pmcw

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to reply to you, how are you doing now? I saw my Dr on Thur. the 8th, for my follow-up appoint. I told him I felt good but was HUNGRY! He gave me the go ahead to eat "anything that doesn't make me throw-up" he said the phase I was in was called "bandster hell" because we have had the surgery but not the benefits of the fills yet. I feel better now that I can eat, but the weight loss has slowed down too. Let me know how things are going for you now, I'd love to compare especially since we were banded on the same day. Pam

Thanks! Ordinarily I am not much of a juice drinker, I just felt like with this liquid stage I would need the extra nutrition I felt it was better to drink juice than eat a popcicle that was basically koolaid and that may have been true the first few days when I was strictly on a clear liquid diet, but now I can get my nutritional needs met w/o the high calorie juice, so it will be greatly reduced, I will continue to use a small amount of it to help me get down the yucky liquid medicines, but I plan to reduce my intake to no more than 8 oz a day. I am feeling more satisfied today, and not so panicky.

I went into this expecting to self pay, so if my insurance pays anything at all it is just a bonus! I totally understand what you said about losing the weight only to regain it, that is me, I know I can lose weight when I am focused enough, and believe me I have lost and regained a lot of weight over the years. I am praying this is the last weight loss plan I ever have to do. I don't have very many other contributing health factors, I have high cholesterol, and arthritis in my knees, other than that I am just obese, but I have a 13 year old daughter and I want to be able to be active with her, whether she likes it or not:wink2: :thumbup:

You're a smart man, you are absolutely right, I really used the wrong word, what I meant to ask about is feeling satisfied, not "FULL" which is not a pleasant feeling. If I can remember the true goal here, which should be as you said "to see how little you can eat and not be hungry for about 4-5 hours." I will do just fine. I just had been feeling really hungry and started to panic, plus even though I am down 11 lbs, I haven't lost a thing for two days, and felt like I was eating next to notrhing, well, I examined what I had actually taken in as far as calories, fat & carbs, and while it is true I hadn't eaten much, I had managed to take in a little over 1000 calories and 137 carbs. I couldn't believe I had consumed almost 400 calories and 89 carbs from juice :thumbup: believe me today their will be a lot less juice and a lot more Water, if I am going to consume 400 calories it is going to be with something that sticks with me a lot longer than juice!

I'm a bit worried and confused. I was banded on 6/30, so am only a week out, I have been reading some posts that have me concerned. Right now I am still on a "Full Liquid" diet, but have added a bit of cottage cheese from the soft food phase which I will be moving into. I am hungry! True when I eat/drink I don't take in more than like a cup at a time, but it doesn't last long, I am hungry very soon after. I was looking forward to the point where I could eat real food and feel satisfied again, but now I am reading posts that say it is all about will power, and you never REALLY feel satisfied again:frown: Is this true, will it always be about will power:confused: One post said you will fill full more in your chest than in your stomach, it will be like you don't want to eat because it will be uncomfortable but not really a satisfied feeling:confused: Right now I am feeling a little panicky, did I make a mistake:scared2:

OK, I am still learning this site, I hope my original LONG post doesn't copy again:rolleyes: Anyway, nice to meet you! I started out weighing 252, I am 5'7", and I think my BMI was 39. I am a 50 year old female, I would like to weigh no more than 160, so far I have lost 11 lbs, so I still need to lose 81 lbs. I had to do my surgery self pay, because my insurance, doesn't pay for any of these type of surgeries. I do plan to still turn it in to them though and maybe get lucky, as it turned out I also had a hiatal hernia repaired so maybe that will get me something? So Far I am not regretting my decision at all, but will admit I am still scared I might fail again:frown:. I am curious, if you don't mind my asking, if you only need to lose 60-70 lbs aren't you afraid after 4 month of dieting you won't weigh enough to qualify for the surgery? or maybe afraid isn't the right word, because if you were to lose the weight on your own, wouldn't that be good too? What ever your outcome I wish you luck, please keep us posted on what is happening with you!

My incisions never did really have much pain, just more a tenderness, like sore muscles after a good workout. But the Gas! That hurt, but not unbearable, and would not scare me off the surgery. Pre-op my Dr. only had me follow a low carb diet, no flour, corn, rice or potatoes, but I was allowed 1 serving of fruit a day, and basically all the meat eggs and veggies I wanted, so that wasn't hard at all and I still lost 5 lbs. On Wed. the day I had my surgery I slept most the day, with ice pack on my stomach, wasn't really hungry but did eat some jello and drank juice and water, took pain med twice I think. Day 2, Thur. I felt pretty good, still not really hungry, but ate Jello, sorbet and juice, about 4- 6 oz at a time every few hrs. kept ice on my stomach most of the day but the pain I had was in my back and shoulder not my stomach. I tried walking around the house and even walked around the yard a bit, layed down with my feet elevated anytime I was laying, and I did feel a bit better by bed time, but I did take pain meds for the gas pain in order to sleep at night. Friday, day 3 not so bloated feeling but the muscles in my back and left shoulder were still very sore, and I started feeling HUNGRY! I added protein shakes, and the thickness of them helped. I was feeling more normal so I drove my daughter and I to see a movie, got a big Icee to sip on during the movie, only taking pain meds 1 time at night and Dr. said I was ok to drive as long as I wasn't on narcotics. Sat. I was really hungry I had Protein shake in the morning, finished it for lunch, had sorbet, and jello every couple of hours, but I was still hungry between, took my daughter to watch fireworks and stopped to get a chocolate malt on the way, nothing seemed to satisfy my hunger for long, and I was feeling like if I ate another sweet thing I would puke...ugh! 11:30 at night I am making myself cream of chicken soup, I mixed it with water and put it in the blender to make sure their were no lumps in it, I only slightly warmed it, since I am still not suppose to have hot liquids, but soup never tasted so good. I feel like I am rushing it a bit, starting cream soups so soon, but my Dr. said the diet plan was only a guideline and everyone is different as far as how much swelling they have, and how soon they should move up from full liquid diet. Sunday, I started out with the other half the cream chicken soup, later I had a protein shake, still hated the sweetness, but Doc said the protein was important. later tried Butternut Squash soup, never had that before, but thought it would be safe to eat. It was surprisingly good, and just thick enough to make me feel satisfied a bit longer. Monday, no more gas pain, still some muscle soreness in my back though, stomach feels good though, I'm hungry again, I have lost 11 lbs since my first visit, so weight loss is going well, but I feel hungry within 30 min. of eating, I think the liquid is just going threw too fast since I won't have a fill until at least a month out. I am fighting the hunger, I still can only take in 4-6 oz at a time, but if I let myself I could do that every 30 min. I had a vanilla protein shake, and a can of broccoli cheddar soup spaced out threw out the day, I also had some juice and some sorbet, but late night I gave in and ate 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, I felt so much better, it was thick enough that I felt satisfied much longer. I didn't want to go to bed right away because I was afraid of heartburn, but it has been over three hours ago, and I basically felt ok this whole time. I am going to bed now that I am finished typing this, I don't know if this will help anyone else, but I wonder if I am pretty normal so far?:thumbup: