premier shake to get the protein out of the way at once. I do this in the morning this way I know I have gotten all my protein in. You can also add a little Water to the shake to thin it out. I blend it in the blender. I use the strawberry and cream to add to the vanilla Protein Shake when I get tired of the vanilla. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

It's very normal. I sometimes have days I'm very hungry & other days I careless if I eat or not. Yesterday I had one bite of cheese & I felt like I ate a whole pizza pie. Just try to eat healthy stuff. We don't eat enough calories well I don't to stretch anything out so I wouldn't worry.

It too have days where I eat very little and other days I can eat. I do follow a low calorie/fat diet. I would check with your doctor and see if he can give you some guidelines to follow. I believe everything in moderation, eat healty and you will be OK. Keep the fats and sugars down and you will be OK.

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 agree completely.. I think I underestimated how stressful it is for some of us post surgery.. Since my surgery in Jan, my husband filed for divorce (which is a good thing). My boss started harrassing me more and more with each lb I loss..It got so bad I started vomitting at work uncontrollably.. I ended up taking leave.. and the vomitting stopped.. I started taking care of my self with my exercise, mediation and rest.. And feel soooooooooooooooooooo much better. I EVEN quit my job.. My last day is June 10 and I start a new one on June 13.... So what I am trying to say is the same as hautemama.. Being successful with this band isnt about counting the calories, and chewing chewing chewing.. it is about taking care of ALL OF YOU.. otherwise you will struggle.... I am now working with a life coach and she is amazing.. I am down 80 something lbs and 4 sizes.. Had my second fill yesterday.... LIFE is good.. But because I chose to make drastic needed changes.. Good luck to everyone.. Traci

3500 calories = 1 lb of fat 3500 / 7 = 500 calories per day That's 500 calories per day MORE than you consume, to loose one lb per week. So, if you consume 1000 calories, you must burn 1500 calories....OR consume less calories per day. Ideally consume less, and burn more...increasing the gap between the two.... And that is for real fat burning weight loss, not the quick early stages of weight loss which everybody experiences If you want to loose more than one pound per week, you have to up the above numbers.... Also, in my case, I have always found Protein to give me more energy than calories.... Also, since I am no llonger concerned about loosing weight, I find that exercising everyday covers a multitude of sins....with no weight gain...

Everyone is different, I shoot for 1300 calories a day and I have a BMR of 2600, which according to what B-52 said (and I generally agree) gives me a 2.6 pound loss (I am actually experiencing almost 4 pounds a week). I also exercise, some days I eat the calories, some days I don't, I don't have a rule, I just try and listen to my body hunger and give it what it needs.

I tried it for the first time yesterday too!!!!!!! I was so surprised by how I felt. I could really feel my muscles working. I also burned 425 calories for an hour work out! I am going to start doing this twice a week along with my other classes.

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.

my b mI is 36 and am type 2 diabetes. will my weight loss be slower? I have been told to follow a low calorie diet for a week not a liquid diet. what would you recommend Sent from my SM-G925F using the BariatricPal App

