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Hi tjdorsett. I also am going to have my band surgery at Angeles Hospital on November 26th. It's coming up so fast. I'm both nervous and excited. How was your experience going to Mexico?

Ok I am still having a lot of pain when I try and eat soild foods, but I did notice yesterday that I was eating too fast and not thinking about how much I was chewing. So I slowed down and started concentrating on every bite, it seem to be working until the phone at work started ringing and people started coming over to my desk wanting things and before I knew it I was in pain once more. I think I may be one of the lucky ones as far as Pbing and slimming goes, I have only pbed once since having my band and I was at home when it happened, thank god!!! I did miss that day of work tho, I just felt too bad to go in and to be honest I was a little scared too. I have also noticed it would be very easy to cheat the band...hmmmm maybe I shouldnt say it like that, maybe I should say what it really is, to cheat myself. Potatoe chips go down with no problem, so does cheetos and most cookies I have tried. Chicken and beef I have a hard time with tho, I think it is the chewing it up good enough that is the problem, I have to learn to take "baby sized bites". Some said to use a baby spoon but I just dont know about that one, maybe. Well back to work for now......

I'm 2 weeks post op and I'm starting to drink smoothie kings gladiator 20oz for my protein. Does anyone know if that stretches your sleeve?? Obviously I get full very fast but I keep drinking to try and get my protein in... I drink a little more than half and then I cant take it anymore!

I talked to my clinic and they said not to worry, liquids are going right thru and as the swelling goes down we get more hungry. Just be careful not to drink too fast.......... Next stage when I get to some more solids (if that is what you want to call pureed and blenderized) I will have to go back to measuring and probably more frequent meals and Snacks. But for now, liquids only, I am good.

So I went to my first appt on jan 14th..met with the nutritionist and the PA...the appt took about 3 hours...then on jan 17th met with the psychologist...got the paper work for his approval on i think jan 24th...waited until the 29th to have the PA call me back saying the psych eval was good enough for them as well...had my appt on feb 4th with the surgeon. jan 31st the docs office submitted to the insurance company...called on the 1st to make sure they got it and just got a call saying i'm approved!!! yay!! so now i have to wait until the docs office opens so that we can set up a date!! I still need to lose a few more lbs...and fast...any suggestions?

Since being banded... Im ..."fertile"..twice a month now, with all that implies...but even more bizzaar (because im usually a very funny, upbeat person my friends would describe me as happy and gets along with everyone) is that IM NOT THAT NOW. I go from one minute all "oh i love my northern new england town and singing 'life in a northern town' " while walking to "oh my god its fecking cold and i fecking hate everythign about this." and little things which never USED to get to me, get to me BIGTIME. I lost my fecking ipod this morning that i usually take to the gym..and i blew a gasket! Im hold up right now privately so i can get my mood in check before going back to the house and searching for it again where i will be around other people. This morning i was near throwing things because i was out of vanilla slim fast. lol. Now that i read it , its funny ...but at the time it sure wasnt. ANYONE ELSE GOING THROUGH THIS???

I'm home after stopping to have lunch on the way back. It was entirely uneventful. I love my bariatric team. They had the right blend of leaving me alone to read and relax with intermittent stopping by to chat and make me chuckle while I was waiting for my turn. I'll be working with many if not all of the same peeps when I have the big surgery, and it was great knowing I'll feel comfortable with them! Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 using VST

I will try and provide some anecdotal experience around cross fit to answer your question. In addition to this online approach to cross fit, there are usually 1-3 cross fit gyms in a local area. Usually these gyms will be open gym format and like to cater to military, police and fire departments. They are also open to anyone who is interested in a really challenging workout regimen. Most cross fit gyms require all members to take a foundation class with a group or a PT set of sessions to become familiar with the exercises and equipment before participating in a group setting. This can be waived of course if you demonstrate proficiency from previous cross fitting. Usually this will cost about 100. Typically, the cross fit routine involves a WOD (work out of the day) that is different every single day and is designed to push your individual athletic ability. You are side by side with a group of others doing the WOD going as hard and as fast as you can. It is intense and will challenge you because every time you personally strive to better your results. Usually a monthly membership will cost about 120. My gym dues are 150 a month. Some gyms also let you pay per session, but this is usually more expensive. When finished with a WOD you record it on the board and in a notebook so you can have a record of all your progressions. You are competing with yourself for more reps, faster time not with the others even though you will all be doing the same workout. You will be pushed to the extreme, heart rate soaring sweat flowing and sometimes a little blood (not seen myself). These workouts give you real results not to bulk up, but to become a high end athlete. A workout of the day might involve Olympic lifts, squats, burpies, rope climbs, handstand pushups, 1 mile sprints, pull ups, push ups, etc. I think there are probably 100s of different exercises that are available to build billions of different WOD combinations. For this reason, I wanted to become technically proficient with a PT before participating in an open gym with a group of others. That is just my decision because I am a relatively new lifter and want to prevent injury and also learn how to be successful in the WOD groups session. I paid for 18 PT sessions up front ( about 700) and it is entirely worth it. I am learning so much plus I have a PT who is really challenging me on technique and on becoming stronger. She is great. There are a few WOD I have posted here on VST. For example, 2 mile sprint followed by heavy squats for 2 minutes, repeat 4 x. Some guys are there 6 days a week. I think this is possible because most WOD are HIIT and not strictly lifting. However, I have seen some of these guys do a 1 rep of 500 lb Olympic lift and they are not body builders. Incredible! So I guess I am saying that the cross fit gym can be both for HIIT cardio and lifting outside of regular exercising. Again, you (anyone) will really enjoy the challenges and results of cross fit. I hope you (everyone) decide to join. You will have a number of friends on VST that will share in your successes. So far, I think I have counted about 10 that have said they cross fit with 2-3 really involved in it. I am sure there are many more that have not posted heir cross fit experiences and results. My results from cross fit are similar to Aarons, but not quite as far along. I hope to reach these types of results in about 4 months. You can be the judge at the end of the 4 months.

