gingerjane

I'd go with what your doctor says. Trust me, I'd KILL for that pre-op diet. LOL! Mine is 2 weeks, and my BMI hovers around 41-42 I think. It's amazing how different doctors have different pre-op diets. I'm on day 4 of mine and am just now realizing what they mean by pre-op hell. Can't wait for the band, though!

Same here - I started Monday and so far - NADA. Lots of gas from the Medifast stuff, but no BMs. When is your surgery date? Mine is the 22nd.

They let you have a lean and green meal? I am SO jealous. I'm on the Medi-Fast pre-op diet and we're not allowed anything except the Medifast shakes, Soups and 1 bar per day. Because I can't have Peanut Butter or cinnamon, that limited what I could have. They won't let us have anything lean and green. Trust me - right now I'd kill for a grilled piece of chicken and green Beans. LOL! The only other things we're allowed to have are SF popsicles, SF Jello and clear broth from soups or bouillon. I will say thought that the post-op diet is not as bad. We have 1 day of clear liquids after the surgery, then 2 weeks of pureed mushies, then soft foods for 2 weeks. I can't wait for that!!!! :ohmy:

Don't be discouraged! I'm not in bandster hell, yet. I'm still in pre-op diet hell (and trust me - it's HELL for me) and I was looking at your ticker and your weight loss has been AMAZING so far! Don't let it get you down at all. You're doing fabulously! I hope to have that type of loss when I'm out the same time you are. I think you're doing awesome! It's inspiring to me! :thumbup:

I tell ya - if I can make it through this two week pre-op diet, then foodwise, I can make it through anything. I've been having the really bad headaches from the carb detox as my nutritionist put it. Right now, I'm looking forward to the pureed portion where I can have some flavor. (chicken with salsa is one of my favorites!!! AND - SUPER low in fat and HIGH in protein!!!) So, counting down the days. Sigh...

My head has been pounding all day. I can't tell if it's a sinus headache or if it's from this lack of food. I am SO hungry, but have been following my pre-op diet. But, not going to lie - I'm miserable right now. LOL! I can't wait for pureed real food. And by real, I mean something that isn't from a powdered package. LOL!

Did you add jello sf pudding or just the gelatin? I think the thing that I hate is that I can taste all of the artificial sweetener in everything and I hate sweetener. The good side is that I don't crave sweets AT ALL. I'm actually grossed out by them, now. Three days of this pre-op diet totally did that in. LOL!

Hi Kristi! I'm from Cincinnati, too! I'm actually being banded on the 22nd, so I'm on my pre-op diet right now. Who is your doctor? I see Trace Curry at JourneyLite. I really like his practice. They have support groups, etc. Do you have a nutritionist you can talk to? Since I haven't been banded, I don't have experience, but I know that we're supposed to do the Protein first. Always the protein and watch carbs. Per my nutritionist, we're supposed to have 60-80 gms of protein per day and between 45 and 60 grams of carbs. Would love to have a local banded buddy! :sad: Ginger

I will be completely honest - right now is the hardest part. The 2 week pre-op diet is a KILLER. I did just walk two miles at lunch and came back and had my Soup. But, I promised the girl I was walking with that we could stop at Wendy's. What I would have given for a cheeseburger. But, I will say, this pre-op diet is good for some things. We went past this cupcake place and NONE of them looked good to me. Used to - cupcakes were my favorite thing! So, there is some benefit. We're going to do this! :sad:

Here is how I look at it. Willpower is a very tricky thing. We think we have all of this willpower but then one day we snap. It's because we deny ourselves so many things. What I hope is that the lapband and the willpower I do have, will allow me to occasionally have SMALL bits of those foods that I love. Not gorge completely on 2 baskets of chips at the mexican restaurant. So, I think that it's two fold. One - maybe you need to allow yourself just a tiny bit of whatever it is you're craving. And think about it for a second. Is it a mental craving or a physical craving? I find that helps me, too. If I want a piece of chocolate (not doing that right now due to the pre-op but this is my theory on it) then I'll have one small piece but that's it. It should satisfy that need real quick. Hopefully that helps. You're human - don't beat yourself up over it. Just take a few deep breaths and realize what your goal is at the end. We can't live the rest of our lives depriving ourselves of everything, we just have to make better choices 99% of the time. Big hugs to you! It's so hard. I know. The other night I cried for a cheeseburger. A CHEESEBURGER. I mean, come on. LOL! (Instead, I drank a bunch of Water and went to bed - it passed)

I'm on the Medi-Fast diet for my pre-op and I'm adjusting to it. I didn't know if anyone else was doing this portion for their pre-op. It's amazing how all of our doctors have different pre-op diets. I was also wondering, if you are doing the Medi-Fast, if you have any good recipes for the pancake mix. I got a box of that and after gagging while trying to eat the first pancake, I decided that I have GOT to do something with those things. Their hot chocolate (Amaretto) is really good. So, I give that a 2 thumbs up. The chicken Pasta Soup isn't bad, either. Anyone else? Ginger

My nutritionist told me that it's from the carb-detox. She said the first four days or so, you'll be a BEAR - irritable, headaches (think about it - we're also giving up caffeine), mood swings, etc. I've been trying to keep mine under control with my good friend Celexa (LOL!) but I have the crappy headaches and honestly - I think I'd probably mug a Papa John's driver if I thought nobody would find out. LOL! (Not for the money but for the pie!) Last night I was actually fine, though. No bad cravings. I really think your body is just going through a "WTH!" moment and naturally you're going to be a bit annoyed. We're just human. :sad:

It's funny how everyone's pre-op diet is different. Mine is Medifast whereas it seems most are pretty open. I'd be eating turkey slices like crazy. Turkey and cheese. LOL! My one saving grace is Extra Sugarfree gum. Never thought I'd say that Bob Harper on TBL was right. LOL! Just keep plowing through. We'll get there and then in a few weeks we'll be banded!!!

The people I work with know and some close friends. I work in a TINY office, so I have to take off of work, etc. One of the girls here had lost a bunch of weight and had lipo, so she was like "I totally support it!" She was very supportive and nice about it. I'm not telling my husband's family. They'll just know that I had a hernia surgery. They're just mean and evil when it comes to my weight and have made their fair share of nasty comments to me, so I felt it was best to leave them out. And I expressed that to my husband. He knows that they're jerks. I was sort of shocked that my brother wasn't more supportive. He is more upset about me "altering" my body but I don't think he gets how the surgery is done. Of course, my friend did ask me "how are you going to explain the weight loss to his parents one day?". I guess that's a bridge I'll cross when I get there.

I am scheduled for 3/22. I remember that WAIT. It seemed like so long and now I'm in day 2 of my pre-op diet. It will go by so much faster than you can imagine. I joined these boards in December thinking that it will NEVER be my time and now, it's coming up! Would love to have a weight loss buddy. I'm looking at losing about 125 lbs.

So excited to hear that everyone is doing ok post-banding! I'm on day 2 of my pre-op diet and let's just say that I am definitely going through a carb detox. Some times after I "eat" (or drink in this case) I think my stomach is trying to eat itself. LOL! It cramps and gurgles and eventually calms down. My body is like "WTH???" But, I've managed to fight off wanting to have real food. I ended up going to bed early last night to keep from wanting a snack. Of course, right now I'm battling a nasty cold. I've been coughing like crazy. Hopefully it doesn't affect my surgery date. I have two weeks to get better. I'm SURE it will be gone before that. So, how much did everyone lose on the pre-op? One of my friends was asking me and I was like "I have no idea". I do know I was 6 lbs down from my last appointment. But, I was also sick before yesterday.

I haven't got my band, yet, but am in the midst of my 2 week pre-op diet and I have some expectations but most of those are on myself. Even with this liquid diet, I have to use A LOT of willpower. I think that with the band, it's a matter of changing behaviors. It's not letting the fill out so you can go wild at a party. It's about adapting and changing your life. With the band, it doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy some good things at the party. It just means she can't eat 1/4 of the cake and everything else in site. It's a means of moderating yourself, too. Those are my thoughts. Hopefully, I'm not completely crazy and delusional about it. I think that I've struggled all my life to keep the weight off. I know what I'm supposed to eat. I just need something to hopefully keep me honest. I don't want to ruin that. I've seen people lose a TON of weight with WLS. I think it's all in how you approach it. I'm lucky that my doctor has a full program so there are support meetings, etc. It's not a "band and go" type of program. I have a nutritionist that I can e-mail 24/7, etc. I'm hoping to leverage that to get me through. You'll do great. Tell yourself that you're not her. You are YOU. She is doing what she wants with hers. You can reach the full potential with yours.

I'm on day 2 of my liquid diet and I feel your pain. Last night I cried myself to sleep because I was so hungry but I just kept powering through. Of course, I'm also battling the flu so my energy level isn't what it normally is. What I dread is this weekend because I have TWO parties. And they're both with my husband's family who I am not telling that I'm having the surgery, so they're going to be asking about my not eating. I'm going to tell them I'm having hernia surgery. Today so far, I'm functional. I had the amaretto hot chocolate and am now having the chicken soup. Is anyone else on the medifast pre-op diet? They're both good. The pancake I had last night - NOT so much. LOL!

I am SO excited!!! I have my surgery date! They just called me and I was approved through my insurance (Just a few weeks wait!) and now I'm moving forward with this. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am! I've been praying for this for a while. Anyway, here are the deets. Date of Surgery: March 22nd Where Surgery will be: JourneyLite of Cincinnati Doctor/Center: Dr. Trace Curry Seminar date: December, 2009 1st consult date: January 20, 2010 Surgeon-required pre-op tests (EKG, chest x-ray, labs) completed: None required... Insurance-required Nutrition Consult date: March 8, 2010 Insurance-required Psych Eval date: Done Jan 20th How is surgery funded? Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA Concerns? I want this tool to really help me. I know that I need to use all of my willpower, but I really want to stay on track for this. I've done diets before only to give up after 40 lbs or so. I don't ever want to give up again. Reason for banding? Being overweight is the only thing in life I've never really been able to conquer. If I say that I'm going to do XYZ from a career/personal standpoint, I've always done it. Weight has been the one thing that I could never truly tackle all by myself. I was an overweight child, then thinned out during my teen years, then met a wonderful man, got married and 100+ lbs later here I am. I have great kids, a great husband and now I want to have a healthy body. I want to be able to run around with my girls and not be huffing and puffing. I don't want to feel self conscious if I eat dinner out. I want to fit comfortably in seats on a plane and at a game. Height/Weight: I'm 5' 9" and right now weigh in around 285. I'd like to hit approximately 170 (or less!) but at this point in my life, would kill to see Onederland!

I'm in the insurance approval phase right now. We're hoping (my doc's office and I) to have the approval back by the end of February so I can be banded in March. :cursing: Hopefully, it happens that quickly. I have BC/BS in Mass and I hear that they're pretty good about covering the surgery. Let's hope I hear back soon. Congrats to all of you with surgery dates! Hope I get to join ya!

Nosy co-workers are just that...NOSY. I would just say "It's a personal surgery - I'd rather not go into details..." If they keep pushing, tell them you're having hemorrhoid surgery. They won't ask again. LOL! I find nosy people who like to judge often become embarrassed when they realize they overstepped their boundaries.

Awesome! Congratulations!!! Can't wait to hear how it went and how you're doing! I am hoping to have mine by the end of March. (Crossing fingers here)

I am hoping to be a March 2010 Bandster! I had my consult last night and with insurance approval (I have BCBS Mass, so they don't think I'll have any issues) I might see a surgery date as early as March! I can't wait!!! I did check out the pre-op diet "food" last night and . I bought a few samples so that I can figure out if I'm going for all shakes or what. I'll have to do a 2 week pre-op diet to shrink the liver. Now, it's just the waiting game! (What insurance says, etc.) Hopefully I'll have a date in the next few weeks but was hoping I could "join" your group now. (I know - wishful thinking, right?!) But, I have a feeling that it will move quickly.

I leave in a few hours for my consult and cannot wait. I have researched the surgery, called my insurance, etc. I meet all of their criteria, so now it's the waiting game I think. Plus, the psych eval I guess. I just really want to get started on the next phase of my life. I know that probably sounds silly but I feel like I'm "on deck" or something - that I'm waiting to go up. Did anyone else feel that way once you made the decision to have surgery? How long after your consult did it take to get your surgery scheduled? Were there a lot of pre-op testing? Would love to hear of your experiences. :biggrin:

I think you should go forward with something for yourself. You know you want the divorce. Look at it as a total cleansing and changing for YOU. This isn't about him, it's about you. You're worth it. I think that this entire process (I am still pre-band, so I'm in that) is emotional and draining no matter what the circumstances. If it's one of those things where you're going to be angry with him as it is, I would cut those ties and get the band. Put your focus on something for yourself.