globetrotter

I've had beer twice since surgury. once, I had a few small glasses of a beer with no arrtificial carbination - just natural fermentation, and that was fine. the second time, I had about 4 ounces of regular draft beer, and threw up. I'm not in a hurry to do that again.

I do krav maga - I stoped for 6 weeks after surgury, and when I came back my ab muscles were very weak, but got better. I have adjusted my defensive stance to really protect my port side, because I am a little paranoid about getting hit in the port, but so far no problems (6 months after surgury). krav includes both boxing like elements and ground work, and so I have also wrestled - I found having somebody stradle my torso was painful, but not overly so: it was more a matter of being scared that the port would be damaged or flip, which didn't happen.

I really really miss beer. beer was the closest thing that I had to a religion. I have been drinking shots of bourbon or rye, with a Water chaser, but I want to try something else. in Mexico, it is pretty common to drink tequila with a chaser of tomoto juice with spices, pretty much like a bloody mary. next time I go to a bar I am going to ask for a shot of bourbon with a tomato juce chaser and see how that works.

director of international sales for a hospital equipment company- I usually fly around the world 10 times a year, and then a couple of times to latin america.

I carry the following about 10 scoops of protien powder 4 tubes of 3 ounces each liquid protien shots (from Bariatric Eating.com) in a ziplock bag about 20 tubes of single use lipton ice tea mix about 20 X 1 once beef jerkey strips about 20 X 1 once wasabi peas 3-5 small cans of tuna with seasoning this turns into maybe 10 Snacks and a half dozen meals for me over a trip. and I can get it all onto a plane. my biggest problem is finding non-corbonated drinks, but that was solved by the ice tea packets. if I have no option but fast food, I get a hamberger patty and eat that. I have been in maybe 20-30 business meals since my surguery, maybe 3-4 times people have mentioned that I don't seem to be eating. most times I just push the food around my plate. one thing I have eaten a lot of is crab cakes, most nice resteraunts seem to have a variation of them, and they digest easily, and you can mash them and push them around and it looks like you ate it all.

what does drinking with meals really do?

but this isn't the type of thing that can damage us, stretch out the stomache etc? not that I am trying to find justification for it, I am wondering if occasionally having a drink with dinner would be damamging or just counterproductive?

Over the past 10 years, I put on about 110 pounds. I have always been a business traveler, and frankly, I like to eat local foods when I travel. and that was a big part of my problem. I used to keep my wieght in check with serious exersize, but when I got married and had kids I cut way back on how much I get to the gym. I was banded on 24 Sept, but didn't get a fill until late Nov, due to scheduling problems. until I had the first fill, I felt that I could eat about half as much as before. then, I had a fill, but it wasn't very tight. I was starting to get a little discuraged, even though, in total, I lost 40 pounds between the pre-op diet and the first 4 months. I was able to eat pretty much anything, at about 1/4 what I would eat before the operation. last week I got my second fill, and it was a perfect restriction. I got the fill on thursday, and Saturday flew to Hong Kong. I was able to eat a single piece of sushi on the flight, then I had about a quarter bowl of noodles for lunch the first day I was in hong kong - so I got to enjoy food, but in a very limited quantity. I spent 2 days in Singapore - I had carrot cake for Breakfast (not really cake, a radish omlette) about 1/5 of what would be considered a serving. I had XO chili noodles for lunch (about 1/3 of a serving). I had a litte Bar-b-q pork - also, maybe 1/3 of what would be considred a serving, but without any sides or starters or dessert. one evening I went to a nice resteraunt for a business meal and had peking duck - one rolled pancake with duck, green Beans with bacon - about 2 spoon fulls, and a Soup dumpling. then a day in Kuala Lumpur - I had beef curry and fried bread, about 1/4 of the piece of bread and about 2 spoon fulls of curry. and I got some malaysian fried chicken and ate just one wing. the only problem was that I had a business lunch in KL and pretty much could't 'touch the food. I had a little rice and had a very bad effect. I have to say that I am very very happy with the level of restriction that I have. I was very scared that I wouldn't be able to eat anything when I travel, but it has given me exactly what I wanted - the ability to control portiions while tasting everything. I had a few small problems - in two or 3 of the meals, I felt very uncomfortable for about 3 minutes. I found that standing up and walking to the rest room helped. I couldn't see a pattern as to what type of food caused it, but I am learning to eat slower. I also threw up once, but it was about half a cup of clear liquid. that was at the business lunch - luckily I had walked to the bathroom.

yeah, I was really worried about the pressure issue on planes, but I've had at least a dozen long flights since being banded, and haven't had any problems. even since my latest fill I was able to eat a piece of sushi on the plane. I would really be happy if I can continue to lose till my goal - another 70 pounds, with this level of restriction.

I travel about half of every month to the 3rd world. I dont' usually think about seeing a doctor for a fill or anything like that - but I like to know that there is a reasonable hospital around in case of emergency. I haven't had any emergencies, though. both Dhaka and Chennai have good, clean hospitals.

good for you. keep it up

have you had a fill yet? is 37 pounds including pre-op? wow, good for you. I was banded a month ago, and haven't lost anything since surgery - 23 pounds pre-op, but I have held that with nothing else. scheduled for fill in a month.

banded on 24 sept, now I am waiting for my fill at the end of november, and trying not to gain anything back before then. very annoying.

got banded on Mon 24 Sept. have to say a lot less problems than I expected - I was weaker than I expected for the first 2 days, but no gas pains, no gas, the actual cuts hardly hurt. more of a sore throat than I expected from intubation. all in all, no complaints yet. having trouble figuring out exactly what I can eat - have been living off of a single atkins shake and a lot of apple juice a day, maybe I'll try some broth tonight.

you look fantastic, and are an inspiration. just let your doctor make sure that you are healthy, and go back to what you do

I am getting banded 24 Sept - I can't figure out how to PM here, but I thought that we would make good suport for each other, I also spend 2 weeks a month on international flights and we are going to have some unuasual challenges that will be difficult for others to identify with.

nothing to help you, I am getting banded on 24 Sept. what is your date?

I was 14 when my mom had gastric bypass. I was fully aware of what she was doing. I don't know how it influenced me, but I was thin for the next 20+ years. I am going in for lap-band next month, I don't think that I will tell my 5 year old, but I will tell him later, and I will make sure that I position it as my screwing up to get to the point where I needed so much help to get back on track.

I haven't yet been banded - scheduled for about a month - but I was telling my wife the exact same thing about this board yesterday. it seems that there are two groups, one that has made changes in lifestyle and are gettign results, and another that is trying to avoid changing lifestyle, and isn't getting results. I am hoping that I will fall into the first group.

looks like 24 Sept for me

I have twin 9 month old babies and a 5 year old. getting banded end of sept. how long will it be before I should (can) lift the kids?

thank you all

well, yeah, but I guess it goes down to planning - I am scheduled to have a company meeting with family invited on a certain date. I can't change that. I wanted to use that week to take my family to disney, as we will be in florida on the company dime. if I travel with twin babies, I can't think of any alternative to get them on and off the plane than to carry them, at least for that small stretch. so, it sort of comes down to 1. postphoning the surgury for a month 2. not taking my family with me, and then probrably not getting to disneyland this year 3. carrying the babies onto the plane so I am weighing the options.

there was a post recently where a woman said she shifted her band because she lifted "something heavy" "too early" and had complications. if it is a matter of a little pain for a day or two, that I can live with.

thanks - my wife does most of the taking care of the kids, but we are planning on a flight 2 or 3 weeks after the surgury. the way it happened before, I carried the twins into the plane, maybe for a minute each. they weigh about 20 pounds. I am sort of concerned about my ability to do this.