Frustrations

I went to see my doctor a couple of weeks ago to get my Lap-Band deflated since I was having problems keeping food down. Well, he removed some fluid from the band, which corrected the problem. It turns out that I have gained 12 pounds in three weeks. I am going back on Monday, Oct 29th to get my band re-adjusted so I can get back to where I was. Also, just a quick update on another issue. I had my appendix removed 5 weeks ago. That was a crazy experiance.

New Beginnings

Today, April 22, 2012, is the new beginning. I started the 5 Day Pouch Test Diet. Basically it is starting over with the post-op diet only a much shorter time period. Remembering not to drink liquids 30 minutes prior to and wait 30 minutes after a meal. For today and tomorrow, everything will be low carb, protein rich liquids and plenty of water. On Day 3, I will be a transition to soft proteins such as 4 to 6 ounces tuna, salmon, eggs etc. Day 4 will be 4 to 6 ounces of ground meats, such as ground chicken, beef etc. Of course every day requires plenty of water, at least 64 ounces a day. The plan should have me feeling the restriction that I felt after the surgery. I weighed myself this morning and weighed 265.1, and will again at the end of the 5 days. Others have reported a significant drop in wieght, but most importantly I should have a renewed sense of accomplishment. One must never forget, the Lap Band is a tool that is a choice to get control of obesity. There are several other choices. I was 355 pounds on the day I first walked into my Bariatric Doctors office and met Dr. Taddeucci. My knees hurt, it was difficult to perform my job as a firefighter, and I was a poor example for my 4 children. I lost just over 100 pounds in the first year. I some set backs and gained back to 285, which caused me some personal disappointment. My doctor told me that I had stretched my pouch. I took his advice and started monitoring my portions, and lost 20 pounds, but got stalled. That is why I am doing this 5 Day Pouch test. By the way, I cannot afford to gain any weight. I got rid of almost all my clothes that fit when I was over 300 pounds. I don't want to buy bigger clothes ever again.

Stalled

I'm stalled.
I haven't been able to drop any weight for some time. As you have read in previous posts, I stretched the pouch above my Lap Band. My doctor told me that I needed to shrink my pouch so that I can loose the weight. I need to get back down to my goal of being below 250, which will get my body fat percentage back close to the 20% mark again.

So what is the plan? I did some research and found out that this isn't as uncommon as one might think. Further research pointed me to the 5 day pouch diet, which is an abreviated restart of the post surgery diet restrictions.

Starting Monday, April 23rd, I start the pouch diet. I will post the results afterwards.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/522399-the-5-day-pouch-diet
http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html

Making Progress

I am making progress at re-losing the weight that was gained. I did quite a bit of reflecting on my situation since last seeing Dr. Taddeucci. It is amazing how a little slip here, a little cheat there can really add up to 40 pounds of gain. Anyway, I've lost almost 20 pounds of that gain, and have the goal of losing another 20 by sticking with the program.
Yesterday, my lovely bride went into have her bad reconnected after her band slipped last year. Dr. Taddeucci removed the old band, and replaced it last summer, but couldn't do all the work at the time due the swelling and scar tissue. She is home today, resting as you would imagine a person would after surgery.
I have taken some time to review all the instructions on eating so that I make sure we are both successful.

I need to focus again

Hello,
Since last posting, I had to have my band loosened and retightened. I had some trouble so that was the fix. Then in last few months, my scale stopped working, since we needed some new batteries, which are an odd ball size of coin type.
To make a long story short, I gained 30 pounds. When I went in yesterday thinking my band need tightening, I found out that the pouch above the band had stretched. My fine doctor was of course not please, but very supportive. I need to focus more on what I am eating and how fast.

The lap band is a tool, that if used properly will give the results of fantasitic weight loss. However, just like any tool, if not used properly, the results will be mistakes.

I am back to tracking my food intake again. I will pay more attention to how fast I eat and the quality of the food that I choose.

I resolve to loose all the wieght I gained, and get down to my goal of 240 pounds.

It has been a long time since my last post.

I didn't realize how long it has been since my last post on my blog. I guess that I let everything else take priority.

Well here is the latest update.
I have been at 255 pounds for several months. I fluctuate a few pounds either way, but I've been pretty steady.

Having weight loss surgery certainly is not for everyone. I still have trouble with eating. Most mornings, I can't eat anything until after noon. It takes a while in the morning to be able to drink anything. By the noon meal, I can usually get something solid to stay down. This something they (the doctors) warned me about, but I really didn't understand. Anyway, I'm working through it.

I have learned a lot since my surgery in March 2010. I will say that My Life has definitly changed for ever.

Finally an Update

Well, I am finally making an update to this blog about how my Lap Band weight loss is going. Every once in a while you just need to write things down for others to see.

I was stuck at a range of 270-275 for almost 2 months. I couldn't figure it out. I wasn't eating more food or large quantities, or so I thought. I started back to keeping track of everything again at www.fitday.com just to see what was going on. It is amazing how honest you keep yourself when you write down everything you eat. Anyway, I realized that I had been eating too much sugar and high carb foods.

I took in the previous 5 days of eating into the doctors office last Monday. The nurse, Jackie, looked everything over and started laughing when she saw the whiskey entry. I told her that they didn't have single malt scotch as a choice. Actually she was pleased to see the honesty. She told me I shouldn't be eating more than 50 grams of carbs per day, and I had many days close to or over 100.

We decided I needed a new fill on my lap band, just to help restrict the intake. So we added another .8 cc's to the band and on liquids for 48 hours. I thought to myself, no big deal. I of course was wrong. Eating soup was a challenge, as only 1/2 cup of soup was more than enough to satisfy me. Since then, I am really down on quantity, and my cards are staying low. I am focusing on making sure that I am getting high quality proteins.

As it normally goes after a fill, I am losing weight again. Yesterday morning I was down to 265. Only about 30 pounds to go to meet my goal weight.