winifred76

congratulations! I bet you really are excited. It's good to know that there are good things to come!

My port is flipped, but because of the position right now they are just accessing it from underneath. I had a few moments of stinging and a long visit because he had to xray where exactly the port was in order to do the fill, but other than a little soreness and a few small bruises the next day or two, nothing major. Gosh I hope it doesn't cause problems down the road!

This will be great as once again I was out of town on Saturday for the Halloween challenge! Name, real or screen~Winifred76 Age~ 53 Weight on November 1st~ 189.5 Goal Weight for November 29th~ 181.5 Exercise Goal for November~ 5 days a week walk for at least 20 minutes Dietary Goal for November~ find new Breakfast ideas. Personal Goal for November~ keep working the plan! Date Banded~ September 29 Total Weight Loss Since Banding~ 25 lbs! Anyone have ideas for something besides eggs and sausage/bacon for breakfast? Remember low carb solutions...........

Breakfast:: fast food southern style chicken breast 150 cals and 8 carbs Lunch: some type of high Protein with a side of veggies - today a premade salad from publix with hardly any carbs - 270 cals and 5 carbs dinner - probably a low carb salmon patty and a side of green Beans or cauliflower 200 - 300 cal and 3 - 4carbs total. It varies, but usually either beef, chicken, pork or fish and a side of some type of green vegetable. I usually don't snack at night, but if my tummy is growling before I go to bed I either have a wedge of laughing cow cheese (35 cal and 1 carb I think) or a sugar free icepop. Total for the day is usually around 800-900 cal's. I really haven't missed carbs that much at all....

Name, real or screen~Winifred76 Age~53 Weight on October 1st~195.5 So Far =- 192.0 as of Saturday! Goal Weight for October 29th~188.5 Exercise Goal for October~walk 3 times a week Dietary Goal for October~learn to work the band! Personal Goal for October~find other stress outlets Date Banded~9/19/11 Total Weight Loss Since Banding~23.5! I'm motivated! Don't know if I'll make the 188.5 by Saturday - but I'll be happy with 190! and keep moving!

did you ask if they had a waiting list for canceled appointments? Maybe they could squeeze you in that way?

Here are some things you can do: First, don't let whether or not you get a fill be the determination of your success. Remember you are in control not someone else. How can you creatively work around this small wrinkle? Low carb high Protein may help you feel satisfied longer. Also are you getting 6 to8 glasses of Water per day? Maybe next time you feel hungry, instead you go for a walk around the building and say to yourself, "If I'm still hungry after this walk, I'll have a piece of babybel cheese or one of thos small slim jim things to chew on" Also, in regard to what others said about retraining your body, my nutritionist is empahsizing taking no more than 15-20 minutes per meal, putting your fork down between each bite and waiting a full 30 seconds before you pick it back up even if I have to time myself" I think that is so my brain has time to actually register that I"m getting full instead of stuffing until I'm uncomfortable like I used to and then going wow I ate way too much. I don't know if these are good suggestions or not, but I'm learning to remember that I can decide whether to let the situation take control or try to take control of the situation! Don't give up!

You bring up some good questions. I haven't heard about the 1 cup rule. The rule my nutritionist has is 10-15 minutes from when you start to eat and when you finish and put your fork down between bites and wait 30 seconds before you pick your fork back up. As for liquids, 30 -60 minutes after eating. Try to do 20 ozs between breakfast and lunch and 20 ozs between lunch and dinner and 20 0zs after dinner (but not too close to bed time. I'm struggling with the 60 ozs myself. But after talking to the nutritionist, I have made sure I get 40 ozs in by dinner and then whatever I drink after dinner is what I do and not worry so much about it.

I guess different surgeons have different preferences. My surgen put it just above my belly button and upside down! But I'm thinking as I lose weight it will be hidden by the belly button (I hope)

wow no one told me no Advil! I have had a little trouble with pizza but that's it. I haven't tried rice because I didn't care for it before I've only had one fill so maybe there will be others. The interesting thing is that I did the high Protein low carb thing before the surgery and things I've "tested" after have such a different taste, I don't really miss them. Anyone else notice a difference in flavor?

That's a great idea! Hadn't thought of that. I also get these premade cobb salads at publix - they are 2.49 and include the dressing - usually no more than 11 carbs for the whole salad. I have checked out some nurtrition websites for food that isn't high in carbs - Zaxby's kid meal iwth coleslaw instead of fries is pretty low carb and calories and yesterday we went out for a coworkers lunch at Longhorn. I ordered cheese stuffed mushrooms and a side of asparagus (pricey but good). I still have half for lunch today and total it's about 342 calories. I probably would have got off a little less with broccoli, but since everyone else was splurging on carbs, I thought I'd treat myself to the asparagus.

my sister had gallbladder surgery a while back. she called me about a month later with excrutiating pain and I had to rush her to the emergency room. They found that the doctor didn't do something correctly with the bile duct - apparently you still pass gallstones after you have the gallbladder removed and the stones were getting stuck at the end of the duct. They had to go back in and correct it. Don't know if this is you but since it has been such a long time maybe not.

Are you noticing any other changes? Inches, smaller sizes in clothes? i know what you mean - I was banded on 9/19 and had lost 20.5 lbs. At my first fill on Tuesday I was up 1.5 lbs! But I had decided the first month after surgery not to sweat it. As of Today I am suddenly down 2.5 lbs! I don't know if the fill had anything to do with it or if the negative calories finally kicked in! All I can say is keep plugging!

