honk

I had a coworker who spent 10,000 on surgery for a rescue dog. Do you feel you have as much value? At 39 I had a stroke. I had no health issues or warnings. As someone who lost a parent when I was 10 the idea that for 10,000 I could haved still had a parent is heartbreaking. I clearly spend less money on food. Preband I would go to Dunkin Donuts buy a breakfast sandwhich, coffee and maybe a cookie (yes for breakfast) and spend 7 bucks. Now for breakfast I have a Greek yogurt with some protein powder and cereal added; so maybe $1.50.

I go to the Vitamin Shoppe to buy protein powder. I joined their frequent buyer program (though I don't buy that much there) because they send coupons through the mail. My doctor wants patients to use Whey Isolate which is a higher quality protein. Not all protein powder is created equal so look for Isolate in the ingredients. I buy Optimum Nutrition -Gold Standard Double Chocolate and Dymatize Nutrition- Elite Gourmet Vanilla. Post op during liquids phase most doctors say not to add fruit to your shakes. I highly recommend the Hampton Beech individual Blender, the mixing container is a travel cup which is really convenient. It also cheap $15 at Walmart/Target. Works really well on ice cubes. I would freeze fat free milk in "milk cubes" add a couple regular ice cubes which gives the shake a nice icy texture. So about 2/3 cup fat free milk and 2 milk cubes equals 1 cup milk. I also bought sugar free coffee syrups, fat free/sugar free pudding powder

Really depends on the person. It took me 6 months of fills to get restriction. Some doctors leave a fill in during the surgery; but everytime I've heard of that it has caused problems. IE the person having trouble even driking liquids post op. Personally I don't think the Nut. should be saying you'd have restriction right away when most people don't. In my experience this was a will power diet for the first 6 months. I would tell you to be prepared for that. Just my experience. Do I regret having surgery absolutely not!

I was working a job that I had to leave my house at 7 and had an hour drive. Luckily I had the type of job where I could eat at my desk when I got there. I would have greek yogurt; and in a baggie bring the following to mix in: half scoop vanilla whey isolate Protein powder, tsp benefiber, splendra. This makes the yogurt even thicker. In a second baggie I would carry 1/4 cup Kashi Go lean high protein Cereal. This makes for a really thick mushie. Doctors are concerned that someone will have a Protein shake and being liquid be hungry a hour later. Then the person will be tempted to eat that donut because they are starving and it's hours until lunch.

My doctor says PB is because you are too tight. The the person who had a fill yesterday my doctor says to have full liquids for 24 hours and ten mushies for the next 24.

Thanks for joining. Please know I am not trying to be downer. It took me 6 months to get restriction. This will be a will power diet until then. Now is a time where you need to fake it until you make it. You need to develop a new relationship with food. At restriction I can eat thin crust pizza I just choose not to. Last week though I went to a movie with my nephew and went out for thin crust pizza afterwould. It's a treat, something I do once every 6 months; not a regualr habit. Go to Walmart/target and buy yourself a digital food scale. Measure out your Protein (my doctor says 3 oz); eat low fat/calorie veggies until full. My doctor does not believe in Snacks but if I had to eat something I choose skinless chicken breast or low fat string cheese.

I understand you are frustrated. Your logic however of "If I could loose 30 pounds I would" is faulty. The band is not magic. For me the first 6 months after banding was a willpower diet. At 365 pounds I finally went to the doctor about horrible knee pain. The specialist gave me a pain perscription and told me to loose weight. A year later I had lost 30 pounds from swimming everyday but I still had a stroke at 39. Based on some research I've done I do think the pain medication I was taking contributed to the stroke. During recovery one of my doctors asked if I had ever considered weight loss surgery. I was so insulted! I had lost 30 pounds after all. Anyway at my first WLS consult I was told to loose 10% body weight. The reasoning was that the more fat you lost the easier it is for the surgeon to do the surgery. Due to issues from the blood clot I ended up having to delay my surgery for over months. Day of surgery I was 282, so had lost 53 pounds from time of consult. Was it easy no. But with enough effort you can loose the required weight. I would speak with you doctor about the weight limit for the barrum swallow.

Looking at your ticker if I can swim in public so can you. Picture this: At 365 pounds I bought myself a fat lady swim suit, complete with skirt. I can swim but figured it would be easier with a snorkle. So swimdress, snorkle, swimcap and waterproff MP3 player (A MUST); walking out to the pool in front of the high school swim team using the rest of the pool. Presurgery lowering food intake and lapswimming I got down to 282 the day of surgery. If you must wear a towl to the pool and take it off right before you get in do it. Big deal. The way I look at it is they can't comment about the way I look working out AND complain that I'm fat because I don't work out. I've even had people come up to me and say they convinced a loved one they could go swim because they could use a snorkle which would make it easier. Again Water proof MP3 player is fabulous. Makes time go by so much faster.

