Frederic

Humans are really bad at assessing their own progress toward goals and it's even worse when our self image is involved. I strongly recommend using graphs to chart your progress both for weight loss and measurements your brain can more easily accept visual information in that format and most people will feel a stronger sense of reinforcement as they see the downward slope even if it isn't a dramatic drop.

Less than 10 hrs to go. I should probably be getting some sleep.

Had my first post op bowel movement today which was a bit of a surprise since I've been only drinking clear fluids the last three days but I figure that means I'm probably breaking down some fat tissue. On one hand I'm glad I can start some food with substance today but I'm not hungry yet so I'm holding off on breakfast for now. I do not recall ever looking forward to some hot cereal this much before.

Whether things come back up or not will be different for every person based on things like stomach chemistry, gag reflex, esophageal strength, and certain brain functions. You shouldn't depend on that reaction as your trigger that you're full. It's completely possible for some people to simply ignore the band and expand their pouch to the point they effectively have 2 stomachs stacked on top of each other. The pouch above the band will expand naturally but we don't want to hurry that process along since while the pouch is small it will help us feel full sooner.

It sounds like your overfilling to me, or more specifically taking in fluids faster than they can drain through the hole created by the band. Try drinking more slowly I spent a lot of time pre-op practicing drinking more slowly. You may need to take some specific steps to retrain yourself to adjust to smaller portions. You might try drinking all of your liquids like Soup. Pour them into a bowl and use a small spoon to drink them. This may also help trick your lower brain functions into thinking your eating more. Also when you eat try using chopsticks and a baby spoon. It will slow you down, limit your bites, and if your not proficient with chopsticks the mental focus should help distract you from the hunger and help you recognize when your full faster.

If you really feel you need the calories the safe way to get them is in liquid protein most people drink protein shakes made with skim or soy milk and flavored protein powder. The protein will help you feel fuller and help your stomach heal. But I agree you should talk to your surgeon or nutritionist about adjusting your diet rather than going rogue again.

Eventually the band and your stomach become more fully integrated and can handle more fluctuation but early on things like carbonation and rapid eating are more likely to cause the band to move and during the first few weeks after post op there is actual risk of harm due to the stomach still healing from the stress of surgery.

Today was pretty good up and about most of the day. Incisions still pretty tender if I try to bend over did much better on getting my fluids in today and the Gas-x worked wonders.

not until tomorrow. Yesterday and today was clear liquids only so I've had some chicken broth and a New Whey protein drink so far. I'll probably have some beef broth for dinner.

Actually it took less than week to get approval once I turned in my psych and nutrition evals in. If you have a high BMI like myself, contributing chronic illnesses (High blood pressure and Diabetes in my case) and a well documented history of weight control attempts it's apparently a pretty straightforward decision.

IS there something specific you'd like to know? I normally use "myfitnesspal.com" to track my nutrition and calories. If you join that site you can friend me (I'm "Fredrigo") and you'll be able to see what I eat and my weight loss progress.

I'm type 2 also, If you go hypoglycemic easily how often do you test your blood sugar each day? I maintain a pretty low blood sugar (75 to 85 range most mornings) with Byetta and Metformin and I didn't have any problems with the liquid diet the 2 weeks pre-op or the clear liquid diet the day before surgery (in fact my blood sugar went up the morning of the surgery). I'm on day 2 of Clear liquids post op restarted my diabetic meds today and not having any problems so far.

Still not very hungry but doing alot better about getting my fluids and protien in. Looking forward to the increase in variety though tomorrow when I can start non-Clear liquids. The Gas-X strips work amazingly well.

Late last night I was able to pass gas and this morning the shoulder pain is pretty much gone. I can walk briskly around the house for about 6 min.s before my abdomen starts complaining. I'm going to try and do that every 2 hrs at least since it is also supposed to help keep the back and shoulder pain at bay.

What is the most you've been overweight? And how much would you want the Lap band to help you lose? The average person loses 15 pts off their pre surgery BMI if that puts you below normal they'll probably deny you.

Finally able pass gas late last night and again this morning the shoulder pain is gone like magic. I'd describe my abdominal as being equivalent to a solid but not forceful series of punches. More of a throbbing at each wound site similar to what i'd feel after a hard weightlifting workout.

I would encourage you to keep in mind the surgery can also cause depression if you don't have a supportive environment you may perceive people criticizing how you eat, people judging you for "taking a quick fix"; and simply the fact you'll be putting so much effort into what you eat but still not see the progress you want some weeks. Some of those perceptions will come from you but others could come from negative people around you. The band is not a magic pill part of preparing for it is being prepared for set backs. If you aren't already doing so I'd start looking at the post op diets that are published online and practice following them.

I weigh daily as well so I'll often lose 5 lbs in a day gain 4 back the next then lose .5 lbs over 3 days then gain one back. What helps is to look at your daily weights on a chart even though it's a bumpy road I'm happy as long as I can see it's downhill from 1,2, and especially 3 months ago. On average a person's brain will place 80% of their interpretation of the world on visual data. It's amazing how much more reinforcing a line graph can be than a list of numbers even if they say the same thing technically.

I'll admit I'm on day 2 post op and I really want to try a brief jog but I'm just gonna have to settle for walking around the house and maybe outside as it warms up this week. My surgeon was very adamant about waiting 6 weeks before any running.

I always find it easier to accept compliments from strangers. I usually dismiss comments from coworkers and friends as being intentional encouragement. A peril of working in the behavioral health field is becoming jaded to praise as reinforcement.

My experience as a DHHS Service Coordinator tells me this. The psych eval will be used to determine if you're mentally prepared for the stress of recovery and the lifestyle changes afterwards it should also help identify if you have an adequate support network. If your behaviors are well managed and you've been stable, your meds shouldn't matter but you'll probably need to plan on increasing the frequency you see your psychiatrist to make med adjustments after the surgery. You may also need to plan on counseling or more frequent counseling.

How often do you weigh yourself?

My NUT recalculates based on my weight. I believe she uses the formulas as my fitness pal since they usually line up with the emphasis being that protein is the minimum the others are maximums.

I just got banded this morning and thought I was going to be one of the lucky few with no shoulder or back pain since my post surgery was going so well but a few hours after getting home I was taking the pain meds not because of stomach pain but because the stomach pain made the shoulder pain so bad.

I just urinated for the first time since leaving the hospital and that oddly relieved the pain in one shoulder. I'm sorry if that's TMI but I'm trying to be as specific as possible about my recovery so others can compare and our prepare for their own experiences. I tried waiting 5 hrs between pain meds (rather the prescribed 4) so far I made it to 4.5. Haven't used any of the nausea meds yet I'm guessing I'll need those when I get off the Clear Liquids.