I am new and this is my first thread. I started the liquid diet a few days early and have already blown it. I am so frustrated because the neighbors came over and we ended up having an impromptu bbq with plenty of wine and pasta and all things not allowed and I just gave in and ate. I am worried about the future. How do you get through the 5 weeks or so of liquid if you haven't told people outside of your direct family what you are doing? How do you get through weeks of social eating situations while you are on liquids? Any ideas or tips or whatever would be great. I am really worried about getting through the next month or so until I can eat again and not look so conspicuously out of place. Thanks...

Honestly, I have no idea. I am on my last day of a 14 day liquid diet (protein shakes, broth, Jello and 2 cups of lettuce per day) - surgery is tomorrow. I have eaten a marshmallow, 5 potato chips, and a piece of bread - those are my list of cheats in the last 14 days (hardly worth cheating for) - but I have to tell you that I have skipped all temptation - I mean, it is only two weeks pre-op.... The kids and my husband go out to dinner, I have stayed home. People want to get together, my family goes there and I have stayed home. I don't expect to live my life like this - but this is a hard transition - and it is also not negotiable with my surgeon - so I tried to make it as easy as possible on myself.

For the first week pre-op, my impression is that you don't really want to eat - and then we look forward to other things besides just Protein (seriously, I went to the supermarket and was so excited about buying tomato Soup, V8 and some diet snapple...pathetic). And then real food starts to come back....I know I can make it. So can you - I would limit the social stuff in pre-op if you struggle with it.

I had to deal with this issue yesterday. (I am 5 days pre-op). We went to the inlaws for a big family BBQ and I made a huge plate of food to "share" with hubby. He ate all the good stuff on the plate (Tri-tip, potatoes, corn, etc) and I scarfed down the watermelon. Honestly, no one noticed that all I was eating was watermelon! And because I got up and served the plate, no one took notice that I wasn't really eating. When dinner was up, I walked out the the front porch alone and drank my Protein Shake. When I was offered cake, I passed and said I was trying to watch my weight.

I was so proud of myself because not only did I get through a family gathering without slipping my secret surgery but I made it through a day of temptation without cheating.

Thanks ladies...you both have great responses. I guess I am feeling so frustrated with the social aspect. I can commit if I live in a bubble but then put me around a bunch of people and I feel like I am letting them down if I don't participate. Probably a real clue as to how I got here in the first place.

My true 14 days starts in 3 and I am now clearing my next weekend of social stuff so that I don't fall into the trap.

It is something that I now realize that I will have to work very hard on since once that band is in there...there's no changing that!

I appreciate you both taking the time!

I only cheated once in the pre-op diet. I had a brownie at the start of the second week, and i felt so bad about it that I wasnt going to let myself cheat again. i too went to social engagements when I was on the pre-op diet, and i just took a protien drink with me or I took a piece of low fat string cheese because on my diet I was allowed 2 oz of low fat mozzarella cheese as a snack. I went to one party that was serving small ham sandwiches, and it was around the time when i could have my one meal a day, so i just ate a little of the meat out of the middle of the sandwhes. Then I immediately threw the bread away so that it wasnt a temptation. It was really hard, but I got through with it and ended up losing weight on the diet, and my liver was really small during surgery.

I am 4 days post-op and on full liquids, and i wasnt really hungry until today. I drank some chicen broth and protien shake, and then I decided to look on www.lapband.com to fund some recipes for the different stages of the diet so that im not getting bored when I eat. I am so excited to start on pureed foods on Wednesday!

sorry i kinda got off topic...