sberrys

Here's my advice for what it's worth. You know you have to follow this preop diet and no matter what you do, the weight will come off at it's own pace, and Water weight DOES make your weight fluctuate up and down 5 lbs. SO... since you have to do this diet regardless, just do the diet and DON'T WEIGH again until you get to the doctor's office. It will keep you from getting discouraged again. Instead of focusing on the scale, focus on sticking to the preop diet. I'm starting mine tomorrow. Good luck to both of us!

Hi all! My date is Nov 12th! I'm starting the pre-op diet on Monday so enjoying my last few treats now, especially since my birthday is just 4 days before my surgery! Had my cake and ice cream today since I won't be eating that for a while! lol So excited!

Don't get discouraged and let yourself cheat! You've been doing great. Just because the scale only went down a little doesnt mean you havent lost much. If your clothes are looser then you KNOW you're losing. Water weight can make the scale fluctuate up and down 5 lbs. Keep positive! You're almost there!

Had my medical testing done this morning. UGH!!!!! The barium swallow test was AWFUL!!! It was sort of like chugging pepto, only before you do that they give you this stuff that's like pop rocks and tell you to swallow it with a tiny amount of Water and NOT BURP. I hate pepto and it makes me sick to my stomach so I felt like barfing. hahaha They also had me roll around on a table so they could see different angles of my stomach on the camera. Was in a lovely hospital gown for this test. Maaaaaaaaaaannnnn am I glad that barium crap is over! Had blood taken chest xray and EKG too. Xray and EKG was quick and painless. They had me take my shirt off and attached a bunch of stickers with cords to my chest, arms, and legs for a minute or so for the EKG. Just thought I'd post this so others can get an idea of what some of their medical work up may be like. I didnt have to have gallbladder ultrasound since I dont have one anymore. But I have had one before and that's not too bad, they just press their sensor thing to different parts of your tummy, took maybe 15-20 mins, I believe I was in a gown for that. I didn't have to get the sleep apnea test or anything else. I'm having the surgery on the 12th of November. So excited! :sad:

I'd have to agree with what has been said, it sounds like what you're eating is the problem. Fried chicken - this is high in fat and calories baked potatoes - this is a sneaky food, the potato itself is ok but when you add the butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, it ends up being high in fat and calories as well. Try putting just bbq sauce on it for a healthier option. mac n cheese - same here, high in fat and calories. french fries - anything fried is going to be high in fat/calories. Try to stick to baked, grilled, or boiled (soup) meats. Cut out as much oil as possible, no fried foods. Be really careful about butter and cream because they are fattening. Always eat your protein first, veggies second, carbs last. If you are craving sweets a lot try finding a good sugar free dessert, made with splenda for example and eat it in MODERATION. That will satisfy your sweets craving without ruining your weight loss. Stay away from candies and chips, they slide past your band quickly and don't fill you up. Always look at nutrition labels even if you're not really officially counting the calories. Knowing roughly what you've eaten really helps you make better decisions.

Great! I'm glad to hear that. I bought some benefiber recently too, and was shocked to see that it really didnt have any sort of taste effect to what I put it in. I put it in my coffee and can't even tell it's there. Its a great product.

Does anyone know why my doctor (and most from what I gather) has the rule that I'm not allowed to have caffeine for at least the first 2 weeks after surgery? I need to check exactly how much time he said, I'm not sure about exactly how long. I understand the reason for no soda, the reason for not drinking with your meals and all those sorts of rules but I haven't seen the reason why they don't want us to have caffeine. It's just something I'm curious about. Any ideas?

You could also try adding extra fiber to your diet. Adding extra fiber to my diet has helped me tremendously since I had my gallbladder out. I was having stomach issues every day until I added fiber.

I was not that far behind you at 350 when I first started this whole process. I'm trying to lose 30 lbs preop to shrink my liver but that has been a chore. I've only managed to lose about 15 so far and that has taken me the past 3 months! I've been really good too and counting my calories and etc. I envy the people who say they go on a diet and lose 20+ lbs in the first month and wonder what the heck is wrong with me! So don't feel too bad, you're not alone. Just stick to the program and try not to lose focus. :wink2:

I have to agree, everybody is different. I started with the info session back at the beginning of August and I don't have my surgery date scheduled yet. I just got insurance approval this past Thursday. My husband was approved a week before that. But the insurance coordinator at my surgeon's office said that sometimes they can get insurance approval back in a week, and they will perform the surgery three weeks after approval. So it just varies.

I think going back and forth is pretty normal, I've been dealing with it myself some. But I just think of all the problems being overweight causes and how much happier I'd be at a more healthy weight and I just know that it's the right decision to make. You have to do what you have to do, and I have to start taking care of myself and this is the only way I can do it. I don't like the idea of not having the freedom to decide how much I eat but I like the idea of spending the rest of my life obese even less. :closedeyes:

APPROVED!!! :thumbup::thumbup::laugh::w00t::smile2: Took BCBS 2 months but finally!!!!! Whew!!!

