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I am only 6 weeks post op...so I really remember that feeling: excited AND nervous! This surgery is the best thing I've ever done. I have done EVERY diet and gained and lost the same 20 lbs for the past 20 years. My surgery went really well...and I healed very quickly. Some of the things I did (not necessarily on my surgeon's list...but I did them anyway!) I drank organic aloe vera juice 24 hrs post op and continued for 30 days. It's VERY healing. If you buy the EXPENSIVE brand, which is George's (available at health food stores) it tastes just like water. I also started taking arnica immediately after surgery. Great for healing and not bruising! It's difficult to get your water in, but it's very important. I couldn't handle the broth (yuk) but I ate sugar free jello and popsicles that were fruit...with no sugar added. It was good to get my first meal 10 days post op!! Now, even if I try a bite of something I'm not supposed to have....I know how limited I am for space in my new small stomach, so I can't try much more than a bite of any forbidden food!! I'm eating breakfast: either an egg, or a protein shake, or a half skinned apple with peanut butter. I LOVE soup for lunch and I make a chicken tortilla soup with lots and lots of beans and some salsa and spices (great protein) and for dinner I usually have fish, or chicken or turkey with a little cooked veggies. In between, I'll have a small amount of protein shake or some peeled fruit. My clothes are getting baggy....which I love. My only worry is because I'm in my 60's I'm already noticing some extra facial wrinkles and sags I've lost 39 lbs in 6 weeks (no required loss pre-op). Good luck to you....I know it will go well!

I start my 10 day pre-op diet on Sunday. Can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I'm almost to the point where I'm so sick of "I'm eating this (insert bad food) for the last time" phase that I am ready for the pre-op diet. I've gained 10 pounds since I scheduled my surgery! So pathetic! Anyway, for whatever reason I am worried about my pre surgery appointment with my primary care. I don't know why, but I'm scared that they will find something that will delay my surgery. I hope not - so I'm trying to focus my mind that it is going to happen on the 3rd. Anyway, to all those out there jumping on the pre-op diet I wish you well!

Due to my size, I do the shakes 3 weeks pre-op and one week post-op, have to say that I am doing better than I expected. The shakes are really good and I don't get hungry. They want me to have 250 cals from veggies (low gi ones) and lots of water. Today was day 10, down just over 8lbs. You will find your strength because you want this procedure so much to help make you healthy and happy. I am on this train and it's full speed ahead! Come on Sept 3!

I enjoy it. In fact, I love them. It's substantive confirmation of how hard I'm working to get the best results out of my surgery. My last successful weight loss attempt on my own before surgery was over 10 years ago, when I was able to get down to 130 pounds. I was even able to hold on to that weight for close to two years. I loved the compliments and attention. I love how I felt. It was an amazing time. But then inevitably, the weight slowly started packing on again, plus more. The compliments suddenly went away, and there was just silence. A terrible awful silence. I had worked so hard to get to that place, but I just couldn't hold onto it. It really did me in, emotionally, physically. After that I just couldn't summon the strength to do it again, and so I went on to become my highest weight ever at 248. Now, after weight loss surgery, I'm only 45 pounds away from that 130 I was before. The compliments I've been receiving already are so wonderful, because it's finally displaced that terrible, awful silence. And I can't wait to be reacquainted with the 130 pound woman I was before, because I've really missed her. Those compliments are concrete proof of how far you've come. So it doesn't matter how far you still have to go. Enjoy where you are now, give yourself a little pat on the back, and bask in the knowledge that it's only going to get better!

Congrats! My date is October 19.

Try EAS AdvantEdge, they are low carb high protein, 110 cal, 17 grams protein. They are the only ones I can drink. I'm over 10 months out and still drink 1-2 a day to get the protein in. I couldn't stand any you mix or the Isopure that everyone raves about. Everyone has different tastes, keep trying til you find one you like.

Not counting calories is where I completely disagree with your dietician to a point. Calories absolutely do matter, and the lower you can keep them the more you will lose. However, if you are eating 80g of LEAN Protein per day and keeping under 30 net carbs coming from non-starchy veggies, your calories should still be fairly low. That is, if you don't add in other things like sauces, dressings, cheeses, etc to what you are eating. I say this not just as someone who is very strict with themselves, but someone who has charted weight for a group of women who had the sleeve at the same time I did last year. There are six of us who all started out at approximately the same weight, are within a 10 year age range (none of us over 40), and had the same co-morbidities before surgery. Three of us counted calories while the other three based their diets solely on counting carbs and protein. Out of the three of us who were restrictive, I was the most restrictive, never eating more than 800 calories in one day and averaging 75g of protein and only 30g net carbs from non-starchy sources. The results: those of us who counted calories and kept them low lost more weight over our counterparts who did not watch calories. Out of the three of us who did watch calories, I lost the most. One year out, I am only 6 pounds from my goal weight, while the other two who were restrictive with calories are 25 and 34 pounds away from goal. Those who only counted protein and carbs and did not restrict calories still have an average of 75 pounds of weight to lose (+/-15 pounds). Calories absolutely DO matter, and if you are not losing it is probably because your calories are too high. You are NOT eating enough protein, and you are NOT eating frequently enough. If you are having trouble eating because you fear gaining the weight, you might need to seek counselling for a disorder called Post-Surgical Eating Avoidance Disorder. It is more common than people in the WLS community want to talk about. Otherwise, it shouldn't be that hard at your stage to squeeze in 75g of protein for less than 400 calories per day, and you can fill the other 400 with low-carb items such as vegetables, a little bit of good fat, etc. You don't have to eat six times per day, but you need to eat frequently enough to get your baseline protein. Hope this helps!

@@pamsmpk how is your dh about it now? My husband is not at all impressed but I'm doing it anyway. I'm 43 and have been thinking about it for 10 years. I have 2 boys ages 17 and 11 N a daughter who will be 15 next month. I'm so anxious to get the surgery done and get on with my life. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Most surgeons don't want to do the sleeve for people with significant GERD. If you have it, it get's worse. If you don't have it, you have a 10% chance of having it after surgery. Bypass seems to be the surgery of choice for GERD sufferers. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I am currently organising my wedding (which is 2 months away) and am having a generally stressful time in all other areas of my life (work, my relationship, my friends and so on). I've no appetite at all, but I am making myself eat 3 times a day because I know I have to, I'll get sick otherwise. But I have found that even found that eating half of what I normally do is making me feel quite ill. I'm not PBing, but I have a teerrible aching feeling in my stomach. I am worried though, last night I was drinking a glass of Water about 2.5 hours after dinner (had maybe 200mls) and I felt a horrible ache in my stomach. I paced around my house for about 10 minutes and then had to run to the bathroom where I dry retched. In the end only a little water came up, no food. I am SO stressed out right now and it is not only having an affect on my relationship, but its seems also my band :eek: Has anyone else experienced this, and how did you fix it (the band side of things I mean). I know I'm not too full - its not that at all.

Diet V8 Splash berry Blend Wanted to pass on that I think this is delicious. Cheap = $1.38 for 2 quart bottle. Lots of Vitamin A and C and some Vitamin E. Only 3 carbs and 10 calories a serving. I'm starting the 10-day pre-op diet and found this at WalMart. By the coloring, looks like it will taste like regular V8 but it has a nice berry flavor.

Hello everyone!! I am so excited, my surgery was on Friday...already I've lost 10 lbs, and not hungry....it is truly amazing. I wasn't feeling too well last night, I think I took in way too few calories and over exerted my self a little, live and learn..this is going to be a completely new learning experience. I haven't told hardly anyone because my boss was very negative when I told her, so for now I'm keeping it to myself. I'd love to hear about everyone's initial experiences.:regular_smile:

I want to thank you all for being so very brave to allow all of us "soon to be's" to use your experiences. I am scheduled for Lap Band on 10/13 and so ready to start this new chapter in my life.

I was banded on 7/3 also at Crown Point, the nurses there were great, it is a new facility, and not very far from my house. Dr. Kirshenbaum is fantastic, two days after my surgery (Saturday am) I had a question, called his cell phone and he returned the call almost before I got sat back down. I had a list of questions that I had taken with me to my first appt., he was very informative, patient, and didn't rush thru everything. His staff is also very friendly. Is your consultation and surgery on 10/22? Good luck with your trip and surgery. Let us know how things go.

Mine sounds kind of like yours Donna. Mine will bet irregular and hard, skip a beat and seems to flip-flop. The longest it has done this is for an hour. It is very scary when it is happening, but it doesn't happen often. I was sent to a cardiologist and when the results came back my pcp looked at them and said we didn't need to treat it unless it was bothering me. It doesn't happen enough to warrant medicine, so I am currently unmedicated. This makes my dad CRAZY. He has it and now has a defibrillator thing that keeps his regulated. I guess that is where I will be 10-20 years from now.:smile:

I eat about 2000 a day to maintain my 148lb - I'm 5ft 10 and run for 40 minutes to an hour most days. I eat carbs too! Bread, Pasta, rice.

LOL - I eat healthy - I don't diet - I follow the rules - I exercise - My signature on LBT is Eat Healthy + Exercise + Band = Success - It's what got me where I am today - I feel 10 yrs younger - have 100% more energy - Living and Loving Life I have been a lucky (knock wood) with my band - if I lost it - would convert to sleeve

I'm starting to get nervous! I've already been trying to cut back and watch what I'm eating and slowing down on sodas. I know this is all things I'm going to have to do, so I'm taking the steps now so I don't go into shock when I actually HAVE to do it. I know I get to skip a couple steps like sleep study and gallbladder since I've already had my gallbladder removed and am already on a CPAP machine. I'll have to go through a 3 month Dr. supervised diet for my insurance. I just I'm just rambling on and on. I keep thinking...what if I do really good on this diet and the insurance says, you can do it on your own??? I've got over 200 lbs to lose and I've gotten to the point where I KNOW I can't do this alone. I've started and dropped Weight Watchers more times than I can count... My husband doesn't really approve of WLS, but keeps saying he will support me in any decision I make for myself. But I have noticed that he is not very open to me talking about it. He doesn't stop me, but I can just tell he's not really listening to me. Although I do believe he is making an effort. I will have a big support system in my niece, who is hopefully coming to live with me before my surgery. I also have a cousin who had lapband about 10 years ago, and she's a big support as well, although she lives 400 miles away but is always a phone call away. I know this surgery (or any other WLS) is not a cure all and that it will be like a walk in the park to lose weight afterwards. I know I will have to work harder than I've ever worked at anything in my life. But I worked very hard to have my son. And if I went through that, I can go through this so that I can be the mother I want and need to be to him. I don't want to be a mother on the sidelines. I want to be right in the middle of it!! Right now, I don't go to movies or concerts or ballgames or anywhere like that. I'm too big to fit in the seats. I can't go into a store and buy clothes. I have to order my clothes online. I have a horrible time finding shoes due to my feet being so wide and fat. I even have a hard time finding socks for goodness sake!! Those are all the reasons I'm doing this and more. I want to be off my CPAP machine. I'm afraid I'm beginning to have high blood pressure. I don't want to go on meds for that. I want to be able to go in a store and buy an outfit. I want to be able to take my son to the park and actually PLAY with him instead of sitting on the bench watching him. I want to be able to go to a concert and not worry about fitting in the seat or crowding out the person next to me. Thank you all for your time in reading this and letting me vent. I actually feel better now that I got this off my chest!

Ok so I finished all the pre op stuff and the doctors office called and said the they got the insurance approval and I meet with the doctor on April 19! How soon afterward do you usually have surgery! ?

i agree with shazam but i know if i eat more than what my lap band is telling me i might as well go to the bathroom and wait for the spit up as i call it. i take what i didnt eat and just throw it in the trash. i know in about 10 min's my brain will be satisfied and happy. it takes just a min. to throw it away and if you have to, put it in the garbage disp. don't save it . it will only make your brain go to it in the refrig. protein drinks are a great way to fill satisfied in between meals if you have to.

I wanted to say thank you to every who has "liked" my story or left a comment. I never realized how important the comments are until today. I realized that I read over them every now and then to kindof refresh my motivation. It's been a FaceBook heavy day today and I really really realized how much the support means to me... especially on days when I'm fighting myself, I'm down, or just not motivated to exercise. In my constant search of the web to learn everything I'll ever want to know on every topic, I found an exciting sleeved foodie blog. I was so very excited to have found until I realized I had read the entire thing in about 5 minutes. This person was sleeved and in 1 year went from a size 30 to a size 22/24. I was so shocked I re-read it a few times... I checked the dates... I looked at the photos. I was very confused. She's happy with her loss, says she'd do it again in a heartbeat. And in the 1 year follow up post mentioned something about never getting around to incorporating exercise into her daily routine but "maybe one day"... I realize I have no room to criticize anyone... I know this could very well be me one of these days... all of that being said... I have to say... this has been the biggest kick in my rear to find my motivation to exercise. I'm self pay. I'll be paying my parents back for the rest of their lives for the $12,900 that this surgery cost me/us. This is a major surgery and I cannot take it lightly... and I refuse to fail because I'm too lazy to exercise. Over the last two weeks I have been walking the dogs to the lake and back (about 1.7 miles... but more importantly, about 45 minutes per trip). My little Corgi dog Zoee has been the most motivating workout partner I've ever had. Those big brown eyes guilt trip me into taking her for a walk any time I'm thinking about weaseling out of it. I'm always glad we went by the time we get to the corner of the street. Today I bought a bicycle (Huffy Cruiser) to keep variety in my options... Or really, just to keep me moving. I took it for a maiden voyage around the block (about 2 city blocks). I survived and made it home safely. Scared the boyfriend half to death because I am a very clumsy girl... he said he gave me 10 minutes to make it back home before he was going to drive around the block to find where I wiped out. LOL! Just buying the bike was an experience in and of itself... I actually had the guy ahead of me at the check out flirt with me. Such an opposite of a teen experience I had (being ridiculed by a truck full of guys for taking the dog for a walk). All in all, I am very happy with the experience. I keep finding myself making future plans that involve seeming dangerous items... I want a set of quad skates so I can get the puppies running. Once I can make the walk in about 20-25 minutes I want to start the C25K program. I want a Kayak so I can work my upper body and enjoy the lake. These are insane exercise thoughts... I feel possessed! LOL! I hope they stick around. So while I'm really sorry that sleeved foodie blogger didn't have the results that I want for myself... I am grateful for her blog... it's really been the boot in my tooshy that I needed to really realize Sleevie is not going to do the work for me... But Sleevie is my friend who will handle the food part... This will leave me open to find the physical activities that I enjoy. =)

Ugh! I am so frustrated. The scale hasn’t moved in two weeks! I don’t know what to do. I’m 5 months post op. I’m eating about 700 calories a day. Doc wants me up to 1000, but it’s been tough to get there. I haven’t had a whole lot of energy the past month, but I upped my protein shakes to twice a day and that has helped with my energy considerably. I admit I haven’t been too strict with my diet relying mostly on the tiny portions that I eat keeping me in check, which they have in the sense that I’m not getting very many calories. I do try and make sure I’ve gotten my protein in each day, and my water. I just don’t see how 700 calories a day can keep me at 185lbs for 2 weeks without so much as one pound lost. I have been loosing slow from the get go and now its trickling to a hault. I’m 50lbs down since surgery but my weight loss can’t already be stopping. Can it? Please advise. Or share you similar story. HW 238, SW 230, CW 185 Surgery date September 19, 2019

I'm almost 3 weeks out and have been able to eat most anything that I've tried. I can't eat much. Maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup of whatever it may be. I'm also noticing that as time goes by I get full much easier. I'm getting maybe 600 calories a day. I am progressing my diet as I see fit. There's a lot of foods that I want but think it may be too soon to have them, so I wait. Don't you just love all the "well-wishers" that inform you that you will hurt your sleeve, you will ultimately fail if you don't do (fill in blank) in just the order they think is best, and ask how you could even think of eating ( another fill in the blank) at this stage? Please post pics of your medical license people. I've lost 21 lbs in 19 days and I'll continue to eat what I see fit when I see fit to do it. I'm still very early on and having no problems other then itchy incisions that I suppose will heal fully any day now. I say eat what you can easily tolerate, eat until you are full then quit, and be happy if someone else can eat a bit more than they anticipated. Personally, I just want a burrito.

At 2 weeks out i could eat half an egg. I am 3 weeks out now and i can get down about 3/4 of the egg, but that is over about a 30 min period. Made chili for dinner last night and i could eat about 1/4 cup, which was hard cuz it tasted sooo good! Maybe if you try to take longer time to eat, 10 min is pretty fast, you will feel full sooner. If you are really concerned call your nut and ask.

Title says it all.... I knew this wasn't going to be easy but its only 9:15 and I'm starving. Thinking I'll have to eat a jello at 10 or I won't make it till lunch!