kimk1999

Glad you're starting to feel better and have better mobility. My doc prescribed hydrocodone for sever pain and tramadol for mild pain. I hate to say it, but for me, different pains came in after the initial surgery pain. A few days after I started getting a sever stabbing pain near my port side if I moved wrong. It was painful to get out of bed or off the floor. Not trying to scare you but just letting you know what MAY come for you. Take it easy but still try to keep moving. It will get better. My fiancé used to joke (a really bad joke) but he said it looked like he punched me in the stomach with the bruise that was there.

Wow - that is definitely a good reminder. I've lost 26 lbs and just bought dog food today as well. Congrats on the weight loss so far and I know you'll lose many more .

I'm almost 7 weeks post op. I'm 5'4". Highest weight was 214. Lost about 5 lbs on my own but super slow. 2 week pre-op diet lost 6 lbs Surgery day I was at 202 I'm now down to 187.8. It's a bit slower than I was hoping but then again I'm not exercising as much as I've should (was sick, knees hurting, workload overtime etc). My goal is 150 and my surgeon felt that was very realistic. Good luck. I'm not sure about the Canadian healthcare system, but this is definitely more than cosmetic. Obesity is a real medical condition especially if you have the comorbidalities to compound the issue.

Yeah I was there just a few weeks ago. I was banded 12/16. I've had bad hunger issues as well. Drinking fluids definitely helps. More and more fluids, hot teas etc. it's brutal during this period. I've given into these cravings a bit more than I should and my weight loss has definitely slowed down.

Sorry to hear - yeah I was in a lot of pain as well. Basically I agree with the above suggestions... Strong pain pills to knock you out; when awake walk when you can. Drink hot tea, liquid Soups, chicken broth, etc to help soothe. Ice pack on the belly and heating pad on the shoulder. Regarding gas-x, I had to take two chewables at a time as one wouldn't really help me. Try to walk as much as possible but not over doing it as you just had surgery. Hope you feel better soon. It will seem like a lifetime but it'll be behind you before you know it.

It ultimately is up to your insurance... for me, my cigna group plan looks for 40 BMI or it will take 35 with co-morbidalities. Can you call your insurance for details? Can you look online. I was approved for surgery with a BMI of 35.5 (or 36ish) but I had high cholesterol. That was all it needed. I know my surgeons coordinator told me of some of the "tricks" that other people have done to meet the crazy insurance requirements and yeah some people do include weights in their pockets to weigh more. My insurance required 3 months of pre-diet (not the liver shrink - just the physician supervised diet) and I basically sandbagged that so I didn't lose any weight. Just a couple of pounds would have dropped me below 35. The coordinator 'suggested' that there have been people who lost weight on that diet and then insurance would have denied them. Find out what your insurance requires... if it's 40 BMI flat out, then rig the test (slouch / rocks in the heavy jeans. . If it's 35 with comorbidalities, then have your surgeon resubmit the paperwork with those details. Good luck!!

I loved the cream of chicken soups too. Mixing with milk tastes better and gives extra protein (as well as calories). Nearing the end of that phase when I was getting hungrier I'd take a can of chicken and blend it in with the soup. Tomato soup was another favorite.

Yeah same story here. I was told no to straws with the same air issue. I tried no straws and just couldn't get my water intake to be anywhere I needed it to be. I love my camelbak bottles. Once I started using them my water levels definitely increased. I still don't drink the amount of fluids they expect but it's better.

I really wonder what these nosy people would say if it was a sex change operation . That would be super super personal, shock them and maybe make them feel uncomfortable. Or if your at your surgeons office (not the hospital) that would totally confuse them. Probably keep them from asking anything else.

Oye yeah that is depressing. Let us know what they find out. My pcp has tested my thyroid plenty of times in the past and when I told him that I was considering wls he wanted to test my thyroid again. Good luck. I hope you find an answer soon.

From reading other similar posts and in concurrence of 2muchfun's post... Yeah everyone is different (band size, fill amount, starting weight and goal weight, etc) and everyone's surgeon is different as well. My surgeon at the first fill tries to fill the band half way. I have a 10 cc band and they added 5cc. They had me drink some Water (blind fills) and it took awhile to feel the changes so she took out some. Then added some more end. I ended up with 4.8 on my first fill. Weight loss - banded dec 16 with a surgery weight of 202. I lost 8 lbs first two weeks, 6 lbs over the next 3 and I've been stuck there for a few weeks. It's discouraging sometimes when I read of bigger weight loss numbers in the same time period but this works for me. I'd be happy with your weight loss for the year but that's close to one of my main goal weights. If you need another fill for restriction, see your surgeon. That's what they are there for. Oh, I've read where some people are content never getting their first fill while others need 8cc in their 10 cc band or something like that.