I can understand how you are feeling blue because you will never eat the same way as you have in the past. Food has been a part of our social lives for such a long time and it will take time to change the way we think about food. I have recently started running and fast walking at the gym and have met some supportive friends. A good workout and a shower after makes me feel so good. I hope you can start to find your new path as I have and find peace in your food funeral. The road has a Y in it now and you will need to choose which way to go. Are you on MyFitnessPal? If so my user name is retrievertrainer1. You can do this!

Dont worry I cheated and felt better for it. I only ate good healthy foods. Not large qty. Just 1cup.Tuna..applesauce, did eat pizza one supper. They require shrunk liver. So the last 1/2wk stick to liquid.. Gotta give it 5 days for certain. Read some didnt have to fast b4 surgery. That wasnt my surgoen lol Sent from my SM-G930R4 using the BariatricPal App

Im 8 weeks out and like you tried to practice and it was very hard to take small bites and chew chew chew and believe me post op you will learn this quick but one thing you can do which I wish I had was practice the slowing down, putting your fork down use a timer if need this is a very hard habit. I have gotten sick twice so far and both times from eating to fast....good luck!

A few days ago I had to multi-task as I got ready for work. I was sitting at the computer checking email and combing my hair after my morning shower. I had to get the sticky lint brush out to get all the hair off the front of my shirt. I took a long strip off and did my back as best I could because I was pretty sure the back of my shirt probably looked about as hairy as the front. I wouldn't even mind if I was losing weight really fast but I'm not. Or if only the gray fell out.

I am having my surgery this Thursday and I have cheated so so so bad on opti fast pre op diet. I'm nervous the surgeon won't band me. I am self pay and have saved this money for many years. Can anyone help me please

Greetings from another Chicago bandster! You might want to check the "need encouragement" thread here that Jenna started; she had to quit smoking too. How about giving yourself a vacation in the city? Check all museums and landmarks that tourists always manage to see but a lot of us residents miss. Painting a room is a good idea, just 'cause it's something physical, and it's hard to eat when your hands are covered with paint. The liquid fast sucks, but personally I would love to have time off from work and school with nothing to do but amuse myself (and keep myself from going nuts while passing Mrs. Fields and Garrett Popcorn). You can still go downtown -- maybe meet friends at least once a week, even if you're just going to be sipping something. Think of this as a chrysalis period: You're going dormant for just a short while, and will emerge with new wings when it's over. Good luck!

Sissy - You are too restricted, or drinking too fast, or both. You may also be experiencing esophageal spasms, which is pain on the first bite that subsides after that initial pain. Since you're not eating solids yet I don't think it's spasms, but it could be. Try very warm liquids first thing. Cold drinks are going to make you feel even more restricted, if you're already very tight. Sometimes warm drinks can help relax your restriction a little. But it really sounds to me as though you need to have some fill removed. NO, you are not supposed to be in pain. Honest. And please do not put this off!! A burning sensation could very well be reflux, and that becomes very dangerous very fast. Keep us posted!

Wow that day went really fast for you! I am glad it went so well. If the worst part was the IV then you are a lucky lady. Keep us posted on the progress.

Ok...run as fast as you can and never look back. Thankfully there are no children involved and you're still young enough to repair your life. Take it from someone who knows, they don't change. Congratulations on your very brave and mature decision!

