new_jewel

1. you shouldnt lift your son or anything that is 25 lbs till you are at least a 2 weeks post op, your band is stitched in place and needs to heal..would hate for you to pull your stitches and have problems 2. your goal weight is totally up to you...i set mini goals so they seem more reachable but do whatever motivates you 3.the shoulder gas pain will go away the more you walk it out, i know for myself that pain was what i didnt like, i could deal with the sore stomach lol 4. i know the urge to drink fast is hard to resist but i wouldnt recommend it for a bit..i can do it now (5 weeks post-op) but all the swelling had to go down before my body would allow that to happen...if you drink too fast your body will let you know (it will feel like you have a big burp stuck in your chest lol) good luck jewel

swimming was one of the things listed on my 2-week post op sheet that i was cleared to do, definately great exercise :tongue2:

swimming and sexual activity were 2 things that were on my 2-week follow up info sheet i got from my dr....sexercise is great for weight loss lol

i am in the same boat with you...i was banded may 7th...lost 12lbs the first 2 weeks then slowed right now to only losing 5lbs over the last 3 weeks...its very frustrating and i even had a meltdown yesterday thinking that i could lose weight easier before i was banded lol but then i thought to myself that im sure my body is freaking out and think what in the would is this girl doing and trying to store every calorie i give it lol so i decided that if i just work on maintaining the same amount of calories each day that eventually my body will realize that its not getting anymore and start to use what it has stored lol....i also increased my calories from 1000 to 1400 a day to see if will help...i like to log my food in on www.thedailyplate.com and it tells me exactly what i have ate by calories, fat, sugar, protein, carbs, and fiber plus it tells me how many calories i should be eating in order to lose a certain amount of lbs per week...so hopefully my stress level with fighting with the scale will go down and i will start to lose weight again lol.....so although i dont have the magic answer for you, know that you are not alone there are alot of us out here that are in what we call bander hell and it will pass

my belly is my problem area too, every night when i sit down on the edge of my bed i make myself do 50 sit ups before i lay down to go to sleep and i have started to notice a difference i have lost 3 inches in my waist so far...i also try to do movements that involve stomach muscles if i dance to a song on the radio...its hard for us to tell at first because we look at ourselves everyday, mine seems to look like its having a melting affect lol with gravity pulling it down..im hope soon that it melts right off lol....

smoothies made with non fat yogurt and frozen fruit are always good, make sure you get some protein powder so that you can meet your protein goals (especially after surgery) there were many things i found i liked that i hadnt tried before i had to be on full liquids. cream of potato soup is good in the blender, also if you make a protein shake in the blender and then freeze it, it taste like ice cream....dont forget that pudding and jello are allowed on full liquids too. the bariatric center that i had my surgery at gave us a book with a bunch of full liquid recipes in it and that helped out more than anything..if you have a blender, then you are only limited to your imagination lol

My dr told me that the reason they dont want you to drink anything for 30 minutes after eating is not because it will hurt your band, its because drinking liquids will thin out what you just ate and allow it to pass through the band and take away the feeling of being full so then you will want to eat twice as much and defeat the purpose of having the band

i was told by my dr that some people (like myself) tend to get bad breath more than usual when shedding pounds

my BCBS PPO insurance was affective on april 1st through my employer so i called and made an appointment with the barix center not too far from me due to wanting to go somewhere that specializes in the lap band...when i spoke to the lady on the phone she told me that because the facility is contracted with bcbs, all i would have to do is meet criteria and i would be approved...i have a bmi of 54 (i think) and i have sleep apnea and joint pain.....so i went to my initial consult, paid my $10 co-pay and was told i needed a psych eval, so i went for my eval paid $180 due to my insurance only covering mental health at 50%, a week later the barix center called me to schedule my surgery, i had my pre-op screening on april 30th, and my surgery on may 7th...now i have heard that people with bcbs that have bmi under 50 have to jump through more hoops to get approved, but even if i had to do more test, i know i wouldnt have had to do the 6 month diet before. i actually called and asked the center about it cuz i was worried that i would have to and not have known and she assured me that they changed the rules on that and that i no longer had to....if i was you i would search around for a bariatric center that is contracted with your insurance company...it makes the whole process much smoother....best of luck

where do you live? I have bcbs of mi and was told that they stopped making you do the 6 month diet....i went through the ypsilanti bariatric center down by ann arbor and they took care of everything..only thing i had to have was a psych eval.....i had my intial consult on april 7th, and was banded on may 7th...cant ask for more than that lol.

even before being banded, i was on a high protein low carb eating habbit so anytime i ate something that was high in sugar or in fat i got all the issues you are talking about...oviously its not the textbook "dumping syndrome" due to everyone not having the bypass, but call it whatever you like its not something i care to do often lol...definately my body telling me "hey, i dont need all that sugar" so you are not alone, its happened to alot of us pre and post banding

the weeks between not being swollen from surgery and finally getting your first fill are called bander hell (according to all the post i read about it)...i was banded 5/7 and not due for a fill till 6/17 so i am right in the middle of it with you..over the weekend i made myself go out and buy little 1/2 cup and 1 cup containers to put my food in so that i am more aware of portion sizes. I also am able to eat soft foods so i have chosen to eat high protein low carb snacks and meals (eating low carb is how i lost 37 lbs before even having surgery) hopefully the time will go by quickly and once i get my fill i have get back some of the restriction i felt when i first got banded...i realize that it doesnt all come at once, but some will be much better than the little to none i have right now lol...so hang in there, you are definately not alone..anyone that has been banded in may is going through the same thing right along with ya :sad:

gas x strips and walking helped the gas pains go away quickly

When i was on full liquids, i would make different creations in the blender, i also loved having cream of potato soup, even bought brocolli cheese soup from quiznos and blended it as a treat..anytime i got the urge to just go take a nap, i would make myself take a walk instead ...(lost 16 lbs on liquids) thankfully i am now on mushie food (hormel chili in the blender with a little cheese added is the best) hang in there, you will get through it

When i chose my dr, the very first visit i went to, i asked her what she thought of bariatric surgery...her answer would make me decide if i was ever going back to her...i had researched wls for 8 yrs and i knew that it was very important for your pcp to back you...its hard enough jumping through all the hoops the insurance company makes you..i couldnt imagine if my dr was against it. I am lucky enough to have blue cross blue shield so i didnt have to have anything from my pcp i just chose a bariatric center who was contracted with my insurance, went to my intl consult, had a psych eval, pre-op screening, then was banded a month later...i think it should be that way will all insurance companies...i wish you the best of luck with getting approved

I only had to do liquids for 1 week (protein shakes, milk, cream of potato soup, pudding, jello, even brocolli cheese soup from quiznos put in the blender...anything that i thought would taste good liquified in my blender and strained through a strainer as dr ordered) so i wasnt as limited as most..now im on mushie food so i can have anything that is pureed in the blender (hormel chili or mac and cheese are the 2 favs on the list i was given) but i am always thinking of something new...last night i cooked mixed vegtables and chicken breast and cut it all up in real small pieces, added some cheese sauce and put in the blender so it would be pureed (tasted great) in 2 weeks i can have soft food, which my dr told me the difference between pureed and soft is that you have to do the work in your chewing instead of the blender doing it for you...i have lost 52 lbs since january, 37 of them where before i was banded 10 days ago so i think im going pretty good on choosing things to eat now, dr even said that i was healing very quickly..im hoping to make 100 lbs lost by sept I can drink about 8 0z before i feel full, and i am able to swollow about an oz at a time...my nurse at the hospital gave me 1oz of liquid meds and she said swollow it all at once so i did..then she said thats how big your sips of liquid can be...so that helped out alot...i still get full on about 4oz of mushies, and i get my first fill on june 17th

I am 10 days post op and already testing the waters lol... I got to have mushies 3 days ago and it helped alot to not have to do just liquids but there have been a couple things i ate that are a no-no...i had an onion ring at lunch yesterday..its really hard cuz everyone at work orders out on fridays and they decided to order from the coney island so i ordered chili no bean which is a mushie its just like coney meat, tasted great but my friend was eating onion rings so i got one from her, now i was smart and ate really tiny pieces and chewed till it was mush in my mouth but i felt guilty afterwards...when i went grocery shopping today i made sure not to buy anything tempting cuz my will power sucks lol

I found cute bathing suits on justmysize.com and ebay, and i buy my pretty sexy bras at lane bryant they go up to G cups, but i love to buy my regular clothes at fashion bug

I like to use chocolate slim fast low carb (less sugar) a 1/2 cup of milk, 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder, and 1 Tblsp of peanut butter...i liquify it in the blender, it makes about 20 oz..pour it in a water bottle and take it with me for breakfast (takes me about 2 hrs of sipping to drink it all) so that way by 11am i have already consumed 50g of protein for the day, and i dont have to worry so much about having high protein for lunch/dinner....i also had my 1 week followup appt today and got the green light for pureed food, i was so excited to read that i can have pureed tuna salad and even pureed mac and cheese...i really needed something different after a week of shakes and cream of potato soup in the blender lol..i go back for my first fill in a month :cry_smile:

I was officially banded last week on wednesday may 7th (one month from intl consult) at the Forest Health Bariatric Center in Ypsilanti, MI ...I arrived at the center at 10am, had blood drawn for a prego test then i was taken into a pre-op room where i had to change into my sexy hospital gown (wouldnt even let me keep my panties lol) and my pretty party hat as they called it ..ya know the blue shower cap looking thing they make you tuck your hair into lol..so after i was dressed..or undressed i would say...they measured my waist just in case i needed an ab binder after surgery (if they have to open you up, you get a girdle type thing to hold your stomach) so i told the nurse that when i woke up in recovery, it would be the first thing i would look for because i was counting on them to do the surgery laproscopic lolclimbed into my hospital bed, had an IV put in my hand so they could give me fluids, answered 100 questions that i had already answered at pre-op screening, then they let my mom come in and hang out with me for about an hour while we waited for my turn to come....as the time for surgery approached, i had to drink the sour grape tasting stuff to settle my stomach acids for surgery, then they put the happy juice in my IV and i barely remember the ride to the OR...went into OR at 1:30pm...woke up in recovery room at 3pm...first question out of my mouth was "do i have a binder on?" while feeling my stomach lol...thankfully i didnt, nurse asked me how my pain was (1-10) i was at about a 5...felt like someone had punched me in the stomach, so she put some meds in my IV and the pain dropped down to about a 1.5...from then on i just felt like i did too many situps the day before...got into my hospital room at 4pm, had a sf popcycle, ate some ice chips, had the worse case of cotton mouth in my life lol got up and went pee, did a couple laps walking around the halls, told the nurse i was ready to go anything they wanted to let me lol7pm..nurse came in with a dose of meds for me to take in case i was in pain on the ride home...stopped at kroger and riteaid on the way home, walked around both stores with no problem...got home, walked around a little, watched some tv, drank a chocolate banana protein shake took some pain meds for the night and slept in the reclyner in case i had to get up in the middle of the night.....thursday--day 2 woke up, had a protein shake, felt like i had a wild night..whole body was wore, but nothing i havent delt with before from being out partying with the girls etc....decided to have cream of potato soup (liquidfied in the blender of course) for lunch....actually taste like scalloped potato sauce to me......also had frozen strawberry protein shake, (as close to ice cream as im going to get for a bit)...friday, saturday and sunday went well...monday i went back to work (desk job) felt great, decided to get inventive and bought some hormel chili with bean, put in in the blender to liquify it, then added some shredded cheese to melt when i heated it up....taste like pintos and cheese from taco bell.....now the can made 16 oz once blended...so i ended up eating about 4oz and being stuffed lol...im still trying to rap my brain around the idea that 3 and 4 oz of liquid fills me right now lol and i have my liquids 6 times a day (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack) gets all my protein in..i'm really glad i didnt have a hard time at all, but i also went ino surgery prepared for the worst just in case...im the type that hopes for the best but weighs the options on all that can happen lol.....as of today, 6 days after being banded...i have lost 16 lbs and have been able to eat(drink) whenever i am hungry....when on full liquids you are only limited to your imagination and the power of a blender lol

I was banded on wednesday and found that I was never hungry either...I just made sure that i sipped protein shakes so that i got my protein in for the day..today i woke up from a nap and was actually hungry so i had cream of potato soup (liquified in the blender) ate about 4oz and felt full but boy did that taste sooooo good lol so far i have lost 8lbs..im loving being banded

I was banded on wednesday may 7th...getting around pretty good, can take in about 8 oz of liquid..keeps me full for hours, stomach is a little sore, feels like i did too many sit ups but other than that im feeling great. Ive been making sure to drink protein shakes or milk so that i get my protein for the day in...have lost 6 lbs since surgery (43lbs all together) i'm really glad i decided to join the losing bench :thumbup:

I was banded on wednesday and chocolate milk has become my new best friend lol, i was told to get in 64 oz of liquid, and 60 grams of protein a day so with 1% chocolate milk i am getting both, I am able to sip about 16 oz over a course of a half hour or so...I too had that heavy feeling in my chest yesterday, but i took a gas-x strip and made myself burp as much as i could to get the feeling to go away..so far so good...i can do protein shakes, i find that they seem more filling if i freeze them and eat them like they are ice cream, maybe its mental lol i also made up a bowl of sf pudding with 2 scoops of protein powder added so i could feel like i was actually eating something rather than drinking all the time...cant have mushie food (mashed potatoes, cream of wheat, etc) for 2 more weeks.....been walking as much as possible although i know i havent been getting in the 30 minutes a day that the dr wants, but working up to it, seems to make the soreness better each day...hope this helps ya out :thumbup:

HI everyone, I got banded today, feeling pretty good just a little sore like i did too many situps lol other than that I'm great... was at ypsi bariatric center,in michigan dr nunn was so sweet. Arrived at 10am, had surgery at 1:30pm, back in room at 4pm, and headed home at 7pm..I sure hope I continue to feel this good. I even enjoyed a pina colada protein shake when I got home (dole pina colada juice, sf yogert, vanilla whey protein) wow was it good :frown::thumbup: