contrabanded

Sorry guys, but I just need to vent for a minute.
Has anyone had any trouble with (un)supportive family members?
Like people who are putting you and the process of getting adjusted to the lap band down and their excuse is their "concern" for you?
Let me be a little clearer: My dad has been frankly an a-hole the majority of the time I was going through the preparations for the lap-band surgery. When I call him out on it he cracks jokes like "oh, I'm just trying to help toughen you up" etc. More specifically, when I was on my pre-op liquid diet and was starving because a) my calorie intake had dropped significantly for a 345 lb person and the Protein Shakes wore off more quickly than expected and I am a relatively picky eater, he would say stuff like "would you like a piece of cake"? He would have discussions with my mom in depth about what they were going to have for dinner, etc, specifically (or it felt intentional, at least) bringing up foods that in the past have been my FAVORITES and that I have been notorious for over-indulging on. The only day he was actually supportive on was the day of my surgery.
Now that I am post-op, he is still doing it but it hasn't really bothered me because I haven't felt hungry practically at all until today (which is all good because I am finally on pureed foods and can actually eat eggs) which has helped cure the hunger pains I was starting to experience. I cooked a Breakfast today and was excited that for the first time in a couple weeks I was able to eat a semi-normal put together AND that it kept me full the majority of the day.
I was excited enough about this when I got home that I was talking to my dad about it and he immediately starts telling me I'm overdoing it, when the more he tries to argue with me about various facts on the lap band, the more I can tell he didn't read the information I gave him (at his request) that he says he did. And I tracked my breakfast in MyFitnessPal--a little under 300 calories and I had it spread out for breakfast AND lunch... How is 150 cals per meal overdoing it?
I'm pretty frustrated with him, esp because he keeps making excuses for his eating behaviors and blaming them on me, like "Oh I'm eating more fast food so that we don't stink up the house and make it harder on you to have all these good smells around"... which would be fine if he was eating fast food OUT OF THE HOUSE instead of in the living room.
I had been hoping that having some personal success with my lap band might inspire him to get one (possibly) and if not, at least inspire him to do something about his weight. (He is very large, a little over 400 lbs) And he keeps talking like he is cutting back on food and keeps telling mom how he is worried that I'm gonna fail (thankfully, he has not said that around me or to me) and that some salesman sold me a product I think is going to be a magic answer and he doesn't wanna have to deal with it when I get upset because the band isn't a magic wand that's going to make me skinny... (The first thing I told them was that the lap band is a TOOL) and overall my mom has been much more supportive.
As I am typing this, I realize he has his own problems about facing his weight, but a) don't put that on me, and part of me feels like he is unhappy with my decision because he sure gets enjoyment out of taunting me about food.
Can anyone else relate? I am determined to make this a success and I was before all this happened with my dad, I just wish he wouldn't be such a jerk about it. But it's as if he thinks I'm only gonna be successful with the band if I stay on baby food and ensure.
And I'm a foodie at heart, I will love food, esp in well put together recipes, healthy or unhealthy always, no matter how little of a portion I can eat of it! For anyone who follows Banded Wendy on Youtube or Facebook, I can't tell you how excited I am to try some of her recipes!
And I would really like some POSITIVE support if anyone wants to team up on this!
Thanks,
Krystina

Just an update! 1 week post op and 5 lbs down! Total weight loss of 25 lbs so far! WOOT WOOT!! I want to post pictures, but I will wait and post some when there is more of a dramatic difference!

Peach Crisp
1 20 oz can sliced peaches
2 or 3 packets instant oatmeal in a flavor like brown sugar/cinnamon
2 or 3 tablespoons butter
Drain peaches. Put in a loaf dish or something similar. In a bowl cut butter into instant oatmeal until crumbly. Sprinkle over peaches and bake at 325* about 30 minutes or until topping is crisp (or well done).

