Butterfly512

Just wanted to share...
FYI- samsclub.com has EAS Protein powder for $33, free shipping & it's a 5 pound bag!
Mine is on the way...great deal :-)

Just wanted to share...
FYI- samsclub.com has EAS Protein powder for $33, free shipping & it's a 5 pound bag!
Mine is on the way...great deal :-)

Hang in there! You are over half way there! It's hard but you can do it!

My doctor told me if I didn't follow the pre op diet, he might not do the surgery once he got in there. I wanted this surgery so bad, I'd have let him super glue my mouth shut for the week! My pre op diet was Clear liquids for one week.....basically ZERO calories. I didn't "cheat" once. Surgery went well and it's just a distant memory now.
Hang tough, and keep your eye on your goal. You can do it!

Yes...the pre-op diet is awful. I had a full out melt-down when I was on it so I totally understand. Between the hunger, fear of surgery, detoxing, etc. it really is the worst part of this I think. But...just wait till you start to transform. Oh my...you will look back on this time as a short but necessary evil and thank your lucky stars that you got through it and knew it was the beginning of a wonderful journey to better health.
Good luck and hang in there!

It's so hard! I'm not gonna lie because it doesn't get easier! This is where we have to muster up all the willpower we have in our whole bodies and be strong!!! A week or two after surgery will be so much easier, then three weeks is even better, and so on and so on!!! Hang in there because it's soooo worth it!

I shouldn't complain because I only have to do 1 week..but I am already having a hard time..but somehow sticking to it!
Only ending my 3rd day & I just want to start shoveling food in my mouth! :-/ I am so hungry, and I am just so used to doing that ..it's so hard not to
I keep reminding myself of why I am doing this, but I am nervous & having mixed feelings about getting the surgery on Thursday at the same time.
Just venting..lol any encouraging words are appreciated! Thanks :-)

Well this has certainly been an interesting read
Just my 2 cents worth....
When I had my fairly large babies, I had the option of having and epidural or not during delivery. Heck that made my deliveries so much easier and pleasant. When I asked my mother who was an undiagnosed type 2 diabetic, if she would have gotten epidurals during her deliveries ( she had 9 children and they got larger with each baby, one being 13 lbs, 9 oz delivered "naturally"), she said "of course!" Why go through that without help if it's there?
Same with wls. Why not?

I totally understand the guilt feeling, still dealing with it myself. It doesn't help when people say "oh you don't need surgery, you can do it on your own" and even my Primary Care doctor said "that's extreme, you haven't given traditional dieting a fair chance". Well I have been trying for over 20 years!! Come on people! If I could do it on my own I think I would have by now! I've tried everything, including prescription drugs! I'm not even sure this is gonna work but I gotta try!

How does everyone deal with the feelings of wishing you could've lost the weight and kept it off with diet & exercise alone..and achieve that?
I would obviously feel awesome if I could do it, but after a million times trying in 10+ years...it's not working!
I am in the process of getting wls, but I keep holding onto this feeling of failure or the feeling of wishing I could accomplish my weight loss goal with diet & exercise, I know getting wls is not taking the easy way out and it still takes work but I wish there was a way to not tell anyone about it...but close family & friends are going to know of course when I can't eat much for awhile & when they see me thru the recovery process.

How does everyone deal with the feelings of wishing you could've lost the weight and kept it off with diet & exercise alone..and achieve that?
I would obviously feel awesome if I could do it, but after a million times trying in 10+ years...it's not working!
I am in the process of getting wls, but I keep holding onto this feeling of failure or the feeling of wishing I could accomplish my weight loss goal with diet & exercise, I know getting wls is not taking the easy way out and it still takes work but I wish there was a way to not tell anyone about it...but close family & friends are going to know of course when I can't eat much for awhile & when they see me thru the recovery process.

How does everyone deal with the feelings of wishing you could've lost the weight and kept it off with diet & exercise alone..and achieve that?
I would obviously feel awesome if I could do it, but after a million times trying in 10+ years...it's not working!
I am in the process of getting wls, but I keep holding onto this feeling of failure or the feeling of wishing I could accomplish my weight loss goal with diet & exercise, I know getting wls is not taking the easy way out and it still takes work but I wish there was a way to not tell anyone about it...but close family & friends are going to know of course when I can't eat much for awhile & when they see me thru the recovery process.

I don't see why people might say to a person you cheated you took the easy way I say to them it's my life and not yours and it's not your business what I do and how I do it. They think the surgery makes you loose the weight even if your stuffing your face in front of the Tv but they are so wrong you need to work hard to loose weight.