I've been told that the band will slowly stretch the first few fills and that's one of the reasons they need to adjust. my doc also said you might have some swelling when they do the first couple of fills and then as the swelling goes down there is more room again. He did mine with a xray machine too and put 4cc's in at first then had me drink barium and it wouldn't go through so he took out about 2 cc's - it was kind of cool to watch!

I too take the Vitacrave Gummies - two a day

I agree, The nutritionist should have given you an equally unbiased view of the gastric bypass/sleeve. I have a friend who lost quite easily after having it two 1/2 years ago. BUT she never changed her eating habits, is a complete carb addict who made no eating changes. She is struggling now to make the changes she should have made immediately because she is gaining the weight back. She is also now having to do a lot more Vitamin supplementation and can not convert to a lapband. I'm new to the lapband thing I admit, but the thing that I liked was that it was potentially reversable and I knew I would have to work on my eating habits and eating routine in addition to putitng the labband in. Why don't you go back to your lapband doctor and start with a small fill to see if that will help. And try to come out to the forums - the motivation and group suppot is phenominal

Good Luck to everyone being banded on today September 30! You are the last in our long line of people who successfully made the transition this month. Who knows what is ahead for all of us. Everyone transition over to the September 2011 Bandsters group in the Post Op group as soon as you can so that we can all share what is around the corner! Good luck Peps! sorry to hear about your hubby texax bandit - but congrats on the weight loss! I'm at 20 lbs today - but my appetite is starting to come back. I had the plication which I think is helping some, but can't wait until my first fill! See you on the other side!

OK I'm in! Name, real or screen~ Age~ Weight on October 1st~ Goal Weight for October 29th~ Exercise Goal for October~ Dietary Goal for October~ Personal Goal for October~ Date Banded~ Total Weight Loss Since Banding~

Anyone who might be interested go to post op and look at Sept 2010 Bandsters! I accidentally clicked it this morning when looking for our Sept 2011 Bandsters group! And what I found was a lot of motivation - a lot of people celebrating one year anniversaries, ups, downs, pluses, and minuses but everyone seemed to think that the decision one year ago was a really good one even a year later. It was just what I needed because after my appointment yesterday suddenly the hunger pangs sunk in and its a good thing I was too tight to eat much! LOL Craving of all things salty potato chips! I finally crisped some bacon in the microwave and that did it for a while. Good luck to all being banded today

I just got back from my 1 week post op. He removed one bandage from the incision for the hernia repair and told me the rest stay on as long as they will and when they fall off they fall off. First fill in 3 weeks. He encouraged me to not worry about amounts of fluids or Protein, just eat when hungry and don't when you're not and keep it low carb. I'm down 18.5lbs since 8/29/2011 and am at 195 lbs so he says he's happy with the progress and just keep plugging away. I'm so glad I was on a short liquid diet program! It's weird that I'm so tight in the morning and then as the day goes on I can feel some relief as things stretch out a little more! Still no issues with anything but minor gas after diet soda - but I'm trying to keep that as much as possible to just a small morning caffeine thing and then onto Water or crystal light with water.

Awesome! I know you can do it! I can't wait to get to the point that I'm energetic enough to start the real fitness journey again!

Good I'll have to check it out. You are ready to go if you are ready for the treadmill!

Good Luck, I know you will do well! Let us know how it goes!

Sorry I haven't been on in a few days. Trying to get my legs back under me! I went from liquids from Monday to Weds to clear liquids, full liquids on Thursday including protein shakes, on Saturday, soft foods, ( low carb so not even soups at this point. scrambled eggs and protein shakes and continue sugar free jello and popsicles). Am able to do 2 scrambled eggs and be full. Like the EAS chocolate fudge ready made shakes but only getting one to one and a half down a day. Drinking plenty of water with crystal light and am not worrying if I don't get it all down, as long as I stay hydrated. Gas off and on. Small bm once I went to proteing shakes, but not much as my system was so empty. Back to work today, first two and a half hours were rough, but put my nose to work and am actually feeling better the more I move around and work. Though I suspect I will be tired by the end of the day! I ate half a portion of scrambled eggs from McD and 1/4 of a piece of sausage cut into really small pieces and have been sipping my diet coke (hurrah no problems with that!) this am. I expect to move to water and crystal light this afternoon. Am hoping to eat a small portion of green beans and finely ground beef for lunch. A really tired of proteing shakes so I can imagine how you all feel with a diet that is 3 weeks of shakes, though I have to say, it has been a different alternative than I thought. I haven't really had much pain at all since about wednesday all fixed with advil and haven't had to crush pills or anything to take them. although if I take all my pills together I am not hungry at all for anything else for a while! LOL. I agree with you that easy peasy hasn't exactly been the description I would have used, but in looking back except for those first few hours of pain and a little dry heaving, the first night, it's been tolerable. I do find myself more tired than I thought and would like to feel more energetic - maybe it's just a few more days for me........ One thing you can say, this site has been good for feeling more comfortable with things that have occurred and asking questions than freaking out if something weird happens and not knowing where to turn. I bet the doctors appreciate this site because we don't bother them as much with all our weird questions! Tomorrow I have my post op appointment so I hope to get my bandages off, etc. I hope this has helped answer the questions in the last few days about what to expect. On friday, I"ll create a group for September Bandsters in post op so that we can all celebrate and move over to the post op page together and keep supporting each other! Good luck to all being banded this week! Oh and I forgot! I had lost 10lbs as of my surgery day on the preop diet and have lost another 8. I'm not expecting it to last, and think that might be temporary, but I'll take what I can get!