So I was told after I was released from the hospital that I had to stay on clear liquids for one more day and then advance to all liquids then after ny one week followup I could advance to pureede foods... and I didnt follow that I was starveing and got some real food after I was released yes I chewed up really well and was drinking with it to make sure it went down and I havent had any problems so why do they want us to wait and how long did you wait? If you didnt did you have any complications?

why do people get the band ... knowing the rules and the long road ahead.. only to disregard them? I think maybe some self reflection on what you thought life with the band was/is going to be like.

Did you doctor/NUT tell you what diet you were going to be responsible for after your surgery? If so' date=' why didn't you ask that question at that time? Did you say: Why do i have to wait? What could be the complications if i don't and eat?[/quote']

Yes I was made well aware of my diet after I begin getting my band filled which has not and will nit hapoen for anouther four weeks also I did not get the band and disregaurd the rules at all I simply ate a meal because it was all I had in a 4 and a half hour trip home I had to have something so a barrito with tiny egg bits that I could chew up sounded reasonable its not like I went to kfc and got a 10 peice of extra crispy chicken and scarffed it all down... also I have a very good Idea of how life with the band is/will be as I have already given up smokeing sodas and the majority of foods I love to follow the dietary requirements for the pre oprative surgury but for now untill I begin getting filled eating the way im supposed it is exactly what im doing I watch portions ammiunts caloriores and carbs and fat on a daily basis and never consume nore than a thousand calories so how dare you who has no idea about me even pretent to know by one question how misconstrued my notions or preceptions if the band are or how well or horrible I will do with the band... stop being so negative and f**k OFF!

Couldn't have said it better!!

Get a life snob!

"So I was told after I was released from the hospital that I had to stay on Clear Liquids for one more day and then advance to all liquids then after ny one week followup I could advance to pureede foods... and I didnt follow that I was starveing and got some real food after I was released yes I chewed up really well and was drinking with it to make sure it went down and I havent had any problems so why do they want us to wait and how long did you wait? If you didnt did you have any complications?"

You shouldn't be angry because all of the people have gone through this surgical procedure. Individuals who do not follow the instructions for this medical surgery. You need to follow the diet because your body needs to heal. You may believe you want to eat afterwards, when in all honesty you don't. Simply getting broth down will fill you up.

If you want to disregard the instructions, so be it. But please remember there are serious medical complications from doing so.

Yes you will find tips and tricks, but safe things like using Propel Water to blend your Protein shake for added flavor without adding calories.

I had the surgery, have no regrets, off all meds and started jogging today for the first time in years.....!!!!!

Good luck

Also no need to the vulgar language or name calling.

So I was told after I was released from the hospital that I had to stay on Clear liquids for one more day and then advance to all liquids then after ny one week followup I could advance to pureede foods... and I didnt follow that I was starveing and got some real food after I was released yes I chewed up really well and was drinking with it to make sure it went down and I havent had any problems so why do they want us to wait and how long did you wait? If you didnt did you have any complications?

Your asking how long people waited before we ate real food and did we have any complications......all surgeons are different and give very specific instructions on the post op diet. I will answer your question-I was told clear liquids the day of surgery then mushies until my first post op visit which was a month from my surgery day. I did wait that long before trying anything solid and did not have any complications. When you come on this forum you should be prepared for all kind of responses. You were very honest and you received honest answers. No one wants to shoot you down here; it is just hard to here how someone totally went against post op instructions and does not see the importance of following instructions. I don't know what type of instructions you received and maybe your doctor DIdnt fully explain things to you. Are you committed to the band and your journey? If so, you will find great advice, inspiring stories, pictures and encouragement on here that has really helped me. If your not then maybe this site isn't for you. I don't judge you, nor condem you for your admission here so please don't condem folks on here and use prolific language because you don't like the responses your getting. Some may be a little harsh but it's only because they put intense commitment to their band and personal journey. And they will be the first ones to give you encouragent and "that's great" comments when you post how your doing with your band. I do wish you well......

Also no need to the vulgar language or name calling.

Then people shouldnt be judgemental and just answer the damn question ... and besides that id rather use vulgar languages and be honest and non judgemental then sitting ther behind a screen telling everyone else how wrong they are and not useing vulgar language

As I said it dosebt matter I will be deleating my account from this as soon as I get to a computer because I want no part of a forum where people have nouthing better to do that criticize and tell others how wrong and unprepared they are I have heard that my entier life which is what lead to the being overweight to begin with and will not stand for it any longer

