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Not be a witch but at 16 he can look after himself for a couple weeks. For Breakfast buy him some Cereal, or the low fat jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches. Some schools even have breakfast kids can buy. For dinner buys some judious frozen meals and make a couple meals that can be frozen into individual portions. He can heat them up and be fine. As long as you have food available to him I don't see a reason why you have to cook elaborate meals while on a liquid diet. When I was 11 and my sister 16 our father died unexpectedly which sent my mother into a deep depression. She did not cook for 6 months (yes 6 months). She did however continue to go grocery shopping. We cooked for ourselves and made it through; so two weeks is not that bad.

If you have a PPO you probably don't need a referral from your PCP. I did'nt ask, I told my PCP's office I was having surgery. My surgeon does not make appointments until after the seminar. I was able to get in about 3 weeks later (the first seminar I went to there was a 8 week wait for an appointment. Thus the need to find another doctor. A better one at that.) At that first appointment I met with a Nurse Practitioner, Psych, and Nutritian. Three hours but done all in one day. Your tests are going to depend on your doctor and personal medical issues. I had to have recent blood labs (which I had just done), EKG, and clearance from the neurologist regarding a blood clot. My doctor did not have a required "support" group but I did have to attend three group session with a psychologist regarding eating habits. It was a lot more informative than I had thought it would be. One thing to consider is that many doctors require weight loss presurgery (I know if I could I would have done it already right?) I was told to loose 30 pounds before surgery. So depending on your doctor you may have a weight loss goal that does not include the 2 week liquid diet you've probably read about. So the timing of surgery could be affected by that. How long would it take you to loose 20-30 pounds? I don't want to be a downer I'm just telling you my own situation.

Lunacy. The insurance is going to drop that like it's hot. My hospital total charges were like 18K which insurance knocked down to like 5K. I met my personal out of pocket expenses for the year so I paid like $200 total (I needed 200 to meet my out of pocket).

I am two months out and am doing great. FYI When I was 39 I had a minor stroke. The doctors could not say that it was caused by my weight but neither could they rule it out. 39! Moving on. I really put off telling my family about the surgery mostly because I felt ashamed about my inability to keep weight off once I had lost it (Lost over 100 three times and gained it back); rather than fearing that they would not be supportive. My middle sister told me that her college roommate had gotten the surgery and would put me in contact with her if I wanted to discuss it. This woman has over 20 years as an RN and is a head nurse at Maine Medical (which is argueably the best hospital in ME). Unless you have underlying medical conditions that make the surgery dangerous (I had to postpone my surgery 5 months as my body disolved my bloodclot further.); long term being overweight is more of a health risk. Wayyyyy before my ministroke I finally had to go the doctors because of horrible knee pain. The doctor said point blank the only thing that would help was loosing weight. So, I started swimming every day and lost 30 pounds. Though clearly this was'nt enough. Being severly overweight just makes everything a hassle. A hundred pounds ago I started bringing lunch to work so that I would not have to walk the 10 minutes to the cafe with my friends. How sad is that?

I am on my second fill so not great restriction. I lost 17 pounds in the weeks following surgery and then things really slowed down. I have lost about 3 pounds since second fill. However, I have gone down in size more than the scale suggests. I have several suit jackets that did not fit 2 weeks ago (too tight to wear); that now fit. I think exercising has a huge effect on reduced body size even though the scale is not moving. I would also check out the customer comments on the Bean website. Many people comment how True to size items are.

For me the port area was the most tender. I think that I would have wanted a least 7 days after surgery before having to layback in the hairwashing chair; and then struggle to sit back up. Even when I was thin I had trouble with that. Took me two weeks before I could stand up from a chair without some pain in the port area. The further out I was the less the pain. Only had liquid Tylenol and the port area pain during the process of standing was at most a 3 on a scale of 10.

Since I normally make my protein shakes with ice I found the first couple days postop that the ready to drink shakes went down easier. Less volume I suppose. Costco carries a good RTD Premier Protein 11 oz 160 cal, 30 g protein.

Were you exercising presurgery? If so I would'nt be that concerned about walking. Prior to surgery I was doing an hour of swimming 7 days week. Four days post op I went to the gym and did the treadmill at flat incline. Gradually increased the speed (up to 2 mph I have short legs what can I say) and length of work out for the next two weeks. At day 15 I went back to swimming. For the first 7 days back to the gym I did take a nap after the work out. I think the second week is hard because you feel like you need to be "normal". Only problem is you are feeling way better than you were but you are not back to "normal".

I have really good insurance but they cover dietitians for diabetics or cholesterol but not weight loss.

I would check out a BMI Calculator on line and see how far off you are. When I went in for my first consult I had to take off my shoes when they weighed me because they also took my height. If you are only a few pounds off you can wear really heavy clothes (I can tell you it's officially fall in NE!) sweater (or turtleneck and sweater), jeans/heavy pants; eat a large meal and have large water/coffee before your appointment; leave your keys in your pocket. Is ethical? Not really but if I was only a couple pounds off I would rather wear heavy clothes than put on 5 pounds.

I have to admit that I was glad my surgery was Thursday 8/12. I would have been too embarrased to move it from Friday 13!

Yes love the hamilton beech personal blender. Holds about 20 ounces and you drink directly from the container. Only one thing to wash. They are at Walmart for $15!

I add 1/4 scoop to chobani greek yoghurt (peach flavor is my favorite), plus some splendra (fat free is a bit sour). I also add Benefiber to maintain regularity. Very yummy. For the mushie stage after surgery and fills I moved it to a larger container and used a stick blender to mince the fruit.

Sounds like you are confusing volume vs weight. My doctor says that at perfect restriction you should be satisfied at 4 oz (weight) total per meal and not be hungry for 5 hours. Since I am not a rescriction that is not enough for me. After my fills I do 24 hours full liquids and then 24 hours mushies. Full liquids I do 8 oz of soup (like tomato not broth) and a while later a protein shake (at least 8 oz). When I move to mushies I have for breakfast 6 oz greek yoghurt (thicker than regular yogurt) with 1/4 scoop protein powder, for lunch/dinner I have canned chicken made with laughing cow cheese 3 oz, and half sweet potato. When you are on liquids or mushies I would try spacing out your food so that you eat every couple hours. Yes you might have more than 3 cups a soup that day but if they are low fat/cal (100 cal.) what's the big deal?

After losing over 100 lb when I was 18 I ended up having to get my gallbladder removed. I also had sludge. Gallbladder attacks are HORRIFIC. Yes Cap letters. Terrible and nightmareish are two other words to discribe the pain. When you loose a lot of weight it is more likely that you will have a gallbladder problem. Knowing what I know now I would have it removed before it started causing attacks. Did I mention the pain is horrific? Hard to breath and or stand up. One night in college I had to be rushed to the hospital my friend though I might have bleeding ulcers. My doctor does not combine the surgeries. At a presurgery class one of the nurses mentioned they had only once removed the glallbladder (they have done thousands of lapbands). It was necrotic (meaning the tissue was dead); leaving it in would have been malpractice. I had mine taken out old school which means I have a 4 inch scar (again I was pretty thin at the time. My lap band surgeon said "You must have been rather thin when you had that surgery because your scar is so "small"). They now use different procedures to remove the gall bladder which makes for a smaller scar.

Do you have an employment contract (I know those are more structured in Europe than they are in the US)? Or perhaps even a Union (Organized Labor) agreement? That might have a clause about medical implants/surgeries. I was thinking this morning; what if anything could they say if a male or female had chest/breast implants? Does anyone out there have a contact with knowledge of Irish Labor Law? As I mentioned previously I work in Human Resources so this strikes me as a professional question that I don't have an answer for; and I HATE that.

