lisacaron

I read what Brad had to say, and I agree. I am brand new to the band, still on soft foods. However the calorie content is down to about 800 a day. That said…this last week since moving over to soft foods and away from the liquids I have not lost weight and have gained a pound. I know it's true and our bodies adapt to the deprivation to survive. Mine has and is now fighting off an infection, one of my incisions was brewing under the surface that erupted this Sunday. It was gross and painful and now healing starts again. It's in a bad spot right at the waist so movement there is unavoidable. Like a cut on your knuckle or you knee it takes time but it eventually heals. I know my body pretty well and even in the past as I would eat right and cut down the calories and pump up the work outs my body would not only adapt but rebel and fight against me often attacking itself and starting and immune system response that holds on and causes inflammation. Ultimately bringing me down, and making me sick. So what do you? What is your advice to someone newly banded on soft foods, to modify their diet and step up their weight loss while still trying to heal?

To all my friends in bandland… I would love your advice. I am just moving from the post-op liquid puree diet phase into the mushy food phase and in two weeks on to the solid food phase. I feel as though I am doing well with the soft food phase though I have only tried some light turkey breast today so far. The tiny quarter of a wrap sandwich I pulled it off was very satisfying and it felt amazing to be able to chew and taste something other than chocolate or vanilla. It was also amazing to feel full and satisfied after just a tiny piece of sandwich! I am so grateful for that and hopeful that it continues to help me in the days and months to come. The doctor told me I should strive for 6 small meals a day for the soft foods and that's great. I have been keeping to that schedule even with the liquids, but I am wondering what advice you might have to a newbie taking her first bites again? I want to be successful though I know there maybe slips now and again I have those days when I fear I might fail at this long term, and I don't want to fall back into old ways of thinking and eating as I did when diets failed before. For the first time in my life I am 100% committed to being a LOSER! I welcome your advice on meal ideas and planning as I move out of the shaky shake portion of the band and into the softer eating section of it.

I am about 10 days post-op and after the first 3 days of clear liquid I had to break up and space out the protein shakes. After another day I was able to get 3 in. Then added some sugar free instant pudding made at home with fat free milk. Ice pops were my saving grace to get the extra fluids in and a nice cup of decaf tea with artificial sweetener. Today I am still on liquids and purée soup. I have found another on here that offered up a Wendy's chilli with low fat sour cream whipped in blender and that took away some of the blandness to the liquid diet. I don't think about getting stuck or having an episode I am just going along taking care of myself and adjusting as needed and I am so very happy! Half a bowl of mushed up chilli and I am full! I love that. Before that would not have been the case. I purchased some bowls and plates from precise portions.com they are attractive no one has to know they measure your food in secret and I can see what it takes to satisfy my hunger for an hour or more. I have been eating at intervals to get it all down. 9-11-1-3-5-7 gets all the protein in I need and both hubby and I are doing great. Also read about a butter finger shake on here somewhere here is their recipe. I would think any fat free milk will do and it's a break from the standard vanilla or chocolate shakes. mix protein powder with FF butterscotch pudding mix, almond milk, and a teaspoon of peanut butter, blended in my magic bullet. Tastes just like a butterfinger! Good luck everyone and keep up the amazing work!!

I am about 10 days post-op and after the first 3 days of clear liquid I had to break up and space out the protein shakes. After another day I was able to get 3 in. Then added some sugar free instant pudding made at home with fat free milk. Ice pops were my saving grace to get the extra fluids in and a nice cup of decaf tea with artificial sweetener. Today I am still on liquids and purée soup. I have found another on here that offered up a Wendy's chilli with low fat sour cream whipped in blender and that took away some of the blandness to the liquid diet. I don't think about getting stuck or having an episode I am just going along taking care of myself and adjusting as needed and I am so very happy! Half a bowl of mushed up chilli and I am full! I love that. Before that would not have been the case. I purchased some bowls and plates from precise portions.com they are attractive no one has to know they measure your food in secret and I can see what it takes to satisfy my hunger for an hour or more. I have been eating at intervals to get it all down. 9-11-1-3-5-7 gets all the protein in I need and both hubby and I are doing great. Also read about a butter finger shake on here somewhere here is their recipe. I would think any fat free milk will do and it's a break from the standard vanilla or chocolate shakes. mix protein powder with FF butterscotch pudding mix, almond milk, and a teaspoon of peanut butter, blended in my magic bullet. Tastes just like a butterfinger! Good luck everyone and keep up the amazing work!!

Today is day three post-op. I am doing really well.those first couple of days were rough just trying to find a comfortable spot. Moving around really was the best thing. It helps release the gas it's gross to say but burping and farting are WONDERFUL I was on clear liquids for 2 days which was just fine for me. Taking small sips was enough to stay hydrated and satisfied. Today I am back to liquid diet. Protein shakes and such. My husband had his surgery yesterday and he is doing really well. I lost 16 pounds pre-op and he lost 14. Staying on the plan and shrinking the liver is a big key to a good surgery and healing from it. Good luck to everyone and we will keep you posted.

Good luck everyone. I go in at 5:30 am surgery is at 7 am. My belly is so nervous it's tumbling and rumbling from liquid diet today. We are all going to do great! Talk to you soon.

I have not been banded yet, but here is a great site to order plates bowls and cups that have the portion sizes set out in the design of the dish with out looking like a toddler plate or picnic wear. http://preciseportions.com/ Hang in there, soon your going to be looking and feeling great!

Hi Yes that's me! The hubby is doing great and very supportive. It's me and him against the world! We have 5 boys age range from 25-18 so that statement is pretty true! I will tell you, we had to purchase a mini refrigerator with freezer top to keep in our locked bedroom so we could avoid the problems of who ate all the yogurt, Jell-O, and ice pops! Only our 18 year old "fit" kid who is about 5'6" and weighs about 130 pounds soaking wet is into the protein shakes so he can "muscle up" (There is not an ounce of fat on that childs body!) I totally understand your pain! Right now we are not cooking in the house at all, they are eating anything we can purchase that has a lid and is in a bag they take down stairs to the family room and dine on. Half the time I have to say "take that down stairs PLEASE" how many times do I have to beg???? I mean ask??? They look at me like What…what did we do? I don't want to smell it I say and they look at me as if I have grown two extra heads as they scurry away with their bags of food as if they don't get away fast enough the three headed Momster is going to tackle them and devour not just their bag of food, one day my step son moved so fast, I had to look in the mirror to make sure I didn't turn green and sprout some fangs or something.

Good for you going to the gym! Proud of you keep it up! Good inspiration!

food Addiction! I have to tell you that going through this pre-op diet, I have been able to recognize that I am a total food addict! It's my salve when things are rough. I've been having major stress this last week, at home having to put my 21 year old son into rehab because he got himself mixed up with things he shouldn't have…and there is lots and lots of STRESS!!! The biggest part of the stress was that I could not turn to my go to comfort. FOOD. I felt like I was going crazy talking to myself about it. Literally having a conversation with myself in my head! Saturday afternoon I stopped to get him some food on the way to the Dr. and I was good in the drive through, I was great at the order window those food displays I hardly noticed them, and even at the pay window I was good! When he opened that bag and scarfed a hand full of fries, I thought OK I'm ready to hurt ya kid if you eat one more fry in front of me! I'm going to knock you out of the moving car and scarf those fries myself! Whoa!!!! Lisa what was that?! I was shocked at the powerful affect that had on me not just in that moment but for the rest of the day. I had been doing well on this pre-op diet. Protein shakes, non-fat yogurt, a small salad here and there and maybe some low fat low sodium Soup. After the fry episode, now I was ravenous, and I couldn't satisfy the urge to EAT food any FOOD all kinds of food! I spent the afternoon fighting with myself, forcing the Protein shake down hoping to be satisfied, I tried a non-fat no sugar pudding…Jell-O (yeah right!) but none of that was not enough to satisfy this unbearable craving to eat eat eat. I realized then that I am a total food addict. I need it when I am stressed and there is so much going on in my world I turn to it for some kind of comfort. This time I had to not just battle but conquer it cause I don't want to screw up my surgery or postpone my date. I grabbed some carrots, and some low fat French onion dip, and chomped on those I crunched and savored those baby carrots and dip chewed them so slowly they lost their flavor after a while and my craving subsided. I got a grip on myself, and made it through the weekend. I'm sure that was only one of many times this is going to happen to me, but I know soon I will have the band as a tool to help me overcome it…but boy oh boy was this weekend a test!!!!! 6 more days!! Lisa Caron

