KimDB

I feel so dumb. I really thought I should just be open and honest. I started out this process thinking, it's really just for me ... then I kept thinking, you know, I'm an adult. I make my own decisions. If I can make these decisions I should be adult enough to stand by them. So ... now that I am around 1 month in, I told two of my friends my intentions while we had coffee the other day. FYI one of them is thin and I think she has a form of anorexia (gluten free, lacto-free, vegetarian) ... she keeps her kids on the same diet and they look like ghosts. The other one just believes she carries around an extra 20lbs but really probably does not. She looks fine to me. Anyway, after I told them, they got together and apparently are trying to have some kind of intervention with me, like they are going to be my new trainers and train me how to eat well and conquer this thing without letting surgeons cut me open. AHHHHHHHGGG !!! I then told them, 'you know, I am thinking of just doing this on my own with the dietician' to throw them off the track, and they are still like 'let's be DIET BUDDIES' .... OMG, I could just smack myself that I ever said a thing. :thumbup::thumbup:

I had my surgery in May. I have to say that the best thing about the past two months has not been trying to lose weight - I have just been adjusting slowly to having this band and eating slowly and consciously. The best thing has been living my life - going to parties, tasting what I want to taste, even going to McDonald's and knowing that I am not going to eat an entire meal. I have a few bites and I am done! It is a miracle to me and I am just enjoying being where I am right now. Not trying to be a model tomorrow. My blood pressure is going down, my largest clothes are donated ... I am just enjoying every today. This was my goal. But, the best part. Today I hopped on the scale after 3 weeks. I thought, seriously, I had been on vacation, then under stress, and was eating whatever I wanted ... fully expected to see a gain since surgery. Instead I saw a loss of 6 pounds since 3 weeks ago. And, let me tell you, I weighed myself clothed and at 7pm, after dinner. I am beyond thrilled. Thrilled. Thrilled !!!! Did I tell you how happy I am to have made this decision?

Everyone else has said it ... different surgeons have different rules, different people have different success rates based on doing different things that end up being right for them. What's right for one person might not work for someone else, etc. and so on. My surgeon was very up front with me that no one expects 100% perfection in following instructions, that is not life ... but that said, as a band patient you should expect to alter your lifestyle. The instructions are tips to help you figure out how to use your tool as effectively as possible and adapt it to your lifestyle. This forum is so helpful for that - I pay more attention to the advice in those posts where I look at really amazing ticker numbers on the bottom. On the other hand, I pay somewhat less attention to the ones that seem to half treat surgery like it's admission to the Church of the Band. We were all overweight to begin with, and it bothers me that post-band some people seem to start to sound as if they feel they are "better" or more "ethical" than others ... it's not a moral issue, it's not a competition between forum members. Am I the only one who notices there is almost a note of anger sometimes from posters who "follow the rules" towards posters who say they don't follow certain rules? Either answer the question, or don't, but why get angry at or sarcastic towards someone for asking a question? If they don't lose weight, it will be their own issue ... it's not like they are sinners.

My surgeon said the same thing to me - once I attained the weight loss they wanted me to have, they just told me to maintain it. In previous dieting attempts, I did exactly what you did. I stopped looking at the scale because I did not want to see a number. I kept telling myself I would get back on track and look at the scale when I had a feeling it would look better. Of course I just stopped looking at the scale altogether. Since beginning this process, I have purchased 3 new scales! I keep them in my basement gym, the bathroom and my bedroom. No more cheating and avoiding the numbers. When you said you went three weeks without looking at the scale, this so totally reminded me of myself. Well, you know what the answer is - you lost it before, you can do it again. There are no easy ways out. Cutting carbs, increasing Protein and drinking lots of Water can help get a better number on the scale short term. Just a note - although I actually lost several more pounds when they told me to 'maintain' - my surgeon did not weigh me in on the surgery day! They just asked me what I weighed, I told them, and they just wrote down my answer!:tongue2:

All the other replies have really good points to take into account. Just in case it's still only food-related, though, I admit now to being one of those people who just didn't think I was eating *that much*. However, I didn't look at labels, ate too many processed foods, and my former portions, though they fit into a regular Soup bowl, were 2, 3, even 4 times what I can eat now having been banded. Even more if I went back for seconds. I had a real wake up call just yesterday when I went shopping. Earlier this week I had purchased a store-made chicken caesar wrap package, something I enjoyed previously. I used to eat the whole package, which was in four portions. It had chicken breast, lettuce, etc. and looked healthy enough. I knew it had a slice of cheese in there but it wasn't like it was dripping with dressing. Just this past week now that I can eat soft foods and chew them well, I had a day where I bought one and ate one portion, SLOWLY, chewing all the way. For lunch I had another portion, which I ate slowly, chewing, etc. All going fine. I think at dinner I almost had another one but my son came in and asked for the other two portions, so I let him have them. In the store for some reason yesterday I looked at the nutrition label and holy cow! Each PORTION was 320 calories! That 4 portion sandwich was 1280 calories altogether! Worse than a Big Mac. I won't be doing that again! So ... just to say ... check your labels. I think all of us were taking in far more than we wanted to admit.

I had the same thoughts. Who among us didn't like to sit down to a big plate or bowl of something yummy and forget our problems? The only thing is, the food did not solve any of the problems. The problems were still there - and then after eating, there we were, feeling guilty about gaining weight on top of everything. I remember I told a friend, after having thought about it, the only thing I am giving up by having this surgery is the ability to stuff my face - which I shouldn't be doing anyway. I remember also looking through this forum and others, and looking at all the 'before' pictures. I saw many hundreds of photos of people who all obviously loved their food before surgery - and their ticker signatures indicated that the band was working for them 1, 2, 3 and more years out. I thought, if they can do it, I can do it. I couldn't wait for my band, I LONGED for a surgery date, and after 4 months when I got one, and got the surgery, I felt like it was my birthday. I was SO happy! I'm still on a weird plateau at the moment, I was banded only almost 3 weeks ago, but I am still nearly 40 pounds down from January, 2010 and it's weight I do not plan on ever worrying about putting back on again. It is GREAT !!! Food was NOT my friend ... it was my drug. Huge difference.

Thanks for posting this. I am 2.5 weeks post op and have also been at a plateau for 1.5 weeks. It is frustrating when you can really see how little you are eating and how much you are moving. I actually just pushed my butt out to a new gym today that I joined. I started watching season 7 of the biggest loser on my iPod and was really inspired by the merits of hard work. I guess it was just today but I was watching the girl on the green team who lost 20lbs the first week and 1 pound only the 2nd week. It inspired me to keep looking at the big picture and just be so, so grateful I am not trying to eat the plaster off the walls now that I am banded like I always did before. Slow and steady! Well talk to me in another week if I am still the same, as I am planning workouts every day this week to try to move the scale again! :tongue2:

I am not worrying about it. I am 2.5 weeks post op and after a big loss 1st week, have been wavering for 1.5 weeks at 8 lbs down, then 9 lbs down, then 8, then 7, then 9 etc. I am just following instructions and seeing what happens. I did kick it up a notch today and I headed to the gym I just joined to get me off my home exercise equipment and try some new stuff. I am tired! My first fill is July 1st. I am just concentrating on how much I have achieved until this point and that this is the longest sustained time in 15 years that I have had sustained weight loss that is not coming back, and where I have not epically fallen off the wagon and suffered a major setback in my weight, resolve, or hope for my future. :tongue2:

I would ask to participate but not accept any 'prizes' offered for the winner. I do definitely feel that we banders have an advantage that others don't. It is a little like taking steroids. Yes, those who take the steroids hit the ball with their own arms and run with their own legs - but it feels different to them, it's easier than it is to do it without the medical intervention. Does that make sense? On the other hand, if you are not participating in order to deprive someone else of a particular prize or incentive, and just want to get healthy and share some motivation, your coworkers and your company would be really petty for not letting you get healthier right along with them, in the name of camaraderie. Sometimes there are just these things in the office. I remember a bake-off once where one woman in the office who was a regular Julia Child was disqualified from winning (no one could beat her) but encouraged to participate, which she did, maybe just to show off. lol I would sign up for the challenge but tell the administrator that you do NOT want to win any incentives, your only incentive is just to get healthy due to your belief system or something.

I don't know about "slider" food but at day 15, I'm allowed to try regular food with precautions (eat very tiny bites, chew (!!!), swallow carefully and immediately put down anything that causes discomfort. I surprised myself by having some salad today. We had a salad in the fridge and I honestly thought I would just be picking out bits of chicken, bacon, feta, etc. but the lettuce also went down quite easily. I was rather freaked out by that as I had expected to have far more restriction. I am not starving and had only a cup of salad or so, but it was still far more than I thought I would be able to eat. I don't expect a fill until July so hope I am not running into "bandster hell" in the near future.

I didn't lose anything the first 5 days out of surgery, even on liquids only. On the 5th and 6th days, though, wow, I was trying to sleep as much as possible to rest myself (I had tried to get a little ambitious with activity 4 days out and regretted it), and during my naps, I was suddenly sweating out loads of fluids. I had to change the sheets three times in 2 days - and on the 8th day out, I was down 9 lbs from my surgery weight. I am now on post-op day 15 and am that same weight from last week, 9 lbs down, but I will take it. Also, pay attention to the soup you eat. One day in particular last weekend I ate 3 cans of soup. Only about 800 calories, but I gained 4lbs overnight and it took me 2 days to flush my system back out again.

When my surgery day arrived, I half couldn't believe it. It had seemed for months that the nurses, etc. were almost trying to screen me out with all their questions, disapproving looks if I didn't have the "right answer" and all those warnings ('the doctor will close you right up if ... etc. etc.'). I was particularly paranoid about my liver and had spent the last two weeks before surgery online trying to find out everything about people who had livers too big for surgery. I hardly slept at all the night before going in. My husband ended up taking care of our kids and getting them off to school so my friend drove me to the hospital. She came in with me for check in, but once I was through those double doors and into the johnny, she left with my things. (Note: I had definitely brought too much stuff - phone, iPod, etc. My advice for others - don't bring anything. It will just turn into a pain when they need to inventory it for security.) I was so nervous ... nervous about my liver, etc. ... it just seemed surreal. As for my surgeon, he had little to nothing to say to me except to smile for the few minutes he came by, crack a joke or two, and that was it! I had no third degree about how I'd been doing on the pre-op diet, etc. I had one nurse ask me what I weighed and they took my answer at face value. I mean, I told the truth - but wow. I could not believe they did not weigh me in. After all those months of classes, etc.! Truth be told, I do now not even really remember them putting me under anesthesia. Just a little - but it's all quite vague. Next thing I knew - in recovery, where a parade of people came by and took vitals, etc., residents checked in, etc. When I seemed stable, they wheeled me on up to my room, which I had alone. I have to be honest, it wasn't so great for the rest of the day and that night. I was hooked up to so many things I could not move comfortably. Talk about having to go to the bathroom and unplug yourself from a million places. My pulse-ox machine kept going off with this horrible alarm every time my finger slipped, and even if I did manage to drift off for a few minutes, there was someone else in to take my vitals, temperature, give me a heparin shot, etc. I was actually glad I had asked friends and family to let me do the hospital room on my own - it would have been a pain to have them there. It was all I could do to just stay still and keep my mind entertained with the TV, much less have to have actual conversations. Next morning my husband showed up - believe it or not they actually even let me walk myself down to the front lobby of the hospital. No wheelchair, nothing - my husband drove up in valet parking and I got in. Was surprised at how easy it was to sign myself out. The bumps hurt a little bit on the way home in the car, but nothing crazy. I was so happy I was banded! Oh, and when I asked how my liver looked when the surgeon came by for another 5 minute post-op visit (if it was that), he said "oh, fine." Absolutely not another word about it!

When my surgery day arrived, I half couldn't believe it. It had seemed for months that the nurses, etc. were almost trying to screen me out with all their questions, disapproving looks if I didn't have the "right answer" and all those warnings ('the doctor will close you right up if ... etc. etc.'). I was particularly paranoid about my liver and had spent the last two weeks before surgery online trying to find out everything about people who had livers too big for surgery. I hardly slept at all the night before going in. My husband ended up taking care of our kids and getting them off to school so my friend drove me to the hospital. She came in with me for check in, but once I was through those double doors and into the johnny, she left with my things. (Note: I had definitely brought too much stuff - phone, iPod, etc. My advice for others - don't bring anything. It will just turn into a pain when they need to inventory it for security.) I was so nervous ... nervous about my liver, etc. ... it just seemed surreal. As for my surgeon, he had little to nothing to say to me except to smile for the few minutes he came by, crack a joke or two, and that was it! I had no third degree about how I'd been doing on the pre-op diet, etc. I had one nurse ask me what I weighed and they took my answer at face value. I mean, I told the truth - but wow. I could not believe they did not weigh me in. After all those months of classes, etc.! Truth be told, I do now not even really remember them putting me under anesthesia. Just a little - but it's all quite vague. Next thing I knew - in recovery, where a parade of people came by and took vitals, etc., residents checked in, etc. When I seemed stable, they wheeled me on up to my room, which I had alone. I have to be honest, it wasn't so great for the rest of the day and that night. I was hooked up to so many things I could not move comfortably. Talk about having to go to the bathroom and unplug yourself from a million places. My pulse-ox machine kept going off with this horrible alarm every time my finger slipped, and even if I did manage to drift off for a few minutes, there was someone else in to take my vitals, temperature, give me a heparin shot, etc. I was actually glad I had asked friends and family to let me do the hospital room on my own - it would have been a pain to have them there. It was all I could do to just stay still and keep my mind entertained with the TV, much less have to have actual conversations. Next morning my husband showed up - believe it or not they actually even let me walk myself down to the front lobby of the hospital. No wheelchair, nothing - my husband drove up in valet parking and I got in. Was surprised at how easy it was to sign myself out. The bumps hurt a little bit on the way home in the car, but nothing crazy. I was so happy I was banded! Oh, and when I asked how my liver looked when the surgeon came by for another 5 minute post-op visit (if it was that), he said "oh, fine." Absolutely not another word about it!

I am only 2 weeks out of surgery and can honestly say I had no idea it would be as easy as it has been to get past my old cravings. I'm not saying it's been 100%, but the times I have thought I wanted something that's not quite on my diet yet, and ventured a bite or two, my body convinced me quite quickly that it was not a good idea and I was right back to soft foods. Bagels were a big one for me ... loved (!) bagels ... but we have a bunch of them downstairs right now and I haven't really looked twice at them. (OK, maybe I have looked twice. But just looked.) In fact I feel bad for a friend of mine who is in a program right now trying to lose 120 lbs the old fashioned way. She is working her heart out at the gym and trying to make "good food choices" but even when she's super proud of her food, and tells me what she eats, it's not only easily now 4 times what I can eat in a meal, but it's obvious it's not even really what she wants to eat. If only I had known more about the band earlier - I could have saved myself some of the same years of trying and trying, but never quite getting there. Just remember you are normal for someone in this population. We ALL had complicated relationships with food and I know I definitely was like "better eat it now in case I can't later!" several times pre-op. Now that I'm banded and find it's probably true in at least a few cases of foods I used to like, I sometimes wish I had been a little more lenient with myself pre-band about the cravings. Then again, I am also happy I stuck to the pre-op diet as much as I did and lost the weight I needed to lose, so I guess I also don't regret passing the cravings up when I did.

Oh no! I am so sorry! Please let us know how things go ... looks like you have done lots of hard work and it's understandable you are anxious and scared. Keeping yourself stressed can only make it worse so hope you can calm down. Don't be afraid to let the medical people know you might need something for your nerves as well as pain? I feel so bad for you!

I have to say I experienced the same thing before the procedure. I frequently felt as if I were being discouraged from the procedure, or being cross-examined, and I did not appreciate it. I also got a lot of the "you know you have to do this, right?" And if I told them I was following their instructions "mostly" they gave me this big frown and a bit of a hand slap and lecture. I really did not get it, since my "mostly" in one case was related to was I doing fully 30 minutes of exercise a day or fully drinking 64oz of water a day. I really did not think these things were 100% a huge deal, and from the classes I was going to, from what I was hearing around the room, there were cheaters all around those rooms. SO, here's what I heard from a friend of mine who is a doctor. He's not in bariatrics, but has had some crossover in his practice. What he said made sense. (And in advance, sorry if this offends some) He said that basically when it comes to bariatric patients, we are, as a group, by and large (no pun intended) a bunch of people who are accustomed to sneaking around, hiding, not giving straight answers ... our first reaction for most of our lives as heavy people has been to pretend that our problem is not a problem. We are in good part a "population in denial". Fortunately by the time most of us get to a bariatric program, we are happy to tell the truth, to finally get it out of our system, give up the ghost and get real, etc. ... but there are always those who are indeed just looking for the next quick fix, and when it doesn't work, they will blame anything but themselves. Therefore the doctors and surgeons who are "hard" on you ask all the hard questions and don't accept the waffly answers. They need to get you to YES I WILL FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS, not "well, I'll try my best but I'm not sure" .... this is for liability reasons as well as your own health. This is why they are military on us before the procedure. They are covering themselves from all kinds of nondisclosure accusations. Ever notice there is often another witness in the room when they have the meetings where they are "hard" on you? They don't want to get sued later for having pushed a procedure on you without full information; likewise, they want you to have a good result - it's good for you and it's good for business. I hope this makes sense - made a lot of sense to me, and I didn't feel so bad when they pushed me at the next appointment. I just said "I know you told me X and I am trying my best to do X and I am confident that every day I am getting closer to X, it's very good advice and you have educated me very well as to what to do." That is what they need to hear.

Hi everyone, I was just reading another post where someone banded in April commented about having to deal with some issues in her friendships that were changing because of her friends' reactions to her now having the band. I was wondering about this. I have a neighbor who is very, very thin (works hard at it) and is a bit older. She is very happy for me and this choice I have made, but she was just telling me to get ready because I am going to encounter people who are going to be very jealous and not happy for me now that I have done this. I had heard this pre-surgery, but it seems different post-surgery, now that I am finding myself aware I have not heard from certain people I know in a while. On the other hand, I have had a few ravingly enthusiastic cheers from other people I have told, like some distant relatives, and some classmates I have not seen in decades. (Are they happy for me? Or just happy that I apparently got fat enough to get a lap band? Do they think it's funny? I have no idea. They could just be nice people. But they have been ... enthusiastic.) And then there are the folks I interact with daily, and hmm, some of them haven't even picked up a phone or sent a text to see how I am. Just wondering what's happening with everyone else!

I had my surgery May 20th. I initially lost 5lbs in a few days, then inexplicably went up a few pounds and stayed there for 5 days. Last night I had the worst night sweats (!) and got up this morning ... all that weight is back off and I am now down 8lbs in 8 days. Nothing like 22 (!!!) but I know what you mean - wow!

Wow, I am also stunned. I can only guess that you are self-pay, which usually finds a way to do anything. I am just amazed that you lost all your weight without the band, though I don't know where you started. Now that I have a band, I do understand that without it, were I myself ever to get to 144, I'd be certain to gain it back, so I do get the logic there. I almost think that your weight loss issues at this point could best be addressed on a standard weight loss board like obesityhelp where you can get the finer tips you are looking for in terms of exercise, etc. to get you closer to your ideal shape and weight. Most of the posters here at LBT seem to be working on fitting back into the normal world, not trying to look like Jillian Michaels.

OH! I didn't know where my port was, but I think it might be in the same place. My largest incision is the lowest one, up and to the left of my belly button. And I do feel something hard underneath there. Thanks !!!! That's good to know.:biggrin:

No! I know what you are talking about! I started out as 'morbidly obese' ... now I am on the low end of 'severely obese' and am closing in on merely 'obese' ... yeah, I'm proud. LOL I sometimes wonder if it's my imagination that 'obese' is a nasty sounding word. It just sounds like a slap in the face when I hear it. By comparison, 'overweight' sounds downright attractive. Sigh.

I think you could send the email as a question, not a complaint. So you had a butterfly bandaid with nothing under it?? Maybe it was there to hold something? I guess I am not much of an authority. I forgot to even ask where my port is! I have no clue.

I am 4 days post-op. Although I have healed really quickly (no more pain, walking slowly on treadmill, feel like 'myself' again), I must have some swelling inside because I have to eat super slowly and am still only eating about 1/2 cup of food at any time. I did progress off the clear diet a little and have added frozen banana to my Protein shakes. I'm having trouble getting 3 shakes a day in so am trying to do two shakes with at least 30 gms of protein. I still didn't finish yesterdays. This morning I used the blender to make a few hard boiled eggs, a piece of chicken breast and some blue cheese dressing into a paste that I dip into with a small spoon occasionally. It seems to take the edge off all the clears/liquids. No ill effects. Everything taken slowly and in very small bites. Yesterday's morning shake and dixie cup of sugar-free Jello took me about 3 hours to get down completely. A little scare this morning, felt very nauseated and sweaty and had a hard time getting Water down. Put my head down for a nap and 2 hours later felt much better and have started sipping water again. Think I might need to pay closer attention to seriously getting all my water down and presume I might have been dehydrated. Anyway, I would definitely consider myself to feel 'restricted' at this time. No Bandster hell yet for me, thank goodness.

Hi guys, I guess I have to edit my signature. I was supposed to go in on Monday, but they bumped me to today. My surgeon is also a general surgeon at the hospital I'm at and he had another emergency that came in, so I was bummed to get a call on my cell phone right as I was leaving the driveway that I did not need to come in that day. But, he did fit me in for tomorrow. From what the person said, I think someone else in the program was then moved to a future date to give me my spot (it all seemed very last minute) but I am taking it. Well, now that I have a few more hours to post ... just wondering what to take to the hospital. Actually I am worried about valuables. I really, really REALLY want to take my phone and laptop. I understand I don't need to bring my wallet or jewelry, but what's the story? Do I need to worry that someone's going to steal my iPod while I'm in surgery?

Thank you so much for posting this! I am about to be banded in 4 (!) hours and needed that inspiration. You are so inspiring!