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There are also protein shots that come in what looks like a large test tube. They containa about 30 g Protein. They have less volume than protein shakes so they may be easier for you to drink.

If you have not had a fill yet then once your swelling goes done you probably would'nt get stuck. Food is sliding from the small stomach to the larger one. The concern that I would have is are you following the doctors rules for progressing from liquids to solids. I am preband but I think my doctor would only have someone on mushies 3 weeks out. Did you eat lots of mushies or have regular solid foods?

Well, personally I think he should consider himself lucky that you were full on half your meal. Years ago in Ann Landers a guy wrote in asking if it had been inappropriate for his date to order TWO meals for herself (had one wraped to go). He was paying for dinner. His date apprarently thought it was okay for him to buy her dinner and lunch for tomorrow!

I have to say that people like to gossip and will excentuate any part of it that they know will grab you the most. I quickly looked through the responses and it did not seem like anyone could tell you exactly what killed this person. Also why is what killed her such a big secret? You mentioned you were'nt supposed to find out but someone told you. Reminds me of a segment on 20/20 years ago about someone recuperating from Gastric Bypass. Knowing what I know now this person was probably in the very begining of their recovery. The show however showed them miserable and devistated because they could only eat one or two mouthfuls at a time.

If it makes you feel any better if your insurance does'nt require the 6 month diet things can move a lot quicker. If I had been able to go ahead with my surgery I could have been banded 3.5 months after my first consult. Though if your surgeon wants you to loose X amount of weight before the surgery your weight loss progress could affect when the surgery takes place. My surgeon's office originally wanted me to loose 30 pounds before having surgery; and I met this requirments in 3 months with diet and exercise.

I have BCBS. My letter said the same thing. I called and spoke with them and they said that as long as it is deemed medically neccesary then they will approve a longer stay. I had been on Bloodthinners so my surgeon mentioned they may need to keep me for 2-3 days for lapband. Some people leave an hour after the surgery. My surgeon keeps everyone "overnight" and does not have people leave immediatly. Personnally I would'nt want to do that anyway. At 17 I had my tonsils out as day surgery. I had complications with my pain killers and was in very rough shape. Not sure what my mother was thinking having me go directly home after that surgery. We had Federal BCBS.

Well not to be a downer but due to some medical issues if my surgery goes forward on 8/12 it will have been 8.5 months since my first consult. Some insurance companies require the 6 month doctor reviewed weight loss. My doctors office was very up front about that. If your insurance requires a medical supervised weight loss for 6 months then you will need to wait 6 months for the surgery.

If I had'nt had a blood clot to deal with I could have had my surgery 2 1/2 months from the time of my first consult. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my surgery will happen 8/12 waiting for some feedback from the neurologist about the bloodclot treatment.

I guess I don't understand why your Psych consult is a month after your meeting with the the nurse and dietician. My doctor's office did the Nurse Practioner, Dietician, and Psych Eval. the same day. My insurance approved my surgery within 2 weeks of that meeting. You may want to check around and see if you can find an office that is faster. The first seminar I went to I was told I could'nt get in for a meeting for 2 months. I went to another hospital and got a consult 2 weeks later. Admittedly I live in the Boston area and we do not suffer from a lack of top medical providers.

Hi. I think the first part of your letter is very good. Regarding the following: I really need this procedure! I want to be able to play outside with my son without getting shortness of breath and having to use my inhaler. I want to be able to pick him up and hold him without my back and knees hurting. I want to be able to be able to wear my wedding ring again, and be able to put my shoes on in the morning without crying because my hands, feet, and ankles are so swollen. I am missing out on so much because of my weight. I’m ready to make a change! I want to live a healthy life! I owe it to myself and to my family. I understand you are trying to appeal to the reader's human side. Unfortunately business is just that business. Keep in mind I work in HR and I hear a lot of emotional personal stories and often there is just nothing I can do. You would'nt want the tone of the second half the letter to backfire and make the person less likely to champion your cause. First, No Exclamation points. They really don't belong in a business letter. Just No. You may want to consider something along the lines of: I really need this procedure. As the primary care giver of my son I must maintain a physical condition now and in the future that will allow me to meet his needs. I have to be able to perform everyday activities without needing to resort to my ashma inhaller. I am ready for behavioral changes that this surgery will require and committed to doing what is required to be successful. I realize the surgery alone will not fix my weight problem. I have begun an exercise program as recommended by my doctor and will continue after the surgery. Again, I urge you to reconsider my doctors recommendation that I under go the LapBand Surgery. With the physical assistance of the Band, thoughtful control of what I consume, and through a exercise program I can make weight loss surgery a successful addition to my life. Again, not to sound mean spirited but the insurance company doesn't really care about the things listed below. Their answer would be: resize your wedding ring and buy larger shoes. Not the most humanitarian view I know but companies aren't there to be nice they are there to make money. I want to be able to pick him up and hold him without my back and knees hurting. I want to be able to be able to wear my wedding ring again, and be able to put my shoes on in the morning without crying because my hands, feet, and ankles are so swollen.I am missing out on so much because of my weight. I’m ready to make a change! I want to live a healthy life! I owe it to myself and to my family. I hope I don't get singed by the responses. Keep in mind I did provide an option of what the writer could send to their insurance. Working in a hightly rules based environment I just know how hard it is to hear sad stories that I can't do anything about. The more facts I have to deal with the more headway I can make.