I wouldn't worry about the pounds lost, more about making a decision to be healthier. The weight loss depends on a multitude of factors. I am also diabetic and was just sleeved on 10/7, my bmi was in the low 50s day of surgery. Prior to surgery day, I did a 1000 calorie diet for 12 days (only required to do 10). And I lost 10 lbs during That time. On the low cal diet, I tried to incorporate shakes into some of my meals for a couple reasons 1. To get used to it and 2. To try different brands. I ate a lot of egg white veggie omelets, grilled chicken, low fat low salt turkey lunch meat, part skim mozzarella cheese sticks, lots of veggies and I made my own shakes with low fat Greek yogurt, ground flaxseed, and fruit. I also made spaghetti squash with 2-3 oz of grilled chicken, 1 tsp olive oil, spinach onions and tomatoes and topped with 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese. The main thing my nutritionist told me during those days was to make sure I was getting my Protein and Water and separating my eating and drinking by 30 minutes. I have lost 22 pounds since my surgery day. I have been taken off my high blood pressure and glipizide pills day of surgery and my insulin has been cut in half. I hope with continued hard work, I will eventually be able to be off my insulin completely. Best thing to do is to follow your nutrition plan pre and post surgery. When is your surgery day? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I am such a slacker with updating. I'm so busy trying to get everything taken care of before surgery, but I know I'm going to regret not being able to look back on these posts! My surgery date is 11/6.:scared2: I'm still kind of in shock that I'm getting banded in 10 days! I originally started looking into the band last year, so it's crazy to me that I'm actually going to get one now. I had my preop appointment yesterday. I told Sue I was a nervous wreck even though the surgery is so far away, but she said that she would be worried if I wasn't worried. That makes me feel a lot better. I found out that Aetna will pay for an overnight stay. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I understand it's better to be there in case something happens but I would much rather be miserable at home. At least at the Reston Hospital all the rooms are private. I love my boyfriend so much.:wub: He's going to spend the night with me there b/c he knows I'm upset that I have to stay. We only live 5 minutes from the hospital and it's kinda silly for him to stay, but I appreciate it! I've been buying supplies like a fiend. I've decided that none of the protein shakes are good so I'm going to stop wasting my money. They're all either milky, chalky, smelly, or something. I only have a 7 day preop diet, so I'll just drink what I have and deal with it. The only thing left on my list to buy (for the moment) is pajamas. I am SO not wandering around the hospital with my butt hanging out of that gown! I'm most confused about the financing part. I called Aetna, and she said my out-of-network out-of-pocket maximum is $2000 + $300 deductible. I don't think insurance covers the $2500 program fee from my doctor's office though. So I took out a Care Credit loan for $5000 and hopefully that will be enough. I have yet to see a bill from anyone but if I show up for surgery and everyone is expecting a check I want to be prepared! I'm also confused about the short-term disability at work. Does anyone else work for Booz Allen Hamilton? I know they cover it, but the process is a little weird. I plan to take 2 weeks off b/c the environment is very dramatic on client-site and if I'm grumpy, hungry and in pain, I won't be able to grin and bear it as well as I do now! I start the preop diet on 11/30 which is messed up b/c I can't have any Halloween candy (but my boyfriend and I already ate a couple bags we bought a few weeks ago, so I guess I'll be fine. ). I'm not too concerned about the liquids, I'll do what I have to do to make it easy on my surgeon, but I am worried about the headaches. I've done other diets and the drastic change in calories gives me ridiculous headaches. I think Sue said tylenol was the only pain killer I can take. I'll call and confirm that. It's lunchtime so I need to figure out what to go get. I know this sounds weird, but it's almost a relief that I'm going to be on liquids. It's so exhausting for me to decide where to go, what to get, what size, etc everyday for lunch and try to eat healthily, then hate myself when I just end up getting a burger and fries.

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

I was told to eat in moderation and do not deprive myself. Dr said this is not a diet it's a lifestyle change. I'm learning now not to always worry about the calories but then again to not go overboard either. I found that Starbucks has a caramel frapp light with sugar free caramel and no whip cream (venti) around 130 calories vs the regular caramel frapp with 570 cal

Funny thing. I lost alot the first week and then in week two I stalled. I ate less, (400cal.) drank more, added more Protein and the scale didn't budge. I read stuff on here and some said eat more calories. Sounded unlikely, but I was discouraged anyway. So I had to work hard to eat more than twice the calories, logged in with fitness pal and noticed how with my biking and walking I was still only netting about 800 a day even with eating so much. Low and behold, instead of gaining like I thought, the scale went down. Go figure. Something to do with starvation mode when you eat too little. Who would have thought I'd actually have to work at eating MORE to lose more. Whatever the reasoning, I'm gonna follow more of what is suggested and less of what I think should work. I don't know why I'm surprised.....my way of eating never worked for me before, so I will be relearning everything since WLS,

At week three my NUT told me not to worry about calories - focus on the Protein and fluids. What you list doesn't look like a lot - you'll be able to take in more soup and thinned oatmeal; it will pass thru fairly quickly. Once you move to a puree diet, you probably won't be able to take in 1/2 cup, more like 1/4 cup or something like that.