Clear liquid phase is brutal! When can you move to full liquids? At day 8 I could start having tomato soup, what bliss! On day 6 I strained a can of soup to have the liquid and a piece of carrot fell in and I ate it; sooo good. You might want to talk to your doctors office about moving to full liquids now. I tried to move to mushies a few days early and my doctor said NO. Bleh. I understand the post op diet sucks. The food options are'nt really about weight loss (though it does happen considering you are being starved to death) but about healing the stomach. I would watch one of the surgeries on YouTube (not at all bloody) it really hits home why the stomach needs to rest for several weeks. Most doctors put a stich in the new pouch and then pull it down to sew it to the larger bottom stomach. They make like 2-3 stiches. To me makes the bands placement a little tenuous; especially during the healing stage.

I agree that if your family is buying pizza right now it seems a little unfair to me basically because it is very aromatic. When you get to the point where you can have solids if others are getting pizza buy a small grilled chicken and veggie sandwich. Most Pizza joints also sell hot subs. When I have ordered one post op I got two meals out of one sandwich. I did not however eat the bread.

The problem with protein shakes is that they are liquids and will not stay in the pouch (are you pre band?). So I think having liquids will make you more hungry and more likely to want to snack during the day.

You posted here looking for advice so I am giving it to you. I highly recommend that you go to YouTube and watch an actual lapband surgery so that you can understand the trauma your stomach has gone through. It is not bloody and shows you why you need to follow the post op diet. At 15 days I was just starting on mushies, ricotta and cottage cheese, egg beaters. Sure call your doctor about a fill. My doctor made me wait almost 6 weeks for the first fill. Yes the post op diet sucks. I won't lie. I was so happy to move to solids in the forth week.

The first seminar I went to they said their policy was a minimum of 5% body weight loss presurgery. There was a moan that came from those in attendance. I ended up going to a different doctor and he required a 10% body weight loss. Since my surgery was postponed for other health reasons I ended up losing closer to 17 % body weight. My nurse explained hat your belly area is like a suitcase the more fat you remove the easier it is for them to work in there.

My surgery went really well. I did'nt mean to worry you. I am calling it major surgery because you do have anasthesia and my doctor (and most in the US) make 5 incisions though they are small. Compared to some stories I had very manageable post op pain. I did take a week off of work. Two days after surgery I was feeling well enough to go to stores and walk around (my mother did the driving); and on day 4 I was at the gym. At the end of the week I was doing an hour on the treadmill (but I had been on an exercise routine prior so my body was fine with that). I was more worried pre op than I needed to be. I even watched surgeries on YouTube not at all gross as there is no blood. I recommend people watch one of the surgeries because it hits home why you need to follow the post of diet. Your stomach needs to heal from where the band is attached. When I lost weight 10 years ago the band was not approved here in the US. Truethfully I wish I had done this years ago when it first became available.

I have a personal size blender from Hamilton Beach $15 at Target and Walmart. Works great on ice. FYI my doctor never said I could not use a blender to make shakes. I also have a stick blender (bought at Walmart) that I used on Chobani Greek yoghurt during the mushie stage to mince the fruit.

I think if you found an exercise you did'nt mind doing you would not mind doing it everyday. Growing up I never liked going to pools/swimming because I had really bad reactions to chlorine (town pools use sooooo much chlorine). I belong to a private gym and they use a lot less chlorine (and use Water disinfecting lights) and what a difference that makes. I have a water proof MP3 player and do an hour of lap swimming a day. I try to do enough cardio to burn off 3/4 of the calories I eat. Keeping in mind your body has to also burn calories just to keep the lights on persay. When I started swimming (presurgery) I was so miserable I did'nt want to go anywhere do anything because I could hardly walk (really bad knee). So starting a regular exercise program was a big change for me. Now I really feel it physically if I don't swim every day.

I have not gone to the reg. sizes yet but when I do it will be for the top first. I am easily 2 sizes smaller on top; as I am very hippy. Though I have noticed that some XL in the reg section are similar in size to 1X. Really depends on the brand. Talbots certainly has vanity sizing.