SlimColaGirl

haha... nice one. I will be saying that to myself every time now. :-D I really have to thank you all for throwing such encouraging thoughts my way. This is a tough time to get through and you guys just rock! :-D It's amazing how much your forget when you get hungry. You forget the rules, or start questioning them because you really want food NOW. I've been doing really bad on water so I'll up that to a cup every 2 hours. I'm going to get the protein shakes right now so I can beat the hunger and I already have some good creamy soups. Thanks again you guys and good luck to everyone no matter where you are in this process.

haha... nice one. I will be saying that to myself every time now. :-D

so everything is going well. I'm 11 days post op, gas bubbles are gone, lost 14.5 pounds. I can ride a bicycle again... slowly, incisions are healing nicely. It's not hard to move around anymore. And I can get enough calories in. The bad news... I'm hungry folks. I won't lie, if I could eat all the usual junkie pizzas, hamburgers, fries, etc., I would. It's that bad. I guess it's a sign that I'm healing nice and rapidly. but I'm not sure how I'm gonna do on this liquid diet for the next week and a half. It seems my hunger is back up to preop levels. Im happy with the weight I've lost and hope to lose more. But I'm starting to realize that this is going to be hard work. I was hungry for two weeks on the preop diet, and I will be hungry for the next week and a half. Then I will have to try to manage my hunger until I get the right fill. This will be tough. I'm up for the challenge but taming my hunger will be a tough one.

oh and for some reason my message registered as JennB instead of SlimColaGirl. We might have been at OCC on the same day so sorry for the confusion guys. Oh and so sorry to JennB in case everyone thought she'd turned into a very medicated black girl that with braids who just got her lapband. :-)

Wow, just read my first post and it was surely funny. I'm a week post op now and back at home. I'm down 14.5 pounds and doing very well after a few days of gas and pain. The numbers are going down on the scale every day and I feel like I've made the best decision of my life getting banded. Thanks for the nice comments! I was helluv drugged and messaging from the computers right there at the hospital. To be honest I can hardly remember that day, I was just high and happy. :-D

ah yeah the guy is hilarious. You know on in living color he wasn't my favorite cast member, but once i saw him live my opinion of him totally changed. :-)

I hope this questions doesn't sound stupid. David Alan Grier (of Comedy Central's "Chocolate News") is coming to town this weekend and I'd like to go see the show. No live comedy show is a guaranteed laugh fest, but the last time I saw this guy he had me absolutely rolling on the ground in laughter. I'm 6 days post op and will be 7-9 days post op by the time I go see the show. My question... is too much hard laughter good during this stage of my recuperation? Every time I've laughed since surgery it's hurt a bit and I hold on to my little glue stitches like they're about to pop. Not that they're really going to pop but I'm just making sure you know. :-) I'm doing some good farting (the gas situation) so am in less pain than even a couple days ago. Just want to know if any of you guys have had issues with laughing too hard and make sure this is a good idea. Hope you guys are all doing well! :-D

you're only in your first month of being banded so give yourself a break. First 4-6 weeks are about the band healing in place, not weight loss. Besides you've probly eatin' so little food in the last few weeks that you're body is retaining everything it can. So just be patient. We all know that the band could take some time to produce real weight loss, even if it goes faster for others. In the meantime start exercising and trying to find things you really enjoy doing. And stick to the plan because you will start seeing results very soon. :-) Good luck!

congrats! I can't wait until I reach that category. It'll say overweight but I'll be thinking "skinny"! :-)

Haha, that's the spirit samanthaW... focus on the positive. I was a half pound down from yesterday and pretty excited about that for day 3 post op. I must say I feel better knowing you all are having gas pains because it becomes uber easy to think that I'm the only one suffering. Haha, not that I want to see you all in pain, but you know what I mean. I am still doing clear liquids, and not getting many of those. The gases are a BIT less painful today, but my entire abdomen area is bloated. I feel like I'm even splitting some of the glue on my incisions. The bubbles are moving around in my stomach bouncing off each other I guess. I want to fart but can't. Think I'll try sleeping tonight with my butt raised in the air by pillows or something... hahaha.

whoo girl I am feelin' you samanthaW. took another gas strip and hope it helps. in the very good case that it doesn't help, I'm going to bed and hope the air bubbles will just disappear by the time I wake up in the morning. Tomorrow has got to be better. Some slightly good news though... down 1 lb since surgery. Gotta focus on the positive eh? :-)

So I'm back and soooooooooo happy to be back. But I must say these gas pains are a pain in the neck, and shoulder... literally! Anybody have any suggestions of how to deal for the next few days? At this point I cannot burp and every tiny fart is a precious moment of glory and triumph. I bought gas strips and they dont seem to be working. I guess I just keep walking and sipping? The pain from the incisions are nothing compared to the gas pains. Great experience at OCC by the way. Just in pain tonight.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! :-D

oh no girl, that is so NOT me. Wish it was... hehehe. It's Beyonce, my latest body inspiration obsession. :-D From what I gather, a WLS coach is somebody who does life coaching, but with the twist that they're an expert on lapband or GB, and will sort of coach you on how to go about living your life well with it. They've probly had the surgery, and are certified. And this would be personal coaching customized for your particular life and how to go about it. They would be a cross between therapist, coach, support system, etc. Seems helpful, as a lot of people need more support... especially if they start gaining back weight. There are monthly meetings and these online forums, but otherwise what's to keep a person from completely falling off the wagon and losing hope. The monthly meetings might seem ok but spread far apart. I guess that's why some banders join weight watchers because the weekly meetings. Here are links to a couple below. You can find some ads on obesity help, and a lapband coach actually hosts the band banter show on blog talk radio. http://www.jeffcadwell.com/ http://www.weightlosssurgerycoach.com/glenn_wls_photos.shtml