I do think you should consider going back to Protein shakes for 2 meals a day maybe three. Make sure to use good quality protein such as whey Isolates. At the Vitamin Shoppe they carry Gold Standard Whey Isolate which is approx. 120 calories 24 g protein, 3g carbs. If you are going the Protein shake route make sure to take a good Multivitamin. I make mine with fat free milk which adds about 10 g protein and 90 calories. My surgery had to be postponed due to a preexisting health issue. I try to stay around 800 to 1,000 calories a day. My meals are usually breakfast protein shake, piece of fruit late morning snack, lunch 300-400 calories, Greek Yogurt (fat free with fruit add splendra for better taste; otherwise it is too sour), dinner protein shake, maybe a fruit for a snack. I need a snack between lunch and dinner because I go to the gym late afternoon and it would be a long time between lunch and dinner. I do an hour of moderate lap swimming every day. Great way to get into exercising especially if you have joint issues. Since 12/28/09 I have lost 49 pounds.

In my first consult with the nurse practioner I was told I needed to loose about 30 pounds before surgery. Keep in mind I had already lost 30 pounds on my own with exercise. When I met with the surgeon he felt around and said that he felt he could do the operation as I was. At that point I had lost about 25 pounds. Having read that people are put on a presurgery liquid diet I asked him if I was going to have to do one. He replied "Well if you want to do a liquid diet; here's the one I recommend." Well that wasn't exactly what I asked. Since the diet was kind of expensive and the dietician in the group was'nt that hip on it; and I was loosing weight on my own I did'nt do it. Two weeks later I met with him for what was supposed to be my last presurgery meeting and I had lost another 5 pounds and he asked if I had been on his diet. I said no and he was a bit irritated. I was a bit hurt because one of his collegues had said I did'nt need to do it. Well I spent the $230 on two weeks of the diet expecting my surgery would be in two weeks. The liquid diet was giving me allergy like sensations and was just too low in calories. 500 calories a day and I did it for 5 days and did'nt loose any weight. Please keep in mind that I do an hour of moderate cardio a day. I went to the nurse practioner and she told me to stop the diet due to the reactions I was having. I have a meeting with the surgeon this week and wonder what he is going to say. I have been on a partial liquid diet with whey protein shakes low cal/fat/carb, high protein. I have lost about 20 pounds since I last saw him. Not sure how this meeting will go.

I have blue cross blue shield. I have a somewhat similar situation. My surgery had to be postponed while my body dealt with a preexisting blood clot. I had insurance approval and a surgery date only to have to postpone my surgery for at least 4 months. My surgery approval was canceled and had to be reapproved. The approval went through no problem even though I had not only lost the original 30 pounds that was required; but an additional 13 pounds in the last 3 months.

To make protein shakes more bearable I add several items. I use a personal size blender. Sample recipe: protein powder, 2 fat free milk ice cubes, 2 sugar free flavored water ice cubes (liquid contains splendra), tablespoon sugar/fat free pudding powder, sugar free davinci syrup, 2/3 cup fat free milk. Blend away. Gives the shakes a nice frappe like texture. Add splendra as needed.

I am preband. When I was 18 I lost about 100 pounds. I started having these painful attacks until I finally had one that lasted several hours and I could only lay on the bed in my dormroom in a fetal position. One of my friends insisted on driving me to the emergency room. It turns out I had major gravel in the gall bladder and had to have it removed. This was before they did them laposcopicly (sp). I don't think it helped that genetically my family is predisposed to gallbladder problems. Most of my mother's siblings had theirs removed.

When you eat calories than you burn they need to be stored in the body. Some gets stored as fat on your face, arms, bottom. Some of this excess gets stored in the liver. The liver being your second largest organ can hold lots of substance. A high protein low fat/carb diet helps your body "burn" excesses stored in the liver.

I am pre surgery. I started lap swimming about 18 months ago as a way to loose weight I have a knee problem and weight bearing exercise was an issue. I am not really a class person. The thing about lap swiming is if you slow down you just stop and it's clear you are'nt working very hard. Anyway in a year of swimming and trying to make better food choices but not succeding very well (bringing lean cuisine for lunch, but otherwise eating what I wanted) I lost 30 pounds. In the last 6 months very much dieting and preparing for surgery I have lost another 47 pounds. I make a serious effort to swim 7 days a week. My biggest recommendation is to buy a water proof MP3 player. Makes all the difference in the world. You can find them on Amazon.

Clearly you have to feel comfortable with your decision. One thing to ponder is that most doctors make you loose 10% of your body weight before they will do the surgery. How long would that take you? Doing a regualr diet and exercise not the Preband liquid diet?

Due to recovering from a bloodclot I had to postpone my surgery. But I supposed you can look at it that since my consult on 12/28 that I have lost 47 pounds and at that time they wanted me to loose 30 before the surgery. My doctor says the more you loose before the surgery the better. So even if it takes you 6 months before having the surger you can get in the habit of living a healthy lifestyle.

I bought mine from Amazon Taylor brand.

I'm not sure what they mean by supplies. Is this your first consult? Mine was 3 hours (nurse, psychologist, Nut).

The first Info seminar I went to the doctor's appoint they gave me was 2 months out. I decided to check out a doctor at a better known hospital (distance was about 15 minutes futher away) and was able to get an appointment in about 2 weeks. I would definately look around. Also my personal opinion is that you should not have to pay "Program Fees". If the doctor's office is charging your insurance they are making more than enough money off this surgery.

For my pre work out snack (approved by doctor's office) I have non fat greek yogurt (with fruit) and add about a tablespoon of vanilla protein powder.

I use from Vitamin Shoppe Gold Standard Whey Isolate Chocolate, and Elite Whey Isolate Vanilla. I did buy Gold Standard's Cookies and Cream but have not really enjoyed it. In my experience Vitamin Shoppe is significantly cheaper than GNC.

My doctor's office specifically said no Slim Fast because the Protein levels are too low. If you have access to Costco. They have a Ready to Drink Product Premier Chocolate Protein drink. 30 grams of Protein 160 calories.