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Ask your Team. But, in the early days post op *perhaps* focus on a maintaining a caloric deficit to maximize weight loss. Peanut Butter is very calorically dense. Most tend to eat more that a single serving because its usually not weighed or measured accurately. If at 2 weeks post op you should be consuming ~600 cals (confirm amount with your Team), peanut butter will be 1/6 -1/3 your intake for the day. Good Luck ❤

Colds can definitely hose up your senses of taste and smell. I haven't noticed this yet myself, but a lot of the people in my bariatric support group have mentioned their tastes in food changing after surgery, so that might also be a culprit. Is it a metallic taste in your mouth? That could be a result of being in ketosis, which is generally good for weight loss but does leave a funky taste in one's mouth. I hope you get over the cold soon. Best wishes!

Ok me personally I think its ridiculous! I used to take adipex and when your off it you eat like a maniac, it has potential to raise your blood pressure, mess with heart etc. I figure why bother with lap band if your gonna mess with that stuff, which only can be taken short term because of the risks. Im so glad my surgeon didnt play that. Hence I had to be in 6 month pre op program and managing on my own. You dont get restriction right away. I was banded on 9/16/10 and getting scheduled for my 3rd fill this month. I can eat whatever without restriction. I have my bad days where I fall off wagon and eat too much, but then I have to reel it in. Doc says you usually dont get good restriction until after several fills. Anyway didnt mean to be crude or sound so harsh, I just feel so strongly about taking weight loss meds and them not being successful

That's the plan. I'll be in NY -- even if it's just to sit with her. She's fairly weak; I had to carry her like a baby last week to the hospital...luckily my hubby's great with our girls. They'll be clean and safe but their hair won't be combed! lol Thanks for the prayers...we sure need it! How are you recovering? I'm packing my hospital bag now...not even sure what to put in there!

Wow. It has been 11 months since my surgery. I can't even wrap my head around all that has happened. My starting weight was 285 and I now weight 195. My weight loss went super fast at first then it seemed like somewhere in September it just said eh I'm done. Which is hard. Harder than I thought it would be. My parents payed for the whole surgery out of pocket and when they ask if I have lost anymore weight I feel like sh*t. I am also at the time where exercise is important to keeping up your weight loss and I can't exercise. Before surgery i had major back pain so the doctors told me i had to lose weight. I lost most of the weight but the pain got worse. So they finally x-rayed and saw i have juvenile degenerative disc disorder. I also had fractures up and down my spine. I have also just been generally unwell. I can't work, I can't go to college. I can't exercise. I am just stuck. its also hard not to turn to my old habits because i was an emotional eater and if i hadn't had the surgery i probably would eat everything insight. So I'm still very grateful to have had the surgery and I'm sure my back would be a million times worse… but its still hard. Sorry for my boring update but hopefully my next one will be a little more exciting.

I went in this afternoon my 2 week post-op appointment. My recovery has went smoothly up until yesterday when I noticed redness around my largest incision. Today it was even more red and started oozing this afternoon. So now I'm on a 5 day round of antibiotics. Hope it clears up soon! Good news is my doc was happy with my weight loss and moved me to pureed foods! Refried Beans never tasted so good!

Shanny You look awesome! Congrats on your weight loss.

Today is two weeks from my surgery date. This lap band journey started only two weeks ago, but my weight loss struggle (ok, journey) started over 20 years ago. There is a range of emotions and thoughts going through me now as I strive to mentally prepare myself for this major life change. The surgery is just a moment in time, an event like a wedding. You work and work and prepare and plan, but it's over before you know it. What's left is you and your new husband and the road ahead. Although you know others who are married, you never know what its really like, how challenging it really is until you have your first major fight or have to make a major adjustment to your routine or way of doing something you've always done in order to accomate your husbands' needs. I know my life is about to change in a major way. As I sat in the park last night eating a fried pupusa and drinking a chocolate rice drink, I think to myself that this won't be possible again after the surgery. It's bittersweet. Intellecutally I know it's the experience of being in the park with my husband that is the most important and not the food, but something inside also feels sad. I mourn for the loss of this life that has brought misery yet strange comfort so many times and celebrate what is to come.

