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just be carefull. I got my surgery date august 8th, we set it for october 2nd, in that time i had to lose 30 pounds. I am seriously addicted to food. Anyway, i spent this period doing the be good for two days thing, fall off the wagon because "well, I still have a lot of time left." so eating whatever i wanted. I would always tell myself, this is the last time, sh&*, I've been telling myself that for the last ten years. I finally weighed myself the day after my preop phone consult, tradition scales do not weigh me. I had to order one and have it overnighted. I had only lost ten pounds. I had to call my doctors preop nurse back on friday and tell here I had only lost 10 pounds. She told me that my dr office is really being sticklers about the weight loss thing and 30 pounds means 30 pounds. So if I don't lose twenty pound by the second I will be canceled. I weighed friday at about 5 in the morning, and again saturday at 3 in the afternoon and had lost 5 pounds so far. So, I may make it. I guess my whole point is, for me anyway, the one last time, or one last week to eat how i wanted to didn't work, because the way I am now, it's never one last time. Just make sure you lose the weight you need to in time, so you don't have to do what I'm doing, aka 500-600 calories a day, it is rough. Espically since I know if I do make my surgery date I will never get to have one of thoes binging days again, ever. And they are about my favorite thing in the world. So I am really depressed right now, seems like my best friend just moved away, i hope it gets easier, the whole not being able to eat the way I used to thing. I just love food. As my consult weight of 505 pounds would attest to. Anyway, I had a succient point at first, sorry for all the rambling crap. hope everyone is doing well. brian

I go in tomorrow morning, 10:30am, it will be the first day of the rest of my healthy life. I am surprisingly calm, not worried, just excited.

I am so sorry to hear this! If you have pouch dilation it does not take that long for it to heal, usually the treatment is to empty the band and let it rest for about 6 weeks and then slowly restart filling, some people can get back to the green zone with no issues, but after a pouch dilation you have to be more careful with portion sizes and measure and careful with Pbing and sliming. You may want to seek another opinion with another surgeon and see if they can replace your band, if you have the older 4cc bands they were more prone to issues than with the newer bands, but all bands can have the same issues but the older bands were higher pressure which caused more issues. Hope you can find answers. Thanks. What is pouch dilation? I have a 10 CC Vanguard Band placed in 9/8/06. I have never ever wanted it removed. And I really don't know about replacing it. . . . it was working fine before my breast cancer surgery.

Thanks all for the well wishes and thoughts. It's done! I didn't chicken out! The surgery went well. They talked about the nausea so much before the surgery that I was a little scared. I HATE, HATE, HATE being nauseous. But I wasn't nauseous at all - not at all! The nurses were amazed that I did so well - they said they wished all their patients came through so well. The surgery was completed by 11am and I was released from the Surgery Center by 2:30 and back at my hotel. Today is Post-op day 2 and I am home and feeling fine. Other than some pains from the Gas - which for some reason landed in my shoulders and upper back - I am feeling quite normal. liquids are going down well and I don't feel hungry yet. So on to the journey - here's my stats: 284 - Starting Weight 274 - Pre Surgery (lost 10 lbs on pre-surgery diet) 44 - BMI From what I see on the posts, most folks are losing 7-10 pounds a month, so I'll make that my goal and see how it goes.

Yes, it feels great to be able to go down in sizes! From a size 28 to an 8/10 and 5 pounds to go. But, sadly, for me, I have become somewhat of a shopaholic (online). It is really ridiculous, especially since I am currently really only able to get to doctor's appointments and out for some quick grocery trips on Saturday. I mean, with my now extensive wardrobe, how often am I really going to wear all of these clothes? I really came to grips with my clothes buying problem a few weeks ago. Yes, it is true, food addiction can be replaced with shopping addiction, gambling, alcohol, etc, etc. Along another line, I am really pissed that I bought so many of these tops that billow out and make me look pregnant! Why did I buy them? Those are the style of clothes that I used to buy when I wanted to hide because I was so overweight. Is anyone else tired of all the billowy styles?

