Ok, first of all, sorry for the long post, but this is weird and I need to tell the background to explain it properly.

I just got given my surgery date (12th December, only 2 weeks away!) and am going through the usual emotions - excited, scared, hopeful, terrified... My surgeon told me that, while I did not have to do a 2 week liquid diet, it would be very helpful and would make the surgery less complicated, and then showed me a video of the surgery on someone who had done the fast and another on someone who had not. The differences were very obvious. Also, he told me that while I did not have to give up smoking it would be beneficial and explained the advantages in specific terms of less chance of infection, less chance of nausea after the surgery, etc. He suggested (but did not push) that I at least try to stop for 1 week prior to the surgery, to give my lungs a bit of a chance to rest.

Now I am a committed smoker and, although considerate enough to not smoke around non-smokers, have always been defiant about not giving up and have never tried before. I was dreading the liquid diet phase. I really didn't think I could do either, so I was elated that it seemed I was going to be able to "get away with it", ie without all the hard battles that others have seemed to have gone through. However, I went home and thought about it a lot and came to the conclusion that if I couldn't commit to a simple 2 weeks of not smoking and not stuffing my face, how could I ask myself to commit to a lifetime of living with the band? This would be my final "test" to myself and besides, I rationalised, if I cheated and broke it the doctor was going to go ahead anyway and at least cutting down should help.

So... yesterday I went out and bought a fortnight's worth of nicotine Patches and a box of Opti Fast. I was due to fly back to work in the afternoon (I work on a remote mine site in the far north of Western Australia, but live 3000km south in the state capital, Perth). I finished the last cig in the pack at about 3:00pm and put a patch on and headed to the airport, figuring the first test would be to see if I got off the plane desperate for a cig as usual.

I got off and wasn't desperate, but managed to talk myself into having one anyway, rationalising it as "oh I've already smoked all day and the patch can't be working yet". BIG MISTAKE - I felt dizzy and got head spins and put it out half way through. This morning I put another patch on and have gone all day with only one cig at 10am this morning (its 7pm now) and I really didn't "need" that. WOW - this seems easier than I thought!! Who knew??

Now comes the weird bit...

I couldn't quite bring myself to go the full liquid diet so I thought I would ease into it by having the first day on a mix of Optifast and small servings of soft food. This is what I ate:

Time...Today.............................................Normal day on Site

6:00...Coffee/skim milk/sweeter....................Coffee/skim milk/sweeter

6:30........................................................Cereal/skim milk

8:00...Optifast Vanilla.................................2 slices Fruit toast (no butter when being "good", with butter when being "bad")

10:00..Coffee/skim milk/sweeter....................Coffee/skim milk/sweeter

10:30..Apple..............................................Apple

11:30.......................................................Eat half lunch early coz I'm "starving", large plastic container of sliced salad veges)

12:00..Half cup yoghurt/half cup tinned fruit....Remainder of lunch - bread roll (dry when being "good", with butter & vegemite when being "bad"), cheese & dried apricots

2:00...Coffee/skim milk/sweeter....................Coffee/skim milk/sweeter

2:30....Apple.............................................Small slice of fruit cake (because I'm "starving" again)

3:00........................................................Another small slice of fruit cake (because, you know they are REALLY small!)

3:30.........................................................Go and look at the little packets of 2 biscuits (cookies to you US people) in the kitchen and try desperately to talk myself out of it (sometimes successfully, sometimes not)

4:00...Coffee/skim milk/sweeter....................Coffee/skim milk/sweeter

5:00...Optifast Vanilla.................................................................

6:00 Catch the bus back to camp.

Now normally after a day like this, I would have been thinking about food all day, be "starving" again at dinner time and go straight from the bus to the mess hall and load up my plate with roast meat and gravy and kid myself that I'm still being "good" coz I have lots of steamed veges with it and no chips. By 7:00pm, I'd be stuffed full and my tummy would hurt coz I'd eaten it too fast in a "frenzy of hunger" from "depriving myself" (haha!) all day.

Tonight, however, I had hardly thought about food all day. I wasn't even hungry! I went to my room, did some laundry and then wandered down to the mess. I decided to see if I could "eat like a bandster", and I had a bowl of corn & potato Soup, taking small mouthfuls, chewing each 15-20 times, putting down my spoon and waiting between bites, etc. At the end of the bowl, I was FULL! I couldn't understand it because I "should" have been starving hungry! I decided to test it and got a small portion of steamed fish, 1 small new potato, a small spoon of carrots and small spoon of Beans (about 1/2 my usual portion size). I cut everything really small and did the bandster chew-chew-chew-swallow-wait... trick again and (here's the WEIRD PART), less than half way through this half sized portion, I was so stuffed full I couldn't eat any more!! I mean REALLY REALLY full! I threw away more than half of the meal (and I NEVER throw away food).

What the HELL??? Is it the nicotine patches? Is it the Optifast?? Nothing in the Optifast literature says it comes with an appetite suppressor (and by the way, that stuff is NASTY!!) Is it the eating technique? Ive tried that eating technique before and it's never worked for me. If I thought I could maintain this pattern and not revert to type in 2 weeks, I wouldn't even need this surgery!! Is it fear of the surgery??

Has anyone else had this weird experience?

Can't say I've experienced this. I know nicotine supposedly controls appetitie (Research studies show the reason why so many do not want to quit smoking because they are afraid of gaining weight.) So the nicotine patches could be the reason. Interesting.

