I Love My Lap Band!

[NaNa 878]

It feels good to eat 1 scrambled egg for Breakfast w/cheese 1 slice of bacon, half an apple for lunch and a few spoons of re-fried Beans w/cheese and salsa for dinner.< /p>

And seeing the scale move again....consistently....

This would not have been a big deal at 5 years post op...but I am going on 9 years and still have the restriction of a newbie...I love my band....

[jennybean 175]

That is great! Can't wait until I get there. Is this the quantities you eat on a daily basis? I am finding that my band tightness fluctuates so much that every day is different. Some days I can't get enough food and others seem pretty good....very up and down right now.

I am still new and only have 2cc's in my band, but my band has be tight from the start so I think another 1-2 cc's and I may get to the green zone or pretty close.

[NaNa 878]

That is great! Can't wait until I get there. Is this the quantities you eat on a daily basis? I am finding that my band tightness fluctuates so much that every day is different. Some days I can't get enough food and others seem pretty good....very up and down right now.

I am still new and only have 2cc's in my band, but my band has be tight from the start so I think another 1-2 cc's and I may get to the green zone or pretty close.

Hi JennyBean,

That's how my restriction used to be before I found my sweet spot, it would fluctuate, some days I would feel some restriction and some days I could eat a normal meal!

Before I reached my sweet spot with this new band, I LOST nothing! Now my weight loss is like clock work, I got on the scale this morning and I was down another pound

I agree with you should proceed cautiously in your next subsequent fills. I was in fact too tight before I found my sweet spot, I was really hungry between meals and could pretty much eat a full meal before I got to my sweet spot and my surgeon added 1cc, by the time I got home after my fill I could not swallow my spit, I had to turn around and go right back and have him remove half of that, and that took me to my sweet spot, so sometimes once you get near the green zone you have to do small tweaks and it my require a small unfill to get you where you need to be.

I am at my sweet spot in the green zone, in the mornings when I wake up my band feels very tight, I usually drink some crystal lite or a Protein drink when I get up, but sometimes I will wait until around 10:am when my band is a little looser and cook 1 egg w/sauteed spring opinions and a little butter and sprinkled cheese -- which has less than 100 calories, and I may add a slice of bacon, which does not have but about 42 calories.

With my sweet spot, I have to carefully eat my egg and bacon for breakfast, then I will drink crystal lite.

By lunch time, I am no longer hungry, -- the band is doing its job, I can either skip lunch or have something very light, sometimes I will eat a piece of fruit, KEEP IN MIND, ideally with sweet spot, most people CAN EAT MOST FOODS, I can't eat thick bread, it will clog me up and I will slime, and I avoid all white products, like bread, rice, flour, etc.

If I eat for example half of a small apple cut up without the peel, (I don't eat those very hard apples, they will be hard for me to get down, I eat those juicy kinda soft red apples, gives me daily Fiber too) this will actually plug me up more, and about 3-4 hours later for dinner I can't eat hardly nothing, but maybe a few teaspoons of something mushy like re-fried Beans or soft baked fish, only about 1 to maybe 2 oz is all I can eat.

I know they say we are not supposed to fell stuffed, but I do, with my sweet spot I can't eat another bite after dinner, I have no desire to snack between meals and my raging hunger is gone.

Also FOR ME, I tested out drinking crystal lite a few minutes after I'd eaten my eggs and I will tell you, it does not make any difference for me, I stay full the same as if I don't drink, also I find that if I don't drink something the food will feel like it's still stuck in my esophagus, so for ME, I do sip on a little crystal lite to push my food through and it works for ME.

So you don't have to be too tight to reduce your food to liquids, in fact, I've been too tight before and there is really no advantage to it, and most people end up eating more calories when they are too tight because they can't get down but liquids, or soft stuff like yogurt, Protein drinks, chips, candy, etc....and this stuff WILL not keep you satiated for long periods of time and plus you can damage your band if its stays too tight too long with reflux issues...

So my calories for a typically day now are

Breakfast - 1 egg/cheese, 1 slice of bacon - 150-200 calories

Lunch - 1/2 apple, or baked fish - 60- 100 calories

Dinner - Refried beans/ salsa cheese light sour cream - 200 calories

Zero calorie crystal lite

As you can see I am barely eating 500-600 calories per day and it feels like I am eating full course meals of over 2000 calories. Sometimes I will add some mashed soft broccoli w/butter and garlic powder which hardly have no calories.

Also if you already feel some restriction now, I will add maybe a little more until you sneak up on your sweet spot.

Good luck

[jennybean 175]

Wow what a great answer! Right now I am eating between 1200 and 1500 calories. I NEVER lose weight eating that amount of caloires. I have suspected this for a long time and pretty much have proved it now. On this amount of caloires, I basically maintain.

The only time I have ever lost a substaintial amount of weight was when I went on the Dr. Bernstein Diet (I think this is mainly a Canadian diet not sure if you have heard about it). It limits you to about 600-800 calories and you get Vitamin B shots under doctor and nurse supervision. It is grossly expensive. It works, but most regain extremely quickly after you run out of $ and have to stop the program.

So I know I have to be under 1000 calories in order to lose, this is why I decided on the band. Glad to see the calorie count will go down, hopefully soon!

I also feel stuffed a lot when my band is tighter. I was wondering if this is a problem??, because they say you should not feel stuffed.

[NaNa 878]

Wow what a great answer! Right now I am eating between 1200 and 1500 calories. I NEVER lose weight eating that amount of caloires. I have suspected this for a long time and pretty much have proved it now. On this amount of caloires, I basically maintain.

The only time I have ever lost a substaintial amount of weight was when I went on the Dr. Bernstein Diet (I think this is mainly a Canadian diet not sure if you have heard about it). It limits you to about 600-800 calories and you get Vitamin B shots under doctor and nurse supervision. It is grossly expensive. It works, but most regain extremely quickly after you run out of $ and have to stop the program.

So I know I have to be under 1000 calories in order to lose, this is why I decided on the band. Glad to see the calorie count will go down, hopefully soon!

I also feel stuffed a lot when my band is tighter. I was wondering if this is a problem??, because they say you should not feel stuffed.

Hi JennyBean,

You are correct MOST people have to go very low in order to lose weight, I do, too. When you get low in calories of around 500-800 calories a day you do need to supplement more and some people take B12 supplements to keep their strength up from being weak.

Everyone that I've known to have the Bypass or Sleeve, usually go very low in calories, more so than Lap banders, since they lose very quickly.

Some say that going low will take you into starvation mode, for ME, starvation mode does not exist, I can't lose consistently at 1500 calories, I think when you are very young and have a very strong metabolism that may work for young active people, but if you are over 40 like me, that does not work.

Well hopefully if we use our band wisely, we will have our bands to stop that regain ..

Yes that is the dangers of going low it can ruin your metabolism, this is why I try to walk daily or get on the treadmill daily for about 20 minutes to keep my metabolism strong.

Well I feel stuffed too, here is the thing, I eat very dense food, this way I don't have to keep my band too tight, for example, I think my band is now at the right spot.

I feel tight in the mornings, but I can still eat all solid food, if I eat yogurt, I don't get that signal that stimulates my vagus nerve, the key to eating with the band is eating DENSE food, that will keep hungry at bay for hours.

Really learning how the band works takes a course ...lol...

For example, if I eat a boil egg or scrambled egg it will keep my fuller longer than eating yogurt or cottage cheese or a Protein drink, remember food has to be dense to send that signal to your brain, and dense food also give you that stuffed feeling, that is how MY band works.

And if I eat a few slices of an apple -- that's IT, I plugs me up and I can't eat dinner, so I have to carefully watch my diet to eat more because the more dense foods I eat the LESS I can eat, this is something newbies don't understand well, this is why newbies make a mistake and get too tight, when in fact being too tight will create the opposite.

Believe it or not, those who's bands are too tight end up eating MORE calories than those who are in the green zone at their sweet spot, because when the band is too tight, will be fighting heartburn and a feeling of misery,

More acid creates a false sense of hunger, and the vagus nerve is not stimulated because nothing dense is hitting the stomach, and those who are too tight will get sick and tired of sipping Protein drinks, and yogurt and panic and eat chips, candy, Cookies, soft carbs, etc and many don't' lose weight and many end up with slipped bands with no weight loss.

If you are feeling stuffed don't worry about it, that is a good thing, I guess you need to focus more on making sure that you are not eating over 4oz per meal.

For ME, when I eat an egg and drink some crystal lite, I am stuff and can't eat any more, the band is not about restriction but feeling satisfied, but for me, I get full.

In fact when I eat two solid meals, I can't eat anything else, for example, if I eat breakfast and lunch, I will not be hungry for dinner, and if I eat dinner when I wake up I am not hungry for breakfast until around 10am or 11am.....so it's difficult for me to eat 3 solid meals per day...but if I was eating soft food, and Protein Drinks I would be more hungrier.

The key to the band is getting the adjustment "just right" where you can eat solids and dense foods to plug up the stomach to keep your hunger at bay for hours, and my band is now doing that. If the band is too tight you will not be able to enjoy or get down healthy dense food that will stimulate the vagus nerve to keep you satiated for hours, like an egg, or apple.

Hope this helps.

[SkinnyJenn 68]

That is so cool. I can't wait till my band!