Im 1 week out and 4 xmas dinner had mash potatoes 2 x's! OMG i feel so guilty. I also had some baileys irish creme! I kno its bad for the calories but it all went down fine. i stopped when full. OMGosh-nnew years is comming now! we r italian- allwe do it eat- hence my problem for the currennt weight annd surgery-lol. anyone else eat at 1 week?

I did at 11-12 days after. Picking at Holiday dinner. All went down fine as well. Too fine if you ask me!!!!

Felt/feel real guilty too! Did much better today though!!!!!

Christmas eve was one week for me. My best friend made potato cheese soup (yuM) in my honor and I had a couple of glasses of wine. On Christmas I had 2 or 3 soft crackers with dip (nibbled very slowly) sweet potatos, mashed potatos, and ham plus sees candy (the soft center type) I figure I hadn't had more than 500 calories a day for the first 4 or 5 days after surgery so what could it hurt? Any way everything went down fine but I do find that if I eat too much my shoulder pain gets worse. I worried because I wasn't supposed to do solid food so soon but it all seemed to go down fine. I think I will go back on shakes for a few days though because that is one way to get the protein in and get the weight moving because it really slowed down after surgery. Also I am having a hard time getting in all my water!!:hungry:

I too have the shoulder pain after i uhh, umm...cheated 9 days out. Everything goes down ok but you KNOW when you have to stop. Tried a piece of biscuit...Thought I'd have to call roto rooter! Ixna on the Iscuitba! Good luck Ya'll!

I don't think the problem is whether or not the food will go down. It is more what damage it does once it gets there.

I could have swallowed the stuff a couple days after surgery but there is still swelling and healing happening. One your stomach needs to heal and not work so hard at digesting. Two, there may still be swollen pockets that will trap the food and cause further irritation if not worse.

What I was told is that everything you consume for the first 3-4 weeks needs to be able to go down through the band and not get hung up above it. That is the reason for the liquids and the mushies.

Up until last week I still could feel my liquid backing up a bit. Sort of like a funnel effect. That feeling has now subsided and I have been able to move onto things a LITTLE harder. Please be careful. It is SO hard not to cheat, but this soon out of surgery I would think that the consequences are not worth the indulgence.

Just my 2 cents.

Steph

According to my diet i can have oatmeal and scrambled eggs 1 week after surgery (ie mushy food). The doctor actually said he used to have mashed potatoes on this list but too many people abused them and didnt lose weight cuz of eating only mashed potatoes all the time.

I am 8 days from my sugery now and can have foods such as oatmeal, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and such.. Yes i had one serving of mashed potatoes but only one ! and i dont plan to have more.

I felt bad because on Christmas night I was was working in the ER. OMG there was so much food there. I was really good........until I saw the biscuits. Damn that bread! I had two little ones. I felt like crap...not for eating them but for cheating. I am over it now, trying not to dwell and went straight to liquids again today. I am two weeks post op and my checkup would have been on Xmas. They scheduled me for Jan 10. I am trying to get ahold of my DR. to see if I can move to the next phase.

I am absolutely guilty of eating 1 week out too. I could have eaten the next day and not had a problem. I was freaked out about damage to my band though. My recovery was so easy I started to wonder if they even put a band in me. I had gas pain the night of the surgery and that was it. Minor soreness around my incisions and that was it. Once I lost 7 lbs I could actually feel the port and I knew it was there. I am now 3 weeks out and ate Christmas dinner with the family and it was way too easy to eat. I am ready for a fill. I am glad to know I am not the only one who cheated early on. (we are all sinners!:cry)I was sooo hungry from the liquids. The hunger pains would wake me up in the middle of the night and I would have to get up and drink a yogurt to quiet my stomach down. My stomach was so loud that it was waking my hubby up too. I can't wait to get my first fill, I think I am going to get it done the 2nd week of January. Good luck to all

I ate mashed potatoes, some smooshed (technical term I know! LOL) green beans and some pureed broccoli casserole on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Other than that, I have stuck w/ the diet. I have been cooking like MAD for my hubby and not tasting or anything. He is going to be SUCH a butterball!!!! But, I feel awesome, so I guess all is well. My biggest problem is that my mom wants to push stuff that I'm not supposed to have on me. We had to eat at a restaurant the other day and I got vegetable soup (I asked for mostly broth, and the waitress was awesome! it was nearly all soup and no 'lumps'). Mom also got vegetable soup, but also received cornbread. She kept shoving some at me saying... "you can spit it out! Just have some, it'll make you feel better... you can spit it out!." And, I wonder why I'm fat! HA HA!

