voodookitty

congrats on your progress, you're doing fantastic! I work for my hubs by day so I was able to get that week off without too much complaining. (As if he would dare!) lol I wish my doc would fill as soon as yours did. We have to wait 8 weeks....argh!

My c-section was def worse but this did hurt like all hell because they had to cut through my previous tummy tuck in one spot to get the band in so there was some extra pain from that. By and large the gas was what sucked the most. But nothing oh nothing was as painful as my tummy tuck several years back.....omg! If I turn a certain way or bend over for more than several seconds it STILL feels like my insides will just fall out. lol

To be honest I started avoiding pantyhose when I hit about 260 because when I wore them they would roll down, or worse at the end of the day my thighs would be absolutely raw chafed. For a few years now I've tried not to buy anything that I couldnt wear nude toned compression knee-high stockings with. I still like compression hose from footsmart.com as they don't get runs and last forever plus they keep my ankles from swelling. I also bought some of their thigh highs which are really good because it's not as hot. I gave up wearing regular slips and discovered the culotte slips from roamans so no more thigh chafing when wearing skirts or dresses!

I think I might try that. I keep telling myself I'll soon be through this and can chew again. Its not really been that huge a deal because for the most part I don't feel hunger or weakness. I think the pre-op diet did alot to eliminate those cravings and initial weakness and hungers. I wondered for a couple days what that heavy stuck-ish feeling was in my chest when I would drink my protein stuff til I finally realized it was called being 'full'. lol

I recognize myself too! In fact I have deja vu all over this darn board!!! That's what made me respond to this thread actually. Looking at everyone's menus and seeing myself. I guess if we all had healthy choices on our menus then we wouldnt be here would we? lol

Well I am a newlywed (Dec 2006) and my dh at first was of the mind that if I just ate less and exercised I'd lose all my 100+ pounds no problem. After several months of up and down with this he came to see I had a very bad relationship with food and a truly hard time staying with anything. He still hemed and hawed about us spending the equiv. of 14k USD for me to get the band. I understood because it IS alot of money and it's a huge step. I finally had to be frank with him and my doc backed me up on everything. I told him unless I have this surgery I will die young, you will have to raise our son by yourself, and we will never be able to have another child. Plus, my life before I die will be one endless nightmare of health problems. You will have to watch me slowly kill myself because I have a self-induced disease. When it was put to him that way, his tune changed and he's now my biggest champion and supporter. He stands next to me every morning when I get on the scale and tells me how proud he is when it moves another notch. Sometimes it just takes a good hard brick upside the skull and a glimpse into the future that not only affects you but them to make them see.

It is great to put makeup on now and not find myself being all depressed and wondering why I'm bothering. It's nice being able to wear all my jewelry thats been shut up for years as too tight. I can't wait til I can buy a regular old ankle bracelet and actually have a pretty slender ankle to put it on. Also to go get a full pedicure and actually admire my feet or not be worrying if the person thinks it's gross having to work on my feet and massage my tree trunk of a leg. It goes on and on doesn't it? Life is def getting better...so much to look forward to.

well since I am in my liquids phase still, I can't do a fair comparison on what I'm eating now....but as for before typical day was: breakfast: weekday: two crumpets with masses of butter and cinnamon sugar 3 cups of coffee with real cream banana weekend: Full English breakfast= 3 bacon, 3 sausages, 3 eggs fried in the fat, 2 black pudding, 2 potato cakes, grilled mushrooms with two slices of toast w/jam 3 cups of coffee with real cream lunch: sandwich, chips, cheese and crackers, soda, coffee and candy bar dinner: salad with all the bad stuff on it. (cheese, bacon,chopped meat, veg, tons of fatty dressing) 4 pieces of meatloaf, two helping of mashed potatoes, two helpings of mac and cheese, and some small portion of green veg. more soda snack: a LARGE bag of chips, candy or nuts bed snack: bowl of ice cream or a sandwich, or toast In between I'd freely snack during the day at work too and drink masses of coffee and soda. When I cooked it was always with fats. I couldnt use just a pat of butter, it had to be a whole knob of it. Same with cooking with drippings and oils in stead of something healthier. I rarely bought ready made foods, so everything was from scratch but that didnt make it healthier...just fattier the way I cooked it. I'm from New Orleans, lowfat just wasn't in our vocabulary.