Thanks for the ideas

I'm in the same boat as you... I've been at the same weight for about 2-3 weeks. It's definitely very frustrating.

This is a bit of a rant, but I have a joking tone My fiancé cooked me a wonderful filet mignon last night. He cut the pieces pretty small (smaller than he would but I still have to take bites of it before chewing). Anyways, I've had filet since surgery and all was well. I thought I was in the clear. Well my first fill was this past Friday and I think my band no longer likes steak! Last night it was more well done and it got stuck. He cut me really rare center parts for my lunch leftovers, I'm trying to eat with super tiny bites and chewing it like 30 times and I'm just not feeling well. So I'm stopping with my lunch not even half eaten. While sitting here at my desk I remembered the number of people that can and cannot eat steak. I was just thinking to myself that I should have specified when they asked what brand I preferred maybe I should have specified the steak friendly version.

My only suggestion as something semi-related to what she could have "intended"... Was that you'll be eating so few calories you won't really have the energy to work or think. I took 3 weeks off. Definitely didn't need that much time but it was the end of the year vacation leftover time plus holiday shut down. I tried to 'work from home' a bit but when I opened my computer I would just stare at the screen and my eyes forgot how to read. Lol. Then I got a bad cold. Typically my surgeon does surgery on Wednesday with the return back to work on Monday. I was actually not hungry at all for the first 2-3 weeks. Gotta love the boldness and brashness of some people. Still too funny.

This is just my guess as I'm not a doctor or insurance person... My physician who supervised my diet plan filled out a form from my surgeon at each visit. Recorded my weight and other crap and talked about what I was going to try to do this month coming up. I don't think you have to have insurance pay the doc part. My surgeons office offered the medically supervised diet plan too and they don't take insurance for that "program" but it would meet the insurance requirements.

I was banded about 6 weeks ago. Throughout my pre-op diet and especially when the surgery date was scheduled right up until surgery itself I had my doubts. This is major surgery. I kept thinking maybe one more time of trying such-and-such diet, but I knew those never helped me long term and I needed something serious. There will be times post op (especially immediately post op when you're in a lot of pain and can only drink liquids) wondering what did you just do. I do not have a long term success story to tell you, but just wanted to give you some encouragement that you're not alone. It does get better. It is a wonderful tool.

I like sharpies suggestions. Just about any deli meat rolled up with a cheese platter should be decent protein (watch the fat though). If you're really wanting pizza my surgeon and NUT suggests just eating the toppings. I like eating nuts too.

Oh one more thing that I recently learned as well - Select food, then Settings. You can customize things more. Default is Breakfast, lunch, dinner and Snacks. You can change it to be Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Dinner, and Evening Snack. I've added times so there's no guessing as well. I don't always snack, but I hate how it's all lumped into one account. My username here is the same on that app if you want to add me

For me, I'm looking for a reduced hunger feeling / longer lasting of satiety between meals.

I was curious of the responses as I get bad munchies with the tom. I never expected the side discussion. All the suggested snacks look like good options.

Any previous weight loss attempts documentation was my word against theirs (as far as I know of)... It was all hand written down when I tried diet / exercise, ww, HCG, b12, etc... Lbs lost and gained back. For the record I was banded Dec 2013 (6 weeks post op)

I'm in Florida under a group plan with Cigna. Like the previous poster I had a 3 month physician supervised diet. Two weeks after that I had my surgery (I was worried it wasn't going to be approved on time). My history - 35 BMI at surgery date (shhh I didn't dare lose a lb on my 3 month plan). Plus at least 1 comorbid condition.

Oh if you don't like the skewing from exercises you can change the calorie count to just 1 calorie. That way you still track the time but it won't skew your goals.

Under my home, select 'goals', click change goals, select custom and renter the info you want. Unfortunately they the the protein/carb/fat as a ratio of your calories so you have to play with the numbers to get the desired Protein goal. Also, if you enter your workouts there, they will add those exercise calories back into your total so you will only 'net' your allowance. That will skew your goal of getting X grams of protein a day but it's better than nothing in my opinion.