Carrot06

Coo- I feel the same. It does sound like from reading posts from people who have been banded, that food becomes less important. That gives me hope...

Hi all- I think the pre-op diet may be getting easier. I am on day 4. Yesterday I actually wasn't as hungry and obsessing on food as much. I am definitely getting full faster due to I am sure my stomach is shrinking. I have lost 6 1/2 pounds. I am sure some of that is Water weight though. Now I don't drink anything else but water, and I am having a hard time making myself drink the water. I am finding I am starting to feel thirsty and crave the water, so I think that may be improving too. CUTEYPIE123- you have your surgery two days before mine. I will be anxious to hear how it goes. How are you feeling after a few days on pre-op diet? KYGAL- good for you on turning down the pizza! Did you tell the neighbor about the surgery to explain not eating the pizza or having the beer? Littlecjh- don't give up. It will be worth all the hassle once you get that approval.

Coo- I too have had moments of- "oh no- I am never going to be able to enjoy food again! What have I done? I don't wan't to do this!" But I know that it is just us getting past the emotional eating thing. We will be able to enjoy food, just less of it. Food will no longer be our life. Our life will be doing all the things we couldn't or wouldn't do when heavy! We can do it!

AMY633- Most surgeons will require you to do a pre-op diet. It sounds like a lot of people have different ones due to different doctors. The main reason is to shrink your liver down. When they do the lap band, the liver gets in the way. The diet will help it shrink down. I personally have to do a low calorie diet for two weeks. Mostly lean protein, vegetables, two sevings of fruit, and water. Others I have read have to do liquid diets, protein shakes, etc. Others had lost weight prior and were not required to do a diet besides nothing the day before surgery. So it all depends you your situation and the requirements your surgeon has.

want so bad- I am hearing ya loud and clear! I got home from this first day of the pre-op diet and wanted to lose my mind. I was grouchy, anxious, and thought I was starving. I ate two no bake cookies! Yikes! I stopped myself and took some deep breaths and thought about the reasons I am having this surgery and how wonderful it will be. I was so having a stress moment about the wanting to eat- that I almost had a eating frenzy of not good foods. I stopped at the two Cookies and ate my dinner that is part of the diet. I feel better now. Throughout the day I have had moments where I wanted to give in, but it I just divert my attentions and do something else, once the 15 minutes or so pass, I am fine. Hang in there- we can do it! Don't let your slip up derail your progress. Just start again from this moment on. I drank a few glasses of Water and that filled my tummy up too and really seemed to help. Try to really keep up the water intake to fill you up. :rose:

Donna- thanks for letting me know that you can still eat the same foods, just less of them. I am worried when you hear about people that can't eat certain foods at all due to texture. I hope I am not one of them! want so bad- I am sorry you were sick. I guess you are right though, the not eating probably wasn't as bad since you were too sick to even want to eat. Barb- I was relieved to hear I was not the only one having this emotional roller coaster! It is so weird isn't it. The emotional connection with food really comes out during this pre-op time. Debbie- yeah for you! Ten pounds gone forever!

Oh my goodness- today was crazy! This pre-op diet is really affecting me more that I thought it would! I was having major head hunger! I know a lot of it was psychological, but I had moments of hunger too due to the major decrease in calories and types of food eating. I am finding the drinking Water difficult. I know after a few days I will be drinking only water like a pro, but for this first day or so I am going to have to force myself. I sooooo had food on the brain. I kept thinking I was craving all of this different stuff. I am glad some of you said it gets easier and that you are losing weight. I just have to keep in my mind that this is weight I am losing forever and I will never be this weight again. I need to keep my eye on the prize!

Holly- I am feeling exactly the same way... Today I was on my way home from work and just teared up... Thinking about all the lost time... Thinking of the lost years... And also worrying about the surgery. I have a little one and am so worried about something happening to me in surgery. It will be wonderful when we awake from our surgeries and step into our new lives. :car:

I think it is great that you get to see your husband go through it first, so you can know what to expect-but I bet it also does make you a little nervous. So please fill us in since we are all do to be banded soon. How is his pain after surgery? Is there anything you were surprised by? How is he feeling? Please give us the details so we too can kindof know what to expect... "Yeah" for both of you for taking this big step towards your new healthy thin lives!

:omg: I am a little worried. I was looking at the before and after picture forum. I noticed a lot of people in their signatures saying they had band removed and rebanneded for things like slippage and erosion. There was a lot of people! Is it that common? I thought you had a good chance of not needing all that if you ate the correct things and make sure to eat the prescribed diet while you heal. And I saw a discussion on hair loss! I am talking millions of people talking about major extreme hairloss- and they all were getting their Protein, taking Vitamins out the ying yang, special shampoos and conditioners, herbs, etc. A lot of them said nothing helped- they just had to wait it out and it could take up to 11 months. That really freaked me out siince my hair has already thinned over the last few years and now I know it was due to insulin resistance. And what is Biotin? Several people said they are taking that to help with hairloss. I also heard someone say Evening Primrose Oil helps too.

