Hi Everyone,

I'm back home from the hospital (4 nights total - they tend to be over precautious here in France). The night before when I entered the hospital, I was a wreck. I had made up my mind to get it done, but still didn't *want* to have to go this route (I can't bear that I have had to go to the medical establishment for help to lose weight, but after 20 years of Weight Watchers and other diets, I just needed to face the fact that I would probably never lose and keep the weight off on my own).

The procedure went well and I have a 9.75 Inamed band (4 cc capacity) with a fill of 1 cc put in at the time of surgery. For the first 3 days I was given broth and tea for each meal, then given toast for breakfast the morning I was coming home (day 3 post-op). After all I'd read about 2-4-6 weeks clear liquids, thicker liquids, then mushies before going on to solids (on this site and in the information pack my surgeon gave me months ago when I first consulted him), I was quite surprised when he told me to go onto solids as soon as I came home (small quantities, small mouthfuls, and no liquid with the meal). When I questioned him about the weeks of liquids, mushies, he said that those were out-of-date recommendations and that they now prefer patients to begin eating solids much faster so that they don't become accustomed to liquid diets - that the band is not intended to make one only be able to consume liquids, and that one should learn right from the beginning how to deal with "normal" food.

With the toast in the hospital, on my last mouthful, I got what can only be described as the "golfball" sensation - too much, too fast. It passed in less than a minute, but was enough to ring a whole lot of bells in my head about eating more slowly! So, back home, I had the infamous vegetable soup from the FunnyDuddies thread for lunch (small bowl but with biggish bits of veggies including celery). I was actually quite hungry, so went on to have a tiny piece of pork (1 cm x 1 cm) from my daughter's plate and 2 tablespoons of tabouleh (couscous salad), then I had a yoghurt (about half a cup). The yoghurt was probably a bit much, so I learned from that to listen better next time to when "enough is enough". For dinner, although I was hardly hungry, I ate about 30 g / 1 oz of soft mozarella cheese with 2 slices of tomato and about 2 tablespoons of tabouleh again. I then had a very ripe apricot. Now if that had been my meal without the band, to acquire the same sensation of "fullness" would have meant having 2 whole sliced tomatoes, at least 90 g of the mozarella, about 6 tablespoons of tabouleh, the apricot, a yoghurt and a huge glass of sparkling water!

So, I feel like by taking each meal as it comes and trying as hard as I can to eat slowly, chew a lot, and stop when I'm full, I will be following the doctor's orders, even if it does seem like I'm going too fast in comparison to all the other recommendations I've seen.... When I asked the surgeon about the healing process and inflammation, he said that the band is in really solidly and that unless I swallow a thumb-sized piece of chicken, I'm not going to be doing it any harm. I hope he's right! He has been doing lapbands for 6 years and has done about 650 of them, so he should know what he's talking about.

Anyway, after initial soreness and gas discomfort, I feel good, better and better every day with the incisions. I haven't felt hungry (was only light-headed on the 3rd day post-op after only getting broth and tea at the hospital). So far, so good. I can't wait to get below 100 kg/ 220 lbs (5 kgs / 11 lbs away) since that will really boost my motivation. I hope to be reporting good progress in the next few weeks, and must express my gratitude to all of you for the information and inspiration I've been getting from just lurking on this site!

Deana.

Each doctor has a different recommendation, just from reading posts here we can see that it runs the gambit. I'm in Portugal and my doctor happens to love liquid diets, he had me on one 1 week before surgery, 1 month after surgery and he told me 1 to 2 weeks again after my first fill.

Now I'm going to be completely honest here, I ate solids about 5 days after my surgery, not every day and not at every meal, but I was able to with out problems. I tried as hard as i could to stick to the liquids, but some days were better then others. I also know a few other people who started eating solids a few days after surgery.

I think it all depends on how you feel. If you feel ok, and your doctor gave you the ok, then thats fine. In my case my doctor didn't give me the ok and I did it any way, so if there were any problems, I'm the one who has to answer to him. He asked me to do 1 to 2 weeks liquids after my first fill, its been 3 days and I ate normal food last night, of course a lot less of it, but I find it hard to stay on the liquids when I can have solid foods with no problems. Good luck on your journey!

Congratulations on getting the band and it's good to hear you're healing fast. Personally, there is no way I could do a full liquid diet for more than 2 weeks and it was very hard to stick to it the last few days post-op but I managed and was more than ready for "real" food by then. I think as more research is done on the band, the surgeons will come to more of a concensus on what constitutes the "best" post-op diet plan. Until then, it's best to follow what the surgeon YOU have recommends.

Yes, I am very grateful that my doc didn't recommend liquids only for more than 3 days. Heather (K@t), I don't know how you managed 5 weeks of liquids. I too would have strayed from that. And if some doctors (mine, for instance :eek:) recommend solids so soon after surgery, the "harm" done by any slip-ups on an all-liquid diet can't be that significant. One benefit of the liquid diet would certainly be a more substantial weight loss in the beginning, which would motivate for further loss. My doctor is expecting me to lose 8 kgs /18 lbs in one month. Personally, I don't think I'll be able to do that on solids, but I'll give it a go for a few weeks, then if it's not moving fast enough, I might consider liquids for the 4th week so that my losses are within his expectations. I'm terrified of getting filled too fast since in my mind, fills lead to complications. I'll just really have to try to lose that amount in the first month, despite being allowed to eat normally (although "normally" now means two thirds less than what I had been eating pre-banding).

Elisabethsew, it would really be good if the surgeons would start coming to a concensus on the post-op eating requirements since it is confusing and disconcerting to read so many contradictory recommendations.