According to my nutritionist, during the first month of the band, she says to just eat when you are hungry and not push it. For me, I get in around 500-700 calories a day and am fine. I am on pureed foods now and have had total 540 cals and around half of my Water intake. Afterwards, when I am back on a "normal diet" she says we are supposed to stick to 1000-1500 calories per day but that they only want us eating 3 small meals a day. I just don't see how I will be able to get more than 1000 calories into 3 small meals per day that are 1/2 c to a whole cup.
I've read a lot of different things on here, but one thing I've seen that's consistent is not to push yourself on foods. I would go with the advice of your doctor ultimately. But it is hard to keep what's-what straight because there are so many variations of right and wrong depending on surgeon and bariatric program.
I hope some of this helps, although I am newly banded as well so hopefully someone else will post some useful insight. I did read some about going into starvation mode if your calorie intake is less than a certain percentage of your BMR, which will mess up your metabolism and that is something I am personally concerned about considering my BMR right now is 2300 some odd calories (which is the amount my body needs to burn per day to maintain my weight) and I'm getting in less than 1000 right now, but I am also following my surgeon's directions.

Yes ma'am! I have been following my post op directions to the letter. I was referring to how I would react around food pre surgery. Recovery has been great so far!

OMG this thread has been so awesome! It has expanded my viewpoint on how the band works and definitely redefined the term "restriction" for me. I was only banded on the 20th, but already I have noticed that the same things I used to get cravings for do not affect me now. I can see something that I would devour and it will smell so good but I have zero desire to actually eat that food.
Good thing I am pre-emptively reading this before I get frustrated when I start to feel hungry!

Hey all! Today I am one week post op and have lost a total of 23.1 lbs, with only about 3.1 being after surgery. I felt like superwoman up until last night because I literally felt no hunger. I had to force myself to drink my Protein shakes! Then all of a sudden I was so incredibly hungry so I had some Soup and drank some Water and it got a little better.
Thanks to all the veterans on here I have managed not to panic that I haven't lost weight like I did during the pre op diet, but it seems I've been a little over eager and optimistic about returning to the gym, etc. I am just worn out! I was wondering if anyone had any good tips on getting through these first few weeks without a fill. When did you start going to the gym post op?

Hey all! I was banded February 20th! I had gas pains in my left shoulder and with the help of Gas-X strips, a heating pad and walking, the pains have been very manageable. Other than that, I have had minimal incision pain (but some itching) and zero problem getting down liquids and yogurt, etc. How is everyone else's first weeks going? Anyone back at the gym yet?
I hope to be under 300 lbs by the beginning of April!

OMG this thread has been so awesome! It has expanded my viewpoint on how the band works and definitely redefined the term "restriction" for me. I was only banded on the 20th, but already I have noticed that the same things I used to get cravings for do not affect me now. I can see something that I would devour and it will smell so good but I have zero desire to actually eat that food.
Good thing I am pre-emptively reading this before I get frustrated when I start to feel hungry!

I was banded Feb 20 also! How did your surgery go? I was terrified of the anesthesia, but ultimately I haven't regretted a thing yet!

I bought the unjury shakes as well! I put the chocolate one in my food processor with a frozen banana and a tiny bit of milk and it came out like ice cream. It was really good! I also bought the unflavored and the chicken Soup one. I'm rather skeptical of the chicken Soup flavored one but I will try it today and let you guys know. I like that the powder has low carbs in it.
Change of topic: do you guys have any short term weight loss goals? My boyfriend is planning a trip to Big Sky, Mt for mid March and I am so excited! I was already thinking this will be the perfect short term motivation I need. I would like to lose 30 pounds by then but I don't know if that is ridiculous.

My date is February 20th due to work schedule, wish it was sooner!! Any nerves I have about the surgery is completely overshadowed by my excitement to achieve my weight loss goals and enjoy the rewards of a healthier lifestyle! It's gotta be better than this right?

My date is February 20th due to work schedule, wish it was sooner!! Any nerves I have about the surgery is completely overshadowed by my excitement to achieve my weight loss goals and enjoy the rewards of a healthier lifestyle! It's gotta be better than this right?

There are so many things i am looking forward to when i get thin and healthy but to name a few...SHOPPING!!!!!! Clothes without elastic! No more back fat, Sexy panties,bending down without a struggle ( LOL ) And ( sorry if Tmi but ) seeing my lady part without lifting up my stomach!!!!! Let me hear yours!

