wadeg7

Hang in there. The first 3 or 4 days are the hardest. After that your body will go in a state of ketosis which will make most of the physical hunger pains go away. You will crave food still but find something to do when they come. Every time I got hungry I went for a walk. I did a lot of walking. The best part of the liquid diet is that if you can complete it without cheating, you will appreciate food much more than in the past. It will make it easy for you to go to small portions after your surgery, because you will appreciate the taste and textures of food which you probable didn't before. It will make small bites and lots of chews a lot easier when you think back to what it was like with no food just liquid. Good luck, you can do it.

I believe those people who opt for the lapband and think all they have to do is have the surgery are destined to fail. The surgery alone is no guarantee of success. However if you are truly ready to make a change in your life, it is a great tool that will greatly help you along the way. It will help curb your appetite so you eat less, but it will not eliminate cravings you may have for bad foods just because you like the taste. The band will not stop you from eating a gallon of ice cream in one sitting, but it will ease your feeling of hunger for 4 to 5 hours. It has worked for me because it has forced me to eat smaller portions and to eat much slower. Good luck with your decision.

Thank you everyone for your kind words. I thank everyone on this board for all of their encouragement and success stories that have helped motivate me. I really appreciate it.

I too am not a veggie lover. Really with the exception of potato and corn I do not eat any veggies. I really can't explain why but I just cant eat them. Basically in order to lose the weight I am taken extra vitamin supplements to make up for what I lose with veggies and I also try to eat foods really high in fibre to help make up for the loss of veggies. I know it is not the perfect solution, but it is what works for me. When I was really big I didn't eat veggies and as I have gotten smaller I still don't.

Hello Everyone. This week I had a unusual experience. I have been losing weight consistently since May when I began my journey, in fact I am down almost 100 pounds which I am very pleased with. Last week was only the second time since I have started my weight loss that I hit a plateau were I did not lose a pound. This is not unusual as most people who have lost weight will go through plateaus. What is unusual about mine is that this past weekend I flew back to my hometown for the weekend. I was going to check out a business opportunity and to see family. I am in the restaurant business and I was up looking at a new restaurant to purchase. This meant sampling many different menu items as part of my research. As I am sure you can appreciate it is a very difficult thing to do when you are watching your calories. I was also home visiting my mom and sister who are both excellent cooks and even better bakers. I come from a family where all of us are large people and if you saw the spread of food you would know why we are all so big. To make a long story short it was probable my least discipline time I have had since I was banded. Instead of my normal 1000 calories a day consumption I got up to 1500 calories a day, but still managed to exercise two of the three days I was there. So this morning when I got on the scale I was dreading to see how bad my result was going to be. Imaging my surprise when not only did my plateau end but I lost 5 pounds! Crazy but true.

I think all if us had doubts at some point before surgery so I would say what you are going through is very normal. I would suggest you focus on why you made this decision in the first place. Nothing worthwhile is easy so you will have challenges. Whoever none of these challenges will be as tough as being over weight and the issues they cause. Good luck.

I was banded on June 12th and I have lost 92 pounds which includes the pre op diet. I was a grazer and night time eater as well. So far I have had only one fill so far. The head hunger still comes and goes but I try to schedule a small snack 3 hours before I go to bed. That seems to help with the night eating. I have also tried to replace my addiction with food for walking. If I want a treat, I gave to pay for it with exercise first. It is working good for me.

I was banded on June 12th and I have lost 92 pounds which includes the pre op diet. I was a grazer and night time eater as well. So far I have had only one fill so far. The head hunger still comes and goes but I try to schedule a small snack 3 hours before I go to bed. That seems to help with the night eating. I have also tried to replace my addiction with food for walking. If I want a treat, I gave to pay for it with exercise first. It is working good for me.

I had gas pains for almost a month after surgery. It will come and go and you can have stretches without it being a problem. Three months after surgery I still have some gas first thing in the morning which goes away pretty quickly. Certain foods will make it worse. If I have carbonated beverages I suffer greatly from gas so I avoid them. I think one of the side effects of this surgery is to have more gas than normal. You will learn pretty quickly how to deal with it. Trust me it's worth it. I am down 85 pounds in four months so hang in there.

