Kelly0897

I was banded on 3/4 and got my first fill on 4/9. I can eat everything I used to eat still, but I am sticking to proteins first and much smaller portions. I just refuse to let myself eat like I used to. I am down a total of 31 lbs (16 pre op and 15 post op) and want to keep on going. I stick to a rule of eating about 1/2 of what I order if I go out to eat and much smaller portions of healthier foods when I'm at home. The only things my Drs office said no to is steak and fresh vegetables. Otherwise, it is up to me to make the right choices. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I had my gallbladder out laproscopically about 5 years ago. I thought the pain from the gallbladder surgery was a little less than the lapband, but I had a large hiatal hernia repaired at the same time as the lapband. Like someone else mentioned, the most pain I had was around my port (under my ribs). I took a couple pain pills when I came home, but mainly just to be able to sleep because I struggled sleeping on my back and sleeping on my sides or stomach was not an option. Otherwise, I took Tylenol a couple times a day the first week. After that, I didn't need them. I took almost 2 weeks off and felt more than ready to go back to work. I'm sure 2 weeks will be good as long as your work doesn't require a lot of lifting. Like others have said...keep moving. Walk after surgery even when you don't feel like it. It really does help. Good Luck. Let us know how you're doing. Kelly

Tex, I am still on full liquids until Saturday. I had 3 days clear liquids, then 2 weeks full liquids, then 2 weeks of mushies. I'll still be on mushies when I go back for my first fill. The only thing I have eaten that was really not on my full liquid plan was tomato soup (they said it was too acidic, but it was so good!) and once I mixed quite a bit of Fat Free Sour Cream in with some refried beans. I guess I thought this made it smoothe enough to qualifiy as a full liquid (a huge stretch, I know). Otherwise, I have stuck to the plan. I am too scared to try anything off the plan. I'm with you on the donuts...this was too big of a step for me to take a chance and mess it up now and donuts are probably not even on the plan later on (Darn!). Good luck and keep up the great work!

1) Is it true you are on a liquid diet for 2 weeks prior to surgery? I was on Optifast for 30 days prior to my surgery. It was not nearly as bad as I expected. They say the pre-op diets are to help make your liver smaller and easier to work with during the surgery. Also, the more lose prior to surgery, the less you have to lose later :-) I lost 16 lbs pre-op. 2) I am private pay so this is a huge investment. I am concerned about cravings, etc for 'forbidden' foods after the surgery. Is this an issue for everyone or does the nausea curb your cravings? I was just banded a week ago. So far no major cravings. I think the pre-op diet helped that a lot. Also, the Dr helps guide you on the right foods to eat. Low carbs help to keep those cravings down somewhat, but I'm sure we will still need to make good choices and not give into all of the cravings. 3) I am getting conflicting reports that say avg weight loss is only 30-50% of excess weight. From your experience is that true? My Dr's office claims 60-75% of excess weight is lost. I started out weighing 229 lbs and told my doc that my goal is to weigh 150 (BMI charts list me as needing to be 136 to not be considered overweight). He said this was absolutely reachable, but I will need to be committed and follow an exercise plan too. He advises that the band is a tool to make the weight loss job easier, but reminds me that I have to work at it too. Good luck with whatever path you choose to take.

Hi Trinitydad, I'm not going thru bandster hell yet. On full liquids, I have been able to eat cottage cheese, yogurt, pudding, cream soups, etc. Found a great drink that made it all not so bad. I have been using SF Carnation Instant Breakfast mix with one cup of milk and added a premade container of SF chocolate pudding and some protein powder. This gets me 22 grams of protein and keeps me feeling pretty satisfied for a while. The cottage cheese also really helps. Hang in there! From all I have read, it does get better :-)

I was banded on 3/4 and really thought I'd feel back to normal by now. Boy was I wrong. I still think this was the right decision for me. My real doubts came before the surgery. Now that I have made it to this point, I'm going to make this band work for me. I have never found any point in dwelling on whether I made the right decision after it was made, instead, let's make the best of the choices we made. Don't look back! I started full liquids today and am getting in my fluids and hourly walks. I'm sure we'll be feeling back to normal before long and will be on our way to being the losers we know we can be!

Hi All...I was also banded on March 4th. Mostly just tired now...a little sore on my port side as well. I'm on Clear Liquids thru today and start full liquids tomorrow and will be on those for 2 weeks before starting the mushies stage. My surgery lasted 3 1/2 hours due to a complicated hernia that had to be repaired at the same time as the lapband surgery. My doctor won't release me to go back to work until next Wednesday at the earliest. I'm glad to hear everyone is doing so well and hope we can keep in touch as we progress.

Thanks for the great advice...Unfortunately, the Optifast is all Optifast products. I can choose from shakes, bars and soups. Not a lot of variety, but I'm determined to stay focused on today and trying not to think about a whole month of this. One day at a time...Good luck to you.

Hi Robin, My insurance also required a 5 year weight history. I called my OBGYNs office. I faxed them a letter asking them to release the info and they faxed it to my surgeon's office the very same day! The Surgeons office said if I was missing a year in the middle or something, they could still take it. Hope this helps...Best of Luck to you! BTW, my surgery is scheduled for March 4th and I start my 4 weeks of Optifast tomorrow...wish me luck!

Just found this site today...this post really hits home. My doctor requires 4 weeks of Optifast prior to surgery. The reason they gave is to make the liver healthier and smaller which makes it easier for the surgeon and also helps to promote weight loss after surgery. I start my pre-op diet tomorrow and my surgery is scheduled for March 4th. Any suggestions of how to get thru this will be appreciated!