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Here is a link to an article on LiveStrong with the Pros/Cons: http://www.livestrong.com/article/309079-the-pros-cons-of-crystal-light-drink/

Especially since you already have 6 cc I would hold off until after your vacation. You don't want to be out of town and find your too tight. Also, it might be hard to stick to liquids then mushies while your on vacation. At the very least, let your doctor know about your plans if you decide to go in.

Glad to hear you are on the mend. I am new to the site, but wanted to give you my good wishes!

Let's face it...the primary 'relationship' in our life was to food and all other relationships revolved around it. Some people grieve over the loss of that relationship but I don't see it as a 'loss'. I see it as a relationship that had to change. I still love food and that's never going to change. What has changed is that it is no longer my primary relationship. I can get together with friends and family now and I don't need to have a plate in front of me to enjoy their company. I can go to the movies without getting a big bucket of popcorn. I don't need to buy the munchies for long car trips. None of that happened overnight and sometimes it still rears its ugly little head but I'm getting better at squashing it down. So don't grieve the loss...just change the relationship. .

I wont post in here any more since i am making people uncomfortable... Ill come back when I am doing all the right things and have just great things to report about my situation.

This may be harsh but nonetheless, here it is. I think it is incredibly selfish of you to come to this board and look for help and suggestions of how to do this journey the wrong way....and be so very blatant about it. You can put all the nice terms to it you want such as...being honest...but at the end of the day it is just blatant disregard for what this place is all about. There are many people on here who stumble and none of us are perfect but the goal is to lift each other up and encourage one another to get into the battle the healthy and correct way. If you are so clearly unable and unwilling to do so I think it is unfair for you to post it here. I realize that everyone's journey is different. Again I acknowledge that most of us will stumble and not always do things perfectly. But to just flat out say we are not going to and we are looking for a way to do things wrong and hope others will help us figure out how to do that.....is really selfish and destructive to the most basic purpose of this place. I really do hope something changes for you and you can muster up what it takes to do this correctly. You can do the right thing wrong...and it is still wrong in the end. We should all strive to do the right thing right.....and help others to do the same along the way.

:DOn December 21st of 2010, my Grandmother passed away, 2 days before my 30th birthday. She was 85, so she was no spring chicken, but I cant help but feel like she didnt have to die. She had struggled with weight her entire life. She would be a size 0, then a size 24, then a size 2, then a size 20 again. She did all of the fad diets back when they were new, like the Atkins, and she took dozens of diet pills, but the weight always came back. In her later years she started having joint problems. First the shoulders, then the knees, then finally the hips, having them all replaced. Because at this time she had been in pain for a while, she had become very sedentary, and lost almost all of her muscle mass, so the hip joints never really took, because there was nothing for them to "hold on to" So she sat in her wheel chair and got bigger, and bigger and bigger. For the last FIFTEEN years she had been completly wheelchair bound. In spite of all this, it didnt slow her down. She had a wheel chair accessable van, so she was pretty self sufficient. She grocery shopped on her own, and still volunteered at her church. (It was an electric wheel chair, because her shoulders were artifical too, and coulnt support the range of motion for a manual wheel chair). For about the last two years, she kept getting chronic bladder infections. Thats what happens when you are sedentary, and obese, your bladder stops emptying all of the way, and the little urine that stays, gradually gets infected. Not only is it miserable to have an infection, but after a while they started to affect her mind. Thats how we knew when she was getting sick, because most of the time she was so lucic and accurate, but when the infections would start, she would stop eating, and start to tell stories of how she had had a good conversation with a dead relative. Finally, last October, I stopped by her house and found her sitting in her closet talking to no one, so we took her to the ER and she was admitted (again) for a bad bladder infection. When it came time to discharge her from the hospital, they sent her to a rehab to get her strength back, so she could go back home, and it was there that she contracted pheumonia, and 3 weeks after that, she died. Because she was so sedentary, her lungs were weak, and they couldnt fight it. When we decided to turn the Oxygen off, she lived for another 12 hours, because her heart was so strong, it just wouldnt give up. So, lesson learned.........I dont give a flying rats happy furry ass what other people think about my choice to have this surgery. I need the help. I know I do. I have similar desires like everyone else ( I want to be a sexy goddess for the husband who is the love of my life) and I want to set a good example for my children. But most of all, I dont want to die like that. I dont want to be the strong woman who raises a great family, only to have the end game be that I have to have my diapers changed because I cant care for myself, or that to go to eat, I have to be lifted by a crane, because im so big that even the big men in the complex cant help lift me. I REFUSE to be that person. Next week I go to get banded! HOORAY!! I havent shouted out to the world that I am having surgery, but not because I dont want to hear the nay sayers, but because this is a personal journey for me. I understand my reasons more than anyone else in the world possibly could, and to the super skinny girl who thinks this is the easy choice, or to the body builder who thinks im lazy, I feel sorry for their closed mindedness. Thinking that what is right for you is right for everyone is a disease, thats what is wrong with the world today. Wow! That was a HUGE rant! Thanks for letting me let it go! You guys rock!

Keep in mind that this Forum is primarily a support group for people with questions or problems. So the majority of posts will be from people who are having a problem of some sort. Most people who are having no trouble at all will be out living their lives, and won't be posting here, because they don't need to. For every post here that seems to be a problem, there will be dozens, maybe hundreds or even thousands of successful lap band people who never post here. It's the same on any surgery-based forum, so you need to keep things in that perspective. As someone who has had a primarily positive experience with my lap band, I'm happy to speak up and give you my honest opinion: If you've explored ALL your weight loss options, and have decided you need some sort of surgical assistance losing weight, and if you feel the lap band is the right choice for you, then go ahead and have the surgery. I have zero regrets, other than that I didn't have this surgery years ago. On the other hand, if you haven't researched everything available to you, if you only have a small amount of weight to lose, if you're not willing to be proactive in your weight loss, and if you're not willing to do the work it takes to make the most of the lap band, then lap band surgery may not be the right answer. You'll need to read everything you can find (and there are years' worth of posts here about banding, both pro and con), and make your own decision. Lap band is not for everyone, and it is definitely not a magic bullet. I've been banded just about four months, and I've already lost about half the weight I want to lose. As of this morning, that's 73 pounds gone. I'm currently at a weight that is lower than I've seen in more than ten years, and I owe my weight loss to the band. Others who haven't been as successful as I have may have worked just as hard, but their journey with weight loss is specific to them. Everyone has a different experience, and the band doesn't work exactly the same for everyone. In my case, it's been a great tool to help me lose the weight I knew I needed to lose. I hope this gives you some helpful infomation. I'm sure others will post and give you their thoughts. Good luck, regardless of what you decide to do. Dave

It shouldn't be a problem.. they aren't going to fill you so you can't eat... 6ccs at surgery really? Hmm... Just remember you'll be on liquids and mushies for a few days..

No. Everything negative you hear is true. I had mine in october of 2006. I lost 50 pounds, and most of my hair. I'm only 15 pound down from my surgery weight right now. Then gained most of the weight back, after sleepless nights of sitting up trying to keep down reflux acid. Now, it is a daily battle of prilosec and tums, and waking up at night with acid. I can't eat vegetables. Just the fatty/sugary stuff goes down. You can't sleep, you can't function at work, and you need to throw up often. There is constant hurt. I had an upper GI years ago, and all they could say was that a pill was stuck in the band area. No more pills -- you have to crush them for the rest of your life. And they don't taste good, folks. Think about the meds you have to take as you age. It is not worth it. Find another support group and work out the weight issues with good people around. Say no. The FDA should ban this proceedure. Please don't start the email about how I need to see the doc. I've lived with this thing for 4 years and I know all about it. You need to take into account ALL opinions, negative or positive. But there is no reason to downplay the negative aspects.