Longhorn

My BMI was 35 so my doctor also said he wasn't too worried about my liver. For that reason, he just put me on a low-carb, low-fat diet. Then I was on clear liquids the day before surgery with no bowel prep required. I got the feeling that he has a different diet for his higher BMI patients.

I have to really think about it or I'm back to inhaling my food! One thing I do is put my food down between bites, especially when I'm doing something else. For example, yesterday I was eating a Luna bar (soy Protein bar) and was also grading papers. I put the bar down a an arm's length away between bites and I found that I got busy and had to remind myself to take another bite, so that really helped slow me down. When I'm not otherwise occupied, I use a one-minute timer between bites. I've "tested" myself by not looking at the timer and then checking it when I think it's been a minute and the "sand" is only halfway through! It seems like it takes so long but that's why I need something like that to pace me. I really think slowing down helps keep me from eating too much, though, so it's worth it. And once I feel full, I really do stay full until the next meal. I must have some restriction because I'm just not hungry, not even in the morning when I first wake up! I had some mashed potatoes with Protein powder the other night and I reached a point where I suddenly felt a little uneasy. It's hard to describe -- I wasn't in pain and I didn't feel full like I used to but I did feel like if I took one more bite, it would come back up. I waited a minute or two and the feeling passed and I took a couple more bites but then I did feel like that was enough. I think I got my first real test of how the band can work!

I think they base their diets on their experience with their patients. For example, just before I was to meet with the nutritionist, I heard my doctor tell her to change the post-op diet and move full liquids to the second phase, leaving Clear Liquids for the first two weeks. I heard him tell her that too many of his patients were having trouble too soon. Some of us follow the diets to a T and some stretch things a bit. I'll bet that some doctors make the diets more conservative so that those who stretch it will still have fewer problems. I've certainly read plenty of posts on this board about people who got a fill and immediately ate regular food and got stuck or PB'd, which can cause swelling, causing them to PB again. After a few days of this, they go back and demand an unfill. The gradual approach makes sense to me. I don't know what my doctor's post-fill diet is but I'm such a wuss, I'll probably do the same as your doctor advises!

Wow, that's amazing! I'm not weighing myself at home but I'm pretty sure I haven't lost that much and I was banded on November 1st! Way to go! :clap2:

Good for you, Steph! I have a top that I bought online several months ago that I loved but it was too snug. Now it fits! I'm wearing it tomorrow!

Congratulations and welcome! I know how you feel about exercise. I have a tough time fitting it into my schedule but the semester ends next week (I'm a community college professor) so I should be able to spend some time getting a routine going before the next semester begins January 14. Now, your weight loss sounds great, but since I teach math, can I ask how 12 plus 12 = 30?

Have you ever lost weight before? Most of us have lost it several times but once the body loses weight, it usually regains the weight, and more, on fewer calories than before. That's what I'm fighting. I can't stay on a 1000-1200 calorie food plan without help. I had no trouble with 1600 calories a day but I couldn't lose weight on that, even though my resting metabolic rate (BMR) is in the mid-2000 range. There are studies that document this fact and they didn't even ask me! If this is your first time to lose weight, you may be one of those who can keep it off and perhaps getting the band is premature. If you've been on the roller coaster, then the band can help with portion control and hunger, but it will not help you with making the right choices. There was a time when I had no trouble losing weight but now I can't even do that. I am no more addicted to food than I am addicted to sleep but, like it or not, my body has become very efficient at storing every morsel I eat as fat! Good luck with whatever you decide. If you don't do it now, it will still be there if you need it later.

For me, it was keeping the 18-pound poodle mix off my lap. I kept a pillow over my stomach the first few weeks because he can spring up out of nowhere!

I don't know what my doctor's after-fill diet is but I'm going to my mother's 75th birthday party the next day and I will also just be starting on soft foods. It will be much easier for me at the party if I can eat soft foods rather than be back on liquids or mushies. If his post-fill diet is too severe, I might wait until the next visit for a fill. I want the focus to be on my mother and this will be the first time most of my family has seen me since I emailed them about my surgery. I just don't want to call attention to myself by the strange way I'm eating (or not eating!) I want to look "normal."