Then channel your anger into a commitment towards your band and your journey! If you are used to hearing this then dial back the attitude, sit back in a cozy chair and start reading on here because you will find alot of helpful information on here. People will be honest with you, but if you take a defensive stand and use vulgarity, you will only feel more down than you already are. Talk to your doctor; there should be a dietician on staff that could sit down with you and show you food combinations that will help your hunger. Also, think about counseling to help you. Don't think everyone on here is perfect and has complete success with their band. We've all had ups and downs and still struggle with food issues. I for one look to this site for help and support and yes I will be honest when I've done something I shouldn't and will look for support on here and am also prepared for the answers I get. That honest feedback will help keep me on track. Don't give up on this site yet- it could be very helpful to you and you might just make a friend! Best wishes. :0)

I really love how people choose to ignore questions in here and rather rant and rave about how everything somwone does is wrong! What is wrong with you people that you have nouthing better to do that to criticize people and tell them what a horrible human being they are and why they shoukdnt do something do u think just because u have a band ur in some elite club and dont want anyone else to join? And fyi all of you who have done nothing but criticize me since I joined this forum just to get tips tricks ect I have had the surgury I am doing just fine im not like that lady who got her band so damn tight and was chwoing down on a burger and fries I havent even gotten any Fluid in my band yet and they at the hospital wrrent even following their own rules of clear liquid onky for 2 days hell the day after ny surfury they were giving me coffee and red pop sickles so I had a couple of regular food meels... I had a 4 and a half hour drive with nouthing at all to eat so I stoped got me one thing and chewed the hell out of it so it was liquid and would slide down and on top of that part of the reason I did it is because I was so saverly malnourished that I had droped 5 lvs over night the night before my surgury and was sick as a dog I am currently eating one regular meal a day the rest is liquids but it dosent matter because I called after I posted this here and was told the reason they want to ease you back to solid foods is because of the fact that you have went a week without them and just had surgury they are worried about me getting nauseated and pukeing thereby putting pressure if I puked on the stomic and the band which never happened and the fact that I wasnt nausated and was holding down solid food already was an excellent sign and nouthing to be worried about as long as I followed the chewing part .....

but again none of it matters because noone on this site cares to givw support tips or tricks or suggestions all they care to do is tell someone how horrible of a person they are and how unready they are for this life changeing surgury... and I have news for you... you are not me never will be me and have no idea how ready or not I am so...... f**k OFF!

I did answer your question and I quote, "so why do they want us to wait and how long did you wait?" We're not here to do your bidding so if we don't answer every question you post with a smile and a curtsey maybe you need to get off of the internet and go fly a kite especially if you don't like the answers you got.

PS - You are correct that I am not you. Thank the heavens. I think we can all agree that we are glad on that point.

Your having a hard time... We all did at tye beginning and still do, I'm sure that everyone of us have not followed the advice on occasions, know I have bent the rules.. I guess mostly people aren't as honest as u.

People... U r being very judgmental!! The point is she new she was breaking the rules.. And I would hope that everyone going into this new the risks and therefore makes these unwise decisions themselves.. We aren't perfect. And doesn't need u lot to preach..

It's a shame u are leaving and don't feel supported thou, as I have found these forums great..

Good luck with your future..

Buy the way.. I waited about 10 before going onto soft food and then another 10 before moving into solids..

Hopefully no harm done, and feel great..

Guymontag........

PS - You are correct that I am not you. Thank the heavens. I think we can all agree that we are glad on that point.

Ooh nice bit of Internet bullying there... Shame on u..

Guymontag... Where's the "get lost" button again?

(laughing) I need a good laugh this morning. This entire thread is a waste of all our time. If you expect nothing but positive feedback and hand holding than put that in front of your post so we all know what you expect. That way we can simply ignore the question, not give you honest feedback and allow you to gamble with your life on your own time.

Hon, don't bother replying..we are already know your response: F**K off snob! Am I right? Damn, I'm good.

Yeah, the maturity and intelligence and the lack thereof is just too much for me. NEXT

Well obviously some pwople have experianced the same thing as I have people on here would rather condem and critsize than be supportive and at the very least polite in their responce and instead of saying things like I dont know why people have this done with a complete lack of discipline or respect for the band or your just simply not ready you need to meditate on what you want in your life and what is nore important yada yada yada..... they cant just say I waited untill my doctor said it was ok which was x number of days or weeks ect because obviously every doctor and clinic is different since I have reado some posts on here that people had saline in there band right after surgury some people didnt have as long of a preop diet and many other differences so why be so rude stuck up and snobbish why not just simply answer politly?

so why do they want us to wait and how long did you wait?

They want you to wait because you're swollen inside, and because your stitches have not healed. If you eat solid food, it will sit in the pouch above your band (as it's supposed to) and go down slowly. However, putting pressure on the band before you have healed means there's a very real chance that the stitches will tear right through your stomach tissue, causing your organs to tear, and the band to shift or slip...

Organ tissue is different than skin. It stays moist all the time and doesn't heal as quickly as skin. This is one of the reasons the sleeve is a riskier surgery than the band. With the band, you just have stitches, but when they cut your stomach open for the sleeve, the staples up at the top don't always fuse shut, and your stomach juices ooze out through the wound.

