MacMadame

WLS is definitely a roller-coaster! Right now I'm almost at goal and UP, UP, UP! Whee. Good think I like roller coasters, right? :w00t:

I think you should put in a request for PG to be smited. :w00t: Sorry about your prognosis though.

Yeah, me too. But I feel hunger more than every once in a while. But it's pretty normal stuff. Like I eat lunch and then gradually, over a period of 3-4 hours, I start to feel hungry, and as time progresses, it grows until I feel like I should do something about it. At that point, it's right about time for the next meal anyway. I can live with that and I know that's what normal people experience. But, instead, I fight it. I'm so used to fighting my hunger and it's an ingrained behavior. I've had this experience once or twice too. All the programs are different. On mine, we did "thin" liquids for 2-3 weeks, then "softs" for 2-3 weeks, then regular food. But they also said that we should go "as tolerated" and some people stay on "softs" until as late as 3 months out! At 3 weeks, I had my first check-up and, after talking, my surgeon and I agreed that that I should go slow on starting regular food, so I didn't until 7 weeks out. Your program booklet can say one thing, but you and your surgeon may decide something else will work better for you. Maybe you'll have an easy recovery and go faster or maybe you'll need to go slower. I think anywhere in the 6-8 weeks range is pretty reasonable for starting back on regular food. Some programs have you starting back as early as 2 weeks and that scares me a bit.

But not cheaper than a Garmin Forerunner. I really covet one of those. :confused: I ended up getting the Reebok one because it was on sale at Buy.com. It's regularly around $110, but I paid $30 for it. I'll let you know how I like it when it shows up.

I never did entire weeks over. But I sometimes did 4 runs instead of 3 for particular weeks.

A conference call. For a meeting I'm supposed to be running. :confused:

And if you had read mine, you would realize that a Moderator told you to cut it out and stop criticizing other posters who aren't doing anything against the rules. If you must continue the discussion, take it to PM.

What! :confused:

I had my surgery 9/24. I did lose 29 lb. pre-op though. I'm still pretty excited. I wanted to be at goal by 6 months out and I'm very, very close.

There are lots of theories as to why people are hungry on liquids. My surgeon (and WASa) will say it's head hunger. I'm not so sure, mainly because so many people experience this, even people who aren't normally big on experiencing head hunger. My theory is that it's a combination of things: -excess ghrelin in the bloodstream -- probably only for a few days -irritated vagus nerve from the surgery - maybe up to a month -pushing so many liquids causing physical symptoms that mimic hunger -other physical symptoms that mimic hunger -other hunger-related hormones (such as leptin) telling us we're hungry through other means because they aren't getting the hunger control you get through restriction -mental hunger because liquids can't be chewed Each one probably contributes only a little bit and not everyone will have every factor contributing, but it adds up to hunger for some and, if you've only heard "You won't be hungry after surgery", it can be a BIG shock. But it will get better. Once you are on solids, you should find your interest in food diminishing. You may never feel hunger again for years. Or you may feel it off and on. Or you may go right to "regular" hunger that "normos" get. I know people who are two years out and say they are never hungry. I know people who are 6 months out and say hunger has returned. But the ones who experience hunger all say it's not like it was before. I'm still figuring this stuff out for myself. Sometime I feel like I'm hungry and it upsets me. "I'm not supposed to be hungry -- that's why I had surgery!" But my hunger is mostly normal hunger that is easy to manage by eating every 3-4 hours. And I don't even have to eat very much most of the time. It can be 6 cashews. Then I'm good to go. I also have periods where I forget to eat and don't feel hungry until I am almost sick from it -- feeling queasy or lightheaded. I tell myself not to fight the hunger feelings. That I need to learn to listen to my body because that's what normos do. So that's what I'm working on.

Actually the better HRM let you input some other variables into their formulas like your height and weight and age. The BodyBugg works by measuring your skin temperature (among other things), so it can be thrown off by the external temperature. If you work out when it's hot out, for example, it will under-count your calories. A heart rate monitor is more accurate than that because it measures the actual heart rate instead of a lot of indirect measures. Btw, in the clinical study that showed 92% accuracy for the BodyBugg, the BB was used *in conjunction with a heart rate monitor* so there is no clinical evidence that a BB is 92% accurate alone. The one caveat is that the cheap HRMs aren't that accurate. But a BB is around $250 and the $250 HRMs kick its butt!

Glad you found some resolution.

Swimming. I got in the pool 10 min. early and did a 400 to warm up. Then about 1650 m of various drills.

Plastic surgery! :thumbup:

Welcome to LapBandTalk! It depends on how busy your surgeon is. I could have had mine 2.5 weeks after my first consult, but I couldn't get off work. So it was more like 6 weeks.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! Have you found the Louisiana forum yet?

Drink a lot of water? I found pre-op that if I could keep my stomach filled, I didn't feel hungry. So drinking non-calorie stuff between meals helped a lot.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! I am not in Texas, but I chose my surgeon for similar reasons. He has an excellent reputation and a very low complication rate. When I was in the hospital getting ready for my surgery, the nurse prepping me wouldn't stop singing his praises. It was very reassuring.

But it's not against the rules of the forum so please don't tell other people not to do it. Everyone makes their choices as to how to talk about reality shows and some people chose to give people snarky nicknames. Naw, he made himself look like a joke. You sound like Susan Powter! And you are both right. The idea that certain foods are off-limits forever and that's how you keep weight off is the exact kind of thinking that contributes to yo-yo dieting.

It's being taken care of. :crickets: Not since WLS but back when I got engaged. I lost 70 lb. with them. The food SUCKS. Really bad. Plus, it's kind of expensive. South Beach makes frozen dinners that are okay. All the other "diet" frozen dinners have too many carbs and not enough protein for me.

Death Cab for Cutie - I will follow you into the dark Yes, it's very Emo.

That's fantastic, Susan.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! I've noticed a lot of people on YouTube but I'm more of a blogger than a vBlogger.

I'd come out but it's a 10 hour commute for me. :mad2:

Check out the section on Fill Doctors and maybe your state board. Someone there will know.