ONE MONTH POST LAPBAND...

I have survived the month of liquid foods. Looking back it was hardest the first week. I can start having real food now, but will try to stay around 900-1100 calories....I think I can do it now as I am not as hungry and do feel fullness when I eat. I have never really felt full before....so it takes some getting use to. When I take a few bites I have to slow down, as that is all my pouch will hold. It is a weird feeling, almost like I didn't swallow well and the food didn't go down. I feel like I need to drink, but with the band you are not suppose to drink with meals so you do stay full. When I feel hungry, I have been having hot tea to put it off for a while and that helps, but I cannot believe I have not had a diet coke in a month. Frankly, now that I have not had it, I am not craving it. A big help is the Lapband.com website where I can go to log what I have eaten and it adds everything up for me. This is a major plus as I hate having to add calories or keep track of carbs or proteins. I walked my first mile around the neighborhood two days ago and hope to walk several times a week and increase the miles up to 5 as a first goal. I have spent time visiting some other "bander" blogs, so I can get some recipe ideas and meal plans. I will have support group meetings once a month and that is coming up next week, so I am looking forward to that. It will be nice to hear how others do things. So for the weigh-in this month: 11.5 pounds lost! All I could think at first was "is that all for another week of liquids...1/2 a pound since last Friday".....this has not left me feeling motivated. I did however call a friend who had the band over a year ago and has lost 90 pounds. She assured me she didn't lose very much until her 3rd or 4th fill and then it was very consistent weightloss. She had a few months where she lost nothing in the middle, but she went for more fills to make sure she would lose. So I will have to remain hopeful that the best is yet to come. Here are the comparison pictures for now.