Flaxseed

Flaxseed, that's what is helpful about the lapband. Because you have it periodically filled, the times between you create new eating behaviors. Things I ate before, binge foods, I can walk right past them and never give them a thought, really. If we could give up food or the thoughts of food on our own, no need for the surgery. Once my band was filled properly, I can pass up pretty much everything, and not even notice all the crap foods while grocery shopping. Good luck to you, whatever your choice or decision becomes.

Thank you all for responding it feels wonderful to know there are people out there I can talk to about the feelings I am experiencing and the hurdles I am putting up myself by binge eating. I don't have any close friends to speak to about any of this as the majority of my friends are at a very healthy weight. I am not comfortable talking to them about any of this in fact non of my good friends even know that I have been on this journey with the bariatric weight loss clinic for over a year now. I just told my daughter's about this process last week and they do not understand why I can't just "diet and exercise". I have made myself a promise this morning that when I want to eat a big bag of junk food that I will #1 NOT BUY IT and #2 sign onto this site for support. Did any of you experience slight allergies when you were heavy? I have found that in the past 2 years I feel a kind of shortness of breath and my nose is plugged. I am not sure but I think I may also have a gluten sensitivity which I completely ignore as well. I need to take care of ME for once and put on my big girl panties and be strong and vigilant and start getting healthy! Love and Light to all that read this and post a comment to help me through this process!!!

Yes two years is along time but I am 13 months in now so I hope that I will be able to get surgery by summer 2015. What do folks that have post op problems do for a Dr here if they have surgery in Mexico? I would be afraid to be left hanging if I had a problem.

Yes two years is along time but I am 13 months in now so I hope that I will be able to get surgery by summer 2015. What do folks that have post op problems do for a Dr here if they have surgery in Mexico? I would be afraid to be left hanging if I had a problem.

Flaxseed, how about asking the docs? The other is find a GI who has experience with bariatrics. I am here to tell you they are few and far between.

I don't know what the system is in Canada, but I do know a LOT of people from Canada go to Mexico for WLS, so I am sure you could get some answers on the Self-Pay Mexico forums. I'm in the US and I just confirmed with my insurance company that they would cover any hospital visits for dehydration, infection, or complications and they said that they would. I also visited my PCP and scheduled my first round of post-op bloodwork and follow-up prior to having my surgery. She will be monitoring my vitamin/mineral levels and ordering any other tests I might need depending on the outcome. I'm almost 6 weeks post op now and will be having my bloodwork done next week and my appointment with my PCP is on the 24th.

I am new to this great site that I recently found and I am in need of some guidance. I am in Canada and the process takes approx. 1 1/2 -2 years from the time you enter into the bariatric program until you have surgery. You have to go to your nurse, dietician, psychologist, bariatric program Doctor etc. many many times before you are even sent to see a surgeon. Once you get referred to the surgeon you are looking at another 9-12 months before surgery. Here is my issue...... I want this surgery so bad but my obvious gross eating habits are going to get in the way of continuing in the program. I have to lose weight each time I see someone in the clinic (or at least maintain) and I feel like I am self sabatoging the process. I can't stop this binge eating and yet on the other hand I know I HAVE to or I will NEVER get the surgery. I have spoke to the Psychologist and she tells me that I just have to think before I eat but as we know it is not just that easy. Please Please Please reply to me and tell me how you succeeded in getting your eating under control before your surgery?

Another good snack option that is Protein and is very trendy right now is Edamame. It's an appetizer on a lo of menus. I also get it in the frozen foods section. If you go out to eat, share this as an apetizer with the table to fill up on some good protein (don't eat the pods!).

I love this post; what you have expressed touches me deeply. It sounds like you had an excellent bariatric practice who looked at the whole person before even considering slicing into them. They got you ready to be ready.
It is a shame that your partner did not go the course with you, but you clearly get that staying the way you were just to stay in the relationship was an unacceptable price to pay. So much resentment, turned inwards, in those paradigms.
Doors are opening in front of you now, my friend. I know you will walk through them with great fierceness and joy.
Thank you for your ever-present support on this platform.

