perryjoyce

50 lbs of CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!! That's seriously amazing! You're an inspiration for sure! :biggrin:

Fortunately, my surgery is very early. I have to be at the hospital at 5:15 AM. I'm thrilled though, I don't expect to get a wink of sleep the night before!!

I'm heading to the store right after work to pick up my clear liquids to start tonight! Suddenly I am feeling very overwhelmed! Oh well, it's a good thing... :biggrin:

Well...I'm now officially a 5/14 bandster! My surgery coordinator called this morning and asked if I wouldn't mind switching a day because the guy who is scheduled for Friday morning needed to swap. The last thing I wanted to do was postpone (I am sooooooooooooooooo ready for this!) but when she told me the next chance this guy would get wouldn't be until June, I felt really bad. I'm not the biggest believer in karma but I couldn't help but think that selfishly keeping my appointment for no good reason other than pure impatience is not the best way to start my "new life". So there you have it, 5/14 it is! I'm still starting my clear liquids today though - I just picked up my magnesium citrate and that little red bottle is currently mocking me from my desk. Did I mention just how ready I am for this?!?!? :biggrin:

I think I've decided to handle it like this: my boyfriend, my parents, my siblings, my best friends, and my closest co-workers (who overlap the "best friend" category) all know. For my extended family and my co-workers I'm less close to, I will tell them if/when they ask about my changing appearance. This goes along with my personality in general - I'm extremely open and honest if you ask me directly, but I don't necessarily spill out personal information without prompt. I think when I first get a comment, which will most certainly be in the form of, "What are you doing?" (which in diet obsessed coworker speak means "what fad diet are you following") I'll simply reply: "I just finally got serious about improving my health." If they persist and want to know details, I'll tell them part of getting serious involved accepting my limitations and getting the help and the tools I need to succeed, i.e., a LAP-BAND®. Part of me dreads this conversation because of the gossipy nature of my family and co-workers, but part of me is really looking forward to it. There are many people in my life who are probably perfect candidates for WLS and are currently stuck in the vicious terminal dieter cycle and I look forward to pointing them towards the hope that this surgery has given me. That right there is the sole reason I've decided to be honest with them if they ask. Kind of a "paying it forward" kind of thing.

I'm still a few days away from surgery, but at the very least I can say what you're feeling right now sounds pretty normal to me. I know I went through it! I've been mostly excited but of course there's the nagging voice in my head that says, "What if you're the one person that can't make this work?" I honestly think this mental waiting game is going to be the hardest part for me. I think reading these boards and following some of the superstar blogs will definitely help calm you down. I see so much success everywhere I look, it's amazing and totally inspiring!! You can't help but feel you've got some wind in your sails! So good luck to you and congratulations on your progress so far! :confused:

Just wanted to pop in and say good luck to everyone having surgery this week! I'll be keeping my eyes peeled as the updates start rolling in! :confused: And welcome mblair3!

This is a good question and I hope more people with experience respond. I'm a few days away from surgery but I've already bought a small cartel worth of vitamins and supplements and I have no idea how well I'll be able to get them down. TinaM - when you say you diced them into 1/4's, does that mean you weren't able to tolerate 1/2's? Is 1/2 a pill generally still too big for the band at decent restriction?

Congratulations!! 1/4 is HUGE!!! :confused:

BetsyB, that's got to be the most creative, ingenious reward I've ever heard of! I love it!!

I just started following you! I love the little community of band bloggers, I lurk on all their pages and finally started one of my own! I'm not new to blogging but I'm definitely new to this community and I owe so much to everyone who has been open and honest with all their experiences! I have support where I need it but it's just so different - your day to day friends and family just can't understand what we're going through, both good and bad! So we're here for you! Keep blogging and I'll keep reading!

Amazon Prime is both the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. No one should have the power of free two-day shipping! Do you work in an office? Did you know you can put four other people on your account?? I have four friends in on it with me, we each pay just $20/year! I'd say Amazon is getting screwed, but really I think they're laughing all the way to the bank! (Sorry...didn't mean to hijack this thread, bandster foul!)

That sounds amazing!! My first wave of protein drinks just arrived yesterday (thank you Amazon Prime!) but I'm not loving them. I enjoy protein shakes in general, but low carb/no sugar ones are blah! Fake sugar makes me gag, but I guess I gotta get used to it again. Hopefully it's an acquired taste! So anything I can do to spice it up (chai tea hello!) sounds good to me! Thanks for sharing!

My pre-op diet is minimal and I kind of wish it wasn't. I am way more excited than nervous, but of course there's a nervous element that grows a little each day and will probably keep me up with butterflies in my stomach the night before. Oh well, I can handle it! Bring it on!! My boyfriend (of 9 years) is kind of the same way. He's a skinny little thing that can eat whatever he wants. He's sympathetic to my issues with food and can clearly see that I try and I try and yet I don't see much progress, so he's supportive, but I think he's trying to keep my expectations in check so he's yet to get really, really excited about it with me and is mostly silent on the issue unless I bring it up. Last night he finally told me that he really thinks this is the right decision for me and that he's impressed that I'm willing to commit so dramatically to altering how I can eat - forever. It was nice to finally hear that. I'm sure your hubby will come around, if not before, then definitely after when the results start to show! I've never weighed less than the BF but I will! Oh yes, I will!!

I am May 13th and I am SUPER EXCITED! Littler nervous, little overwhelmed. I'm an over-thinker for sure. Regardless, I am so ready for this. I need an entire lifestyle overhaul and I am more than ready to commit to this! I kinda wish I was on a more strict pre-op diet but as it stands, my doctor only wants me to swap one Protein drink for a meal for a week, and then Clear liquids two days prior. So I feel really guilty eating normal meals twice a day right now. Part of me is enjoying it, part of me is ready to get this show on the road already! Good luck with your surgery on the 11th! And good idea starting this thread! This is our week, we're up at bat, and we're gonna knock it out of the park!!!

