1970MaleJaxFL

Your doctor will probably still do your surgery since you are taking up space on his surgery calendar that won't generate income if he skips you. That said, I would be hardcore about your diet from now until surgery and do as much real cardio as you can, if you are healthy enough to do any. I was pretty put out about only losing 11 lbs. by the day prior to surgery but the person weighing me in at my doctor's office was very pleased with that number. Get that number of lbs. lost up to 5 and they shouldn't give you too hard of a time.

So, I was banded yesterday and everything went fine. I am in the clear liquid stage. The papers all say that lasts for 1 week but my doc said I'd probably be able to have Optifast shakes by Sunday (3 days after surgery). So I'm sitting around thinking that my body needs some sort of calories/ Protein rather than just all these various forms of Water I'm taking in (crystal light/ tea/ broth from cubes, etc.).

So I figured it would be okay to go to a place that has various Soups and just get the thin liquid off of the top of say the chicken noodle Soup. And that is exactly what I did and no problems resulted. It was a little thicker liquid than those broths and had some substance to it. I even skimmed the thin Tomato juice type stuff off of the top of the chili and it was fine also. So, I probably took in 200 calories or so but my body got a little bit of energy going and there were no problems with my stomach or my new band.

Anybody else try this kind of stuff during the liquid stage?

My consult was 4/1 but my liquid diet didn't start until 4/13. It was a 2 week Optifast shake diet. I lost around 5 lbs. between my consult and the start of the liquid diet just thinking about what I ate. When the liquid diet started, I "cheated sensibly" by having one solid meal almost every day. It was either a salad with a chicken breast or a chicken breast and broccoli on the side. I ended up down 11.5 lbs. from the consult date to the surgery which was 4/28. I have dropped another 2 lbs. or so in the last 24 hours since surgery by only having thin liquids. If I had stuck to the liquid pre-op diet religiously, I would have lost closer to 20 by surgery.

Onederland2come-that is really cool, huh? Best of luck to your team.

I had to go almost 30 times last night. A couple times I went and them felt like I had to go again by the time I got back to the bed. Anybody else experience this?

Thanks! Mine went great. I'm already on the road home.

Wow, great numbers, guys. I'm going to dial up the cardio and try to match what you guys pulled off.

Dr. Aguila in Tampa, Fl has a great self pay program. Around $5,000 up front and the hospital finances the remainder of the $10,650 total cost with no credit check with payments of $208 per month for 2 years. This is the best self pay arrangement in the US, as far as I can tell. He is doing my band tomorrow.

I'm around 350 or so and want to get nutty on this weight loss thing after I'm banded tomorrow. Just a little weary of running while my weight starts with a 3. Thoughts?

Ha. Mine is tomorrow too. Focus on the great things you'll be gaining and not what you'll be giving up.

I'm right there with you. I report in tomorrow, the 28th at 9 to get my band installed. Feeling good. Did some bicep curls and tricep pull downs in the hotel gym after sneaking in some Tomato bisk Soup for my last meal. The fast begins at midnight. Good luck to everybody.

Thanks y'all. We are both doing it to stick around as long as possible for my 4 year old son (single dad). I really want my mom to get to see him grow up. My last living grandparent died when I was 10 (26 years before my son was born).

That is some great will power to have the slice of pizza on your plate and only eat the veggies.

I have a huge 'to do' list after I lose 100+ lbs. To name a few: Lauren, Marisa, Sarah, Angie, Katie. It is going to be a great fall!

Kind of cool how it worked out. My mom's insurance covered hers and the date ended up being yesterday. She is 73 and was discharged the same day. Mine is self pay and done 4 hours from home and will be tomorrow. Different docs, different diets, different bands (hers-realize, mine-lap), same week. It will be good to get through this process with each other's support.

I cheated every day except one of my 2 week Optifast diet. But I ate only salads or chicken breast with veggies. I ended up down 11 lbs in the month between consult and surgery. I also rode my bike a few times including one ride over 1:40 and another just over an hour.

Yesterday was the first day that I didn't lose a lb. or more. I'm not having any hunger issues just habit issues. It is becoming clear that food is central to my entire social life. Every day of my 2 week liquid diet has included 1 low carb meal. Today I've had two including a large ceaser salad. But I did find a killer crossfit move called a "burpee" that I did a modified version of 20 times yesterday. Look it up on YouTube. It is intense. I felt so clear headed after doing as many as I could in a minute. Today I rode my bike for an hour and forty minutes on the beach. It was he'll but I felt better (though very achey after). Hope to make it the rest of the way on liquids and get the pounds dropping again.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I wish I could say that it was my only screw up. It seems like I end up having 1 meal of solid low carb food a day. Even with these lapses, i keep dropping the weight. I have to dial in some cardio and buckle down on this diet to meet my goal of going from 349 to 330 in the next 12 days.

I'm on day 3 of the 2 week all liquid (Optimfast) diet and I keep messing up (day 1 I had a can of tuna, day 2 I had chicken w/ cheese and bacon and broccoli). But the weight keeps falling off: 2 lbs. the first day and a lb. yesterday. I did get my head right in the 2 weeks between the consult and the start of the diet because I lost about 5 lbs. This liquid diet really doesn't make me hungry but not having the 'activity of eating' is building some negative emotions which is odd.

Thanks for the feedback. I lost 2 lbs. on that first day, so I guess the mess up wasn't that bad.

I'm not supposed to have solids but I ate a can of chunk white tuna. Still just Protein and 900 calories instead of 800. How bad should I feel about it?

Hey, I thought I'd put a list together with everyone's name, date of pre-diet start and date of surgery, so we can keep those people in mind on their special day.

Thanks for putting that list together. I'm pumped about this whole deal and I think I will be putting some great numbers up over the next few months. The pre-op liquid diet doesn't start for two more days and yet I woke up another pound down today. This is going to get nutty when I'm only running on Optifast for two weeks. I'm guessing it'll end up at least 20 lbs. off in the 27 days between consult and surgery.

I put my weight on the day of my consultation (1 month before the surgery and 2 weeks before the liquid diet starts). What day or weight do you start yours with? I haven't started my liquid diet but I'm down 4 lbs. since the consult (could be a difference in scales though).

Generally, you will have a lot more options when you are at a healthy weight. Ask yourself if you would be more attracted to a fit person or somebody morbidly obese. It is human nature or maybe just nature that we seek out the most fit folks to reproduce with.

For me, I'm a tall dude at 6' 3" so I carry my extra weight better than most. I've noticed in the past that my social world doesn't open up unless I'm below a certain weight. In 2003, I weighed 380 lbs. with my ideal weight being around 220. I went on low carbs for two years and got down to 298. As soon as my weight got below about 300 lbs., I ceased to be invisible to women in bars. It was like a light switch had been turned on. I wasn't a "10" but any stretch but at least some percentage of the opposite sex now deemed me viable. Pretty much everybody treated me better. I hadn't realized how people had been treating me until I dropped the weight. Of course, it didn't stay gone and now I'm back up to 360 or so and my social scene is a solo effort yet again.

You may have to shed far more weight to FEEL deserving of affection from very attractive people than you will to actually get the affection of very attractive people. When I got down to 'only' 80 lbs. overweight, the best looking girl I've ever seen was into me. It became crystal clear only later and at the time it wasn't even a possibility in my mind because of my self image issues (and I was 13 years older and thought she was out of my league). So, do your best to adjust your mental game to your new body image as quickly as possible. I sure wish I had.

Congrats Jax! Are you on your pre-op diet yet?

Thanks. I start Optifast shakes on the 13th and it'll run all the way until right before surgery (then it is nothing after midnight?). I think my mind is already wrapped around a new way of eating. I just went to my favorite casual dining spot as a bit of a send off. I usually get their big salad with double chicken and a large fry with ranch dressing (their ranch is insanely good). Today I got a 1/2 salad with no extra meat and small order of fries and could only eat half of each. No massively stuffed feeling and no guilt.