HeavyHeartland

Well, tomorrow's the big day. In (looking at the clock) sixteen hours I will be checking into the hospital. Of course, like anyone going in for elective surgery, I'm having second thoughts. I've done so well on the pre-op diet (-20 lbs) that it's easy to think, "well gosh, maybe I can just keep eating like this and losing weight!" The reality (as we all know) is, that's pretty unlikely. Plus, even though I'm losing weight, I'm starving, and we all know diets where you feel hungry never last. It will be nice to be able to eat a small meal and feel full, or even satisfied. That's what I'm looking forward to. In a minute I'm going to go through my packet of information one last time, making sure I won't (or haven't) broken any of the pre-surgery rules. The last thing I need is surgical complications because I didn't read something. Tomorrow's the big day. Wish me luck.

Well, tomorrow's the big day. In (looking at the clock) sixteen hours I will be checking into the hospital. Of course, like anyone going in for elective surgery, I'm having second thoughts. I've done so well on the pre-op diet (-20 lbs) that it's easy to think, "well gosh, maybe I can just keep eating like this and losing weight!" The reality (as we all know) is, that's pretty unlikely. Plus, even though I'm losing weight, I'm starving, and we all know diets where you feel hungry never last. It will be nice to be able to eat a small meal and feel full, or even satisfied. That's what I'm looking forward to. In a minute I'm going to go through my packet of information one last time, making sure I won't (or haven't) broken any of the pre-surgery rules. The last thing I need is surgical complications because I didn't read something. Tomorrow's the big day. Wish me luck.

My doctor said no carbonation, so no more Diet Cokes for me. I was drinking 5 or 6 20oz bottles a day before I went pre-op almost two weeks ago. The week before pre-op I cut down to one a day or none if I could make it, and once I started the pre-op diet I cut out the Diet Cokes altogether. It's bad enough cutting back the food; I didn't want a caffiene-related headache on top of it. I find it interesting that some doctors say that the carbonation will stretch out the stomach and others say it will not. Have there been any scientific studies proving one way or the other? I've made the switch to Crystal Light and various other brands of drink flavors. I find the Hawaiin Punch ones good (at 5 calories). They don't burn like the ol' Diet Cokes used to, but if it's a mandatory sacrifice, I'm willing to make it.

I didn't vote because apparently my Protein goal is off the chart. I'm a 6'0, big-boned guy and my doctor recommended a protein goal of 115g to me. On the pre-op I am having 3 New Directions Meal Replacements which are 27g per serving. I am also having 2 to 3 Matrix meal suppliments which are 23g. I can't talk much more about pre-op because tomorrow is "op" and everything after that will be post-op, hah. I suspect post-op I'll be getting some of that protein-powder and adding it to foods to be able to break the 100g mark on a daily basis.

So, you are not planning on having the surgery, but the friends you have enlisted to help you move think you are? If you are an honest person, just fess up and tell them you changed your mind. Are these people simply helping you because you were having the surgery, or would they have helped you anyway? If you are not an honest person, just lay in bed, complain about your stitches hurting, and don't lift a thing. After you move you probably won't see most of those people again anyway so ha ha, the joke will be on them.

Yesterday I started phase two of the pre-op diet -- liquids. I am currently having six shakes a day. I'm having meal replacements for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and meal suppliments around 10am, 3pm, and 9pm. The meal replacements have 27g of protein, and the meal suppliments have 23g. That puts me well over my daily goal of 115g of protein. It also puts me at just under 1,000 calories a day. How do I feel? To be honest -- bored. To me, meals were such an integral part of the day. For example, my wife and I work for the same company and generally have lunch together. Busy with kids before and after work, sometimes lunchtime is the only hour of the day we get together without being surrounded by general chaos. In the past we'd go somewhere, have lunch together for an hour, and talk like adults. This past week, lunch has gone like this. GULP. Ok, shake's gone, see ya. Everytime I walk by the kitchen or smell food I instinctly start looking around. I'm like a big fat rat, searching for a morsel of food to nibble on. I have to remind myself of the prize at the end of the mouse maze ... er, tunnel. Just as I feared, my friends and co-workers that I normally saw during mealtimes have been scarce since I started the pre-op diet. Who wants to sit around and watch a fat ass drink a small shake and then stare at someone else's plate of food, drooling? I'm sure I wouldn't. Hopefully a few weeks after surgery I'll be able to start tagging along during mealtime, even if I only have a smidgen of what they're eating. I only want to lose weight, not my friends.

