♥LovetheNewMe♥

Hey MD how are you doing, we haven't heard much from you lately? Were you banded?

Normal, there is no expected weight loss in the first six weeks after surgery. Most loss a few pounds but the sliders we have to eat in the beginnng to give our self to heal are higher in carbs and calories. In the beginning it is key to stay hydrated and drink your protein. Your body needs to heal.

i know every doctor is different. If you have a good relationship with your pervious physician maybe you could ask for a referral to this new doctor who is closer to you home. Some doctors are really funny about taking on WLS patients with out referrals. It is a shame there is not more trust within the medical field. Can you get your old physician to do a referral? You really do need an MD in your area and you need to know where to go for an emergency. Maybe look and see on the internet if there is a WLS Center of Excellance in your area. That would be my choice for looking for a physician and looking for follow up care. I live in Upstate of SC and I think the closet center of excellance to Georgia is Anderson County. I know they have a bariatric physican but I do not know how far that is from your area of NE Atlanta. Good luck.

Awesome, buying swimware is so difficult, but you are making great progress and should be so proud of your accomplishments. The suit looks good and I like the coverup too.

Normal, and yes in the beginning there will be foods that you can not eat but as stated above by others over time you learn to eat just about anything. Everyone has a few things that are more difficult than others to eat and you learn not to eat them. But I will share with you that the first few months post op were very emotional for me. I was an emotional eater, so when I was upset, frustrated, stressed, etc I would graze and eat things unconsciously. The most difficult part of this journey for me was get a grip on "Head Hunger". I cried, I complained loudly to my family, I was a bit of a food Nazi on what others ate in front of me. Honestly I mourned the loss of food or maybe not the loss but the ability to just eat when ever I wanted and the quantities I wanted. Portion size was always a problem for me, my easy are bigger than my stomach sorta thing. I measured foods and still do,it just helps me. Support systems are key to success. My advice is don't stress over what you can't control but focus on what is right in front of you. The person in the mirror, learn to accept she will have good days and bad days but if she is consistent, stays focused and believes in herself and forgives herself if she is not perfect she will be successful. Good luck and don't binge before you have surgery. If you really want something your afraid you won't be able to eat, than eat it but eat a healthy serving. Good luck and much success!

Questions? How much are you eating at meals and how much? How long do you stay satisfied between meals? How much protein are you eating at each meal? Are you doing any shakes for added protein? The band is not about restriction, if you are expecting the band to tell you when to stop eating you are going to be very disappointed in how the band works. The purpose of the band is to help you stay satisfied between meals. The reason they preach to us to eat slowly and stop eating at 20 minutes is for this reason. That is the amount of time it takes the brain to trigger your gut that it has been fed. The other point I want to make is that if the band is to tight,(like you had before) you will become dehydrated, you will have more PB episodes and nutritionally it is not good for you. A lot of bandster get caught up in wanting the band to be tight so they eat less, if you get on this merry go round it is hard to get off. Sadly the band only work if you eat less and exercise more and a lot of the work about 95% has to come from you. If you can increase your protein and maybe add a supplement between meals to help curb your appetite it may help. i speak from experience and success, the band does work but you have to do a lot of work to make the band work.

Get rid of it ladies! I did this in the beginning. I would surf the bariatric sites looking for new things to purchase, vitamins, protein shakes, protein chips, protein bars, powdered peanut butter and the list goes on and on. A couple of months ago my hubby says to me, why can't you just cook like everyone else and we have something normal. I had to smile, as i innocently looked up at him and said What you don;t like the quinoa I made. It is full of protein and it is good for you. Yes Diane but guess what you can only eat a 1/4 cup and we have to eat the rest of it because you also don;t do left overs. All I could say was, Oh!. So I stopped, I realized I was hoarding food that I would never eat and my family was not going to eat. I took it to the local food pantry. Hopefully someone will appreciate my healthy food. My new habit is the gift shop at work, they have payroll deduction and some really cute stuff, I just hope I don't have to pay them to work in couple of months. ;-_)

Anything grilled, chicken, shrimp, scallops, tofu. The egg drop or hot and sour soups. One of the first things I craved post op was hot and sour soup and Ahi Tuna. Weird but it was yummy. We went to PF Changs. I could only eat one piece of the Ahi Tuna and half a cup of soup and the waiter was so nice. My husband, god bless him felt the need to explain to the waiter why I did not eat all my meal and he sent me how with a quart of hot and sour soup and extra Ahi Tuna. I ate on it for 4 days. I never thought I would like tofu but it goes down easy and it does have good flavor and is full of protein. good luck and enjoy.

Good luck, you and I were banded at the same time. Cyber thoughts and prayers and much success with your removal and gastric sleeve.

This is a very personal decision. You have to go into this with the attitude you will succeed. I also have lost the same 40-60 lbs over and over again over the past 20 years. I chose to have lap band because I was sick and tired of losing and gaining, and more than that I was sick and tired of being FAT!. Yes it has taken me 2 years to lose all of my weight, yes I was disappointed when I did not reach goal in a year. Yes i only lost an average of 1-2 or less per week. But I lost it all, and never on any diet did I ever lose it all. Never on any diet did I ever look like I do now. Lap Band was not a diet to me it was and is a way of living. Personally I do not think your head is in the right place for this surgery. I would recommend you do some more counseling before you have the surgery, you need to know with out a shadow of a doubt this is what you want. I knew this was what I wanted and I knew I would make it work because I was fed up with the old me, I want to be healthy. You need to talk to someone and dig really deep into why you are questioning your decision and you also need to realize that there are no guarantees with WLS or diets. The only person who can make you lose weight is you with or with out the band. Good luck in your decision.

So sorry, good luck with the sleeve. My BFF had the sleeve option 6 months after I had the band and has had excellant results. Band is not for everyone, you can always still come back to site for support. WLS is WLS and we all need support in this journey. Hugs and prayers!

Something your not going to want to hear is this is normal. Maybe if they had better prepared us for these feelings it may have been different, my doctor told me that before I had my first fill I was going to be hungry. I was lucky I didn't really start to get hungry until about week 3. What I suggest is that you drink some of your soups or liquids every 2 hours. The first 6 weeks are your time to heal and adjust to having the band, you will not really have the benefit of the band until after your first fill and I am sorry to say it may take several fills before you really reach that Green zone they talk about. Patience is hard, but remember this is a life time journey and nothing worthwhile happens over night.But your not whining your hungry and that is normal. Are you allowed protein shakes yet, if so that is another option to help stave off the hungry. Hang in there it does get better.

I do chewable and gummy vitamins but swallow most other pills now. I am 2 years post op. I did have a little problem with pills immediate post op but that got better over time. Now days I take a lot less medication, so it is not an issue. Most antibiotics come in liquid form, if you need one you may have to ask your physican for a liquid form.

Gotta chime in here. GiGi you did not cheat, you made a poor choice. You chose to eat the crackers because you wanted them. Crackers are not a bad food but it is a carb and in the preop stage it is very important to stick to the plan to make the surgery easier on you. The diet they put us on is to shrink our liver. If you would continue to eat carbs or foods not recommended on the preop diet you could delay your surgery or make the surgery more difficult todo. The liver is located very close to your stomach andin the area your physician needs to work. So my two cents is try very hard to stick to this pre op food plan, remember you are trying to change a life time of bad habits and behaviors and it will not happen overnight. Only you can chose what you put in your mouth but please do not beat your self up if you chose to eat something that is off plan. Just move on and start a new day. Good luck.

The answer to the question is yes. The food really does not sit in the band as a lot of people think, water will not really push it through if anything liguids may make you throw up if you drink with eating or if used to push food though the band. Your pouch is small, liquids take up space just like food so if you eat and drink at the same time you will get full quicker and not be able to take in enough nutrition, aka Protein. So yes you can have a sip but you should really try not to make a habit of this.

Yes normal, give it a few weeks you will forget it is there until you lose enough weight for it to stick out or bump it against something.

lol, I still have days that is still ask myself that question. Especially as I sit here watching dancing with the Stars with my hubby as he stuffs his face with 2 bowls of Beans, corn bread and two bowls of cocoa pebbles. And all I can think is seriously are you not full yet.

Welcome Belinda, like many stated above. I love my band and also have several grandkids. This is the best thing I have everydone for me and my life. I am at goal now but still very active on this site, also my second home. Great group of people on here who can be very supportive. Welcome and don't be shy ask plenty of questions if you don't see the answer. Diane aka LovetheNewMe

Shakes were hard for me, i tried multiple ones before I could tolerate them. I do not like sweet milk so I struggled. The premixed smelled like Emsure or Boost and the smell alone would gag me. I drink a brand called Prue Protein, I like the vanilla and the chocolate. I mix mine with water and I only use 4- 6 ozs. I figured lower volume I could get it down. Life above I add to my shakes, the chocolate I add SF coffee syrups, PB2 peanut butter, Cocoa Via for added chocolate flavor, instant coffee, ice etc. I try to make them like a frappochino from starbucks. The vanilla I add fruit, peanut butter, a packet of the flavoring that you add to water bottles. Like I said I had to be creative to get them down. Now I like them and drink at least 2 a day. What are you drinking now? Jillian Michaels powder is not bad either but less protein and more calories per scopes.

You need to see your WLS, band too tight. The reason chocolate goes down is because it dissolves in your mouth and requires little digestion. When your band is too tight you will not lose weight. I have had experience with a tight band before and you need the advice of your doctor, your not doing anything wrong.

Agree with New Dawn comments. Just because you can eat as before surgery does not mean you should. You are experiencing what a lot of new banded people experience. Expecting the band to tell you not to eat. As stated above there has to be more "want" power than "will" power with banded living. There are many times I could eat more or even "want" more but I have chosen not to eat it because I "wanted" to be thin more than I wanted to stay fat. Throughout my weight loss I consistently stayed around 1000-1200 calories and sometimes I stayed in the 900 calorie zone. I did not start eating more calories until I got closer to goal and my weight would stop coming off. Protein is key to weight loss and so is exercise of any type. The weight loss will be slower for some than others. I had over a 100 lbs to lose so the first 50 was my easiest. The last 70 I worked hard for, always changing up my food choices and exercising my butt off. This journey was not easy, actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. I lost a steady 1-2 lbs a week or sometimes less, I lost inches sometimes and never dropped a pound. My main point is the band can not do this alone, if you are going to wait on restriction to tell you how much to eat you are going to be frustrated and disappointed in your band. Advice, do not go down that path, start working on your head and why you make poor choices, because some days our heads win out over our "want power" so we have to constantly be conscious of our choices. Good luck!

Safe flight today, keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

It is worth it, it may be the hardest thing I have ever done but without my band I would not have my life back. if your struggling with hunger than deal with why, because those same feelings are still there even if you have the band. Head hunger is one of the hardest issues for a bandster to get past. I have been banded for two years and in my opinion, emotional counseling is one of the most under utilized parts of this journey. Changing your life and undoing years of bad habits takes time. Remember this is a journey, a new process, a new Life Style. Nothing will change overnight and there will be many challenges along the journey but if you can get your head in the right place everything else will follow. Good luck to you!

Great post!