I tried but I can't feel the band. I can definitely feel the port, though it becomes less prominent with each passing day.

I'm confused! Does St. David's have a branch at 38th and Lamar now? I thought that was Seton and St. David's, where my first three children were born, is at 32nd and IH-35. But the way these hospitals keep merging, maybe I haven't kept up with the times! I wonder if the self-pay charge would have been lower. My surgery, if I add in the labs, psych, nutritionist, etc., including a year of free fills, came to about $13,500. But I suspect it would have been more if I had insurance that would cover it. I don't know if that's a discount for us or a gouge of the insurance companies! (Not that they don't deserve it. )

I was banded the day before you. I don't have an official weight loss total because I only get weighed at the doctor's office. I'll see him again on December 14. But I'm definitely getting smaller based on how my clothes are fitting (and my husband's occasional surprised comments!) My diet is going pretty well. I probably have more liquid than mushies just because my schedule is such that I have to eat while driving a lot. I'm looking forward to soft foods (a week from Thursday!) so that I can take some other foods with me. There are several of us who were banded around the same time as you so you should feel at home here.

I had LASIK in 2001 and my husband and two of my daughters had it within the next year. Our son will be getting it done soon, too. Only one daughter out of my four children doesn't have to wear glasses! I am SO glad I had it done! Even though I'm 52 and was wearing bifocals before the surgery, I never need glasses now, for far or near vision. I got monovision at first but I couldn't adjust to that so they corrected the "near vision" eye to the same as the other eye (for free) about three months later and it's been great. I started wearing glasses in the third grade and never really cared for contacts so I couldn't be happier! Good luck!

I specifically asked my surgeon if he would be using the new AP band and he said yes and showed several bands to me and explained the differences (which I had already learned on this board. )

I think you'll be surprised how much better you'll feel by then. I can bend over completely and not feel my port at all and it's been this way for awhile. You might take a small pillow just in case and make sure you have plenty of whatever foods you're allowed to eat then, as well as fluids. Have a great trip!

Wow, that took a lot of patience and persistence! Congratulations for seeing it through and good luck tomorrow! Hook 'em, Horns!

If I don't use a one-minute timer between bites, it's very easy for me to start eating too quickly again. I carry one in my purse and keep a couple near the places where I eat at home. (I had a fourth but one of my dogs chewed it up!) They were only $1.50 each from a site online that sells game stuff. When I use it regularly, I find that I get more used to the slower pace and it doesn't seem like it takes as long for the sand to go through!

I was supposed to wait four weeks before I exercised so I just started yesterday. I'm using my recumbent exercise bike at first and then I'll graduate to my elliptical and/or home gym for strength training. Eventually, I'd like to start riding my bike again but I live in a pretty hilly area so it will take more muscle and stamina than I have now.

I finished my 300 calorie workout. It took a total of 75 minutes between yesterday and today. I tried to "sprint" every now and then to get my heart rate up. My goal is to exercise five days a week.

Yesterday was my first day to exercise after my surgery. I did 30 minutes on my recumbent bike. I had set the program to burn 300 calories, which looked like it was going to take more than 60 minutes but I got interrupted and didn't get back to it. But today is a new day!

Dorr: I've often thought that they should allow people who have lost weight to get a band so that they don't gain it back. To me, its value is more for the maintenance than the weight loss. I fully intend to lose weight with it and for me, it may be the only method that will work, now that I've screwed up my metabolism. But it's knowing I won't gain it back that means the most to me. By the way, you look great!

This is a great post full of wonderful ideas! Thanks for taking the time to share with us. I also share your philosophy and will be very pleased if I am as successful as you have been. :clap2:

Yes, but I don't really like them. I'm a picky eater. :confused:

When I realized my incision was infected, it was also a Saturday. I called my doctor and he called in the antibiotics for me. That way, you don't have to go to an ER. Just find a pharmacy that is open late before you call him if you want to pick them up tonight. My doctor told me ahead of time that it is fine for me to call him for something like this. Good luck!

I bought a $10 electric mini food chopper at the grocery store and it turns almost anything into a mushie! Tonight my husband made pasta with chicken breast chunks and sundried tomato sauce. I put it in that little chopper and in seconds, it was pureed and it tasted great!