You body doesn't care that it was pre-op though. All it knows is that it has lost a lot of weight rapidly and it isn't sure if this is a good or bad thing. You will stall for a little while then it will change. Since you seem into fitness (nice to see), you might like this page. It is a lot to read but it all applies. It isn't for WLS patients but it applies to anyone cutting calories and/or exercising. http://physiqonomics.com/8-reasons-calorie-deficit/ Hats off to you for going back to Cross Fit so soon. I went when I was about 9 months. I could barely hang. I had to up my calories a lot to make it work for me.

Also, don't be afraid to ask what is in the food and how it is prepared. We have some items in our work cafeteria that I was unsure about (ie. their cottage cheese, was it lowfat, etc). They brought out the container for me to see. On their Breakfast yogurt parfaits they emailed their main office (our caf is run by Sodexho) and emailed me back the nutritional values. Lastly, when going out make the obvious choices of grilled over fried, order foods w/ the sauce on the side, minus mayo, things like that so you know there are no heavy added calories.

Hi all I have not posted in quiet some time... busy... you know... but I am at 9 months and I thought I'd give an update. for all the challenges that this type of surgery can present (in my case pretty minor, a little extra skin, frustration over slow weight loss etc.) I would absolutly, hands down do it again. I was so scared at first. I remember I started crying in the elevator on the way up to surgery... just overwhelmed with the idea of permanantly altering my body. The people on this forum did soooo much to help me stay sane before and after. My biggest challenge has been that I am a slow looser. I "only" had 57 lbs to loose, so I expected to be at goal pretty fast. I think there were two months when I lost more than 10 lbs, but other than that its been pretty slow (relatively speaking, I could have never achieved this without surgery). A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with hypothyridism and have since started on meds. Although I feel better, I still only lost 2 lbs this month. I have 8 to go. It may take me 4 months to get there... but I guess I'll get there. Before surgery I was a binger. I would go on a super restrictive diet until I couldn't stand it... then binge on everything I could get my hands on. Yesterday, after doing my monthly weight in and discovering I had only lost 2lbs I slipped back into "bing" mode and had about 5 chips with queso and two Peanut Butter Cookies. The cookies make me kind of sick (I think I have a little dumping syndrome, which is probably for the best). That was all I was able to eat for the rest of the day. Granted... not the best way to deal with frustration (I'm really working on finding better coping skills and thats the first "binge" since surgery) but, if I'm going to binge 500 calories is a lot better than 5000 (not and exageration). If your considering surgery... don't let this put you off....most of you will loose much faster and if you do happen to be a slow looser, its a little frustrating, but eventually the weight comes off (I was considered low bmi pre-surgery, I think most people with higher bmi's loose at a much quicker pace). Although I am so happy about loosing the weight... I am most pleased with the psychological changes that have taken place. I have a sense of being satisfied most of the time now. Its not that I feel restricted to "only" eating small amounts of food, its that small amounts of food are emensly satisfying, much more so than huge amounts of food used to be. It's allowed me to let go of that constant focus on what I will eat next... what diet I will go on next etc. I feel like I can just live now. Bottom line.... I would do it again in an instant!!!!! I hope you are all doing well on your journey thanks for reading stacey

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!

fat free food has a lot of sugar... they replace the fat with sugar..look at all labels.. my nutritionists suggest we eat 10% protein ratio to calories.. in other words if it's 120 calories you should have 12 gms protein... of course after banding you should not drink soda of any kind diet or otherwise.. like steph and maddysgram said eating protein is the key..

I noticed a lot of people talk about how they used to eat (calorie laden this and fatty that). I ate about 75% of the time, light/low-cal foods like FF Lays chips, diet cola,94% FF micro popcorn, light mayo, pam, lean meats,tuna in Water, ECT... and I'm still fat. I know that I ate to much period! More calories in than burned! With my surgery tomorrow morning will eating the same type of foods work for me or hurt my progress because of familiarity? Will the band help keep me full enough?

I have a protein drink I enjoy. I use one cup non-fat plain yogurt, one cup frozen strawberries (not sweetened), 2-3 pkgs Equal, one scoop unflavered whey protein powder, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Blend in a blender until smooth. Very high in protein and low in calories. Just stick it in an insulated mug and you can sip or drink from it over the day. I find it very filling and the unflavored whey protein powder has a higher protein content than the flavored ones.