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It is so hard the first few weeks. I remember watching the Food Network while at home recovering the first week post op and feeling so sad and sorry for myself like I would never get to eat again. I'm glad each week is getting a little easier and so proud that are following your plan and not using food or alcohol to deal with things. That is an emotional challenge for us all and where the saying on here that "they operate on our bellies and not our brains" comes from as we all learn to deal with our emotions. Following the post op plan/guidelines helped me a lot the first few months because it kept me focused. I kept a whiteboard to track my water and vitamins early on. Keep up the good work!

I went to a party and had it done on my arms and inner thighs and I lost an 1inch on each arm and 1/2 inch on each thigh. But it's all pretty temporary it's like a detox you have to drink lots of Water and eat very light and do a brisk walk or exercise before you come. Bought a few to support my girlfriend and that was it. Here's the paper that they gave me with tips for before you come to the party. Not endorsing but keeping you informed. Ultimate Body Wrap Tips: 1) Before you wrap: Try to get some exercise. (It doesn’t have to be much, just a walk will do. This helps to get your blood moving and it stimulates your lymphatic system. ) AND HYDRATE!!! HYDRATE!!! HYDRATE!!! (Your body cannot move those toxins on out if you don’t pee!) Make sure to drink extra water prior to wrapping and after wrapping to ensure you are not dehydrated and just replenishing those fluids needed in your system. 2) When you wrap: Your skin needs to be clean and lotion free (shower or clean with alcohol). MEASURE in 3 places. 2” above your belly button, your belly button and 2” below your belly button. Use a sharpie to mark the exact location you are measuring so you know you measure the same place each time (try to measure on your side so the marks don’t come off while you wrap). Take a picture so you can compare later. Apply your wrap with the lotion side on your skin and smooth it out. Cover with cling wrap to hold it in place and protect your clothing. If you are doing curvy areas (i.e. waist or butt) rotate the cling wrap roll 180 degrees as you go around the “bends” to allow you to pull it tighter. Then smooth all the air out so you have maximum contact with your skin. Although the cling wrap does fine by itself, try to wear clothes that help hold it in place (Yoga type works great). 3) While you are wrapped: HYDRATE! HYDRATE! HYDRATE! Do not work out. Don’t sweat. Sweat will inhibit the absorption of the good stuff. Wait at least 45 minutes before you unwrap. You can wear it up to 8 hours. 4) After you unwrap: Rub all the extra lotion in. MEASURE on the same spots as above. Continue to hydrate. Measure again in 24 hours. Hydrate. Measure again in another 24 hours. It takes up to 72 hours before you see the full results. Email total results to Dianna at WrapQueen@ymail.com. If you are happy with your results please write on my page at https://www.facebook.com/Wrap2Shrink, if you are not PLEASE CALL ME! Every single BODY is different. Many people that follow these directions lose 1-3 inches in 72 hours. Sometimes people don’t see immediate results. Some people see an increase during their wrap period. DO NOT BE ALARMED OR DISAPPOINTED! This effect is called “toxic bloat” and is caused by your body’s reaction to the increase in “floating” toxins. Often it is these people that end up with the best results at the end of their 72 hours. Some people require more than 1 wrap before they see visible results. If you happen to fall into this category be sure to check with me so we can talk about the reasons people don’t lose inches sometimes. Keep in mind that if you eat junk you will replace all the stuff you just took out and your results won’t last as long. If you make good food choices (try to eat fresh organic food without preservatives) and you exercise your results will last much, much longer. If you are dehydrated, you will not be flushing out your system. The water you will be consuming will in fact store in your system to rehydrate itself. You must drink extra water to flush the toxins out. If you are not using the restroom at least once every 2-3 hours, you are not drinking enough water. Your urine should be very clear. The more color, the more dehydrated your body is. This is not a substitute for making healthy choices. If you have health issues PLEASE take the ingredient list to your Dr. for review BEFORE you use this or ANY product.

