stateofzen

Add fish to your diet-- it's great post-op and much much after. Use ground turkey instead of ground beef and you can have "hamburgery" things. I'm assuming that eventually you'll be able to add Beans? Chili is a staple of my diet these days-- high in Protein, very filling and I can get a couple days out of one pot. I tend to use cheese to add protein quite a lot-- for lunch, I often have fresh mozzarella with baby tomatoes and basil in a splash of vinegar and oil. I also very often make a feta/tomato topping for just about anything-- eggplant, chicken, fish, etc. Other than the red meat, pork, and beans, my doc has a similar low carb (carbs only from vegetables or naturally low carb foods) eating plan for a recommendation. And frankly, lower fat cuts of protein like chicken, turkey, and seafood are his preference over red meat and pork. This close to surgery, follow the plan. You'll have plenty of time to play with your food choices to see what works best for your body. For me, a no sugar/no starches diet does work the best for my weight loss and for curbing feelings of hunger (when I eat lots of carbs, I get super hungry between meals) but I know others on here feel more satisfied when they have carbohydrates so you never know.

Yeah, if there is one place in Mexico I wouldn't be going right now, it is Juarez. It's a dangerous place for anyone, not just American.

I am 2 months post-op and I can "eat anything without trouble". I'm glad about that! Being too tight, getting stuck, PB'ing-- it all sounds horrible and if I can lose without experiencing any of that I'm happy to do so. I didn't get this surgery so that I would be prevented from eating by pain and sickness. I haven't had bread, Pasta, or steak (and a lot of other foods, but those are big ones) since my surgery, not because I "can't" but because I'm trying to make good choices. The band helps that by making me feel full faster. That's all it is supposed to do-- help you feel full and stay full for a few hours after eating. Hang in there! The first period of time with the band post-op does feel a lot like dieting for a lot of people, but if you know that-- if you expect it-- it will make dealing with it less frustrating. I think that if you expect the band to stop you from eating things you want to, you'll be very disappointed and angry in the end. It won't stop you from doing anything. You still have to make the right choices, and from what I hear, it does get easier to do that as you go along.

I'm doing a non-traditional ham and scalloped potatoes meal and I plan to eat it in moderation. I normally low-carb, so this will be a "treat" for me Then tomorrow it's back to the usual.

What a great post LeighaMason-- I completely agree.

Mine said 260 when I was 290. Now I'm 30 lbs under it-- whee! I have no intention of changing it for a while though. Ugh, the DMV lines around here mean I'll just live with it.

If you are lucky to live in a town or city with a university in it or nearby, you can probably find very very low cost therapy through the psychology graduate training program. It's a win-win for everyone-- you can get low cost treatment (when I was going through training, I think my highest paying client paid $20 a session and that was unusual), and the graduate student gets to see clients when they are so eager to do so (they are supervised very very well, of course). I don't know if it's an option for you, but it's worth a shot. As for positions, I'd be more likely to suggest you on top, rather than him behind. There's nothing bony to jab with woman on top and you also have the added benefit of more stimulation to the girly bits and much increased intimacy. Please forgive me if this is too forward-- I have sex therapy training so I'm used to just putting it right on out there for people.

My skin always gets super lizard-like dry in the winter anyway, and now it's disgusting. I've been using super-hardcore Eucerin dry skin therapy on my body. It is gross on my hands but it works like a charm on the lizard legs.

As long as you keep thinking things like "I have no willpower" and "I just want people to agree this is too hard", then you're setting yourself up for failure. The mental game we play with ourselves over food is probably even more important than what we actually put in our mouths. This is hard, but it isn't too hard. And actually, I do have willpower-- at least for as long as it takes to lose weight. I got the band to help me maintain the loss in the end. Right now, I have no restriction and believe me, I can sympathize with feeling like you still have to do most of the work on your own. But the thing that is different now is that I know I won't *always* have no help-- that if I keep going in for adjustments, eventually the band is going to kick in and give me the help I need. That hope for the future is enough to keep me going.

My husband and I still try to cook together-- I just don't eat everything we cook Last night, I made chicken parmigiana with spaghetti. I had a chicken breast with some marinara on top, and he got the full she-bang. When I make him chicken quesadilla, I just eat the chicken with salsa/etc. and leave the tortilla and most of the cheese out of the equation. You might be able to find food you can cook together still-- you just don't have to eat everything you cook. What I can't stand is when my husband wants to go out and I ask him where he wants to go, he says "I don't know, where can you find something you can have?" On the one hand that's sweet, but I can't tell you how many times I've told him EVERYWHERE we like to eat has something I can have. I mean heck, even Pasta places always have a fish dish. He has been so supportive that I don't want him to feel like he always has to restrict his own desires for me-- I'm a big girl (less big now- hahaha) and I can always figure out something that works for me.