I haven't tried those. I'm currently doing "New Directions" meal replacements and, not trying to sound like a commercial, but I'd say they are borderline delicious. They are $3/meal but I haven't had any complaints about their taste at all. The variety pack (7 packs) comes with chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, hot cocoa, cream of chicken, and a couple other flavors, and they're all good. They also sell a mocha flavor I haven't tried yet but I sure am missing my Starbucks so I'll have to see how diet mochas compare.

I'm sure all of us are scared, to varying degrees. I am looking forward to life after banding, but it's the surgery that I'm dwelling on at the moment. Even laproscopic surgeries can develop complications. I'm trying to put those feelings in the back of my mind and just look forward to the future.

Here's my before picture, rockin' a svelte 388lbs.

Yesterday was full of surprises! The first surprise came when the doctor's office called late yesterday afternoon and wanted to know if it would be possible to bump my surgery up a day, from Tuesday, December 4th to Monday, December 3rd. I said sure. Then they dropped the other hammer on me. "That means your liquid diet starts tomorrow morning." It's funny how your perspective changes. Before I started the pre-op diet, I was dying to have a few good meals. Now that I'm moving to liquids, all I wanted was to eat that last peanut butter and chocolate protein bar I'd been saving. I had it late last night before bed. It was delicious. Today, I moved into the realm of liquids-only. In a way, things are easier. When you're doing both liquids and food, the liquids obviously seem inferior to the food. The meals with 4oz of meat are the "good" meals; the ones that consist solely of powdered drinks are the "not so good" ones. Once you've moved to liquids-only, every meal's the same. Well, some are vanilla, some are chocolate, and some are cream of chicken, but who's counting? I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my protein and calories. During the liquid phase, I'm getting 990 calories. Before I started any of this I'm guessing I was putting down 4,000-5,000 calories a day. That explains the final surprise. As of today, I'm already down 15 pounds. The journey has begun ...

Yesterday was full of surprises! The first surprise came when the doctor's office called late yesterday afternoon and wanted to know if it would be possible to bump my surgery up a day, from Tuesday, December 4th to Monday, December 3rd. I said sure. Then they dropped the other hammer on me. "That means your liquid diet starts tomorrow morning." It's funny how your perspective changes. Before I started the pre-op diet, I was dying to have a few good meals. Now that I'm moving to liquids, all I wanted was to eat that last peanut butter and chocolate protein bar I'd been saving. I had it late last night before bed. It was delicious. Today, I moved into the realm of liquids-only. In a way, things are easier. When you're doing both liquids and food, the liquids obviously seem inferior to the food. The meals with 4oz of meat are the "good" meals; the ones that consist solely of powdered drinks are the "not so good" ones. Once you've moved to liquids-only, every meal's the same. Well, some are vanilla, some are chocolate, and some are cream of chicken, but who's counting? I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my protein and calories. During the liquid phase, I'm getting 990 calories. Before I started any of this I'm guessing I was putting down 4,000-5,000 calories a day. That explains the final surprise. As of today, I'm already down 15 pounds. The journey has begun ...

I just got back from the doctor and they have moved my surgery up a day from the 4th to the 3rd. Sorry to mess up the list.

My Diet Coke's what I miss the most. I'm glad I didn't find that out until after I had committed, otherwise the surgery would have been a much harder sell. Enjoy it while you can!

I haven't been, just because I didn't feel like I was losing any weight. I went for a doctor's appt. today and weighed in at 373, so I am down 15 pounds since the first time I went in. My wedding ring is sliding off and on much easier all of a sudden.

I was just getting ready to blog about this but since when I saw this topic pop up I thought I'd add to it instead. I'm on day six of a ten day pre-op diet. I have not ever heard of Optifast or unjury. My doctor suggested New Directions -- I suspect they're similar to what you guys are having, powdered junk mixed up in milk -- but man, I have to tell you, these are delicious! New Directions has a seven-day variety pack that contains chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, hot cocoa, and a chicken broth (it contains two of a couple of them, I forgot which ones). I'd have to say they are all really good. My current diet plan looks like this: Breakfast: 8oz Meal Replacement AM Snack: 4oz Meal Suppliment (bar, usually) Lunch: 4oz meat Lunch: 4oz Veggies Lunch: 4oz Meal Replacement Afternoon Snack: 4oz Meal Suppliment (bar, usually) Dinner: 4oz Meat Dinner: 4oz Veggies Dinner: 4oz Meal Replacement After dinner Snack: 4oz Meal Suppliment (bar, usually) Part of the reason for all the Snacks is because my Protein goal was pretty high (115g, daily). On top of all the above, my doctor said I could have all the sugar-free Jello and popcicles I wanted. I was hungry the first couple of days, but after that I've got used to it. I counted everything up and right now I'm having right around 1,000 calories per day. Before this, I was having anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 on average. Big difference! And now, the bad news. Days 8-10 of my diet are liquid only. You can bet there will be some grumbling in the ol' blog about that. My surgery is next Tuesday. I can survive anything 'til then.

