a little rant

timeforme · January 23, 2008

mm no the scale is not moving for me at all, my doc said dont worry, but i am only consuming three hundred calories a day and i believe my body thinks I am on starvation mode, but im not worried I have lost forty eight lbs since nov 23 of 2007 and thats more weight than I have lost in eeeeeeeeeeons. ok Im worried,but im gonna give this a chance

anonemouse · January 23, 2008

mm no the scale is not moving for me at all, my doc said dont worry, but i am only consuming three hundred calories a day and i believe my body thinks I am on starvation mode, but im not worried I have lost forty eight lbs since nov 23 of 2007 and thats more weight than I have lost in eeeeeeeeeeons. ok Im worried,but im gonna give this a chance

Why are you only eating 300 calories a day? That's WAY lower than any other surgeon's requirement that I've seen. :biggrin:

January 23, 2008

Hi Guys,
WHY ARE NONE OF YOU WEIGHING YOURSELVES? This is what makes it all worth while, you sip on your Soup, you slowly swallow your yogurt, you wince at another glass of Protein shake. THEN YOU WEIGH YOURSELF and the needle is moving DOWNWARDS.

I'm with this girl! My doctor's pre-op diet was non-existant and post op was pretty lenient. liquid of any kind for 1 week, mushies the 2nd week... by the time I had my post op f/u at the start of the 3rd week I was already allowed to start trying solids. When I had my pre-op appointment with the dietician she told me that if I absolutely couldn't make it 2 full weeks without eating something then I should be sure to chew, chew, chew and when I thought I had chewed enough to chew some more! I'd like to point out that my surgery was at a Bariatric Center of Excellence, not some chop shop just out to make a buck.

Having "bragged" about my liberal post op instructions I will now say this, for the first week while I was on my liquid phase I lost 12 lbs. When I took the leap into mushy food something happened to me... it was horrible.... I got HUNGRY!!!! And I mean REALLY HUNGRY!!! I tried for 3-4 days to control myself and make sure that I was limited to mushies, but then I just had to eat.

The problem with this is that your body is healing, and when you start feeling post op pain it FREAKS you out because you don't know if you did something to yourself by eating something you shouldn't have.

The other problem is that not only has the scale stopped going down, it has wandered back up a little.

I tend to think that the doctors that have their patients on such a restrictive diet for such a long period of time are going a little overboard... but I have no medical degree so what do I know. Besides that, it's such a great jump start to the weight loss whereas I now know I can comsume regular food, but I am still 4 weeks off from my first fill and am struggling to maintain the weight I had lost on the liquid phase.

After saying ALL THAT I will suggest going to the mushy list, pick something out that would be edible if some kind of liquid was added and get out the blender.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Candle · January 23, 2008

I love how more than 30 people have viewed this, but no one has responded. You want us to tell you to go ahead and try mushies, but no one will tell you that. Speaking as someone who broke the rules and DID advance to the next eating stage and did fine, everyone will tell you to stick to what your doctor told you to do. I didn't, however, and did fine. I guess I'm one of the rebels of this board. I was banded over Christmas and New Year's and broth and Water was just not doing it for me. There are people who have broken the rules and did fine (me, for example) and then there are people who have gone too fast and wound up in the ER. We can't tell you what to do...

Not to scare you but how can you say that you didn't follow your post op diet and you "did fine"? The reason you need to follow the post op diet and slow food stage progression is to ensure the band has time to settle into place and adhere to your stomach by forming a nice groove of scar tissue. It makes it a lot harder for that to happen when you are eating too early and causing your stomach to churn and move - upsetting the placement of the band.

Progressing to mushies or solids before you are suppose to rarely causes someone an immediate problem (unless you get stuck and/or PB) it's 2-3 years down the road when your band slips that you are in trouble.

To the OP - I know it's hard. We've all been there. 2 weeks of liquids after surgery is pretty standard. Hang in there, you only have 1 week left and you're doing great!! Keep it as interesting as you can until then. V8 is yummy! Maybe a smoothly with some skim milk and a little fruit and/or yogurt. Is applesauce on your list? Motts makes flavored ones now in little single serve cups. Low calorie/Fat Frozen Yogurt was on my list. Try some of the organic Soups in the health food isle - they tend to have more "exotic" varieties with lower sodium. Although, I do like the Campbell's Soup at Hand too!

Keep coming here for support! You'll be onto mushies before you know it. Your doctor may even let you start a few days early.

heavenlyceleste · January 24, 2008

I was going insane 10 days out from surgery. I was waking up from hunger. Additionally, my incisions had healed and i was totally off pain meds. I called my doctor and asked if there were any circumstances under which I could start the mushy foods 1 week early. He said that I could, just to add only one food a day and see how I felt. I did it a little faster-1 food a meal but I have been fine. I feel great, have more energy for working out and have been able to work again.

wsb · January 24, 2008

I understand the little rant, it is frustrating. However, the tough love in me has to come out...this is a healing stage.Healing--periods of times of discomfort...rather it is physical pain, boredom with the food, hunger, etc....I have to disagree with standing on the scale when you feel hungry. This is a time to heal, not lose weight. Yes, it is hard, I don't think anyone told you this would be easy at first. One of the things that you are learning at this point is what true hunger is. That is something most of us know nothing about. We ate for every reason but hunger. Not only can this be a healing stage for you physically, but a learning stage emotionally,to learn the difference in head hunger and real physical hunger, so as you progress down this journey, you will be able to identify the difference--you will learn to stop and really listen to your body and decide if it is really hunger or emotions. Yes, we all get hungry when we are healing...what activities are you doing...camping in front of the tv where all you see is food commercials, watching the food channel, or finding other things to do to keep your mind busy. This is only a few weeks of the rest of your lives...sorry to be so outspoken, however, the damage that can be done now can also cost you more than few seconds of comfort than food can offer.

heavenlyceleste · January 29, 2008

I realize that there are some who have not felt "real hunger" but one of the reasons that i had this surgery was because I did feel real hunger and felt it a lot. I had to eat so much just to feel full that I couldn't function. My therapist told me that there is a hormone that normal people have that makes them feel satisfied after eating which we do not produce enough of. For some reason, after lap band surgery, we start producing more of that hormone. Anyway-while I agree that the urge to eat is not always about hunger-there are many times when it is and that is why I had surgery to "tame my hunger". So if your hunger is real, it perfectly reasonable to speak with your doctor and find a solution that will work for you.

want2beme · January 29, 2008

Girl, a week on each stage? That's more like Drastic Bypass, not a lap band diet! haha... I'd try refried Beans with sour cream, avocado, hot sauce and cheese. That is still one of my favorites today! Only now I eat it with tortilla chips too.

I know you are sick of Soup, but I found that Campbells split pea was very good.

Try:

Jamba juice

Starbucks

Popsicles

Hummus

and my favorite... Wine! haha

There are choices. There are a few good threads on this site that talk specifically about food.

Talk to your doctor about moving onto the next stage. I did and he said go for it. I had no problems. More often than not, your stoma is bigger than you think right after sugery and you wont do damage to it, like previously stated. You do damage after you are at or close to a sweet spot (where your band is tight enough to stop the flow of food going through too fast), and that's when you can stretch your pouch. Where you are right now, is a place where you can test the waters. Be careful and chew, because if you don't and something does get stuck, it is painful and for me lasted about 15 min. Something else people didn't tell me was when food DOES get stuck (cause it will happen), don't drink water! It makes it worse! Just lean over the sink, or have your upper body more parallel to the ground to take the pressure off the stoma (gravity plays a big part)... anyway, good luck.