AllegrasGramma

You can also buy seat belt extenders - you will have to confirm which type to get but just in case you want to drive before you can fit into the ones that came with the car.

Wonderful photos and congratulations on your weight loss. I agree with slow and steady! Thank you for sharing. I envy your arms. No matter how much weight I lose I will have bat wings!

I did this, just copied it into the cells so it will auto calculate so long as everyone puts their results in. Really happy to have this challenge. I am not as hell bent on losing the weight in a hurry as I was when I was younger! I am doing my best to take my time and work as much on the head and setting good expectations as I am on diet and exercise. This is just the little edge to keep me making good choices without going full on into diet mode. I am an all or nothing kind of dieter - I can diet better than most, never cheating, recording every morsel, losing weight fast, until I quit, then it's look out food! so now I am working on eating healthy, but not obsessively so

Hi Amy - I put formulas in the total lost column and current weight column so that it will add the the total weight lost and calculate the current weight. You can copy those formulas for your row if you want. I just didn't want to assume everyone would want it. Allegras Gramma

Lots of self-pay folks fly to Colorado and have Dr. Kirshenbaum do their surgery and fills. His cost, all inclusive is just under 10k. His fills are free for the first three months and then $30 each. Good luck!

Count me in - but I wasn't able to access the spreadsheet link. Thanks.

Linda, your facts are almost identical to mine. I had surgery in May, just 2 months before my 59th birthday (next month). I have the same gall bladder scar and drain scar. Neither were an issue for the surgery. I had a surgical problem unrelated to either but nothing serious and while I am losing slowly (20 pounds) I am very happy with the surgery. Good luck!

Hi Everyone - I searched on every topic I could think of, except the one that would give me the answer. I am sure this is user error, I just don't know exactly what to do to fix it. I am on mushies. I mostly eat greek yogurt, cream of wheat, hummus, eggs and an occasional pudding or s/f Jello. I am also drinking Protein drinks and lots of Water. Not really losing weight but I had some complications with surgery so not worried about that now. What I am curious about is if you have any insight as to what I might be doing wrong to have gas after eating. I feel like I must be taking in air when I eat. I am taking small bites. I am chewing a lot. But within 30 minutes of eating I have painful abdominal gas. It passes with walking, but if I could avoid it by changing someting I am doing that would be great. Thanks and good luck everyone.

Thanks - Not using straws and using premixed shakes but the chewing slower makes sense!

I think the Ensure and Atkins shakes have a lot of calories and found that they didn't fill me up at all.

Thanks - that is so true!

Amazing how different everyone's experiences are. I am feeling better today, but still dizzy upon standing. I had a bleeder on top of lots and lots of vomiting so had to stay longer and get some monster stitches to close the port site but it did eventually stop the bleeding - I have a monster bruise from the bleeding until it managed to tamp of the bleeder. The whole right side of my abdomen looks good and doesn't really hurt much. The left side is an altogether different story. It helped that I got a big band because they put me on full liquids the day after surgery to help with the nausea. The pain from vomiting was worse than any of the gas pains. it will take some time for all of this to work, but I am mentally prepared for that - at least I think I am :thumbup:

I was ready for a relatively easy go of it and have a high tolerance for pain. Unfortunately I had a few complications - nausea and vomiting, bleading at the port site. But after two days I am home. Still light headed and someone dizzy - plus more pain than I expected but doctor put me on full liquids thinking that perhaps I was really dehydrataed and in starvation mode. We shall see - but even with all of this and the fact that it will take longer to get going, it's still something I am glad I did.

Poaching fish is also a great way to cook fish. You can flavor the poaching liquid with spices or lemon or even wine. There are lots of great recipes, just google recipes for poached fish.

