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I had my band for 6 years. It was a very rocky road. I had my band removed in May of 2018 and my RNY on 09/24/2018. It has been a wonderful experience so far. I can feel that I am full. I am loosing weight. I'm still on pureed food and my next stage starts 10/29 and I will be on soft foods.

Major success.....went to my annual BP check up this week. BP 101/69!!! Of course my dr said no more meds!! Yay!!! And down 19 lbs since surgery 9/25.

@Rexcom: I started bariatric multivitamins immediately after surgery. My protein goal up until week 10 was 75 mg/day, and I was diligent at meeting that goal daily. At week 10 my protein goal was decreased to 60, and that's where I think things went wrong for me. I started losing hair right around that time, but didn't put 2 and 2 together because I was meeting the prescribed goal. I had my second post-op visit about 2 weeks ago, and the nurse practitioner said I should have stayed at 75 mg. This got me pretty upset because I had been following the instructions in my patient handbook to the letter, and the handbook clearly said to decrease to 60 mg at week 10. Maybe my hair would have been ok if I had stayed at the higher level all along, and maybe my weight loss would have been more consistent (I alternate between long stalls and big drops instead of steady progress). I feel like I wasted 2 months. I increased back to 75 mg and started taking biotin at that point, but no improvement yet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am in the same situation. My surgery is scheduled for 10/29 but still do not have insurance approval. I start my one week pre-op diet tomorrow and I have my pre-op appointment on Wednesday with my surgeon and have my time scheduled off of work. It seems strange to continue through all the final steps without even know if I am approved but the woman who handles the precertification continues to tell me not to worry and seems to be the way they always do it. She seems quite knowledgeable and does not have any concerns the surgery being approved. I am glad she is so calm because I am becoming increasingly anxious by the day regarding the approval. They cut everything so close. I am so ready to have this surgery and would love to know it was approved. Good Luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of us!!

I was in a somewhat similar situation with regards to insurance coverage and time frame. I had to revise from the band to the sleeve because I had esophageal dilation, then all the fluid removed. The entire time my team told me to just not gain weight because I was already under 40 BMI and had no co-morbidities. We set a date, I completed all of the prep and my surgeon submitted the paperwork. I received notice that I still needed to lose 5% and had 2 weeks to lose 10.8 pounds or my surgery would have to be rescheduled (they were booking 2 months out)...Grrrr! I lost 10 pounds in that time frame by following the pre-op diet and daily cardio. Resubmitted, with the thought that it wouldn't be approved because I missed the mark by 0.8 pounds😒. But it was!! It was stressful because I nearly had to weigh-in naked to document the 10.8 pound loss on the very last day the surgery could still be considered, and I was so close (I wouldn't have even need to cut off an arm to make goal!). Sometimes the insurance companies will surprise you and do what is right! I concur, the diet is challenging, but you can do this! I had to follow it for a month (two weeks for the power weight loss sprint, then two weeks truly for the assigned pre-op diet). Yikes! I don't know if it got easier or I just became delirious and convinced myself that I was eating real food, but I survived. You definitely can and will, too!!! Think positive; it is so worth having the mindset that your surgery will progress as planned...so be prepared!😊

Everything you are feeling is totally normal! I had my sleeve on 10/10 and I was FREAKING OUT before then! But I just kept thinking - being morbidly obese is killing me. I am literally saving my life by having the surgery! Just relax and trust in your decision! Good luck!!

Hi All, Any encouragement and advise would be welcomed. I am scheduled to have the sleeve on Monday 10/29 and my case is still being approved by the insurance company. I believe I have met all the requirements but I've heard that the insurance may still fight it. I think the hardest mental part is that I have been on the liquid only diet for 3 days now and it is soooo hard. What is the point of being on the ultra-strict diet if I am not approved. It just makes me feel like spending the day at a buffet. Ok, maybe thats a bit extreme, I'm a bit testy from the diet. So, the diet is hard enough, and thinking I am doing it for nothing, just for now, is even more of a mental F**k. I am a pre-transplant patient (heart damaged from chemo therapy {Adriamycin} 1999) and that is why I have to have the surgery. I am going through Loma Linda University Hospital. They submitted 83 pages of details to the insurance and the insurance company told me that it takes a while to review and I should have an answer by 10/25. OMG! That's right before the surgery date!! Ok, enough ranting..... Has anyone had the insurance approved upon the first review? Any advise about getting through this crazy diet when you may not even have the surgery right now? Encouragement is always appreciated. The other reason why I'm stressing is financial. If they don't do the surgery soon I will have to pay all my deductibles again (up to $8000). Right now I am maxed out I would have no more out of pocket for the surgery. So, between the money and this diet my brain just keeps telling me that it's not worth it and to go get a pizza. Thank you for listening.

I just had the gastric bypass on 10/15 I have not been in any pain at all to where I would need pain medication. I have been getting my walks in and I have been doing my best to get waters and proteins in per day. I came home with a drainage but I get that out on 10/26. I can honestly say it was easier than I thought it was going to be .

Two weeks full liquids, 10 weeks soft food

I’ve told many people about my sleeve surgery (10/10/18). Some were supportive and some were not. I found it an excellent tool to weed out the negative people in my life!! If you can’t be happy for me in my journey to get healthy, then I really have no desire to have an ongoing relationship with you! (Thank God it wasn’t anyone like my husband or mother!!) And that is my favorite thing about this group. Everyone is SO supportive of one another and I just LOVE it!! ❤️

I went to Oktoberfest and walked around for about an hour and a half, I had a sample of sauerkraut (and when i say sample I mean only one or two strings) and a sip of pumpkin beer, it was interesting. My knee did not like all of the walking however, I did all of it, I did try to get a ride from the entrance to the shuttle and I could not get anyone to assist with that. I walked the whole way. My knee was so sore. I came home and I actually was able to do some peddling for 10 minutes after I rested for an hour. I drank a protein shake before I left and had water at the fest, I had cottage cheese when I got home. I am a little sore, but I survived. The whole day is a NSV for me.

7-10 days full liquids, 3-6 weeks purees & soft foods (which they sort of lump together). They gave us a list of soft foods and suggested we work our way down it. (Each level has two things on it.) It starts with cottage cheese and ricotta, then yogurts and Greek yogurts, then sugar-free puddings/custards and soft-cooked eggs, then fat-free refried beans and low-fat tofu, then chicken or turkey made in a crockpot and baked fish that flakes easily (cod, salmon, tilapia, crab), then canned tuna/salmon/chicken and thinly sliced lunch meats, then ground meat and soups (lentil, for example) and chili. I'm on my 6th day of phase II, and I'm good with cottage cheese, ricotta, Greek yogurt, refried beans, and really gloopy tuna salad (made with Greek yogurt and mustard and without anything chunky in it). I cook my eggs thoroughly, so I'm holding off on that, and with the lifting restriction, I'll need someone to move the custard and its water bath into and out of the oven for me, so that's this weekend. Also maybe this weekend: ricotta bake! I'm trying not to rush things, but I'm also trying to work my way up into somewhat denser proteins so that I can drink fewer protein shakes.

I’m 10 months out and just finished dinner, which was 2 eggs, a slice of American cheese, 3 small sausage links and 1 piece of toast. I was right on the edge of painfully full. This minus the toast is a meal I have eaten at least once a day since July. Sounds like you are right on track. Keep track of calories and whatever else your nutritionist wants and try to stay within their limits. I’m in the maintenance phase and average around 2k calories a day. If you eat too much you will KNOW. I dry heaved for 30 minutes last night because I ate one strawberry to many.

Hello everyone. I had my surgery 10/10. I have gotten over almost all of my surgery pain. But today I have had lots of stomach cramps. It’s not like it was when I had diarrhea from full liquid diet. It’s just ongoing cramps all day. Anyone else have that happen or can tell me why or what i can do

Protein brownies (for breakfast subscriptions) 1 banana, 1 egg, 3tbsp chia seeds, 1tsp oil of your choice, 100g protein powder of your choice, 4 tbsp cacao powder, 2 tsp baking powder, dash of sugar sub of your choice, pinch of salt, *optional : nuts,1 tsp powdered psyllium husk (fiber) the key to making this behave like there is flour in it is blending the egg banana water mixture first, then add baking powder to the blender, lastly hand folding the rest of the ingredients in. 10 equal bars = 10 grams of protein (cals may vary depending on individual ingredients used) (Please no lawsuits for uneven protein distribution 😂)

I have a lapband, but I understand your pain. I want to tell you, failing to lose has many causes--I know, I lived on less than 1000 calories a day for years and never lost an ounce. My lapband didn't help me lose much and my first doctor wouldn't give me a fill. So I found another who did. I am practically wheelchair bound (can only hobble around the house). So I started to lose--slowly. the big help was I didn't regain what I lost. One thing I've never heard a doctor explain to me is that excessive hunger can be giving you a message. So many diets I went on ended with me lying in bed, weak and starving within weeks. What I didn't realize was that my body was telling me those diets weren't nutritionally what I needed. I've tried low fat-high fiber, low calorie, vegetarian, all raw salads, lot's of nuts, praying the weight away, self-hypnosis, bodybuilding, lots of exercise...you get the idea. All of them failed because I wasn't listening to my body. When I got so hungry I would eat nails if there was ketchup to put on them, my body was telling me I was on the wrong diet. This isn't a normal,"Gee, that looks tasty." But was more like a weak pathetic cry from my bed that I was dying and had to eat. I kept experimenting and discovered a ketogenic diet helped, but I gained everything back quickly. As I worked with the keto diet, I learned I wasn't drinking enough water, and I wasn't sleeping enough. But the high protein with lots of greens was definitely a better choice than the others. Then I got the lapband, and the slow weight loss with no restriction was discouraging. But it was a tool. And once I got restriction, I used that tool. I mostly stayed on the ketogenic diet. Lots of protein was just a necessity for me. The fat I ate made the diet more enjoyable. The lapband made me eat small bites, or I spent days puking. If I got sick, I had to reduce what I ate because sickness caused my stomach to swell, and I puked. Over the last ten years I've lived on the ketogenic diet, except for two years when I lost control, (I gained 50 pounds and found I had cancer. I believe the sugar cravings after being in control so long were a result of the cancer.) Back in control, and the 50 pounds went away. I've managed to lose 160 pounds. Not a large amount, and I still have over 100 pounds to go. But I am happy not to be the woman I was. I don't know if the ketogenic diet will help you, but I'm sharing my experience to show you have to experiment to find the right diet. And you have to sleep enough to lose weight. So, get the junk out of your house--the chips, crackers, cake mixes, candy, soda, snack food, juices (fruit juice is just liquid sugar water with a few minerals, eat whole fruit instead), and the alcohol (You can go back to 1 drink a day after you've lost weight). And start the eating pattern you feel best on. Just practice eating a healthy diet for a bit. Don't eat much at a time and keep any easy to snack on food (like grapes or nuts) in the refrigerator. Then start working your tool. go longer between small meals, see what happens when you delete starches, or what foods change how you feel. I had to stop vegetarian because beans make me uncontrollably hungry(love those beans, yumm, yumm). Your body is unique, and just because you haven't found what works for you doesn't mean you're a failure. It just means you haven't found the balance of diet, sleep and exercise that works for you. The important thing is NEVER GIVE UP. After 10 years with the band, I'm revising to a sleeve this spring. I love my band, but there is evidence it doesn't do well after 10 years or so. I feel I will do even better on the sleeve.

Wondering what other folks maintenance diets are like? How many calories, what types of foods, number of meals / snacks etc? I'm meeting with my nutritionist to tweak mine, I think I probably need to vary my diet a little bit and figure out how to maintain for the long term. Right now my diet consists of protein centered meals (eggs and sausage for breakfast, ground turkey with sour cream and taco shells for lunch, some kind of lean meat for dinner (4-5 oz) and usually 3 or so snacks throughout the day, which range from pure carbs (pretzels and hummus or chips) to more protein heavy (Greek yogurt). There's certain things I'd like to eat that I really still struggle with due to restriction (vegetables, more than a small amount of fruit and any kind of hard core starch like potatoes, rice or pasta are painful after more than maybe 1 oz). To get enough calories my goto is peanut butter toast, nuts or sometimes a protein shake smoothie. Daily calories for me are around 2,000 and probably vary from 1500 - 2500 depending on what I'm doing. At that level I'm slowly losing weight What's your program like? can/could you eat stuff like potatoes in any quantity 10 months out?

I had the same starting weight (304) and some similar NSAID issues (have inflammatory arthritis). After talking to the DR I went with a sleeve, but knew I'd need to work hard to make sure I got the weight loss I wanted out of it. It's been 10 months and I'm VERY glad I made that decision. Here are some key points to think about: - I eat out a lot for work, so wanted to be able to continue that. The sleeve lets me do this, albeit with a smaller portion, the bypass wouldn't have - I NEED NSAIDs unfortunately, right now I'm having a severe flare up of arthritis and am using NSAIDS, which are ok with the sleeve per my surgeon (just liquid caps VS pills). If I couldn't take them I'd be on some other much more severe drugs. - I can eat a somewhat normal and varied diet. This is important, especially now that I've hit goal and am struggling a bit to keep weight on (I'm very active). I think I'd have a serious problem with the bypass and my physical activity would be limited if I wanted to maintain weight. I do a mostly protein diet now with some fruits and vegetables and limited carbs. - I was worried about long term nutrition and with the sleeve I'm able to maintain my nutritional levels mostly via diet (I have to take a multi vitamin). I would sit down with your surgeon and ask them what they would do in your situation. That's what I did and he didn't hesitate when he said do the sleeve. The surgery was fairly easy and recovery was quick. I'm sure the bypass would have also been effective, but am really happy with what I chose to do and glad that I can be sort of normal now.

I picked a number that I had previously been at and felt like I was a good weight and on the edge of 'too thin' (could see my ribs). I chose 190 based on that. My practice doesn't really emphasize the goal and didn't even write it down. As I got close to 200 my nutritionist started to talk about stopping losing weight. One thing I didn't take into account with 190 was that I now have some excess skin (thankfully it's not bad), but that skin weighs something and I can't lose it normally. That means that 190 now might be closer to 180 or 175 then, which was WAY too thin. After talking with the DR and nutritionist they suggested around 200 lbs because visually i was a good weight and athletically I was in great shape, which was the goal. BMI is useless for me because I have a long torso and a lot of muscle. I have struggled a bit to maintain around my goal and when I dip into the lower 190's I can tell, i don't feel good and it effects my athletic performance, around 200 is perfect. Right now I'm fighting to stay at 200 because I'm very active and now when I'm busy I forget to eat I can accidentally drop 5 - 10 lbs quickly and then have to fight to gain it back (doing that now). So short answer is you can pick a number to start, it doesn't' really matter. What does matter is when you get close to a healthy weight listening to your team and your body to find what 'feels' right for you and looks good. I would recommend trying to pick a weight to stay at after the lose phase is over so you can make sure you don't start regain or lose too much if you're still in that first 18 or so months when it's easy to lose.

I am one who disappeared. I lived on this site for several months in 2008 (when I got my band. I actually lived here for over several months before, learning what I had to do and getting new habits in place. Stopping soda was hard. Going completely sugar free was harder. By the time I had the surgery done, I was already eating like a bandster. I think I stayed active on the site for a year or so after that. I wasn't an ideal lapband candidate because I spent so much time in a wheelchair due to Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Weight loss was slow, but after the first year I found a doctor locally who gave me fills. Did the lapband force me to lose weight?-- no. But it kept me from regaining much. That was fine with me. I'd dieted and lost weight hundreds of times, but it always came back with more. So I lived a low carbohydrate life-- green veggies, an occasional tiny slice of melon or bowl of berries, protein powder smoothies and meat and eggs. I could only lose weight if I went below 1000 calories, and I did that a few weeks at a time. I tried many exercise programs, but my health prevented most of them, so my weight loss was slow. Sometimes I cheated and ate normally, and gained a few pounds. But mostly, the weight loss held. Fast forward to now. I have lost 160 pounds, and have 100 more I should lose. But my band has slipped and I can't have fills until it is checked. Tomorrow I go in for the endoscopy. I've read a lot of stories about how problems can develop after 8-10 years. And I am there. So I have decided to opt for the sleeve. My doctor says I need to wait until spring because I had a stroke, and he wants my body to recover. I hear there isn't the problem of being stuck. I feel I will have to be careful not to make my stomach stretch, but that was a consideration with the band also. I'm already used to chew, chew, chew, and having my food cut into tiny pieces. I know that hobbling helps food go down (I can't walk right anymore) The band has been good to me and I've developed good habits. I think it might be easier to lose weight with the sleeve. My doctor actually wanted me to have a sleeve ten years ago, but insurance wouldn't cover it. I hope they don't have to remove the band early and let my body heal before switching to the sleeve. But if they do, I hope my good habits will keep me from regaining much. I can't encourage people enough, early in their band journey they need to follow the rules and make them habit. I was told by my doctor to cut everything the size of a pencil eraser. I still make mistakes and get stuck, but it always goes down. The only time the band swelled completely shut was during cancer treatment, the week before I started chemo. I had an appointment to get the band emptied, but it swelled shut 4 days before. Couldn't even swallow my saliva. Something everyone should know--when you get sick, the band swells. be it the flu or cancer, the stress from your body will cause the band to swell. Sometimes, food getting stuck was the first symptom I'd notice. So if you get sick, eat more liquid food--smoothies, soups, and drinks allowed on your diet plan. I make my smoothies with milk/cream, a carrot (not exactly okay on low carb, but I can get away with it) protein powder, and maybe a leaf of chard. I never could stomach a green smoothie, but a dab of greens in the smoothies is not noticeable. So I'll haunt the place for a bit and disappear again. For me, the lapband has been a good experience.

ahhhhhh to be a newbie/virgin again i remember when!! newbie since 2011 virgin.....19.....🤣 good luck congrats on surgery kathy

Miz60 I’m doing something similar 16 oz Water but adding my collagen peptides to my coffee 40 calories-and 10 grams Protein. Then waiting to do Breakfast at 11ish. When I do this lunch at 2:30 dinner at 6:15 or so. then water and sf ice pops till bed. I’m not doing Snacks much anymore wich is good. I think my mid day snacking was my downfall

Give it time. You will need to get closer to goal before relief. My arthritis doc said that for every 10% of total weight you lose, you will feel incrementally better. He's so far been dead on target. My bursitis in each hip and my SI joints are so much better as is the DDD stuff. Hope you start feeling it soon. Congrats (major congrats) on coming so far, so quickly!!

Well, I'll continue to post into the ether. Cuz you know...that's how I roll--just me and the crickets (and gobs of ketogenic protein=60g and "high fat"=about 35g-ish, hehe) I miss all my IF buds. I repeat, that my way is the ONLY way -- that works for me. *snick* I do not think anyone should do things this way. Cuz you need to figure out and find your own way, and I honestly believe there are many paths to health. The goal is for each of us to pick one of those paths and follow it--and I will cheerlead the crap out of your journey and prolly be mildly jealous of your gorgeous food! (even though I'm enormously satisfied with my path). Still waiting today to see about my re-test on the potassium. It's kinda a PIA, and unsettling. I don't like things hanging over me to do and the doc is almost 1 1/4-1 1/2 hours away. So it is "a process." LOL. I don't know what time I will end up eating because of this--no idea if I need to be fasting...but if I haven't heard by 10:30am will call them again to find out. Weight is down. I'm now at 152.6lbs and it feels good. Trying not to get excited about the proximity to 1st Goal. Just trying to keep my head down. What do you have planned for the weekend? Anything fun? We're just staying home and catching up with stuff. I was told not to do anything strenuous which is so fu*king ambiguous. LOL. But I'm betting doing the dishes and laundry do not make it onto the strenuous list...just walking in the park at the lake up down hills, or continuing my "jogging" progression, you know--just the fun stuff. All menial schleppy-type jobs are still okey dokey. LOL. *snort*

I have never been made to feel so inadequate in my life. I am so disappointed in the way Brian Gary treated me. I received the gastric sleeve surgery from him on 09/12/2017. From the beginning, my very first visit with him was not very pleasant. I should have taken that as the red flag it was and taken my business elsewhere, but against my better judgement I preceded with him as my weight loss doctor. He didn't feel I needed the surgery. I would have rather him tell me he will not perform my surgery and for me to get another doctor. My visit with him on 10/17/18 proved to be the most disrespectful way I have ever been treated by anyone, especially my doctor. I have not lost but about 34 pounds in the year since my surgery and saw on this day I gained 11 of those pounds back. Already feeling bad enough, he made me feel much worse with the remarks he made to me. He told me I failed, there was nothing else he could do for me, maybe I could get on the Medifast diet with Dr. Jernigan and he didn't have to see me anymore. Really! The Medifast diet, after I have put myself through weight loss surgery. Instead of him asking what the problem might be and let's see how we can fix this, he humiliated me. I told him my sleeve has never restricted my food intake the way it should, not even from the very beginning. The hunger was still there and if it were not for the scars on my stomach, I wouldn't think I had weight loss surgery. I asked him if he removed the 75% of my stomach the way he was suppose to, he didn't give a yes or no answer, instead he said your sleeve is the same size as the lady I just saw and she's already lost 80 pounds. Talk about adding insult to injury. He told me people who don't do what they are suppose to do always find excuses. He never once offered to run an endoscopy, barium or any other test to see what might be causing the lack of weight loss I'm experiencing. Sure there are things I could have done better. I am new to this and needed my doctor's help, but instead I got turned away and told I was a failure and he didn't have to see be again. Your weight loss doctor is suppose to be a life time relationship to keep you on track and to make sure you are having no problems, like leaks, nutrient or vitamin deficiencies along with other problems that can come with weight loss surgery. I m having hair loss, bruising and pitching in my stomach, but did not feel comfortable telling him these things, because to me he just didn't care one way or the other. The bariatric group I am a member of could not believe this. These people had their surgery before me, some during the same time as me and others after me and have lost anywhere from 70 to over a 100 pounds. Most of them still can't eat more than a few mouthfuls. When I told him I can take in more food than I should be able to, he said the stomach is a muscle and it stretches. This is not supposed to happen this fast, maybe some years down the road, but not right after you have surgery. My group asked me about my labs with him, I asked what labs? I have never done lab work in his office. I spoke with my insurance company and they have given me the green light to seek another weight loss doctor. I pray all was done right and it is a simple fix. I am not a failure, I feel my sleeve and doctor failed me. I pray he does not make anyone else feel this way.