Post Lap Band.. feel like I'm failing :(

x0xRebeccax0x

Hey everyone I had lap band surgery on 7/13/12. I'm only down 28 lbs and have been stuck there for at least 2 months now. I'm currently at 10.4 cc's in my band. I don't feel like I have much restriction though. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I feel like I can eat too much before I even feel full. I thought that it was supposed to be 1/2 - 3/4 cup of food before I would feel full. I'm not sure of the cup measurement of food that I can eat before feeling full.. but it's definitely more than that. I just feel like the food/full feeling should be different. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I feel like a failure and that I am not successful enough for having this tool on my side.

cbbarge

I hope that you're not looking for the "I just ate a huge meal and now I'm stuffed" full feeling. When the LB is doing it's job properly you should feel a satisfied feeling after you eat your portion. You may feel like you can eat more, but at that point your shouldn't. If you feel satisfied, the band is doing it's job. Once your've eaten and satisfied the hunger, any addtional eating that you do after isn't hunger. That is why you should always weigh and measure your portions. I recommend that you get in the habit of weighing and measuring everything and be less concerned with eating till you feel "full". If you aren't using MFP to track your food, you should start. Drink lots and lots of calorie free liquids and make sure you are doing some sort of physical activity. If you do those jobs, you have given your band the best opportunity to do it's job. Remember, the tool we've had installed does 20% of the work. We still need to do the other 80%. Good luck and friend me if you'd like to.

x0xRebeccax0x

Could you give me an example of a meal (with measurements) that I should be eating? I'm pretty good at logging my food... sometimes I slack for a few days but during those days I'm not going wild eating junk. I'm still eating normally on those days. I stick around 1200 calories per day, stay under the saturated fat and over the protein guidelines given by the site. If I'm not supposed to look for a "full feeling" how will I know when I have enough restriction in my band?

TeresaWash

You really have to look at being satisfied, not so much full, Altho... I do get full feeling.

Are you eating solid protiens? What you eat can make a big difference.

x0xRebeccax0x

On an average day here's how my food goes:

breakfast: 20 oz. coffee with 4 tbsp sugar free creamer.. a while later when I start feeling hungry I have 16 oz. of lactose free, fat free milk with 2 packets of sugar free carnation instant breakfast.

lunch: 1 can of progresso chicken, rice and vegetable soup (seems to keep me full for a while so I've been sticking with that for a couple weeks now)

dinner: changes up daily but usually chicken 6 oz? (cooked in olive oil and seasoning typically), some sort of vegetables (1 cup?) and occasionally a pasta/potato side (1/2 cup?)

throughout the day I drink diet green tea.. sometimes I drink water but not a lot in each day. I try not to snack.. if I do it's usually something like a light mozzerella cheese stick (or 2), a handful of cheez its or something like that, or I drink another of the carnation instant breakfast drinks

TeresaWash

Here's my typical day:

Breakfast: Greek Yogurt

Lunch: Salad with protien such as chicken or steak or pork... what every protien I had the night before
Or a cup of chili
Chicken Salad in a pita

Supper: A solid protien such as fish, steak, chicken, pork chop, 3 - 4 oz, veg such as cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, what everh thrills ya. Every now and then I just got to have a potato so I will have a really small potato.

Sometimes I will have spagetti or meatloaf what ever....

I am also eating around 1200 calories a day. Anyone should be able to lose on that but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes you just get stuck. Don't let it discourage you... stick to it. It's got to give. I was on a plateau for 6 weeks, my weight would not budge and it was just above the 300 mark. For the life of me I could not see 299 no matter how I ate or how much i exercised. I stuck with it, I had to cuz I knew if I got discouraged and gave up the scale was going to go the other way!

You can do this. It takes work. there is nothing easy about it. It is a great tool and those who learn to eat healthy and add physical activity to their life seem to be the ones most successful. It is a change for life not just for a while.

I don't completely deprive myself... I still enjoy a extra treat now and then but I don't let my self go back to eating the way I used to and oddly enough, I have no desire to. It really has gotten to be a way of life for me and I hope to keep it that way.

Hang in there!

x0xRebeccax0x

So I guess I'm on the right track.. just feeling like a failure because of being at a plateau I don't exercise at all... maybe that could push the scale to move in the right direction! I have the means and I have the time. I really have no excuse.. just that I really hate it! lol I thought maybe I wasn't eating right (too much at a time, not the right things, etc). How much water do you drink? I try not to drink that much because of washing the food through the band or whatever.. but then I end up not drinking any at all.

TeresaWash

I drink about 80 oz. a day. I never drink with my meal and try to wait till 1/2 hr after I have eaten.

Your breakfast and your lunch are pretty much "slider" foods. Maybe you should try something more solid that will fill you up.

I can't eat solids very well in the morning but I eat lunch and I'm pretty much satisfied till supper.

And yes.... nothing will break a plateau like exercise. Actually, when I had the 6 week plateau I finally went to the Dr. I knew I didn't need a fill. I saw her and my nutritionist. I took my food and exercise logs with me. They thought I was doing everything just fine. My Nutritionist suggested changing up my exercise, I was doing 45 min on the elliptical. She suggested I add strength training so I started going to the Body Pump class. The next week I left the 300's behind me!

Ya... I'm not an exercise lover either but I really hate when I don't go now, so I'm pretty regular. (ZUMBA is a blast!!!) just sayin

x0xRebeccax0x

Okay.. I was wondering about the "slider foods". For a couple weeks I was eating 1 can of solid white albacore tuna, 1 cup of boiled (frozen) peas, a few sprays of I can't believe it's not butter, and 2 tbsp of reduced fat parmesan (all mixed together).. as my lunch. Think I should go back to that?

I def need to get the water thing going for me.. a couple years ago I lost 30 something lbs (over a few months) just by increasing my water intake. When I had a craving to eat random junk around my house I drank a giant glass of water instead. I drank until my stomach was sloshing and at that point I didn't even think about eating because of how my stomach felt. lol

I can't go to a gym or anything because I have small children who I'm with constantly.. also it's not in the budget. However, I only work 2 days a week and I own a treadmill, an elliptical and a weight bench. No excuses! I'm going to just start off easy by going slowly on the elliptical or treadmill.. I always stare at how many calories I'm burning and get frustrated with how tired I am vs. how slowly the calories are burning off. I need to just focus on increasing my stamina and thinking "something is better than nothing".

gspea

I had my LB 'installed' on 6/28/2012. I have lost 35 pounds since surgery. If I may make a couple of comments - Look at your Protein, Carbs and Fat. I think I may have just broken my plateau - will see for sure on Sunday - but I met with my dietician and went over all that I had been doing. She recommended - no more than 65-75 gms of protein (I was getting usually 80 -90 a day), up to 135 gms of carbs (I had focused so much on protein I was eating less than 35gms a day) and 35-45(max)gms of Fat.

I do have a problem with my band in the morning so if you look at my diary you will see most every day I have a coffee with a protein drink added. (I use a Slimgenics soy protein bistro cappucino -yummm). That way I wake up my band and get some protein in. Then you should add 2 - 3 snacks a day - you are going too far between meals. I have my first snack about 9:30ish. It might be cottage cheese. some fruit, cheese stick, crackers, pb something... I then have lunch about 2-3 hours later. Then a snack around 3ish - yogurt, etc.

Then dinner and if I am feeling empty and hungry later in the evening - I will have a cup of diet cocoa, haven't tried the instanct carnation drink yet, hot tea or another low protein item.

As Teresa said - you might be having too much slider food. My dietician and doctor said they do not want me to have just 3 meals. I have to have 5 - 6 a day - smaller portions. And I was told to keep my snacks maybe a bit smaller. By doing this you can get to the 1/2 - 3/4 cup amounts. I need to start measuring again - my portions have grown and I realized that. - So the measuring cups are back out and I use the kitchen scale religiously too.

You are not a failure - your body is comfortable where it is at. maybe if you go back to the full liquid diet for a few day that you did right after surgery and after a fill - and stay at or below your calorie totals you can shake up the body.

Your plateau will break - it just doesn't move like we want it too... But you will get it down. Need to change up both the exercise and food...

:happy:
g - and I have 4.5cc's as of Monday. A friend of mine has 10cc's in her band is just now feeling restriction more often.

Verdadera

Thank you everyone for all of your information. I just got the lap band this morning so it has been very informative to hear all of your stories.

misscristie

I hit a 6 month plateau. It's all normal. It will pass. Make sure you're getting enough protein - Supplement with low carb protein shakes if you need to. MFP is way too low on protein. You can do it

chocl8girl

I found this chart as a GREAT way to learn how to eyeball serving sizes. You definitely should be eating more solid food. It can be difficult to adjust to the amount of time you need to eat, because you REALLY need to slow down, but you can do it!

I'm kind of the opposite of you on the frustration scale, I have a 10cc band, but in nearly a year I have NEVER been able to go above 4.25cc filled before I get severe restriction, and my band tends to be really finicky and I have had a very hard time finding the right fill level that continues to work more than a month or two, but the important thing is to not give up, and let your tool do the work that you need it to help you with. :flowerforyou:

Jamielynn_77

i am not a bander, i am a sleever. but i know the frustrations of the dreaded 'plateau.'

when i hit them, i usually fight back with high protien diet, including like, Body Fortress protein shakes, tuna, canned chicken, cheese, and lots of water between. i also try and time my meals. my doc told me to wait at least 2 minutes between bites. that way my pouch has time to register what i just put in. it works. i thought he was just crazy, and i was looking for that full feeling at first.

Reading these posts I am getting some good meal ideas too! Thanks everyone! Hope this helps ya! :happy:

Wellypeep

I am a sleever too but just wanted to offer some advice about exercise. When I started exercising, I was 307lb and everything ached. I built up really slowly - just 5 mins on the treadmill at slow pace made me want to die at first. So, I started out with 4 minutes and I just added one minute on every two days and increased speed by a small amount once per week. Now I can jog at a decent speed for 45minutes. It is amazing how quickly fitness builds up. I now do 4 x classes a week and 2 or 3 gym sessions and I feel great! My advice is build up slow and easy xxx

Rockmyskinnyjeans

i'm a RNY'er so I'm not sure how helpful I can be when it comes to advice on the Lapband. However, I'll agree with what the sleever said on fighting back those plateaus with lots and lots protein. It almost always proved to be successful me, as well. I wish you the best of getting though this. Build your exercise up slowly so as not to injure yourself or cause yourself to burn out on it. You'll do great!