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Different Doctors have different methods. Mine told me the week before surgery I could have one shake per day along with a small meal and rest being liquid. I had already lost 38lbs during the 6 month supervised diet required by insurance so he figured that was good enough. As stated the purpose is to shrink your liver for a easier and safer surgery.

I think a week before my surgery I'm just going to start low carbing since I plan to do so once I have the actual band. I'm just going to cut out the garbage and the bread and sugar and detox my body from that so its not that bad of a shock after surgery. See I enjoyed low carbing when I did it but I couldn't stick with it because I was always so effing hungry! With the band... I can do it and not be hungry all of the time.

I was very sore for 4 weeks. Incredibly sore, actually. It hurt to move, bend and even sit. My surgeon told me that he felt I had a pulled or "sprained" muscle. I'm 5 weeks out now, and the pain is gone...so I think he was right!

I joined about a year ago..not realizing how long this process would actually take - but i am FINALLY done with all those things I had to do!!!! I hope to be called tomorrow by the surgery coordinator --- I'm thinking i will be banded in June!!!! You have no idea how excited I am. I couldnt read posts before because i was so frustrated that this took so long! Ok...so I'm so very ready to be banded....I hope there are others that will be banded in June that i can start this journey with...this site has also changed alot in a year, I hope to be more versed in it. Is there others here going through Arcadia Methodist? I need to study what to have the first 1-4 weeks! This makes me nervous! Any encouragement, suggestions, help would be great. Others feedback would be immensly helpful i'm sure!

My surgery was 2008, 2009 saw me hit my ideal weight and 2010 saw me injur my back and gain a few pounds to lose over again in 2011. Other than my sciatic having this surgery has been a major force in improving my health. I've had one cold in the 24 months. So how do I start 2011? With my first attack of the flu. The wierd part is I wouldn't have known it wasn't the flu if my wife hadn't the same symptoms a week ago. Initially I thought I had torn a stomach muscle as the pain on my stomach was pretty intense. A heating pad was the only thing that helped. It got so bad I was starting to have ideas that ny port had torn loose or was infected. I'm not a hypocondriac normally, but this pain was intense. Finally when I vomited I decided it was just the flu. But in 51 years I've never had a flu with such pain. I just thought I'd relate it.

That's awesome. I can't wait for the liquid phase to be over either. I have 2 weeks before and two weeks after the surgery. So that's 4 weeks!

I am 6 weeks out and my boyfriend is taking me out to dinner to Celebrate a new job. We decided on sushi for dinner. Before I get chastised for anything, I know I can't have rice. Really. I know. My favorite roll doesn't have rice or seaweed anyway. It's just tuna wrapped around shredded crab meat. One of my friends had her surgery 4 years out and said she started with eating the inside of spring rolls because it was soft and went down easy then graduated her self to small bites of teriyaki chicken or some grilled fish. Then slowly moved to rolls with rice. I already do just fine with grilled fish. I love salmon. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Maybe a fish and veggie dish? Any sushi ideas?

@@zonetracy My next flight will be September 30th. I haven't had my surgery yet but looks like it will be the first or second week in August. Hoping I loose enough weight by then! Can't wait to hear how much slack you have in that belt come September

Veg, it's actually easier to quit smoking because you don't have cigs sitting around in your kitchen cabinets. For me it wasn't easy the first week but now I don't even think about it (ok, maybe a little).<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Food on the other hand has always been around for me, I eat mindlessly. Before I know it the food is in my mouth, I don't think twice about it. I have been heavy my entire life. I’m actually very surprised I haven’t gone over 300 lbs. <o:p></o:p> I was banded on May 21<SUP>st</SUP> and today is my first fill. I know that everyone says it’s a way of life and that I have to work with the band but I guess I just don’t get it. I hope today will be the day I GET IT.<o:p></o:p> Keep up the good work the rest of you that GET IT.<o:p></o:p>

wow! you look great!!! I am pre-surgery still, just have my psych eval last week and now they have me scheduled for my nutrition consult.. Then I guess its the preop diet time. Thanks for sharing the success story, it makes my decision alot easier. My Dr said that the band was not as effective as the bypass, but I can see it definintly is just as effective with your story. Thanks again for sharing

I'm one week post-op, and I'm hearing the same thing. I just figured it was the liquid trickling through the band into the lower half of my stomach. I've never heard so many bowel sounds without a stethoscope! LOL

So, I'm trying to do my pre pre op diet (six month diet) and have to lose 30 pounds in six weeks. The past two days I've tried to do a liquid diet and it's been harder than I anticipated. I was trying to do yard work yesterday and I was so crabby and light headed that I was yelling at my kids and it made me feel really bad. They were being pretty rambunctious but I made a totall @ss of myself to my sweet neighbors. Things like: "STOP THAT! KNOCK IT OFF! GROW A BRAIN!" :eek: I hate that out of control crabby feeling! I have never in my life talked to my kids like that let alone shout at them. They didn't seem to notice which is good but it still made me feel bad and I started to worry about life after the band :sad: When you have the band and have good restriction do you still feel light headed and grumpy bear? Or do you just not feel hungry and go about your day like normal? I do feel defeated because I totally cheated today and had fish sticks and my left over birthday cake. Needless to say I'm a pretty happy momma right now but I'm spinning my wheels if I don't get back on track. Thanks for listening

i had BM! of just over 31, bad joints, replacements, and i had lap band done three months ago. Now im down to 29 BMI... pain nearly completely gone from joints etc. all up if i remember correctly i had aboutr 75 pounds to lose. Ive lost 30 already. the quality of life now is way beyond what i would have expected from the surgery... already im benefiting in more ways than i realised i would.

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Sugarfreeme I am on same schedule as you...I'm 3 weeks postop and eating from soft menu...

Not gonna lie, that part sucked. I did clear liquids for the first 2 days, and then pureed food/full liquids for another 2 weeks. I was so bored of it! Are you doing clear liquids or full liquids? If it is full liquids, maybe I can help. I ate lots of Soup during that time. If it had any chunks in it, I would puree it in the blender. Also, I was allowed eggs at day 7, if you mix it with milk it will make them softer and hopefully they will so down better. I was also allowed to have Beans (black or refried) and hummus. I also ate a lot of SF pudding and SF Jello. Good luck!

I am now 2 weeks. And feel I might implode. Finally did get some relief the other night and it was hilarious. My 4 year old slept with me that night and I had my escape valve finally blow. Here is this little guy who out of dead sleep wakes and says "Mom, if you fart again and giggle shaking the bed I'm sending you to jail. I need to sleep not worry about breathing." I told him I was to be called the Tormentor. Gotta love a kid that young that has such a great sense of humor already.

I'm 1 week post op and feeling the same. My chest feels tight when I breathe too. Unfortionatly for me I am still having shoulder gas pain, which is driving me more crazy than anything else. I hope it all eases soon because it is uncomfy & hard to ignore. We'll get there guys, let's all try to stay positive through this process and remember the goal in mind hope we all have a better day

Same here,1week post op and chest feels much better today. Im constantly using the spirometer they sent home and it helped alot. The last week it was really tight and painful when I took deep breaths