Sorry with the situation hang in their best luck time will go by fast it will be worth improving your yhealth

How do i make my story short and not so sweet? Anyway I had my sleeve done August 15th and was oh so happy and was dropping pounds like bombs and my doc was like you can exercise after 2 weeks. So what does Tashara do after 2 weeks? I went for a nice little bike-ride around DC, 2miles tops. Anyways, I came back and collapsed at my desk and had a high fever. (this was last Tuesday 8/30). So I go to kaiser urgent care who checks my blood and sends me home with Tylenol and says I have a bug. OK. Wednesday I call my surgeons office (Dr. Salemah and Dr. Mayes) and go in to have a UGI to make sure my sleeve is in good condition. So my sleeve is great, and then I suddenly get sharp pains in my left side along with my 102+ fever. But they too send me home and say follow up with PCP. Now its Thursday and I'm about to die and so I see my primary who puts me on an IV, antibiotics (Invans) and liquid Tylenol for my fever. They check my blood pressure and it has dropped to 88\48! Usually I have to take Lisinopril for my pressure but I haven't even taken it since my surgery, so that is some very low numbers. So my doc puts me on another bag of fluid and sends me home when my fever drops to 99 and my pressure is up to 95\56. I woke up early Friday morning shivering like no other and a temp of 104.3. I called an ambulance and was rushed to the ER. So they gave me a CT scan and come to find out..my spleen has an abscess of liquid on it. So now i'm being transported to Virginia Hospital Center (where I had my surgery) and of course Dr. Mayes comes to meet me and he is rushing me to their CT scan so they can take out my infected spleen and place a drain tube through my back to get all of the excess fluid. Pain Pain Pain Pain. Saturday, the infectious disease doc comes in and totally freaks me out saying that the spleen and the stomach are basically connected by some blood vessels. When they cut my stomach they had to remove the cells connected to the spleen which usually dies off and grows back. But instead mines picked up salmonella. SALMONELLA!!!! Has any body ever heard of a crazy thing like that. I caught salmonella during surgery on my friggin spleen. Like of all the times I have eaten somewhere that might not have been the cleanest or pigged out on some nasty fast food, I catch salmonella poisoning on my spleen during surgery. So my labor day weekend was spent in the hospital and I came home finally today with a taped up back and a drain with yucky stuff dripping out. Would i be wrong to ask my surgeon to foot my hospital bill, I mean c'mon son!

I went into this thinking I was gonna have to do three months medically supervised weight loss, then last week I found out that I have no supervised weight loss required and just a few appointments to take care of. Those appointments are scheduled for this week. My patient advocate says I can have surgery next month as my insurance normally approves in a week. At first I was really excited that I didn't have to wait months for surgery as I have been doing nothing for the last month but reading about it and participating on these boards. But now that October is drawing close and I have so little left to do I feel like it's all happening really fast and I'm getting nervous. Maybe all the people that have to wait months have a good thing, I don't know maybe it's just my nerves getting the best of me. Or maybe I should give myself a few extra weeks to schedule surgery, I just don't know

tQ I am in Dallas too and did the surgery at end if august. I was 195 and 5'5" so u aren't crazy. I new I had to do something because years of yoyo dieting wasn't working. As for shakes I use out fast vanilla and love it with PB2 added. Tastes like a peanut butter shake and if you use skim milk it has 28 grams of protein! But it's a meal replacement shake too so I get lots of other vitamins as well. Can order on amazon. Also for straight protein I like gold standard vanilla ice cream shake mix from GNC. Hope that helps.

I have been waiting for almost eight months for mine. I finally got the ok from the insurance five days ago. I scheduled the surgery two weeks from tomorrow. I start my new diet tomorrow. Recently everything has been moving so fast. I'm really excited and scarred at the same time. I'm 5'1 and weigh 200 pounds. To many it might be crazy that I'm doing a sleeve but they only see the 200 and not the fact that I'm short, really short for the weight. I really do not have anybody to share what I'm feeling so I'm glad I found this forum. Schedule date for the surgery is Oct 2. Does anyone have any good shakes that they recommend?

I have my banding date 11/06/07. I've been on my pre-op diet for a few days and find the Protein drinks help as my normal dieting technique is fasting. I got some unjury and do like that but just picked up some Myoplex Lite with 25 grams that is already made for the office. It tastes ok but it is lumpy! Yuck!! My question is I've told management that with my surgery on Tuesday that I would try and be back in the office on Thursday. Am I being a total optimist? Anyone out there able to return to a very sedate office position in this amount of time? Thanks.

after 8 months and several fills, I am finally losing about 2 pounds per week and feel like the band is finally working for me. It took awhile to get here but if you are feeling the same way, be patient. I wanted immediate results but my surgeon went slow and I did not loose too fast and my vitamin levels are good. HAPPY AT LAST and down 50 pounds with 20 left to go!

I was banded 12/22 and have had good weight loss and some loss of inches that has been even better. Still on Clear Liquids, but allow myself sugar free pudding sometimes when I am really hungry. Will be on clear liquids until 1/23 when I get my first fill. Only have pain in my stomach area, no port pain. Incisions are all sealed up and healed fast. This website has been a great support. Thank you all!