This may sound crazy as I am all of a sudden a little emotional after watching "What to Expect When You're Expecting" but I can't wait for what I've been told will be a completely different take on my social life when I get confidence in my appearance! I can't wait to be comfortable in social settings, and hopefully later in dating settings, which will be completely new territory for me.
And one day, I can't wait to have a beautiful, healthy little baby and to teach them a healthy lifestyle from a young age so that hopefully they won't struggle as much with their health as I have. I never wanted to have a baby, or was more or less indifferent until about a year ago, and then all of a sudden it hit me that ... whoa I want a baby and I am completely aware of having a biological clock! I still have a LONG way to go before I worry about time running out, but now I've surpassed my mom's age when she had me and I don't want to be an old grandma from the get-go! BUT at the same time I want the right situation to play out before I have kids... Just saying I am hopeful.
At the very least, if I can go out with my friends on a Friday night and laugh and have fun and be carefree again! Just live in the moment--that would make all this stress and working 2 jobs to pay for the surgery worth it, and so much sweeter.

This may sound crazy as I am all of a sudden a little emotional after watching "What to Expect When You're Expecting" but I can't wait for what I've been told will be a completely different take on my social life when I get confidence in my appearance! I can't wait to be comfortable in social settings, and hopefully later in dating settings, which will be completely new territory for me.
And one day, I can't wait to have a beautiful, healthy little baby and to teach them a healthy lifestyle from a young age so that hopefully they won't struggle as much with their health as I have. I never wanted to have a baby, or was more or less indifferent until about a year ago, and then all of a sudden it hit me that ... whoa I want a baby and I am completely aware of having a biological clock! I still have a LONG way to go before I worry about time running out, but now I've surpassed my mom's age when she had me and I don't want to be an old grandma from the get-go! BUT at the same time I want the right situation to play out before I have kids... Just saying I am hopeful.
At the very least, if I can go out with my friends on a Friday night and laugh and have fun and be carefree again! Just live in the moment--that would make all this stress and working 2 jobs to pay for the surgery worth it, and so much sweeter.

Are mirrors and scales telling you lies? Don’t let them sabotage your weight loss and peace of mind.


THE MIRROR LIES
I don't know about you, but I have trick mirrors in my house. In fact, trick mirrors lurk everywhere, in public restrooms, department stores, hotel lobbies and on several walls of my health club. These mirrors never tell the truth. Like a funhouse mirror, they tell me I'm fat, thin, old, young, ugly or beautiful. Rarely do those messages match up with reality. If you have trick mirrors in your world, do not believe their lies!
You know I'm kidding, right? The trick isn't in the mirror, it's in my brain. Because of decades of denial, self-hatred, weight fluctuation, aging, envy, societal messages (the fast food server asks me, "You want that super-sized?" while I study the skeletal body of an actress on a magazine cover), and random electrical impulses skipping crazily around my brain, I cannot accurately process data from my reflection in the mirror. This isn't unique to obese and formerly-obese people, but it's a special burden for us because as we work so hard to lose weight, we are even hungrier for positive feedback than we are hungry for food.
For this reason, I suggest that you save your Before photos and one Fat Outfit (no matter how much you hate them), keep records of your body measurements (because sometimes you'll see progress there when none shows on the scale) and document your weight loss surgery journey with monthly photos. Last Monday I looked at myself in my bathroom mirror and thought, "Damn, girl! You look good!" On Tuesday, after a weigh-in that showed no increase or decrease, I looked in that same mirror and thought, "Damn, girl! You are porking up!" At moments like that, it is a great comfort to try on my fat clothes and feel them slide off my body because they're so big, or to set a Before photo alongside a Now photo and be reminded of how far I've come.
THE scale TELLS THE TRUTH
But not the whole truth.
The scale weighs your clothes, shoes, fat, muscle, bone and Water weight. This data will vary throughout the day as you eat, drink, exercise, urinate and defecate. You can buy fancy scales that will give you readings for total body weight, fat and water weight, and all those values will fluctuate every day. You can't let those fluctuations make you crazy. Recently I tracked my weight every day over the course of a week. It went like this: up, down, down, down, up, up, with a net gain or loss of zero. When I'm trying to maintain rather than lose weight, I'm happy about that. When I’m trying to lose weight, seeing my weight creep up and up as the day goes on does absolutely nothing positive for my weight loss effort.
On the day when my early-morning weigh in showed a 3.6 pound increase, I could have let that information spoil my day, but instead I copied my British friend, Kate. I shrugged and said, "Silly cow." My body weight is just one piece of information about me. It does not tell the whole truth of my worth as a human being and a WLS patient. The scale doesn't remind me that I had lost 1.75" from my bust, waist, legs and arms when I measured myself that week. It doesn't remind me that I exceeded my weekly exercise goal by 75 minutes. It doesn't remind me that I met all of my nutritional goals, wrote 20 pages of my book manuscript, had a job interview, gave medication to my dogs, listened to my husband rant after a bad day at work, took one of my dogs to visit the nursing home residents, or any of the other things that are important to me.
I realize that the scale is our primary tool for measuring our progress as we lose or maintain our weight, but you can't let it run your life. When an inanimate object starts to dictate your thoughts and feelings, it's time to lock it in the trunk of your car or have someone hide it from you. As Kate says, keep the scale where it belongs: beneath your feet, not in your head.

