Lap-Band Advice from Seminar with Allergan Rep Last night

How to eat with the band and things I learned last night, some of which I knew, some which I needed clarification on:

1. Only solid food will satisfy you for 4-5 hours (exception being a.m. particularly for women - see later)

2. Hormonal fluctuations are not the cause of the band getting tighter or looser, it is actually related to the FLUID retention during illness, TOM, allergies, etc......your stomach tissue also retains fluid and swells your stoma.  This explains the "Why am I suddenly tight out of nowhere" syndrome.

3. The pouch above your Lap-Band only holds 1/4 cup of food when you have good/reasonable restriction.  This is why surgeons say 1/2 cup of food.  When you "can" eat 1-1.5 cups of food, that's because by eating more you are pushing the food through the stoma and into the big tummy.  If you were to eat more slowly and allow the 20 minutes for the signal to reach your brain that you are full, you will eat less.  This is how the band works, and every day I see people not putting it to good use!  Sometimes those "people" are ME! 

4. PROTEIN FIRST!!!! - See #3 for WHY.  Solid protein except at morning meals where many of us cannot tolerate it.

5. Women are more prone to swelling which is why it is so common to see on the boards "I can't eat a thing in the morning"  This does not mean your band is too tight, as long as you are able to eat solids at lunchtime, this is within the range of NORMAL particularly for women.  They have studied and gathered data and women have this issue far more often than men - and who, I ask, posts on the OH Boards.......that's why we see this so much.  It's OK to drink your protein in the morning.

6. Exercise is SO important.  And, MUSCLE BUILDING is very important, this will allow your body to burn calories up, so do PUSHUPS, resistance training, running, walking, even cardio builds some muscle but it's important to do other training too.  This does not mean everyone has to start lifting weights, it's about building the BIG muscles in your legs, back, buttocks, chest.

7. TRACK your food.  If you start to not lose or gain, how will you know what you have done wrong?  Lap-band.com is now integrated with fitday, so you can manage your whole profile there, I am going to give it a spin, I have already tried livestrong and sparkpeople and I love livestrong's food database, but it doesn't work right at work!

Ok I may edit and add later if I remember anything important I forgot.......it was AMAZING to meet with and talk to a rep and make connection with him, it is my personal ambition to get into bariatrics and I would love to work for Allergan!!! 

Edited (again) to add:

8. You can stretch your pouch so don't abuse it, stop at your soft stop and if you PB don't go back later and eat, let that baby rest, even if you are hungry!  Drink, rest.

9. You need FIBER to make the valve in your intestines which controls the flow of food slow down which in turn slows down the pyloric valve which then slows down  the rate of digestion and the frequency of hunger.  Fiber is contained in healthy vegetables (avoid fibrous, not FIBER - fibrous examples are asparagus and celery), Wasa crackers, whole grain pasta, beans, etc.....  The most preferred form of fiber is that contained in vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower or fruit such as berries.

Thank you so much for this information! I think I have fallen into the trap of eating soft protein and I think this is my problem. I am on day 2 of the 5 Day Pouch Test and when I am done, it is back to Bandster rules for me. This post is perfect for me! 

Also, great job on your weight loss! Hope to get to where you are soon!

Thanks so much for sharing karnie!  I'm saving this to all of my OH files that I have copied from this board. 

Good luck on your goal with getting into bariatrics.  Wouldn't that be something to understand and help others with obesity!

That was really interesting/helpful information. Please let us know if you remember anything else!  So, it sounds like if you can eat 1-1.5 cups of food that your pouch may not necessarily be stretched or that you don't have proper restriction, the pressure from more food is pushing the food through your stoma. 

Did they say anything about pouch stretching? It really concerns me. Right now, I just got another fill last Thursday and I'm feeling like I have good restriction. I'm full with about 1/2 cup - 1 cup of food.  When I'm able to eat 1-1.5 I'm worried that I will stretch my pouch because I'm not really sure what it takes to do stretch it!

He did mention pouch stretching as a possibility, reality,not myth.  So let's be nice to our pouches and not eat too much!

Thanks so much for posting this!  I have some new questions to ask my doctor now.

Kernie,  Again, just what the doctor ordered for me. I have been sitting at the same weight now for a couple of weeks and wondering "why?". I know that I need to eat slower and probably eat smaller portions. I purchased a food scale prior to surgery, and for the love of god, I still haven't used it! WTF!!! I finally have an appt with Bally's to start my gym membership hopefully sometime this month. I know I need to step up my game. This is another post of yours that I am copying and keeping in my file to re-read (I have a feeling its going to be re-ready many many times). Its awful how much we need to keep reminding ourselves of what we need to do. Those old habits really die hard.

Thank you for posting. I am sure many of us here will benefit from this information.

Mimi

Great information!!!  Thank you!!

Great advice. Thanks so much for posting. :)

Thanks, this is very worthwhile info, in particular, for me, number 3.  I eat about 1-l/2 cups -
protein first, chewed very well and eaten slowly.  The 1-l/2 cups takes me about 20 minutes
I rest in between.

So I guess from number 3, I should just eat 1/2 cup and rest at that point and see how I feel  for 20 minutes??..  I'll try it.

Makes so much sense about say 2nd 1/2 pushing 1st 1/2 cup thru, etc.  I was wondering about that.

I also have "first bite syndrome," which I'm working on.

Thanks,


Katherine B