I had surgery last Wednesday - finally feeling a little bit better. I've been real good about the liquid diet and NO SUGAR... I got on the scale today and I'm down 8lbs since surgery - not too bad, a pound a day but I have to say, unfortunately, that I am hungry! I wasn't the first few days but now I am. Also, I do not find much restriction with foods going down - like I can gulp Water, I thought it would be much more restricted but with the swelling going down I don't see much difference in my stomach function albeit I'm staying the course and only eating what the nutritionist & doc have prescribed on the documents they gave me before surgery. Hell, if I only had this willpower before surgery I believe the same effect would take place - if I put myself into ketosis the weight would come off.

Nonetheless - this is LONG TERM and will continue to give me the tool to shed these pounds!

so, my question is this - what can I chew/eat to get rid of this metallic taste in my mouth! It's just disgusting and makes me feel worse than ever!

My post-op is tomorrow and I'll ask the doc as well.

Ketosis causes bad metallic breath. Not sure what you can do, except chew gum BUT some doctors say NO GUM. As far as no restriction, I am in the same boat. I just had my first fill and still not really much different.

It will take a few fills before you get the real work from the band.

You'll be in "bandster hell" until you get the fill that gives you enough restriction for the band to work it's magic. That may be 1 fill or 6. No one knows. Till then, like our esteemed forum member B-52 says,

"Until there's restriction...It's just another diet"

I kept TicTacs with me at all times. In the beginning, I tried to chew a half a piece of gum, but got serious gas. Now, I have zero issues with it. But Tic Tacs helped with the metallic taste. If you don't like them, there are tons of other sugar free mints to try.