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Nothing changes as far as how much you need a day. You still need 64 oz of Water per day. What changes is how you drink it and when, as far as meals go. You must sip it. No gulping or chugging, so don't wait too long between drinking, you don't want to be too thirsty. And, depending on the surgeon, stop drinking about 30 minutes before eating and wait at least 30 minutes (I've been hearing 45 - 60) after eating. As I have yet to meet with a surgeon, I can't tell you what is personally going to be recommended for me. This is all what I've been hearing from bing on here for the last couple of months. Best wishes!!

Welcome! That's the reason I'm going for the band as well. My portion sizes and the fact that I'm hungry all the time. I too can lose the weight but not keep it off. I am also starting to have health problems and I don't want those to get worse, and hopefully they'll go away! I also have a 2 year old and a husband that I want to be around for for a long time. I'm having a hard time keeping up with my DD and the thought of us getting in the public pool at the high school for her mommy and me classes later in July sends me just about into a panic. Used to be you couldn't get me out of a pool when I was younger. Twenty years and 110lbs later and I don't even want to be near a pool! I'm planning to have all of that change after banding!! Best wishes to you!

Cheryl, keep reading. You will find those good stories that you are looking for. It IS good that you read the bad stuff too. You have to know as much as possible before going into this. Have you tried reading the mentoring board? Again, hang in there and keep reading! Welcome to LBT, by the way! :rolleyes2: I love this board and have learned so much here. I have been able to find out more here than just about anywhere else. Hope to "see" you around!

LJM, I'm praying hard for you! Hang in there. You've GOT to try to relax! (I know, easy for ME to say, I'm not sitting inside your skin or your brain!!) Please keep us up to date and if you can, go find something to do to try to take your mind off of everything. Best wishes!

Wasa! So glad you're back! And I'm so glad you are doing well. I'm sorry that you were so worried about posting your journey. Although, I guess with a public forum, well, it's a public forum!! :biggrin: Take care and heal. I hope you continue to come here and post. You'd be missed!

Suzi, Congrats on staying out of the kitchen!!! I'm glad you've calmed down now. I think it's horrible that you don't have the support you need at home. Thank GOD for this site! I hate what you say is happening to Ms. Britton. That is so sad. Too bad she didn't know about this site too. She would find all sorts of support here. She wouldn't even have to tell us who she really is if she didn't want too (and I wouldn't blame her!). Just saying she's having issues at work would lend her tons of support here. Keep coming back here. We will be your support (or your butt kickers, should you need it!:behindsofa:). I know I don't know you but I'm so proud of you! Take care!

froggi, can you ask your local bookstore if they can order it for you? I know that even my local little bookstore will order books for me if I give them the title and author. If you live by a Barnes & Noble or Borders, they'll order books for you too. I'm no help in the what kind of book to get dept but thought I'd let you know about stores ordering books for you. Best wishes.

I'm glad you've decided to talk to him about it first. But be prepared in case it doesn't go well and to take it higher if you need to. I'm not trying to be doom and gloom just giving you what could happen. Let us know how it goes. As far as you not wanting to hurt feelings, he never thought about your feeling first, did he? Not that you need to be cruel but you also need to speak up for yourself if something is making you uncomfortable. With your future children, I have those same questions. We are in a different situation in that my DH and I are both white (very white!) and our 2 year old daughter is mixed (she was adopted at 2 days old!). She's Black, Mexican and Italian! Her birthfather is Black and her birthmother is 3/4 Mexican and 1/4 Italian. She has beautiful olive skin, with CRAZY, soft, curly hair! :thumbup: Anyway, back to ethnicity, what the HECK do we do with that!?! We also live in the mtns and are not near a lot of ethnically cultural opportunities for her. She will definitely know who she is as she gets older but as far as a lot of exposure to other cultures, we're going to have to work on that one! We aren't too worried about doing right by her as a person and as our daughter but we worry about doing right (or maybe enough) in regards to her ethnicity. We also don't want to go overboard and do too much and make it ALL about race since that's not who we are anyway. We don't care about race or what people look like (obviously I guess or we wouldn't have adopted another race or mixed race baby)! Anyway, a happy medium is what we'd like to find but until she's an adult, I guess we won't know how we did on that level. If you figure it out, let me know!! :confused: Take care and keep us updated.

Oooohhhhh! I like that! Thanks for posting RSG!

Several ways you can answer... IF you so choose to answer: 1. "If you say so." Then walk away. 2. Know your BMI and say, "Well since my BMI is [insert #] I'm finally [healthy, now considered just overweight, etc.]" Then walk away. 3. "Excuse me but as long as my doctor and I think I need to lose, I will do so." If you really want to be a bitch you can say "Excuse YOU" instead of "Excuse ME!" Then walk away. 4. "Thank you for your concern but I will stop when my DOCTOR says I need to stop." Then walk away. 5. "Whatever." Then walk away. 6. Roll your eyes, then walk away. 7. Walk away. You see a recurring theme here. As for the skinny mother that's sabotaging her daughters. You are going to have to firmly tell her that you're fine and you will NOT discuss it with her ever again. It's not about her. It's about you and your health.

First, you need to talk to your supervisor and/or HR (don't know how big your company is). Second, I see no problem in telling Bob to keep his hands and the rest of him to himself. He has NO RIGHT to touch you! He should not be even trying to hug a co-worker. I see no reason to be nice about it. He isn't being very nice imposing himself on you. Also, you don't have to return the high-fives! Leave him hangin' and walk away!! Third, about the popcorn comment, after he said that I would have come back with something to the effect that since he has never met your husband, he has no idea what your DH likes or doesn't like, then I would've walked away! Fourth, as to his comment about liking you esp. b/c of who you're married to is absolutely ridiculous! He doesn't even know your DH. If he didn't like him would he still like you? Rhetorical question, I know. Maybe if he says something like that again say, "God forbid, please hate me instead." Again walking away from him immediately. This guy needs a slap-down! I'd also start documenting every time he makes an inappropriate comment or physical touch. Date, time, comment or touch. And document date, time and brief explanation of conversation every time you report it to a supervisor. Yes, it's a pain in the ass but you also need to show a history if ever it escalates (which of course we all hope it never does!). Take care and lets hope he goes away soon!

I was only going to tell DH (of course!), my mom and one of my best friends but I did end up talking to one of my uncles about it last month b/c he's in the medical field and I wanted his advice on looking at the surgeons in Kaiser and he used to work for them (Kaiser, not the surgeons). He was a big help. He asked my reasons for it and I told him. He's very supportive. My mom had bypass many years ago and she's very supportive. I've asked her not to tell anyone in the family as I'm not sure I'm going to tell anyone else about it. Part of it its that I'm still in process, so there's no news very often. I don't want to be constantly talking about how nothing is happening. I also did WW and lost about 60 lbs (since gained most of it back and working to get more off) and got tired of everyone asking me about it, can I eat such and such, how much I've lost, etc. I just don't want to deal with that again. If I tell anyone, it'll be just a few here and there, not everyone. DH and I decided not to tell any of his family yet. His mom can't keep her loving mouth shut. Many years ago she and I were talking about DH and I adopting. He was still on the fence and I told her not to tell a soul b/c I didn't want us to have any pressure from anyone. We needed to wade through this ourselves. Well a few weeks later I get an e-mail from MIL's best friend all happy b/c we're going to adopt!!! WTF!!! I replied that we were just thinking about it and MIL wasn't supposed to talk about it so could she not say anything to anyone about it. I'll spare you the details but she went all drama queen on me and I had to shut her up. Pissed me off that I even had to deal with it. (We did eventually adopt and have a beautiful 2 yr old DD now!) You have to be really sure when telling people and knowing that if you do, it may not be a "secret" anymore. It's hard. Hang in there. Let her know you're disappointed but then try to forgive her. She is your mom. Best wishes on your journey!!

Thanks, Lucky!! Best wishes Wasa!! Come back soon!

Powder Room Gone Wild gets my vote!! I really like that one. A combination of the 2. Saves me from having to pick one or the other!!

WOW!! Congratulations! I can't wait to be there! :laugh:

Diane, Sounds like you're in a good place right now. Don't worry about how it sounds in regards to your PS. It sounds more health related than anything else anyway. And especially if it will, in the end, help with your brain surgery recovery. What ever you can do to help with future recovery is a huge plus. My mom had bypass about 4 (5?) years ago and after being heavy her entire life, had huge amounts of skin. She started with a face lift, then went on to the torso and has now finished with a breast repositioning. Hers had drooped so far they basically had to completely re-do them. She has nice little perky boobs for the first time in her life and is thrilled (no implants). My point to all of this is that she had to get her head around "Plastic Surgery" even though all of these surgeries were taking care of problem areas that were affecting either/and her health, her daily functioning, how she "looked" at herself, etc. Don't worry about how this all "looks" to any one else. This is your life and how you live it is up to you. If you feel you should wait til next year for brain surgery then by God, wait til next year. It sounds like, from your earlier posts, that your doctors were recommending that as a viable option anyway. Take care of yourself and best of luck at your next appointment. Thank you for updating us, I've been wondering how you are and what was happening. Again, take care. Michelle

Welcome!! Glad you could join us! Congrats on getting your band and starting your new life! :thumbup: I'm not banded yet but hope to join the ranks soon. As far as your recent problems, it sounds like you might have too much fill. Your surgeon will probably want to unfill you a little. Hopefully you can get in to see him ASAP. Best wishes!

luvinke, Thanks for the fisrt-hand account. Helps to hear. I think I'm going to start keeping an eye out for sale prices for them!

WOW!! You two look amazing!! Love that type of stuff! Unfortunately, weight or no weight, bodices won't ever be an option for me unless I get implants first. There isn't enough of anything to even sort of look good in a bodice! :sad: Have fun!!!

aveamora, Yeah it can get painful. We're trying to avoid surgery by doing stretches and wearing inserts in my shoes to stretch the Achilles tendon and give me some support and padding. Some days are better than others. That's one reason why the fit flop caught my attention. It may help with my foot issues. I'm also hoping that losing some weight will help some too just because of the load on my feet!

Kaiser has a ton of different plans. I have them thru DH's work and I'm covered. Individual plans are different. Kaiser may have covered it when you called but changed the plan while you were waiting to get covered and get your paperwork. I'm not defending them, it's just a possible explanation. I have also heard from Kaiser employees that they have had such a huge influx of new patients joining Kaiser JUST to get surgery that you now have to be a Kaiser member for AT LEAST one year before you can even start the surgery program. Hope this helps. :thumbup:

I agree. What the OP did was state the facts that he had found online, just as anyone else could do. Explained what he'd found and how he felt about it. He also said that he thought it was ridiculous that his PCP was bad-mouthing said Dr. and the son on hearsay, that wasn't even correct to the facts he had found. He was DEFENDING the Dr.s. AND he's going to call his PCP on it! I found NOTHING wrong with his posts. I also thing it's WONDERFUL that you like said Dr. so well and are willing to defend him. Thank you! It is only through these types of posts that we are able to learn about other doctors and their practices. Sometimes, if you don't know HOW to look for a doctor's history or information, you can find someone who has gone to the doctor and has some experience and maybe even a way for you to check his/her credentials.

aveamora, Do you have a lot of pain with your spurs? The one on the bottom of my heal actually made my Plantar Fascia feel better b/c it made the over-stretched Fascia not so stretched out. It will become painful if I don't wear the proper shoes or go barefoot too long (which happens often since I live in bare feet at home!). It's the one on the back of my heal that is so painful. If I don't wear proper shoes with lots of cushion, it over-stretches my Achilles tendon and the pain is bad. Maybe I should take another look at these shoes! I love that you got them for such a great price!! :thumbup:

Kathy, I am so sorry! Prayers to both families ... AND you and your DH.

I'm not banded yet so I don't know if you want my advice but for me - if I don't get enough Water the day before, look out! IF I can go, it takes FOREVER! Sorry, TMI!!! Anyway, check your water intake and see if that needs to be increased. Even banded you still need 64 oz a day.