Lap Band put in last Week and I FEEL GREAT!!

[Andy Dufresne 0]

Hey everyone!

I am obviously new to this site. I googled "Lap band message board" and this was the first place that popped up. I must say that it looks like there are many resources here and plenty of help and support to get me through this. Thanks in advance!

I had the LapBand put in 8 days ago by a well referred surgeon in Boston (Dr. Malcolm Robinson at Brigham and Women's), and It's been an awesome experience. From the moment I came to from surgery, I haven't had any pain at all- Just discomfort and some uncomfortableness due to the air they pumped into me for the surgery. Once the Air passed through my system (Felt like 16 hours of labor!) I have felt like a million bucks and feel as strong as I did before the surgery. Up until today, I have been strictly on liquids and completely abiding by the dietary guidelines.

Well, today I decided to be brave. Ive had about 20 Green olives, 4 whole pickles, and some very thick and creamy Soup. (Of course I chewed everything up to a pulp before swallowing) and everything is going down great with nothing coming back up, and no dumping. As I said before, my body feels %100 now and I really feel the same way I did before the surgery. I lost about 20 Lbs pre-surgery, and about 15 since the surgery...Soooooo...Ive gone from 280 to 245 in the last month or so (I am 5 foot 10) and I feel so good; I havent been down this low in at least 5-6 years. I can fit in size 38 pants now, My shirts look good on me and dont look like they were painted onto my chest. I looks and feel GREAT and I am pumped up to lose another 50-70 pounds.....I like what I've done and where I am going.

Well, here is my question after my long post. I am only 8 days removed from the surgery, but as I said before everything feels great and nothing feels wrong at all. I am eating things I probably shouldn't be eating at this point, but in doing so I am finding that I can obvious consume more than just the liquids that are advised in my dietary guidelines. I am obviously chewing everything down to where it is passing through the lapband with no problems......Is that the only thing I should worry about? I figure by this point the swelling has gone down and my body has accepted the hardware. Do I need to worry about my body breaking food down? Because I assume once it goes past the lapband it gets broken down the same way as before as long as it is passing through. Now to clarify, I'm not going to go wolfing down a burger, pizza, bread, or anything crazy lol..........but the thought IS crossing my mind to have little samples of food here and there that I'm not supposed to at this point.

Again, is it OK to keep eating solid foods as long as my body keeps accepting them? Obviously if my body has a problem with them it will tell me quite fast LOL. What is the harm and/or risk I can run by not just drinking liquids over the next week, and then going to mushy foods next week. As I said before, by body is accepting everything just fine and I feel great. Can I stretch the lapband out and would that be bad? Am I supposed to be shrinking my whole stomach by drinking all these fluids? I know I probably should have gotten these answers from my surgeon and the nutritionist, but I figure you guys can set me straight.

All advice is welcome, and thanks again in advance.

[smc503 0]

Hi Andy,

I also had lapband by BWH surgeon Dr. Ali T......name to long and to hard to spell. I have been feeling great too. I am 6 days post lap band and as you, I am doing the liquid diet and I had my breaking point today. I tried some food too and was wondering if other people found it easy to do the 2 weeks with just liquids. So I'm glad to hear that I am not the only one. I spoke with my surgeon today, the main reason for the liquids is post op swelling can last up to 2 weeks. One of the biggest things that will mess up your lapband is throwing up. It can reposition or change its position which can cause a problem. Carbonated beverages can stretch the lapband as well. Also if there is still welling at the band site the opening could be smaller than what you're eating and something could get stuck. If things get stuck it could back up and cause you to throw up. That is my understanding anyway. Also if there is no swelling then the band is totally open and you don't really have any restriction so if you eat reg food, then you are going to stop loosing as much weight as you have been. I believe we don't actually get the band filled til 6 weeks post op-so in six weeks of eating food with no restriction you may see some of that weight loss disappear. I am trying to keep my cheating to a minimum -but trying to keep sane as well bc the desire for real food is so great. Also cooking dinner for my family is so difficult not to pick at their food while I'm cooking. Tonite I had a few bites of homemade mac and cheese and some of a choc chip cookie!Yikes! But that got me thru. One thing I keep telling myself is it is so easy to self sabotage, when u know you can cheat it is so much more tempting. I keep trying to tell myself 1 more week of liqs is worth the outcome, so I am going to say the same to you. Try to keep the reg food to a minimum until you see your MD at your post op check-you will be much happier with the results if you do.

Hey everyone!

I am obviously new to this site. I googled "Lap band message board" and this was the first place that popped up. I must say that it looks like there are many resources here and plenty of help and support to get me through this. Thanks in advance!

I had the LapBand put in 8 days ago by a well referred surgeon in Boston (Dr. Malcolm Robinson at Brigham and Women's), and It's been an awesome experience. From the moment I came to from surgery, I haven't had any pain at all- Just discomfort and some uncomfortableness due to the air they pumped into me for the surgery. Once the Air passed through my system (Felt like 16 hours of labor!) I have felt like a million bucks and feel as strong as I did before the surgery. Up until today, I have been strictly on liquids and completely abiding by the dietary guidelines.

Well, today I decided to be brave. Ive had about 20 Green olives, 4 whole pickles, and some very thick and creamy Soup. (Of course I chewed everything up to a pulp before swallowing) and everything is going down great with nothing coming back up, and no dumping. As I said before, my body feels %100 now and I really feel the same way I did before the surgery. I lost about 20 Lbs pre-surgery, and about 15 since the surgery...Soooooo...Ive gone from 280 to 245 in the last month or so (I am 5 foot 10) and I feel so good; I havent been down this low in at least 5-6 years. I can fit in size 38 pants now, My shirts look good on me and dont look like they were painted onto my chest. I looks and feel GREAT and I am pumped up to lose another 50-70 pounds.....I like what I've done and where I am going.

Well, here is my question after my long post. I am only 8 days removed from the surgery, but as I said before everything feels great and nothing feels wrong at all. I am eating things I probably shouldn't be eating at this point, but in doing so I am finding that I can obvious consume more than just the liquids that are advised in my dietary guidelines. I am obviously chewing everything down to where it is passing through the lapband with no problems......Is that the only thing I should worry about? I figure by this point the swelling has gone down and my body has accepted the hardware. Do I need to worry about my body breaking food down? Because I assume once it goes past the lapband it gets broken down the same way as before as long as it is passing through. Now to clarify, I'm not going to go wolfing down a burger, pizza, bread, or anything crazy lol..........but the thought IS crossing my mind to have little samples of food here and there that I'm not supposed to at this point.

Again, is it OK to keep eating solid foods as long as my body keeps accepting them? Obviously if my body has a problem with them it will tell me quite fast LOL. What is the harm and/or risk I can run by not just drinking liquids over the next week, and then going to mushy foods next week. As I said before, by body is accepting everything just fine and I feel great. Can I stretch the lapband out and would that be bad? Am I supposed to be shrinking my whole stomach by drinking all these fluids? I know I probably should have gotten these answers from my surgeon and the nutritionist, but I figure you guys can set me straight.

All advice is welcome, and thanks again in advance.

[Jess55 97]

You should follow the guidelines set by your doc. I am 5 weeks post op and while on my post op diet regimen, yes I did have a few things I shouldn't but for the most part I followed the diet from liquids to pures to mushies and then solids. Your body is healing and you shouldnt be eating so much real food yet