faybie

I have been on the low/no carb diet that Dr. Spivak requires. I have decided after reading the forum that I am going to go straight liquids one week pre-op, so that is in 5 days. I am visiting restaurants that I will miss on my one month post op mushy diet. I am practicing my new eating style to get myself mentally prepared. I put my fork or spoon down between each bite. Just eating low carb style, my appetite has greatly reduced and things are tasting too salty and spicy. The salad at Niko Niko's yesterday was terribly salty, however my SIL said it tasted normal to her. I am very excited, nervous and anxious to begin my journey in band land. :nervous I feel that I will lose the weight very quickly. I have never had a problem with dieting. The problem I have is maintaining and keeping it off. So I am a Yo-Yo overweight person.

I have been on the low/no carb diet that Dr. Spivak requires. I have decided after reading the forum that I am going to go straight liquids one week pre-op, so that is in 5 days. I am visiting restaurants that I will miss on my one month post op mushy diet. I am practicing my new eating style to get myself mentally prepared. I put my fork or spoon down between each bite. Just eating low carb style, my appetite has greatly reduced and things are tasting too salty and spicy. The salad at Niko Niko's yesterday was terribly salty, however my SIL said it tasted normal to her. I am very excited, nervous and anxious to begin my journey in band land. :nervous I feel that I will lose the weight very quickly. I have never had a problem with dieting. The problem I have is maintaining and keeping it off. So I am a Yo-Yo overweight person.

Serendipity, Good luck next Tuesday! I still have a week and a half and I am so anxious, giddy and nervous all the time. LOL. but in a good happy way. Grats to GotBlock21, Wheezy, jgordo17 and Allie C! :clap2: for being banded recently! Its great to hear that you are fine and doing well. Thanks again for all of the feedback. My Dr. is not as strict as most and I too have added some extra restrictions on myself to get me prepared! I am going to start liquids only one week before surgery even though my Dr. only requires 2 days. Jessica aka ClaritySeeker Grats to you too! You, me and Robin have the same Dr and similar numbers and all being banded this month. 12 days until surgery wooo hooo!

Jana, That is so great! It am sure it is so nice to get compliments from people who don't know about your surgery. Just to make you feel a bit better, My sponsor told me that people didn't notice that she had been losing weight until she had lost over 70 lbs. Grats on your NSV!!!!!!!!

White Rabbit, You are definitely not alone. I had a situation that was similarly stressful with my father. He was an absentee father that had 3 failed marriages and turned to very heavy drinking for the last 10 years of his life. He tried to commit suicide about 2 years before he died by over dosing on some vicadin and drinking 2 liters of scotch. To his dismay, his neighbor came to check on him and found him on the floor and called 911 immediately. His sister, my aunt, nursed him back to health. I am not really sure how he ended up at my house exactly. I think he was running from the law from a dwi ticket and needed to get out of the state. My family and I took him in under the assumption that he would be with us for a month until he got on his feet. Well I will spare you the two years of agony and pain of what I went through until his death, but know that it was horrible and I necessarily wasn't very happy to be taking care of a father who had never once taken care of me. There are two things that helped me tremendously during those two years and by the time of his death my father had seen another grandson, we repaired our relationship to the best it would get and best of all he died in peace in a loving envrionment without a worry in the world. How did it go from hell to so peaceful? Well, first and foremost I started seeing a counselor through our mental health program at work like people have mentioned in previous posts. It was a long and arduous journey but we worked through everything that was an issue in my life and each time I needed help, we came up with a practical way to confront each issue that worked for me whether it was mental (due to the unhealthy relationship with my father), money related, stress related, etc. The very first thing my counselor did was refer me to my PCP to ask about anti-anxiety, temper controlling, stress coping medication. I started then and am still taking Celexa 40mg. I started taking only 10mg. It may not be the right medication for you that is something for your PCP to decide and you may even choose a more herbal approach, entirely up to you. However, I do recommend that you see your PCP and tell him everything, including situations of where you are extremely overwhelmed to how you feel when you are angry at the situation. The medication for me was able to even out my emotions so I stopped going from 0 to 10 emotionally within 3 secs which is a common symptom of people under too much stress. It gave me the patience and clarity that I needed to deal with everything in a more practical manner instead of being led by my emotions. By taking care of me, I took care of my husband and children, salvaged my job, repaired friendships and resloved issues with my father. Like I mentioned before, even though I was going to counseling and taking medication, it almost took the entire two years before peace was back in my life. I send you....... many, many hugs and I truely know how stressed you feel. Please feel free to PM any time if you need to vent or a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear of any kind. ~ Faybie

Are your clothes starting to get loose or does it just seem like water weight? 20 lbs. is really great in that time frame, good job! :clap2: I was 231 at my initial check up with my Dr. and at 200 I am usually a whole size smaller. ~ Just curious. My closet is shaped like a horse shoe. My current clothes that are size 22's are on my left when I walk in. Going clockwise they are sorted by size counting down to size 8. Mostly, I just ignore my closet and only pay attention to the far left, but this weekend, I sat on the floor smiling looking up at all the sizes and envisioned me fitting back into each size. :biggrin1: LOL. Mind you, I might be terribly out of fashion by the time I hit size 8. ha ha ha ha.

tee hee, honestly I have yet to try either. I don't like chocolate much, however my experience with diet food is that chocolate always tastes better than strawberry. I bought a package of both for my liquids stage, so I will know very soon.

