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It's possible to snap back quickly but don't forget that your insides are still healing and even if you don't feel it, it is. So, make sure to not lift anything heavier than 10 pounds and be careful but still keep walking. I assume you are no longer taking pain meds--that was the kicker for me. I couldn't drive until I stopped taking them but I stopped taking them the day I got home from the hospital and didn't really need them--in fact they made me nauseous. I went to work at a week and a half but I have a desk job so it is a bit easier.

I will save this for when i am allowed to have snacks per my surgeon. For the 1st year he does not want us to have snacks at all and to get our additional protein (outside the 3 meals) from a protein supplement drink. After the 1st year, we can swap out the protein drink for protein snacks. I have been eating a lot of salmon, tuna, and ground meats. Chicken doesnt like me yet. LOL.. My issue is getting in stuff outside of protein but not too worried about that as he said to focus on water and protein, and the other stuff will come later. Thanks for the tips Fluffy!

I do 18th-century living history, both as a hobby and part of my job. I wore a pair of lightly boned stays, laced loosely, about 7 or 8 weeks post-op, but only for a few hours. I wore my fully-boned stays for a weekend about a month later with no issues. They are boned with German plastic artificial whalebone. Like @@AvaFern mentioned, wearing a corset after being sleeved will reduce your stomach capacity even more. I have found that I can only manage 1/2 a Protein bar when I'm wearing my stays and have to be even more conscious of taking small bites and chewing thoroughly, or I feel rather urpy.

6 3 so taller and 52 Dropped 177 pounds last year from June to december 27 Read this whole site and make sure you go to the male section - Best decision i made but it is a tool and you have to set up and run the workshop!

My nutritionist said not to worry about protein the first week unless I wanted it. She said many people can only handle the clear liquids and even though Isopure is considered a clear she said that the protein could cause fullness/nausea. They advised that I get as close to 60oz/day or more. I wasn't able to hit more than 40 for the first several days (I'm 6 days post). I think it wasn't until yesterday that I got to close to 70 and the same again today. Maybe try just clears with no protein for a day or two?

Hi. I am 1 week post op today. I so understand the Yikes.. I am doing very well, much better then I expected. I agree the work is just begining but how amazing to finally be on the winning side of this battle. I just joined this forum for support. I wish you all the best & update to let us know how you are doing!

I need to get my teeth cleaned & I am 3 weeks post-op. I read somewhere about if we get our teeth cleaned or any work on our teeth we should have antibiotics first? Is that true & if so why? If I do need antibiotics then who do I go to for them... my PCP or the dentist?

Peanut Butter banana Protein pancakes 1 overripe banana 1 cup low fat ricotta 2 each whole eggs 3 tbsp peanut powder 2 tbsp hemp hearts 1 1/2 scoops Protein Powder Whip the eggs and banana till smooth Add all other ingredients whisk till smooth Cook over medium heat in nonstick pan till golden on both sides

Babybleuz, did you check out the band-day stories yet? It's a great thread that might be useful. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/surgery-day-stories-64287/ As far as my story. Yes, I had complications, which resulted in 2.5 days in the hospital. I am doing great now, other than my hormones are wacked out. I took two weeks vacation off and enjoyed every minute of it at home recovering. I have lost 40 pounds so far and have no regrets.

Good morning CynthiaK. I watched all of his videos and he gets great reviews!!!! If I were you, I may think of taking a shuttle to the airport and then one home as well. That is if you don't find someone else to take you. My insurance covers the sleeve, but makes me go through a 3 month medically supervised diet program. I started that on Friday, so by early May we will submit my paperwork to BCBS Federal and once we get approval, we will schedual the surgery. We always go to teh beach in early June so I am trying to figure out when to have it, before or after. I feel we are making the right decision. Did you consider the Gastric bypass? I did, but, something about my intestines being re-routed is terrifying to me. I know it is the best in terms of success but, I don't like the possible side effects of the malabsorption..etc.....Do you have any co-morbidities? Well, I think you should go to your party and have some fun! How is the weather in TX? Cold and rainy up here in Nashville. Have a wonderful day!!!!! H

According to the Law of Attraction your life is a physical manifestation of your predominant thoughts and feelings. If you have spent many years battling with your weight and not liking your body, the primary focus of your thoughts and feelings has been that of discontent in terms of your weight and body. Every thought you think carries with it an energetic vibration and will attract experiences that carry with them like vibrations. If you are focused on needing to lose weight, not liking the weight you are now, and feel like it is a struggle you will attract to you more life experiences that will be an energetic match to that feeling thus showing up as excess weight, discontent with your current body state, and struggle. Focusing on what you don’t want is like having someone say to you “Don’t think of an elephant” (I bet you just pictured an elephant in your mind!!). If you want a strong, slender, healthy body, you must keep your focus on the kind of body you want and the feeling of what it would be like to live in that body. It does take energy and effort to keep yourself focused on what you do want especially if your dominant focus has been on that of what you do not want. Answering the following questions will help you shift your thoughts in a positive direction. Why do you want to resolve your weight issues? How will your life be different if you were at a healthy weight? Use the following questions as a guideline: Do you think your health would improve? If so how? Would your energy level change? If so how? Are there physical activities that you would participate in that you do not do today because of your weight? Do you have any aches and pains you think would be resolved if you lost weight? Would you walk differently? Would you interact with people differently? Would you talk differently? Would your relationships change? Would you eat differently? If so how? Are there people you would be more or less involved with if you lost weight? Would losing weight affect your career? If so, how? Would losing weight affect your family? If so, how? Would you dress differently? If so how? Would you have any new hobbies? Would it affect your social life? If so how? Do you think it would affect your mood? How about your mental clarity? Next week I’ll tell you how to use the answers to these questions to generate a powerful vision statement… Blessings and Peace, Louisa p.s. I’ll be offering new telephone support groups starting in September. If you have any questions or would like more information about them email me at louisa@louisalatela.com or call me at 856.429.9799. www.louisalatela.com

Let's get skinny! your story motivated me so much. I weighed the exact same amount and am the exact height as you! I was banded on Jan 7th and I am down 30 pounds. I have really been feeling down this week about my diet. I have not strayed from the program once until this week! and of course I hate myself now. Seeing your story reminded me why I had the surgery and that it can be done! good job and thanks for sharing.

you can get them online at GNC or I beleive they are called NEW WHEY....Gosh they sure do beat the drinks...gag!!!! Just remember....you dont have to do this alone...we are all here for you. We have been there. I am a year out, and I still have cravings and weakness....which is why my weight has stalled. I got comfortable, and got lazy with my diet.... good luck.....and try the bullets...sometimes I will drink a little and than add some water so it is not so thick...makes it easier to. The grape is my favorite

I was seeing a doctor locally and after approval found out they were out of network and I would have to come up with $3000 upfront. yikes! So I called my insurance and the closest in network doctor is 3 hours away. So I went to that appointment and found out that I have met my deductible and the insurance will cover 100%. So yes it is a pain for me to do the drive, but it saved me $3000. Call your insurance yourself and find out the specifics. Good luck to you.

Went to my last appointment this past week. My file is being sent for approval, I am super excited and nervous at the same time. Waiting for this approval Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I am a brand new member here and thought I'd post a hello. I'm 34 and as of Tuesday I was 268. I have battled with my weight my whole life. I was always the chubby athletic girl. I am scheduled for June 7 for my RNY. I am super excited and very nervous. I have been heavy my whole life and finally things are in place in my life that I can make a new start. I had my last pre-op appointment on Tuesday, and started my liquid diet yesterday. I feel ok, just really hungry. Having to make dinner for my kids (my hubby works evenings) is by far the hardest part of my day. The hospital I'm having surgery at requires you to be on liquids for 2 weeks pre surgery. So, hello all!! Here's to my last drink of the day! 2 down 12 to go.

I am 3 weeks out too and no where near the Protein amounts. Sent from my N9518 using the BariatricPal App

I grew up with a horrible self image from as long back as I remember. SIt began with my family - always referring to my sister as "the pretty one" and I was the klutzy, goofy, homely one. I was teased and laughed at in school for having ugly haircuts, glasses, braces, weird clothes, etc. My first husband was extremely critical of me and even though I was actually 30 lbs UNDERweight at the time, he told me on our honeymoon how fat & dumpy I was! The list goes on - and before long, I didn't need others to insult me, I did it quite effectively to myself. It is still very difficult for me to find anything that I like about myself physically. I am less than a week away from my surgery and though I hope to look a little more attractive when I lose weight, I am mostly focusing on the things I will be able to DO. I've accepted that I will never look like a fashion model or even someone who will turn a head (in a good way!) but I very much miss being able to do a lot of the things I really enjoyed when I was healthy.

@@turnaroundtina Good for you for going for it! I'm going to wait for you to tell the world that it was the best decision you ever made! As for the downside of side effects, yeah they come. NOT right away, but a few months down the road. And if it's going to happen (and more than likely it will), it doesn't seem to matter if you take all your supplements and Protein. Your body is sending the nutrients to the vital areas of your body, and the hair on your head just isn't one of them. It passes. Biotin will NOT prevent hair loss. Read up on it. It just makes what you have look great. And sagging skin is also part of the deal, but what you have to remember (and I think you already know this) is that your health is so much more important than hair and saggy skin. I have found great 3/4 sleeve tops that conceal my saggy arms, and cool capris pants that conceal the saggy inner thigh area. All look great, I FEEL great (now in a size medium), and this is the greatest thing I ever did for me! I think you'll feel the same! I wish you the best on your new journey!

Well, I've completed the 6 months of supervised weight loss with my dr and I've completed my psych evaluation. My insurance company is waiting for the last piece of info from the dr's office and they're ready with an approval. My dr's office is saying that even if they get an approval this coming week, it'll still be at least 2 more months until surgery! Anyone have any luck with it getting scheduled sooner than expected? 8 months just seems like a loooong time to make people wait [emoji53]

Does your nut work for your surgeon? If yes, why would he get mad? Two reasons for the pre-op liquid diet: 1) to shrink your liver to make it easier for the surgeon to perform the sleeve surgery; and 2) get you ready for the post-op liquid diet where you will NOT BE ABLE TO SUBSTITUTE other Proteins for the liquids. Well, not unless you want to blow a staple or 2. Some other sleevers have said that their surgeons didn't require a pre-op liquid diet. Or maybe just a few days. Others have said that day 3 of the liquids are the worst -- because you are going through carb, sugar and caffeine withdrawal by day 3. I sure wouldn't want to be going through withdrawal AND recovering from surgery at the same time. I am not a perfect person. I did 2.5 weeks of liquid diet before surgery. I did have a few bites of chicken about 1 week in, but then back to the liquids. My withdrawal wasn't too bad as I had given up sugar and caffeine years ago. My surgeon said my liver was really small, and he had no problems during the surgery. Indeed I had no complications, no vomiting, no nausea, no real pain. I followed the post-op diet well. I couldn't handle the puréed diet, so because I was complication-free, my nut let me go right to soft foods. Whether or not you tell your surgeon about your pre-op diet is up to you. I wouldn't want to hide anything as I was putting my life/health in his hands. But definitely I think you should go to all liquids starting NOW. Good luck on your journey. It's going to be amazing!

