I am having surgery in a week and a half and have no pre-op diet. Yay me!!! Sometimes when I don't have enough to eat throughout the day I get shakey and start to sweat until I get some calories in me. I was wondering how new bandsters adjust to this. Does this happen to anyone else? If it does, what to you do? Obviously quickly eating crackers isn't going to be a great idea, whether on liquids post-op or when I'm healed and filled.

Hi,

I just had surgery a week ago and I too will get shakey if I don't have anything to eat. The only way to prevent this for me has been to eat on a consistent schedule, every 2 hours while I'm on the liquid diet, which I'm still on. This morning I over slept and woke up very weak and a bit shakey, so I just had to sip small drinks of apple juice until I felt better but I'm setting an alarm for the morning, I don't want to feel like I did today.

I just dont eat that little. I still eat a healthy balanced diet, its just that 1500 calories a day makes me very satisfied now, whereas I would have been hungry before. But if I drop too low, my body lets me know it needs food with symptoms not as bad as shaking and sweating, more like intense cravings.

Its a balance you work out yourself, your restriction level v minimum calorie needs.

I often suffered from this preband. If I ate too little/not often enough/not enough protein, I would get shakey, weak and feel light headed. I've only experienced it once post band, and it was because I was in the ER with my husband, and hadn't eaten and it was 2pm by that point. Even then, I wasn't weak or lightheaded, just shakey.

I have/had this all my life. It's due to low blood sugar. When your feet hit the floor in the morning, drink about 4 oz of 100% fruit juice. If you start feeling shakey later in the day, drink a couple more oz when you feel it comming on. It will cure you right up. Just be careful to only drink what you need, because of the calorie issue. It will work.

I found your post interesting. When my doctor wanted to put me on a 500 calorie presurgery diet; I mentioned I had the same issue. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "you're not really hungry your just dehydrated". Ummm No. One reason I knew this would not work for me is that I had already started a pretty strenous exercise plan. I do an hour of cardio a day. I find that now that I eat small high protein based meals with sensible (hate that phrase) snacks like greek yogurt, low fat string cheese I have less of these events. Other members of my family have this same issue, yes even the thin ones, so I know this is not a figment of my imagination.

Nope, definitely not a figment of your imagination. But I think it has more to do with what you eat (its glycemic impact) and how frequently you eat than caloric level.

I eat a very low-calorie diet; I have to in order to lose and maintain, and it's why I'm banded.

It's really important for me to distribute the calories I do eat throughout the day, and it's really critical for me to choose the foods I eat carefully.

I found that having Protein shakes on hand is a big help (I was on a pre-op liquid diet, so my choices were limited).

Also, are you a caffeine-drinker? That might be contributing too, if you're taking in the same amt of caffeine but have reduced food/calorie intake.

hi all!

i thought i was the only one suffering from that problem, if i miss my lunch i will become very shaky and even however how much i eat it takes a long while before i recover. my whole family suffer fro that problem i thought it was genetic!

i am going to be banded in the next two week i am worried how i will cope with the band.

Protein is the macronutrient that takes the body the longest to metabolize (i.e., convert to sugar - ummm, a better word is energy :ohmy:. Keeping up with an adequate protein level should help stablilize your blood sugar, but you may indeed still need to "hit the juice" to quickly counteract an episode of low blood sugar. My soon to be 18 year old son has had Type I Diabetes since he was 10 months old I know a lot about keeping blood sugars up!

Wow, thanks everyone! It sounds like it's all coming down to "don't skip meals" which is one point my nutritionist stressed, although not for THIS reason. I've had the shakiness a million times on every diet I've ever tried, and usually it's a contributer to why I don't last. But, on these diets, I've always avoided sugar like the plague, even juice, because it either wasn't allowed or I didn't want to waste my calories. I'm beginning to think that this band is going to take some serious adjustment, and once I've figured it out, it's going to be great! Thanks for everyone's input, I don't know what I would do without this board!

Yes, protine will work, it is just slower. The juice is a quick fix, and its easy. Its also easy to manage the calorie intake as long as you are aware of what it it.