Toddy

There is a blog I follow and they posted a great quote: Nobody said it would be easy. They just promised it'd be worth it. The first three days of ANYTHING is the hardest. That's not to say that it will become easy on Day 4, but it will probably ease a bit. Then there will be other times when it gets hard again, but it will always ease up again if you stick with it. A food addiction is actually worse than a drug addiction, because you have to consume food to live, but you don't need drugs to live. You just have to take control of the food and not let the food take control of you. Oh, and as far as shakes, I tried all the ready-made ones and the Slimfast Low Carb are my favorite and they have 20 grams of Protein.

Wonderful post and I'm sure it will help a lot of people. Congratulations on taking your life back!!!!

I drink wine without any problem. You just have to watch those oh so empty calories!!

That doesn't sound like gas pain. That sounds like the feeling you get from taking too big of a bite or drink, and/or not chewing well. I'm sure you're still pretty swollen from surgery. Try taking smaller sips.

In our litigation obsessed society, you will find that kind of "fine print" on virtually everything. The manufacturers have to cover their butts, just like McDonald's has to advertize that their coffee is hot!

Posted to the wrong place?!?!?

My doctor said there would be no additional charge for the plication, but the lap band still had the normal charge.

My doctor spent as much time with me (the first visit) as I wanted, and as long as I had questions. Never having been banded, I really didn't know what all to ask. I was sent home with a ton a paperwork and I scoured it for all the info I could get. It was in that paperwork that it was listed that after a fill you're on liquids for a day and a half. It's impossible for your doctor to tell you every single detail; hopefully they give you paperwork and handouts to make up for the the doctor fails to tell you.

Low fat string cheese, eggs, the tuna salad already made in a little packet... great when you're on the run. I do buy the protein drinks for when I'm on the run, too. Starting to sound like I run too much. Oh, and love the sugar free popsicles!

My doctor thinks carbs are the devil, too. I started out with an open mind and really tried to do the very low carb thing, but just got weaker and weaker. I finally started adding in some healthy carbs, like high fiber, multi grain English muffin with my morning egg and stuff with beans, like turkey chili. I may not be losing fast, but I am losing steadily and my body is happy!

This is just one post to show that everybody is different. I woke up one Sunday morning a couple of years ago and felt a little nauseous. Because it was a Sunday, I decided to stay in bed for a while until I felt better. I never did start feeling better. About 5:00 p.m. I was having a very slight amount of chest pain, and bad hearts run in my family, so I decided I better go to the ER. Got up, took a shower, dried my hair and went to ER. They did an ultrasound and diagnosed gall stones. I had to have surgery the next morning. The surgeon had two surgeries that morning and took me first because she thought I'd be the easy one. She told me afterwards that my gallbladder was a total mess!! Anyway, all this to say I had very little to no pain, and absolutely no symptoms before that Sunday morning.

From what I've heard, shingles can be very painful. I don't think I'd want to be dealing with two different pains at one time, even if they give you the okay for surgery.

1. Take small bites, eat slowly and chew, chew chew!! 2. I've been drinking from a straw since day of surgery and haven't encountered a single problem 3. It's easy to "eat around the band". If you eat sliders, such as ice cream, for example, the band is useless. If you drink while eating, the band is pretty useless. Worst of all, it's pretty easy to "graze" while banded. Also, if you fail to maintain your band it's pretty useless.

I had half a cup of veggies once a day on the pre-op. Seems like every doctor's pre-op and post-op diets are different.

I'm a fanatic about my teeth. Had my six month check-up today. They usually ask if anything's changed with my health since last time and I was fully prepared to tell them about the band. However, they didn't ask (or notice anything different) and I didn't tell.

Technically, crackers are considered the "bad for you slider" type food. My doctor thinks carbs are the devil, but my body just functions better with good carbs like whole grains and beans, and I'm losing weight, which is the ultimate goal, so...

Well, you know whether it's your fault or not. If we're all honest with ourselves, we are generally our own worst enemy. However, it sounds like you're ready for a re-start and your doctor should be supportive and encouraging, not accusatory! When someone makes me mad or hurts my feelings, I consider the greatest revenge is to be the very best that I can be and to prove them wrong. Tell me that I'm a failure at losing weight???? Wait until you see just how much weight I can lose!

I was released to exercise at two weeks. I waited until six weeks before I really worked my abs though.

Do you still have your gallbladder? Nausea was my only symptom.

My doctor allowed the Slimfast high protein/low carb also. I tried all the ready-made protein drinks on his approved list and Slimfast was the best tasting.

Once you reach your goal weight or are very near goal, how often do you need to see your lap-band doctor if you're maintaining your weight?

Surgery on Friday and back to work on Tuesday is pushing it a bit. Some people can do it, others can't. I consider myself pretty stoic, but it took me a solid week to start feeling better.

Port location is really not as bad as it sounds. I was extremely squeamish about something I could feel being located under my skin, but since surgery it doesn't bother me at all. My kids felt it and it really grossed them out though.

My starting weight was 216 and I'm down 23 pounds in two and half months and I haven't had a single comment except from my family that know about the band. My clothes are practically hanging off of me and no one I work with has even noticed yet!

That was the worst part of the surgery for me, and totally unexpected because I had had my gallbladder removed a couple of years before being banded, and didn't have any problems!! My last really bad day with the light-headedness was exactly seven days after surgery. Since then I've felt really good. I started having some dizziness again about two months after surgery and my PCP reduced my blood pressure medication and it went away.