tiggergramma

What a great blog! Thanks for sharing and thanks for the food ideas. I don't get what the magic pop not bread things are, but am going to look them up and see if they are available in my area. eta: Ok, they look really good. But, do they give you that 'full of air' feeling rice cakes do? I can't eat rice cakes because of that...they almost make me nauseous.

My doctor told me to just do what works for me. After I stopped laughing and pointing at myself...I reminded him why I was there. So, I have cut red meat out completely for the past week and have only had chicken and fish a couple of times. Mostly eating veggie curries with tofu, oatmeal with fruit, and the occasional peanut butter sandwich and have lost 3 pounds. I see him again on Monday, which is 4 days preop. He may put me on fluids then, we'll see. I am going to try to go to fluids only on Saturday and see if I can get to surgery with a few more pounds off.

So glad to read the update! Sorry your social gathering kicked off such a sad reaction, but I hope you can work on not worrying about anyone but YOU for the time being! Glad you got away, sounds like it did you good! I'm getting my band next month, and I am not looking forward to the melt-downs, but at least I know they are coming!

Believe me, I have had that conversation and more with my mother. It is easier just not talking to her.

I refuse to tell my mother because she is so truly horrid about anything I have ever done in my life. The very first words out of her mouth would be "Well, you'll never stick with it." How do I know? Because the one time I did share with her that I had lost weight using WW and Curves, her remark was "You know you won't stick to it and it will all just come back." Yay mom. I have a very difficult time understanding how exactly she birthed my sister and I, perfectly nice, kind, thoughtful, and decent people...The only time anything nice comes out of her mouth is when one of her friends' kids does something she admires, then she goes on and on about how special they are. bah! eta: LOL...reading this, I had to wonder...gee, I wonder if my eating is stress-related?

That's understandable, I like algebra.

Yeah, but you love math, so maybe that just follows...LOL (couldn't figure out how to highlight Weird, so I changed the color)

Bibi, your ideas sound great! I love the idea of muffin-sized entrees!. Thanks, I am going to try to remember them when I get to that point.

This is a huge problem for me as well. I am pre-op now and trying very hard to increase my fluid intake. I am chronically dehydrated, and I know that. However, I pee about 30 times more than I drink, so increasing the intake pretty much means I am chained to a bathroom all day! Gah! Well, baby steps are happening, and I am starting to see a slight improvement in the ratio of intake and outgo...still can't swallow sometimes because I am so dry. I figure if I get past that being noticeable, I am on the right track.

I just looked at it on Amazon and I cannot see anywhere that says how many servings you get from a 2# tub of it. Can you give me an idea? The Nectar runs about twice what I am paying for Protein shake mix at WalMart, but I don't know if I am comparing apples to apples. Thanks! Lori eta: I just looked at Vitamin Shoppe and it says 130 scoops, so that helps. And I see they have Pink Grapefruit...may have to try that for sure! eta: I looked at a different site and it showed that each serving size is 1/4 scoop! So you use 4 servings per scoop of mix, which gives only about 32 actual servings...the WalMart mix gives 24 servings for about $12...I did order some packets of the pink grapefruit to try though.

hmmm, I don't know if they gave a surgery date to mine...they haven't given me a date yet...now I really have to call Kelly tomorrow and see what is happening with it all.

I have BCBS federal and I am hoping the authorize quickly. I think the gal at my surgeon's office submitted everything last Thursday, so fingers crossed we hear back this week...I am calling them tomorrow when she is back in the office to see if there is any word yet. I'd really like to have surgery in August, so I have lots of time to recover before a scheduled trip at the end of September.

mmmm, spaghetti squash! One of my favorite foods, so glad I will be able to eat it after surgery!

Good for you hanging in there!

Terrified. Irrationally, ridiculously, mortified. Not of the procedure itself, that should be a breeze. Petrified of going through all of this with the best intentions and motivation, then not having the willpower to keep it up. Went to a seminar given by my surgeon last night, and the one thing he said that really helped me was that the banding helps maintain an "indifference" to food. That may be enough to get me through to surgery! My biggest problem with food is taste. If something is tasty, I will eat it all. I am hoping that will be overcome by having to work so hard to make things small enough to process. I have an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow. I am going to ask for an anti-anxietal Rx to get me to surgery.

Good! Let's remind each other this is what we intended to do when we are down because someone has bothered us, ok?

I hear you! I am telling only certain people that I absolutely trust not to judge me or say something stupid or hurtful. I have not had surgery yet, but I plan to handle questions with something along the lines of "Oh, I am trying something new that seems to be working well for me." and leave it at that.

Thank you Cheri!

Thank you so much for this reply, that actually makes sense to me and gave me kind of an "aha!" moment. I think that, at this point, I am just wishing I were scheduled and that part of the commitment was taken care of, you know? Soon.

Thanks for the responses! TMF: Thanks for sharing your experience with Sensa. I really didn't "get" what that product was actually doing, so your description really helps. It sounds like it could be made for people like me, who have trouble stopping eating something that tastes really good, by making it not have that good taste. I see the danger though, of just moving on to something else instead. Ready: I hear you on "too good to be true" products! None of them have ever worked for me or anyone I know. Jean: Valid question. First, you would need to understand how much I cannot wrap my head around the idea that this surgery is actually going to work for me...I enjoy food and the concept of actually eating less and succeeding at this is just really hard for me to believe. I figured that if I need to still do something to fool my brain after surgery, Sensa may help. I had gone to the PubMed site to research it as well as some other sites and found what you did: No evidence that it works, but no implications in any safety issues. I doubt I will spend the money to try it, heaven knows I have wasted a lot of money over the years on a wide variety of things that have not helped. I'm sure I will go ahead with surgery, hopefully soon, and put all of this uncertainty behind me.

So, my name is Lori and I am getting things lined up to have surgery, hopefully this summer. I have my psych exam this Thursday and a seminar Saturday with a consult with Dr. Neal on the following Tuesday. At this point I am on an emotional roller coaster; excited one day, terrified the next. I've been reading here for the past 2 or 3 weeks, so I know this is pretty normal to go through, which keeps me from just eating myself to sleep... A friend who knows I am contemplating this has suggested trying Sensa before I make my decision. I have looked at the reviews and am not convinced it actually works, but I was wondering if any of you had tried it before you had surgery, and if you felt like it did any good? I really don't see myself using it in place of surgery, but if it works, I wonder if it would help in conjunction with surgery? So many questions. Wouldn't it be delightful if I could actually go to bed and wake up as thin as I sometimes imagine I am? Looking forward to hearing back from anyone. Lori