Thanks everyone, you guys all make alot of sense... vanessa

Heya Vanessa. I made a mistake and weighed myself this morning and I had GAINED a pound! If your clothes are getting looser, it will eventually show on the scale. You might want to take measurements along the way so that when the pounds don't go down, you can still see progress in inches. The advice I keep getting is to toss the scale and trust in the process, only weigh once a week or month (I can't get myself to wait for once a month but maybe I will get there! ) Sounds to me like you are doing better than you think you are! Jezia

try tracking your food - from what i hear not getting our protein really does hurt our weight loss - you start losing lean muscle instead of body fat... rememebr it is all trial and error - we need to just work with what we can and do the best we can. beans are very healthy and cottege cheese is an easy protein (at least it was for me). another thing you can do is throw a scoop of protein powder in with your mashed potatos, your soups and so on. that will help get in the protein and get your body feeling good. Deb PS call your surgeon to discuss this too. and you definitely need to eat! even if your stomach didn't hurt you would need to eat!

I am still on pureed foods. I LIVE for my daily serving of cottage cheese. It tastes great, is easy to digest and can have up to 30 grams of protein in a cup. I like the Jello sugar free pudding cups and they are a good source of protein. Yogurt is too, but I seem to crave savory things, not sweet things. Another thing that has saved my sanity is Thai Coconut soup. It is so flavorful. I make it with lite coconut milk and just don't put in the chicken or mushrooms. Next week I can have soft foods, so I will try it with the others. I have had one serving so far of sloppy joe mixture and a very small bit of tuna salad. I can't imagine eating meat plain yet. It sounds so dry, but I will try next week. I tried making an egg/sour cream/cheese strata, but one bite and it just stuck there. I was thinking of trying egg salad or a poached egg next week. I also have some protein powder, unsweetened. I bet you can use powdered milk for a fraction of the price (I plan to look this weekend). I put a scoopful in my mashed potatoes. I also add some to my hot cereal. But if you can tolerate cottage cheese, it is a great food, and gets you almost halfway to your protein goal.

Laproscopic Lap Band - 7/31/06 (I barely squeeked into this forum ) 1. How much have you lost? 26lbs 2. What are you doing for exercise? Some walking. Still feeling a bit weak. 3. Are you having any problems/ complications? Painful lump on my left arm above where my IV went whacko in my left had. My port is a much larger bulge than I would have imagined. Still watching my bruises change color and fade 4. How much protein have you been getting in? Aiming for 65, but usually between 50 and 60. 5. How much water/ liquids have you been getting in? 50 oz. but so much of my food is liquid, which I don't count. 6. What do you ususally eat within the course of a day? 6 small feeds. I am still on the pureed food stage. Breakfast - glass of Juice or V-8 or decaf coffee and my meds One hour later - Grits or Cream of Wheat Lunch - Cottage Cheese or Soup Afternoon snack - Varies, V-8, skim milk, leftover soup, applesauce, cottage cheese (if I didn't have it for lunch) Dinner - Mashed potatoes (with protein powder) or Soup or Cottage cheese or hummus Evening snack - V-8 or sugar free pudding