first thing to eat???

so, hopefully on Tuesday I get to move to soft foods...That would include for us like egg/egg salad w/ lite mayo.  I can't tell you how excited I am to eat egg salad!!  My biggest craving is for a plain hamburger w/ ketchup and salt!!!  isn't that weird!  my one friend at work said my body must need more protein because of my cravings?? 

I'm very very nervous because I'm afraid I will over eat??  Will I know if I am full?  I know that sounds stupid, but I am worried..I don't have restriction yet, due to surgery 3/23. 

My questions are:  #1 what was the first thing you ate when you could and #2 were you or did you over eat?  #3 did you get sick if you did over eat??  #4 I see people state that they can't "do" certain foods...bandsters dont get dumping, so what does that mean you can't "do" certain foods?? 

I know I asked a lot of questions, but any answers would be great!  thanks everyone!!

jamie

1. The first thing I tried was cottage cheese.  It was heavenly!
 
2. I didn't overeat because I was so paranoid about it coming back up.  I measured out 2 oz and started with that. 

3.  "Can't do" for bansters means that someone has trouble with a certain food making it through their stoma and not having a PB, sliming, or a stuck episode.  

Eat slowly, take tiny bites and listen to your body.  I already feel a restriction because I got a partial fill when my band was placed.  I'm not sure if you started with a fill, so you may or may not feel restriction.  The most important thing is to follow your doctor's instructions.  Hope this helps.  Just my 2 cents worth. 

When I could move to soft foods I lived on mashed tators and re-fried beans with melted cheese and sour cream lol I still eat the re-fried beans today its one of my favorite foods lol.

You dont want to do the hamburger till you are about six weeks out that is when I had mine and make sure its juicy not dry .  I tried the 90% lean hamburger and its just way to dry so I went back down to the 75 % lean much better .

I never get full I get satisfied . Its really weird till you get use to it because us heavy people are use to be stuffed to the gills and after you have the lap band put in you dont get that feeling anymore so dont confuse it with hunger and running to get fills.

I am right now a little miserable .I learned a hard lesson tonight.  I ate my breakfast around 9 and I was not hungry all afternoon and then I went to the store cause they was having a huge meat sale . Well time I got out of there and got back home and picked up pizza for the kids staying the night I ate a little to much of it tonight.   I ate one slice and picked the toppings off other slices and I'm full and I haven't felt that for a long long time and I'm not hurting but a "blah feeling" .   I should have known better not to skip meals but I did and now I'm paying the price for it.

When they say cant do certain foods it really depends on your restriction level. some people keep theirs to the maximum they can and that means they might not be able to eat breads, or certain veggies, or certain meats and so forth.  I keep mine on the loose side and I have no problems eating any kinds of foods .. Or that is how it was explained to me lol.

My band is empty so I got more play room because I dont have restriction well according to my nurse I dont lol but I can eat a cup of food and not be hungry for a good 4-6 hrs a time . That is what got me into trouble today because I wasn't hungry *sigh*

Best to not even think about whether you can overeat or not.

Weigh/measure our your portion --- and slowly and carefully eat it.
Pretend that you have 'restriction' whether you do or not --- that word DOES NOT mean that the band will stop you from eating.

It means that with a small amount of food, you can walk away and not be hungry for a few hours.
You can do that.

It is better to eat small, frequent meals, than to eat too much at any one meal.
If you eat, and you are truly, physically hungry in a few hours, eat a small portion of an allowed food.

If you eat small bites, small amounts of food and chew well, you will rarely notice your band at all.

I say that I 'can;t do' lettuce --- I can't seem to chew it well enough and I have had it get 'stuck' a few times -- where I have had to 'cough it back up' ---- not fun or pretty.
So -- I don't bother with lettuce --- it is pretty much void of nutritional value anyway.

Hi Jamie!

My first "food" was also cottage cheese.  I measured as well, and everything went fine.  I wasn't hungry for almost 4 hours and I didn't think about food either.
I don't even like hamburgers that much, but I was dreaming about them while I was still on liquids.  I'm still on soft foods until next Wednesday.  I'm doing alot of tuna salad, eggbeaters with cheese, cooked to death green beans, yogurt, and the Crab Mushroom casserole from Eggface. 

I don't know if it's temporary, but I feel like I can't "do" mashed potatoes, and sadly, egg salad!  The first time I ate it, 20 minutes later I felt like I had eaten an entire bag of marshmellows!  I was so uncomfortable - for hours!  I didn't get sick, just full and my back hurt.  I only had about 1/4 cup!  And I followed all the rules, take tiny bites, put the fork down, chew chew chew.  Same with the mashed potatoes.  I will try them again after I'm fully healed, but just the thought of those two turns me off.  Also wierd, since I've been able to eat mushies and the soft stages, the hamburger craving went away. 

To be honest, I'm a little afraid to try anything solid - chicken, steak, hamburger.  In a way, I think the mushie/soft stages are easier, because you know that the foods you eat won't hurt going through the band.  But it doesn't hurt to take my meds now.  I could feel them slip through the band before, but not now. 

Ask anything you want - its how we all learn!