Finally got a call from the surgeons office yesterday and have been approved! SOOO excited, scared, nervous, but very happy to finally have an actual date. This has been quite a journey already with all the insurance hoops to jump through. Now the "real journey" begins! I just can't believe it is happening, finally! Would love to find others with same date so we can support one another along the way.:confused:

Hey, where is everyone from the 16th??

Had 3 wk. check up today. Now on "regular" food. But I have to take it slow and gradually add textures to see what works. In 2 weeks I can try salad again. I miss my salads! Never thought I would say that!

Also, just a FYI, I tried the Special K new crackers. YUK...They must expand or something to keep you full because I ate one and it was awful!! Wheat thins go down great, but not the Special K ones. Never again.

Hope you are all doing well. Anyone else have a 3 week check up and moving on to other foods?

Well, I had a 2 week checkup but then I dont go back until my 6 week checkup/possible fill appt. But if I keep on par with the 2 pounds per week he usually does not give a fill. I will admit I have been eating some things that i prob should have not...meaning regular food and not all mushy or pureed. Although technically now I am past pureed food and on to soft food. But what the heck is soft food? According to my list it is things that I was eating at mushy..LOL. Oh well I like my pureed chicken so much that I will just keep eating it. One thing I have found at WalMart is some stuffed chicken breasts in the freazer section (kinda like chicken cordon-bleu but not breaded) and they are sooooo yummy. I just bake them, cut them up and throw them in the food processor and it is delicious. I let my sister taste it before I ground it up and she liked it so much she bought some too.

Jen, those chicken cordon bleu things sound really good. I will check them out when I go to Walmart. I ate chicken last night for dinner...just regular rotisserie chicken and chewed it really well. It was great. Also had some green beans that were not pureed. Kinda cool eating regular food. The dietician told me that anything that requires chewing alot will fill me up longer and take longer to eat, so it will be more satisfying. I was scared at first, but I think as long as we chew until it is the consistency of a pureed food, not much is off limits. I am supposed to wait a couple weeks to add salad, so we will see how that goes.

My first fill is scheduled for June 12. I am excited that it is on the appt. book, but don't knwo if I will need it, since I am still not eating that much.

Yeah I too have been eating my green beans non-pureed. I just cook them a little bit longer than I normally would have and have not been putiing the little almond packet in them. but I just make sure I chew, chew and chew some more. to be honest I have actually been eating more things like that and just making sure I chewed them until they were pureed consistancy before swallowing. Hopefully you can find those chicken breast things. They are soooooo good. In my walmart they are in one of those freezer cases in the middle of the aisle in front of the meats, not in the regular frozen aisles. But I do not know if all walmarts are set up alike.

Well last night we went out to red lobster for dinner and I was truly shocked and impressed. To start off I was a little bad and ate just the top off of one of the biscuits (and god it was sooo good..LOL). I ordered a salad b/c they dont have applesuace anymore and my dinner came with mashed potatoes already on it. All I ate out of the salad were the tomatoes and crutons. I orderd honey bar-b-que chicken and shrimp. As soon as the food came I asked for some extra sauce and a take out box. The meal comes with a whole chicken breast that has been split in two..which to me I would call two chicken breast pieces and a skewer of shrimp all over mashed potatoes. Well I put one and a half pieces of chicken in the box and most of the potatoes too. I ate the shrimp and started on the chicken and I could only eat about half of what I had left. I ended up putting even more chicken and potatoes in the box. So when I got home I pureed the chicken with the extra sauce and split it and the mashed potatoes into 3 meals. So one plate is going to be equal to FOUR MEALS NOW....And this is without a fill. I was so excited and proud of myself. Oh and I did not drink hardly anything either. I did get a glass of water and all I had was one sip to kinda clean out my mouth when I was done, then I sucked the lemon too. In retrospect I wish I had asked for a lunch menu. Hopefully I will remember this in the future.

Jen, that is SO cool that you were able to make so many meals out of what used to be one! Isn't it weird that we can eat soo much less than we used to even though we have no fills yet? I am amazed at how full I am feeling, especially the past couple of days. I am afraid to eat tuna again since I had the bad experience, but it was probably due to me eating too fast. I am not schedule for a fill until the 12th of June, and at first I was worried that was too far away. Now I am wondering if I will need it. If I continue with how I feel now, I won't. Funny cause i was so hungry for the mushies. Guess I didn't expect regular food to fill me up so fast.

Anyway, glad to hear your experience. Sounds similar to what I am experiencing. Keep up the good work.

Jen- that is too cool! I'm so happy for you! I went to Chilli's for lunch with my daughter. I ate 2 chicken strips, chewed well and part of my mashed potatoes. In the past I would scarfed down the whole thing along with basket of chips/salsa. I ate a lot of crappy stuff this weekend. We had a family party on Saturday and went to the Cub's game yesterday. Aside from one bad thing, which I'll describe in a minute, I did really well. I was so tempted to drink some Pepsi, but I didn't! I was very proud of myself. Though I ate an awful lot throughout the day.

My bad experience is that I thought I was doing so well that I could have a bite of a hot dog bun. BIG MISTAKE! About an hour later I was miserable. If I hadn't read/heard all the horror stories about things getting stuck, I would've thought I was having a heart attack. It was AWFUL, everything everyone says and worse! OMG, it was just miserable. The bad time lasted about 30-40 minutes. I went for a walk and that seemed to help. I pray that I never experience that again. I'm going to post this on the confession thread as well.