It is really not a good idea to judge if the band has enough saline in because of what others have on theirs. I only have .5 cc in my 14 cc band and I have lost 83 pounds in a little over 4 months. I keep reading on the boards from people who seem awful anxious to get as much restriction as possible without considering the consequences. You only need enough saline in your band so that you can go 4 to 5 hours without having hunger pains. This does not mean food cravings but real hunger. The tighter the band goes the more trouble you will have eating different foods and make you more susceptible to complications. Remember this is a lifestyle change that if you are going to be successful you will have to live with this change forever. With the exception of carbonated beverages I can eat anything I did before but just in much smaller quantities. The band is just a tool to help and not a magic cure. My advice to everyone would be to be patient and it will work. I personally do not feel some magical restriction. What I feel is that it takes me less to feel full, and if I eat too fast or too big of bites I can feel an uncomfortable lump in my throat which tells me I need to slow down. Remember everyone is different and will require different amounts of fill to reach your green zone. Better to be a little loose than too tight.

3 Months Post Op

3 Months Post Op

Chris they treated me very well. I had minor problem the day after surgery and the nurse came right to my hotel to take care of the problem. Good luck with it. I had my surgery on June 12th and have lost 80 lbs (this includes the weight lost on the liquid diet). I am very happy with the results.

I know it can be scary especially if you are a fussy person with food as I am. I never ate veggies before and I still don't after the band. The only difference is that I try to eat everything else as good as I can. I now take vitamins and supplements to try to make up for the lack of veggies which is a lot more than I did before. I can eat pretty much all bread or products as long as they are toasted in moderation. The only thing I can not do ad I dd before was the carbonated beverages. They just give me too much gas. Good luck with it.

I had to do a 3 week liquid diet that only consisted of shakes. It was very difficult especially the first 3 or 4 days. If you can stick with it for those first couple of days, your body will adjust and the hunger pains will not be so bad. I was at 360 pounds when I started and lost 27 pounds in the 3 weeks so if you are a big guy like me it will come off pretty fast. The one unexpected benefit I had from the liquid diet was that I certainly learned to appreciate food more and it made it much easier when I was able to eat again. I started my liquid diet in mid May and I am down 70 pounds now. Stick with it. You can do it.

My doctor said flat carbonated beverages were ok if it did not cause me discomfort. Well even very flat carbonated beverages cause me a great deal of discomfort. It causes me to have gas as bad as after my surgery so I have had to say good bye to carbonated drinks. It's not a big loss as I have learned to enjoy plain old ice water just as much.

I have to agree with you as well. After 2 months with the band it has become clear to me that I use to consume way to many calories. Before the ban I would eat 1200 calories of pizza for a meal, know I eat about 250 calories of pizza and feel as full as I did before. I still count calories as it is helping me learn the value of good and bad foods, but I expect in the next couple of months to have trained myself so I don't have to be quite so regimented in my calorie counting. I know most of us have a hard time coming to terms to why we became obese. We all make all kinds of excuses (genetics, slow metabolism, stress, ect), I know I certainly did. Yes it is true all of these things can have some impact on weight loss or gain, but the reality of this situation (at least for me) was that I over consumed. When I got bigger I exercised less simply because it was getting too difficult with the excess weight. It is a very tough thing to face and recognize our own weaknesses. If I have learned one big lesson from this process, it is to eat slow and chew well. I have realized by doing this I feel as full now as I did with 3 to 4 times as much food. It is a battle, but we can all win it.

Dr. Confirm did my surgery as well. He is an excellent doctor but more importantly he has an excellent support staff. I would highly recommend him.

Well I am 2 months post op and I am down almost 65 pounds. The lap band procedure requires much more follow up than the other procedures. I think a lot of doctors don't want to worry about the follow up. I am very happy with my decision. I would encourage you to talk to several doctors so that you can get different views on the matter so you can make the right choice for you.