Sure, I wish I could have lost weight without the lap-band. I also wish I could have gone through life without gaining an extra 100 pounds in the first place. I also wish I had a million dollars and a private jet.
Everyone has their own circumstances to deal with in life. For those of us who are WLS patients, we just couldn’t manage our weight without WLS. It’s okay. Ideally, yes, I definitely agree with you that it would be nice to be able to be healthy and lose weight without WLS. In my real life? I needed help, and WLS gave it to me.
By the way…you’re not taking the easy way out. You’ll unfortunately learn that as soon as you start to have struggles. We all do.

I will make this short & to the point..
I am worried that my potential food addiction, emotional eating, mental hunger & cravings, my bipolar/mood disorder, my lack of sticking to diets ongoing for 12 years, the way I get depressed and moody when I feel hungry from lowering my calorie intake, the way I use food to comfort myself to be happy temporarily, the way I eat when I am every emotion from happy to stressed to sad, etc. etc..
I want to succeed with wls so bad..I want the depression from being overweight to finally end, I want this void I sometimes fill with my emotional eating to stop..
Can anyone relate? Have the same concerns?
I need to hear success stories and great outcomes from people with the exact same problems and concerns.
I want to believe I can do this, but I am scared..and it's my last resort and option to lose the weight and be happy with that part of my life.

Saw this sign today.............. " You can't make everyone happy, you're not a jar of Nutella !!" So for those that are getting no support, or very little, or even some negitive smack talk, about WLS, or anything else, quit worrying about every one else's opinion. Make YOURSELF happy. That is all.

I guess I feel like more of a failure in losing and keeping the weight off because I know I am capable of it with diet & exercise...but my emotional eating (worse with having a mood disorder), constant hunger, cravings & out of control appetite make it so hard..in addition to that I can't stick to anything to save my life, I go from diet to diet and practically starving myself at times until I end up binge eating by the 3rd day and the cycle continues..but are all these good reasons to get wls? Are these some or all of the same problems others have that had surgery to lose the weight and keep it off?
I don't have any health problems that cause weight gain, but I do take required medications that contribute to increased appetite & slower metabolism.
I don't know who I am trying to prove all this to? :-/ I guess only myself. Because I really shouldn't care about anyone else's opinion, but I wish I had the willpower and motivation and dedication, etc to do this on my own, but I haven't been able to in the last 12 years so I deserve a solution to be happy with how I look and feel
And with this new "tool" I am confident that I can achieve that.

I am so thankful for all the great responses, my consultation was today...it went great.
Yes, I know it won't be easy, especially in the beginning but the benefits definitely outweigh the rough times I might have sometimes, and going thru the stress and depression over my weight for the last 13 years is worse than overcoming some obstacles that in turn will have a great outcome and make me happy.

@@Butterfly512 you have had a few abdominal surgeries so you know pretty much what to expect when it comes to bending and lifting. When you do, don't use your stomach muscles use your legs and arms to do so and try not to lift the baby too often if you don't have to.
The worst part of the healing process that can take some time is the port location, that can be very sore and tender for a few weeks. Use an ice pack on that site to help keep down swelling and pain.
Everyone recovers differently so follow your instincts and don't be afraid to call your Dr. if you need to. You will do great!

Congratulations on your surgery date! Talk to your surgeon about lifting. You will have stitches that you don't want to pull. Get some help for the first week so you can heal up properly and focus on YOU. Best wishes -- think of how great it's going to be to be healthy for that beautiful baby.

Although I was extremely shocked by how well I felt after surgery, only minimal discomfort the first day, I was not allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs. for the first two weeks. The only issues I had was keeping my puppies who love to sit on my lap from stepping on my stomach, had to walk around the house with a pillow stuffed under a sweatshirt!
Hopefully you too will have an easy recovery but more importantly just know that your life is going to change for the better.

Hi, I am patiently waiting for my band surgery date
My husband can only take a couple days off work to help me during recovery, and we have an 8 month old I will have to take care of and lift of course after that...
How tough is the recovery, I have been reading others stories but will I be able to lift my baby without overdoing it? And with events and activities coming up around this time of the year..will I have alot of restrictions physically that would prevent me from doing some things?
I know the diet is very restricted for awhile but I hope that everything else will be doable after a few days
I have always healed fast & seem to have a good pain tolerance after my 2 csections, hoping for the same with this.

I guess I feel like more of a failure in losing and keeping the weight off because I know I am capable of it with diet & exercise...but my emotional eating (worse with having a mood disorder), constant hunger, cravings & out of control appetite make it so hard..in addition to that I can't stick to anything to save my life, I go from diet to diet and practically starving myself at times until I end up binge eating by the 3rd day and the cycle continues..but are all these good reasons to get wls? Are these some or all of the same problems others have that had surgery to lose the weight and keep it off?
I don't have any health problems that cause weight gain, but I do take required medications that contribute to increased appetite & slower metabolism.
I don't know who I am trying to prove all this to? :-/ I guess only myself. Because I really shouldn't care about anyone else's opinion, but I wish I had the willpower and motivation and dedication, etc to do this on my own, but I haven't been able to in the last 12 years so I deserve a solution to be happy with how I look and feel
And with this new "tool" I am confident that I can achieve that.

@@Butterfly512 ...... this is something i posted here a few years back. How i felt and i hope it may help. By the way we were about the same.... Im 5'2.5" and was 223
I have not always needed you.... and one time in my life.. i was a "normal" person. Size 0-3... weight a whopping 100lbs. Back in my single day... then one day you meet a wonderful guy and you fall in love... ahhh things are great. You get married and have a beautiful son. and life is good.... but then you notice that your not happy as you use to be. some days are worse than others... you find the strength to get up every day and go to work and live a "normal" life. Things are good at home... but something is missing... that spark, that feeling you use to get when you and your spouse were together intimately .. and you notice that those time have gotten further and further apart... and you think, what is going on? and one day the reason is staring you right in the face... the mirror... but in that mirror is someone else... surely it's not me... I don't look like that... that's a ugly fat girl... i'm not ugly and i for damn sure am not fat. Can't be... i told my self years ago i would NEVER let myself look like... those people... but then you look closer... and closer and there.. i know those eyes.... those are my eyes... but why do they look so sad. I have happy eyes. and i see, i see the real me. the one others have been seeing for years.... how did i not see this... how did i let myself get like this ... how did i become that girl that now had to shop at the plus size store... when just yesterday i was a size 3... How did i become the girl the skinny girls are now looking at and saying... i'll never let my self look like HER... and i'm the HER. this feeling takes the very last shred of self-confidence and stomps it into the dirt and spits on it. and you think...i am ugly i am fat i am unworthy of love.... unworthy of feeling good. and you start to eat... more and more and everything keeps getting worse. you stop taking care of your self, stop dressing up stop wearing make up and fixing your hair.... stop putting forth the effort at all... You are now sitting in a deep dark cave, alone and no one or nothing can show you the light....

But one day... you open your eyes expecting to see nothing... complete darkness and there it is... a speck of light.... it's tiny, but just right there in front of you. and you squint to see it.... making sure its really there. that speck was my friend Paula... she had lb surgery and everyday we talked and everyday my light grow brighter.... I went to the doctor and did all the test... did it all and then the news that i was approved... OH ... JOy. I looked in the mirror and saw a glimmer of hope. But as the days grew closer... I started to think... WHAT IF... what if i die on the table, what if i fail at this too, what if i stayed fat forever... Then i saw this site...trolled for a long while. I didn't want to sign because, well what if someone knew me... the horror... Then i saw all the successful people... the beautiful woman and handsome men that in their before pictures looked so sad... sad like me. Then i saw the after pictures.. and all the happy smiling faces... people who were bigger than me... now wearing size 6 jeans (lellow)... and i thought.. i can do this i can get my life back.... I will be happy again. so on November 10, 2009... i awoke.. was re-born. and i did do it... i lost 80lbs... it took me longer than most, but i don't care. I have donated all the 12-14-16 & 18 and moved in to my own size 6... On Feb 15, 2012.... after a long hard fight.... i won and awarded my self a tummy tuck... i deserved it. I earned it....

so to my band... thank you... for sticking with me and always keeping me on track.

and too all you out there thinking about doing this.....search with in your self and be happy again... which ever way you choose.....

You don't fix a cavity on your own, you see a denist, right ? Same with a broken leg (a cast and crutches )hearing problem ( a hearing aid ) eyesight problems (glasses or contacts) etc. If someone said " I have a drinking problem and Im going to work wth my Dr. and rehab so I can live a long , healthy life !" , well nobody would tell them to "solve it by themselves " would they ?? I dont think so !!! They would be congratulated for making a smart decision !! Same with WLS. YOU are making a smart decision to get a strong , healthier body. So, CONGRATULATE yourself !!!!