Agree with previous posters "restriction" is not about needing to throw up! If you throw up you are probably to tight! It took me over 6 months to get restriction. It is not like the I'm so full I think I might burst. If I get that full I have clearly eaten wayyy to much. To me it's a more of am I hungry enough to keep eating. Head hunger is still there. I kind of think of it as a 3 way conversation between the Id, Superego and my stomach/Band. The Id (head hunger) wants to keep eating the Superego starts the conversation with the Stomach/Band "Are we really hungry or are we done?" Once at restriction the Band and Superego outvote the Id and we stop eating. The Ego well he stays out of it!

I have never done Zumba so I can't speak to that. I was back at the gym on day 4 doing the treadmill. At two weeks I was back swimming laps (presurgery I was swimming an hour a day/7 days a week.

Everything, probably not. I would having plain chicken breast on hand for anymore weak moments. Brownies are full of carbs which most preop diets call for cutting out completely.

Mine are 200 for the office visit and then another 250 for the fill so 450!

For the hunger I would recommend having your Soup, waiting as long as you can before having your Protein shake. Try to mess with your headhunger a bit. I found if I ate everything at once it would seem like forever (4 hours) before I got to have something else. Someone mentioned blending everything the first two weeks. I was on clears for 7 and then full liquids for another seven. No mushies until day 15 for me.

The point of the preop diet is to shrink the liver (which store fat). Most doctors make it a high Protein diet. The body prefers to burn food in the following manner (overly simplified abut you get the idea): carbs, protein, fat. If you only give you body protein it will be forced to burn fat. If you have another uncontrollable urge I would choose protein like chicken breast (salt and pepper only) or low fat string cheese. Some doctors do give a urine test where they can see if you have been eating mostly a protein based diet. It does show up in your urine. One exception to the rule however is that the brain only burns carbs. It is very specialized machine ya know!

I had gone a very strict diet 7 month prior to surgery (my surgery was delayed 3 months due to another health issue; so I think my eating habits had changed re trying to eat slower. To be truthful my thin non banded sister still eats slower than I do! As to drinking. I found that as I chose healthier food the less salt those foods had. Preband I would be constantly calling the waitress over looking for a soda refill when eating out. The only time I really miss drinking when eating is at a party when the food tends to be fatty/salty.

2% Greek is less sour. During mushie stage I used a hand blender to mince the fruit. My doctor never said I could'nt have yogurt with fruit. Once healed began having for breakfast Chobani Greek yogurt with fruit, half scoop vanilla whey isolate protein powder, tsp benefiber, splendra, Kashi Go lean High protein cereal.

Def. look for store brand soo much cheaper. When I had surgery one of the pharmacies were having a buy one get one free sale which was great. Even the adult strength there is not a lot of doses per bottle. Since I am allergic to codein/morphine I ONLY took Tylenol/Acetaminophen. If you are only taking tylenol do be careful about the dosing. I did take the max amount allowed the first couple days trying to stay ahead of the pain. Please note however my pain level was very manageable. I was very concerned presurgery after reading posts on here about how bad their pain was; knowing I can't take stronger pain killers.

My doctor said 3 oz of protein per meal. So your lunch seems low on protein. As for one fill not helping welcome to the club. I did not get restriction for 6 months. Loosing a lot before surgery can affect rate of loss after. I lost about 100 pounds presurgery so I have been a slow loser after. I also exercise 7 days a week for an hour. When I got laid off in January I started going twice a day. Even so I have only lost 10 pounds in 2.5 months.

Chobani is about 14 Grams of protein alone. For breakfast I add half a scoop Whey isolate vanilla protein powder which bumps it up by 10 (about 50 cal). I also add 1/4 cup Kashi Go Lean High protein cereal which adds another 2-3 g. Adding the protein powder also mades the yogurt even thicker. By the time I've added the cereal it's a quasi solid. I do add splendra as 0% Greek yogurt is sour.

The time between consult and surgery can depend on whether your doctor wants you to loose weight before surgery. Mine wanted 10% body weight loss. I have lost 160 pounds (pre and post surgery loss) and on have loose skin under my chin. I do however have another 70 to loose.

I would say no because they are all carbs and on the preop diet you need to eliminate carbs.

I'm sorry to hear your having a bad time. As to the Ex if he married someone else a month after your breakup consider this a lucky break! Just imagine finding out he was cheating on you AFTER you were married. Once a cheater always a cheater he will cheat on HER sooner or later. Good Ridance.

I had people say the same thing. My question for you is have you ever lost weight only to regain it? I know I have. At 12, 18, and 30 I lost over 100 pounds only to regain it plus. Another thing to tell them is only 5% of people that lose a major amount of weight keep it off forever. Those aren't great odds.

My doctor says UP to 2 pounds per week so expecting 2 pounds per week is expecting a lot. I had already lost 100 pounds presurgery so I have lost at a slower rate than some.

My doctor has never told me to eat by volume (ie cups). My doctor says to measure out 3 oz of solid protein and then eat mostly veggies and some fruit. As for drinking while you eat; just stop. I've found when I choose less salty food my need for a drink went away.