fatfreeme

Hi, While I am just planning my first fill, so I can't help you on that end, I would like to suggest Coreomega. It is a Omega suppliment that is AWESOME! It comes in little packets with a small amount of pudding consistancy of Omega blends in an amazing chocolate orange flavor so you dont taste the fish taste! It goes down great with absolutely no problem! Also they have a rewards program that after so many boxes purchased you get a free box! I buy these for my family (kids, hubby and me). Not a complaint in the bunch. This would be a great alternative for anyone not wanting to risk a large pill! Keep up the great success!

Lisa, you have such great idea's. Can I be your shadow?

HI Angie, I just had surgery in March. I know how hard it can be to do the pre-op diet. You are working on will power and once you have your first fill you will be on BAND power! I know many have said they havent heard of anyone not getting the surgery but I HAVE! In my group there was a woman who was to be banded the day before us. She didn't lose enough weight. So they had her weight and put her on a restricted diet for a day and had her do a bunch of walking so that she would drop a few more pounds. But they still werent sure if it would go. She did end up losing enough weight. She had the surgery the same day as my group and unfortunately had to get on her plain the day after surgery because she couldnt change her flight. My down falls were similar to yours with it being around dinner time with the family. I would look at what they were having and REALLY want it. So I started buying lean cuisines to mimic what I was giving my family if they were having mexican so would I just in lean cuisine form. Before you reach your down fall point have a big bowl of greens with salad spray...fill yourself up a bit. Plus keep your water on hand. Often we feel hungry but are actually thirsty. There is a Chocolate Mint water by MetroMint waters that I absolutely LOVE!!! The water reminds me of Girl Scout cookies (Thin Mints). The water has ZERO calories and yet is soothing and takes the edge of my need for chocolate. Another thing you might want to consider is stopping yourself and try and listen to your body...is your body hungry or is your MIND hungry. More often than not it was mind mind that was hungry. I wish you all the willpower and success until you get your band!

take some GAS-X Strips. I also took some gatoraid and propel packets (dry mix) that I added to my bottled water. My big suggestion is to eat the broth at the hotel vs. taking broth cubes. The broth cupes are full of sodium and will make you retain a bunch of water. I was at the Marriott and the broth was great. The night before surgery I ate light and had a bowl of soup via room service...it was a chicken broth with veggies, a little bit of rice and some chipolte chili...I took most of the chipolte out but the rest was amazing!!!! Don't forget to take a positive attitude with you. You are doing to do great! Give big hugs to the nurses for all of us

Sabrina I know how you feel! But I have one even better...I am a Girl Scout Leader and happen to be the mom in charge of cookie sales for the whole troop. I had over 4500 boxes of cookies at my house this year. Thank goodness our cookie sale time is over. I ate one cookie before I was banded and waaahooo havent touched one since. Its hard though...I know right where you are coming from. For me Girl Scout cookies are just one of those trigger foods that if I eat one...I will eat the whole stinken box. So I refrain. Just remember that the band is a tool to help us live life to its fullest! A cookie isnt going to do long term damage just modify your eating and exercise the next day to balance it out! Keep up the great work...you look FABULOUS!!!

If you are burning 1000 caloried per day you are working out TOO MUCH!!!! While I admire your dedication you are only giving your body 200 calories to live off of. That means all your body does for you in a day, breath, filter toxins, flush fat, think, produce saliva, dream, walk type....absolutely everything it does has to be done on 200 calories. This is simply not enough for your body to live off of. It might be going into starvation mode and holding onto the weight simply because it doesnt have what it needs. Try lowering your exericise routine. And remember you said you were just coming up for your period. Even when we do everything by the book our bodies are doing what they are suppose to do at this time...retain and prepare for a possible pregnancy. I am sure once your period passes you will more than likely see some weight loss. I wish you the very best...be good to yourself..not hard on yourself!

Hey Tom, I think that we are all in the same boat. I am not sure you want to be hearing from someone who was banded on the same day but here is my two cents. 1. water....drink as much as you can so that you stay hydrated and your body can flush the fat 2. exercise...walk as much as you can (within reason) 3. Stick to the post-op diet...I have found a lot of great smooth soups that have really helped bring variety to my diet. creamy corn and lemongrass, cuban black bean, butternut squash, tomato, garden brocolli... 4. Have a good attitude...it helps but understandably there will be lows and alow them to happen just don't get caught up in them let them wash over you and pass ...dont hold on to the difficult days How are you doing? How has your weight loss been? Who did your surgery?

