Search the Community

Why would you encourage someone not to follow their surgeon's instructions? We all have individual health issues and there are a wide variety of pre-op programs. Like you I was required to lose a percentage of my excess weight pre-op. For me it was 10% which would've been 21lbs. I lost only 18 in the 3 or 4 month pre-op phase. I was concerned that because I did not hit 10% exactly that they would not schedule me for surgery. I was advised that the minimum acceptable loss was 5% for the purposes of shrinking the liver and that if I had failed to lose 5% they would have put me on a stringent liquid diet for a period of up to 2 weeks. Because I lost an acceptable percentage of excess weight, I only had to do Clear liquids along with bowel prep for 2 days prior to surgery. So, not knowing the specific health issues of OP nor the specific pre-op work she has done, it is really not a smart move to even remotely encourage her to disregard her surgeon's instructions.

Well I can only speak for me and from my experience, but most long-term sleevers have indeed battled a regain (I'm 2.5 years out) and while the hunger is NEVER (for me) what it was pre-op, it's definitely a battle. I told myself I would NEVER regain ANY weight, but the truth is most people do. In my 2nd year I gained about 10-12lbs from April-Nov., then added another +5 for the holidays. I'm working it off but it is coming of VERY slow. I've lost -9lbs since Jan 1 of this year and it's already mid-April. So that is how quick it can fly on and how slow it can come off. I think at some point everyone gets tired of being hypervigalent about their diet and that is when the extra pounds creep in. I originally lost -100lbs and would like to get back there. So sometimes I have to remind myself of how far I've come and that an extra 10-12lbs doesn't make me a WLS failure. Best advice - when the scale goes up, take care of it immediately, don't wait months or the extra lbs can turn into more.

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

Good luck on surgery tomorrow be sure to keep us posted...im on day 6 and had a lil cheat 2 nights ago i ate 2 crackers and oh hell that was a mistake my stomach is not use to food any more 10 min after eating my belly was killing me and cramping i will never do that agian and that was just 2 crackers BigBodyBombFace

So today my BF was approved by our insurance company BCBS of MN (we have the same insurance) for her band. I am so incredibly happy for her. She wants to be banded by the 2nd or 3rd week of Christmas. Today, something happened with both my daughters, and while I am not willing to put it in this journal, suffice it to say they have both broken my heart and I feel a deep and profound sense of loss. I am scared to death for my youngest (she's 19) and very angry with my oldest (she's 22). After my divorce from their father, it was just the 3 of us, and we were so close. We were the three amigas! Now, to listen to them talk to each other and then make me feel as if I have to chose, is more than my heart can bear. Being an only child, I can't begin to describe to them how precious it is to have a sibling. No matter what happens, family is top priority. I am really considering cancelling Christmas.

My surgery is scheduled for 2/29 less then a week away and I find myself an emotional wreck! I can't sleep my nerves are going crazy. I'm excited but still nervous. I've done enough research that I'm aware of side effects and mishaps but honestly that not bothering. For every horror story I read there are 10 awesome ones. This morning I actually had a wave of sadness hit me that I may not be able to eat certain foods again. From that emotion came anger that I allowed my happiness to be become so dependent on something life food! Over the years the weight has definitely make my self esteem close to zero. Even on days when I thought I looked good the pictures after the fact were a reality check of what I truly looked like. I turned 40 in Jan. My boys are now teenagers who only need me for rides lol. I spent much of my 20's and all of my 30s being a single mom. So I felt like this would begin a new chapter of my life where I could start taking care of me a little more. Anyway just felt like venting. I love this site because it allows me to do so. Just confused why I have been hit with this sadness. Anyone else go through this????

I am an RN, I was sleeved with hiatal hernia repair on 10/22 and went back to 12 hour shifts on 10/31. I was tired but ok. I would recommend an abdominal binder if you are more active in your job. I don't know if I could have done it without it. I have only worn it while at work, haven't needed it otherwise. Good luck to you.

Hi fellow Diet Coke addict! I’m 2 months out and haven’t had a sip! Which is crazy because I used to think longingly about my beloved Diet Coke. I had a craving for a Diet Coke last week, but I didn’t have it. Plenty of people do drink it post op, but I sorta said “hi craving, I see you and boy do I miss your crispy zing in my mouth, but I’m good”. Will it also be that easy for me to say no? Probably not. But right now it is. The same can’t be said for food. I’ve pretty much had it all at this point, and I’ve enjoyed it, regretted it sometimes, and moved on. I eat something yummy everyday, just not a lot of it. I’m still figuring this out. Sometimes I eat too fast and just have to ride that wave and tell myself “ok remember this for next time and remember how little your stomach is now”. i focused on drinking water those first 10 days. The first 2 days were tough because of nausea. I did a play by play of the first 2 weeks on here called “post op day 2” if you’re curious about how it felt day by day. currently I mostly eat canned chicken with Mayo (like I truly love it, hahahaha), an egg in the morning, tiny sandwiches (see post, comically small sandwich), honey roasted peanuts, and dinner is just a small portion of whatever my husband is eating… sometimes it healthy, sometimes it’s not. I’m not as strict as most people on here, and that’s ok. I’m learning and living. I’m losing about 2 pounds a week now (with stalls here and there, including the 3 week stall). i have incorporated the premier protein latte flavor daily now (3 weeks post op until I was suppose to wait for caffeine). I sorta have just choke it down bit by bit, but I’m ok with it. i took omeprazole the first month as prescribed and haven’t needed it since. I brought a pair of crocs to the hospital to walk about my room, wet wipes, a medicine cup to sip water, 2 bottles of water, pads (because you’ll likely get your period out of nowhere), night time toiletries ( I didn’t shower there, was only there 2 nights), iPad, phone charger (long), ear buds, and pj pants, tank top with built in bra, and sweater (I was ridiculously cold for a month after surgery). good luck!

Thanks to all of you for your input. I am having surgery with Dr. Rumbaut in Monterrey on 8/10. I was feeling at peace with my decision but am becoming more nervous as the date gets closer. I start liquids next week and will be in Mexico for my 35th birthday. :faint: Kelli

For the last 3 weeks I would go up and down about a pound on the scales. I got pretty bummed. I finally took it all out at the gym on my body on Monday. I walked on the treadmill at a pace of 4.0 and did two miles then I went to bikes and did another 4 miles. I was so worn out I came home and passed out. I woke up the next morning (Tuesday) and had lost a pound and half. Today I weighed myself again and had lost 0.8 lbs. I am now 10 lbs away from my first big reward of an hour massage!!! I can not wait till I hit the 199 mark!!! I have not felt this good, energetic, and happy in years. I have already gotten rid of all my fat clothes and just bought some leggings until I can get down to closer to where I want to be. As an added bonus, my hubby was rubbing my shoulders yesterday and said "you have nothing here anymore, it is all bone" which made me feel good also!!! I can finally see the changes in my body after losing 50 lbs!! BTW: surgery was on June 15 Starting weight 260 Surgery weight 245 Today 210

I work for myself and run a small agency so I didn't have the luxury of taking time off like I wanted to. Three days post-op the phone was ringing. Really I can do one-two meetings a day but more than that tires me. I'm supposed to go back full-time next week and although it's a desk job, it's also a lot of thinking, talking to clients, writing presentations, deciding how they should spend their money, and I am hoping like mad I will have a clear head by Monday which will be 10 days. I wish I could take 2 weeks off.

The vast majority of people in this world do indulge on holidays. That is normal and typical and NOT a sign you are regressing. You had 10 milk duds. Did you eat three servings of dinner and then a large slice of pie and then sneak another one when no one was looking? That is unhealthy and abnormal behavior. You stopped, you recognized, you give yourself a break. Feeling guilty over these choices will only lead to more self-destructive behavior.

I am right there with you. On Tuesday I will be 3 wks and have only lost 10. I am so disappointed but hoping and praying I won't stall. I also started at 233. So very very similar.