Grats!

That's a great question. I was wondering that myself....

happyk That is great to hear! Mine would have been covered if I had selected the out of network option on my insurance. I could wait and change it next year, but I am too anxious to start the process now.

My co-workers have seen me yo-yo up and down from size 22 to size 8 for 8 years now. So, I am lucky that they will not be suspicious of any weight loss drop. They have seen me try every diet imaginable with great weight loss success. It's the keeping it off part and then passing my original weight that is my problem. Hopefully they will just think I finally found something that works for me.

ha ha jynx! :biggrin1: you owe me an um...... slim fast!

Wow guys thank you so much for all of the updates. I do so much better in situations knowing what to expect whether good or bad. I am keeping a running log of items and things that each of you used that helped you and it has been great, so I will be very prepared. Robin, Is your ticker current? I am very interested in seeing how you are doing since banding as it seems we have similar numbers. :biggrin1: Congrats to everyone who has been banded so far this month!

size8beauty, I don't really write checks much so that part didn't bother me as much, however there are check verification systems out there such as verisign, I was more dissapointed that he didn't except credit cards. I haven't seen anyone post that they hated him, however I do think that each one of us has different requirements. I am very appreciative of the comments made on this thread because I was trying to choose between Dr. Speigel and Dr. Spivak. By reading this thread, I was able to determine that Dr. Spivak was a better fit for me. I am very happy to hear that the lap-band has been a total success for you. That is great to hear. I will be joining you soon.

hmmmmmm. I think I smell a troll... I do, I do smell a trollie troll.

Wow Debbie, I would be upset too if I had not received a refund. I am self pay so I will not have the hassles or any let downs from my insurance because it is not covered. The amount doesn't bother me, because my husband and I eat out 75% of the time and it is usually a 3 or 4 course ordeal everytime (I have been having a love affair with fine dining). I know that over the next couple of years our dining out bill will significantly decrease. Another thing that turned me off about Dr. Speigel is that when you are scheduling your appointment they let you know up front that they don't deal with credit cards or personal checks specifically CASH only. The cash only statement threw up a huge red flag and made me feel uncomfortable with his process.

Morgan, No worries, you look like you are doing a great job. The more you come back and post the more comfortable you will be. No need to apologize, we all started at the same place. Glad to have you here.

LOL. Please don't be mad.... but what is a Troll? I honestly have no idea. Thanks for the post, I needed a laugh and I have been smiling since I started reading the thread. Btw.....Have I mentioned that I like dancing bananas?

Sherry , Wow a mandatory 30 lbs. that has to be tough. If we could lose 30lbs at the drop of a hat, we wouldn't need the surgery. I guess postponing your surgery is his way of getting you to comply however that seems a bit impersonal. I wish he wasn't so dismissive of your 15 lbs.

Wow Robin, what interesting observations! Thanks for sharing. Good luck to everyone going today :biggrin1:

MizJudie WoW! again! I am soooooo glad I came to this forum before choosing my Dr. I had originally chose Dr. Speigal and decided to choose Dr. Spivak after reading patient posts of both Dr's. Irwinlaura I am so glad that you found someone so supportive to help you. LOL. So funny how small petite women always want to give advice on losing weight and staying thin. I was eating a salad the other day at work and this 22 year old size 0 said "wow, why don't you go get yourself some real food." O.O "I laughed and said, well I guess if I was your size, I would think the same thing."

WoW MizJudie what a jerk!!! I think your results look great! You know, at my seminar I met a fellow bander and listened intently to her story. She started at 360 and she said it took 70 pounds or so before anyone even noticed that she was losing weight. Three years later she is 190 or so and has a new lease on life, snowboarding with her son and traveling with her husband. I can't believe the nerve of some people and just how uneducated some Dr.'s seem to be. I have to insert a dancing banana here..... they are just so cute! :Banane27:

Patti, Great to hear you are doing ok. Nice to know that for those of us who have had kids this will be a cake walk. Neither of my children's births were easy or uncomplicated. GEMoM, I think that is a great question. I am only required to have liquids for 2 days post-op, however I have prepared enough for two weeks. I have seen people post that even though they could eat mushies sooner, they said they couldnt get them down. I am not looking forward to the shoulder pain! :cry That sounds just awful, however now I understand why we are advised to walk right away.

huh? Did you mean to add this to a different thread?

Wow! what great results Patty! If that isn't motivation to get the ball rolling, I don't know what is......