We'll be band sisters, my surgery date is May 13th as well! And we're actually both starting out about the same as far as BMI and weight goes. I visited my PCP for my pre-op clearance recently and she told me her only concern is that I'm a little young to be so drastically changing how I eat. I think she has the impression that this is a "last resort" operation. I disagree entirely. I told her I am 100% sure that I could lose the weight, but I'm 99% sure I'll gain it back at some point. The statistics don't lie - very, very few people lose weight through diet and exercise alone and keep it off. I don't want to put my body through that. Plus, I have been fortunate enough not to have any health scares - why wait until I have diabetes before I make a change? The way I see it, the band forces you to eat the way our bodies are supposed to eat. Not this Americanized way of finishing off huge portions and consuming overly processed foods. Honestly, I think even non-overweight people would benefit from this. I too mourn the fact that I'll never be able to eat the way I love to eat now - but the fact that I love the way I eat now is a huge red flag! That tells me that my relationship to food is unhealthy and it needs to change for my own well-being! When I first was recommended the LAP-BAND®® (by a plastic surgeon, no less) I laughed at him because I thought it was a gimmick. After lots of research I was convinced. And just like you, finding out insurance covered it totally sealed the deal for me. We all know how stingy insurance is. Why would they cover it if it's not a proven success?? I don't have my band yet obviously, but that's how I choose to see this. I am taking a proactive step knowing that the deck is stacked against me, both through genes and environment. I am nervous too and no matter how much research I do there's still the big, scary "unknown"...but I'm also very excited and I think I'm in very good company. That's how I rationalize it. So good luck to you, and don't forget to let us know how it goes!

My pre-op instructions were pretty minimal too. I only have to substitute one meal with a protein shake one week prior to surgery (which starts today!) and then clear liquids two days prior. I was kinda bummed because I wanted to have some pre-op liquid diet success, like a lot of the other bandsters, but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it on my own. :thumbup: I never got around to asking why my instructions were different, though. I was hoping it had to do with being on the lower end of the BMI scale and maybe not having a fatty enough liver because of it. I just squeaked by at 39.9. What about you? Also, congrats on your surgery date! It'll be here before you know it! :thumbup:

Also, I've been told time and time again that they only count your initial weight when you first submit your paperwork for approval. So if you lose you will still be eligible. It would be really stupid of insurance if they demand you go through a medically supervised diet but then penalized you for being successful!

You should definitely wait and let insurance cover it for one simple reason: if insurance covers it now and you have complications down the line, insurance will cover the complications. If you self-pay, insurance will NOT cover anything! For me it was worth that bit of comfort and security knowing that even if something goes wrong, I won't be stuck with the bill. Two months is really nothing especially if you can schedule your surgery for right after. I started this process almost exactly two months ago and my surgery is a week from today. I was the most impatient person in the world when I was first starting out and I had no idea how I was going to "suffer through" eight long weeks. Let me tell you, it FLIES by! So please, don't let the two months stop you. It's also worth learning patience now because from what I hear, the first eight weeks or so after surgery are dedicated to slow healing and recovery. So if you're already in a rush and you go into that period equally in a rush, you will probably only frustrate yourself. That's my biggest fear right now, managing my expectations vs. my impatience! We'll get through it though! One day at a time, as they say! :thumbup:

If you're worried about excessive salt and processed chemical additives (which I am) Trader Joe's, if you have one around you, have a very expansive line of packaged, frozen meals that have practically ZERO chemicals. I'm always amazed when I see the ingredients list. It's all real food! And the food is always good. They are not "diet" foods, so you're probably getting about 300-500 calories per dish and will need to split it up but I think it's worth it for such wholesome ingredients when you just can't get around to preparing fresh food from home. They do have a "guilt-free" line that keeps the calories very minimal, but I can't remember what their ingredient list looks like. I don't have my band yet (5/13!) so I can't vouch for how well they work post-op, but just wanted to let you know it was an option. Hope this helps!

I don't know if you're particular plan is different from mine, but I have Anthem BCBS and it has been a dream! No monitored diet, just a quick phone conversation with a nutritionist/psychologist and I was approved within three days! I was so worried, especially because I'm barely on the cusp of having the required BMI, but it really was exceptionally quick. So there's a good chance that you won't lose too much time and any time you have spent on the doctor monitored program is obviously a good thing in the long run!

I wish I had advice for you but I'm right on your heels, my surgery is one week from today! Please come back and post your experiences in the coming days for us! And of course, GOOD LUCK!!

You look great! Face and neck are so slender, and great definition in the shoulders! I love that you picked a similar (if not the same) red top! It makes the difference all the more striking! Congratulations, big time!!

Thanks Dottie! My surgery is a week from tomorrow so it's very comforting to hear your experience went well! I have every confidence that things will go smoothly but I'm still a little nervous. I just kinda wish I could get it over with and start my new life already. By the time I blink I'll be banded, so it's just patience and sticking with the plan for now. Good luck with the days ahead and I can't wait to join you on the other side! :bored:

Someone recently mentioned how indispensable the Magic Bullet was to their success and now I am wondering if there are any other tools that any seasoned Bandsters find absolute essential and would recommend to those just starting out. Kitchen scales? Portion controlled Tupperwear? Protein shakers? Anything you just can't live without? I'm trying to stock up now. Surgery is approaching and I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed! Thanks in advance. :scared2: