Bandista

Congratulations on your surgery date! Talk to your surgeon about lifting. You will have stitches that you don't want to pull. Get some help for the first week so you can heal up properly and focus on YOU. Best wishes -- think of how great it's going to be to be healthy for that beautiful baby.

Hi Shell, you're doing great -- I think post-op blues are very common. All the hype of preparing for surgery and getting through it is over, and there can be a let-down afterward. You have two little ones -- I'm exhausted just thinking about those ages. So cute and I miss it so (all grown up now) but oh my god. I'd be exhausted even without the surgery! You are going to be able to enjoy everything so much more now that you are choosing yourself and your healthy future first. Every one else will benefit, but YOU are first right now. Pat yourself on the back and let yourself know how amazing you are. Your body is changing and adjusting. Isn't it great having the appetite monster off your back? Everything will balance out in time. I'm a bander and know nothing about your surgery but I often can't really do a protein shake either. And I don't believe in starvation mode, etc. -- I have been saving up for the famine and my body knows what to do now. It will all work out -- it's only been a month. Here's to spring and new beginnings!

@@CTJohn that's a lot of shirts....and closet space! I have next pants to fit into waiting in my closet -- a pair of purple linen and a pair of red linen. Want to get into them by summer. To remind myself of my new body and how far I've come, I like to fondle my collarbones. It is amazing to me how good that feels to have them there again. On the scale I always note now that I'm able to look right down -- my big fat belly is not obscuring the view. Whatever the number might be, that NSV is a beautiful thing. Oh, and I can look in the mirror and see that I have a waist. A waist! Thanks for the encouragement -- love this thread. Now to go do my walk at the lake!

I like that one, @@gowalking because of the whole "must finish" thing....I was such a finisher before and if I'm not super-aware I can revert to that way of thinking. Better to know what it is that is available for polishing-off and absolutely STOP.

Sometimes I try to redirect -- instead of letting my mind go to the familiar place of "what can I have" and visualizing the pantry, etc., I picture the scale and count down backwards from where I am to where I want to be. I outline those numbers in my head and by that time I have sort of tricked myself into a new place. Good luck, and enjoy your winter on the other side of the world!

It's a learning curve alright -- the behavior modification portion of the program. I sometimes used water to help -- liquids on top of the stuck to bring it up. Also arms overhead and sort of hanging. I'm always terrified this will happen out in the world but so far so good. There are the big signals but once I got those down I discovered a set of much subtler signals going on. If I tune in, that is. And I really think that's how the band works -- esophageal squeezes triggering signals from the brain. Pretty amazing, really. As for having something anyway, the screw this mentality, I totally agree that's how I got fat, too. I'd restrict, restrict, be good and then throw in the towel. Over and over again.

We have an expression in our house, "these human bodies!" I don't think I had any idea what is really required for maintaining a healthy body. For any one, fat or slim. If it's not one thing it's another -- dentist, eye doctor, PT exercises, skin care regime, the regular exercise, etc. Thank goodness I got my band as I'm so much healthier going into middle older age (eek!).

You are reminding me it's time to get the Neti Pot out....I want to try to stay ahead of spring allergies. This winter I had to have a tiny unfill due to sinus issues. I find I can keep a looser band by doing the occasional all-liquids thing -- just had a four-day juice fast recently, for liver cleansing purposes (and to force that scale down). It's all about the immune system, right (the sinus issues), so anything we can do to boost that. I may need a trip to Vitamin Shoppe. Zinc works really well for me.

So happy for you!

Hi there, you are definitely in the right place. I was a very restrictive dieter, always putting myself through some kind of torture and beating myself up for not being able to sustain, the regaining plus some, the isolation. Getting that appetite monster off of my back has been amazing. I feel so free from something inside that I was constantly fighting against. I felt betrayed by my body. How could it get fat like that when I worked so damn hard? Now I feel synced up. Where are you in your process? One thing I did before surgery was up my exercise. I didn't want to, but I did it and I'm really glad. I think it helped me emotionally to process everything on some other level plus it gave me something to step into right after surgery. I also got a therapist to help me work through my eating patterns and triggers. It's not like I hadn't done that before. I was 52 and had done a lot of work on myself. This time it was different, though, because in choosing weight loss surgery I was in a place of brutal self-honesty. It had come to that. Somehow this made it possible for me to see the whole thing as a giant step forward. I was ready to rescue myself. I was choosing myself first and giving myself the gift of weight loss surgery. It got me my life back. Did I worry that I'd be the person it didn't work for? Sure. I think most of us thought that way because, after all, we had failed at everything else (grapefruit diet, cabbage diet, Eat Right For Your Blood Type, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Barry Sears, juice fasting, The Plan -- the this the that and the other, heck, I'm just getting started! I am so happy to be through with dieting. I am careful to listen to my body and to eat small portions at appropriate intervals. I can do this because my appetite is dimmed (see links below). Best wishes to you -- keep us posted. Know that you are worthy and deserving of all good things.

Hi there, that sounds scary. I used to love a great big cheeseburger but find I can't do straight-up burger at all now. We get very lean meat also -- the grass-fed organic. I figure we can afford it with all I'm saving on food, lol. I am even indulging in the occasional filet mignon. For ground beef I get the pan very hot (no oil) and sear the meat, chop it down and cook. When it's nearly all browned I add beef stock (you can get organic in a box), spices and Beans if I'm making chili, or if I'm going in the Italian direction a few jars of red sauce or cans of crushed tomatoes, etc. The added liquids break down the meat and soften it, plus the flavor is amazing. Shepherds Pie is very band-friendly. I don't eat bread or Pasta but do have a little potato once in a while. There are other banders who cannot eat close to bedtime. I know that putting blocks of wood under the head of the bed to raise it a couple of inches is recommended for reflux. Be sure to loop your doctor in on whatever is going on. Let us know how you're doing!

@@kwcrnp I ordered the Genepro; thanks for that......I don't do shakes anymore (maybe once in a while as a treat) because they don't hold me but I am mixing the protein into my yogurt with other little mix-ins (otherwise, like shakes, it's a slider for me).... Sure jacks the protein up!

Congratulations all! So happy for you.....

@@kwcrnp I ordered the Genepro; thanks for that......I don't do shakes anymore (maybe once in a while as a treat) because they don't hold me but I am mixing the protein into my yogurt with other little mix-ins (otherwise, like shakes, it's a slider for me).... Sure jacks the protein up!

Pre-op sucks. I comforted myself with the thought that every pound lost was one I'd never see again -- unlike all the gaining back after diets for twenty years. Congratulations on choosing yourselves and your healthy futures! Joy is the word, that's for sure. Love that.

Hi there, I think you nailed it about the previous life of diet success followed by failure -- that fear that it won't work. It is totally working! Keep your appointments, keep tuning in and learning to listen to your body, noticing signals, etc. For me, my jeans are the best indicator of where I am. I went from size 18 to size 12 in the very same Lee longs. The scale and I have a love/hate relationship. Good luck with all! Don't forget to pat yourself on the back......you're doing beautifully.

The band is not about restriction -- check out the link in my signature below. If you have curdled milk coming up from something you drank a few days ago, something is wrong. Shakes are sliders, in that they just slide through. I would call my doctor immediately.

Hi there and welcome! I stumbled on this forum in June of 2013 when I started my process then I got my lapband in November. I was impatient but in hindsight that timing was great for me. I upped my exercise and started seeing a therapist to sort out my triggers, etc. it was good for me to have a third party to discuss the process with -- another way of showing up for myself, really. For me, weight loss surgery was about choosing myself first and my healthy future. Insurance companies vary -- mine had only one requirement, a BMI of 40 or more. Call yours and find out. I must have called four times, I was so nervous and excited. I have found the process to be very easy. I am not on a diet and am so grateful to have a dimmed appetite. The links in my signature below helped me understand the procedure I chose. Sometimes there is discord here (my surgery is better than yours) but only you and your doctor know what's best for you as an individual. The important thing is deciding to get healthy -- congratulations on that and all that is ahead! We live in amazing times.

I'm not ashamed (in fact I'm incredibly proud of myself!) but I feel like this is such a private thing for me so I told just a handful of people. There are a couple of friends I wish I hadn't told....

I would call the doctor immediately. Something is not right!

@@coachk11233 the thing about Lapband is followup with the surgeon's office for fills -- I really liked that accountability (for me 11 visits in the first year, two in second). Insurance companies and hospital admin are not exactly excited about that level of patient contact. A surgeon can do a whole sleeve in the morning it takes to follow up with lapband patients, right? Follow the money. I really wanted a band, I just knew it. My whole stomach is intact and this method works beautifully for me. Good luck to you!

Yippee!

It's a French thing ; ) Whoops, Excuse Me. Oh my goodness. I still have occasional times when I have gas like I never had before, but it is increasingly rare in my case (probably because I'm not having the major veggies I used to eat). In the beginning it was sort of amazing. My son and husband were impressed and unable to compete. I definitely have to watch my digestion carefully now, but I sort of always did -- I just ameliorated then with those giant salads or big bowls of beets with olive oil and garlic. A way of eating I don't have now. Now I have Chia seeds, which work well for me.

@@kimaly don't be mad at yourself -- be gentle. You deserve all good things, sometimes the Cosmic Clock is off a little bit. It's lining up for all of you right now -- here you are: ready. Pat yourselves on the back! Tool is installed, now to meet with the medical professionals and make a plan. Fills for me have been key. And no sliders. Learning to listen hard to the body has been great for me in many ways besides weight loss. Here's to tuning in!

Shorts? Crazy Talk! Way to go. I am right there with you, though it's still pretty nippy here in New England. Still, I can't stop trying on clothes for summer. Just to try. Sleeveless, eek, but HELL, I'm a gonna do it. 75 pounds down and loving my band. Have fun in your new clothes!