150 lbs still seems so far seems so far away! Anyhow, I'm planning to do something big, maybe dye my hair with light red or blonde streaks. I also want to take some sexy, boudair pictures to surprise my husband (who loved me, cherished and cared for me as much as when I was 250 lbs as he does now). I'd like to buy a few cute sundresses to wear on my family's annual 4th of July beach trip. Just for fun, three "vanity" goals I've already accomplished: 1. Hit ONEderland 2. Get into a sz 16, sz 14, sz 12, then sz 10 jeans 3. Wearing a medium shirt

To get samples I highly recommend Nashua Nutrition! They sell samples of almost everything they sell. If a manufacturer doesn't offer a sample, Nashua Nutrition will package individual servings out of the larger containers. Each sample was $1.95 and I ordered $45 worth of samples and got them within 3 business days. I loved that I could try such a wide variety of manufacturers and flavors without committing to a large container. I put my shipping invoice on the fridge and everytime I try a flavor or product I rate it from 1 to 10 on how I liked it. It will make it much easier later to know how well I liked each one and which ones I want to order a full size off! Good luck!

I don't like to use the terminology that the sleeve "worked for me". I worked IT. It is a tool. If you use it in the right way, and do the outside work you need to do in addition to physical work - you will be successful. The big thing is being willing to do the work. I stuck to the basics to a "t" until I reached my goal weight (at least 70g of Protein, no more than 40g of carbs, and at least 100g of Water daily). The weight fell off and I reached goal (over 100 pounds lost) in 10 months. Without much additional "physical" or "diet" effort, over the course of the next 10 months I continued to lose and am now at my dream goal weight of 124 and maintaining. I would say beyond the formula of protein, carbs, and water given above, the BIGGEST contributor to my success was being willing to do the hard emotional work to figure out why I was abusing myself with food in the first place. I didn't get to be nearly 300 pounds by eating normal portions or normal meals and Snacks. I have been going weekly to a therapist who works specifically with eating disorder and wls patients for well over a year now. I KNOW without a doubt that without that, I would have regained. It is about so much more than the food you put in your mouth. And it is not about whether or not "the sleeve worked for me" but whether I worked the sleeve to its full potential.

I would have said something like.....you mean like the other 10 times I have lost 60 pounds by myself and gained it back? At least this gives me a fighting chance and by the way...thanks for your support.

Hi everyone. I was banded on 12/19 so this is my second day. I was working so hard before my surgery that I didn't have time to get registered and read the posts. What I would like to know is 'should I still be in so much upper and lower belly pain?' I really thought I would be able to move a lot better than I am. Can anyone tell me their experience with the pain and how long I should expect to be down? Thank you.

Still sitting in office waiting to be seen for my FIRST appt at 10:30. They set up EKG for 11:30...that appt is toast. Not getting off to a great start. Met a new bander she looked great!

I am only one week post op and I have not lost an ounce since surgery. I lost about 13 lbs on my pre op diet (10 days prior to surgery). I feel like I am still holding on to a lot of edema and swelling from the surgery. I have to stop weighing myself everyday. I think I am going to wait one week b4 I weigh myself again..... who am I kidding. I will wake up, strip naked and get on the scale in the morning like I do every day.

1. Explain that using the pre-approval time to change your habits, Use the time to learn to chew chew chew your food, learn how to not drink Water with your meal. 2. Advice them to start charting their foods in advance on something like myfitnesspal.com or fitday so they can actually get an understanding of how much they actually take in. 80 grams of Protein and lowering the carbs now will make it easier later. 3. Tell them to try walking 10k steps a day and the faster they work on improving bad behaviors in advance the better it will be. 4. For those that eat only dinner and then snack all night, tell them to try finding a high Protein shake to start kick starting their metabolism in the morning. 5. Explain the reasoning behind no caffeine. I was told no caffeine no real reasoning why at first. Finally it was explained better about the dehydration and that if they can start weaning off in advance a little at a time it's better. Better to do it before the pre-op shake phase or after surgery. Why have withdrawals during those times. 6. Don't binge the day before the pre-op shake because it will make so much harder. Do your last chance meal a few days before the shake, and a sensible meal the night before shakes otherwise the first day of shakes is unbearable. 7. If you have to have a drain explain that. I freaked about this when I learned about it after I got my date. 8. Realistically that drinking is not easy the first week out and you won't be able to chug a bottle down and gulp after surgery. 9. Realistically this is only a tool and if you don't modify your behavior before and after, it will not be successful. 10. The week after surgery you may likely GAIN weight because of inflammation, water retention after surgery etc. it will go away. 11. It's up to them to make it successful, this isn't a cure-all. 12. Walking is vital, start working on some of form of exercise, now and after surgery walk. 13. However long your program is whether it's 1 month - 6 months, use the time wisely and it starts THEN not after surgery. 14. Realistically the challenges you find, regarding acid reflux, slowly incorporating food one at a time, and that the things you craved before surgery may not be tolerated after surgery. I haven't had surgery yet, but these are things I learned along the way that seems to have helped me and these are things I wish I would have known.

Wow... I hope you start to feel better real soon. I have my protein shake for a morning snack around 10 - 10:30, it takes me a good 1/2 hour to drink. It is 64 grams of protein, then I have approximatley another 20 grams of protein, thru yogurt, cottage cheese etc.

Brian, thanks for the offer but I must confess that I actually like many of the products. But you don't need to be out $300. If you ordered within the last 30 days you can get a full refund on up to 10 boxes as long as not more than one packet has been used in the box. If it's more than 30 days, sell it all on ebay! I did that once. You usually get back at least half your money selling it on ebay.

Good but get some Imodium for standby. SD: 10/10/12, Converted from Lapband to RNY, HW (before band) 263, HW (RNY) 230, Preop 219, after surgery 223, current 210

Ahhh...yes, I had those leg squeezers on too, but I had a catheter so I got to rest ~ well sorta! I too had a nausea aversion to the pain meds so they had to give me an anti nausea med to help me not want to barf. I still felt like I might so each time I pushed the pain pump, I grabbed the handy pink pail & stuck it under my mouth...just in case. Never did vomit tho ~ thankfully. I was sent home with anti nausea meds too as well as pain meds. What made my experience horrendous was that I was in the room with a crazy lady! She had the bed by the window & she screamed all night long. So nurses & techs were coming & going all night long with machines on carts & each time they passed my bed, they bumped into it, sending me jolting half out of my bed! Same with just walking back & forth, I can't tell you how many times some worker tripped on my bed, which jolted my bed again. At one point the lady started screaming to the nurses "Kill me, please Kill me!" By that point, I was ready to chirp up & say to the nurses "if you don't, I WILL!" So much for being a good Christian! OMG that lady just about killed me that night, not letting me rest for more than 10 mins at a time. So I complained to anyone & everyone who would listen to me & about 6am, they moved me to another room! I went from Hell to Heaven. They moved me into a room with the SWEETEST 92 y/o lady! I would have brought her home with me if I could. She was so concerned if her TV was too loud for me (where the other crazy one left her TV on all night at the loudest volume). Her machine kept going off & beeping if she moved her right arm for some reason & she'd be all upset that I had to hear the beeping. By that point, after what I had endured in the other room, it really didn't bother me but I did ring the nurses to ask if they could unbeep her arm (haha). One of them showed me how to do it too but I was afraid, just in case it meant something. We both nearly cried when it was time for me to be released....I hope she's doing fine but she had heart & renal problems....poor thing. Anyway, I got both the bad & the good all rolled up in one 24 hour period at the hospital! I also was assigned a nurse's assistant who had been on the job (from school) for her second day. She was the BEST assistant ever too. So gentle, so kind & so caring. Hope she will remain that way as time goes on. The nurses were abusing her ~ making her do everything while they did nothing. Then again, I don't know how hard the nurses were working with others. I can only post what I saw happening to me. So that's my story & I'm sticking to it!

I started my pre-op diet 2/17 and was banded on 3/3. Since 2/17 I have lost 20lbs..up until about two weeks ago. However, since 2/17 i've lost a nearly 40 inches from my body..10 inches being from the past two weeks. What gives? Anyone else experience anything similar?

Yup, everyone is different. I am 10 days post op and I am about 85% feeling good. Still very swollen and have minor incisions soreness. I have no children living with me and hubby is doing all the household chores

I am 28 and in college. I was banded 1/4/10. I am struggling to find the right foods to fit in my schedule but I think I am getting it down. I didn't want to use Protein shakes all the time but I am starting to have them more often due to my schedule. It is helping me stick to the plan. All my lab partners are trying to lose weight. So they think I am just trying the same things they are and losing. I haven't told many people about my surgery. I feel more like it is a private issue for me. I have thought about sharing but don't feel I know anyone well enough yet. This is only my second semester after a ten year break. I think eventually it is going to come up though when they realize I am losing alot. I will be taking off this summer and hopefully be accepted and start nursing in the fall. I will be way down by then and I am sure it will come out. By then I will probably be shouting it from the roof tops. I just don't like having everyone as a food policemen. I am going to visit my brother over spring break. I am so excited about it I could bust. Don't know if I should mention the surgery or not. I don't want to but spending the week with him he may notice my new strange eatting habits. Oh well if people find out I guess. It was my decision and I don't regret it.

I just took 10 days off, and found my first 2 back at work sucked...but it was my fault as I was not taking in enough water/protein shakes etc. I am now forcing myself to have some really high Protein shakes and I feel fine!

Ok, so I have been having these pains since Weds., about 6 days now. I've been hoping it's just gas or a new kind of period cramps or something, but 6 days of this seems like a long time. On a scale from 1-10, this is a 9 on the pain scale. It feels like realllly bad gas pains, almost like labor. I get it in the lower left, and right abdomen, and it's also vaginal and rectal. Weird, I know. It's like being stabbed! Also, it's never in more than one spot at a time. It isn't consistent. Sometimes it is there for a few hours, sometimes it's just one stabbing pain for 5 seconds. Has anyone experienced this? I am almost 4 weeks post-op. If it's still bothering me tomorrow, I'm going to go in to the doctor.

I COMPLETELY know how that feels!!! I was a mess for weeks 1 & 2. The hunger and feelings of doubt took me D O W N. I cried, was angry and pretty much stayed in my bedroom so I wouldn't contaminate my household with all my negative emotions. What did help me was having at least one friend over per day even if it was only for 30 minutes. The days that I did that, I didn't feel quite as badly. I'm a single mom and although my kids are super supportive and understanding, I needed peer support. I did an odd thing that helped tremendously and I'm not sure why it worked. On July 4th (10 days post-op), my daughter (16yo) invited several friends over for burgers and sparklers that evening. I grilled the best burgers I've probably ever made that day and served it with Sun Chips and freshly sliced watermelon. They thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing them eat and enjoy something so much gave me a huge amount of pleasure. I did take a small bite of the hamburger patty and chewed on it for a very long time and just spit it into a napkin rather than swallowing it. Gross! I know!!! But I just had to know how they tasted. I've spent way too much money on shakes that the smell or even thought of them made me nauseous. Isopure got me through a rough patch since it's not thick. It leaves a weird dry feeling in my mouth, but it was better than a shake. A few days ago, I came across a protein shake that seems to be the one I can deal with. I had never heard of it before. It's called 52e, vanilla cream. I couldn't stand anymore flavored, fake tasting shakes and had stopped doing them all together. Before that, I mainly drank BioTrust (internet only) since it wasn't laden with so many artificial things in it. Just know that you're in the "dark period" and you're not alone. It just feels BAD. But coming out the other side of it will make you feel stronger and more in control than ever. So, go call "your people" and have them come for a visit! Friends are good!

Well, you are 63 years young! Upon seeing my results, my mom was so impressed and I got her a fitbit. At 67 (and retired), she started VERY slowly...and now, she's easily clearing 10k a day without even thinking of it. The idea is to set a small goal, keep it consistently and slowly add as your body leads you. You are too precious not to give your body as much cardio as you can get in. I always think about my car (I don't expect it to last over 10 years), and yet look at all the maintenance I do for it, oil, etc. What more my 1 body I get as a gift from God per lifetime. Every single step you take is worth it! I'm sure when you are well enough, the fighter in you will rise up and say "Oh Heck no! My life is just beginning!!!"

I track on myfitnesspal since surgery 10/18 I lost 111 lbs so far!!!