btradio

I certainly don't know your specific situation, but I have to wonder if you have also slipped back into your old eating habits. If you are still eating right and exercising, I would be surprised that would gain almost all of the weight back. Just because we get to our goal doesn't mean we can revert back to our old ways.

Down a little over 3 lbs. this past week. Puts me down 45.0 lbs. in 5 weeks!

Do you think some of these feelings of non-restriction are due to the types of food you are eating? I am wondering if the types of foods that one eats plays into how they feel afterward? I know that I am being incredibly sensitive to what I eat. High protein, low fat, low carb and I haven't felt hunger outside of my normal meal times. I am eating probably 1/4 to 1/5 of what I used to eat and feel great. Maybe I already have some restriction? I suppose I am wondering how much will power plays into the "feeling" of restriction.

So I keep reading the threads about restriction, etc. and I suppose I am confused about what exactly restriction is. I am a month into this process and my first fill isn't scheduled until the end of the month. When I see you guys having 4, 5, 6 or more fills, I have to admit, it makes me curious what exactly you are searching for. What feelings are you experiencing that drives you to go and get these fills so readily? Are you feeling incredible hunger or what?

Glad things are going so well for you! Just curious, do they put you on any sort of dietary restrictions after the first fill? (liquids or anything?) I am going to be heading from OCC straight to Vegas (need to combine those West Coast trips!) and was wondering what I would be dealing with.

I started solids this past weekend and so far, so good! I have no experienced any PB'ing as yet and have been feeling full on very small portions. And the scale has backed this up as I have been able to lose close to 5 lbs. so far this week. So all in all, the transition to solids has been successful. But let me tell you what has been the most exciting thing I have discovered since moving to solids: flavors. It has been astounding the things I have been able to taste. I think there are two reasons for this rebirth of flavor in my life. One, having been on a three week liquid diet (with only a week's worth of creamy soups at that) I think damn near anything would have tasted good. Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that a bowl of broth sets our mouth's ablaze. That three week food vacation seems to have "reset" my taste buds to some degree. Even things that I am very familiar with somehow have a stronger taste than before, which I guess could be mental, but still! Two, it occurred to me that my previous diet was very, very, very stale. I was living off of a mixture of pizza, burgers and subs. That is all I ever ate. And there is only so much flavor available from fast food/delivery places. Not only did this diet contribute directly to my weight problem, but it seems like it killed my ability to discern subtle flavors in things. That problem has now been solved. So far, I have enjoyed some delicious roast beef hash with egg, some tilapia, broccoli, watermelon, steak and that is just the beginning! The foods on the horizon will be both flavorful, healthy, portioned properly and will, ultimately, lead me to my goal.

Does anyone know what the rules are around when we can lift weights and or swim after surgery?

Curious what "one condition" he thought it was?! :-) I have not been very open with those around me about my surgery. I have told about 5 people. I figure that if they need to know I will tell them (and likely will eventually tell everyone) but for right now, I would just prefer to keep it to myself. This is time that I am using to focus on me and I don't need to deal with other people and their issues at the same time. Its not that I don't think they would be supportive, I just don't feel like taking that risk. I guess if they start noticing I will let them in on things.

End of week 3: loss for the week: 8 lbs. Total since Surgery: 36.6. lbs. Total since 3/1: 63.4 lbs.

As I am a few days away from starting solid foods again, I have been wondering what the effect on weight loss was for people. I have been losing quite a bit on the liquid phase as I imagine most of us did. (I am down 34lbs. in 19 days so far.) So what happened when you started solids? Did you continue to lose at a decent pace? Did it slow way down? Did you gain? I am just curious what to expect.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was enjoying the thunderstorm outside, I decided that I should go through my very overpacked closet and pare things down. I had been planning to do that for ages because there were many things in there that I just simply do not wear anymore. However, there were two additional things that happened that I really didn't expect. First off, I started looking at my winter clothes and realized that I likely would never wear some of these items ever again. This was a pretty shocking thing for me. I love hooded sweatshirts and there were 5 or 6 in there that are just simply going to be too big by the time we get back to cold weather around these parts. I will admit there was a tiny twinge of sadness or whatever in seeing these things go because they had been my "fat shield" for years. (nothing like baggy clothes to make people think you aren't fat, right!) That feeling passed very quickly as I realized that I won't NEED that "fat shield" anymore. It was pretty awesome. Second, I found several items of clothing in my closet that I had outgrown but that now fit just fine. In fact, there were 2 concert t-shirts that I had bought a few years ago from my favorite band that I never wore because they were too tight. I got them simply because they were unique and I wanted to hope that one day I would be able to wear them. That day was yesterday because I tried them on and they both fit great! To say I was happy would be a colossal understatement. Even better is the fact that I know I will be outgrowing (undergrowing?) them in a month or two as I continue to lose. It's just amazing so far. Two weeks in and I loving it! (Also, can you get over how much room fat people clothes take in the closet?? Holy hell, I feel like I have a whole new closet available to me.)

Let me say that the paper panties were quite the experience. I was on the larger side of patients that I think normally go through OCC, so those bad boys were WAY small on me. My GF and I sat there laughing at them for a good 5 minutes as they laid on the bed knowing that I was going to have to "slip" them on. Trying to think how I can delicately describe what happened so that the ladies can understand. How about this, try to imagine showing a banana and a couple of plums inside your body cavity. That is pretty much what it felt like. I suddenly had a whole new respect for trannies that do this regularly and on purpose. Once I got out of surgery, I had the gf cut them off with scissors. Seriously, I would have just preferred that the staff stare at my johnson than putting those things on again. It's been two weeks and I am still not sure everything has dropped back down.

You complete me. Love, Brian (man, flavor, wow. I need to learn how to cook immediately!)

Since it is again Friday, I thought I would update my progress. This marks the end of the second week for me (creamy soups today, yay!) and things are going great! Since last Friday I have lost 13.6 lbs, for a total of 29.0 lbs since surgery! (and just for completion, I am down 55lbs from my highest.) There are probably a handful of decisions that I have made in my life that I can look back on and just go, "man, that was one hell of a good decision!" But I have to say, so far (and I know it is still super early in the process), getting banded at OCC has been just a killer move.

I am going for my first fill and am so confident in the staff at OCC after the surgery that I am planning on zooming in, getting a fill, then zipping back to SD for a flight to Vegas. I figure if anything can take my mind off a fill and a long needle it will be some gambling and (non-food or alcohol) debauchery.

I will be back on Saturday, 6/28 for my first fill. Hope to see some folks there.

Friday marked the end of my first week of surgery and I was down 19.4 lbs. I am OK with this.

I was banded the same day as Toni and I just can't say enough good stuff about the people at OCC. Just an unbelievable experience. The first week has been great. I have lost 15 lbs so far this week since the surgery and have felt wonderful. Week 2 starts tomorrow!

It's amazing how easy this journey has been so far. Now, granted, I am only a week post-op and there are so many challenges ahead that I haven't experienced that it is possible that my attitude will change, but for now, I am cruising along rather nicely. So let's get the stats out of the way: Decision Weight (3/1/10): 420.2 lbs Weight at booking (3/17/10): 413.4 lbs Surgery Weight (5/7/10): 394.0 lbs Current Weight (5/13/10): 379.6 lbs Down 40.6 from peak. Down 33.8 from booking. Down 14.4 from surgery. So, as you can see, this has been a pretty good thing thus far and I am ridiculously pleased. I am coming to the end of the clear liquid phase and will be incorporating liquid yogurt into my diet tomorrow. Any change is good, and I am looking forward to trying something new. (Oddly, I chewed a piece of gum yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks and realized that it was the first time I had chewed something in over a week. Weird sensation.) So where am I at now? I am still looking to the future and hope that what Dr. Ortiz said to me before doing my surgery holds true. He said that if I were to follow all the rules that it would be possible that I could lose up to 68 lbs prior to my first fill. Now, I am not a fool and that seems incredibly "pie in the sky", but man, if I can get anywhere CLOSE to that I will be over the moon! I have been taking it sort-of easy on the exercise front this week as my incisions heal. I have walked some, but nothing crazy. However, things are starting to feel better and I am ready to start exercising more regularly. I know that this will help me in the loss column (and the "feeling awesome" column) so it HAS to be done. I will see what happens as I ramp up. So there you go. One week in and I feel great! I am excited, I am motivated and I *am* going to succeed.

I am due to check out of the OCC in about an hour after being banded by Dr. Ortiz yesterday. They took me back around 9:25am and I was back in my room less than an hour later. As far as I know and as far as I can tell, everything went great and I feel fine this morning. A little sore, but that is to be expected. I am looking forward to my band journey and will continue to talk and share with the members of this forum. (thanks again for all the pre-op support!) And a big, huge mega thanks to the staff at OCC. They were simply perfection!

just curious, was your OCC weight the same as what you were weighing at home? Just curious how close their scales are to what we might have. (I wonder because Dr. Miranda gave me a target weight and I am super close per my scale, but will be horrified if I get there and find out my scale is wonky. That being said, per my scale I have dropped almost 32lbs pre-op, so there's that.)

I wasn't one of them, but I am curious about how YOU are doing?

curious why everyone is saying take bouillon and stuff? Is there not somewhere to eat there? I thought there were restaurants in the hotel that catered to OCC clients?

I was originally booked at the Marriott, but OCC had changed the reservation due to construction over to the Lucerna. So, obviously, I have been sort of planning on the Lucerna. Now I have been told they have moved me back to the Marriott. So I ask those that have been: which is better and why?