ParrotheadCathy

Heck, I can't imagine 3 weeks of liquids! I was only on liquids for 10 days and the last 3 of that, I could have cream soups. Wish I had something to offer to make it easier.

Why don't you check with your insurance company (if they cover WLS) and see what surgeons are on the approved list? Those of us who are self-pay could go wherever we chose and could make recommendations that might not be on your insurance. Let us know who's approved and go from there.

No real surprises on tolerances....I have had problems when I ate too fast (which would be regardless of what you ate) and with soft bread and Pasta. Yes, I do eat citrus (love grapefruit). I usually by the "citrus salad" in the individual cups (DelMonte and Sundia). The sections are already peeled in those. I had a hard time at first not drinking with meals. I tried very hard to limit it until I felt comfortable giving it up. I have no idea if I could have lost more or not when I was doing that. And, perhaps I felt hungry a little sooner but, again, I can't be sure on that. I don't have problems with meat that is moist. If I eat beef, it is usually steak, cooked rare...which isn't too dry. But if you need a little Water in those circumstances, I doubt it would be a huge problem.

Needles .... don't look. And you can hardly feel anything. Ask for lidocaine if you're still fearful. You'll feel the same small prick for the lidocaine, but absolute nothing with the needle for the fill. Barium. I had an upper GI years ago and then one in January before my surgery. Honestly, you don't have to drink nearly as much. It was "take a swallow", wait a while, "take a swallow", wait a little longer, drink the fizzy kind-of lemon tasting stuff.

I was a Diet Coke addict. It was so bad, I thought I needed a 12 step program, LOL. But I quit cold turkey before my surgery in February. And, I am not tempted to backslide because I know that regular consumption can cause stretching of my pouch. And, if I drank one, I'm afraid that would be the end of me. Hats off to your willpower to be able to drink "one of these a month or so"! I know I couldn't limit it.

Back in March, when I had 3.6cc in my band, I went on a cruise. One of the appetisers I ordered one night had a little (I mean less than a tablespoon) as part of the appetiser. I took one bite, got stuck, and had to leave the table until it moved on. No more pasta for me. My granddaughter (20 years old) lives with me and she loves extra thin crust pizza and I have eaten a couple of slices over the past couple of months with no problem but I have serious doubts about regular crust, which is softer, because I have a lot of trouble with soft bread.

Definitely not everybody. There are plenty who need nothing. There are some who want some. And there are some with definite issues that need to be addressed. Much is based on how much you have to lose. Remember, though, that you do not lose anywhere near as fast as with bypass surgery so your skin does have a chance to retract. How much an individual's skin retracts back toward normal depends in large part on the age (younger people have more elasticity in their skin) and the volume of weight lost (if you had reached a high weight, your skin may have been stretched to its limit and lost much of its ability to "go back"). I'm 58 and have lost 53 out of my goal to lose 134. SO FAR, my skin looks pretty typical for my age. I can't predict the future (wasn't born with a swami hat, LOL) but I hope for the best result possible.

My high school reunion is just over a month away. There are people who haven't seen me since the last one, 5 years ago, and while I don't remember exactly what I weighed then, it was definitely more than now. And, this weekend, I found a picture that was taken at my 30th reunion (10 years ago) and I definitely look so much better than then. I'm hoping for a few really surprised reactions! Congrats on your succes so far!

WELCOME TO BANDSTER HELL! Sucks to be here. You feel pretty good but you have no restriction yet, so you're hungry and feel like you could eat anything (is that cat looking tasty?). This is a period, until at least your first fill, if not later, when you have to white knuckle it for the most part. I now have 3 fills and while not at my sweet spot, it is getting easier to stay within the dietary guidelines. DON'T drink your protein, though. Liquids do not stay in your pouch but go straight through. EAT sold protein. Solid protein takes longer to digest and thus stays in your pouch longer and makes you feel full longer. If you get hungry between meals, eat a boiled egg or an ounce of low fat cheese (there are a few varieties out there are are individually wrapped servings, which makes it easier).

5'9", starting weight 284, wearing a 3X/26. Now down 53 pounds, wearing some 1X/20. My clothes started getting bigger pretty quickly but I kept wearing anything that didn't fall off me because I was postponing any shopping. Still haven't bought anything except some 1X tshirts. I'm making do for as long as I can.

Self-pay with True Results was $15,000 in January (in Atlanta, but they have several offices in Texas. You could finance the small remaining amount through Care Credit (which is GE) or Capital One. There is a place on the True Results website where you can apply for either one. www.trueresults.com True Results docs only use the Allergan Lap Band AP. Hope that helps some.

I would make an appointment for a fill and if anybody gave me any negative comments on that, I would tell them that they have to pursue your aftercare. The ulcer is healed and it's time to move forward.

Sandi, I didn't eat salad until I made the move to 100% solid food. As for not losing right now, I hate it that so many people think something is wrong because they don't immediately start losing weight after surgery but the time right after surgery is not when you should be expecting to lose. You're healing from surgery. I didn't lose an ounce between surgery and my first fill (which was a month after my surgery). You may even gain a bit more when you trasition to 100% solid food again.

No beer. Beer is carbonated just as is soda . Regular consumption of beer (or soda) could stretch out your pouch. As for mixed drinks and wine, they are fine in moderation but you have to remember that alcohol is empty calories -- no nutrition -- so regular consumption of alcohol could undermine your weight loss.

That's a new one on me, too! I'm 5'9" so I guess my results don't matter in the comparison, but I want to lose 134 pounds and I've lost 53 pounds since the start of my pre-op diet at the end of January, through surgery on 2/10 and through today, post-op. My best friend who is 5 foot tall and wanted to lose about 80 pounds had surgery on 2/24 and she's lost 25 so far. The simplicity of the diet equation is reduce your caloric intake by (or burn an extra ) 3,500 calories per week and you will lose a pound. There's no footnote about height. The closer you are to goal weight, the more the loss can slow down

I agree with LBNDOC....try with what you have. If it's not enough, it's not. And you'll have to do the supervised 6 month thing. But if it is, and it very well may be since you tried prescription assistance, etc., then you're on your way.

I'm surprised that with only 90 pounds to lose you'd be qualified for gastric bypass. That aside, you are the one who has to live with your choice. Either one, you can make bad choices with your eating and "eat around" the procedure and fail to lose. MANY people lose 100 pounds or more with lap band. There are plenty of them on here. And is a growing percentage oef GB patients who "eat around" their surgery and later get the lap band. I've already lost 53 pounds and I don't seem to be skidding to a halt, and I know of many, many other patients who have lost at least this much and are still steadily losing...and many of them want to lose more than 90 pounds. There are complications with both procedures. Gastric bypass has more deaths immediately following surgery (apparently leaks of the surgically reduced pouch can be a serious problem if that happens) and there is a fairly common occurrence of malnutrion because of the malabsorption GB causes(that's what the "bypass" part is -- they reduce the length of your intestine to reduce how much you absorb from the food you eat). Lap bands can erode into the stomach (pretty rare) and the band can slip (you will read some here who have had this experience but not very common) and I have read where some have problems with their port being tilted, though I've never read any explanation of why that might have happened. Gastric bypass has one "side effect" that I wasn't willing to accept. It's called dumping syndrome. From what I understand, if you eat sweets or very fatty food, it can cause something akin to the worst diahhrea you could imagine and you dump everything in your digestive tract .... undigested food, partially digested food and whatever else is in your colon at the time. I also got the impression that you have very little warning that this is about to happen. I didn't want that as even a possibility. I can see where if you weiged 400 pounds or even more than it would seem less of an issue. What it comes down to, bottom line, is are you willing to make the changes either procedure requires? They are not all the same. With the LB you can pretty much eat normally, just in much smaller quantities. GB may cause faster weight loss in the beginning, but everything I've read says that at the 3 year mark, the loss percentages are pretty even. I gave up fried foods (not that I ate a lot of fried stuff because the grease upset my stomach). I don't eat much bread and then it's in the form of whole grain crackers. Once a month, I do eat a small slice of the birthday cake at work. The main adjustment (which would be the same with GB) is reduced quantity. With GB, that inability to eat larger amounts is there from the start; with LB you'll need to get a few fills before you truly feel the kind of restriction you want. GB has a much longer recovery time. Most (not all) LB patients need only a few days to return to their routines and LB is outpatient surgery almost all the time. GB requires a hospital stay. If you choose the GB route, be 100% sure because it is NOT reversible. LB is as the band can be removed if need be. This is a big deal breaker for indecisive people. I'll admit, it would have been nice to lose faster like the GB patients, but I'm more than satisfied with what I chose.

Men lose weight differentlly than women. Plain and simple. A big factor in that is the monthly cycling of hormones women experience, i.e., they tend to retain fluids at certain times, etc. When I got a surgery date, my internist took me off ALL my medications as of the day of surgery. That meant, gone were 2 diabetes oral meds, 3 blood pressure meds, an anti-depressant, and Lipitor. He said that surgery itself, the pre- and post-op diets and then the weight loss would make such a change in 90 days that we wouldn't even discuss my medications until May 6. I know that my glucose levels are good, my blood pressure is good, don't think I need the anti-depressant, and only a blood test will tell on the cholesterol. I do know that some medications can make it harder to lose weight, specifically steroids stand out as a big issue. Birth control, including but not limited to depo-provera, can cause women to gain weight. With Type II Diabetes, weight loss can completely reverse the condition and that would, of course, negate the need for the medications. Obviously, birth control is something that you don't give up unless you want a child. If you are losing consistently, are on a lot of medications, and AREN'T seeing your GP or internist, then it's time to go to the doc's office. Changes in dose or even elimination are possibilities. But ONLY the doctor providing your routine care should make that judgment. Same goes for changing prescriptions from one drug to another.

