lulu2you

It's been six months since my surgery. I have had two fills. I have lost 109 pounds. I have gained so much more than I thought possible. Sure, I still have the same stressors that comes with living, but being ashamed of my weight is no longer one of them. People tell me I have gotten taller. I'm not so sure about that, but I do stand prouder and more confidently with my head held tall. I have fun with clothing now, even though I do limit number of garments I buy since I don't wear them for very long. My daughters are having issues because I am no longer the fat momma they are familiar with. I told them to get over it and share my joy. I would have the surgery again without hesitation. I know it's not for everyone, but it works for me. I limit carbohydrates and always, always eat protein first. Today is good. Looking forward to tomorrow.

This is the hardest thing I have encountered since my banding six months ago. I have lost 110 pounds so I guess I am doing something right. I have been known to take the tiniest of sips during a meal and just afterward because I don't like the lingering taste of food in my mouth. I swish a little, not obnoxiously if I'm eating with other.

Love my new life. Banded 2 months ago today. Started - tight size 30 pants. Today - loose size 22s. Feel better than I have in years. Looking forward to three weeks over Christmas in the islands. Can't wait to get back on the sail boat by myself and sitting comfortably in airline seats. (First fill is next week.) I'm taking my sunscreen and enjoying a drama free holiday.

Thanks Y'all. Hope to be able to use the tray top again and not need that extender this time. My last trips to the islands were critical in my decision to have this surgery. And, put my size 20s on today and they fit comfortably. Halleluyer.

I was banded 10/03/11 and I'm down a total of 75lbs from when I started in August 2010. That includes losing weight prior to pre op, pre op, and now post op. No fills, still not hungry. I have to remind myself to eat and when I do, it is protein and low carb foods. Score!!!

I had the same concerns. I have decided that I'd rather starve than look at or eat pureed food. That being said, I managed to continue to lose weight last weight last week eating my self pureed food. I bought meat balls and spaghetti sauce and chewed the bejesus out of them. It helped that I have switched to sea food forks to remind myself that I need to take tiny bites. Also I made a pot of chili with Beans and did the same thing as I did with the meatballs. I added extra tomatoes to the chili so I'd have plenty of liquids to make sure the chili would slide down. I ate cottage cheese without problems. I relied on refried beans with cheese for lunch. They are very filling. I just bought a can of them, nuked a quarter cup, put some cheese and taco sauce on top and called it good. I failed at chicken salad. Less than a teaspoon caused me to be stuck for an hour. Ugly, painful situation. I'm thinking it was the white meat of the chicken. Yes, I chewed and ate very slowly. It was a no go. I hope this helps. I am a few days a head of you. (10/03). I eat maltomeal for Breakfast. One morning I ate over medium eggs without problems. The next day, semi stuck for a few minutes. My body does best with fewer carbs so I'll be transitioning off the Cereal and other carbs soon. Lu

Banded Monday the 3rd. I have been to the fair this week and just got back from the zoo. My first check up is Tuesday. I'm itchy but just mildly. I have had no problems. I just take it easy. I am on full liquids. Not tired of the menu just yet. I am not hungry at all. Hope all my recently banded buds are doing as well.

Update. Surgery Monday, stayed in hospital until Wednesday, my choice, BTW. Spending the rest of this week in nearby motel and will have my follow up Tuesday. Then the ride home should be interesting. Went to the State Fair yesterday. I walked a lot then rented a motorized scooter just to speed the process of seeing things. On Monday, just I was being wheeled out of the pre op area and into the surgical area, an the doors opened and I was about even with them, I yelled, "stop" and stuck my hands and feet out like I was changing my mind and tried to keep the gurney from going into the area. People who know me, were not surprised by this little joke on the staff. They were a bit startled, but then started laughing at my antics when they noticed it was my idea of a joke. I'm getting tired of soup, but it won't last forever. The VA packed me up with food to eat in my motel so it's pretty idiot proof. My friend with me keeps my little bowl washed up for me. We try not to get too bored by taking a field trip everyday. The upside is that our beds are made for us everyday and the room is cleaned. Not by us. I know, it's a spa vacation. Not really, but it's away from home and the tedium there. As a tip, I am very grateful for this elastic belly band the staff found for me. I tried to sleep without it last night. I'm much more comfortable with the girdle on, and I'm not that kind of person normally. Y'all newbies stop worrying. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I have yet to be hungry. I know that losing weight is not the important thing to work on right now, rather healing is. That's what I'm focusing my energy on today.

