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hey! i'm on it... i'll add you. i'm sylviau150 on there happy tracking!

hi diane! yes, i'm 2 weeks out and just started with soft foods and doing great! feeling full with the food, so thats good! just occasional port area pain, but nothing major... so everything seems to be going well with the surgery part!
i get my first fill in a couple of weeks! i'm excited about that!
i'm on myfitnesspal if you want to add me: sylviau150

Hi All, hope everyone is doing well. I use my fitness pal & it has been a great help to me. Logging all my food & having friends on there. If you want to join & add me my name is auntielle on there as well. I had surgery in September & am down 91 with 33 to go. All the best!

Hi, Sylvia. I also live in Maryland. Had my surgery at St. Agnes Hospital on August 16, 2011. I'm down 69 pounds and doing well. I would be happy to be a support buddy. I know this is a scary journey, and someone to bounce things off is always helpful. Good luck on this wonderful journey.
Stephanie

hey suzi! thanks for responding! i sent you a message!

Sylvia, Welcome good luck on your surgery. Where are you having it? which hospital? I was Banded on Dec 19th at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. I started at 256 and I am now down 60 pounds. I have 60 based on my BMI, but would be happy with 150 too. I live in Fulton Maryland which is south of Columbia, and about 20 miles from Baltimore. I would be happy to be you band buddy. Suzie

congrats the 5 pounds lost!
and good luck on the surgery! we're almost there!

No assigned pre-op diet but my surgeon asked that I do my best to lose the 10 lbs I put on since my first consult back in late January. Down since last pre-op visit on June 12th... We should stay in touch. My surgeon also routinely does an aggressive fill at time of surgery and according to him he doesn't have patients ask for additional fills very often... That sounds kinda weird but I won't argue. I want max restriction asap! I've been substituting at least one meal a day with the Premier shakes from Costco (during the work week two meals) I really enjoy the costco shakes and they have almost no sugar, just 3g or so and 160 calories! Lost 5 of the 10lbs already!

Hi Diane!
Thank you so much for writing and for your encouragement! I will definitely be contact! I'm getting a little nervous about Monday! how long before you were able to get around pretty normal? how was the pain? was tylenol enough to deal with it?

July 2? Me too... Nervous & excited

Hi, i'm Sylvia! A little info about me: 32 years old. I live in Maryland.I've been married for almost 2 years and have no kids.
I'm getting banded on July 2... in just a few days!! My weight when i started this process was 297 and i'm at 278
right now. My goal is 150... but i'm sure i'll be happy with like 170!
I would love to have a band buddy that has been there and done that! It would be cool if we have stared around the same place in weight!
Write me!
Sylvia

I am disappointed, I wrote a long and elaborate post to respond to this and my computer failed and deleted it....
Essentially, I am getting banded July 6th and share many of your concerns (or did). My big fears are how people will react to my weight loss and change in diet (no more chugging beers and eating pizzas with the boys). How I will like my new body (will I be a bag of skin? Will I lose weight in the right places?). And how I will cope with not having food as a comfort (I am seeking out support - therapy, overeaters anonymous, this forum, trying to start journaling). For me, as a type-A person who likes to do things right and be the best, a huge part of my anxiety was the food. Getting my supplements, taking the right Vitamins, following the rules so I don't make myself sick by being ignorant.
What really eased my mind was making a list of the things I needed, calling my Drs office and asking questions when I didn't understand the packet, posting on here for more variety/first hand experience with these issues, and then actually going out and making the purchases to prepare my self to be successful. I talked to my doctor about scars and found out about/opted for single incision. I got my vitamins, found Protein powder/shakes I like, started tracking my calories (myfitnesspal.com), and bought a lapband specific cook book. I youtubed all sorts of skin remedies (I am using MSM and Biotin, and stopped tanning + more). I bought a fitness tracker (fitbit) and just set myself up for success. I ate through the excess food in my house that I wouldn't be allowed to have preop and post surgery so that it wasn't a temptation later. I made a bucket list of 10 foods I knew I would miss or restaurants I had been dying to try and I ate them all before starting my preop diet. I tried to count the calories and track them and see what I was really eating and I even took note of how I felt after each meal (to be honest when I really thought about the food, it wasn't as good as it was in my imagination). Thinking about my food I was also able to actually feel being full (not that that really stopped me from eating what I am kind of considering 'my last meals').
As for some of your direct questions, the pain can be monitored by pain killers that your Dr will prescribe. And the pain of surgery will last a few weeks most, but the emotional pain of being obese.... maybe we'll never fully kick that. Not to mention the physical pain of being obese -- chaffing, clothes pinching, sweating, walking far, stairs, sore feet, back pain, broken ankles (I fall all the time being fat and having awful balance). The reason I am doing the band instead of other bariatric surgery is because if I regret it, I can reverse it. You can get a 100% unfill, or the band removed completely. I can almost promise you will regret not getting it in a few years more than you regret getting it. I don't know if your regret is cost related (I am lucky that my insurance is paying), but when I talked to my surgeon, he asked why I decided now. I told him I got insurance that would cover it, and he said "but if you think about all the costs you have from being obese, is the band really that expensive?". I went home and crunched the numbers and I spent >$15,000 last year on food/fad diets/trainers/gyms/fat people clothes/obesity related drs appts/stretchmark creams/herbal remedies. The band costs well below that and will maybe even SAVE YOU money. I still can't imagine what it will be like not to tear through the only pair of jeans ($80/pair) that fit my body well every 3 months, and not having the perpetual "food drip oil stain" or "hole from where my stomach leans on the counter and rubs my jean zipper" on my shirts and having to buy new shirts every couple months (the same freaking shirts!!!). How nice it will be not to fight myself from breaking out the credit card at every infomercial offering weight loss/cleanse/diet pill. How it will feel to order $10 of chinese food and have leftovers rather than $40 of chinese food and wish that I had gotten those crab rangoons too.
I don't mean to be corny, but you can't succeed if you don't try. You automatically fail. So worrying about failure, seems moot. If you are like me, lapband is not the first diet plan you have tried. It is the last ditch effort to get your weight and life under control. By having the surgery you are upping your chances of success hugely, and without it, at least for myself, there would be virtually no chance of success, and a better chance at gaining another 100lbs in the next 4 years. A huge reason I chose lapband was because of the automatic support it provides and the virtually guaranteed success (with patience). You are REQUIRED to see your doctor for fills and follow ups. They don't just cut out half your stomach and say "good luck". They work with you and your band to help you get the results you are looking for. The support and motivation that seeing your doctor until you have it under control, for me, is a huge win. It almost feels fool proof as long as I am willing to put in the time and wait until I find my sweet spot.
My advice is to keep using this forum to ask any last minute questions you have. Re read through the surgeons packet and make sure you have no questions. Start taking the steps to success by purchasing the tools you need to begin with your best foot forward. Get into the mentality that you are about to add life to your life. Make a list of the things you want to do once you hit your goals and use that as motivation to do the preop diet and walk into the surgery feeling confident you can be successful. I started looking at all the skinny girl clothing sites that I have not fit into for >6 years and started making "shopping bags" of all the clothes I would want to fit into. I made a pinterst board of the tattoos, skydiving, rollercoasters and things that I can't or don't feel comfortable doing now, that I want to add to my life. Think of scenarios that frighten you (for me it is how I will be social with my friends without food) and make alternatives (go kayaking, see a movie, have a cookout at my house where I can provide myself with proper food, work out with the boys instead of drinking beer with the boys). My therapist helped me look up overeaters anonymous groups in my area and lapband support groups from my surgeons office and plan to attend a lot in the first few months. I'm sure it won't all be easy, but removing these "variables" has eased my mind SO MUCH.
I hope this is more helpful than preachy. It was actually a huge help to me to write all this down and reaffirm why I am doing this. I wish you luck with your surgery, fellow-july-bander. And please contact me or ask more questions. I don't have all the answers and I would love as much support as I can get as I make this change. This forum has been beyond helpful for me in answering questions and realizing that I am not the only person with my concerns. I have found plenty of people with the exact same fears/concerns/flaws and sometimes they have the answers too. There isn't one way to be successful on the band, and between lapbandtalk and youtube I have found the pieces I need to feel like I can succeed.
.... Can you imagine what my pre-deleted post was if this is my "essentially" version. HAHA.