Did I eat too much at once?

[MamaJava 1]

I am on the mushy stage and I just started. I ate 3 scrambled eggs and a few small bites of tuna w/ mayo. Im not worried about the calories from the mayo or anything, but I wonder if I ate too much. I felt just perfect when I stopped (not too full) but I am worried about wether that amount could stretch my pouch. It was the first time since surgery that I actually felt satisfied. Any thoughts?

No...I read here that the OP wanted to know only about quantity and stretching her pouch, which is stated exactly in her original post. She said she didn't care about calories.

[imb316 0]

I just had to respond - every band is different - if you are like me then you have a large band and NO restriction until your first fill - I had an esophogram 2 weeks after my surgery and they said the band was loose and that's why I can eat ANYTHING!!! I go for my first fill tomorrow so I will keep you posted. All the people commenting on how THEY could never eat etc. etc. well maybe they have a smaller band to begin with and therefore felt restriction from day 1. Just my take on it.

[want2beme 2]

You shouldn't worry too much about the amount you are eating until you are on the solid food diet, or The Lap Band Diet. liquids, mushies, soft foods can go down really easy. Remember, your band is like a funnel. The less-solid the food, the easier for it to go down. Remember this when you are on solids because its important that you feel full. If you eat mushies when you are suppose to eat solids, you WILL be able to eat more than 2-3 oz and you may think you need a fill when you actually don't. There is a Lap Band Diet that you must follow strictly. (not that I'm the perfect lap band dieter by any means!!! lol), but this is what I have learned over the past 5 months. I learned through trial and error, and probably learned more by posting threads just like this on this website....

[Candle 11]

Without restriction, you really don't have a pouch yet. The band is sitting loosely around your stomach. For some people the band is tight and they have restriction from the get-go but for most, that's not the case. I'm 5 months out from surgery with only 1 fill and still have no restriction. I could eat 3 or 4 eggs if I wanted to but limit myself to 1 or 2 and maybe a piece of light toast or some fruit.< /span>

You are still in a critical time for healing and want to make sure you don't do any damage to your band. You don't want to over stuff yourself causing your stomach to work over time, churning and moving the band around or worse, PB. You want that band to settle into a nice groove of scar tissue around your stomach. This is the reason for the slow progression of food stages.

You are in "Bandster Hell" right now - which is completely normal. Maybe try a few small meals per day? I know many doctors push the 3 meals and no Snacks program but in this stage I think maybe 5 small meals would help curb your hunger a little more. Certainly talk to your doctor and nutritionist about your portion size, hunger level, and concerns.

[snowbird 2]

well, I'm going to add one more issue to a thread that has probably gone on long enough, by quoting my doctor:

"While scrambled eggs and tuna may sound like mushy food, they are actually solid food . . ."

[Candle 11]

I've never heard that before!

What was on your mushie stage then?

[lee41 0]

This thread is getting to be a little humorous but I love it! I think the comments offered so far give ample evidence as to how hard we are each trying to make this wonderful tool work for us and how much we want the tool to work for everyone else, too. And, the good think is that we all are...being successful! Even I, who just had the surgery done Monday feel successful because I'm working the food and the exercise the best I know how, learning what I can from this forum, and I feel absolutely terrific! "Healthy, trim body, you're just a year away"--I say.

[snowbird 2]

Candle,

I have to admit I threw that in just for the heck of it. It is a quote from my doctor's book. He actually does not recommend a "mushie" stage, but what he calls "full liquids" for the second and third week, which includes anything liquid enough to get through a straw. The quote is actually addressing the definition of solids, as he says eating liquid/soft foods defeats the action of the band in keeping you feeling full longer. Scrambled eggs and tuna are dry enough to stay in the pouch long enough to give you a sensation of fullness for several hours. (He's talking about after fills.) I thought it was strange that he says to go from liquids straight to any solids, but that's how he does it.

I'm curious; why only one fill five months out? Are you satisfied with your weight loss so far and don't want to stress your body? You should be; your ticker looks like you are doing fantastic. My husband has a 10 cc band with two fills totalling 6 cc, and he still eats too much and is losing slowly (his opinion, not mine). I wish I could do that well without a feeling of tightness, but I can't.

By the way, good explanation about the healing period in your post.

[Candle 11]

I don't really have an answer about my fill/restriction level. I’m trying not to over think it and just stick with what’s working for me! I'm not sure if something just clicked in my head and I'm suddenly able to stick to an eating & exercise plan or if there's something to the theory that the band placement alone helps some people. I haven't had any restriction since day one though so the “natural restriction” thing doesn’t apply to me.

I was obsessing about fills for awhile, I think I got the one fill just to experience it and get rid of the anxiety about the needle and the whole process.

