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Hey everyone.....next week I start my 3 month supervised diet.....so excited to find all of you on here.....Little scare though because my BMI fell below 35 in 2013. I do have sleep apnea and high blood pressure. My psych appt is next month. I hope the time go by very fast. Just ready to get this weight off .

Hi all, I went to my seminar, and sounds like I'm a good candidate for surgery. I'm meeting for the actual consult in a few weeks to discuss a specific plan. On the literature that was given at the seminar, it states that every pre-op patient goes through a "weight loss challenge." Anyone care to share what % of weight they had to lose? I'm hoping it's actually realistic given that I wouldn't be pursuing this surgery if weight loss was easy for me.

Yes I can relate! Lol just last week I was standing in my co-workers cubicle talking my stomach was screaming some strange noises! My co-worker to me to go check my pants...I thought I was going to pee my self I was laughing so hard!

It took me about five or six weeks to feel semi-normal in terms of my energy. The good news is that once the weight starts to come off you will have three times as much energy as you did before surgery. Take it easy and don't push yourself too much.

You're not THAT far away from 125 in the grand scheme of things. Don't work on the ultimate goal right now, work on the next goal. Which you could choose to be not even scale related. Maybe make your goal to be to weigh, measure, and track your food for a week or two. I think you'll find a lot of satisfaction in setting and achieving a goal, regardless. Try to keep your thoughts positive It's not "You are what you eat" it is "YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK" gloomy winter is over, yay!

I eat until I am full. But depending on what u r eating. I can eat a cup of greek yorgat or 3 oz of chicken. I am 3 months 3 weeks out and have lost80 lbs.

I got my band one week earlier than you. Most of my weight loss was the 2 weeks pre-op and the 2 weeks post-op. My doc said that the average is around 2 lbs per week once you are on solids!

Welcome aboard. I am also having Surgery this week, on Thursday. I am too having the same feelings you are. I will keep you in my prayers on Monday. You will do fine I know you will. Everything will be smooth sailing afterward and you will start feeling wonderful about yourself when you see your weight going down. Thats how I am looking at it. I have three beautiful little girls at home and I am afraid I am going to leave them. I know I am in good hands but that is in the back of my mind. I would hate to leave them and my husband behind at such a young age, but I need to do something about this weight or it will come eventually. Good Luck on your Surgery and please keep me informed on how you are doing. Let me know how it goes if you can before Thursday! Angie

I think it's common to have a big loss in the first week or wo since you are on liquids. I lost 16 in the first week. Once you move to solids it slows way down. Sorry.., but don't get too excited about the thought of lossing 10 pounds a week. LOL

I am just over 3 mths out and feel like I have had more weeks of stalls than not. However, I have lost 52 lbs. It can be frustrating but when the scale moves down again it is so exciting. Haha. A couple of things - your body doesn't know the difference from pre surgery or post surgery weightloss, your body has to heal and adjust to these drastic changes, and your body is going to take care of itself. You just need to do your part with meeting Protein and liquid goals. No longer are we dieting. We have a new lifestyle. Changing our mindsets helps. Taking it day by day helps. Focusing on the long term goal helps.

My surgery is this week, and I went ahead and bought me some stuff to take to the hospital. Some mouth rinse for dry mouth, a robe, socks, slippers, some gowns, toothpaste and toothbrush. I'll find out more Tuesday about what to take and what to expect. The only really downside is I caught a cold on Wednesday and it hit me hard Friday and Saturday. Hoping this doesnt postpone surgery as getting LOA through work was a process. Undoing it and redoing it seems like a PITA but hopefully it will not come to that.

For mushy ideas, I ate lots of homemade lentil Soup and refried Beans blended with chicken broth and a little melted cheese. It was high in Protein and very good. I have been banded going on six months at the end of this month. If I have learned anything it is that you need to stick to your doctors suggested diet and follow bandster rules to find weight loss success. Dont start eating solid food and skip stages. At one week out, eating solid food already and skipping stages, you are at risk of damage to your band down the road. It doesnt matter that you can do it without being too uncomfortable. It is a matter that your stomach needs to heal completely before you start making it work. Not everyone loses weight at this stage. The focus has to be healing right now, and believe me, the weight loss will come if you follow your bandster rules and doctors orders. Yes, you need to go back to mushies as prescribed. Please don't put your health at risk. It is not worth it when you only have a couple of weeks when you can start eating again with little risk. The band won't do you any good if you have a complication and lose it altogether down the road.

I'm at 34 pounds I think? Banded 9/11. I've had two fills, but going to get some out as I feel like I'm in the red zone. I've been really mad that I can't eat all these Thanksgiving leftovers this week.

