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Thanks for your replies, I did write this note when I was feeling frantic. This news was sandwiched between two deaths in my family. I have to say this was not a good week for me. I typically am not a person of great anxiety, but this was totally unexpected and I was so focused on the sleeve and as you all know, it's such a long journey and "hope" of a better future is so close at this point. . Long story short. My surgeon called today, they have the results of my biopsies and she wants to see me in her office Monday morning to discuss them with surgery options. The secretary couldn't tell me any more, said that she had gotten an e-mail from the surgeon who was in surgery today, requesting that she contact me. I did feel encouraged with the word "options". Overall, I am in a better place emotionally, have thought about a lot of options and will listen to her on Monday and meet with my regular provider on Thursday to get some more "warm and fuzzies". Thank you all for caring enough to take the time to listen. Does this mean if I no longer am a potential sleever, I am no longer welcome here? :-(

My protocol required two meetings. I ended up doing three. Pay attention at the first one. For some reason I had interpreted his comments about stopping tv snacking as a gentle suggestion. At my second meeting the following month, he told me he wasn't signing off because I hadn't broken the snacking habit. Boy was I p!$$3d. I got mad, and then I got busy. I broke that habit by the next meeting. That was in November. I have not tv snacked since. Only afterwards did I understand that he was right. If I couldn't or wouldn't change that behavior, no way would I succeed at WLS. I didn't realize until then that this process really requires discipline on my part. No easy fix here.

My paperwork went to Anthem two weeks ago today (and counting!!!) I'll post when I get a decision. I have a BMI of 40 and no comorbid issues. Anthem e-mailed me the requirements and the clinic I am using verified I only needed a bmi of 40, phyc eval, nutrional assement and a letter from my primary. I just made the stated critera and had all three letters were sent in. We'll if they will approve.

I'm currently 243 lbs and work out 3 times a week and my nutritionist told me I could eat as much as 1700 calories... Now I don't count calories but have some what of an idea and that's about what I have on workout days... And I'm losing!!! She told me our bodys are like a bon fire and if we don't keep adding to the fire it will burn out!

Im stalling 3 months out. My weight has not changed for about two weeks and i know for a fact (my doc told me) that i still have to lose at least 11 more pounds.

Hi ladies. I just had my 1st consult this week AND I have to do a 6 mo doctors supervised diet.....ugh!!! If my insurance had been following me for the last 15 yrs they'd know this wasn't necessary. I'm also 5'4" and about 235 lbs. I'd love to know what your preop reqs are? I'll post mine later :0)

Same here, I had surgery on June 6 and I am in a 4 weeks stall. I am happy with my weight lost, but I can't wait to lose my last 20 pounds.

It looks common for those allowed to actually eat in the pre-op phase (I was liquids only for 2 weeks). Typically they want you to eat a lean protein source for that meal, so ideally something like chicken with your salad or veggies.

I start mine next week so am also keen on any tips and think it will be a challenging two weeks for myself. Good luck to you!! Sent from my HTC 10 using BariatricPal mobile app

My surgery date is the 2nd. I'm on day 2 of my liquid diet. I'm holding my own. Missing food pretty much. I'm realizing how often i want to reach for something to eat and have to jump back. Crazy habits. I keep reminding myself how fortunate i am to be able to have the surgery next week. Repeat after me....I am looking very forward to my broth this evening....

YEAH! My scale and the Doctors was way off. I actually have lost 8 1/2 lbs since my intial consult. I was worried about nothing. Since I have only been on my preopt diet for two weeks, my dr was very happy with me. Surgery is a go. I'm scheduled for Oct 20. It will be here before you know it. I am so relieved.

I was stalled for 6 weeks then increased my calories, went to a gallon of water a day and raised my carbs for a week. I lost 4 the next week and 3 the Next. My body was in starvation mode and was holding onto everything. You might need an increase

My follow up is tomorrow. I am going to talk about this. I can't even sit up without it hurting. This can't be right. I am seeing on other boards people are doing ab workouts at 4 weeks? And I think those people had the several incision operation. I only have one incision! wtf? Will update tomorrow.

Fantastic. I am only 3 weeks post op but cant wait to feel what you are describing.

I had to have soft foods way past the scheduled move to real food. Everyone is different. My tiny tummy really revolted with regular foods. I am just starting to eat a little lettuce etc. It does get better but it can take a while for some. I definitely had to get used to not always eating. The first 4 weeks were pretty hard. I was so used to always "thinking" about what I was going to eat or what I had just eaten. It took me a while to fill in my thoughts with "NEW" thoughts about things other than food. I had an addiction and with the sleeve it changed everything. I'm not suggesting this, and it may have been a bad idea but I did chew some solid food and not swallow it. I spit it out. I just had to chew some food. It got me thru a few rough times. It only lasted a week or so.

I’m on a two week liquid diet. The first week is full liquids and the second week is clear liquids only. The best advice is to follow your surgeons program and diet guidelines no matter what because that’s the person performing the surgery! You can do it!

In general, the pre-op diet is to help shrink the liver and specifically the fat around the liver to make it easier for the surgeon to hold it out of the way while they work on our stomachs. The length of the pre-op diet does vary depending on your surgeon. Most that use it though seem to favor 2 week diets. What the pre-op diet exactly is also varies depending on your surgeon. Some it is a full liquid diet, some it's a low carb, low fat diet, some it's a combination of liquids (Protein shakes) and "real food" like lean cuisine. Your surgeon will let you know what you need to do for any pre-op diet they require.

Thanks! I think Zip Fizz counts as carbonated. I won't use it after surgery next week.

:thumbup: I appreciate your encouraging comments. I am really pouring it out on my blog. It just helps for me to get this all out!! I will see what happens as I go in this week. IF I get another fill it will not be much but I just keep hoping each month it will be enough...thanks, thanks for the kind words. Looks like you are doing really well! Keep it up now!

:thumbup: Well I am now out of school for the year! That is a good feeling! I NEED the rest and time to regroup :w00t: My daughter and I are joining the community center and will be lifting some weights and I intend to do a lot more exercise. Right now I still feel kind of tired. Even though I was off yesterday I am tired. School just wears me out. I read an article this week on the Spark that was about how working overtime makes you fat. Studies done, etc.that show it. Well, well what surprise that is! But there is nothing I can do about that! I have tried to evaluate how to make it easier and it just does not happen. Also does not leave me with lots of time to work out, etc. I am exhausted at the end of every day. Can barely get home, make a meal, clean it up, walk about 25 min, grade some stuff then go to bed at midnight. Weekends I catch up. Heavens if I have to get up early on a weekend. We go to church Sat night which I hate but is good for the catching up on sleep. Some Sundays I grade papers ALL DAY LONG. Oh well, BREAK time is here! Yeah! OK now the weight thing. I am going in Monday for my 11months. I think I have gained a couple more pounds. So I have lost maybe 35 lbs total. Have not lost a THING since November. I have to go to an open house for a family member and I have a sister in law who had a roux-en-y right before Christmas--she had lost 70 lbs. Who knows now? It is going to be HARD to look at her and not be upset. This is just not going the way I thought it would. By the time school was out I thought I would be maybe 20 lbs from goal. Well I am nowhere near that and not losing. I am struggling to not gain.... I need to lose about 65 lbs. and it is just not happening. Gosh I would like to lose 5 lbs a month?? I would get there eventually. So tired of this. I read the answer to my blog and have started just this week to eat very high protein with little or no carbs. However, I have fallen down at the end of the day a couple of times this week and had some fruit. It has been hard. Interesting that when I do this I feel really tired no matter what time of day it is and need to shut my eyes and sleep! My head starts to hurt and eyes hurt. Hmmmm.... The two days I ate so much protein I felt invigorated and good. Just ran into trouble on the other two. I did a BIG protein shake this morning adding 26g whey to 2c milk (16g) and the low sugar inst breakfast (5g). That is a whopper 47g for breakfast. I intend on having meat if I have anything else before dinner. There are some carbs there but am trying to do what was suggested to me. I think I will be able to now especially with school out. What I need to see if some RESULTS! If I start losing and I feel a lot better I will be motivated to go on. However, this is just like Atkins diet. I went on that once. Lost 13 lbs first month then like 5 then it stopped. As usual for me. But with the band, maybe this is different. So I go in Monday to weigh (great??) and probably get yelled at again. I have no idea if I will get a fill or not. I am not going to base my life and my outlook on that darn fill and it making a difference. I have done that every month since I started this mess and it has been a severe letdown every single time. What a rollercoaster ride this is! I also am NOT going to let the negativity from those in charge at my doc's office get me down. I will NOT let them do that to me. I am trying as hard as I can. I exercise DAILY with a fast walk at 20-30 minutes, I am drinking more water than ever, I gave up any caffeine, carbonated drinks, bread when eating out(I have NONE!! when I used to limit myself anyway!), and am writing down most of the time too. What else is there to do??????? I SELDOM feel any what I would call restriction. I have just about given up on hoping the the band is going to help me to restrict and stop eating at a very small amount. I do not eat much anyway but I guess it is too much..... I have a friend online who was struggling too. She just got a fill, said she now gets stopped and almost throws up at each meal. Has lost 7 lbs this month! How great! Where oh where is that for me! I told her she would get the throwing up figured out and quit eating at the right point. That will stop. Again I have another friend who had a roux-en-y and she did that but eventually knows exactly how much to eat and has done well. She has less in her band than me. I am so happy for her but man this is HARD to take. I think I have 6 1/2 in my 9 band. How much does it take? How much will they put in? I fear that they will say--hey that is it, we aren't putting any more in, it isn't safe so now it is all up to you. And guess what? I am not getting it done....... I know my doctor is very conservative. They told me this. Which is good, they have had almost no complications with their bands. But gee this is just not doing much for me. I just do not get any help from it, very, very little. Very disappointing after 11months.... Also I am SICK SICK SICK of the way I look! I have this big fat shelf belly that is gradually growing back. UGH, UGH!! I wanted to just look better this summer. UGH. So disappointing. I think my body has been on a diet so so so long it just adjusts to whatever level I am at. All thyroids been checked, are OK, I am not diabetic, had that test. I just suck! Well this is long, it is nice to have time to get it all out. Please don't read this if you want encouragement because it ain't here. This is just a place to POUR it out. I am gearing up now to go in Monday and getting in my ZEN place so I do not get upset when they tell me I am a failure... I just keep repeating "zen, zen, zen....." I will keep trying to exercise, eat lots of protein, not drink diet coke which I still love and MISS after a YEAR of not having it. Like it is doing any good. Maybe the next fill will work.....ha. Do you believe this? I still have that little hope in there that I will finally get this.....later.

You're lucky! All i can have 2 weeks before surgery is clear, sugar free liquids and 3 protein shakes a day! I got my insurance approval today, surgery on Jan 5th! Good luck!!!!

Just hang in there! I just got through day 5 of my pre-op diet and I never thought I could do it for this long! You will be hungry and you will want food but you can do anything for 2 weeks when you put your mind to it! Good Luck!

hi look my dr just performed this surgery on me 2 weeks ago. i had the lap band w/the plication. he said it (could/may) possibly help more with band slippage in the future and also makes the stomach smaller (similiar to sleeve w/o cutting) and that would also help in the weight loss. i am hoping as i heal to get more feedback on this. i have read online that is does help or add up to 35% more weight loss. granted that is only what i found online and cannot say if its true or not as it is a kinda new surgery. i am thinking positive thoughts with this.

To add to all the other great posts above, the post op diet is for proper recovery. You can cause your band to slip or not be positioned correctly by eating solids too soon. It takes weeks for the recovery process and when you are eating solid and heavy foods you are putting extra pressure on your stoma (the band, sutures, etc) and can cause harm. It is sooooo important to listen to your surgeon's instructions. Also, mushy foods can be greek yogurt (high protein), scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and blenderized meals. I made my normal meals for my family and put my 3-4 ounces of meat in the blender with chicken broth or a sauce of some sort and while it may not have looked good, it tasted fine. Those are just some ideas for Protein. Note that it is very important to eat protein first as it will keep you satiated. Sorry if the replies seem harsh but by not following your post-op instructions you could be jeopardizing your health, recovery and success with the band. You will get through this - we all did! Best of luck to you.

Truth be told, there is mourning of sorts for a lot of us as we have to change our relationship with food; however, we have to stay on track as we didn't undergo all of this for nothing. You CAN do this. Some days SUCK (no nicer way to put it) but overall, the benefits LONG outweigh the suckiness of the foods we miss. It gets easier as the weeks go on and when the weight starts falling, it is inspiration to keep on going. I am sitting in my cube at work with a HUGE bag of Halloween candy behind me that someone brought in. Sure, I would love to have a piece or two but that candy won't taste as good as skinny feels! So here I sit w/ a hard boiled egg to satisfy my hunger and life IS good.