Good Morning, I have been getting thru each step toward a new life. I haven't got a date yet but will talk to dietician, councelor, Dr next week. I think my biggest worry is the aftermath of weight loss after stretching out my skin so much now on my stomach. Does everyone have that problem or can it be minimalized? I'm a big coffee drinker too and will have to adjust until a good time to enjoy it again....even if it's less. Has anyone just switched to tea? Have a good day, Linda

i was band Oct 08. my experience has been a learn as i go process; i did not attend an extensive educational class prior to surgery. Since Oct i've lost 25 pounds. i am proud of this accomplishment (started at 200 pounds) but as i read many of your stories, i think this is nothing and prehaps i should be farther along. The fact is, my journey has not been all peaches and cream. maybe this is the result of not having gone through an extensive education process, maybe not. this is what i want to know from you. i love my lap band, but it is not the quick fix i'd imagined it to be. i have to work at losing every pound and inch! i have 5 cc's. daily exercise and good nutrition are at the top of my daily to do list. some days i'm on it and other days i'm not! anyone relate? recently i realized i am most successful at weight loss and getting on with my daily life (i'm 57, female, type A working professional) if i consume a diet consisting primarily of vitiman and protein rich liquids for two meals a day and a balanced third meal. doing so seems so much less complicated. i would appreciate hearing from those of you that have been band for several months, have very busy schedules and consider your weight loss journey successful, but not w/o its challenges. how so? whats working for you?

The dreaded 3-5 week stall strikes again! There are tons of posts about it if you look back through the threads. Best thing to do is focus on hydration, Protein, and healing. Put the scale away for at least 10 days and you should have a little bit of a loss in a couple of weeks. Don't drive yourself crazy by weighing everyday. Good luck!!

PROUD GRAMMY: Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement. I feel like a whole new person, yesterday I even dyed my hair blonde to Celebrate my "so-far" success. I will have to figure out something really exciting to do to celebrate goal weight. I always love reading your posts because you are so kind and always positive. Congratulations on all of your success!

I can't believe how lucky I was. I see all these posts about extreme pain. I was hitting the morphine button pretty much every time I remembered it was there the day of surgery but I really don't remember any pain. Never had any of the gas issues. The worst part was no liquids. Surgeon said no liquids for 24 hours after surgery and I already been with no liquids for 12 hours prior. Day 2 I was taking liquid Vicodin but only had two doses. I was only able to get a few steps at a time but food was going down okay. Day three, there was that was really bad nausea and I had to take three different types of anti nausea medicine to get under control but that was it. I had one dose of liquid Vicodin in anticipation of a long car ride and a half a Vicodin when I got home but nothing since.One of the posters who was sleeve that pretty much the exact same time I was still needs Tramadol and Oxycodone to sleep. I do have problems with pressure in my chest when eating and often all day but nothing to the level of true pain. I've got to pray to the gods of weight loss surgery for sparing me some of the stuff that you guys are going through. You have my sympathies. HW 385 SW 359 Sleeved 10/5/16

You will likely lose a lot of weight with WLS. I don't even think it's possible to compare someone else's loss pics with might happen with your body. Women just have different shapes and sizes and lose weight differently. After weight loss, if you still perceive an imbalance of proportion, I suggest wearing clothes that hug you right under the bust and loser from that point on down. You will look fabulous!

It is hard. And it's SUPER hard when you compare--it's also human. When I was in WLM, I was losing SO SLOWLY in comparison to everyone else around me. And the last 20lbs took as much time to lose as all the other initial weight. I think a 120lb loss is phenomenal so please give yourself proppahs for an amazing journey well done!! I also understand having a laser focus and being wigged out when the scale is up rather than down! Please stick around and post a lot here so you can get involved and we can all work to support each other. Especially during the crazy craving holiday season! Also, please go fill out your profile so we can see where you started, how old you are, when your surgery was, what kind of surgery, how tall you are, and even a ticker in your signature! Do you plan, weigh and measure your food? What is your daily food intake look like. Are you drinking any alcohol or caloric beverages, eating protein bars, having a lot of protein drinks? Hang in there! It IS hard!!!

I need to hear from you . . . how do I turn this around as I've been heading down the wrong road since nine months after banding in Jan. 2010....I had lost 44 lbs by Sept. 2010 and since then have regained 12 lbs...and am at standstill since the first of 2011. I'm wondering the the band is tight enough....but I usually am not hungry until around 5:00 pm each day and sometimes force myself to eat breakfast (to go along with meds I take), then a very light lunch.....and then for dinner, it's difficult to eat, but by that time, I'm really hungry. Plus I have been having a beer or two along the way........other than cutting out the alcohol, what direction should I go???? Your replying will be appreciated.

This happened to me 6 days before my wedding i had the most beautiful hair and colors and my aunt who is a professional hair stylist was like mid august weddin your hair will never curl let me perm it... It was to close to the dye session it sucked all the color out so i had groas wierd browb and white fried hair!! ALL my bangs broke off it was terrible

I thought that at first too and that is what I told her but my more experienced hair stylest friend said my good hair that wasn't fried was in very good condition she just over processed it.

You should be eating the amount recommended by surgeon or nutritionist. You don't want to feel full. Many of those foods are sliders. Be careful.I just thought my body would signal more. I don't know. Same goes with Protein shakes. No feeling of fullness. I have stuck mainly to eggs and cheese and protein shakes. Bc I know those hold more nutritional value and more protein than pudding or potatoes. He didn't give me a specific ounce per meal nor a calorie goal. He did give me protein goals and Fluid goals, obviously. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Your body won't send full signals until its too late. Protein shakes, yogurt, pudding are all foods that go quickly through your sleeve so you can usually eat more. My plan says 1-2 Oz's every 3 hours (eat over 20 mins or less). I don't know if that's the same as yours. That's only for food - not liquids. I would just be concerned of overeating and getting sick. You can really hurt yourself this early out. Congrats on your weight loss! Sent from my KFFOWI using the BariatricPal App

The thing you need to look at is the diet you have been on.. Is it just a healthy eating plan, or is it something that might not be that healthy in the long run.. I am not going to tell you to ask your surgeon, but maybe talk to your primary care doc to see if that diet is something that is healthy for long term (years not weeks or months) If it is, and you feel it is something you can do for the long haul you should do that over surgery.. If it's not healthy, and you feel you can get a good diet plan in order that will maintain loss and make you feel fulfilled and not cause you to backslide after a while, then I would do that before resorting to getting cut.. I would do some serious soul searching and be honest with yourself, maybe talk to someone who knows you well and you feel would be honest with you about it. I'd always advocate doing it yourself first, but for many of us, it just wasn't worked out. Best of luck in your journey no matter what you decide.

yes - the first six months or so are the quickest weight loss - it slows down a lot after that. I was probably losing 5-8 lbs a month during months 6-12 (but I started out way heavier than you, so yours might be slower). Then it REALLY slowed to a crawl after the year mark. that said, mine kept going until I was about 18-20 months out.

If you your insurance company has a bariatric coordinator then the best thing you can do is ask. In the long run studies have shown that insurance companies save money by covering weight loss surgery. The health problems associated with obesity are expensive. But honestly you are having surgery next week! In my experience once your approved and have a date then your submission process is over. It sounds like you have good coverage. Most likely what people who work with benefits call a "cadillac plan". How generous your insurance plan is allowed to be determines how you are treated.

Thank you catwoman7 for your reply! Congratulations to you on your weight loss, that's awesome! This is encouraging and and very helpful. I know now I definitely can keep going with the weight loss. Thanks again!

Hold tight, and have faith in YOUR decision. Personally, I wouldnt have a permanent non adjustable weight loss surgery before I'd had children if a band can get you down to a healthier weight and fertile then that's great as it can be looser during pregnancy and breastfeeding to adjust to your needs. I think the sleeve itself is turning out to be a very safe and effective surgery without a lot of the day to day annoyances and complications that the band can have, but despite arguments to the contrary, adjustability of the band is, I have found, its real advantage and its a big one if you're considering things like pregnancy. And many people just DONT want to cut their organs apart - despite the fact that you dont need that part of the stomach, that the band can do permanent damage to your stomach and esophagus anyway if you have complications like erosions, its still not something people want to do. They do appear to be doing many more sleeves in WA though compared to the rest of Australia for the reason of distance and maintenance. Is your surgeon nearby and easily accessible? Because if you're flying in for fills etc, as may WA'ers have had to do from remote areas to Perth, then a band is a very difficult tool to maintain. It does require a close relationship with your doc and easy access to him/her. Whereas once a sleeve is done, barring complicatins, its DONE.

Aww head hunter, do you mind if i ask about your experience with lapband?? I know that alot of people don't put in the hard yards before considering WLS and that people think its a quick fix, by far i know that its not. I will give an explanation of my history... When i was born i was a very very small premature child, when i turned 4 i went from being small to being a llarge child, and then everyyear i gained weight, without it ever ceasing, i know for a fact it wasn't due to what i ate because i was eating fruit and vegies etc and mom wouldnt really ever let me have chips in my lunch box etc.. it was fruit, the occasional naughty treat like cake or some shapes and what not, but that was occasional.. When i was 9 i started seeing a dietician after being scrutinized for my weight, and continued seeing my dietician without any luck in keeping the weight off, When i was 14 id been getting so big every year it was becoming a problem, at this age i learned i had Polycystic Ovarian Disease, which explained my depression, my extra hair growth, my major mood swings and eratic horrible crippling periods (and i mean that heavy and that painful i was nearly hospitalised when i got them) and alot of other things. To this day ive tried mnearly every diet and exercise program i swear is known to man. Tony Ferguson, KicStart, Optifast, Weight Watchers, Atkins etc etc etc.. and yeah for some i would lose weight for a little while but then i would gain it again still whilst on the program. The most effective was the shakes where i lost 14kgs.. but then started gaining again. I cannot do normal diets like others like the weight watchers and jenny craig etc because the amount of intake especially sugar (i.e certain fruit and veg and portions etc) are too high for my Insulin Resistance and i end up gaining weight.. the shakes were my last resort before considering the ever looming WLS that ive feared my whole life.. My dietician told me 5 weeks ago, that she is SO against WLS its not funny, but there is 5 people that she would say tomorrow that you need WLS and she said i was one of them.. She was not the first to tell me this.. My specialist for sleep Apnoea and my Spinal Surgeon have also told me that its my last resort to consider.. I know that i over eat, because i am never satisfied or should i say i never get that "full" feeling. My mind isnt strong enough to stay on shakes for the rest of my life nearly vomiting them up everyday, so this seems to be the option for me. After having spoken to my Mother in Law, Mom's Best Friend and alot of people on here it seems that i wasn't wrong in thinking that lapband was the option for me, i just hope that given my history its the right decision. I know its just a tool to help me and that i am going to have to help myself and that is going to be a Large struggle for me, with such things as learning to eat slowly and chew to a million peices (because it always tastes horrible once u massacre it) and learn to drink slow as i guzzle.. these are just a few things i need to learn.. But i also know that its all a learning track and because my will power to stick to certain diets hasnt been strong enough because i wasn't getting the results and depressive eating, i know the band wont allow me to over eat like i do and if i do i will suffer the consequences. Im scared to have it done because it will change my life negatively and positively as i know it. Im worried i wont ever be able to eat certain foods again and that scares me, im worried it will depress me more for that reason.. but i also know i need to know what its like to not be the young child with all the medical problems, the obesity, the picked on child who loved sports and was good at alot of them but wasnt given the chance alot of the time.. i know the band is a tool to help my body not eat so much therefore counteracting half the problem of my over eating and that will give me time to work on trying to make myself eat the right foods with that smaller portion i can eat.. the more i think about it the more i do what i always do and second guess myself thinking this band will have such negative effects on my body.. i guess i now need to know what willl happen with it down the track aswell..