So when it comes to eating the good stuff (protein, veg, fiber etc) I eat very little and am satisfied very quickly and don't get hungry again for a few hours maybe even as long as 8-12 hours!! I have noticed though if I eat carbs I can eat unlimited amounts basically and feel hungry right away. My surgeon told me before I had the band that it doesn't work for carbs so try not to eat them... Being a carbaholic... A do indulge sometimes. It really is harboring me though I feel. I'm not losing as quickly as I was in the beginning. I went the whole month of March with no loss. Now it looks after my second fill and losing 7 lbs 3 weeks ago almost immediately that I've stopped again... It's frustrating but I'm not jumping to conclusions yet. I thought I was in the green. I just need to pay better attention to my band but I honestly don't even have time to go food shopping between working overnights and going directly to school and studying. I barely have time for sleep as that is a luxury. I'm hoping to get into a better routine when school ends in a month.

Refined sugar is the enemy...Sweets pastries, Cookies..you know the drill. I too eat them once in a while... Complex carbs however form a complete Protein and we need them in our bodies to work as everything we eat turns to sugar so we can function and build ourselves continuously. I posted a site for you with a list of complex carbs that support natural eating habits and you can go from there....

This is how I eat most of the time...I only eat cookies if they are healthy by the way....LOL wink, wink:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/complex-carbohydrates-list.html

Edited April 11, 201412 yr by RJ'S/beginning

I know what you mean about the carbs. I don't eat bread or pasta but we have some gluten-free cereals and it doesn't matter if they are complex carbs I can get going on that crunching and munching without filling up like I do with the protein and veg. That said, if I add about a tablespoon of said cereal or almonds, etc. to my 100 calorie Greek yogurt it makes it more of a whole meal for me, takes longer to eat it, doesn't just slide down or make me want more. I guess we are all different and need to experiment. Last night I had white beans I had soaked a few days and cooked up -- they were delicious with a teeny tiny bit of specialty olive oil and salt/pepper. But I found I wasn't getting full -- too carby?

What kind of carbs are you eating? Pasta, bread, cereals, potatoes? These are all OK in very small quantities but they're high glycemic values makes them digest so quickly and enters your blood stream quickly too.

Beans and vegetable carbs are low glycemic and stay with you longer.

Most refined carbs are "sliders", and as part of your banded lifestyle are to be avoided fir the reason you mentioned. Avoid them, they are the very foods that contributed to our obesity.

What kind of carbs are you eating? Pasta, bread, cereals, potatoes? These are all OK in very small quantities but they're high glycemic values makes them digest so quickly and enters your blood stream quickly too. Beans and vegetable carbs are low glycemic and stay with you longer.

No occasionally I really slip towards the junk like I had a small piece of cake at an office party. Or I would sometimes have bread in a sandwich or toast with breakfast or a wrap with breakfast. I try my best not to mess with these foods at all though. Before when my band was looser I was eating a lot of junk still just in smaller quantities. Now I really try to stick as much as possible to the proteins. My problem is no time!!! I just ran to the food store real quick and bought some rotisserie chicken salad just to have in the fridge for these times I need to just "grab and go"

About your fill not lasting..... That happened to me twice. Good restriction for two to three weeks, and then back to the drawing board. With that said, I did not get an adjustment at my last office visit this past Tuesday. Doc did tell me that she would not be surprised if I'd need another slight adjustment by my next monthly appointment. She stated that the adjustments will last longer ang longer, but may need slight fills along the way to not having to be adjusted any longer. My last fill is lasting me five weeks so far.

About the carbs, I had to stay away from them as much as humanly possible. I, too, would have classified myself as a carboholic. I stay away from them just like a recovering alcoholic stays away from alcohol.

About your fill not lasting..... That happened to me twice. Good restriction for two to three weeks, and then back to the drawing board. With that said, I did not get an adjustment at my last office visit this past Tuesday. Doc did tell me that she would not be surprised if I'd need another slight adjustment by my next monthly appointment. She stated that the adjustments will last longer ang longer, but may need slight fills along the way to not having to be adjusted any longer. My last fill is lasting me five weeks so far.

I'm not going to give up on it yet because it's pretty good on the proteins but not the carbs. I'm just going to try to cut the carbs better and get my fluids in! That part is hard because I work where sometimes I don't get a minute to go to the lavatory if need be and same with school!

Wendy, carbs are tricky for me, for sure. And i think I understand the heart of your question. Should you be able to eat a large bag of chips or say, 5 cups of mashed potatoes? You know, I honestly have to say I have never tried. As far as measured quantity, I know I can eat more mashed potatoes than than I can eat steak or chicken or another hard Protein, but not if I eat a hard protein with the carb. If I eat my hard protein before the mash, I won't eat as much mash, and still be satisfied. So that's what I do, and was instructed to do, by my doctor.

If I wanted to eat "around" the band, i could probably eat three bowls of cream of potato Soup, a large serving of Pasta, a blended mocha, and a bowl of ice cream -- and then have "rebound" sugar hunger. Then again, maybe if couldn't. But, like I said above, that's an experiment I've never wanted or try --for obvious reasons! The band is a tool, but it's not magic, lol! I do know, that for my metabolism, even if all that filled me up, I would be hungry again faster than if I ate a protein.

Beans and other good carbs do satisfy me a long time. A Taco Bell pintos and cheese cup is a favorite of mine when I'm on the go, and forced through a fast-food drive-thru. Lentils fill me up, quinoa, thick oatmeal.

I used to question myself on whether I was green or not, whether I could eat too much or not, whether my band was working or if I was doing all the work, or not. I think we all question it, to try and get the best experience from our WLS. Many of us have been addicted to thinking about food and weight loss for years anyway, and this is a new focus! After a while, if you just accept the bariatric rules and follow them, I think that's the best experience of all!

Sorry this is rambling. I just woke up, and haven't had my decaf cuppa yet! Geez, it may not address your topic at all. I'm not sure. Ok gotta sign off and get my morning moving, lol.

You can definitely 'eat around' your band. Most people can eat near unlimited quantities of carbs. But the only person you are hurting by doing this, is YOU.

The band is meant to work when you follow the rules given to you by your surgeon. While all of us have different rules, there is a common thread - Protein first, complex carbs next and rarely, if ever, eat simple carbs. The band works best when you follow these rules. The band does very little when we eat simple carbs.

Corn is a trouble food. It has no value for humans. It goes in one end and out the other. However refined sugar everything is bad.. No exceptions there. but complex carbs make a complete Protein which is easier to break down into glucose.

I think white rice and Pasta, white bread..Everything in refined sugar is harmful. But grains, seeds, nuts, brown rice, hemp hearts. Wheat hearts, Beans...whatever help with Fiber and absorption. As patients of ant WLS. We need it all. Dense protein first and foremost. But we need it all. Our absorption is limited and so by eating complete complex carbs we get ready Vitamins and minerals easier.

that is what I have read. That is what my nut says and that is what my daughter says who by the way is healthy foods obsessed...( she drives me nuts!!) But what do I know....

You can definitely 'eat around' your band. Most people can eat near unlimited quantities of carbs. But the only person you are hurting by doing this, is YOU. The band is meant to work when you follow the rules given to you by your surgeon. While all of us have different rules, there is a common thread - protein first, complex carbs next and rarely, if ever, eat simple carbs. The band works best when you follow these rules. The band does very little when we eat simple carbs.

Yeah I know the rules... Thanks... I have an addiction obviously or I never would have gotten so big to get the band in the first place

So when it comes to eating the good stuff (protein, veg, fiber etc) I eat very little and am satisfied very quickly and don't get hungry again for a few hours maybe even as long as 8-12 hours!! I have noticed though if I eat carbs I can eat unlimited amounts basically and feel hungry right away. My surgeon told me before I had the band that it doesn't work for carbs so try not to eat them... Being a carbaholic... A do indulge sometimes. It really is harboring me though I feel. I'm not losing as quickly as I was in the beginning. I went the whole month of March with no loss. Now it looks after my second fill and losing 7 lbs 3 weeks ago almost immediately that I've stopped again... It's frustrating but I'm not jumping to conclusions yet. I thought I was in the green. I just need to pay better attention to my band but I honestly don't even have time to go food shopping between working overnights and going directly to school and studying. I barely have time for sleep as that is a luxury. I'm hoping to get into a better routine when school ends in a month.

So when it comes to eating the good stuff (protein, veg, fiber etc) I eat very little and am satisfied very quickly and don't get hungry again for a few hours maybe even as long as 8-12 hours!! I have noticed though if I eat carbs I can eat unlimited amounts basically and feel hungry right away. My surgeon told me before I had the band that it doesn't work for carbs so try not to eat them... Being a carbaholic... A do indulge sometimes. It really is harboring me though I feel. I'm not losing as quickly as I was in the beginning. I went the whole month of March with no loss. Now it looks after my second fill and losing 7 lbs 3 weeks ago almost immediately that I've stopped again... It's frustrating but I'm not jumping to conclusions yet. I thought I was in the green. I just need to pay better attention to my band but I honestly don't even have time to go food shopping between working overnights and going directly to school and studying. I barely have time for sleep as that is a luxury. I'm hoping to get into a better routine when school ends in a month.

18 months lapband down 60ounds. For me to let one bite of carbs into my mouth will send to into a binge. I have struggled for one year to remove the "whites" from my plate. My brain sends me "the carb monster" and I fight that ....MMMM every day! I know that I cannot eat no "whites not even one bite. That is not only hard because that was my staple for 30 years............bahhhhhhh. I want to reach my goal and stay healthy.

Annette, you have to stop hoarding all the success. You look damn good now so spread the success around(and I mean my direction)