Banded Monday about noon. Woo Hoo. And all is well. I was at a VA hospital so I stayed until yesterday afternoon. I was then discharged to a nearby motel until my follow up next Tuesday. I finally got my hair brushed again after several days of wallowing on it. I'm glued together without stitches or bandages and the itch has started. I have 6 incisions because of my hiatal hernia repair. I'm so not hungry. I am cleared to full lquids and have been given some thought to it. In the mean time, I still have plenty of clears to consume. I have been drinking lots of water since I was deprived for 36 hours. (That was my hardest part.) But, just a little at a time. My meds concern me but I have so far just cut them in half and take them a few minutes apart. Just ckecking in with y'all. Nap time again.

I so understand your post. Add 20 years or so to your age and that's how many more years and whacky diets I've been on. I have been successful on couple of them. The gaining it back so many times is what prompted me to make the decision to do this. As I type this, I am getting packed and ready for my surgery on Monday morning. I refuse to use the F word this time (F meaning Fail). It is not an option. I have F-ed so many times before that I am conflicted regarding a goal weight. I hesitate to set one. It is a curse to me. In the past I have gotten close to my goal, spent a couple of weeks there and slowly I would revert back to old habits. I have blamed spouse and kids and other circumstances for F-ing. They are gone. My nest is empty. I have spent the last year looking in the mirror with my therapist and can place blame exactly where it always belonged - with me. I have also developed an arsenal of alternative ways of dealing with emotions and situations that, in the past. lead me to unhealthy love/hate relationship with food. The next phase of my life began when I began the process of aquiring this tool a year ago. However, I also know that without looking at my relationship with food, I would not be ready to make this committment. I have heard all the naysayers and all the negative sensational press regarding the alleged dangers and flaws with this procedure. If I am not living but retreated into my life as I knew it before, I see that as a greater danger. Welcome and good luck.

October 3 is also my day. I am also anxious, but know the odds are that I'll be better off for doing this. I have survived so much in my life that I put this into the perspective that I'm going to be just fine. You can read on the internet or hear from friends of horror stories regarding this procedure. Ignore them. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you as we start this journey on the same day. Lulu

Shirley, I felt the same way. I had to prove "worthy" of the procedure so I attended the VA's Move Program over and over, amazed at the answers old men who had never dieted before came up with when asked simple questions. Bless their hearts, they'd gained a few pounds and developed diabetes so were referred to the program. There are four sessions and multiply that by several months. I am sure the dietician was pretty tired of me by then. Yes, four sessions, same handouts every month. Same questions from different newbies every session. I have dieted for so many years, I have thrown away more books on dieting and weight loss than most people have read. I digress. I am knowledgable about what to do to deplete the glycogen stores in the liver and I'm doing that. I fix two shakes a day using almond milk and designer whey (which I buy from Amazon much cheaper than anywhere else on the planet). Make friends with Torani sugar free Syrups. Also purchased from Amazon. I blend my concoctions in a Magic Bullet (purchased from...Amazon) with ice. Experiment. Can't stand the shakes unless blended with ice. Sometimes I throw some frozen strawberries or blueberries in and add Flax Seed Oil and ground flax. Never bananas. Too high in carbs. Like you said, I have been dropping weight for a year in prep for this procedure. I must know something after all this time. I know that after Monday it'll be Clear Liquids for a while. Then I'll be back to my Protein shakes. BTW, it helps having a daughter who works for Starbucks to make suggestions regarding frozen Protein drinks. I eat one real meal per day during this pre op time. I choose grilled chicken or talapia, or whatever is on sale at the meat case. I love salad with rice vinegar and will miss eating the volume of salad I can eat now. I have been practicing chewing baby spinach to mush. Challenging. I have a weird outlook on this, I know. But, in my life I have eaten enough bad fuel to power a small yacht. I feel that I have always had to watch what I eat. I decided, if I have to watch what I eat and look like this, then I will take the step and have the surgery. Then I will look better while watching what I eat. I've done a lot of work on myself emotionally and am so glad to have the opportunity to have a do over in my life. I will be successful. I wrote a letter to myself and filled a blank book of images of the reasons I want to reduce my girth. I want to ride a horse again. I want to buy clothes because I like them, not because they fit. I want to go snorkeling in paradise and not have to be hoisted back on the boat by two big men. I want to hired for a job and not judged by my appearance even before I have the chance to prove myself. I want to no longer be invisible and live all the way out to surface of my skin rather than retreating deep inside myself in an attempt to not be noticed. Monday morning, October 3. And so it begins.........

One week from now, I should be in recovery from my surgery. Second week of Pre op well on its way. I have found myself eating less and less every day into the pre op. I'm not hungry and tired of what I can have. I do maintain my Protein intake by drinking Isopure Zero carb Protein Drink. I too discovered almond milk because of the lack of milk products and it's low carb values. I have noted that my weight is down 15# since last Monday. I have had no energy to do what I need to do to get ready for next week. I hope I find some soon since I have to get ready to be gone for a while. Other than that, I am doing all right. My friends have commented on my face looking thinner and brighter. OK, I'll take that. I had better finish this and whip myself up a Protein Shake. It's past lunch time. I'm sure my liver is smaller. I have eaten it. Y'all have a great day.

