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Thanks so much Meg! I don't have ANY problem with liquids and never have! I can drink Water three or four big gulps with no issues..I normally don't, but I have forgetting that I shouldn't!!. I don't feel sick with anything, just like a lump is in my throat or pain in my chest after a few bites. Not always, just sometimes. That is what is so weird to me, that it comes and goes! I could not even take 3 bites of that cottage cheese today, but drank 5 oz of unjury chicken soup. Then 2 1/2 hours later had a Protein drink! Tonight for dinner, I tried a salmon burger and while I only had about 4 small bites (and it was heaven), it felt fine! I probably could have eaten a little more, but I was afraid I would get that pain, so I stopped. The salmon burger was alot more dense than that cottage cheese and it didn't give me any trouble! Maybe just certain times of the day, I swell up or something? I don't know. I just wish it would be consistant. That way it wouldn't worry me that something is wrong. I do take 40 mg of Nexium daily. The last couple days, I have been trying to eat something every couple of hours, thinking that maybe it would help. I will just keep pressing on and pray that it will get better soon! I guess as long as I can get stuff to go down and stay down, it can't be anything too bad! Kelly quote name='mel30' timestamp='1306976921' post='158588'] This is also for Kellyw I was sleeved on the same day as you and I am having the same problems. I can only get about 2-3 bites in and then I get the horrible chest pain. It also takes about 10 minutes to go away. I usually will get up and walk and pray that, that will fix the pain. I totally understand what you are going through I put a call into my doctor's office late today so I will let you know what he says. Hang in there, it has to get better for us

I am 4 weeks and 4 days post surgery and I am also in the group that can eat more than the 1/4 cup of mushy food I should have per meal for certain items. From day one on the full liquids I was allowed yogurt (without any fruit in it) and I could eat the entire 6oz container. I could eat 4oz of cottage cheese or applesauce at a time as soon as progressed to mushy. However, meat definitely has a limit of about the 2 tablespoons they advised for the mushy phase. I have to admit I never puree anything, so it is chopped finely and has broth, gravy or salsa on it to help it go down and I chew each bite for a long time. Perhaps if I did puree it would go down easier. I had some issues in the first week or two with consuming all the Water on top of the two Protein shakes, but that is over. No issues with liquids at all. I have also been worried that my sleeve will not provide the restriction I need. Over the last 10 days I have experienced hunger most days. This is more of a problem when I am at work. I don't get as much sleep as I did before returning to work and I am still trying to figure out how to time my meals, shakes and water to avoid hunger.

I'm looking to connect with others that are disabled and/or retired. I have many painful & progressive conditions which make me unable to work and require several custom braces in order for me to do certain things. I do help a friend in her deli about 10 hours a week, which is great! I have VERY high energy, low metabolism, TONS of time on my hands (especially since I sleep very little, about 5-6 hours a night), limitation due to disability and living in a rural area and a desire to keep busy, on the move and burn calories. When I get bored I want to eat, which is another reason I want to stay busy and active. I walk, use a treadmill, ride a recumbant, stationary bike and use dumbbells. I work out twice a day/7 days a week. But there are ALOT of hours in between. I know few people in my area, and even fewer that can keep up with me, lol!

I did mine for 21 days. It was intense. Are you allowed protein shakes? One of the things I did was mix a protein shake with sugar/fat free jello pudding. Infound it quite filling. HW 420 SW 347 CW 334 Sleeved April 10, 2017

I just had my second fill. Im down 42lbs since being banded on December 10, 13. Im now at 6.5cc. I go back in a month. I think that this maybe my comfort zone. I will find out how well it works for me next month, but all in all I'm enjoying the new me:-)

Surgery Date 8/10/09 Dr. Arif Ahmad John T. Mather Hospital I'm a little over a week post op. My first thought after surgery was hold crap... this hurts. Did I make a mistake came next. I was very uncomfortable but the peacefulness in the hospital room was very relaxing. I went home early afternoon the next day. I did laps around my yard and rested. I had absolutely no appetite thanks to the god awful taste in my mouth. I was told the taste was from the anesthesia. I could barely get down the EAS shakes which I had no problem drinking before. I got through my first night at home OK. My fiance took the next day off as well which was great. I needed a lot of help getting out of bed and he was great to lean on when I was walking. Second day home was pretty uneventful. Day three the kids came home. It was hard for me not to jump up when they needed something and I just had to prepare their meals. No one does it better than mom. I had been taking Vicodin at night but decided to stop. I went to bed that night and had trouble falling asleep. At one point I did drift off but woke up in a full blown anxiety attack. I wanted to climb out of my skin. My mind was racing with what seems like ridiculous notions now. What if I want to eat alot? What if I want to binge? What did I do to myself? I wanted the band out then and there. It was an awful night. Day 4 post op and I moving around better. My diet basically consisted of protein shakes, water and broth. I tried jello but I just don't like it. I went to see my surgeon for a check up and he advanced me to stage 2. I have found a new love of farina and yogurt. Day 5 Post op and I am expecting company. I washed the kitchen floor and did some laundry with the help of my daughter. My friend came over and we had a nice time. Then I went shopping to get my fiance a birthday present. It was about 93 degrees out and I almost passed out at TJ Maxx. I felt awful and needed to get home. I think I overdid it on Day 5. I spent the rest of the day hydrating myself and taking it easy. Day 6 Post Op and I'm having family over for lunch. I didn't do much but go grocery shopping and prepare some snacks. I ordered pizza for dinner. I had soup of course.I had a nice day. I like entertaining even though I didn't get to have anything yummy. Day 7 Post Op. One week banded. I still have soreness at the incision site and I keep getting an intermittent sharp stitch on the right side of my belly button. Not sure what that's from. Sleeping is still a chore but no more anxiety. I was an ambien user for a very long time so I am use to sleep problems. I found tylenol PM in liquid form in case I need a little help. Day 8 Post Op. Back to see my surgeon. I was so happy to see how much I lost that I forgot to ask him about the pain. I was hoping to advance to Stage 3 but he said I needed to stay on Stage 2 a few more days. Day 8 Post Op. Spent the day with my sister and our kids. It was hot out and I tend to get a little nauseaus then I get heated. Breakfast now is farina. Lunch is yogurt. I throw a protein shake in there somewhere and have soup for dinner. I'm not sure if I'm hungry or not. So here I am. I hope I get the results I am looking for. I have been overweight my entire life and have no idea what it feels like to be in a healthy body. I can't wait until I am well enough to get to the gym. Its way too hot outside for walking. Next week I will go and get on the treadmill and start out slow. More to come...

I am expected to have surgery around the middle of September so I pushed my fall classes back a month so instead I'll be starting classes 10/20/2014. I will be taking online classes for the fall semester then I will begin sit in classes again during the Spring semester in January 2015. For anyone who's had surgery, is a month out from surgery too soon to start back at school? Should I completely take off for the Fall semester and start back at school, come the Spring semester?? Im just not sure what mindframe I will be in, a month out. Will I start feeling like my normal self and will I have the energy to focus on school work? I know that everyones recovery time is different but I would like to hear back from you guys to see how you felt, a month out from surgery. Thanks in advance!

Hi Lynette, I had my surgery in my hometown Monterrey Mexico and right after my surgery, at my hospital suite i received my lapband box with the serial number, and a booklet about the band and also a lapband patient id card, where you must write your name and surgeon´s name, this id card explains the device, and explains also how the patient must eat. I hope this info is useful and go ahead, you wont regret it I had surgery april 10 2007 and lost already 29 pounds:)

October 30, 2007 Well today I am totally starting over. I need to focus on the weight issue. I have gained about 10 pounds and I need to get it off and still loose the weight I need to. I am about 207 pounds right now. I want to be about 160 so I am focusing on loosing about50 pounds. I have the lap band as a tool and I need to use it. I just had the VNS put in this month. They forgot to turn it off and I was being shocked about every two hours for about 8 days. We are seeing a laywer about that. I am suppose to go tommorow and have it activated. I am pissed off at the fact that all of the physicans know that the deivce was on and not one of them called and apoligized or even checked on how I was doing after it was shut off. I am doing the serious diet thin this week to try and shrink my stomach and then next week if my incisons feel better I am going to start to exercise. I will go when I am off and take the twins to school. I am going to try to write in the journal and update everyday that I am off. I will write later.

I would say don't worry about the calories you are doing great, you will see, stay the path! Wouldn't worry about starvation mode, if you go back and look up IF and that subject area, you will see body really doesn't go into starvation mode until 2-3 days... They say that was kind of a myth to go into it so soon, and you are EATING. In reality starving is getting NOTHING with calories, lol... Go 2 weeks as you are and see the weight fall off... I have been doing IF for 5 weeks and weight is falling off, down 15 of the 25 pounds I trying to lose that weight gained back after 3 years post sleeve... Great thing about IF is that you eat whatever you want and as you said you really won't eat much but all cravens for whatever you want are met, even if you only get a few bites of it... It sure beat 10 small meals a day and all other diets, which this really isnt! Loving that I don't snack all day because I'm just drinking coffee and water and know one knows what I'm doing, lol.. Just my 2 cents...[emoji16] Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Still trying to get used to his new app. Kinda sucks. I hope all you Feb 2013 sleevers are doing great. I'm down 88lbs over all 70 from surgery on 2/19/13 feeling great still need to lose 30ish. Trying to get back on the wagon. I hate tracking my food but I know I need to.

I had lab band surgery on 2/11/10, I feel really bad, I can' hold down any liquid everytime I drink water or tea, a big gulp of foam comes back up. I spoke to my surgeon twice and he says if I still can't keep anything down by tomorrow then I will have to go back to the hospital to have an IV and an uppr GI done. I really did not think this was going to be so bad, if I knew it was going to be this bad I would not have had the surgery, THIS IS HELL!!!!!!!! I wish I could just keep some water down.

I was told no more than 10 pounds for the first 6 weeks! No house work for the first 2 weeks. Yes!!!!

23.50 to be exact. All brand names, all from Goodwill. It took some hunting and dressing room time and 4 different trips in all. Pre vsg I had in 2 large closets sizes 20, 18, 16, and some 14. I had gotten to the point where even the 20s were tight and only a few items fit. That was in July of 2012. I was 5'3 218 lbs. mow I'm around 150 lbs and wearing a size 10. No way am I investing in a new wardrobe yet. I actually love my pants and capris from Goodwill. I selected carefully. They have no stains, tears or worn spots. Some even look and feel new. Don't be afraid to go to Goodwill, yard sales, the Salvation Army or consignment shops.

The following is a condensation of a series from the Investor's Business Daily explaining 'What Caused the Loan Crisis': 1977: Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act into Law. The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify. The Premise: Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc. Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help. How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market? Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way. 1992: Republican representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at large to money machines for the principals and the stockholding few. 1993: Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's rules turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopoies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and now the collapse of Freddie and Fannie. 1994: Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy which broadened the CRA in ways congress never intended. 1995: Congress, about to change from a Democrat majority to Republican, Clinton orders Robert Rubin's Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin's Treasury reworked rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans to get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks. Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else. 1997 - 1999: Clinton , bypassing Republicans, enlisted Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Developement, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way. Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments vs. 10% for banks. Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks their enterprises boomed. With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often 'no doc', 'no income', requiring no money down and no verification of income. Worse still was the cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie. Over $200 million had been spent on lobbying and political activities. During the 1990's Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as musch as $182 Billion,most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as claimed. Did it work? Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners but many of those loans have gone bad and the minority homeownership rates are shrinking fast. 1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and Freddie's excesses. Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place. 'We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks,' Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama advisor, bragged to investors in 1999. 2000: Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the 'special status'. Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEO's who knew how to reward and punish. 'We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation's housing and mortgage markets' Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said. It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform. 2001: Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen.Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants. 2003: Bush proposes what the NY Times called 'the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago'. Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform. 2005: Then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress: 'We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk'. Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, 'If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole'. Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP ;of trying to 'cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding homeownership' The bill went nowhere. 2007: By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market. The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors. As the housing market fell in '07, subprime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses. The crisis was on, though it was 15 years in the making. 2008: McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths, Bush urged reform 17 times. Still the media have repeated Democrats' talking points about this being a 'Republican' disaster. A few Republicans are complicit but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely run by Democrats and protected by Democrats. That's why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!! If you doubt any of this, just click the links below and listen to your lawmakers own words. They are condeming! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related]YouTube - Fannie & Freddie: The Real Story Behind The Economic Crisis[/ame]# http://www.youtube...com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY# [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9juJr8CSY4&feature=related]YouTube - How democrats lied to America, while using community reinvestment act and acorn to destroy the American financial system.[/ame]# Postscript: ACORN is one of the principle beneficiaries of Fannie/ Freddie's slush funds. They are currently under indictment or investigation in many states. Barack Obama served as their legal counsel, defending their activities for several years. Please share this with everyone you know. Send it. Print it. Talk about it. America needs to know!!!

Here is my list: lab-band shopping list heating pad flexible ice pack liquid tylenol (they make adult strength) chewable or liquid gas-x a few books or movies comfy clothes (loose waisted shorts or jumpers) squishy pillow for car ride (guard against seatbelt) a sports bra (doc said no underwire for a few days) protien shakes flavored water make sure you have a good blender I bought a drink mixer for the protien mix (cost $10 at walmart) broth or stuff to make broth sugarfree popsicles and jello sugar free gum (ask your doctor) sugar free breathmints (ask your doctor) *Ask at your pre-op for the pain med prescription so you can have it all ready to go when you get home, our walgreens has to order liquid pain meds and it takes 3 days to get them.

Errrr i could spit rocks i am so mad at the WII FIT!:thumbs_up: I bought a Wii about 3 mons ago bc Wii Fit was coming out and i really thought it would be great that i could do some strengthening at home. i order my Wii Fit over the internet and today it came in. I was really excited. I was following the instruction and it was asking my height and bday. Then is said alright now its time to weigh you and please step on. So i step on the Wii board and guess what IT TELLS ME.... IM OVER THE WEIGHT LIMIT TO PLAY THE Wii FIT:crying:! ERRR i mean im just upset with this whole ordeal. I know this is my fault i should have never got so over weight:glare:. So my newest GOAL is to be able to play on my Wii Fit:mellow:. I read the manual and it says the max limit is 330lbs. and my scale says i weigh 334.5:confused2:. So hopefully in 5-10 lbs i will be plaing my Wii Fit. Ugh one more thing that my weight controls:thumbdown:..cant even play a fitness game. Mandi Jo

I second that emotion, unless I force myself to eat I won't. I can honestly say I haven't had this feeling in about 10 years.

10 days out your stomach is not yet healed and is still swollen. You may not be able to feel that you are hurting yourself. Just because you can eat something doesn't necessarily mean you should.

I would keep carbs to under 10% of total calories, and the way that is done is by aiming for nearly entirely protein, and just accepting the little bits of carbs that slip in (you probably need them anyway just to keep your brain running). Nobody completely avoids carbs even if they think they are. Alcohol is a similar bad idea, and for the same reason...your body can burn that first for quick energy and thus hold onto more stored fat. Have you been cleared for exercise yet? If so, by all means go for it! It felt really great to be able to get back on the trails again.

Okay, so I know that technically this belongs in the post-surgery section, but I wanted to share a little about what it was like with the pre-lapband readers because I found this forum so helpful when I was pre. Guess what - I'm feeling great! My surgery was at 7 am yesterday morning and my husband and I were back at the hotel by 9:30 am (we live in another state form the surgeon I chose.) Everything went extremely smoothly. I felt good when wegot back to the hotel, but very groggy, and in a little bit of pain. I took the pain meds and slept till about 1:30. Then we went out for a walk. The doc wanted me to walk 10 minutes, 4 times a day, starting right away. I went with my husband to get lunch and had about half a cup of turkey broth. I ordered turkey Soup and asked the waitress to just give me the broth from the top and leave out all the noodles and chunks and she happily did so. My husband had a steak sandwich and it didn't bother me at all to see him eat it. The rest of the day we watched Tv, read, and went on the little walks. Today was a tiny bit rougher - more pain, especially in my left shoulder and the port site. But nothing unbearable and I actually enjoyed some outlet shopping and got a cute new bag! This evening I am pretty sore again and the doc told me to expect that the second day would be worse than the first day after surgery. My husband and I fly home late tomorrow evening and I couldn't be happier. To anyone in the Seattle area still looking for a surgeon: I totally recommend Pacific Weight Loss Surgery. Good luck all you pre-bandsters!

It's usually that first BM that can take quite a while before you go. For me I went 10 days without one then after that it was probably every 3 days. I am 10 months post op and still have constipation issues. Just make sure you get your liquids in, it will definitely help. Also, my doctoral me use a dulcolax suppository which will help you go very quickly. Just make sure you talk to them first.

The first 3 days were the absolute hardest. It definitely got easier over time. Youve got this! HW 420 SW 347 CW 329 Sleeved April 10, 2017

Ok guys i have been not eating breakfast as i am not a typical breakfast eater so i get up at 6am and about 10 i start getting hungry which i was an early luncher at 11am so i have been doing the meal replacement bars/ shakes from 9:30 to 10 am this holds me over until i get home at 6:30pm then i am eating a regular meal. This keeps me under the calorie intake for the day or right where i need to be if i meet it. Rarely over it . But my question is if i make myself do one for breakfast and lunch then eat supper or if i eat a normal lunch and then do the meal replacement for dinner will any of these combinations make me lose weight quicker i am in my 5th month of the dr supervised weightloss diet. So Oct 10th will be my 6th visit for that so we will start with the appts for the pysh eval and the nutritionist and the surgery consult. I know they are going to require me to do the only liquid diet for the two week prior to surgery so i am trying to get used to the protein shakes. Any tips on how to optimize the effectiveness of using these?