So the post-op diet is intended to make you wait till your swelling has gone down, your stitches have healed, and your body has gotten used to having a foreign object in there before adding pressure and irritation to your organs.

I was on liquids for two weeks. I was supposed to be on mushies for two weeks, but asked my doctor (after being on mushies for a week) if that was 100% required because I was getting hungry a lot. He said it was, but after doing a checkup and a fluoroscope on me, said that my band was so wide open that he would approve my eating a small amount of mashed fish a few days earlier. But that was the only food he was willing to let me eat earlier.

got some real food after I was released yes I chewed up really well and was drinking with it to make sure it went down and I havent had any problems so why do they want us to wait and how long did you wait? If you didnt did you have any complications?

I'm rebellious and don't like to follow rules, but also don't want to hurt myself. So I've been selectively following the rules that relate to my not hurting myself, and figure the ones having to do with calories and weight loss are on me. So sometimes I have candy. Sometimes I have juice. And I figure if I lose weight a little slower, that's ok with me because this is a long journey...

That said, I messed up.

I was told that you shouldn't drink with meals. My doctor was VERY clear about that. But I thought the reason was so that you didn't push food through your band quickly, thus causing you to be hungrier earlier... Ok, so most of the time I didn't drink with meals, but sometimes I did. I even asked the nutritionist once if that meant I could never have wine with dinner again and she said it was fine to sip a little sometimes...

But OOPS!!!

I didn't know that the reason was not just about pushing food through faster, but ALSO so that you didn't increase the overall volume of food above your band. Because I wanted to drink, I only heard "it was fine." I didn't hear "a little" or "sometimes" because I wasn't listening for that...

And now my pouch is dilated. Not a lot, just a little. And I caught it early so the doc said it should go back to normal after I do a few things... But I really do wish I had followed the rules on this one and not tried to pick out what I wanted to hear, and what I thought the reasons were. I'm not a doctor. What the hell do I know?

All I know is that i got this surgery because I wanted to lose weight. And I have lost a lot of weight!! In fact, if I never lost another pound I'd still be happy... But if I gain it all back I will not be happy. And if I stretch out my pouch, cause slips, and mess up my internal organs, I will end up right back where I started...

They want you to wait because you're swollen inside, and because your stitches have not healed. If you eat solid food, it will sit in the pouch above your band (as it's supposed to) and go down slowly. However, putting pressure on the band before you have healed means there's a very real chance that the stitches will tear right through your stomach tissue, causing your organs to tear, and the band to shift or slip...

Organ tissue is different than skin. It stays moist all the time and doesn't heal as quickly as skin. This is one of the reasons the sleeve is a riskier surgery than the band. With the band, you just have stitches, but when they cut your stomach open for the sleeve, the staples up at the top don't always fuse shut, and your stomach juices ooze out through the wound.

So the post-op diet is intended to make you wait till your swelling has gone down, your stitches have healed, and your body has gotten used to having a foreign object in there before adding pressure and irritation to your organs.

I was on liquids for two weeks. I was supposed to be on mushies for two weeks, but asked my doctor (after being on mushies for a week) if that was 100% required because I was getting hungry a lot. He said it was, but after doing a checkup and a fluoroscope on me, said that my band was so wide open that he would approve my eating a small amount of mashed fish a few days earlier. But that was the only food he was willing to let me eat earlier.

I'm rebellious and don't like to follow rules, but also don't want to hurt myself. So I've been selectively following the rules that relate to my not hurting myself, and figure the ones having to do with calories and weight loss are on me. So sometimes I have candy. Sometimes I have juice. And I figure if I lose weight a little slower, that's ok with me because this is a long journey...

That said, I messed up.

I was told that you shouldn't drink with meals. My doctor was VERY clear about that. But I thought the reason was so that you didn't push food through your band quickly, thus causing you to be hungrier earlier... Ok, so most of the time I didn't drink with meals, but sometimes I did. I even asked the nutritionist once if that meant I could never have wine with dinner again and she said it was fine to sip a little sometimes...

But OOPS!!!

I didn't know that the reason was not just about pushing food through faster, but ALSO so that you didn't increase the overall volume of food above your band. Because I wanted to drink, I only heard "it was fine." I didn't hear "a little" or "sometimes" because I wasn't listening for that...

And now my pouch is dilated. Not a lot, just a little. And I caught it early so the doc said it should go back to normal after I do a few things... But I really do wish I had followed the rules on this one and not tried to pick out what I wanted to hear, and what I thought the reasons were. I'm not a doctor. What the hell do I know?

All I know is that i got this surgery because I wanted to lose weight. And I have lost a lot of weight!! In fact, if I never lost another pound I'd still be happy... But if I gain it all back I will not be happy. And if I stretch out my pouch, cause slips, and mess up my internal organs, I will end up right back where I started...

