flowers

Good deal!!! I have the seminar I signed up for about a month ago, finally tomorrow. Im not sure there is that much else I can learn from it after reading online, but its finally here. I havent gotten pre opt instructions yet, only post opt, so you can open my eyes. Are you doing a liquid diet pre opt? How long do you have to do your pre opt instructions? I wish you all the success in the world. I bet you have mixed feelings too, cant wait to lose the weight, but cant say you are looking forward to getting started with the liquids. Are you getting excited about starting?

Im in Texas too, so not only are we having surgery close together, but we are both Texans. Im up a little north of Dallas in Richardson TX.

Im not a big soda drinker, so that isnt going to bother me either, never missed it, rarely had a diet soda anyway. I just found out the fill doctor in Dallas wouldnt take me that I was going to go to for 3 months. I have a cruise that I come back from less than 3 weeks from the 3 month date, so I might be on my own without any fills an extra 2 - 3 weeks. If I can do the rest, I figure I probably can do an extra 2 - 3 weeks without a fill. The surgery doctor doesnt like to do any fill during surgery, not even a little bit, says it could leak? So, things are kinda coming together instruction wise. Orea15, thanks for the words that the lap band will help keep it off if I hit another bad time, thats what I needed before I could go thru this losing again. Looking like I cant get my first fill until Oct 6th or 8th, depending on if he uses 90 days or 3 months exactly. Quite a few on this forum are using this fill doctor, most love him, one said he was abrupt with them. I got some Vitamin Water and some decaf coffee today, starting to set up for the post op liquid phase. No caffeine coffee for a week. Iv got 11 pages of diet typed out to get me thru the 3 months. I know they still make you meet the nutrionist to go over it at the hospital. Transferred the money to my checking account last Friday, so whatever my reservations, things are still a go.

Well, Im glad journaling helped so many of you. Iv tried to explain why I know it wouldnt help me and if I have to face bad choices like Taco Bell and Fried chicken all day long and that Im aware of what I eat. The same thing doesnt work for everyone, thanks for your input. btw when I was losing the weight last time and lost the 80 lbs I told myself that this for sure was the last time, I would never put the weight back on and go thru it again. So, Im sure part of that is beating myself up for being here again. All that went out the window when my Dad almost died twice and his mind wasnt all there etc. To those who say its better to lose the weight, I say again, my concern that it isnt better to lose if you regain it. That is even harder on your body, thats my fear, gaining it all back and more yet once again. Obviously, my promise to myself to keep it off didnt hold. Im pretty upset with myself for regaining this weight. Im hoping that if things got bad the lapband would stop the regain, but it doesnt sound like it will from what you all are telling me. Studies have proven that for those who are insulin resistant, you can gain 300% more than the actual calories in something like a candy bar. On the low gi diet I was eating 1200 to 1800 calories a day and losing 12 lbs or more a month. The only days I went over 1200 were my hungry days so I would bake fish. I can eat baked fish and the weight falls off me. I ate baked salmon until I cant stand it lol. I feel like Im having to defend why journaling wouldnt work for me and not getting any real support here. Evidently, Im the only one here with an insulin issue and certain foods are going to trigger it that are so hard to say no to. Perhaps some here could benefit by reading one of the low gi diet books and learning how to lose weight without having to starve yourself. Its been proven you can lose more, even eating more calories per day with low gi than either low fat or a low calorie diet btw. No matter who you are. What I want to do is combine what I know about how to eat for myself and the lap band for when Im faced with bad choices. The only big difference I see here, is that you are supposed to eat your Protein first at meals. Iv been thinking probably the diets are similar otherwise. low gi and what folks are eating here that are talking on this forum. For me its NO candy or high gi carbs or Im thrown in a loop and dont stop and then my insulin is all out of whack and the weight loss stalls out and I start regaining. There are people who weight watchers works for, and some who need low gi like me. Im a proponete of low gi eating and you dont have to count calories if you eat the foods you are supposed to. If you eat carbs, a small boiled not baked red potato, whole grain Pasta or rice and its how you cook it too, how much starch is in it. I give up. I dont seem to feel like what I know works for me is what anyone else here even agrees with, you are counting things in a different way and the diet you all are on. Maybe I will be on my own even if I get the lap band, because Im going back on a low gi diet and not counting calories or journaling, but I need to stay away from high gi carbs to keep it off. south beach diet is another example of low gi, or nutrisystem. I cooked on my own, and made Protein shakes for lunch, but we had protein Snacks in between meals, it wasnt what is being described here. a piece of laughing cow cheese and a small piece of lite meat, or a egg fried in pam with a piece or turkey bacon. or no sugar yogurt or foods like that for a snack were allowed, we didnt cut calories as much as other diets, but lost the weight if you can eat like that. good luck to the rest of you, Im glad what you are doing is working great for you. Hopefully the lap band will work for me when I need a little extra support down the line .... and I know the time will come. Maybe instead of a lap band board, after I get my lap band I would be better off to go back to a low gi type forum where at least I would get support on my diet and everyone wouldnt say all I need to do is journal.

I think there is a PM system here to if you dont want to talk about it. I admit to feeling frustrated and worried. As far as everyone's answer that all I need to do is journal and its going to show me the way. We were at the Rehab Center 24 hours a day for months. The ONLY food within a mile was Taco Bell and Golden chicken, neither my idea of healthy food. I was sitting with my dad and doing 12 hour stretches sat and sun and letting my mom have the weekend off. She was sleeping on the tile floor at her age of 82. I never would have thought I could get back up over 200 lbs again, but Iv been thru a lot. If journaling was all I needed to set my diet for life, then Im thinking these folks probably havent been thru what I have to say its so simple to them. When all you had was those two fast food places to eat at, no diet is going to work. We were mentally and physically exhausted. So, here I am for the second time in my life, not only over 200, but over 240. I can only go forward and not beat myself up for the past and hope I can stay on a diet, but after what Iv been thru I know its not nearly as easy as losing a bit of weight near term. Call me a worrier.

yes, of course. I think I mentioned doing low gi diet and losing 80 lbs which Iv just put all I lost back on over the last year. So, yes, I know I can lose weight NOW. I was at 157 lbs only Jan 2007, not much over a year ago. Then my Dad has been thru one emegency after another and I was at Rehab daily and the only one of the 4 of us driving, the final straw was breaking my own shoulder last Christmas. Its been a very bad year and my diet slipped. I just dont want to yo yo again. Seems like everyone is concentrating on short term, can I lose weight again now, YES. Of course I can. Anyone can lose some weight. Im worried about long term. How many put the weight back on within 5 years?? Most of us who have lost over and over again know its easier to lose it than to keep it off. If this will be just one more time to lose it and then it comes right back and the lapband doesnt help to keep it off, then maybe its not for me. Im not really hearing anything long term here to make this decision any easier. I guess Ill keep trying to muddle thru it. To me the decision isnt about if Im ready NOW to make a commitment, its about can I keep it off and that is much harder to know. Maybe the rest of you dont know if you can keep it off or if the lapband is helping you do that. Its the keeping it off I need help with, not the NOW. I keep saying I dont want to yo yo again, which to me is talking long term. I guess whatever Im asking Im not clear enough about that its coming across. Didnt any of you worry if it would work for you a year from now?? 5 or 10 years from now? thanks for all your comments.

I know I have a insulin problem and my insulin spikes when I eat carbs, even though I can see some are skeptical. I recognize when Im getting to that pre-diabetic stage where I cant even sleep thru the night without getting something during the night. I was serious about the carbs when I mentioned them above, they are like poison to someone with a insulin problem. They more carbs the more I am driven to eat. I just found my Healthy Choice frozen dinner in the oven ..... from YESTERDAY's dinner. I forgot about it completely. I dont like meat much or main meals, those arent my downfall, its truly the snacking and carbs and the after dinner time. I dont even care for steak and meat others love. Baked potatoes and corn on the cob though... Im just using the lapband as a date to start the diet to force myself to eat right. I admit that. Im so torn. I feel I have to do something to draw the line in the sand and force myself to start, and this is what I hit upon. I just dont really know if its going to help me keep it off if I fall off the bandwagon. I dont want to keep losing and gaining. If I knew I could do it and keep it off, thats all everyone here wants, me too. If I back away from this, I know I wouldnt come back and do it later. Scary to know that no one here thinks this is going to work for me either.

I read here on another thread that it actually takes 6 weeks to shrink your liver. The point of the liquid diet is to make your fatty liver less slimy so it can be pushed aside easier. Thats why for higher BMIs you do the pre opt, but for BMIs below 40, they dont require it. The poster is the one who wrote the thread about how to shop for a Mexican doctor and seemed to know her stuff.

