thisisforme

Hi! I'm new here. I live about an hour north-east of Dallas. I'm scheduled for banding on 6/28 with Dr. Richard Benavides at the Surgery Center of Richardson. I'm currently at 220 with a BMI of 34.5 and my goal is 140. I'm 5' 7". I have high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, PCOS, and am pretty sure I'm in the early stages of pre-diabetes because my morning blood sugar readings fluctuate into the 100s fairly often. My husband had this done several years ago and has NOT been successful with it but he is also one who refuses to do as the doctors' say. Good at taking his medicine but refuses to make lifestyle modifications even with all his health problems. I've learned a lot about what NOT to do from watching him. I'm self-pay. I'm excited about the surgery. There are just a few things that I'm nervous about. 1. the protein shakes. Because of my BMI I am only required to do one week pre-op of daily 2-3 protein shakes and 1-2 meals with a serving of lean meat, all the green veggies I want, with one cup fruit. I don't know what I can do about the protein shakes. I have the option of Myocel (which I've heard is nasty) or Atkins shakes (I bought but could only get 3 sips down). I couldn't find powdered Atkins. I bought another shake mix that seemed to have similar nutritional values and was high protein and am hoping that mixing it with yogurt, skim milk and strawberries will make it tolerable. I started low-carbing at the beginning of this week so I could kick the carb cravings before my official pre-op diet start date. That first day of low-carb was horrible. I'm in much better shape now with the cravings. 2. I'm a little worried about the liquid part of the diet as I have two weeks on that post-op. I also worry about PBing in front of my co-workers. I can handle that at home but in public... Any advice on how to make protein shakes so they are more tolerable?

I had my lap band put in yesterday (6/28) and I have had so many different kinds of pain. I know the pain in my shoulder is gas pain and the burning on my stomach is from the incision. What I don't know is if the pain in my stomach is hunger pains ( I have actually heard my stomach growling) or gas pains. And then when I do drink something I can't tell if the pain is hunger, gas, or pre-band pains. Ugh. I feel miserable. I wish I would only feel one pain at a time so I could identify which is which.

Hey! I'm having my surgery on the 28th too!

Raven5683 vbmenu_register("postmenu_489906", true); - How do these soups taste? Which ones have you tried? Is there any off taste to them? I really could live without shakes and smoothies and would prefer to get my Protein from a chicken broth if I could. Thanks.

Sizewize - I have had PCOS for many years. I was diagnosed after my daughter was born when I was trying to get pregnant again. At that point I knew nothing about PCOS. The internet wasn't so popular yet so information was not forthcoming. I was given infertility drugs to get pregnant and both times I did but quickly miscarried. Because the emotional pain of miscarrying was so high, I decided to not try anymore. Years went by and I just kept getting heavier, the male hair growth got worse, and the acne was bad. My moods swung from happy to sad. My periods were very very irregular. One day a co-worker was diagnosed with PCOS as well and asked me questions. Unfortunately, I didn't know anymore then than I had in the beginning so I couldn't tell her much. I started to do some research and found that the internet contained loads of information. One thought is that PCOS is caused by insulin resistance. I decided to try Atkins since that would eliminate a lot of sugar from my diet. Lo and behold, it worked. I lost 55 pounds, my periods went from two-three months apart to every 28 days. My acne cleared up, I had so much energy, I no longer crashed every afternoon. I maintained a 50 pound weight loss for a couple years but started to allow the carbs back in not paying attention to how many carbs I was actually allowing myself. A 5 pound gain here and there until I realized that I had gained back 20 pounds. I tried to stop it but couldn't. I went back to strictly Atkins but found it hard to stay there because I had gotten the taste of "carbs" that I had restricted myself from for so long. Even when I stuck straight to the plan, the weight continued to come back, I think in large part because of the amount of food I was eating. With the weight coming back, my morning blood sugar levels started to rise into the 100s (but the after meal levels were normal - go figure), my acne came back, I was tired again, periods went from 28 days to 5 weeks to 6 weeks, etc... I went to a dermatologist for the acne who suggested I see an endocrinologist to treat the entire problem rather than just the acne. My endocrinologist ran a lot of blood tests and determined that my male hormone levels were too high and placed me on spironolactone. This has a mild effect on the blood pressure (lowers it) but it also reduced my testosterone levels so that my acne is gone. Because it is dangerous for a developing fetus when the mother is on spironolactone, the doctor also placed me on Yasmin to prevent pregnancy. This also has a positive effect on my symptoms. I have gained back 45 of those original 55 pounds lost and am at 220. Once I got to about 195 on my upward trend I kind of gave up on my diet and ate anything I wanted to. I now know I will always need to lean towards a low carb diet because of the insulin resistance. I know it works for me. The biggest thing I've needed help with is portion control. Does this help? In a nut shell, since I am not trying to get pregnant, I am being treated with spironolactone and Yasmin. If I were trying to get pregnant, they might treat me with Metformin.

Congratulations! I am having my surgery on the 28th of June and I am both excited and nervous at the same time. I started my protein shakes today. Had one for breakfast and then couldn't have anything again until lunch. I was starving! I'm allowed lean meat, all the green veggies I want and a cup of fruit (not bananas). I ate chicken and lettuce. I was going to save my fruit until later in the afternoon so I could space it out and make it through the day... But I guess I waited to late to eat lunch because I was still hungry afterwards. I ate the fruit (with low carb yogurt). I still have my green beans... I think I can hold off on those until later. Another protein shake when I get home from work and then dinner (or vice-versa).