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Hey there ladies and Gents.. WELL I MADE IT !!! TWO WEEKS WITH NOTHING SOLID TO BITE... UGHHHHHH... The "BAD PART" for this week. The second week without food was the hardest I have to admit. I got through the first week fine b/c it was hard enough getting down the shake and alloted amount of Water that I had no interest in solid foods. Come week two... OMG it was all I could think about. I kept begging my hubby " Just ONE BITE" it's not going to kill me. Well, I spoke with my nurse and one bite of the WRONG thing could have landed me in the hospital b/c it could have gotten stuck in my swelled stomach. SO I had to stay away from solids which made it that much harder. I thought about my "FIRST MEAL" about as much as I thought about my "LAST MEAL" before the surgery. I FINALLY crashed on Thursday and BOY did I knock out. Thank goodness I have a good understanding job. The stress from the whole past week and surgery finally caught up on me but other than that I have been FULL of energy like crazy !!! THE GOOD : I was no longer swollen and the only "sting" I felt was in my largest 2 incisions and that was because they were healing. I have been monitoring them like crazy b/c they are healing and are actually itching a bit. I just rub them lightly over my shirt and it goes away. The FOOD: Ok I cheated a few times in the past week. I had ONE Perogie and 3 small slices of Kelbasi. Went down fine but I had to chew it forever and ever. Tiny pieces worked ok. ( I used to have 5 perogies and about 20 slices of Kelbasi !!). I had half of a Dannon Lit & Fit and that went down fine, but I was stuffed after only 3 oz. I had 3/4 of ONE baby bagel bite and felt like I just ate at a chinese buffet. It was sooo gross ( the bread was too much) I had LITERALLY two " NORMAL" bites of London Broil cut up into 6 tiny bites and I thought I would DIE !! ! The "BEEF" was stuck in my esophogus/stomach all day until the next evening. I forgot we can ONLY EAT MOIST meats and when they say stay away from beef take their word for it. It is SOOOOO not worth it !!! FIRST MEAL !! lol : I chose to have Talapia. I chose a .94 oz pack of Talapia, froze half of it and made the other half. I swore I would eat the whole fillet and LOVE it. I sauteed it in a little butter with some flavor on it. I sat down all ready to eat it and don't you know... I could only finish 3/4 of ONE fillet. I was full before I knew it. Now I know I have to split up my mini little 3oz of Protein into a lunch serving and a dinner serving b/c it was too much at one time. WEIGHT: Well I wish I could say I lost another 14 pounds this week, but I lost only 2 pounds. BUT before you feel bad for me... my size 22 pants can now be pulled off of me with the button/ zipper closed.... my size 20 pants look like I am a baggy pants wearing rapper.... AND the size 18 pants that were so tight they stretched across my thighs now fit a bit big by the end of the day. SOOOO.. we can't always live by the scale. I can wear pants that I would NEVER have been able to fit in before AND I can see my toes without bending over. WOO HOO !!! That's an accomplishment in my book !!! Hope you all enjoyed my update. Any 2 week questions feel free to post.... OH my intake schedule to get it ALL in with Protein and water: I make my shake the night before so it tastes more like a pre made Protein Shake. Each item is approximately 3-4 oz. 7am shake with Multi-Vitamins, Actigall ( for gall bladder), Pepsid ( for acid ) 8:00 water 8:30 water 9:00 water 9:30 water 10:00 shake with Second Multi Vitamin 11:00 water 11:30 water 12:00 water 12:30 water 1:00 broth ( less fulling so I have water sooner after) with Calcium, Actigal, Pepsid 1:30 water 2:00 water 2:30 water 3:00 water 3:30 shake with Calcium 4:30 water 5:00 water 5:30 water 6:00 water 6:30 shake 7:30 water 8:00 water 8:30 water 9:00 water 9:30 sugar free ice Pop 10:00 water 11:00 Last shake with Calcium and Lyrica ( I have Fibromyalgia) By now you have consumed : 2 scoops of Protein powder in 15-16 oz 1%milk 63 oz of water (w crystal lite) plus water in broth and ice from shake PLUS one tasty Sugar Free Ice Pop treat !! Good Luck and Enjoy !!!

Thank you ProudGranny!! Your weight loss is great as well!! 1300 sounds reasonable. I do have an appointment with my nutritionist next week so we will see what they say as well. I always have the fear of the weight coming back. Thank you for the welcome! Looking forward to everyone's support!

This is different due to my restricted stomach capacity and (at 18 months post-op) I'm still feeling the effects of reduced ghrelin (the hunger hormone). I do still feel hungry when I'm hungry. But the runaway hunger that demanded food now isn't nearly as strong as it was pre-op. Also -- and this is key: This time with WLS I didn't lose just 20 or 40 pounds, which wasn't even halfway to goal. I lost ALL my excess weight! And that has made so much difference. Because now my knees don't hurt and I CAN walk farther and more often and faster than I have in decades. My daily routine is so much more energetic -- housework, errands, fidgeting. All these things are self-affirming. My increased activity level keeps me calmer. The fact that I eat more Protein and complex carbs (and fewer simple carbs as a lifestyle, not just the weight loss diet) also reduces my appetite by keeping my metabolism burning steadier, not up/down. Finally, when you actually engage in healthy behaviors for 18 months, you actually do build new habits that, together, are a very different lifestyle that reinforces itself because it makes you feel so good. Habits are very, very powerful -- including the new habits you will build after WLS. Good luck!