Hi folks Found this site whilst browsing lap band procedures out of desperation. I'm Kim, 46, live in Southampton, and I've never had a weight problem until I had a number of gynae related problems then a partial hysterectomy in 2007 then the rest out in 2011. Been on HRT since then and by weight has balloned. I am only 5 feet 1 so every stone makes me look like a hippo. Seeing photographs of me recently has made be so depressed, no matter how little I eat nothing seems to make a difference. I have been on a low calorie liquid diet for a few weeks now and haven't lost a pound; I feel something is quite wrong with my metabolism but my GP says just eat less and move move more. The moving thing would be easy except I have a disability, chronic asthma and cannot walk very far without excrutiating pain in my feet. I suffer from calcified tendons which can happen at any time, at the moment I have calcific achilles tendons and can barely walk more than 5 paces without having to stop and also have calcific tendonitis in my shoulders which prevent me from swimming. A few years ago I could swim 100 lenghts of my local pool in 90 mins, today I would be lucky to manage one :-( I know that loosing weight would help my physical conditions and improve my general wellbeing but as I can't exercise I am on a road to nowhere. It seems a gastric band is my only hope to restrict my food intake to a bare minimum. What upsets me is that I am not a massive eater anyway, never eat bread, don't like sweets, rarely eat chocolate, and have cut my alcohol intake to a few social glasses of wine at the weekends. I don't know what has made me put on so much weight but it seems that nothing I do works to resolve the weight problems. I am going to look into going to Belgium for the surgery, there seems to be a lot of people that have chose this option. Can anyone point me in the right direction here ? I know there are many posts on this and the particular surgeon but to save me hours wading through them is there a quick bullet point list on how to contact said Surgeon, make the arrangements, what to expect etc ? Thanks for letting me having a rant....feel a bit better now :-) Have a great weekend K x

I think first offense a minimum year suspension of driver's license. And fines, and classes that give up your entire saturday...for months. I don't think jail time though for first offense. After that though lock them up if they continue that behavior. Most of the time they are young and stupid. That's not an excuse, but I think it's a cause. Get them off the road until they have grown up enough to handle the responsibility of driving. I had a friend when I was growing up that had some drinks and drove. He had a wreck and the passanger was killed. This is tragic for everyone involved. In prison, before his trial he hung himself. I couldn't imagine the pain he was in. He was young, never been in trouble, and made a stupid mistake, and someone died. Was he a bad person? Did he belong in prison. No. He had never had a dwi or anything like that before. He thought he was invincible and turned out he wasn't, and two mothers lost their sons. Where did he get the alcohol? Who served it? Who bought it? I think if you buy underage people liquor, especially if you let them drive afterwards then YOU should be CHARGED.

Pearlygirl, I'm sorry about the issue with your brother. Can kind of relate with my dad. He was in put in prison over night at the age of 79 for drunk driving and this was not his first offense but they let him go. I think the laws in FL may be a bit easy when it comes to the elderly and drunk driving. They should have taken away his license. Finally my brother and I took away his car because the state wouldn't do anything. It's a nightmare when you have to deal with an alcoholic family member. Not only are they responsible but then you're responsible for them too! I know we can't compare apples and oranges, it's a nightmare losing a family member to a drunk driver or any other nonsensical reason. Anyway I appreciate your honesty, it's not an easy thing to discuss. brandyII

I've seen that alcohol now affects me more than it used to (I'm nearly 15 months post-op). Now when I drink in social settings I do drink much more slowly and, consequently, not as much as I used to. Also, drinking wine (with no food) does increase my stomach acidity.

Ok...here goes: My sleep study: I arrived at the center at about 7pm. After cleaning my skin in different places with alcohol and pumice, the "sleep technician" hooked me up to a lot of electrodes (a couple on each leg, a band around my stomach and chest, several electrodes stuck to my chin and around my eyes and about 6 stuck to my head). The electrodes were connected to wires that were hooked up to a monitor. At about 10:30, I went to bed. There's a video camera in the room watching your every move and you are wired for sound (they want to see if you're snooring!) I got up at 5am, they disconnected my wires, I took a shower and went home... The psych eval was easy! First I took a written test of about 120 questions. I just had to answer True False or SOmetimes...they were questions like..."do you ever think of killing yourself?", "Have you ever taken someone elses medications?" Stuff like that. Then I sat and spoke with the psychologist for about 1 1/2 hours. She asked about my weight loss efforts, my family life growing up and about my family situation now. She also asked about my support at home, etc. I hope this helps! If you have specific questions, I'd be glad to try to answer! Marsha

Hi Kimmi, Welcome to LBT! We are glad you found us. Making the decision to have the band is not one I think any of us go into lightly. Most everyone has tried just about every method of losing weight we can think of. Sometimes we are successful. Most of the time we either aren't successful, or we gain the weight back (in my case, we add even more pounds than we took off). I see this as being no different than a person who is addicted to smoking or alcohol. It is very difficult to "kick the habit" and we usually have to reach an all time low point before we finally decide we have had enough and if we want to continue living, be healthy and have a good quality of life, then we have to make that final, life changing decision. For us here, that decision is to acknowledge that we are unable to succeed at the more "traditional" ways of losing weight and we need help. For us, that help comes in the form of our band. It is not taking the easy way out. You still have to make good food choices and you still have to exercise. But, with the band, you have a constant companion who is there to tell you you have had enough and it is time to quit eating. With that being said, I personally feel that if you have proper restriction it is almost impossible to fail with the band. I don't always make great choices, I still eat cheetos and chips and dip. But you know what, even when I do, I still lose because my band does not let me get out of control with the quantity that I eat. It is normal to be nervous before having surgery. But with the band, the risks of not having it probably far outweigh the risks of having it. I think you are making a wise choice. Please check out the stickies at the top of each forum. They have a wealth of information that you will find very helpful as you begin this journey. And, of course, do not hesitate to ask for help and advice. We are all here to support one another.

Aloha Njgurl! I am still losing. According to my doctor prior to surgery, I should have lost around 100 lbs at 1 year and slowed down after that. My problem was that I started loving my wine a little too much after surgery than I ever did before it. What I discovered is that for every week I had some, I would not lose for almost a month afterwards. The moment I stop for at least a week, I start dropping pounds again. The upside to that has been a slower loss than anticipated resulting in less lose skin for me. The downside is the disappointment I feel when the scale does not budge. The motivation comes in wanting to see movement on that scale. Thus, I return to accountability and following my plan like I am supposed to[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] That is why we are warned against alcohol because even if we still eat less, I find that I am not as mindful of carb intake when it comes to snacks with alcohol. I am still working my way towards at least 185. Like my doctor says, it did not take me a short amount of time putting on the weight so dont expect it all to disappear in a short time even with the surgery. I have heard some great success stories but again, everyone's journey is different, therefore we all lose differently. Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Oh my, I just want to hug you. I'm so sorry! I can't imagine your loss and pain. I don't know if I have any suggestions for you except this: Please try to love yourself as much as your sister loved you, please don't turn to alcohol to soften the pain. It's so dangerous for us now. Are you in any form of therapy? I feel like this is a really big thing and maybe too big for me to come up with any helpful words or ideas. Dealing with loss and grief like this, even for people who aren't dealing with what we are, is already so hard. Of course you are struggling and feeling like you are going to drown in the pain. Of course you are turning to other things because our old standby of food for Comfort is gone. I have so much compassion for you, I wish I could help you. Do you have someone to talk to, you said your sister was your best friend, do you have another person in your life you can talk to? I want you to know you can message me, if you need an encouraging word or just want to chat.

I agree! Same goes with alcohol. Each drink is loaded with empty calories. My torture the poor pouch like that, and sabotage your success? Some foods are slippery slopes, but a lot think this surgery will fix everything. People still need to retrain the brain for success.

NO ALCOHOL. The purpose of the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver. Alcohol is directly opposed to that. I would not be able to do any parties right about now. Parties and alcohol will always be here.

I had my sleeve mid January. I waited a month before having any alcohol and only had a glass of wine. At 6 weeks, I had a martini. I drank both the wine and martini slowly over an hour or so. I didn't notice any difference than before my surgery.

I get it (RH=delayed dumping) with all the same symptoms from: 1. Meals with way too much fat/richness. 2. Cheese/meat boards (too much fat in it and the cheese is an issue) 3. Too many carbs/sugar (real ice cream, desserts, too much sugar free dessert, chips, crackers, pretzels, popcorn, rice, bread, fruit, root veggies: potatoes, sweet potatoes) 4. Hidden sugars in restaurant food 5. Too much alcohol It's not enough to be a deal-breaker for me. Just gives me extra incentive to eat "on plan" healthy food that is very lean and low. I'm actually very very happy eating this way and don't miss the old ways. I think it's actually developed and gotten worse the further out I am.

My doctor said no Nyquil because it's got too much alcohol. She said I cab have Dayquil to help with my cold. Again, I couldn't sleep because I have a terrible head cold. Just going to sleep as not the issue!

I am 7 months post op and I have to watch what I eat every day. I still feel the restriction of my sleeve, but if I drink alcohol or make bad choices like eating ice cream with my kid, I don't lose. If you make bad choices, it's easy to put too many calories in a sleeve. But if you choose protein over carbs every day, you should be fine.

Yes, I'm sure alcohol will be my problem when I'm banded. And I've certainly been noticing lately that lots of things that shouldnt be on the menu are much easier to chew up and turn to mush than lots of way healthier foods. But surely its OK to plan a treat every now and then?. Even when you're losing weight, its what you do most of the time that counts. You're supposed to be developing new habits that last you the rest of your life, well normal people dont live on grilled chicken breasts and lettuce leaves forever! What's the worst that can happen, you lose a little less this week? I think one of the most important things is to learn to handle those foods and to fit them into a healthy diet.

Today while I was at work I honestly had to say to myself I am so thankful for my health. When you work in a hospital you think you have seen everything and then there is always something worse. The pain that people suffer, the drug addiction, alcoholism, patients with HIV, miserable infections that antibiotics wont cure, people trying to kill themselves, and the list goes on, I just have to think these aches and pains I have from being on my feet for 12 hours is nothing compared to how these people suffer daily. All the people in ICU on vents being kept alive by a machine. Some of these things just are not right. When you see these things from a medical perspective it really is an eye opener. I never in my life have seen family's who are so selfish to keep someone alive and make them suffer because they don't want to let go. Then they stand outside of ICU and argue about what the patient wants, when in fact it's not at all what the patient wants but what they want. The patients that get me the most are the elderly with dementia whose bodies work so well but their minds don't. It must really be pure hell to have a healthy body but you can't remember who your family is or where you are. I don't take life or my health for granted because it can be gone in a minute. One of my coworkers today had to leave work because her cousin was shot dead in her car because someone tried to car jack the car and she wouldnt open the door. A life gone in less then the time it takes to send a text. Life is hard and people are even harder. I am thankful today and always for everything I have. I will take my bad hip any day then suffer like others do. Take time to be thankful for everything in your life.

You know what has happened to me... over time. I care less and less about my food addiction and more and more about the rest of my life. That doesn't happen overnight and I am FAR from perfect. I am a person who definately has "treats". I probably have one or two alcoholic drinks a week for example. I go out with friends and we sometimes like happy hours etc. I didn't do that during the loss phase, but now that i am in maintenance - it is something I really enjoy - it is a social event and in my world, "normal" behavior. I however KNOW that ice cream is a demon with a red dress on. That stuff is like poison to me... I eat it and can't seem to stop at a reasonable quantity... and then i feel physically sick. So, I don't want to tell people... go ahead and have that martini - because I don't know YOUR world and if you can control it appropriately. I do what works for me and one of the reasons I do 5:2 is so that during my non fast days I don't have to be quite so careful. I don't go crazy, but I feel normal ... and comfortable. I do really believe that people who want to get to goal should take seriously being pretty hard core in those early months... first year or so. My opinion... to each his own though.

What's so hard about this addiction is that we aren't physically able to abstain. Alcoholics can avoid bars/alcohol, drug addicts can completely avoid drugs, smokers can completely cut out cigarettes.. But food addicts can't cut out food unless we are tube fed the rest of our lives. We just have to realize WHAT the issue was before surgery, and try to resolve it. Perfect example is that while you (gamer girl) have a sugar addiction and must avoid all sweets, I've never had a sweet tooth and could take it or leave it. Me on the other had, am a carb addict. I love me some Pasta or bread or mashed potatoes. Plus, my portions were outrageous. As far as the portions go, I weigh my food so I could "empty my plate" without going over. I've slowly been learning that I don't have to empty my plate, and it's ok to leave food over. It comes from my mom and I being poor when I was little, and always being taught to eat everything on my plate. As far as the carbs go, I avoid them, just like you avoid sugar. They are a trigger, and once I have one, I want them all. I'm sorry for rambling! But I think a lot of people "enable" and act supportive is because the second someone uses "tough love", they are pounced on and called "heartless" or an "internet bully", so some refrain from being blunt all together.

I am 31 years old and have basically done whatever I wanted (within reason) whenever I wanted since mid-college. I'm self-employed in the financial industry so I have been able to take off on a vacation, golf, or whatever reasonably easy (since I didn't have to ask my employer first.) This do whatever, whenever is partly why I'm in the shape I'm in, I love to eat... and eat good. One of the things that I'm most worried about is the possibility that I won't be able to drink carbonated beverages such as beer or things that mix with alcohol after surgery. I'm not an alcoholic by any means, but, I have a lot of fun. And drinking on the golf course or during a cocktail hour in business settings has been a big part of my life over the past 10 years. Not to mention, most of my friends like to kick back and drink on the weekends. I'm confused because I have read many things that a lot of folks aren't able to handle alcohol or drink carbonated beverages at all... Yet, I have a good friend who had the surgery and in some ways, I wouldn't hardly notice a difference in his eating/drinking unless he had told me. He still drinks a few beers, drinks a ton of wine, and some mixes and seems to be fine. The main area I can see a difference is that he seems to get drunker quicker. What are your experiences? What is the norm? Is it just that this surgery affects everyone differently? I mean, I am obviously willing to give up some of this for my health for my family... But, I'm just trying to figure out what to expect. Any input is appreciated. Oh, and my surgery is scheduled for this coming Monday. Thanks.

SpecialK, I have the band and I am having it removed due to complications. I seen my dietician and asked her what the differece was with feeling full with the band and feeling full with the sleeve. She explained to me that once the hunger hormone (Ghrelin) is removed then I will feel less hungery all the time and I won't have those dramatic peaks of starvation. I will also not get that chest pain anymore. The sleeve has no device to make things get stuck to feel that pain. You will just feel "normal" with the sleeve since it operates like a regular stomach. The best thing I like is I won't be able to eat more and drink with my meals (you are NOT supposed to do this with the band anyway) bad me..., so with the sleeve if you try to eat too much or drink with it you will end up in pain and throwing up..I do not want that. There is no other part of your stomach to force food into with the sleeve like it is with the band. I do not drink with my meals anymore now, so that is a wonderful thing for me and it was hard for me to train myself to do. I don't even allow a drink on the table when I am eating. I make sure my hubby keeps his close to him and not near my side where I could just pick it up unconsciously and drink it. If you are having problems with head hunger...don't beat yourself up about it. You need to work hard with your counselor and try getting a book called "The Food & Feelings workbook" It is very good and I used it and am using it to help battle my addiction. Also joining groups for food addicts can be very helpful for some. The reason we are all obese or morbidly obese is because we didn't or couldn't control how much we ate. I have never seen a obese person eat 2-3 oz at each meal, exercise 4-5 days a week and say I don't know why I am not thin. If we could control how much we ate we wouldn't need surgery as a tool to help us out. Head hunger won't go away overnight and you will have to work on this addiction for life, as well as any alcoholic or drug addict works on their addiction and staying clean life long. You can still get surgery, but don't expect the surgical TOOL to work if you are not doing your part. I just feel you can keep working on this one day at a time, but you must be committed. That is also why they have surgical support groups. People don't cure their head hunger and get surgery, though that would always be best. But in reality, it isn't like that 95% of the time. We need a tool to help us along. You can make the band work for you if you want to. But it will mean working hard with getting counseling, exercise, going to support groups, and taking it one day at a time. If your band is causing you pain in your chest, first try and eat smaller bites and chew very well. If this doesn't work then maybe you need a slight unfill. Sometimes just .2 cc's is enough to help. Good luck with your weight loss journey whether you keep your band or get another surgery.

Hell No! I have zero cravings for any food, which has to do with 95% of hormone telling your brain to eat is removed with bottom of stomach, there is no dumping, pouch will not stretch, but your esophagus will lose the feeling for having food in it if you overeat. And if you overeat too much you will have to throw up. But you won't get the sitting on the toilet. Alcohol won't make you drunk on 1 drink, and absorption is so much better. No way, sleeve was only choice I would ever make

Well first if you were an alcoholic would he insists that you drink with him? Or would he tell you to take cocaine? No 1 knows what it's like to live in your body except for you. Can you compromise with some of your food choices. I've never eaten deer meat. Does it have to be fried? There are some foods that I don't eat everyday or even once a month. That doesn't mean that I don't eat those foods as a treat on a rare occasion.