honk

My doctor also required 10% body weight loss. Yes shrinking the liver is important; but there are other reasons. My nurse said think of it as the doctor needing to get at something at the bottom of a fully packed suitcase. The more you take out of the suitcase (fat); the easier he can get to the stomach which is at the back of your anatomy. I highly recommend watching real surgeries on YouTube. There is no blood so they are'nt gross. They really give you an idea of what the doctor is doing to your body and how the band is attached. I think if people watched a surgery they would'nt be tempted to "cheat" on their post op diet. The stomach has gone through trauma and needs time to heal. I thought of the pre surgery diet as practicing for the rest of my life. Getting the band is'nt the end it's the beginning. Eating healthy foods and healthy sized portions now will get you in the habit of doing it later on.

The nurse at my doctor's said we don't count calories; but the Nurtitionist at the practice said to stay around 1200 per day.

I am really shocked that your doctor did'nt have you on liquids considering your previous problems. I would try broth which helps losen the band, and later try a Protein shake if you are aloud them. Every time I read that someone had saline added at surgery they end up having trouble! I know it's difficult but I would not blame the band yet. Stay on liquids so the swelling can go down.

For a time after surgery I went back on bloodthinner so my periods were heavier. I am now off bloodthinner so I am back to my normal which was always heavy to begin with. Another issue that I've had, even being off Bloodthinner is that my Cycle is messed up. I started this week and was caught totally off guard. I was having my period at Christmas so that's like only 3 weeks. I'm no doctor but I have read that fat and estrogen have a close relationship. Sooo not sure if burning fat is releasing estrogen or causing it to be manufactured.

I have heard of doctors doing this procedure so it's not out of the realm of possibility. Please remember people come for advice and try not be judgemental.

Well the question is how sweet does your coffee or tea have to be for you to enjoy it? I like mine on the sweet side. I believe each teaspoon of sugar has 15 cal. At Dunkin Donuts (at least here in the Boston area) a regular Medium sized coffee is supposed to be 2 tsp sugar 2 creams. In reality they use a spoon that is easily 1 tablespoon (so you really get 2 TABLESPOONS of suger), and two huge pumps of cream. On the Sugar side alone you've added 100 cal. to your coffee. It boils down to whether you are willing to budget the calories in your day for real sugar in your coffee.

Cereal is my own personal Waterloo. I do buy Kashi Go Crunch High Protein version and add about 10 g to my greek yoghurt for breakfast. Again because cereal is a trigger food for me I warn against having it as a treat. It is way to easy to eat many servings at once. I would measure out 1/4- 1/2 cup and not go back for seconds.

Is that from the day before surgery or the day after? The reason I ask is some people retain A LOT of water from the IV and drugs so they gain 10 pounds from the surgery itself. Once that fluid leaves your system your weight goes down. So not trying to burst your bubble but if you weighed yourself after surgery a week later you could have "lost" that much but part of it was from the procedure itself. I wanted to see if I gained weight from the procedure but I did'nt I weighed exactly the same the day of and the day after.

Hi Everyone. After my bloodclot prebanding I now have my very own hemotolgist. I had some blood tests and met with him today. I wanted to see if he thought it was okay for me to take Biotin to try and control my hairloss. I did'nt want it to somehow increase the chance of another bloodclot. Vitimins and minerals can affect all sorts of things. Anyway he said that it would not be a problem. Just wanted to let people know incase they had the same question. Though certainly you should speak to your own doctor to make sure.

I guess I was considering them mushie like is that I could have canned tuna at that stage and if you were to mash up a crabcake it would be tuna like consistancy.

My thoughts on not having enough energy are thin people eat basically banster sized meals. We think our meals are small because we're used to eating huge portions. I would recommend hkeeping food like energy/protein bars (small portal) with you in case of emergency or if you really need something to eat and everyone else is'nt hungry yet. Don't take this the wrong way because I once said this exact sentence to mother when we were going on vacation. She was packing every over the counter drug she could find for our trip to Greece. I said "Mom, we are going to a first world country, not the wilds of the Rainforest". You might want to consider a emergency medical tags that have been discussed on this board before. Even a rural hospital should be able to unfill the port. I don't think they are much different than ones used in cancer treatments.

Possibly. The thing to remember is unless you are making them yourself it's hard to know what other then crab and bread pieces are in there. The other thing is the sauce that goes over them; VERY high in fat. If you are going to a restaurant see if they have cal. listed on line.

As a compromise No Pudge brownies are made with yoghurt and have a lot less cal and fat. I stopped making them; because I liked eating the dough raw and ate way to much of it and unless I froze them I made a habit of having one every day for dessert. So I would have one whether I really wanted it or not.

I would talk with you Nutritionist and see what she thinks about the Atkins shakes. It is true that people can react to different types of Proteins. The one that my doctor's office requires is Whey Isolate Protein, apparantly the body can break down Isolate type better. Does your doctor's program include any therapy sessions? Mine did. At these group therapy sessons we discussed our trigger foods. Foods that we went to when we were sad, lonely; or that we would eat mindlessly while watching tv. I think if you do some soul searching there will be foods that don't seem "bad" but that you eat way to much of. Is it crackers or chips/crisps, candy, nuts, muffins, bread, ice cream? Some of these items can easily lead to a "snack" that has more calories than a small diet friendly meal.

