my3sons75

Hi Ladies, Great to read your updates! :-) I haven't been on here for a couple weeks now and I've been feeling so bad about my progress I needed to come on and see how everyone is doing and see if it gives me a litle hope. I'm a little relieved to see I'm not the only one struggling, but you all seem to be doing so great! When I had my surgery on 4-26 I was 229 lbs. (pre surgery diet and preop lost over 30 pounds) The doctor said she put about 4 cc's at the time of surgery. I went in for my first fill on 5-24 and weighed 225 lbs, so only 4 pounds lost in a month!!! She added 1.5 cc's bringing me up to about 5.5. For the first 2 weeks things went well and I dropped down to about 219, then the next week down to 218 where I have stayed since. I know what some of my problems are: I'm eating a tiny bit more than I'm supposed to, I'm eating sweets once in a while (usually a mini ice cream cone that has about 150 calories), and I'm eating more often than I'm supposed to because I'm only satisfied for about 3 hours. My days go from about 8am to 2am, so that's a long time to only eat 3 meals...hence snacking or a 4th and sometimes 5th meal. Excercising - my doctor wants me to walk every day for about 40 minutes, which I love to do and am happy to have energy to excersise, but I've not been good about doing it every day. It's been more like 2-3 times a week, but sometimes I'm walking/running for up to 1 1/2 hours. My doc wants me to come in once a month regardless if I need a fill or not so they can check in with me. It's time for my next fill and I'm hesitant. I know logically it makes sense since I'm having these issues with being hungry and snacking, but I don't get stuck right now and I can pretty much eat anything I want (I stay away from bread just because I don't want to start that again) but I do get full quickly and can't hold much...it just doesn't last long. If I get another fill I'm worried I'll start getting stuck and having pains and not being able to eat salad and such. If you compare what I was eating for a meal (or the whole day) from 6 months ago to now, it's crazy how different it is. I feel like I'm eating 20-30% (calories and portion size) of what I used to....so why am I not losing? I know my doc will ask about what kinds of foods I'm eating, and I've been fairly good about trying to mostly eat lean proteins, but I don't want to feel like I'm "dieting"....I just want to have restriction so I'm not eating too much and not too often. This is the kind of stuff other people without the band don't think about. They think it's just get the surgery and poof you're skinny. LOL I overheard someone in a dressing room the other day saying to someone else that she had lost 70 pounds. The other person said "wow! How'd you do that?"...the first lady says "I had surgery". It was silent for a second and the other person goes "ohhhh". That was it...no questions, no congratulations on the hard work, no nothing. They don't realize how much this is about choices and will power and hard work. Congrats to all of you for keeping up the hard work!!!! I was supposed to call the doctors office this week to set up my next appointment and I put it off, so now I have to wait until next week to call. Hopefully they can get me in soon so I'm not in trouble. LOL

My doc said to consider the "mushies" as anything you can smash with a fork, but she wants me to stay away from carbs like mashed potatoes. I've been having cottage cheese, yogurt, scrambled eggs (which I normally don't like) but I cook a little mexican chorizo and add to my eggs - yummy!, tuna/chicken, and salmon. I made some yummy salmon in the oven and it was easy. I don't normally like it much but used some lemon and light butter spray...it was pretty good. I found some at walmart in the fish section, there have bags of 4 frozen salmon fillets for only about 5 dollars, which isn't too bad. My mushie stage is only a week, so I don't have to do it too long. I really like to use Mio in Water. It's drops you squeeze into your water for flavor - like Crystal Light - but liquid. My fav is the berry pomegranate but they have lots of flavors. I'm not a huge water drinker either, and it really helps me to get my water in.

I am 5' 2 1/2" ( I usually round up to 5'3 ) At the beginning of this year before I started dieting and losing weight, pre-band, I weighed 260 and wore size 24 pants, 2x or 3x shirts. I am now at 225, wearing a 22. Not much changed in size yet. My goal is about 135-145...giving myself a nice 10 pound cushion. I haven't been 135 since I was 17 years old (now mid 30's), so I'm pretty sure that will be low enough for me. I want to still have some substance to me, not be too skinny (never thought I'd say THAT! ). But once I get to that point I may want to change it. But I would love to be able to wear a size 8 or 10. Just be normal again.

I found mybodyproject.com, but it says membership is by invitation only. Is that the right website? How did you get in?

That is exactly what my husband does too! He always says "if you want to lose weight you just have to eat less and exercise more and don't eat the junk food", but then he turns around and will have a bowl of ice cream and ask me if I want some too - knowing I am dieting and trying to stay OUT of the kitchen. Or if I dish a small plate of dinner and only eat what I'm supposed to (before LP), he says "that's ALL you're having? You should have a little more, that's such a tiny amount!" At least now with the band I can actually say "no I can't have any more" and mean it. The hardest part now - knowing that I can eat a little piece of chocolate or something sweet and it won't "fill me up". Unfortunately the band doesn't help me too much with that struggle, but my will power has gotten soooo much better since beginning this.

My doctor said they sewed the "4 corners" (it's round) to the muscle to keep it from moving or flipping over. The pinching and pulling is the muscle being moved and still being sore from being stitched to the port. That is the only pain I'm feeling now, and it's diminishing day by day. :-)

..protein shake....trying to get used to posting with my phone while my laptop us being serviced.

I'm not at the mushie stage yet, but before the band I was told chicken is something that can be hard to get down unless it's very moist, and even then it can be hard to get it down right. Before the band we ate it probably 3-4 X's a week, so i'm going to have to adjust. Maybe try the same dinner again, but instead of eating the chicken maybe have some protein share along with the other things, just while getting used to it. Good luck :-)

Amanda, we are so in the same boat. I did the 3 month insurance required diet and lost, but the whole time I just kept telling myself I was making better choices and choosing to eat smaller portions - I never really had a hard time with it and didn't have that "I'm STARVING" feeling, like I do on most diets. I had my pre-op on Wednesday and my pre-op diet consists of 3 or 4 replacement/protein shakes and a small Lean Cuisine type dinner. I tried to do some of it on Wed night, but didn't go so well. So on Thursday and Friday I tried to follow it, and now I feel like I'm STARVING! When I was on the 3 month diet I hardly ever felt hungry, went hours between my morning shake and lunch shake without a problem, and now I can barely go 15 minutes without thinking of something I can have, or feeling the need to eat. My stomach is rumbling and I'm grouchy and I feel like I did on every diet before. :-( My doctor wants me to lose 10 pounds in 7 days - I thought it would be easy, but since I lost over 20 pounds already that quick weight loss isn't happening now. Hopefully it will be fine no matter what - the nurse said since I've already lost a lot and I'm not that big anyways (one of the ONLY times I've ever heard that for many years!!!!) that even just a few pounds should be fine. Oh, and adding to the stress of a starvation diet I now have PMS, and I can't take anything but Tylenol. Or alcohol. I feel bad for my family having to live with me for the past couple of days. Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one having a hard time with this. Yesterday I ate about 1-2 cups of pistachios....definitely NOT on my pre-op diet. ~Kelly <3

I finally got my surgery date today!!! April 26th ~ I saw a few others with that day too. Most surprising thing about that day???? It's my wedding anniversary!!!! Guess I'll have my wedding anniversary and bandiversary on the same day - it'll be easy to remember. ....and the countdown begins....

I spent the whole year of 2011 thinking about the surgery. I spent January thru April on the mandatory nutrition program. My last appointment was on Friday, April 6th. The surgeon's office faxed the paperwork to the insurance (Carpenters Trust) on Friday afternoon, and I was told it would be 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to hear back. (HATE the waiting, now more than ever!) The insurance coordinator from the insurance company called me on Monday April 9th to get some more info from me and they were going to forward everything with a referral to a seperate medical review office that oversees their bariatric surgery approvals. Said it would take 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to hear back. That was Monday April 9th around 10 am. I got a phone call this morning, Tuesday April 10th, about 9 am, from the review consultant from the medical review office telling me she was reviewing my case. She said it had everything they were requesting (+ my 3 letters of recommendation from my doctors) and that I had done such a good job on the 3 month nutrtional phase that she didn't want to drag it out for me, so she called to say my surgery is approved!!!!! Yippee!!!!! She said they will need to get a surgery date scheduled at the WLS and then they will send the written approval, but today they are giving their verbal approval. I am sooooooo freaking excited...I never thought it would go thru this fast!!! I found out this morning just before I was leaving to take my kids on a trip to the zoo with some friends so I couldn't stop and write this message. It just sucked, since none of my friends or family know and I couldn't share the news with them, I was dying to get on here and share my happy news. I called my husband at work and told him, and he was like "Oh, that's good. Ok, see you later.". Sheesh. No excitement from him. Oh well, that's why we have the LBT friends!!! Thanks for letting me share!!! Now begins the worrying.....

I spent the whole year of 2011 thinking about the surgery. I spent January thru April on the mandatory nutrition program. My last appointment was on Friday, April 6th. The surgeon's office faxed the paperwork to the insurance (Carpenters Trust) on Friday afternoon, and I was told it would be 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to hear back. (HATE the waiting, now more than ever!) The insurance coordinator from the insurance company called me on Monday April 9th to get some more info from me and they were going to forward everything with a referral to a seperate medical review office that oversees their bariatric surgery approvals. Said it would take 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to hear back. That was Monday April 9th around 10 am. I got a phone call this morning, Tuesday April 10th, about 9 am, from the review consultant from the medical review office telling me she was reviewing my case. She said it had everything they were requesting (+ my 3 letters of recommendation from my doctors) and that I had done such a good job on the 3 month nutrtional phase that she didn't want to drag it out for me, so she called to say my surgery is approved!!!!! Yippee!!!!! She said they will need to get a surgery date scheduled at the WLS and then they will send the written approval, but today they are giving their verbal approval. I am sooooooo freaking excited...I never thought it would go thru this fast!!! I found out this morning just before I was leaving to take my kids on a trip to the zoo with some friends so I couldn't stop and write this message. It just sucked, since none of my friends or family know and I couldn't share the news with them, I was dying to get on here and share my happy news. I called my husband at work and told him, and he was like "Oh, that's good. Ok, see you later.". Sheesh. No excitement from him. Oh well, that's why we have the LBT friends!!! Thanks for letting me share!!! Now begins the worrying.....

Congrats! We are same-day-approval twins! :-)

Surgeon's office faxed the paperwork to the insurance on Friday. The insurance coordinator from the insurance company called me on Monday April 9th to get some more info from me and they were going to forward everything with a referral to a seperate medical review office that oversees their bariatric surgery approvals. Said it would take 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to hear back. That was Monday April 9th around 10 am. I got a phone call this morning, Tuesday April 10th, about 9 am, from the review consultant from the medical review office telling me she was reviewing my case. She said it had everything they were requesting (+ my 3 letter of recommendations from my doctors) and that I had done such a good job on the 3 month nutrtional phase that she didn't want to drag it out for me, so she called to say my surgery is approved!!!!! Yippee!!!!! She said they will need to get a surgery date scheduled at the WLS and then they will send the written approval, but today they are giving their verbal approval. I am sooooooo freaking excited...I never thought it would go thru this fast!!! I found out this morning just before I was leaving to take my kids on a trip to the zoo with some friends so I couldn't stop and write this message. It just sucked, since none of my friends or family know and I couldn't share the news with them, I was dying to get on here and share my happy news. I called my husband at work and told him, and he was like "Oh, that's good. Ok, see you later.". Sheesh. No excitement from him. Oh well, that's why we have the LBT friends!!! THanks for letting me share!!! Now begins the worrying.....

Somethings going on with the website, it won't let me quote or reply correctly. So I'll just have to wing it. :-) Thanks for the words of support Julz and gottobeme. It really helps to hear from others that they went thru the same thing. I've been sooooo good for 3 months to make sure my insurance approved, and until they do and I have my surgery scheduled and have to go on my pre-op diet, I feel like I'm in the free-zone. My last chance to eat whatever and however much I want. I have to try and reign it in some, otherwise I'm going to gain back the weight in a week! The good thing is that with the dieting my stomach has shrunk and I can only eat 1/4 of what I ate before - unless I keep stretching it out with whole boxes of mac & cheese. :-) Julz, Shells & Cheese....one of our all time fav's in our house. But I knew better than to try and eat one of those by myself - I'd be literally sick I think. :-) I've been so good with quality and quantity lately, but yesterday was a bad slip. Hopefully today will be better. Gottobeme, I really think I'll have to make sure I follow up once I start getting down there after surgery. I see myself following all the rules for a long time, but like every other diet I've been on, once a certain amount of time has passed I'll start slipping back into old habits. Like others that go to AA meetings, I'll need to find somewhere to make sure I stay on track. My surgeons office is 1 1/2 hours away from me, so it takes 1/2 of my day up to go to a meeting. Maybe I can find a group of others in my area and we can meet up occasionally. Good luck to both of you too.... how are your post-op days going? I have been really busy lately and haven't spent much time reading posts. :-(

Thanks guys. :-) So now that I have done everything the insurance has asked and lost 25 pounds this year, I slipped a little on my will power. Once I left my appointment today I have eaten so many things I'm not supposed to - things I haven't eaten in over 3 months. Maybe I'm saying goodbye to some of my fav's while I have a chance? Celebrating I made it thru 3 months of watching what I eat??? This afternoon I had 3 things from Taco Bell (oh so bad), a big bowl of Sour Cream and Onion chips, two handfulls of Easter chocolate candy, and just now I ate a whole box of Kraft Mac & Cheese. I'm sitting here stuffed and feeling soooo bad, both mentally and physically. And I wish I could take it back, because I've been doing so good for so long. Yuck....stuffing myself doesn't feel as good as it used to. Glad I don't have the band yet or I'd be even worse off. Hopefully this will teach me a lesson and I won't do it again. :-)

I had my final nutrition appointment today - 3 months of dieting and waiting and it's finally over....well, not yet. They are faxing in all my paperwork to the insurance company today. They told me it will take 1 1/2 to 2 weeks to hear back. Ack! That 2 weeks will feel soooo long after all I've gone thru to get to this point. I called the bariatric coordinator at the insurance to let her know I was done with everything and to find out the REAL wait time,but she wasn't available and I had to leave a message. Crossing my fingers I hear something soon! :-)I'm really hoping I'll still be an April bandster. :-)

Hi Amanda, It's encouraging to read your post. We are almost in the same time frames. I started my nutritional phase at the end of January and have my last appointment on Friday April 6th, then waiting to hear back from insurance. Of course after all this NOW I'm getting nervous. :-) My insurance required the 3 months too, and I am sooo happy they did. I don't think I'd have done as well if I just was able to jump right in and get the band. I've lost 25 pounds so far - it was really motivating. We are about the same age and in the same stages, so I added you as a friend - hope that's ok. :-) Good luck!!! :-) ~Kelly

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and input! I will definitely have to think about the hernia and gallbladder. I wish I didn't have to say anything, but people are going to notice I had some sort of surgery. As far as anyone outside my family I don't think anyone will ask many questions except a friend or two, but my family will definitely notice something going on and I don't want to tell them about my band until I'm ready. If I didn't have the little kids I could just go stay in a hotel a few days and say I'm going out of town but real life keeps bringing me back from that fantasy.

I was very hesitant to try Greek yogurt. I'm not a fan of trying new things and I just didn't want to. But the sugar and carbs and calories in regular yogurt, plus the lack of Protein, made me just suck it up and try it. I really like the Chobani Greek yogurt, but I almost gagged the first time I ate it....kind of weird feeling and so sour/tart. Not good at all. So I stirred it up really good, and I added a packet of Splenda, and it was much better. Then I added the Kashi Go Lean Crunch and it was my new favorite snack! I know in the mushy stage you can't have the fruit or the Cereal, but if you try the plain and add Splenda, maybe even 2 packs if you need it (shhh...don't tell anyone I suggested that), then you can also add some other sort of flavor, like Crystal Light or sugar free Jello mix, or maybe blended up strawberries. Yum...making myself hungry. And I can find it at any grocery store, Walmart, etc. Just varies on the flavor. BTW, my FAVORITE is lemon. Yum.

It's been pretty hard the last few months trying to start eating the lap-band way without letting on, since she eats dinner with us every night. So I just started prattling on about trying to reduce my portions and all the ways I've heard of how to minimize my hunger, ie tiny bites, chewing my food longer, taking longer to eat. I'm hoping she'll just not pay much attention, and I'll chalk it up to not feeling well after the surgery. Or course having a house guest for months sure threw a wrench into my plans, but I'm determined, so I just have to work around the problems. :-)

Thank you all for the ideas! I'll have to look into the hernia a little more, but will also be sure to Google laproscopic surgeries. Good idea. :-) And I'm not a very good liar, at least I don't think I am and don't WANT to be...so I do have to try and keep it pretty simple.

I know there are lots of topics out there about To Tell or Not, but I have already made my decision. I have decided the only person outside of the medical people that will know about my band - at least in the beginning - will be my husband. I have come across a few bumps in the road in regards to my plan though, so I need some ideas. Firstly, I found out that my mom, who is staying with us temporarily - and was supposed to be moved out around April 1st - will have to stay with us a while longer. I don't have my surgery date yet, but it is hopefully going to be in April. My mom is much older (almost 80), doesn't keep secrets well at ALL, and I don't want to tell her and have her tell everyone else. Unless I get lucky and bounce back the next day, she will know there is something wrong. I have 2 small kids (4 and 2), and I can't hide the fact that I had surgery or that I can't pick up my kids. Second, I have started dieting and exercising regularly with a friend for the last few months. I am not telling any of my friends yet, including her, so I would have to have a reason that my normal activities are being halted for a little while. Thirdly, having the two little kids, I may need to get some help from family or friends to either watch them or take them to the babysitter. I'll be on pain meds (maybe) and my husband can only take a day or two off of work to stay with me. If I have to ask anyone for that kind of help they would know something was wrong. I thought about a hernia, or some sort of stomach issue, but I don't want my family and friends to be concerned or worried...more like something routine, like a lets-check-this-out surgery/procedure vs. a complication that needs fixing. Does anyone have any ideas? Or something you've used yourself? I'm fairly healthy, and my family knows that so it's hard to come up with something. Maybe some sort of "woman" problem?? I hate being deceitful or lying :ph34r: , but I can't really say to my family "it's none of your business why I had surgery", but what else do I say? Any advice would be great! :wub: ~Kelly

Coke Zero is my biggest hurdle too! I am soooo addicted to it...I have a glass right next to me right now! I'm doing the 3-month insurance required diet right now and I haven't cut it out yet. I figured if/once the insurance approves me and I have to do the actual pre-op diet, then I'll have to taper off and cut it out of my life. Oh, the memories of CZ will have to be enough. Sniff sniff. I figure it's worth the sacrifice compared to all I'll get in return...but it's HARD!

I thought of another one the other day that I'm sure many of you will understand. I want to be able to step out of the shower, wrap my regular sized towl around me and have it cover up everything, and not have a gap down one side, or have it be a "bath sheet".