While I know everyone's results vary, my wife has lost 133 pounds in six months. She has stuck strictly to the diet, and exercises approximately three times a week. Recently her doctor told her that she needs to up her Protein intake, so that may slow things down a bit. It is true that it's not a good idea to lose all the weight at once, but sometimes it just drops off you. Maybe of us have been eating way more calories than we need, so by simply limiting those calories you are going to see some loss. About a year ago I read Jared's book (the Subway guy) and although he did lose a lot of weight switching to Subway sandwiches, he said that before he did that he was taking in approx. 12,000 calories a day. He could have switched to eating one chocolate cake a day and still lost weight at that point. I bought one of these off of eBay about a year ago and I love it. It's a talking scale, and it is for plus-sized people so it goes up (I think mine goes up to 440 pounds. With shipping and whatnot I think mine was around $50. Here's an example of one line I bought: eBay Link

I started the pre-op two days after Thanksgiving and I agree, with each day it gets a little easier. The first couple of days I was s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g. It's tough going from 3,000-4,000 calories a day to roughly 1,000 or so. My doctor said I could have all the sugar-free popcicles and Jello I wanted and believe me, I took him up on the offer. I think I went through a 12-pack of those sugar-free popcicles the first two days (they have some cheap and tasty ones at Wal-Mart). Today, things are going better. I wasn't stuffed by any means after lunch but I wasn't starving either. After four days it seems like I can start focusing on getting things done instead of simply sitting around wondering when my next meal time is.

Today, on day four of my 10-day pre-op diet, I found myself pretty content after lunch. I wasn't stuffed, but I didn't have the hunger pangs like I've had the past couple of days. (In all fairness, I'm currently eating somewhere between 1/3 and 1/4 of the amount of calories I was eating before.) And so, right after lunch, I got this crazy idea in my head. I could do this forever. Yeah, that's it! Who needs surgery? I could just stay on this diet forever, do some exercise, and lose the weight that way! Yeah, right. File that under, "never going to happen." If I were capable of doing that I already would have, I told myself. That whole "making deals" thing sounded familiar to me, so I did a little Googling and came up with Kübler-Ross' Five Stages of Grief. According to the Wikipedia entry, the five stages of grief are: Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening." Anger: "Why ME? It's not fair!" (either referring to God, oneself, or anybody perceived, rightly or wrongly, as "responsible") Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my child(ren) graduate." Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?" Acceptance: "It's going to be OK." The entry makes a couple of interesting points. One is that these stages can be applied to any form of catastrophic personal loss or significant personal change. The other thing I found interesting was that these steps do not necessarily come in order, nor are they all experienced by all patients, though she stated a person will always experience at least two. I suspect my feelings at lunch today were an attempt at bargaining. ("I'll do better next time, honest!") I'm sure all of us will go through some or all of these stages. I've been in denial about my weight and my health for some time now, so I can mark that one off the list. I don't know that I've felt angry, per se, but depression is another one I can claim. And, now that I'm committed to having the surgery, maybe I can claim acceptance as well. You can read the whole article here.

Today, on day four of my 10-day pre-op diet, I found myself pretty content after lunch. I wasn't stuffed, but I didn't have the hunger pangs like I've had the past couple of days. (In all fairness, I'm currently eating somewhere between 1/3 and 1/4 of the amount of calories I was eating before.) And so, right after lunch, I got this crazy idea in my head. I could do this forever. Yeah, that's it! Who needs surgery? I could just stay on this diet forever, do some exercise, and lose the weight that way! Yeah, right. File that under, "never going to happen." If I were capable of doing that I already would have, I told myself. That whole "making deals" thing sounded familiar to me, so I did a little Googling and came up with Kübler-Ross' Five Stages of Grief. According to the Wikipedia entry, the five stages of grief are: Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening." Anger: "Why ME? It's not fair!" (either referring to God, oneself, or anybody perceived, rightly or wrongly, as "responsible") Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my child(ren) graduate." Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?" Acceptance: "It's going to be OK." The entry makes a couple of interesting points. One is that these stages can be applied to any form of catastrophic personal loss or significant personal change. The other thing I found interesting was that these steps do not necessarily come in order, nor are they all experienced by all patients, though she stated a person will always experience at least two. I suspect my feelings at lunch today were an attempt at bargaining. ("I'll do better next time, honest!") I'm sure all of us will go through some or all of these stages. I've been in denial about my weight and my health for some time now, so I can mark that one off the list. I don't know that I've felt angry, per se, but depression is another one I can claim. And, now that I'm committed to having the surgery, maybe I can claim acceptance as well. You can read the whole article here.

