New to this...

[wanabskinnyb 0]

Hi,

My name is Michelle and I am 33 years old. I am seriously considering having Lap-Band surgery. I have my first appointment on next Tues. Here is my question...I obviously like food, or I would not be in this situation, so for those who have had the surgery, how do you get thru the days that you just want to eat? I really enjoying the tastes of different foods and I am really nervous about not being able to eat foods that I enjoy again. That is my only hang up on having this surgery, so any advice is appreciated.

Also, I am a nurse which requires alot of physical work, so how long should I prepare to be out of work for this surgery?

Thanks for your help.:thumbup:

[Jodi_620 37]

There is very little that I can't eat, I just can't overdo it. All of us like food, that is what brought us here. Once you make it through the pre-op and post-op diets you should be able to eat most things. Some things may take much more work to get down and so they may become less desirable than they once were (pizza is one of them for me).

Head hunger is something that you would have to deal with yourself. My cravings came mostly from eating a diet high in carbs so I cut out white carbs like Pasta, rice, bread and sugar and as long as I stick with that, my head hunger is quite controllable. If you are an emotional/stress eater then you will need to deal with that. Some people even benefit by continuing to see the psych. Because you can only take in so much food you may find yourself craving more of what your body needs. For example I get uncontrollable cravings for fish...pre-band I didn't care much for fish.

Many people will tell you that they were back up and moving in a day or so. After reading so many responses like that, I was expecting the same but even with a desk job it took me almost a week to get back to work and even then there was some incision pain. If I were you, having such a demanding job I would plan for at least two weeks just to be safe.

Edited January 22, 2009 by Jodi_620

[wanabskinnyb 0]

Yeah, I am such a carb-aholic, but I am working on that. I do have a thearpist that I see regularly and he is very supportive of this decision that I am making. I hear alot of talk about pre-surgery diet. What is that all about?

[Jodi_620 37]

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on the head hunger part of it then.

The pre-op diet varies from doctor-to-doctor. The majority seems to be Liquid Protein for two weeks pre-op. Post-op for me was two more weeks of liquid, two weeks puree then add soft foods building up to more solid foods.

The reason for the pre-op diet is due to the fact that the liver needs to be moved in order to access the stomach. The idea is to get as much fat from the liver to make surgery safer. Post-op diet is to avoid stomach churning while healing.