Search the Community

welcome to the december bandsters gonnalose. I think we all are feeling the same thing, excited/scared/nervous, all those emotions as well as STARVING if you are on the liquid diet. I am on day 9 of the pre diet and doing okay, ive had a few "emergencies" as my dietician puts it that required some chicken or maybe a cookie but otherwise okay. I have also quite smoking....today is day 22. I guess I am gluton for punishment, or maybe just stupid. Quiting all addictions at the same time has been difficult but if I can do this I can do anything and this time next year I will be healthy for the first time in my adult life (thank god we cant drink during the preop stage or I may be alcoholic by now, lol) Everyone in my family is excited for me except for the one (my mother) she is scared but optimistic at the same time. I wish you good luck and keep us all posted on your progress.

Hi all - I wasn't able to get on yesterday but came back and you are all doing so well! I think I'll get my first fill around Jan 22/23. Thats 6 weeks for me. I go in again on the 9th just to have another food talk - thats when he'll tell me to eat regular foods. I'm not doing bad on mushie/soft foods. My diet now is interchangeable with soft foods and its been pretty easy. Yesterday we went to a wrestling tournament - my great nephew just started in the peewee's - so darn cute - anyway, for Breakfast I ate a banana, lunch 3 pirogis, and a little Soup, supper was chicken and rice in general tso's sauce. I woke up in a hot flash tonight and started thinking about what I had ate so I had to get up and check the calorie content of the chicken - it was 240/cup - so I think I'm keeping my calories well below 1000. I also had 2 bites of my daughters milky way. I haven't felt sick at all since I had the surgery. None of the golf ball stuff or pb's - has anyone else? I keep worrying that I'm making the right food choices and now and then I feel like I need to burp - which if I get up and walk I do burp - big loud burps but thats probably from eating too fast. And I also find it so much easier NOT to snack between meals - I don't feel hungry at all unless its meal time. I LOVE MY BAND! The clothes swap sounds cool. I'm fitting nicely into my clothes again, yesterday I went through a bunch of old ones that still didn't fit and tried a pair of jeans on that did but then I remembered why I didn't like them. I hate low riding jeans! Why on earth would they make fatlady jeans that button below the belly button? I know I've got an odd shape with a apple belly and not pear shaped but still my belly button is low and these jeans still come 3 inches below MY belly button. I get no sympathy from my daughters who are a size 6 and 10 - they can wear crap like that. They usually start giggling when it comes to me and jeans. I hate the look but its so much more comfortable to wear the old lady stretchy slacks that come up above my belly button. My daughter has a pair of jeans that are all ripped up - you know they buy them that way for $50 - I"m old, I know - anyway I told her that next christmas I'm going to wear them. LOL not that I want to wear ripped up jeans but dang I can't wait to be that size! Well I've been up and hour - the hot flash is over so I guess I'll try to sleep again. This is my insomnia. I haven't had it for a while and when I feel like I haven't been sleeping well I take and otc sleeping pill - usually a half will give me a good nights sleep. Its so irratating because I know that tomorrow is New Years Eve and if I don't sleep tonight I will be crashing before the ball drops tomorrow. Which btw - Kay - I have 2 partys to go to - I'm taking mushy/soft food that I can eat - you know they are always potluck - I may have a glass of wine - I had one on Christmas and it went down well. I'm not a big drinker anyway so its not a big deal. Its funny because other then a glass of wine now and then the only alcohol I drink is dark beer and now I can't drink that at all. If I don't see you all later today - have a Happy safe New year celebration! Love ya bandsters!

1. Do you FEEL the LAP-BAND® around your stomach? Does it feel tight or uncomfortable? - NO 2. I think giving up soda will be really hard. WHY must it be done? CARBONATION DOESN'T AGREE WITH THE BAND - IT MAKES YOU FEEL BLOATED - 3. What is the purpose of the liquid diet pre-surgery? And post? PRE-SHRINK YOUR LIVER - POST - HEALING 4. Did your insurance company cover the procedure? How long did the pre-auth take? Did you have to do psych evals, etc? YES 2 WEEKS AND YES 5. The port - does it physically bother you? Can you see it initially, after losing, etc? My husband is kinda freaked out about it.... PORT SITE HURT THE MOST RIGHT AFTER SURGERY - MINE STICKS OUT A LITTLE NO BIGGIE 6. Does getting a fill hurt? Or does it feel like getting a flu shot / giving blood? MY DOC NUMBS ME PRIOR TO FILL SO NO IT DOESN'T HURT 7. Do you have restrictions with taking pills? I.e. is Tylenol still effective, does it digest regularly, etc. - YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO TAKE LIQ TYLENOL - SMALL PILLS AREN'T A PROBLEM FOR ME - I CAN EVEN TAKE TYLENOL CAPLETS - IT DEPENDS ON YOUR RESTRICTION AND SIZE OF PILL 8. What about drinking alcohol? Is it OK occassionally? YES - I DRINK OCCASSIONALLY - BUT REMEMBER EMPTY CALORIES.. The Band is only a tool - you have to change your eating habits for life and add physical activity to your life. Good luck on your journey

1. Do you FEEL the LAP-BAND® around your stomach? Does it feel tight or uncomfortable? No 2. I think giving up soda will be really hard. WHY must it be done? You may be able to drink sode at some time in the future, BUT in the beginning especially, the carbonation can build up in your pouch and cause you some discomfort. 3. What is the purpose of the liquid diet pre-surgery? And post? Pre-op is to shrink your liver so that your surgeon has a little more room in which to maneuver. Almost all obese people have fatty deposits in their livers, some more than others... Your doctor's pre-op and post-op diet may very dramatically from other docs. Just follow his instructions! Post-op is to facilitate healing. 4. Did your insurance company cover the procedure? How long did the pre-auth take? Did you have to do psych evals, etc? No, my insurance did not cover the surgery. Your doctor can likely tell you the average approval time for your insurance company. As to requirements, you can can always call your insurance company to see what they require. Bear in mind that some requirements are not the insurance company but the doctor. 5. The port - does it physically bother you? Can you see it initially, after losing, etc? My husband is kinda freaked out about it.... It's about the size of a quarter and not very thick. I can feel mine if I press down firmly. 6. Does getting a fill hurt? Or does it feel like getting a flu shot / giving blood? Mine have never hurt at all. The first time, they gave me a numbing shot and then did the fill, the second time, I had them just do the fill. Either way you get one little pinch but no pain. 7. Do you have restrictions with taking pills? I.e. is Tylenol still effective, does it digest regularly, etc. I now have to take absolutely NO medications. I have taken some Tylenol a few times and had no problem swallowing them. The medications are dissolved the same way but in the pouch. I was told not to take ibuprofen ever because it can inflame the smaller environment of the pouch versus your whole stomach. 8. What about drinking alcohol? Is it OK occassionally?' The only restriction on alcohol is the calories. A shot of rum has about 60 calories. Mixers are, of course loaded. I drink rum with Diet Coke. It seems like the alcohol kills the carbonation really quickly. But just remember that post op you will be eating about 1,000-1,200 calories per day and just 2 shots is 10% of that amount so it's easy to add a lot of extra calories quickly. So don't make a daily habit out of it, LOL.

Yes, you can have alcohol on occasion. I find it does interfere with weightloss though. I am so happy to have my band. I have tried and failed at losing weight more times then I can count. The band has made losing easier because I don't feel like I'm starving.

Six strong alcoholic drinks.

Morning Girls. Heather, that is horrible. I was hoping that you were going to say that is was the pottasium and that you didn't need the surgery. I'm so sorry you had to go thru all of that and that you couldn't spend that time enjoying Ayla. I agree with Judy about you and Laura, so I'm not going to get pregnant either. With both Laura and Heather having problems, it makes me really want to protect my band even more. Terri, good luck on the -4 and I am keeping all of you in my prayers. Last night I went over to the neighbors to sit on the deck. she has one of those firepits. We ended up fixing S'mores. I ate one and a few marshmallows(burnt). We had a good time and guess what? I didn't have any alcohol. LOL. Everyone have a great day.

Hi everyone, I'm having a hard time finding a chewable/liquid/ez-melt calcium/D3 vitamin that's (1) vegetarian or vegan and (2) with no added sugar OR sugar alcohol (fructose is OK). I haven't considered vitamin patches - but I have an allergy to adhesive (tape, bandaids), so that complicates things! I figured I'd ask here in case someone has any good calcium products they can recommend. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! xxx

My wife and are both post op and prior to were heavy pop drinkers. Both if us being recovering alcoholics we have resigned to treating pop like alcohol. Not taking a sip is the best way to avoid reforming bad habits. Good luck. You can do it. Sent from my SM-G900V using BariatricPal mobile app

Recovering from last night, I got so drunk at the xmas party last night, I can't remember last time I was drunk like that.. I don't normally drink enough to get drunk!!! But boy I was.. eeeeeeh. Ended up heavin in the toilet when I got home, and Russ stood there rubbing my neck <3 Got my fill of drunkness for the next 2-3 years. I'll forget again by then. Amidst all the alcohol, I ended up with me & russ' xmas bonus, and a gift card to walmart. Woowoo! I'm going to try that casserole this weekend, it sounds yummy.. right up my alley! Since the turkey & waffles didn't do it for me, still looking for our own personal Christmas morning food.

All your doing is being a cowardly jerk hiding behind a computer telling people off and scaring them from being honest. I guess this is a site where everyone lies and says how perfect their journey is or they will be attacked by bullies. A lot of people got the point across that it could hurt him without being an obnoxious ass. Get over yourself and stop trolling. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Yes. I see how positive and supportive you are. You are a drug and alcohol counselor yet this is how you behave? This is the language you use? WOW. What's that phrase about a pot and a kettle?

I am in need of recommendations for proper sugar free popsicle brands. You know the ones without the sugar or sugar alcohols? I have a friend shopping for me and it's hard to find the "right" sugar free as directed by my surgeon and nutritionist. Sent from my SM-N910P using BariatricPal mobile app

Sounds great. I have my work function on Friday night do can give you an update of my first experience of having some alcohol.

Sure Liss I will join you. I may make mine 8kgs in 10 weeks (tho I think I may have an upper hand on that, as the surgery will remove about 5 kgs of skin). So in the next 5 weeks (pre-surgery) I will: - Exercise atleast 5 times a week (been hard lately as have been working really long hours) - Eat atleast one piece of fruit a day - I will have 2 days a week that I dont eat meat (to try get my nutrients up and best be able to recover from my plastics surgery) - Separate to the work outs will do 10 minutes of ab/core workouts a day (so that am even less likely to need muscle tightening) - Give up alcohol post 31/7 til post 1/9

If the sadness and other symptoms of depression is long lasting, intense, or interferes with daily life (work, relationships, self care), you owe it to yourself to see a professional for an assessment. Think about it this way: if you were feeling bodily pain of the same duration and intensity, would you get it checked out? If so, then treat mental pain the same way. One thing I've thought of is what happens to people who use alcohol or drugs to cope (whether they have an addiction or not) and then stop using. The very lack of a major coping tool that was effective for sadness and anxiety (regardless that this was a tool that hurt in the big picture, it can be pretty dang effective for a while) can uncover existing mood problems or simply make every day stresses much harder to cope with until the person forms other coping methods. I think most people in cultures with abundant food use food to cope with stress, sadness, anxiety, etc and those morbidly obese probably more often or intensely than average. Learning new coping methods is a fairly easy problem to solve. Recovering from a mood disorder is usually a bit more difficult but depression is a very treatable problem through therapy and/ or medication.

Hello Wv chef Im so sorry to hear about all your troubles & I agree with Crèekimp13! Alcohol is NEVER the way to cover over any problems! It just leads you to more as you have already experienced! I have a Niece who had a gastric bypass right after she graduated high school. She had been over weight most of her young life so wrhen she was old enough my Sister helped her to get the surgery. By the way shes now 25 or 26. Back then my sister, her Mom, didnt know about the gastric sleeve! Anyway my Niece loss all her weight & felt pretty & sexy for the first time in her life! She started to go partie, bars & started drinking, getting drunk which lead her to getting raped & anòther time she became pregnant & well...the fetus is no longer here![emoji17] To make a long story short.. she's still drinking despite all the help & encouragement from family & the TV show called Intervention. She is now living many miles away from her family, has a 4 yr old daughter, living with the babies father who is a drug addict & who beats her! So NO... alcohol is not good! And yes it will make you gain weight! WV let me ask you this...have you ever though about turning your life towards God? That is the Best direction you can go at this point in your life! Why not seek a way to have a personal Bible Study to show you how you can change you life & bring you much,much Joy! I promise you will never regret it or ever be alone no matter where you live! Sent from my SM-T530NU using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi girls~ A listener, not a talker....huh! Tell my DH! Love the shoes Haydee! Heather I would love to meet you too! Laura, I do the same with the mod stuff---and I rode the fence in this disaster. I refuse to say more! LOL As for the Moms and the kids---do either of your Moms read much? Maybe a couple of books on enabling, and the written word of someone else, reiterating what you have been saying....otherwise I have no idea. My parents finally did just like Terry with my brother. He got arrested for DWI, and in the holding cell, he had a seizure, well come to find out, he had been trying to quit drinking, and with his brain injury and the detoxing, he was having seizures. He was unconcious in his truck, not passed out from alcohol. But they made the choice NOT to remove him from the charges, and allowed the charge to be changed to DUI (driving under the influence as opposed to driving while intoxicated) which could cover driving while taking Tylenol even! It caused him to get a mandatory jail sentence of 28 days, and he could receive medical aid while detoxing. They knew he wanted to quit, but with the brain injury, it messes with his short term memory, and makes quitting harder than even normal. They thought with 28 days sobriety, maybe it would "take". It did, he has been sober for many years now. But it was hard, my parents both aged seriously, visiting their son in jail was not something they ever planned to do. But it was better than visiting him at the funeral home, or in prison from causing an accident that hurt someone else or killed him. Hard choices, but worth it. BTW Laura, I am sending you a PM with info on Gone4ever. She met up with you for the formula. She just got a cancer diagnosis, and is facing a really hard time. Another weekend of wood cutting coming up, then WE are done. Still have to haul for the in laws. NOT a happy subject with me. What's new??!!! DS had an accident today----he got ticketed, and he says it was not his fault, so guess he will fight it in court. Stressed us for awhile. Well I am off to bed. See you all soon.

Yeah I can't bring myself to put alcohol in his mouth lol. His bottom teeth weren't this bad I swear, but this top tooth oh my goodness. He was screaming, literally without pause for 12 hours yesterday, no matter what I did. Made me feel bad cause mommy can't comfort him Isn't that what mommies are suppose to do?? I got him benadryl though. We couldn't find infants, so I figured they don't make it. He has bad hives :biggrin: So I googled and found out they just pulled it since people abused benadryl for babies. So I bought the children's, and gave him a dose so small it probably won't help. His back is really bad this morning with hives. Going home from work early today since it's dead on holiday times. Friends coming over tonight so I gotta clean and cook snacks! Hope everyone has a safe and fun one tonight. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR

Loleata- I think all of us go thru these same questions or similar ones when trying to decide if this is right for you. I can't tell you how to feel but I can share my thoughts for me. Obesity is a disease just like alcoholism, diabetes, or anything else. If I didn't treat this disease the best way I can then wouldn't it be abusive to what god gave me? He wants me to live a full life and if this treatment plan is going to do it then so be it. As for if I am ready to do this, and have I really tried everything. Well I've been overweight for 20 years and been on about a zillion diets. And yeah I've lost but I've also gained it all back too many times to count. This is going to help me KEEP it off. I think your sister is going to see someone that is strong enough to take action to change! This is not easy. There are going to be rough patches and you r still going to have to do the work to make it successful. So I think she will b proud of you! Goodluck!!

My surgeon has NO requirements for a pre-op diet. None. All I have to do is not eat solids after midnight the night prior to the procedure. Don't beat yourself up, Kelly--after all, listening to the judging/angry/"you're-not-worthy" voices in our heads is WHY some of us are in the predicament we're in. I don't know about anyone else, but a lot of my eating is self-medication against negativity. Cheering myself up with yummy Snacks. Eating to avoid dealing with my emotions, then feeling rotten about what I ate, giving up on myself--since it MUST be all-or-nothing to succeed, right?--and starting the vicious cycle all over again. Eat poorly, hate what I did to my body by eating poorly, punish myself with a mental lecture about being worthless, do a 180 and say "SCREW THIS IMMA EAT WHAT I WANT", eat poorly again. Lather, rinse, repeat. (Of course, the whole process above doesn't WORK and it doesn't make logical sense to stay in that cycle, but that never stopped an alcoholic from looking for answers at the bottom of a bottle of whisky. I preferred to search my way to both ends of a brownie pan or a bag of peanut M&M's.) So, yeah. Don't add your voice or anyone else's to the negative chorus of "this will not work for you if you can't stick to liquids". Right now, it's optional. For a lot of obese people with food addictions, all the good intentions in the world just won't get the job done when it's optional. We make excuses, we sabotage ourselves, we make bad food choices. It's what we DO. It's why we're choosing to be sleeved--to take the choice out of our hands (and stomachs). You're gonna be okay. You CAN do this. Your sleeve is going to make it possible, and you're going to be a success. Hang tough, girlie.

I guess the biggest thing I'm doing is watching my carbs. I avoid bread, potatoes, pasta, sweets, also no alcohol. I also make sure to drink all my water everyday. I make sure to get in about 1200 calories per day and always eat proteins first. Also I'm more active. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. I've only had one fill-1 cc. I'm really excited about my weight loss, but am nervous about the holidays--I LOVE SWEETS!!! You are doing so well also, it's not easy but it's worth it. I know I wouldn't be able to do it without the band and all the support here. Have a great Thanksgiving!!!

More than 3 would be pretty dangerous after the surgery and I guess I will have to get used to that, but yes I hold my hand up and will honestly say I can have upto 7 drinks (not wine, too strong!) and still get home without stumbling through the door and just feeling happy/buzzed. My drink is jd and Coke, it just affects me completely differently to wine, I try to avoid wine if I can. You make a good point though, I can always have none alcoholic drinks in between so I can keep up with everyone else and not end up getting rushed to hospital with alcohol poisoning lol. I hope this post doesn't make me sounds like an alcoholic [emoji28] it's very rare I have that much but nights out that last about 6/7 hours do pop up every now and then and I'd like to be prepared for it! Sent from my F5121 using BariatricPal mobile app

You can make your own refreezable ice pack with a gallon freezer bag. Fill it with 3 cups of water and 1 cup of rubbing alcohol and then just put it in the freezer. Make two so you can always have one ready to go while you are using the other one.

Alot of folks already said more or less the same thing, but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway: I chose sleeve because: I was afraid of dumping (but...I dump anyway) I wanted to continue using NSAIDs (but...I ended up not needing them anymore anyway) I was personally freaked out a bit by the re-routing of my intestines (but...not cutting out my stomach? lol) I DID NOT have GERD. I only had a choice between sleeve and bypass cuz those were the only ones covered by my insurance, so I didn't consider any other procedure. I think that one's results with WLS has more to do with the person, than with the type of surgery. I'm convinced I would have had the same result if I had the bypass. But that's just me. Some background and current statuses: I'm 5'2", almost 50yr old female, started off at 235 lbs at the beginning of my 2 week pre-op diet...2.5 years ago. I got to goal of 127 lbs in 7 months (108 lbs lost at that time). I settled into 115 lbs by 10 months post-op and stayed there basically since...but not without a bit of effort on my part. 3 times I got up to 120 lbs for a few consecutive days, and subsequently made efforts to get back down to 115. And 4-5 times I went sub-110 lbs for a few consecutive days, but didn't have to make any effort at all to get back to 115, go figure. This morning I was 109.2 lbs. I consumed very little calories during weight loss phase, and exercised regularly starting month 3 (running/walking mostly, and minimal strength training daily). No complications, nor issues other than those expected (dump with sugar, foamies/chest pressure if I eat too much or too fast, need to barf if I drink with my meals, burp like a teenage boy) At 2.5 years out, up until a month ago, I was averaging around 1800 cals a day with regular exercise (running & strength training 4-5 times a week). Currently I'm playing around with calories as I'm sidelined on the exercise front, which explains my lower weight these days cuz I haven't figured it out yet. I mostly eat salads (by choice, I LOOOVE salads!) , but I also eat desserts, spicy stuff, fried stuff, fatty stuff, drink coffee, alcohol and carbonated water. On rare occasions I eat bread or potatoes, but I don't eat rice nor regular pasta. I max out at about 1 to 1.5 cups of food per sitting (more if its salad) My lab results have consistently been uneventful (my last one was in November last year). So....so far so good. I have no illusions that I will be like this forever...but that's on me, not my sleeve.

I was watching Strickly Dr. Drew last night on the health channel. He had a couple on there who both had the lap band. They both had lost over 100 pounds in a year. The the doctor had on a nutritionist. He said that if you have a real addiction..like me...to sweets. You are just like an alcoholic. You have to give it up and never ever eat it again. He said it takes about 3 weeks and your taste buds change. HA HA he doesn't know anything..LOL