NJGirl32

Good luck Melissa!!! You must be very excited!! I wish you a speedy recovery without too much gas! I am going in on the 25th (Wed.) so I hope you can give us a report of how it went. Congrats on being brave enough and strong enough and determined enough to realize you are worth it!!

I LOVE being outdoors and I feel so happy I am gettingthe Band next week. I'll lookforward to walks outside. I am looking up walking paths near my house or at least not too far. I am seriously considering joing a gym because I think working out a few times a week would make me feel great. I also love to travel-even if it's just a weekend visit to a museum, beach, or a drive in the country. My social life is centered around food and drinking so it's going to be difficult. Every Friday night we go out to dinner and last night we didn't. I told my husband that we need to find other outlets for our Friday and Saturday nights. I mean skinny girls have social lives and they don't eat like I do 9or use o)!

Awesome!! Don't be a slave to the scale-keep marching forward while keeping your eye on the prize!!

Let us know how you guys make out!! Best wishes!!

My nutritionist said no-not even decaf! I can't understand why I can't even have decaf?? It hasn't been too bad so far!

First off ...CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your big day is almost here!! All the researching and wondering and questioning has led up to this moment!! Make sure to give us a full report!! Secondly I am sure you'll be knocked out if they do that!! Don't worry about it. This time tomorrow it will be done and you'll be on the road to recovery!

I got mine in 3 days. If you go to GNC they have Atkins pre-made shakes- Choc. latte-very good!

Well I have really been totally obsessed with getting the band. I have researched extensively and I on on this forum way more than I willl ever admit to! My firend has never asked me a question about the band since I emailed her saying I was seriously considering it. I told my hubby on Monday but he has said anything since then. I mentione dto him that I had my Endoscope and he asked how it went-but no furthers questions. The friend I work with is always too busy talking about herself to ask me any questions...basically what I am saying is WTH!!! I know brides get all into their weddings obsessively and was wondering if Bansters are the same? Is it unrealistic to expect people to be interested in this decision or am I simply becoming a Bandzilla ?

I will miss all the foods that I loved. We always went out to eat so I'll miss all that yummy food, BUT I don't want food to be at the center of my life anymore. I want other things to be more important like living healthy, being more socialable and confident to have a better sex life, to not avoid mirrors. There's so much more than food out there-there's a whole world!! Whereas food consumed probably 60% of my life I want to give it much less power..maybe 10%!

I am scheduled for May 25th too! It's going to be a great day in May! My approval went pretty quickly too-my first ever doctor appointment was April 7th and a little over amonth later I'll be in surgery! I actually thought about having my husband just drop me off. I am still not sure. I know I can absolutely do the surgery on my own and I figure why should he just sit int the waiting room for hours and hours-then I go to recovery after that. I am not sure if I should justtell him to drop me off and since I live an hour away I would probably just let him pick me up the next day. So no I don't think it's odd at all. I think you'll probably be out of it the first half of the day anyway. Good luck with everything!!

First, congrats on day 7!! I am on day 2 and I feel run down and this morning I felt lightheaded. You had 11 more days-you can do this!! Every time you look at your kids think "I am doing this for you-so I can be around for a long time." Keep up with drinking your water or you'll feel tired-same goes with protein. My pre-op didn't say anything about chicken broth but I made soup yesterday and put some chopped spinach in it for iron. It tasted SO good-I added pepper and some spices. I am allowed raw vegetable so I amgoingto make the soup and add them at the last minute. As far as cooking for 2-take shortcuts all you can. I hateto say it, but even prepackaged foods! Get in food that they like but you don't. Some said recently in a forum that when she was on the pre-op diet she can a post-it on her fridge that said "I can do anything for __days" I thought that was a good mindset! Keep yourself occupied at all times-get some fresh air too! Last night I put carnation choc powder in the blender with skim milk and ice cubes -blended it up and it was like an icy shake.

I have a friend who had gastric bypass and everyone talks about her because now she has turned into an alcholic plus other problems. I told my Hubby not to tell our friends in that social circle for that very reason.

My nutritionist said no caffine-probably not for the first 6 weeks-I would LOVE some coffee!! She said it's an appetite stimulant and it dehydrates you? Not too sure about that but I love coffe and miss it

I tried 4 shakes so far (still have 2 more to test). Here are the results: Muscle Milk Light Choc. favor left a bad after taste and I couldn't finish it unjury mixed with Crystal Light - Not bad-took a while and all the powder settles to the bottom of the bottle after a while-which was a turn off.

Oh Crap...my entire post didn't show up in my orginal post!! You don't know what the winner is!! Here it the rest..... Atkins - excellent shake (could be higher in protein) I felt very satisfied (hunger wise) after drinkingthis shake. I had the Mocha Latte and Dark Choc. I highly recommend it. But the winner is........... Carnation! I took a choc packet and put it in the blender with a 1/2 scoop of unjury powder (just a 1/2 to up the Protein. I added ice and vanilla extract (getting banana extract next time). I blended to make a delicious icy-shake that was filling! Top prize.

Believe it or not he wasn't saying it in a discouraging way-he was just logically thinking that if I can do 6 weeks maybe I can do it without surgery? He is overweight at 6'4 he's 280 -mostly belly weight. You are absolutely right I know I can do 6 weeks because a fill is in the future. When I met my hubby I wasn't fat (not totally skinny but was 185 at 5'6-now I am 248) The weight has got to go-no doubt about it. I am a teacher so I keep thinking when I go back to school in September I should be a lot thinner and people who haven't seen me over the summer will be really suprised! I'll have fun shopping for new clothes too!

This is my first day and I am pretty much just on shakes (some applesauce, oatmeal, and SF pudding). When I feel tired or hungry the shakes do work. I took the dog for a nice long walk and that helped too. I have a few unfinished books I coulld read and I might curl up with a book to distract me. I can't wait until bedtime because that will be 1 day down! I am also peeing a lot-and it's only day 1 !!

Welcome to this awesome site!! You should really feel very proud of your decision and you're right your children need a healthy Dad to be around for a long time!! You can do this and you will do this. As over eaters we tend to be complusive by nature. I noticed a lot of people become exercise franatics-I hope that happens to me since I can't sit on the couch every evening just watsing my life away! Good luck to you on your journey!

OMG-I did the same thing! It was crazy eating-I bought 2 little pints of Ben and Jerry's and had them gone in no time! I eat so much that when it was time to do the preop diet I was actually looking forward to flushing out my system. For me I think part of it was nerves and the other part just reckless abandonment!! I can wait until I no longer feel comfortable eating extreme amounts of food!! I definitely have a lot of respect for the people who have had this surgery-it's a lot of work and sacrifice...but it will be worth it!

PS-maybe you can trick your brain by sipping non-caff herbal tea?

Today was my first day of the preop diet and I am a coffe drinker-it wasn't too bad-really. It won't be forever-you can do this!! Don't let negative thoughts get in your head and keep your eye on the prize at all times! If you can raise 7 kids you can do anything girl!!

So now you are an offical Bandster!!! Congrats and speedy recover!

Recently it seems many posters are saying they still are hungry-needless to say this is discouraging and I hope it's just because they need proper restriction. Does anyone out there actually feel full with a very small amount of food? If so please raise your hand and give me some hope!

Try Dr. Strom - he is awesome and his entire staff is very professional. He was rated the top Doc in NJ in his field. Someone who was paying out of pocket for fills was seeing a different doctor and they started to add up quickly ($250 a fill) Doctor Strom said he would do it for $50 a fill. I am not from North Jersey (about an hour away) but I wouldn't go to anyone else!