Lunch: Baked meatballs with tomatoes (I bake about 12 meatballs and have several servings out of it-- perfect microwave dish) Caprese salad (tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, tiny tiny bit of olive oil and vinegar) Salad greens with low carb dressing Chicken salad with a few walnuts and grapes Sometimes i'll make a packet of oatmeal or cream of wheat if I'm desperate; I also keep yogurt in my work fridge

My doc includes baked fish in the soft foods-- I stocked up on tilapia and went to town. Cottage cheese, eggs, refried Beans, and my doc included super-steamed/mushy veggies in the soft food mix.

My doc is in the no carbonation camp, ever, for band-related issues. I had to give up my Diet DP habit and my love of microbrewed beers. I would suggest weaning off of the caffeine gradually pre-op to save yourself the withdrawal headache.

It's a question to see if you suffer from insomnia, nothing else. Even if you do, insomnia is not a reason to not get WLS. Relax and just explain if they ask you about it.

sleep apnea is a pretty big deal. Cpaps are annoying, but untreated sleep apnea is associated with all kinds of really really bad health conditions (think heart attack). Probably weight loss will get rid of it, but maybe not (it's not always about weight). It's up to you and your doctor, of course. But I'd really consider the risks before forgoing the cpap.

Keep on truckin' the no DC path! You've kicked the habit and the risks are not worth it. I would almost guarantee that it would not taste as good as you think it would anyway. Giving up Diet DP was my nemesis and really the one thing I thought would be hardest, but the longer I go without it, the less it appeals to me.

I've been shopping way too much. I don't really buy anything that fits me perfectly right now though-- it has to fit on my body but be too small. That way, I know I can wear it for a while as I lose. Everything I get is carefully scrutinized-- do I really need this? The answer is always no, but somehow I'm adding to my wardrobe anyway :thumbup: OP: I have some 18/20 clothes I'd be happy to send you-- all are in good shape , but I don't have time to take pictures and post them, etc. so you'd have to take it and hope you like some of it. (I have dogs, so though they are clean I can't promise they don't have dog hair). PM me with your address if you are interested. If you have the money to help with shipping, that would be great but don't sweat it too much if you can't.

I didn't quite make it-- thought I had, but it was just the liquid diet around my fill that made me drop so low and as soon as I started eating again it dipped back up. Still, down 13. I'll take it!

That's great! I had a double-take last weekend in the grocery store from a guy. First time that's happened in a long time :wink2:

At least half of my weight was lost before surgery, when I went on a strict low-carb diet for over a month before my surgery date. Most of the rest came off in the two weeks after surgery. I've had a couple of weeks of no loss in there, followed by a sudden drop and then another week of plateau. For some reason my body seems to like to hold on, drop a bunch at once, then hold on again. It's hard to compare these things, you know? It probably has to do some with age, with starting weight, with activity level, and with calories. I started at a high weight, so losing might be easier for me right now than someone who started closer to a 40 BMI. I'd say most days I am under 1000 calories, and a good number of them right at 800. Even if we're doing the same things, all bodies are different and lose at different rates. I can understand why you feel frustrated, but try to think long term. If you keep working the band, you *will* lose weight. It might come off slowly, but it will come off.

Open and hateful prejudice against fat people is one of the last "safe" bastions of "isms". People who would never feel comfortable airing their dirty prejudices about minority groups still feel really comfortable spouting off about how disgusting and lazy fat people are, all under the guise of health and the cost of insurance and how "they have to pay for it". I'm reminded of this everywhere on the internet, and the comments to this article were no exception. I remember when Lesley, the blogger at Fatshionista Fatshionista was featured in the Boston Globe, discussing her fat-positive take on life. The comments were filled with people who were plainly just ANGRY that this fat woman DARED to be happy with herself. They insisted that she must deep down hate herself for being fat the way they hated her for being fat, that she was delusional, that she was a drain on the healthcare system (a perfectly healthy fat woman, so far). It was horrifying. This culture (Western) is obsessed with thinness in an unhealthy way. This culture tries to use the issue of health as a thinly veiled excuse to hate on fat people-- I mean really, how many of us really believe that the hateful people are really concerned about our health and aren't just offended that we aren't conventionally attractive? I mean caring about a fat person's health would require some empathy, something that is clearly not happening with the hateful context in which health is mentioned. The rebel in me reads stuff like this and wants to stay fat, just to give the fat-haters the middle finger. But you know what, I'm not doing this for them, I'm doing it for me.

Your body cannot help but eventually lose if you consume less calories than you use. This is an adjustment period (and you'll probably adjust several times during this journey). Ride it out, keep doing what we're supposed to, and you'll HAVE to lose eventually. I mean, even in starvation mode-- starving people lose weight :laugh:

Mine are still red too (9/16). I'm not putting anything on them-- I had gallbladder surgery about 10 years ago and I can't see my scars from that unless I search so I'm assuming these will eventually heal the same. Hope I'm right!