Are you getting out and about? I am happy to say I've been out and about a lot since last Friday. Only one more week of liquids, I can't wait for something a bit more solid.

I'm one week out today down ten lbs. 33 lbs overall And most notable for me today I finally weigh less than my husband! This week has been pretty smooth incisions healing nicely, they are itchy but I'm just an itchy kind of girl. No problem getting in my fluids and protein now, I started out sipping from shot glasses but graduated quickly to a big girl glass . I still am a bit short on energy but that probably due to the lack of carbs and calories. Which leads me to my one question, should I be concerned over # of cals? I'm using body fortress shakes that get me almost 80 grams protein throughout the day but only equal out to 360 cals, how long can the body run on that few? I really don't feel any hunger yet, will that change as time goes on or am I one of the lucky ones?

This is my first blog so let me introduce myself. My name is Nikki, I am 36 years old and been married for 9 years. I have two boys age 5 and 2 1/2. I am a WAHM on a contract basis and my contract is about to expire, so I am thinking of going back to work part-time. I had surgery last week on Wednesday (07-23) and I feel pretty good. I have struggled getting my protien in, but I am getting better at it. I also have been walking every day for 30 minutes. I have lost 15.5 pounds in just this week alone and I feel really great about that! I go next week for a recheck and to have the strips removed from my incisions.

Wow! This third fill has been a doosy. I still only have under 3ccs in an 11 cc band. I only got .75cc on this third fill. Since last Wednesday, I have kept down 3 chicken wings. I can do warm and hot liquids but normal food would come right back up. This evening, I did, finally, get down a few tortilla chips with a four layer high Protein low fat dip. LOTS of normal burps (the food is going down kind of burps) but no PB. Thank the Lord!!!! I was fixing to call the doc in the morning to go in for a slight unfill. I have more trouble with fills than anyone I know and I only get small ones. What is the deal? I eat right. I chew well. I eat slow. I don't eat crap that is bad for me. This whole week, I have been supplementing with protein Water and Protein shakes but only AFTER things won't stay down. Soooooo weird.

I'm 14 weeks out and down almost 70#s from where I started. For me this has absolutely been the right decision for me. Life is better for me and I'm more content and comfortable in my own body. Having less of me, physically, is so much easier. Easier to move around, walk, turn over in bed, fit in chairs in public places, find clothing that's not super expensive, breathe etc. Mentally/emotionally life is better too. I feel more free to really be me, who I am at the core of me. We still eat we just eat less and make heathier choice which I find leads to more contentment and happiness because I'm being more thoughtful about what I choose to put into my body. Not just mindless eating of sub-quality, highly processed foods. I enjoy the conversation and company more at meals as I'm focused on that and not the food. I've a long way to go yet and for me the challenge has always been in the maintaining of weight loss but I feel I'm up to that task now. So short answer: YES I ENJOY LIFE MUCH MORE NOW! Good luck to you and God Bless you in this journey!

Hello everyone! I am another newbie who has been lurking for a few weeks. My surgery is tomorrow and I am a nervous, anxious, and excited, all at the same time. Thank you all for such informative posts. Your posts have definitely helped me make an informed decision. You have no idea how much I appreciate these forums. Wish me luck!

(sheepishly raises her hand) Yes, I did cheat on the first week a couple of times. I did eat very low carb though. My labs before that were fantastic mostly due to not eating anything with gluten for months. So I was pretty sure my liver had shrunk and was not fatty. I had lost about 13 pounds also. The second week I stuck strickly to the full liquid diet though. I did not have to drink just Protein drinks. I lost about 6 pounds during those 2 weeks.

Thanks for all the replys! I'm on the beginning of day four now, it has not been easy, I want to cheat so badly, however I dont want to get busted cheating, with my luck I would get busted. As far as things go right now, it seems to get easier each day, three atkins, a couple cups of broth, and a couple SF jello singles. I think at this point I have convinced myself that I can make it through all five days without cheating, although nothing is certain. I keep dreaming of a Bacon cheese burger, on a perfectly grilled roll, with lettuce, mayo, Jalapeno's, cheddar cheese.

I'm on day three of the liquid diet, 3 atkins shakes a day, and i have survived so far. I would be lying if I said I have not thought about cooking up a turkey burger, or even a 95% fat free Hamburger with no roll. I really cant see the harm in it, as long as its all Protein and no carbs what could it hurt? MY Sugeons office is closed for the weekend, so I cant really call and say, Hey can I eat a turkey burger with no roll? Did anyone here cheat on the liquid diet? Did the dr know? What kind of cheat did you do? Im loosing my mind here!

Well, here I am. Back from the hospital after a 2 night stay, with 85% of my stomach missing. I'll try and describe what it was like day by day... Day 1 (Surgery Day): Let me preface this by saying that I did not sleep a wink the night before surgery. Not. A. Wink. So, upon arriving to the hospital for my 7am appointment, I had already been awake for 24+ hours. So that probably added to the dream-like quality that everything had to it that day. But still, that's the only way I could possibly describe everything that happened that day. It was surreal. Since I couldn't sleep, I decided that my husband shouldn't either, so I got him up at 4:30, and we set out from our hotel for the hospital at 5:30, even though it was only a 30 minute drive, and we didn't have to be there until 7am. At this point, I was convinced that I was probably going to die on the operating table, so I was giving my husband instructions, such as "My wedding ring is in the change pocket of my purse. I'll want to be buried with it on." Stuff like that. I'm sure he was amused by it all, but looking back, I can't believe I did that to my husband! (who already has some anxiety issues BTW) So we arrived at the hospital super-early, and I tried, yet again to catch a 15 minute nap in the car. When it became apparent that even that wasn't going to happen, we went into the hospital to register at 6:30. They brought me back pretty quickly, but left my hubby in the waiting room. They weighed me (219.4) and brought me into a room with a stretcher in it, and told me to change into the gown and socks that were on the stretcher. Now, I don't know if they just see that someone is having bariatric surgery, and automatically put the XXL gown on the stretcher, or what, but that gown was huge. You could have put three of me in it. The socks were also ridiculous, they could have fit on my feet over a pair of winter boots! But I did as I was told, and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half trying not to flash everyone in the pre-op area... Then a nurse came in, took my vital signs, and did an admission questionnaire and had me sign paperwork. Then three separate anesthesiologists came in and talked to me, looked in my mouth, and asked me several of the same questions the nurse had just asked. Then another nurse put an IV in my left hand. Then, finally they allowed my husband to come back in. We sat there and talked for awhile, and then my surgeon came in... now I know many of us bariatric surgery patients have had multiple appointments with their surgeon prior to the actual surgery day, but for me that was not the case. I'd only met Dr. Shillingford once for about 5 minutes, in January. But meeting him for the second time on surgery day, I was again reassured by his confident demeanor, and his relaxed bedside manner. Plus it helped that every other medical staff person I'd met so far that day had referred to him as an excellent surgeon. Once he arrived, that really seemed to get the ball rolling. Just about 10 minutes later, they were giving my pre-op "cocktail" (I asked, it was Versed). Then we rolled into the OR. I remember them asking me to scootch from the stretcher I was on, to the operating table, which I was able to do, and then....nothing. Next thing I knew, I was lying on a different stretcher, in a different room, with a different gown on and someone was taking an oxygen mask off of me, and putting me on a nasal cannula (the little prong things that go in your nose). I was in a lot of pain, which I guess they anticipated, because someone handed me a little button, and said I could push it as much as I wanted for pain medication. Now, being a nurse, I know there is a lockout period, so you can't overdose yourself, so I must have asked that. They said it was set to dispense medication every 8 minutes. There was a blood pressure cuff on my right arm that kept squeezing every few minutes, so I decided to push the button every-other time the BP cuff went off. After three or four pushes, the pain had faded into the background, but by then I was becoming nauseated. Like clockwork, they asked me if I wanted medication for nausea. Yes, please! Once I had those nausea medications in, I was feeling pretty good. Good enough in fact, that when they got me up to my room, I was able to stand up and waddle over to my new bed almost all by myself... At this point, I was hooked up to two IV's, I had a foley catheter in, and I didn't know it yet, but there was a drain hanging off of the right side of my abdomen. But the only thing that was sore (and still is) was the incision on the left side of my abdomen. I later found out that's where my stomach was taken out. The rest of that day went by in a little bit of a blur. I wasn't allowed any water, or anything else by mouth, but they did give me some swabs, and some ice chips, which were a godsend. I remember going for a walk, up and down the hallway with my hubby later in the evening, but other than that, I pretty much slept in between being asked, like 10 times, by 10 different people if I was diabetic, and/or did I need to have a CPAP machine (no, and no). And that was pretty much Day 1. And since I'm pretty wiped out, I think I'll save Days 2 and 3 for another post...

I had my first fill a week and a half ago and I am able to almost eat a full meal as if I don't have the band! I don't understand why I am able to eat so much. I have started tanning, does anyone know if maybe that is not good for the band?