Hey y'all!

I just had my lapband this past thursday (today is sat) and I have a question as to how often I should be eating. How often should I be getting hungry?.... I just feel hungry like 2 hours after I eat my broth. (clear liquid diet stage still)

I'm also making an awful lot of noise lol I know some gurgles are normal, but will I always do this??

I'm doing really well with the recovery. I have 150 pounds to lose and I lost 12 during the liquid diet before my surgery... so 138 to go!

Any help or advice you can give would be great!:biggrin:

Ah the gurggles, such memories. :-) I got banded 7/30/09 so I'm not that far ahead of you.

After the first 2 days I started to get really hungry and the food ads on the TV did not help one bit. I think in the liquid stage you can eat pretty much as often as you feel you need to, just don't over do it. Once I got to the soft/pureed diet my doc said to start the 3 meals a day.

Remember to drink your Water, I add those single serving flavor things to my water becausee I can't stand plain water.

Oh, the gurggles to go away. It's just your body getting used to something new being inside you.

Good luck!

thank you for your reply! I'm glad someone was here to help. :biggrin: best of luck to you as well!

I was banded on Thursday too and am also having some gurggling! Fun Fun! I was instructed to drink 1 ounce of liquid every 15 minutes, which equals 4 ounces an hour. so far so good, but I feel like I need Protein, which I am not getting on clears. I go back to the dr. on Tuesday in which I am hoping to be switched to mushy. I am really starting to feel the hunger pains right about now.

Keep in touch!

Kim (NJ)

Banded August 13th

Starting weight 301

I do believe you can eat every 2 hrs on your liquid diet or full liquid diet . they want you too cause your not getting that much. I did good with mine until i hit the real food. and I feel like i eat too much and my family tells me the same thing and i measure it out and i can have a cup to a cup and half at a meal . I'm at a cup a meal and I eat 3 meals and usually a snack in the evening but i feel like i'm overeating. I only loose about a pound a week but the doctor said thats right on schedule. But i get discourage about things so slow. but i look back and say where would i be with out the surgery.

ucdep99

Follow your doctor's guidelines as everyone is different.

The gurgles do eventually go away when your stomach settles down and accepts what just happened to it lol

Banded 13th Aug - its now 5 days since I have had any solids. I am not hungry - however I have had a few weak spells where I was lightheaded , and felt I needed to lie down, then went into a semi-consciousness. I am spending as much time as possible on my feet. and am taking small walks of about 500 metres 3 or 4 times a day.

Prior to op I was desperate for food and totally cheated on the Optifast diet except for the last 48 hours.

I know how important it is not to cheat now, and I think that it is helping me to cope mentally. I look forward to solids, but I can cope without them.

I don't think I am getting 2 litres of fluids per day though. About 3 cups of black tea, one optifast shake, one cupasoup (beef or tomato) one weightwatchers cordial and one or 2 glasses of Water.

I can't do any more than that because I do actually feel full after 2 or 3 sips.

From the minute I woke up I had terrible pain across both shoulders and neck. On day 3 my mother got me to take 2 celebrex capsules which have helped A LOT!!!!! She said pain would be from being pulled on and off theatre table, as I would have been dead weight for the poor nurses.

Also 2 crushed endone tablets twice a day. I will be ok.

Very small urination, ZERO bowel movement, and no weight loss since op ( but 10 kilo on pre-op despite all the cheating). I am sucking on 2 chuppa-chup lollipops a day just for some flavour satisfaction. Not sure if that is ok or not but it makes me feel human. I checked with doctor first and he didnt tell me not to - just not to eat anything.

Mother says I would be retaining Fluid, which weighs a lot, which would be why I have not lost any further weight. She says all of a sudden that will go ( probably in a week) and I will drop a few kilos literally overnight

- I hope so.

Already planning to revere every morsel of puree though when I get to that stage.

Anyone know if the fluid theory is correct?

My tip - Try the chuppa-chup lollipops - they are very satisfying!!!!!

I was banded on 8/7.After surgery I was on 4oz Clear liquids every hour to be sipped slowly I used broth,crystal light,sugar free Jello,diet cranberry juice.Starting on day 2 post op I was on 4oz clear liquid alternating with 4oz Protein shake.

After 1 week I progressed to puree alt with 4oz Protein Shake every 2 hours.Hope that helps.

Did you get instructions from the Dr. or the Dietician?The instructions can vary depending on the Doctor.

I was banded Aug 11, still on the clear liquid diet, I am not hungry because of the Isopure Protein drink, is 40 gr a bottle, you can find it in GNC, is not a shake is Water based, like a gatorade but sugar free. It has an after taste but it has helped me to go through these days and feel no hungry. to be honest I can only have 1/2 bottle a day and that has been enough. Besides like 2 glasses of water during the day and one cup of chicken broth every day, (to taste something salty). Ah one sugar free Jello and two sugar free posicles made my day. Looking forward for full liquid diet to get the caramel coffee protein shake blended with ice to pretend is my frapuccino...

so ask about Protein drinks that you can have on your clear liquid diet stage. ISOPURE is what Dr. recommended to me.

I was just banded Aug 12th. I was told the "noise" comes from the gas they use to "blow you up" when they do the surgery. They pump in some inert gas to inflate the area so they can work...it takes about a week to work out of your system. It may also be causing the shoulder and neck pain one responder described. Thanks to merlina74, for the Isopure tip, I was told clear liquids for a week, like broth, water, Crystal Lite. But I am getting weak, light headed and shaky and had no idea what "clear liquid" could give me substenance. I will get some first thing in the morning! Maybe it will help you feel fuller also?

I was banded on the 13th too. My doc is letting me have slimfast shakes along with my clear diet. I'm only taking in 380 calories a day. Is that normal?

Hi all. Banded on the 14th. I'm like you guys and have the gurgles and all that. Right now, I'm getting by on popsicles, some jello and Crystal Light and I'm doing ok. I'm going to get the Isopure stuff that Merlina mentioned. My doc mentioned it to. The protein will be nice to have.

The area around my incision is a little red, so I may have an infection. Big call to the dr. tomorrow.

Just setting my sights one day and one week at a time. Friday, I should be able to go to full liquids and that will help. Then the next step and so on. I'm not even stepping on a scale for a while. Just want to focus on the band and eating and such.

Hang in there everyone!

Scott - sounds like you've got the right attitude by not stepping on the scale! This is you're body's time to heal. Then when you do step on the scale, you'll be so surprised!

Hi ya'll. It does get better.. The gurgles either get quieter or you just get used to them. I'm not sure. I still have them and they are usually when it would be so nice to not have them. I was banded 11/04/08 and have not had any regrets whatsoever. Hang in there.

Hello everyone, I was banded on August 12th and it seems that each day I feel better and better. I am drinking as much liquid in a day as I can take. I feel like I'm already restricted a lot. I drink about half of a bottle of Isopure protein drinks as protein takes away hunger and helps you to heal quicker. I'm not quite sure if I'm hungry or if I am feeling one of the lingering gas pains in my chest... I think they are hunger pains though. I can only consume about 2-3 sips of liquid at a time, so I can't wait until I speak with my doctor again, which will be on August 24th because I feel like he filled my band at the time of surgery. Other than the Isopure I drink Swanson Chicken Broth (very tasty and 33% less sodium), sugarfree popcicles, about two cups of tea (usually can't finish an entire cup...) as well as water I try to get at least 16oz in per day but that doesn't always happen. I use the bathroom often so I believe I'm on the right path. I seem to lose at least a pound or more per day. At surgery I was at 229 lbs and I am 223 lbs as of today, so I am very happy about the weight loss. I just want to feel 100% again sometime soon, now I would say that I'm at about 75%. Hope everyone is doing well.

I was banded on 8/11/09 and have now moved to full-liquids. I can have a protein shake with skim milk, tea, strained cream soups, broths, plain yogurt and of course water, water, water. Feeling good. Just one site that is still tender. Not walking much except in house from room to room and back. Will have to lose some more to make my legs work again, I guess. Lots of pre-surgery problems with them but looking forward to getting better.

Huge amount of gas gurgling.....