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it's super glad you are here and posting to everyone. The thing that rings most in my ears from what everyone says here is..... It gets better! Maybe you are still having the effect of being put under? Those drugs are heavy and effect people in different ways! Take it slow friend!! Rest sip walk repeat. The nurse told me that flexing and pointing my feet 10 times in a row will be important those days after surgery. And if anything- I'm going to need your cheering on for me next week when I am where you are! Hold fast!

I lost 19 pounds the first month, 11 the second month and 14 the thrid month. I have been averaged 10 pounds a month.

It sounds like that may be some gas trapped in your chest. It will go away, but still just let your dr. know. I am 5 weeks post op and I had that for about 10 days post op. I used gas x strips and phazyme tablets, which are tiny. This helped a ton. Make sure you are drinking enough water also. Sips not gulps. I hope this helps. I know it sucks, but NO it wont last forever. You'll be happy you did this. My stomach IS very noisy if I haven't eaten past 5 hours though. Its pretty funny, at least my kids think so. Hope you feel better.

It's perfectly normal to be a little nervous. However if you really know in your heart of hearts this is the only way then take the plunge. The post-op dieting, especially in those early days is not fun, but is completely doable. Pain is not a guarantee. I had NONE. You will be able to eat your favorite foods again, you'll just eat them in smaller portions. Best of all you'll get the chance to live a healthier life. I honestly wish I had done this 10 years ago.

Oh, bed ridden! Sorry, I should have figured that out. Naw, I wasn't bed ridden, not even in the hospital. I refused to get in the hospital bed except to sleep at night. I even napped sitting up in the glider chair in my room. Being at home taking care of myself was fine. I wasn't going to be cleared to drive for the first week so I made sure I had everything I needed on hand. I had a lifting restriction of 10 lbs, and I knew I wasn't going to be up for really heavy housework like mopping or vacuuming, so I got my housekeeper to come for an extra visit to take care of that, change the kitty litter, etc. I napped a lot for the first two weeks and took it easy but I didn't have issues with mobility or taking care of my basic needs.

i was told I had to do a 12 month weigh documentation with my family doctor and lose a total of 10lbs, this info came from surgeons office stating that this is what my insurance requires, I have McLaren Medicaid. so I do the 12 months in a row I lost a few lbs gained a few lbs thru the 12 months so sept 26th 2014 my doc turns in my documentation well he forwards it to the surgeons office and they send it to insurance, well nothing has been sent in the lady at the surgeons office is rude telling me I have to lose 10 lbs or ill be denied andto continue going to drs each month till I lose 10lbs then she will send to insurance cuz as of now she said ill get denied so ok im going to do that but then I call my insurance and I only had to do 6 months of documentation but had to lose weight each month well I didn't so now I have to do 6 months all over again to possibly get approved. can anyone tell me the right answer please I need help

It's not the industry that has the issue. It's your employer They choose what riders to have. And if they are self funded they can write whatever policy they want. You will find that plans you get from non self insured employers tend to cover it. We need to talk to the benefits people at employers. They need to understand the cost of long term weight are way worse than a $10-30k surgery. That's the employers negotiated insurance price by the way. Charges can be crazy but insurance doesn't pay that

Olivia I hope things went well today! I've been thinking about you today and hope you're doing well. I'm freaking miserable today!! This all liquid diet is killing me. I've been doing the two protien drinks and a healthy choice steamer for the pasts 10 or so days prior to today. Thank goodness I just have a few more days.

I am 19 months post op, and I have to say the last couple of months have been extremely difficult food wise. I am pretty much ALWAYS feeling hungry and I am losing the battle on the nighttime munching and eating! The feeling is really acute at night when I am supposed to be going to bed, I try drinking water and waiting but that isn't working anymore. When I do cave and give in to the feeling I do try to stick with a high protein food and something that is healthy, yogurt or cheese and fruit, sometimes though this isn't enough. I just don't know what to do. I've had my labs done recently and they all came back normal except for my vitamin D (extremely deficient), and my para-thyroid hormone had dropped some but I am no where near deficient for that. I am just frustrated and stressing out about this. In the last few months I have regained about five pounds, which I know is normal but is not what I want to be doing. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for how to beat the late night hunger monster?

I live in Valencia, CA. I'm doing the Options classes at Panorama City Kaiser and surgery will be at West LA Kaiser. I have to do the 12 weeks of classes too. So far, things have been moving along really smoothly. 1/10 referred by PCP 1/24 orientation to Options 2/3 consult with program director/officially accepted into program 2/10 first Options class They have also already scheduled me for my 6 week appointment with the program director. I was told at that point the EKG, chest x-ray, and other tests will be scheduled. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

It's good that you're thinking about all of this now and not going into surgery blindly thinking that it will solve all of your food related issues. Most insurances require a psych eval before surgery. Did you discuss any of these issues? That's what the psych eval is for. However, I know many just see it as a "check in the box" to get to surgery approval. I highly suggest you read Geneen Roth's book "When Food is Love". It's a great read that I only read recently (I'm almost 10 mos post op). The food "addiction" will not go away with surgery. Early on, you will not physically be able to eat much but you will want to and be suffering emotionally. This can cause you to sabotage your weight loss by not following Drs orders (and finding lots of excuses to justify it). Within about 6 mos, it will be easy to stop losing weight and start gaining if you're not in the right mind set with food. So, start working on it now. As for your lack of support from family- As you read Roth's book, you might realize that the approval of others is overly important to you. You need to make the decision to have this surgery for you and not for the approval of others. If they truly care about you, they will support you regardless of what they're saying now. If you're not sure that surgery is the best for you right now, then postpone. It is truly a life changing procedure. There are opportunities for great results but it will require many changes that you must be ready for. If it helps, I don't regret the surgery. I only regret not doing it sooner.

Yes I cannot wait to start my Options class our class is a big class there's 30 people in it. It was the soonest class that was starting so of course everybody wanted it same thing with me the next one didn't start till April 7 and then one started in May.. They basically told us that during the 12 weeks you do all your preop's and lose your 10% then when you're finished with the class usually it takes about 1 to 2 weeks to get an appointment with the surgeon and then within a couple weeks after that you're scheduled to have your surgery. They told me I would need to lose 14 pounds did they say what you needed to lose during your first class Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Definitely go in for a fill. That will help a lot. Also ... stay away from the sweets. Those are often slider foods that will go down easily no matter how restricted you are. Those darn sweets kept me on a 10 week plateau last Fall. On the other hand, I'm a firm believer in not depriving yourself. An occasional PLANNED sweet is probably ok. When you have it, enjoy it like it is your last forever. I enjoyed half a serving of chocolate cheesecake last week. I can still remember it. Lost 4 lbs anyway that week. Go Figure!

Hey y'all. I've noticed for the last 3 weeks after I eat I am getting some pretty fierce heartburn. No reflux coming up, just that clean-burning sensation. I had bad acid reflux and heartburn pre-op that totally disappeared. I am taking Prilosec. It definitely doesn't feel like an ulcer or anything and doesn't hurt while eating. It's a very distinct heartburn sensation. Doesn't seem to be correlated to any type of food. Just happens shortly after I eat anything. Any thoughts on this? I was taking Arthrotec which is an NSAID but also mixed with a medicine to protect your stomach lining (prescribed by my bariatric surgeon and later by my primary care for a disc herniation). I stopped that and now I am on Celebrex, also an NSAID but required by my plastic surgeon 10 days pre-op skin removal and 10 days post-op, and also "safer on tummies". Again, this is coupled with the Prilosec. But yeah... heartburny! Sent from my SM-G930R4 using BariatricPal mobile app

Wow.. time is flying by and life has just been crazy. The day of my surgery my grandmother was found unconscious on her bathroom floor and ended up in ICU. I spent 6 weeks by her side, in the hospital, until she passed away on May 9th. That was rough. I've never been an emotional eater, but I went through a phase in which I didn't care, I was incredibly depressed and I wanted to eat everything in sight and didn't care what that meant for me or my weight. My husband and I split up in April and will be divorced by the end of this month. Things have been crazy. Anyway, back to the band. There wasn't any saline placed in my band at the time of surgery, so the only restriction I had felt was in the beginning and only due to the swelling immediately post-op (I could only have a couple sips of milk before feeling full). Around my birthday, about 7 weeks post-op, I went to dinner with friends. I ordered a healthy meal totaling around 390 calories - roasted potatoes, broccoli, and (what I thought was really tender..) steak. I cut the steak in small pieces, it was very moist and tender, and ate small bites. I figured that I didn't have any restriction, so it should all go down fine. Everything went down just fine, but around 1:00 the next morning I started feeling an incredible pain underneath my strenum. I didn't think too much of it, figured it was gas trapped in there or something, and I went to sleep. I woke up around 6:00am and the pain had increased exponentionally. Labored, painful breathing, accompanied by a radiating ache from my sternum, around my right side and straight through to the center of my back. I was sure that my band had slipped, but I wasn't experiencing any of the "common" symptoms; I wasn't nauseous and hadn't experienced any vomiting. As the pain increased, I decided to go straight to the emergency room, instead of phoning a doctor. The ride to the hospital was terrible, but the pain began to slowly die down while waiting to be seen. The doctor ordered an x-ray to check placement of the band and the results were perfect, no apparent slippage - I was so relieved. My labs showed elevated LFT and another result, which I can't remember the name of, but something that indicated there may be something wrong with my gallbladder, so they ordered an ultrasound. The results came back fine and I was given a "cocktail" of maalox mixed with lidocaine, and sent home. I was so embarassed. I was horrified, thinking that I did this to myself with the previous night's dinner, and that there was a possibility of having my band removed or something, haha. I was so upset and scared. I visited my doctor the following week for my 8 week check-up and first scheduled fill. My weight hadn't changed, at all, from my 10 day post-op visit, to my 8 week. I was a little disappointed, but knew that I could only blame myself. While I had been working out consistently, I had experienced a lot of weakness when it came to my diet. The surgeon placed 2cc in my band and I spoke with my dietician and was on my way. They scheduled my 6 month appointment, but didn't mention when I could come back for a second fill, so I'll need to call. The 24 hours or so following my fill, I could feel the tightness once again, I was so excited, but it didn't last long. I was able to eat about a cup of scrambled egg beaters the next morning, which I thought was a bit much. Obviously, I haven't been pushing the limits with it, I don't want to know what it feels like to eat too much, or to cause the band to slip. But I haven't really felt full at all and I am incredibly hungry all the time. Maybe most of it is head hunger, but between meals I am constantly craving snacks.. graham crackers with peanut butter have been my weakness - at least that's not too unhealthy, right? I haven't weighed myself in at least a week, but last time I checked I was exactly 40lbs down from my highest weight ever (January). I seem to have hit a plateau, but hope that my fill has at least encouraged a few more pounds, though it doesn't seem to have changed much. I'm going to call and see when I can schedule my next fill and hope that it's soon. I've lost at least one pants size and my face, waist, and stomach have gotten noticably smaller. I am feeling a bit better already, my knees don't crack when I squat down and don't hurt as much and as often as they did 40lbs ago. Honestly, I am a bit disappointed with everything, I thought I would have lost more weight by now, but I know that I only have myself to blame. I haven't been as hard on myself as I thought. One thing that did cause me to slip up and cheat was reading things on here. I read an entry by someone who had been recently banded. They stated that they were able to eat whatever they wanted and it didn't cause any problems, even with fluid in the band. Having the knowledge of such a possibility is not a good thing at times of weakness. My self-control has really come into play during this process and I'm learning a lot about myself. I hope that I grow stronger and am able to completely change my lifestyle.

I will eventually air my dirty laundry in my blog, but I wanted others to be able to really vent their own fustrations to be read by many, so I posted this conversation here. For me, I have SO many self-esteem, and confidence issues that stem from childhood, my teenage years, and young adulthood. For the most part, I have always been able to keep my weight under control until I joined the Air Force at 19. I did not realize how much of an emphasis the military puts on weight until I joined., the Air Force particularlly. The other branches seem to be more lax. To join I had to lose 10 pounds, which was a piece of cake. I was 170lbs and 5' 9". However, little did I know that little 10 pounds would be catapult me into obesity. I say that because the first week of basic training, I gained those 10 lbs back, thru Water weight. I looked puffy and weighed in heavy during our weekly mandatory weigh in. Because I was overweight, I was assigned a position within my flight (team of women) that was assigned to "fatties" (I kid you not, they said those exact words to me) My self esteem took a dive. Everytime I performed this duty, I, and everyone around me was reminded of how fat the military thought I and the women who performed it with me, were. In any case, I lost the weight over the next 5 weeks, graduated from basic training, completed technical school and was assigned my first military assignment. Here, I felt thin and strong and wonderful. I had muscles and for the first time ever, I had the confidence like that of a Roman Gladiator! :thumbup:I did not realize that my primary job would be so stationary. I also did not realize that the 3 men I worked with, were racist and sexist pigs. I ate to deal with my job experience and after about 6 months, I had gained 20 lbs and was put on what the military calls, "the fat boy list". I had to lose weight monthly and get up everyday at 5 AM to run with other "fatties" who were also on the list or be reprimanded. They do not care how you lose the weight, as long as its LOST. The military had absolutely no sympathy. I hated the people I worked with, and HAD to get away. So, I married someone I was not inlove with, just to get orders somewhere else. Fast forward, I'm married and got orders to another station. I was not happy in the marriage and felt completely stuck. We had a baby, (was not planned) and I suffered from post partum depression, plus I was never able to loose the baby weight, I just continued to gain and gain. I was so unhappy:crying: I will eventually put more in my blog, but this is quintesentially where I feel my excess weight came from and then excallated. Feelings of never feeling good enough, and I also think a part of it was me rebelling mentally against all entities who felt like they had control over my weight. Please share your sorrows and experiences. I feel that only people who have been overweight can ever really truely understand someone who is or has been overweight.

I'm 5'6, they recorded me as 5'5" at the Dr office for surgery but I am 5'6, but I use 5'5 here. Anyway.. Before I lost any weight, when I started I just wanted to be a 16/18. I thought that would be obtainable and easy to maintain. A 12 looks good on me, if I want to be really "curvy", but I actually like being smaller. A 12 doesn't feel as good as 8/10. I think 12 will be my top out size, I never want to be larger than that. Period. Still a 12 feels fat to me now, It is way too close to plus size, and I never ever want to be plus sized again. While I am still young, 8 seems like a great size. Most women are not an 8 or below so you have a lot options when shopping for clothes and hitting clearance. Size 10 is just an annoying in between size. It is so hard to find 10s anywhere, worse than 12s. 8 seems to be a golden size for finding stuff. Right now I wear 10 or 8 depending on the brand. I am hoping to be a 6 at some point after skin surgery. It might not ever happen because of my hips and my boobs, but a girl can dream. I am shooting to be a small 8 (as in an 8 everywhere) or a 6 by next summer before skin surgery. We'll see if I can pull it off. I am not that dedicated to be a 6 pre-plastics but it is nice to have a goal. I have already hit and surpassed most of my goals, so that is my stretch goal. Well now I know why everything at Land's End fits me terrible (except the Kayaks LOL). They hate hourglass figures. I never looked at the size chart, just tried clothes on and was disappointed. My waist is 29 or 30 inches most days.

hi i started a seminar in march 08,did the 6 months dietian classes. finish sept 3rd, still had to do more pre-testing.oct, nov, now it,s been 10 whole months, my surgery is january 13th, my pre-admission is on monday jan,5th.it,s a long process for some, for others it,s takes 2-3 months.

It's been 7 days since my 6th adj. and I still can't get solid food to stay down. I've been eating a lot of soup broth and I am hungry. When I try to eat solid food I throw it up (not fun)! :thumbs_up: I have lost a few lbs. in the last 7 days. I think around 4 lbs. I really am glad to get the weight off but I don't like being sick all the time and feeling like my butt is dragging 10 feet behind me. Thinking maybe I need to go back in for a slight unfill. If it's not better in the next couple days I'll be going back in to see my Dr. :thumbup:

Hello, I'm getting banded 03-12-10 @ 8:00 am. I will start my liquid diet 02-26-10. Yahoo, can't hardly wait...:frown: It's been really nice being able to read everyone else's experiences. I'm still very nervous about surgery.:eek: I've had surgeries before and I think that's what makes me nervous. :w00t: I'm so looking forward to losing the weight. It seems like every new year that goes by I have gained another 10-20 lbs. :redface: and after a while, well, you know.....it's hard to lose and when I do lose some, about three - four months later, I gain it back, plus some.:mad2: I must say, it's very encouraging seeing everyone's success stories. :thumbup: It's also very scary when I read horror stories that people have encountered. I go for testing this Friday. Wish me luck.:thumbup:

I stood up straight today! But then I sat down in front of the TV for an hour and I "re-hunched" myself. So I guess I need to move more often I also walked outside for 10.6 kms today! Mind you it took me 2+ hours over 3 separate trips, but I did it! So long as the weather is reasonable, I've made it a short term goal to do 10 km outdoor walks until I can start running again. Now that the front of me is looking pretty good due to the PS, by backside (read: my butt) is looking even worse by comparison. So I also started doing some squats today I hate them, but its really the only exercise I can do given my current recovery state. We'll see how long I can keep this up, LOL. I really, really, really, want to see how my incisions are doing, but the steri-stips are firmly staying in place and will not be changed (if at all) until Jan 8 at my next follow up with my surgeon. Swelling is still an issue, but I think I'm the only one that notices it. My pants continue to be tight at the waist. I am really looking forward to getting out of these joggers and hoodies I've been sporting...especially as its Mr & my anniversary next week and I wanna wear something nice to dinner at least!!

I have been hungry since I started this pre op diet on Mon. I am day 5 of my 14 day pre op diet. My stomach seems to growl a lot. The protein shakes only keep me full about an hour. I am eating 2 protein shakes( I have 1 with skim milk and the other with fruit) and 1 nutritional bar, 4 oz of lean meat, 1 cup of green vegetables, 2 cups of broth and 2 or 3 sugar free popcicles. This adds up to 800 calories. I am supposed to have between 700 and 900 calories. The only way not to feel hungry is to keep eating. I am drinking more than 64 oz of water but water doesn't seem to fill me up at all. Since I have lost 10 lbs in 4 days, I think I may not be eating enough. Next week I am supposed to have 5 protein shakes a day which is 700 calories. It will get up to 900 calories if I add skim milk or fruit. I guess my question is: Are any of you this hungry on your pre op diet?

@@erose321 I'm on the same diet as you. I'm so ready for some purée foods. I finally started to actually crave food yesterday. Tomorrow is my 10 yr wedding anniversary and I am trying to find a Soup that is acceptable at a restaurant so me and my husband can go to dinner to Celebrate. I'm thinking Won Ton Soup. I've lost 6 lbs since surgery too.

i may be around 8 or 10 ounces a day currently and its pretty painful swallowing although ive had nothing come up. i called the doctor on day 1 post op and explained my issues. he said it just may be swelling and my opening is very small but he also mentioned the band was pretty snug and if i cant get more fluids in by the end of the weekend, they may have to give me fluids via IV or worst cas, surgery again to place a larger band! im freaking out a bit because surgery is the last thing on my mind. im still very very sore and not moving around very well at all. i wasnt planning on missing much work, but at this rate, im in big trouble. any words of encouragement or advice?

I was sleeved 1/17. Lost 10 pounds I think the first week. Nothing since. Totally normal and i too am doing everything right. Don't fret