honk

My doctor required a 30 pound loss. I did that in 3 months. I had to postpone my surgery for other health reasons. I ended up loosing 50 pounds before surgery. I went to a seminar for another doctor and he required everyone to lose 15 pounds. One silver lining is that he said 1200 calories my doctor wanted me to do a 500 cal. liquid diet for 3 months. I ended up not following that diet and made up my own. But I still lost the required weight.

Hi. I am currently on COBRA; but it will be running out in a few months. I called my insurance to see what my policy will cost after COBRA. Turns out that due to LAPBand they will not cover me at all and that I need to turn to my states high risk insurance pool. They will not cover me because of the lap band surgery. I have to be 3 years out. For a 1700 deductable the insurance will be $526 a month for 80/20 policy. FYI. So hears to hoping that I get a full time direct job with benefits before my COBRA runs out!

My scale is 1 pound less than my PCP's scale and one pound more then the band doctor. Also I weigh myself basically nude at home and at the doctors I am fully dressed so about 4 pounds more.

Your stomach is healing from the stitches that have been put in it. Please return to food plan your doctor ordered. Once the swelling has gone down from surgery there is no difference in your body then preband regarding your ability to swallow food. That won't change until you start getting fills.

You should wait a minimum of 30 minutes preferrably 60 after eating a meal before drinking. Also you should not drink while eating.

You mentioned milk shakes. Do you mean protein shakes that are say 250 calories with 30 g of protein or a dessert milkshake? Also for mushies what kind? At three weeks I was allowed to have low/non fat cottage cheese or ricotta. At week four when I could add shredding chicken I mixed it with low fat laughing cow cheese much better than mayo.

One and a half Coronas is equal to the calories in a snickers bar. I would be sure to add that to your calories budget for the day.

Well including preband diet starting in 10/08 I've lost about 140 pounds went from 30/32 bottoms to 20/22 depending on brand. What I find frustrating is I'm prob. 2 sizes smaller on top. So you'd think I was safely in regular sizes for shirts. I usually find that XL Misses is significantly smaller than 1X. Often 1X is too big but XL is too small.

SUPER important. Previous poster was right. If you are eating few calories and burning a lot (say exercising); your body will burn muscle like the heart muscle. This is why people with eating disorders have heart attacks.

I waited another week after yoghurt to do ricotta

Unless you are in the deep countryside ask a member of local management for advice about a good hospital. If you are vomiting blood this is an emergency. Remember it is in your employers best interest to get you emergency healthcare. Worse comes to worse find a local a HR person and tell them you need medical Help NOW.

My fills have a small pinch from the needle and over very quickly. I did not have any restriction until month 5. Not trying to be alarmist just telling my personal experience. My fills amounts were like 4,2,2,1, 1.4,.6,.6,.1. Please do be careful after the fill and follow your doctors orders. Most call for a modified post fill diet. Your stomach can be irritated by the tightening of the band. Mine calls for 24 hours full liquids and 24 hours mushies. I have seen people write in that they ate solid foods immediatly following a fill and had a back stuck episode. Meaning the food got stuck passing from the pouch to the large "stomach".

I'm sorry but I have to say it. Your drinking is excessive. Not long ago there was a research study that showed in families where the males were alcohics; the females were statistically more likely to be obese. In my family there are a significant number of male alcoholics and most of the females are overweight. The compulsion to drink is closely related to the urge to eat when you are'nt hungry.

Since your surgery was only a week ago it could be that you are still quite swollen. As you drink it's taking a while for the liquid to drain from the pouch to the "big stomach". I think of the pouch like a funnel. Now six months out the are times that I have eaten and am "full" but my lower stomach gurgles and growls because it's technically empty.

While I don't think it mentally healthy to deprive yourself of a food FOREVER; I do have foods that I can't keep in my house. Childrens' cereal is a trigger food for me. I can eat 1/2 a box in a sitting. Not exaggerating. I can't buy it any more. You may need to set up food plans. If I go to a party I can have a couple crackers and some cheese. Since I am in public I'm less likely to eat a lot of that high cal/fat food. If ate them at home forget it!

I have greek yoghurt (which is thicker than regular yoghurt), teaspoon benefiber, 1/2 scoop vanilla whey isolate protein powder, 1/8-1/4 cup Kashi Go Lean. By the time you add the protein powder and cereal it makes the yoghurt a lot thicker. I've been having this for breakfast 6 days a week for months. Can go about 4-4.5 hours.

I had been laid off for 9 months then worked from home for another 9. Now that I'm working at a client site I've had to buy some clothes. I am easily 2 sizes larger on the bottom than the top. Depending on how how large the cut I can fit into regular sizes on top but not the bottom.

Even during "bandster hell" my doctor prefers you to do 3 meals a day and grit it out the rest of the time. He would say to drink some crystal light to control the "head hunger". A huge issue for bandsters is head hunger. Clearly there are times you are physically hungry. Other times 4 o'clock in the afternoon you're at work and bored. You're brain says "Let's have a snack!" When I went in for my 4 week check up I told the nurse what I was eating which included a 60 cal. pudding cup. She asked if I was really hungry or if it was becoming a habit. When I thought about it she was right it was habit not hunger that led me to eat it daily. My nut did approve a low fat cheese stick or low cal/fat protein shake prework out since I have about a 7 hour span between lunch and dinner (due to going to the gym).

While I normally don't eat at 9 or after; between work and getting to the gym I often eat at 8. I asked the Nut. and she said that the biggest issue with people eating late is that they often go for high fat calorie foods (nachos, pizza). That if I was eating 3 oz of lean protein and 1 cup of veggies no sauces she did'nt have a problem with that.

I do notice tighting around TOM. I also however fell tighter or looser depending on the time of day, if I'm really busy. The band is after all connected to muscle; and muscle tightens and loosens. I would get a small until. My nurse said if you get acid indegestion, cant eat 3 oz solid protein, must resort to liquids to get nutrition that you are too tight. I've read of many people on this site who kept their bands too tight because they were loosing a lot of weight. In the end it backfired on them because the band slipped and had to be either replaced or totally taken out.

That's a hard one. My first day home I was on clear soups but could have protein shakes. You may still be swollen from surgery. I did not go full liquid soups (tomato) until day 8. It sounds however like you are having more emotional concerns of eating after surgery rather than a physical issue. I would try taking small sips but maybe timing yourself so you take a sip every 20 seconds. That should give the liquid time to make it's way through the band so you don't feel like it's "pooling" in the small stomach.

My insurance said the same thing but told me if there were complications I would be approved to stay over night. My doctor has people stay overnight but you are really there for 23 hours or less. We think of nights like a hotel no matter how long you were there you get charged for a whole day. Hospitals are apparently not like that.

I don't have first hand experience. I think my biggest concern would be 1) what if there was a problem and the tongue piercing got in the way of saving my life (alarmist I know.). Also what if there is an issue and it gets ripped out when they are working on you. Personally I would take it out.

I agree about sugar/fat free pudding mix really helps with the flavor. Also sugar free syrups founds in the coffee isle are very good as well. If you are allowed to make your shakes with milk; I highly recommend making Milk "cubes" with fat free milk. Put them in a freezer bag and use them 2 at a time (my measure about 1/3 cup milk). Gives protein shakes a nice icy/frappe like texture. Additionally you can try spices like cinnamon or extracts (mint etc). For premade soups I added Mrs Dash non salt spices before heating. The spices would reconstitute and give a nice flavor.

I agree with Effiepoo if your fill was a week ago and you can't eat solids you are too tight. In my opinion many people on this site are too tight. They want the band to force them not to eat certain foods. My doctor never said that would be true. He mentioned some foods may be harder to eat but never set up the expectation the band would be a a superego telling me what I should and should not eat.