Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to see in anyone else was feeling the way I do today.

I had what seems to be a normal banding experience on 6/11. My doc discovered I had a hiatal (sp?) hernia during the procedure so he fixed that. It was really uncomfortable for several days but by the 4-5th day out I was much improved. I was back at work at a desk job by the 6th day and by the 8th day out I was in the gym doing 30 mins on the treadmill. I had a good amount of energy and have been consuming probably 400-600 cals a day and maybe even 800 yesterday. All has been fine but I woke up today and feel like I have been sucked dry of all the energy in my body. IN addition to feeling weak, my body aches and my back is sore. Has anyone else experienced this? Thank god its Saturday and I can be one with the couch. :redface:

Laurakathyleen:

I have hit several walls since my surgery! I will be good and full of energy one minute and then feel like a ton of bricks hit me.:thumbup:

Our bodies are adjusting to a sharp drop in calories available! :smile: We are still feeling the effects of anethesia and our tummies are being squeezed to death! :crying:No wonder we need to shut down every few days. :smile:

Give it some time. I plan to take it one day at a time and let myself adjust as I can. I am in this for the long haul and it is for the rest of my life. :mellow:No need to rush it! I understand after the healing process, the band begins to really do it's job! :thumbup: So I will allow myself to heal! :huh2:Hope this helps!:redface:

It took me 4 weeks to feel close to full energy level. My hands still shake a little.

You know one thing I question is the low calorie intake everyone seems to be advised to be on. At some point our bodies are going to go into starvation mode and stop losing weight. At the moment I am eating per my restrictions but not worrying about calories. If you're working out and only getting 600 calories a day, no wonder you feel like garbage. Someone who hadn't had surgery would feel like garbage. I am waiting another little while before I start working out again and give myself time to heal. We need to be gentle on ourselves.

Learn a lesson from me. Last time I lost 100 pounds I used to abuse myself at the gym no matter how I felt. I would run through pain, cycle and spin on an aching knee, I just did it solely focused on super fit thin. eventually my body and spirit burnt out and back came on the weight. I now have arthritis in one spot in my lower back and chronic hip pain. My friend who got the lap band last summer had to work on getting her calorie intake UP at one point after reaching a plateau. Up from 800 to around 1200-1500.

Just my pespective.

This was an issue my mom had too. It took her about 2 months to feel totally "normal" again. She took it slow. She didn't go to the gym, she just walked around her neighboorhood and did some light weight lifting at home. She started the gym a month after her surgery and had a few days that she was so exhausted. Like grey said, take it easy on yourself. this is the time for our bodies to heal and even though we may feel good our insides are still trying to recover. It'll get better!

one more thing to add. This is for the long haul my friends so let's not burn ourselves out. I am itcing to get back to working out since I am feeling so much better having lost around 4 bags of sugar (4x5lbs=20) but don't want to hurt myself. I started working out two weeks after my c-section and suspect I might have made the scar tissue worse than it needed to be (found this out in physical therapy when PT was doing maniupulations and I could feel my insides tearing and she said this is scar tissue). So this time I am trying to be smart about it.

You know one thing I question is the low calorie intake everyone seems to be advised to be on. At some point our bodies are going to go into starvation mode and stop losing weight.

My doctor was very clear right before surgery that one of his three most important rules is to not to wait until you are hungry to eat, eat every 3-4 waking hours, that way your body is never wondering when it will be fed next & won't go into hybernation mode to store it's energy. My body was in hybernation for 3 years. It didn't matter what I ate or how often I was active, the scale would not budge. I follow this rule & it does now.

The other two rules are: eat healthy foods & always eat the Protein first.

I'm so glad I don't have to stumble thru this all on my own!

Day 7 and feeling a lot better. The dermabond is only over the large incision and the bruises are nearly healed up.

I bought Centrum liquid Vitamins, aim for 60 g of Protein a day (all liquids, still) and try to keep hydrated.

If you're feeling light headed and weak, start by making sure you're getting 64 oz of liquids a day. Iced tea, Crystal Lite, Water, milk, whatever, but make sure it's up there. Being from Phoenix, you learn fast that being dehydrated will make you weak and give you headaches.

Fewer than 800 calories a day is just plain silly. I can't think of a single reason while we're healing to have less than 1200.