Msdropinoff

Tuesday morning is the big day and I'm Super Excited! I have so far lost 12lbs on the pre op diet so hopefully I'm on track! I'm on Vacation all week so I should have plenty of time to rest properly!

I go in tomorrow morning, 10:30am, it will be the first day of the rest of my healthy life. I am surprisingly calm, not worried, just excited.

I'm so ready for the change!!!!!

I am everyone!! I am leaving in 2 hours to go to the hospital to get my band. I can't believe the day is really. Here. I have a pounding headache though. Probably from diet coke withdraws. I am a bit nervous but excited too. My Dr. Said I can take my Xanax for my nerves so I am about to do that, LOL with the smallest SIP of Water, LOL can't wait to get to the other side! Thank You everyone for all your help and wisdom!! Hugs!!

Preop diet complete. 12 lbs in two weeks. sitting here dressed and ready to go for a 7:00am operation. Slept great last night. I must be ready.

Good luck at your appt. Hope you can start mushie too. LOL At one week post-op I could only move from clears to fulls. So on friday which will be 3wks post-op I get puree. Its crazy how different each doctor is.

I'm one week post op, but wanted to post back here to say that I don't know how I would have gotten through this week without an abdominal binder. It's like a thick belt or corset with velcro (you can get them at CVS or Rite-Aid, or may need to special order for larger sizes). It sort of holds everything in, and makes it so much easier to sleep, and walk, and basically do everything!
This was not something that my surgeon even mentioned -- it was only because a friend, who had Lap-Band surgery last year, brought one over before my surgery that I even knew it existed.
Just a tip I thought I'd share from the other side! Check them out!
Blue

This is hubmacfan (I think that's my board name) posting for Laura. we both just got our bands. I went first and she was wheeled into the OR while I was in recovery.
She's still snoozing hard in recovery, and we're excited to begin our "new" lives!
Ready to change my life!

Good luck at your appt. Hope you can start mushie too. LOL At one week post-op I could only move from clears to fulls. So on friday which will be 3wks post-op I get puree. Its crazy how different each doctor is.

Good luck at your appt. Hope you can start mushie too. LOL At one week post-op I could only move from clears to fulls. So on friday which will be 3wks post-op I get puree. Its crazy how different each doctor is.

Office is having pizza today. The one thing I've been wanting since I started the pre-op diet. Really anxious about it...seeing it and smelling it and wondering if I could just pull some toppings and cheese off...but just opted to eat my lunch and persevere! I was even in the kitchen with all the pizza while I got my lunch together and didn't have a meltdown! Ha! My mom said she would pray for me today because she knew it was going to be hard. It worked for sure!

I am not going to lie the pre-op diet is going to be hell, but it will be worth it. You are about to have surgery, you doctor and you want it to go well. The pre-op diet is to strink your liver which will make placing the band easier and saver. The only advice I can give you is DRINK!! If Water just doesn't cut it for you, try some flavor additives like crystal light or propel. I am hooked on peach mango green tea and it honestly does help curb my hunger. Instead of reaching for food I reach for Water.
Once you have a handle on your bad habits and curb them you will be suprised at how great you will feel about yourself. I have a friend who like you makes amazing cupcakes - flavor and decor. She has lost about 90 lbs. When she comes up with a new recipe she will bake a couple and cut one in half and taste it- then she knows if it's a keeper. Flavors she has made for a long time she doesn't worry about tasting because she knows how they are. Losing weight has also challenged her to make some sugar free options, and some low cal options made with veggies - so now she is helping others be able to have a cake and eat it to.
So don't look at this as the end of something, look at this as the begining of something. You can do it, I know you can!

I think the first step is that you recognize your love affair with food. Understandably in your job you would need to taste, but try to be disciplined for the pre-op diet, then remember, it is not that we will never be able to eat again, or taste again. This procedure is a tool to help us recognize and limit our intake. You will just need to account for your test tasting!! Hang in there.... it is a struggle...I am on 3rd day of my preop diet, I am scheduled to be banded November 5th!!!!!! Good Luck!

I just received an email from this site informing me that I have been registered for a year. So, I figure I'll give an update My diet started on 8-9-10 and surgery was 8-19-10. My starting weight was 435lbs and I am now 197lbs, a total of 238lbs lost!
A couple months ago I got a phone call from a local magazine, they were putting out a men's health issue and had heard about me and wanted an interview. I went to the interview, but I tend to get flustered and start to back track, fast forward, and jumble a lot. I ended up writing the article myself, and it was printed as is:
It’s the moment you hear that loud crunch, that only you can hear because it’s coming from somewhere on your body. It’s that moment that happened to me one evening in the fall of 2009. It’s that moment when you realize that your right knee can no longer support the weight of your body; which you did not realize, nor, for that matter…care. It’s that moment when you know drastic changes need to be made.
It wasn’t until middle school when I began to put on weight. Before that I was pretty much your average sized kid, one who was active in recreational sports. Then the growing pains of life start. Depression hit me hard, really hard, and I still suffer from it even today. I didn’t notice then, but looking back now, I gave up on everything, nor did I care about giving up. I had no interest in any sport or physical activity, though I would ride my bike to the local fast food restaurants. I was the kid in P.E. that would casually finish the mile in half an hour. Between lack of care on my part and a mixture of changing anti-depressants, my teenage memories are all a blur.
I always ate well. Rice and gravy, red Beans and rice, meat and potatoes; the beauties of the southern cuisine. Between my meals were more meals. To me, food was the best medicine. My family would plead to me to make a change. They would try to help me by introducing me to a new diet or take me to a new gym, which I would try, and soon after give up. For every pound lost I would gain back two. Diet after diet would fail, excuse after excuse would be given, all things were to be blamed, except for the one thing that should have been blamed: myself.
The morning after my knee gave out I had to go to the hospital, where I learned that I was now over 400 pounds. I was given a brace and sent home. My blood sugar was high, as was my blood pressure, I had sleep apnea, I was borderline diabetic, and I was becoming immobile. The physician warned that if I continued on like this, I was going to die. I was only 23 years old; I hadn’t even lived and was already en route for death. I wouldn’t see my nephews grow, I wouldn’t have a family of my own, all I would be was a 400 pound body that would need more than six men to carry to his grave site. It’s that moment when you know drastic changes need to be made.
I began to think of diets that I would have to stick to, not one that I had attempted in the past and shortly gave up on. I needed to be invested, I needed a lifestyle change. For the first time I thought about the surgical weight loss route. I began researching the lap band. I had always been skeptical about them, and in a way felt it was cheating. I would see people get the surgery, but would be the same person afterward. Still with a terrible diet and no physical activity, they would lose a little weight and gain it all back. They would say that it never worked. It clicked in my head, this is not a cure; it’s a tool.
I began to have consultations with the doctor. With my weight I was told that a lap band might only give me a 20% weight loss success, and was recommended to get a more extensive surgery, one that would remove three quarters of my stomach. I believed that was a little too invasive. I wanted no part of me removed for the rest of my life. I wanted a tool that would help me make a lifestyle change. In the end we agreed upon the lap band operation, and scheduled surgery.
Ten days before surgery I was ordered to cut out all solid foods and begin a pre-op liquid diet. My mother asked me if I wanted any last meal, “I want a Thanksgiving feast.” I replied. That Sunday, we had turkey and all the fixings. It truly was a last supper. Monday, August 9th 2010 (8-9-10, easy to remember), my diet began. My family, whom I love dearly, said they would stick out this liquid diet with me. They went to a local steakhouse the first night. The liquid diet was very hard at first, only consisting of Water, Gatorade, broth, and one small Protein shake a day. Around day four without any solids I entered this weird euphoric stage, like mental and physical cleansing. The next six days were easy.
My surgery was on August 19th 2010. Before going to surgery I was very scared. I had never had an operation and did not know what to expect. My family was there for me with love, support, and encouragement. I remember waving bye as I was rolled into the operation room, laying on the table, and then waking up afterwards in recovery. The surgery had gone great and I was alive! After a few check-ups and walks, I was released on the same day. During recovery I had to continue my liquid diet. It was no problem, and my recovery was well. I saw my doctor on the 28th day and was told I could begin on solid food, but to take it slowly and start with soft solids like mashed potatoes and creamy Soups. That first bite was amazing.
With the beginning of my new lifestyle I had to change my diet. I cut out all fried foods and fast foods. I began a low carbohydrate/high Protein diet, cutting out all bread, rice, and pastas. I have learned to love many things that I despised in the past. Fruits and vegetables have become my new “go to” Snacks instead of the bag of chips. Healthy, natural, small portioned meals have replaced my fast food value meals. Just the smell of fast and fried food makes me ill: I honestly do not know if I could eat it again. People often offer me a snack, a piece of cake, or some sort of treat. I thank them for the generous offer, but decline. They ask if it will bother me if they eat something around me: it doesn’t. I have had to mentally change my ways as to which foods are healthy for me and which foods are detrimental to my new lifestyle. That’s not to say that I will never have any of these things again. In time I will slowly re-introduce foods back into my diet, but with the knowledge and willpower enabling me to make wise food choices.
In January of 2011 I had lost nearly 75 pounds and it was time to start the next phase in my lifestyle change; I got a membership at a local gym. I go to the gym four days a week. I started slowly by walking the treadmill and using the weight machines. In time I began to increase the speed and incline of the treadmill. Slowly but surely I was building up my strength and stamina. At the gym, behind the treadmills is an elliptical like cardio machine called an arc-trainer. My first time trying it I didn’t even last two minutes, it was tough. I’d see people on it for fifteen minutes at a time, and I told myself that I had to work up to that. Each week I would increase my time by one minute, finally being able to reach that fifteen minute goal. Then I told myself I could do better than that, going from fifteen to twenty to thirty minutes and now I can do it for an hour, with ease. As said before, I was always the kid that would casually walk a mile in half an hour, now I can run a mile in seven minutes. Never would I have thought that possible.
I have been stopped by people on many occasions, and asked how am I able to do some of the things that I am doing. Being able to achieve new physical abilities amazes me almost every day. Fitness is no longer a chore in my mind, it’s a hobby. If I’m bored I’ll go for a quick run or maybe do some exercises, it’s no longer a burden. Last Christmas I was given a bicycle. Biking has become a major hobby of mine. I’ll ride my bike to the gym on weather abiding days, sometimes I find myself riding for two or three hours at a time, it’s one of the greatest feelings I know. Some weekends I’ll drive down to Galveston and ride the seawall from one end to the other. The first time I did that I broke down in tears. Taking a break, watching the waves crash, reminiscing on the past, and the things that I have accomplished with this new life; it hits me hard. Some days, I truly feel like Superman.
Many times I look in the mirror and still see myself weighing 435 pounds. To see pictures of myself then and then to see pictures of myself now weighing under 200 pounds is shocking every time. To see people I know and for them to not recognize me, it’s is a constant mental game. My depression is still there, and most likely will always be there, but now I have better and healthier ways to cope. Two years ago, the fear of death was on my mind; Today there is life

I went shopping in my closet this morning and was able to wear a size 14 skirt ( A line, elastic waist) and a cute top I got from Macy's INC collection in size xl in RED.
I'm 18 days post op and I'm down 24.8 lbs. woohoo!

5 Days (including today!) Until my big day! Getting crazy anxious, Excited, Happy...etc. LOL
As you can tell from my signature I have been on this journey since January I just can't believe it's finally my turn!

Got a call yesterday to set up a date for surgery. Oct 31st! Will go in this Thursday for pre-testing. Now I know what everyone means when they say they are excited and nervous. But I'm mostly excited! Glad I don't have too long of a wait, (not counting the almost seven months I've been at this) and I feel very fortunate that my surgeon doesn't require a before diet. He said the liver isn't a problem for him. On the other hand, my weight would be down if I did the liquid diet. So, for Halloween I guess I'll go to the hospital as a fat lady for my costume, and hopefully, next year I'll look a lot different.
Hope I'm posting this in the right place. Don't know what a topic tag is. Love this forem and have been reading posts every night for months.
Barbara

I have 1 day and 17 hours until my surgery. So excited

I had to come on here to share my happiness! Today is the fourth anniversary of my surgery. I had my operation with Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico (I was self-pay) on October 23, 2008. It's been four years, and I've been at (or under) my goal for more than two years now!
My advice to all newbies is to take your measurements and before photos now if you haven't already! Also, keep trying different types of exercise until you find one (or more) that you actually like -- it makes a HUGE difference if you find something you enjoy! If you plateau, take your measurements -- you may be losing inches, especially if you are working out more at the time.
I love this site -- it was a huge source of information for me, and encouragement, when I started this process. Blogging has been huge too -- if not for my blog, I'm not sure if I would have stayed as focused as I did. It really kept me engaged in the whole band process, and kept me accountable, too. I like it now because I can see how I got from 230 pounds to my current of 153 (2 pounds below goal) and how I've stayed within a 5 pound range for more than two years. I encourage any of you who aren't blogging yet to give it a whirl if you have interest!
Best wishes for all of your success!
Catherine

Hi friends, I got my band yesterday. Everything went fine, I feel like a thousand sit ups. I have no regrets. Let the fun begin!

Surgery is 12 hours from now full of different emotions but mostly excitement I've lost 13 pounds on the pre op diet, everyone starting stay strong and focus the rewards feel amazing and to everyone going in tomorrow with me or in the future my thoughts and prayers are with u.

On 10/20/12 I hit my goal wt!!!!!!!! Today I am .5 pds under goal but I could not be more happy. I'm 10pds under my dr's goal for me.. So I have lost 125.5 pds from my heaviest and I have lost 110.5 from day of surgery.. So so Happy!!!

Hello to all my bandster friends....
Wanted to share my 71lb weight loss before and after pics with you. This is just the tip of the ice, still lots more weight to come off but I am sooo ready to have it all gone!
I have hit a weight loss plateau, but I know this is temporary and I will continue to figure out how to 'jumpstart' the loss again.
Your Bandster Friend,

I have it as well. Banded on the 12th. I go to my doctor on Tuesday and will update with what he says! Seems normal to me though... I mean it IS a foreign object in there. Lol.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using LapBandTalk

Ladies congrats on the band, next week you'll feel alot better