I'm a 34 year old male who is scheduled for lapband surgery December 4th. I'm a 'computer guy' by day and a writer by night, so I've already got a journal here started. I hope to learn from other people via this site as well as share my story and any wisdom gained throughout this adventure.

Walking is definitely something you can add to any diet, any time. Last year I lost quite a bit of weight by simply limiting my food intake and walking. Sometimes the walking limits the doctors mention seem out of reach, but believe me, anything's better than nothing, and the sooner you start the quicker you will gain momentum. Good for you for starting already! I have found MP3 players sure make my walking time go a bit quicker. I've been alternating between Podcasts and plain 'ol music lately. Both do the job.

December 4th, I'm having lapband surgery. Sshhh, don't tell anyone. It's a secret. There seems to be a lot of different thoughts as to whether you should announce you are having lapband surgery or not. I'm a weird type of guy. I love blogging and talking about my life to the world, but when it comes to really personal thoughts, I tend to keep those to myself. When I made the committment to have lapband surgery, for six weeks, the only person I told was my wife. It was only after people began asking questions like, "why have you been going to the doctor so often?" and, "why are you only having liquids?" that I had to finally spill the beans. Before my wife's surgery last March, she announced her impending operation from the highest hilltops. She let everyone around her know that she was having lapband surgery. She was proud to have the surgery. She wanted everyone to know she was taking charge of her life and making a decision that would help put her body on the right track. I, on the other hand, have tried to keep my upcoming surgery as quiet as possible. I am not proud to have the surgery. I feel embarassed about the surgery. I feel like I have failed at dieting and exercise. I feel like I cannot control my hunger like normal people. I guess I don't see the surgery as a positive thing, really. Don't get me wrong -- the outcome of the surgery will be awesome, I have no doubt about that. I know this surgery will put me too on the right path, and will kickstart a life of fitness that so far I have not known. But still, there's something about the surgery to me that symbolizes a lack of control in my personal life, and that's hard to admit. That's what is embarassing, I guess -- the fact that by having this surgery, I'm saying to the world, "I tried to lose weight on my own, and failed." Like many decisions related to weight loss and lapband surgery, the decision to talk about your surgery is a personal one. From personal experience I can tell you it's starting to get easier. I have found it easier to talk to people who have already had weightloss surgery, and trust me, once word gets out that you're having the surgery those people will come out of the woodwork. Even if you're not comfortable talking about the surgery with your friends, family members or co-workers, find other ways to express yourself. Blogs and forums work wonders, trust me. :confused:

I think this is natural. I'm no doctor, but I can see easy explanations for this. One, now that you've decided to have the surgery, it's natural to want to make poor food choices 'one more time' knowing that the surgery will negate those choices. What's the problem with eating a piece of cake (or two, or three) when after the surgery all that weight will drop off? There are probably some other mental things going on here. Perhaps we are sublimitally eating poorly so we can convince ourselves that without the surgery, we can't succeed. Damn. Now I really want some cake ...

I'm a 34 year old husband and father of two young children. As a child I would say I was overweight but it was generally written off as being "big-boned" (I got asked if I played football a lot). By the time I graduated high-school I shot through 'obese' and landed in 'morbidly-obese' in no time, where I remain today. I spend my days behind a computer screen and most of my nights there too, which is not helping my current situation. I have tried dieting and exercise in the past with moderate success, but as the diets and exercise are slowly forgotten the weight always comes back. I am looking forward to being able to shop at 'normal' clothing stores again. I am looking forward to having more energy to spend with my kids. I am looking forward to not being the biggest person in every room I enter, ever.

Funny story. A few months ago at a buffet, I was going up to get more food. As I approached the buffet with my tray I saw out of the corner of my eye this really fat guy. I thought something snarky at the time like, "boy, better that that fat ass go first," or, "better not get between that guy and the food!" When I made eye contact I realized that it was actually my own reflection, caught in a mirror. Talk about an eye opening experience. In the support group I attended, one of the ladies mentioned how depressed she was at all the foods she can't have. Another woman mentioned that they aren't foods that you can't have, but foods you are choosing not to have. When you put it in perspective like that, I think it makes things a little easier.