I am scheduled to have the lap band done on May 18th and am currently on the Optifast plan...starving...sick of shakes already and it has only been three days! Which makes me wonder if I can do this...Any input from those of you who have had this would be appreciated. Thanks.

It gets better.

The first couple of days on Optifast most people feel like crap but you start getting used to it.

We have all been in the same place as you - wondering if we can do it and guess what - we all made it to the other side. One thing that helps is that there is a goal and that each stage of the eating plan is relatively short. I for one found it easier because I knew I had to stick to it to get the surgery, then the liquid stage was only 2 weeks and that was to help me heal etc.

You will be fine and soon you will have joined the rest of us on the other side.

All the best.

I had 16 days on the pre-op of medi-trim shakes. I got through it and of course we're all hungry in the beginning. It seemed to get easier past day 4 or 5. Keep yourself busy and I drank a lot of hot teas - that seemed to help especially in the evenings. I was banded on Wednesday, and have absolutely no regrets, I feel great today - hardly any pain at all. I agree with Elcee we've all been there but just hang in there and surgery day will be here before you know it.

I tried to look at it as a means to an end, I can do a month of shakes if it means that I will have a "cure" for my lifetime of being hungry.

It really does get better....day 3 was about the worst for me. After 3 days, the carbs and sugars began to leave my system and the cravings subsided. I also got a bit more creative with my allowable diet...no one said broth had to be plain chicken broth from a can..so I would get minestrone or albondigas and only skim the liquid off it....flavor to spare and still legal. The other thing to consider, is that you are doing pre-op with no help. Its all you, and its the worst it will ever be [except for "bandster hell" as after surgery you likely won't want to eat and the shakes will be more than enough for you at the start.

That said, only you can truly know if this is the right thing to do. We can all over opinions and support for what ever your decision is. I think you will find the overwhelming majority of us here will answer "YES" to the question "are you glad you did this, even with the tough Patches that you went through?". Best of luck to you.

Thanks for the posts ladies! It has been getting a little easier with the shakes...I figure if I can do this and not cheat one little bit I can do anything. This site is so helpful! Answers to lots of questions I never even thought to ask! I do have one question though...how do you get your diet ticker on your profile? I created one but can't figure out where I am supposed to paste it? Thanks!!:confused:

OMG!! I tried for over an hour to get my ticker on here and finally gave up after copying and pasting a million times.

prat72, did you go into user cp and click on edit signature, Then paste the link?

I think I got it. Not sure what I did different. Thanks.

Honestly, I think the pre-op diet was the hardest part about getting lapband! If you can survive this, the rest is cake! (I guess I shouldn't be using a cake analogy, huh? LOL)

I know this is hard. But its worth doing and you can do it. I just took it 1 day at a time. I said self you can do anything for one day. Chop it up into little portions and time will fly. Oh, and I can tell you it is so worth it, You won't regret it!

Seems some days are "hungrier" than others. The weather here has been nasty..snowing, raining and gloomy. If the sun would just shine I could get outside into my flower beds and think about something else! I have only lost about 3 lbs on the Optifast so far. They told me you could lose up to 20 lbs on this...wondering what everyone else lost? Still have another week to go but doubt I will lose 17 lbs in a week.