hi, i am new to this journey, if everything goes well i could have my surgery in may 09, my question is i read that you need to lose weight before surgery, i see some poeple post they lost 30 lbs before surgery on their own, what food or supplements or protien drinks does one take to acheive this before surgery, if i could figure out how to lose 75 lbs on my own maybe i wouldnt need surgery right now, any help would be appericated thanks all

Well, respectfully, sabretooth, if we could lose 75 lbs pretty easily, none of us would need the band. The reason that you see a big weight loss pre-surgery is because it's a liquid diet. I suspect for most of us, when we started to eat real food, the weight would come right back, if not for the band.

Well you can do it yourself, but the question is WILL you keep it off? The Lap Band is a tool, it will not be what makes u loose weight that is all you:)

However, as the previous poster mentioned, maybe that is how he did it, but if you go on the kaiser thread, you will see we are not on a liquid diet, or protein shakes. They give us a 1200 cal diet that reflects :

Bfast:

3 protein

1 fruit

1 dairy

1 carbohydrate

1 fat

Lunch

3 protein

2 vegi

1 fruit

1 carb

1 fat

Dinner

3 protein

2 vegi

1 dairy

1 carb

1 fat

They say to not do a liquid diet, diet pill, or shakes. They say follow the 1200 with the eating schedule above, and exercise 4-5 times a week. It does work. I have lost 42 so far pre op since Nov 4. My friend that just had her Case Manager appt is down 32 lbs since November. Our other friend is down 25.

Of course we all wonder can't i just do this myself, I must be the biggest advocate for that, to be honest.. every day i re question My decision.

But it comes down to this, the more i loose pre op the less amnt i have to loose after and keep off. And it will be easier, we have all tried loosing weight, some have lost 60+ lbs to just gain double back.

I personally want the band, so that I can use the tool for the rest of my life. I wont have to diet again, i will get to loose my weight and then stabilize.

Good luck with whatever u decide, I recommend not canceling any appts till surgery is the next day, so that you do not regret canceling when you could have had it.

thanks for the reply, i will go thru with the surgery, losing the weight is harder to do than people realize so i will use every advantage i can to achieve my goals and have a better, healthier life, you all are right, you can lose the weight only to gain it back and then some, this vicious cycle keeps me depressed on how i look,so i am glad to go on this journey to a new me, thanks again

Good Luck to you! I was banded on 2.19.09; and it's been a journey. i thought the pre-surgery diet was rougher than post, but i did it. I however, didn't lose as much as others for a variety of reasons. I suggest sticking to it as best as possible... You will have to blog after the surgery and let us know how it goes..

Good :w00t: Luck!!!

I recently went to nutritionist for per op and left feeling so discouraged. I realized inthe following week how much I have depended on food. When she told me and my husband that we needed to only eat 30 grams of carbs a day I thought I would die. It has taken me a week just to get my head around the fact that I have been soooo addicted to carbs. I told my mom I feel like an addict. Anyway I have decided to take it one day at a time or even one minute at a time. I need the surgey. So hopefully by May I will have made progress in my journey to be in a better place in my head about this process. God help me...