Big Dan

I personally thought you looked kinda hot in the old picture. You look good in the new one too. :biggrin2: Too bad you couldn't play golf too. Still too soon after the surgery?

Sweet! Good for you! I know I am looking forward to seeing it (that is if you are sharing with your loyal following here). :biggrin2:

No matter about the other stuff but get some exercise! It is one of the hardest things to motivate yourself to do but without it you will not get anywhere near as healthy as you will if you just do it. And if you are pregnant you better get in shape now because that little one won't take it easy on you because you are out of shape. As far as the sliming goes, are you taking small bites and chewing really well? If not, then you can't assume you are already too tight. Follow the rules and see if you see a difference. I don't mean to sound like I'm being pushy, but you have to at least give it a try before counting it a failure. We're all pulling for you!

Too bad there is not an alarm that would go off if you started to overfill. Image sitting in a restaurant with your spouse/friend/whatever and you take a bite and start to hear 'beep, beep, beep'. :biggrin:

I agree with what the others have said about the better quality of life (and I am only 6 weeks out!) but one other thing that doesn't get mentioned too much is the eating part. When you have eaten a ton (and enjoyed it) like I had for many years the thought of not being able to eat is also very scary (at least it was to me). I actually thought to myself, 'Do I want to live longer if it means no pizza or steak or any of the other things I love?' and of course I decided it would be worth it but only barely. Well now that I have healed for several weeks I have discovered that I can still enjoy my food but not eat a ton of it! If you take small bites and chew it well like we are supposed to you will notice that you still get as much if not more time to savor the taste but don't have to eat enough to feed a small nation at every meal. I have found this to be very satisfying and I am losing weight! How cool is that?!:tongue2:

I think it also makes a difference depending on what shape you were in before the operation. If you only walked a little before don't plan to do a marathon the week after surgery. I've noticed that some people on here are starting at a weight equal to or less than what I want to loose! :behindsofa: I would guess that most people in that category would be in generally better physical shape to start out. We are all going to have a different starting point. Just be careful and not overdo it.

Starting the day I got home I walked a short distance (2 blocks) 2-3 times per day, slowly increasing the distance each day. At a week out I started back at the fitness center on the treadmill for 20 minutes per day for another week and then went up to 30 minutes per day and started very light weight training. At six weeks out I am still not quite up to full lifting weight yet (next week I think) but I am back to 30-40 minutes of cardio each day.

You just got everything put together the way you want and you're already falling apart?! Just kidding. You are looking great and I hope all your incisions heal up.

The hospital I went to does both LapBand and GBP surgeries. On one of my first consultations they wanted to talk about which I should choose. In my case they would have been fine with either but typically if rapid weight loss is needed because of health issues they would suggest GBP instead of LabBand just to get the weight down as fast as possible. I don't think they would force one way or the other but they would make a suggestion based on comorbidities (diabetes, sleep apnea, joint pain, high blood pressure). So I think that is something to think about as well.

Now there is positive thinking. :biggrin: You'll have to keep us posted on that!

You sound like you really need to focus on smaller bites and much better chewing. Irritating the pouch is not going to help your cause. You should be able to eat most things (except maybe bread, popcorn, rice) without much trouble if you are chewing properly. Everyone is a little different but it seems that most people have only a few things they cannot eat. Just remember that everything needs to be of the 'applesauce' consistency before you swallow. To me, I just consider that a time to 'savor' what I am eating and it makes me feel like I am still getting the amount of satisfaction from my food that I was always after but without eating five tons of it. As for right now I would say to do liquids for a day or two to give yourself time for the irritation to go away and then be really careful for a few more days.

Good luck, I will say a prayer for you. I remember I was very scared before my surgery too.

I take Centrum Chewables. They don't taste bad and chew up really fine. I also take a vitamin D suppliment. They are small pills (a little smaller than a pea) but I am too worried about them getting stuck so I cut them open and squeeze the vitamin out into some food.

Discovering that you have been making mistakes and then deciding to fix those mistakes sounds like a great recipe for success. I know I fear accidentally slipping up. Sometimes it seems like it would be so easy to do. Keep up the good work!

I have 8, 2 big and 6 small. I would have had 7 but the first one was an 'Oops, that was a little too high.' At least it was a small one.

I just had my first fill today and found out that I had 3cc's from the surgery already. I now have 6cc's in a 14cc band.

That is cool. That is kind of like noticing you've had to tighten your belt a notch or two to keep your pants from falling down. :biggrin2:

If that was the first time you had any real sugar/junk food since your operation it could very well be your body telling you that it prefered you not eat that stuff.

Yeah, I'm thinking this summer on a hot day that a cold beer would hit the spot but I'm afraid it may be more trouble than it's worth.

Sure, I would say share them. I believe there is a forum section for food and nutrition with a recipes section. That would probably be the place to post them. :biggrin2: Thanks for sharing.

Okay, you made me laugh! :sad: Sorry about your mishap though.

Welcome Michelle! I originally looked to have my procedure done at Unity Hospital too but then I switched to Park Nicollet. My first consult originally was with Jeff's father, Dr. Daniel Baker. Small world. :sad: Great work on your current weight loss and good luck for the future!

If I remember correctly it is caused by a lack of protein but should stabilize within a couple months after surgery.

You are very welcome and try not to stress out. You'll do great! Just have some confidence and patience. :biggrin2:

My suggestion is to step away from the scale and don't go near it again until at least a week after your surgery date. Surgery has a lot of impact on our bodies and it takes a while to get back to normal. I didn't even bothing weighing myself until my post-op at one full week out and I had lost 9 pounds. I have no idea what my weight did during that week until then but I would not have been surprised to find it off course. I think the rule of thumb should be to worry about nothing but resting and healing during that first week.