musica73

I checked on the last post that I saw was you were celebrating your 1st month. How have you been doing? Any tips on your success? And how much have you lost? Has it been a real learning experience or fairly easy for you? Proud to hear you've reached your 2 month anniversary and sounding pretty happy about it. Congrats!

Hi Donna,

I have been doing well. How about you? I have lost 42 lbs thus far. I will be seeing my doctor in two weeks to see how I am progressing. I still have not had a fill in my band and at this time unless the dr recommends it, I am satisfied with how my weight loss is going. Slow and steady wins the race! It has been a real learning experience, finding out what to eat, when, how much, etc. What has really helped for me was knowing that this is only a tool, nor a quick fix. Any weight loss is great! Try it and see if it works. Exercise, exercise, exercise! Eat small amounts, eat often, DO NOT eat after 7 pm and drink lots of water! One other is find others to surround yourself with who will be motivating and supportive. That is so important! I hope you are doing well and are learning how to adjust to life with the band too!

Hi All! I just realized that this weekend is two months since my surgery! How time flies! I was just wondering how everyone is doing?

I haven't posted for a while but thought I would check in to see how everyone is. How is everyone's progress post op? Tomorrow I Celebrate my 1 month bandiverversary! I went for my 1 month check up today. I am very happy with my progress so and so is my doc. I am down 7 lbs in 3 weeks - 33 total. My energy level is increasing and I am now on my normal post op diet. My doctor is saying I am doing very well and he is not recommending that we fill the band at this time. I am feel I have made a great decision, seeing it all work the way it should. Thanks to all my fellow bandsters for your support! Keeping onward and upward!

Alright band buddies. Should we start a monthly challenge under our Aug 2013 support group? From what I can tell you give your basic info: screen or real name, starting weight, weight now, and goal weight at the end of the month. We can modify and do it however we want. I hope we all can continue to be in our support group for years to come as this will be a life long process and for me personally I enjoy talking to everyone. I love that we are from all over the world. Let me know your thoughts.

Sounds like a great idea! I would be interested!

I am officially banded now! Surgery wasn't too bad - not at least in my experience since my last one was a major spinal fusion with 6+ hours in the OR. The worst part so far has been tightness of breath. Ive been using my spirometer regularly to open my lungs. The small bit of Protein Shake I've had so far tasted amazing after 3 days of sf Jello. I'm sore but already walking around the block which helps.

The doc did find a hernia which was repaired. Question - for those with hernias, did it add to your recovery time? I planned to take a week off work, but that was band only. I'll ask my doc too but curious what others experiences

Hey Basset - I also had the hernia repair, but according to my doctor it does not change the recovery time. I was able to return to work after a week. I think it all depends on how YOU feel and what you can tolerate. It also depends on what you do at work. I did not work a full day my first day back, but did the rest of the week. I was pretty tired at the end of each day. Today was my second week back, it was much better today. I would just take each day and see how it goes! Good luck!

I can honestly say, day by day, I feel better. I'm at 12 days Post Op & finally feeling good. I actually got dressed up & put make up on today. I had a terrible day this past Saturday. Advice for everyone. Take it day by day. This is a major change in our lives. I have my first post op visit, tomorrow. I'm curious, about how much weight I have lost the past 2 weeks. I know, life can only get EASIER ; ) I'm going back to work this Wednesday. Looking forward to my usual routine. Thank You, to ALL my bandster buddies. I love reading all you posts. Anyone from the St. Louis area? Just throwing this out there again. Take Care!

Jama glad things are going better for you. Hope your return to work goes well! I am not in the St. Louis area, but am from the Midwest!

I had my surgery on 8/14. Feeling much better but still sore around the port site which kinda burns most of the time. After I eat or when I'm close to being done it seems to hurt a little more. I feel like that area bulges out a little more too. Is that a sign of fullness? I'm just trying to figure everything out. Don't think it's anything stuck. Not drinking liquid with meals either. Any ideas for mushie foods? Also having trouble getting enough Protein in. For those recently banded it does get better a little bit each day. Remember to rest and take your pain meds!

Not sure what all you are allowed but here are some things I did. Scrambled eggs (keep them pretty moist), cottage cheese, yogurt, pudding, applesauce, mashed bananas, mashed potatoes. Some other things I did, I took canned chicken and minced it up very fine as much as you can, then mixed it with a little chicken gravy. This worked well for me having it with some mashed potatoes. Other things I could have was cream of wheat Cereal, cream Soup and a way to add extra protein to things like that is to mix dry milk powder to them. Hopefully you can get some ideas from these.

How is everyone doing? I hope things are improving each day. To those of you still anticipating surgery I wish you the best! I am today officially 2 weeks post op! Every day is a little better than the next. I still struggle some with pulling and pain at my port site, but each day is a little better. Tomorrow I get to move to soft foods diet, I am excited to be able to expand my food choices. I returned to work last week, it went okay, I was pretty tired when I would get home though! Hoping this week will be better. I have so far been very fortunate not to have any issues with eating or with nausea, hoping this trend will continue as my diet advances. I am just taking each day as it comes, knowing it will get better, keeping my eye on the prize!

I think we're all waiting for life to feel "normal" again!! Are you planning to tell people when they notice the weight loss?

I think so. I just am one of those people who usually doesn't like to air all of my business, I like to keep my personal issues personal unless people ask, but I don't hide it. I have told a few people post surgery and they have been VERY encouraging and supportive! I know this was one of the hardest decisions that I have made in life, but I needed to do it. One thing a lot of people do not understand is that choosing to do lap band is not an easy path and I hope to educate them that this is not an "easy weight loss fix" for me. This is a tool that will help me in this lifelong battle that I have had. I will still have to work very hard at weight loss. I think unless you have gone through it, you will never truly understand. That is why I am so thankful for all of you my fellow bandsters!!

Awesome' date=' musica73 on the weight loss!! Way to go!! That is great news everything is healing very well, too. That is very nice you have a job like that. I'm still experiencing pain. I believe it is gas (from the surgery). I also have pain around the port area. I'm bored to tears at home. I went to an open house at my kids school last night & 'over did' it. I was exhausted with all the walking & stairs. I finally broke down & took some pain medication. I stopped taking pain meds on day 2. I just need to let my body heal. But I'm ready to get back to my normal routine. I meet with my doc next Tuesday & hopefully back to work next Wednesday ; ) I have not told anyone at work 'what type of surgery I have had'. It will be interesting.....Overall feeling better each day ; ) Thanks for asking![/quote']

I only told just a few people myself. It will be interesting to see what people say as I get smaller (hopefully :-)). I am kinda glad to be back into the normal routine, but will be real glad to be back to normal foods!

Did you return to work? If so' date=' how did it go? I'm off work, however; would like to get back. I have my first post op visit next Tuesday.......[/quote']

Thank you for asking, I did. I worked a half day yesterday and the full day today plus my doctor appt. My energy level is pretty low and still having port pain but luckily my job allows me to work around my restrictions. My doctor appointment was great. Down 20 lbs in 4 weeks! Said everything is healing very well and that I am doing everything as expected. I go back in 3 weeks. How is everything going for you jama? Are things getting better? How is the diet going?

I was given my pre op diet sheet yesterday and they are really against bananas! I would have thought bananas being mushy to begin with would be acceptable but they are not?

Anyone else have the no bananas rule?

That is one I haven't heard. Actually mashed bananas was listed to eat on my mushy diet phase.

Best of Luck CWinkler! Hopefully your pre-op will go by fast. For me it was a little slow. The anticipation of surgery made the time drag by. I am now 9 days post op and go back for my first dr visit today. I started the "mushie" diet phase yesterday. It was wonderful to have something besides liquid! Everything is going pretty well except for some pain around my port area. It comes and goes. I will be very glad when it subsides! I am also looking foward to when I can sleep on my side again! Ugh! I hate sleeping on my back. My advice to you is be sure you follow your pre-op diet, it will definitely help in post-op and be sure you get up and moving as soon as possible after surgery. Also, ask the hospital about a anti-nausea patch. Mine gave me one that I wore for two days. It helped with any nausea. It was wonderful. Hope all goes well with you for your surgery! There is a lot of great support here!

My doc gave me info on pre-op diet and post-op diet but it only mentions chicken, steak and bread. I will ask him about those other things when I see him for my first fill next week!! I suppose all you can do is be honest with your doc and take his advice. If your liver is still enlarged will they do the surgery by opening you up rather than laparoscopically? I'm not sure how you feel about that, the recovery is bound to be worse!

I had heard no popcorn also that it would get stuck. Other things my dietician told me was no oranges because of the membranes, no apple skins, of course no bread, Pasta, rice, and no carbonated beverages. There were some things like no nuts, seeds, no cocount, nothing with hulls like corn and a couple other things for two months. And that there might be some meat that people struggle with because of the denseness.

