jen_1381

I make a vitamin drink every morning; I take a dose of liquid multivitamin, drops of Vitamin B12 and D3, a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar (it's very cleansing and supposed to help with weight loss), then mix in about a half cup of Bolthouse Farms juice - to mask the awful flavor of the other stuff!!

I got my FitBit yesterday from Amazon, and oh my goodness I love this thing!! I think it was just the spark I needed to kick my exercise into high gear. For those of you that don't know what it is, it's this super high-tech pedometer, but it also keeps track of calories burned. You can use the website or the mobile app to track calories in. It also tracks your sleep; in the morning, I just enter what time I went to bed then what time I wake up and it shows me a graph of the quality sleep I got, how long it took me to fall asleep, and how many times I woke up during the night. I'm not sure *how* it tracks this stuff (kind of feel like "big brother" is watching!!) but so far it's been highly accurate. Anyone else use the FitBit?

I just got my first fill last week, but my answer is no. I can't ever feel my band, I don't get any type of choking feeling. The band is around the upper part of your stomach so you shouldn't ever feel like you're choking (unless you swallow food wrong and literally choke!). Even if I take too big of a bite, the most I get is an indigestion feeling in my chest. My personal "full signal" is when I feel a slight fullness in my upper chest. I know if I take another bite, it will become painful, so I stop where I'm at.

I have those days all the time, especially when I try to start my workout in the morning before work. About 3 minutes in, I give up. Maybe because I'm fresh out of bed, or the impending work day is hanging over me, but whatever it is, I can't talk myself into sticking it out. I do work out every evening though. I try to get myself excited for it through the day. I'll honestly think at work - man, I can't wait to get home and hit the treadmill. I make working out fun though, I mix up my routine and my husband knows it's my "alone" time, he doesn't bother me, it's just me and my iPod and my goals.

JSI is right, that's your port. Sometimes I can feel mine really well, other times not so much. I would avoid messing with it much the first few weeks since you're still healing. They're typically sewn into your abdominal muscle wall. I'm 5 weeks out and just started abdominal exercises, mine is a little sore after but not bad.

I'm right there off you about the weight loss/re-gain pissed-off-ness In the beginning of 2011 I lost 55 lbs (by May), and from Sept until December I gained back 40. I also learned that I was an emotional eater! Good luck with your surgery tomorrow. I was banded about 5 weeks ago and so far am SO happy with my decision. I just wake up every day and tell myself that I can be successful and work with this. The first few months are all will-power and discipline. Every night that I lay down to go to sleep and know that I followed the plan for the day feels like an accomplishment.

I've gone to all liquid options, with the exception of my tiny bp bill and thyroid pill, because I was getting nervous about them getting stuck. I drink a liquid MVI every morning with liquid drops of B and D vitamins. It taste horrible on its own so I mix it with about 1 cup of Bolthouse Farms juice (low cal, pure juice, no additives). Vitamins in pill for are WAY too big, besides the fact that they make me nauseated.

I struggle on weekends too. This weekend, I kept an eye on the clock and stayed on my work schedule. I had my morning tea, ate a small breakfast about an hour later, then kept busy and drank water like crazy. Ate lunch around the same time as my lunch break at work, then back to drinking water. By the end of the day, I had finished 6 bottles (my bottle is 20 oz). I actually went to bed feeling satisfied instead of dissapointed that I screwed up the day.

Good job! Between my pre-op visit when I started my diet plan, and my 2 week follow-up I had lost almost 30 lbs. Since then, the losing rate has slowed down durastically. I'm doing everything by the doctors orders, and I know it will start coming off again soon, but in the mean time I have to remind myself that it just takes persistance and hard work. Don't be alarmed if when you switch to puree then soft foods if you gain a couple pounds. My first day after puree I gained 4 lbs! It was just Water weight, but your body does go into a little bit of shock each time you step up your diet. I'm 5 weeks post-op and overall have lost a grand total of 33 lbs since May 7th. On paper, I know I'm ahead of the losing game but my brain can't help but get a little dissapointed when the scale doesn't jump down every day like it was!!

I used both! Ice on my incisions and heat on my back, where I felt the air pain. I also went back to work on post-op day 3 so I think I had more incision pain than if I were to stay home and relax. I would ice as soon as I got home.

Welcome! I'm glad you found motivation to have the surgery and get healthy. My reason was that I was tired of being overweight and I will be 30 in 14 months. I do NOT want to be clinically obese for my 30th bday. I am about 4 1/2 weeks post op and this forum has been SO, SO helpful! Good luck on your journey

My surgeon plainly said that he preferred the sleeve over any other surgery. After asking my reasons I wanted the Lap Band he said that he thought I could be very successful with the band. I almost felt like at first I had to defend myself! Honestly though, I use his skepticism as a motivator. I want to prove to him, at each appointment, that I can and I WILL be successful with the band.

I COMPLETELY get being "one of the guys"! I have always gotten along better than men vs women. All of my close friends are males. My husband took a while to get used to it, but since he was friends with them too he didn't stay jealous for too long. The way men carry on...as amazing as it can be sometimes, can get highly inappropriate with a lady in the room. I've reminded them MANY times that I am a girl, and although I don't have virgin ears and talk like a sailor myself sometimes, at least consider that I'm a girl!! I love these guys to the end of the world, but geesh, boys can be grose! Watch though, I bet they will treat you differently as you progress on your weight loss journey. My friend told me the other day that I was looking really good, and I think it was as uncomfortable for me to hear as it was for him to say, but the thought was nice! By the way - I love your blogs!

Personally, I like my net calories to be less than 300 if I have any for the day. I don't have time to work out until the evening, so after I've entered all of my food into MyFitnessPal, I judge how much exercise is necessary beyond my normal routine. Right now, I'm only 4 1/2 weeks post-op, but I'm only taking in around 800 calories a day (I'm doing very lean Protein, veggie, and fruit if I'm still hungry, greek yogurt for Breakfast with fruit if I'm real hungry). It's probably too few calories, but I just had a fill and am still figuring out what I can and shouldn't eat, as well as how much. Little portions seem to keep me full for about 3 hours. Plus, I drink 80-100 oz of Water a day. I try to burn at least 500 calories a day with exercise. Again, this is just what I do personally, and I'm steadily losing weight.

Losing weight is hard in more ways than one. Right now I'm kind of stuck, too. I've lost 33 lbs, but want to lose 50 more. My work pants look like something MC Hammer would wear (bagginess, not color wise ). I don't want to go out and buy a size smaller because I want to lose many more sizes. My jeans all require a belt and scrunch funny. So, I'm right there with you.

Wow, it must really suck to be such a miserable person like your dietician! When I come across rude or dismissive people, I try to think of how bad it would feel to wake up every day and either hate my life or hate my job. Good job for holding your head high, but it's hard when you're expecting good solid advice and what you get is a complete let down. I would recommend finding a new dietician you can work with. Even though you may have only seen her to get clearance for surgery, you'll need someone on your side to learn how to eat properly post-op. I made friends with my dietician, she has saved me (via email) a few times!

I completely agree with you about Medicaid, but Medicare is something that is "earned" per se. Medicare comes of course with age, but also if you have a debility that prevents you from working. I think there is a LOT wrong with our Medicaid system, and it's horribly abused, but Medicare I see completely different. I do completely agree with you about how frustrating it is. Even with my husbands awesome Union benefits, my surgery still cost me about $2900 total. Luckily, I hit my out-of-pocket max so everything is free the rest of the year....but knowing how hard he works for those benefits aggravates me to know someone gets them for free from the government when they weren't earned.

I had surgery 5/18 and knew well ahead to expect the air/gas pain (I've had laparoscopic surgeries in the past). About 8 days post-op, I had this really intense cramping/burning pain under my left shoulderblade, more towards my back than front. I alternated heat and ice, but neither helped. The only thing that helped was standing up. I called the surgeon because I was certain it wasn't air pain. It was constant, but worse after eating. He agreed that it shouldn't be, but said that we needed to watch it because sometimes the band can be placed in an area that may aggravate a nerve that runs just above the stomach, into the left shoulder blade and side of the neck. He said that if it wasn't gone at my 2 week post-op, we would have to see what we could do. Luckily, the pain eased up and I felt much better. Fast forward to June 19th, I got my first fill. Came home, started with some liquids, felt my full signal and stopped drinking. About 20 minutes later, that pain was back! It was pretty persistant since my fill, but actually better this morning. Has anyone else experienced this? I don't quite know what to do - it isn't debilitating pain by no means, just super irritating. I'm hoping any adjustments or movements with the band won't do this every time!

Sorry, the air/gas pain is the side effect of any laparoscopic surgery. It should go away within a week or so, but after I had a robot-assisted hysterectomy, mine didn't come on until a week post-op and was there for two more weeks. Heating pad was my best friend.

I LOVE peanut butter. I used to eat it by the spoonful (now I cringe, knowing how I ended up at 243 lbs!) My nutritionist strongly discouraged it, not only because of the texture but besides having some protein, there's nothing else good about it (well, besides the taste that is!!). I actually took a banana, pureed it with some vanilla greek yogurt and just a dab of peanut butter. It satisfied the sweets craving I was having, and one banana made three servings.

I got a fill on Tuesday, which put me at 4 weeks post-op, and my next fill is July 16th, at 8 weeks post-op. My surgeon does them every month until I hit the green zone. I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you about going 3 months without your first fill. I honestly think I could have gone without the fill, my hunger between meals wasn't horrible, but I also think that part of me was just scared to have the fill done!

I too did a fair amount of research as to which I wanted. After finding so many similarities, I asked my surgeon which one he preferred to place. He said that honestly, it was whatever mood he was in that day and the OR had on hand. He asked if I had a preference, which I did not. He said that he slightly favors the Realize band over LapBand because of the port. The bands themselves are like comparing apples to apples. From what he found, the port had been less likely to flip on the Realize bands. But, he also said, that it was just his findings nothing scientific. He placed the Realize band, 10 cc, and he said he always places his ports on the right side (It's about an inch down from my rib cage). I had my first fill on Tuesday (3 cc) and it was a breeze. First attempt he got it (he also said that the ports can be more difficult to locate and fill in a person with more abdominal fat). Four weeks post-op, the only issue I had was trying to press my luck with that "one last bite" even though I had gotten my full signal and knew darn well I shouldn't have tried. But, you live and learn. I had severe indigestion for about 10 minutes.

I remember in the first WLS seminar the nutritionist recommended now chewing gum. Has anyone heard this, and if so, what is the reasoning? I would imagine that swallowing your gum could be problematic, and I know chewing gum stimulates your gastric juices...but is there a risk to chewing gum post-band? (FYI - I sure hope not - because if so I'm being a non-compliant bandster!!)

Congrats!! May 18th was the first day of my new life. Good luck to you on your new adventure!!

I am five weeks post-op. At every surgeon visit after surgery (I've had two so far) they ask on a form if you would do this surgery over again. I always, happily, check "YES". To be completely honest, it is a challenge. My husband is SO supportive, but even little things like him asking me to grab the Oreo's are a struggle. It's a mindless question for him, but to me it's putting temptation in my hands! You have to have will power. Until you have restriction in your band and get to the allusive "green zone" it is a mind-controlled diet. I had barely advanced to soft/moist foods and got a fill so I'm back on liquids for a day then mushies for another day. I haven't experimented much with a lot of foods, but I did learn the hard way that when you feel full, you HAVE to stop. I was always a "one last bite" person, and tried that tactic on Saturday after I felt full and I had the WORST indigestion of my life, for about 15 minutes. For me, the full feeling is a pressure-type sensation in my chest. I have been able to sucessfully drink coffee but I haven't done it very much. I used to be a coffee addict. At least a pot a day. I quit for about 2 months then realized that one cup of coffee would cure a migraine. I've had probably 3 cups since surgery and they've gone down fine. As a rule, I'm avoiding foods that I know aren't nutritious for me, like the bread and pastas. I'm in the mindframe of protein, veggies, then fruit if I'm still hungry and that's IT. Eventually I'll venture out but for now, it's working to help the weight loss. Also - exercise is important! You need to do something every day. Sometimes I only have time to hit the elliptical for 10 minutes, but I do it. But as I said it is a challenge, it is one that I am SO, SO happy I chose to take on. The feeling I get when I go to bed at night knowing that I ate healthy, exercised, and am working towards my goal is amazing. I'm proud of myself for the first time in years.