HI FLorida Boy - I have a couple of comments - first, let's be honest, the whole fear of writing something down that is bad will go away. You will stop recording all of your food. It's just the way it is. It might not happen for a few months, but when it does, will how you feel be enough to get you back on track? At 59 have your been struggling with weight your entire life or is it fairly recent? If the former chances are pretty good you know it's probably just wishful thinking to think you can do it and keep it off this time. I say this because I am 58 and in the same situation - self-pay and losing weight on the pre-op with little to no difficulty. But what I know about myself is that I am all or nothing - there doesn't seem to be an in between for me so I can lose weight but the moment I fall off the wagon I fall off big time. Portion control goes out the window and poor food choices fly right in. That's why I have decided the lapband is the tool for me. I could be wrong - my surgery is in 2 weeks but I am willing to take that chance. On the self-pay, if you can fly you might consider Dr. Kirshenbaum in Colorado. Even flying here, staying a day or two you will pay quite a bit less than almost 18K. His surgery is just under 10K and he does quite a few long distance patients. He is doing my surgery but I have nothing to gain from recommending him Good luck and keep up the great work.

I was thinking of posting "you know it's head hunger when..." so I could say "the very act of eating differently, not necessarily eating less, makes you think you are hungry." I start 2 week pre-op Wednesday and it's not a liquid diet so decided to ease into it, just giving up carbs over the weekend and today I am hungry even though usually a Protein drink in the morning keeps me completely fine until lunch. it's just all part of the process, but it was a bit of an aha moment about how your head can play tricks on you! Mary

Thanks Sawyer - Appreciate your comments. I will be talking with my surgeon's nutritionist on Tuesday. Since my trip is two weeks out it will be different than what you experienced traveling 4 weeks out and I want to plan ahead so I will be prepared. Since the meeting is small, it isn't the typical conference spread - all of the meals are served rather than buffet style. M

Hi Everyone - Surgery is scheduled for May 20th. June 2-5 I have to attend a meeting in VA (I live in CO). It's at a resort, meals provided and a small group (less than 20). I have already told the group planner that I will have special dietary needs. My question to everyone is what exactly should I tell them to fix for lunch and dinner? My doctor indicates I can expect to be on a soft food diet. Thanks for any suggestions you can provide. M

Thanks Betsy - will be talking with nutritionist on Tuesday so thought I would ask for advice and then share the suggestions with the nutritionist so she can say yay or nay! I also ordered some of the Protein powder you suggested. I travel a great deal in my job so the single serving packets could be perfect. I am hoping they taste as good as I've heard. I have been drinking the costco Premium Protein shakes - they are pretty good and you can't beat the value (low cal, low carb and high protein) but you can't take those on the plane! I also enjoy reading your posts. M

Thanks Tazzy - appreciate the tips and tricks. M

Hi - interesting post. IMO it's because we often define ourselves by losing or gaining weight. Without the attention, negative or positive we have to focus on something else. I don't know what that is, but your post made me think this is something I will likely have to think about/deal with in the coming years. Maybe I can do something now to help that transition. Thanks,

Sandi, Thanks for sharing this. I visited your site and it's exactly what I was looking for. I have read and read and read but your site put so many of the pieces together. It helps that we have similar stories w/r/t age, success, and weight being the one area where success was a challenge. Mary

Hi - I think I have read all 800+ pages of this thread over the last few months. I have met with Dr. K and wouldn't say my experience matches most of what I have read. As a result I checked out some of the other CO doctors for comparison. I find it crazy that none of the doctors have updated websites, but suspect that's not really that unusual for healthcare providers. But back to why I am posting: My appointment with Dr. K was ok, but I felt rushed, didn't get a lot of specific information about the pre-op diet and generally left feeling like I wanted the surgery but needed more information. Fast forward a year and I have the money I need (spouse job loss meant I couldn't in good conscious spend the 10K then but have managed to save another 6K so am ready). Now that I have the money I have decided I can get the information I need, and the one thing I heard from Dr. K that no one else said was that his philosophy was to make sure you could still take a good long drink of water after exercising rather than making the band so tight you could only take sips. So, why am I posting? I realize the only thing stopping me is my fear of failure. Imagine spending 10K and failing. I have watched some people with the lapband "fool the system" by drinking with their meals, or eating ice cream and other things that go down smoothly. I don't want to fail. I think I am ready to succeed with the help of the lapband. I wish it was going to be easier than it will be, but ultimately I am going along with Mark Twain or Rory Cochrane who basically said you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. Thanks for listening. Posting this is my commitment to calling and getting set up for the surgery, hopefully in May. I appreciate all that you have shared, even if you didn't know you were helping me! Still fearful of failing, but know that not trying is the biggest failure of all.