I've never been able to lose this much weight on my own and I've been over weight my whole life! I love having the safety net of my band if I need to start using it! I've lost almost 85lbs since the start of my pre-op diet on 8/16/07 ... no complaints here!!!

It really is a different journey for every one.

PS. You are doing awesome as well!!

[Chrisann 0]

I made 2 eggs, milk, and some onions on Saturday. Threw them into the magic bullet and cooked them with Pam. I was still hungry after, so instead of making more eggs, I drank a slimfast. I have a 10cc band with nothing in it until I go back to the surgeon next week. I am still in the mushy stage. Scrambled eggs are on my doctors list during this phase, so is mashed potatoes btw.

I know when I eat too fast I get a tremendous pain in my chest and left shoulder. I am eating more than I think I should, but I am hungry now, but I am not eating what I would have ate pre band.

[Brandy~ 2]

Everyone is different and so is their banding experience. I haven't been banded I just know I have read for years about the band and experiences.

My doctor doesnt fill when he puts the band on so I am not gonna notice a major difference at first and could probably eat much more than someone who gets a fill right away. However, if I tried to sit down and eat 3 eggs right I would probably get full and feel ill from being too full.

I would think that if you did this on a regular basis their could be some reprecussions for it.

[Daisalana 33]

eggs & tuna are quality foods.

During mushies I was still tight from the swelling, but once my swelling went down, I would have easily been able to eat 3 scrambled eggs and some tuna.

And that's right about your size, if your BMI is only 34, the smallest band (which was not too terribly tight on my 43 starting BMI- I forget it exactly), the band probably is not restricting you at all at this point. Now you just have to make conscious decisions to eat smaller, but you're healing and if you had the eggs and tuna and you didn't get sick, don't worry about it. You're not shoving candy and Cookies and ice cream down your pie hole, right?... right? hehe!

When you get your fills and restriction going, then you won't be able to eat that much. But for now, it's not unusual.

[DLW 0]

I had the band put in on November 5th, 2007. I went for my first fill on December 12th. It is a 10cc band. After my first fill I had 4cc in the band. I ate pretty much the same amount of food after the fill as I did before the band. I wasn't feeling much of a restriction. The 3 eggs? ? I would have a bagel for Breakfast, a large tossed salad for lunch and something like a pot pie with a side of veggies for dinner. I was hungry and didn't have much restriction. I went back to the doctors on January 15th. I hadn't lost anything, nor gained anything thank God. The nurse asked me if I was keeping a journal of what I was eating. I said that I wasn't. Should I be? The answer to that would be, "yes". I told her what I had eaten for the 2 previous days.

The doctor came in and lectured me a little. I was feeling like a failure. I was really, really sad. But I had been feeling like this for several weeks. Like a failure. I told the doc this and he said, "no, you're not a failure, maybe all you need is a little more fill - and stay away from allot of the foods I had been eating." I felt like just bawling. He put in another 1.5cc which brought it up to 5.5cc. Since this I have lost about 12 pounds! In one week. I know that most of it is probably Water weight but it is very exciting to start losing something!! I have been keeping a journal now and watch what I eat. Eat slowly, chew, chew, chew. Take a bite of food, swallow and wait about 30 seconds to a minute to see how it feels before having more. Like someone else said, I now eat about 1/3 of what I had been. An example: 1 scrambled egg with cheese for breakfast. Lunch - 2-3oz whitefish broiled. 1/4 cup mashed potatoes.

Dinner: 1/2 c. shephards pie (mashed potatoes with hamburg and onion) and 1/4 c. peas.

I try to get in at least 2 8oz glasses of skim milk too. I do have a snack in the afternoon like 1/2 an apple with 2 Tbs Peanut Butter.< /p>

It's funny, because the broiled whitefish I got was from last Friday night when my husband and I went out for dinner at a fish fry. I ate about 1/4 of what was brought to me. I had enough left over for 3 more meal! Pretty cool huh? I'm carrying on too long here maybe but I just wanted to let Mindyempt08 know that it could very well be that you do not have enough restriction yet. When you do, you will really know it. I am no longer sad and feeling like a failure. I feel like I now have a fighting chance at this and I am planning on making this work.

Good luck to you and don't beat yourself up - hang in there. Dianne

[NukeChik 1]

I also found that now that I'm eating pretty normal again my incisions are finally healing. I had a lot of concerns about infections in my incisions and holes in my stomach. I was really scared because they just weren't healing (BTW I'm not diabetic). As soon as I started eating fish and my Protein Shakes and such I"m healing. I'm not losing any weight right now, but I'm okay with that, this is all about being healthy.

[snowbird 2]

Candle,

thank you. You used the words I thought of this morning: safety net. I know if I stumble, my band will catch me.