I havent read the other responses and don't have the band yet but I did have my gallbladder removed recently so I know how laprascopic surgery itself effects me. I had a horrible bout of depression after I had my gallbladder out. I felt like the world was ending and life wasn't all that worth living. I didnt understand what was going on until I connected the dots and realized that I had heard that a lot of people experience depression after surgery and this was what I was going through! I was not myself at all! This is totally normal and you're not crazy. Just try to find ways to get your mind off things and it will get better I promise! Try watching funny movies and shows, reading funny websites, talking to friends/family, just try to surround yourself with distraction, that helped me somewhat and I plan to use the same technique when I get the band. Get a manicure, petticure, new hair cut, make yourself feel good! You are healing from surgery and your body needs time to get back to normal - and your head knows it too! It may be a self defense mechanism our minds use to keep us inactive after major injury - if you're depressed you're not going to be running around doing all kinds of stuff, you'll be laying around feeling sorry for yourself and it gives your body a chance to heal - just my theory about it. So don't worry, it will pass! :thumbup:

I've been working on losing the 30 lbs the doctor wants me to lose before the surgery but it's going really slowly. I've only lost about 14 lbs since the beginning of August. I am 5'6" and 336 now. I was hoping all the diet experts here could recommend a good amount of calories/fat per day to take in to get the quickest loss so I meet the 30 lb loss he is asking for. For the past month I've been doing about 1400 calories and 40ish grams of fat a day. Should I change that amount? I know the nutritionist can help with this but I haven't had a chance to meet with her yet and was just hoping to get a rough estimate in the mean time. I've looked online and everybody seems to say different things. Some say to eat 1000 calories, some say 1200 isn't enough, some say a daily 500 calorie deficit is all you neeed to lose a lb but if that was the case it seems like I should be losing a lot faster than I am. So confused! Help! :thumbup:

Yuck! I agree with what the others have said, it's probably due to the sinus drainage. Hope you get to feeling better!

Get a new doctor if you can. Any doctor who flips out on a patient is crap. That is so unprofessional. Many of us have been struggling with weight loss all our lives, and to flip out on a patient for failing to lose weight before they even have their first fill - that is utterly rediculous. You may not have lost anything due to all the exercise. Not sure, but keep your chin up, I'm sure it will get better, just give it time and patience and don't let your doctor upset you, he's a jerk.

It's a lot lighter if you use low fat cottage cheese rather than ricotta. This sounds yummy and I think we're going to try it this week! :thumbup:

I know exactly what you mean. My scale has been doing that exact same thing to me and I've been pretty good about only weighing maybe every 3 days or so with the only "official day" as every week on Sunday morning. I want to throw my scale away! lol I know it fluctuates due to water weight, how hydrated you are, etc, but it's frustrating to not know if I've lost weight or not because of the water weight issue. Argh! :thumbup:

Sounds like swelling from the fill. It may go down but not sure how long that would take so you may need an unfill. Don't let yourself get dehydrated, if you can't get liquids down you will have to go back for an unfill asap. See if you can find a fill center or anything like that closer to you for these situations. If you start getting the liquids down ok stay on them for a while before you go back to solids so you dont aggrivate your band while it's swolen. Wish I could be more helpful...

It took a month and a half to hear back from my insurance company but I finally found out today that I'm approved for the band! Woo hoo! But now I'm starting to have second thoughts again. I think I've been reading too many slipped band stories and stories of people who had other problems. I'm afraid that somewhere down the road I'll have to get it repaired or removed. Or that I'll be one of those people that the band just makes miserable. Plus I've been doing really well on my diet to lose the pre-op 30 lbs the doctor asked me to lose and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should just give dieting another shot. But at the same time I know only 5% of people have success with dieting long term. Argh! Indecision sucks! :thumbup:

From what I've heard most people who had reflux before the band actually experience it drastically decreasing after the band because the band acts as a second place to catch the reflux before it can leave your stomach. Horrible reflux is a big sign of a slipped band for most people who have had slipped bands. I am surprised your doctor has not checked for this.

Yeah it sounds just like the way I feel when my stomach is empty. I've always believed it to be the acid in my stomach causing indigestion/heartburn. Usually I'll chew a pepcid or eat something like crackers to settle my stomach when it gets really bad. It also makes me feel super sick to my stomach too, so I dont even WANT to eat even though I'm hungry. Makes no sense lol

I know ordering online won't help you much for the preop but you have to have something you can stomach for the long run. I just recieved the protein sampler kit I ordered from BariatricEating.com and it has tons of different flavors and different brands of protein shakes. I was pretty impressed with it and would highly recommend it. Or perhaps you may want to order cheaper samples from other sites to try to find something you like. I know unjury.com sells samples for $1.75 each. Everyone is different and just because your friend may like one shake doesnt mean you will!

I haven't read the other responses yet but wow it sounds like you are surrounded by a bunch of people who are rude and unsupportive. But you know what, their opinion doesn't matter. The only thing you can do is try to educate them with the facts. The facts are that almost everyone DOES lose weight with surgery, regardless. Only 5% of overweight people have success with traditional diet and exercise. People who have never considered surgery really have no clue, they want to point fingers at us, think we are weak, etc, but they just have no idea. This is a difficult decision to make and you are not weak, you are strong for being able to recognize that you need to do something to make a change even if it's something that is difficult. I'm glad your husband is supportive and I hope things work out well for you and if you need additional encouragement this is a great place to get it. :frown:

I dont think there's another poll like this and I'd like to hear what bandsters say about this!