Long time member but i haven't posted anywhere in ages, but I used to be on the Lapband board. I was a long time very successful band patient i was orginally banded in Jan 02 (in Canada, pre FDC approval) lost weight at a great rate. My first band (Innamed) slipped a total of 3 times before it came out for six months, I also had surgeries to move my port and another because my tubing disconnect. Next we went to the J&J band and it was great until it slipped badly, I had it for about 6-7 years and it worked like a charm, restriction was great most of the time, lost to my goal size and then it self tightened and i left it there because of travel, personal stress etc and i thought it would release on its own when i went for a defill it completely slipped around my esophagus and it was horrible. With the J&J I had a port revision surgery in there too. Then we tried a 3rd band it never worked right, I couldn't get restriction because if we did more than i had instant reflux etc. I revised to the sleeve last week with a new surgeon in Philadelphia who told me the band was basically around my esophagus and i had no pouch which is why I had no restriction and why I could not be tightened any more. But I lost about 150 lbs in 12-16 months and maintained that loss for 10 years plus, with little to no effort. In the meantime because of the band with no restriction, some prescribed evil steroids that I had to take that put 30lbs on me in a matter of 8 days... (they change your brain chemistry in weird ways) hashimoto's disease (hypo thyroid) fluctuations for the last few years and a few other things I gained about 70-80 lbs that I could not lose weight I tried. I went gluten free and dairy free, nada, I tried the HCG diet lost 20 lbs gained it back and generally I don't eat more than 1500-1700 calories per day including when I am drinking wine, eating out 3 meals a day etc. I hired a trainer, almost went paleo not quite. Now in talking to my surgeon he has said there are new studies showing band patients 9-12 years out who suddenly gain weight they can't lose for love nor money. They try everything and it won't come off more restriction, calories restriction etc. So we made a joint strategic decision to go to the sleeve since I knew the risk, what type of lifestyle change I was in for, portion control etc. wouldn't be a problem since i had it already. In our conversations we talked a lot about Ghrelin which is produced in the stomach and it makes you hungry, when you are feeling that craving to overeat or binge typically it is ghrelin and obese people produce more ghrelin than non obese people typically with some exceptions. We also talked about leptin which makes you feel satiated and is produced in the brain. With the sleeve, about 70-90% of the ghrelin produced is surgically removed with the part of the stomach they remove. i am curious have you noticed a difference in how hungry you get, cravings and the satiation of cravings ie: I can eat two bites of cake vs. I want the whole cake now? Have you also noticed the full feelings getting different than before from the leptin. My surgeon has said in his conversations with his patients they noticed their cravings reduced which helps them with portion control and in making better choices which helps a number of other things. In other words the brain and stomach don't conspire to make cheetos seem like a great dinner choice or ben and jerry your best friend. Overall I eat very healthy without a ton of junk food in my life we cook at home, we make our own stocks and Soups etc. to help get me through the liquids phase. But we do eat well and drink wine, we might be foodies (we are told we are, I just like trying new things). I have never eaten out of control even with the last band and no restriction just trying to lose weight has been terrible, depressing and frustrating. Especially after my first experiences which was I lost well, ate well, exercised and it worked like it was supposed too. I am a consultant and I travel for my job excessively so hence the eat out three meals a day most of the time I don't have a choice in that, but you can make healthy choices even in eating out and I do. I look at fats and calories along with Proteins and make good choices. Any thoughts you have I would appreciate and any advice you have I would love to read. Thanks for reading and good luck

I thought the guidelines were pretty much the same for Cigna in general minus the fact that employer could opt out, this is the one they kept reading to me when I asked for the their policy https://cignaforhcp.cigna.com/public/content/pdf/coveragePolicies/medical/mm_0051_coveragepositioncriteria_bariatric_surgery.pdf I searched through the whole thing and I didn't see anything on weight gain or loss during the 90 day nutrition, when I called several times I asked the representative as well (although they can't be 100% trusted with exact details) but she said I should try not to gain but she didn't see anything in it that stated I had to lose. I actually already had my weigh in on Saturday and I did gain 3 lbs from my last weight from water weight for certain reasons, so I guess we'll see what they say as she was supposed to be resubmitting tomorrow or the day after.

you cannot rush perfection or weightloss. personally, mine slowed down after about 5 months post op. i am still losing, but it's just a slower rate. i don't stress about it. i work out 3-4 x a week (running) and do some body weight exercises a few times a week. i eat pretty good, sometimes i get sloppy. when i want to re-focus my efforts, i cut out almost all carbs, and do Protein protein protein. also i mix up my workouts and do more hills/ sprints. this shet takes time. from a health perspective, the most you should be losing is a pound or 2 a week.