Rainydayz

When I told my primary doctor that I was considering WLS she looked at me and I hope you're talking about the lap Band right? I said yes but why. She looked funny and said that "Well we've lost patients due to the other surgery." She went on to say that her practice has done follow-up care on several bypass patients that were in and out of the hospital for bypass-related problems and she repeated that she has seen patients lost after it. Meaning die. Sooo.... I'm not going there. I would however consider the sleeve, but I'm leaning toward the band because of it being adjustable and reversible.

Congratulations on your decision. That's one of the hardest parts. Now just concentrate on doing everything you need to do for the insurance and following doctor's advice. Good luck!!

How does someone that is addicted to bad food start eating healthy and feeding their family healthy things? I'm almost in tears with frustration trying to work out meals that everyone will eat and that aren't just lousy with calories, carbs and fat. I go on sites that list healthy meals and the food either sounds boring or it has things that I either can't afford or don't know what they are or know my familiy won't touch. OK, I'm exaggerating of course, but really, how do I learn all this without getting a degree in nutrition? My eyes have always glazed over when it comes to nutrition information. I can program a database, set up a Windows Enterprise Server and write a C++ program but I just can't read a stupid nutrition label. I have to make myself learn it now, but I confess it's soooo frustrating. I Google "healthy meal ideas" and it seems that everyone and their cousin has a site talking about a different idea of what healthy is. Some say high protein high fat low carbs, some say low calories is all that matters, some say meat is bad, some say meat is great, some say high fiber low fat, some say.. well you get the picture. I'm overwhelmed. How do I do this? Of course I will talk to the nutritionist when i see her again, but in the meantime I'm lost. And feeling sorry for myself - can you tell?

Jachut, you are my hero! I want to be just like you! I want to lose 130 pounds (ok maybe a little more) and run and be thin. You make a lot of sense. Actually we don't eat that badly. We already eat brown rice and wheat bread (although after reading labels in the store today I realize that the wheat bread we eat is still not that great), whole wheat Pasta and I don't fry anything. I just eat waaaaay too much of it. Plus the junk. I've lost 5 lbs. just cutting out Coke and candy so far. So, yeah, I'm making this harder than it has to be. I just really need to stay away from the militant health-nut sites. I don't think I can ever be like that. NO carbs, NO sugar, NO preservatives etc. I just need to add more veggies and fruits and get rid of the junk. But I still need some education on reading labels. Like which margarine is best and how many carbs is too many for bread, etc. I'm hoping my nutritionist can point me to some easy-reader books or guidelines about that stuff.

No matter what the answer is the receptionist had no right to be so pissy. I tend to respond in kind when I get someone like that so I probably would have made it worse. But make sure you tell the doctor and everyone else you can in that office about her offensive attitude. It makes me sick to know that people that act like that still have jobs when some of us who are actually nice to people are out of work.

I really need to get a scale. I have no idea how much 3 oz. of salmon or chicken is. Yeah, I know, a deck of cards. But until I get the hang of eyeballing it I want to use a scale. I've had flimsy ones before that weren't very accurate and broke. Any recommendations for a good one? Thanks!

I couldn't agree more. It's taken me 47 years to get to where I am. I can take a couple of years to get back to where I want to be if it means I will learn how to eat healthy and keep it off! (However I am looking forward to summer 2012 when I have my 30th HS reunion. I should be down quite a bit by then!)

hey Feeling Groovy, I'm right there with you on the flat painful feet. I have plantar fasciitis. It was bad in my left foot last year and I went and had some cortizone shots in it. It helped for a couple of weeks. I got some insoles for my shoes (Walkfit) they help a lot. Also wearing Birkenstocks help too because of the arch support. It's a lot better in my left foot but now my right foot is killing me. The doc gave me stretching exercises and it helps some. I just know if I lose this weight they will feel a lot better. I hope your pain gets better.

I agree that maybe you should go to another practice and see what they have to say. Maybe the one you went to is just not experienced with larger patients or maybe they just prefer to do the bypass. In my seminar the patient that came to talk to us was a formerly 450 lb. man who is now I think a little over a year out and he's now under 300 lb. He said he loved it. Have you also considered the sleeve? I haven't read that much about it so i don't know what the complication rate is with it. But I'm satisfied that the band is what I want because I want to learn how to eat and still eat some of the things I love and not have to worry about malabsorption. I do worry about slippage and erosion but I'm not that worried about not having insurance in the future. That's kind of a weird thing for them to say imo. Heck even Medicare covers the band now. Good luck with your decision and keep reading and talking to people.

Congratulations on getting the ball rolling. My surgeon's office has a coordinator that keeps up with everything I need to do. They gave me a checklist of all the tests etc. I need and we are checking them off as I go. Psych. eval is next week, sleep study is to be scheduled... etc. They are double-checking my insurance requirements for the supervised diet but in the meantime I saw the nutritionist for the 1st appt. so if I do have to do 6 months I am not wasting my time. Once I have all the tests done they will submit it then and then we will schedule a date. They told me the clearance takes from between a couple of days to a few weeks depending on how busy the insurance people are. Good luck!

But do you still feed your family the same way you did before you got healthy yourself? I just worry that my poor eating habits have gotten us all into a rut of unhealthy and high-carb foods. I'm just looking for ways to sneak more healthy into my family's diet as well. I don't my 3 kids to grow up to have to have bariatric surgery like me.

Wow thanks guys! Sometimes I think I get into a loop and get all worked up over things that i really shouldn't. I can do this. For some reason I'm just really down today and craving carbs like crazy. When I get like that my thinking gets all frantic. Yes, I'll take a deep breath and check out those sites that were mentioned. I haven't tried the low-fat campbell's soups yet but I love the regular ones. I like that they have lower sodium too. I'll try those. Yes, this is going to be hard I won't lie, but I know I want to do it and I need to do it. I honestly hope I'm not able to eat bread after the band. Bread is my nemesis. My DH and kids aren't that big on it but i keep buying it because I'm so addicted. I think I'll try cutting way back on that to start with. Now to get my kids to eat more protein.

Thanks for the suggestions. How much is the weight watchers one at the meetings? They have a Biggest Loser one at Walmart for 17.00 something. I might try that one unless anyone has any bad experiences with it.

Thanks. You're right. I need to find what works for me. I'm not so much worried about myself as much as wondering what to fix for my family. I know with the band my eating will change by necessity but I'll still be the primary grocery shopper and cook for my family. I have to find stuff that they will eat that's more healthy than what I've been making. Our staples are casseroles (with bread crumbs/Ritz/cream/cheese), pasta, biscuits, mac and cheese, pizza - that sort of thing. I want this to be a family-wide improvement. I'm just feeling overwhelmed right now.

That sounds like a terrible problem. I'm not banded and I have occasional problems. If I up my fiber and drink lots and lots of water it does the trick. Dried apricots work well, but they would probably be the same as the prunes - too filling and no protein. I don't know what else to try. Maybe your nutritionist could be more help?

How about, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

Glad to hear you're doing well and feeling better. I'm not banded yet, but it sounds like when I had my tubal ligation. I was fine the 1st day. But the next day I woke up and accused DH of punching me in the stomach while I slept. Very sore. But by the 4th day much better. I'm hoping I do as well with my band surgery as you!

I wish we could come up with a definitive way to shut up rude people when they ask and make rude comments. I think "you look great" is fine but when they ask how much have you lost or what do you weigh now or make it a contest then we need to come up with some snappy come-backs. I want to be ready when it's my turn!

I see the nut. Wednesday for the 1st of my 6-month supervised diet. I'm really hoping we can cut that down though because I did discuss diet and exercise with my pcp and took phentermine with her for 4 months. So depending on the insurance requirements I may be dieting for 3-6 starting Wed. I'm trying really hard to psych myself up for this. Some days I do great. I get in the mindframe that I will do great at this, I will eat right and exercise and i'll be the model patient. Then other days (especially PMS days - sorry men!) I feel like I'll never be able to give up the Swiss Cake Rolls and Snickers! I so want to be healthy. Does anyone have advice on how they got themselves into the mindset for starting this new lifestyle?

I'm thinking around 150-160. Last time I was there i was wearing size 10/12 pants and everyone told me I looked skinny. I've always been heavier than people think I am. But as long as I can buy in the regular size dept. I'm happy.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm just starting to sample protein powders and I will add this one to my list!

I think the advice above is all good. It's natural for one partner to feel off-balance and maybe even threatened a bit by any change in status-quo. Give him time and let him know that you want him more than ever and you are doing this for him as well as yourself. If he continues to be pissy about it after a few months I would look deeper into his feelings. Maybe he needs help with some deep-seated insecurity. I say this because of my own story. My first husband got all out of sorts when I started college. He accused me of wanting to be better than him and leaving him behind since he hadn't gone to college. I also lost weight at the time and he really couldn't deal with it. He liked me overweight and with no self-confidence because then he felt like I would never leave him no matter how he treated me. And he treated me badly from day one. We wound up splitting up. He just couldn't accept it that my self-confidence was growing. But he had serious problems to start with and the changes in me were simply a catalyst that showed just how deep his problems went. We tried counseling to no avail. I'm not saying this is what is happening to your DH. On the contrary. If he has been a loving and caring partner for 16 years then I feel sure that this is just a temporary thing. I was only married a couple of years when the big problems started. So definitely let him have his feelings and be understanding of them. But remember that you have to protect your own feelings and self-confidence too. You have rocked the boat a little that's all. You both just have to find the new equilibrium.

I like the idea of changing the subject (southern belle-like) and also about saying I don't pay attention to the scale. I'm hoping that it doesn't happen too much to me afterward because I haven't been around any of my old friends since I've gained so much weight. So I plan on just showing up at my reunion next summer and no one will know I ever got so big. But as far as people I see everyday I will probably use the changing the subject idea. I really think it's rude to point out that someone used to be as big as a house! But I know most people just don't think before they talk.

I don't understand what you're saying irritates you. If you thought the OP was talking about people here on the board maybe I understand your post. But I believe she was talking about people in real life. To me it's tantamount to asking how much you weight when someone in person asks how much you've lost. On here, yes, I expect people to ask and talk about how much we've lost. We wouldn't be here otherwise. But in real life, it can be kind of rude if you ask me.

Thanks. That sounds like great advice! I have changed one thing so far: no Coke! I was up to between 1 and 2 liters per DAY! Yikes. So replacing Coke with Crystal light has got to a step in the right direction. Also I've stopped buying ice cream and candy for the house. DH has asked every night what's for dessert and I tell him fruit or sf pudding. He'll get used to it.