Tru**Brit

Fantastic news and great job on your part. Attitude is everything - after all, why would you put yourself through all this and then cheat yourself... makes no sense to me. I am also going to embrace this tool and I understand that it WILL take effort on my part, it's not a magic wand, it just give me the opportunity to control portions and re-educate myself in what my body needs to feel its best and put the brakes on or reverse preventable health issues that have been creeping up on me due to the weight. I owe myself and my daughter much more than the path I was on, declinining into severe obesity and lack of energy and enthusiasm to get off the sofa. Surgery was Monday, I am already feeling much better and enthusiastic for next steps.
All the best!
Rachel

I had a one week liquid diet pre-surgery and it was carefully explained to me, that it would shrink my liver which would make the laprascopic surgery easier to do without a giant flapping liver sitting on top of the stomach. Mine consisted of broth, certain Protein shakes, sugar free Jello, and I needed to intake 60 grams of Protein a day. I was dreading it to be honest and was sure I wouldn't be able to stick to it, but I was pleasantly surprised. The protein makes you feel full and takes the edge off your hunger (4-5 a day at regular intervals will help with hunger and meet your protein goals). Add the hot broth and Jello and I wasn't frantically hungry. I also understood that I wanted the safest surgery possible, and if I had to stick to a liquid diet to make it so, then I was going to do so.
I researched the various protein diets before I started - I had 6 months to prepare for this surgery undergoing a medically supervised few months to qualify for insurance paying for the surgery. I found the Proti Diet fruit Protein drinks were good - I don't care much for shakes of any description. However, the Atkins Protein Shakes were just about tolerable, and I found another one sold at Walgreens called FRS Blackberry Acai shakes that were very high in protein and low in fat and carbs that made me feel full and energized, awesome things.
If you sign up for this journey, get your head in it first - if you cheat you are only cheating yourself and what is the point? Its just for a week or two and its for a reason. Think about the long term and what you will gain out of this minor minor sacrifice...! Your health and happiness is worth it, right? Do lots of research before you embark on the journey and be prepared with a stock of Protein Drinks you can stand, lots of stock, jello, and your attitude all ready to go.
Good luck!
Rachel

So you cheated a little on your post-op diet. When you were supposed to be on liquids, you had a few spoons of mashed potatoes or a swallow of yogurt, both nice and soft. Maybe you ate a few Cheez Doodles, but what’s the big deal? They’re like eating flavored air, aren’t they? And the McNuggets you tried during the puree phase? You chewed them really well, and you could only eat three instead of your pre-op portion of six – isn’t that great?


No, it’s not great that you could only eat three McNuggets. And yes,cheating is a big deal, and I’m going to tell you why. You’re not going to get away with this one. Miss Jean has eyes in the back of her head. She sees the cookie crumbs on your face and the neon orange faux cheese film on your guilty fingers.
SOME DEFINITIONS OF CHEATING
The word “cheat” has two main connotations. One is cheating in the sense of lying and deceiving. It’s intentional dishonesty. You know what you’re doing is wrong, but you do it anyway. The other connotation of “cheat” is unfaithfulness. Unfaithful to a vow or promise you made to another person or to an organization.
When someone cheats you, do you just shrug and say, “Oh well, he was having a bad day”? Let’s say you bought a car that you thought was brand new, and later discovered that the dealer had fiddled with the odometer and charged you full sticker price for a car with 1200 miles on it. Would that be okay with you?
And what if your spouse, the person you trust with your life, cheated on you by sleeping with your best friend, would you be able to just shrug that off?
If your child got a B+ grade by cheating on a test by copying answers from the student at the next desk, would you be proud of him or her?
And what if you found out that a coworker betrayed you by using the great idea you confided to him or her and taking credit for it when it worked out splendidly? Would you still be eating lunch with that coworker?
Or what if you donated money to a political candidate who you admired, and he or she spent it on a vacation in the Bahamas instead of on re-election expenses. Would that be okay with you? Would you vote for that candidate ever again?
I’ll take a guess at your answers to these questions. In none of the situations I’ve described would you be happy or proud. In fact, you’d be disappointed and angry. So just how can you think it’s no big deal to cheat on your post-op diet?
EXCUSES, EXCUSES
I can hear grumbling in the room. I think I just heard someone saying, “I had to eat that mashed potato. I was so hungry and miserable and cranky from being on liquids for a week, I couldn’t stand it another minute.” I do understand very well how you felt, but in the big picture of world hunger, where babies die because their mothers eat so little that they don’t produce enough milk for nursing, your and my hungry misery is a big So What.
And someone else is whispering, “My best friend’s surgeon let her eat mashed potatoes on her third day post-op, so it must be okay for me to do that too, even though my surgeon told me to wait until my 15th day post-op. It’s not my fault that every surgeon has a different post-op eating protocol.”
While it’s true that surgeons’ eating instructions vary widely, you signed on with your surgeon, not your best friend’s. Presumably you chose your surgeon because you and/or your insurance company believe that he or she is well-qualified in laparascopic bariatric surgery. During your psych evaluation, you affirmed that you understand what the surgery involves and that you can and will follow instructions. You nodded when the shrink asked if you’re ready to make all the lifestyle changes needed for success. You nodded when the dietitian asked if you understood your pre- and post-op eating instructions. You scribbled your own name on a sheaf of release papers to indicate that you were informed about the risks involved and despite those risks, gave your surgeon permission to perform surgery on you.
In addition to all of that, you spent weeks or months jumping through hoops to prove your need for bariatric surgery. Perhaps you suffered through a six-month pre-op diet. You had lots of medical tests and evaluations, most of them not much fun, because you were so eager to get your weight loss show on the road. You had surgery, suffered some degree of discomfort from your incisions and gas, and finally heaved a sigh of relief because all the struggles are over now.
But then you discovered that there are still more struggles to survive because of that stupid post-op liquid diet. Yet despite jumping through all those hoops, in less than 60 seconds you blow it by popping a Cheez Doodle in your mouth, and justify that with the aforementioned misery excuse.
And man oh man, that must have been some really serious misery, because evidently it drove out of your mind all the very good reasons for faithfully following that post-op diet progression. You forgot that one of the most common causes of band slips is the patient’s failure to follow the post-op diet. You forgot that food can get stuck in the stoma or esophagus and cause an obstruction or vomiting. You forgot that vomiting can disturb the position of the band, especially when you’re a new post-op and your stomach is still healing from surgery. You forgot that in order to move mashed potatoes or Cheez Doodles through your digestive system, your esophagus and stomach must expand and contract, which can disturb the position of your band and cause it to slip. You forgot all the promises you made to your bariatric team and to yourself about healthy eating and weight loss success, because you were so miserable and just a few little cheat bites are no big deal.
I’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you thought that being able to eat the Cheez Doodles without having any uncomfortable side effects or complications like a stuck episode, a PB, sliming, chest pain, esophageal dilation or spasms means that it’s okay to eat the Cheez Doodles. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a wrong assumption. Cheating eating can cause problems without you ever knowing it until it’s too late. Cheating eating is just plain foolish.
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
Now here’s the good news. You’re not alone. Nobody enjoys the post-op diet progression. If any of us were good at following diets, we might not need bariatric surgery in the first place. And only infants enjoy a liquid diet. But in a sense, as a new post-op you’re a bariatric infant who must consume liquids because your body isn’t ready yet to handle anything else. Cheating on your post-op diet is cheating your health in a major way.
If you already cheated once or twice or ten times, that’s not a good reason for continuing to cheat, so don’t do it again! I believe we should begin any project as we mean to go on. If you can’t follow your post-op diet, exactly when are you going to begin your healthy post-op lifestyle? Are you going to wait until after your first fill, or your second fill, or at some hazy time in the future? If so, don’t come running to me when your scale stays stuck on a number you hate. NOW is the time to begin your healthy lifestyle. NOW is the time to practice good band eating skills and making good food choices and controlling portion sizes. Doing that may not be easy, but it’s not impossible either. Losing a massive amount of weight is a big, tough project, but if you respect your band, it's going to be easier than any of your past weight loss attempts. Let me clarify that: it's going to be easier if you follow instructions.
In addition to that healthy lifestyle, there’s another very good reason to stick to your diet. At some point you’re going to have to face up to your past and acknowledge that food and eating have been a major problem for you. The fact that you’re struggling with your post-op diet is a symptom of that. There’s no shame attached to that struggle. As mentioned above, if we didn’t struggle with eating, we wouldn’t need bariatric surgery at all. So I suggest that you look at the post-op diet (and your pre-op diet too, for that matter) as a rite of passage. During this rite, you’ll be painfully aware of just how many food devils you possess, because without food to shut them up, they’re going to be jumping up and down and screaming for your attention. But their wish is no longer your command. You’re going to send them a clear signal: that you’re not going to submit to their demands any more. From now on, you’re going to follow your surgeon’s and dietitian’s eating instructions no matter how much commotion those devils make. You’re in charge now. As the saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Do yourself a favor, and make it a day without Cheez Doodles!

Fantastic news and great job on your part. Attitude is everything - after all, why would you put yourself through all this and then cheat yourself... makes no sense to me. I am also going to embrace this tool and I understand that it WILL take effort on my part, it's not a magic wand, it just give me the opportunity to control portions and re-educate myself in what my body needs to feel its best and put the brakes on or reverse preventable health issues that have been creeping up on me due to the weight. I owe myself and my daughter much more than the path I was on, declinining into severe obesity and lack of energy and enthusiasm to get off the sofa. Surgery was Monday, I am already feeling much better and enthusiastic for next steps.
All the best!
Rachel

I too was having some physical problems that never seemed to be healed enough for me to exercise and try and do something about my weight. I have had ongoing joint pains resulting from extreme sports as a teen and injuries from way back when. Not being able to exercise I piled on the weight and went from 140 to 260 in a period of 15 years. My moment of enlightenment came later last year - I had knee replacement surgery in January 2011, and I thought that would be a fix. When it came to August and I was well enough to walk a decent distance and join a gym, I started on a diet and exercise program. That's when I got extreme achilles tendonitis and the pain in both legs was excruciating. I ended up in Physical Therapy for 6 months because over the years my tendons had developed a lot of scar tissue, my arches in my feet had fallen and generally speaking I was a physical mess from the knees down. That's when I realized that I would not be able to conquor my weight without additional help - I couldn't exercise because of my weight, and coudln't lose weight because of my recurring injuries. So this decision for lap band surgery was made to kick start the weight loss process, and as I said I have embarked on this journey with a lot of physical therapy and preparation to be physically able to move more.
I have no intention of being 60 and in a wheelchair. I have a 13 year old daughter that needs me around and to do things with her - I owe her and I especially owe myself a better life, and that's why I made the decision to have lapband surgery. I have always been very active and I fully intend to get my life back, it just needs effort from me, and the assistance of the lap band to control portion intake. I feel I am lucky in that I don't have much issue with emotional over eating - I like steak and potatoes and can eat way too much at one time. That will change from this point on!
Good luck with your decision - only you can know if you want this and if it's a tool that will work with you!
Rachel

I too was having some physical problems that never seemed to be healed enough for me to exercise and try and do something about my weight. I have had ongoing joint pains resulting from extreme sports as a teen and injuries from way back when. Not being able to exercise I piled on the weight and went from 140 to 260 in a period of 15 years. My moment of enlightenment came later last year - I had knee replacement surgery in January 2011, and I thought that would be a fix. When it came to August and I was well enough to walk a decent distance and join a gym, I started on a diet and exercise program. That's when I got extreme achilles tendonitis and the pain in both legs was excruciating. I ended up in Physical Therapy for 6 months because over the years my tendons had developed a lot of scar tissue, my arches in my feet had fallen and generally speaking I was a physical mess from the knees down. That's when I realized that I would not be able to conquor my weight without additional help - I couldn't exercise because of my weight, and coudln't lose weight because of my recurring injuries. So this decision for lap band surgery was made to kick start the weight loss process, and as I said I have embarked on this journey with a lot of physical therapy and preparation to be physically able to move more.
I have no intention of being 60 and in a wheelchair. I have a 13 year old daughter that needs me around and to do things with her - I owe her and I especially owe myself a better life, and that's why I made the decision to have lapband surgery. I have always been very active and I fully intend to get my life back, it just needs effort from me, and the assistance of the lap band to control portion intake. I feel I am lucky in that I don't have much issue with emotional over eating - I like steak and potatoes and can eat way too much at one time. That will change from this point on!
Good luck with your decision - only you can know if you want this and if it's a tool that will work with you!
Rachel

Well it hit me like a ton of bricks this morning when I stepped on the scale and the first number was a "1" instead of a "2" that this is really working!
I don't want to say the band is working for me, because I feel like I'm working with it. I'm doing more than my fair share - jogging or hiking 3-4 miles a day, counting calories like a mad woman, taking my Vitamins religiously. The band gives me that gentle reminder to slow down and eat responsibly because I may not get to eat a whole meal - only eat what my body needs, I can't afford to waste hunger on crap food.< /p>
I can't say my journey thus far has been hard or easy, but it's been different. Making myself a priority in life was a huge change, and this whole process from the seminar to today has been life-altering.
I feel very lucky to have such an amazing weight loss team. Beyond my surgeon, dietician, and coordinator, my team includes my husband, parents, sister, even my coworkers...they all offer their support in different ways and I means the world to me to have it, since before I was the girl that didn't want support.
I wish everyone out there in Band Land a successful journey.

Just a quick hello to introduce myself! My name is Rachel and I am a 52 year old mother of 1 teenage daughter. Decided in January 2012 that I needed to take drastic action to prevent further health issues and suddenly, here we are... 1 day before lap band surgery. Insurance approval and all the visits seemed to take forever, but now it's here and I am totally ready! Have been following the 1 week liquid only diet since last Monday (glad that's almost over... although I lost a hefty 8lbs this week). My liver should be the size of a walnut, jeesh...
Hope to make everyone's acquaintance in due course. For now, off to browse the forums, but wish me luck tomorrow and watch my space...
Rachel