~*~Rachel~*~

Don't just stick a toe in the water jump on in. We don't bite unless it is something yummy

I am getting band on the 25th!

Okay I am going to have to let my blonde show through and confess.... I swear I was looking at this as if you were saying you were having surgery at TJ MAX.... wow I need food.... or sleep....

I have not had the band yet but will be on the 25th from what I have researched and learned here and talking with my doctor it sounds to me the problem sounds like you are too tight.

Okay so I am hungry... But not just starved! I think it is just the thought of what I would have already ate today that is getting to me... So far I have had: 3 cups of coffee + non dairy creamer+ sweet and low= Calories-40 carbs-0 1/2 Robard new direction Strawberry protein shake= Calories-100 Carbs-5 Protein 13 (since I only had half) Small green salad with cucumber lettuce banana peper green onions 1 dill pickle and wishbone salad spray= Calories ~50 Carbs~ 4 1- Fudge graham chocolate new direction meal replacement bar= Calories-160 carbs- 12 Protein- 15g Soy Protein- 13g For the rest of the night I have: 1- Strawberry Jello- Calories 10 1- Baked chicken breast Mrs. Dash onion and herb + 1 tsp Dijion mustard= Calories-120 Protein-25g Carbs-<1 1- Chocolate Robard replacement Pudding= Calories-200 Protein-27g Soy Protein-3 Total Carbs=10 Small green salad same as above 1- Hot cocoa Robard new direction meal replacement- Calories-200 Protein-27 Carbs-10g okay okay so I know that looks like a lot of carbs.... but thats total carbs and the amount of carbs available for digestion into sugars is a lot less. So Total= Calories-roughly 930 maybe 10 or 20 more depending on amounts Protein- 110 roughly Carbs- 45 give are take 1 or 2..... pretty good I think...

Its almost here only 12 days to go till my surgery!!! Being band on 25th. Started my preop diet today and so far so good. Working night shift so it is just the start of my day but we will see. I am starving but I have a great pre op diet that gives me a lot of choices so hopefully after the inital shock is gone It will get better. Getting nervous and so obsessed with this website it is crazy. I spend half my day reading how everyone is doing.

I don't know how many of you out there have struggled to find a protein product that you actually like but at the risk of sounding like a walking advertisement I was forced to try this one. New direction by Robard corp is the pre op diet meal replacements that my doctor uses. I have tried unjury and all the other protein shakes and hated them. Granted I have only tried the strawberry shake and chocolate pudding so far but I pray they keep up being this good. The strawberry shake tasted like a melted strawberry milk shake so I froze it and then blended it. I could not taste any protein taste. However it is very sweet so I have drank it a little along but it was good. I am so happy to finally have found even two products that I like so far. They have 200 cal <it is a meal replacement not a snack> and 27g of protein!!!!!! sorry was too excited not to share! Day one preop down! I pray I do not get tired of these so I can use them after my surgery for a meal with so many flavors I really don't see that happening. Can't wait to try the fudge graham chocolate bar tonight.

Yes it is the same process. From what I have watched of the surgery on youtube they basically have to move your liver out of the way to get to the spot they have to work in. A lot of doctors do it different though. Some only allow clear liquids or full liquids and protein shakes. Some do a optifast diet which is nothing but protein shakes. Some do Atkins diet. So basically it all works the same less carbs less fat = less liver..

Enjoying my first shake. It is Strawberry blended with ice. Actually taste good like a Strawberry melted milkshake. Its 200Cal and 27g of protein! I think 10 carbs. So far so good. Only other calories used is my nondairy creamer for my coffee it was 20... had two cups so total 250cal. 27g protein. 1 Viactiv calcium chew. <love these> <10 cal>. http://www.robard.com is my diet replacement website if anyone wants to check out these shakes.

So bright and early this morning I am up organizing my kitchen into his and hers. Anything I am not allowed to have out of sight out of mind. Went shopping last night after my pre op class. Thankfully my nut let it out of the bag on everything I was allowed to have during this process. I really feel like I am not going to suffer. I continue to remind myself that others have to do liquid diets. I bought my pre op foods from the Robard diet. I will be allowed to have four choices a day. Decided on Tomato soup, Dark chocolate smore bars, Fudge graham bar, Peanut butter bar, Strawberry shake, and Chocolate pudding. Each have about 200Cal 27grams protein and around 13 carbs a piece. In addition I am allowed one lean meat and green salad with wishbone salad spritzer. The Italian dressing is actually good. I can also have 10 calorie no sugar added Jello and pops. Crystal light actually makes a Popsicle. Dill pickles have no carbs depending on the brand and no calories. Mrs. Dash spices. Mustard no calories or less then 10 depends on the brand. Plenty of water and crystal light to go flavors. I have my handy dandy notebook to keep track so I stay on the 1100 cal a day allowance I have set for myself. So today I will try a few choices of my robard diet meal replacements and pray they taste something like food and not chalk. I have my foods ready and my husbands foods ready. I pray I am prepared to start this journey. I feel I have done all the planning that I can possibly do and it is now time to follow through.

So after talking all morning with my employer trying to make sure it was okay for me to go ahead with surgery, I have made the decision to head to Birmingham <about an hour away> to do my pre op admission and pre op class. Also to pick up my pre op diet. Hopefully the roads will be better since the big snow and ice storm here that has had me snowed in all week. Not looking forward to starting my pre op diet but as I said before I feel lucky it is a little more then liquids. Last night instead of being able to have a big send off at olive garden or something like I wished I had to settle for fresh brownies. yummy! I hate this snow storm. I will officially start my pre op diet in the am since I wont get my diet material until after 3 this afternoon. Starting to get excited after the past twenty four hour emotional roller coaster of my work telling me to post pone my surgery. There has been soo much time and money put into this process I would hate to have to put it off again. Thankfully everything has worked out so far. Now if Mr sun will dry up the ice on the roads to get me to where I need to go. I feel like with the insurance requirements and all the emotional hurdles this has been a trek up an icy mountain. So I will pack my snow skis and off I go...

I am a critical care nurse and understand your reserve on going through with the surgery. For me it is not a choice. I am scared and nervous naturally but the way I am living now is not living. I feel bad daily and hurt all the time. I am only 27 but who is to say how much time we have left in life? You and I both know 52 is YOUNG. Yes anything can happen and yes something might go wrong but hey if I get in my car today no one gives me a guarantee that I make it home tonight. Do this for you so you know you did not give up and give in.

So despite my miserable cold today I have to go shopping. Normally this stresses me out enough trying to grocery shop. Today I have to prepare for my preop diet. This is stressful because I will have to buy stuff for two life styles. I can not deprive my husband and just by stuff for myself. How is that going to work and stay on a budget. I know most of you out there are just like me take bills month to month and try to get by. Not to mention if we are undertaking this financially stressing surgery or at least mine has been with the co pays and requirements and not to mention my doctor is an hour away. I am going to try my best to stay within my budget of my normal shopping with the exception that I have to buy my vitamins and host a party this weekend. My preop diet is the Robard diet. It is a modified atkins diet with meal replacements. I am allowed four meal replacements a day things such as soup cold shakes a hot cocoa and granola bars that you buy at my docs office. Then with this for one meal a day I will be able to eat a meal of my choosing low fat of course mostly meats no sauce dry spices and a green salad with lettuce cucumber broccoli green onions and wishbone salad spray. I think I will be okay with the wishbone salad spray but it will be hard to do without meat sauce. I have a hard time swallowing dry meats due to a surgery I had last year on my throat removing a growth that blocked 75% of my throat. So... I will do a lot of price checking on protein shakes. I have already tried several and they about made me sick. I am going to try the protein shots or Special K protein shake. Plenty of crystal lights LOTS of bottled water. May get several diet cokes since this will be the last time I will be able to drink soda. I am looking at the Viactiv Vitamin Chocolate chews and calcium chews. I have taken the calcium ones before and they taste just like heresy so I believe that will be my drug of choice. I have already invested in a blender from walmart made by GE that is much like the magic bullet but instead only cost 15 dollars and not 60. Will need something to wear after surgery plenty of chapsticks and some gas x!!! I have read the gas pains are awful. I believe I will wait to buy my post op foods until the friday before my surgery. Hopefully I will get everything I need and make some good choices for this stuff is expensive. Just wish I could find a protein shake I could tolerate. Oh well happy shopping with a miserable cold for me!

Hi I had the same problem. My surgeon was only an hour away but by the time you spent the money for gas parking and co pays it can add up. So I went to a doc and the box that made appointments and talked to a doctor there. She became my PCP and I went to her for 6 months. My insurance also did not cover anything by obesity so I cheated the System. I became a hypochondriac each month I had a different problem each month. I got my blood pressure under control so that was at least two months getting the meds and going back to see if they worked. The next month I had problems sleeping and a ear infection and so on she may think I am a whinny thing but at least I got her to document my weight and that I was "attempting" a diet. So that is how I worked the system. Hope that gives you one idea.

Hi I had the same problem. My surgeon was only an hour away but by the time you spent the money for gas parking and co pays it can add up. So I went to a doc and the box that made appointments and talked to a doctor there. She became my PCP and I went to her for 6 months. My insurance also did not cover anything by obesity so I cheated the System. I became a hypochondriac each month I had a different problem each month. I got my blood pressure under control so that was at least two months getting the meds and going back to see if they worked. The next month I had problems sleeping and a ear infection and so on she may think I am a whinny thing but at least I got her to document my weight and that I was "attempting" a diet. So that is how I worked the system. Hope that gives you one idea.

Being band in Birmingham AL Jan. 25th start my pre op diet Jan 12th!

I can only pray that my journey will take me as far as yours has you. Please share some things that work best for you. Or looking back for a about to be band person myself I would love to hear from someone who has gone above the norm and lost more then average expected weight loss

As this two year hike up mount Everest comes to a end, I look back and it seems like yesterday I was battling with this decision to have WLS. Questions like If I can't do it or don't have the will power to do it on my own how is this magic little tool going to help me succeed? I pray that I have prepared myself in order to under stand this is not a cure all surgery and it IS going to take effort on my part more then I probably realize. I can say it a hundred times over and over "This band is not going to cure me! I have to cure myself" sounds like I have it worked out in my mind but saying and doing are two WAY different things. I am doing everything possible research getting involved hear learning everything I can. Making meal plans for my pre op diet which I feel lucky compared to some out there getting to actually eat on my diet just sort of a atkins diet with meal replacements its called the Robard diet. Not to mention I get to skip a few days since there are technically only 12 days before my surgery and the time I started my diet. Anywhoo... With everything you have to learn and knowledge you must take in and lifestyle changes and doctors visits all these bells and whistles you must silence until you hear those sweet little words... your approved I feel as if I am twirling around in a dark room hearing voices all around me. I can not see those standing in the shadows. I often feel alone. There words of wisdom seems to over whelm me at times. And then I feel as if I am falling. Falling toward a date Jan 25th down the other side of the mountain I just climbed. What will happen when I hit the bottom I have no clue but I will fall. Anyone else feel like they are Free Falling with me?

Thanks guys I look forward to reading of your successes as well. This website had become my new facebook! It really is a great way to start and continue through this journey. That is exactly what it is .... a Journey into the unknown. Each of us do not know where we are going or how successful we will be or what complications will stand in our way but through faith and support we find in our little community may we each have the courage to journey.

I can't take credit for this and some of you may have seen it. I got if off a post from another lap band forum website thought it very funny however good advise and rules to pledge to for us about to undergo surgery. I think I will post it on my fridge 1. Thou shalt consume thy Protein first, followed by thy veggies and fruits. If thou, then hast any room left thou shalt comusme thy carbs lastly! 2. Thou shalt take the tiniest of bites, placing thy fork and thy spoon upon thine table, that thou shalt have more time between bites to savor that which thou hast eaten, and allow thy stomach adequate time to inform thy brain of thine fullness. 3. Thou shalt chew and chew and when thou has done so, thou shalt chew some more, lest thy band rise up and smite thee,causing in thy chest great pain, and spewing forth. 4. Thou shalt drink of thy Water, copiously, consuming all that has been recommended to thee, that thou mayest be spared the pangs of hunger and dehydration, and thou shalt thus, also keep thy kidneys well flushed, that thou shalt not develop stones to aggrieve thee. 5. Thou shalt exercise in a manner that thou mayest choose, of thine own accord, providing that thou art faithful to thine execise regimen,that thou shalt not falter on thy journey to thine smaller self. 6. Thou shalt honor thy band and maintain it well, that it shalt be a steadfast friend to thee throughout thine entire life. Thou wilt,from time to time, as thou hast been told, obtain for it the fills that it needest that it may then help thee in thy hours of need, keeping it always in perfect adjustment for thine benefit. 7. Thou shalt not worry and gnash thy teeth, becoming aggrieved at those times when thy losses seemingly stop and thy weight remaineth constant, remembering then that thou tookest long to acquire thine pounds, and that thy pounds must then take time for loss. 8. Thou shalt maintain a log or dairy of thine measurements, that thou mayest truly perceive the effect of they band when thine scale doth pause in it's downward progress. 9. Thou shalt join into and participate within thy local support community, for without the input, experience and love of they fellow bandsters, thou shalt have a much more difficult time in thy journey, and when thou art well upon thy road, thou shalt then likewise assist those who followest in thine footsteps that they too might be successful in their own diminishment. 10. Thou shalt beware of thine " soft caolries syndrome", keeping always in thy mind that thou canst thus sabotage thine efforts and thine investment and lead thee then therefore into depression and guilt. As once stated "Just because thou canst, it meaneth not that thou shouldith".

Until now I have always been Rachel a 27 year old married registered nurse, aka Priss (yes don't laugh) to my mother, and Nay Nay to my nephew. May of 2009 I decided to visit a lap band seminar after a life time of being over weight. I have never known anything but being over weight and all the package had to offer. There I was in the seminar and for the first time I looked around and realized right then in that room I was no longer Rachel, I was no longer a nurse, I was not affectionately nay nay. My entire existence and purpose for being in that room was I am Morbidly Obese. What was this? These two dirty little words felt like they summed up completely who I was. No longer did I feel the pride of things I had accomplished in my 27 years. Graduating high school or rather living through the pure hell of high school, finishing college, starting my career, owning my own home by the time I was 23, or marrying my husband. My weight effects every aspect of my life be it my job, my personal life, my daily activities. So great here I am.... Rachel, a 27 year old Morbidly Obese female on my journey of rediscovery, weight loss, and learning who I really am and what I am made of. Find me Jan 25th I will be Rachel... Banded...

So I am becoming LBT forum obsessed but want to know is there any other great websites? Maybe a recipe website or some blogs that people have added really neat ideas for working out or nutrition keepers. Come on share your toys with me!!

Struggling to quit smoking as well!! good luck to you and I hope you do well with it!

Thank you really really excited! I work at night as a nurse and stayed up when I should have been sleeping waiting on the phone call so now I am drinking coffee all night here at work to stay awake ugh! what will I do not being able to drink caffeine being a night shift nurse!!

January 25 2011!!!!!!!!! Finally after months and months and months of never ending hoops I was finally approved this morning for surgery! Jan 25th will be the day I start my new life toward a healthier me! I go for my preop class blood work and to get my two week diet replacements on wends 12th! I can't wait! I am so nervous and excited all at once! I pray I have the strength and will power that I need to be successful! Is anyone else doing surgery on this date? I would love to have someone to talk to through this...