Shirley, I am the youngest person my age I know. I'm very immature for my age. I spend my days (until recently) still in middle school. My students always remarked that I acted a lot younger than their grandparents (and they were younger than me). My friends forget that I'm not in my thirties and their age. I am joyful everyday, and if not, I take the time to find something to be joyful about. I have issues with sugar and wheat and finally got it through my skull that they are poison to me. If I don't get enough protein, I'm very cranky. I have lost 40 pounds since March getting ready for this surgery. I do my own yardwork and have stationary bikes to keep moving in the evenings. I love deep water running and plan to get back in the pool as soon as I am cleared to do so. Thanks for being an inspiration to me. I'll be counting on your wisdom in the future.

Thanks. Mine is a birthday present to myself as well. The next 10 days have got to speed by. I'm not the most patient person in the world (with myself). I'm a hunter, not a gatherer nor a farmer. I want to get this show on the road.

I am a widowed school marm with two grown kids. However, not currently teaching. I was in Army along time ago and am going through the VA to have this procedure. I laugh at some of y'all because of the testing required by insurance companies to get approved. You should have to have government approval. That's a test. I have passed the requirements so far and finally have my surgery scheduled for October 3. (If the government doesn't shut down, that is.) I decided when I was on a plane last year and very uncomfortable with my seat belt extender that my days of being the fat lady were coming to an end. To add to that discomfort, I was on my way to the Virgin Islands, where my size and the humidity were not very compatible. I am very happy to begin a new life and attempt the adventures I refused to do because of being too self conscience. am now going to do what I want to do and I don't care if I embarass my grown kids. I am a very successful dieter. I have lost tons of weight in my life. I have issues with keeping it off. I have done a lot of work with therapists, etc. and feel I have new tools to use this time. I don't have to worry about sabotaging husband, kids issues, etc. I am going to fully embrace my life, and started when I asked my GP for information about lap band surgery a year ago. I have discarded items I have dragged all over the world which no longer served me. I rented a dumpster this summer and had a pitching party. I have had to say good bye to aquaintences who were toxic in my life. I have moved out of my nest in one bedroom to finally live freely in my entire house. I still have a lot to do to be where I want to be, but thank God, I have not given up and resigned myself to live the depressed, restricted life I was living. I am free, and have realized that all along I held the key to my own jail cell. Fasten your seat belts and don your safety equipment. This old lady is on the launch pad!

It is also my 5th day of pre op. Other than wanting to sleep everytime I sit down, I'm doing all right. I haven't weighed in a couple of days but last time I did, I was down more than 10 pounds. I'm sure much of my sluggishness is from detoxing from other foods. I need to drink more water to help float out more toxins but I increase it a little more each day. I have a ton of things to do in the next ten days, since I will be 600 miles from home. I'm hoping I will get the energy to get them completed starting soon. I will have to stay in a motel for a week after surgery so I can be checked out a week after surgery. I have a friend going with me which will be a break for her. I'm ready for the next chapters to be written. BTW, my surgery is 3 days before my birthday. I will have 2 birthdays to celebrate from now on. (Or one long 3 day birthday celebration.)

A collar bone would be worth celebrating. I can feel them under my well padded skin, but can't remember what they look like. Way to go. Soon, I'll be complaining about hard chairs and being cold. Whole new set of complaints. I'll tell myself to hush. It can be worse, because it has been worse.

I have a signigicant hiatal hernia. That's what I tell those who need to know, i.e. neighbors, etc. since I'll be gone a week. The members of my support team have been with me this past year cheering every step of the way. I have weaned myself all NSAIDs and have been taking tylenol for my aches and pains. My head hurt for a couple of weeks because of the rebound effect of those meds. This is day 3 of pre op dieting. I felt better yesterday than I do today. We have weather moving through, though, so my joints are achey. Off to get more water to drink. Cheers!

I am scheduled for October 3. I am going through the Veterans Administration to have my surgery. I have been "in process" for a year. My surgery is 600 miles from home so they are keeping me overnight and then I have to hang out in a motel for a week. I started pre op diet yesterday. I am very lactose intolerant so it is complicated finding shakes I can tolerate. I live in Oklahoma and am going through this as a gift of love to myself. Kids are grown, husband deceased, time for me. I am redoing my house for exercize, plus have stationary bike to supplement work outs. I also do all my own yard work. The summer was brutal on my outdoor chores and I'm glad to be back out working on what is left of my roses. I am looking forward to watching the progress of all my October buddies.

I too am scheduled for October 3.