Hi ya..

I am due to be having my band fitted at the end of Aug and since booking the op - i have had loads of questions and hoping you guys who have been through it could give me an honest account of what is to come. In terms of drinking alcohol- what is the situaion with that? Can you still have a few drinks and do you get drunk easier??

With food- what types of foods do you seem to struggle on- and is it rite you cannot drink fizzy drinks?

Oh typical; i cannot remember my questions now- but any handy hints you have learnt since being banded would be appreciated- and congrats to you all who have lost so much its so inspiring.

Take care & keep it up..:thumbup: Kel

I don't drink so can't help you there. I have very little restriction but sometimes have problems with dense foods, like ham steak, and veggie burgers. For me salad goes down well but I have heard of others who have problems. It is kind of trial and error once you go on solid foods.

Fizzy drinks--carbonation can cause gas so they will tell you to only drink soda flat, don't use a straw, and no concentrated sweets (they go down too easy and you can actually gain weight). For me they told me to stay away from Pasta and rice, at least in the beginning, as they can wad up and get stuck. My sister wanted me to go to a church spaghetti dinner and I emailed the dietician first about it. I gave away my bread, skipped dessert, and ate the salad and spaghetti. I cut it up like I was a 2 year old in little pieces, meatballs too, and it went okay. Felt a little pressure, but all in all it was okay.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your journey.

thank you for that- much appreciated and well done on your success

Here are a few things:

A) Visit the August 2008 Banders forum at August 2008 Bandsters - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum to meet others who are scheduled for next month. We'd love to have you as a band buddy!

:smile: My dietician said that alcohol was a bad idea for a few reasons. The first she said was because it is just plain empty calories...no nutritional value whatsoever. The second was that she said that you will get tipsy faster because there is nearly no food in your stomach to slow things down. You should also realize that a full glass of wine simply isn't going to fit into your stomach IF you are properly restricted.

C) The fizzy drink thing is for the way it causes gas but, more importantly, because it can cause your pouch (smaller stomach above the band) to stretch. This defeats the purpose of the band making you have a smaller stomach AND can cause slippage, which could require band removal. I'm a huge soda fan and they have to go bye-bye. :thumbup:

Carbonation causes most people to get gas that I've heard is painful. It also stretches the pouch.

My surgeon and nutritionist also encourages people to stay away from alcohol because of the empty calories, you get drunk faster. They also feel that it puts your liver at a risk while losing weight by not only burning fat, but also having to filter alcohol. It's too much stress.

Hey thank you for that!! How do I add myself into the August Allstars- I cannot seem to type/add anything to the table? Sorry if im having a blonde moment

I've just been banded this week so I don't know what to tell you about my personal experience eating-wise (yet) but for what it's worth, my clinic is of the opinion that any food should be able to be eaten as long as it's chewed well, otherwise you're keeping the band too tight. Certain foods should be avoided because of their content, but if it's a "getting stuck" issue, then that's a symptom of the band being too tight. I don't know if this is true in practice but it makes sense to me.

In terms of alcohol, I was told much the same--you can have it but you must think about the caloric content and not drink too much or too often or else weight loss will be stalled or reversed. They also mentioned the getting drunker quicker thing, but that doesn't bother me as I don't tend to drink that much to begin with. Basically, a pint of Guinness (a suprisingly low calorie beer) on the weekend, as long as the calories are counted, is fine by them.

The trouble with liquid calories is that liquid goes right through the band. Your stomach will be able to hold just as many glasses of wine as it did before because liquid doesn't stay in the pouch, it goes right into the stomach. And that's totally against the whole point of the band--you want your calories to stay in the pouch as long as possible so you eat fewer of them and stay full on them for longer. Liquid calories, soda and alcohol being the two biggest culprits, are just counterproductive to weight loss in general and weight loss with the band in particular.