Terry Poperszky

Just my two cents, listen to your Dr., no one else's. He didn't say 2 ounces was ok, he said none. If he had meant two ounces, then my guess is that he would have said that. You are going to find a wide range of Dr.'s instructions on this site, from those who tell their patients that they can have a steak dinner with all the trimmings the day after surgery, to those who want their patients to drink Clear liquids for a month after. All I know is that if something isn't working with my banded life, my surgeon will not give a damn about what I read on this site, he will ask me are you following MY instructions. You trusted the man enough to cut you open and sew a piece of silicone around your stomach, trust him with the after care instructions as well. And if in doubt, ask HIM.

I think you may find that the surgeons are more willing to do fills if you have moved into the area, versus living there and leaving the area for the surgery and only coming to them for fills. I believe my surgeon will accept patients that have moved in from out of area, but will not do fills for people who have lived here and go elsewhere for the surgery. It is like walking into a restaurant with your own ham and eggs and asking to just be charged for cooking them because you can buy them at the supermarket cheaper.

I remember seeing from my WW days that spicy food tends to satisfy more, and you tend to concentrate more closely on what you are eating. Now, I know that there are a lot of people on this board that consider catsup spicy, but this is like eating with smaller plates, tricking your mind into thinking that what you are eating is more than it is. So, stretch yourself try to spice things up just a little bit (Spicing things up isn't just for the bedroom any more). This mornings breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled 1 ounce diced ham 1/2 c mushrooms sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil 1 oz part skim mozzarella. The hot part, I put a liberal splash of Franks Hot Buffalo Wing sauce, although a tablespoon of crushed red chili peppers would have accomplished the same thing.

Mine never put a time frame on it. I had Wine at day 22.

I would love to use more, but unfortunately my wife and girls are native Utahan's, and here spicy is considered using brown sugar on your oatmeal instead of white. But my wife is coming around and can handle medium spicy after 14 years of marriage.

Only you can tell whether it is best for you, pick up alex's "The Big Book of the Lap-Band" to get a comprehensive source for the entire process. As for self pay, I paid 10,975, to have mine done in a surgical center, which covers 12 months of fills and any type of surgical services related to the band.

Face it, more people see us with our clothes on, than with our clothes off (I don't think this board is has a high population of strippers or nudists.). The people who see us in the later state usually aren't as concerned with a little loose skin. The only loose skin that really bothers me (at this time) are the neck waddles and I will deal with that when the time comes.

Only 10 more km for a Metric Century. Outstanding!

So I bought a big bag of spinach at Costco the other night, I usually have it mixed with scrambled eggs. Tonight I put some olive oil and garlic in a skillet, then threw in a big handful of leaves and and sautéed them until they were wilted. It was fantastic!

Congratulations CG, this calls for another tat.

Welcome to the wonderful world of surgery, we have all been there. and I don't care how scared you are DON'T NOT DRINK. Think you feel bad now? Try dehydration on top of it, you will discover what feeling like crap really is.

The tilapia looks great. I just picked up some pacific cod the other night and I am going to try it with that.

My Dr. was like this, he won't do the sleeve because he believes that long term, the band is better. Plus most of his office staff have the band.

Mine was only 10 days, but I did it by focusing on the surgery as my goal. My LB nurse told me that the pre-op diet would make me even more thankful for the LB. But you have to keep your eye on the prize.

Take your pain meds, keep hydrated, alternate walking with rest. Everyone has to go through this, it gets better fairly quickly

I hope your bypass works better for you than the band did. Regardless of the method may you have a happy and fit life

Think about why you did it. Examine how you were feeling and what your motivation was. I find that if I can understand why those slips happen, I can also plan for what I will do the next time those same feelings/situations occur. BTW, why did you have the types of foods available to you?

I would imagine that is up to your particular insurance company.

My family has eaten off of salad plates for years, and after banding I found some "dipping bowls" that are my dishes now.

This is easy, blame him for breaking it.

You guys are killing me. Going to the fridge for a SF popsicle.

Everybody finds their own answer to this. For some it is a distracting hobby, for other it is a video game and for me I pick up my guitar and keep my focus off of food. The interesting part for me is that I am now aware that it is head hunger, since it used to gang up with my stomach hunger.

Look at it this way, each pound of fat requries 3500 calories. If you log what you eat, did you eat 14,000 extra calories between the 7th and now? If not, it is water weight. If so, you are insane

Sweet!

22 days after surgery, 1 glass of red wine. Dr. never gave me any guidelines.