Oh, if only we started to lose immediately after surgery! You may even gain with the transition to mushy and then to solid foods. I gained and lost 4 pounds twice during the 4 weeks post op.

Most new bandsters worry about their bands slipping but the truth is, it doesn't happen all that often. If it has slipped, you would likely not be able to keep anything down, or perhaps not even be able to swallow much of anything either.

You should be on liquids! Please tell me you just ate it by choice, that your doctor gave you post-op diet instructions!?!?!?

And you may discover that some of the things you used to crave all the time no longer taste the same. I know, that's weird. But if my granddaughter was eating potato chips, I'd think yum-yum. Recently, I gave in and ate a couple. To my dismay/pleasure, they tasted mostly greasy and I didn't want another one. She and my great-granddaughter live with me and they eat things I shouldn't and usually don't want. I allow myself a couple of french fries here and there (and I mean 3 or 4) and that satisfies me. A little chocolate here and there (not everyday, though, is my thought) probably isn't all that bad. As long as you feel you have the control to eat a bit and not a handful. The band is the advent of a new lifestyle not the beginning of punishment for the rest of your life.

Try eating more solid Protein. It works for me. It takes longer to digest so you feel full longer when you eat that. I keep boiled eggs in the refrigerator at all times. I eat lunch at 12:30, get off at 5:30 and don't get home until nearly 7:00. So, about 4:30, I eat a boiled egg, or 1 oz of low fat cheese (I like the Sargento 2% colby-jack individually wrapped pieces better than string cheese, which I think has no flavor). When I get home, I'm still okay to take the time to cook a healthy meal. I cook most nights, it's easier to stay on plan, I don't live alone so I have to feed everybody no matter what I do, and I can fix easy, tasty meals that I enjoy. Here's a couple of suggestions. Take a square of foil. Put a boneless skinless chicken breast in the middle, a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth, season, add some broccoli (frozen works fine), a couple of carrots, a little minced garlic, diced onion. Seal the package, put it on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350. While it's baking is the time frame when you're supposed to stop drinking. Go take a walk with the dog/kids/significant other/neighbor; or change your clothes and sit down with the dog/kids/significant other/neighbor and chat for a few minutes. When the meal is cooked, put it on a plate and throw away the foil and any juices, wipe the baking sheet off and put it away. Your only dirty dishes are silverware and plate. You can do this with fish (with a little Water and lime or lemon juice instead of broth) but cook your veggies separate so they don't taste fishy. With beef, you could add a couple of slices of potato, worchestershire sauce instead of broth. Other easy things are pork tenderloin and meatloaf. Then you're eating high quality protein instead of getting a pizza or a sandwich..

I was asked by my surgeon what weight loss programs I had tried (yeah, practically all of them LOL). What you may actually need for your insurance company is weight loss RECORDS....your weight history for 5 years or some other period of time. Every time you go to a doctor, they weigh you and take your blood pressure (unless it's a hand doctor, like the one I'm seeing right now) plus other things possibly. ALL of that is recorded in your file on a notations page for that visit. I suggest you call your insurance company (there should be a customer service phone number on your card) and talk to them. Ask what their requirements are to cover weight loss surgery (specifically, what documentation do they need for the approval process); is there a pre-op diet requirement; etc. My insurance didn't cover me at all and I knew that before I went to the first consultation, but my best friend's insurance covered her...they required either a BMI of 40 or 35 with at least 2 co-morbidities (high blood pressure, type II diabetes, sleep apnea, etc. They didn't require a pre-op diet, but some insurance policies require 3 or even 6 months of pre-op diet but even that's not the end of it. Most WLS surgeons offices will do the monitoring of any required pre-op diet program and many include it in the price of the surgery since all they have to do is have you come in once a month, weigh in, check your BP, etc. It's so easy to be put off by the way the insurance companies will try not to cover some procedures but if you call, talk to someone anda get your answers from the horse's mouth, I think you'll feel much better about this!

Relax, it's fairly common. Happened to me. During the liquid, mushy and transitional phases of the post-op diet, I went up and down but never really stayed below my weight the day of surgery. Once I was EATING meals, drinking water got easier...I think I was tired of drinking, LOL. Once you make it to the stage where you are getting fills, you will start to feel restriction and it will get easier to stick to the diet part because the band will help you to feel full longer. Everybody says where you are now isn't about losing, it's about healing. So don't stress yourself out over this. Make the best food choices you can and GOOD LUCK.