honk

Hi. I had my surgery done at Lahey Clinic in Burlington and so far have been very happy. Mass General also has a program (that was out for me because of the distance). I am in NH. Personally I would not pay a program fee. I know Lowell Hospital has a fee.

I wonder if there is a speciality diabetics website that might be able to convert the numbers for you. Preband I ate WW, Lean Cusine, etc all time (live alone never cook). One thing to keep in mind is that they tend to be high carbs low Protein which is not what you want post band. Even on their websites they don't even consider them full meals. They say that in order to get a completely nutritional lunch is to add a veggie or salad. Lean Cusine has a larger size meal in different flavors. For the average person including us preband 7 oz is not enough to fill anyone up.

For ready to drink I like Premier brand (chocolate) from Costco: 160 cal 30 g of protein. Great for the first week after surgery when it's harder to get stuff down. Also use it as a prework out snack now and occationally for breakfast on the go.

It sounds like you have not met with a surgeon yet. The first seminar I went said that everyone had to loose 5% body weight between first consult and the surgery. I ended going to a different practice. The nurse at that meeting said I would need to loose 30+ pounds before surgery (10%). About 7 weeks later I met with the doctor and had lost about 15. After examining me he determined I had lost enough to do the procedure. I ended up loosing another 35 before surgery. It really comes down to your particular doctors requirements. I think loosing weight is a happy result of behavior modificaton. The more you can change your habits the more successful you will be long term. Have you started an excerise program? If you are physically able I would start someting now. I think waiting until after surgery to exercise when you are tired and maybe hurting is setting oneself up for failure. I started swimming everyday when I was diagnosed with having an arthritic knee that was excruitiating when walking. I weighed 364 lb. I bought a fat lady swim suit and went to the gym. If I can do it anyone can do it.

Most insurance (if they cover the procedure and some don't) have stipulations that you be a BMI (body mass index) of 40 or a hundred pounds overweight. Sizes are funny but at size 18 I would not be a 100 pounds over weight. Or you would need to be a certain BMI with CoMobidities (sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol.). Would you meet the requirements? Also the band is not a magic wand. It does not decide what food you should eat. In fact many people short cut the band by eating foods that easily go through the bands funnel (ice cream, candy). Yes there are a lot of people who have had great success and are very happy. You need to understand however that some (not all) weighed over 300 pounds before surgery. I did. I had to loose 30 pounds just to have surgery. My guess is if you lost 30 pounds you would not be overweight at all. I don't want to start a revolution that you have to be THiS much overweight to deserve surgery; but your therapist may be right about this not being the right choice for you. As for the surgery being to risky; I would disagree. Was I nervous going in yes. You therapist may be lumping banding with bypass which has a higher chance of complications.

I live alone so I am not very inventive. I often have fish for dinner 3oz baked (wet with eggbeaters, cover in italian bread crumbs + lemon pepper seasoning (non salt!), bake in the oven (wide variety of fish to choose from). You could do the same with chicken breast. I also microwave a sweet potatoe which is enough for two meals.

My doctor's office told me we don't count calories! When I mentioned that I thought I was'nt getting enough calories to lose (approx. 800) a day. I don't really understand what you meal by low carb protein. Do you mean not adding some kind of crust or breading (breadcrums or batter)? For haddock I have been doing the following: dip fish in eggbeaters (2 TB), coat with 1/8-1/4 cup italian breadcrumbs (100 cal), spritz with spray butter and bake covered. It is not at all dry and about 250 cal (probably less).

In regards to portion sizes at least for protein I weigh everything. Even on a small plate sometimes 3 oz does not seem like a lot. Soooo I know if I was'nt weighing I would put way to much. You can get a nice digital scale for like $20 at Target or Walmart. I also use it to measure out 10 g of cereal for my morning yoghurt.

I really understande your frustration. I ended up having to wait 8.5 months for surgery. If you are physically able to exercise I would start now. Put yourself in control. I think the more proactive you are the easier it is too wait (and I HATE waiting). Personally I lap swim everyday for an hour. It is much easier on your joints than walking (waterproof mp3 is a must!). I bought a fat lady swim dress and off I went. In the 20 months prior to surgery I lost 82 pounds from excerise and dieting.

I asked my doctor and he said I could take NSAIDS. One thing to keep in mind is that there have been recent studies that show a strong corrilation between strokes and NSAIDS. I had a mini stroke last year after being on a perscription NSAID for a year. I would research this and have a candid conversation with you doctor before continueing on NSAID therapy.

I am not atr full restriction yet so my idea of chewed may be a off. I did get stuck twice with baby carrots because I was really hungry and clearly did not chew enough. My experience has been that before I started this journey I barely chewed my food at all. I ate really quickly and would eat too much before I really noticed it. Now that I serve my food on a plate (sandwich size) and try to really savor each bite; I do a lot more chewing. I don't know if you can really "practice" chewing for when you have restriction. I think you will get biofeedback real time and can then modify your chewing.

If you are seriously hurting I would do a different exercise tomorrow. You don't want to do serious damage to a muscle or tendon. I swim everyday for an hour so for a fat person I get a lot of exercise. My mother's property suffered serious damage after a "tornado" like event this summer. When I go up there for the day to work on the wood: rolling large chunks of wood to the splitter, moving them around to make the cuts, throwing the cut wood; and then stacking it, I am exhausted. The next day I have aches and pains all over the place. The muscle I use there are different than those I use in the pool.

My doctors office asks these questions: Can you eat 4 oz of solid food at a sitting?; Are still full 5 hours after eating?; are you losing 1-2 pounds per week?. If you are having trouble getting your protein down I would guess they will not give you a fill. You may want to call and speak with on of the nurses. If you can't get 4 oz down easily before your first fill my guess is that they won't give you one. I would'nt see a reason to go in for an appointment if they are'n going to give you a fill. That is of course as long if you have been back in since the surgery so they can look at your incisions. Could your doctor have given you a fill at surgery?

Not sure if you would call it restriction but I was not terribly hungry after the surgery. But I was able to eat the clear liquid diet for the first 7 days without trouble. It was just kind of boring. I was glad to move to full liquids on day 8. I was starting to feel more hungry at the start of mushies at day 15. I was very happy to move to solids at day 22. Since starting solids I have religously used a food scale (bought at WW meeting place (don't buy it online at Amazon someone sells it double the price! You can just walk in at the start of the meeting and buy one at their facility. I have never been a WW member.). You will need to measure your food. I have had two fills and skill weigh all my Protein. When the food is gone I stop eating, even though I am still hungry. That's what is called bandster hell. I don't know if it's really that bad. I was on a pretty strick diet 8 months leading up to the surgery so I had done a lot of behavior modification. And I am not talking about a liquid pre op diet. My doctor required group therapy session with a psychologist to discuss food issues; and mindfull eating. Remember the surgery is only a medical device. It does not fix emotional problem/issues.

They are putting you through hoops. No denying that. All the hoops I had to jump through are part of the arguement that this is not a quick fix. If it were I would have gone to the doctor on 12/28/09 and had surgery a week later. Instead I did not have the procedure until 8/13/10. In that 8 months I lost 52 pounds.

Not to be a downer; buttt at my surgeons' info seminar they had a written statement that Cigna requires a 6 months supervised diet and there was no way around it. Also they would not speed up the process to beat changing health insurance coverage. FYI due to health issues I ended up having to wait 8 months. Really sucked. I was devistated; two weeks before my surgery (3 months in) I got word that my surgery had to be delayed. Here's the upside. The main point of this surgery is to help you loose weight and keep it off. In those 8 months I did a lot of behavior modification and gained new habits. I had already started an excerise routine. Part of my doctors program was meeting with a Nurtionist and group sessions with a Psychologist (to discuss eating issues). A huge part of this process is mental. If you read post op threads people talk about eating slider foods (ice cream, cake, crackers, candy). food decisions are all on you the band is not going to help you with that. During your 6 month diet you can modify your eating habits to be more healthy. Another thing to consider is most doctors expect you to lose a certain amount of weight. Mine required at least 30 pounds. How long will it take you to loose 20-30 pounds? The more weight you lose presurgery the more you will loose overall (according to my doctor); and the safer your surgery will be.

Tylee, does your family know about your surgery? If they do tell them you need to eat every 4 hours; otherwise tell them your doctor told you to eat that way to keep your blood sugar stable. My mother keeps the same kind of schedule. She knows however that my sister and I inherited low blood sugar from our dad. If we go to long without eating we get faint and it is dangerous. I would personally buy greek yoghurt or turkey sandwich meat so that even if everyone else is not having a meal you can have concentrated Protein snacks. I think our society has this misinformed idea that if you eat fewer meals thats good for you. It's not. If your car has no fuel it won't run. If our bodies don't have fuel they shut down too.

Regarding swimming my doctor told me to stick to freestyle (regular swimming) and to avoide breaststroke or butterfly early on. You don't want to pull you abdomen muscles to much. I returned to swimming at 2 weeks but only did freestyle for at least 2 weeks a that.

Some larger gyms have ladies only sections (not sure if you are M/F). You may feel more comfortable if appropriate in the ladies section. At one gym I worked out in there because the TVs where closer and I could read the Close Captions better (my eyesite is'nt what it used to be.) At my current gym the ladies section is usually empty.

Based on the questions my doctor's office asks I'm not sure they will do a fill. If you are not really hungry but are having head cravings the band is not going to help you. I am asked: If you eat 4oz are you full or do you stop eating because the food is gone? Can you go 5 hours before you are hungry? Are you loosing 1-2 pounds per week?. Based on what you've posted it seems like you don't really need a fill. But I am not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

I can so relate. I knew that my family would be supportive but at the time I still kind of saw it as admitting defeat. In reality you are putting yourself on the offense. If at all possible I would consider doing it inperson and having a computer so that you can show them the manufacturers' website. If may help people to understand how the device works. Personally I am visual learner.

I think that is the stupidest question I have ever heard. Anyone can quote the manufactuers website to the psychologist but is that doing anyone any good? Are they trying to see if you will say well I expect to lose 50 pounds in a month? Someone already exercising an hour a day 7 days a week who expects to lose 20 the first month is more realistic than someone who does'nt plan on excercising having the same expectations.

I was on coumadin to treat a blood clot. My surgeon also mentioned I may end up being in the hospital longer. To test for blood clotting capacity I came off BT for 3 weeks (I went on Asparin). The test came back that I would need to continue on BT but my Hemotologist felt tht I could stay off it until my surgery; which was only a week away. After the surgery I went back on BT. The issue is that they worry about hematoma (pocket or localized collection of blood usually in liquid form within the tissue); near the port incision. I had NO ISSUES and only spent one night in the hospital (which is normal for my surgeon). I would talk with your PCP or Hemotologist about whether you can stop coumadin 10 days pre surgery; or consider other options like Lovenox (an injected blood thinner). Lovenox apprarently is less likely to cause issues during surgery. I have never given myself a Lovenox shot but I've received them; and think if needs must I could have done the shots myself. So I would see what your treatment options are.

Outside doing a pre op liquid diet the more behavior modification you can make the better. Figure out what your food triggers are and deal with them. For me it was things that go crunch: crackers, sweet children's Cereal, baked potato chips. I stopped cold turkey. I also used to enjoy fat free frozen yoghurt from costco. Gave that up also. Again, slightly off topic but along the lines of new behaviors. If you are not doing an excise program (and you doctor believes you can exercise safely); find exercises that you enjoy/don't mind doing. The more you exercise the more you will lose.

Since you had your fill on Friday are you on mushies because of the fill? My doctor requires full liquids 24 hours and then mushies 24 hrs after a fill. Other than that cottage cheese is not going to keep you as full as 3oz of solid protein. My first fill was 4 cc's and I did not have restriction. My second fill was 2 more and I have some restriction but not enough. If you are on mushies I would try to space out your "meals" so that you are eating every couple hours and won't be so hungry.