perryjoyce

Hehehehe...I know that look!! Noodle-less Udon soup has been a staple of mine! And the looks I get are always the best part! :frown:

Good luck! The waiting really is the hardest part! If it's any consolation, I thought my approval was going to take several weeks but it took less than one! I agree with the post above - keep on them! Call call call! Don't expect them to take the initiative. You'll be starting that pre-op diet that much sooner if you do! :frown:

Hello May Bandsters!! I'm exactly four weeks post-op today. It's unbelievable! I still remember going for my first consult visit, it feels like yesterday! I've lost 17 lbs since surgery and I am ecstatic! I'm wearing jeans to work today (jeans!) that I haven't worn in years, and they aren't digging into my tummy!! That alone is worth celebrating. I had my first fill on Tuesday. It was a little more uncomfortable than I thought, but nothing bad. I have 2.5cc's in my 10cc band. I had performance anxiety while he was adjusting me. I kinda wanted him to put more in, but when he asked me how tight I was I think he could tell I was lying! We settled on 2.5 which is maybe a little looser than it could be but I really didn't want to go back for them to remove .1 or something just so I could be comfortable. Besides, I'm losing so I'm happy. What are all your doctors saying about exercise?? I'm so motivated to get up and go but I haven't heard a conclusive answer on when. Since the fill, my doctor just keeps saying, "When you're ready." When am I ready? I don't want to disrupt anything. Is anyone here already exercising hard core?

I used Unjury powder and I e-mailed the company to confirm that I could use it during clear liquids. They said absolutely as long as it's mixed with a clear liquid - i.e., not milk or Slim Fasts. So you could try that. Let me just say that Unjury's Chicken Soup flavored powder is the only thing that got me through my clear liquids phase (which seems so far away, but was only four weeks ago). It tastes just as good as your favorite canned soup and it's a godsend when you're sick of sweet drinks! I added Tabasco and lime juice to mine when I got bored with it straight and it really, really helped. You just have to mind the sodium.

I was banded on 5/14 and I've had at least one or two drinks every weekend since the second week. I make it a double whiskey on the rocks and it lasts me all night. I sip water the rest of the night. I usually only do this at concerts. So far, so good. I'm down 17 lbs in 4 weeks. Like everyone mentioned above, it's all about moderation. I can't (nor would I want to) do this every night and I fit it into my daily allotted calories. I also make sure I hit all my other targets before I indulge (protein, carbs, etc.) So you can do it, you just have to be smart about it!

I bought a Blender Bottle on Amazon that is pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread. (Mmm...bread...) Right before I leave for work I add 8-12 oz of Silk Light chocolate Soy Milk, two scoops of Chocolate Protein powder (Unjury is amazing and so is Optimum Nutrition's Double Rich Chocolate), and ice and I shake the hell out of it. I put it in my bag and I drink it all morning at work. There's 40+ grams of protein and it's about 300 calories. Occasionally I add 4oz of coffee to it after I get to work. It's like a decadent mocha milkshake! I also second the Isopure zero carb clear Protein drinks. I've tried the Alpine Punch and the banana pineapple Orange. I wouldn't drink them just for taste, but given that they've got 40g in one bottle, they're not bad at all! Especially if you can't stand normal protein drinks.

I honestly believe I stall if I eat under 1,000. I think my body panics at that point and holds on to everything. I pretty consistently get 1,200 during week and then probably consume closer to 1,500 on the weekends. I feel like "shocking" the body helps it not go into a stubborn mode. Exercise works in a similar way - if I'm stalled after doing only spinning for a month, I switch it up and do kick boxing. Instant plateau buster! :frown:

I stopped taking birth control for about four years just to give my body a break. We used alternative means of contraceptive, which has worked fine, I have no complaints. I really missed my clear skin and decreased PMS side effects though, so when I was going through my pre-op appointments I asked for a prescription again. I was given the regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen, which I used in the past. I was instructed to wait at least a week after surgery to start it. In all this time, I forgot that there's a chance that birth control makes you gain weight. The first week or so after surgery, I was losing steadily, perhaps .25 to .50 every couple of days. I got down to 214.2 one week out - a 10 lb loss from surgery. I was, and still am, very happy with this. (And I know very well that this is a one time thing, my body adjusting and Water weight and such, and that I'll never experience dramatic weight loss like that again.) I started taking my prescription last Thursday, the same day I logged my weight. On Monday, my weight went back to 217. Both the surgeon's scale and my home scale reflect this number. The number has not changed at all this week. I know this is a volatile time for weight loss/gain. I know I'm going to bounce around. I know I'm going to have weeks where I don't lose and weeks where I lose slooooooowly. So am I just asking for trouble by introducing another variable into the mix? Should I hold out the birth control until I've had a few fills and am a little more stable? I did a lot of research last night. The official word is still that birth control does not make you gain weight, but I read probably 500 posts from women who had a different opinion. Some gained and some found it impossible to lose. Since I don't technically need to be on it, should I just hold off a few more months? I think I already know the answer - just wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience. As always, thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!

I have anxiety over how my surgery will affect my relationship with my sister and her boyfriend. We've always been overweight, but she has really ballooned up in the last couple of years. Her boyfriend was heavy in high school, lost almost 100 lbs through diet and exercise, and then gained it all back when they got into their happy, cozy couple phase. I was keeping it together in my early 20's and lost some weight doing Atkins, but of course I gained it all back and then some. I think she was secretly happy that I was gaining along with her. She was very supportive when I first told her about the surgery but now she's not speaking to me. If I am successful, I know that her boyfriend will want to look into the Lap Band as well and I think that scares her. She's the jealous type through and through. Her self-esteem is practically non-existent. What I'd love more than anything is for her to get one too, but I'm not sure she ever would. She's never even tried to diet. I think she's completely given up. So yes, I'm having some relationship issues, but there's nothing I can do but take it one day at a time.

Good luck you guys! Come back soon and let us know how it went! I'm sure everything will go smoothly and you'll be on that road in no time! One thing that really, really helped me those first few days was some advice I heard on these forums (which you probably already know but I'm going to repeat it anyway): you will have buyer's remorse at first. You'll be uncomfortable, maybe in pain, bloated and groggy - all very normal symptoms post any kind of surgery. You'll wonder why you elected to put yourself through it. Then suddenly, that feeling will go away. Knowing that ahead of time reeeeeeeeeally helped me get through those first few days. I'd hear the little voice creep in, and I'd tell him to STFU!

I have used FitDay and DailyBurn in the past and I love them both. However my heart currently belongs to Daily Plate via Livestrong. I have yet to stump their database! Other than that, they're all kinda the same - but I particularly like that with Daily Plate, below the food input dialogue box, a couple of articles auto-generate based on what you're eating and I have found some very good information this way! Sometimes it's recipes for snacks, sometimes it's concerns over too much protein, sometimes it's exercise related, but it's always educational. I have yet to use the exercise tracking portion of Livestrong though; I'm only six days post-op so I've got a few weeks before I can really get into it again. Not sure how it compares to DailyBurn, which I found lacking. Daily Plate and DailyBurn both have iPhone apps and possibly Blackberry/Android as well.

I think I do recall the gas pain flaring up a bit while I was walking, so you're right - it did make it a little worse in the short term - but I felt so much better when I was done and it really is the quickest way to work it all out of your system. So for me personally, I'd rather grin and bear it and get it over with than let it linger in my body for days and days and days. With aggressive walking (and stair climbing!) I turned excruciating shoulder pain on Friday into only mild pain on Saturday and non-existent pain by Sunday. Either way, it'll pass. Slowly but surely.

Eight more days until mushies for me! I'm already composing the sonnet in my head over my first bite of...well, anything really. I'm doing remarkably fine on liquids but I won't lie, the sound of grits, cottage cheese, yogurt, mashed potatoes - it all sounds so wonderful! I kinda love that I'm "detoxing" my body from food in a way, and then slowly reintroducing the things that I love that are healthy. I just feel like I'll be able to appreciate the little things that much more, rather than just eating quickly and in the biggest portions possible.

