I am on day 5 post-op and still on the full liquids phase. I am ready to move onto mushies on Friday but since last night, I am so hungry. I feel like I can eat regular food and all I want right now is regular food but I don't dare. I am sick of the protein drinks & jello. I made tomato soup today which did help. Did anyone else start earlier?

I know it is hard, but you should do what your doctor tells you to do. You are healing and liquids is what your body and your band need right now. You wouldn't want to do anything to hinder the healing process, or worse yet, damage your band in any way. If you really think you can't wait until Friday, then maybe you should call your doctor's office and see what they say. Good luck to you. Becky

No not yet. But I am with you on this. I had surgery on the 19th and last night I could not sleep cause I was so hungry. I called the Dr office this morning and they told me to up my protein drinks. (big whoop) I am dying to eat something as well. I never tought I could feel so full with protein drink but still be hungry. You know what I mean? I figure I have one more day (tomorrow) to be on liquids. I am having scrambled eggs on wednesday morning. I can't wait. Hang in there it is almost over. But I do feel your pain. I am right there with you.

Yep, it sucks, but its just a few days. Don't deviate from your postop instructions. You could screw things up big time and end up with complications down the road that you won't even realize are because of what you are doing now (such as popping any sutures that adhere your band to your stomach, that doesnt' hurt anything until a slipped band down the road). Hang in there. You have come this far. Dont' screw yourself out of a healthier future.

That's funny that we had surgery the same day and yet you can start on Wednesday and I have to wait until fFriday. I ended up having tomato soup for lunch and dinner - it was so good - not too creamy so I'm not sure which category it falls under.

I'm going to be honest, I started mushies the night before I was supposed to. Since then I have been pretty good. It was actually depressing me to the point I didn't even want to drink my liquids. So, I pureed some lentil soup the night before my "official" mushie start date. It was thicker than a liquid but nothing chunky. However, I suggest sticking with your instructions.

I was banded 11-7 and I moved to mushies on the 15th and by the 19th i was cleared by my dr to start reg. food...he said you know your body the best and if you need more food move on to the next phase..i have not had any problems..i have my 1st fill set for 12-10.

For now - the tomato soupm seems to be hitting the spot. I woke up in the middle of the night with bad gas. it's pouring outside today so I'm going to try to walk arounf the house as much as possible.

I too am wanting food! I had surgery on 11/21 can't have mushie food until the night of the 8th day ("if I doing well"). Unfortunate for me though, my doc says "NO SLOOPY FOODS" no soup, no grits, no oatmeal, no yogurt. So soup is out of the question for me.

I am SO looking forward to some egg salad Thanksgiving night though!

I highly recommend you change the tv channel when food commercials come on, I was totally surprised at how mad I got last night with all the food commercials! tv is evil

Good luck with everything

I ate eggs and Peanut Butter 3 days early and was fine. I made sure the eggs were soft scrambled and I put the peanut butter on a teaspoon and licked it...making sure it was pretty liquid before going down my throat. Both helped with the hunger.

Everyone will tell you to listen to your doctor because we have to. However, you are who you are and know yourself better than anyone. If you eat off the plan, you run the risk of doing damage. I've never heard of it happening to anyone but it doesn't mean you won't be the first.

That being said, I just try to do everything in moderation and utilize common sense and so far, it's worked for me. Good luck.

The damage does not happen immediately. If you pop a stitch or two, you won't even know it, until something strains your band down the line, pops a couple of more and suddenly you have a slip that you won't even attribute to eating solids earlier than you should have...that if you had followed the rules and done it correctly, your band would still be secure, but because of the damage done early, a strain later on is more catastrophic than it would have been.

I personally just shelled out 10K out of my own savings to have this done and have a very hard time understanding why anyone would go against doctor advise. It was by not listening to medical advice that we got fat in the first place. It makes no sense to rationalized it by saying we know our bodies better than anyone. If that were true, we would not have been morbidly obese to begin with.

You have this chance. Use it.

IF you pop a stitch and IF things go badly down the line then I'm sure it would happen whether or not you followed your Doctor's advice...my doc said that shoddy work is shoddy work and that in ten years, he's NEVER had it happen. I'm pretty comfortable in the belief that in those ten years, not everyone of us has followed instructions to the letter.

Gentlwind, you're entitled to your opinion. Sorry you seem resentful you had to pay out of pocket but you made that choice. My choice was to eat when I felt sick from hunger...I took a chance and it was MINE to take. If you want to judge, go right ahead but you're completely out of line. A question was asked and I answered it based on my experience. I'm not sorry, will continue to do what I'm doing on my own terms and do not regret one decision I've made whether it was on or against a doctor's advice.

I guess the question is why do you care? Pay attention to yourself and work your own program...I'm sick and tired of judgemental people on this board...who do you think you are? The purpose of this board is to share and ask questions. Just because you don't like an answer is no reason to whip out the holier than thou card. Glad you're doing well on your perfect program but so am I on my imperfect one. I've lost 25 pounds in the 6 and 1/2 weeks since I've been banded and still going strong with no, and I repeat, NO problems whatsoever.

Come to think of it, maybe the fact I make my own decisions and have no problems and am losing weight is what bothers you?

As for the original poster, it's your program. Read, research, ask questions then do what you're comfortable with. No judgement here, sister.

I wish you nothing but the best my dear. You misread me entirely.

I went to mushy earlier too and of course didnt have problems. My band is doing fine and got my second fill yesterday. I am starting to feel some restriction and more satisfied with smaller amounts, I hope it lasts.

I hope I did misread you.

When you're fat, you deal with bullies constantly. Whether the bullying is overt or passive aggressive is irrelevant...it's painful.

This board should be a collective in which we share our experiences, thoughts and ideas. In the end, only we can decide what is best for us and determine the chances we want to take, if any.

IMHO, it is bullying when someone resorts to using guilt, scorn or attempts to intimidate others by making them feel badly about asking questions or sharing experiences that aren't the 'popular' ones. The poster is asking for us to share experiences and I shared mine. There was no reason to reply in the manner you did. If you disagree, that's fine. But neither the poster nor I deserve to be berated for having opinions that differ from yours.

I've been very disappointed in the amount of bullying on this board, which is why I'm not on that much anymore. The main objective should be to share and support but it's not the case here. There seems to be the 'right' way to do things and the 'wrong' way. No middle of the road, even though I've seen so many different timelines from doctors on this board. If one doctor says you can have mushies after 3 days and another says 2 weeks, who is right? My doctor said 2 weeks but I read post after post of people whose doc's told them mushies after a week and they're fine. So, I ate 3 days earlier and I was fine. My point is, you DO have to read, ask questions and research and if you eat a day or two early then so be it...let's not start handing out death sentences because neither you nor I are qualified to do so. We don't have to agree but we don't have to be so damn harsh with each other's ideas, opinions and choices. This should be the one place where we can find other people, just like ourselves, who will treat us gently.

Best of luck to all of you.

Amen sister!