Amount of Food

[Guest Brianna]

My mother is in the process of receiving "lap band" surgery. Her doctor informed her that she will only be able to eat 1oz. of food at a time for the rest of her life! ..as you can imagine this would bring up some concern.

Can anyone enlighten us on this matter?

Any information at all would is welcomed and appreciated!

Thank you

[La_madam 20]

All I can say in my case..that is not true. I eat more then 1 oz at a time I can assure you of that! I eat from 3/4 of a cup to a cup of food. I just got my 2nd fill so we will se how that goes. I think most here will tell you the samething that they can eat more then an ounce at a time.

[sassaay 1]

Hi Brianna,

You will probably find from the responses you receive that everyone is different and it probably depends upon the level of restriction that your Mom ultimately reaches.

Now with that said... I can say that with only my band and no fill, I can eat anywhere from 1-3 cups of food depending upon the food type. I have never reached my sweet spot w/ restriction, so I cannot say what the smallest amount of food would be for me with proper restriction at any one meal.... but I have experienced slight to med restriction and could eat about 1 cup of food.

1oz seems extremely unrealistic... but that is my opinion.

Hope your Mom does well.

[New Hope 37]

Brianna, best of luck to your Mom. Is your dr. talking about lapband surgery? RNY is a totally different animal. I know I eat more than that. The bandsters posting here are patients, not drs., so we can only give suggestions. We're not medical drs. Please do as much research as possible. The more knowledge you and your Mom have, the better.

[New Hope 37]

If you go to the Inamed website, you can download the actual patient's handbook about the Lapband. It will tell you about the surgical procedure, how much and how often to eat, aftercare. That might help you out.

[Guest Brianna]

Thank you for your posts. I just had my mom sit down and read them. She just wants the opportunity to speak with people who have had this life changing surgery, before she herself undergoes it, come the 23rd of this month.

If she has anymore questions, or concerns, I hope you all will still be here.

[hagerteresa 3]

Of course we'll all still be here. We love it here and have made wonderful friendships all over the world. I definitely eat MORE than 1 oz at every meal. The doctor is full of hog wash. Hmmm what is 1 oz??? 1/8th OF A CUP!!! I eat about 1 full cup of food at most meals. Sometimes a little less and sometimes a little more. I have been banded just under 15 weeks and am down 58 lbs and haven't had any fills. I started off at 362 lbs and am now at 304 lbs. I LOVE the band. I was a huge skeptic at first and was certain it wouldn't work for me before I had surgery. I HOPED it WOULD work and it has. Best of luck with your mom and I hope she will come to visit. Teresa;)

[leatha_g 4]

I think it's a great idea to research, for sure, but has she just begun? there is so much to learn so that you know what to expect.

1 oz of food would be about one little souffle cup. I seriously doubt that she'll be eating only 1 oz of food unless she is super restricted. In the beginning, she'll be on liquids. There is really no limit on those. The idea is to keep hydrated and sustain your strength during the healing phase. This period is not meant for weight loss so please make sure she understands her initial 6 weeks is not weight loss time it's HEALING time. IF she loses weight during this time it'll be due to lower calories, exercise and Water, water, water. Some folks do not lose, they may actually gain a few lbs back. Not to be alarmed, this is very common. I just think it's good if folks are mentally prepared for that. They do not wake up skinny.. lol.

I would definitely encourage her to read everything she can pertaining to this surgery. It seems real close to the time and there is lots and lots to learn and be prepared for.

We wish her lots of luck!!

Leatha

[Alexandra 55]

Brianna, are we hearing you right that your mother is having surgery this coming Monday? I hope she'll spend the whole weekend on the Internet reading stories from people who have had the surgery.

The doctor who said that, about 1 oz of food at a time, is he a banding doctor? Or was that a general doctor who maybe doesn't understand banding or maybe isn't a fan of WLS on the whole? It is absolutely not true and I can't imagine why someone would say that in all seriousness.

The amount of food we can eat decreases as our restriction increases. That is one of the beauties of the band--we don't just wake up one morning unable to eat more than a few mouthfuls. It comes with time and adjustments and by the time our capacity is down to a few ounces that really might be all we need or want at a time. But that isn't for months, usually, and there's plenty of time to get used to the idea.

Tell your mother about us...we're here!!