honk

I would say so! Will you need to stand through the whole service or just for the songs? If you normally stand I would have a chair in the event you feel weak.

My doctor requires at least 3 sessions with a psychologist to discuss what triggers you to eat. Those meetings really helped me with head hunger and frustration based eating. I suggest finding a therapist that deals with compulsive eating. The band will never stop you from head hunger eating. At least half of this battle is mental. There have been a couple members lately who talked about eating a pint of ice cream a night post op. That is 100% emotional eating.

I had been on a bloodthinner to treat my preexisting bloodclot. They took me off that about 2 weeks presurgery and had me take asparin. I was given heparin shots at the hospital and told to resume my oral bloodthinner after surgery.

I second that the more exercise you do the more you will loose. The body is very good at existing on the calories you give it. I highly recommend lap swimming or water aerobics as they are great for your joints. Most water aerobics groups have flotation belts if you are not a swimmer and the water makes you nervous.

I am about 20 months out. Today I did a long walk about 3.5 miles with some good hills. I had a bit of pain in the port area. After cooling down the pain went away.

Totally normal. This is a will power diet until you get a couple fills. Took me 6 months to get restriction. I think some doctors don't give a realistic view of how the band will work.

FYI don't take calcium and iron together they interfer with the absorption of one another.

My doctor puts the port deep so it was difficult to find the first time. He does that so that when you loose a lot of weight the port is not as noticeable. Sometimes people have to have the port repositioned after loosing weight because it is to noticeable under their clothes.

My doctor said NO Vitamins for 2 weeks post op! When I was allowed to take vitamins I was told Flintstone chewables with Choline (look for that!). As a woman of a certain age I also take Caltrate Plus with D chewables, dedicated Vitamin D gummy and Fiber gummies (both by Vitafusion), also a dedicated Iron as I tend toward anemia.

I wrote a huge post yesterday on my phone and it did not post. Urggg. Anyway here are my thoughts as a Greek chick. If your Greek place does not make Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Soup) find a new place! Does have rice but with no restriction you should be fine. chicken Kabobs, usually chicken and veggies would be good option. They may also have Lamb Kabobs. They will most likely also have bone in roasted chicken seasoned with lemon. Tzatziki- is a yogurt sauce made with dill and cucumber which would help if you think the food is good dry. Greek garlic roasted potatos are to die for when made right. There may be a veggies in tomato sauce side dish (though squash and zucini are not in season right now. Higher in fat options Pasticho- baked Pasta with cheese- May be made with ground lamb. Personally I prefer vegetarian version no meat. But my family eats it as a side dish and not as the main meal. Mousaka- potato and eggplant but topped with white sauce. (not my personal fav but...) I would stay away from Spanokopita/Tiropita- What Americans call Spinach pie Very high in fat and may get clumpy in your pouch. The phyllo can get doughy if it sits around (and many places make a large pan and then heat up individual servings when you order. 9 times out of 10 restaurant Baklava sucks, been sitting around to long and the top layers are no longer crunchy. And there is a pool of honey on the bottom. The sauce should absorb into the phyllo. If there is a huge amount in the pan they've put to much. Yes my vent of the day. Just my opinion though I am admittedly biased.

In general I think most doctors use a similar plan: clears for several days, then full liquids for several days, puree's for a week, mushies for a week. Some change how long they want you on each stage. Part of it may be due to how THAT doctor installs the band. Whether it has more/less stiches connecting it to the body. If you have not viewed a live surgery on YouTube I higly recommend it. No blood at all as they use a cauderizing (sp) took to go through the tissue to get to the stomach. Seeing what your body has gone through really helps you keep to the doctors orders about food progression. I have read several posts of people who decided the day after surgery they were hungry and went to MC'D's and had a hamburger! I would'nt want to be them and have to explain that to the surgeon when their band slipped!

I would call the doctor asap. Blood clots in the lungs could happen after any surgery! Prebanding I had a horrible headache and just figured it was a migrane. I had never had a migrane so what did I know. Turned out it was a blood clot in the brain. So what I though was a migrane was a STROKE. Call now!!!!!!

I can feel mind more after 65 pounds lost but it does by no means stick out. If I ever loose this over 70 pounds it might. I think it was pretty deep when installed so maybe not. And by feeling I mean I feel for it with my hand. I don't feel it constantly like some kind of foreign body like a splinter. It doesn't bother me and the seat belt isn't a problem. Kind of like feeling your ribs under your skin.

There was another person who posted recently with similar issues. I don't know if I'm concerned about making to the bathroom; but there are definately times when I have to go soon after eating. I don't think it's the food I just ate; instead perhaps it's just the digestive system getting jump started.

TOM can definatley make you feel tighter. I agree with previous poster. Take your progression diet really slowly.

Yes bandster hell is very real. For me this was will power diet for 6 months! My best recommendation to you would be to buy a digital food scale. Measure out your Protein (my doctor says 3 0z). Eat low fat/calories veggies until full. Also everytime you go to eat something ask yourself "Would I eat this in front of my doctor"? If not don't eat it. Am I an all or nothing dieter? Not anymore. I try to live by the 95/5% rule. Live super healthy 95% of the time and the other 5% you can have some fun. The first couple months after surgery however I think you need to be very dedicated and eat healthy all the time. Also, are you exercising? If not find something you can force yourself to do for 30 days. After 30 days you will see weight loss and feel motivated to keep going. I highly recommend lap swimming (preferrably with Water proof MP3 player) or water aerobics. Great for those of us with joint problems.

No I don't think crackers are a good idea. Most doctors call for full liquids 24 hours after a fill and mushies the next 24.

What does your doctor want you to be eating? Mine wanted me to have 3 protein shakes a day and 3, 8 oz cups of stock. Sounds to me like you are not getting enough protein. Your body needs protein to heal. CIB does not have have any where near enough protein.

To do the surgery the doctor must flip the liver out of the way. I recommend watching a real surgery on YouTube so you understand what they are doing and how the bad is attached. This helps you understand why you need to follow the post op diet closely. Not gross at all no blood is shown. By doing a low carb diet for 2 weeks the liver can be reduced in size by 25%. What's really important is the low carb aspect. Protein shakes are very low in carbs. If you aren't eating carbs the body is forced to burn protein and fat. Thus reducing the fat in your liver. Some doctors have people eat high protein foods (Atkins) and greatly reduce carbs. So the liquid part is not really that important; its the nutritional make up of the foods that counts.

Also depends on the doctor's requirements. My insurance did not have any preop diet period like some. The doctor's office however said I needed to loose 10% body weight before surgery. I had lost the weight in 3 months but had to delay surgery for other health reasons.

Sounds to me like you are too tight. Are you referring to biscuits as in an American Cookie or Biscuits as a bread product?

My doctor said to make sure the chewable multi included Choline. I buy a generic version of Flintstones; also Caltrate 600 +D chewable, a dedicated Vitafusion chewable D, Biotin 5000 mg, and a dedicated Iron. FYI if you take iron make sure to wait at least an hour before taking the Calcium.