PhillyGirl

I use Unjury too. I use the unflavored in my jello, the vanilla in my vanilla pudding, and the chocolate and vanilla (plus some dried milk) in my skim milk high-protein shakes. I also have started using the chicken soup flavor in my broth and after I've let my low-fat cream of chicken/mushroom cool. Order it from Amazon; it comes quickly!

I lost 22 pounds pre-surgery and 12 pounds since. Now I'm constipated. ARRRRRGH. I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow and will talk with him about it then. Dulcolax isn't doing it. ARRRRRRGH.

Hello from Pennsylvania! I got banded on December 30th, 2010, so all my memories and experiences are pretty fresh (if not ongoing!). Depending on your BMI, there are different diets you should go through prior to the surgery. The purpose of the diet is, from what I've gathered, good because: your liver likely needs to shrink prior to surgery; you need to acquire better eating and lifestyle habits to get you ready for the lifetime change ahead; your doctor wants to see if you're serious about losing weight, and; many insurance companies require it. I lost 22 pounds prior to my surgery and have lost at least 12 pounds since. Meetings are good for many people because you get to be in a room of people who totally understand where you've been, where you are, and what roadblocks you'll encounter on getting to where you need to go. Being at a meeting helps keep you honest too--if you're too insulated from others you're more likely to "fall off the wagon" diet-wise. And of course it affects your eating and drinking; that's what got us into this trouble to begin with! If we don't take a very critical look at what got us to where we are, we'll not succeed. Eating as you used to eat after being banded is at the least foolish and at the most dangerous. But the process goes beyond eating. Exercise has to become a part of your daily routine, as well as avoiding/modifying those situations that contributed to your overeating. So yes, it's a lifestyle change--a necessary lifestyle change. I have not experienced very much pain at all. I'm more tired than anything else, and that's getting better too. I am following the diet plans my doctor & nutritionist supplied me and am not cheating. My stomach needs time to heal. If I ate huge portions like I used to I could do major damage to myself. Anyhow, I like stepping on the scale and watching my weight go downdowndown. It doesn't sound as if you're intellectually and emotionally ready for this. Work hard on that. It is a permanent and necessary change to your life (I'm assuming necessary, as your doctor wouldn't suggest it if you weren't probably morbidly obese). It is a tool to help you in your weight-loss journey, but it doesn't do the work for you. That's up to you. I wish you the best, northern neighbor. Good luck & bonne chance!

As someone who's watching fat AND sugar, these sound nummy (especially with the apple jelly!), but too high in sugar for me. Guess I could try fiddling around with lower-sugar/Splenda-ized versions of this ...

Thank God I read this. I've been suffering for 2 days. It's made me weak and concerned about what nutrition my body is absorbing. Banded on 30 December, and hoping this too shall "pass"--and soon!!!

I'm not in much pain, but I am hungry! I'm being a good lap-banded girl and sipping on fruit juice mixed with unjury unflavored Protein and eating 1/2 cup Jello twice a day, and sipping on homemade chicken stock, but I'm hungry! Has anyone else experienced this so early? I was really hoping to avoid the rumbly hungry tummy. Aargh. If I take some more Tylenol with codeine, I'll slip into sleep and will be able to avoid it for a while. But man, I was hoping I'd not be hungry at ALL. Dammit, that was one of the reasons I got the band--to minimize hunger. Suggestions, anyone? Thank you!

I am better now. I started on small rations of skim milk with vanilla and chocolate Unjury and extra dried milk (once a day). Makes all the difference; I'm not hungry and feel so much better. And I've lost 8 pounds in 5 days! (Not expecting to keep up that pace, but it is a nice jump start.)

Traci, Hi from across the river! I am 5 days post-op. I'm surprised this procedure was done as an outpatient; I was kept overnight and it made a world of difference, in that I started off well-hydrated and kept "happy" for the first day on major pain meds. The pain you're feeling is the leftover gas in your abdomen. You can't "boop" this gas away; it has to be absorbed. Walking helps break up the gas and facilitates reabsorption, as well as helping you heal and minimizing clots and the chance of developing pneumonia. This is a great forum; use it extensively, communicate with your doctor and nutritionist, and you'll do fine. Good luck on your journey. I've already lost 30 pounds (22 pounds pre-surgery, 8 since).

Hello-- I'm Abigail Maley. Look me up & friend me! Best of luck to you in this new year!

I told everyone that I was having a hernia fixed as well as some internal scarring removed (I had major surgery last year). Both are lies. Only three people know, and that's how I want it. Some people are just too nosy and one of my co-workers is an obsessive/compulsive bulemic and makes fun of fat people anyway (always sooooo nice to hear her). This is my private business and as I have been on a diet for the last five months or so (and ~25 pounds down), everyone will think that I am one of those "lucky" dieters. If I hear of anyone considering bariatric surgery I probably would speak with them, though, but I'd make it clear that it is my decision who knows and who doesn't.

Tell your anesthesiologist that you vomit after general surgery (even if you don't know if you do or not). They will give you meds to keep you from vomiting. Also--I found that morphine makes me a little nauseous. if you find that any of your pain meds are giving you tummy flutters, let them know and they'll switch pain meds (I've found toradol and oxycodone are great). And WHATEVER you do, do NOT eat or drink ANYTHING after midnight the night before your surgery. If you do so, you could nix your opportunity of being operated on that day. And if they do operate, your chances of being sick are greatly heightened. As to pain, I just had my surgery on 12/30 and while dopey, I'm not in much pain at all. What helps is that I started walking as soon as they'd let me and I walked often. The benefits to that is that I lessened my chances of getting pneumonia and blood clots, and upped my circulation so that I healed faster. Additionally, the exertion (minor though it was), helped me get tired so I'd sleep more. I also think my Viking genes help a lot in pain management. You'll be fine.

I was wondering about that too; have you had your glucose levels checked? That is a classic symptom. Please get checked soon, as you need to keep your sugar in control. Please.

No! Your stomach needs time to heal; don't go stretching it out/putting strain on it now. Also--you should have been practicing good eating habits before this; don't start the bad habits up again now, please! Also--your doctor should have given you a timeframe for starting with liquids, then moving up veeeerrrrrry gradually to small portions of mushy foods. You could do real damage if you try to eat how you used to now that the band is in place, even if you haven't had any fills yet. Get your mind in the right place; it's tough sometimes, but we all have to work hard and suffer some to make up for the damage we've done to our bodies. Read this site, dig through the threads. And go for a walk or do some vacuuming instead of eating on an urge. It's tough, but we're all here in the same boat. Best to you.

Hate to say it, but we all are on a diet. We can't eat like we used to, not even close. I see it as a challenge that I'm going to win, and continue to win (unlike before, where I'd fall back into bad habits because of the hunger and feelings of deprivation). My health is not as good as it could be, and I need to make amends to my body. If your doctor continues to not meet your reasonable expectations, then write a letter to him/her and copy his/her boss. I did that and they jumped to attention and actually implemented some of the changes that I suggested. I won't be banded until late October at the earliest. I have a ways to go. I'm a fat woman who has a long road to getting better. And yes, I'm on a diet, but that's a necessary process.

When I go for my appointments, everyone's super nice and friendly and helpful and bursting with information. But if I have a question outside of office hours and send a voicemail or an email, I get bupkis. No response. I'm concerned about that. While I can get many of the questions I have answered here, it's still critical that I feel they are invested in my success too. For instance: I need to set up a sleep study (though I don't have apnea), and they gave me the name of the doctor to call. I've been calling for two weeks and nothing. I told my bariatric center about the unresponsive doctor, and the office manager said she'd look into it and get back to me. And------no callback. If I call and set up with another sleep study, will my surgeon/my insurance allow that? I mean, a sleep study is a sleep study is a sleep study, right? I'm frustrated. I'm also really hungry today and no matter what I eat (and I'm being good, but boy--it's hard) I'm hungry again in an hour. Grrrrrrrrr. Words of encouragement/advice? Don't know what I'd do without this site!

Oh, Ardelia. I'm so sorry you're going through this. If the doctor asks you about your eating habits since your initial turndown, just say you had a bout of emotional eating for a day but wised up (even if you didn't and are still putting on pounds to qualify with a higher BMI). It sucks to lie, but it's more important that you have EVERY tool available to you (and that means the lap-band). I don't wish you to be up in my BMI range (50 with 1 co-morbidity), though. And if you're a heifer, what does that make me? A hippo? :-) Take care and keep us in the loop.

Merrywait--I love the way you think! I agree about being positive. It helps others around you as well as yourself. YAY!

I'm interested in people's experience with sleep studies. I do not have sleep apnea nor do I snore excessively, but they scheduled me for one anyhow. I need my feather pillows and I need to lie on my side and I need my tissues and my book and...well, you get my drift.

I'm just starting the process. My doctor says that my insurance requires three months of pre-surgery diet, and if I'm above a certain BMI, then I would have to have a two-week liquid diet just prior to the surgery. It makes sense to work to get the liver "de-fatted," as well as to lose weight to show good intent and that you really MEAN it that the lap-band is just a tool, not the full answer. Good luck to all.

I have only told my husband (who is so supportive) and one friend, who is going through the process with me. I will NOT tell my co-workers. It is none of their business. It is only my and my husband's business. I know I can't keep weight off on my own. I need this tool, and I need to be accountable to someone besides myself. That is a private decision, and the world does not need to know my private decision. I wish everyone who has written in response here the best.

The nurse said that reflux could worsen with the band. The doctor did not tell me that. But he DID say I had a hiatal hernia. Reflux runs in my family (everyone else is a normal weight, so being obese isn't the sole reason for my reflux), but I consider taking precautions for reflux to be a small price to pay for better mobility, more energy and less pain. I'd like to stop the Prilosec I've been taking for years, but for now that's not an option. Let's report back once we've lost weight and see if reflux is still an issue, okay?