meggoband Posted December 21, 2007 Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 I've been banded for a month. My first fill isn't due for another couple weeks or so and I was wondering how much you can eat. I seem to be able to eat quite a bit without restriction. I spit up once when i ate too fast but other than that I can still handle a relatively large meal and I'm afraid I'm damaging my band. Sometimes i feel really bad after I eat and need to lay down because i'm so full (with a lot less food than before surgery but way more than cup). About how much food should I be eating at a time? How much are you eating? Keep in mind that I'm not restricted yet! Happy Holidays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clynn Posted December 21, 2007 Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 Most people when they get back on solids but haven't yet had a fill can eat about the same as they could before getting banded. You will also probably start gaining back the weight you lost pre-op. If there's nothing in the band then it really isn't doing it at this point in time. That will begin to change after your first fill. If you're feeling ill after eating too much, try walking around instead of lying down. I find lying down just makes me feel worse. As time goes on your will learn to avoid eating that much or that fast. The next few months will be a period of adjust as your learn to live with your new stomach. Be open to making the necessary changes and you will do fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Posted December 21, 2007 Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 I've been banded for a month. My first fill isn't due for another couple weeks or so and I was wondering how much you can eat. I seem to be able to eat quite a bit without restriction. I spit up once when i ate too fast but other than that I can still handle a relatively large meal and I'm afraid I'm damaging my band. Sometimes i feel really bad after I eat and need to lay down because i'm so full (with a lot less food than before surgery but way more than cup). About how much food should I be eating at a time? How much are you eating? Keep in mind that I'm not restricted yet! Happy Holidays I was able to eat like that also. My first fill was today so I enjoyed it while I could but am excited to get started on this part of living with the band. When I was full, I could feel a little bit of pressure on the port but not bad or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tania Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 I am in the same position. Was banded on Nov 6 and is only getting my fill January 15th. Cant wait to eat a cup or less of food! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
li33ymint Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Most people when they get back on solids but haven't yet had a fill can eat about the same as they could before getting banded. You will also probably start gaining back the weight you lost pre-op. If there's nothing in the band then it really isn't doing it at this point in time. That will begin to change after your first fill.If you're feeling ill after eating too much, try walking around instead of lying down. I find lying down just makes me feel worse. As time goes on your will learn to avoid eating that much or that fast. The next few months will be a period of adjust as your learn to live with your new stomach. Be open to making the necessary changes and you will do fine. i clynn i 'm considering havi'n L Band fitted shortley, i've got mixed msgs from all over the web, hope u don't mind me asking u but u sm to have got to grasps with Bella the Band. first of all let me say how well u have done, i hope i do ok. do u have to diet before op? so ur stomach shrinkes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clynn Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 i clynn i 'm considering havi'n L Band fitted shortley, i've got mixed msgs from all over the web, hope u don't mind me asking u but u sm to have got to grasps with Bella the Band. first of all let me say how well u have done, i hope i do ok. do u have to diet before op? so ur stomach shrinkes. Thank you for your kind words. Sidenote: my band's name is Selene. Is it weird I named it? Anyway, back to your question. You are asked to diet before surgery in order to shrink the liver and make it easier for the doctor to work around in there. Dr Miranda prescribes a liquid diet two weeks before surgery. However, I did Atkins for two months before surgery and lost 25 pounds. Because of this I was able to do a much less severe pre-op diet and I feel it also got me in the habit of eating healthier for post-surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2bthin Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 First let me say that today is my first day here. I am considering being banded and have so many questions ... Can you explain the 'shrinking of the liver'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clynn Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 First let me say that today is my first day here. I am considering being banded and have so many questions ...Can you explain the 'shrinking of the liver'? One of the goals of the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver for the surgery. When you loose weight you loose fat on the inside around the organs as well as what is visible on the outside. The liver being smaller makes it easier for the doctor to work around in there and makes for fewer possible complications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbird Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 One of the goals of the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver for the surgery. When you loose weight you loose fat on the inside around the organs as well as what is visible on the outside. The liver being smaller makes it easier for the doctor to work around in there and makes for fewer possible complications. From what I understand, you aren't actually shrinking the liver, but losing the fat around it, if that makes it any easier to understand. PS "If I lose weight my clothes will be loose." Clynn's nagging mother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2bthin Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 oh ok, so it's the fat around the liver and not the liver itself. And what type of diet do they put you on for this? Is it a liquid diet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbird Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 2bthin, Every doctor is different. Dr Ortiz's nutritionist provides several presurgery diet options, depending on how much time you have before surgery. If you just have a short amount of time, she wants a liquid diet, but if you have longer, you can do an Atkins induction diet, which is under 20 grams of carbs a day. Mostly she just wants you to lose 5% of your body weight prior to surgery, so whatever will get you there is acceptable. By the way, I forgot you were a newbie, and clynn really is my daughter. I was teasing her, not you! Welcome to the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clpascoe Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Hi there, I was just banded on the 10th of January and I have lost 13 pounds in 7 days. Really excited about that, but I am starting to feel like the liquid diet is not filling me up anymore. I am not supposed to have solids for 14 more days but I am starving. Any suggestions? I don't want to do anything that will hurt the band. I hope I have not done anything wrong like stretch the band out or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbird Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 So it sounds like you haven't really been keeping to the liquid diet? Well, remember that your stomach just had surgery. It had a foreign object sewn around it. Don't you think it is a good idea to let it heal? When you eat solids, your stomach has to move around and stretch here and there to accommodate the solid food. It has just had stitches put into it, so, obviously that isn't good. Your danger isn't in stretching the band. The band itself is not going to stretch. What may happen is that the band, which hasn't had time to heal into place, may move and slip on your stomach. This can result in stretching out the amount of stomach above your band, which can damage the stomach and also make it much harder to lose weight after healing, because the pouch is too big to restrict your eating properly. If you think I am trying to scare you, you are right. Fear was the only thing that kept me on the liquid diet for the full three weeks. Fear is good, sometimes; it keeps us from doing stupid and dangerous things. The time up until your first fill is the hardest time of banding, because once you are feeling better you want to eat because you do not have the restriction that you will get later with the fills. Tough it out, find some good soups to eat, run the solid parts through your blender, and look forward to losing weight after your fill. There is an end to this part of banding, and it isn't that far away, so be patient and be good. We all go through it; you can make it through too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clpascoe Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 So it sounds like you haven't really been keeping to the liquid diet? Actually, I have stuck to the liquid diet as I stated before. I am just starting to feel more hungry as my stomach heals. I was just wondering if there were some liquids that would keep me full longer. Also, since I am feeling more hungry, I was wondering if that is just because the swelling is going down or if I did something wrong. I have not had any solids at all. As you can see, I have lost quite a bit of weight. Another pound yesterday so 14 pounds in 8 days. Hope that is normal as well. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbird Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 [Then everything sounds fine. It's natural as the swelling goes down to start feeling hungry again. Since the liquids don't stay in the pouch, there isn't much that is going to make you stay full for very long. However, what worked for me was staying away from sugar, because it just gives me hunger pangs like crazy. The fluctuation carbs cause in your blood sugar really brings on the hunger pains. Otherwise, it was just "head hunger" that I had to deal with. My favorite liquids have been a boxed soup from Imagine called Black Bean Bisque; also, good old tomato soup, broth with instant potato flakes in it to thicken it up and give it some body, and protein shakes with fruit and splenda. Like I said, it's a frustrating time but it doesn't last forever. The weight just falls off the first week because of the liquid diet. You are losing fluid from your body as well as fat, because as you eat less and take in less salt you don't retain fluid like you did before. I can usually tell this is happening because my rings get so loose at the base on my fingers (not at the knuckle). It sounds like you are doing really well so far. So many people come on this forum and others and are looking for justification of their anti-band behavior (the "I can't eat anything but ice cream, so can you blame me?" crowd) when you can always find something better for you than ice cream. The worst time for me was the third week of liquids, because I had my appetite back completely and felt fine, so why can't I just eat??!! The second bad time is around the fifth week after surgery, when you are eating solids but have no restriction so you feel like you can eat everything and anything. It's not unusual for people to gain weight after returning to solids but before the first fill. I didn't actually gain, but I sure didn't lose anything during that time either. For me, I felt like I was in control of what I ate after the first fill, but for a lot of people it doesn't come until the third or fourth fill. Now I'm one week past the second fill and I'm usually so tight I can feel every bite. Eating is becoming more of a duty than a pleasure, which I guess is good. So hang in there. It will get better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clpascoe Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Thank you so much for the insite. So, you can add the pototaoes to the chicken broth for substance? That's a great idea!!! This is all new to me so i am just making sure that I am doing the right things . Take care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbird Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Thank you so much for the insite. So, you can add the pototaoes to the chicken broth for substance? That's a great idea!!! This is all new to me so i am just making sure that I am doing the right things . Take care. I would just shake some potato flakes into chicken or beef broth so it was still liquid (I could drink it from a mug) but it was thicker than just broth alone. The nutritionist says anything that will go through a straw is okay, so be creative! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clpascoe Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 I would just shake some potato flakes into chicken or beef broth so it was still liquid (I could drink it from a mug) but it was thicker than just broth alone. The nutritionist says anything that will go through a straw is okay, so be creative! Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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