11 days post op

Hi, I am new to this site.  I had lap band  surgery on Aug. 26th.  So far I am 20 lbs. down and very excited.  I'm also a little nervous also about never being able to eat normally again.  I had some questions.  I've been looking but keep finding contradicting reports. 
1. Will i ever be able to eat bread, pasta or rice again.
2.  I am currently on "mushies" - does anyone have any suggestions of what I can have.  so far I've been eating loose scrambled eggs, pudding,grits and protien shakes.
3.  I am realy interested in hearing about some ways to make the most of my band.

Thank you

Congrats! To address your questions:
a) You will be able to eat normally. Just in much smaller quantities.

b) It is hard to say what you will be able to tolerate. Each person is different, and what we tolerate changes, too. I can guarantee that when you first reach your optimal fill level you will find some of those things difficult to handle. I can now eat some types of bread, rarely can I do a bun and that has just been the past 2 months, spaghetti works in tiny amounts though whole wheat works better, as long as I am well hydrated I can do lasagna. Rice is just not working for me though some don't have trouble with it. Ask yourself if those things would be in your best interest while you are actively losing weight. I made the decision that I would, as a rule, stay away from those types of things while I was losing, but nothing is absolutely forbidden. I have to do it this way because of my personality. I had to be quite strict while losing, and have had some of the previously avoided, on occasion, since. I know that carbs will trigger off the cravings with me, really bad. Therefore they were not in my best interest while losing unless I was at a party or something where the quantity would be very limited. If I eat them now I have to understand that there will be a price to pay, for me, and I will battle cravings for several days.

c) While on mushies I used a lot of fat free refried beans, cheese melted on top. I ate a lot of cottage cheese and greek yogurt, too. I only ate mashed potatoes once and decided they weren't worth the lack of protein. I could not handle scrambled eggs at that point, though I really do better with eggbeaters, anyway. Don't rush this phase because you are still doing a lot of internal healing. Go for protein as much as you can. Try to get it through food but use the shakes to fill in.

Good luck, Sue

I added non flavored protein to my mashed potatoes

Can you tell me exactly how you get (2) bars at the top.... Weigth to go & lost weight???

lol I tried this in my profile page and it didnt work! I guess Im not doing something right.

 

Thanks jennifer 

Congrats!  You're off to a great start! 

Request me as a friend so you can have access to my blog.  I have a lot of information there about my journey, the foods I eat and my routine, etc.

Re: Bread, pasta, and rice...The answer is yes, you will be able to eat some of those things depending on your level of restriction.  The question is, "Do you want to? "  I know part of my early WL success was due to the fact that I gave all of these things up for a year.  Later I started adding them back into my diet on the very rare occasion but switched ever simple carbohydrate for it's complex carb counterpart, i.e. brown rice instead of white, only whole grain crackers and whole wheat pasta.  A carb is a carb, is a carb, but at least you will get the benefit of the fiber which we all need.

I'm almost 3 years post op and can only eat bread if it's toasted.  I can eat rice if it's not sticky and I usually have trouble with pastas.

Best~
Lisa O.  

Thank you guys so much for your responses...and yes I do not plan on eating these foods any time soon, but just to think that I could never have them again was putting me in a kind of panic - adjusting to my new relationship with food is challenging.