I have a friend that keeps stretching her pouch out because of drinking with meals. I too bend rules sometimes but I tend to learn that they are there for a reason. Fortunately you are now able to adjust your eating and drinking and get your pouch back in shape. That's a valuable lesson learned and one that I think many people disregard out of all of the rules. Thank you for sharing and for your informative post.

In light of some recent posts, I felt compelled to start a discussion on LBT forums and what you can expect.

At large, there are 3 phases to wls. The initial research preop phase, the postop losing phase, and the maintenance phase. Within each of these groups, you will find like-minded and not so like-minded individuals who are here to share their experiences and their story. Most of us speak to our level of experience. Anyone with over one year of being banded is probably the most qualified to give advice, however, anyone can contribute. Some individuals have additional experiences and knowledge sets unique to them which can serve us as a lbt community. Examples include those who have had complications, those with medical training/education etc. There's also those who have limited knowledge/experience, but yet still want to support and guide those with even lesser knowledge and experience and to reinforce their own learning.

When you post to the LBT community, you will get a wealth of information in response. However, some of the responses can be terse, irrational, unfounded, misguiding or simply confusing/contradictory to other responses. It is your responsibility to gather all the information and determine what is appropriate to make an independent decision on vs something that should be discussed with your physician. It is also your responsibility to determine who is misleading you and not. This is not a medical resource center, you are speaking to individuals of different levels of education and experience with the band. This is true for emotional vs educational posts as well. Some responses are supportive, some are keeping you accountable, some seem understanding and some seem accusatory. Sort of like real life right? No one is monitored here. You can speak freely without being overtly offensive. However, negative feedback is sometimes warranted. In order to grow in your journey, honesty is best. It will hopefully help you thwart negative behaviors and instill good ones to ensure success. Please do not expect positive support all the time. Tough love has it's place and is exercised on occasion.

Now, this post is also to address accountability. And I wish to take this from a 'oldies' perspective opposed to a newbies perspective. You will come across many 'oldies' who have had their bands for years. We deliberately come to the lbt site for continual support in our maintenance phase, but also to help newbies with a wide spectrum of needs ranging from general understanding of the band as a mechanism to how to live day in and day out with their bands. Most of the topics discussed on lbt is repetitive. The answers become more and more concrete as everyone becomes more educated on the rationale for the answers given. But there are times when a person's post can simply be a huge red flag. The response to these type posts typically become terse real quick..and here is why:

1. We wish to educate wls patients and want to prevent unsafe posts from serving as educational posts for others in the learning process. It only takes one poor post to misguide an individual in their journey. Bandsters will do anything they can to negate the wrong information simply to inform and educate.

2. We want everyone to realize that there are very real consequences to not following band rules. Too many people are becoming too lax with their rules and it's resulting in terrible complications that could be prevented. Posts that hilite poor band habits can also yield terse comments. This comes from an angle of accountability. The worse thing we can do is allow someone to leave feeling as if their decision was a small mistake, no big deal, nothing to worry about..its ok, you'll do better tomorrow. Let me reemphasize the very real consequences of these decisions and who has to live with those complications. It serves us better when we receive honest feedback that helps us adjust our mentalities and behaviors for the better. Support posts are great for those down and out days, not the posts where someone has identified a behavior that could put their life at real risk.

It is very easy to receive negative or honest feedback as an insult. But please realize, most of the posts come from a place of understanding and support. We are very scared for people who seemingly have very little knowledge yet have a band. It's a scary combination. For those banded for years, you see the same repetitive mistakes and ultimately complications and/or failures. We are here to support you through this process with refreshment of the band rules, tricks to the trade, and support you through obstacles. We do our best to provide you accurate information and some of us (raising hand) have spent over an hour researching information for fellow bandsters to ensure they get the right information.

Somehow this gets convoluted into others perceiving this feedback as "rude, cyber-bullying, offensive, unsupportive" etc. I think if you invested in reaching out to some of these oldie bandsters and knowing their experiences, how much they contribute, the typical responses they offer..you'd be pleasantly surprised that these are some of the most caring and supportive individuals investing a lot of their personal time for your benefit alone.

Being apart of this community, for myself, has been both rewarding and infuriating at times. As an RN I see people post inaccurate medical information all the time and it's simply irresponsible. Please refrain from 'educating' people by saying things like "I heard" "I think" "It might be". If you do not know the answer for certain than please refrain from answering at all. The forums are a wonderful way to communicate and get quick responses. But don't feel compelled to answer all of them if you cannot contribute a safe and accurate piece of information. But by all means, if you have the answer, help your fellow bandsters so they can make wise decisions or become better eduated in their band and the band lifestyle.

Thank you for listening. Wishing everyone a safe and successful journey.