Wow!!! What a huge difference. You're doing fabulous, girlie! Yes, I agree sizing my wedding band just WON'T do at all. hehehe

I used to live in Vegas and I spent most of my time at the Premium outlet. There wasn't enough of a price savings for me to drive all the way to Primm. They did have some really great deals plus it's just a beautiful mall.

I have no sex drive at the best of times. I'm one of those people that could pretty much be happy with a quarterly romp. My dh and I are hoping this changes things somewhat as I havent always been like this.

Oh geez, here we go: I am a practicing voodoo witch. I grew up in New Orleans and my nanny taught me from very young. On my mum's side they are witches from as far back as anyone can remember. I now do private psychic readings, spiritual cleansing, and spells. I communicate freely with the 'other side' so moving to Britain has only increased this. I am married to a former 80's hair band rock musician (now lawyer) and by day I work in his office. I am a designer clothing, handbag, and shoe FREAK! Now maybe soon I can actually fit into my wardrobe. I have over 70k in bags and shoes. Yikes, thats makes me shiver. I have always had a eating disorder, when I was young until nearly 30 I starved myself and used coke to keep thin, then I went through major depression after my divorce from hubby number 1 and just started comfort stuffing...thus here I am. Lastly, I have such a sensitive nose (maybe from all the coke, lol) it made it very hard for me to date because any sort of odor that might not even be spotted by someone else made me gag. Therefore I was accused of being 'cold and frigid' because I couldn't get close or intimate alot of times.

Hi all, I had to update my pic so I could show ya'll. I have cheekbones again!!!!! Surgery was on the 25th and I lost 12 pounds the first week, so that makes 16 total with pre-op measly 4 pounds. I can only see it in my face as yet and my hands since my wedding ring is really loose now. (angling for mo betta sparklies soon) Now you know why I'm smiling so big in my pic! lol xoxox:bounce:

Hello all, I wanted to write an update to my status. I was banded on the 25th as many of you know and so far it's been a real eye opener. I did not expect to be in as much pain as I was that first week. I thought I'd be able to return to work after a couple days and I ended up having to take the whole week off. So now this is my first week back at work and the only thing that bugs me is sitting at my desk for so many hours at a time straight off. I also work in an ancient Victorian building so we have only staircases and my office is on the second floor, so I'm up and down stairs all day. (good way to get my steps in, I guess) All my surgi-strips are off now and everything is healing quite nicely. I still look like I've gone a few rounds in the ring with my bruising around the long incisions. One of them looks kinda sunken in where they had to put a extra stitch in the muscle wall. I told my doc I hope I don't heal all dented like that but he assures me it won't....hmmmm. The other incisions are completely flat so this one bugs me. I guess the biggest news is so far I've lost 12 pounds. It may be more than that as I started my monthly two days ago so not sure how much Water retention will be there. I only lost 4 pre-op so I was scared things would go slowly. I have two more weeks left on liquids then 3 weeks of mucshies, then on to solids...it feels like forever because I would love to chew something. I do get the odd hunger pain (or head hunger, not sure) but for the most part I just find it challenging enough to keep choking down those damn Protein shakes and Soups. I am managing 2 litres of water a day (yuck) It's more boredom than hunger I think????:bored

I haven't had a fill yet as I was just banded on the 25th but I was surprised that after the first couple days I could still gulp water. The more viscosity my liquids have the slower I have to go but water just slides on through. I was pretty alarmed at first too because I thought 'oh great, so will everything else' but that hasn't been the case. Don't worry, I think it's pretty normal.

I was just banded on the 25th and my 7day pre-op diet consisted of two shakes and then a sensible low carb/low fat dinner. In that week I only lost 4 pounds but I did stick to the diet and found that the dinner was really satisfactory. I took advantage of it being summer and grilled some chicken breast and some eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms on a skewers. That kept me from cooking anything in fat and gave it all extra flavor. I didnt get tired of the meal after those awful shakes and it helped me feel like I wasn't depriving myself.

We both went privately with the Healthier Weight Centre. I actually didnt have anyone but that nurse we didnt like discharge me, so not vitamins here either. I picked up some chewable multis from Boots. I'm trying to drink more water too and will try later to choke down some prune juice. I'm finding it hard to eat everything too. If I drink too fast I get a horrible cramp in my chest so it takes a while.Water seems to do down quite normally though. I've lost two more pounds since coming home. Will be around all day so will talk to you later xx Brittany

Glad you are doing okay, sweetie. Some of the gas seems to escaped last night and it made a huge differene. I have found that I can now get by one the one painkiller (nasty stuff). I agree it gets easier by the day but still quite a huge challenge. I'm finding it hard to get all my protein units in and to drink enough since I have to drink so slowly. One thing I find utterly ross is this horrible taste in my mouth no matter how much I brush. I've lost three pounds since I came home but still havent been able to use the loo (#2) properly. How are you??

I have been able to eat some creamier type soups if they're well diluted and my dh made me a nce smoothi with two containers of light yogurt mixed with skim milk and half a banana. That was enough for two meals. Glad you're doing well too!!!

I was banded the same day as Fairydust and by the same doctor. We were two doors away from one another in the ward. She did very well and we spent quite alot of time visiting back and forth. I havent yet heard from her since returning home but I can assure you that when I checked out yesterday she was doing well. We both agreed that the gas pains seemed to be the worst part. I'm sure she'll be on very soon to let you know her own experience.

I have just been banded on the 25th and had originally planned to return to work on wednesday. I can assure you that there is NO way I'll be able to keep that schedule due to the extreme pain and weakness. I think much depends on your health prior to the surgery. While my BMI was 41 and my weight 280 going into surgery. I have noticed that people with lower weights seems to have an easier time of things. I was the 'smallest' person banded that day with 5 others. I felt myself fortunate because I didnt seem to have as many pain problems and swelling. I think things got much more severe after I came home because the oxygen in the hospital helped me to rest much better. As now I cannot get a full breath without extreme pain. I actually ended up in the ER last night because my oxygen was down to 66% and I ended up having a panic attack when I couldnt breathe. I scared the life out of my husband (and myself) because they thought may have had a blood clot. Luckily I was released early this morning. But my point is try not to make any pressing plans of yourself because you may well need extra time to recover. That doesnt mean you're a wimp or wrong..it just means your body and personal experience is 100% different and yours alone. I tried to gauge what I'd be doing by now (and feeling) by reading the info on this board and I can't say anything I expected is quite the case in reality.

The recovery for my tummy tuck was MUCH more painful by far. I was on morphine and loads of valium for days. I think whats made this so painful for me is that the doctor had to cut through the muscle wall made by the tuck. I had what was termed a corset tuck. They literally made a hourglass figure for me which oddly enough stayed intact despite my gaining weight everyhwere else. I never gained it in my tummy or waist. For anyone considering a future tummy tuck, that particular style the results are amazing if you like having really nice curves.

I'm wishing for Campbells but as a displaced American living in the UK they don't have it or lots of other good things here. I just did a really lazy online order for my groceries to be delivered and added loads of soups. I got out the food processor and the strainer, so I should be able to get out all the bits. I have some lamb bones and bits in my freezer I didnt know what to do with soI think I'll make a big huge pot of soup, process it all and then freeze it in per day servings. The meat should add some good protein and flavor even without the bits and loads of veg that will cook down.

Hello all, Well I just made it home earlier today from the hospital. I was banded yesterday morning with very little probs and no major complications. Because of my earlier tummy tuck from several years ago they had to cut through the muscle wall in places to get at thing properly so I'm extra sore. Last night was pretty rough but my hubs was there with me helping me like the wonderful guy he is. I feel utterly bloated and like I've been run over a few times by a big truck but I know you all are familiar with that one. Fairydust was banded later in the day by the same doctor and we got to hang out together talking quite alot. She's doing beautifully and was only two doors down from me in the hospital. I'm sure she'll come give you her own update when she makes it home. I can't say that I'm like alot of people on here as I am already absolutely starving. lol I do admit that half a cup of broth or other warm liquid will fill me up but it doesn't last long. That first cup of chicken broth today was like manna from heaven! ugh, someone help me up please. lol:help:

Thank you for the suggestions, I think it must be totally off because I weighed myself when I came home from work and I had 'gained' another two pounds. I'll see what it says in the morning in my birthday suit and then leave it the heck alone. I have two more days on this diet and on the last two I'm going to take a bunch of senna to try and cleanse my colon for the surgery and stay on completely liquids. I wish I had a Walmart here but I'm in the UK so choices like they offer just don't exist. Thanks so much for the suggestions though, much appreciated. I am due to go back to the states in October to see my mom so I'm going to bring a couple empty suitcases and stock up on a bunch of stuff I can't get here like crystal light and diff protein/vitamin options.