I just feel like this conversation, which btw Im also having with my mom who is against this, goes in circles. If I could just change my eating, then I would already be on the diet. I know journaling wouldnt help me except maybe the nuisance of doing it, I know Im eating too much junk without journaling. We just had one of those $5 subs from subway which we share 4 ways, my parents eat very little of it though. I know I rarely eat what fast food considers one serving, its the nuts and bad food which seems to me to have nothing to do with what the band will help with. My skin is now saggy from yo yo dieting, I eat right for a while and lose and then I start craving popcorn or something else carbs that I shouldnt have. I know with nutrisystem, their Desserts all had soy powder added, but you could still have a dessert is why I did well on that .... until I quit, dont really like the taste of their food, but it worked well for me because my insulin goes out of control with carbs and I gain more than the average person from the same amount of bad carbs. The fact that no one here thinks the lap band is going to help me is kinda scary. Everyone agrees with my mom that you just have to diet, and the band isnt going to help that. ok guys.... Ill think about if I should back out and cancel the surgery.

I will be travelling by myself. I hope I can either put on my tennis shoes or get some help as no other shoes are comfortable any more. Iv put on this last 20 lbs recently and dont work, so dont have other clothes that fit, other than tee shirts and jeans with a elastic waist. I hope I can manage this by myself.

Thanks, I guess thats what worries me. I could do that now without the lapband? Eat Protein first and not graze if it was that easy. I had a plate of french fries yesterday instead of dinner last night and never ate dinner. I lost 80 lbs eating right on Nutri System and have put it all back on plus a few more lbs to a new record high right now. I guess I dont see how the lap band would help me eat better, not trying to be contrary, but as my mom points out, I could do this now, go back to eating my protein and fish and lose the weight again, and save all the money self paying the lap band costs. Other than ok you change your diet and now eat more protein and have a starting date to make you buckle down and start the diet, does anyone think that actually having the lap band will help someone like me. Other than the pressure of having paid all that money so you feel the need to make it worthwhile, Im not sure Im seeing the benefit of the lap band. Am I missing something here??

Im wondering about just getting home from surgery. All I have that still fits are some blue and black jeans with a stretch waistline. Iv gotta get on a plane like that by myself. Im packing light as Im guessing it might hurt to pick up a heavy suitcase.

Im the one who said unsweetened applesauce and smashed banana, those are fruit :confused2: It also says pureed peaches or canned fruit, no juice added, the lite or splenda kind. unsweetened. Im buying a jar of unsweetened applesauce to see how I like it. PS I believe it specifies canned instead of real fruit because canned fruit is softer. I also have all kinds of splenda sweetened fruit flavors from world market that I can add to my Protein drinks. cherry, raspberry etc and then carmel and those kind of flavors. vegetables overcooked until soft and blended with a fork, except corn. I can have any meat that are pulverized in my blender with liquid added. Make sure you add Water to them (he calls them liquidized meats). then I can have tuna, salmon all those canned meats. then as mentioned above, sf yogurt, puddings.

The lady that is my patient consultant or whatever the term is says she is age 67. She has lost 65 lbs in 10 months, not as huge of a loss as some, but she is doing well.

Hi and welcome from another newbie. Im not scheduled until July 8th, so you are ahead of me. Im also a tad heavier than you, so have more to lose. Hope this will be the tool for both of us to not only lose the weight, but keep it off. Im to the point I cant stand the thought of one more yo yo diet.

Hi, Queen Jane, I love your name. Im Jane too. Im not scheduled for surgery until July 8th, so Im a newbie too, so I can offer to mentor anyone, but I can be a buddy to talk to since we are both having our surgerys close together. I havent tolk my parents yet, Im going to Mexico and plan on never telling them, though it will be hard. Like everyone else Im paying for it myself. PM me if you want to ever talk to a friend anytime. If nothing else we can talk each other down off the roof when we are hungry before our first fill.

I know this is about lap band, but the diet you are supposed to follow is similar to what I was on before. I started out as a snail. I hardly lost and everyone else was losing huge amounts. It was funny because after about 3 months or so, I turned into one of the biggest monthly losers, even for some folks who weighed more than I did. I was losing over 10, 12 or more lbs a month. Some folks start losing slowly and then their bodies kick in with all the added Protein, maybe because I was in such bad shape when I started?? who knows. Folks will keep telling ya, anyone can eventually lose the weight, its keeping it off that is hard. Hopefully, with the band we wouldnt put it back on. No more yo yo dieting, this is it this time.

My paper says smashed bananas, they would be filling. Tomato or creamed spinach soup (bleu!!!! hate them both). Fake sweetened yogurt or instant pudding (yea for pudding, finally something I like), I can have unsweetened apple sauce (easy to find). I have a list I can eat and sample menus.

