dacreid

Is your husband overweight? If so, he may be feeling insecure that you will lose a lot of weight and he won't. Also, he may be feeling insecure that you will lose a lot of weight, and look hotter than you already are :-) and then leave him! LOL! My husband is overweight. He has been very supportive of me but does make comments like, "you're going to get skinny and then leave my fat ass!" Hang in there and know you have all the support you need in this forum! Keep us posted!

Sounds great! Can't wait to try it!

Congratulations! Don't know how busy your surgeon is, but my surgery was able to be booked 3 weeks after my insurance company approved me! Good Luck!

It's absolutely beautiful!

Your Dr. and Dietitian should give you a list both for the pre-op diet and post-op. Just from reading what others have said on here, it seems every Dr. wants something different. I did not have to do a liquid diet prior to surgery, just no sugar or carbs to shrink my liver in order for him to get to the stomach easier. The smaller your liver, the easier and quicker the surgery will go. Apparently I did a good job because my surgery took less than and hour and I was back home and in my recliner within 4 1/2 hours. Here's what I got pre-op: (Everything is low or no fat and sugar free) cottage cheese, peaches, yogurt, sugar-free Carnation Instant Breakfast, milk, tuna, eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, and raw veggies, jello, pudding, and whatever protein supplement your Dr. recommends. Post-Op for the first 2 days it was clear liquids: Broth (any kind) I also used alot of boullion cubes- it has more sodium, but tastes much better! Jello, popsicles, apple juice, tea, coffee, flavors for water, and of course your protein supplement. Days 3-7 was full creamier liquids: You can add to the above - cream soups, yogurt, pudding, and vegetable juice. Days 8-14 is a blenderized diet. then you move on to soft diet for 2 weeks then regular! Also you will need a chewable multi-vitamin once a day and my Dr. has me take 3 Calcium/Vitamin D chewable tablets per day. (You can not take the multi-vitamin at the same time as the calcium/vit D) Hope this gives you a good idea! Good Luck!

Same here! I am pretty tight after 2nd fill and have had lots of trouble keeping things down.. Chicken is the worst for me, no matter how I cook it! The NP said that Chicken does that to some people, guess we are "some" of those people! LOL! It's been a lot of trial and error for me. Hang in there! By the way - my favorite thing to fix and it goes down really well is a Turkey breast tenderloin. I buy it at Wal-Mart. It's made by Honeysuckle White and you can get it in a rotisserie flavor, lemon pepper, or garlic. It's wonderful cooked on the grill just like you would fix a pork tenderloin!

me too! I lived off egg drop soup after surgery and still eat it a lot after fills! I get it from my local Chinese restaurant and would love the recipe! Could you post it?

What has your surgeon and dietitian recommended? Mine had several suggestions, the one that works best for me is a pack of Sugar Free Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed with 8oz skim milk (14g protein) twice a day and then a protein powder called Unjury (20g protein) at least once sometime twice a day. The Unjury is best unflavored and I mix it with low fat frozen yogurt (5g protein), milk (amother 5g protein), and peanut-butter (5g protein) or fresh strawberries, or bananas for a great smoothie. I've also heard that Isopure is fantastic and is sold at GNC stores, but I live in a small town and don't have a GNC around me so haven't tried that one yet. Good Luck!

My first fill was little to no restriction either. The 2nd fill was whole other story! MAJOR RESTRICTION! Probably too much but it's loosened up now and things are much better! You probably need to call them back and get a second fill.

I think recovery time is different for everyone. I'd pretty much count on being down for at least 2-3 days. I had mine done on the Thursday before Easter and felt good enough to go to my mother's on Easter Sunday. I went back to work (I'm a 5th grade teacher) the following Thursday, so I took a week off. But I was extremely worn out by the end of the work day! I think you'll just need to play it by ear and don't plan anything major for at least a week after the surgery.

I've had 2 fills with 5.5 total in my band. I'm really restricted and spent almost 2 weeks on liquids since the 2nd fill. I'm now able to eat most regular foods again. Not pureed! It's a lot of trial and error to see what I can tolerate. I can only eat about 1/2 to 1 cup of food before I'm full. I also chew until there's basically no flavor left before I swallow! LOL! I think it just takes a little time for your body to get adjusted. Drink slow, that's something else that took some time for me to get adjusted to.

Great to hear you are doing well! Do you have to stay in the hospital over night? They sent me home the same day. I was at the hospital at 6am and was banded and back home in my recliner by 10am.

It appears that my two weeks of hell since my last fill are officially over. I spent a week and a half eating and drinking nothing but warm to hot liquids. Saturday was my BFF's birthday. We grilled filet mignon and baked potatoes. I ate about 3oz of steak and about 5 bites of potato and was full. Most importantly it stayed down! I also drank about a cup of tomato soup about an hour before the dinner to help loosen up the band. The next day I did my usual routine coffee and carnation instant breakfast in the morning. At lunch I tried some bites of a chicken thigh. Major sliming and up it came! Stayed sick the rest of the day but managed to get some soup down for dinner. Yesterday was Monday and I started out with my usual coffee and carnation instant breakfast. Lunch was another carnation and a yogurt. For dinner I decided to cook for my family for the first time in 2 weeks. I cooked a roast, potatoes, carrots, and green beans. I got about an ounce of roast down and even though i chewed until there was no flavor, it got stuck! No slime or throwing up this time though! I waited for the pressure in my chest to go down then took a couple more bites of roast, a small carrot, a spoonful of green beans, and a spoonful of potato. Then, I had to go to the hospital to see my grandad who had surgery that morning. My mom wanted to go to subway since she hadnt eaten all day. This was 8:00 at night! I fell back into my old habits again..I wasn't hungry but I ordered a sandwich anyway! I picked the vegetables and meat off 1/2 of a 6 inch and ate it. No bread! Still to scared to try that! But what the heck was I thinking? I wasn't hungry but got it anyway! Anyway, woke up this morning and am so hungry I could die! I haven't been this hungry in several weeks! Also the scale hasn't moved in 3 days:sad:! It's just dissapointing after having lost a pound a day for 10 days straight! As long as it's not going up though, I guess I should be happy!:confused:

My Dr. recommends Sugar Free Carnation Instant Breakfast. It does not have as much Protein as the protein powders, (mixed with skim milk it has 14 grams) but he allows his patients to drink that twice a day as long as we use another higher protein drink mix once a day. The other one I used was "Unjury" unflavored. It has a slight gritty texture, but is bearable if you blend it with milk, lowfat frozen yogurt, and fruit or a TBS of peanut butter. Good Luck!

Average is 1 to 3 pounds a week. 34% of your weight in 1 year. What is your goal weight? If you don't mind my asking, why are you having it done in Mexico? Is that where you live?

I struggled with the same thing also not drinking with my meals. But after my 2nd fill, when I could really feel the restriction, I learned that I had to wait between bites and not drink with meals or else the food would get stuck or I would loose what just went down. Trust me, after experiencing the sickness that follows from not following the "rules," you learn quickly to follow them! I've had plenty of ups and downs since being banded but I'm starting to see the weight fall off now and I wouldn't change anything for the world. Hang in there, you'll do fine!

It has been a rough 9 days but I'm finally feeling a little relief! My 2nd fill was 6/2 with 3cc. I've got a total of about 6cc in a standard band now. The first fill was no difference at all, just noticed a few things getting stuck here and there. Lost only 1# that month. Since fill #2 I've lost 9lbs in 9 days! I know,I know.. not supposed to loose that fast but I had a really hard time with that 2nd fill. I was only able to tolerate hot and thin liquids for about 8 days. Last night, I took 2 bites of turkey spaghetti with lots of sauce. Started to slime a little, but managed to keep it down! This morning I started out with my coffee then moved on to my carnation instant breakfast with warm milk and went down really well. I waited about 30 minutes and made myself some runny oatmeal. I could only eat about 1/4 cup...but it stayed down! Yeah! At lunch I started out drinking a bottle of K2O protein water while making myself some tuna salad. I took about 4 small bites of the tuna salad and started to slime again. So I waited about 10 minutes for the feeling to pass then ate about 4 more bites. That was about 2 hours ago and I'm still feeling full and most importantly I haven't thrown up! I've talked to my Dr. office several times over the past week, but he has wanted me to wait for another week to see if I loosen up any. Apparently, he's had a couple of patients who get much tighter during their menstrual cycle. As luck would have it, I started mine 2 days after that 2nd fill. Now this is my 2nd day past that so apparently I'm another one of those people who will be extremely restricted for about 1 week per month! I'm just totally in shock about how very little I can eat. I still struggle with head hunger and see people eating things that I wish I could have but know good and well what it will do to me, so I don't! I worry too about getting my protein in, because of how very little I can eat. I've had about 27 grams today and still need to get to at least 59.

