greytz

Sorry, I meant to say they taste just as good.

Try the freeze popsicles with no sugar. They test just as good and don't have the sugar. You still have the calories, usually 60 but they are so much better for you. Also, there are sugar free fudge pops if you like chocolate like I do and sugar free italian ice which has become my absolute fave.

Hi Kimsmif, I was banded on 06-17 and don't have a fill yet. I was supposed to get one last week but had to reschedule. I am scheduled now for 08-04. I have lost 17 so far. I had a setback and gained 6 lbs. back and had to lose it all over again but I am back down to the 17 as of today so I am thrilled about that. Don't worry, you will feel the restriction and if you don't just keep working with your surgeon until you do. I am just like you getting so bored with the food. I am allowed to start solids on 07-17 but I have decided to stay on mushies until my first fill because I did have the setback and don't want that to happen again. Hopefully, I can stay with that. I have been alternating between tuna, chicken and soup. It gets old but my doctor's office began carrying high protein powders and food so I bought some of that last time I was in and that really helped to break up the boredom. Good Luck and keep in touch.

Wow! Congratulations!!! That is fantastic! And continuing to try to lose after you reached goal is very ambitious and I think that is great! Good Luck!

I was given a choice and chose the Lapband Allergan. I liked the fact there are two sizes Standard and Large. My surgeon decided which size once she got in there. She chose the Standard for me which holds 10cc. I liked the port on the LapBand better. It is higher. I liked the fact that the Lapband has the separate pillows for saline containment. Most of the seminars I attended had both available to look at. The LapBand does have a website it just isn't as interactive as the Realize. But I was more interested about what I put inside my body and didn't care about the website. I did get a full package from LapBand and the option to register. I registered on the website and received an permanent plastic card to cary with the serial number of my band, the name of my surgeon and her phone number.

You should feel good about it! What a wonderful day for you! Congratulations!!!!!

Don't forget to post your own story when you are ready.

Thank You for that Grandma26. When I read this I laughed myself silly because hot dogs were one of my favorite things. I loved them steamed in a bun with nothing on them. The Varsity in Atlanta called that a naked wiener. We didn't do July4th picnic just for that reason. Too Funny.:sad:

My surgeon never said no coffee. In fact it was on my list of things I could have along with tea. I am a decaf kind of girl but I never read anything that said I it was a no no.

It was one of the things I asked my surgeon about. Her advice was not to eat if you aren't hungry. I am the same as RM sometimes I am busy and don't even think about lunch. I usually just have an early dinner and don't eat the rest of the night. I don't put the calories in just to put them in. I still lose weight.

I also ate a lot of crab and tuna and chicken salad (no chunks of course). It is soft and mushy and I would think a cruise line would have quite a bit of fish type choices. I just kept remembering what my surgeon said which is anything that dissovles easily and has a melt factor.

The wonderful thing about this site is that you can be proud of yourself and everyone understands/gets it. It is so great to look at yourself and see the changes. Congratulations!!!! You work hard and see the results and that is something to be proud of and everybody here understands how great that is. Glad you shared it with us!

Find something to do to keep your mind off of the food. It is perfectly normal to feel that way before your first fill. I get on the computer and read this site and post some threads when I feel the hunger taking over. It helps me get my mind off of the food and after awhile, I don't even think about it anymore. Also, if possible you may want to adjust your time schedule temporarily if you can. I started going to bed a little earlier so I don't have all that empty time at night. My husband goes to bed fairly early because he works really early in the mornings so it has really helped me to go to bed when he does. It took a few days to get used to but now it is second nature to me. The first thing I do when I get up is chew my vitamin and drink my protein. It gets me ready for the day. I starting writing. It might be helpful for you to either pick up an old hobby that you have let go or start one.

Drink the protein shake before you go to the wedding and politely refuse the food if asked. You can drink other types of liquid while there (no alcohol of course). It is really important to stay on track before the surgery. You could run the risk of your surgery being postponed.

What sucked the most for me was getting stomach flu right out of the hospital. I thought OMG, I have really messed up getting this band. Once the flu was over, the only other sucky thing was the liquid stage waiting for the mushy stage. Once I hit the mushy stage all was right with the world. Every day I hit the scale I have lost a little more. That is my reward and my undies getting looser and looser. LOL. I will say one thing I have said over and over on these threads becuase you said you are going to a seminar. I visited several seminars before I found the surgeon that was right for me. I am so glad I took the time to go and make sure. Her care and the office staff have been one of the best parts of this process. I don't regret one minute of it.

I am not ashamed of being banded at all. It is not about that for me. I am proud of doing something to get healthy for myself and my family. My decision not to tell the whole world was because I don't feel it is necessary to open myself up to unnecessary criticism. Who you tell is a very private matter and only you can decide that. Some of us have nothing but supportive people in our lives and others of us have people in our lives that are not as supportive. I believe it is a very personal decision. I like this forum and appreciate everyone's opinion about things and I like sharing information. Sometimes if I get down, this forum helps keep me on track. Seminars and surgeons are for educating people.

90% is a really, really good insurance company. Mine paid 85% but I still had to come up with a $1,000 for my surgeon and around $1,500 for co-pays which was a lot for me but some people on here have had to come up with major bucks. But, most including me figure out a way to do it. I think most on here have tried all the diets in the past that didn't work, just like RM said, I did the RS deal and meal and the Atkins, Weight Watchers, South Beach and the list goes on. My defining moment was at a wedding I attended that lasted the weekend and all the "Beautiful People" were there, some from LA, etc. Anyway, that was when I said "This is it!" I was banded on 06-17-09 and could not be happier. My ticker is wrong so I have to fix it but down 20lbs. so far. Good Luck!

I am not in your area but I went to several seminars until I was comfortable with it. The last one I attended was conducted by the surgeon herself and it was about an hour. She was quite thorough and the thing I really liked was the fact that she stayed afterward as long as someone was there and still had questions. She works tirelessly and is very hands on before and after the surgery. I felt that follow up was so very important. Pre-Op, I called her office on purpose to ask questions and see how the staff reacted to me and what they were like. They too have been great and even post-op, I can call anytime and they are there to help me and could not be better to me. No matter which WLS you chose, I hope you find someone you are happy with. And I too feel that just because a hospital is corporate and huge doesn't necessarily mean they care. I actually went to a very small hospital and they were fantastic.

Well, I think you should call them anyway just to be safe or get into to see your regular doctor but I would call the surgeon first. Right after I was banded, I got home and immediately started getting the chills, sweats, diarrhea, migranes, I was so scared. I waited a couple of days to see if it would go away. When it didn't, I called the surgeon and after a long conversation with them, we realized it was stomach flu. I was relieved but not out of the woods. This was on a Friday and we decided to give it the weekend to see if I got to feeling better and of course go to the ER if it got a lot worse. By Monday, I was good as new and concluded that it was in fact stomach flu. I had not even considered that at first because my mind was so much on the surgery itself that I figured it had to be about that. But call them, that's what they get paid to do.

I weigh every morning and no more than that. I find it does help me monitor so if I ate something the night before and the next morning I hit the scale and I have gained a pound or more, then I put that food on my no-no list until I am at the maintenance level. Then I will revisit but not until then. I liked the point that you make above. It seems like I have lost more inches than pounds. It has helped me a little bit to lose the inches. I told my husband yesterday, I need new undies. I can pull my old ones almost to my chin!

It is really hard for your pre-op because you think, "I am never going to get to eat this again if I want to do the right thing when I am banded." I thought that a lot and There were a couple of days that I cheated a little. I still lost weight but it was difficult. I had a lower BMI so it turned out ok but the whole point is to get that liver down so they can get in there without running the risk of damaging it. Be strong particularly for your first couple of weeks post-op. If you read some of the threads on here for newly post-op, you will see that it is very trying the first couple of weeks. Just hang in there and you will do fine. Keep getting support and try not to defeat your intentions. Good Luck!

What is great about it being reversible is that I personally have a medical condition that at some point may require me to have my band removed. I don't appreciate you insinuating that I do not want to reach my goal and stay there for life. I absolutely do. LOL. I did not go to all this expense, time, effort and pain just to have it reversed. That is ridiculous. I am very much looking forward to weight loss forever and want it bad. I want it bad enough to follow my surgeons orders and do all the right things and I have committed myself to this for life! I was merely stating my opinion and responding based on my experience and my situation. Some people out there who are considering one thing or the other may be interested in EVERY one's opinion and something that is said may help them decide. Just as you and all the people who have been on this website for awhile and are in some kind of medical employment, I believe that everyone who has or is going through the experience may have something to offer to someone who is making considerations. As you always say and as I said with my first post on this thread, they should ultimately decide with their surgeon what is right for them. Hopefully the things we say about our experiences will give them some strength and support along the way.

Definitely get a magic bullet if you can. They sell them just about everywhere including Walmart. It is the best thing that a banded person can have. You can blend up almost anything in it.

When I first saw the question on the thread I thought I was going to open it up and read that you are 14 yrs old or something. You are a 23 yr old adult. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. I have changed primary's since then, but the first primary doctor I had didn't like the idea but I think it was because she did not understand it. Sometimes people are afraid of what they do not understand even in the medical profession. Get a new doc honey.

Hey, I know Plant City very well. I used to work in Lakeland. It is only about 20 minutes from me in Valrico. I was banded on 06-17-09 and I am on mushies now thank goodness. I will be able to go to solids on the 17th of this month. My first fill is scheduled for 08-04-09.:confused: