TopTier

I think your doctor is correct. Before the first fill, your main concern should just be "healing." You're going to be eating less than you had, but not as little as you will once you get a fill. My doctor repeats over and over and over, as does his staff: Do NOT worry about weight loss after surgery. The foods you are to eat are for the sake of your band, that it's new and your stomach needs to heal. The quantity, at this stage, is somewhat irrelevant.

Congratulations, landdog!

Congratulations, Paula, on your weight loss goals. Hope it works out for you without too much stress. By the way, as a cancer survivor (uterine and ovarian in my late 20s), I give your husband an affectionate and hearty salute in his research!

GonnaLoseIt, great blog! I love your "this is me when I THOUGHT I was fat" picture! I have one or two of those as well!

Yes, but the "why" is very important. It's not simply that it's a smaller container, but it's also the location of the receptors in that container. I was simply expanding on it and reminding that hormones alone are not the only "full" triggers. If it were, we would already have that magic bullet hunger hormone suppression pill and none of this would be relevant. I know the "why" the restriction works was very important to me. I felt it might be an important piece of information for others as well. So we are not in disagreement, simply giving more depth. :thumbup:

Hope all went well!

Best of luck! :thumbup:

Well,that's somewhat true, but not completely. It's not only hormones that trigger the "full" feeling. Receptors for "I'm Full" are in the upper portion of the stomach, which is why the band is placed where it is. The restriction works because it keeps the food in the upper portion where those receptors are longer, allowing you to feel "full" (not hungry), without altering hormone levels or removing portions of the stomach. If one eats foods that go through the pouch rapidly, then he or she will get hungry sooner. Which is why we must work with this particular WLS differently than we would with another form. As you said, it's all about what one feels he or she can handle.

Sounds like you are back on track again! That's great. Just don't beat yourself up for having those feelings! We are indeed a complicated species!

Please be careful of consuming too few calories. The body WILL go into "starvation protection" mode if it senses that there is a long-term caloric deficit. Ideally anything less than 1000-1200 would trigger that. Anything less will mean that your body will start depleting lean tissue (in other words, start reducing muscle tissue). Hope you get some answers soon!

If you start the liquid pre-op a week earlier, then your liver will begin shrinking that week. You could conceivably do some damage that one day off, but if you RESTRICT the CARBS you intake on that day and make sure you are consuming more protein, you should be okay. The key to shrinking the liver is the carbs it has to process. It will attempt to store them, which is what will increase the liver size. So if you can refrain from carbs, you'll probably be okay.

Good job, emjay, but for me, they will have to pry caffeine from my cold, dead lips! I don't drink coffee so much, although I used to. However, I am a tea addict, and I don't mean "herbal" teas. I would say that it is a hobby for me. Green tea, assam, earl grey, oolong, white, Pu Erh, mmm.

I got the magic bullet. And I've got all sorts of blenders, food processors, etc. But I find that this is a much more convenient blender. I only use it right now to blend my Protein supplement, my shakes, and my protein smoothies during my liquid pre-op phase. But it's a snap to use and clean and, best of all, it takes up VERY little footprint on my kitchen counter!

How wonderful for you! Happy Birthday, indeed!

Never thought I'd say this, but, beef bullion is really pretty good. . . .

Tomorrow, June 18, is my 21-year wedding anniversary. And I will be at day 4 of my pre-op diet! This means the traditional anniversary dinner will be Atkins Advantage Shakes for everyone! But one thing that this brought to my attention was just how much of our relationship centers around food in some way. No wonder my husband and I both are overweight (read: obese). One of the ways we show our love is with food. And why not? It's comforting and makes people happy to eat high-fat, high-carb goodies. I think one of the things that my husband and I need to do is sit down and find a new "expression" of love. I'm confident we can do it, but, let's face it, enjoying a romantic dinner at a nice, high-end restaurant is going to be missed!

Tomorrow, June 18, is my 21-year wedding anniversary. And I will be at day 4 of my pre-op diet! This means the traditional anniversary dinner will be Atkins Advantage Shakes for everyone! But one thing that this brought to my attention was just how much of our relationship centers around food in some way. No wonder my husband and I both are overweight (read: obese). One of the ways we show our love is with food. And why not? It's comforting and makes people happy to eat high-fat, high-carb goodies. I think one of the things that my husband and I need to do is sit down and find a new "expression" of love. I'm confident we can do it, but, let's face it, enjoying a romantic dinner at a nice, high-end restaurant is going to be missed!

I'm self-pay and my total cost is $17,500. That includes all testing, the procedure, the surgeon's fees, the anesthesiologists fees, and 3 years of fills and follow up. It also includes 6 weeks of 5-days-a-week at a local gym, along with a personal trainer. After that, the fills are $75 in office.

Really?! Lucky you. I'm getting all bloated. ugh. But I'm only on day 3. . . funny, feels like day 300!!! . . . back downstairs for another cup 'o beef broth!

I dunno, Jodi, I compared the ingredients. Seems like the Centrum Silver Chewables have more of the old people needs stuff in it. But. . . as always, follow your own doctor's advice!

Buy 2 5-lb ankle weights. . . . wear long pants. . ..

Frankly, I was surprised at the carrots, too. Being a diabetic, I'm aware of the carb content of veggies, and carrots' carb factor is fairly high. Even higher than peas. At least as high as raw sweet potato, and they won't let me have that. So I'm going to pass on the carrots and stick to asparagus and squash. The key is High Protein, Low Carb, Low Fat. The "liquid" part, I discovered today, is because the liquid diet helps to "flush" the liver. At least this is what my doctor told me when I tried to talk him into letting me do a low carb/high protein NON-liquid diet. . . :blushing:

BY the way, I can't say enough about the

If you have one of those Magic Bullet machines, just put the soup in there for a spin to pulverize it a bit more (if it has "stuff" in it), then it's "liquid"!!

I take Centrum Silver Chewables, too. I didn't figure kiddie vitamins would really meet my needs. But then, I'm 53, a kiddie 5 times over. . . .