Newly banded got some questions...

[DonnaB 3]

I swear I'm not a band Nazi - I totally understand the need to have something good to eat - but I just don't understand it when people go through having this surgery and then don't follow their doctor's orders AT LEAST UNTIL THEIR BODIES HAVE HEALED COMPLETELY. After that, bad choices can usually be overcome by making better choices the next meal or the next day.

Would you press on your port wound a week after surgery just to see if it will still bleed? I don't think so, but by eating the wrong food so early in the game that's exactly what you're doing to your stomach where the band has been stitched - you're pressing on it and straining the stitches. Just because you can't feel it, that doesn't mean it's not causing damage.

I kind of feel like this eating solid or even semi-solid food before your body has healed is a little like driving drunk. You may have gotten away with it today but the odds are that if you do it again and again, you're going to get caught and possibly hurt someone. In this case the person you hurt is yourself. Why would you do that?

I don't understand.

Please don't flame me for this post. I just don't understand and I don't think any amount of explanation will convince me that 'following your instincts' and 'listening to your body' is a good idea IN THIS SITUATION. You don't have nerve endings in your organs. Your body has nothing to 'say' that you'll be able to 'hear'. Besides, with regard to obesity, listening to what your body tells you to do has gotten you . . . where? Hasn't following your own advise up to this point caused you harm? Isn't that likely to continue? This band changed the configuration of your stomach, not your brain.

Having said all that, I do make poor choices on occasion - I'm not perfect and I don't know anyone who is. I just wish you'd all give yourself a chance to heal before testing the waters.

[Quik_Silver1982 0]

You dont need to "understand it" if you are doing fine with your own diet. As for myself and others we are not purposely trying to sabatoge our bands. I'm a week out now and approved for full liquids and mushies. According to some lap band doctors you only need to be on Clear Liquids for one day after you've left the hospital. So it's not that you cant eat full liquids in mushies you just have to be careful not to over do it. And yes, listening to your body IS important. Not everyone here is in their situation because of band choices they've made and it's not entirely their fault for being over weight. So if you say something like "hasn't following your own advice up to this point caused you harm?", you may be only talking about yourself and not everyone else since you only know YOUR experiences and YOUR choices. It's been our advice and our choices thats gotten us to realize we need help and to get the band. It's our band-less mind that will continue to help us make the right choices. Whats right for you is not whats always right for others. So whether or not you "understand it" now, thats the explaination.