gMommy

Hi. My surger is scheduled for Thursday, April 28th. I was wondering what your energy level was the day after surgery, during the liquid diet phase, during the mushie stage and beyond? I am supposed to take my son to an important doctor appointment the morning after my surgery at 8am. I had to schedule the appointment 2 months in advance. I'd prefer to not reschedule it. But, I don't know if I will have the energy to drive. Did any of you have a hard time driving?

Good news! I was able to get my son's previous doctor to order an emergency supply of his medicine to get him through another month. Yeah! Now I can reschedule. Whew! That is a relief! Thanks for the reminder about the pillow. I forgot about that. I'll have to make a little reminder list for surgery day. 2.5 days to go.....

Thanks Elizabeth. I am on track for this Thursday. I am waiting for the call from the surgery center with my arrival time.

I felt a ton of anxiety on my first day of the liquid diet too. I couldn't believe I was having a panic attack at only 30 minutes into the day! lol I had to remind myself to live in the moment, not think about how I couldn't have any solid food for X amount of time. That was too big, scary and depressing. But, to think I can have a yummy liquid drink within this hour, really helped. It was a whole bunch of making it through one hour at a time. When I get busy with something, I forget about thinking one hour at a time because my mind is on what I am doing. Next thing I know, 3 hours has past. Yeah! I made it through 3 hours. Each hour adds up to a day, two days, etc. The first two days I ended up nibbling on some food toward the end of the day. But, it wasn't much. It was just enough to make my stomach stop hurting. Instead of beating myself up and feeling like a failure, I patted myself on the back. I made so much progress from the day before. Progress, not perfection. Progress will help me lose weight. If I can still be proud of myself and lose the weight, than Woo Hoo!!! I like the Protein drinks I have: GNC AMP chocolate and vanilla. I use sugar free torani syrups for variety. For premade, I like the Muscle Milk banana. It finally occurred to me that I can make some Soup with lots of flavor. Make soup like you usually would, but only have the liquid part of it. I really like green lemon chicken soup. I just leave the chicken and the rice for the rest of my family. An pozole. Yum! I've always liked the broth of that soup. Being excited about the flavors I get to eat is really helping me. I focus on the yummies I get to eat instead of what I can't eat for now. Good luck everybody. I have less than 3 days to go till surgery.

I have a treadmill, but I really prefer to be outside. I found a website for local nature trails. I'm so excited. I'm going to take my kids with me this Saturday to go check out one that is about 5 miles from my house. It leads to a small waterfall. The website said it was 3 miles to the waterfall for a roundtrip total of 6 miles. Hmmmm...it might take a couple of trips to build up to a 6 mile walk. But, I just might surprise myself. We all love to explore. So it is easy to forget about the distance and time when you are chasing butterflies, playing in a waterfall and admiring all of the spring flowers. I just have to figure out something for the summer when it is 100+ degrees. Maybe morning walks?

Congratulations on your surgery! I saw your recommendation for going on the liquid diet a week before surgery. Can you give more information on how this makes it easier afterward? My surgery is Thursday, next week 4/28. Thanks for your advice.

Does anyone know if there is a clothing exchange online?

Congratulations on the bright colored clothes! I'm looking forward to being excited daily about what I get to wear instead of dreading to get dressed. My surgeon, Dr. Machado with Sacramento Bariatric Associates, hosts a monthly support group. One of the things they have is a clothing exchange. The clothes that are too big for you now might fit someone else during their journey. I wonder if there is something like that online? That sure would be great! They also have a Protein exchange. Since everybody has different tastes, what doesn't work for you might work for someone else. Anyway, enjoy Spring in all of your pretty Spring colors! You have earned it!:welldone:

Good luck to both of you!

Great topic!!! How fun! 1. Take my kids to a Water park where I will wear a regular (not skirted) bathing suit in public 2. Go to Hawaii and lay on the beach in a regular bathing suit 3. Start participating in walk a thons 4. Wear bright colored clothes (bye bye black) 5. Do a photo shoot where I am not trying to hide behind my kids 6. Go to a Couple's only resort with my hubby and participate in all the activities (except the buffets! lol)

I went through a greiving period a couple of months ago. I decided I needed to start working on my emotional eating before my band surgery on April 28th. I have been an emotional eater for as long as I can remember. I didn't realize how much I felt that food was my best friend. It was always there for me no matter what was bothering me. When I started avoiding my binge/trigger foods in February I started having a hard time with my feelings. A friend told me it was because I could finally "feel" my feelings. I was using food to escape reality so I didn't have to deal with my feelings. The food would help to numb me. Once I didn't have this help anymore, my feelings were almost overwhelming. Then I felt a desperate need for the food. I was on the verge of a panic attack. So, I decided to get out of my environment (my couch in front of the TV). I got in the car and went window shopping. Seeing all of the cute clothes I could look forward to wearing helped to make me to work through my feelings. I had one night where I layed in bed crying for the loss of my best friend. The next day I felt a lot better. Then I realized what had happened. I had worked through my feelings! Whoa! So, that is how to do it! So pat yourself on the back for greiving. It is healthy and normal.

