Ok, I was banded Jan18th and won't have my 1st fill for another 3 weeks. Right now I'm allowed soft food including canned chicken/tuna. I'm allowed 1/4 cup food every 3 hours with mostly Protein. In the beginning, this worked well, however, my question is, as the swelling continues to go down I'm starting to get hungrier in between meals. How do you manage? How do you continue to eat right, lose weight, until your 1st fill? Thanks in advance!

Before my first fill, and even now, I track my food on Livestrong.com's The Daily Plate function. I set a calorie goal to lose 2lbs a week, and I try hard to stick to it.

I eat when I feel hungry, and stop when I'm full....definitely making smarter choices than pre-surgery. No soda, no fried foods, no alcohol...and try to walk as exercise every day.

Just take care of yourself, listen to your body, and try to eat balanced, with all your Protein, sneak some veggies in, try to avoid the bad carbs, and all your Fluid.

Until you reach restriction (wich for many takes 3-4 fills) you are going on sheer will power. I suggest you focus on eating the right foods (low carb/fat, high protein) even if your portions are larger than they will be once you have restriction. Good luck! It does get better.

Don't stick to the 1/4 c every 3 hours. That's way too little food. You're almost two weeks out, you should be able to eat almost normally at this point. I'm two weeks out and I can eat 1-1.5 c of food per sitting (depending on the food) and my Dr. approves of this. It's normal nutrition.

Ultimately you'll be looking for that amount per meal, 1-1.5 c. Eat when you are hungry, not by the clock. If you are truly hungry - eat. It will prevent you from feeling sick and prevent your sugar from tanking.

Eat complex carbs and Protein to keep you fuller longer. Avoid Soups, yogurt, ice cream, Jello, anything that is liquid or liquid like because they'll slip right through. I find that soft cooked Pasta keeps me full for 4-5 hours, potatoes do the same thing (all approved Phase II foods). Soup makes me hungry an hour later. Protein shakes stave me off for about 2 hours.

Start tracking your food - the time you eat it too - The Daily Plate is really good for this (there's even an iPhone app) - and that will help you figure out what keeps you fuller for longer so you can eat foods that will help you lose by keeping you full.

It took me to my 3rd fill to start getting at least some restriction...I did weight watchers and tracked my food on fit.com. for the first few onths....It was really frustrating for me but I just took it day by day and did my best to eat right and started exercising...you just have to try to get your mind set that you HAVE to do this and get through this tough part..you will be there before you know it.

Having the same problem; I'm supposed to start my normal diet Monday and I've been so hungry lately I'm almost afraid to start on solids. I've gained back about 2 lbs which I know isn't much but since I don't my 1st fill until 2/22 I'm really worried. I've started going back to the gym which I hope helps. I've only felt "pouch full" once; most of the time I just stop myself after I've had my cup's worth. Is a month and a half before your 1st fill normal?

Ok, I was banded Jan18th and won't have my 1st fill for another 3 weeks. Right now I'm allowed soft food including canned chicken/tuna. I'm allowed 1/4 cup food every 3 hours with mostly Protein. In the beginning, this worked well, however, my question is, as the swelling continues to go down I'm starting to get hungrier in between meals. How do you manage? How do you continue to eat right, lose weight, until your 1st fill? Thanks in advance!

You forget the 1/4 cup of food. Some doctors are just unreasonable. Set yourself a reasonable daily calorie limit of say 1200 calories and keep track of it in something like fitday.com. You'll still be hungry (because isn't that why we got the band...we're always hungry?), but at least you won't be starving which only leads to cheating.

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Did they give you written guidelines you can look at as you go? Something that gives you an idea of what they want you to have at each stage? Do you have a NUT you can talk with? Of course we all have different "rules" with each doc, but 1/4 cup is not enough. When you don't have restriction yet it will be a rough road trying to stick to 1/4c. The most common thing I have heard is 1/2 cup. As long as you "diet" until you have restriction you should be fine.

Pasta would not be a good choice. Congrats on getting banded! It's a process, but well worth it !

Thank you for all the replies. I guess they just have me scared that I only need 1/4cup right now, or else I risk stretching out the pouch, even though it holds more? And you're right, trying to stick with 1/4 cup only makes me want to cheat! Then I feel bad. I'm just trying to eat mostly protein and stick close to 1000 cal/day, as that's also what they said. I'm very excited about my band, but can't wait for my 1st fill.

Deanna;

First, best of luck in this process....I hope you are wildly successful!

While advice on this forum is given with the best of intentions, I would strongly suggest that you clear ANY change in your eating regimen with your Surgeon's office before proceeding. Different Surgeons have developed different Post-Surgical protocols, and they often have a very good reason for giving specific instructions. You are only 2 weeks out from your sugery, you are still in the "healing phase", and it is really far too early for you to be making changes without your Surgeon's direct instructions and permission.

Very often, if you call the Surgeon's office, they will allow you to alter the instructions somewhat, but you NEED to clear any change with them, not only to get their approval, but so that they can RECORD it. Not all Doctors care what happens to the Patient post surgery, but many do, and they try and keep records and logs as to the progress made by their patients. This helps them in knowing what protocols work for patients, and which ones do not. The only way they will know HOW to instruct their patients in the future is by referring to how patients respond to past instructions. So, that aspect is VERY important.

Finally, some Surgeons have begun limiting the amount of food that passes through the Stoma in the first month (even longer, in some cases) because it is believed that the longer the healing is allowed to proceed, and the longer the body has to become accustomed to the new "visitor" in the body, the better the chances are for avoiding slippage, erosion, and some of the other problems associated with the Lap Band. Only theoretical, and not all surgeons subscribe to this theory, but some Surgeons ARE testing this.

Further on down the road, after a few months have passed, you can begin experimenting with different methodologies for dealing with your Band. That is where advice on this forum (and others) will prove useful. But until that time, PLEASE check with your Surgeon's office before you make ANY changes to his/her original instructions.

Best of luck to you!

S.

One thing in your favor is that you doctor is recommending you eat every 3 hours; this way you are spreading out your food. The way I would take that is you are able to eat more than 3 meals a day. Am I correct? One poster said you should be ready to eat solids at 2 weeks and I disagree. My doctor had me on soft foods at week 3, mushies week 4, an solds at week 5. <br /><br />At week 3 I did add Greek Yoghurt mixed with a stick blender with a tablespoon of milk to thin it out. Greek yoghurt has twice the protein of regular yoghurt. My doctor has never said to avoid yoghurt. In fact my Nutrionist approved the following (though I am on solids keep in mind): Chobani fat free fruited yoghurt, half scoop vanilla Whey isolate protein powder, splendra, unflavored fiber powder, 10 g. Kashi Go Lean. I have this everyday for breakfast. <br /><br />Post op even during the mushie phase I would have a cup of creamy soup (Progresso Tomato Basil, Pacific Sweet Red Pepper/Tomato measure use a coffe cup and not a mug. Mugs will hold A LOT more). And then an hour or two later have my mushie protein. This way I was getting my veggies during the healing phase. You don't want to have you mushie and then the soup. This will wash the food out of the pouch and is a bad habit to get into.

Maybe have a popcicle in between meals...i know it's not going to fill you up but it helped me

Ok, I was banded Jan18th and won't have my 1st fill for another 3 weeks. Right now I'm allowed soft food including canned chicken/tuna. I'm allowed 1/4 cup food every 3 hours with mostly protein. In the beginning, this worked well, however, my question is, as the swelling continues to go down I'm starting to get hungrier in between meals. How do you manage? How do you continue to eat right, lose weight, until your 1st fill? Thanks in advance!

If you eat the right things, there just is no reason to stick to 1/4 cup of food - and being tight enough to do that without hunger means you wont even be able to swallow your own spit.

Fill out your meals with salads and vegies, choose low fat and low calorie foods - protein and a salad for dinner is never going to make you fat unless its a 400 gram steak fried in butter. Prepare it lean, keep portion sizes reasonable rather than insanely tiny and allow your band to dictate what it takes to fill you. Fill in the chinks with free foods like fruit and vegies, exercise with reasonable intensity and just dig in, find your willpower and ignore mild in between meal hunger. If you're truly starviing then a low GI snack like cottage cheese on a wholegrain crispbread or something similar.

One poster said you should be ready to eat solids at 2 weeks and I disagree.

No, that's not what I said. What I said was that *my doctor* had me eating solids at 2 weeks. Everybody's doctor is different. Some make their patients stay on complete liquids for a month postop. The point being that there are no 'standards' and, while the claim is made that you *need* to take a month to get back to regular food, this is just an arbitrary decision by each doctor.

I asked my surgeon why he has us back on solids at 2 weeks and some doctors make their patients wait a month postop. He said it's because they know that the average patient, if given the opportunity to do solid foods at 2 weeks will (due to hunger) once again eat the wrong foods and too much and put too much stress on the band area. they believe this will prevent that. His view is that we are physically able to eat solids again at 2 weeks and will be less likely to go overboard and do something stupid out of hunger, if we're able to actually 'eat'. After reading this forum for the last year plus, he's probably right.

I do the opposite of the 'traditional' diet approach. My diet is about 1200 calories and I keep the carbs between 30-60gm per day. I don't worry about fats. Mine are somewhere around 70gm per day. My lab work (and those of others who consistently keep their carbs under 60gm) comes back normal. My LDH/HDL are all within normal limits...as are those of others who *consistently* keep their carbs low. If you can't do this (keep carbs low), then high fat does become an issue when combined with a high carb diet. I'm not going to get into any argument with anyone over this since I know it's difficult to get people to look outside the box. I'm just putting it out there.

I find that if I do a low calorie low fat diet, I'm always hungry. The slightly higher fat content in my diet keeps me more content between meals. Bottom line - everyone is different and you just need to find what you can live with for the rest of your life.

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I am glad I found this posting. This is something I've been struggling with. I try hard to stick to 3/4 to 1 cup of food, sometimes I do a little more than that, but my PA said that it was ok to drink with meals. I don't eat more because I have a drink, it just helps me feel better. I don't have problems with my restriction. I can normally go 4 1/2 - 5 hrs before eating.

If you measure your food by weight, how much is ok to eat? Some things weigh more, but don't take as much room and some things are light weight and take up a whole cup and it's like maybe 4 pieces of broccoli for example.