SBEE- I know you can do it! That was a great way to think about starting the pre-op diet. It means it is the start of the weight coming off forever and a new beginning! :whoo:

Blues- I totally know how you feel. I swear I have maybe been in less than a hand full of pictures in the last few years and the ones that were taken were sneak attacks. I always make sure I am the one taking the picture- which makes me sad. I don't want my son to grow up and wonder why his mom was never in any of the pictures. That is my goal next year to get pictures taken with my son. Just think- next year we will want to be in all of the pictures with our new healthy slim selves!

Yeah! I am happy you got this all typed up for us Holly! Now we can all be on the countdown to eachothers surgery.

I have been feeling the exact same way... I too worry about- what if I get dehydrated because I can't drink a couple of glasses of water when thirsty due to my little stomach- I constantly need to be drinking and have never done that before... What if I am not at home and eat something that won't go down and I throw up in public.....What if something happens during surgery and I can't wake up from the anesthesia... What if the checks I am expecting don't come through like I am expecting and I won't have enough money to pay the hospital (self-pay.) I think we are all feeling the nervousness. I know it will all be okay- but until I wake up out of that surgery I will be worried. Hang in there. We are all here for eachother.

Twyla, That little sugar free protein dessert thing sounds yummy. I will have to try that. It will be great because it will have no sugar, as well as give us calcium with the milk, and a great way to add our protein powder in. So we will still feel like we are having a little dessert every now and then.

Holly- How exciting that our surgery's are only a day apart. It will be great to support eachother through this. Yes, I am self pay. But my surgeon lets even the insurance people go home same day. (As long as able to keep fluids down, not nauseaus, no problems, etc.) I am worried about the whole being tired from the liquid diet thing. It sounds like that whole first month and a half will be tough. Because I will have to do the two weeks pre-op low calorie diet. It is very restrictive. Then for the first week we will be on complete liquids. And then the rest of that first month is not much better. The thought of blended up solid food like meat grosses me out- so I think I will be eating foods that are naturally already quite soft or that texture to start with. But I guess we need to remember- we can handle a month of the yuckies in order to have a life of the wonderful! Nicknaknut- your post made me smile. It is so funny how you are already working out the Thanksgiving Feast situation. We all are soooooo in the "we can never eat again" mode. I was glad to read a post yesterday from someone that had the band a while back. She said- don't worry, we will be able to eat foods we like again. For example, she said she can eat a thin crust piece of pizza, but she gets full so she doesn't want to eat several. CQQgirl- I too haven't told a lot of people. I have told a few close friends and two family members. I know I will have to tell some more people because our drastic eating habits will make it so obvious. It is just embarrassing in some ways. I guess because it feels like we are saying "yeah we are so fat and had to do this cause we couldn't do it on our own." I know there is so much more to it- but it feels that way when you say it to someone. It just goes to show the shame and embarrassment that overweight people have. We should not feel that ways, but it just happens. We are here to support you. I definitely think it is important to have support and to be able to talk about it in this life changing process.

Happy Saturday all! I just went to the grocery store. Even though I don't start the 2 week pre-surgery diet until the 26th, I think I am going to try to overall eat that diet until surgery. So I tried to buy the low fat Protein foods, some fruit, and vegetables. That is of course after today- which I have already ate half a sleeve of Keebler Grasshopper cookies! Yikes! This thought of not eating so many yummy foods again just drives me to want them! Atleast I have in the last week almost completely stopped drinking pop. I use to drink atleast two a day. I have only had two total in over a week. Two questions: 1) How soon in everyone going back to work after their surgery? I only have a few days vacation. So I am having my surgery on a Wednesday, and going back to work on Monday. My surgeon said as long as all goes well, that should fine. (I have a desk job) 2) Are all of you staying overnight in the hospital? There are three surgeons that do the lap band where I am having it done. Some make you stay overnight, and some let you go home same day as long as no problems. My surgeon let's me go home same day. How about you all?

Hello everyone- I just wrote my first post over on the TENacious TENS forum. I heard about it from reading your posts here. I look forward to gettting to know you all. I am getting banded on Ocober 10th. It seems so scarily close in some ways, and so agonizingly far away too.

Hi all- this is my first time posting to the TENaciousTENS. I heard about this site while reading posts on the October support forum. Can I join you all? I think this is so great that we all will be going through this at the same time so we can support eachother. My band date is set for October 10th. I am nervous, but really excited about getting my life back again. I don't think I would be too nervous if I wasn't a mom. I am so worried about something happening to me and leaving my little man. :nervous I have to do a very low calorie diet two weeks prior to surgery. It consists of 2 fruits, 9-11 ounces of protein, vegetables, and water. It is going to be tough not having the carbs- especially when we know it will pretty much be over with the whole carb thing. I am like many of you- wanting to feast this last little bit. I finally snapped out of it and hopefully can get things on track again and start my exercise program. It is going to be such a major life change- but I think it will be worth it! I really look forward to meeting you all.