Wendydarling19

I am not yet banded but will be by the end of next week. I know it will be some time until I can eat solids so for now I am researching food ideas. I don't have much time to cook so I plan to pre-prepare most of my meals for the week. I love my crockpot and have noticed that it makes any meat so juicy and tender which I can only imagine is much easier on the band than dry meat. Any thoughts? Also, recipe ideas would be nice as well!! Thanx

That is so awesome!! Congrats

Fabulous article!! Can't wait for my surgery!! 10 more days : )

So sorry about the loss of your son. I lost my son too, he was stillborn, very different but the same in many ways. I am having the lap-band as opposed to bypass or sleeve (truely because I'm a scaredy cat) to each their own. I know how difficult it is to focus on ourselves after something so traumatic. My loss is only a little over 1 year and I know for sure that eating is part of my comfort plan. Now, I must fine more positive things within myself. I just live FOR my angel as if he were still here, which I see you do too! Good luck with your procedure and your future weight-loss!

Haha! Your posts are very entertaining and enthusiastic! I love it! I also love how you have a name for your band. So awesome!! Keep up the good work! I am being banded next Thursday (the 23rd) and already, you are an inspiration to me...even though you have not been banded all that long.

I am getting the realize band. I am wondering if there is really a huge difference between the two and if the (in my opinion) second-rate band will be just as good as the lap-band. I know they are just brand names however they differ slightly.

Less than 2 weeks until I am finally going to be banded! I'm so psyched and just ready to get the ball rolling. I am the most impatient person in this world. I have no idea how to get through these next few days! Also, still super nervous for surgery!!!

I don't have to have a liquid diet. Feels like I'm missing out...

Maybe I will be lucky enough for them to give me an anti anxiety med before hand. I have the worst anxiety. I'm trying not to think about the actual surgery or being put out because then I'll probably freak myself out worse than I need to.

I would have gone crazy if I had to go through all of that. I remember my step mom had to jump through hoops for hers but that was years ago. I had 1 nutrition eval, met with surgeon, 1 psych eval, and a letter of medical necessity from PCP. Total time 3 months and even that is killing me!

I also didn't have a supervised diet either. My insurance only required one meeting with a nutritionist since I work for the hospital where I'm having the surgery and the insurance is through them

I think a week before my surgery I'm just going to start low carbing since I plan to do so once I have the actual band. I'm just going to cut out the garbage and the bread and sugar and detox my body from that so its not that bad of a shock after surgery. See I enjoyed low carbing when I did it but I couldn't stick with it because I was always so effing hungry! With the band... I can do it and not be hungry all of the time.

I hear of everyone talking about their pre-op diets. I know my mom was on one for like 4 weeks before her surgery but I was just told not to go crazy the week before and to not eat from midnight the night before. Is this normal!?

That's very positive! The only reason I have this number is because that had been my weight for a very long time before I gained 100 lbs. I just wish to get back to how I was.

I have asked a similar question before about losing 100 lbs or more which I know is doable especially for someone who is closer to 300+ but what I more want to know is the fact that it'll be 1/2 my weight. I assume the 100 lbs would be harder especially once I get into onederland

Currently I'm 250 lbs. ideally I would like to lose anywhere from 100-120 lbs which is close to half of my weight. Has anyone done this? I need some encouragement. My surgery is on the 23rd of this month... Hope I'm not setting myself up for failure by this goal.

Thank you so much Hotbutterfly, I just have to get the weight off so I can be as confident as I would like to be!!

Yes, exactly, these are my exact thoughts. At 160 lbs I was the fat girl. I was this weight for most of my life until I hit high school. I dropped down to 139 at my lowest, I was STILL the fat girl. I thought I was so disgustingly huge because most of the other girls I went to school with were only 100-125 lbs. I stopped caring. I let myself shoot up to 180 for awhile, my all time high, then 200...and so on until I am now here at 250 lbs with a full on addiction to food that I cannot stop! I look at pictures then and now...if only I knew then that I'd kill to look like that. My step mom was banded in 08 and I used to joke that I'd get fat just to get the band...well...now here I am... and it's not a joke!! I didn't intentionally do this to myself. I have been through a lot including losing a child that has severly affected my weight. I see a beautiful, gorgeous girl, with gorgeous hair, amazing eyes, and perfect boobs, who all the boys want, but I am stuck under this whale of a body. I stopped caring about myself for the most part. I have 1 pair of jeans and only wear T-shirts...When I'm at home its yoga pants. I stopped even doing hair and makeup for a long time (recently got back into it) but that was never me! I was ALWAYS the girly girl who had to look near perfect and at least I thought I was fat but could hide it pretty well...Now it's written all over me... It's time to dig that thin girl back out (never skinny I only hope for thin and curvy). It's time to look and feel like a 23 year old, not a fat old person who is too fatigued to get around!

I am actually attempting to QUIT smoking a month before I get my surgery... I've had 4 cigarettes in 3 days so thats good since I was a pack a day smoker. I totally see where you are coming from though because my biggest concern is if quitting smoking will slow my weight loss because of my oral fixation. We will have to see... but if I have to cave in to one, I'd rather go back to being a smoker than a fatty. Good luck! I hope you find the strength to quit again!

My Dr. is in Morristown but that is a 45 minute drive from you if you take 78. I also live 45 minutes away from Morristown but since I work at the hospital, that is why I chose my surgery here.

Maybe you are restricted too much or not eating enough calories. Your body could be in starvation mode and holding on to what it can. Perhaps try adding a few more calories

Thank you <3 it hasn't been an easy road but if I can overcome the grief and depression from that and turn it into a positive, then I sure as heck can beat my food and nicotine addictions!

Thank you for your condolences ladies that means a lot I am at a place now (about 14 months from the date of his passing) that I have learned to accept and live and prosper in his memory. This is part of the reason I work in the hospital's postpartum unit. And a huge reason why I am getting the band in the first place. I want to create a healthy me for any future children I may have. I want to decrease as much risk as I possibly can. To B-52, that is exactly what I was wondering but I think it may be worth a shot. If I see myself unable to quit both, I will choose the weight loss and the band over the smoking, at least until I have a better hold on my food addiction.

Thank you everyone. Lol I do know that I stink because I HATE the smell of cigarettes. I have quit before. Last time I quit for 7 months when I was pregnant but when my son passed away and was born sleeping, it's the only thing I have held onto to help me cope. It's time to find a better way to do it. I need to mentally prepare. And Karen, yes I know the dont allow smoking on hospital grounds. I actually work at the hospital I am having the procedure at. My school doesn't allow it either so really, if I can go a whole 8 hour shift without smoking and then to school and not smoke there for 4 hours. I think I just need to commit to it. All I really want to know is if it'll be tougher on my weight loss if I do it at the same time. I will commit to quit January 2nd! I've set a date and you my friends are my witnesses!