Iv read several posts where people gained until they had fills to their sweet spot. I know Im the type to eat even if Im not hungry. I cant wait until Im restricted enough I hope it stops me from eating continuosly. The first fill will put some extra restriction on your stomach that isnt there now. It may not put enough and you will need another fill shortly thereafter, sounds like some do. I think getting to that first fill is all about will power, or it will be for me without restriction from the fills. I read a post calling this pre fill time hell or some such term. ... probably for a reason.

For me its going quickly. I just started to look into this less than a week ago, already have approval and surgery scheduled July 8th. Im self pay. Im going ahead and doing it now so I have time before my cruise in Sept to decide if I want my first fill before or after the cruise. I didnt want to wait until after the cruise and put myself back 2 months and need time to heal before I go on the cruise, so Im doing it fast. I dont know this is the right or wrong thing, I just put back on 80 lbs I lost a year ago on Nutrisystem. My BMI is right at 40 or almost, depending on if Im exactly 5 6 1/2. I do know I need something to stop me from grazing constantly or Ill be dead too early in my life. Belly fat like I have is the worst kind. Mine isnt spread all over my body and neck and back like I hear of, mine is almost all belly fat.

Im a snacker and a grazer, I eat constantly. Is that compulsive or boredom?? Hard to draw a line. I love to taste food that I like candy, chips, popcorn. I do know when I was on Nutrisystem and lost 80 lbs I got mostly off sugar. The more sugar in your system, the more you will crave more. It takes several weeks to get past the sugar craving, but then you will be ok. Im just as worried as you are that I wouldnt lose with the band, nothing else lately has slowed down my weight gain. I know HOW to eat right after Nutrisystem and reading some low GI books (very good by the way explaining how to eat), but doing it is something else. I know I need more Protein, but Im not a meat lover, I love carbs. I know this is going to be a big struggle even with the band helping.

Im going to Juarez too. I still have to keep looking so many places were mentioned I forget. Yep, its Juarez, Dr. Natera. July 8th. Hospital Star Medica. Im not sure it will be worth it, but I felt I had to try something to get me going on a plan to lose. Im self pay too.

July 8th, is my scheduled date. Im still in the "this is the last time to eat this (fill in the blank), before I start to deprive myself.

Well, it seems that IS NOT my doctor. I dont know if I should pull back or what. I have already applied and now doctors in Mexico wouldnt talk directly to me, I tried calling one. They also approved me for surgery. Here are my concerns and problems. I have Dr. Natera. Thats all it says, last name, not his complete name. The original quote had multiple sites and the name above the name of the hospital was not the right doctor, that doctor does practice at another hospital as I noticed on this site. These folks messed up the quote. The fact is, this patient facilitator who is handling my set up forgot to put the doctor's name in the quote at all!!! (accidental?) She says she is age 67 and had her surgery 10 months ago and lost 65 lbs, not a very fast weight loss. She did not go to Mexico. When I asked what I asked here on this forum, she told me to refer to the quote as if it were my mistake, but they forgot to mention the doctor's name, not me. I asked if this doctor had a place to call home from, since I will be going by myself and my mom is going to worry. She sent me a link to rent a international phone from them (I own 7 tracfones, but they dont like you using them overseas, why would I rent a phone for a day or two and go thru all that hassle). Of course renting the phones from them. I dont know if its that she is unprofessional or what exactly is going on. I said I saw one person post here who got a 1.5 cc fill when she got her surgery, is that possible? She wrote back this is unusual (duuh, I knew that), and that each doctor will have his own procedures (duuh again). I asked her to find out what his procedures were or give me a contact so I could find out. I googled the name Dr. Natera and nothing comes up. He may have 17 years of surgery experience, but Im doubting it is with Americans. I think he is new to americans is my guess. The reason I wanted to go to this location is I live in Texas and this is just over the boarder from El Paso where Iv been before, so I feel more comfortable with the idea. But I need information which Im not getting.

Im in the DFW area myself and searching out for the best fill doctor. One supposedly has been found at Medical City for $250, but Im still comparing. I for one am glad to hear your experience, even if it seems like someone is sure as heck trying to shut you up. Of course if a doctor does that many a day, chances are there have been some problems, its the odds. Not everyone is always going to have a perfect experience no matter what is claimed here. No doctor is perfect, thats why they have to have insurance. thanks for letting us know you were not that happy with your experience with this doctor. Im taking notes.