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Hmm, most blood pressure meds are in $4 a month or $10 for 90 days supply at Walmart, target, Ralphs etc for cash. You don't need to go through insurance. Unless of course you have to get the brands. I always insist they check on the cash price of the meds. Just FYI.

I am 3 weeks after surgery today and one week into mushy foods. I have found that if I am sipping Water or diet tea all day along I feel less hungry, I easily go through half a gallon of the stuff every day separate from the fluids in Soups and Protein shakes. I have noticed that on the days or evenings I neglect my fluids, I get more hunger pangs. Also I am continuing the Protein Shakes as high protein diet does make me less hungry. I have noticed that the protein shakes higher in Fiber also work better for me in terms of less hunger. Some store bought brands high in protein but low in fiber don't work as well. Best of luck to you!

I agree with CarolinaGirl, with me, if I thought that cheating was acceptable I would end up cheating a few times. Believe me Loosing 10-20 lbs on the pre-op diet is such a motivation that you cant help but start off on the right foot. My liver was pretty big but after the 2 weeks pre-op diet, my doctor said it looked good and only slightly enlarged when he did the surgery. I loved hearing that.

Good to hear you are doing okay.

Great idea! I will look at adding Flax Seed meal (from Trader Joe's as well) to up the fiber, protein and good fats. I really need to add good oils to my diet to improve my cholesterol.

Good Luck! Hope everything turns out well and its only gas.

So I made the soup per the instructions on the carton and I must say I was disappointed. Not that it did not taste good, it did. It was very healthy with low fat and carb but it did not taste like Tom Yum soup. I had to add a fair bit of lime juice to make it taste like Tom You soup I am used to. I will still continue to use the broth but I will probably continue to modify the recipe to suit my tastes. One recipe I have used in the past and I like is at the following link. It is a lot more work so I don't make it so often: http://riya-kitchen.blogspot.com/2007/08/tom-yum-kai.html?m=1 Tips: - Just substitute Galangal with ginger (I add a little extra ginger). - If you do not have the Lime leaves don't worry about it. - Any mushrooms will do in a pinch, white or shiitake preferred.

Do you get them? How do you handle them? I like chocolate so a while back, well before my band, I switched to baking chocolate chips. 12 chips are 80 cals and I let one or two melt in my mouth slowly. The 12 chips last me a good 15-20 mins and take care of the cravings. I usually didn't need to do that more than once or twice a week to stay satisfied. That was before the band though, not sure how they would fit in now. I am picky about the type and brand as well. If I'm only having a few, I want the best taste. I don't like the dark chocolate, I find it too sweet. I prefer milk chocolate and preferably Guittard or Shokinag brand.

I love Tom Yum Kai Thai Soup, especially now. Its spicy (you can choose), brothy, low fat and low carb. I am currently pureeing the chicken and veggies in the store bought soup and mixing with the broth to drink. I recently picked up a new product, Tom Yum Soup starter base, I have been looking for something like this for a while so I cant wait to cook with this as finding authentic Thai veggies to put in the soup at home is hard. Of course good restaurant soup is both expensive and inconvenient :-) This soup base is basically chicken broth (10 cals per cup, no fat and 2g sugar) so it would have been perfect for the day before surgery if I had found it then. I cant wait to cook with it, hopefully this weekend... See attached images for calorie info.

Congrats on the decision. The first 2 days are hard but if you keep sipping diet tea and eating the recommended veggies 1-2 times a day you can get through it. I asked my doctor and he said lime juice, hot sauce etc are fine so I used that instead of calorie free dressing that I did not like. I wish I had tried chicken and veggie broth sooner than the clear liquid only day before surgery. If your doctor allows, that is a good option if you get tired of sweet shakes.

I am mostly still getting my protein from protein shake. I have added 1-2 eggs a day or canned tuna in water or Cottage cheese. I can now tolerate protein bars so I am doing 1 bar a day (slowly). I plan to hold off one more week before I try cold cuts.

I had the band done two weeks back and yes my tolerance for food went up almost every day as the swelling went down. There is no Fluid in the band initially as the focus is on healing and recovery. The gagging is something I saw as well, I feel I may not be throwing up that hard anymore because it is only from the pouch and not the whole stomach. I had a problem with the shakes I blended with ice initially as they came out thick from the blender and I could not drink them the first few days. I switched to prepared shakes like muscle milk or premier Protein from costco and as they are like milk consistency they went down ok. I can now tolerate the thicker shakes so things will change every day. I am personally focusing on getting in about 1200 calories a day of which 100g is protein and drinking atleast 64 oz of fluids. I start soft foods tomorrow, lets see how that goes.

I Like organic fat free milk for creamer, unless you are lactose intolerant. I find that organic ff milk tastes so much better than regular ff milk which tastes like white Water to me.

Great advice, thanks. In fact right on time, I weighed myself this morning and it was same as my Weight on Friday morning. I was a little disappointed but what you said resonated with me. I will focus on healing and start exercising first and as my healing stabilizes and I am back on solids, I will focus on the calories.

Banded 8/16 as well. Did have gas the first few days as well as pain in shoulder and neck which the doctor said was due to left over CO2 from the surgery pressing against the Diaphragm. Walking helped a lot with the gas as well as Gas-X.

I got banded on August 16th 2012. Its been just over a week since I got banded and I am looking forward to loosing the weight. Pre-surgery I will tell you that the first 3 days of the pre-surgery diet were hard and I was cranky as hell. Had to tell my wife to just let me be as the diet was really hard to get used to If the pre-surgery diet was hard, the day before surgery with Zero calorie liquids was torture but I bore through it. Over all though the pre-surgery diet was very good for me, I lost 18 lbs on it and it has got me motivated and was the perfect platform for me. My surgeon Dr. Braverman did tell me that my liver was not much larger than normal at time of surgery and looked good overall. It was very large when they did the ultrasound about 6 weeks before surgery. Post-Surgery I have been slowly adjusting to liquids and a little bit of soft foods. I did have a couple of cases where I tried soft foods too early and that did not sit well at all. I have lost another 2 pounds in the last 10 days and hope to start loosing more as I can get into predictable foods as well as exercising.

I got banded on August 16th 2012. Its been just over a week since I got banded and I am looking forward to loosing the weight. Pre-surgery I will tell you that the first 3 days of the pre-surgery diet were hard and I was cranky as hell. Had to tell my wife to just let me be as the diet was really hard to get used to If the pre-surgery diet was hard, the day before surgery with Zero calorie liquids was torture but I bore through it. Over all though the pre-surgery diet was very good for me, I lost 18 lbs on it and it has got me motivated and was the perfect platform for me. My surgeon Dr. Braverman did tell me that my liver was not much larger than normal at time of surgery and looked good overall. It was very large when they did the ultrasound about 6 weeks before surgery. Post-Surgery I have been slowly adjusting to liquids and a little bit of soft foods. I did have a couple of cases where I tried soft foods too early and that did not sit well at all. I have lost another 2 pounds in the last 10 days and hope to start loosing more as I can get into predictable foods as well as exercising.