Following your doctors orders is super important. Until you get restriction this will be a diet. You will need to rely on will power. It took me 5 fills before I started to get restriction. I'm not trying to discourage you just want to be brutally honest. One thing that helped me make it through my presurgery diet was that this was going to be the last time I had to lose the weight. It was'nt a fruitless attempt. Exercise is important. Do you need to be a gym body from day one? No. Clearly none of us are or we would'nt need surgery. But you need to find a form of exercise that you can and will do 5 plus days a week. Again my opinion; some people on this site would say you don't need to work out that often.

I had a meeting with the anathesiologist, ekg and bloodwork. Then I had a 1.5 hour meeting with one of the nurses to discuss exactly what would happen before and after surgery. Then there was a 1.5 hour meeting with the nutrionist to discuss the month after surgery and what we should and should not eat. The test part probably took 2 hours so that makes about 5 hours. The nurse and Nutrianist were group meetings.

I make a chicken "sandwhich" everyday for lunch using whole Romaine Lettuce leaves (with low fat laughing cow cheese, and mustard). No problems with the lettuce. I dont' have perfect restriction but haven't had a problem yet. As for nuts. The only thing that my doctor said about them was that they are high in fat so eat them sparingly. Some doctors also say no corn, probably because of the calories. I have corn once or twice a month no problem. I CAN eat pasta I just don't. Not a real huge favorite of mine. If I was going to have carbs I'd much rather have a nice piece of toast with real butter.

You know every doctor is different. My insurance did not require a supervised diet but my doctor required a 10% body weight loss before he would perform surgery. Keep in mind my BMI was WAY about 40. I had lost my thirty pounds in just under 3 months had a surgery date and had to postpone because a blood clot that I was treating was not suitably disolved. I ended up having to wait 7.5 months! NOT HAPPY. Remember the more you loose presurgery the lower your eventual goal weight will be (at least according to my surgeon).

By worse I meant after you're healed and before restriction you are hungry and physically able to eat the amounts you could before surgery. At that point it's all will power and being on a restrictive diet always sucks.

It's not the answer you want but you need to hire someone to clean the stalls. Check out craigslist or something. Even if you feel you need to be there yourself while they are working; you need to stop lifting.

Take a couple for the husband and kids and freeze them in individuals baggies. The rest either go to work with your husband or get thrown away. Tought I know but thems the facts. By freezing them it will take you longer to eat one if you were to falter. Also just because you take one does'nt mean you have to eat the whole thing. One bite and the rest can go down the garbage disposal. <br /><br />I totally get wanting to have an occational treat; the word to remember is occational. Hey, I'm not perfect and I had cake and ice cream at a party last week. But I can't keep cake in my house. <br /><br />Another idea is to have your husband be in charge of the kids twice a week treat. They can have daddy time and go visit a bakery; and not bring any cake, brownies, Cookies home with them.

I don't think you did perm. damage; BUT you need to go back to what your doctor ordered. Do you have a digital food scale? If not I think you really need one. You can find them at Walmart and other places for like $25. Considering I use the scale mulitple times a day it really pays for itself pretty quickly. I know it sounds harsh but you need to weight out your protein and call it quits. Trust me it only get "worse" the more you heal/on solids. Until restriction it's all willpower. Having the scale tell you here's your portion helps alot.

I don't think you need a fill. Thin people get hungry to if they have'nt eatenn in 4 hours. If you need an hour to eat a "banster sized" meal. Sounds like you may be two tight. My doctor would'nt give a fill anyway based on your loss per month.

I've had 5 fills and now have 9.4 CC's; and am now just starting to get restriction. I don't know if I would say I get full "faster" bacause when I'm at home I have been weighing my Protein for 5 months. When the food is gone I stop eating. So I wouldn't say faster; but that after I finishe eating a few minutes later I no longer feel hungry. Yes, until you have restriction your body see's no difference between now and before surgery. It's like your TV not working when you have no electricity. Eating less food is going to be completely on you until restriction. For me that was 4.5 months. Not trying to be discouraging; just want to give my experience. I had this fantasy that I would start getting restriction afte the first fill so yes I was disappointed.

I don't keep what I call trigger foods in my house (I live alone so not a problem); chips even low fat ones, crackers, sweet childrens' Cereal, candy. I try to live by the 80/20 or 90/10 rule that if you eat heathily most of the time you can have an occational treat. If I go to a family party and there are cheese and crackers I can have a couple but then have to stop. So, yes having the band does'nt mean "never" having certain food again. I went to a birthday party and had a small piece of cake and some ice cream. No guilt, because I had also spent an hour at the gym earlier in the day doing some intense cardio. However, and this is a big however; don't go into this thinking I'll eat like I always did just less. It's not just the searving sizes it's how often you eat them. Most of us did not get fat eating to much healthy food though we may like to think so. The reality is we choose high cal. high fat foods and eat alot of them; so choosing to eat smaller portions but still on a regular basis is a mistake.