MaggieB

I'm a school nurse so I too have a limited lunch break. Most of the time I take deli meat & cheese, a little bit of fruit & a couple of pretzels or crackers & lots of water.

My 1st appt with the surgeon was easy and fast. He reviewed my past weight loss & medical history, went over the procedure with me, answered my questions, briefly went over my insurance requirements and met the PA and the other doctor that would be supervising the "diet" part of the program.

I don't bother with it either - honestly I hate the questions/comments that come with telling people I have been banded, more often it is negative comments from people. Most of the time I order a salad and just eat a bit from my families plates. If we are with friends or coworkers I just order a meal and take left overs home.

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Started with clear liquids for a few days then advanced to full liquids for about 5 weeks. My "full liquid" diet consisted of Protein shakes, Soups, cottage cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, popsicles, juices etc or anything that I blended in a blender (tried this once - way to gross for me). My doctor is pretty conservative with the post-op diet. During this 5 weeks I got my protein in from the shakes - just made sure I had 3 of them a day. After the 5 weeks I transitioned into soft, diced foods then finally regular foods.

Im looking too!

What happened to the "social groups" section? dont really care for this new layout.

I eat 3 meals a day & that works for me. Rarely do I "need" a snack between meals.

I'm 5'3, started at 232lbs. My doctors "ideal weight" for me is 115. I haven't been that weight since high school. My personal goal is around 130.

I am also tight in the morning. I just drink a protein shake, by lunch (around 1130-12) I am fine. My doctor knows - she is Ok with me drinking a shake for breakfast & told me if I still had trouble to drink something warm to loosen up.

My surgeon also has his lap band patients stay over night. Day after my surgery I had another upper GI done and was discharged in the afternoon. Even though I didn't get much sleep in the hospital I think I was better off staying the night - it was easier getting in/out of that hospital bed - I think I would have been miserable at home that first night.

I weight myself daily - every morning after I shower.

I don't care for it much either. I mixed it with Crystal Lite lemonade & would put it in the fridge for awhile. I was able to tolerate it better if it was really cold.

I have been losing about 10lbs per month. I noticed hair loss about 2 months ago but it has tapered off.

My eval was quick. The doctor asked me questions about my diet/eating history, the procedure etc. He wanted to make sure I knew & understood what I wanted to do. The interview lasted about 30 minutes then he gave me written test - had to answer 300+ questions.

I go to the Little Elm club also. My current membership is for that club only right now - when I resign up in Jan I am going to get the "all club" membership, I would like to go to the Aqua classes at THe Colony 24hr fitness. So - do you feel it was worth the money for the trainer? I'm hoping to sign up this weekend.

You are not alone...night snacking is the worst for me. I can control it during the day - I work for the school district and have to pack my own lunch/snacks - really don't have an opportunity to snack on other things unless I have brought them with me. I try to make good choices for Snacks but it is very difficult. Sometimes I just have brush my teeth and go to bed early.

How did the personal training go? Did you go thru 24 hour fitness? I noticed you live in Frisco - I live in the same area. I have been a member of 24hr fitness since Jan and only have been to walk on the treadmill and do the Zumba classes. Everything else is very intimidating to me - I too feel like everyone is looking at me. I have been thinking about paying for the training sessions - no clue on what I should be doing for a good workout.

It took about 6 months for me due to insurance requirements - I have Aetna - had to do sleep study, psych eval, 3 nutritionist visits, 3 doctor visits. Started all of this in January 2010 had surgery June 10, 2010.

I only had to do a 3 day full liquid diet prior to surgery, after surgery I had 6 weeks. The only thing I did to prepare for this was try different protein drinks/shakes before I was on the 6 week full liquid diet just to make sure I liked them.

I don't have any problems with the physical part of hunger - I can honestly say that I don't get "hungry" unless I go for long periods of time between meals. I struggle with the head hunger part - the food/eating cravings - I guess that was my problem all along - it is all mental for me. For me the band does help a bit with this - I can not eat the volume of food I used to otherwise it is very painful and I get sick. I am a quick learner - it only took one bad painful "stuck" episode for me to get this.

I had 6 weeks of liquids - 3 days of clears after surgery then the rest of the time was "full liquids" which included Protein shakes, well blended Soups, thin oatmeal, cottage cheese, etc. It was difficult but I made it without cheating (I did have a few bites of solids/soft foods towards the end). I did & still do what my doctor recommends - I'm not going to mess anything up since it took so long to go thru all of the insurance stuff to get approved.

I never ate baby food either - it was just gross to me. I just mashed things up really well or attempted to do them in a blender.

My band is tight in the morning - really have a hard time getting food down. I just drink my protein shake for breakfast - keeps me full until time for lunch. My doctor was ok with this as long as I dont use the shake for more than one meal.

Totally worth it. I am only 4.5 months out but so glad I made this decision. so happy with my weight loss. Like a previous poster stated - Right now I feel like I am going thru that mourning stage - I do miss eating like I did preband. I miss not having to think about my food choices, the amount of food, drinking with my meals (though I do take small sips), I do get tired of eatinga little bit from everyones plate when we go out as a family - sometimes it is not worth it for me to spend money on an entree that I will only eat a few bites of.