The pre-op diet isn't bad. We found some low calorie, high protein low sugar shakes at our local SAM's club. I set a calendar schedule in my iphone that goes off every other hour so I am eating/drinking something all day long. I start at 9 with a 6 oz non fat yogurt, then a cup of coffee! At 11 I have a protein shake, then at 12 a bottle of water, 1:00 either chicken soup (low fat, low sodium) or a protein shake, 2:00 bottle of water..and so on through out the day. I find that if we are REALLY hungry, some sugar free jello or some sugar free fat free pudding does the trick. If I feel like chewing some sugar free gum works. We started the pre-op diet a week or so before the 2 weeks to give ourselves time to get used to it, and make mistakes before we were in the home stretch right before surgery. Hubby lost 10 pounds, I lost 2! But I'm not complaining!! Now my anxiety is just that, I hope I will do well with the surgery and recovery and be able to get up and out of bed and make it to the hospital to be there for my husbands surgery a couple days after mine, and back to work (yeah bit of a workaholic, might have to work on that) in a week or so.

I will be banded on May 6th and my husband on May 8th. We are both in the pre-op diet phase. Doing well so far, feeling great! Hubby is losing the weight leaps and bounds over me, but I'm happy for him!!

Actually plication procedure that I have heard about is where they fold the stomach in on itself and then stitch it. So it resembles the gastric sleeve without the cutting and removal of the stomach.

Hi Ron, Thank you for sharing! I know I worry about how well I am going to do when I come out of the surgery and even though I have had a few different surgeries over the years each experience is different. Keep up the great work and those positive vibes! They really help not just you but the people that you share them with.

Hi, I am new to the site. My name is Lisa and this is my story. I am about 2 weeks away from my surgery date, currently on the 2 week pre-op diet. My new husband and I are taking this journey down the rabbit hole together. About 2 years ago I had a sub total hysterectomy due to complications and pain I was having. I'm all of 5'1" and I really have no torso. It's all boobs, belly and butt. I don't know where my waist is even when I was a thin girl, my back kind of kablams right into my butt. So needless to say a swollen organ in there had no place to go and pushed on other organs to gain space and caused a whole lot of pain. After this surgery my Dr. asked me what I planned to do about losing some weight? He referred me to a Dr. and I went to meet him and check it out. I was excited about the idea of Gastric Banding but didn't feel I was quite ready to make that commitment just then. I had just turned 40, and though it seemed like a great idea, I just had major surgery and needed some time to heal and get back on my feet again. My husband and I got married in October, and we had an amazing wedding in Las Vegas just the two of us. We left our 5 kids and all the rest of our families at home. (Best way to get married!) We did a lot of walking around, and went to the Grand Canyon and trekked around and realized how out of shape and in pain we were. When we came back from our Wedding/Honeymoon, super storm Sandy hit Long Island and we really found out how out of shape, sick and tired we really were. Ken suffers from Osteo arthritis in his hips, and has severe bone loss and degeneration in his left hip. We made an appointment at the hospital for special surgery and they told him point blank you need a hip replacement sooner rather than later even though you are only in your 40's. He is in pain nearly all day every day, walking is hard, but sitting and getting comfortable is even worse. The doctor told him he would not do the surgery because of his weight and diabetes. He suggested he lose weight and do it now. The surgery would have a better chance of success and he would have a better recovery. That day I called Dr. Geiss and his office was able to squeeze us in the next day for a consultation. I had met the Dr. and the office staff a few years ago and I knew that Ken would like them and trust them. Of course he did, and he loved the fact that Dr. Geiss took a personal approach to meeting his patients and took the time to sit with us and answer any questions we had, and go over the procedure and what to expect. His staff has been a support through all the pre- certification testing, we have met with different members of his team several times for educational seminars and advice and you really feel like a person and not just another patient. Once Ken was on board, I knew I was ready to make this journey and doing this together would make us that much stronger in our commitment to change our lives. We are about 2 weeks away from surgery. I am May 6th and Ken is May 8th. We started the liquid phase of the pre-op diet by doing just that..phasing it into our lives. Starting with one Meal Replacement and then going to two and eventually breaking meals down to mini meals 5-6 times a day and today it's not so bad. We gave ourselves the space to acclimate to the changes, and still enjoy events we had coming up, and now we are in that strict diet mode before surgery. Though I am excited to get it over and done with, I am also a little nervous about the recovery. I hear good things about pain tolerance and less discomfort now then in the past, still I do have some anxiety about that part, though I guess that's normal before any surgery. Glad I found this website, it's good to hear different stories and read about the success so many of had with this surgery. Any advice?