I'm worried about that happening to me too. I'm already distant at times. I would hate for that to get worse!

I can't wait to feel confident that the image I have of myself in my head is who I see when I look in the mirror and who everyone else sees! And to be healthy... and I have an inkling I will have one heck of a shopping habit--especially for boots and heels that I can't wear now because my feet are in too much pain. Also, to not have so much weight on my abdomen and feel comfortable driving without my belly rubbing up against the steering wheel (that's super embarrassing)...
And I can't wait to discover more non-scale victories that I don't realize will be right now.

I can't wait to feel confident that the image I have of myself in my head is who I see when I look in the mirror and who everyone else sees! And to be healthy... and I have an inkling I will have one heck of a shopping habit--especially for boots and heels that I can't wear now because my feet are in too much pain. Also, to not have so much weight on my abdomen and feel comfortable driving without my belly rubbing up against the steering wheel (that's super embarrassing)...
And I can't wait to discover more non-scale victories that I don't realize will be right now.

JhonnieB--I feel that documenting on Youtube is extremely important for people who are not afraid to put their experiences out there, partly to hold yourself accountable and largely to help others considering weight loss surgery. Either way, your experience is serving as valuable information for others--an inspiration when you succeed and things to watch out for when you struggle. And since I personally don't have the support I need at home, I've already met some people sharing similar experiences that help! Let me know if you start a Youtube channel and I will be sure to follow it!
And thanks to everyone who has responded! I didn't expect quite so much feedback! I look forward to learning everything I can through this website and your personal experiences! And I can't wait to see success stories!

Congratulations on beginning your journey. I feel like I can really relate to you as well. I will be banded shortly after my 23rd Birthday on Nov 16. I have been struggling with my weight since I was about 10 years old and have tried several different programs and have been successful on losing the weight but not being able to keep it off. I'm so greatful for the opportunity and am very eager to start my new healthy life. Thanks for posting the video, very encouraging!

Welcome!!! I'm fairly new too. I was considering doing youtube videos too.

Hey guys!
My name is Krystina and I am 23 years old. After several failed attempts to lose weight on my own and with the assistance of various diet and exercise programs, I decided in April to consult a surgeon about having lap band surgery. Per my insurance, I do have to do a physician supervised 6 month diet and exercise program, but that should be the only major hoop I have to jump through prior to getting approval for the surgery.
I'm really excited to be joining this community and meeting some people who are going through similar struggles. People in my life either at work or in my personal life can be a little less than helpful a lot of times and it's seriously like they don't even stop to think about what they are saying before they spit out a bunch of word vomit.
Anyway, I look forward to talking to you all soon! For anyone interested I am also going to start regularly documenting my experiences and progress on Youtube. The first couple of videos are already posted at: