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My surgeon is kinda strict. My 2 week pre-op diet is liquids only! ugh!! so far i'm on day 2 and i havent killed anyone yet! suprizingly. My surgeon has a 0 pound restriction, meaning if you gain weight from your pre-op testing to the day of surgery he can refuse to do the surgery. I asked the nurse how strict he was about that and she said that's really if you gain 10+pounds, not sure how you could do that on a 2 week liquid diet, but i guess if you did the fool and ate everything in site it's possible! LOL! Are you allowed to have food or just liquids. I'm sure cheating once or twice wouldnt be a problem, but i just wouldnt make a habit of it. I told myself this is my test before the band to see how serious i was(my own personal challenge.) I wish you the best!

I had weight loss every week. The numbers were inconsistent, but I never stalled. Not one week went by where I didn't lose something. I might have only lost 1-2lbs some weeks, but I always lost, the scale only slowed down when I got close to goal and I think I went 10 days with no movement, then BAM I woke up and had dropped several pounds.

FULL arrives very quickly and while it used to be another helping to reach it now it takes just a few bites to get full - over full can get painful real quick and last maybe 10 minutes or more, like when you used pile on that next piece of pie at Thanksgiving. Very uncomfortable.

I will be 7 weeks post op from my gastric bypass when my husband and I head out to Las Vegas in mid November. We are both on vacation and hunting for a home out there for 10 days which is the longest we have ever been there. I moved to the soft food stage last week and I am doing very well with most foods on the plan although eggs and I are having a love hate relationship. I love them, depending on how I eat them, they hate me. I am a little concerned about eating out that much while I am in Vegas and I am looking for some tips. My nutritionist suggested taking protein shakes and even some quest bars to ensure I keep up my protein. I do not eat beans of any kind, I just cannot get them down. Does anyone have some tips for eating out in restaurants at this stage? Seems crazy with what little i can eat to order meals. I am guessing you all have some experience with this? Thanks so much!

I keep hearing this over and over...my sleeve date is 10/19. But, what if I'm happy with my life, just not my weight? I've got a great husband, 4 great kids, a job I love, a very cool church family.... So basically my life is good... Except for food. I have used it for every emotion possible. There are so many good things in my life that I'm nervous will change now. Can anyone relate?

I hate it, too, and have to make myself do stuff. Plus, I run ALL the time, and am not a morning person, so I just don't bounce out of bed at 5am ready to hit the gym. I really like the Beach Body excersizes. They are 10 minutes each, and if I do one in the am and one in the evening (most evenings) I feel good. I run a LOT, too, have horses, dogs, a kid. And between giving riding lessons, taking my daughter to gymnastics, running back and forth to the farm, etc, I'm just not home a lot, and spending an hour in front of the TV just isn't something else I can fit into my schedule. I can do 10 minutes, tho...

Ok, I feel I can finally talk about this and get the support that I need to get through this issue. Last Sunday night my beloved grandmother and best friend passed away. I had only told one person on the board (thank you Kira)and she gave some awesome advice, but felt like I needed to come clean with all my friends here on LBT. I have fel like a fraud this week giving anybody any advice on the band because I haven't been doing very well at all with mine this week. You might as well say I have ate like I didn't even have one. Since I have a VG band, I don't have any real restriction with just 3.4 ccs and I wasn't even going to go have another fill done until after Thanksgiving(wrong, wrong, wrong) that is not working with my band...that is working against it. My head has not been on the same wavelength as my band. I have been baking and cooking my butt off and eating practically whatever I wanted, trying to connect just once more with my grandmother I guess. So I had a long talk with myself, called and scheduled my fill, now the first available is 12/01, but I have to call Monday and hopefully they can squeeze me in sooner than that. I have to figure out how to get back on track, I haven't even went near the scales since last Monday to afraid of what I will see. I have come too far though to let go and I will do this. Last words my grandmother ever said to me was that she was proud of how much weight I had lost...damn I miss her so much. :-( I appreciate how much support and guidance I have received from this site and the wonderful people on it. PS. I wanted to send a little shout out to my daughter, because on the same Sunday that I lost my grandmother, she and her drill team took first place for the South zone at Zone drillteam competition. Go E team Gatorgirlz!!!

So sorry for your loss Keri. It is so hard to say goodbye to people we love and I know you'll miss her. I was very close to my grandmother as well. She was someone I could ALWAYS count on to be on my side. She instilled my love of gardening when I used to spend part of the summer with her (just to get away from my mom who drove me crazy in my teen years). My grandmother LOVED "Tabu" perfume. She used to douse herself with it. That was the only thing of hers I took from her house after she died. I've had that bottle over 10 years now and every now and then I open it just to smell Grandma and it brings back a rush of memories. I know you'll have many sweet memories of her to look back on. Be good to yourself... baby yourself with long baths and good music. Don't beat yourself up for eating but do try to get that fill. You are so close to the 200 mark and I think that's a huge mental milestone. You'll be so proud of yourself when you get there. I think you're wise to avoid the scales. I've stayed away from them this week too while I've been going thru this trauma w/ my dad. I did just get a fill tho, so serious pigging out is not an option. It's a good idea to get the fill asap--but give yourself a couple weeks (as long as it takes, really) to get on the scale. And do NOT beat yourself up, no matter what they say.

I know a stall is hard. But I think my fitness pal is a great app that will help you. Also stay AWAY from the 'fat free' products and the surger free products. They have either more surgar (fat free) or a lot of ugar alcahol (surgar free). I like to eat the same thing, but I had to learn to change up the food and the exercie every few days cause your body does get use to it. Stalls do happen. I was stuck between at 196 for about a month. I thought that was the last weight loss I was gonna have. I did shed many tears. But a month later, It pickeed up like crazy. I went from 196 to 163 in just 2 1/2 months. And then boom another 10 lb out of nowhere. I have also learned to weigh yourself at the same time everytime you weigh yourself. Cause I use to weigh myself in the morning and then at night and it would look like i gained weight during the dqy. Then in the morning it was gone. This is a HUGE mistake. I hope this helps. Good luck

I like that Proudgrammy. I would love to seat with you. I am sure you will have me cracking up all the time. Losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks is awesome. That is a great accomplishment. My surgeon expext me to lose 10 pounds PER month by the time I see him in February. Your weight lose will slow down though. Enjoy it now. Later loser!

I've only lost 12 lb in the first two weeks, then stalled for 10 days. Then lost another 2 lb in a week. I think I'm a slow loser. I'm 63 and a low BMI to begin with.

Thanks guys I'm trying my best to do it, maybe I should get my jaws wired for the next 10 days lol

Hey guys I really need some guidance and help right now. So I'm about 10 weeks post op and will be going to Myrtle Beach for a week with my family. I'm excited but I'm worried about food, anyone know places there that are bariatric friendly or ideas on what I should bring? It's just a simple hotel so all I can think is protein shakes? But with the stage I'm at am I able to eat protein bars? Or the meal replacement ones? Still not sure about snacks even though I'm not a snacker...any help would be appreciated. Sent from my SM-G981U using BariatricPal mobile app

Surgery 01/14 First Fill 02/17 Second Fill 03/23

I'm going through this right now. I posted on another forum and have copied and edited it a bit below and hope I can help anyone in preventing this. As far as your question, yes you can get the pouch back to normal but you and you only can make that happen. It's difficult, but, it can be done. If the pouch is really stretched badly they will un-fill you and place you on liquids for a period of time. My doctor told me 6 weeks of liquids. Holy smokes!!! Here is my post from another thread: Under floroscopy my doctor told me that my pouch was bigger than it should be. She told me that I would get a warning this time, but if next checkup showed the same, she will un-fill me and I will go on liquids for 6 weeks. For now I have been instructed to measure my portions. I did get a slight fill, so, I'm thinking that I'm not that bad yet. I keep a loose band because my allergies and drainage cause the dreaded lapband cement on the pouch that is only dissolved by drinking lots of hot liquids and is very unpleasant, thus I have to be a bit more careful with my portions. I have decent restriction and my portions have been at least 1 cup of food and sometimes 1.5 cups, however, I got into the habit of not chewing well and eating too fast. I rarely got stuck because of my loose band. In my opinion, not chewing well and eating too fast is what caused the dialation. I was also doing way too much exercise and was feeling more hunger and I would eat way to fast and not chew well with the hunger I felt at times. Someone asked about symptoms. First of all my weight loss stopped for months. My weight would go up and down by 6 lbs. and went on like this for at least 8 months. I tried increasing calories, longer work outs etc. etc. and nothing! My biggest symptom was more hunger in between meals and was getting hungry every 2-3 hours. The most obvious symptom that I should have never ignored was feeling satisfied (full) and would get that uncomfortable feeling of "no more" at meal time then all of sudden I would feel a thump in my pouch, due to food going thru quickly, then I could eat another meal if I chose to and honestly sometimes I would. I thought this was because I needed a fill, however, this was not the case and Doc said that a enlarged pouch of course holds more food and will push everything down quickly. Since being warned I have gone on liquids 2 times consisting of 4 days of Protein drinks and 1 can of Soup a day. In addition, I have modified my drinking and wait 1/2 hour before a meal and 1/2 hour after a meal. I now feel a huge amount of restriction and can only handle the 1/2 cup of food at mealtime. So, yes you can reverse the stretched pouch. I will continue to do the liquid thing at least every other week for a while just to be on the safe side. Since doing this I have lost 10 lbs. Lesson learned? If something doesn't feel right get it checked. I knew something was wrong, but, I was embarrassed to see the doctor because I had not reached goal. I think the biggest disappointment is first myself and second, being banded is high maintenance, but, we are the culprit to our own complications in most cases. I still love my band though! Hope this helps anyone who may be experiencing some of my symptoms and have ignored them. jake

