MissK

Good pick up; I had a shower about an hour ago and remembered shampoo etc, so packed some little travel bottles incase I need them. Thankfully I live only 5 minutes from the hospital and will have my parents staying here, so if I do need anything they can grab it for me. That just blows me away that you can be heading in for surgery at 1.30pm and be in the car going home by 3pm - doesn't that scare you a little? I'm kinda glad I'm staying in overnight, if nothing else they can at least be giving me the good drugs. LOL.

Thanks Kris, I'll add lip balm to my list :thumbup:

Hi Kate, I'm so excited for you - it's great to have things underway, huh? Seeing as I am almost at the end of my pre-op diet, my hints and tips are this: If you want to weigh yourself daily, do it - people will tell you not to, but it's your choice. For me, seeing those scales moving south was the one thing that put a smile on my face each morning and made me realise the journey was worth while. Keep hydrated if you can; I'm not a Water drinker and struggled with this. I was so dehydrated they struggled to get blood out of me for my pre-op blood tests. Keep a fibre supplement handy, and use it if things aren't exiting the back door in the correct fashion. It is okay to say "no" to seeing people who you know will make this journey hard; I have a friend who has little consideration, who will drink her coke and stuff her face in front of me and for that reason I've avoided seeing her for these two weeks and have politely explained that I'm sorry but it's just a difficult time for me to be around food. Find a Protein drink that you like - I didn't have a choice on brand, but I did have a choice on flavour and it has made a WORLD of difference just switching from the chocolate to the strawberry. Keep some sugar free gum on hand; you will get funky breath when your body goes into ketosis (and I don't mean funky in the good way - LOL) My number one tip above all else - DON'T OBSESS OVER FOOD - on my first day I became completely obsessed with what I couldn't have, I kept thinking about what I could next put in my mouth, I cried when I got really hungry, I hated myself for crying. The best thing you can do is try your hardest NOT to think about it, plan out what you can have during the day and at those times have that item, and then get on with things. It makes life so much easier. Your first three days are the hardest (and of those, only one of the days was REALLY hard) - beyond that, it's smooth sailing. Go for it Kate... you're going to be awesome! Although you have cleared the house of things you can't have, I did something a little different - yes, I cleared the house BUT I left one can of my former obsession on hand (cocacola). It's been in there the whole time, I've left it there to prove to myself that I am stronger than it is. Every time I go to the fridge, I tell the can of coke that I am winning. It's a power struggle between me and the drink, but I haven't even come CLOSE to caving in. I'm proving to myself that I am ready.

I am not banded yet, but I've heard the occassional nice cold glass of white wine goes down nicely in summer - I'd recommend a sauvignon blanc, night and light :thumbup:) Red drinkers probably recommend red wine for winter, but I'm not a fan of it personally.

I am on there, my username is @kelsha_

... or it could be dehydration ladies - get some more water into you, it may help.

Thanks Jen :thumbup:) I think the reason I was mainly worried was that I was scared the weight wouldn't drop again and that my weight loss on the pre-op would look unimpressive to the surgeon and make him think that I cheated. But even if it doesn't move again, 13lbs down in 14 days isn't so bad.

Good luck ladies, My thoughts will be with you - I am going in on the 18th, although in reality I won't be that far behind you because I'm on Australian time; so once your op is over and you're fast sleep in your bed or hospital bed that night, say a little prayer for me, as it will be daytime here and I will be heading into surgery! Like the both of you, the nerves are starting to kick in and I am trying NOT to think about it as well. For me, the hardest part will be leaving my parents to go into theatre... being my first ever surgery and my first overnight stay in a hospital, I am almost positive I will cry at some point - but I'm going to try not to! We need to be brave, we can do this :thumbup:)

Hi Guys I have had an extremely frustrating week - after a stellar effort in week 1 on the post-op diet where the pounds were just melting off me, week 2 was a different story. On Monday my period arrived (it doesn't show up for months at a time, and then thinks THIS is an appropriate time to make an appearance) and BAM the scales instantly stopped moving... they did not move for 4 days, I was ready to tear my hair out when finally they started to drop again - but as a result, my loss for the week is fairly unimpressive. formerfatchick....262.........260 formerfatchick....262.........260 abbypoo............275.........266 jennyr1222........265.........263.........260 missK...............241..........231........228 morphiend.........238..........229 Tripletmomma.....327

God, more foul mouth syndrome to look forward to? I talk to a LOT of people in my job (in fact, I barely ever shut up!) and I have been so self conscious of having funky breath during this process. I know it's funky, because I can taste it - I've been chewing on gum like a cow!

Thankfully I am still okay with my shakes (Optifast, Strawberry - I actually LIKE it) BUT it is only day 9 of the pre-op for me so... you know... give me time! LOL I know what people are saying about buying things, it's expensive and then you hate it - they must make SO much money out of people like us. I bought a large box of the optifast chocolate shakes ($56 for 21 shakes) and they were repulsive, can't touch them. I also bought the soups and bars (another $60) and couldn't stomach them. Now I'm onto the Strawberry and thank GOD, I really like them, but they're $36 for 8 shakes. Plus I bought metamucil incase I needed it, haven't gotten a vitamin yet but I should and by all reports I will be going liquid. Hang in there girls, these are the tough months for us but they will pass and our lives will be better than ever. Be strong :-D

LOL, no that's not good Band75... but you did just give me a good belly laugh :w00t:

Hi Guys I thought it would be nice to have a place to share/recommend great iPhone/iPod Touch Applications that you are using to assist you on your journey. I have been listening to the Weight Loss application by Dr Andrew Johnson every night before I go to sleep, or sometimes I just lay down for a little while on a Sunday afternoon and listen to the program. It is basically a hypnosis type application to deter you from wanting to make poor food choices - I didn't think it would work, but week 1 of my pre op diet has just been too easy, I haven't even really craved anything bad. The real test came today when a friend invited me to the movies, as I'm a sucker for a popcorn and coke - BUT - I walked into the Cinema and for some reason I could barely even SMELL the popcorn (my friend could smell it as strong as anything) and when I did get a whiff, I was not even SLIGHTLY interested in it... which now has me thinking, perhaps listening to the program every night IS helping. Anyway, I recommend the application to anyone who is having issues with cravings. Do you have any great iPhone/iPod applications that are helping you?

Karen, Maybe we have a different App Store in Australia? I swear to god it isn't there. I've just swapped to a new computer and haven't transferred my iTunes etc across yet, so I'll look into it on the weekend and see if I can get it via the website.

Hi Ladies I am following you both :-D Love me x x

Do you Tweet? If you Tweet and want to follow others from this group and/or have them follow you, post your username here! I am @Kelsha_

Well done Jase, we are proud of you :-D

Hi Sarah, my little band-twin! I am so hearing you babe... I am at the end of day 8, and I swear to GOD all I could see in my head all day was a cartoon picture of a piece of steak dancing around saying "I am delicious! eat me! eat me!" ... I am SO over having no meat, no carbs, no starches, no sugar, etc etc... for gods sake, someone feed me PLEASE. Okay, now that I've gotten that rant out... yes... we must just stick together, remain focused, our special day will be here in no time. We can do it, Sarah! Happy birthday to you :-D

Hi Everyone I just wanted to write a little post to say that on the few occasions that I've quickly popped my head into this forum, I've been impressed by the friendship and support that you're all showing each other -- and then quickly been stung with a little bit of guilt for a serious lack of effort on my part. My life has been crazy-busy recently, I've been in hospital twice in the past week after collapsing at work for some undetectable reason and my best friend has just had her husband walk out on her after he was kicked out of the police force (leaving her with an 8 month old baby, and a $500k mortgage - jerk!) so I have been spending a lot of time either feeling unwell, or trying to care for her - in between my very busy career! Alas, these are all still excuses which aren't good enough - having lap band surgery is a major event in my life that deserves my full attention, and it is going to be important to my success that I create a support network around me, not only through friends/family members, but also through you guys as YOU are also going through what I am going through, and the ability to share with each other will become invaluable. The support that I will find here if I invest my time in creating friendships will be so important, because I am single, I live alone, I am surrounded by males at work (I work in mining), my family are 1000kms away (and haven't even called to see how my pre-op diet is going!?!?), my best friend is being a jealous dick about the surgery and... well... I'm a pretty tough cookie, but I think I may just need this place to help get me through :-) So I am about to soon turn in for the night at the end of Day 5 of my pre-op diet, which means only 9 days to go until my surgery on 18th of August. I will do my best to find more time for you, to be supportive of you and to create friendships here!

Thanks Patty, Kate and Karen! Kate, I am totally hearing you - I work for a mining company on a rather large mine site and we've had not only a freeze on recruitment, but also a major crack down on the use of contractors. I had a team of 5 full time girls and 3 part time girls working for me, I am down to 4 full time girls and I can't recruit or replace. They are all pushed to their limits and I am so scared one of them will 'crack' under the pressure and leave. So much work, just not enough people! I am terrified of what will happen (or, perhaps WONT happen) while I am on leave for my operation... but screw them, I am entitled to take care of myself, not just wipe the ass of everyone else in the organisation.

I'm still on pre-op diet but I haven't had any issues... first few days it was a little more solid than I am used to, now it's back to a normal consistency but not happening in the volume or regularity that I am used to (obviously because I'm not consuming as much stuff). Wow, that was personal... LOL. Nothing sacred here, girls!

Hi Al, Not much I can say to help you as I still have 6 days to go... but I am sorry you are in pain. It will hopefully pass soon, hang in there buddy!

I have searched the App Store several times now for LOSE IT and can't find it??? Looks like I lost it!!! *boom-tish*

Wow, I am a little indulgent... I am having 2 weeks off. My last day at work is 14th August (Friday), I will be banded on Tuesday 18th August and I'm not going back to work until Monday 31st August. BUT... my parents are driving a 2,000km round trip to be here with me so I want to be off work for as long as they are here visiting... and I have about 7 weeks sick leave up my sleeve, so, why not use it?