Angera

I didn't see it at first, but others noticed it in my face and arms first. Secondly, I noticed my overall abdomen region. My pants were fitting HUGE, I was having to pull them up because they were falling off. I switched to a smaller size i had in the closet and those are now fitting loosely, but I can probably stick those out for another month or so. The last place i'm now starting to notice is my legs. My calves looked smaller today (i wore a dress to work). When I lay in bed, I noted last night that my thighs were shrinking and they felt soft and mushy, lol. I was also able to get on a pair of heels i couldn't get on before and my toes didn't feel like they were going to be amputated when i stood up! :biggrin:

I have BCBS in Texas. I had to pay 20% plus copay and hospital deductible. Mine required that i pay that 20% the day of my surgery..............so i had to prepay and anything not covered would get billed to me. day of surgery it was about $1500.

You are absolutely correct, the compliments are really such a validation for all the hard work you've been doing. It wasn't until recently that people had been asking what i was doing because my face had changed. I've also been able to finally get back into all those smaller clothes i had in the closer :biggrin: Keep up the good work everyone :thumbup:

This is the part of the journey i fear the most. Losing the weight seems like a piece of cake, it's all cut and dry. You know what you have to do, just do it. But you can't always know what your mind will be thinking and how it will adjust. I pray that my marriage doesn't suffer because of the changes and that it only grows because of the things we'll be able to do that we couldn't do before. I'm smart enough to anticipate there will be bumps, but i've come across too many people who are quick to say my marriage won't work after my transformation is complete. I pray that I will be able to see the hard work when i look in the mirror! All I can do at this point is be positive and always hope for the best. Good luck to everyone and love yourselves.

no, incorrect. i lost 46 before surgery in my 6 month preop and liquids. And an additional 5 during the 10 days post op. My goal was to lose 40 before surgery just to be that much closer to my goal once i got banded.

I'm down 50 pounds and people at work are just now noticing that i've lost weight............................good grief!

It's my first full day day back at work since surgery on the 13th. I'm feeling good, but have some soreness in my port area today. I think I may have accidently slept on that side last night and it's bothering me a little today. It has a little stingy feeling here and there, but nothing excruciating. I may just have a shake for dinner tonight to give my tummy a rest. I really got used to the little naps in the afternoon and i'm so sleepy! Luckily, my co-workers are concerned about my health and keep saying "just take it easy, don't overdo anything....." lol, they're afraid to give me work so i get bored! all in all, doing good. How are my fellow bandsters doing just returning to work?!

30 before/60 after

So many variations on time frames. It depends on method of payment, the surgeon, and your body! My insurance required a 6 month nutrition program so in total, had my seminar in december and didn't get banded until 1.5 wk ago! Also had to do a psych eval and various pre-operative testing the doctor required. Self pay folks look like they get thru fairly quickly once all pre-operative testing has been completed. Good luck! Trust me, even after waiting all those months, it went by SOOOOOOOOOO FAST!

Don't give up just yet. Your journey has just begun! A lot of folks have demons when it comes to food. Afterall, some of us wouldn't have gained this much weight if we didn't have some kind of issue revolving around food! This journey isn't easy, but it's important you always remember why you wanted to do this for yourself. Keep your eye on the prize! It's so easy to throw in the towel, but in the end you won't solve a thing. You will end up just as dissapointed. To start off with, maybe you should focus on the reasons why you are eating. Is it stress, is it boredom, what is it? I know for me, I would eat when I was bored, so I took up some hobbies to keep myself busy so i wouldn't think of food. I would eat when I was angry, it was that instant gratification of controlling what i could put in my mouth because i couldn't control my surroundings. Food was so comforting. Make a list, write down all the the things you want to incorporate into your life. for example, 1. avoid drink with meals 2. walk 20 minutes a day 3. avoid fried foods. So forth and so on......whatever you know you need to work on.tackle the list ONE small step at a time and over time just build on it. Once you start crossing off the things on your list, you'll see just how much you have accomplished! It was hard for me in the beginning. Especially eliminating all those carbs and picking up habits that seemed impossible! I tackled it slowly. Each week, I would reward myself with a splurge if I did good for all the 6 days of the week. For me, it was eating out at lunch with coworkers or out for a nice dinner. It's okay to splurge here and there, remember to treat yourself! After some time, I got to a point where I still went out and treated myself to these meals but was well aware of my choices and after time found myself just making better ones! The weight coming off was the better tasting reward! Sorry this was so long, but maybe something in here will be useful! Just don't give up yet You CAN DO THIS!

People are going to be judgemental whether i tell them or not. I'm sure they were judgemental about my weight to begin with and even if they feel negative about the surgery, who cares?! Perhaps it's just my own personal trait to not really care about the opinion of others. At the end of the day, it's my body and their opinion means nothing! Now to answer the question, yes i did tell people. I feel very confidant with the decision that I have made and am very proud of myself for getting to where i've gotten. And if there are people along the way who i've told that aren't being supportive, i don't care, because there will be people somewhere else in my support network that do support my journey. Just gotta let the haters be haters!!!!!!!!! Be proud of your bodies, whether you're still overweight, in the midst of your journey, or at goal :scared2: Peace Out!!:confused:

It doesn't happen overnight hun. It's going to take time and lots of hard work. But stay strong and be positive. You will see the changes soon enough! :confused:

congratulations! These next few days will be SO HARD, you'll be too excited!

Of course you'll eat soup again! I know I had about 2 meltdowns during my pre-op diet. In both meltdowns, I asked myself "what am i thinking, im never gonna throw down on a thanksgiving dinner EVER!" and better yet "i'm never gonna have a buffet again"..... Sounds silly, but in the end I reasoned, well peooople were never meant to eat like that to begin with! I managed to train my mind to think well it's not like i'll never eat those foods again, i'll still be able to taste them, just not overeat! My nutritionist advised me to avoid soup once i'm fully healed as a permanent source of meal replacements. She said they will go right thru my band and not give me a "full" sensation in my pouch. However, she said if you are out at a restaurant and the soup is the best thing on the menu, try and stick to the solids in it and avoid the broth as much as possible so it doesn't wash out the food going into your pouch :biggrin: hope that helps on the soup issue. again, every nutritionist is different and this is what mine said! I know I was a wreck the two week sbefore surgery, I couldn't think or focus at work! It's a very exciting time! I am one week out of surgery and just ready to hurry up and be healed so I can start this journey!

As many will tell you, losing the weight isn't just about getting this surgery. It's all up to you. It's all up to how well you work with what you've been given :biggrin: Stay focused, be positive, and follow all the nutritional and exercise guidelines given to you. You will do great :smile:

I'm one week post op and feeling great. Having my gallbladder out was a whole lot worse! I firmly believe a positive attitude helps the situation! I've been trying my best to take a positive spin on everything and remain hopeful and focused for the journey that's to come. You will all be fine :biggrin: Good luck to everyone getting banded soon!

I, too, had surgery last Friday and today was the first day that i got out of bed without making that "discomfort" face. I've been moving around a lot because I heard that helps with the recovery process. I believe it. I've been going for short walks every night and I am feeling great!

Nothing wrong with you at all! I am the same way. I haven't had much pain other than some swelling in my tummy and bruising on one incision. I only needed pain meds the night at the hospital and tylenol has covered every other pain since. I've been able to take 20-30 minute walks around the block every night and all my food/liquids are going down as they should be. Things are different for everyone, I know reading some of these posts I have to count my blessings for not having all the problems many out there do! :thumbup:

I had to do the bariatric advantage ones from the doctor. They taste pretty good compared to atkins shakes. However, after 18 days on 'em, i'm SICK OF THEM and have bought some isopure to try out :smile2:

whoa lordy, today i'm officially sick and tired of my Protein shakes! I had them 14 days pre-op and since surgery on friday! musy foods couldn't be coming fast enough! I think i may need to switch it up to Isopure for a bit because i'm starting to get reallllllllllll grossed out with these shakes!! Haven't bothered checking the scale yet, i'm going to wait for a month post-op when i'm fully healed and then start worrying about the scale :smile2: hope everyone else is doing fabulously

Got banded on Friday! Had a one night stay in the hospital and came home very early saturday morning. Liquids are going down well. Gas pains were terrible friday night and saturday. Yesterday I developed a sore neck and throat. Not too sure what that's about. any ideas folks? Liquids are going down well. Water, sugar free popsicles, broth, and my protein shakes have all gone down with no "vomitatious" feelings. Started vitamins and had no problem there either. All in all, i'm doing well! Good luck to everyone else in recovery

Weight loss journey's are like a war with your own body. Within each war there are many battles. This was just one of them. Just because you don't win this battle doesn't mean you lose the war. There are many battles to come in which I am SURE you will prevail. You just need to keep your head above water and keep fighting and be strong.

I had my first bad dream about my surgery last night. There was a man that kept telling me a million and one reasons why i shouldn't have surgery! I kept yelling at him and saying "you're wrong!" lol I am so excited! I go for my final weigh in tomorrow morning and surgery is friday! 14 days of liquids went by SO quickly. I am eager to see what kind of weight loss I've had the past two weeks. I am so eager to begin this journey already! I am having a hard time focusing at work and focusing on ANYTHING at this point! :thumbup:

My preop diet is 14 days long. I have to drink 3 Protein shakes (Bariatric Advantage brand) and if absolutely necessary i can have an additional 2 shakes as Snacks. Aside from that I can have Water, sugar free Jello and popsicles. I can also do crystal light, but i'm allergic so none for me! I thought it was drastic, but it's really gotten me used to how it's really going to after after the operation. I'd also rather be safe than sorry with the fatty liver business. My insurance required 6 months nutritional counseling, so we did an atkins based diet where I started out at 55g of carbs and was gradually reduced to 20 g of carbs. I am happy to say I haven't cheated at all except for a communion wafer at church! Surgery is friday morning :thumbup:

WOW! I had this problem the first few days i started my pre-op liquid diet. I even called my mom because I thought I was sick! she said uhhhhh no it's what is supposed to happen to your body! After about a week, i think my insides had finally emptied out because it has subsided dramatically. I am only going when a shake or pudding goes in my body. It's been quite the colon/body detox