J9harrison

I love GNC Total Lean(RTD) swiss chocolate flavor. It has 170 calories an 25g of protein. I’ve also had the vanilla bean flavor and thats good as well, just tastes a little too sweet in my opinion.

I agree the weight loss is great and Im hoping I will either lose a few more pounds or at least maintain before my first fill. I can’t wait to eat eggs though!

I am two weeks post op and I am doing well with my liquid diet. The only problem is that I am sick of liquids! I don’t really get that hungry which is surprising(and a great thing), I just want to have some sort of texture when I eat. Mushies don’t really have a whole lot of texture but Im going to be very happy when I can eat them. Just needed to vent a little.

I was told by my surgeon to remove them after a week. I was a little freaked because I thought the cuts would slip open, but everything was fine.

I was told to only bring my mask in case I needed it after surgery(they had cpap machines there). I ended up forgetting it that morning but was told it was not a big deal since they had masks on hand, they just thought I would be more comfortable with my own.

Before surgery I purchased Muscle Milk Light Cookies and cream flavor at GNC. I had my first shake one day after surgery and I thought it was so gross but drank it anyway to get my Protein intake. By day 3 i couldn’t stomach the stuff and every time I drank it i felt soooo bloated afterwards but I just chalked it up to gas. Well yesterday I go to GNC to see if I can find something different and I told the sales person about my surgery and what I was drinking. She told me that Muscle Milk Light is not a good option for bandsters because it has a lot of Fiber and it expands in the stomach giving you that bloated feeling. I ended up buying the GNC total lean ready to drink shakes in vanilla and swiss chocolate and absolutely love them. Has anyone else heard this about Muscle Milk Light? Im not sure if she was right but I sure don’t get that bloated feeling after I drink my new shakes. I did check the nutritional info on the MML tub and did notice it only had 1g of dietary fiber per serving. So I am unsure if thats what was causing the bloated feeling. I know different shakes work for different people but just wondering what others experiences have been with MML.

Hi aandbsmommy! I have Tricare prime and was banded a week ago. Here are the things I had to do before everything was submitted to tricare.. *Referral from PCM to surgeon(Met with surgeon twice before they submitted the paperwork) *Some blood tests *Psych consult(needed PCM referral) *sleep Study(needed PCM referral) *See a nutritionist once before surgery(My only out of pocket expense of $100) The whole process took me four months but only because the place where I was getting my sleep study done was booked for three months. Once it was submitted to them I got the approval within five business days. Tricare is pretty fast in giving you a response as long as they have everything they need. As far as weight requirements they either want 100lbs overweight with 2 comorbitites such as sleep apnea, diabetes, high blood pressure etc, or 200% over your ideal weight for your height and body frame. I have not had a fill yet but they do cover them, I think you just have to have an active referral from your PCM. If you have any questions we cant answer, feel free to call them. They are so helpful!

I weighed my self today and was so happy when I looked at the scale!! Im down to 192 and I am one week post op!! I was at 225 before I started my pre op diet and 201 the day of surgery! I hope to see those numbers go down every week!!

Hello all! I’ve been reading this forum for a few weeks now and I told my self I would not post until I received approval. Sounds silly, but I was soooo afraid to jinx myself! I got the call this morning from a Tricare coordinator and everything is good to go! Pre-surgical testing is set for June 8th and my surgery should be June 14th. It was still up in the air pending insurance approval, so I will find out this coming Monday if that is my date for sure. For anyone dealing with Tricare here are my stats. I started out at 5’2 and 225lbs my only co-morb was sleep apnea. I was so afraid I wouldn’t get approved but I am ecstatic that I was!! Over all they were really easy to deal with. My surgeon required that I lose10% of my weight, which I did and I am currently at 205. So that means Im not required to do a liquid diet but I will be doing one for at least 5 days before surgery to get myself ready for the post-op liquid diet. Reading this forum has been so so helpful and I will be sharing my journey as time goes by. Thank you all for reading!

I agree the swiss chocolate is the BEST! I actually decided to go with the total lean after the sales person told me they had them because I remembered a post you wrote about them being so tasty a few weeks ago. So thank you NJgirl32! Highland, it has 6g of carbs. isit5yet, I have not tried the strawberry but will definitely give them a try!

Thank you Debora Anne and saraannie! Congrats to both of you on your success so far as well! I am hoping it wont take me that long to get to my goal but only time, diet and exercise will tell!

Im glad you found something you like allicap! I had heard the chocolate flavored MML was pretty bad thats why I chose the Cookies and cream flavor but no luck. I will definitely give the Isopure chocolate a try if I get bored with my current shakes.

I wish you luck Franco. I just had my surgery a week ago and I was so nervous before I thought I would have a panic attack before I was wheeled into the OR. After i felt silly because the procedure is so quick and not as bad as I thought it would be. Let us know how everything goes!

Thank you roziecakes and congratulations on your amazing success so far!

Yeah im sure they do try to push their GNC brand products more than others but ultimately I am glad I switched. I am sure gagging so much and wanting to puke is not good while Im still healing. Thank you both for your input

Not raining on my parade at all. I am realistic about this and I do know that i might gain weight during my healing time and as my hunger increases. But i can still be happy about this loss Thank you brbm6!! It is awesome to see the scale go down!

it was 3 days post op for me but I did drink some milk of magnesia since that was on my post op home care instructions if I felt constipated.

I was banded 6/14 so I am right there with you! Have you used an ice pack at all? I had the same kind of pain especially where my port is so I started using the ice pack a lot more especially at night time and it really helped. I still get a little pain when Im sitting down/up or bending down but its bearable.

I think it might just depend on your level of restriction and if you can get it down. Im a week post op so have not had bread yet, but the surgical coordinator who works with my surgeons office has had her band for 6 years and she can eat all types of bread except white sandwich bread. I think you should try it just be cautious.

My doctor told me that if i could tolerate it right after surgery it was fine. Just take small sips and see how you feel. I started drinking them on the second day and I was banded on the 14th.

Hello Everyone!! I had surgery yesterday and have been feeling pretty good so far. I haven’t had any major gas pain and Im so grateful for that. My surgeon was Dr. Bryan Anderson from Boise, ID and would recommend him to anyone!! I had to be at the hospital at 7:15am for a 9:30am surgery. When I first got there I was so nervous but calmed down a bit as the nurses started preparing me for surgery(gown, I.V, nausea meds, blood thinner shot, pregnancy test). Met my anesthesiologist who answered any questions I had as well as a few of the RN’s that would be in the operating room with me. While I was waiting the bariatric surgery coordinator came in to talk to me and answer any remaining questions I had. She has been banded 6 years and has done a fantastic job with her band. It was very reassuring to be able to hear her success story. At around 9:15 one of the RN’s came in and gave me some “happy juice” before he took me to the OR. Gave my hubby a kiss and off I went. By the time I was in the OR I was not nervous at all and was feeling pretty darn good. They had me take a few deep breath from the oxygen mask and that is the last thing I remember. I woke up in the recovery room and I wont lie I was in pretty bad pain, was trembling pretty badly(even though I was not cold) and had a little trouble breathing. When the nurse asked me to rate my pain i think I said an 8 or 9. She immediately gave me some pain meds which made the pain a lot better and I stopped trembling. At this point it was still a little hard to take deep breaths, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I was a little surprised that my throat was not sore at all from the breathing tube, but wasn’t complaining. After that they took me to my room where my husband was there waiting for me. He told me my surgeon has said surgery had gone great and only took about 30 minutes. My nurse asked me if I wanted to try some Water and maybe some Jello. I said sure and she brought it in. I took one sip of water and immediately felt sick to my stomach. She gave me some anti-nausea med via my I.V and they took a while to kick in but I felt fine after that. Could not bring myself to eat the jello but I drank water and apple juice. About an hour after surgery I started feeling more pain so she gave me some liquid vicodin. That took about 30 minutes to kick in. I dozed for about an hour and after this she had me go to the bathroom(i peed ) and I walked around for a bit. When I started walking I did feel some pretty bad gas pain but it went away after about ten minutes of walking. She then asked me If i wanted to go home(it was around 1pm) to which I immediately said yes. My husband helped me changed into regular clothes and they brought me my discharge papers as well as a wheel chair and I was off. The drive home was long but wasn’t too bad. I dozed most of the way home. Picked up my pain meds, drank some water and then took some my meds at the time I was told to. I pretty much slept all day after that. I did drink some chicken broth, jello, ate a sugar free popsicle through out the day and took some gas-x chewables in case the gas decided to show up. Im still not 100% and probably wont be for another few days. The worst pain is when I get in and out of bed but thats to be expected. This morning I didn’t take my pain meds when I was supposed to and boy did I regret it! I woke up in so much pain but luckily the meds kicked in about 20 minutes after I took them!! Overall I don’t regret this decision at all and would do it again in a heart beat. Hope this helps people that are still a little hesitant or nervous about surgery!! Janinne

I found out my surgery date yesterday(VERY excited ) and I have started getting prepared for my post op liquid diet. I have purchased a tub of muscle milk light(cookies n cream flavor) but I was wondering if anyone has tried the isopure fruit flavor? My local GNC had the sour apple, blue raspberry, pineapple and orange flavors. Has anyone tried these flavors, and if so which were your favorite? I would like to have variety so I don’t get tired of drinking the shakes. I appreciate any input and if you have any other suggestions that would be great!!

My surgery date is June 14th! Im so nervous but excited at the same time. Good luck to all my fellow June 2011 bandsters!!!

Thank you for your responses. I will definitely give the variety pack a try!