1unknownperson

I've heard people on this board and at the Dr.s office say the small Chili from Wendys is a great fast food option... Be careful if you get chicken anywhere. Small bites chewed throughy.... I purposely cut mine up into pea sized bites before I even take one bite so I don't get carried away and forget and take a big juicy bit that will cause me trouble when I go to swallow... I have not eaten out yet (Banded 04Dec09) so I can control how healthy the food is that is being prepared as well as the moist/tender factor... I cook 70% of my meat in a george foreman grill and everything comes out so tender and juicy... Fish goes in the toaster oven and everything else is gound chicken, turkey or beef that gets cooked to fine crumbles... Even before I was banded, I kept an emergency packet or two of instand oatmeal or cream of wheat and a can of Healthy Choice soup with a bowl and spoon in my desk at work for days I didn't have something to bring ( I also have powder french vanilla creamer and once I make the Cereal, I stir a tablespoon of that in and it makes it nice and creamy and tasty and it's still got a whole lot less calories than a big burger and fries)... This saved me from going out for fast food... I am lucky that we have 4 microwaves and a huge 6 door refrigerator at work for employees to store and warm their lunches... If you have a microwave at work to use, I have seen a ton of new non parishable food items hit the grocer shelves lately that you can grab from your pantry and go with... One is a new fresh Pasta meal looking thing... It's in the GPS aisles (The commercial says that. Haha... It means GO to the PASTA or SOUP aisle).. Have not looked yet and do not know the calories, carbs data.... Another thing I do is pour a Protein drink into a Water bottle and freeze it... By lunch time it is ready to drink and still cold.. I keep two or three of those in the freezer to grab and go with... This gives me a couple of options and with will power and determination keeps me out of the fast food joints... Sad but true story, Before I decided to change my eating habits, I was a regular at the local Primo burger for so long that the owner asked me out... We actually became good friends just from me eating there every single days for months... Haha... CRAZY huh.... Well the making a new friend and possible new boyfriend someday was okay but the "eating there" part every day was pathetic... lol...

If I wasn't already on Medical leave for Knee surgery, I would have taken Minimum, a Week and realistically 2 weeks... I was so sore and sitting up, or standing up really hurt... I felt like I had been sucker punched in the tummy... Once I was up it was ok but the act of getting up took my breath away every time... Everyone is different though. I suggest you plan the days you think you'll need then have a back up plan for 3 or 4 more days if nessacary... And don't feel bad if you need the extra time... Besides each person's differences and how their body handles this, you also have to remember that the Dr's also vary and some may be gentler/more skilled or practiced at this Band surgery than others...

Let me clarify the no restriction... I have been getting full very easily on Small portions ever since I was banded eating about 1/4 or less what I was eating pre-banding. SO, I have no more restriction that what I have already been experiencing but definately have restriction in general.. For example, I had 1 Cup of tomato soup the other night and my tummy was uncomfortable full for several hours after so now I have cut back Soups to 3/4 cup... But again I've been doing 1/2 to 3/4 cup of food in general since being banded... I was just so starving that my eyes were bigger than my stomach when I fixed that whole cup of tomato soup... Lessons learned... Don't waiting until you think your starving to death to think about eating. Get on a regular schedule and stick to it... Eat whether you think you need to or not and you will not have the "I'm Starving to DEATH" issue...

I got my First fill a few days ago. I was terrified before I went and once the Dr. cleaned the right spot and got his needle ready I put my hand there and said wait wait... Haha. he said why did you touch that I already sterilized it, so he had to do that again then he made me put my hands behind my head. Once it was actually done, I realized it wasn't nearly as bad and I had imagined it would be... I drank my water and was on my way... He was very thourough in explaining to me about the band while I was there. Its a 10cc band and he put 3 ccs in and said he will put 2.5 more in on the next visit and he believes that should do it for me... So far I feel no restriction. I did the broth, soup liguid diet for two days and last night I made Potato soup that has potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms mild italian sausage and cheese and had no problems eating a 3/4 C serving... Everything was very soft and mushy and chewed up very well... It all practically melted in my mouth... YUMMY!

Sorry I'm a non smoker so this reply is non related to the Original post... It's a reply to one of the replies... Cocobean, Your mention of your DH's habit of being the food Police gave me a chuckle and brought back memories... My Ex used to be my food police. He would comment on the amount of food on my plate and say really nasty things if I even thought of having seconds... However, that didn't stop me from gaining the extra 80 pounds during our 21 years of marriage... He just never understood my battles and hunger since he has avery high metabolism and has always been very thin... He would eat very little during the day and after work (at midnight) I would fix him his big meal and that still didn't make him fat.... However, I think he helped sabatoged my weight anyhow because he felt that as long as I was fat no one would look at me... He would suggest drives to the all night taco place or hamburger stand and convince me to have one with him even if I tried to decline... He was very mixed up... He would police my food but then convince me to eat after midnight when all I was going to do was go home and go to sleep so I could get up with the kids at 6am. In 96-97 I went on Phen Fen and lost 80 pounds and he loved how I looked but we had such a terrible fights every day that I gained it back.. He would interrogate my every move and made me dress shabby so that no one would look at me and steal me away from him... If I was at the grocery store for more than an hour he would accuse me of cheating on him... I told him if I was gonna cheat I would be several hours late coming home not 15 minutes... I also told him if he was so worried about someone stealing me away then he should treat me better so I would not be tempted by someone who might come along and treat me good. He was a complete "dic"tator! However, since our divorce 3 years ago, we get along fine and he calls me and we talk about our three grown children and their lives and I see him twice a month when he brings me alimony checks... Once he lost legal marital control over me, our whole relationship changed and he treats me like a normal human being now... Karma is a funny thing though. His GF is not so nice and easy to manipulate as I was and she'll eat twice as much as I did and he gets so mad and gives her dirty looks yet he has learned theres no point to say anything to her because she'll just yell at him to shut the F up... He's quite the different man now.. Almost like reversed roles and she is bigger than I ever was. Bwahahahahahaha... Now he gets treated like I did all those years... Ohhh and in the last few years, he's gotten quite the grampa beer belly going on and he hates it and complains about trying to get rid of it and it won't go away... Karma....

Holy cow I was terrified just watching the video! I could feel my insides go in a knot like I was the one jumping... So there you have it. I feel like I have bungee jumped.... Scratch one off of the bucket list. Haha... seriously, I would check with your Dr. It seems like eventually you would be able to do almost anything but you want to make sure you wait long enough after surgery... ANd that does look pretty extreme on the tummy area... I'd wait at least 6 to 12 months to try something so extreme...

Bean, Your right... It doesn't matter what other people say... and I'm sure someday I will tell people but for now, I am happiest just keeping it to myself and my own tiny support group... People can be so cruel without even trying... and my feelings are very sensitive.... And I can't ever think of things to say on the spot so I feel defenseless incase people were to start saying things like this was crazy because I didn't look that heavy although in photos I think I look huge with three chins and all... 80 pounds is a lot of excess weight whether you can see it or not...

Ohhhh What a good idea! I'm gonna try this for Lunch... I need to make my meals more of an experience... I have a BAD BAD BAD habit... I wait until I'm totally starving and then think to make something to eat... Then I seem to wolf it down.... However, I'm wolfing down much less than I used to eat and wolfing now takes 10 minutes for a 1/4 cup of food as opposed to a whole dinnerplate full in 5 minutes... But last night I had a full cup of tomato soup and I was miserable with a full stomach for the next 3 or 4 hours... And that was consumed while working.... I probably would have realized I was full sooner if I had paid attention to my eating instead of working on my laptop....THANK YOU for the great idea!

Curious, The Knee surgery was true... In October I fell in the mountains and had to get airlifted out. Thats a whole nother adventure for another day! So basically I blew out my right knee and did have knee surgery... I just told everyone that due to the extensive damage, they had to do two surgeries. I actually had the Band done first because they just had an opening available. My Orthopedic Surgeon scheduled my Knee surgery a month out so once I had that set, My WLS Dr and I worked within that structure and he wanted to do that first so I would be back on real food before the other surgery so I could heal, and recover and gain strength quicker after the knee surgery... So thats how it all came about... I had been wanting to do the band for quite some time but the logistics just wern't in place and I had not committed to spending that kind of money... After the Hiking accident, I realized that its my money and I am worth spending it on myself and I really needed to have better health... So there it was... My Golden Opportunity...

Curious, So far all of our intimate moments consist of me keeping my pajama top on because it is winter time and it is freezing a$$ cold in this house... Haha... I figure that by the time he actually gets to see some skin again, I'll be able to convince him I've always had those scars... I had my tubes tied the year prior to starting my relationship with him... (When I realized my marriage was over and that I would soon be in a dating world, I had that done under my husbands insurance... ) My Biggest fear is that he will feel the thing because I can feel it with my fingers right through my skin... Now that would be hard to explain and I'll cross that bridge if it ever comes... hehe hee... And I think it was your comment in a previous post I wanted to respond to as well about people with lower weight loss goals being the ones who are choosing not to tell others. Yes that is partly my motivation too... I actually had close to 80 pounds to lose but I do hide my weight well because I am more solid than flabby... Plus my ARMS are way out of proportion to my body and probably account for 1/3 of my body weight! Even people at the WL clinic where I go for follow-ups/fills seem to judge me with comments like You don't even look like you need this surgery and stuff like that.... Okay, so I am not the largest woman in the Dr's office that still doesn't negate that I was 80 pounds overweight and want to lose as much of it as possible... I have been yo-yo dieting for 30 of my 43 years on this earth and I want something more permanent and manageable... I'm tired of being the Slightly heavy girl" or the "cuddly little thing" or the "pleasingly plump woman" or my personal favorite (NOT!) "The HEALTHIEST Chinese woman someones ever seen"... All of which are peoples "nice" ways of saying I'm a fatty... My mom died at the age of 51 of a heart attack and was probably 150 pounds overweight most of her adult life... I want to avoid the same fate... I'm glad to have this forum and the support no matter what the size and amount of weight needs to be lost...

That is amazing and Inspirational! Thank you for sharing! Hope to hear more on your progress as you go...

Hi... i got my first fill of 3cc's yesterday and they made me drink about 6 ounces of water before I was allowed to leave. I took a couple of sips, it went down okay and I threw the rest away... Oh He!! no... They wouldn't even allow that... I had to start over again... The nurse said "I don't want you to leave and then call me up whining in a couple hours about not being able to swallow your own spit".. We had a good laugh about that because I am a "panic" caller and she knows me well... So there I sat for 30 minutes, sipping on delicious water and visiting with all the folks in the waiting room swapping stories and getting/giving advice or tips...

Cocoa, I typically have a big mouth and am very open about my life and whats going on... This is a big test for me to keep it to myself...

[quote name=NewKate;1389615 I just had my first fill today and it did not hurt at all' date=' there was a little poke but that was it......My tummy is not sore at all, I even went to Curves to workout tonite....my doc requires 3 days of full liquids after a fill.[/quote] Kate, Thank you so much for the feedback... DO they do anything to numb you first? I'm still scared...

Today is my 1 month anniversary... Yes mine is still sore... It always feels like a bruise when I sit.. Also where the band is gets rock hard after I eat and I have not had a fill yet. That is scheduled for tomorrow... When I am laying down, I can see it like a bump or lump under my skin/fat... I can feel it in there 24/7 and have been wondering if this was normal... I guess I should make a list of all my questions for the dr tomorrow... I lumped the band surgery in with some reconstructive knee surgery and am home on Med leave for a few more weeks and they are letting me work form home for as many hours as I can each day... Sitting at the computer is very uncomfortable on my tummy... I hope it gets better. I don't want to have it removed...

Ohhh, I just wanted to add that I had reconstructive knee surgery on 12/16/09 and so have been slowly building up my physical activity level so that may help when I have full mobility again... I'm up to 20 minutes on the stationary bike when I go to physical therapy and logged over 5 miles on it today today! Yay me... However, with that celebration comes the depressing news that the calorie counter said I only burned 100 calories... It felt like I should have burned 1000!!! That was a lot of work.... However, every little thing is an extra effort with my bum knee.. Hehe... I can't believe I took my knees for granted before this accident took it out...

My first fill is tomorrow and I am terrified of the needle in my tummy! Does it hurt a lot and does it leave you sore for any period of time? Every since my surgery I have had a very small appetite and get full very quickly. If I eat as much as a 1 cup of food I am miserable for hours on end... And I still have the protien shake for Breakfast which tides me over for about 4 or 5 hours... However, Even with eating very little, (less than half of what I used to eat) I am disappointed that I am not losing much weight yet... Most of my meals are close to half cup of food. That is the amount I can eat and still be comfortable. I hope I don't have any issues with throwing up after the fill. I hate throwing up!

I will have my first fill tomorrow and my experience is that I already get VERY FULL from the tiniest bit of food. I usually have the 30 gram protien low cal (140 cal) shake for breakfast and once I ate a package of instant oatmeal instead and it made my tummy overly uncomfortable and full feeling for most of the day... Today at 12:30 I ate 1/4 of a turkey avacodo sandwich and a couple nibbles (to me A nibble is about the size of bite you would give a 6 month old baby of rice cereal) of cottage cheese and a couple nibbles of my BF's shepards pie (we were at Marie Calendars celebrating his Moms 80th birthday) and about 4 small bites of birthday cake and here it is 5 and a half hours later and I am still uncomfortably full... I'm terrified of throwing up so I will be even more cautious and eat less once I have the fill...

Denise, My saving grace in being able to hide this from my live in boyfriend is that he is 60 years old (16 years older than me) and really out of touch with anything modern... He's like a 60 yr old stuck in the 1950's... I'm hoping the scars fade enough that I can convince him I've always had them the 4 years we have been together... I had my tubes tied the year before we started dating and maybe he'll just think thats what it is... One of my friends who does know about this calls me Lucy and says Ricky always catches her. Haha... My boyfriend drove me to the band surgery and thinks I had the first of "two" knee surgerys. The nurse called my GF with the release instructions and I stayed with her for 4 days to recover... They even bandaged and wrapped guaze around my knee before releasing me! My Dr. says he somewhat understands my situation but hopes I can eventually come out of the closet about being banded... I have had food stuck already and the band has not even been filled yet. My first fill is tomorrow. Fortunately, I have been practicing small bites throughly chewed and I discovered that if I stand up and walk for a couple of minutes it goes down... My biggest concern is regarding taking my pain pills for my knee once the fill is done... Guess thats one more thing to ask the doctor tomorrow... I made it though Christmas parties, Christmas dinners, Birthday parties and New Years and just let everyone know that my Orthopedic surgeon strongly recommended me to lose weight to help my knee recover better and everyone has been very supportive of my efforts without knowing I have been banded.

I have chosen to only tell three of my closest friends... Most people I know are very judgmental about weight loss in general and think any WLS is a lazy cop out for an easy way out... Ha, if only people knew... This choice has set me back thousands of dollars and that in itself will make me accountable for following through with the plan... I know it's a matter of helping people to become educated regarding the procedure if they don’t agree with it, however, at this time, I don't feel like having to defend my decision and educate everyone who will have their comments. I come from a very weight conscious family that can be very mean and hurtful and if after not seeing someone for 10+ years they will comment negatively if you have gained 5 or 10 pounds since they last saw you... My boyfriend, who I live with does not even know about this... I had a hiking accident in October, and have had various medical procedures and reconstructive knee surgery and so I just lumped my band surgery right in there with everything else... I spent 4 days with my GF recovering with the excuse that while he was at work I would need someone with me all the time... I came home the day the chunky bandages came off... (I still have not let him see me without a shirt or pajama on since the scars are still so fresh.). He would probably be supportive of the weight loss however; he would certainly cringe at the expense of it if he knew my insurance did not cover it. Knowing what I paid would make him overly pushy about me getting my moneys worth and he would scrutinize every bite of food I eat no matter how little... Anyhow, as for now, this is my business alone and my mind could change later when I reach my goal weight and maintain it... It could help to create a symbol of hope for others once I can show decent results...

My Band is on the right side about 3 inches under my breast. When I lay on my back it shows. Only my three best friends know I had this done and the boyfriend I live with doesn't even know... I'm scared he will feel it when we make love.. Besides it showing when I am laying down, It kinda feels like a bruise and is tender when I am sitting... My Surgery was on 04Dec09... Will things get better? I see the surgeon tomorrow for my first fill and will report back what he thinks when I ask him these questions...