dontgoggilme

oddly enough, my doc and i have not yet discussed what i want my goals to be. maybe that's something that will come up at my appt day after tomorrow (first post op appt so far). but i did notice that the nurse made a notation on my chart that according to my height of 5'3 the charts say i should weigh about 128. well, sorry to say it but i do NOT want to weigh 128. i think that would be too thin for my liking. my own personal goal is to be down to 150. i wouldn't want to get any lower than about 135. i was about 140 to 145 before i got pregnant with my son almost 11 years ago and i was very pleased at that weight. i was about a size 8/10 and that's what i'd prefer to be in the end. however, being a size 18/20 now i would be happy at a 12/14 if that's all i could get to. i have high hopes though and do expect that i will one day reach my size 8/10 goal. :confused:

i'm not even two weeks out yet but here's what my doc has lined out for me: after surgery you do 2 weeks of full liquids, then two weeks of mushies, then slowly move into solid foods. fill times depend on the patient but usually range around 1 to 2 months out for the first fill and on fill days it's all liquids the day of the fill and for a day or two after i think as well.

i'm ten days out and i definitely have been feeling full hunger pains for a while now. i think the first three days or so were ok... as in no hunger pains. but after that, i started feeling them. usually i can eat just a little and they subside. i say eat, but i'm still on liquids so ya'll know what i mean. i'm so ready for the mushie stage though. i go to the doc day after tomorrow and am hoping they'll move me to mushies then. keeping my fingers crossed!

congrats! all i can offer so far is start walking and keep walking!!!

i had a one night overnight stay, too, and mine was also the only other time in my life i've stayed in a hospital other than when giving birth. so let's see.... i desperately needed an extra pillow while i was there. they gave me two but that wasn't enough. lol so i might suggest bringing the car ride pillow up with you to begin with so it's there if you need it for the overnight. the slip on shoes was also a great idea and socks, too! chapstick definitely and reading material (magazines or whatever you like) in case there's nothing good on tv. i also brought my cell phone as it was much easier to reach and use than the hopsital phone.

my band is named "the frog". the reason i chose this name is because my sister and i have a running joke about when we went to see the movie the princess and the frog and so "the frog" always makes us laugh (we say it in a funny voice). so then i got my band and noticed that my stomach makes all kinda gurgly almost ribbity frog noises since banding and so i have named my band the frog. it makes me laugh when i say it and reminds me of good times had and good times to come. :confused:

i'm only 10 days out and already i get hungry pissed. lol i mean, if i don't drink my shake or broth or whatever when i'm feeling hungry and let it get too bad i turn into a total b*tch and my whole family knows it. it sucks.

i'm getting close to my mushy phase and trying to come up with ideas for meals. i was talking to my sister about it today and she suggested cooking some roast til it's super tender and basically falling apart and then pureeing it with some of the juice and then pouring it over mashed potatoes. that sounds heavenly to me right now! i also thought about doing something similar to that with this chicken i make in wine sauce. just pureeing the chicken in the sauce and eating it just like that or even putting it over potatoes as well. yummy!!!

as far as i know, my doc never uses flouro either. this is coming from a friend of mine who is almost two years out and has never had flouro used on any of her fills. they told they do the fills in office and the nurse practioner (the dr's wife actually) is the one who does all the fills. in fact, i'm not even sure i'll ever see my actual surgeon again unless i have issues as it's his nurse/wife who does most everything else after the actual surgery. i'm ok with not using flouro as long as it goes well and there aren't issues. i'm hoping there won't be as my doc and his staff are very experienced and considered the best where i live. =)

i'm 10 days out and would like to know the answer to this question, too. =)

i was once one of those people who said "i would never do something like surgery for weight loss!". that's what i said to a friend of mine when she told me she was getting lap band. i felt like it was "the easy way out" or overly drastic to have a surgery just to lose weight. but after a year of me gaining and gaining despite my efforts to lose and watching that friend lose and lose something started to dawn on me. the band helps, but the person does the work. it's not "the easy way out" but a new way of life. a healthy choice. the more research i did the more sure i became about my decision to get banded, too. and you better believe that my friend taunted me about me having said "i'll never do that" just a day or so before i had my band put me. i was close minded and unwilling to realize that obesity really is a disease. i know someone else who really needs some kind of bariatric surgery. he's prolly pushing 500 pounds if he's not already at it. and i know that's gotta be hard on him seeing as how he used to be so in shape and running marathons and etc. he is deathly afraid of surgery though and will not consider it all. i find it sad because his quality of life could be drastically improved. i mean, he has to buy two airline tickets to have two seats to fit him and get special made chairs for the office and home and etc. he's very wealthy so it's not like paying for the surgery would have him batting an eye. he donates more than that to various companies/places/charities all the time. but he's scared. so scared. i'm glad i opened my eyes and chose to get my band. and i can't wait to start seeing the results in the mirror and noticing it when i do things like walk up stairs and don't get winded and etc. i know that i made the right choice for my life. to change it forever and make it better. :laugh:

there is a recipe forum on this site that has some good ideas. i also saw a post where someone said that they pureed a steak with some beef broth and a1 sauce and then poured it over mashed potatoes. they said it tasted like eating steak and mashed potatoes. that sounds pretty good to me! lol

i haven't started mushies yet (hopefully this week!) but i've noticed when doing my liquids that i get this wierd feeling. it's almost like feeling full but different. hard to describe. not really in my chest but not a stomach feeling really either. i can kinda just tell that i'm "full" and should stop. sometimes whatever i'm drinking tastes so good i wanna keep drinking it, but i know it could be bad if i get overfilled and i make myself stop. i guess that's breaking the habit i've had for so many years of being full but finishing the food just because it tastes good. that's what got me where i am now and i gotta break that cycle. thank heavens my band is helping me now!

i have a hamilton beach personal blender (it has this detachable cup top), a big food processor, and a small mini food processor. the only one i've used so far is the personal blender and it works great. i do what savanna said... use it for blending soups and stuff. i've never used the bullet but i'm cheap and spending $15 on my personal blender fit my budget better than $50 for the bullet and so far the personal blender does the job well. does the bullet do anything extra besides blending? my husband (the food processor king) says the processor will come in handy once i start mushies (hopefully this week!!!).

so far i've only LOST weight but i've been kinda "bad" lately even though i'm still on liquids and i'm desperately worried i'm going to weigh myself and see i've gained. i'd prolly have a breakdown like you did! it's ok though.... like everyone says it's normal for our weight to fluctuate at first and we have to remember that. i'm sure you're doing great and will continue to do great. the band will work for you!!!

i feel like a weirdo because ya'll are all taking about swallowing pills or half pills of decent sizes and here i was trying to take my birth control pil (super tiny) and i swear it got stuck in my throat. since then i've been crushing it with this little pill crusher i got at walmart. lol

the progresso soups are good! at least i think so. i was always a fan of them before the band so no reason to change that after. just knowing i can blend one up and "drink" it, is a very comforting thought when i've been all protein shakes and water for days and days. lol

it's been really nice to read all of you guys' stories about your supportive spouses. it also kinda makes me appreciate mine more i think. i mean, regardless of whether or not he completely understands my reasoning for getting my band, my husband is still supportive and doing whatever he can to be there for me, help me, and etc. and that's saying a lot, i think. i guess sometimes you don't realize how nice something is til you hear what other people have to say, too. =)

i'm 9 days post op and so far (keeping my fingers crossed) haven't had any issues with keeping my liquids down. i didn't have too bad of incision pain but the gas was bad and i had some other wierd pains, too. my doc told me to start out drinking tiny amounts, too. which i did. but now i have kinda abandoned the tiny cups they gave me and i just drink sips. decent size sips go ok now. but i know that my doc put 3cc's in my band after he placed it so i already have some restriction. you may not have a fill so it might be easier for you to drink. as far as the unflavored Protein goes... some people swear by the stuff at GNC but i've never tried those. i have, however, tried theunflavored unjury and the inspire pure from bariatriceating.com and both are pretty good. i wouldn't say they are completely and totally undetectable but it also depends on what you are putting them in. congrats on your band.

since i opened up my personal blender, i've been blending everything. i just blended up some progresso santa fe chicken soup stuff and added in some of my unflavored protein mix. the soups seem to fill me up good. =)

i just recently got my band so this might seem like a stupid question...but how does the fluid IN THE BAND get contaminated? i mean, isn't it all completely closed up in there? is this something i need to worry about? and corby... can you get an infection from the fluid inside being contaminated?

did they give you any prevacid solutabs or any kind of meds to help with that? my doc gave me prevacid solutabs (they dissolve on the tongue) and something called reglan that supposed to help get the body regulated into digesting again or something. have you called your doc to see what they think? i am 8 days post op and still haven't really had indigestion issues although i did have that problem before. they repaired a hernia during surgery though and i think that has helped. i hope you feel better soon.

i agree with you betsy. pureed Pasta just isn't gonna be the same. however, there are some great canned Soups i love and want to be able to eat but they have rice or noodles in them and wanted to see if that would go over as long as it were pureed first. i'm not big on spaghettios and ravioli outta the can but it's good to know they worked well being blended and you got what you wanted outta them lisain. today we went to a easter thing for the kids (early, i know) and they all ate while we were there. but by the time we left i was starving. so hubby picked me up some chili's chicken enchilada Soup on the way home. i put it in my hamilton beach personal blender (my first time taking it outta the box i must admit) and that thing pureed that soup up til it literally was a liquid! and it tasted just as good as usual. i even added in half a packet of my

so i know that most folks have issues with rice and pasta. well, some of my favorite things include rice and pasta. so i was thinking.... what if someone just pureed the crud outta something that included the rice or pasta? would that make a difference in how it was handled by the new pouch or the band? i'm preparing ideas for my upcoming mushies phase. lol

love the heating pad idea. i will have to try that. gotta get a heating pad now. seems like i'm buying some new for my band everyday. lol bob, as far as the 13lbs goes... that hasn't all been since the band. some of it was before on the pre op diet. i think i've prob lost about three to four pounds since the band. that's still ok for a week i think though. my hiccups are the big painful ones, too. just like a giant hiccup that hurts real bad. i'm like "wow" those are massive!!! they never happen when i'm eating though. usually just kinda outta nowhere and unexpected.