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I did the same thing I ate everything in site! I got my phone call last week, going in May 19th for surgery this will be my second time around the first time was two years ago I had the sleeve done now I'm have the bypass. Good Luck to you!

I just had it a week ago. I did a lot of research and heard this was very close to getting a sleeve without losing you're stomach. Sent from my SM-G900V using the BariatricPal App

I'm in the same boat and just started getting myself motivated to lose again. I lost an initial 62 lbs since my surgery (73 since pre-op) in the four years since I was banded. I have recently gained 17 lbs back and that is where I put my foot down. I had my band unfilled for a month and have an appointment for next week to start over. I am going to pretend like my band was just put on and start the same diet I did four years ago. I am exercising regularly, which is something I had let go. It's really about being in the mind set to do it. You have to find your motivation. Mine was that my clothes were all getting too tight and I didn't like how my skin looked. And it helped that one of my best friends just lost 123 lbs. I look at her every day and she motivates me. Good luck and don't give up. Most of all - if you fail it is ok as long as you try again. Don't beat yourself up over it and give up, just keep trying.

at three weeks, my pain had all but disappeared, but I was so incredibly drained and tired that I know for me there would have been no way I could have gone out and had a whole day of activity. You may be different; some people feel great by three weeks and have a decent amount of energy. I'm almost 6 months post-op and I'm STILL tired, despite having normal blood work. It's a tale of caution: your body will decide what it wants and what it is ready for. So be careful and don't overdo it but hope for the best.

Check into Intermittent Fasting. It's broken me through so many stalls. When I hit my hard stall at 230, I thought I was done for sure. I'm sitting between 180 and 190 now.

Everyone has different time constraints. Fantastic that you are getting your workout 2X a day. What are your fitness goals? What types of exercise do you find interesting? Do you need something easy on your joints to begin with? Do you work out at home or a gym? Do you need to buy equipment working out at home? You get to decide how much time you are going to invest in yourself. The weight loss is just a perk of the work you put into this. Here are some links to give your some fitness inspiration: Just google for more! Home workouts: dumbell workout Phala B fit training website - level one to level 5 programs Gym or home weight lifting exercise database. choose the muscle you want to work on. It will give you a video of how to use the equipment and perform the exercise. Three months : Cardio and adding weight lifting into my program. I work out at a gym in the evening. Over the years my fitness level and goals have evolved and changed. It's always a work in progress.

I did horrible on my pre op diet. Everyday I would try but its almost like your a drug addict, but the drug is all around you all of the time. I did better on my 4 day pre op liquid diet. On the 4 days I did liquid all day but a 4-6 oz baked mahi fish fillet at night. My surgery went OK and am 25 lbs down in 4 weeks.

If it was like mine it is for information purposes. You will be presented with all of the options and hopefully opportunities to ask questions and meet post-op patients. I was able to schedule an appt to meet with my surgeon a week later. At that appt I was set up for pre-op testing and the req classes my insurance has for WLS. The insurance will play a factor too. write down questions before and write down answers at seminar for later when you get a one on one with surgeon. good luck!

I am almost three weeks post surgery and been given the clear to eat anything that I can chew to the consistency of cottage cheese (that is ACTUALLY what the document said). So my question is this - how is it that I can eat 4 spoonfuls of cottage cheese and feel painfully full, but eat like ten bites of noodles (bad idea, I know) and I don't feel full at all? That doesn't make sense to me. Is it because noodles are less dense? I am worried that I have stretched my stomach out already - HELP!! I mistakenly ate 4-5 too many bites of Soup the other day and was in soo much pain - I am really stressing that I am damaging my stomach because of this learning curve. Jen

So I'm sure you've read on this forum that during their 2 weeks of liquids post-op, people tend to get sick of soup and are frustrated. Well, I think I've hit that mark. I don't know how many other soups, broths, flavored waters I can take - I am so souped out! I called my doctor's office just to chat with the nurse to ask about what other patients do. Really, there's nothing that can be done but to try different liquids to keep it interesting and to hang in there. She's right (of course) but it's a bit frustrating. I know that after these 2 weeks are up and I'm on to my mushy stage, I will feel much better. I feel bad for my hubby, well kinda. I feel bad that he's had to hide in the office, bedroom or outside just to eat his meal but what else is he going to do, right? I mean, if he started eating chinese food in front me while I'm feeling this way, I might pull a Chris Brown on him. Sorry, bad joke. Haha? Anyway, he's been nothing but supportive but I'm so jealous that he can have real food and I can't. Alright, I guess I'll go and eat soup now.

Hey yall. Im just popping in to see how everyone is doing. I have been more in chat than on the forums but Im trying to check in more often. Things have been ok. I am only down 12 lbs since surgery but 22 total. Im on a halt on the losing. But Im trying to kick it back into gear. Ill be glad when I get my first fill. I go aug 25th to start my treatment for Hpylori bacteria that I tested positive for. I have to complete the 2 wks of treatment before I can get my first fill. I am currently little under the weather. My 4 yr old was sick last week and I think she gave it to me. Im hoping it goes away cause Im gonna try to go out of town tomorrow but who knows if that will happen. I am gonna do my measurements later today and see what the difference is. This saturday makes my 1 month bandiversary. Yall take care and look forward to seeing updates.

Everyone a little different, I was drinking pretty good after getting out of hospital, more than sipping. This is not like bypass surgery, you still have a stomach the size of a medium to large banana. Just don't drink more than 30 minutes before eating, so you can eat, during meals so you don't fill up on liquids, and not to soon after to prevent washing the food through the system before minerals and vitamins absorbed since you are taking in so little after surgery and for next 4 to 6 weeks.

Hi Curvy! I love to workout as well. I just wanted to tell you that I had a hard time with getting back into the swing post op too. I think it must have taken months! I just felt incredibly lazy, which I do attribute it to the 6 weeks of liquids and tiny portions. Now today I have much more energy to get them done! You should join our social group for those of us who enjoy working out or just need the daily motivation to keep doing them. I agree, you will look SMASHING in that dress if you keep your body toned up. It will be so worth it!!! Link to the social group (all are welcome): http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/groups/show/1-vst-gym-rats/

Hang in there! Try ice chips and if your doc allows, sprinkle flavored crystal light on it. I also ate lots of broth. Smithers is the best and I found it on Amazon. Popsicles - sugar free though. chocolate, sugar free Popsicles kept me sane my first week. Good luck! Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

This post is just minutes after yours....must be fate! I had the same problem when I found out my surgery date. I had already made up my mind that the only person at work I would tell would be my boss....I didn't want her to think it was some kind of debilitating or heart surgery. Also, for the same reason as yours.....well-wishers who unintentionally sabotage our weight loss...and lead us to the path of gaining it back again. I could lose weight.....but keeping it off was impossible...because people would say how nice I looked and how thin I looked...so I figured...if I looked that good I didn't need to follow the diet anymore! End of success! So I know exactly what you are going through. I had my surgery on 9/24/04 and just about a month ago started telling others about my surgery. I have lost almost 70 pounds and now that people are asking "how'd you do it"? I have to be honest and tell them...have to give credit to the band and me! I tell them exactly how I did it....with the help of this great tool. We all have been told over and over that the band is NOT a "magic cure"....that it will still take OUR hard work and a definite change of lifestyle. It's a "TOOL" to help us lose the weight and keep it off. You need to face the scale, for yourself. You need the accountability, and the Dietitian is there to help you if you have a problem with your diet. The surgery, I feel, is the easiest part of the whole process!!! It's the follow up and support that is VERY IMPORTANT afterwards!!! This is what helps you get used to your new lifestyle. You can only tell people about the surgery when you have come to terms with your success first. I was not ready.....not right away....but now I am a speaker at the Lap Band Seminars at our hospital and I am not afraid or ashamed or embarrassed at all to tell everyone that I lost the weight with the help of the lap band. There are always those who will say, why couldn't you do it on your own? But they don't understand, because they have never tried. Having the surgery is the BEST thing I have done for myself in my life!!! There is nobody that can convince me otherwise. It will take time; but you will see the changes in yourself, in the mirror, and gain your self-confidence back. It didn't take us overnight to gain the weight....so it won't happen overnight that we get used to the wonderful changes in us!!! I've been fat all my life....so it will take a while for me to think of myself as otherwise! I can bet in a few months you will be your surgeon's best advocate!!! Bring out that scale....or go to the doctor's office to get weighed....just only do it once a week or every two weeks, so you are not checking all the time. Hang in there....you'll start to recognize that the person you are seeing in the mirror is YOU....inside and out!!! Take care, Nancy* huggggggggsssss

This waiting for the surgeon's office to call is killing me!!!! All I can think about is how my life is going to change when I get the lap band and when is the doctor's office going to call????? Part of me wants to get my band ASAP and the other part wants to put it off until school is out for the summer so that the weather will be nice while I'm on sick leave. I have 2 months of sick days saved up and I'm going to use all of them after I have my lap band put in. I know that recovery should only be a week or two at the most with the office job I have but I'm going to use all of my days that I have stored up. Oh well hopefully they will call very very very soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Omg...that should not be allowed. Showing averages and what you should hope to lose each month is setting people up for failure. I'm 4ft 8in and I started at 260 the day of surgery. I'm almost 4 weeks post op and according to the chart should have lost 32. Well I've lost a whopping 13...do I wish it was more? Yes but I'm a part of the slow losers club so far. I will get there but it may take longer. Please kick this chart out of your head at least for comparison purposes.

Im 5 wks post op. Ive lost 36lbs. But im feeling the blues. I feel like i should have lost more. I still cant eat more then 3 rarely 4 oz at a time. Now certain foods make me sick. Foods i ate LAST WEEK. Im not getting enough protien im stuck at 30-40 per day. Im SICK of protein shakes so i stopped using them. I cant get them down because im always feeling over full. I just dont no what to do. Any help or suggestions? I want to drop more weight i have another 110 lbs to go to my goal. But it seems so far away.

Good for you! yeah i did 2 weeks too, and I was so glad i did. . . glad your doing so well! Keep up the great work!

My thoughts tonight After the comments back and forth surrounding the Dr. Ortiz thread I felt the need to vent some on a separate thread. I won't rehash what was already said on that thread. I will simply state my thoughts and how I am dealing with it all. I was very offended by the comments of both Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Pleatman. I addressed those on that thread. When thinking about my own personal demons I reflect on what got me so mad and upset over those comments. I realized it was one more thing telling me that no matter what I try it won't work. I will forever be fat. My insecurities came out when both their comments seemed insensitive and detached. This pissed me off as an RN and it pissed me off as a patient. This anger does me NO GOOD. I just need to redirect these feelings of failure with the band in a more positive light. I know I have lost weight with the band. I see this. I feel this. But I am focusing on now that I don't have the band anymore what will I do to keep off what I lost. It is hard to see past one minute of one hour of one day. I come here for support and understanding and compassion to get through the rough times. I don't come here for seemingly uncaring surgeons to suggest I 'get over' losing the band. Yes it might have been an unfortunate mistake for him to have said that and he might truly be sorry for the comment. But I just simply don't think he gets how damaging that statement could be. So, I am rambling here and alot of this might not make any sense at all. This is more for me than anything else. Sort of a cathartic exercise. I am really struggling on a day to day basis. I get up and eat my breakfast and do really well till around 2 or 3 pm. Then it all falls apart. I am travelling right now and that makes it harder to stick to the Nutrisystem diet. I am struggling to get in my water. I was doing so well the first two weeks. I even lost 6 lbs on it in the first two weeks. Now I am away from home and really worried I am gaining back the weight. I am so upset with myself right now. I have struggled to keep honest and to be accountable. That is hard to do. I eat really good then I screw it up. So I start the day all over again the next day telling myself "today will be different" and it isn't. The one thing that worked for me was having the Band. Now that is gone. So, I am on this roller coaster of eating right and eating junk every day. My body is not liking it either. My joints are aching, my back is more sore than usual, headaches are returning, I have noticed my ankles are swelling more along with my fingers as well. All this was going on before I was banded. So does this mean I am regressing? YES!! And this is what scares me. I am so happy for Michelle that she has moved on and facing her demons as best she can. I am struggling with this same issue. To those that supported and said such sweet things on the Dr. Ortiz thread I am proud to call you part of my band family. To those that expressed a differing opinion, I respect your statements but walk a mile in my shoes first before making a suggestion that by me raising a couple of questions and making a couple of comments would run off any doctor. To those that have had really great experiences in Mexico, I am truly happy for you and I pray that you continue to have those great experiences. I would not wish what I have gone through on anyone friend or foe. To those that are new and just starting the process, do your homework. Know that if you chose Mexico please have local aftercare set up. Otherwise know that if you have an emergent situation you will need to go back to your band surgeon. This could raise some difficult issues you will need to face rather quickly that you hadn't thought through. I really care about each and every one of you guys. I would offer my support and understanding and can assure you of me being non judgmental. The only thing I ask in return is that I receive the same of which I have on many occasions and most likely will in the future as well. G-nite family.

Does anyone know how much weight loss is typical ? I'm three months and one week post op and I'm down 80 lbs since surgery is that considered good or not enough?

You lose the most weight on clears. But yes, I hear you. Just please make sure you take it slow and follow dr's orders. I did and got a leak and an abscess..... even following orders. I was the freak 1 percent in nature that this happens to. I had to stay on clears for like 5 weeks I think it was. I ended up loving those durn Cytomax drinks and yes I post it everywhere trying to help ppl that are on clears and might be struggling with their Proteins..... Good luck ladies!

Thank you blizair09 for answering. I have been following this for a week and have found it very easy although a bit sickly with all the fats. I might continue for another week and re-assess. Kate

I am going to the dr and possibly having my first fill at 4 weeks post op. My surgeon recommends 24 hours of liquids and then 24 hours of soft foods and then back to solids after a fill. I can't tell you how it feels, but I will post about it after my appt on Jan 6th!