Man, I love this board!! I too cheated (ate) holiday dinner Xmas Eve & Xmas Day.. I felt awful & really freaked out thinking maybe I ruined everything.. I am back to eating healthy, but can eat more than 1/2 cup...

I too get shoulder pain if I eat too much or too thick at one time...

Thanks to everyone who had the courage to post this before me.. I was too ashamed to, as I thought I probably ruined the band for life and was destined to fail!

I know now it is part of the journey.. I am very dedicated to making good food choices. Especially with the New Year coming..

Thanks everyone!!!! I needed this thread!

Girly:

I almost PM'd you because I had not "ran into you" lately since the last post I read on you was that you were in shoulder pain and considering going to see the Dr.

That shoulder pain should subside sometime in the next few days, and really I think the "cold" weather we are having is keeping with you longer. It is a nerve that needs to heal; try a heating pad a few times a day even if it is not hurting until the pain goes away completely.

Are we planning on meeting for coffee or lunch still?

What part of Reno do you live?

i sneaked couple of cookies to my stomach and couple more the next day and it all was after 1 week or less by 2 days after the op and some times take small bites of any thing now after chewing it and alittle help of liquds after the 10th day im really messed up :cry

So if you are going to cheat, try and cheat with Proteins....

You will always be able to eat chips/cookies/chocolate, even at restriction, they just have a way to get through the band with no problem for everyone.

I don't think the problem is whether or not the food will go down. It is more what damage it does once it gets there.

I could have swallowed the stuff a couple days after surgery but there is still swelling and healing happening. One your stomach needs to heal and not work so hard at digesting. Two, there may still be swollen pockets that will trap the food and cause further irritation if not worse.

What I was told is that everything you consume for the first 3-4 weeks needs to be able to go down through the band and not get hung up above it. That is the reason for the liquids and the mushies.

Up until last week I still could feel my liquid backing up a bit. Sort of like a funnel effect. That feeling has now subsided and I have been able to move onto things a LITTLE harder. Please be careful. It is SO hard not to cheat, but this soon out of surgery I would think that the consequences are not worth the indulgence.

Just my 2 cents.

Steph

Steph, you're right, I was just going to post the exact same thing.

$13,000 for this surgery to better my health. Why risk it????? I don't get it.

I had my surgery today and of course I am wishing I could have something to eat, but I know I will be able to when the time comes.

I guess Roberta that it isn't that we don't know better but that at 2 weeks of liquid and your body has healed some that the hunger is overwhelming sometimes (you'll find out:-0). I think the if you have to cheat stick to Protein is excellent advice. Technically I was supposed to be on liquids for 3 weeks but I added mushies (oatmeal, eggs, real yogurt - not the liquid kind, etc.) somewhere between 1-2 weeks because of the extreme hunger.

I have had a few soft cheats such as plain Pasta with sauce (half a cup), etc. But I try hard every day to stay on the wagon. It is just really, really hard. Although now officially I am off all dietary restrictions except to eat protein first, then vegetables/fruit followed by any other carbs. I feel healed and know I can stick with this for another 3 weeks until my fill:-))

Also, the liquid calories are sooooo dangerous. All the juices (160 calories in a Hawaiian Sun Guava juice, my fav) can easily exceed 1K a day. So now that I can eat solids, no more juices except occasional fresh squeezed ones after my fills:-))))

So much to learn, so much to relearn. . .

I just reread my above post and I want to apologize if I sounded harsh. I was just trying to give you a REASON to stay on the liquids. I know how hard it is. I know that it is almost impossible to ignore your head when you are feeling starved. If you've read my other posts you will know that.

What kept me from eating all the yummies before christmas was the idea that I could do some serious damage to my stomach. I don't want to hurt myself over some silly piece of meat, candy, fruit, whatever.

Trust me, it was never easy and I don't want to sound like it's a piece of cake. It was a battle every day. And now that I am ALLOWED real food an even bigger battle. If we allow ourselves to indulge this early in the game, our minds are going to trick us into thinking we can all the time. "It didn't hurt last time, did it?" I can just hear the battle my mind will be playing with me.

I just wanted you all to know that the urge is there. It's hard. But I hope you knew this wasn't going to be easy going in. Be strong. It will be worth it in the long run. Before we have restriction is going to be the hardest part. We have to do it WITHOUT the tool. If we all had unbeatable willpower we wouldn't be here. It's going to take a lot to keep us on track.

Good luck, and again, I'm sorry if I sounded harsh before. I was trying to be encouraging.

Steph