Mexico, here I come. It's $4,500 and lots of references right here at Bariatric Pal. 2 years, that's horrible. I have been bitching that it has taken me almost 3 1/2 months from beginning to end for my surgery

That's a tough one to do this for that long!! Best of luck. I don't really know if my "advice" works or not so "take it with a grain of salt!" These are just things that, if I had to do it over again, I would do.
-- start going to a support group now. Do you have an Overeater's Anonymous group in your area? You're going to have to find one for after surgery anyway so might as well start now.
-- you need to understand that you are a food addict. that is why the above group is important
-- Slow down. On everything. See some items below.
-- Stop counting calories, start counting grams of Protein. We (post surgery) need to get in around 60-90 grams of Protein a day. To do this, it is best to eat some protein every couple of hours. Try this:
-- Breakfast: 1 or 2 eggs (I do hard boiled only because I can carry it to work and eat it there); and a Kashi bar (I eat the Trail Mix Chew Granola Bar)
-- About an hour later I have a Fit and Light yogurt (in the purple container, or a Protein shake (you could also have the Protein Shake for Breakfast instead of the eggs or especially instead of the kashi bar)
-- always drink a lot of Water BETWEEN meals. Stop drinking Water 30 minutes before your meal, such as lunch or dinner
-- for lunch, a couple of ounces of chicken or turkey or fish. I also add some raw veggies (red and green peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cukes, tomatoes) with balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I add some low fat cheese to it. DON'T DRINK anything with your meals, that means any meals!!! Eat slowly, but not too slowly. In other words, chew, chew, chew, but don't go beyond 30 minutes to eat your meal.
- 30 minutes after you stop eating lunch, start drinking your water again.
-- mid day snack of yogurt or Protein Drink or cottage cheese (or some other protein). I've never liked cottage cheese but the ones that are pre-mixed with peaches or pineapple are fabulous!
-- dinner is lean protein again (about 3-4 oz or the size of a deck of cards), maybe a small bit of brown rice or a baked potato, some veggies (raw, steamed, boiled, etc). Again, don't drink anything with your meal and really chew your food. While chewing, think about how it tastes. When I do this, I sometimes discover that I really don't like it! lol. It's hilarious to discover that.
-- You can have another snack of protein--protein shake, make some string cheese, some low fat cheese (laughing cow is good).
-- EXERCISE!!! This might be just walking to start. Again, you're going to have to do this anyway. I started by getting a pedometer to monitor how many steps I do in a day. Your goal is 10,000 steps in a day. It's a little scary how few steps we take in a day. So, first just do what you normally do to find out how many steps you have been getting in. Once you see that for a few days, try to increase the number of steps.
These are some of the things that you will be doing after surgery. Try them before surgery to see what happens. You can probably add a piece of fruit or 2 each day, and some extra veggies as well. If you eat like that every couple of hours, you really don't get that hungry.
I'm sure I"m forgetting some things but try to do some of these and see what happens. There are some interesting recipes that have been posted on these sites that you can try as well.
Best of luck!! That is a long wait that you have but you can do it!

I think for me I need for sure 2 weeks per change as to much to fast will be overwhelming and I will end up on a binge.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I am truly inspired and motivated by it. Good for YOU!!!!

They want you to loose weight continuously for the next 9-12 months?
I'm not sure about others her, but in my case, it was the fact I could not get my eating under control, the primary reason I needed this surgery...
Believe me, I wish I did not need to do this, but there was no other choice. It was last resort after everything else failed.
BTW, Lap Band surgery did cure me of binge eating, emotional eating, and just plain overeating in general....

I do not know if this is true but I wanted to add something: I understand it takes 3 weeks for something to become a habit. Maybe it would be easier to do one change as was suggested, but just 1 for 3 weeks and then go on?
What do you think would help YOU better? 1 a week, 1 a day, 1 every 2 weeks, change? I'd rather target to the person so it works for them.

Tuesday one year ago I met with my surgeon for the first time. What a wonderful year I have had for health and rediscovering me.
For those of you just starting out, you may feel like I did that your surgery is too far in the future and waiting all those months will be unbearable. When I first started to research WLS in September, I thought I might be able to have surgery before Christmas. Ha ha ha. Not only was it not before Christmas, but it didn't actually happen until March. And you know what? I needed every single day of that time period between September and March to prepare myself for this enormous life change.
First, I met with my clearing psychologist. And I didn't get cleared! Nope. I needed to change my habit of eating in front of the TV. Until I did that, the psychologist was not going to clear me for surgery. He told me that I needed to make lifestyle changes. When I first heard that, of course I said, sure! Everybody knows you need to make lifestyle changes! But when I went back to him the following month for clearance, and I told him I had not been exactly able to give up TV eating, he told me point blank that he didn't think I was ready for WLS. He told me that unless I actually made the lifestyle changes, I was not likely to succeed with the LapBand.
Of course, he was right. I'm glad that my little wake up call was so minor, and not a bigger deal, like if I had been denied surgery at the last minute. His denial made me face facts. How was I going to live in a new way, if I wasn't even willing to change a little bit?
After I gave up TV eating, the next hurdle was the holidays. I grieved my way through Thanksgiving. I was very sad that in my mind, it was going to be my last enjoyable holiday. I sat in the kitchen the night before Thanksgiving, after having roasted the turkey, and binged on the crispy turkey skin. It was the weirdest experience I'd had in a long time. I knew what I was doing, and simultaneously I knew it was the last time I was going to do it. I knew that Thanksgiving 2014 was going to be different. I was going to have lap band surgery and I was going to be eating like a normal person. I was working toward that goal with excitement. So why was I so sad? I was getting ready to pay somebody thousands of dollars to help me recover from binge eating. And I was grieving not being able to binge eat anymore.
Fast forward to February 2014. My personal life took a terrible plunge. My marriage, which was in bad shape before my WLS process began, took a terrible blow. Constant stress became my normal everyday life. I had one anchor in my life. My upcoming surgery.
I was banded mid March 2014. I complied with all of the doctor's orders. My surgery was a breeze, and my weight began to come off right away.
You can see by my ticker that I have had a lot of success this year. I am almost 2/3 of the way to my goal weight. I have not been the weight I am right now since my second child was born 19 years ago.
Through it all, I have received immeasurable help and support from this website. I do not have a supportive spouse. I do have two very supportive daughters. But when it comes right down to it, we must do this for ourselves. Nobody can do this for us.
And more importantly, nobody, nobody, nobody can prevent us from doing this for ourselves once we are ready to reclaim our power.
I'll save my long list of NSV's and great experiences for when I write my 100 pounds lost post soon. And it's almost here.
This post is just a reflection back to that first week when I walked into a WLS orientation meeting, followed by a meeting with my surgeon. The fearful, beaten-down person that I was one year ago no longer exists. In her place is a strong, confident woman who knows that she is worth it.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is about so much more than weight.
Nothing changes until everything changes.

Try to change and maintain one habit change per week. Give up soda. Then add walking around the block once a day. Then add putting your fork down between bites. You get the idea. Treat this as a project. You'll make lifestyle changes now that you'll need later anyway. First thing I had to do as required by the psychologist was give up tv eating.
I also find Overeaters Anonymous helps me process the feelings.

Thank you all for responding it feels wonderful to know there are people out there I can talk to about the feelings I am experiencing and the hurdles I am putting up myself by binge eating. I don't have any close friends to speak to about any of this as the majority of my friends are at a very healthy weight. I am not comfortable talking to them about any of this in fact non of my good friends even know that I have been on this journey with the bariatric weight loss clinic for over a year now. I just told my daughter's about this process last week and they do not understand why I can't just "diet and exercise". I have made myself a promise this morning that when I want to eat a big bag of junk food that I will #1 NOT BUY IT and #2 sign onto this site for support. Did any of you experience slight allergies when you were heavy? I have found that in the past 2 years I feel a kind of shortness of breath and my nose is plugged. I am not sure but I think I may also have a gluten sensitivity which I completely ignore as well. I need to take care of ME for once and put on my big girl panties and be strong and vigilant and start getting healthy! Love and Light to all that read this and post a comment to help me through this process!!!

Thank you all for responding it feels wonderful to know there are people out there I can talk to about the feelings I am experiencing and the hurdles I am putting up myself by binge eating. I don't have any close friends to speak to about any of this as the majority of my friends are at a very healthy weight. I am not comfortable talking to them about any of this in fact non of my good friends even know that I have been on this journey with the bariatric weight loss clinic for over a year now. I just told my daughter's about this process last week and they do not understand why I can't just "diet and exercise". I have made myself a promise this morning that when I want to eat a big bag of junk food that I will #1 NOT BUY IT and #2 sign onto this site for support. Did any of you experience slight allergies when you were heavy? I have found that in the past 2 years I feel a kind of shortness of breath and my nose is plugged. I am not sure but I think I may also have a gluten sensitivity which I completely ignore as well. I need to take care of ME for once and put on my big girl panties and be strong and vigilant and start getting healthy! Love and Light to all that read this and post a comment to help me through this process!!!

Hi there, you are in good company here. If we could have lost our weight through diet and exercise then why would we need weight loss surgery? I just had a few flaxseeds in my little portion of yogurt and fruit -- a few nuts. Prior to my surgery I would not have been able to have just one serving -- I would have had a lot. Probably drizzled a bunch of maple Syrup on it as well. Then I may have gone looking for something else. It was that way with me, the more, more, more. Having my appetite dimmed by the band has allowed me to be satisfied on a small portion of food. It is heaven being out of food jail. So don't be hard on yourself -- most if not all of us have been where you are right now. It's a desperate feeling.
Here's the thing -- how to comply with whatever hoops you need to navigate in order to get what you want. When I saw your height and weight so similar to mine I immediately wanted to ask you about whether there is any kind of BMI requirement. For instance my insurance required a minimum BMI of 40. Others (and this is here in the States, I have no idea about Canada) have a 35. My insurance company did not care about co-morbidities (some roll those into the equation); I had to be at 250 or I couldn't get them to pay for the surgery. I just want to make sure you are "allowed" to lose weight -- that you will still qualify. They really have us over a barrel, don't they? Sorry to throw that into the works but just while you're gathering all the information and making a plan.
You have taken a really big step already in deciding to choose yourself and your healthy future -- this will make you stronger and fiercer in your life, able to do things you might not have imagined before. Don't give up! There are two things I was really glad I did while I was going through the process: I upped my exercise. I didn't want to but I did it anyway and that helped me tremendously. Also I got a therapist to go through the process with me. We really worked on identifying my triggers for emotional eating, eating from boredom and habit, stress eating, rewarding myself eating. You know, eating, eating, eating. We got down to the brass tacks of it all -- the when and where. It was tedious but I'm so glad I did it as we were able to identify some very particular situations which don't trip me up anymore because I can see them coming. The other thing I did was spend a lot of time reading through posts on this site. It got to be so I could spot the successful people right away and I followed them. If there were negative posts I just skipped them, did not engage. I asked questions and people were so generous with information -- I took what felt right and left the rest behind.
Good luck to you -- you are worth all of this, you deserve this and you will find success!

I haven't had WLS yet but I have lost 140# in the past and maintained it for several years..prior to ending up here. I passed the 6 month supervised weight requirement by my insurance. By the skin of my teeth....At one point I had to give up the fantasy that I was gOing to drop all this weight and shift my goal to maintenance. That meant I needed to increase my exercise and gain some control over what I was putting in my mouth. It was HARD. What I hear from you...is somehow you have to gain back your sense of freedom around this requirement if you don't have the cash go to MX. The perception can be shifted to this being something YOU want versus something THEY are making you do. I have a mental block when it comes to anything feeling like authority and I rebel every. single. time. Don't let it be coming from a male or a white person, then I'm one step away from a full-on tantrum!! Needless to say, I've done many stints of therapy and a stint in recovery support groups (alcoholic dad) to work out my issues. I've found Geneen Roth helpful over the years, too. There is a reason people binge and overeat and it's usually a good one and WLS won't fix the reasons for any of us.

Yes and no, they do have somewhat of a point, as there is a fair amount of those who gain the weight back. I believe the range is 20%. She does have a right to be concerned.
I think the issue for me is more that we have someone who is asking for help which is the biggest step. She's looking for answers. I want to see she gets support in finding those but the way she is describing it is I think past us and maybe on to other help.
First of all getting kudos for being concerned, asking for help, says a lot for someone. I'd rather see them do that now then just give up.

@@Flaxseed It's different after surgery for a lot of people, me included. I don't have any feelings of bingeing like I did before. I don't have the same cravings (or any really). I couldn't give up a lot of the bad stuff pre-surgery and now I find I'm not even interested in it (except for those garlic knots they put on the table at the restaurant the other night).
That's why people are successful after the surgery -- this tool changes things. So don't beat yourself up or think that you won't be successful after surgery just because you can't successfully lose weight now. That's pretty much the situation for all of us!

I was a total emotional eater/binge eater too. Any time I felt like I HAD to loose weight, it seemed like I just ate more out of resentment. I went to Mexico for surgery and here's the thing. Once you have the surgery, you really have no choice but to change your relationship with food. Can you still fail? Probably.But, the restriction and recovery in the beginning make eating too much food or the wrong food physically impossible. So far I haven't even been tempted to try to eat things I shouldn't eat yet. Even when I take one extra bite of the foods I'm allowed to be eating, I end up immediately regretting it. I am hopeful that by the time I am recovered enough to be able to handle eating more than I should or eating the wrong types of foods, this time without binging and indulging will have broken me of the habit. They say it only takes 21 days to break a habit or for new ones and I am now almost 6 wees post-op.
Will I face demons down the road? Probably. But I know I will never ever again be able to eat an entire large pizza in one sitting, so that's already a huge improvement over my old behavior.

my WLS of choice helps me feel eat less
my mind thinks i can eat 2 pizza's but i cannot
surgery will only help one eat (less)..it is up to the person
to make better food choices (and you will) and to exercise
i started out at a BMI of 62...super morbid obese.all 5'1 of me...
i did not get that way by eating only lettuce. i ate a LOT..
i was a volume eater as well as a binger (like you).
..before my surgery, i continued to eat the way i always did..
A LOT..it wasnt until my 2 1/2 all liquid diet before surgery did i realize
some things
i would NOT die by not eating
i learned the difference between being really hungry and head hunger (vile thing that is)
i learned i am stronger mentally than i ever gave myself credit for
and the best part that YES i could do this if i wanted too
you can make yourself well/healthy if you want..
i say find a support group if you can, find some friends who will
suppport you, read up on WLS and dig deep inside and look
at the person in the mirror...that person staring back at you
is the ONLY one who can make you well....the WLS will help.
you can do it..