Hey all.

So there's a bunch of us in this group, all split up into our different banding days. I was thinking that it might be a good idea to have one master thread as we move through the month, in which all of us could post as we go, from the pioneers going on March 1st to the finalists on March 31st.

I'd love to talk about our anticipation and any worries as we approach our banding date, for people to talk about exactly what happened from the moment they walked into the hospital door until the second they walked out, about how recovery is going, about weight loss and plateaus, about non-scale victories and challenges.

I was thinking that if we all contribute to one thread, it'll form a more substantial channel for information and support. At the moment, I was thinking that we might be too spread out into individual date, and that a central thread would be a really good backbone for the group, in addition to the date-specific threads.

What do you think?

Fenton

Wow, its interesting to see sample daily meals of folks.

Breakfast -- coffee with 1% milk and Splenda

Dannon

It is interesting to see sample daily meals of folks. Here's mine. Clearly some of you are describing what seems like less than 1000 calories to me and I am having trouble staying there. Maybe my next .25 cc fill will help more.

Breakfast -- -Always --Coffee with 1% milk and Splenda plus

Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt

OR

1 packet SF oatmeal with Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (occasional)-mostly carbs so I've backed off this)

OR

1 scoop Protein powder in my coffee -- nectar Cappacucino or Matrix Cookies & Cream blended into my coffee real easy for a 20g protein start to the day.

A.M Snack

1 Stick String cheese - a.m. snack

lunch -- Workout usually over lunch and graze to finish this the afternoon:

Soup or salad with some protein in it (2-3 oz chicken breast, 1-1.5 boiled egg, 1 oz cheese)

Apple/Orange/Banana - piece of fruit

PM Snack

Whatever lunch or fruit I haven't finished yet!

OR

Protein Bar (if I'm heading to work out before I'll get dinner)

OR

Applesauce - no sugar added

dinner

Varies alot

late PM Snack

1% milk & frozen strawberries (shake) is a favorite

OR

2 cup size of popcorn

OR

80 cal SF Jello pudding cup

---------------

Total trying to stay around 1200 calories and burn at least 2700 calories as tracked by my BodyBugg. I try for a 1000 calorie deficit each day which should equate to about 7000 net calorie deficit in a week or about 2 lbs but for me its usually closer to losing 1 lb a week but I'm okay with that (about 5 lbs a month right now).

guess i didn't mention it but i usually have about 4 cups of black coffee.

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast 8:00 - south beach diet breakfast bar

lunch 12:00 - left over bbq chicken tenderloins about 3 oz. hardboiled pickled egg and 3 small pickled red beets

dinner 5:00 - spaghetti (about 1 cup) and 2 small meatballs, pillsbury bisquit

Evening snack 9:30 - small banana and about 1/3 cucumber

I figure I ate about 1000 calories today and went to curves and I guess I burn around 200 calories doing that.

I lose weight if I stay under 1000 calories, maintain at 1200 and gain if I go over that.

Ok, my diet doesn’t look like any of your diets. I eat. Like last night, I had two huge pieces of cornbread, a half filet of fish, and about seven brussel sprouts for dinner. I don’t think I had lunch, but I a Popeyes thigh for breakfast. Now normally I do not eat cornbread – it really was a special treat, but I really should have limited myself to one piece. The Popeyes chicken was just easy so I ate it.

There are some nights that I eat a bowl of raisin bran for dinner (and yes I add sugar) – I can do that for a week and not feel the least bit deprived. Breakfast is usually iffy for me. If it’s easy and available, I’ll eat it – otherwise I won’t. When I’m at work, breakfast could be a bowl of oatmeal, or a yogurt. I am trying to eat more fruits and vegetables so I snack on grapefruits and tangelos. I try to make myself eat apples, but for some reason, I am not really enjoying them. I used to love grapes, but my band is not all that into them… of course the band usually has the final word on what gets ingested sooo… I can no longer eat regular bread. My band hates bread. White, wheat, oat, oat bran, sourdough, or whatever… I can not get bread down. Sometimes I just want a bite of a sandwich, but it is not worth the feeling I get in my chest and stomach after I east bread. I can eat crackers as long as I only eat a few, but who wants lunch meat on a cracker? I sure don’t. Applesauce, which I love, was not going down easy at all, so I gave up on that. Well not really. I just purchased a jar, so apparently I’m willing to try again.

Wow, I have not been on LBT in such a long time. My job has blocked access to the site because it thinks of it as social networking site. I used to find such comfort, knowledge and support here. Well I’m back… now that I have finally moved into my new home (the cable man came yesterday).

But I plan on starting anew. I have had my one year anniversary, and I am not thrilled with my weight lose. I am down 64 lbs, which I know is not horrible, but it’s not what I envisioned when was contemplating surgery. So I need to get moving…literally. I need to exercise. I am seriously considering the body bugg. It’s not in my budget, but I feel like it would give me the edge that I need. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

The site has changed so much. I look forward to getting back into the swing of things.

Edited April 16, 200917 yr by enjoylife
text too small

oh, can someone tell me how to update my signature. I can't remember how to do it.

When My band was filled....5cc in a 10cc band. My day looked like this....

8:00 coffee with skin milk....somtimes sugar free vanilla syrup

11:00 Some type of yogurt parfait I would make at home. Usually Greek yogurt with a touch of honey and Kashi go lean crunch Cereal (the one with 9 grams of protein) Often it took about an hour to get this down.

4:00 a cheese stick or some fruit

6:00 dinner....a very small postion of whatever I made for the family.

I could not eat breads or cakes at all. Cookies crackers and ice cream went down way too easy. I am over that for now, one day at a time.

Since having my unfill, I have been able to eat way more and went totally crazy Sunday and Monday...way too many sweet temptations left over from Easter.

I got back on track on Tues with South Beach induction....no carbs. By Tuesday night I was having severe pain. Yesterday I went as far as calling the surgeon to find out if they really removed all my fill or were just checking if I was having mental issues. They assured me my band is empty.

I had so much pain all day yesterday after eating a low fat cheese stick at around 10 am. I thought I was going to have to go to the ER. I even called my DH who is away at work in Texas. I got an appt with my GI guy today at 1:45.

I hope they can figure out what is going on. Yesterday I had only that dang cheese stick and Water. So far today I have had a Protein shake with skim milk. I guess this is one way to be sure I don't gain during my unfill.

It's so weird that while I was piggin out on carbs Sunday and Monday the pain was minimal. Switch to full Proteins and very low carb Tues and Weds the pain was horrible.

Anyone have any ideas? Any idea where I can cross post this so any bandsters out there witha similar issue may chime in?

Christine

Diva, welcome back! You can updat your signature by clicking on the UserCP section top left on this screen. From there look for the update signature section on the left onf the next screen that pops up.

Christine

Someone posted this link on another page it's about eating after lapband I thought it was good. Its about healthy eating. Making Healthy Choices after Bariatric Surgery | Arturo Rodriguez, MD

That was a great article Scrappy, thanks for sharing.

Well I hit the big milestone today at the doctor's office. Had a sinus/allergy attack and ended up begging for something to help me feel better and it dawned on me they would weigh me and I had been holding off until Friday to weigh in to see if I made my 100 lbs but there in the doctors office the official evidence I'm down 100 lbs, just by a smidge but I'm counting it!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS Special K!!!! How awesome to hit that 100 pound mark!!!

I'm back from my vacation. I think I did ok. I tracked my food every day, BUT I forgot my little food calculator book. Some stuff I remembered, some I did not. I will see how I did tomorrow when I step on the scale. I missed my wii fit, but we did some hiking and playing on the playground. Which reminds me....

NSV - I slid down the sliding board! I haven't done that in many years. It was fun! I was afraid my butt wouldn't fit, but it did and it was a blast. My son thought it was funny that I went down the sliding board. I totally enjoyed it.

Way to go SpecialK!!!!

To nycm00 thank you for the welcome back and the instructions. They were GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you for the article Scrappy – I need all the advice I can get.

SPECIAL K!!!!!! Yea YOU!!!! I’m doing the happy dance for you right now – c’mon and join me ~~~~~~~~~~~~ tap tap shooby be doo shimmy shimmy sssliiiide!!!!!! 100 pounds – that is incredible (not to mention my goal). I am happy for you. Keep up the great work of inspiring us all….

Now tell me – how can you hold 10.25 ccs?????!! I have a fourteen cc band and I am at 6 (or is it 6.5) cc’s. I tried for 7 or 7.5 and I was spitting up water before I left the doctor’s office. I can barely get liquids down now – but most foods go down ok… soft foods not so much, but hard or crunchy I am good with - usually. I miss applesauce, so I bought some, but the last time I tried it and I could not get it go down. Hot things seem to go down better than cold. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve drank something to have it have to right back out – followed by a bucket of slob. I am always thirsty. I miss water (the only thing I really drank before surgery) like you would not believe. Hot tea goes down well, but I don’t always have time for that.

BUT I know my band is responsible for me losing 64 lbs… I love my band. It’s just difficult to figure it out. One year out and I’m still getting to know it. Hmmmm, my band must be male.....

I am just so done. I will now be going for a abdominal sonogram to check my gallbladder and a Upper GI with a Small Bowel Follow-through. We will check everything out before deeming me un-fixable.

The GI guy said that he has had a few patients with the lap band go through something similar. The only thing they came up with in the end was that the physical presence of the band on the outside of the stomach was causing them pain. Then some patients decided to have the band removed and some decided to live with the pain as "backround noise in their lives." I am leaning toward the latter at this point, but will see what all the tests show.

I will probably just start lurking again, as I really don't have much that is positive or constructive to add at this point in my journey.

Best of luck to all!

Christine