I go back to the Doc next Tuesday. I find out about a fill then. Aside from the above incident I've been able to eat whatever I want. I've made myself stop eating, but I swear I could eat a lot more if I tried.

Wow, I will try to remember that about the hotdog bun. I went to a ball game on Sunday and was tempted to take a bite of my nephews hot dog, especially since he did not eat it...LOL he is 4. But I am thankful that he had mustard and ketchup on it, neither of which I like so that stopped me or I might have tried it too.

I am glad to hear that you guys are having pretty good experiences too. I am wondering if I can manage to be one of the 15% of patients that my doc said never need a fill. that the band alone is enough. If I keep losing at 2 pounds per week then I know he wont give me a fill at my next apt which is 5-27. So I guess for now it is just a wait and see because so far I have been losing 2 pounds per week. Slow but great in the long run and healthier too.

Ok since the last few post have been about eating out I thought I'd put this here.

The last couple of weeks I've goen to lunch a few times with co-workers (1 day last week and 2 this week (yesterday was my birthday after all) anyway I get the oddest respose from servers when I tell them I don't want anything to drink. The server today said "we don't charge for water" and then when he brought the bill told us that the system won't print a check without at least some kind of beverage so he had to put that I had a Water......has to do with the company thinking the server is giving away drinks if there isn't one on the check.....

Ok since the last few post have been about eating out I thought I'd put this here.

The last couple of weeks I've goen to lunch a few times with co-workers (1 day last week and 2 this week (yesterday was my birthday after all) anyway I get the oddest respose from servers when I tell them I don't want anything to drink. The server today said "we don't charge for water" and then when he brought the bill told us that the system won't print a check without at least some kind of beverage so he had to put that I had a Water......has to do with the company thinking the server is giving away drinks if there isn't one on the check.....

Jaytee, that is funny. I always just order a water even though I don't drink it. I noticed the weird look the first time I went out after being banded and didn't ask for a drink. It was almost like the waitress didn;t know what to do. LOL How funny that some system "requires" a drink to print a check.

Hope you are doing well. And by the way happy belated birthday. Good for you enjoying a little cake on your birthday. We have to give ourselves a treat sometimes.:thumbup:

Thank you Scooby. I ordred water a few times at first so that I could drink water while everyone lese was eating bread but then I found myself reaching for the glass a couple of times out of habit so I started just not getting it.

I too got a water when I went out. but I moved i all the way to the side of the table so I would not reach for it. But what I did do was after I had eaten, I took a small sip and swiched it around my mouth and swallowed and then sucked on the lemon that was in the water, it really helped my mouth feel like it had been "cleaned" like I normally would have done by drinking lots of water after I ate.

Oh and happy belated birthday JayTee

Happy Belated bday JT!! I ordered Water when I went out and it wasn't until half way through eating that I realized that I was drinking while eating. My sister was with me and she said my eyes got huge and I just stared at my drink. I didn't think I was that shocked, but clearly I was. After that I pushed the glass to her side of the table. It was interesting to see how easily I slipped back into old habits. Though before would've been a fully loaded soda

So how is everyone's weight loss going now that you're on regular foods? I gained last week, but I think I'm going to be down those pounds at tomorrow's weigh in. I'm not asking this in a competion way, trust me I'm not that kinda girl.

Hi All!

I'm 4 weeks post op today and have lost 10 pounds since surgery. Not as quickly as I would like, but 10 pounds is 10 pounds. Without the band, I would have lost ZERO, and maybe gained some.

At this rate, I should reach my goal weight by Thanksgiving, which is really good both medically and physiologically. Unfortunately, in my head, I was hoping to be a size 4 by now, which is exactly why diets never worked for me. I wanted immediate results for a long term problem. When I didn't lose 10 pounds a week (or a day), I became discouraged and gave up. I haven't had a fill yet, which may speed up the weight loss progress.

I'm having problems keeping food down. I haven't been very good about the mushies. chicken gets stuck in my throat, as with a lean, bunless burger last night. I think the beef was too lean and dry.

Mother's day I had Japanese and it went down with no problem. Food seems to be a day by day problem more so that an particular food problem. I just hope all the PB's haven't caused any band problems.

Edited May 14, 200917 yr by vayiayia

food seems to be a day by day problem more so that an particular food problem. I just hope all the PB's haven't caused an band problems.

I totally agree with you on food being a day to day thing. I think it could be hour by hour for some.

From what I've read, if you have a band problem you would know it. It sounds like it's very painful and NOTHING stays down.

NSV for me- my jeans are baggy!! Now mind you they are the largest size I have worn. But who cares, because they are loose!!

So how is everyone's weight loss going now that you're on regular foods? I gained last week, but I think I'm going to be down those pounds at tomorrow's weigh in. I'm not asking this in a competion way, trust me I'm not that kinda girl.

Thanks everyone for the Bday wishes. I don't think I'll be down this week I've been feeling big so that kept me off the scale. I did step on it last night and had not lost since Friday ut I didn't gain either. People are telling me they can see the difference. Yeserday I ran into a fellow bandster at work that hadn't seen me since before my surgery later in the morning she brought another bandster to meet me and it was someone I don't know but chat wiht when we pass they both said they can see the difference. Guess that's what matters.