Hi everyone. I'm wondering if anyone here (or someone else you know) has ever used a WLS coach. They are also referred to as personal, life or weight loss coaches? I see a few advertising themselves on the different wls sites / forums and have been thinking about possibly hiring one. Seems like it would be helpful and a step beyond going to the online forums.

Hi Flan. Wonderful to hear from you. I am having the surgery in just a few days and it's always nice to hear someone elses success story. Good luck on the tummy tuck and kudos to you husband for being so supportive! :-D

I've been trying desperate to find the Oprah show on teenage weight loss surgery that Cassie was in. Does anyone have a copy of this? Or know where to find the show online? Appreciate anyone's help on this... :-D

next time u go to vegas think about how you'll look in an ultra short dress entering one of the many dance clubs. :-D

I'm almost 32 years old and I am keeping it a secret. Hell adults can be just as ignorant, judgemental and mean as teens. I have decided to tell no one, only my ultra supportive husband knows. I say keep it to yourself and just enjoy experiencing the changes in your life. Just enjoy being a kid.

http://slimcolagirl.blogspot.com/ it's a teenage boy who is removing the band after 3.5 years. Only wish it had a before and after pic. I think all the OCC videos are done very well. Not sure where I stand on teenagers having lapband, honestly. But I think I'd be ok with my daughter or son having one if they were pretty big and trying but failing at diets. :-)

my surgery date is Jan 9th. Weehee so excited!

Yes I full on dreampt about food. I had a couple big meals in the dream and realize the main focus of my mind is on food. I had gotten a whole plate stacked thick with pancakes, with sort of a fluffy whipped cream and chocolate chip topping. Someone actually came over to pour hot melted butter on them for me. I find it amusing that it was melted butter and not syrup, but attribute that to the fact that there were already sweep toppings on the pancakes. Melted butter, can you believe it! I could actually TASTE the meal in my dream... and it was delicious. I woke up before I could finish it... BLEH! :-) I should mention that all day yesterday I wasn't eating much and was super lethargic by end of day. Worked out in the morning on WiiFit, but probly overdid it a bit. My workouts on the WiiFit have been getting progressively harder, my idea of course. I use the running game a lot because I get a great sweat form it. But probly didn't eat enough protein. My pancake dream is obviously linked to my preop diet and upcoming surgery. Lost 7 pounds in the last 8 days so I'm feeling good and know I'm doing well. But that dream thru me for a loop. Does everyone do this? And what exactly is it saying about me? Am I more preoccupied with food than I thought? Am I a food addict in denial about my addiction? It's not hard to believe that food might be my "crack", but makes me wonder if so what whole am I trying to fill?I also wonder if I will dream about food the first few months after getting banded. Time will tell I guess. In fact, probly won't really start dealing with my food issues until I do get banded. Just thought I'd share.

Yay, enjoy your wiiFit! So much fun! :-)

I have a WiiFit and find it awesome during my preop phase of my diet. It gives you a bit of encouragement when you lose a couple pounds and the feedback from the balance exercises are really helpful for me. The negative reviews are silly. If you work out on it daily and curb your eating there's no way you cannot lose weight. It also makes it pretty fun so enjoy. Warning though, it's not a serious weight loss tool. You might stuff it in a corner and forget about it after a while... like any treadmill or exercise bike. I forgot about it for a while until a couple weeks ago. Glad I picked it back up though. If you do the right exercises you'll burn fat and lose weight. If you choose all easy stuff you'll get better balance and have a lot of fun, but you won't lose weight. It's not a replacement for the gym but it's fun as hell and keeps you interested in exercise. Since you can choose your own exercises you'll just have to see what works for you. Personally I choose all easy stuff when I don't have much energy, and that's fine with me. The next day I'm ready to burn some calories on cardio or stength training.

the hot water trick is brilliant. I'm definitely using that one. Otherwise I'm doing the 2 slimfast shakes/lean cuisine option. Yeah it is hard but I've gotten used to it over the last few days. I'm starting my fifth day and it hasn't been easy but I'm doing it. Dropped a few pounds too... the first 5 pounds disappeared so quick it made my head spin. I'm ready to accept that it was probly just water weight, but was still an awesome thing to happen. confession... I had beers last night at a friends birthday celebration. I am ashamed, very ashamed. But this bar was right next to a terrific sausage place. Everyone had a delicious sausage sandwich but me. Any normal day I would've ordered two of those babies with grilled onions to boot! :-)