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I'd suggest avoiding as much artificially sweetened stuff as possible, it just doesn't do your body any good to think it's getting sugar(y) foods/drinks. Cream of mushroom/tomato/brocoli/chicken/potato are all good (I was instructed to strain out the chunkier soups like the brocoli) Even non-fruit yogurt is allowable at this point. Non-fat or skim milk is also good. You can have V-8 juice now which was like a meal for me during my full liquid week. Drinking a low carb type of Protein drink is important at least 2 a day, if you're doing a powdered whey protein, mixing it with skim milk is great (I mix mine all in the magic bullet that thing is a life saver) My nut also allowed for really runny mashed potatoes (I had to add milk to get them to a soupier texture and they were like ambrosia) Good luck on Full liquids Week!

Grats on the surgery, and glad you're feeling well post-op. I think you're going to find those wonderful gas pains soon enough (not trying to be a party-pooper lol) Good luck on the new chapter of your life

congrats on the band scott. I was banded 3/19/10. I felt sore but the pain meds they gave me worked to keep me able to move during the first few days, the soreness goes away pretty quickly. walking is really a big key to moving the gas out of your body. The reason you're more sore than some is due to them fixing your hernia. It takes a little more time for you to feel "normal" post-surgery. As far as being thirsty more than your surgeon suggests you drink, I think you'll find if you phone him, that having a sugar-free freeze pop or ice chips to keep you from feeling so thirsty between allowable liquid amounts will be acceptable. Good luck :cool:

The band is empty for all of us post op for about 6 weeks (depending on your surgeon but that's generally the timeline) Your body needs to heal and your stomach needs to adapt to the band before they start adding saline to it.

That's so cool! I am looking forward to discovering things I have been avoiding are actually something I can physically do again.

3 weeks post-op as of today. 32 pounds gone!

I chose the lap-band over gastric bypass for several reasons. The Lap-band is less invasive than gastric bypass surgery. Gastric bypass is physically altering your stomach forever. Gastric bypass surgery does cause you to lose more rapidly, increasing the chance of hanging loose skin... yeah I'd love to have all my weight melt off in a few months, but the idea of looking like the saggy-baggy elephant afterwards... not so appealing. You CAN eat sugar with gastric bypass, I work with 2 people that have had it done in the past 6 months. Talk to some other folks with gastric, like several posters I've seen that lost all that weight, then started gaining and went in for a lap-band.

I was on a break at work and went outside to get some fresh air, periodically junior high school kids come through our engineering building for a tour...I was coming back in just as they were organizing getting the 40 or 50 kids loaded on the 3 available elevators to go up to the auditorium for a presentation. I got stuck with about 12 teenaged girls in the same elevator as me, and on the panel is a placard stating that the weight limit is 3500 pounds (or 21 people). This rude little b*tch behind me stage-whispers "I bet she makes up half of that limit all on her own" Now, from what I've seen through this thread, there is a lot of folks who "just take it" mortified, embarrassed, and silent. I'm not that good a person, I turned around and told her, "I may be fat, but I make over 100k a year thanks to my education, remember that when I super-size at your drive-thru window." I have seen so many people comment about airplane seatbelt extensions, and no one has mentioned how bad those friggen seats hurt your sides when you have to basically crisco your body down to squeeze into them. I dread flying because of how uncomfortable the seats are. My last time on an airplane was to fly to San Diego, CA on March 19th 2010. Reason for flight: lap-band surgery! 3 weeks post-op, looking forward to never having to stand up for myself to people who think it's ok to be rude to the "fat girl" PS: Also looking forward to being able to see my who-ha again... I've missed it, hope it's the same as I remember it looking!

Congratulations on your band! I spent the first three nights in a reclined but not lying down position to sleep, it hurt/pulled the incision on my side too much to twist and move to get in and out of bed, so I avoided it... The gas, lol you are going to be a walking fart machine for few days... thankfully the bloated full feeling eases as the swelling goes down. The sore throat from the breathing tube only lasts a day or two, I found sucking on ice chips and swallowing the super cold drops of Water helped with that a bunch! Congrats again!

Wow that's a rapid transition to solids. I have to say that as much as I miss "real" food.... I am pretty thankful my post-op was a long road back to solid food. I was banded March 19th and am almost through my first week of mushies, but have also lost 31 pounds in the almost 3 weeks since my surgery. It's so interesting how doctors follow such different plans for post-operative eating.

I know for about 10 days after surgery it was a very wise decision to NOT be walking behind me, especially not with open flame nearby. The gas gets better, drastically, as you move it out of your system (walking seemed to be the big key to that) I didn't pass much gas from the other end, but the ability to burp for sure felt as though it'd been surgically removed during my band install.

My surgeon didn't give me a goal weight, however the psychiatrist that evaluated me pre-surgery was NOT ok with my stated goal weight of 125. She told me that was definitely too thin, and that 137 was a better goal to work towards, given my frame and bone structure. I smiled and nodded but you know, 125 is still the number in my mind. Just dont tell my quack that.

I have my lap-band card in my wallet, however I have not yet pulled it out for the child or senior menu discounts (only 2 and a half weeks post-op) I was given my card directly after surgery with a sticker containing the serial number and reference number of my band on it. As for the metal portion on our ports, I can tell you that I have 2 steel plates and 16 screws holding my right foot onto the end of my leg, and I rarely set off metal detectors with THAT much metal in it. Once in awhile I get a touchy scanner and they just pat that ankle down when they catch it with the wand. I am going to say that there's not enough metal in the port to make even the most sensitive metal detecting scanners go off. As for the full body x-ray the port is inside the body, as is the band, they're not checking you for medical implants, and I doubt it would ever be an issue flying.