I usually love my restriction, but this morning I forgot my normal Protein drink for Breakfast and I've been hungry ever since. I went to Wendy's and got a hamburger, and I just want to eat it all. I don't want it to take 2 hours to eat it with little mouse bites, I want to take HUGE bites and gobble it all up NOW!!

Maybe I just to keep my Protein shakes on hand...

My surgeon tells me to eat as soon as I get hungry. My surgeon places and fills the band so that it will restrict food intake. He wants me to eat frequent small meals. Everytime I go in he asks what volume of food I can eat at one sitting with the goal being less than one cup. Once I got to that restriction, the weight started falling off with no counting calories, no weighing food, no feeling of starving, and no exercise (although I'm trying to get into the habit). The only thing I do is make sure I have more than 60 g or protein a day. I don't feel guilty, I don't feel like I'm on a diet, I just eat what I want when I'm hungry. It just happens to be in very small bites and very slowly. I've stopped craving sugars all together. This has made me greatly enjoy meals with my husband and friends because I have more time for conversation instead of just shoveling food into my mouth. If I do have sliming episodes, I go back on liquids for the day and stop trying to force it. I love my band, and I wish everyone on this forum was a patient of MY surgeon, because he has SO much experience and I really feel like he uses the band as the tool it was intended to be.

The band is not supposed to restrict your food by making it difficult to eat. It's supposed to put pressure on the vagus nerves which control the hunger hormone, ghrelin. Once I understood that fact, I realized my sweet spot was at 6cc and not 8.75 cc and that I no longer had to give up eggs, burgers, chicken or all the other things that routinely 'stuck'...while still allowing me to eat slider foods because I was hungry from not being able to eat the things I *should* have been eating.

Then again, I guess we all have to decide how the band is going to work for us. Personally, I love going out to eat with my husband again because I know I'm not going to end up in the bathroom several times during the meal due to sliming episodes.

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Hi ElfiePoo, I have a question for you if you don't mind. I was banded on Nov 29, so I'm almost 3 weeks in and I'm having trouble with solid food. Just about all solid food, scrambled egss, fish, tuna fish, chicken, etc. I only get 3 bites in and I become uncomfortable and start belching. You mention sliming episodes, can you elaborate on what that is. I am quite frustrated, I didn't think getting banded that I would have to give up solid foods. I've been living on shakes and Soups and I continue to try solid stuff but wind up belching and spitting up and then being very uncomfortable for 30 minutes or so

Thanks

Pocono59

Hi ElfiePoo, I have a question for you if you don't mind. I was banded on Nov 29, so I'm almost 3 weeks in and I'm having trouble with solid food. Just about all solid food, scrambled egss, fish, tuna fish, chicken, etc. I only get 3 bites in and I become uncomfortable and start belching. You mention sliming episodes, can you elaborate on what that is. I am quite frustrated, I didn't think getting banded that I would have to give up solid foods. I've been living on shakes and soups and I continue to try solid stuff but wind up belching and spitting up and then being very uncomfortable for 30 minutes or so

Thanks

Pocono59

I know this question isn't for me so I'm sorry for hijacking .

Does your doctor let you eat those foods after three weeks since surgery? I'm curious because that was the week I started mushies. It seems too soon to be eating solid foods, but if that is what your doctor said then I guess it is fine.

Jessica,

I make 'low carb' buns. this recipe makes 6 half buns. So you put 2 together for a real hamburger on a bun. I was in heaven when I discovered these although I do limit them to just one 'whole' (two of the rounds) bun per day.

Here's the recipe:

6 lg eggs

dash salt

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

6 oz cream cheese

scant tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Separate the eggs while still cold (yolk is more stable). Let them come to room temperature. I let the cream cheese sit out during this time as well.

Using the whip attachment, I whipped the eggs with the salt for about 1 minute, then added cream of tartar and whipped for 4 more minutes (soft peaks). You should be able to turn the bowl upside down without the egg whites falling out. In a separate bowl with the flat paddle, I beat the egg yolks, cream cheese, baking powder, and seasonings. It will still have little flecks of cheese throughout. Then I slowly folded the whites into the yolk mixture until most of the whites were incorporated. It wasn't perfectly mixed in but that's not possible without breaking down the whites.

Preheat the oven to 300 deg oven and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place a large scoop of the mix onto the parchment paper and do this 12 times. Then place another dollop of mix right on top of the previous ones and sort of shape them into a circle. Don't flatten them too much. Bake for about 35-45 minutes (switching the pans so they'd cook evenly after about 25 minutes -- didn't want them to fall). You can also use english muffin molds or a muffin top pan to make them a little more consistent.

I let them cool on the pans though just in case the centers needed that residual heat to finish cooking.

That sounds really good, but I don't think there is any way I could eat bread. I would love to be able to make these though.