Katy517

Congratulations and good luck Karen. I admire your perseverance and commitment.

Have you tried the unflavored whey protein supplements? They don't add any sweetness at all.

I'm sorry that you're going through this and having difficulty resisting food that is within arm's length. My belief though is that we can't ask others to change for us in much the same way that our own internal changes must be for us and not for others. My significant other is naturally thin and loves to snack at home. That hasn't been easy to deal with for the past five weeks of my all liquid diet and it honestly doesn't get easier. I wouldn't ask that those things be removed from our home though as I think it's up to me to resist them just as I would resist pulling into a fast food restaurant and grabbing a quick burger. It's my job. Every time I open the pantry and see the cookies and chips it's difficult. Every time I smell the yummy food being prepared it's difficult. I keep imagining though that it will get easier once I get restriction. As mentioned below, journaling your food intake really does help and so does going for a walk when you're feeling a major urge to snack. Good luck and hang in there.

Yep, five days post-op clear liquids + 6 weeks post-op full liquids. I then get my first fill and have two more days clear liquids for a consecutive 49 days of liquids only. Not quite sure how I'm managing to stay sane at this point with 17 days left. I just got back from Whole Foods and they had a bunch of food samples out like cubed cheeses, chips, salsa and guacamole. It looked so inviting and made me kind of crazy, but I managed to not partake. My surgeon is convinced this is the way to ensure both complete healing and also to jump start weight loss prior to getting the first fill. I've learned that he's actually had bad experiences with mushy stages in the past. He had a patient who was quite proud of having created a mushy out of Chicken McNuggets and Ranch dressing so no mushies for me and a very long wait for solid food.

It all depends on your doctor's diet plan. Some folks are eating mushies within a few weeks of surgery. Others like myself have to wait at least six weeks post-op to have any non-liquids. I would give them a call. The bariatric coordinator at my surgeon's office provided a booklet that answered most of my questions about diet as well as other issues. Good luck.

That's great that you're working on the diet while you apparently don't have restriction. Have you let your doctor know that you're having troubles? Maybe they could help you additionally with diet or even work on your band restriction. I find that support groups as well as what you're doing by posting here is really helpful to. Good luck.

It sounds like this might be at least part of the reason your weight loss has stalled. You say that you can eat the same things/amounts you always could before. Are you doing so? I haven't had a fill yet, but my understanding is that until one gets restriction it is up the individual to control what they eat with good diet choices. Are you logging your food intake and getting plent of protein? How about exercise? Hang in there during this apparent bandster hell.

Sounds horrible Sandy. Mine looks like a tumor too. Really creepy, but the worst part is the pain. Thanks again for the details. It's nice to know that I'm not alone. If this doesn't get better and my surgeon doesn't start taking it seriously, I'll be getting a 2nd opinion.

Mine is below my left breast at the bottom of my rib cage. Is yours still painful? Mine is and especially hurts when I bend over.

My insurance didn't have a pre-op weight loss requirement, but my nutritionist really worked with me on incorporating eating habits that would help after being banded. Things like choosing lean proteins, eating proteins first, chewing my food thoroughly and not drinking before, during or immediately after mealtimes. Just those changes enabled me to take off and keep off five pounds prior to the pre-op liquid diet. I'm grateful for it and encourage you that it's not too late to make positive changes that will make your transition to being banded that much easier. Good luck.

Has it been that way since surgery? What did your surgeon say about it?

Are you copying everything that is in the bbCode box? See this thread for signature creation details if that doesn't work http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/diet-ticker-114355/. Cheers.

Great. Thanks for your help Trish and for the compliment. My 6 weeks post-op liquid diet with no mushies is apparently pretty unusual. I'm using your 3 lb. per week target and shooting for 24 lbs total. Thank you for the help and good luck on the challenge!

I'm down for 24 lbs. by Independence Day - 3 per week. Aiming high. :confused:

Is this for me? My first fill will be on 5/26, which is six weeks post-op. I've factored that in as two add'l liquid diet days, albeit clear ones. That means approximately five weeks of solids after 1st fill. Three pounds per week sounds awesome.

I'd like to participate as Independence day is just one week prior to my summer vacation. I could use some guidance though as I'm not really sure what I should target for since I'm not on solid foods yet so don't really have a good barometer to go by. I've got 19 more days on full liquids and the weight has been coming off pretty well so far with that program. I've lost 15 lbs. since banding, 27 since pre-op liquid diet and 32 overall since beginning to work with the nutritionist pre-op. Just not sure what I should expect to lose based on ~3 weeks full liquids plus ~5 weeks of solid food, probably without much if any restriction. Any help for setting a realistic short term goal would be much appreciated. TIA, Katy

Happy anniversary and congratulations on a job well done. Way to work your program!

Same thing for me. I'm told to wait six weeks to submerge in Water by my surgeon - includes bathing and swimming. No special instructions for sea water.

My surgeon told me to take liquid Motrin (an nsaid) for my post-op port pain.

Great post Betsy. Thanks for reminding me of the 'paying oneself' method to keep up good practices. I've done it a couple of times and it really works. I initially used it to help motivate me to quit smoking. I smoked a pack a day and they cost $3 per pack when I quit so I would put $21 into a special bank account each week to help motivate me to stay away from cigarettes and that bad habit. I kept it up for about 1 1/2 years and had about $1600 saved at the time. It was used toward the down payment on my first home. The other time was when my significant other decided we were too busy and needed to hire somebody to clean the house every two weeks. My fiscally conservative nature just couldn't deal with that so instead I managed to convince that we should pay ourselves what the cleaning service wanted to charge, which at the time was $75. So, we setup a special savings account and deposited $75 into it every two weeks when we would do major house cleaning and it ended up paying for a trip to Maui. Not bad. LOL, things have changed though and now there is a cleaning person who gets $100 each time she cleans. If it were up to me, I would still be doing the self-pay thing and cleaning ourselves. This is a great idea to incorporate into a weight loss routine though. I've actually been wondering just how much will be saved in terms of restaurant and grocery bills.

I love most fish, but really don't care for Tilapia as it is pretty tasteless in my opinion. King Salmon is my favorite. I like to grill mainly if it's a nice firm fish. You can also bake, broil or saute in a fry pan. It really depends on the fish as to what the preferred cooking method would be. A really easy way to cook almost any fish is to wrap it in foil with seasonings and bake. It keeps the fish very moist.

See this thread for details http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/diet-ticker-114355/. Good luck with your bnading.

I was not allowed to have anything by mouth the day of surgery - both before and after. The next morning after the barium swallow I was given an 8 oz bottle of Crystal Light and told to take a small drink of it every five minutes to be sure that I could keep liquids down OK. I think it took about 1 1/2 hours to finish that bottle. Once that was deemed to have gone down without difficulty I was told that I could have liquids as desired upon my return to home. There was zero hunger though, just thirst.

Mine is also right under my skin and does look like a large tumor before any weight loss at all. It scares the heck out of me that this won't get better on its own. It still hurts a lot too after more than three weeks. The doc keeps saying to wait and it will improve. As to the OP - I've yet to be hungry. food smells really good to me and makes me want it, but no hunger pangs (or hunger pains for that matter) at all.

I've heard of a very few situations with special pre-op diet (clear liquid or otherwise). It might do well to check with your surgeon's office though. Mine didn't tell me about my 5-day clear liquid diet until 8 days prior to surgery.