YOU WILL BE! I'm just at that stage. Today is the first day I realized I can gulp and gulp thick protein shakes and water without having to sip. Honestly, I'm a little scared. I think this officially means that I can do damage (calorie-wise) and now it's will power from here on out 'til the first fill. Today is the first day of my Bandster Hell. I'm on two weeks of liquids and then two weeks of mushies, and honestly I am GLAD. If left to my own devices, I'd be eating like the old me within a week, I'm sure. I'm pretty good at sticking to a doctor ordered diet when I know it's temporary. I have to believe this is perhaps why all the doctors vary their post-op diet instructions. Technically we are physically capable of eating foods after a couple of days, but we're not all mentally capable. Some doctors want a safety net there, I guess. I'm glad mine is one of them, though I would kill for some mashed potatoes right now!

I too was blindsided by the gas pain! The surgical pain was a piece of cake, almost non-existent, but oh the gas pain! My doctor did not give me painkillers but I called him up and demanded some. Walking helps, especially up stairs! You won't want to right away, but try if you can swing it. It'll feel bad at first and possibly while you're doing it, but when you get back and sit down you'll feel soooooo much better. A heating pad is your best friend. Gax-X is good too. But the stairs and the heating pad got me through it. My most severe pain only lasted about 36 hours and then after that it was tolerable. So hang in there!!

Once upon a time I was the diet master. I could tell you how many calories/protein/fat/carbs were in any given piece of food. I knew perfect portion sizes. I lost weight. After years and years of this I got really, really fatigued by it all. So I stopped. I just let it all fly. 50 lbs later, my nutritional compass is way out of whack. I need to realign it. Journaling right now is imperative for me. Not so much for the calories, but for the nutritional breakdown. I'm not a huge meat eater; left to my own devices, I get very little Protein. And as we all know, protein is key. So being able to see a little pie chart is invaluable. When my protein is less than half of the entire chart, I know what my next meal needs to be. Eventually, I plan to let this go. Whether it's 50 lbs from now, or when I'm at maintenance, I'm not sure. I do know that with the band, when I do finally let go of the safety net I'll be more in control and in tune with what my body wants. If I start to slip though, I know how to get back on track - journaling. For the record, I use Daily Plate and I find it has an extremely large database of foods.

My surgeon put the port in the same spot and that's the only lingering discomfort from my 5/14 surgery! I still don't know why he'd put it at the one part of your stomach that creases the most! I don't have a bandage but I do have that liquid skin stuff that I can't wait to have off! It's rough and prickly. :w00t: The upside is that my largest incision is basically just a widening of my belly button, so it's practically invisible. I'll give him points for that smooth move. :wink:

Congratulations!! Glad to hear everything is going smoothly! :w00t:

Stop as soon as you feel the tightness and wait at least five minutes before continuing - if you can. That seems to work for me. I'm four days post op and if anything I have to try to eat more, I'm getting so little in - so it's pretty difficult to overeat, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just eat slow and listen to your stomach. And congrats on a successful surgery!! :w00t:

I thought of myself as a toughie who could handle anything but I was seriously uncomfortable those first couple of days. I was the world's biggest baby and that usually is not me! So you're definitely not alone there. What really helped me was getting off the pain medication. That stuff makes me groggy and lifeless. As for being hungry, I am sipping on something constantly because I can't take very large sips. If not a protein shake or water, then some kind of broth or low fat soup. There's just no way you could get enough calories in in three meals. Your pouch can only take a couple of ounces at a time. So unless your doctor specifically told you otherwise, I wouldn't worry about the three meals a day until you're on mushies or full food again. Right now you need the calories to help with the healing. Don't starve yourself! Also, I've notice my stomach doing the same growling thing, but I'm not sure it's hunger. It feels like it's just adapting in a particularly cranky way. I have a hard time differentiating between stomach hunger and gassy bloated discomfort.

Once I realized (through research and speaking with doctors) that the Lap Band wasn't a gimmick and didn't involve rewiring organs or anything, I was definitely #1 - full speed ahead! I can't tell you the feeling of relief that washed over me when I accepted that this was a viable and successful tool that has helped so many finally take control. I went from being completely depressed and borderline hopeless to knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could make this work.