onikenbai

Step away from the scale.:tt1: Put a towel over it or something. Now don't go near it for the next two to three weeks. Healing is not the time to be watching your weight go up and down like a yo yo, which is what it is probably going to do.:thumbup:

Zucchini, eggplant, avocado, celery, RAW carrots, baked fish, baked chicken, lettauce, raw cabbage, squash, green peppers, non-fat yogurt, milk. That is what I ate for three weeks. Zero shakes. You can make a decent snack out of celery stalks in a dip of plain yogurt with tons of dill and onion in it. No sugar, fats, potatoes, rice, cooked carrots, misc. tubers, corn, starch, cheese or yogurts with fruit on the bottom.

As I'm allergic to ALL the shakes (and yes, I have tried the whole lot) I had to modify the pre-op diet in a big way and have an all food pre-op diet. It is possible to stick to the pre-op instructions while still eating real food. I ate a lot of home made chicken Soup. Had to be home made because the store bought didn't fit the bill. I got low-sodium chicken broth and threw in a ton of zucchini, eggplant, celery and chicken breast, and just the smallest amount of squash for sweetness. Add lots of basil and presto, diet-conforming real food. No cooked carrots, rice, noodles, potatoes or other stuff that was strictly off limits. I did ok by losing 31lbs in 30 days, and I was hungry only the first two or three days as I adjusted. If the prescribed pre-op diet is making you dizzy and crampy, and you're going to cheat anyway because of it, talk to your surgeon to see if you can get some approved actual foods to eat.

A big part of it is that boredom eating is much harder. If you are determined you can do it, but it is hard to stuff an entire cheesecake into a golf ball. I still eat chips on occasion, but only about 5. After that there's no room at the inn.

No, there doesn't appear to be one single right way to do it. There are an awful lot of similarities among methods, which is why we're all pretty much unanimous on the badness of eggs five days out. The length of the liquids and mushies phases, exactly what foods should be eaten when, and when you can move back into full food is variable depending on surgeon. For me I did a week of thin liquids, a week of full liquids like pureed bean Soup and then mushies. I've heard of some people doing a full four weeks of liquids before going on to mushies. It all depends on your surgeon.

It's just Water. Your weight can vary as much as 10lbs depending on your hydration state. Right after the surgery you were super hydrated, then you probably lost a lot in the day or two after, and now you're building it back up again. Plus, when you starved your liver during the pre-op diet you dumped a huge amount of water weight. Now you're probably eating carbs a bit again so your liver is stocking the carbs back up. It takes 2x the water to store 1 unit of energy. Water is very heavy. I would say anything your scale tells you within two-three weeks of the surgery should be taken with a large grain of salt.

It's a bit early for you to be eating solids, even eggs. Tomato soup I don't really see the problem. At this point you want scar tissue to form and cement your band into place a bit, and for this to happen you don't want any pressure on the band. If you're eating solids you may get pressure on the band and you won't heal properly in the right place. Short term gain but long term detriment. You're going to be hungry and there isn't a lot you can do about it. It's just a phase we all have to go through. My instructions were pretty much limitless liquids after the surgery to kill the hunger. You can puree more substantial Soups like bean and bacon to help a bit.

Open sores involve goo. You're fine.

He's the failure, not you. It may sound cold, but boot him. Would you really be happy living with a person you had to persuade to stay with you? If you've only been married 5 months and this is the second episode of him wanting out, I honestly don't think all the therapy in the world is going to fix this without some major action. I would suggest a separation for a while where you do not see each other at all. That way he can a)get out of your life and stop making you so miserable by his daily waffling or b)realize he is being a tool and grow up. If he's seeing somebody else then you've already lost him and there's not much you can do about it other than make him write all the notes to accompany the wedding presents that you would be returning. With all the waffling, it sort of sounds like he's missing out on that action-->consequence idea that most of us develop sometime during the teen years. Making him write all those notes for returned wedding gifts explaining to all the people who gave you something for your wedding may make him re-evaluate the situation and give him the swift kick in the behind it sounds like he needs. Call it "couples therapy for one".

I'm interested in this one because I'm in exactly the same boat. I had a reduction right after high school and went down to a 34C. Right now I'm a 46DD (probably really an E but I can't get the right size) I would be soooooo happy if I went back to a C or even a B. The girls have been in my way for years and I want them gone! Flat as a board? I'll take it.

And you may not feel that much after your second fill either. Be patient grasshopper... it will come. I have just started this week to get some restriction and I had my surgery in mid-October. Yeah, the slow start is a bit of a let down after the inital weight loss from the pre-op diet, but that's just the way it is. Pretty much everybody says the same thing: rush the fills and all you end up with is a complete unfill after puking your guts out.

It doesn't actually get stuck in the throat, it just feels like it. The hole between your pouch and the rest of your stomach will be about the size of a chick pea. Any glob of food smaller than that is going to get stuck. Ditto for any food that is too dry or sticky and globs up when you swallow. So even if you chew something really well it can still get stuck. Also if you eat too fast your pouch will fill up faster than your body signals you, and you'll back food up into your esophegus, which will often lead to pukesville and pain. Your stomach is quite vertical so your pouch is much higher up in your body than you would think. Kind of like riding the subway: there's enough room on the platform, there's enough room in the subway, but there's still a huge backup to get through the door.

I prefer morning as I'm tighter in the morning. I don't want to get a fill at night when I'm loose and then the next morning not be able to drink because I've tightened up. As I progress I may move to nights and then just accept that I can't really eat breakfast because I'll be too tight.

Watch bands are usually leather or plastic, not latex. It could just be irritation on the skin, or you could be reacting to your own sweat, which does happen. Try wearing your watch looser, more like a bangle. To test the latex allergy theory you can buy a pair of gloves at the pharmacy cheap. If you do get a reaction to them your doctor must know so that they can switch out their gloves for the nitrile ones (equally as good but more expensive) As far as I know, the band does not have latex in it but check their website as it will probably say.

There is a quite simple answer everybody is overlooking: most of us got heparin during surgery. It's a blood thinner and prevents clotting. I had trouble with bleeding when I brushed my teeth for about a month and a half after my surgery, but it's all better now. I was told not to have any unnecessary dental work done for three months after my surgery because heparin has a long residence time in the body and bleeding could become problematic. That included going to the dentist for a cleaning. I also noticed that the small bumps I got at work turned into massive bruises almost until Christmas, and I had my surgery in mid-October.

I had my surgery in October and I haven't lost anything yet. I got my third fill on Monday so I now have 7.5cc in a 14cc band and I'm starting to get a hint of restriction. I think my next fill on the 18th will be the one to get things going. After the insanity of losing 31lbs in 30 days on the pre-op diet, having my hair fall out in chunks and my body generally telling me it was not pleased with what I had done to it, I'm sort of glad that I'm a slow starter post-op. My body has a bit more time to normalize again before taking a second roller coaster ride of weight loss.

I'm 18K as well. It includes the surgery, the band, one year of psychotherapy, nutritional counseling, chiro & physio, and apparently they are sort of flexible on the one year limit. I get unlimited fills and unfills and general support.

I was warned that if they had to convert to an open surgery instead of lap, additional fees may have applied to accommodate that, but band or port replacement due to defect etc was completely on their tab. If the fill nurse did stab my tubing requiring a new port and they refused, I would fight them tooth and nail, and would probably win. Depending on what goes wrong, OHIP may pay for fixes as I have universal healthcare because I'm Canadian.

It depends on where you are. My package included unlimited fills and un-fills for life, and if there was a problem with the band the second surgery would be covered unless it was obvious that I did something like massive, chronic overeating to screw it up. Band erosions or port problems are totally covered for me. If you get a band and it's clearly defective from the get go, or they miss with the needle and stab your tubing, there is no reason in the world why you should have to pay to fix that! Just my personal opinion.

I eat pain for breakfast and even I'd draw the line at that one. So definitely no. Unless you have squishy private box seats where it's physically impossible for anybody else to touch you, you will not be up to it.

Count me in the no-loss bunch. I've been eating my protein, eating less overall, and getting a moderate amount of exercise, but I still haven't lost a pound since my surgery in the middle of October. After 2 fills I don't really have any restriction so I'm hoping that my fill on Monday will finally give me some restriction to work with. For me it's been a very slow start but I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

My first two fills were only a week apart and I had no problem. The first fill was 4cc and the second 2cc. The closeness of the fills may have been possible due to the fact I have a large band instead of a small one. I would have gone in for fill number 3 a week after that, but Christmas got in the way so I'm headed back on the 4th. I'm scheduled for fill 4 on the 18th of January. That makes four fills in about a month and a half.

Ok, I'm a fairly patient person and I know the band is not a quick solution, but geez, couldn't the powers that be give me a break just once in my life and let me lose a few ounces? I haven't lost a single pound since my surgery. Granted, I haven't gained any more than the 8 of water I gained back after surgery, but I'm doing my best here and have yet to see much in the way of results. I'm eating my protein, eating less overall, staying away from fried foods, breads and pastas, and I'm trying to stay away from the other bad foods I know I shouldn't eat. I've eaten so much chicken and fish that I should really open up my own farm, and should also be buying stock in Campbell's soup. If I ate any slower breakfast would run into lunch and dinner, and I'm still always hungry. Two fairly aggressive fills down and there's still no change. Maybe it's the time of year that has me frustrated most. Winter is here and that always means more pain for me. I'm in pain every single day of my life, but winter brings it out in force, and I don't know how many more years it's going to be that I'm going to be able to make it cane-free. Some days I cry at the thought of getting out of bed in the morning just because I'm tired of the pain. Maybe I'm just bitter because at 34 years old I can't remember a time when I didn't have to worry about collapsing on the floor because the pain was too bad to stand up, and even if I finally manage to lose weight, collapsing on the floor from pain is never going to stop being a problem. I was really looking forward to the chiropractor visits that are a part of my banding package, but I can't say that I'm thrilled so far. I've just spent $18K on a non-refundable, non-optional comprehensive services package and the first thing the chiropractor tried to do was to get me to attend his other clinic for acupuncture treatments. In his opinion, acupuncture is the only treatment that's ever been effective for my illness and, what a co-incidence, it's not covered as part of the comprehensive package and it would be additional. Couldn't he have waited at least a few appointments in to up-sell me? Does he think I'm not noticing this? :biggrin: There's no way I can get hooked on a treatment I can't afford... that would be cruel. After 23 years with a painful illness, to get treatment that worked and have it taken away because I couldn't afford it would be much worse than never knowing if it worked in the first place. On the up side, my mother is no longer having screaming hissy fits at me about my lack of weight loss. It has moved into the realm of pointed glares. At least that gives me the option of looking away and ignoring it. :biggrin:

Ok, I'm a fairly patient person and I know the band is not a quick solution, but geez, couldn't the powers that be give me a break just once in my life and let me lose a few ounces? I haven't lost a single pound since my surgery. Granted, I haven't gained any more than the 8 of water I gained back after surgery, but I'm doing my best here and have yet to see much in the way of results. I'm eating my protein, eating less overall, staying away from fried foods, breads and pastas, and I'm trying to stay away from the other bad foods I know I shouldn't eat. I've eaten so much chicken and fish that I should really open up my own farm, and should also be buying stock in Campbell's soup. If I ate any slower breakfast would run into lunch and dinner, and I'm still always hungry. Two fairly aggressive fills down and there's still no change. Maybe it's the time of year that has me frustrated most. Winter is here and that always means more pain for me. I'm in pain every single day of my life, but winter brings it out in force, and I don't know how many more years it's going to be that I'm going to be able to make it cane-free. Some days I cry at the thought of getting out of bed in the morning just because I'm tired of the pain. Maybe I'm just bitter because at 34 years old I can't remember a time when I didn't have to worry about collapsing on the floor because the pain was too bad to stand up, and even if I finally manage to lose weight, collapsing on the floor from pain is never going to stop being a problem. I was really looking forward to the chiropractor visits that are a part of my banding package, but I can't say that I'm thrilled so far. I've just spent $18K on a non-refundable, non-optional comprehensive services package and the first thing the chiropractor tried to do was to get me to attend his other clinic for acupuncture treatments. In his opinion, acupuncture is the only treatment that's ever been effective for my illness and, what a co-incidence, it's not covered as part of the comprehensive package and it would be additional. Couldn't he have waited at least a few appointments in to up-sell me? Does he think I'm not noticing this? :present: There's no way I can get hooked on a treatment I can't afford... that would be cruel. After 23 years with a painful illness, to get treatment that worked and have it taken away because I couldn't afford it would be much worse than never knowing if it worked in the first place. On the up side, my mother is no longer having screaming hissy fits at me about my lack of weight loss. It has moved into the realm of pointed glares. At least that gives me the option of looking away and ignoring it. :Dancing_wub:

Is it even possible to gain 10lbs of fat weight in a week?!? You would have to be almost non-stop eating... you weren't secretly on a cruise to the Bahamas with all inclusive margaritas were you?