Yvette1026

Welcome Terri, I can't answer most of your questions, my surgery is the day after yours but I did want to welcome you to our lil' group of December bandsters. My family is having a Christmas the sat or sunday following my surgery and I have every intention of going.. From what I've seen most have been up and at 'em within 24-48 hours. Less the issue with gas that could potentially be a lil' embarrassing, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to go. Best of luck and I love your signature, Phil - so true so true!

Eeeeeekkkkkk!!! I'm so freakin' excited I could tinkle, oh wait that's just the protein shakes lol! My pre-op appointment is in less than 2 hours, so excited! I think I'm most excited about getting on the scale and seeing how much I'm dropped in this pre-op diet so far. I "see" a difference in me in the mirror, in my clothes and other people are noticing too so I'm excited. Although I'm not going to base everything off of the number, I'm just excited for the change. WOO HOO Let's go.. SO SO SO excited!

lol no problem I will get you some I plan on posting them as I come up with them.. the pudding, well I was on the phone and didn't realize I put 2 scoops of whey into my 4 oz of milk, I was stirring and thought hmm this is thick.. so I added some more milk and kept stirring while talking... next thing I know the spoon was coated (like pudding) and i happened to be talking to one of my friends and clients who's a Celebrity Lifestyle and Wellness Coach and she was like Oh yeah just put it in the fridge it makes pudding I do it all the time.. she's like or add a lil' more milk and freeze it for ice cream.. When you consider what it is, you appreciate the taste, Although I would make sugar free pudding and put the whey in with it in the future, like 1 box sugar free chocolate pudding, 2 scoops chocolate whey, with some some extra skim milk. I'll post the precise recipe later though.

It's hard but worth it! You're doing great, I had those feelings to want to stray too. Luckily on mine I'm able to have food, even if I'm mostly drinking shakes for maxium results. I've been making my own shakes from whey protein, from what I can tell that's the best way to go, everyone talks about how unappetizing their shakes are, I don't have that issue lol. Besides it's been fun coming up with new recipes for them like Hot Chocolate, pudding, purple passion and more. FYI people: Why protein and skim milk WILL make pudding. Lil' vanilla extract and cinnamon or sugarfree pudding flavoring makes an excellent pudding and icecream. Found that out after cooking my hot chocolate too long lol, it's all a process. I'll be happy when it's the 18th and surgery day! WOO HOO!

Your diet is perfectly reasonable.. I'm a on 2 shakes 2 meals per day diet.. I've been doing mostly shakes because I just don't like to eat that much. That being said, as long as you're avoiding fats, sugar and High Carbohydrate foods (usually anything made with white flour) before your surgery you're fine Fats - butter, fatty meats, fried food, whole milk products High Sugar Foods High Carbs - breads, Pasta, starchy foods Carbonated drinks - best to get this out of your system now, since you won't be able to drink much if at all after surgery. Hope that helps

It is VERY possible to lose lots of weight and avoid lose skin and plastic surgery. Do your research, talk with your doctor and commit to it. I've lost 130+lbs on my own through exercise and had no lose skin, gain back 60 of that and going through the lapband, I've researched and have found that the balance of protein and exercise will prevent lose skin and the "need" for plastic surgery. Everything is not about the number, it's about how and what you lose. You may lose 100lbs but was 50 of that muscle? If so expect to have lose skin. You want to eat as many grams of protein as what you want to weigh. Your muscles feed off of the protein and help burn the fat dropping which is what causes what people call "excess skin." If you really research it, you'll come to find out there's no such thing as "excess skin" - our skin is designed to grow and shrink with us (yes even after we have "strech marks") if our skin wasn't so resilent we wouldn't have the ability to have stretchmarks, our skin would just rip once we got too big. Here's some sources: The Myth of Loose Skin Avoid Loose Skin After Weight Loss Tighten Skin After Losing Weight: Quick Weight Loss Leaves Loose Hanging Skin | Suite101.com Etc... just google and you'll find it. I have the good fortune to have fitness experts and bodybuilders as clients, they embark their knowledge on me constantly. I've seen a man go from over 400lbs to 235lbs of lean muscle with NO loose skin among others.. Research, exercise, stick to the plan and keep your protein up and you too can avoid excess skin.

LMAO thank you.. but you know the really sad/funny part about those car calories is.. I live alone so really WHO am I hiding the from??? But I will do it every time, I will sit out in my car (parked in the drive way) and eat (usually finish eating) whatever fast food crap I bought and throw the bags away before I go inside. I realized it one day and had to laugh at myself, but it's so not funny. I caught myself doing it last night infact. I decided a Protein burger was on my pre-op diet and did the same thing, sat in the car, ate it and threw the bags away. BAD BAD BAD.. gotta get my head right. Sigh. - Maybe I should open fast food for WLS patients.. here's ya Protein shake, and your bite o' burger.. you don't have room for fries, that's why they're not on the menu...NEXT!!! :thumbup: lol

You made the best decision of your life! Congratulations on taking the first step into your new and BEST life ahead of you!

All the best and a speedy recovery my friend! God bless you and watch over you today in your surgery.

You're almost at the 7 month mark, you should have lost more than that ideally. Ofcourse I don't know where you started. But what food choices are you making? How much are you exercising. I'm sure you know this but, the band is a tool it doesn't do it for you. What does your Doctor and nutrionalist suggest? Is a mental hunger or a real hunger, sometimes if we don't prepare for the surgery mentally before hand, it's almost like we never had it. Hope your situation gets better, without knowing the details hard to give advice.

exactly what lucky said... your local grocery, wal-mart, target, etc... they all have it. I haven't trying messing with the unflavored, just vanilla and chocolate and building off of those.

I've decided In-n-out protein style with no cheese or spread is on my pre-op diet. Ofcourse I didn't think to remove the cheese or spread until after.. but that's ok...I'm still good with it. That will be all. :sneaky:

Everything upperwestside said and then some. What you're going through is a part of the process. You're really truly looking at yourself and seeing where you can make change. Don't worry about you got this way and who's fault it is, renew your mind and think positively..you're doing something about it! Failure is necessary to know what Success is. We've all failed on multiple diets before or we wouldn't be here having lapband. You're doing what you need to do to get to where you want to be. Reward yourself for it. Be proud of yourself for it. You're an amazing person, accept it :thumbup:

UPDATE!!! I got my surgery moved back to Friday the 18th! WOO WOO!

You're welcome! let me know how you like it! :sneaky:

WOO HOO - Just confirmed the change of my surgery date from the 21st back to the 18th! WOO HOO, Better day, better number, more recovery time! I'm excited!

Dark and dreary day here in az with a high of 54 right now... all I want to do is stay under the covers but I've got work to do. So today I was going through the forums and found the "protein" post and while I was giving advice and recipes I got some inspiration on this cold day.. HOT CHOCOLATE!! Yumm yumm yumm!!! I could improve it but it was good for the first try.. 4oz skim milk 1/4 teaspoon vanilla pinch of cinnamon 1 scoop designer whey chocolate protein powder I made it like old fashioned Hot Chocolate on the stove.. milk, then dumped eveything else in and stirred until it started to bubble. I could have made it creamier by adding some yogurt or non-dairy creamer, and the sugar free chocolate pudding but honestly the way I made it is good too. And I won't feel guilty when I go back for more later HA! lol Ok in other news... It's official!!! My surgery is now back on the 18th, better day, better number, more recovery time! WOOHOO and I may, may just be able to eat something come Christmas LOL... But now this puts me EXACTLY where I want to be. I'm SO excited! YAY ME!!!

Ok Hot chocolate was made and it's good. I could improve it but it was good for the first try.. 4oz skim milk 1/4 teaspoon vanilla pinch of cinnamon 1 scoop designer whey chocolate Protein powder I made it like old fashioned Hot Chocolate on the stove.. milk, then dumped eveything else in and stirred until it started to bubble. I could have made it creamier by adding some yogurt or non-dairy creamer, and the sugar free Chocolate pudding this is good too.

Oh and if you're able to have decaf coffee - this one just hit me.. Make some decaf mocha's or lattes with your Protein mix and skim milk.. I'll have to go try that.

Having tried every diet out there and KNOWING I don't like shake options I elected to make my own. Using my expertise in the kitchen and the knowledge of my body builder friends I have come up with some great tasting shakes using the Designer whey Protein (18 grms per scoop) I'm working on chocolate flavors but I actually prefer the vanilla because it's so versatile. I'm also working on hot mixes, living in AZ the cold drinks would normally work, but wouldn't you know it's only been in the 50's and 60's during my pre-op diet lol so I'm working on a hot chocolate and more. Here's two that I loved: Indian Summer (Apples are available in fall but the drink reminds me of summer lol) 2oz lowfat vanilla yogurt 4oz Healthy Balance Apple juice 1 scoop vanilla designer whey protein Handful of ice Blend or mix with ice - both ways are good. Purple Passion 2oz lowfat vanilla yogurt 4oz Healthy Balance Pomergrante/blueberry/Acai Juice 1 scoop vanilla designer whey protein 1 scoop ruby reds (optional) Blend or mix with Ice - both ways are good. Purple passion is my favorite.. and adding the rubyreds gives me a full day supply of fruits and veggies in one scoop and they're sweet and good tasting. Purple passion tastes like a smoothie you would get from Planet Smoothie or Jamba Juice. It's great. With the use of yogurt you must be careful on which brand you buy as just because it's lowfat doesn't mean it's low carbs or sugar. Greek yogurt works best and has the most protein. You may want to add a lil' honey to greek yogurt to fight the tartness. Overall I think making your own shakes is better for you, your wallet and your taste buds. You can also add sugar free Jello and pudding to change the flavors, without breaking the rules of your pre-op diet. I'm going to try a hot chocolate one today and I'll let you know how it turns out... think I'll steam the skim milk then pour it into the chocolate whey protein with a lil' Sugar Free Chocolate pudding mix to enhance the flavor. There's also another brand called dessert delights with flavors like Carrot Cake, banana Nut Bread, etc.. I haven't tried them yet but my fitness friends/clients swear by them. Don't be afraid to get creative...even a frozen shake with chunks of marthon bar protein or fruit would be an awesome variation and a treat. If you found this helpful feel free to PM me or leave a message on my profile. I also post recipes to my blog as I create and test them. Happy pre-op!