It has been a rough 9 days but I'm finally feeling a little relief! My 2nd fill was 6/2 with 3cc. I've got a total of about 6cc in a standard band now. The first fill was no difference at all, just noticed a few things getting stuck here and there. Lost only 1# that month. Since fill #2 I've lost 9lbs in 9 days! I know,I know.. not supposed to loose that fast but I had a really hard time with that 2nd fill. I was only able to tolerate hot and thin liquids for about 8 days. Last night, I took 2 bites of turkey spaghetti with lots of sauce. Started to slime a little, but managed to keep it down! This morning I started out with my coffee then moved on to my carnation instant breakfast with warm milk and went down really well. I waited about 30 minutes and made myself some runny oatmeal. I could only eat about 1/4 cup...but it stayed down! Yeah!:crying: At lunch I started out drinking a bottle of K2O protein water while making myself some tuna salad. I took about 4 small bites of the tuna salad and started to slime again. So I waited about 10 minutes for the feeling to pass then ate about 4 more bites. That was about 2 hours ago and I'm still feeling full and most importantly I haven't thrown up! I've talked to my Dr. office several times over the past week, but he has wanted me to wait for another week to see if I loosen up any. Apparently, he's had a couple of patients who get much tighter during their menstrual cycle. As luck would have it, I started mine 2 days after that 2nd fill. Now this is my 2nd day past that so apparently I'm another one of those people who will be extremely restricted for about 1 week per month! I'm just totally in shock about how very little I can eat. I still struggle with head hunger and see people eating things that I wish I could have but know good and well what it will do to me, so I don't! I worry too about getting my protein in, because of how very little I can eat. I've had about 27 grams today and still need to get to at least 59.

What is you maximum annual out of pocket expense on your insurance? My insurance paid for everything except what was left for me to pay toward my max annual out of pocket. It came to about $800 (my yearly max is $1000, but I had already paid about $200 toward office copays and other medical expenses prior to the surgery). The first Dr. I went to see wanted this up front. The Dr. I ended up going with took what the insurance paid and I owed my out of pocket to the hospital. I just pay them $200 a month till it's paid off.

I'm new hear, and looking for advice if anyone can help. I was banded on April 9th. I have the standard 10cc band. My first fill was about April 30th and I think they put about 2cc in. I felt restricted for a couple of days but after that could eat pretty much normally. I had only lost 1 pound when I went back for my 2nd fill on June 2nd. This time he put in 3cc. It will be a week tomorrow since that fill. I can't eat or drink anything cold-not even water! It just feels like an elephant sitting on my chest and it won't go through. I've basically been living off of soup the past week. Last night, I tried yogurt and it felt stuck for a while then got better. This morning I tried a soft scrambled egg and immediately lost it. Next I tried runny oatmeal and got the same stuck feeling. I called the Dr. 2 days after the fill to tell them what was going on and they basically told me that this was the first time I have been "really" restricted and I was going to have to give it time to heal. They also said as long as I can swallow my own spit and am not throwing up after everything I eat then I should be O.K. I've tried to suck it up the past couple of days but it seems like it should be getting better by now and it's not really much better at all. I still throw up anything solid. Has anyone else had this problem or have any advice for me?

I'm 8 weeks post-op. I'm still looking for that sweet-spot! I had my first fill 3 weeks after the surgery. I started to get hungry about 2 weeks after my surgery but was still careful about what I ate. After my first fill, I was pretty uncomfortable for a couple of days but could still eat... just less. Then after 2 weeks from that first fill, I started getting hungry again, but was doing a major "no-no" and drinking while eating. I got in the bad habit of that because I was noticing things getting stuck and wanted to be sure it was going down. I got my second fill a week ago and am now battling with not being able to tolerate anything but liquids. I've lost 8 pounds in a week because I can't eat anything solid. I think I need to have a little taken out. But as luck would have it, my Dr. is on vacation till next week! It looks like it's going to be some trial and error for me. But I know several people who have had success with this surgery and say they only get hungry when it's time for their next meal, can eat the foods they like, just much less of them. Just hang in there, you'll be able to tell a difference after you get a fill, just be careful you don't end up in my situation!

I'm new hear, and looking for advice if anyone can help. I was banded on April 9th. I have the standard 10cc band. My first fill was about April 30th and I think they put about 2cc in. I felt restricted for a couple of days but after that could eat pretty much normally. I had only lost 1 pound when I went back for my 2nd fill on June 2nd. This time he put in 3cc. It will be a week tomorrow since that fill. I can't eat or drink anything cold-not even water! It just feels like an elephant sitting on my chest and it won't go through. I've basically been living off of soup the past week. Last night, I tried yogurt and it felt stuck for a while then got better. This morning I tried a soft scrambled egg and immediately lost it. Next I tried runny oatmeal and got the same stuck feeling. I called the Dr. 2 days after the fill to tell them what was going on and they basically told me that this was the first time I have been "really" restricted and I was going to have to give it time to heal. They also said as long as I can swallow my own spit and am not throwing up after everything I eat then I should be O.K. I've tried to suck it up the past couple of days but it seems like it should be getting better by now and it's not really much better at all. I still throw up anything solid. Has anyone else had this problem or have any advice for me?