Hi there. I heard that hair loss after surgery is pretty common. I started taking biotin supplements and I have at least 60 grams of protein a day. I am hoping that will minimize any hair loss I may have. For those that had the hair loss, how much hair (percentage) did you lose? Was it in clumps or specific areas of your head? Or was it a little from everywhere? How many months did you experience the hair loss? When did it stop? Did any of it grow back? How much and how long did it take?

Llyra, did you have any other symptoms of your thyroid issue? I had my thyroid levels checked a couple of months ago. First it was a little below the normal level. A few weeks later it was normal level. Before the first test I had been sick with this year's flu. I read that could cause the thyroid levels to be low. One of my main "kick in the pants" to get this surgery was an uncomfortable pressure on my throat. I figured it was from the bigger double chin and thicker neck. I hadn't gained any weight when I started feeling that. But, it seemed all of my fat was getting redistributed. I started changing my habits after starting this lap band journey (no straws, no soda, eating Protein first, avoiding Recreational Sugar, and not drinking with my meals). I was able to lose 6 pounds. The pressure on my throat got better. I snacked a little too much over the past 4 days and gained 2 pounds back. Now my throat is feeling that pressure again. I'm looking forward to my surgery next week.

My nutritionalist said I should get 60-80g Protein a day from protein shakes/bars/cereals in addition to the food I would eat. I started drinking one a day about a month and half before surgery. I really like the taste of the AMP from GNC. The instructions say to use 3 scoops in 8oz of milk or Water. It is 20g protein per scoop. But, I decided to try different amounts of scoops to make the flavor and consistency good to me. For the vanilla 1 scoop if perfect. Any more than 1 scoop and the flavor changes a bit for me. For the chocolate, 1 scoop tastes good but I can go up to 2 scoops and still like the flavor and consistency. To add variety I use sugar free, zero calorie, Torani syrups. Raspberry for the vanilla protien and caramel for the chocolate protein. Yummy! They almost taste like a regular milkshake. They are really low in sugar too. I use 8oz. of fat free milk which adds another 9g protein. So my vanillla/raspberry shakes ends up being 29g and the chocolate/caramel is 49g. I make one in the morning and drink it as I drive to work. They have really helped me with my appetite too.

Hi there. I understand your situation. I have three kids (19mo, 8yr & 9yr). I get banded on April 28th, but I have been staying away from sugar, chocolate, rice, potatoes and pasta for almost 2 months. I just have to pretend that I am a short order cook. I make regular dinners (chicken, veggie and starch). I just put chicken and veggies on my plate. That way they are not deprived and I am eating what is on my plan. The hardest temptation is the goodies my husband is constantly eating. He'll leave a container of cookies in our bedroom or by the couch. It is easier to do what I need to do if I don't have to see them eating the "goodies" or have the "goodies" within view. So, I just put the "goodies" away. I've asked my husband to refrain from eating that stuff in front of me. With each day it gets easier. I try really hard not to think "I will never be able to eat <blank> again". Instead I just remind myself that I am not choosing to eat that stuff today. I'm not going to worry about tomorrow. Today is my focus. Do you have any tricks that work for you?

My husband is having a lot of fear over me getting this surgery. He is worried that I am going to get skinny and leave him. We both know of couples where this happened. I wasn't very close to any of these couples so I don't know what their marriage was like. But, I do know what my marriage is like. I'm trying to calm his fears. But, it is frustrating. I would prefer to have his support at calming my fears instead of the other way around. Has anyone else had to deal with this?

So, the ironic thing is that my husband lost 70 pounds in the last year. He's not planning on leaving me. And he is still the same person. I guess I should remind him of that the next time he brings it up. If our relationship was not affected by his weight loss, why would mine?

My surgery is scheduled for the 28th. I'm taking a week off of work. I'm nervous about going back to work while still on the liquid diet. I heard there are plans for a team building event that week that involves a BBQ challenge (one team vs. the other). Great! Maybe I should just call in sick that day. I really don't want to have to answer questions. My work is a great place. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff is planned around food. Good luck everybody. I would love to be band buddies with you.

I love my magic bullet!!! I use it every morning for my protein shakes. I bought mine at Costco for about $45. It came with 8 cups, a solid lid, and a commuter lid. The blender cups are perfect for taking to work. I just measure out my non-fat milk, add the protein powder and sugar free Torani syrup (either caramel or raspberry) and blend. I like the AMP protein powder from GNC. I blend for about 30 seconds and it is perfect. The magic bullet is even small enough to take on trips. I am going to try to blend one in the morning to put in the fridge for lunch. That way, when the all liquid diet is here I will know if it works for me or not.