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You sound like there is still a lot of gas. Stand up while you drink, and walk a bunch. Do you have the spirometer? (Lung exerciser) How has that been going? My lungs got rid of most of my excess gas. You need to sleep. I liked having a bunch of pillows surrounding me the first week.

Hi Dawn, My surgeon required that I lose 12 pounds before my pre-op appointment - I thought that would take me at least 6 weeks, but I dropped 16 in less than 4 weeks following his diet. Essentially, he put me on an Atkins diet - high protein, super low carbs - under 30 grams / day. The first week I felt like **** and thought he was insane - queasy, lightheaded, HUNGRY. But then the hunger completely disappeared, and the weight started to melt off. It made it so much easier not to cheat right before surgery, and was good preparation for the post-op diet. You can do this!! (PM me if you want the diet specifics)

IF there is something I really want, I have some of it. I usually give myself one day a week to really go out and eat those type foods that I try to stay away from most days. I have found, though, that the Atkins bars are very tasty. My faves are the dark chocolate coconut almond (yummy) and the coconut (almost like Mounds bar). I like many of the flavors. Chocolate/caramel is good and the creamy peanut butter is good....etc.... Very tasty. I am perfectly satisfied having one of those bars versus a candy bar. But if you want just a little something, the Russell Stovers sugar free chocolates are good too. and the Weight Watchers ones. I like that they are individually wrapped. I'm usually good about controlling my urge to eat more than one (sometimes 2) since they are wrapped that way. I agree with the above poster about the dulce de leche sf pudding. very good. I also like the sf Creme Brulee.

I feel like I've been riding a rollercoaster for the past four days. The pace of events, and emotional highs and lows have left me worn out. It'll be good to get back to work tomorrow for a break! LOL! Here's what I've been up to: Thursday - had a late night Wed writing up the kinder newsletter, so I could print it during the morning. Then we had a surprise party at playgroup for AD's 40th - she was touched! I met up with jenny from LBT for a coffee - her insights were very reassuring. Had dinner out with the kinder mums. After 2 glasses of wine, I felt like I'd had the whole bottle. Friday - got a call in the morning that uncle B was very ill and may not live more than few days to two weeks - so I drove to Sale to visit him in hospital. At this stage, he really doesn't know his prognosis is so grim - the doctors are preparing him for this news. He didn't look good - could hardly breathe, and the medications that he had been on had made him bloated and blotchy. These have been stopped now (because they found out it's not an infection), and they were making a gradual transition towards palliative care, with morphine pain relief being started. But he was still the same old B - happy (and surprised!) to see me. Mum and Dad would have liked to have been here to see him. It was very hard to kiss him goodbye when time to go home, as I won't see him alive again. He is my favourite uncle - a bit of a larrikin, and had his problems, but still loves us all. Didn't get home until late - quite emotional. Time to cry later, not now. I had some phone calls with friends etc when I got home that were a bit stressful - some anxiety and stresses amongst the gang - some of them have some major issues in their home lives at the moment which are making them agressive due to stress. A bit like what's going on around parts of LBT too. I hope to keep out of it as best I can. Saturday - Mad rush day - to get ready for church family dinner (30 ppl at our place). Had my visit to the weight loss counsellor - very enlightening - I journal about this separately when my head has cleared, so I don't lose the benefit of her insights. The main one is that I am anxious - and need to find time to calm down and relax - this will help with the snacking, which she believes are due to an energy imbalance (well-being sense). I need to sit in the sun more! Hooray - permission to relax and be girlie!!! A doctor's prescritpion to break out the oil burners, massage oil, yoga classes, mediation... ...mmmmmmm! bliss!!! What more could a girl want?? Sunday - church, followed by puppet rehearsal for next Sunday. After lunch at home, we went to Elwood Beach for a family break afternoon. DS loved playing on the playground, and we had a coffee in the foreshore cafe. He crashed out fairly early - he's been grumpy tired all day. Finally time to clean up and do laundry etc in the evening. I'm off to bed now - I feel like I've not slept in days - it's mainly emotional exhaustion - but elements of physical exhaustion and probably dehydration from rapid pace of the weekend are not helping either. Anyway - it's been wone of those weekends where it feels like the world has tilted and adjusted itself - funny how things often all happen in a rush at times - and then all is calm for a while. Except this weekend, following the counsellor's consultation - it feels like it has finally tilted in the right direction in terms of finding some of the ansers to my emotional / head hunger issues. Halleleulia!

I had my 3 month check up today ( 12 week mark ) . I was hoping to be at 70 lbs loss. I am at 73 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited. Also Nutritionist said ok to eat some summer melon, berries, tomato , cucumber if I feel I can tolerate it. She said introduce one at a time see how I do. So excited to have some fresh fruit again, especially now in the summer. Go back in 12 weeks for my 6 month check up. My Goal for myself is 100 lb loss total.... and get my A1C to 5.5 ok...............I am on my way..........

I'm going from band to sleeve in 2 weeks!!!! I'm super nervous! I know there is nothing to be nervous about but since my band and I failed each other I'm afraid of failure again although I am excited about my new journey. Auh!!!!

Hey Everyone, I'm new to the forum and my sleeve surgery is scheduled for the first week in April. I was hoping to get some advice on what your post op hospital stay was like? The hospital I am going to is about an hour away from home so we wont be able to come back and forth. My husband is going to stay with me the whole time. What advice do you have on what to pack for me and him? How long did you stay at the hospital? Did you have visitors? Anybody have a longer ride home? Just trying to get some ideas since we will be farther away. Thank you! This forum has already given me such great ideas and advice to help calm some of my nerves. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using BariatricPal mobile app

I read what you had to say and it gave me a lot to think about. I feel that your way of doing things might be the right way for me to but right now I am afraid to try it. I am only six weeks post op. Right now I am following the rules to the letter and doing great but I am definitely obsessed with food and my next meal. I believe your way would help to really end this obsession. Another thing I am interested in is the concept of eating only when I am hungry. Right now I am eating when it is "time" to eat at 8, 12, and 6. I have never been able to stand being hungry and to be honest have never allowed myself to be hungry. It is a novel idea and one I might think about experimenting with. I can always go back to the "rules" after a week or two if it didn't work. Thank you for the ideas.

We aren't all completely gung ho about this all the time. Most of us lose motivation. When the motivation is gone habits will kick in (wether they are good or bad). So start developing the habits you need to be successful. Start doing things you did at the begining like logging your food and excercise. Counting your Water. Even if you are not doing 100 % what you should it gives you a starting point to work on. If you had 3 glasses of water today aim for 4 tommorrow. If you had 2 cups today try 1 3/4 cups tommorrow. I had been stuck from June until last month. I started back excercising on a schedule. Planning meals. I am on a losing trend again. Make a plan, try your best to follow it, record, improve each day. The key for me is to make it automatic. I don't make food choices when I am hungry. They have already been made and written down earlier in the week. Also having someone review my food log keeps me motivated to stick to the plan. The nutritionist at my doc office is good about it. I also have fall back plans. If life happens and I end up not having time to cook for me and my family we go somewhere I KNOW will have a wise and yummy choice for me. I have learned not to expect my weightloss journey to go perfectly. We will slip and stumble just keep going though. Also remember this is something that is achievable and you can be the one to achieve it. I love this quote and it goes along with what I am saying. ‎"The will to win means nothing if you haven't the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner. Prepare to do it is the first step. Good luck to you and feel free to pm me if you wanna talk more.

So happy for you! You look great. I am only 4 weeks out and it is so hard, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

The dietitian told me to start the meal replacement diet 2 weeks before surgery and to replace all 3 meals with the shakes. I found this to be a bit too much of a shock, so I've started a few days before that with replacing breakfast and dinner and just eating a normal meal at lunch. A pre-diet diet if you will. I'm on day 2 of my pre-diet and the affects on my body are not as severe as they could've been. I'm not expecting any weight loss in these few days. What I am expecting is a sort of mini detox that I can deal with. So far its been sleep, sleep and more sleep. I'm supposed to start the full fledged diet while at work, (I work with small children), and the idea of detoxing and running to the toilet every 5 minutes while around needy children, didn't actually appeal to me. For all of next week I'm working with 2 year olds. Its a Sunday and my partner is preparing to do his usual Sunday run to the bakery and get fresh rolls for brunch. I will be sitting back and sipping on a cool diet milk shake. *sigh* It would be nice if he would support me in the next few weeks by not eating certain foods around me, but I can't ask him to change his eating habits because of a decision I've made about me. It would be nice if he thought of it himself though.

Columbus! Hope to have my surgery date this week. Will be done at West Ga Health in LaGrange. Can't wait!

All my paperwork has been submitted to Aetna for approval. Tomorrow will be a week and I haven't heard from them or my Doctor's office.I need to hear soon :thumbup: as I have a pre-surgical appt for Thursday at NYU Medical Center.

All my paperwork has been submitted to Aetna for approval. Tomorrow will be a week and I haven't heard from them or my Doctor's office.I need to hear soon :thumbup: as I have a pre-surgical appt for Thursday at NYU Medical Center.

but your weight loss is good. 20 lbs in 3 weeks? NOt to shabby. Thanks for the reply.

I'm a bit post post-op (about 20 months after a VSG) and things have been pretty unremarkable since the initial loss. But recently I've had two episodes out of the blue, unlike anything I've experienced before. The first time, I thought I was having a heart attack. A vague nauseous feeling turned into a chest tightness. It was like the wind was knocked out of me and I couldn't breathe beyond tiny gasps for about 20 minutes. Long story short, it wasn't a heart attack and all cardiac tests showed my heart to be working perfectly. Needless to say, it was scary as hell, and the anxiety that I might be having a heart attack was enough to give me one! But then it happened again, a few weeks later. This time I really tried to focus on what was causing me distress. I think that it was a muscle spasm, focused in my upper abs and/or mid back. Maybe the diaphragm but it really felt more like a tight band wrapping around my lower ribs, forcing me to exhale; the diaphragm would force an inhale. Stretching and massaging helped a little, but was really hard to do in the moment. I'm really worried now about it happening while I'm at work or out in public. Has anyone else experienced something like this? I'm wondering if my GI tract triggered a spasm for some reason.

HI TB07 Do I guess correctly based on the fact you are more comfy with kg than pounds that you are another Aussie- if thats the case double welcome ( I am in Adelaide south Australia) The amount of pain etc that people get post op and how quickly they recover varies tremendously and ther doesn't often seem to be much rhyme or reason why one person sails through and another struggles a bit- It will get better though, it s major surgery so even a week off work s not that bad really. the gas pain etc is usally the cultprit, for some people t causes irritation that s felt as shoulder/chest pain evn after the gas has been absorbed The post op diet I was given was pretty much like yours but you are right it varies a whole from surgeon to surgeon I was banded quite some time ago but have had a lot of other medical problems to deal with that kinda put a stop on weight loss- so I am a born again bandster and have gone from 175 kg(385pounds) to 150kg ( 330pounds) since November- still a long way to go but gettng there nice to meet you - i'm new to this board too but it does provide great support Karen

I did have problems with Jello and anything cold early on, but I had my follow-up today with the dr. All is fine. My port site is a bit pink, and the nurse was concerned, so they put me on keflex. The dr said it was for the nurse's sake, so she wouldn't worry. Honestly, I'm feeling really 'normal'. Not like I had surgery at all, except for a little pull in my belly when I turn a certain way. I'm supposed to gradually switch from full liquids to mushies over the next 2 weeks then very slowly to real food by first fill time (June 7). I'm a very bad patient... I'm already eating soft foods (refried beans) and even had some fish yesterday. I am eating VERY small portions of that sort of thing, though. Just testing the waters a bit. Hope all my friends on here are doing wonderfully as well!

So, I have a ways to go until I am banded (5 more months), but I wanted to start finding the essentials for the pre-op diet... I've seen posts about the Protein shakes and some great suggestions. What are some other things that I should start stocking up on to make sure I have everything planned and ready to go?? My surgeon requires 1 week of a high protein liquid diet, then Clear liquids for 1 day prior to surgery. Questions: Did you need any special meds, vits, or supplements? Since the Lap Band does not use malabsorption for weightloss, can I get all the nutrients I need from food alone or are supplements a necessity? How soon can you bathe and drive?? (I've seen conflicting times, I know it varies, but I want to see what the consensus is).. Can you see the port if you wear something form fitting or does this depend on a person's skin and muscle tissue? Thanks!!

I wasn't sure where to post this but I wanted to share! I just put together my picture from right before my surgery and my picture today! I will be 7 weeks post op on Tuesday and I feel amazing. I've lost 45 lbs total but about 25 in between these pictures! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had my psych evaluation 3 weeks ago which was the last thing I needed to get my paperwork sent to insurance. I thought the psychologist I saw was going to send my eval to my bariatric team ASAP but 3 weeks later and they just notified me that they received it!!! Hopefully Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn't decide to be as slow as her! I think the pony express could have delivered it faster ???? Of the 4 women in my office (including me), 2 of them are going on maternity leave this fall/winter and I really wanted to get my sleeve before the first lady went on leave... And during this deductible year since I'm down to only owing $1700 out of pocket instead of $2,500. The annoying part is I will get crap for having to be gone during her leave but I will be doing something to make myself healthier....I am not planning to tell them about the surgery though so they will all think I'm just going to be vacationing at a really inconvenient time... I'm pretty frustrated this morning just knowing I will have to deal with this in my small office. Once insurance does come through (and I'm pretty confident it will because my starting BMI was 49 and I have high BP and I lost 40# during my 6 month Dr supervised weight loss program) I will still have 4 weeks of pre-op classes to attend, which also means taking half days off from work to attend... Hopefully there is a light at the end of this tunnel soon! I feel like I began this process so long ago.... I've been considering WLS since 2012 but my job didn't cover it until this year. I went to my bariatric seminar in February and have tried to do everything as quickly as I could to get through this process, I feel like the psychologist has created such a mess by delaying me 3 weeks Sent from my SM-G925V using the BariatricPal App

for the surgery and it dawned on me that I am truly a 100% pure old fashioned smart ass. As I am looking at the class titles all I can think is a more fitting title for how these people treat those of us in the class. Now, for the most part they are definetly supportive, but they are also condescending. I don't do condescending well at all, I tend to get pissy with people that treat me with that particular attitude. Here are some of my smart ass titles (along with the original) Original is bolded, mine is italicized. Weight Management 1 Weight control for dummies part 1 Weight Management 2 just in case you didn't get it the first time PreOp GBP Nutrition Clinic We still don't think you got it Support Group (now this is the mandatory one I made comment of before) Listen to me talk down to you cause you are still fat (serious, that is how it went, pissed me off with this waste of time) Occupational Therapy Clinic This is a leg lift, this is a bicep curl... do these Ok, so maybe they are funny to me and no one else, but I got a chuckle out of my frustrated translations... and trust me, I am very VERY frustrated with the process at this hospital. *sigh* Oh well, I am jumping the hoops, doing what needs to get done, and hopefully in 3 weeks (might be a month) I will have my date. Cross your fingers I don't kick someone where it counts. :)

I'm just over 1 week, but I have noticed that pains like this--either under ribs or up in my shoulder--are my key not to eat anymore. You've been banded longer, so I'm not sure if that's any help, but it seems to be my 'stop' signal.

I didn't like the feeling Jello gave me either.. even after letting it pretty much liquidfy before swallowing. By day 3 I tried sugar free pudding which was oh so good. Later that night I figured out that was supposed to be a week 2 food. Ooops! Oh well, it didn't hurt. This weekend I had mashed potatoes and they were heaven

I bowl on Thursday nights and usually have a salad from McDonalds (about 6 weeks post-op no fill yet) and that does just fine. Last night McDonalds was busy so I went to Jack In The Box and imagine my surprise when they said they dont do salads so I decided to have the chicken fita pita, it took me 45 min to eat because I took tiny bites and chewed real well. Needless to say that didnt work, about 1.5 hrs after I ate I started having upper tummy pain, I thought I was just over doing bowling so I continued on. Came home went to bed was fine this morning until I had my egg and 1 piece of bacon about 30 minutes later the pain was back and not going away. I called my Dr and found out that Fast food chicken is BAD cause it is dry and "Rubberie" all these years I thought I was doing good when I was on one of my many diets. Today Im on Clear liquids, tomorrow I can advance to soft foods again. Imagine my surprise when my Dr said if I have to do fast food do a hamburger just throw out the bun! Ok first lesson I get my first fill on Wednesday and I cant wait! I am needing my tool to help me with portion control, Ive been eating healthy stuff just to big a portions. Thanks for listening