Let's see: what do I do with all my extra time and energy these days? I spend a lot of time here on VST. I ride the exercise bike at least 30 minutes a day. I'm enjoying the hot tub at our community center daily, sometimes I swim in the pool as well. Lots of dates and extra time spent with friends. Shopping!!!!! Marketing my small business a lot more, and accepting a lot more work than I did pre-surgery Walking, through the mall, around parking lots, around the block, anywhere I feel like walking sorting through clothes that are too BIG What I'm not doing these days: sitting in front of the tv mindlessly eating gaining weight making excuses about why I can't exercise. The gym is 5 minutes away. No excuse is good enough. munching on junk food

So it's very safe. And b4 my weight. Lost. I tryed to have. Baby. But I never was able to keep it I kept losing it

I was able to. Get pregnant. After my band I opened my band and gained 98 pounds with my belly and now I still got 35 more to go

So happy for you. You are in for a great healthy life style...but hand on girl because you will have so many changes in your life. You will be dropping weight and clothes sizes and people will be complementing you like crazy. Someone asked me the other day if I ever got tired of people telling me how good I looked now.... I thought for a mil-i-second and said no...I love it and it only reinforces my commitment to this life style. You are going to sooo love your pretty new self. Good luck to you.

I gave birth to my first son nearly 3 years ago, I was not banded at that stage and was 40 kilos heavier than I am now. My son was a big baby, close to 10lbs, he was posterior, I had a retained placenta and I heamoriged.It was an awful birth:thumbdown: My second son is now 15 days old (post band) he was an average baby, and a text book delivery with no complications. I pretty much was able to walk around straight after delivery, it was alot nicer than my first and I do put alot of it down to my weight loss.

Started this process in April 2012. My Dr is Ronnie Keith with owlo in oklahoma city. My ins is covering most of the surgery. And I'm scheduled to have surgery Sept 17! I'm doing a 10 day pre-op diet and I just cheated and totally regret it! All my pre-op dieting has made me sensetive to foods! I think its good. Know not to cheat after. Been doing a lot of reading and watching videos. I started at 255, have gained 10 lbs and started preop diet at 266. I think its my psych meds. Well see.

Its because for starters, I'm a seasoned runner and my body has become efficient at it so I probably DONT burn 1100 calories even though the *charts* or my HRM which I plug my height, weight, age, gender into says I should. I probably burn significantly less. Secondly just because *charts* say I should burn X calories a day doesnt mean my body actually does it - I mean, I've forced 80lb off my body over the last 18 months, its smarter than I am, perhaps its figured out a way to react so that I dont starve to death? Who knows?

Bridee I guess it's about how bad you want it - nobody but you can motivate you - I can talk till I blue in the face and give you all the reasons why you should get the rest of your weight off - but you all ready know all the reasons - It's the work involved that seems daunting - break it down into small segments - don't think I have 30 lbs to loss - think of it in 5 lbs in a month - - Ya you gotta do the work IMHO 75% of the work is up to you by making good food choices & exercise - and the bad does the other 25% by restricting your portion Do you need a fill - go to your doc get a fill - stay committed to going to the Y - (IMHO exercise is key) take it one day at a time - if you dont take care of you who will- and you want to be there for your child . Good Luck to you.. You just gotta do some soul searching and you will find the strenght to get motuvated

I used some when I'd put on a bit of weight but didn't want to sink in money for a new bra lol. Worked like a charm.

I have stalled and things are going down hill. I am stressed no job, no income and no aide. I am not eating correctly anymore because the children eat first. This is becoming a cosmic joke now. I was hoping that losing weight would finally give me my life back, boy I was wrong. I am not not ashame to tell all that I am failing in life and weight lost too.

I was losing weight prior to surgery. At one of my appointments my blood pressure was lower than normal. At the time I think I was 30 pounds down and working out 4-5xs a week. So my Dr. took me off the meds to be on the safe side, and told me to keep up the exercise/weight loss. That was 3-4 months ago and my blood pressure has stayed in the normal range without meds since then. I'm now 4 weeks post op

So last night, I started charting all my "pre-diet/pre-surgery" numbers... weight, measurements, BMI... And I was so not happy to realize that my THIGH alone is larger than most people's waists...WTH??? :sad: OMG I'm so glad I have finally made this decision!

My insurance will pay after 3 months stable weight and if you get frequent rashes documented by your doctor.

My program calculates body weight for females as 100 lbs = 5 feet and then + 5 pounds for every inch above 5 feet. I'm 5'6 1/2 so my ideal weight is 132.5. However, they said realistically I should expect to end up 195-235. If you split the difference, it's about 60% of my ideal weight loss that they are projecting. So maybe go based off the above calculation!

I assure you, you are way more active than I am at 4 months just with your children and school! That's not a great thing but it is the truth right now. Probably the most important thing you can do, at this point is follow your food plan (meet your protein goals first...always), drink, drink, drink, take your supplements and LOG EVERYTHING. If you are preserving muscle and are not 100% sedentary, you'll have something to work with when things slow down and you are ready to tackle fitness. Just don't wait too long. If you do the key elements, even without a full fitness program, you will lose weight. you just can't let the others slip. I'm still losing daily and I can't do much of anything except sit and sleep from an unrelated, elective surgery I had 2.5 weeks ago. By the way, You really should be proud of yourself for taking this on with all of your other responsibilities. You're amazing!

You can do this. Your frustration with your current situation will propel you forward! Your provider will take your medical history into account and suggest which surgery is best for you, or they might tell you any of them will work for you and let you choose. So for now just familiarize yourself with the surgeries available. Whether or not weight loss surgery is more invasive than a hip transplant? I can't really say. I think most weight loss surgery nowadays are done robotically, so the recovery is easier because robotic surgery is more precise and there's less tissue disturbed, unlike open surgeries. Along with TAP blocks and other modern techniques, pain is much better managed now than probably even ten years ago. And yes, I think all of us on this site can relate to you, it's the same reason we all began our journeys. Best wishes to you!

WLS can really change relationships. My ex-wife had WLS six years ago. Her surgery was very successful (522lbs to 165lbs). Once her weight stabilized she had several reconstructive plastic surgeries. Shortly thereafter she asked for a divorce (I was no longer her best option). I had my surgery last year and have lost about 115lbs. The way women interact with me has totally changed. This includes my ex-wife who I still have to talk to since we parent our kids jointly. All this has actually lowered my already problematic estimation of most people.

Sharonintx, I've read some of your other posts and know you take a more liberal approach to eating compared to some others on this site. I don't want to be a slave to Protein shakes and always have to do low carb everything. But I have a 37 BMI and worried I won't have weight loss. Can you talk a little about your diet and what's worked for you to lose without being super, super strict. Thanks:)

Hi Kami, I have PCOS as well. In my pre op diet I lost 29 lbs. since surgery (6/27/13) I have lost 20lbs. I was feeling a little down...even after I spoke to my surgeon because he didn't seem too thrilled with my weight loss either. He told me I was at the "low end." Anyway, I have since changed my attitude and I Celebrate EVERY success...even my non scale victories! You will be successful, even if it goes a little slower than other people. The point is...you are losing!!!! Celebrate that!! Since you know that you stall often just make sure you stay on track during those times. Also, find some fun things to do during those times in order to take your mind off of it....bowling, movies, long walks, etc. that stall will not last forever! So...about what I eat. I eat 5 small meals a day, all focused around Protein of course! Each meal is about 10-15 grams of protein. So, one day might be 1. Greek yogurt 2. Drumstick 3. Small Protein shake 4. Another piece of baked chicken 5. About 3/4 cup of chilli. The amounts are pretty small, even though it may seem like a lot of food. I can only take 3-5 bites of anything before I'm full. So, I only count each meal as 10-15 grams of protein. I also drink Water in between these meals. Sol, I hope this helps a little. I just want to encourage you...slow and steady WINS THE RACE!!! We can do this! :-)

Your weight loss is great, right now you need to be concentrating on healing. You've got another couple weeks before doing any heavy exercising. You should be averaging about 11/2-2 lbs a week. the band is a slow, steady way of weight loss. In a year or two we'll lose just about as much as other forms of WLS. There are people here that have lost 200lbs with the band, it just depends on our dedication and will power. You seem to have both.

Hi everyone, It's been a while since I've posted, largely because I've been pretty busy enjoying my new life. But Lately I've been a bit worried that I may be on the edge of losing too much weight! I just stepped on the scale and weighed in at 198. I peaked a few years ago at 380 and my surgery weight was 351 this past May, so eight months ago. That is over 150 pounds lost in eight months! I had been feeling pretty good with good energy. But I had some knee surgery (which I had previously written about in this forum) a couple weeks ago and am now in a pretty poor state of mind. I'm sure it is a combination of painkillers and general post-surgical lethargy and depression from sitting all day, but man do I feel weak. I feel like a bag of bones with a lot of gross saggy skin! Should I be concerned tht I've lost too much too fast? How do I slow this down? I still can't eat anything to speak of. For example today I had a single serve container of Greek yogurt with fresh blueberries for breakfast, a 16 oz. bowl of chicken soup for lunch and two squares of pizza for dinner. I had a snack of three triscuits and a slice of cheese. Most days I also have a protein shake but am out today. I literally can't eat more than this. Anyone else been here? Anyone have any suggestions on how to slow this train down? I can't get out to the dr. until I have this cast removed and am approved to drive, probably another three weeks or so.

My Dr submitted me to insurance before the pre-op testing is done. The pre-op testing is to make sure the surgery is safe. If they have your weight history, you are a candidate and you passed the psych eval, that should be enough to submit you.