I'm down over 40 and even though my current clothes are loose, the next size down is still a bit tight. I'm hoping if 5 or 10 more lbs I'll be down a size---finally! Mary

I have an appointment with the PA at my surgeon's office tomorrow. I'm 7 weeks post-op as of tomorrow as well. I do not have any fill at this point. I'm consistently losing (average of 2.25 lbs per week, not including the liquid diet phase). I can definitely eat more than I could immediately post-op but overall I am fairly satisfied with small amounts of food. For example, 2 eggs and half a slice of toast, 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 4 saltines with Peanut Butter on them, 2 oz chicken breast and a few green Beans. It seems to me that the less Fluid in the band, the less complications people experience, so I would like to take a conservative route on fills. I know the PA agrees with that. I feel comfortable with not getting a fill tomorrow, but I'd like opinions from more experienced bandsters please. My overall weight loss since I began my pre-op diet (10 days prior to surgery) is 30.8 lbs in 8 weeks. Edited to add that sometimes I am hungry 2-3 hrs after eating but other times i can go 5 hrs or more. What I usually do is eat a small amount when I'm hungry 2-3 hrs after eating but after that I usually go a longer time without hunger so overall my daily intake averages out.

I started out with that type, but it kept leaking and I spent most of my nights trying to adjust it instead of sleeping. The one I have now (Wisp), leaks a lot less, especially when I keep it clean. When I've had my mask for 10 months, my insurance will pay for another mask, and I might try a different full face mask. I've come to realize just how important a good sleep makes me feel.

My surgery is tomorrow( today- it's 1:12am) as well. I can not sleep at all! Nervous is not exactly the word to describe how I am feeling at the moment. I laid down at 10:20p and could not sleep at all. So I got up and moved to the sofa in media room and will probably stay here until 5:15 am before I start getting ready to leave for hospital. Good luck to everyone having surgery later today! I will see you on the other side. :-)

I went to today for my 3rd weigh in/fill and was down another 10 pounds! Wooooo-hooooo! Every time I zip up a size 18, I still can’t believe it! It’s strange that I can pretty much predict down to the pound how much I’m going to loose every month…and yes, I only weight once a month. My mom asked me if I’d lost as much as I was hoping for, and I told her, “yes,” because even though I was hoping to loose 12-15 lbs, I knew that was unrealistic, and I knew going in that I was going to be down about 10 lbs. And really, when you think about it, what difference is two more pounds going to make? It’s not. It’s not like people won’t notice that you’ve lost 38 pounds, but they WILL notice 40? A steady loss of 2 lbs. a week is fine with me, hell, it’s more than fine; it’s GREAT! So, here’s what’s weird…and this is sooooo difficult to explain to people who haven’t been banded. At my last fill, I actually felt real restriction, so for the first time in my life, I don’t obsess over food. I don’t binge. I don’t eat and eat and eat and then eat some more. Food has become a non-issue. When anyone asks where I want to eat, I tell them I don’t care; because I really don’t. It’s just not a big deal. So, what’s the problem? Here’s the problem: For almost my entire life I’ve been an addict. My eating disorder had as much of a hold on me as heroin would have on a junkie, or booze would have on an alcoholic. Now, when I’m not hungry, or I’m satisfied…when I’m not “using” food, I associate that feeling with “binging”. Does that make sense? It’s just that it’s been that way for SO long, that my mind has trouble accepting that I’m satisfied and not hungry, and it’s NOT because I’ve eaten everything in sight…it’s because I’m banded. So, I’ve walked around these past 5 weeks thinking, “Shit! I can’t believe I did that! How could I have eaten all that food? How could I go back to “using?” Then, I have to actively remind myself that I haven’t gone back to my old ways; I haven’t binged. It’s just strange…a good strange, but very unsettling all the same. And, get this; I go in and tell my nurse that I don’t think I need a fill, but I’m not sure. She hooks me up and has me drink the “stuff,” and she says, “Oh yeah, you need a fill.” I ask her how she can tell, and she says that she can tell by how easily the liquid is going down. So, as I’m getting ready to leave, she reminds me that I won’t be back for three months, but if I need a fill I need to let them know. My thing is this; I won’t know if I need a fill. I didn’t know this time! I tell her this and she says, “Well if you find yourself getting hungry, then you know you need a fill.” O.K…I didn’t get hungry this time. And I won’t get hungry next time. I guess what I do, is just push it out of my head and ignore it. I joke around that I’m really good at being hungry, but I guess, it’s not a joke. It’s kind of pathetic in a way; I’m so used to being hungry that it’s normal now. Ah well, I guess that’s a concept only a former fat kid can grasp. At any rate, I will close saying this: My life is so GREAT that I can’t believe it’s MINE!

Oops, sorry I didn't answer your first questions. I was banded on April 6, 2006. The first week was just getting over the pain of surgery. I had never had surgery so I was very fearful of the pain afterward. After the first night in the hospital, I came home and maybe took 2 or 3 doses of liquid tylenol even though my dr. prescribed Percoset. I slept on the couch for the first 4 nights because I couldn't get out of bed comfortably. The port pain is the worst pain because it's the largest incision and the port is sewed into the muscle. After maybe 9 or 10 days that pain was gone completely. It was a nuisance pain but not at all intolerable. I didn't feel like eating (or really drinking) much. I was only clear liquids for only one day and then I moved into heavier liquids, i.e. creamed soups, milk based protein drinks, broths. Only be the end of the second week did I really want real food. It was a joy to move to mushies in week 3. You will notice when you are recovering from surgery that if you watch tv, every 2 seconds there is a food commercial on! You'll do just fine. It was not as horrible as your mind imagines that it will be.

So I am in a horrible mood right now and need to vent... Just had my third fill this afternoon. It was my first time actually seeing my surgeon since surgery in January. The other fills were done by the doctor at the clinic. I should preface this by saying I've been feeling NO restriction and haven't had good weight loss since my surgery nearly 5 months ago. I'm down like a total of 10 lbs. Anyway, he looks at my chart, sees that I have 3cc in my band, and says he will give me 2cc. So I lie down, he finds the port, he sticks me and and says, "hmmm, have you had any fills since the last time you were here?" (((Yeah, I went to my guy down at the corner of 2nd and Harris... Just HAD to have my fix, man!!!))) well, turns out the last fill wasn't charted so I actually already had 5cc. So he says he will only give me 1cc and that will be a significant difference. I get that they don't want to rush it, but I get charged $40 co-pay when I walk in, then after the fill I get charged $75 as I walk out. They LITERALLY get you coming and going. Just getting sick of all this time and money for hardly any help from my band.... Or maybe my doctors? Ugh. Okay, I'm done ranting... Lol Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

You should have gotten written discharge instructions before you left the hospital and it should be on there....or you could just give the office a quick call and ask. Mine says nothing more than 10 pounds for 6 weeks. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Okay - didn't make it to the gym.....too much going on last night. I will say, last night was a beneficial meeting and I think we can progress form here. I plan on going to the gym tonight, ABSOLUTELY NO exceptions!!!! I stepped on the scale this morning and saw another drop so I was quite pleased by that. Menu today: Weight Wise Oatmeal snack a few pretzles TBSP hummus Lunch Slice of my Low Fat Meatloaf green beans Snack Low Carb yogurt a handfull of granola thrown in Dinner grilled talapia baby spinach WT - 163.8

Thanks!! I wasn't told to do 10 puffs/hour... but I'll start using it more... Congrats on your weight loss...

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but it won't always be this way. Not for me anyway. I am 10 months out now. Almost 11. At first I could only eat 1 egg or less. Only eat a few bites of anything. Now I can eat much more. I can have 4 ounces of chicken or beef plus squeeze in a few fries. Enjoy this "Honeymoon" phase. It doesn't last that long.