The first week it wasnt so bad...not really hungry and little sips were easy...the hardest days of that phase were the last day I had to drink clear liquids. The Second phase (drinkable yogurt wasnt easy at all as I was tired of sweet things and for some reason the yogurt felt as if it was coming down with a ton of air and it hurt a bit) I fould a liquid protein I like called Mix1..that made the phase three easier. Also being able to eat soups was fantastic because I was craving savory foods. I have 5 more days to go in phase three and its a little hard. I am a mother and cook every meal. Its hard because you cant eat solid...but finding a variety of soups to fit what kind of meal my family is having has made it easier. I have tried creamy corn and lemongrass, cuban black bean bisque, golden butternut squash, garden brocolli, tomatoe, acorn squash and mango...the list is endless and these are all 100% creamy soups without the high fat content. I love soups so this hasnt been that bad. In five days I will have my first meal after 21 days of liquids. I think this will be the hardest phase until my first fill. It will be 100% willpower and mindfull eating. But that is what this whole thing is about. Watching your portion and making sure you are putting quality, not quantity into your body. I am up for the challenge. I will let you know how its going next week! The reality is this liquid diet is for a reason. I payed good money for a tool to be put into my body so that I could be healthy for years to come. I am not going to give up trying to follow as closely as I can to the diet because its important to me. Being able to see the pounds drop while on the liquid phase is great. Many people I have read would like to stick on the liquids or use the liquid phase to jump start their weight loss again. Everything I have read and every thing Dr. Ortiz has told me says that the band is not ment to be used with a liquid diet except during the healing process. So once the liquid phase is over you will find me eating real food along with drinking my water (1 hour after meals) and exercising. I know that I will lose weight slowly. Slow is good....tons of studies have proved that those who keep the weight off the longest are those who lose it slowly. The band was the best thing I could have done for my body...and I haven't even gotten to really "use" it yet. I hope you have a good experience. Let us know how you are doing.

Keep up the great work! Wow...just 4 months in...amazing!

WAY TO GO JULIE!!!! I am sooo proud of you. you are doing fantastic! Keep up the great work. I was banded in March and am excited to make the trip back! Thanks for letting me know how things went. Keep it up girl! That swimsuit is calling you

I completely understand how you are feeling. For what its worth. I can TOTALLY notice the difference. Your face is SOOOO thin! And yes you do look amazing! I have a lot of weight to lose and know that its going to take A LOT of weight loss for me to have a noticable difference. While I am okay with that, complements are always nice. Keep up the great work! Darling you look FABULOUS!

HI All, I have a few days to go still but am wondering what you would all suggest for my first meal. What should I pay attention to as I start back eating food besides the 1/3 size meal, chew chew chew and then chew some more, protein first, then fruit/veggie then carb....what went or goes down well and what doesn't. I know its all very personal but it would help for me to have an idea. Thanks In Advance!

I have a totally different take on what "mushy" means. From what I have been reading, in the world of weight loss surgery (both GBP and LB), mushy means to be mushed/semi blended. So if you were to take a few avocado pieces I think you would be fine. If you puree the avocado and add a liquid to make it almost the consistancy of baby food then that would be a "mushy". Anything the consistancy of baby food or a bit thicker to begin with is a mushy and would go through your band straight away. When you chew the food 30 times it 1. it takes longer to eat giving your body a chance to catch up and tell your brain when its full (it takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the signal).2. Our mouths were ment to chew food that is why we have teeth, chewing food also helps regulate the gastric juices to break down food. Dont know if this helped. Good luck. Beans and avo's are okay. Avocado's are rich in good fat...but high in calories as you well know. So eat in moderation.

HI, First of all I am NO expert. But there are some things I have learned along the way that might help 1. Muscle weighs more than fat. ...Could you be gaining muscle with all the working out you are doing? A good way to tell is if your clothes are getting looser 2. Are you getting enough calories in to support your excersize habits? 3. Are you getting too many calories and thus stagnating? 4. Are you drinking enough water to support your body excersising AND flushing the fat out? 5. Are you close to having your period or are your hormones out of wack a bit? 6. Did you recently loose several pounds but now are stalled...Bodies hit plateus sometimes because they need to adjust 7. Do you have good restriction in your band? 8. Are the calories you are putting into your body healthy ones? These are all things I have learned to ask myself honestly by others that have the band as well as Dr's.. Most of the time if we ask ourselves honestly and answer honestly we find the culprit.

At this point you probably have your answer but here is what I was told Days 1-7 should be clear liquids IF you absolutely cant handle clear liquids for that long then make sure you at least get to day 4 with clear liquids Either day 5 (if you only did 4 days of clears) or day 8 start yogurt Day 7(if you only did 4 days of clears) or day 10 start your protein shakes...make sure they go down well before you start creamy soups Everyone is different on what they can handle. I personally wanted to make sure that I was doing everything I could to keep the band where it was suppose to be, so I did the full 7 days of clear liquids. I made it feel good and am now on the soup stage with about a week to go before my first solid meal. Hope this helped someone!