I am down 18 lbs since my surgery date on March 12, 2009. its weird but I don't see it but MAN I can feel it, things are just feeling different all over my body. I am finally able to fit into some jeans that did not fit me for the last 6 months. I took out all of the "skinny" clothes that used to fit me when I had dropped 150 lbs and had to put away once I fell in love with my hubby and eating out at the same time. I am looking forward to 2 weddings this summer and a family trip to Orlando for 12 days with my kids and aunt and will look forward to wearing a bathing suit in public which I have not done in the last 3 years. My husband has lost 7 lbs in the last week or so just with the change of pace in the household, we both believe that this is a chance for the both of us to get healthy together. I do have one downturn to this, I have some people in my life that I would consider to be associates or people that I just know in general that are just so rude when it comes to the tact of my weight loss and gain over the last 3-4 years. ( Background ) I used to weight 350 back in 2001. Between 2001-2002 I lost a total of 150 lbs on my own ( called the I got left for a 20 yr old diet ) I was broke, paying a mortgage by myself with 2 small kids. I managed to keep the weight off for about 3 + years until I met my now husband. Over the course of 5 years I worked my way up to 290 then down to 240 then back up to 289 all over again. In all of that I was on a medically supervised diet for a period of 2 years where one med worked wonderfully but would have eventually caused me to have a heart attack so it was a NO go ... next was a placebo and then the real deal that did not work. I watched my hubby on the same study lose 50 lbs and he looked HOT ... then it stopped working for him and poof gained back 30 lbs ( and still looks hot ) all of that made me say STOP ... do something that will work. No more yo-yoing. I have a bad heart, I had at one point a 73% chance of a heart attack in the next few years or a possible stroke with my BP levels. But some people just don't get it. I am in some ways sick of the why did you, you dont need it, your fine the way you are ( whilst they are a size 3 ) commentary. I just wish that people could just look at is as yet another surgery in my book that will make my life easier to live in order to be able to see my kids grow up and have their own family. That above anything else was why I did my band. I am truly grateful for a site like this, I have met some of the nicest people that can really understand have it 50 lbs or 300 lbs to lose that its a huge part of our lives and its something that we can all do together with support and friendship and that's a wonderful thing. Sorry for the long rambling post ...

My doctor is pretty strict about eating and it is on the list to have fish. Just flake it up to the consistency of tuna fish. I am only 4 weeks out and I had it a few times. Remember to make it wet. I take yogurt and mix spices in it with a little water. I put it in a squirt bottle and leave it in the fridge overnight. You can put it on the fish for wetness and it gives it a nice taste along with the extra protein.

My "dent" hurt for while to the point I called my doctor because I believed that there must be something wrong! But he kinda laughed and said "you just had surgery a few weeks ago what do you expect." Always check and take your pain medications! Get well soon.

I started training pre-op to help with the weight loss and to get into a healthier lifestyle. Post-op, my surgeon cleared me for cardio about two weeks after surgery, then cleared me for strength training after a month. I took it very slow to compensate for the decreased calories and surgical recovery. Best of luck on your journey.

Just saying thanks to the replies i got when i was stressed about my band, i wrote last month. I did go and see my surgeon, he had no explanation for my lack of restriction. So i got a fill. At the moment i have a 4ml band in place. And when i had my fill, he said once withdrawn and put back in that i had approx 3.4mls in band. i went back in a week as the restriction was the same even after .2mls had been put in, to make the 3.4. i had another fill and to his calculations i now have 3.8 mls in a 4 ml band. I was nervous to take a drink, as i new this was pretty full up. Water went down ok, i had half a cup of mince for tea, that went down ok, i was very careful though. i have lost a furthur 2 kilos in this last 2 weeks, but i train at the gym 5 times a week, i do work and have a family. The restriction is still there but i can eat a toasted sandwich if im careful, and last night i had half a chicken breast fillet and crab meat for dinner, took a while but got through most of it. Im still concerned, i have an appointment on the 19th of march with my surgeon, i will get him to check how much is in the band. Any comments are welcome. I was banned 14th Feb 05 (weight)116kg Today i weigh 88.6kg and have lost 89cm's in total all over. Im not sure how to put up photos on this thing otherwise i would. I live in Australia in the Hunter Valley.

Is this dangerous to do? Will I stretch out my pouch? I just sort of force air out of my stomach after I eat or drink. It relieves so much pressure. I was banded 1 week and 3 days ago. What do you all think? Sounds gross I know but it really helps me..haha. What do you all think?: