carol285

It is so true that there is a wide difference among surgeons. I was fed tuna salad & cranberry sauce before I could be discharged from the hospital! Didn't have to eat much but they wanted to make sure I could eat mushies, which I then stayed on for 4 weeks before moving to solids.

punk.sauce, you have lost 34lbs, it is VERY normal to have a plateau after that much loss. I don't know how much you want to lose over all but if it is anything around 100lbs you are a 1/3 done......doesn't that sound better

Honestly different doctors have different protocols as far as the fills go so there is no one answer. I had my 1st fill of 1cc at 5 weeks post op as my doctor sees you 1 week post op & then every 4 weeks (unless you have a problem/concern and need to go sooner). My doctor also allows the band to hold some Fluid at the time it's placed during the surgery. The amount varies with each patient as he allows it to hold just enough to have it "fit" well when placed. For instance mine held 3.2cc's when placed & another patient who had surgery the same day (we have since become friends) band held only 1.6cc's when placed. My 2nd & 3rd fills were each .5 cc's, done at 10 weeks & 18 weeks post op. I am now 20 weeks post op, have a total of 5.2cc's in my band. I feel I can still eat more then I am supposed to eat, however I am not hungry anymore when I eat an appropriate portion. I also remain full/satisfied for between 4-6 hours after a meal. Now all my food battles are head hunger or the ever popular damn I want to taste that NOW lol!! I truly didn't feel any different after each fill but if I was listening to my body I started to recognize I didn't need as much food to be satisfied. I have lost 56lb since surgery 10/25/10 & 71lbs total with the 15lbs I lost between my 1st consult & surgery, so I guess I am doing something right LOL!! Hope this helps

I was allowed to take Melatonin & they also allowed the TV to stay on. No one is in the room with me & they remotely turned the TV off after I was asleep. Was it the most comfortable night I have ever spent, NO but it wasn't the worst night sleep either. My doctor ordered a half & half study. The first half of the night I had the electrodes etc attached and the second half the kept the electrodes & added the CPAP machine. This way it could be calibrated appropriately for my needs without having to go back another tie. Obviously every sleep center has different protocols as well as different doctor give different instructions. I thought of it as prep for surgery night Good Luck, you are on your way to your new life!!

I was banded on 10/25/10...I lost 15lbs leading up to the surgery & 56lbs since for a 71lb total. I have gone from a tight size 24W to a comfy 16W. I a still on my BP & Cholesterol meds but my #'s have improved. I have about 65-70 more lbs to go so my doctors don't want to remove my meds too quickly. My knees used to kill me daily, now I don't give them a second thought, even when taking a 2 mile walk Great to hear everyone success stories, you're all doing awesome!!

I use a straw if I get something to drink out, such as an unsweetend ice tea, while waiting for my food. I like to have a beverage at the table just in case food is unexpectedly spicy. Didn't have one once & ordered something that turned out to be wicked spicy, my mouth was sorry lol!! No issues when I do drink with a straw.

THAT SOUNDS DELISH!!! I will have to give it a try

I think it can vary depending on what you eat for the day. For instance a 3.5 ounce Chicken breast has 30 grams of protein so having one of those during the day helps make your daily total easy to achieve. If I am a little low for the day I will make my evening snack a protein bar, something with a nice "treat" type taste but useful to my food totals.

I was banded on 10/25/10 & I have done Italian food several times, including Olive Garden. I find even though some of the options are high calorie it lasts me on average 3-4 meals. So even if my chicken Parm with a salad or veggies is 1200-1500 calories, when divided by 4 it is suddenly a respectable amount per meal. Yes I know some choices are fried so still not the most healthy choice but again when had once a month it is an acceptable splurge for me personally I'm so glad you enjoyed your evening out, after all that's what it is really about...living & loving life with your band!

I had the steri-strips on my incisions & the doctor removed them at my 1 week post-op appointment, no muss no fuss

I was banded 10/25 with only a 1 day liquid pre-op diet then was put on soft/mushy at discharge from hospital 10/26. I was on soft/mushy for 4 weeks & then on to solids. The protocols vary greatly per doctor. My feeling is if you trusted your doctor enough to operate on you then trust him enough to follow his food instructions.

I don't think there is a "usually" when it comes to these things. My surgery was 10/25/10 & my first fill of 1cc was on 12/1/10. There was 3.2cc's placed in the band at the time of surgery so that gave me a total of 4.2cc's at 5 weeks post-op ( 24.5lb loss at this point). At my 1/5/11 appointment we discussed how much I could eat & how long I stayed satisfied and decided to add .5cc's, so I am now at 4.7cc's at 10 weeks post-op (36lb loss at this point). I can eat any food I have attempted, it just takes less of it to fill me up and to maintain satisfaction. I'm happy with this & my next appointment is 2/2/11 so unless something drastically changes by then I think I will stay status quo on the fill aspect.

I know the financial concerns are a huge factor & goodness knows I couldn't have had the band surgery if my insurance didn't pay for it BUT I think the most important factor of which weight loss surgery a person selects needs to be life & eating style. What are your biggest food issues. For instance if you are a huge ice cream or milk shake junky the band will do little to stop you from over doing it on them where bypass adds a sugar reaction component. I do understand some banded people have "dumping" reactions to sugar but not a big number. Either surgery requires much user work so our head food issues need to be worked on no matter what. It is a very tough choice, I agree with a previous poster about the seminars attend several if needed until you feel comfortable with a choice. I wish you luck!

LOL, I hear ya on that!!

I've also gathered from reading the blogs that the foods people can tolerate changes without warning or reason. One day they can tolerate something & the next day they cant and vice-versa! I am 10 weeks post-op and have been lucky so far as I've been able to tolerate everything I have tried but I don't take that for granted as I'm sure the day will arise where that changes.

I think part of it is because the average person really doesn't know the work that is involved in making the surgeries successful. It really only is a tool in the process. Also, everyone know someone that the surgery didn't work for long term so the it doesn't work anyway attitude rears it's head from time to time. Of course I could be giving human kind to much credit LOL! Thankfully my positive responses have run about 95%. I'm more surprised at the division I seem to read about the types of weight loss surgeries. Band people vs bypass people etc can be quite opinionated & openly hostile to each others choices! I say it is great we have options to choose what surgery is right for u

Thx, I misread & thought she was banded in Dec 2010, which is why I told her to relax & enjoy her success! Sorry von5889!!!!!!!.........I agree 30lbs in 13 months is slow. Maybe you can make an appointment with a nutritionist to really dig into her eating style & amounts!!

Might be jumping the gun here fluffytofabulous! As CheckYes pointed out von5889 may well have been banded 12/09 so that is 13 months not 1 month. I asked von5889 to clarify

You could be right CheckYes........von5889 were you banded in 2009 or 2010?

You have lost 30lbs in less then 30 days......How can you consider that SLOW SLOW SLOW weight loss!! That is excellent, relax & enjoy your success or your going to make yourself crazy during this process.

I had steri-strips and my doctor removed them at my 1 week post op appointment. So if they fall off on their own I wouldn't worry about it!

You will find the pre & post-op diets vary quite a bit. For instance my only pre-op diet was a clear liquid diet the day before surgery & my post-op diet was soft mushy foods upon discharge from hospital (24 hrs after surgery). I think if you have faith in your surgeon you need to have faith in their protocol! Best of luck to you on your WLS journey!

I was banded on 10/25 & have lost 28lbs! I had my first fill on 12/3, added 1cc to the 3.2cc's that was in there from the time of surgery, for a total of 4.2cc's. I've had no problems at all & the fill has helped me stay full/satisfied longer which is what I needed

Jedivy21- This is the only surgery I ever had so I also didn't know how my body would react. Fortunately, I am apparently a good surgical patient & healer I also read a bunch of posts, there is a good thread on here were everyone describes the day of surgery experience. From that I took away that there will be a vast variety of how people feel, how they recover, overnight hospital stay as opposed to out patient & what there post-op diets are. I made mention of my pre-op class because I read your first post to mean you didn't know what to expect. However, hearing that you read the forums alot I understand the situation much better. I love that we can get a ton of views & experiences on these forums because one of them will match where we are at any given time during our band journey!

Everyone will be different because we need to lose different amounts of weight. My stats are 270.0lbs the morning of surgery, 246.0lbs as of this morning. I was banded on 10/25 so it have been a month for me I have my next appointment on 12/1, not sure if I will be having a fill yet or not. Congratulations, you are doing great!!