dk4k

I'm not Jewish but if you don't mind, here's my opinion: there's no time like now to get on with the rest of your life! I was banded a few days before Thanksgiving, so I had been wondering the same thing. I ate (sipped) turkey broth I made from the family turkey, and my family understood completely. Although they all kind of stared at me the whole time to see how I was doing...

The good news is, everything you described is completely normal and will go away soon! Stay positive and remember why you did this (for YOURSELF!) And sip that water! Welcome to the board, you will learn a lot here.

So I went on vacation to Europe for a month. I know, you don't feel sorry for me! There was a lot of sausage, bread, and beer to be had! I did not have any problems with getting stuck...at first. Two weeks into my trip, I fell off a horse. OW ow ow ow ow! I did a few things wrong after that: 1) I took Aleve because I knew I was going to hurt like hell later, and 2) Later, my hosts forced me to drink the Polish medicine, which is normally vodka but they thought I needed something stronger so it was cognac, and 3) I proceeded to eat a normal sausage-y dinner. It was not long before I was stuck and sliming. I've never been stuck before, only had an uncomfortable feeling when I eat too fast or too big a bite. The sliming eventually led to vomiting, and there were streaks of blood in it. Oh how scared I was! I was in a foreign country, vomiting blood, and I just knew that if I went to the hospital, they wouldn't know what to do with me. So I only told my husband, who was freaked out but agreed to stay quiet and keep an eye on me. I sipped Water for the rest of the evening, then just ate soft stuff for 24 hours. I felt fine the next day...well, my stomach felt fine. My body was extremely sore! I had to be more careful with food after that, I seemed to feel tight/stuck more easily. I visited my bariatric doctor when I got home, who checked my band with the x-ray and everything looked great. I ate basically whatever I wanted for a month and gained a pound. Not bad! We walked a LOT, and I was not the person everyone else had to wait for, as in past trips. 7 months of exercise allowed me to be the person in front for a change! So other than the horse fiasco, I had a really great experience.

That has been the best side effect of my surgery. I used to have heartburn practically every day, so I consider this to be a major improvement in my health.

Awesome!!! I can't wait to join you! The sense of accomplishment must be amazing.

I had poor balance on the treadmill for a few months after I started. I just noticed the other day that I wasn't stumbling anymore! I'm not sure what changed, but I'd just say hold on until you feel more comfortable.

I crashed around my house like Godzilla for a while pre- and post-surgery, just WANTING FOOOOOD!!! I wanted to open the fridge every time I walked by it. The awful feelings passed and I got used to eating and drinking the way I'm supposed to. I also took up exercise, and as much as I don't enjoy doing it, it does make me feel better. Can you find something to keep yourself busy while you adjust? A hobby you love?

This is the bottom line. Your body NEEDS fuel, and when you starve it, you are pulling from ALL your stores, not just your fat stores. If your ultimate goal is health and a long life, you should work to conserve (or better yet, build) muscle and bone.

I'm all for solving a medical problem instead of masking the pain it's causing, but this is surgery! You will have a lot of pain for the first few days, and there is no reason to suffer though that. In fact, I think the anxiety/body tension caused by suffering pain can actually cause it to be worse. Take that medicine, and in a few days will be feeling LOTS better and won't need it.

The smaller plate really helps me to serve myself the right portion. I recently had started serving myself bigger portions (more like what the family was eating), thinking I would stop when I was full, but then eating it all! Then I got my head back on straight and returned to serving a small portion and when it was gone, I was done. I never leave the table hungry, but I'm also not overeating. I used a smaller spoon when I started eating mushies and solid food, to give myself an idea of what a bite should look like. I'm trained now, and I use regular utensils.

After 6 months, I had recently gone back to serving myself a portion almost as big as the rest of the family was eating (basically, it was how much I wanted). I would eat it all and be really uncomfortable! Now I'm back to serving myself what I think I should eat (I eyeball the portions), and I feel satisfied when I'm done. I'm also trying to pay attention to whether I even need to finish what I served myself. I sometimes hiccup once or twice right after dinner. I haven't figured out if that means I stopped at the right time, or just barely over-ate. It's good to be reminded of this stuff occasionally. Really changing the habits instead of just being on a diet, will help keep the weight off in the long run.

Standing ovation!

Congrats on your loss so far!

My doc did explain that to me, but it is good to be reminded, frequently! I hadn't thought about that in a while. Hopefully, the information you learned the hard way will help a lot of other people avoid the same troubles!

Seems we all have those days. I am aiming for a lifestyle change, not a diet. Even though I have had ice cream a few times, I feel I have been successful at the lifestyle change. I eat mostly for health, and I almost never feel deprived. I have had some SLOW weeks recently (scale moves up and down), but that must be par for the course because I've heard it so much. Be proud of the changes you are making! It is hard but worth the effort.

Chik-Fil-A has chicken strips, they come in 3 and 4 strip packs. I get the 3-strip pack for lunch when I do fast food. No fries, no soda. But the chicken is moist and really good!

The asthma symptoms I used to have are completely gone. My joint pain has decreased to almost nothing. I had 3 blood clots go to my lungs 1 week after a surgery 19 months ago. When the 3rd one moved to my lung, I almost died right in front of my husband. Only my bariatric surgeon had the guts to tell me that one of the major causes of blood clots is obesity. I spent a week in the hospital and nobody ever said that! Anyway, I feel like losing weight and exercising (plus I stopped taking birth control pills) has really reduced my chance of more clots.

Buying smaller clothes is definitely a GOOD THING! Today the scale had not moved for me, my measurements had not changed significantly in the last month, but I went shopping and bought 14/16's! I have not done that in 10 years.

6 1/2 months post-surgery, I am exactly halfway to my goal weight!!! I chose my goal because it is just inside the Healthy BMI zone. The biggest thing I have learned in this time is that I have to count on myself to do most of the work, and the band helps me. I have to make good food choices more often than not. And I have to tell myself daily that exercising makes me feel good! That's still a hard one, but I know it's true. I don't usually brag, but check out my guns! And disregard the bed hair and lack of make up or hygiene of any sort! Thanks for looking.

Congrats! The best reason for having this surgery is to give yourself a healthier body and longer life!

Cheers to you with my morning coffee! Way to go!

That IS exciting, and something so many of us look forward to! Enjoy it.

If you were on a pre-op liquid diet, then you've only had liquids for quite a while now. Maybe there's no more solids in you? I honestly don't remember getting diarrhea post-op, but I don't think you need to worry unless you start feeling really sick or get a fever. Take care!

I'm 207.1 today! Too bad we can't have a Onederland party when we all get there!

With really fast weight loss, your skin takes a while to shrink down, and also you are losing muscle if you don't eat a lot of Protein and exercise. People who exercise and keep that muscle definition under their skin, have a much healthier, less deflated look. Since lapband weight loss tends to be slower than bypass, you do get less of that look with lapband patients.