beergut

So I went to my nutritionist the other day, and he told me that taking vitamins in pill forms only get absorbed 20% with lap band. I'm not sure that makes sense. He told me to get Centrum Silver Adult Chewables, 2x a day to get my vitamins. I have been taking men's health one-a-days but he says they're no good. How does this make any sense ?

With the stigma of WLS slowly dissipating, I think you'll see that more and more doctor's will lower their fees. Especially because you have a lot newer surgeon's getting into the WLS arena. With the obesity epidemic getting more and more attention, it's inevitable that more and more medical students will be getting into the bariatric fields. When I had my surgery, there were at least 4 "residents" observing my surgery. More surgeons means more competition, which in turns means better pricing.

Dave is right. I was losing dramatically on the liquid/mush phase, but now that I'm eating "solid" foods, I've hit a stalemate. I get my first fill January 27th, so from here until then it's just a matter of limiting what you eat, getting enough water and protein and exercising as much as you can until you are cleared for real exercise...

Yup, most likely pureed foods that go down easily.

Interesting. We've been banded almost the same amount of time and I haven't had any gas issues like that at all. Do you know if they put any Fluid in your band at surgery time ? It could have just been a freak gas attack, but you should be free of gas by now, it's been over 3 weeks. I'd definitely talk with your doctor.

I'm in the same boat. I've been eating mostly softer foods, but stuff I wouldn't consider "mushy". Only 6 more days for me until I can supposedly eat "solid" foods, but I already do and I'm fine. As long as you're getting plenty of protein, I don't think it matters as long as you don't over do it...

I was banded on the 14th and my pain at my largest incision just went away. It wasn't great pain, just slight enough to know it was there. The days after i was banded was in pretty decent pain. They had wrote me a prescription for Dilaudid at the hospital, but I had my surgeon write me up one for percocets afterwards. The pain meds make you constipated, so make sure to take some miralax and colace. It also suppresses your appetite so make sure you're getting enough protein for the day.

Muscle Milk is great. I was in Florida this past weekend without my regular Optimum Nutrition powder, so I went to a local grocer and bought 2 4 packs of Muscle Milk, the 11 ounce juice-box like containers. 1 in vanilla creme and 1 chocolate. They were both pretty good. 210 calories and 22g of protein. Not as much as optimum nutrition, each one kept me satiated for 3 hours.

I've got it too, 3 weeks post op. It does come and go, but seems to be more prevalent during the morning hours. It's odd, can't put my finger on it...

Odd, I'm 3 weeks post op and have just been barely sleeping on my stomach. My large incision has a bit of hardness under it and it's bit sore from time to time.

I'm three weeks post op today and I'm still having a hard time. Some times of the day, in the mornings especially, I already feel some kind tightness in my chest. It's odd, I dont even have any fluid in my band. It's tough to recognize, though, hopefully it gets easier.

Interest, I'm leaving today on a plane and I wonder about the new TSA scanners as well... Hopefully I won't get pulled and questioned, that'd be kind of embarrassing...

I wasn't planning on telling anyone anything, but I had to tell my buddies something about why I'm not eating all the delicious food at our tailgate for football. I told them I had a hiatial hernia repaired laparoscopically (s) and showed em my scars. They all nodded their heads and went about their business. Maybe I'll tell em later...

After not touching a drink in many months, I'm planning on having a few drinks tonight. No beer, though, but I'll probably have a nice scotch on the rocks or some other type of liquor. Maybe wine if there's something decent. Anyone else a few weeks out from being banded planning on having a drink tonight?

I'd imagine the responses to this will vary as much as pre and post-op diets. I know some folks who's Dr's see their patients one week post-surgery. Personally, my first surgeon's appointment is about 3 weeks after.. I'd expect him to check on my incisions, my weight loss and to make sure everything is going well. I don't think I'm getting a fill until 6 weeks post op.

Same here, dude. I started the week at 251, only lost about 2.5 lbs since then. Just on the soft foods stage. Though, I must admit, my "pureed" foods are a bit more on the solid side, but soft in nature. I'm still drinking 2-3 Protein shakes a day. It's normal I think, Remember, we haven't even had fills, and no restriction. Any weight loss at this stage is a bonus.

I've experienced the same thing. I don't know if it's for lack of protein though, I'm getting over 100g a day and I still have it.

Interesting. When I was messing around with the sample lap bands, I was under the impression that it is 100% plastic. I'm pretty sure that there is no metal in there...

I was reading on a few weight loss sites that you should really try to get at least 1200 calories in per day or else your body will go into starvation mode. When I was on liquid stage, I got exactly 1250 every day and was losing 3/4 of a lb per day. Now that I'm on mushies, I don't think I'm getting that much and I've stalled a bit. Though, I haven't really be tracking my calorie intake because it's so satisfying eating regular foods. I could be getting much more. I'd ask your doctor, but I'd try to get at least 1200

It's much easier to bounce back from surgery when you are younger and you will reap the benefits for much longer. I wouldn't want to go through most of my life being overweight, only to lose a bunch of it and not be able to enjoy my healthy new life. Sooner the better, I wish I had done this years ago.

Yup, my big incision has been giving me some problems (sore, some discharge today), so it makes it hard to get in some good exercise. I try to walk around my building at work when the weather is decent, but it's usually freezing here in the Northeast. The first 6 weeks or so is realy about healing and the next month or two are about trying to find that sweet spot of restriction so you can eat healthy foods and feel fuller for longer periods of time. After that is when the combination of exercise and limited food intake drops the weight. I believe what we have experienced was the honeymoon period, thusly followed by bandster hell, lol. It gets better. At least I'm hoping it does.

Yup, I'm going through the same thing. I just started on puree'd foods this week. I was losing weight pretty well on nothing but Protein shakes, but you know how that goes. I'm stuck at about 25 lbs lost since starting the pre-op. My stomach is still a bit sore, so I can't really do much exercising. Just gotta wait until you heal up, get filled and get to exercising

So last night was not a very good night for me. Got a call that my grandfather has passed away earlier in the night and finding a flight for a reasonable amount of $$ this time of year on short notice is quite a chore. That aside, I finally got to sleep and woke up a bit damp. My large incision had somehow opened up and spewed a blood/pus mess on my shirt. It had been causing me a bit of pain lately, and felt there was something large under there. I just attributed it to swelling. Needless to say, I'm going to give my surgeon a call today and see if this is way serious. I seriously hope not. Anyone experience anything similar ? I'm 16 days post-op and all of my other incisions seem fine. Steri-strips just fell off the large incision yesterday...

28 here, got banded on the 14th.

I just started mushy foods yesterday, and it was amazing ! I started with some pureed black bean Soup and it was heaven ! I have been losing anywhere from 3/4 to 1 lb a day on the all liquid stage, so I'm down about 25 lbs since starting pre-op up until this point. I'm not worried about slowing down my weight loss or even gaining some back at this stage. I know I don't have any restrictions in my band, and this phase is really to just get my body healed up and ready for a fill. I haven't even started exercising again. I'm trying to stick to 1250-1500 calories as anything under 1200 calories and your body goes into starvation mode. Enjoy getting off liquids, it's fantastic...