Hey there lovely lady!!! Glad to hear your kitchen is the next soup lab...who knows you may find a new calling and open up a soup restaurant! From your ticker it looks like you are doing fabulously. I hear you about hunger coming back. the beauty is it wont be long till we get our first fill. First we have to make it through post op! Then its the few weeks of willpower to make our meals small and healthy. THEN hello BAND...waaahooo I am so excited. I know that it will take adjusting. But to have help will be fantastic. Mental hunger will still hit us but at least we wont feel the physical hunger. All my best you you lovely lady

First of all I want you to know that I am NOT a medical professional. What I say has no medical wherewithall. That being said, our digestive tract is a key to immunity. Have you thought about taking so probiotics to regulate your digestive track and repopulate it with good bacteria? Just a thought. Best of luck to you!

HI, I took liquid tylenol. It is not an anti inflamitory. Its thick liquid but it did the trick.

Hi ! I just was banded on the 17th of March at the OCC. The only real pain i had was from gas after I left the hospital. Yes I was sore but honestly that was about it. I did have a rough day after I got home but again that was due to gas and really nothing else. Gas-X strips are a MUST!!! What helped me as far as liquids go was room temp bottled water. Cold liquids seem to hurt more than room temp or hot. I was tender to touch at the surgery sights but nothing that I couldnt handle. I did take liquid tylenol when I was home for a head ache and found it hard to drink the thick liquid. I did it because I had a head ache after about 15 minutes of small sips fo the tylenol. If you are going to the OCC there is a medication that they will give you to take upon release. I took it every evening, faithfully and it helped wonders. I hoped this help. Good luck on your surgery. Let us all know how you are doing!

I had surgery on 3-17-2009. We were picked up at the Marriott at 5:45am, went through the preop... (dental visit, cardiologist visit and testing, Nutritionist appointment, blood work and IV incert, and then went back to our private surgery rooms, met with Dr. Ortiz, had some meds before surgery and then waited till it was my time to go. To be honest I lost track of time but my goal was just to relax and that is what I did! This was a great experience. The nurses are fantastic as are all the staff! Enjoy your time there!

Hi! I had my surgery on the 17th. What people have said is true. Gas-X strips are a bandsters best friend the first couple of weeks. Walk, walk, walk and sip, sip, sip. I found a routine that has worked well in controlling my gas. I take two strips first thing in the morning. I drink room temp liquids early on and then get a bit cooler throughout the day (seems to feel better when things aren't so cold). I would take strips at noon and right before I go to bed. I also found that if I sleep propped up on pillows my stomach handles the gas better. As for the fiber, remeber you are on a pure liquid diet so fiber shouldnt be necessary. The Dr. told me that I wouldnt feel hungry for about the first week. Which is true. Fiber I was told was for hunger pains and for good bowel movements. But I think that is for after the clear liquid phase. I did talk to Dr. S about the being really "loose" he said that was to be expected given you are taking in only liquids. I just started the liquid yogurt phase so I cant comment on any changes as its only been two hours! Good luck..it gets better!

HI there, To be honest my days start well and end exhausted. The clear liquid faze is tough but important. I dont feel and physical hunger and really no pain other than the pain from gas and not being able to burp....its as if the burp gets stuck and you can feel it rising...oh so uncomfortable. But livable. This morning I had a fast wave of nausia followed by very salty saliva. Not sure what that was all about. But as soon as I got up and sipped some water and walked around a bit it got better. Overall though each day gets better. I know my strength wont get better until I am actually taking in some yogurt and good nutrition. Juice, broth and water just dont provide that for me. Thanks for your concern. How are you? Have you sorted out the anethsia and other stuff that was putting you in a holding pattern?

Hi ALL!, I was banded at the OCC on March 17th. I I cant really feel my port. Should I be able to? Or is it only after loosing some weight that I will feel it?

HI All, Just thought I would check up on my favorite banders team and see how you all are doing since you've made it home. I had the longest day of flights and feel better for the sleep I got last night. Still very gassy. But I'm making it. I hope we all will keep in touch!

Hi All, While I havent posted much, I have read a lot of posts. I am due to get my band on the 17th at the OCC. My feelings are the typical..excited, nervous, a little worried and to be honest, while I know I am having major surgery, I am thinking of it as a vacation of sorts. I rarely get time or take time just for me and when I board that plane that is what I will be doing. I think of all the habits that I will be working on correcting the most important one is to take the time for me. Becoming more physicaly fit, plenty of water, eating quality not quantity...its all about me. Something I really never have done. I am excited. I am getting the band so that I can live a good life with few regrets. I want to be around to see all the trouble my kids get into and all the joy and that goes with living. And yes, I will be excited to see my clothing options increase while my size decreases. I look forward to meeting you all at one time or another. Thank you for easing my mind when it got worried, making me laugh, and educating me so that I go in with both eyes wide open about the journey I am about to start!