I've never been a smoker so I'm not sure about those Patches.

I did want to say - stick to the liquid diet if you can. I had a hard time with it the first few days and hated every minute of it but I lost 14lbs in 2 weeks. (My doc only required 1 week but I did 2 because I'd had too many "last suppers") It really made the post-op diet a lot less of a change and shock to my system. I think it's beneficial beyond just shrinking your liver. Although that is a good motivation. I also watched a band surgery (or-live.com) and it freaked me out watching them move that big slimy liver - lol.

Optifast - if you don't like it, look for something else. There are many Protein Drink options. Find something you like, you're going to be on it for awhile! (2 weeks pre and 2 weeks post op?)

Good luck!!<O:p</O:p<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

My honest opinion.

Stick with the patch and quit smoking. I am taking chantix and haven't smoked in 2 weeks.

Do the pre-op diet. Your liver will thank you. My doctor says most people who are in PAIN after surgery is because they don't do a liquid diet to de-fat the liver. You also decrease the chance of damage to your liver, such as tearing or bleeding.

:bounce:I DID HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE DURING MY FAST, PRE BAND.

One of the reasons why was every time that I believed the thought, "I'm Hungry", I asked myself, "IS THAT TRUE?". AND I sat with it. I didn't answer right away - i went inside and listened to my body and waited for the answer, and many times found that, no, it isn't true! I am not hungry! I have been believing a lie and living out of it. And sometimes I found I was hungry, and enjoyed the experience of what the truly feels like for me.

I wonder, Fanny if that isn't what happened for you - your willingness and open-mindedness to try doing it differently and "listening" to yourself (I NEVER did that before... I just ATE), slowing down, and discovering what is REALLY TRUE for you. I LOVE IT. This is so much more than about eating for me - it is about getting into a relationship with this beautiful body of mine that has carried me so far and taken so much abuse and never been anything but loyal to me. I just love this body, and I love serving it and listening to what it has to tell me. IS IT TRUE? A wonderful question, and it seems you slowed down and found the answer for YOU! There are three other questions I use, too - if you are interested in the 4 questions, go visit www.thework.com and find out about it. It's free and easy.

PS: This is such a powerful question for me that I had it tattooed on the inside of me wrist yesterday, isn't that nuts? LOVE TO YOU FANNY!

The Patches are on alot of people a hunger eliminator, because the nicotine is getting into your system at such a concentrated rate and not to go too much into sci here but it blocks off some receptors in your brain, some of which would pick up on the chemicals released when you are hungry

Also because of the way you are eating, the food is hitting your stomach differently, making it so it fits in there different..ie you are full

Neither of these techniques by themselves would probally work as well as both, but I will tell you that you will probally get used to the nicotine ie become hungry again before your surgery...Just do the best you can with it

Protein shakes also fill me up, even before my band..Id have one for Breakfast at 4 45 am and not eat again till 11, and be fine, and this was when I worked at the zoo in the summer-ie hot outside.

Good luck, and dont get discouraged..this is going to be one of the most challenging parts of the band. I didnt have to go on a liq diet before surgery..it was hard enough after surgery! but I did stop smoking for 2 weeks...I was not a ray of sunshine to say the least! Just think though, whenever you feel like slipping, soon Ill be thin and happy..is it worth that drag or that bite?..O also, a big portion of smoking is habits..try to advoid those places you always light up..itll help

Good Luck, I'll be rootin for ya!:bounce:

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I have been thinking about this all night and I think it is a combination of everything and the various comments from you all, even though different, have each been right on target in their own way.

Nicotine is an appetite suppressant, and I think the patch is probably a big factor. I know I have used "have a cigarette instead of eating" in the past, when I've been dieting and it works (sort of). I just wasn't expecting it to have such a great effect because I figured I was only replacing one source with another. However, I am probably getting a lot more nicotine from the patch than I usually do from cigs, as I usually only have 10-15 a day.

Also, I have used the small-bites-chew-chew-chew before when dieting and it did work when I did it - I just couldn't sustain it in the long run and always fell back into bad old habits. What I want the band to help me to do is to not quit those patterns and keep them up for life.

I think another factor is also that the doctor didn't insist that I had to do either. I have a long history of playing "reverse psychology" mind games with myself and actually use it a lot to trick myself into doing stuff. Basically, if someone says DO THAT, I dig my heels in and refuse out of sheer stubbornness. If they say YOU CAN'T DO THAT, it suddenly becomes the thing I want most in the world. If the doctor had said "You MUST give up smoking and you MUST do the liquid diet", I think I would have gone automatically into defiance mode and found it much harder. By making it my decision and by me giving myself the option to do it or not as best I could, I avoided that trigger.

Anyway, today I am going to go for no cigs at all (I had another one last night before bed, so only 2 yesterday, which I would have said was a miracle for me). I'm also going to try to stick closer to the liquid diet thing (ie no fish & veg for dinner), but am still going to do the yoghurt/fruit lunch and maybe a bowl of soup if I'm struggling tonight.

Hehehe - at this rate, my work pants might stop cutting me in half before I even finish the shift!! That would be sooooo cool! I had to get them to order in the extra huge size especially, coz I couldn't get into anything on their shelves - you can imagine how embarrassing that was to have to do through the store guys .