For me, weight loss has been a lot faster. Traditionally, I would lose 10 lbs, hit a plateau, get discouraged and frustrated, and gain 15 back. Now when I hit a plateau and don't lose any pounds, I am excited to see when it will end! Because I know it WILL end and I WILL lose more.

I feel your pain! Been there, u couldn't even eat a sliver if cheese without getting sick. However, I'm almost 10 wks out and although I can't tolerate ice cream or milk, I can tolerate most cheese in moderation. Good luck!

Hi All, I am almost 6 months post-surgery (6/19/12) and have lost 87 lbs. I am now beginning to have trouble finding good low fat high protein foods to eat. I do get weak and light-headed especially when i exercise, so i question my protein intake levels. Just hoping some of you experts had some recipes or good ideas on what to eat. I am not drinking any protein shake just trying to get in by foods. How many of you who are at my stage still drink protein shakes? Thanks for any info?

Futuresleeved.....I am also in the beginning stages of getting the clearances but I am already working on quitting smoking. I am going cold turkey. It's the easiest thing for me to just go cold turkey. I have tried quitting so many times in the past without success, but this time I have something to look forward to and it really is helping me and keeping me motivated to stay "clean". Karenb4729....I will definitely check out that site. Thanks for the tip. I have started a little jar in my house that everytime I think about buying a pack of ciggarettes I put the $10 in there instead of buying the ciggarettes and am going to put that money towards my new clothes

I am 10 days post op and just got back from the doctors. I had a clear, little red liquid leaking from my large incision and he said it is an infection. You may want to go to your doctor and check just to be safe. You don't want to let it go and then get into serious problems.

I can jump rope for 5 min! I can't believe how strong I am getting with this program, only 10 workouts left. When I went to the shoe store the guy said I should stop my cross training and just train for the half marathon that I am going to do but I just can't stand to quit anything so I will finish this and then train for the half and then after the half I will start the intermediate cross training program. Here is what I was suppose to do: Jump rope for 5 minutes, then run/walk with purpose for 5 minutes. Repeat for 30 minutes. Here is what I did: Rode my bike to the park 1 mile Jumped rope for a total of 15 min. Ran for a total of 15 min 1.2 miles. Rode my bike home. I didn't go until about 8 am so it was already hot, boy I will be glad when fall gets here.

Hi All, I am just started out, and just went to the 1st consultation/nutritionist consult yesterday, it lasted about 1hr and 15 mins. I live in SE Wisconsin, and I am glad someone FINALLY posted on this thread. My psych eval. is on 7/19 so, I probably won't be banded until September. My surgeon is Dr. Joseph Regan @ Columbia St. Mary's Hospital. I have United Healthcare insurance and it seems like the insurance process is not going to be drastic. The only requirement needed was 40+ BMI or 35-40 with co-morbidities so, I guess I'm on my way to a new life....

Surgical techniques have significantly improved to help reduce slippage. My surgeon is the chairperson of a bariatric center of excellence and holds an officer position on a national bariatric association. I trust his confidence in the band and the surgery techniques he performed. That does not mean there is a guarantee that I won't someday have an issue, but the possibility of issues exists with all WLS. I'm losing 10 pounds a month and feel great. I don't have any regrets about my decision. Lap-banded and love it!

This is an abstract and only reflects a small sample set. It does not go into the causation of the failures such as non compliance with food, follow up appt., taking medications that can cause issues. Without having the full study and understanding the study criteria, rigorous of the analysis, etc this abstract is not scientifically interesting. I read a lot of success stories from people who have the band and are successful. I choose to focus on encouraging everyone to reach their goals. Had lapband surgery 10/12/16 I believe in encouraging people as well but I also believe I gotta be straight up with people who are trying to make a decision like the original post in this. I used to push the lap band back in the day, and I've seen a lot of people (my family members) suffer. Guilt makes you think to do research a bit more. If they already got the band, then I try to encourage people of course.