nkara

Your kidding me right!? Who are you to decide if this person is "big" enough to have surgery. Don't you recall the co-morbidities associated as well? I'm sure if her doctor agrees with her needing the surgery and medicare is willing to pay for it they know more than us non medical people correct? :scared2: Anyway back onto the question the poor poster asked. Yes I did have to gain weight to qualify. I was just under 40 BMI and I had to put on 20 lbs to qualify. Now mind you I had been heavier in the past and had lost weight with W/W but I couldn't keep it off. I tried for years. I have been overweight for 30 years. Just because your able to loose weight it doesn't mean you are going to keep it off. The constantly loosing and gaining is what puts strain on your body. I would suggest not to eat just cookie dough. Eat healthy foods.. Proteins .. just eat large quantities and more often. :thumbup:

I'm hungry a lot now and I am 4 weeks out. I'm still on the doctor suggested diet and switched to the soft solid stage today. I started to add a scoop of low fat Peanut Butter to my Protein shakes and that helps. I definitely can't eat the quantity in one sitting that I used to. I stop eating once I feel full where as before I'd keep eating past that point and feel like a stuffed pig for hours after. I don't go for my first fill till the 23rd. Of course my mother is mad because I won't be able to eat x-mas dinner now. lol I'm supposed to be on clears for 48 hours after a fill. Oh well.. there's always next year. food is not here for me to devour food is here for me to live.

Oh I'm so happy to hear you can eat salads. I love salads! :scared2: I start soft solid stage today and hope to get back on eating healthy salads soon. I have to agree with the previous posters.. Wendy's Chili and cheese isn't a healthy salad:eek:

I agree with everyone who posted. I researched this for a year before I scheduled my appointment with the surgeon. I tried a doctor supervised liquid diet prior to this to see if I could do it by myself and keep it off and no such luck. I was banded 4 weeks ago today and I've lost about 8 - 11 lbs. So not everyone will drop an enormous amount that fast. You have to realize everyone is different and so is the weight loss. For myself I know I loose slowly, always have so I'm not surprised the weight isn't falling off me like others. The surgery part was extremely painful for me. I stayed in the hospital overnight and was sent home with 2 pain meds. I felt so much pain in my stomach and back mostly for about a week or so. I felt the turning point about 3 weeks out and now I'm feeling perfectly fine. Go to meetings in your area. Look up the hospitals and clinics and call to see if they have wls meetings. I have 3 hospitals in my area that have meetings once a month for this. Talk to everyone. I will say that this is absolutely the best thing I've done and I'm only starting on my journey!

I agree it's so hard to not want the fast weight loss but I know for me my body does not loose weight fast. EVER:cursing: So for me I've lost 11 lbs since surgery which was 11/12/09. I am still on the pureed diet. My doctor has a gradual diet program so I went from Clear Liquids the first week to full liquids the second week and now pureed for 2 weeks and soft solids for 2 weeks. I am expecting to loose between 1 - 2 lbs a week but I will be surprised if I do. I would like to loose a total of 80 lbs and my doctor said it would take me 2 years to do it. I look at it this way.. easy and slow will be better health wise for me and I won't have to worry about excess skin. :sneaky: hopefully. Everyone is different and your journey is just beginning so good luck and let us know how you make out. :thumbup:

I was admitted after my surgery. It was supposed to be an out patient procedure but I was in so much pain I was admitted and kept on oxygen till 7 pm the following night. They needed to experiment with pain meds to keep me comfortable. Not fun.

I had pain in every section of my stomach and back. Go figure! But on the left side it's the port pain and my doctor told me it usually takes about 4 weeks. It's going away but I can definitely feel it and every once in awhile I get a twinge just to remind me it's there.

I'm trying to not weigh myself every day and stick to just Fridays.. so yesterday I was down another 2 lbs. I noticed if I do every day I fluctuate quite a bit.

Yes it's the question no one wants to talk about. Do you have problems with bowel movements? I have to say prior to surgery I'd go just about every day. Since surgery I've only gone I think 3 times. Not good! I would have to take ex-lax to make myself go. :biggrin: So I bought Benefiber yesterday and started adding it to my protein shakes. Has anyone else had this problem? :wink2::wink2:

I have been "dieting" since I was 10 years old. Now that I'm 41 I'm ready for a change of life. I chose lap band surgery because I wanted a tool to make me accountable for my actions. Now I know something is in my stomach that will help me loose the weight and keep it off. If I choose to eat something bad for me I might choose it once in awhile instead of weekly now. I'm still a work in progress so only time will tell.

I just saw this on the news and I had been drinking them. I bought a 6 pack a few weeks ago and still have 2 left. I'm throwing them away immediately!

I agree with you. I'm hungry more often now too. I can't eat the quantity I used to but I'm hungry a lot. I don't think I'm eating enough however. I am still on pureed. An example of my daily intake is like this: 8:00 am EAS Protein shake with skim milk and 1 tbl Peanut Butter (added for flavor and more protein) 12:00 pm 2 small jar's baby food. 1 chicken and gravy and 1 peas 4:00 pm yogurt or pudding 8:00 pm EAS protein shake again with skim milk and PB. Am I eating enough? I've started adding the peanut butter to try getting in more protein and to help the hunger and it does seem to be helping. I go for my first fill on the 23rd. Weight loss is ok for me so far down 11 lbs and I'm satisfied with that.

LAP-BAND: Laparoscopic Obesity Surgery Nutrition Guidelines I found this site and it really details a diet plan and explains the why's of it. I hope this helps some other bandsters. :tongue2:

now see.. this is why I'm afraid to start eating real food! I'm on pureed diet now for another week then on to mushies and I'm thinking I like it this way just fine!

Those of you who are annoyed at the weight loss being slow need to realize a loss is still a loss. If you hadn't done this surgery you probably would have been gaining weight right about now. Anyway this is a slow and gradual process. It's not supposed to be quick.. don't watch the biggest loser. We aren't working out 10 hours a day and having our meals cooked for us... we are normal human beings who decided to have pretty drastic surgery to HELP us loose weight and keep it off. Typically your supposed to take 2 - 3 years to loose all your excess weight.. so for me it would take less than 40 lbs a year to loose all mine. Take a breath and just concentrate on changing your habits.. the rest will fall into place.

yes it is the port site. My doctor told me the same thing. Sneezing and coughing hurt and I'm still sitting up straighter just because I feel it and it's sore. I believe in about 4 weeks it should feel better.. I have about 1 1/2 weeks to go for that. Please don't worry about work either. I'm out for a total of 6 weeks because I'm a CNA and there is no way I can go back to work lifting patients right now. This is for YOU and you need to take care of yourself.

It's very normal. I was also banded a little over 2 weeks ago and I'm hungry a lot now. The first week I was in too much pain but now I'm hungry more often. I am trying to stick to the pureed portion of my plan which is for another week and 1/2 and then on to the mushies stage. Please Please be careful with your diet. I researched why they put us on this gradual diet increasing back to solid foods and it is for our insides to heal properly. They say it takes 4 weeks for your stomach to heal and if you try to eat foods your not supposed to you could hurt the band/it could slip. :tongue2: I've been adding Peanut Butter to my Protein shakes and it's been better. I have some days where I am hungrier than others but I'm dealing with it. I don't go back to my doctor till the 23rd for a fill. I knew it would be hard and I so desperately want to eat! But I'm not because I'm more afraid of screwing up my band before it heals.

agree with the pain. I was on 2 pain meds for about 5 days but it got better every day and I could really only drink broth. I could get down maybe 1/2 a coffee cup of it at a time so don't worry too much. Just take it easy and sip every so often. I agree with the heating pad too. It helped with the stomach pain.

Hi there, I am from RI and was banded on the 12th. I was taking pain meds till about 2 days ago. I'm still uncomfortable and I get tired fast. I didn't realize the pain I would feel after this surgery but every day I feel a little bit better. Hang in there.. we'll both do great!

I've actually never heard of anyone having to stop smoking for this surgery. I hope others have an opinion on this.

I'm also 2 weeks post op and I was scared to feel any pain so I stuck with only having pureed foods... which was butter nut squash, mashed potatoes loaded with gravy and cranberry sauce. It was all mushy and I had maybe 1/2 cup total. When they took out desert I had a sliver of cheese cake and it was the really creamy kind. I probably had maybe 3 tablespoons of that and I felt full. I actually felt a little twinge of pain in my chest so I'm assuming that is what full is for me now. I was fine with that... the only thing I wish I could have tried was the lamb. It looked really good! but I'm glad I'm banded and feeling better.. I am still sore and tired so it was a lot of sitting on the couch at my mothers. Felt guilty not helping them clean up but I'm so nervous about screwing something up before I heal completely! lol

I'm another one who had a lot of pain after being banded. I stayed 1 night in the hospital and went home with two pain meds. It took me probably 5 days to not feel the intense pain. I actually didn't have any gas pain.... but I did have back pain and of course my stomach. I am two weeks post op and I'm still sore. By the end of the day I'm exhausted but it is getting better. Take it easy and drink liquids and try to walk even if it's down the hall and back. Oh yea.. and try gas-x strips... they worked when I had occasional gas pain.

I was banded the 12th so I'm still on liquids. I progress to pureed tomorrow for two weeks. Then I get to eat mushies! yippee... lol I've had days lately where I have hunger pains. I know I'm not eating enough with my full liquid diet but I'm doing ok. I'm kinda scared to start eating anything more.

at least your at the mushy stage.. I'll be at the pureed stage on Thursday. :thumbup: Oh well... mashed potatoes here I come!

Wonderful advice from everyone. Take a breath and just think happy thoughts. It's all worth it.