I'm a side sleeper so I had to figure it out. The first night I had to sleep on my right side but by night 3 I was able to lay on my left side too. I had to be gentle when getting into and out of that position but its working. Now I have to deal with this liquid diet. It feels like it will be FOREVER before I make it to mushy foods. All I want is some mashed sweet potatoes or something. That sounds kinda sad huh. A week and a half left till mushies.......and I'm starving!!

Okay, I really hope I can start sleeping on my side soon! Sleeping on my back is killing me! I keep waking up with a stiff neck. Anyone have any suggestions for helping to sleep on your side?

I start mushies tomorrow.. Hopefully that will help. But I think you're right, I think a big part of it is psychological. Mental hunger + physical hunger = one unhappy gal!

yeah for you!!

How much is everyone who was recently banded eating? My doc said 1 1/2 cups a day but others seem to be eating much more than that!

Mine is 4 oz at a time/hr and to shoot for 45 - 60g per day. (Which I am getting more towards the 45) I am to drink no more than 4oz each hour either. I got to move to puree's today!

My clear liquid diet just allowed me to start having Protein Shakes. Back to those yucky Optifast shakes by hey, at least it's something. I had wonton Soup last night (of course without the actual wontons). I was starving. I had about a half of a bowl and then felt horrible. I think I may have had too much. That's crazy to think that half a bowl of soup may be too much but I felt so horrible the rest of the night. No cream Soups or pudding though yet. Can't have that until week 2. Today us the start of Day 4 post-op. My birthday is in 3 days and I think this will he m first birthday without birthday cake. It's kind of sad to think about it (I LOVE birthday cake) but I know it's for the best, so that I have many many more healthy and beautiful birthdays.

So how are you ding doing with your post-op? Is the pain getting better?

Exactly!! MANY, MANY more healthy birthdays! This one will be the first! Can you use Protein Powder and mix your own shakes? I had posted a few recipes here a while back for people to change things up a bit. I started the puree phase today. Had some scrambled eggs this morning. It was nice to have something besides liquid!! The pain is SLOWLY improving, but still having that pain in the middle of my abdomen. I see the doc tomorrow. Hopefully he can tell me what is going on. Hang in there, it will get better! I really didn't feel human until about day 6. Just keep up your intake. How is your pain doing? Are you keeping up on your meds?

I'm scheduled for surgery in the morning

Best of luck! There are a lot of us here for support!

Had my surgery on 8/14. Everything went well but a little more sore today. No nausea so far. Still on thickened liquids. I don't know if I feel huge restriction because I'm still on liquids. I don't really feel the band either. Still a bit numb around the incision sites. Anyone else have staples? Feel like they are tugging a bit.

I have the steri strips on the outside and stitches on the inside. I can feel a tugging or pulling too. It sure hurts at times. Now 7 days post-op. Hopefully returning to work tomorrow.

Congrats! 20lbs is an awesome loss!!

Thanks angemc!

It took a couple of days for me to feel hungry' date=' and about seven days to start feeling human again! Just keep on top of your pain meds Are you having gas pains?[/quote']

Same here. Finally starting to feel human today! Six days post-op. Still having some pain mid abdomen, but its getting better. Up and moving. Weighed today and dwon 20 lbs from my pre-op appointment!

Ok' date=' just woke up from my 2nd night post-op. Didn't have any pain meds for the entire day yesterday so finally having pain meds is helping ALOT!!! Ok so question guys....Clear liquid diet consists of??? So far I've only had Water, apple juice and chicken broth. Is there anything else I can have? Not sure how I'm going to make it an entire week of this. Stomach growling :-([/quote']

PoohBear22, can you have Protein Shakes? My clear liquid diet also allows Vitamin water, sobe life water, basically any sugar free non- carbonated drinks. I stay away from crystal light cause of the aspartame and I use the Mio water enhancers. I don't do any artificial sweetners if I can help it. I am also allowed pudding, Jello, sugar free of course. Cream Soup and yogurt - I get greek it has more Protein. Check with your dr or dietitian, but these are what I am doing.

For those who have had surgery' date=' how many times a day are you eating/feeling hungry?[/quote']

I am still on full liquids. My doc will only allow me 4 oz at a time so I have been "eating" something about 5 times a day to get in enough Protein. I really have mot felt any hunger yet. Quite the opposite, where it is taking me a long time to intake my 4oz. I move to mushies on Monday.

I was just banded on the 14th and I must say that I am not feeling too bad! Walking does help. I did have the pain in my left shoulder but it was mild...most of my pain is around my port. It is true what they say that every day gets better. Again' date=' I started at 317. I weighed myself yesterday and I am currently at 288...very proud of myself.[/quote']

Great tamara! That is awesome! Keep it up.